The Rest of All Possible Worlds: Spell Levels

Another 'problem post' detailing debates and questions confronting the community of magic-users in TRoAPW. 

The spells quoted below are from The 52 Pages. 

Premise

Some spells are more complex, or have a greater effect, or a wider spread than others. Even the layman could tell that Fire Dart is doing less than Lesser Summon. Accordingly, magecraft has levels of skill and prowess involved. Even if a wizard is of journeyman status and presumably able to read wizard's script and work a spell, the initial spells they may work will be of a certain kind.  

The State of the Art

The wizardry of Calliste once worked this way: the spells your master gives you after serving your apprenticeship? Those are your 'first level spells'. 

Perhaps Arch-Proctor Sopespian feel that you should be taught Minor Summon before Unseen Servant in order to instruct you as to the unpredicatable nature of living magic - despite this being a more complex spell requiring greater reserves of your thaumic strength. 

Perhaps Restimar the Reticent feels that society at large is best served and mages are left unmolested when mischievous youngsters aren't taught Charm Person or Disguise. 

Perhaps Glozelle the Gamboge regards Translate as cheating, and that a young mage should get their grammar off by heart first before learning a useful short-cut for the field. 

Even beyond the Master-Pupil relationship, a Glozellian (or whoever) tradition ['Pointy gamboge hats will be worn on all formal occasions. If so desired, pupils may tuck ONE small flower into the hat-band.'] can develop over time, which ossifies the ruling on Translate above. 

Of course, wizarding traditions have matched and mingled sufficiently over the centuries. There are colleges of mages (and other institutions), in which the Restimari and the Glozellian can mix and compare notes. Some changes may have been wrought by this - but something still resembling the Glozellian tradition continues. And these changes are hardly universal: the Glozellians of Paviasse may have shifted their ban on Translate, but those in Malmery certainly haven't - and so the traditions proliferate. 

Enter the Tabulators. These are younger wizards who have decided to compose tables of spells, ranked by their cost in magical energies or complexity or some other objective factor than by what Glozelle (burnt to ashes fighting a dragon five centuries ago) or Restimar (emerges from his nacre crypt every four and sixty years to give cryptic advice, largely unrelated to the business of teaching) think. 

Opponents of the Tabulators

Those who stick to or recommend one tradition of magic are called Unicursalists. These are almost all 'Soft Unicursalists' - basically no-one but the most troglodyte would suggest that a wizard trained outside their tradition 'isn't doing magic' or 'isn't doing magic properly'. The Glozellian tradition is instead 'effective for these reasons' or 'particular relevant for these types of magic' or 'elegant' or  'tried and tested' or 'benevolent'.

Multicursalists are those who acknowledge there are many paths to teaching magic, each leading approximately the same place. They come from the newer formal magical institutions and colleges rather than isolated master-pupil relationships. A multicursalist might well acknowledge that the Tabualtors could accomplish their goal, but doesn't want to loose the perceived benefits of the evolved traditions. 

It is said scornfully by Tabulators that 'A unicursalist is only a multicursalist who can make up their mind.' No-one knows quite who first made the quip, and variations abound:  'A unicursalist is only a multicursalist with some pupils.' '...a multicursalist with an ego.' '...with a spine.' (&c.)

Tabulators will refer to unicursalists as 'mystogogues' and multicursalists as 'pædagogues'. Neither comparison is flattering. Tabulators in their turn are referred to as 'grocers' - that is, shelf-stockers and book-keepers. Their perceived naiveté and the style of the tables they get printed also won them the accolade 'Babes in the grid'. 

The Tabulators Divided

Among the Tabulators, two tendencies have developed. The first, the Naive school of thought, would (in theory) sell or make available the details of any spell to any wizard - as, basically, a matter of principle. Of course, if a twitchy young mage with bloodshot eyes, a serpent's-fang amulet and an obsidian ring shaped like a skull entered a Naive Tabulator's establishment, they may well think twice before selling or teaching them Lightning Bolt. 

Naturally, against the Naive are the Prudent Tabulators.  They are far more willing to set conditions on making a spell available, but will strive to make those conditions plain and transparent. The Naive regard this as rather too close to the multicursalists. 

Implications

As the reader may have gathered, the Tabulators are perhaps the closest thing to the disinterested magic shops appearing in video games, who apparently don't care about the potential problems involved in selling Acid Arrow to a scarred bloodstained stranger with too many weapons who pays you in strange coins that were last legal tender three centuries ago. 

This aside, there are other effects that the Tabulators' agenda would have on Calliste. Communities used to a certain set of wizarding behaviours would be disrupted as all sorts of spells are attempted by young mages. Economies used to a certain set of magical abilities being readily available would have to adjust quickly to the appearance of new services being offered and the dearth of previously relied-upon spells.

The stereotypical Tabulator institution is a shop with an attached training ground, not a school.  If the ideas of the Tabulators gain the upper hand, this may change. The old traditions with their named Primogenitors will diminish and new academies will take their places. A disruption to the supply of trained magicians is inevitable; princes and governors dislike this, but may be mollified by the prospect of more multi-purpose wizards. The apparent lawlessness of the Naive Tabulators makes them unappealing; several states may attempt to force them underground. 

Of course, the new status quo may be the wizarding shop, with its customer base of free-floating individualist wizards, without significant ties to schools or guilds.  Networks of patronage persist, as sources of occult power flow through new, informal channels.  Competition for sources of magic - spell catalogues and libraries, grimoires and eldritch idols - begins as the old order dies. Protection offered by the rich and powerful may become evermore appealing, and a new group of court magicians emerges.        

Comments, nitpicks, &c welcome - I'd rather work out the problems now than later.