Warmage

plural; warmages

In a tight phalanx formation, the heavily armoured squad pressed through the ragged ranks of kobolds towards the enemy leader. A feeble-looking kobold wearing only dirty trousers growled low and knotted her fingers into an incantation as the last reptilian warrior between her and the human soldiers was killed. She was preparing to spring the trap she'd laid when the soldiers unexpectedly stopped moving forward and as the final words of her treacherous magic formed on her tongue, she knew she'd lost.

The formation opened and she identified the real danger - a warmage. With a dismissive gesture the warmage scattered the building magical energy of the kobold spell and left her disarmed with no magic or weapon to reach for. Without command, the ranks closed again around the spellcaster, and the formation resumed their advance on the defeated shaman.

Despite having superior numbers, strong walls, and excellent training, human armies would be useless against powerful magical creatures, or even a well-placed spell from an ill-educated enemy spellcaster. With this in mind, Allegran military tradition trains a specific type of mage to bolster their martial efficiency.
These are not stuffy scholars or untrained sorcerers with a natural talent for casting. Warmages are made for war. If you have a warmage assigned to your unit it is because you will certainly see battle. Warmages are reassigned to different units or a regular basis, often only deploying with a squad after receiving intelligence that there may be magical resistance of some kind at an upcoming skirmish. In these cases they are often treated as an 'anti-magic' weapon, held back or protected from combat until needed to counter hostile spells. This serves a double purpose; it not only saves the warmage from exhausting themselves against lesser threats but also prevents enemies from gaining intelligence on their exact capabilities.
Among the ranks of the warmagi, none is higher or more important than the other. Before being selected for training any individual who would join must have an exemplary military record and the strength of mind to bend reality through the application of magic; two traits not commonly found - and even more rarely found together.
Officially, warmage training is only done in Etude, at the military college and all who wish to earn the title of warmage must complete their training here. After graduating the military could send a warmage anywhere, for any reason. Warmages are expected to return to the college at least once every ten years for debrief and review, but otherwise live the rest of their lives following orders.

Training & Education

Aside from the most learned scholars and diviners, warmages are among the most highly educated members of society. Those chosen are the most talented warriors and sharpest minds among the military. Whereas most spellcasters know a little of all magic, warmages only learn about two things: How to apply the least amount of magic efficiently, and how to stop others from doing the same. Many who begin their training are surprised to discover that their education revolves primarily around one-handed combat training and how to perfect the disruption of enemy magic. Much like a sword and shield, warmages learn to stab with a weapon in one hand and disarm the opponent with the other, using magic, of course.

Equipment & Weaponry

Warmages are trained and equipped with any weapon comfortably held in one hand. Many think this is an aesthetic choice however it has very practical origins: cut with one hand, cast with the other. Usually those training to become warmages already have significant experience with close-combat so they are trained in specialized techniques to make them harder to hit and help them become accustomed to wearing lighter armour than they may be used to in battle.

Type

Magic

Used by

• Government of Allegri