Of Titles Arcane

The term "mage" refers to any educated practitioner of magic, any who holds a degree in that field, regardless of the level. The undergraduate degree, traditionally earned after five years of study, is the Arcanist's. The first graduate degree, traditionally earned after three further years of graduate study, is the Magus's. The final degree, traditionally earned after five years of graduate study and a subsequent research project, is the Metric's. That project is commonly called a Metrical, in reference to what it earns you.

Now, most titles within the Empire - or, at least, in the Imperial tongue - are referential to the surname. Magister Munzie Kunzea, for instance, is called Magister Kunzea in short, and Arcanist Teff Agrosti should rightly be called Arcanist Agrosti. Within the arcane community, however, the titles of Magus and Metric are unique, in that the proper short usage refers to the first name. Myself, for instance, Metric Parsnip Pasternak, I would be properly referred to in the short as Metric Parsnip, not Metric Pasternak.

The reason for this is … one of tradition. The title of Metric is the highest achievement in the world of magic, given only to practitioners of rare and notable worth. It cannot be bought, and cannot be sold. It cannot be inherited, passed by birthright. It cannot be gifted, and it is not offered in honorarium. The title of Metric can only be won, only by those who pass rigorous measures of their skill and worth, and earn their place with material contribution to the state of magical practice as a whole. It denotes a particularly personal achievement. The family Pasternak did not earn the title of Metric. Parsnip did. It takes a rarefied talent to become a Metric, and less than one student in a tect goes that far.

This is not to say that the title of Magus is not itself an elite achievement. The battery of assessments is demanding, and a Magus is still an exemplary practitioner within their own field. But, this has not always been the case. A hachetry ago, it was still viewed as a lesser achievement within academic circles, and did not carry the weight of language that the title of Metric does. My good friend Magus Karkalla Brotus, in that time, would have been called Magus Brotus. But our views have evolved, and these days we see the title of Magus as worth of the honorarium. After all, they are trusted with free crestwork, and it is still a demanding process. Karkalla, then, is properly titled Magus Karkalla today.

The origins of these terms, Magus and Metric, is tied up in a slightly archaic mindset. The common wisdom, long past, was that the role of the Metric was to learn, explore, promote the greater understanding of magic, while the role of Magus was to put those discoveries into practice. Thus, the names - the Metric measured, the Magus enacted. In more modern eras, this has become less of a rigid stratification; at the time I left, nearly half the instructors at the Academy were Magi. Still, it is rare that a Metric enters private enterprise or government service; whether tradition or selection bias, few Metric go all the way through the process without a drive to learn and understand. It is a calling, to be honest, and … in ideal, at least, above such mundane concerns.

I would point to Metric Mayhaw Crata, as exemplar of that ideal. When her brother, the last Quattel emperor, died without issue, Metric Mayhaw declined to succeed him, citing her studies. This marked the end of the Quattel dynasty and the rise of the house of Kewa. As Mayhaw famously wrote, “To be a Metric is to prize the intellectual above the temporal, and I should be a poor example of that cause had I set aside my purpose for something so petty as a throne.” This is not to say that there are not Metrics who use their talents for material gain, and it is not to say that the life of the teaching Metric is an ascetic one, but still. You could live your whole life and not meet a Metric in private practice. We simply ... have better things to do.

- Metric Parsnip Pasternak, late-night pontifications