Grading System (Ardenarai)
This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
Though the path ahead be muddled by the future's uncertainity, the stars will guide us ahead. | — A saying commonly uttered in farewells around Ardenarai, its symbology being adapted to its flag. |
The Grading System of Ardenarai was created by the Royal Edict to Restore Kalranian Purity under the Kahrethaya Cuvery Armaiaa yi Larai in 1421.
Origins
During the centuries of the Moon, an era marked by conflict between the Sacred Kingdom and a now-extinct Eleutherian republic known as Kalestiyanai, Ardenarai's magocratic elite had increasingly been radicalized by the war against the outlanders. The victory of Princepya Merys Shalea yi Nariatai over Kalestiyanai in 1380, recapturing the province of Jularall, had secured her influence over the military-aristocracy. She became the first to institute the primitive form of the Grading System that divided people's castes based on their apparent magic capability, with the colonial Argolathians (of those incapable) residing in Jularall to be at the very bottom. It has since then been adapted to different parts of Ardenarai, leading into the final version by Kahrethaya Cuvery that was executed nationwide.
Magic Grading
Magic Grade Class | Capabilities | Notes |
---|---|---|
Voidborn | Incapable | They enjoy rights as a property of their liege, being nothing more than animals or pets. Ardenaraian laws regarding sapiency exclude those without magic from the list. |
Blemished | Basic Cantrips, simple everyday spells similar to a handheld tool. | A grade higher than Voidborns, but still serfs nonetheless. They are recognized as living beings, at least. |
Dour | Capability equal to a mechanical work tool, or a gun. | Qualifies for freeman, and employable as the lowest rank in magic-guilds or workshops. |
Gleaming | Workable for CQC combat, may begin branching into specialized magic, can provide capability equal to a moderately large industrial machine. | The peak of where an average unaided henchwizard may amount to, they are treated relatively well as freemen, and valuable assets by their lieges. They can own property. |
Glittering | Capable of providing function equal to a modern computer (in-regards to divination), a vehicle, or as a tactical weapon (like an artillery shell). | A trained magi will amount to this, and will enjoy employment as NCOs in the Royal Host. Young nobility below this rank are often disenfranchised by their families, so being "Bright" is the bare minimum for them. |
Bright | Equivalent of a tank or jet in terms of combat value. | |
Radiant | Amounts up to a full squad of lesser-magi (seven glittering magi). | Radiant Magi qualify as low-ranking nobles still yet without the capability of owning fiefs. |
Searing | Amounts up to a platoon of magi, capable of providing value equal to an industrial factory. | Can be granted the privelege to govern fiefdoms (although at this grade, it is city-districts or small villages at most). Often comes with servants of their own and can be commissioned as officers. |
Burning | Amounts up to a company of bright magi, can output power equal to a sustained artillery barrage or coal-powered powerplant. | They are treated as important tactical weapons with value equal to entire companies of men. Most lesser nobility reach this rank at their peak naturally. |
Resplendent | Amounts to a small town's combined capability, or regiment strength. Nearly impossible to reach naturally. | People who are up Resplendent rank usually have entire groups of auxillaries dedicated to supplementing the Magi's arcane capabilities, its impossible to reach this rank for most of the population, without resources or artificial support from others. |
Effulgent | Strategic Weapons, WMDs. | Effulgent Magi are magic given form itself, they can influence entire battles by their sheer presence as forces to be reckoned with, consequentially losing them can impact Ardenarai's sociopolitical climate as whole. People granted certification as effulgent magi are important leaders of entire army-groups or figures of the six houses, such as the Princepyas of the Tayfarath. People of this rank can seemingly change destiny as they please. |
Blazing | Divinity, Mythological Feats | This rank is reserved for godlike figures well beyond the mortal realm, and is ever-expansive. Only one mortal Ardenaraian is granted the title to be a blazing flame, that is the Kahrethaya, the epitome of the Sacred Kingdom's might whom himself has murdered hundreds of other magi in its succession, and may as well be capable of influencing the entire kingdom's future through their magic. Very rarely are their powers wielded in combat, though, but function as both a ceremonial and administrative tool. |
Citizenship Grading
=