From:	Lars Ericson lericson@****.edu
Subject:	Initiate Grades (Was Re: Centering vs Penalties)
Date:	Tue, 24 Aug 1999 09:26:38 -0500

Arcady wrote:

> Magic In The Shadows. Page 28, last paragraph:
>
> First, the Awakened represent the smallest minority of the population. Only
> 1 percent of the people in the Sixth World CAN USE MAGIC. A fraction of that
> percentage are aspected magicians, never got the proper training, or go
> crazy trying to deal with their gift. Rarity makes the Awakened valuable,
> but it also makes them feared. (etc... switches to a different topic)...
>
> Note that it says "CAN USE MAGIC". Not 'are awakened and dormant'. Note
also
> that it says a 'fraction' are not full mages. A fraction usually implies the
> lesser of two parts. That means that in a city like Seattle with 3 million
> (should be 30 million) there would be AT LEAST 15 thousand Priority A Mages.
> And another 15 thousand who are priority B trained or not.
>
> If there are dormants, they weren't included in the above statement. Since
> that figure is the figure for the people that can USE it. Not the people
> that HAVE it.
>
> And even if you assume that the dormants are in there somehow, they are in
> the 'fraction' area.

I had forgotten MitS mentioned this and was just going on instinct and
past experience. I think I'd rather may statistics since they make more
sense to me. I find it hard to believe that there are 30,000
spellcasting magicians (and apsected) in Seattle alone. That's a giant
population that I don't think any gamemaster would accurately represent.
To each his own.

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Lars Ericson: Professional Vagabond
Smalley Research Group, Rice University
E-Mail: lericson@****.edu
WWW: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~lericson/

Life is like a Wankel Engine. In between the emptiness of boredom and
despair, and the compression of stress in one's life, there's that one
spark of enjoyment that keeps you going.