Philosophies of the Wizards of High Sorcery

As part of my work to "modernize" the Dragonlance Setting to my tastes, the first, most obvious, target, is, of course, the Wizards of High Sorcery.

Good, Neutrality, Evil?

At first glance, having 3 orders of white, red and black robes is awesome. But having "good", "neutral" and "evil" mages seems a bit too much on the nose.

Looking at the excellent Holy Orders of the Stars sourcebook (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3239/Holy-Orders-of-the-Stars-35e), one can discover very interesting things about the gods of magic.

Indeed, all gods were given a "divine power". For example, Paladine has the "divine power" of "Majesty", while Takhisis has the "divine power" of "Control".

And if you take a look at the gods of magic, you see that even them, before becoming what they are now, had a "divine power":

• Solinari:  Vigilance
• Lunitary: Mystery
• Nuitari: Ambition
  

... and, reading that, I realized that I'd found the seed for my reformed Orders of High Sorcery!

Vigilance, Mystery, Ambition!

If we take these principles, and apply them to Magic, then we get something much more profound. Something that can translate, for the common people, to the famous "good, neutral and evil mages", but that is much, much more nuanced if one actually study their organization.

The Orders of High Sorcery were founded by three patrons to make sure magic would be both used, used correctly, and kept under control. Each mage of High Sorcery must then have specific qualities:

• Curiosity: A need to research, and unveil the mysteries of magic, for its own sake
  
• Vigilance: A need to make sure magic is not used lightly, nor irresponsibly.
• Ambition: A need to go beyond the common, to reach farther, and reap the rewards
  

... and, as each divine patron of the Orders has a natural affinity for one of these qualities: 

• Curiosity: Lunitari (as need to unveil Mystery)
  
• Vigilance: Solinari
• Ambition: Nuitari

... an tripartite organization naturally emerges, embracing their divine patron's philosophy (and color)

Consequences

This is why mages of one Order will always respect a mage from another Order: They both value the same things, even if not with the same priorities, and the mage of the other Order is indeed working for the betterment of magic itself, in their own way:

• Red Robes: Research, without limitation, and knowledge sharing
  
• White Robes: Prudence in research, and diplomacy with external organizations, and the people
  
• Black Robes: Increasing the power and prestige of the Orders
  

Is it surprising, then, for the common people, to see the White Robes as the "politically correct" wizards, while the Black Robes are the evil schemers?

The Test of High Sorcery

The test should comprise of at least tests of the candidate's loyalty to the Orders and to Magic, as well as a test of what is the candidate priorities among Vigilance, Curiosity or Ambition.

Testing Skills/Talent

Of course, the Test must test the skills and the talents of a candidate, when under stress, or not, to make sure the candidate is able to think and research. Combat, duels and research for a specific thing in libraries are usually the kind of tests a candidate has to pass.

It has already been discussed in Dragonlance books, so I won't elaborate here.

Testing Loyalty to the Orders

Also, the test is about loyalty: Is the candidate loyal to the Orders, including when this loyalty seems to violate their own moral limits?

In D&D terms, morality is simplified into an alignment of two axes: Law/Chaos and Good/Evil.

So, a good approximation of this test would be to confront the alignment of the candidate against their loyalty to the Orders.

For this, three tests can be devised:

• Loyalty vs. Good: Would the candidate be able to sacrifice innocents, if needed by the Orders or Magic?
  
• Loyalty vs. Law: Would the candidate be able to breach Law, if needed by the Orders or Magic?
  
• Loyalty vs. Evil: Would the candidate be able to sacrifice oneself, if needed by the Orders or Magic?

Failing all of them would mean failure in loyalty, and thus, of the test. Failing 2 would fail to impress. Failing one would be welcome, and failing none would really impress.

Er... Good, Law, Evil, ok... But what about Chaos?

There's no Loyalty vs. Chaos test described above, as the Orders are a very organized (i.e. lawful) organization. It is thus implied that Loyalty vs. Chaos is actually a test that a candidate is going through their whole career as apprentices and mages.

In other words, a chaotic-aligned character would have to be able to convince the Orders, during their whole apprenticeship, that, despite their tendency for chaos and freedom, the Orders and Magic are still their first loyalty.

Testing Priority/Affiliation

The Test can be used for the candidate to help them decide their own affiliation, by proposing to the candidate difficult choices:

• Curiosity vs. Vigilance: For example, is it better to make a copy of a dangerous scroll to make sure the knowledge is preserved for future research, or is it better to destroy it to avoid risking for this knowledge to spread with dire consequences?
  
• Ambition vs. Curiosity: For example, is it better to use a magical artifact immediately, to increase one's power, or is it better to dismantle it, hoping to gather is secrets and to be able, perhaps, to reproduce it later?
  
• Ambition vs. Vigilance: For example, is it better to risk one's current position in a military or diplomatic conflict to try to gain a better position? Or is it better to fortify oneself?

In most of the cases, the choices will reveal and highlight one principle that seems more natural and important for the candidate, thus naturally directing them into the right Order. In case of doubts, more tests can be done (including a tripartite test when the candidate must choose between three options: Ambition, Vigilance, or Curiosity).

And what about alignment?

The interesting part is that all imposes little on the candidate's own alignment:

You could be ambitious, while remaining good. And you can be prudent while remaining evil.

But one can't deny that most good-aligned characters will join the White Robes, and that ambition without a strong "Good" compass leads naturally to evil.

So, while this says nothing about the mage's alignment in rule terms, it is easy (and often correct), when coming from outside, to use the simplistic, approximated approach of considering a White Robe to be good, and a Black Robes to be evil.

Conclusion

Using this variation on the Orders of High Sorcery, you can both enrich the concept behind the Orders of High Sorcery, and make it more palatable for those bored by a naive "good vs. evil" concept, while still keeping the traditional Good/Neutral/Evil approach that had always be part of the Orders of High Sorcery in Dragonlance.