Hcobb's Wizards of Dran

All page references are to The Fantasy Trip In the Labyrinth rulebook, unless noted otherwise.

A collection of my own musings, not to be taken too seriously. -HJC

Contents

  1. Life of a wizard
  2. Population of Dran
  3. Economy and Governance of Dran
  4. Wizards of Dranning
  5. Dranning Gate Station

Life of a wizard

Wizards are born like anybody else in Dran. Most of the wizards in Dran are human, mostly because a majority of the civilized population is human.

Four hundred candidates, i.e. 10% of all the 6-year olds in Dran, apply every year at the Dranning School of Wizardry. Forty of these are selected to be trained as wizards and half of these will fail or drop out (mostly in the first two years). And every year twenty 16-year old apprentices graduate after ten years of basic wizard education. An additional two wizards are produced elsewhere in the duchy each year through private or informal education of various kinds.

The academy kids of ages 6 to 12 are taught elementary wizardry which consists of attending lectures and practicing channeling manna by recharging powerstones. The teachers always seem to have lots of empty powerstones so the kids never worry about running out.

From ages 12 to 16 the kids are taught applied wizardry which consists of being handed random spellbooks (with a lot of swapping back and forth) and up to a dozen students are attuned to the same laboratory where they each have a 5 minute chance to cast spells from their own spellbook, then rest up for the next 55 minutes before their turn comes up again. Once the student has mastered all the spells they seem likely to they spend the last year or two writing down their spells in new spellbooks that will then be traded to other schools for spellbooks that Dranning doesn't have.

A typical 16-year old graduate of the Dranning School of Wizardry will have 28 total attribute points (I.e. a human would be ST 6 DX 9 IQ 9 with four additional attribute points), her native tongue, Elyntian(which is usually her native tongue), Literacy(as her mundane talent), Aid, Staff and up to four other IQ points cost in talents and spells. She will have a bag, two robes (wearing one), her staff and 2d-2 * 10 silvers in cash or other possessions. Over the next four years of her apprenticeship or other Guild approved vocational training she will gain and expend 400 XP in raising two points of ST and two other attribute points to be allocated freely, learn up to her current IQ level in spells and talents, and save up to $1000 in cash and possessions. She will then be a 20-year old 32-attribute $1000 typical starting wizard with a full selection of spells who has just passed the Journeyman test. At this point the new Journeyman may purchase a Wizard's Chest for $500 down and a geas to pay half her net income to the WG until the loan is paid off. There is a standing reward of $100 for "found" chests which shall be charged to the wizard or her estate.

Children trained by the Wizard's Guild to be wizards usually take their one mundane talent point in Literacy, and this can be assumed when converting Wizard wizards to ITL. Unfortunately these academy trained wizards have very little "real world" experience outside the academy's walls and so roll one additional die for untalented uses of Woodsman survival, Recognize Value, Business Sense, Detect Traps, etc. If they learn Area Knowledge, Alertness, Detect Traps or whatever then they will negate this penalty in the areas covered by their talents. They do have connections in and knowledge of the Wizard's Guild and so roll one less die when working through their school connections to find magic items for sale, wizards who know specific spells, etc.

The eighty recent graduates of the Dranning School of Wizardry between the ages of 16 and 19 are engaged in secondary education as follows:

Around the age of 20 these apprentices pass their Journeyman examinations and then work an average of thirty years each as full adult wizards.

Population of Dran

The total humanoid population of Dran is around two hundred thousand. These are divided up as follows:

Wizards by race in Dran
RaceTotal populationAdult Wizards
Humans109,000450
Orcs20,00050
Elves8,00028
Dwarves30,00060
Goblins8,00043
Hobgoblins8,0005
Halflings5,00017
Prootwaddles5,000Zero
Centaurs3,0005
Giants5001
Gargoyles2,2003
Reptile Men1,3004
Totals200,000666

Economy and Governance of Dran

From the above assumptions on population and an average family unit assumed to consist of three children, their two working parents, and one semi-retired grandparent we get 80k adults working for an average of 50+25 (cost of living) silvers per week, and hence a "GDP" of three hundred million silvers per year. Assuming the 10% tax rate from ITL 56 applies this means that the government (at all levels) rakes in thirty million silvers per year. Government employees are slightly better paid at 75+25 silvers per week or five thousand per week. Assuming that half the government expendture is on payroll that gives six thousand total government employees.

ITL 172 mentions a Duke, a Duchess, and one Count. Judging from the map scales at ITL 55, and other mentions the ranking of titles goes: King/Duke/Baron/Count/Knight. Dran then has one Duke and then perhaps 5 Barons, 25 Counts, and 250 knights. One of the Barons is a dwarf, with three dwarf and one human Count under him, and 35 dwarf and 5 human knights under these. The remaining 4 Barons are all human and have under them 1 Goblin, 2 Orc, 1 Elf, 1 Halfling, and 15 human Counts, with the remaining 210 Knights mostly matching to (and perhaps related to) their Counts.

Wizards of Dranning

There are roughly 80 wizards and 20 non-wizard Alchemists in the Dranning Senior Chapter of The Wizard's Guild. The Senior Guildmaster also acts as the Duke's Mystic Adviser and as the Headmaster of the Dranning School of Wizardry. The majority of wizards in Dran are graduates of this school.

Twenty of the guild members are teachers at this school, each with their own lab and twenty to forty students. Two hundred and fifty of these students are wizards in training between the ages of six and fifteen receiving basic knowledge of wizardry (200 of whom board at the guild with another 50 living with their parents in the city) while the remaining hundred students are sixty heroes (ages 15 and up) learning a few spells each and forty adult students of Alchemy.

Tuition is $25/week which covers forty hours a week of instruction for the wizards in training (with a hidden $25 subsidy from guild dues) or twenty hours a week for non-wizards taking non-subsidized evening/weekend classes. Boarding student families are charged another $25/week for room and board.

The Dranning chapter of the Wizard's Guild has another score labs dedicated to alchemy production. Most of the potions produced are consumed in training or magic item production on site.

A half mile away from the wizard school and guild the Scholars have their own Senior Chapter and academy of roughly the same size. The two academies have academic (and potion) exchanges, guest lectures, and a long rivalry between their sports teams. Should you encounter in Dranning a wizard who knows mathematics or a scholar who knows alchemy then they have most likely spent some time in both academies.

Adult Wizards of Dranning
CountDescription
18Teachers and staff at the Dranning School of Wizardry (and two non-wizard alchemists)
2Other administrative staff of the Senior Chapter of The Wizard's Guild
12Enchanters using the cheap labor of the school apprenticeship program
8Dranning Health, Fire and Rescue: Light, Detect Life, Summon Scout, Minor Medicament, Control Animal, Great Voice, Reveal/Conceal, Cleanse Poison, Friendship, Magic Rainstorm, Control Elemental, Fireproofing, Open Tunnel, Scrying, Dispel Illusions, Fresh Air, Remove Thrown Spell, Astral Projection, Regeneration, Cleansing, The Little Death, Revival, etc.
4Adult staff of the Dranning Gate Station
6Mercenaries' Guild
6Town wizards for hourly hire in the city
5A recruit, two regulars, a sergeant and an officer in the Dranning police force
5A recruit, two regulars, a sergeant and an officer in the Duke's guard
3A senior and two junior legal experts for the court
3Three entertainers: stage magician, theater special effects, and a wizardly bard
2Scholars' Guild researchers
8Guild members working for other employers
~6Wizards not registered with the guild (criminals, foreign spies, a high priest who quit the guild for religious reasons, and etc)
~86Total

Dranning Gate Station

There are two Gate Maintainers(age 4d+20, with DX 12+, Aid, Literacy, Create Gate, Staff, Ward), two Journeymen(age 2d+18) and eight Apprentices(age 1d+15) on duty for every 100 passengers per hour through the Gate Station. Use the Wizard map. The wizards are sitting (and studying for Journeyman examinations, or assisting with these studies) on a platform raised two yards above the floor in the two center megahexes (with stairs down to the two megahexes that are adjacent to both platform megahexes). The south wall of the raised platform has a door with stairs down to a lower level with a supply closet, breakroom and bathroom. The marked entry hexes are the street entrances, with one guard per entrance. The eight edge megahexes that aren't adjacent to the entryways or the central platform each have an armed guard (who collects $1 per figure fare, coming or going) and a gate to a different location. In addition to the 22 personnel on duty there will be 2d-4 random passengers passing through the station at any given moment. Each Gate Maintainer casts Ward on each gate and entrance to this large room at the start of each shift. On the other side of each gate is another Gate Station or a guard post. In either case there will be another guard there who collects another $1 for a minimum trip cost of $2. The average shift-week (8 hours * 5 days) will operate at 50% capacity and so collect 50 * 8 * 5 = $2000 in fares while paying out $1400 in payroll and $200 in rent.

The four Gate Stations in Dran (Dranning, Tro, Bordre and Canigli) employ a total of 16 adult wizards, 2.4% of all active wizards in Dran. They also employ 32 child apprentices, 40% of the recent Dranning graduates.


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