Great Mage (Bloodforge)

The Great Mage was the title of a bloodforge mage in the Utter East  during the time of the Bloodforge Wars (648–657 DR).

Works
The Great Mage taught a number of principles of warfare related to the function and philosophy of the bloodforge and basal golems and their use in battle, together with mana and mystical sites. His adherents labeled the bloodforge "the mother of battle", a thing pregnant with magic that gave life to armies, with basal golems "the children of battle", who would serve without question or doubt. They saw mana as a kind of food that fed their war effort. They saw themselves as masters of battle who would achieve greatness through conflict.

The Great Mage also created the "oracle", a marble interface that each mage who'd mastered a bloodforge could use to issue commands to their army while they took a place high above the battlefield.

In his own teachings, he used the term "Great Mage" for a hypothetical bloodforge mage who demonstrated superior tactical skill and leadership ability. Other writers and campaigners, such as Baykon the Bard, the Epic Urus, Grey Shian, Haliph Axe, Pavisi the Prophet, and Tok Ville the Traveller adopted this term, and hence "Great Mage" could also be seen as a byword for any talented military commander and bloodforge mage.

Description
The Great Mage appeared as the quintessential image of the wizard: an old man with woolly white hair, moustache, and beard, with glasses and wearing purple robes and pointed hat adorned with stars. He spoke in a high, squeaky voice.

Background
The Great Mage is a peripheral character in the Blood & Magic game and documentation. In the Instruction Manual, some passages are titled "Teachings of the Great Magic". A mini-story in the Readme file for the Interactive Demo (though not the full game) refers to "principles of warfare as instructed by the Great Mage" and "a marble oracle created by the Great Mage" (that is, the game interface). Within the game itself, the Great Mage appears to teach the player in the tutorial mission. Finally, when exiting the game, a quote appears offering in-setting tactical advice, the majority of which is from the Great Mage. The Great Mage thus appears to be inspired by Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War.