Mages
There is no one collective that encompasses all Mages, but a range of different orders and some induviduals who work alone. The only thing all Mages have in common is that they practice magic.
The most visible Mage order in The City, the Hermetic Order, is a loose organization of Mages, headed by a Mage Council. This Council asserts its authority by maintaining complete control over Arcane books in the New Thaumaturgy Library. Only members of the Order are allowed access to these books, and without them a Mage cannot hope to improve their skills in any significant way. Copying or removing texts from the library is strictly prohibited so that the Council may retain their monopoly (they claim it is to ensure 'quality control' over magical texts and to guard against damage or theft). If the Council learns of arcane texts in the city that are owned independently (foreign mages or those who have discovered them in ancient ruins), the Mages are 'invited' to join the Order and turn over the text. If they refuse, they are blacklisted.
Mages tend to run in families and many of the more powerful nobles in the city sit on the Mage Council. But while many people are born with the talent to use magic, few of them achieve the knowledge and strength to pass the applications tests of the Order. They must also be taught the "Wizard's Tongue"--the special language that books of magic are written in to keep their secrets from outsiders. When a wizard passes the application test, they become an official member of the Order, and are given a talismen to identify them. These talismans are magically bonded to the Mage and are used as their pass to the secret rooms in the library. A talisman could be a staff, an amulet, a ring, or something else significant to the mage.
Nobles looking to hire wizards usually go to the Hermetic Order first, and merchants know that donations to the library are good ways to get 'lucky breaks', like fair winds for their ships. The Council can also forbid Mages for working for a particular family, so if a noble offends the Council, they will find it difficult to hire a Mage.
The Council rarely keeps tabs on what other Mages are doing, investigating only if there is a serious complaint. As long as they don't draw unwanted attention to the Order (like working illegal magic in the open), and don't go against the rare edicts of the Council (like not working for a particular noble house), Mages are free to do what they like. Magic cannot always be detected by the five senses and so many con artists make a living pretending to do magic for money. It is believed that many freelance Mages who do not know the Tongue speak gibberish in order to impress their gullible clients. Others are simply intoxicated old tramps or the mentally ill who are incorrectly venerated by their community as Mages.
Recent history has seen a shift in what is deemed acceptable by the Hermetic Order, mostly due to increased pressure from the powerful Builders Faction. They have continually sought to distance themselves from their Pagan origins. Necromancy, once widely practiced, was outlawed completely by the Order. Even more recently, there has been somewhat of an exodus to the Inventor's Guild. Many young men from middle class families who would a few years earlier have become apprentices to a Mage now enter the Inventor's Guild instead, which does not favour families of noble blood.
