iso9001 said:
Kanese S said:
It gets murky, since as you say, "High Mage" definitely seems to be a formal title in the Malazan military as well as used outside it.
At least at the Siege of Pale, there were three identifiable tiers of mages. Squad Mages, who seemed to be, like Quick Ben, attached to small military units, Cadre Mages, who seemed to be part of a group of mages assigned to that particular army, more powerful (at least in name) than the squad mages, and High Mages, folks like Tayschrenn and Nightchill, who were called in from elsewhere, specifically for that assignment.
Being a High Mage seems to be a pretty damn Big Deal.
At least if I'm remembering right, there don't seem to ever be that many of them at once. Rare enough so that not even every field army gets one. Using multiple High Mages at once at Pale really seemed to widen people's eyes a bit in-universe.
I seem to remember the reaction during the Siege of Pale. There was also a terror-like shock when Gesler and his team was getting out of Aren (was it Aren?) along with Heboric when a High Mage entered the scene. They were all holding their breaths
Regards
The Gesler and co scene was at the start of DG when Kulp and the Marines set out ... The marine outpost is attacked and Kulp noted there's a High Mage among the Whirlwind rebels... He seems to be using the term to explain the level of power he's up against, but note that Kulp, a 'mere' squad mage, manages to push back the High Mage.