The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Wizard Academy
Quantus:
--- Quote from: dspringer1 on July 27, 2017, 08:21:52 PM ---Yes and No.
Yes - Paranet was set up. Harry has certainly provided some training that is primarily defensive in nature (how to deal with supernatural threats) and it is certain that the paranet made ie easier for minor talents to find other minor talents who can provide some training as well as some collective protection.
No - There has been no serious attempt by white council wizards to engage in any systemic training of minor talents in the paranet. So it has been more "almost blind paranet elders teaching/leading the blind" type training. Probably a few people have been identified/recruited to the white council because of involvement in the paranet, but no extensive testing or training or recruitment has happened. White Council is focused on the war and its own internal conflicts.
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Agreed, though they do have knowledgeable resources so the "elders" arent entirely blind. Both Harry and Elaine we know work with them extensively. Carlos works with both of them and is a progressive sort so I'd be surprised if he hadnt helped out with the local Paranet since he and Elaine are in the same town. And any of the wardens directly under their command are going to have been made aware of the Paranet at least enough to respond to a distress call After all the founding point of the Paranet was to avoid a repeat of WN.
Rasins:
--- Quote from: Zaphodess on July 28, 2017, 08:09:36 AM ---All the new baby Wardens had to be found somewhere. It's possible that the Paranet actually helped with that. Luccio liked the idea.
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I got the impression that they were all apprentices, since the Council meeting in Chicago anyway. We know that Carlos was there in a Brown robe.
LordDresden2:
--- Quote from: Quantus on July 27, 2017, 12:57:43 PM ---Yes and No. Per WOJ it's like any other Skill in the real world, like music or sports or whatever. Anyone can get better with dedicated work. Some are born with natural talent, but will always suck because they never develop it, while others are born with enough disadvantage (ie akin to being tone deaf) that they'll never be able to match the greats with hard work. But that's not to say that a very dedicated person couldnt reach the Council eventually. Their magic likely wont much resemble Harry's brute force approach or even Molly's natural grace, and would likely lean more toward the study and slow ritual approach.
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To a point, yes. But there are limits. A person with tremendous skill and modest natural strength might make the Council after many years, if they practice and focus and work at it. But you have to have the minimum level of strength, or it's got going to happen.
Remember, Council-level magic isn't just the best, it's the best of the best. Playing at that level is going to require a certain minimum amount of available energy, no matter how skilled you are. Some Council-wizards have lower native strengths than others. Molly is jealous of Harry's raw strength, and even Anastasia admits that she can't come close to matching Harry for 'bench-pressing' magical energy. But pretty much any Council wizard is going to have to be born with both a good dose of strength and a minimum level of natural talent, or it won't happen no matter how hard they try.
It's like a 5'0" skinny guy who practices really hard, really refines his skill, until he's an awesome basketball player...for a 5'0" skinny guy. He still isn't likely to ever play for the Chicago Bulls no matter how hard he tries.
In this context, the Bulls are like the White Council. Who can be 6'9" and in good shape, but you'll never play for the Bulls unless you work out and practice hard and long even so. You can be 6'9" and work hard and get skilled, but fail to make the Bulls because you're so nearsighted. Or you could be 6'9" and have great vision and work hard but also just naturally clumsy. No Bulls contract.
To make the Council, you've got to have the basic strength, the skill to use it, the will to learn the skills and maintain them, the self-discipline to use the magic and not break the Laws, the will to hold your own with the other Wizards, your talents have to be general enough that you're not just a magical idiot savant, the brains to have that kind of power and not blow yourself up, etc.
Remember back in the early books when Harry compared himself to a magical thug, and he and others contrasted his clumsy magic with mages like Elaine, or other Council members? Well, he was a magical thug back then, by Council standards. But the fact that he was on the Council means he was more delicate, more skilled, more refined, even then, than 99% of all magic-users.
When you add all that up, what you get is that Council-potential almost has to be inborn in reality, whatever the theory is.
LordDresden2:
--- Quote from: toodeep on July 27, 2017, 07:13:04 PM ---Yes, the paranet is being forced to largely go elsewhere for help, and Elaine doesn't trust the council, but that doesn't stop everyone from knowing that they are the ones to go to if you have talent.
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But others things might very well stop 'everyone from knowing that they are the ones to go if you have talent'.
We see the DV through Harry's eyes, and so we really don't know what the Paranet looks like to the typical minor talent or commoner. We don't know how well-known it is, we don't know how trusted they are, and we don't know if other people are actively trying to cast doubt on it or sabotage it (in fact, I suspect that this is precisely the case).
A newly emerged talent might be directed to the Paranet by the magical community, but first that new talent has to discover that:
1. There even is a magical community, and...
2. How to find them, and who to trust once you're there.
Neither of those items is trivial. A new talent who doesn't know what they're doing, or even that what they're doing is magic, is as likely to end up with a Gregor as an Elaine, or more. If they go looking for information, they might come across the Paranet, but they're also likely to come across 38 other sources as well, of varying degrees of accuracy and wildly varying safety.
Add in the fact that some supernatural predators are going to be actively watching for and trying to snare vulnerable, desperate young talents, and things begin to look kind of dire. It's a good bet that a good percentage of young new magical talents, when they start experimenting with what they can do, and looking for guidance or others like themselves, end up in the clutches of White Vampires, people like Victor Sells or Justin DuMorne, or worse.
jonas:
--- Quote ---A newly emerged talent might be directed to the Paranet by the magical community, but first that new talent has to discover that:
1. There even is a magical community, and...
2. How to find them, and who to trust once you're there.
--- End quote ---
Heh, heh. I wonder how the fact all the street level practitioners are now seen using advanced tech like the internet is going to effect the widespread belief practitioners effect technology, even and especially in those new recruits.
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