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submitted 4 days ago by Keld@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

For everyone else the role of wizard is held a priest.
The greenskin have their shamans as their wizards
The ogres have their butchers who are wizard-cook-priests and the firebellies who are just priests
Dwarfs don't have priests and therefore no wizards
Chaos Dwarfs DO have priests and those guys are wizards
In Nehekera lich priests are wizards and as clearly evidenced by their name priests
For Lizardmen their wizards are the Slann (Priestly caste), and skink priests.
Skaven are half and half, in that technically they have other wizards but their main WIZARD guys (Grey seers) are also priests.

Is it because elves were the only ones with a secular magical tradition and the empire got their magic tradition from elves.

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[-] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml 19 points 4 days ago

Cathay also have secular mages, and outside of the regular 8 winds they also use high and dark magic, often at the same time (though i think they need to be shugengan, that is dragon descendant, for the high and dark), so their magic lore and knowledge are more advanced than the Empire and more diverse than the high elves.

[-] WizardOfLoneliness@hexbear.net 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

just goes to show you what happens with dedicated state investment some-controversy

They also turned the Chamon lore into alchemy advanced enough to be on the brink of real chemistry.

[-] Keld@hexbear.net 15 points 4 days ago

Ah but Keld, I hear you say, don't the vampires have secular mages? Surely I'm not counting necromancers as clergy.
Well fear not hypothetical person, the vampire counts are part of the empire and are therefore part of "human" culture.

[-] besbin@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 4 days ago

What about Kislev, Araby and Bretonnian. Their mages are basically holy maiden priests or divine teachers?

[-] Keld@hexbear.net 1 points 4 days ago

Humans.

And Damsels are priestesses of the lady

And araby isn't real. It basically just exists to be a place that people go to kill people in their backstory, which is messed up.

[-] Des@hexbear.net 13 points 4 days ago

I think it's the last thing you wrote. The Elves just taught whatever they could to humanity (except High Magic which was beyond them).

Also the nature of gods outside of Chaos is really confusing for Warhammer fantasy. like it's implied they exist and are powerful but where do they normally hang out? Can you draw upon their power?

[-] Keld@hexbear.net 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Can you draw upon their power?

Some of them at least. Khaine can be drawn upon by witch elves to perform miracles without being wizards (By way of the cauldron of blood) and the sword of khaine is a physical object that you can grab and stab people with.
Lileath routinely hands out super powers
Gork and Mork and the Maw are the source of Greenskin and Ogre magic respectively
Sigmarites do miracles
Sotek does stuff sometimes, which is particularly odd because it's pretty much stated that the skinks made him up.

[-] Inui@hexbear.net 9 points 4 days ago

Dwarfs do have rune smiths (called rune priests in Warhammer Online) that are essentially wizards.

[-] combat_brandonism@hexbear.net 11 points 4 days ago
[-] Keld@hexbear.net 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I genuinely thought about presenting the hypothesis that it's because most of those other cultures with wizard-priests represent non-europeans in some way who would therefore be seen as non-enlightened by the racist subconscious of the writers.
But the chaos guys are scandinavian coded, although that could come down to the weird thing where some English people are still mad about the vikings.

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 10 points 4 days ago

There's also Ulric, which has mage-priests. I think this is probably why the Empire has secular mages. Sigmar himself was a follower of Ulric and the Sigmarite religion still holds many of those beliefs.

[-] Sinisterium@hexbear.net 3 points 4 days ago

The great heathen army is still seen badly in (southern) english cultural perception. The creation of England was due to warfare with danes and other viking settlers in the north.

[-] Keld@hexbear.net 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

English people when discussing ongoing colonialism: well that 'appened last chewsday, it's ancient history innit

English people when someone says a viking looks cool: THEY WERE VILE MONSTERS AND THEY SLAUGHTERED INNOCENT MONKS

[-] Sinisterium@hexbear.net 1 points 3 days ago

I guess reason of the response the later part is more due to the events being mythos in the national geist of the British people and the first part is due to the fear of possibly needing to pay reparation and seeing themselves as guilty. In the west there is no mature view on "being in the wrong", it is not fostered there and is mostly used to justify any punishment done to the other.

[-] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The greenskin have their shamans as their wizards

IZ COZ GORK AND MORK IZ DA BEST!

this post was submitted on 18 May 2025
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