Examples of Magical Ability by Ethnicity/Nation (circa 1000)
by Michael Berry
we did those up some years ago when doing the Glantrian detailing.. and having to tackle a fundemental question...
just how many wizards (and M36) does Glantri have...
by using the base percentage Dawn of the Emporers gave us. The funny point being that there has never been an intelligence requirement for magic users.. so what stops shear numbers of magic users from overwhelming the setting.
DotW gave us a hard figure of a percentage that could.. not might.. but COULD use magic. The undetailed point was .. what was it that determined who could use magic and who couldn't. I attributed it to a biological thing in my detailing but .. regardless of the details.. we did have a firm top line baseline to work that not everyone could use magic and the most magical nation had a top line percentage which for the other nations you just adjusted downward (or match with the Flaemish who consist of the largest ethnic group in Glantri).
5% sounded like a good 'norm'.. the more magically inclined races go up from there. We added the variable that not every person who had the ability to use magic will be recognized and educated as such. Plus as a final variable we added in national character, in particular high bureaucratic nations that will strike to find those with the talent and educate them. In particular Thyatis and Glantri and largely for the same reason... to shorten the long odds against Alphatia.. which as the numbers show. They could... and if one goes by the WotI.. they largely did. ALphatians magical edge sounds impressive unless they are fighting everyone else and then the numbers get evened up rather quickly.
long answer but short answer.. one number was canon.. the percentage of Alphatians able to use magic. From there it was mere logical extrapolation. Which funny enough.. one the first try we did.. came up with those 1000 wizards on the Council. Didn't even have to fudge variables to arrive at that number.
as far as Karameikos.. one could say that 50% catch and retention was a kind.. yet gross overestimated of what Karameikos was capable of being a fledging country and not centralized much. Probably enough to say to say they had no more than single digit M36
plus as any observer of the GAZ series should quickly realize.. NPC's especially early.. were significantly under leveled. Level 15 was often a 'boss' level for NPC's. That whole 'Companion' thing yet very very few Master level NPC's. Besides Teldon wouldn't necessarily need to be an Archmage much less an M36.. he was just the schumk trying to work with what he had and volunteered for the job. Most wizards are probably a bit too wrapped up into themselves to devote their time to educating some hayseeds in from the country...