Freemages

Freemages are mages who have either not applied or have not yet been accepted into one of the Six Guilds of Magic within Maesia. Most often this is due to the mage in question not possessing enough magical ability to merit a spot in a Guild of their element (many individuals do possess some degree of magical ability, but it often is very weak and fades with time). Those mages who are accepted into a guild are called guildmages.

There are situations where applicants are denied access to a Guild despite being otherwise qualified, sometimes numerous times in a row over the course of many years. This can be due to a number of reasons, such as a young age, inexperience and/or unpredictability of their powers, or the tester's preference. Throughout history, more than a few testers have been known to reject the applications of nonhumans.

Freemages are generally given less respect than their guildmage equivalents, or even those with lesser abilities than their own. This is due to freemages being commonly labelled as cowards or selfish, who flee from threats or act only on their own impulses, where guildmages are labelled as honorable and selfless due to the sometimes dangerous and life-threatening missions issued to them by their tier commanders that they must follow without question.