The Silver Ladder has two types of hierarchies: overall authority (represented by the Status Merit) and the relationships between specific positions. A position implies a certain Status level but doesn’t guarantee it; there are deacons with only 2 or 3 dots of order Status and lictors who command respect from powerful Magisters. If a mage has less Status than her position, she’s considered an interim functionary. She should relinquish her station to a more qualified théarch as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Acolyte and Claviger are the only ones théarchs are expected to hold during their careers.
Acolyte
A mage with no or little (one-dot) Status in the order, but who has been received into it, also called neophyte.
Junior members of the order have one primary duty: to obey. They follow the Shadow Law and Elemental Precepts, but whenever an unusual situation arises they should consult a superior. The order doesn’t trust acolytes to think for themselves beyond the very fundamentals of being a Silver Ladder mage.
Factotum
A position gained by the studying of the Lex Magica and the passing of a test. Which will put the mage in the position of a lawyer for the Awakened. The benefit of this position are: A special robe of office, teh ability to argue cases before a lictor and a ruling council.
Lictor
A Lictor is a traveling official who enforces the Lex Magica, acting as judge keeping the Bronze Laws. As such, Lictors are invariably tough and magically adept. Most Lictors travel a circuit and serve as an informal source of news and rumors about mages in other regions. A lictor's judgement is normally upheld and binding on those Consilii that request their judgement as well as binding to Silver Ladder Magi and command the Caucus to an Investigation at Convocation. As a Lictor, they are not able to claim membership in a cabal, have apprentices, or hold a permanent sanctum. In exchange, the Lictor may not be challenged to a duel and when their time is finished, usually becomes a valued member of the Caucus they take as their home.
Claviger
"Key holders" are responsible for maintaining the Silver Ladder's ideological purity. Clavigers have proven they understand the Elemental Precepts well enough to interpret them in dif- ficult situations, but they aren’t so wise they can overrule a deacon. They’re the caucus’ emissaries to the Consilium.
Deacon
A deacon directs order affairs within a given Consillium's jurisdiction. Many deacons serve as Councillors on a Consilium's ruling body. Others do not, allowing another mage to speak for the; a few even conceal their true station. Aside from attending annual Convocations, a deacon enforces discipline and coordinates the Silver Ladder's local efforts to bring mages under strong, central rule.
Other Structures
The Magisterium
Every Magister is a Deacon, but not all Deacons are Magisters.
- Chancellor
- Harlequin
- Orichalcum Stick
- Scribe
- Talonist
Cryptopoly
- Mages
- Sleepers
- Hiereoi
- Technoi
- Polemarchs
- Stratiotoi
- Bardoi
- Demoi
