Great points you two. Thanks.
So in my magic system, level of abilities is based on a spectrum. At the lowest levels, magic users are called Specters because they practice Spectroscopywhich primarily consists of mind/innate abilities (sensing energy, entering into Mind Combat where they can actually enter a different realm and fight and if they kill someone there, they can take over their real body like a thrall, and they can speak telepathically with others with the same ability).
The next level of power is elemental basedElemancy. very similar to avatar but they also have the Spectroscopic abilities. Im trying to set strict limitations on the elemancy so its interesting, such as geomancers having to have physical contact with the earth in order to have any power, and pyromancers having weakened power on a cloudy day, for instance.
The third level of power is varamagy. A varamagus has access to spectoscopy and elemancy, but they also have access to a language based magic that essentially is spell casting.
In the background is a deeper meaning behind the whole thing to explain why some are varamagi and others are only specters but its not important to understand the basics.
Hey there Jinnambex, not sure if this is helpful, but I'll just throw it out there.
If I reflect on the system you're describing, and I try it in my own words, I come up with this description:
- Tier I magicians--they can perform low-level telepathic actions. It seems the source of their power is their own mind.
- Tier II magicians--they can do all the telepathy, but they can also harness energy from
outside themselves (earth, sun, etc.). They are technologists, i.e. they make instrumental use of resources outside themselves.
- Tier III magicians--they can harness their own energy (telepathy), the energy of other entities (earth, sun, etc.), and they can harness the power of (the universe??) through language.
What's immediately clear to me is that the 3 tiers are not all equally defined. If I put it in table form (don't try this at home):
Source of power / how it's harnessed
Tier I: clear (=own mind) / not clear (maybe mental focusing techniques?)
Tier II: clear (=physical entities outside self) / not clear (maybe recognizing energies available in outside entities, then focusing?)
Tier III: not clear (=the universe?) / through language
My gut says, if you fill out this table all the way, you might get more direction in what to name each tier. As of now, Tier I seems to be named for the fact that it exists on a spectrum--but I assume all the tiers exist in spectrums. Tier II's name makes the most sense to me, as it's tied to the magic itself, not to a description of the variability of the magic in different mages. The name of Tier III doesn't ring any associations for me (other than magus), so it tells me very little about Tier III.
If this were my magic system, I would name each thing after 1) the source of power, or 2) the way it's harnessed. These are dumb, but the structure would be something like Mindomancy, Thingomancy, and Universeomancy.
Anyway, forgive me for brazenly diagnosing so much based on a few paragraphs. I know very little about your story, but I'm sure it's great! Hope this is helpful, and keep at it!