Who becomes a Shaper

[Suspicious Vlish]

I'm not sure if this has ever been explained in this series, but who becomes a Shaper? How does the Shaper order determine who is to become a Shaper, and who is to remain and 'outsider'?

 

Do they choose people with natural Shaping talent, similar to the way the Jedi order chooses children who are strong in the Force? This is a little hard to believe, as such a thing is not necessary for Guardians or Agents.

 

Do they choose people who are offspring of other Shapers? Ergo. The privilege of becoming a Shaper is familial.

 

Is it determined by money? For instance, do the parents make a large 'donation'? Its funny, since who pays your 'school fees' is never mentioned in the series. Heh.

 

Is it determined by race? Are Shapers racially different from the Outsiders they boss about?

 

I wish that Jeff would clarify and flesh this issue out a little.

[Dikiyoba]

I think it's people with a good natural ability to shape and the determination/work ethic to develop that ability. All three games emphasize the hard work the character has done so far in the intro text.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Elijah]

I go on the "Jedi" theory. The Shapers look for young people with innate magical talent, then they recruit/kidnap them.

 

It would be nice if Jeff could shed some light on this in G4, though.

 

EDIT: You have to remember, even though Shaping is very different from normal magic, it's still magic. It's not some other kind of power. Shaping is just a form of magic.

[The Ripper]

See: Criteria for admission to Hogwarts

 

Translation: Mostly nepotism plus wildcards

[ThirdParty]

Greta's existence is interesting. When they decided she didn't have the right mindset to be a Shaper, they simply dumped her back into the human population. Assuming that this isn't terribly unusual, any racial difference between Shapers and humans would probably have disappeared over the eons.

[Naga]

I think the basic features they look in a shaper initiate may be a clean background and ability to work hard. Then, the initiates are promoted to novices if they show a satisfactory progress in whatever they are learning. After that, the novices are promoted to apprintices if they manage to learn what little they are taught without raising doubts about the shaper-belifs or breaking too many rules. Finally, if they manage to successfully complete the mission they are assigned to, they are promoted to full shapers (which includes guardians and agents)

[Grain of Salt]

It's interesting how the "mindset criteria" for becoming a Shaper varies. Greta expresses general doubts, and is immediately thrown back out. A mage in South End said he was thrown out for being too kind towards serviles.

 

Yet Litalia tried to kill her master, and was laughed at and told something along the lines of "This is all part of the process, you'll learn in time."

[Dikiyoba]

It probably has to do with how long the apprentice Shaper has been training (and therefore how much they know). After all, Greta knows very little about how to actually shape creations. Litalia, however, was almost finished with her apprenticeship before she tried to kill her master. At that point, she can't just be dumped back into non-Shaper society. She knows too much about Shaping. Her attempted assassination has to be forgiven (and Shaper dogma re-emphasized until her concern for creations is squashed) or she has to be killed.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Randomizer]

It appears to be mindset over ability. There are several people that started training and were rejected for their views. Treating serviles as equals or with too much caring is the big one.

 

There is a lot of emphasis in GF3 in the book at Greenwood Academy that it is more important how you use your abilities than to have ability. The mad shaper going out of control and unleashing rogue creations is the Shaping Council's main worry.

[Suspicious Vlish]

The 'hard work, innate ability' scenario sounds the most reasonable. However, this raises the question of how the Council determines whether an individual becomes an outsider mage, or an Agent.

 

Both require absolute loyalty to the Shaper, and innate ability in magic.

 

It's quite apparent every human has the potential to Shape, which is why Shapers keep their knowledge so secret. However, some are better at it than others. Yet the Agent has almost no innate Shaping ability, but is allowed into the Shaper sect.

 

Huh?

 

As I said earlier, Jeff REALLY needs to explain this in GF4. I don't think that I'm nitpicking... how a Shaper is chosen is important background information.