A Decrepit Magus can:
Retreat to his Sanctum (which is still protected until he dies)
Teach. A season of their tutoring will be a better deal than some young whipersnapper able to walk.
Write their memoirs (and defame all the people they knew when young).
Go out in a Blaze of Glory or the biggest magical backlash seen this century.
Most of them know enough about the risks of Wizard War or just Certamen to be discreet in their demands upon the Covenant’s resources.
Or turn to diabolism to try and shift their decrepitude crises onto someone or something else (like a sacrificial animal). Boost their stats to hide their decrepitude…
I’ve always thought the sheer volume of mystery cults mean they are options, not all existent. If every mystery cult in every publication existed, all magi would be in a cult, and some in 2 or 3.
Nearly every immortality path has some downsides. Bjornaer become more and less than human, same as Merinita going to Faerie. In essence, who the magi truly is, does die. I’m thinking many magi accept there is an end.
This is more along the lines of what I meant by “retirement”.
The Magus no longer has any duties they have to perform for the Covenant but instead the Covenant still supports them by allowing them to keep a Sanctum while receiving what amounts to a pension from the Covenant - food, board, Vis etc.
What the Maga does with their time and pension is their business.
This thread was inspired by a documentary where actuaries from a Friendly/Benefit Society determined that Cholera was caught by drinking from a contaminated well.
The cholera outbreak was draining the Friendly/Benefit Society funds by causing too many death benefit pay-outs.
So while such a Friendly/Benefit Society might be anachronistic for ME, surely it was know that Roman Legionaires were pensioned off with farmland after 20 years of service.
Pensioned of with farmland still means running a farm. Not what we think of as retirement today.
Isn’t the limiting factor for the active life of a mage the amount of warping he accumulates, and not decreptitude/old age? The implication is that a) they are not feeble b) they can prolong their life by abstaining from magic.
True, a farm is an subsistence/income stream that you need to put work into. Hopefully you get married, produce kids who will work the farm and support you after you are too decrepit.
What is the ME term I should have used instead of “retirement”?
Don’t forget the possibility of Cautious Sorcerer and Mastered Spells.
And House Jerbiton seems to think it is gauche to continue to pursue further magic development after a certain point.
So I'm playing a Guernicus who's very big on teaching law and basic premodern investigative methods. Like William of Baskerville, but without me having the actual historical study of Eco.
I'm probably going to 'retire' him from active magical duty sooner or later, because he's also got Twilight Prone, so dying of old age is a relatively minor threat. But he can still write his summae and tractatus, and still do some incredibly competent ability tutoring for other mages and apprentices, he just needs a cottage out a ways from the heavy magical auras of the rest of covenant, and his goats.
I think the Guernicus is a good example for retirement: The magus has reached a point where they no longer can safely perform their assigned tasks. This could be a combat magus who is becoming to frail. A Quesitor who has too much warping and can't cast their investigative spells. A Verditius with arthritis who cannot work his craft. The research magus who is now nearly blind and can't properly monitor his experiments.
Retire/refrain from active duty: Become a teacher, a mentor, look to create your legacy by progeny, by apprentices, by passing on your knowledge so it will continue. Sell your lab notes to your Housemates
Find a new interest to pursue. The combat mage has retired to research and enchanting. The Verditius stops crafting and starts designing spells or delving into secrets. The Jerbiton has purchased a vineyard and now makes wine. Putter around and pursue a random hobby that has nothing to do with magic, like collecting rare stones or expensive wines.
Seek Eternality: Look for immortal options to remove the age or dangers, delving into dark paths or other ways to shrug off the mortal coil and continue ot pursue your magical obsession.
JUST KEEP GOING ANYWAY. Sure, it's risky. But I'm better than the rest of the world. Maybe seek paths to continue such as a combat mage making enchanted items to protect him and still fight. The verditius creates new magic items to compensate for his bad joints. The Quaesitor may be BLIND but he can SMELL COLORS now.
Well, now I'll just start writing books. I can do that safely.
Get into Hermetic politics.
A verdituous with arthritis could, in principal, seek out a legendary healer to remove the affliction or boost their dex.
taking an apprentice who can risk the warping for you is an option as well...
All good examples.
But the original post was asking - does the Covenant support them in old age/"retirement"?
How is this written up in the Covenant charter?
I think the answer usually that they may retire from the work, but they won't retire from the status and its privileges. Every covenant undertakes to look after its magi. And most mages hope to be old some day.
There are covenants where magi are expected to do service for the covenant to get its privileges. An elderly mage might be politely told that he seems to have no further need for a vis allocation, and he is expected to give other magi priority to popular books (given his great depth of knowledge already attained).