In my Empire of Gatan setting, Sorcerers are a sort of Academic/Scholar class who engage in magical troubleshooting on behalf of their community. They are well embedded in the Empire’s culture, and have their own College of Magic, which has branches in every major town and a High University of Wizardry in the capital city.
They peacefully co-exist with the Priests of the Imperial Way, which is the Empire’s official religion, and are seen as a necessary part of society. Priests deal with people’s spiritual needs. Wizards deal with the people’s magical needs, which are loosely defined as anything supernatural outside of the neatly defined Divine spells and rituals that the deities of the Imperial Way provide. Their basic spells and rituals, and how to set up and run the College system, are a full chapter in the holy book of the Empire, the full unabridged version of the Imperial Revelation that the Emperor of Gatan own. As long as they serve their communities and don’t break the law, they are part of society. There is an Inquisition that, as well as dealing with external supernatural effects, deals with rogue priests and sorcerers.
Some Sorcerers live in remote places in the fringes of the Empire, doing their own thing outside of Imperial scrutiny. How nearby people see them all depends on how ethical their activities are and how much they keep to themselves.
Meanwhile, up in the Savage North, a collection of barbarian lands which the Empire is currently conquering, Here Sorcery is practised by the Empire’s Northern College of Magic. This is a ragtag bunch of sorcerers of varying ability, who really couldn’t hack it in the Empire proper, and joined the Crusade against the Savage North. They are free of the scrutiny of the Inquisition and the oversight of a strong priesthood. Most of the small number of Imperial Way priests currently in the Savage North are engaged in Missionary work. Convert the locals first, get them to build the temples, and then promote the same people who were instrumental in building the temple as the first generation of priests. The Inquisition, although made up of high-ranking sorcerers itself, has its job cut out in Gatan, cleaning up the last holdouts of heresy left over from the civil unrest after the first emperor’s death and the monster invasion that happened soon after. So basically, the Sorcerers of the Northern College are lording it over the locals, pursuing their own selfish goals, and falling under the corrupting influence of Demons from the Outer Dark, trapped under the Savage North’s glaciers from Ancient Times!
In both cases, they are not some form of npc-only occuptation. In the Empire proper, player characters can happily be part of the College of Magic, playing its particular political game to get ahead, or even join the Inquisition to root out heresy and fight supernatural threats.
In the Savage North, it’s less clear cut. On the surface, the whole set up is heading towards the rogue evil stereotype, which I must admit I’m encouraging since this is a Swords and Sorcery setting. But player character sorcerers of the Northern College could be one of those few good ones, dedicated to bringing the ethics of the Imperial Way to the barbarian Savage North, fighting not listening to Demons, and restoring their College to the ways of righteousness. Or they can be cynical opportunists, aware of the corruption within their ranks, curbing the worst of it, but pursuing their own plans for fame and fortune.
NOTES: The above came out of my answer to FMitchell on the D101 Discord Server, who is setting up a game with a Sorcery only culture.
