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Magic users are often categorized by rank, which shows at a glance the relative power or ability of a person. While there are more correct ways to show a person's respective abilities, a ranking is an easily understood system to show which mages are on the same level, and so on.

Magical Rankings have been around for centuries, and the currently used system was developed by an international committee, hotly debated, and agreed upon and put into place by not only the Occultus Magica, but nearly every magical institution, brotherhood, and community the world over. This ranking is a relatively objective way of judging, and is often included in personal profiles, guild identification cards, as well as used to track the progress of students in one of the many schools of magic.

This is not to say that all mages of the same rank are equals, as the variances between disciplines is an important distinction, and someone's rank can be roughly equated to a Mundane education in terms of diplomas, degrees, and doctorates. Just as Mundane education has myriad subjects, so too does magical education and development.

There are three categories which are measured in a Numerical scale, and then combined to give an alphabetical ranking score. These Three categories are: Skill, Power, and Control.

A Person's Skill is their ability to utilize their body and their power in the pursuit of magical knowledge, or in the action of magical combat, or other tasks thereof. One's skill is typically the easiest measure to change, as it can be adjusted through study, practice, or even lack thereof. a highly skilled mage can make use of their power more effectively, and is therefore a more powerful, or more knowledgeable, Mage.

Skill is measured on a simple scale from 0 to 100; with Zero being a complete lack of knowledge, and 100 being the complete and utter mastery of one's own abilities.

Power is a measure that is often sought more than skill, though it is all but useless without the former. A Mage's Power is their ability to bring forth Mana, and weave it into something which can affect the world outside of themselves, or even inside, depending on the type of Magic. The weakest mages can barely summon any Mana, while the most powerful are literal forces of nature.

Power, like Skill, is measured from 0 to 100, with 0 being the most mundane of Nonmagical beings, and 100 being godlike control over the flow of Mana.

Control as a measurement is a combination of the former two, and takes into account a Mage's ability to bring what magic they have to bear effectively for their intended purpose. Unlike the other two categories, Control is a bit more complex to calculate, being one half of a Mage's skill, added to (Or subtracted from) the difference between it, and a Mage's Power. It can be expressed as 1/2(Skill)+(Skill-Power)=Control.

For example, a Mage with a Skill of 50 and a Power of 60 would be calculated as 25+(-10)=15.

To find one's rank, you need to add their Skill and Power levels together, then divide by two to take the average. The resulting number coordinates to a bracket on the following chart, each bracket of which falls under a rank:

As an example: Bob has 30 skill and 20 power. When he adds them, his combined total is 50. He divides this by two, to get 25. Looking at the chart, we can see 25 is within the B rank bracket, therefore, Bob is a B ranked mage.