The college of Imperial Battlemages are said to be amongst the most elite troops of the entire Empire, having mastered both martial and casting arts, but whom do they really serve?

Arguably, they're a branch of the Imperial Legions, but some also are Mages Guild members. More still seem to be a separate organization who answer exclusively to Ocato. Whom does this organization truly serve?

i would Imagine that the Battlemage college is sort of advanced MOS training school. After one finishes Legion training, if you prove that you have the necessary arcane skills, you can go on to the college. certainly a ton of the applicants will be MG members, because that was their interest before enlisting.

So ultimately they'd still be Legion.

... Ocato one of mightiest guys in the Empire?

Sorry, but Oblivion's woefully inadequate clothing system did not allow Mages to wear armor. So any wizard who calls himself a Battlemage in Cyrodiil is lying. Ocato is just a mage with a staff on his back.

Ordinators are Battlemages. Albecius Colollius is a Battlemage.

I have no idea what you're trying to get through with this statement. Are you saying the battlemages are not battlemages because they can not wear armor? Or rather, that they aren't because they can not wear clothes under that armor?
I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense. You're really making a hen out of a feather here (And yes, that was directly translated from Swedish. I hope the idiom exists in English too). How does clothing make a battlemage?

I just wrote about a 3 page response to this topic....accidently hit "Back"....and lost the whole [censored] thing. :banghead:

Real quick (and with no sources):

No Imperial Legion affiliation with the battlemages that go to Silorn. No Imperial Legion affiliation with the battlemages in the Anvil Recommendation. Wear iron cuirass and no dragon on belt.

The guards at the Arcane University are "Imperial Legion Battlemages" and have an "Imperial Watch" affiliation. They wear iron and dragon on belt.

The Silorn battlemages that help you kill Falcar wear steel and no dragon on belt, with faction listings only as "Mages Guild".

All wear mages hood. I believe that the "Watch" answers to the Legion. The others answer to the Guild. I do not know why the Order of the Lamp is not visibly represented.

Yeah, I'm [censored] about losing that post.

___TWM

EDIT: As for Ocato, he was a lesser member of the Mages Guild than Trebonius and told Trebonius to take a hike. Ocato spoke for the Emperor, however, and that supercedes Mages Guild authority.

No no. A Battlemage, for me anyway, is a proficient Mage user who wears heavy armor and uses heavy weapons. You can't call Ocato the Imperial Battlemage, becuase he's simply a Mage, by appearance anyway. :shrug:

But, I'm ostentatious, and judging using the Morrowind system, which was better IMO.

But that is Ocato's position. He is THE Imperial Battlemage. And Imperial Battlemages are a position in the legion. They used to be trained in the Battlespire. That may not however be their class.

Oh, I see. I totally misunderstood your post then. Thouh it was about mages not wearing robes = not mages.
But now I agree, that is what a battlemage should look like. But Ocato is not a common battlemage, he is the Imperial Battlemage, and in Oblivion (edit: as he appeared, of course), he is also a politician. Politicians don't walk around wearing heavy armour and war hammers, do they? :foodndrink:

Just like generals are politicians. They are soldiers, but they don't always carry a standard issue weapon and flak armour.

Ok. So it's purely a titular thing, that's fine.

Despite, Oblivion Battlemages do not have Heavy Armor, or any heavy weapon as major skills. In fact, OB Sorcerors are closer to Battemages really.

Anyway, where are "Battlemages" trained after the spire went kablooy?

I would say "Spellswords" are the closest. They have both have Heavy Armor, Block and Blade plus magic skills.
And Battlemages do have both Blade and Blunt as a major skills.

They do so. My fault.

Though they should have had heavy armor as well.. But with Oblivions skill system, I guess that would have taken away one magic skill too many.
Hopefully, in TES V, there won't be any armor skills, so we don't have to worry about it

But... Without Heavy Armor how will we powerlevel our strength in order to have large inventories full of rows and rows of worthless crap!?

http://www.imperial-library.info/intros/daggerfall_intro.shtml of Ocato's position literally being "THE Imperial Battlemage." In case some lurkers are confuzzled.

As for the College of Battlemages, I say that they're either a subdivision of the Imperial Legions or, more likely, another arm entirely of the Imperial Army. Remember those rumors in Morrowind about how there was the Imperial Legion and then the Imperial Guard, and they had a friendly rivalry with each other? The Legions being the footsoldiers and conquerors, the Guard being the elite city guards and bodyguards of important Imperial figures.

So perhaps the Imperial College of Battlemages is another separation on this level, being an organization whose members are supplied by the elite of the Mages Guild and other such organizations and put to train to become the Empire's elite...erm...magical guardians?

By this logic, one could conclude that THE Imperial Battlemage is the head of the College of Imperial Battlemages.

http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/sloadarticle1.shtml. This says that Ocato was Arch-Mage before Traven. Is that true? I never knew that. You would expect there would be some kind of reference to him.

As for the distinction of the Battlemage not looking like Battlemages. I agree. I realize that this has been clearred up, but I did wish to add my two cents bout how badly they messed up the classes in oblivion.

First Battlemage comparison from Morrowind to Oblivion:


Morrowind Oblivion
Major Skills:
Alteration Major Skills
Destruction Alchemy
Conjuration Alteration
Axe Blade
Heavy Armor Blunt
Conjuration
Minor Skills: Destruction
Mysticism Mysticism
Long Blade
Marksman

Okay, pretty close, I understand they had to drop something cause of the Seven Major Skills in OB, still, not the heavily armored William Wallace shooting lightning bolts from his [censored] you were used too in MW.

Now the one they REALLY screwed up on.....


Nightblade

Morrowind Oblivion

Major Skills: Major Skills:
Mysticism Acrobatics
Illusion Alteration
Alteration Athletics
Sneak Blade
Short Blade Destruction
Light Armor
Minor Skills: Restoration
Light Armor
Unarmored
Destruction
Marksman
Security

What the?!! Where is the sneaky mage from Morrowind? The combination of the thief and mage archetypes? Wheres the illusion? Where is the sneak?

Lets see what we got here, a physically fit mage that likes to hop around. while casting fireballs, and making lots of scene, while healing himself.


Yeah.

I thought Sload couldn't write.. Maybe I thought wrong.

Voryn here, linked you to an article from the auspicious http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/sloadarticle1.shtml, who regrettably do not represent "official documents and shouldn't be viewed as such". Most of what they say is true though, in some way .

N'Gasta was sload, and he wrote a book. So I guess they can write, or some of the more intelligent ones.

Which is to say all of them, since they're very intelligent to begin with :dance:

Exactly! :intergalactic:

Saruman! No, joking. Either they work for hire or are high ranking kiddies in the Imperial Legion.

Would it be possible to rebuild the simulacrum?

Right...arguably, from a mere class standpoint, a great many independent and non-Imperial funded organizations contain battlemages. Even entities like the Dremora and Umaril the Unfeathered could be considered Battlemages. I was specifically referring to the college, the organization who trained at Battlespire. (I realize my question's been addressed since this post, but I have been away and felt the need to reply to that point.)




McGuiver could do it.

I suppose, you're correct though. I was nitpicking Oblivion moreover, and being ostentatious at the same time. But really, Battlemages should really be mage who do battle, from a semantic side anyway. Certain Dremora anyway, and Umaril and the Unfeathered both wear armor, and cast a magic, so I guess they are Battlemages. Semantics makes the worlds go round.