Wizardly rankings and classifications

Classifications and rankings in the wizardly intervention structure vary from species to species. This listing deals with the structure as it appears on Earth and numerous other worlds where hominids have arisen or are living. From lowest to highest:

• Advisory
• Senior
• Area Senior / Advisory
• Regional Senior / Advisory
• Continental supervisory or Continental Area Senior (three for Earth: Europe, the Americas and Asia, Oceania and the Seas)
• Planetary
• System supervisory or Cluster/stream supervisory
• Arm coordinator or Galactic regional coordinator
• Galactic Senior or Coordinator

Wizards who've proven themselves ideally suited for a given level of supervision and its responsibilities may be "bumped up" to the next one for short trial periods or in emergencies, and then later fall back to their original supervisory levels without prejudice (as, for example, S'reee does between WAW and AWOM). Others may keep such promotions for long periods without actually having a change in status be acknowledged (or in some cases even noticed) by the wizards they're working with. All these titles and roles, therefore, are understood to be somewhat arbitrary and fluid. The one thing that all these wizards would agree on is that they serve at the pleasure of the Powers that Be, and that what they all do together -- slow up entropy -- is a lot more important than what any of them are called.

Functions of the Advisories, Supervisors or Coordinators shift somewhat as the catchment area for which each is responsible grows larger: in particular, catchments that stretch over galactic-size regions pose particular challenges. Each arm or other major structural portion of a given galaxy normally has an Arm or Galactic Regional Supervisor responsible for the general supervision of wizards and the conduct of wizardry in the region, especially as it pertains to relationships between empires or similar associations of inhabited worlds. (Some regions have a second or separate Regional Supervisor who specializes in handling "independent" worlds like Earth -- planets not members of larger administrative areas, or otherwise non-affiliated due to insufficient technological expertise, adverse xenognomic response, or sevarfrith status.)

There is also normally a Galactic Coordinator to whom the Regional Supervisors report. Wizards promoted into this position normally come from the longest-lived species native to the Galaxy, as species with median lifespans of less than ten thousand (Earth) years normally have difficulty amassing and getting sufficiently to grips with the information and history of the Arm-Regions to administer them effectively. Also particularly useful in such work are wizards from species where a single consciousness is housed across multiple physical bodies, as it makes it easy for the Coordinator to cover more ground when investigating local issues. But almost all Supervisory or Coordinating wizards have large teams of trusted colleagues from whom they solicit frequent status reports and with whom they regularly consult.