There is little doubt that magicianship preceded any real prevalence of Magi. As the Magic was initially solely rooted in the natural processes of the unseen world and its inhabitants, that is, daemons, human harnessing of daemons was the earliest form of magical art. Modern magicianship, and the Magic at large, requires two things: a grounding of magic in gross matter of the real world, such as the flesh of daemoniacs (the possessed) or magi, and intercession with some force in the unseen capable of enacting spells, typically a daemon itself. As the most common form of magic user, magicians are a class of expert ubiquitous to cultures around the world, for their abilities of exorcism and weather magic.
The emergence of Magi required a more sophisticated sort of spiritualism or philosophy. Magi are rarely born, and even then, it’s not predictable. The vast majority of Magi are instead made, by (through various means) irreversibly altering the psyche and physicality of a human non-magus to act as each of the crucial components of magic. Should this be successful, and there is little certainty it will be, the new Magus will have to learn to perform the Magic of their own capacity. Without practice, a Magus will atrophy. About 60% of Magi are created by Lodges, organizations they are born into, before the age of twenty, with little choice in the matter. About 36% create themselves, beginning as magicians of exceptional skill. The remaining 4% are born. Magi are also ubiquitous, though far rarer, and hold a far wider variety of perceptions across cultures. In Ōchis, they are symbolized by the hippocampus.
Magi (and magicians to a lesser extent) organize themselves– thus self-policing the use of magic– into Lodges to concentrate their power and knowledge. Lodges are essentially secret societies, organized around a tight-knit cluster of Magi and their direct apprentices. Around them are magicians, who receive spells and esoteric knowledge in exchange for assistance with rituals, and operate roughly as a cult. The official Lodge of a nation is called a Cabal or Agency. In the Sasinthēne world, Cabals are the norm. In Arpenea, however, the Guild system is preferred, effectively, a short-list of public Lodges in competition with each other.