Sage

Sage a Thread

In this context, "Sage" comes from the Japanese Sageru which means to lower. In the context of forum posting it means to add a post to a thread without bumping up the discussion.

Gaming

Roleplaying Archetype

Sages are a common archetype in roleplaying games, whether as PCs or NPCs. They are typically intelligent characters who have access to a wealth of information and come from academic character classes, usually Wizards or Cleric. Some editions of roleplaying games specifically cater to such character archetypes and give us classes where the maxim "Knowledge is Power" is a very real mechanic for them. In other sytems however the archetype can fall away to uselessness, though it really depends on the ruleset being used.

Therefore the result is Prestige Classes such as the Loremaster which was a default class to aim for back in 3rd edition when base classes offered very little. The same edition also gave us the Archivist core class, which is considered top tier in its own right.

In Warhammer 40,000

"Sister Dialogus, what is this man trying to say?" "My...my lord...he is telling me I have a nice...ass..." "WHAT!? THAT IS HERESY!"

The Sage (or Savant) is a catch-all term for a very wide category of Inquisitorial Henchmen.

This includes a huge variety of individuals from varying backgrounds in the Imperium such as the Administratum, Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus or just random dudes who happen to be particularly clever. They are often biologically augmented with increased mental storage and processing power; other times they are trained from a particularly young age to become peers in their field, or just sometimes they happen across bits of information that are too sensitive to be revealed to the population at large and get enlisted into the Inquisition as specialists "or else". They are used to aid the Inquisitor in tracking down their foes. Often they are also useful for calculating trajectories, communicating with local populations and translating ancient texts. They are also used to predict enemy movements. (Or to rig the odds in chance games in seedy gambling establishments when accompanying a famous Commissar)

Sages usually come from three types backgrounds, but the list is not exhaustive.

• Adeptus Mechanicus - If an Inquisitor needs someone clever, their first port of call might be to the priesthood of Mars who can provide a Lexmechanic. This is one of the lowest ranks of the Martian priesthood whose job it to compile and analyse information for entry into the datastacks, but they will have been cybernetically enhanced for increased mental capacity and processing power. At the opposite end of the scale, some high ranking tech priest may choose to become experts in academic study rather than applied sciences, effectively becoming Sages at the pinnacle of their career.
• Sister Dialogous - Members of the Adepta Sororitas who are trusted to have the mental fortitude to be able to deal with blasphemous and/or xenos materials. They are some of the most learned individuals on esoteric subjects in the entire Imperium.
• Autosavant - Are an unusual case: In the 40k universe there exists a mental disorder where adepts become obsessed with the collection of data to the point that they are considered to have contracted some kind of disease or meme-virus. For such a person, the collection of data becomes an addiction and goes into the same kinds of withdrawal symptoms when deprived of fresh information for too long and are often wellsprings of useless trivia that they feel the urge to share at the slightest provocation. While they may not be as enhanced as a Tech Priest, or as focused as a Dialogous, they will certainly be able to sniff out and uncover any fact when given enough time and resources.