If you have listened to Reekwind he will tell you the story about you and Ignus. It seems that Ignus was an utterly powerful mage respected by all. Despite this fact, he was *only* an aprentice of one of the incarnations of you. By Reekwinds words he was on of the last Great Magi.

Question: What are the Great Magi?

Reekwind says "Taught by one of the last great magi Ignus was, and as an apprentice, Ignus learned much, much... and nothing at the same time." But that doesn't mean Ignus was still his apprentice once he was powerful and respected and all. TNO taught him the Art, but it doesn't mean he was still TNO's "supplicant" until the day he got turned into a living flame.

Anyway, I have no idea what a Great Magi is.

Well, in FR history there was a point when magic was much more potent and mages of incredible power roamed Faerun. It probably applies to Planescape as well. In this specific case, I doubt it's anything more than a passing mention.

The word magus (plural: magi) comes from old Arabian og Persian. I'm not sure right now... basically, it just means a sort of magician (especially one with much experience). The three wise men in the Bible were also called the Magi.

The commonly used word "mage" is just a simplified version.

I don't think the word itself was the problem here, but rather who the magi mentioned were... Mages/magi is used pretty interchangeably in D&D books, though magi is usually used in more archaic contexts.

Well in Planescape there is really no such era when greater mages would have roamed the place. Planes have existed as long as anyone can remember and so has the blood war. In planes there are creatures that can be counted as being very old, older than most gods, such as the abyssal lords and the archdukes of Baator.

I'm pretty familiar with the planescape settings and have read through most of the rulebooks but have encountered no mentions of "Great Magi" or anything similar. I'm pretty sure it as Tal said is only a passing mention without a deeper meaning.

Well, the FR magi could always have gated to Planescape and elsewhere.

Well to my knowledge there are no references to Great Magi in FR either, unless it refers to the Magister (a station which I believe is currently vacant in Faerun) but I seriously doubt it. It could be from a d&d setting I'm not very familiar with but I think even that would be unlikely.
I find the reference to a great magi to be a bit strange but I think it's just there to make the story more epic and not much more. Perhaps Reekwind gets exaggerates a bit with his story. ;)

EDIT: I've allways found it amazing how Platter can pull out a quote from just about any situation in Planescape Torment. Do you have all the dialogue recorded or do you pull all that stuff out of your head? Either way your knowledge of the game surpasses that of any mortal man. :whoa:

It's all in the games files, with the right equipment it's not hard to look up. ;) Though Platter probably knows it by heart... :D

At some point TNO is told that the other wizards in the Hive are all hedgewizards, midwives and so on. I think Mebbe also says something about magic having become common.
Maybe the state of magic-teaching has just been diluted over time until the wizards weren't as strong as they used to be.

The great thing about the writing in this game is so much is open to interpretation. Maybe Reekwind was referring to some special faction of old wizards, maybe he was just referring to a level of skill that hasn't been seen in a long time. Since you're playing the game, you get to decide which.

I suppose the second... No matter where or when you are, there are always "the good old times" :) By the way, who tells you all wizards in the Hive are hedgewisards and midwives? Either they are very arrogant or very strange. Then again, considering what Old Mebbeth can do in her "evil twin" form, calling a mage "midwive" is no insult.

By the way, who tells you all wizards in the Hive are hedgewisards and midwives? Reekwind mentioned them as "among other" magic users that confronted Ignus iirc.

Ah, yes, I remember... but I thought by "hedgewisards and midwives and all" he meant every spellcaster in the city, even the weakest one, grouped to stop him.
Actually, it'd be fun if any game supported the hedgewisard class, and you could take it to, say, level 25 or an equivalent. Beware Bob the mighty, you educated sissies!