But doesn't that go against the everyone has the same opportunities and such
Just because everyone is afforded the same opportunities, does not mean that everyone will succeed at these opportunities. There are still requirements, both IC and OOC for many things, not
just magic-related things. Rangers are a good example, as are various houses (most of which are
not staff run). In fact, there are members of staff who have failed to meet one or more of the requirements.
Because all of the staff have to agree to it I believe, and in the end the player has to RP well enough to get anywhere near these people, then RP at tip top performance to meet standards, while taking all of the risks which will lead to many of them dying. Infact, if I had a bias for someone because I know them more and loved their character, I would advice them /against/ magic, because it could very easily perma-kill or otherwise maim their character and end any carrier in magic they could have had. Remember that while staff are human and can't be free of bias, they are free of bias when it comes to enforcing the rules, and taking consequences is one of them. In the end being biased would get them thrown out of staff position /very/ quickly, not to mention anyone bringing up the argument "The staff won't share because they are biased" wouldn't be eligible for magic anyway in my mind, as that's just being selfish for IC powers you don't have entitlement to.
While I appreciate the sentiment, and agree with some of what you're saying, I would have put it quite differently. Anyone can RP with each Magus without having some sort of "audition."
I can agree with most of what you're saying. However I ask you this, how many mages do we have running around Altera currently?
As magic is a part of the lore, yes, there has to be heavy staff oversight. The current number of mages, in my
honest opinion, is more heavily related to various staff-things that have put a lot of uncertainty and doubt into the minds of
all the staff, including those who are in charge of the various magic schools. Whether this would be different if we had a non-staff magus (a possibility, in fact, for the future), I can't say. I doubt it. Training
stopped. There were close to a dozen people in training before things got up-ended, and we're just now getting to the point where
the mage players feels comfortable enough in the stability of things to pick training back up. So I don't see this as the same issue at all.