#10 – Edmund Beckett – Time Mage
When choosing historical figures for this project, I mostly looked at the major accomplishments of the person and their personality for cues as to what class would fit them best. It’s not always an easy or exact fit, but for Edmund Beckett, it was pretty dang easy. Mr. Beckett was an architect, you see, but his most famous work was actually as part of the team that designed Big Ben, one of the most iconic and symbolic timepieces on the planet. Not only is Big Ben an easily recognizable symbol for Great Britain as a whole (much in the same way the Statue of Liberty is for the USA), but its placement in the heart of Westminster Palace is meant to symbolize the power of the British Empire at its height. Here is time, the clock says, and it belongs to the British. And so Edmund Beckett was a cinch for the class of Time Mage — what else would you call one of the men who captured time itself?
Time Mages, as you may have gathered, are magically-based characters with control over aspects of time. Mostly used as support characters, Time Mages can speed up allied units, slow down enemies, or even stop them entirely. They usually have one or two offensive skills, but for the most part, Time Mages stick to the back. This doesn’t make them weak, of course; in some games, the time-manipulating abilities of these mages can be downright game-breaking.