...
What are the Warden numbers at now? less than 50?
I don't think we know, neither by canon mention nor by WoJ from events.
The WC was certainly recruiting/training them up thru the final Chichen Itza battle, & I preume the training didn't stop instantly; as the Fomor and other "new" threats emerged, the WC might even have decided to keep their wartime training levels going.
But... we just don't know.
... that puts White Council numbers at 1500 to 2000 range.
That's about 10 percent of wizards were wardens.
Once again: I don't think we know, for sure. I recall no WoJ nor reliable statement in the stories.
I more or less agree with you... I think 2000 is a likely-ish number.
[ I'm unclear whether or not Jim borrowed from RPG's for this -- or even explicitly done it to pay homage -- but the founding/backstory (& presumed size) of his "White Council" is remarkably similar to the "Order of Hermes" (in the
Ars Magica RPG)... even if just subconsciously, Jim may have borrowed there... or just used the same sources to develop a similar history and organization, without any exposure to that RPG. ]
But your analysis there goes a bit further: 10% of wizards are wardens?
That's a really interesting idea.
Yet again, I think we have no surety, neither WoJ nor canonical source.
But let's take your 10% as a
working number, for the sake of discussion.
This is, in fact, a
remarkable figure.
I am going to look at that "10%" number vis-a-vis the so-called "Tooth-to-Tail Ratio," the amount of support personnel (aka "tail") needed to support each "tooth" (fighting soldier) in an army. And the answer is... a tooth:tail ratio of about 1:10.
If you look at the USA, the soldier:civilian ratio is more like 1:200 or 1:300.
By these standards, the
entirety of the White Council appears to be a standing army: a magical military force, tooth and tail.