With regards to scholar characters, I'm not quite sure I see the issue. Wouldn't a player who wanted to be a scholar and chose to be say, a bard, have to be part mage anyway? I don't see how that would be any different in this setting.
It just seemed that a scholar would be especially attractive in this setting, but that it would bring more baggage in this setting than in a more traditional setting. But as long as no one is bothered by that, no issue.
