Yeah, mage **does** have to be male, but he also doesn't have to be a macho dude, although that kind of a foil character could be very fun because I can tell you right now that the probability of at least one cross dressing scene in this game is pretty much 1. The PCs might even decide they want to try to retain their image of a girl power group by having the guy disguised as a girl whenever they're in public, but I'll leave that decision to them.