Lore-wise, the first Red Mages were survivors of the War of the Magi who needed to keep their identities as former Mhachi and Amdapori mages secret. As such, they could not openly carry their spellcasting foci for fear of persecution and so devised the modified rapier and lantern setup for their focus. This gave the first Red Mages a non-magical means of fighting while still allowing them to rapidly assemble a mage's staff when spellcasting was unavoidable. In this way they could hide the fact that they were spellcasters during a time when mages carried the blame for the calamity (of water) that had just recently struck the world.

As generations passed and the stigma of spellcasting faded, it would be acceptable for a Red Mage to enchant their focus to float nearby (likely the same cantrip used for Astrologian globes and Sage nouliths) to free up their off-hand, but the habit of hiding their true abilities under the guise of a fencer had become part of the Red Mage tradition by then.