Archmagister

The Archmagister is one of the advisors on the Grand Councilate. They advise on magical matters, and lead the Court Mages. They are nominated by the other Magisters from the Imperial Magisterium, which puts them in the tricky situation of representing both mages, and the Argosian Empire.
The Archmagister must not only fufill the requirements to become a Magister, but also be a proficient diplomat, well studied in court magics and abjuration. Court mages not only protect the monarch, they maintain the local connections to the Imperial Teleportation Network, and work as counterintelligence among other duties. The archmagister must know enough to lead and guide the court mages properly.

History

The original Grand Councilate, formed during the Nerian period to enable High King Nereus to focus on his military conquests, did not have the position of Archmagister. In 342 WE, after a crushing loss at the Fields of Valor due to the enemies war mages, High King Nereus went into negotiations with the Magisterium to secure mages for his own military. Part of the conditions was establishing the post of Archmagister at his personal council.
During the reign of Thaumus, the post was intentionally left empty, temporarily at first. The High King insisted that as he was a mage, there was no need to have a separate magister of magical concerns. This violation of the agreement with the Magisterium caused his military mages to go on strike, and is widely considered to have contributed to the massive loss of territory during his reign. When High Queen Thalassa took the throne, one of her first acts was signing a law banning mages from upper offices entirely. A century into her reign, pressure from the Imperial Magisterium and her own desire to secure a stronger alliance with the Argosian Empire lead to her repealing the law and selecting a new Archmagister so as to re-secure the service of the war mages.
So far none of the Archmagisters have been from a nation other than Castellan, though some candidates were rejected on basis of their Imperial citizenship.