Magisterium

The Magisterium, officially the Magisterial Organisation of Scholars, Mages and Artisans, is an international organisation in Var Venail. It is the grouping of the overwhelming majority of scholars, mages, inventors, artists and advisors in Var Venail. Although nominally centrally controlled, it is in effect run with many separate branches, for different regions and topics, which act independently. It is extremely influential at all levels of society. It provides training for most mages which themselves are very influential. All of the Magisterium's members, regardless of magical aptitude, are called magisters. Colloquially the Magisterium is also known by its acronym in Hos, DIREN. 
The Magisterium has no headquarters. Instead, a magister from each branch is elected by his peers and sent to the Magisterial Council, each year organised in a different city. Most often it takes place in Sargot, Varul, Hosaq, Onanelh or Silur. The individual branches often function on a similar principle on a different scale. 
The Magisterium was initially a secret organisation made up of the elven elite during and following the Departure. Its goal was initially to protect the interests of the elven elite. During the first century of the New Age, it began integrating humans. These were also representing the human elite, but instead of kings directly being members they would send their advisors. As it increasingly became clear that elven influence would be limited to the two remnant-states, those seeking to preserve elven influence departed. This only left mages and scholars, also part of the elite. They had already used the Magisterium as a way to coordinate and share their research, but were now free to do so openly.
The Magisterium continued to function as a secret organisation for many years until the establishment of the Hosaq Empire. Several imperial decrees prohibited the existence of non-governmental organisations. As such, the Magisterium officially placed itself under the patronage of the emperor, and it was spared for having done so. It utilised the newly found stability and ease of travel to expand Aislinvem to the entirety of the empire. It is also at this time the Magisterium became the world's principal magical organisation. With the slow decline of the empire the Magisterium ceased being protected by the emperor, and it expanded outside of the empire to the rest of Var Venail. Despite this, its presence remains reduced in territories which didn't belong to the Hosaq Empire, with the exception of the Duchies.