Grandmaster
Overview
Grandmaster is an Imperial title bestowed upon a magician who is a member of a Conclave order. Each order is represented by a single grandmaster, which means that at this time there are seven grandmasters.
Grandmaster is a political title closely involved with the running of the Conclave. Grandmasters encourage members of their order to participate in Conclave affairs, and represent their order during a Conclave session. Most grandmasters also work to maintain cohesion within their order and to encourage members to pursue and advance the manifesto of the order. A strong grandmaster can organise the magicians that are part of their order and help them wield political and magical power throughout the Empire.
Responsibilities
Each grandmaster is responsible for supporting the manifesto, advancing the goals, and representing the members of their Conclave order. They receive numerous political powers to allow them to do so. Their responsibility is to their order first, to the Imperial Conclave second, and to the Empire as a whole third.
The grandmaster is also responsible for overseeing the distribution and use of the resources made available to their order. Each order receives a share of the mana from the font, and it is the responsibility of the grandmaster to ensure that the mana they receive on behalf of their order is used in pursuit of their order's goals. Grandmasters have been removed, and in extreme cases excommunicated for engaging in too much brazen corruption at the expense of their order.
Powers
Each grandmaster position is an Imperial title in the Conclave.
Guiding the Conclave
Each Conclave order is entitled to submit a single declaration of any kind to the agenda for each Conclave session. An order's declaration must be submitted by a member of the order, but it can be anyone chosen by the grandmaster, including themselves. To support the orders, the Civil Service provide two writs that allow the bearer to submit a declaration, one for each Conclave session.
Although the grandmaster is empowered to choose how to employ their order's declaration, it remains uniquely tied to the order. The Imperial titles with the power to raise a declaration may have their proxy speak instead of them in Conclave, but since you legally cannot proxy your status as a member of a Conclave order, it is not possible to have a proxy present an order declaration on your behalf. This means whoever the grandmaster chooses to submit the declaration to the Prefect of the Conclave is the only person who can be legally recognised as the person presenting the declaration. Whoever signs the writ, must present the declaration to Conclave (the only exception will be where OOC reasons make this impossible).
Guiding an Order
- A grandmaster can direct their order using a declaration of concord
- An order can only support a single situation each season
- It is currently only possible to direct an order as part of an opportunity
- Sending an order costs 20 mana crystals from the Conclave font
One of the potential uses of a Declaration of Concord is to direct one of the Conclave orders to support or investigate an ongoing situation. It is only possible to direct an order using one of that order's declarations; it is not possible for any other declaration to call an order to action. A declaration guiding an order in this way must clearly state which ongoing situation the order is to support. If the declaration is passed then at the end of the Conclave session twenty mana crystals are removed from the font to fund the members of the order in supporting whichever situation they have been called to action over.
Veil of Night
Once per summit, if a grandmaster choses to submit their order declaration to the Conclave agenda personally (rather than allowing another member of their order to submit it), then they can choose to invoke the Veil of Night. If they do so, they are not required to reveal any detail of a declaration: it is added to the agenda simply as "The Grandmaster of (Order) presents a declaration under the Veil of Night." The grandmaster must still provide the wording of the declaration to the Civil Service when the matter is raised to the agenda and as normal it is the precise wording presented that will be discussed and voted on. After the summit, the details become public knowledge as with any other declaration.
Power of Precedence
During a Conclave session the ability to speak before the Conclave - to take part in the debate - is controlled by the grandmasters. After the presentation of an agenda item is complete, the grandmaster may nominate volunteers to speak on the topic being discussed, in order determined by the Principle of Precedence.
Rather than nominate a speaker, the grandmaster may choose to pass (sitting out that round of the debate but allowing them to nominate someone in future rounds) or move to vote. If they move to vote the grandmaster cannot nominate any new speakers, but the debate finishes at the end of the current round once more than half of the grandmasters have moved to vote.
| Total Money Spent | Production |
|---|---|
| 15 Crowns | 16 crystal mana |
| 35 Crowns | 30 crystal mana |
| 60 Crowns | 42 crystal mana |
| 90 Crowns | 54 crystal mana |
| 125 Crowns | 72 crystal mana |
At the start of each summit, any mana that was left in the Font at the end of the previous summit is divided up between the orders according to the Principle of Precedence, along with a share of ilium and any bequests made to their order (such as materials or vis). The grandmaster is the sole arbiter of how these resources are used, within the remit of their responsibilities.
Funding the Order
The grandmaster has the ability to spend money to buy crystal mana for their order's vault. A grandmaster can spend money each season as if they controlled a ministry. The civil service uses the money spent in this manner to buy directly from other Imperial citizens who have access to crystal mana, and provides it to the grandmaster along with their share of the fount at the start of the next summit.
During the Spring Equinox 384YE, the Imperial Senate chose to take advantage of an opportunity to improve the ability of the grandmasters to purchase mana. Expansions to the mana exchanges in Tassato, Temeschwar, and Sarvos allow the civil service to purchase more mana without increasing the cost to the grandmaster.
Stipend
During the Winter Solstice 380YE, the Imperial Senate voted to grant the grandmasters a stipend to assist in the purchase of crystal mana. The amount of the stipend was, however, set to 0 crowns. A motion to increase the stipend during the Spring Equinox 382YE was defeated. Each grandmaster technically receives a stipend from the treasury, but gets no money for it.
Appointment
Each grandmaster is selected by full members of their Conclave order. Only a member of the order can present themselves for the title, and only a member of the order can vote in a grandmaster election. The candidate who gains the most votes from the members of their order receives the title of grandmaster. Once a magician has been eligible to vote in a grandmaster election they cannot vote in the election of the grandmaster of a different order until a year has passed.
A grandmaster serves for a year, until a challenge forces their re-election, until they die or step down, or until the start of the next election.
A grandmaster cannot be revoked by any chamber of the Imperial Synod. However, the members of an order may challenge the grandmaster and trigger a new election.
The schedule for annual appointment is:
- Winter - Celestial Arch and Rod and Shield
- Spring - Golden Pyramid and Sevenfold Path
- Summer - Unfettered Mind
- Autumn - Shuttered Lantern and Silver Chalice
Hustings
At an event where a grandmaster is to be re-elected, the Civil Service organises hustings immediately prior to the Conclave session on Saturday evening. The Civil Service will not run emergency grandmaster elections.
The Hall of Worlds is ceded to the order in question, and they have an allotted period of time (around half an hour) to decide their grandmaster. While members of other orders (and priests of the Imperial Synod exercising the right of witness) can attend the meeting they cannot speak, and the civil service will exclude anyone who attempts to interrupt the proceedings.
Each candidate receives a minute to state their case, but may spend crystal mana to make a longer speech if they require (at the rate of one crystal mana per minute as usual). Each magician who is a full member of the order may then cast one vote. The candidate who receives the largest number of votes gains the title of Grandmaster of the Order.
Crystal mana paid during hustings is not added to the font, but is instead placed directly into the order's vault at the next summit.
Incumbent
The current grandmasters are listed below - see the individual order pages for a full election history for each position.
- Celestial Arch - Xanthippe of the Lighthouse at Nikephoros
- Golden Pyramid - Arsenio Sanguineo Rezia di Tassato
- Rod and Shield - Sakari Nightscale
- Sevenfold Path - Rafael Barossa d'Apulian
- Shuttered Lantern - Tyburn Weaver
- Silver Chalice - Fausta
- Unfettered Mind - Zlata Ruznikova Perenel, The Dread Auntie