Archmagus

The Archmagus (Fengese: 至尊法師, : Zhìzūn fǎshī, : Sziszon houszi) is the provost of the Eternal Phare and the seniormost nonhereditary Erudite, serving as a principal head of Infernalism only second in formal authority to the Scion of the Divine Phoenix Ascendant. Formally, the Archmagus is the public representative of the Eternal Phare, serving as the symbolic embodiment and manifestation of the collective authority of all Phares worldwide, responsible for clarifying the collective Erudition of the faith to the Scion in a consultative capacity. In practice, the Archmagus wields substantial spiritual and temporal influence, generally acting as the voice of the Scion in political affairs involving the religion, due to the Scion's traditional non-interventive position in temporal politics (at least publicly).

The Archmagus is elected from and by the Eternal Phare, theoretically recognized as primus inter pares among its esteemed membership. When an incumbent Archmagus either dies or abdicates, the full membership of the Eternal Phare is convoked to assemble at the Transcendant Gee in Fengtianmen, Fengjiang - the heart of the Pyrosphere. Details regarding the electoral process is scarce owing to the traditional obscurity in Infernalist high politics, but it is known that a two-thirds majority is traditionally required to elect an Archmagus.

Technically, there is no canonical basis for the office of Archmagus in the Book of the Fire, as the scripture leaves no direct provision for an elected leadership position in the Eternal Phare - the Scion heads all Infernalist institutions, and therefore the Eternal Phare too. The office was first created in 349 BCE concurrent with the formation of the Regency of Fengjiang, as a de facto hereditary position assumed by all Regents of Fengjiang, later Emperors of Fengjiang after 902, as a form of political legitimacy. This system remained stable until the 12th century when the Empire of Fengjiang entered decline, dissenting ranks in the clerical hierarchy questioning the legitimacy of an office which was all but hereditary in name. This hereditary system would collapse entirely at the collapse of the Empire in 1303, as Sanctuaries throughout Fengjiang refused to elect a new Archmagus, leaving the office vacant from then until 1810 (507 years) when the country reunified. Since then, the office of Archmagus has been an elected position in both official and unofficial terms. Excepting extraordinary cases, nearly every Archmagus in the office's millennia-long history has been Fengese, owing to the pre-eminence of Fengese Sanctuaries in the Eternal Phare and the wider Infernalist hierarchy.