Councillors

Councillor was an Imperial military title referring to the autonomous commander of a field army, effectively a warlord in Imperial service. Though there were instances of councillors during the Imperial Golden Age, the title became especially prevalent during the Herenkrieg, when Emperor Julian I relied on councillors to provide military strength for his regime. Notable examples of councillors include King Logen I of the Berskins, Veregonix and Belirand. As Imperial military commanders, councillors were also princips.

During the later years of the Herenkrieg, the term assumed a new meaning

were a class of warlords and mercenaries who were employed by Julian Saric and the Westreachian Regency at various times between SA 305 and SA 318. They represented an array of ethnicities and nationalities, though by the time of the Night of the Knives the bulk of the councillors were ethnic-Calamanns. They primarily served as auxiliary commanders in the Central District Army, incoporating their own mercenary or tribal warbands into the Army's ranks. By SA 318, however, they had de facto control over the Army and operated as a semi-autonomous entity. They were most famous for bloodily overthrowing First-Protector Julian Saric in the SA 317 Night of the Knives and earned a reputation for their cruel actions. The class was destroyed by Walther Lancercost in the Councillor War, though some managed to survive and became minor warlords.

The status of councillor had been created by First-Protector Julian Saric in the aftermath of Clements Revolt and served a dual purpose: supplementing the Regential Army, which was crippled by a systemic lack of manpower, and continuing Saric's policies of redistributing military command from the hands of a few. They remained a minority in the Central District Army until the Berskin-Calamann War of 316 dispersed the Calamanns across the region, resulting in the saturation of the country with mercenary warbands. In order to control this influx of mercenaries, Saric incorporated many of them into the Central District Army and they quickly grew to form the bulk of it's men.