Magister

Non-insane users of arcane magic of any skill in the Old World are quite rare—more so than one might expect. The few sane manipulators of the Winds of Magic tend to be the Magisters of the Orders of Magic, yet even they are eccentric and certainly strange by any ordinary measure.

The title “Magister” was created to prevent Wizards from becoming too wealthy at the behest of the Burgomeisters. In essence, they are vassals of their order and so they cannot manage business or own extensive property. Instead, a Magister’s College functions like a Barony, and its Wizards are in service to it. However, over the generations, Magister is also an honorific, one which suggests that the individual has mastered of a particularly difficult art (in this case the art of magic), whose learning and position makes him or her superior in some ways to others. The title also refers to the possession of a kind of licence from their College and Order allowing them to practice their art and teach it to others. Anyone bearing the title Magister is considered a full brother or sister of the Order whose Lore they study and whose laws they obey.

Despite the respectability of their titles, the arcane spellcraft, or magic, as taught by and to Imperial Magisters, is still widely regarded as dangerous, against nature, and blasphemous by devotees of almost all of the Old World’s acceptable religious cults. So although few would speak out against a sanctioned Magister, few would also want to share the same radius as a Magister, given the choice.

Not all Magisters are required to stay at the College buildings in Altdorf. In fact, the majority are required to leave in order to pursue their duties and contracts across the Empire. Many prefer to continue their studies elsewhere, sometimes in private or within one of the lesser guilds or libraries of their Order scattered throughout the Empire. Other Magisters are required or invited to join the courts of Electors or other nobles, perhaps by treaty, commercial contract, or familial ties. In such positions, a Magister might work as an advisor, an emissary, household protector against malignant magic, or even as a mentor for offspring that have been identified as possessing an Aethyric aptitude.

It is worth noting the contracts pursued by the Orders of Magic are very expensive, meaning only the wealthiest merchants and nobles will ever be able to afford the services of a Magister (unless of course he is a family member, an old friend, or has some other reason to give a free or reduced-rate service to the employer). There are also Magisters who turn their back on major commercial contracts, particularly amongst the Jade and Amber Orders. Amber Wizards tend to accept smaller contracts needs. Some Magisters travel the Empire or the world on the business of their Order or the Emperor. A few disappear and are seen only once or twice a decade if at all.

There are some Magisters, the most dangerous of their kind, who exist on a kind of permanent secondment to a military body (like the Reiksguard for instance), training with them in battlefield tactics and the strategies of war.

Source

 * Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Realms of Sorcery (pg. 66-67).