To join the council, one must go through a test. One could argue that this is a very simple test, however others would say differently. A person opting to join the council is taken to a room known as �The Cylinder� located in the Seat of Greith, the castle that houses the council. The Cylinder is a large room shaped like a cylinder, hence its name, where the applicant stands alone. The Cylinder then draws out all of the arcane energy within the person, disabling all of the spells that the person would be able to cast that day. The magic withdrawn is measured and then sent to be used as a power source for the Seat of Greith. If the person reaches the first tier of magic (meaning they can cast first level spells without preparation) they are allowed to join the council. More on the Cylinder
As previously stated, the assembly accepts new members one day every year, and elects new archmages every decade. An overwhelming majority of the members of the assembly are sorcerers, with a total of 23 out of the 271 members being bards. Any member of the assembly found breaking a law is instantly discharged (and likely serves trial for the crime before the assembly) and anybody who previously broke a law is not allowed to serve as an assembly member. Anybody who serves in the assembly is paid 20 gp a month and allowed to house in the Seat of Greith or in a nearby home that is owned by the magocracy.
The assembly has roughly 40 scheduled meetings a year or, more precisely, one every nine days. The meetings are broken into four blocks, one for every season, with 10 meetings per block. During drastic times, the assembly may be called by the council of archmages.
When addressing the assembly, a person is required to stand and address the assembly properly. This includes starting off by saying �Members of my homeland, lords and ladies of Raethos, I, <name>, humbly ask that you give me permission to address you on <date>.� By saying this, the assembly member 1) respectfully addresses the assembly and 2) activates the table at the center of the Theater to record everything you say to later be placed in the library. Only archmages are given the right to move during an assembly meeting.
The council, which consists of the archmages, has its meetings in Southern Spire at the Seat of Power, with the Cylinder being in the Northern Spire. This meeting is very private and surprisingly informal, as the eight archmages sit around an octagonal table and discuss what they will.