The Archmage's Archmage

Shai arrived in the port city of Mahdaşa after an arduous journey across the seas. There, they quickly attracted the attention of the Merchant Queen when their aptitude for magic garnered swift and unwholesome attention from the mages and merchants who sought to exploit it. Being an outsider, Shai was unaware of Mahdaşa's shady reputation, and that magic had been banned across the Ilkonu continent save for the lawless port city.

According to Shai, the continent they came from, across the sea, operates as a mageocracy where magic isn't only legal, but mages make up the entirety of the ruling class. Shai, themself, had been tutored in spellweaving from a very young age, and because of their learned talent for magic, The Merchant Queen has employed them as her very own archmage.