Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-201.68.123.221-20131218134843/@comment-98.26.195.58-20140130131252

During the invasion of Akavir, the "battlemage corps" were simply the Imperial mages who deployed with the army in order to support the force with their magic. It didn't imply any particular armor type or armament, although the lore mentions they provided things like long-distance magical communication (presumably with the "regular" chairbound mages back in Cyrodiil), clairvoyant scouting and alterating water vapor into drinking water. Considering how few and valuable they turned out to be, I'd imagine they didn't want them risking their necks in front-line combat unless the situation was truly dire.