Counsellors can travel to distant places and build new cities for you.
You can see the level of civilization you have at the Castle, as well as the population of the cities built by Counsellors.
When the Castle reaches level 10, you can train Counsellors. With each Castle, you can build two cities with Counsellors (Counsellors must first be researched at the Academy).
Please note: you can have a Castle in all of your cities.