You were promoted to your position from within the vaunted ranks of the Inspectorate itself. As such, you posses esteemed knowledge of Bureaucracy and Finances. As expected in any bureaucracy, there are a vast number of committees, departments, agencies, secretariats and the like.
Formative Choice 2. From which department were you recruited?
a) Custodial Chambers: a grab-all bag of various officials and offices under the direct authority of the Custodian, they are chosen based off the needs of his or her needs. Members of the Custodial Chambers oft spend their days in the direct presence of the Custodian or his ministers or in the offices of the taife representatives. You are highly regarded by your fellow bureaucrats for such a lofty position and have a 2-4 random Knowledge/Connections.
b) Inter-Taifa Revenue Bureau: the Custodianship is owed a certain percentage of taxes from all taifes with such taxes being collected bi-annually from the treasuries of each taifa. Whilst a sticking point for many notables (with there being a slew of laws and edicts dictating what is taxed and at what percentages and in what months going through the Diet), a position as a tax collector is greatly desired by many in the Inspectorate. This is due to the common practise of gifts being given to those in charge of tax collection on the basis that they might overlook any irregularities. Due to local laws and agreements with stakeholders in some jurisdictions, the Bureau is sometimes obligated to personally visit taxpayers. You possess Knowledge about Taxation and Connections at some taife's internal revenue collection offices.
c) Order of Mujire: the Custodianship possesses for itself a small federal army; the Druzhina. foreign barbarians employed to serve as a loyal spear to the Custodian when rebellion or war breaks out, they are known as tenacious and disciplined warriors. In addition to this permanent force, there are the multitudes of mercenaries oft employed by the state, the many religious orders that join at times of war, the warrior-tenants that owe their service to Costaba, the auxiliaries from the various tribes that are not formally part of the state and of course, the levies owed by each taife to the Custodianship. As would be expected, the logistics, traditions and command structures of each force differ from each other and without some degree of organisation, the army would be in tatters. The semi-government Order of Mujire is the body usually assigned to the task of carrying out this organisation. As a member of the Order of Mujire, you spent day and night going over contracts, messages and omens about each and every force owed to the Custodian. As such, you possess some Connections to the military and Knowledge about Military Matters. As part of your duties, you have become mildly competent with a combat style.
d) Diplomatic Corps: The embassies and ambassadors of the Custodian are each accompanied by members of the Inspectorate. Whilst rarely involved in the clever craft of negotiation and intrigues, they are still considered crucial to any diplomatic mission for they are known to write down everything. More than few diplomats have salvaged a mission by reading the transcripts prepared by their clerks the day before. As such, you possess Knowledge about Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs.
e) Office of Agriculture: most of the population of the realm, and indeed the world, are farmers. As one would expect, this office is considered a major boon by the Custodianship and nearly all the taifas are in favour of funding it. Most bureaucrats employed in the Office spend their time in the field, surveying fiefs and fields and then writing up reports on expected crop yields, granary capacities, time till delivery and who gets how much of each harvest. However, the Office is always looking for ways to innovate the realm's agriculture, often introducing farming techniques from one end of the realm to another or adopting the developments of the philosophers. Over the years, this has expanded beyond the realms of agriculture and into other fields such as commerce and architecture. As such, many in the Office are involved with scouring the lands in the name of the sciences as much as they are with turnips and beets. You are no exception and as such, possess Knowledge about Agriculture and Science.
f) Inns, Tolls, Waystation, Ferries, Palanquin Manufacture, Caravanserai, Roads and Palaces Inspection Division: a government's authority only goes as far as its messengers. The Custodial government knows this and organised a federal postal system in its early years, with a corps of messengers travelling throughout the country and beyond. The taifes and many notables have their own messengers as well in order to carry out the governance of their own properties and states. The roads and river ways also teem with the myriad merchants, military convoys, pilgrims, farmers, shepherds and all manners of nomad or tourist. This kind of congestion builds up and hampers the efficiency of the realm. The obvious solution was the construction of more roads and their maintenance. And so, bureaucrats were dispatched to ensure that everything was carried out. A system of inns later popped up to offer rest and fresh mounts for messengers, and so bureaucrats were sent to ensure this was so. In time, public inns sprung up as well, with the end result of the disgusted upper class travellers building up road-side palaces and manors to rest at when they travelled. Again, bureaucrats were made to ensure that these were stocked with supplies and servants. Later on, it became apparent that landowners were setting up illegal tolls on roads that passed through their fiefs, necessitating the presence of bureaucrats again, and the poisoned candles of the Khaffun as well. After many years of continuous issues, these various groups of bureaucrats were organised under one division and given the general goal of "ensuring efficient passage along the realm's roads". You as such have a great deal of Knowledge about Travelling and have many Connections throughout the realm. You are acquaintances with many innkeepers.
g) Committee on Costaban Irrigation: On paper, the Committee is part of Costaba's taifa government (which due to historical events, is completely subsumed into the Custodial government) and is involved with distributing funds for irrigation. In reality, this work is carried out by a small number of hypercompetent clerks with the majority of the staff involved in the sacred work of Khuratah: espionage. All states, great and small, employs spies. The Custodian's is no different. Originating from a small sect dedicated to the mistress of secrets and the obscure, sect gradually grew to such extent that it was deemed necessary to furnish it with its own bureaucrats. You are no field officer, of course. That does not mean lack the tricks of the trade; you possess Knowledge about Spycraft and are aware of many secrets of the state's intelligence that would be very useful to many people. Of course, that does mean you are under surveillance by one force or another.
h) General Administration: the Inspectorate originated from the recesses of Costaba's Primal Library where scribes worked daily to copy texts and deal with accounts. Today, the same basic tasks are still carried out in the offices and halls of the government offices. Often, it is people such as you who the common people imagine as bureaucrats, the legs and arms of the Custodian government that ensured peace in the land and that every man and woman have a loaf of bread each day. While considered necessary, you have no real clout with the rest of the bureaucracy and possess no specialised knowledge.
i) Complaints Office: for a realm where literacy is found in less than 10% of the population, the Inspectorate receives a lot of complaints. You sometimes wonder if Decree 16/02/16 (a policy ensuring that every village with at least 500 people had a scribe available) was a great idea. You've read complaints about peasants arguing on the size of cheese that can be legally sold at the market without tax. You've read the complaints of monastic poetry affecting oyster farming efficiencies. You've personally listened to househusbands arguing about the the price of leeks. Honestly, being in the Complaints Office isn't great. Indeed, you don't actually solve any of these problems and instead direct it to another department that can. For whatever reason, your Call is stronger than most and you possess Knowledge about 2 random subjects.
j) Secretariat of Wizardic Dealings: a small department with the very specific task of cataloguing and and inspecting everything that comes out of Torinalia-Au and other wizardic enclaves. The majority of the department is based in the small town of Tarahachi, a small colony of Druzhina retirees just outside the bounds of Torinalia-Au. Here, every caravan is inspected, travellers questioned and both flora and fauna scrutinised. In the eyes of the Inspectorate's leadership, meddling with the affairs of wizards is dangerous and would rather leave the wizard and his monasteries alone. However, the rest of the world sees it differently, finding the goods and services the wizards offer to be worth any danger, even after the events at Provel-Au. As one of the handpicked few, you have Knowledge about Wizardry.
k) A minor department: the Inspectorate has many departments for all sorts of matters and issues. If you can think of it, it probably exists in some form (this is the write-in option).
Author
Topic: The Emerald Inspectorate: A Bureaucratic Fantasy SG (Read 7982 times)