Azure Department for the Smooth and Harmonious Transport of Materials

The Azure Department for the Smooth and Harmonious Transport of Materials is a ministry of the Thousand Scales responsible for licensing and regulating shipping and transportation within the Realm. This is a complex task, touching on or overlapping the responsibilities of several other departments:

The Imperial Merchant Navy is both controller of most of the Realm’s transport ships and responsible for the collection of customs duties, the Humble And Honest Assessors Of The Imperial Tax are responsible for assessing those duties on cargos travelling into or out of the Realm, the Wardens of the Blessed Journey are responsible for the Blessed Isle’s highway systems, the Secretariat of Minor Charms and Baubles for regulating and controlling thaumaturgical items, the Principled Upholders of Perfected Mandates restrict items covered by Imperial Monopolies, and on and on.

In practice, the Realm restricts a huge array of goods… certain materials can only be dealt with by specific social classes, traded in specific locations and currencies, or handled by individuals with particular titles or licenses. Ensuring these restrictions are followed is the responsibility of the departments listed above and many more, but each is limited in its scope.

The Azure Department, in many walls, plugs in the gaps by monitoring and regulating transportation itself. It reviews those making requests to administer ships of the merchant marine to ensure they do not have criminal or Guild connections. It monitors cargo caravans and passes on advisories concerning certain contents to other ministries. It prepares reports for the Scales and Deliberative on the flow of goods into, out of, and within the Realm. It operates a number of docks and warehouses, including those 5 docks on the Isle where Guild shipping is permitted.