Imperial Magistracy

The Imperial Magistracy, the Judges of the Realm, are known across the Blessed Isle and much of the Threshold as deliverers of the Scarlet Empress’ justice in Creation. In her absence, the Magistrates have fallen far from their former post, but they continue to serve as a key component of the Realm’s legal system.

Powers & Duties

Imperial Magistrates are a separate branch of the Imperial Government, entwined with but separate from the Thousand Scales, explicitly charged with preserving the Realm and the rule of the Scarlet Empress, but their duties and powers are (like much of Imperial law) not strictly defined. Speaking with the authority of the Empress and answerable only to Her, there were few who would defy the will of a Magistrate… but in her absence they have difficulty exerting authority over the wayward scions of the Great Houses and Thousand Scales.

Magistrates are empowered to confiscate any property (the Empress, after all, owns all businesses, all manses, all land…) and pass judgement on any crime, carrying out the sentence they declare as they will. There is no appeal for a Magistrate’s sentence save the Empress herself, and the only limit on their power was the fact that they were the face of Her justice, and as such were expected to pass judgements that reflected the perfection of her will, just and unquestionable.

If a Magistrate’s powers are both nebulous and limitless, her responsibilities are equally so. Magistrates must ensure justice in the Realm while preserving both the state and its Scarlet ruler. They are required to be versed in and respect the Imperial Code of Law, and their most clear responsibility is to submit a report detailing all of their activities to the Office of Magistrates in the Imperial City… corruption here is reviewed, but more importantly this record is added wholesale to the Code of Law, establishing precedents and interpretations for future judgements.

The Magistrates have a great deal of overlap with the All-Seeing Eye in the mission to hunt treason within the Realm, though in practice the Eye focuses more on the treacherous and the Magistrates on those that are corrupt. They are also called upon to join the Wyld Hunt when it rides against beasts and Anathema, securing the resources and materiel for Hunt operations with use of the Empress’ authority. Finally, on those rare occasions where the Imperial government needs to negotiate with divinities outside the strictures of the Immaculate Order, Magistrates have served as official representatives of the Throne.

The greatest restriction on a Magistrate is that they can own nothing… they receive no income, have right to no possessions of their own. They are fed and housed and equipped entirely by the Office of Magistrates and through their authority to requisition the Empress’ property if the need arises.

Imperial Magistrates (at least those obeying the letter of the law) have a cap of Resources zero. All purchases must be stunted, and non-Resource possessions must be 
justified (almost always being better to use Arsenal instead). Magistrates receive local office space from the Thousand Scales as needed, the size and outfitting of
this space dependent on their Backing in the Imperial Magistracy.  

Recruitment

The recruitment of Magistrates reflects the interest of the Empress in granting supreme legal power only to those who were entirely dependent upon her for their positions… with nothing to fall back on, their loyalty would be absolute.

As such, Dragonblooded form only a small minority of Magistrates, and a scant fraction of those are of Dynastic… people whose very blood guarantees the general population views them as enlightened bodhisattvas have quite a bit to fall back on, and so there must be some extraordinary factor depriving them of this social pillar to assure their absolute loyalty to the Empress.

There is a saying, that ‘rats make the best rat-catchers’, and the Empress applied this to the selection of her Magistrates. All Magistrates are chosen through nomination by a current Magistrate… sometimes a particular Dynastic child at primary school, or an outcaste at Pasiap’s Stair or the Cloister of Wisdom, would be eyed by a passing Magistrate, but more often a Magistrate would find his peers as he passed judgement over criminals. Where she saw a criminal who by the letter of the law deserved death, but who she believed had the potential to serve the cause of the Empress’ justice, she would pass on nomination to the Empress, who could decide to spare them in exchange for their service.

The Scarlet Empress (today, technically, the Regent, though Fokuf has not done so) has sole authority to appoint Magistrates, and offers the black robes to each one in a personal audience.

The majority of Magistrates are godbloods or heroic mortals, those whose very existence is heresy against Immaculate doctrine. These individuals have little place in the society of the Realm save for that which the Empress grants them through their positions, and their gratitude to her for her gifts is great indeed. Dragonblooded in the Magistracy tend to be those who, for some reason or another, are cut off from the natural supports the Terrestrial Exalted receive from society… Dynasts who are hated by their own Houses, outcastes deemed heretics by the Immaculate clergy or guilty of murdering unjust Dynasts, and other such individuals.

Numbers

The Magistrates have never been large in number. Each prefecture has at least one magistrate assigned to it, as does each Thousand Scales ministry, Imperial Legion, and the prefectures and cities of the Blessed Isle. Other Magistrates wander the Isle, claiming an expanse of territory as theirs to oversee, with little official demarcation of their domains. In the Threshold, important satrapies have dedicated Magistrates, while others are responsible for several (perhaps even several dozen) minor satrapies.

Magistrates are superior in rank to other forms of court within the Imperial Code of Law, having right to investigate those of any rank or position, and to take over investigations being conducted by the Contract Courts of the Thousand Scales (who deal with commercial contracts), criminal proceedings undertaken by the Black Helms, or even village disputes being judged by the local Elder.

Archons: Magistrates are assisted in their work by teams of Archons, mortals who are to the Magistrate what the Magistrate is to the Scarlet Empress, acting as extensions of his authority. The number of archons varies between Magistrates, but all have at least one: a scribe who accompanies them to record all of their judgements and activities. These scribes receive a salary from the ministry in charge of the Code of Law, but many also support themselves by serializing fictional accounts of their magistrate’s activities for publishing by one of the Isle’s printing houses.

Magistrates have great need for manpower, and thus often have other archons to serve as supplementary investigators, bodyguards to secure their persons or their crime scenes, experts in law or bureaucratic researchers.

Archons are tied intimately to a Magistrate, often drawn from old friends or even criminal compatriots. When a Magistrate dies, his archons are put to death along with him, save those the Empress nominates to become Magistrates themselves. Archons are well paid… far better than the Magistrates who command them.

Magistracy of Hares: The power of the Magistrates WAS the power of the Empress. In her absence, they have been left with little to fall back on, and their numerous enemies have moved against them. A large number of Magistrates have perished, either tried for treason or under mysterious circumstances, while still more have vanished into the night before their foes could strike, seeking refuge hidden in the far reaches of Creation. Others have fallen into the pockets of powerful sponsors, in order to protect themselves from those seeking revenge, or simply to enjoy the opulent life so long denied them now that justice has lost all meaning under an empty Throne. Those magistrates still doing their duty must be cautious, never sure who might try to strike them down or how far their power can be pushed without the Scarlet Empress to back them.

Public Image

Though they have many enemies amongst the upper classes and the foes of the Realm, the Magistrates are quite popular with the common folk. Whereas Black Helms visit corporal punishment upon the peasants and bureaucrats steal away tax revenues, Magistrates pass through the lives of commoners as peerless paragons of justice, standing up to wrongs in the Empress’ name. The stories published by scribe-archons follow a formula painting Magistrates as heroes to the common people as well, an intentional decision by the Empress to increase their influence. Often, a magistrate’s appearance could calm a rebellion as he heard the grievances of the people and passed judgement on those they were rising against, always deemed wayward or corrupt officials acting outside the compassionate rules set them by the Empress.