Wardens of the Blessed Journey

The Wardens of the Blessed Journey are not a single ministry of the Thousand Scales, but five, though each share a common structure and purpose. The Ministries of the Blessed Journey are:

Wardens of the Broad and Twisting Journey – Responsible for the Broad and Twisting Tail of the Dragon (Eagle Highway or Water Dragon Road) linking Lord’s Crossing and Eagle’s Launch.

Wardens of the High and Winding Journey – Responsible for the High and Winding Spine of the Dragon (Cloud Highway or the Air Dragon Road) linking Juche and Lord’s Crossing.

Wardens of the True and Turning Journey – Responsible for the True and Turning Root of the Dragon (Short Highway or Fire Dragon Road) linking Lord’s Crossing to the mouth of the Caracal River, as well as the trade lanes of the Caracal southward to Arjuf.

Wardens of the Wide and Steady Journey – Responsible for the Wide and Steady Neck of the Dragon (Jade Highway or Earth Dragon Road) linking the Imperial City and Juche.

Wardens of the Strong and Flowing Journey – Responsible for the Strong and Flowing Throat of the Dragon (Bay Highway or Wood Dragon Road) linking the Imperial City and Vatamu, and coursing down the eastern coast of the Scarlet Prefecture where the Great Coast Road does not travel.

Each Ministry is responsible for the care and safety of one of the major highways of the Blessed Isle. The largest highway, the Great Coast Road which circles the entirety of the Isle, has no such ministry: the place of that Road’s god in the Perfected Hierarchy is direct patrol and maintenance of his own road, and the Road is administered in some sense by the Immaculate Order which maintains the shrines at which travelers are required to give prayers of thanks for the Road’s continued function.

Without the divine supports and magical self-maintenance of the Great Coast Road, other roads are difficult to maintain: thousands of footfalls and cart wheels wear away at surfaces, stones come loose or crack, mudslides cover or sweep away sections, bandits lurk awaiting merchant caravans, and peasants sometimes steal away well-shaped stones to form the foundations of their own hovels and fences. The Wardens of each Highway patrol their charge in search of such damage or dangers, wandering patrols sometimes repairing minor issues but more often submitting reports which assign the job of maintenance or clearing bandits to a local Legion or prefectural government. The cost of such operations is borne by a Great House deemed by the Wardens to have interests in the area, though this was often a political rather than accurate assessment. By law, a Great House has no say in the matter: the Wardens declare what is to be done, the Legions or Prefectures mobilize the manpower and resources to carry out the instruction, and Great House coffers cover whatever expenses are incurred in the process. Inflating the bills imposed on the Houses was one of few areas of corruption to which the Scarlet Empress was known to turn a completely blind eye.

Naturally, the Great Houses are not fond of the Wardens. Having seen the deadly fates of many amongst the Imperial Magistrates, All-Seeing Eye, and Jade Sniffers who ran counter to House interests in recent years, the Wardens have by and large ceased submitting reports entirely so as to save themselves from similar fates. Here and there, local prefects, Houses, or even patrician clans and peasant villages have taken it upon themselves to conduct some repairs, though these are piecemeal and often shoddily done due to lack of expertise and coordination. The Deliberative is still far from pleased, and debates in early RY768 made clear that the Warden ministries are almost certainly bound for the chopping block and complete dissolution... the Imperial Treasury is known to view the Wardens as an unnecessary expense and supports legislation to disband them.

While maintenance has deteriorated drastically, security along the Highways has not collapsed quite so quickly. Following the Great House takeover of the Imperial Legions, the Wardens moved to avoid House wrath by shifting responsibility for patrolling their roadways. They used as the basis an agreement that had existed for centuries between the Wardens of the Strong and Flowing Journey and the 2nd Imperial Legion, where the Legion conducted patrol and response to security threats largely under its own aegis. Today, the Wardens of the Wide and Steady Journey hold a similar agreement with the 6th Imperial Legion, the Wardens of the High and Winding Journey with the 9th Imperial Legion, and the Wardens of the Broad and Twisting Journey with the 26th Imperial Legion. The Wardens of the True and Turning Journey have gone a step further, in a move some are unsure finds support in the pages of the Imperial Registry, granting the rights of patrol and security along their Highway directly to House Ledaal.

Juche Prefecture faces a unique legal difficulty in its relations with the Wardens of the Wide and Steady Journey, in that the pages of the Imperial Registry specify the prefecture as extending along the Jade Highway to ensure that the road is 'forever maintained by the great wealth and craftsmanship of Juche'. Without the Wardens to order the rich Dynastic estates of Juche to foot the bill for the road, it is unclear if the prefectural government is required to fund the road out of its own budget. Legal cases continue to be argued for either position.