Provinces and Protectorates
The Empire of Tsolyanu is governed by a vast civil service beuracracy, grouped into four great departments or Palaces, the Palace of the Realm, the Palce of Ever-Glorious War, the Palace of the Priesthoods of the Gods and the Palace of Foreign Lands, the duties of which are detailed in the T:EPT rulebook, p220.
In each province there are four equally high ranking officials who are the regional heads of these four palaces. The most important is the Governor, who leads the Palace of the Realm, but he cannot command the heads of the other three palaces, thus ensuring that civil, military and religious power are kept separate and that no governor can become monarch of his own province.
However this separation of powers can be a disadvantage in frontier areas; if a provincial governor wants to deploy military force he must apply to Avanthar who will issue the approproiate orders to his local Palace of Ever-Glorious War, a procedure that may take weeks or months. Thus in certain areas the office of Protector has been established. A Protector can draw on any resources within his Protectorate from any palace to defend the area, and can overrule any court decision immediately (though any such action is reviewed by Avanthar when the emergency is past). This often includes calling out the Temple guard units to support the police (or even take to the field as auxillaries in the case of the martial gods).
The governors of an ordinary province are not entirely without military force however; they have city police units, often of legion strength, and Sakbe road and Tomb police to call on for what they are worth. In a few instances provincial or city governors are traditional Kerdu of proper legions, such as the Legion of the Knower of Spells in Meku and the Legion of the Blue Peak in Jakalla. And it is also unlikely that a Kerdudali of the Palace of Ever-Glorious War is going to ignore a polite request from a governor for military assistance if there is a clear and present danger to the province, even if he cannot be actually ordered to call out his legions.
There are five curent protectorates:
Do Chaka, which covers Do Chaka and Nemudlu provinces. Prince Eselne was Protector of Do Chaka up until his death, and the position is currently held by Lord Ekune hiBosuga of the Red Sun Clan, Kerdu of the Legion of Lord Kharihaya. The Palace of the Protector is a fortress on the Sakbe road west of Tumissa, now sadly in ruins following its loss during the Mu'uglavyani invasion which followed the civil war.
Pan Chaka, covering Pan Chaka province
Kaija, covering Kaija and Teshkuru provinces
Kerunan, which covers Ru'anu, Kerunan and those portions of Songga and Ferinara south east of the Rananga River
Chaigari, which covers Chaigari province and the eastern half of Heku'u
