Exploring the Halls of Arden Vul: Institutions

Institutions of Empire

Archontean Bureaucracy

The vast imperial bureaucracy is divided into three main branches, the House of Coins, the House of Sight, and the Private House. Each branch is led by a thesmothete living in Archontos, who consults regularly with the basileus about decisions affecting the empire. In each imperial theme or exarchate, the chief bureaucrat for each branch of the administration is a logothete, who administers a small army of chartoularii, enforcers, guards, and so forth. Service in the bureaucracy is common for middle- and upper-class citizens.

House of Coins

Perhaps the most hated of the three branches of imperial government, the administrators of the House of Coins are responsible for all direct and indirect public taxation, and for operating the five imperial mints. In addition to being responsible for paying 10% of their annual income to the officials of the House of Coins, citizens are liable to a bevy of other taxes, including tolls, usage fees, extraordinary ‘aids’, and so forth. In Narsileon the current logothete of the House of Coins is Lord Alexandros Junienos.

House of Sight

The smallest of the three official branches of government, the House of Sight is concerned with the road system, with postal service, and with diplomacy. While formally a subsidiary office within the House of Sight, the Drome is in practice a separate bureau, with its own logothete who acts with full independence. In Narsileon, the current logothete of the House of Sight is Lord Rebecca Xenarcheon.

The Drome

Technically a bureau housed within the House of Sight, the Drome is the name of the imperial secret police. So important is the Drome that its facilities are usually distinct from – and much larger than – those of the House of Sight; indeed, the Drome operates as an utterly distinct agency, and its regional leaders are given the title of logothete (a title equal to their putative supervisors in the House of Sight). Special agents of the Drome are known colloquially as the Black Lotus, and are greatly feared.

The Private House

The bureaucrats of the private house are responsible for administering all property and financial rights held directly by the imperial family. These duties include managing the emperor’s personal estates, collecting revenues due from tenants on those lands, ensuring that tolls and other exactions held directly by the emperor are paid promptly and in full, and so forth.

Although its scope might seem the narrowest of the three branches of government, the Private House is, in fact, the largest of the three branches, with numerous chartoularii serving in regional offices of the Private House all over the empire. In Narsileon, the current logothete of the Private House is Lord Georgios Hellakreon, called ‘Half-Hand’ for obscure reasons.

Archontean Army

The Archontean emperor maintains a standing army composed of five legions of heavy cavalry (cataphracts), six legions of heavy infantry (scutarii), and three legions of light infantry (velites). In addition, the emperor directly controls nine cohorts of the tagmata, or imperial guard.

Each legion is led by a polemarch and is supposed to contain 3,000 soldiers. Legions are subdivided into 6 cohorts of 500 men, each led by a komes; each cohort has 5 kentarchia of 100 men, each led by a kentarch; each kentarchia has two pentarchia of 50 men, each led by a pentarch; each pentarchia is divided into five konturbia of 10 men, each led by a dekarch.

The imperial tagmata are slightly different. Each cohort contains 1,000 men and is led by a taxiarch. Each cohort is divided into two banda of 500 men, each led by a komes; each bandon is divided into 5 kentarchia of 100 men, each led by a kentarch; each kentarchia is divided into 5 konturbia of 20 men, each led by a dekarch. Common soldiers (privates) are called spatharii.

Archontean Navy

The Archonteans have a long history as a naval power, even as their only real threats by sea are Wiskin long ships and pirates from the coast of Ostralios. The Archontean navy is built around the dromon, a fast galley with one or two banks of oarsmen plus a lateen sail. Light dromons carry 108 oarsmen in one bank, where heavy dromons carry 180 oarsmen in two banks. A super-heavy ship, the chelandion, carries 300 oarsmen in three banks. Each ship is captained by a novarch. A unit of 2-20 ships is called a squadron, and is commanded by a droungarios. A unit of more than 20 ships is a fleet, and is commanded by a strategos.

The main Archontean naval forces are located as follows: the Karabisoi, or home fleet, based in Archontos; the Grain Isle squadron, based in Ostentown; the Irthuin Squadron, based in Narsileon; the Borealios squadron, based in Westholm; the Ostralios squadron, officially based in Agoreon but actually based in Arcturos; and the Iron Isles Squadron, based in the Iron Isles. Each ship carries a complement of marines numbering 1/6 the number of oarsmen; these marines are trained as, and have the same prestige as, members of the imperial tagmata.

Collegia

The seven collegia effectively monopolize the formal training in magic use in the Archontean empire. Originally there was but one collegium, the Order of Thoth, and it was strictly limited to the nobly born. Resentment of this stratification was one of the causes of the infamous War of the Sortians and Theosophs, which nearly destroyed the empire some 1,200 years ago. A result of the war, alongside general imperial retraction from Irthuin, was that magical training became more egalitarian. Seven collegia now exist, each with its own identity and/or specialty:

• The Order of Thoth: generalists; the original order, and still politically powerful
• The College of Perception: illusionists and magic users interested in illusion
• The Imperial Academy: generalists; few in number; snobby, limited to uppermost nobility
• Collegium of Macrina: academics and researchers; their members produce the largest number of new spells
• New School of Arcane Might: generalists and necromancers; follows a philosophy of domination
• Order of the Fifth Circle: summoners and those interested in the planes
• Collegium of Cinders: elementalists

A few well-placed magi suspect that an eighth, secret collegium exists.

Knightly Orders

The Black Legion

A private knightly order composed of very noble and thus very haughty members.

Knights of the Azure Shield

A knightly order that is more militarized than the Black Legion or Sacred Band. It is divided into septs of twenty knights (each with squires). Septs typically act as independent units.

The Sacred Band

A knightly order of paired lovers, some male-male, some male-female, some female-female. Typically, the pair includes one fighter/knight and one magic user. While proud of the order as a whole, members are typically more devoted to their partner than to the order. This renders the Sacred Band more valuable for heroic individual (or dyadic) missions than for large, collective endeavors.