Alfonso decides to head straight to the main office by the east gate, rather than chatting with the lowly juniors manning the waystation. After all, you are a soon-to-be Inspector and a Senior Deputy Regional Public Relations Management Officer of the Costaban Complaints Office- branch 001. You don't have the time of day to be chatting with the poor (but perhaps ambitious) fools who got assigned boulevard duties.
After a relatively mundane ride to the eastern gate, you tell the captain to drop you off by the the ITWFPMCR&PID office and wait until your return. The office itself is built like a fortress, mostly because it is one.
Built of limestone from nearby quarries, Castle Guleri is a testament to the revered master architect Angelo da'Maccini's expertise. An imposing citadel surrounding by increasingly shorter and squatter structures and bulwarks, it was formerly protected by a three-layer wall. The civilised armies of your people failed utterly in taking it by siege and storm. Ultimately, its defenders negotiated a generous surrender, giving its defenders high status in the Old Caliphate.Your knowledge of such history is shaky, although you know of people who could explain more.
Today however, the three-layers have long been quarried away for use in other structures, with Guleri itself being first subsumed into the growing suburbs of Costaba, and then engulfed by the city as it expanded eastward. It was settled by the ITWFPMCR&PID some two decades ago and has ever since, housed their vast vaults of paperwork and riches. Some say that deep beneath the castle are contained artifacts of the Father, obtained in secret pact by the ITWFPMCR&PID's governing board. Others say that the hidden rooms of Castle Guleri contain the invoices of a thousand thousand false allegations and nefarious bribes.
In any case, such rumours are not your reason for being here. You are here to conduct the Schmooze. As such, you hail the Guleri's gatekeeper (who is heavily armed), requesting entrance. She asks for the reason of your visit.
Of course, your reason is clear, but who are you attempting to schmooze exactly?
There are some middle management bureaucrats who organise the day-to-day activities.
Accountants who oversee the division's fine collections, payments and records.
The Board, who command the division from the top.
The Master of Horses who despite his name, controls the training of young bureaucrats as well as the care of horses.
The Master of Postal Logistics, who directs the placement of waystations, inns and the like.
The Master of Enhanced Inspection, who commands and recruits the Friendly Toads (a semi-secretive military arm of the division).
...and many more Masters who have their own little spheres of influence, some secret. It is said that several Masters inhabit offices behind bookshelves or paintings.
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Topic: The Emerald Inspectorate: A Bureaucratic Fantasy SG (Read 8478 times)