Custodian of the Concordium Dock
Overview
The Custodian of the Concordium Dock is an Imperial title that involves oversight of a ministry allowing the purchase of white granite from the Sarcophan Delves. The title is also known as Die Bewaarder van het Vandersaar dok (which translates roughly as the Custodian of the Vandersaar Dock in Imperial)
Constructed by order of the Imperial Senate, work was completed on this set of dedicated docks shortly before the Autumn Equinox 381YE.
Responsibilities
The Custodian is expected to ensure that Bedelaar Huisbaas Vandersaar of the Delves continues to trade white granite to the Empire. If the Concordium Dock were ever directly threatened, they would be responsible for dealing with those threats - but also for making decisions about any opportunity related to the dock. The continued operation of the dock, and thus the ministry, requires that relations between the Empire and the Sarcophan Delves remain cordial - die Bewaarder has a vested interest in ensuring friendship between the two nations continues.
Powers
Ministry
| White Granite | |
| 256 Crowns | 8 wains of white granite |
| 488 Crowns | 16 wains of white granite |
| 696 Crowns | 24 wains of white granite |
| 928 Crowns | 32 wains of white granite |
As a ministry, the title of Custodian of the Concordium Dock allows the holder to purchase quantities of white granite at a set price. They spend their money and make their choices during downtime from their character page. Money is removed from, and resources are placed into, the character's inventory when the downtime is processed.
Shortly before the Autumn Equinox 386YE, the Vandersaar made an additional 8 wains of white granite available to the Custodian, thanks to evidence of sustained demand. The Sarcophan family say they will assess Imperial demand and as long as it remains steady they will keep offering the additional white granite, and simply employ more independent contractors to protect their vessels against the various threats now implicit in trade with the Empire and through the Bay of Catazar.
Appointment
As with white granite seats, the holder of the title is determined during the Summer Solstice. The title is auctioned by the civil servants associated with the Bourse.
The title may be held by any Imperial citizen. As an Imperial Bourse title, the Custodian cannot be revoked by the Imperial Synod.
This title represents an agreement with the Vandersaar family of the Sarcophan Delves. In the event the relationship between the Empire and the Delves were to deteriorate, or the Vandersar were to determine that trade with the Empire was no longer politically or economically viable, the amount of white granite available might drop - potentially to zero in a worst case scenario.
The Concordium Dock
Also known as the Vandersaar Dok by the Sarcophan who use it, this private dock is built in Cargo, not far from the Sarcophan embassy. It takes the form of a long pier in the Freeborn style, perhaps more suited to Siroc than Cargo, along with a pair of dedicated heavily-reinforced weirwood cranes for lifting the white granite up to the town proper. The pier is much more ostentatious than the nearby Pallas Docks, and includes an ornate arched structure at one end intended for use as offices by the Custodian which goes largely unused by the Sarcophan.
The cranes lift the cargo of white granite up to the area dubbed "Little Delving" by a Marcher wag - that part of Cargo that has increasingly been taken over by Sarcophan merchants and visitors. Two squat warehouses store the white granite until it is purchased, guarded around the clock by well-paid Imperial mercenaries. Connecting the two warehouses is a rambling townhouse-cum-tower intended for the exclusive use of the Vandersar traders and their companions - along with a modest room and an office intended for use by the Custodian should they wish to use them, rather than the arched offices at the bottom of the cliff.
The buildings provide an interesting example of a Sarcophan architectural style that sees the original structure heavily modified with additional rooms, sprawling window-box gardens, and covered walkways that, while serviceable, appear ramshackle, disorganised, and thrown-together to the discerning eye of the Urizen.
The dock is for the exclusive use of merchants and traders dispatched by the Bedelaar Huisbaas of the Vandersaar family, who bring regular shipments of valuable white granite from the mercantile nation. The merchant vessels invariably arrive with a solid escort of powerful Sarcophan warships - although there are rumours that the Vandersaar have made a private deal with the Grendel to ensure their trading vessels remain unmolested in the Bay of Catazar. The Vandersaar have also expressed an interest in employing vessels from the Brass Coast and the League to serve as additional protection for their priceless cargo.
(OOC Note: Any character with a military unit who takes the paid work action in downtime is free to roleplay that they have been guarding the Vandersaar warehouses, or serving as bodyguards to Vandersaar merchants wanting to visit other parts of the Empire. The Sarcophan family pays well and promptly, and appreciates professional soldiers who can present a menacing air. Likewise, any Freeborn or League fleet captain is free to roleplay that their privateering action involved guiding Vandersaar vessels to Cargo - or to other ports on the Bay of Catazar that welcome Sarcophan traders.)
The Title in Play
The role does not provide additional information about events in the Empire, nor allow the player holding it to request special reports or downtime actions. These details are assumed to be below the abstraction layer. The title holder is encouraged to create their own stories about their activities within reasonable limits and to get involved in events appropriate to their title during the game, but they do not have any powers beyond those explicitly listed in the section on powers.
These details exist partly to provide context and character to the role - and partly to allow our writers to use the title as a plot hook. Plot that involves the position will be rare - but all the campaign positions in Empire have these details to create the potential for it to happen.
| Summit | Nation | Elected | Bid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer Solstice 386YE | The League | Gaspar di Temeschwar | 50 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 385YE | The League | Gasparo Conzaga Di Temischwar | 44 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 384YE | The League | Gasparo Conzaga Di Temischwar | 121 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 383YE | The League | Caracalla Tarraco di Sarvos | 41 thrones |
| Winter Solstice 382YE | Dawn | Guy Grimbold the Elder | 36 thrones |
| Summer Solstice 382YE | Urizen | Amulius | 10 thrones |
| Autumn Equinox 381YE | Dranthus of Enlightment Spire | 5 thrones |
Recent Elections
This title is currently held by Gaspar di Temeschwar; it will be reelected at Summer Solstice 387YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.