Commission

Overview

The Imperial Senate has the power to commission important projects or great works of construction that will benefit the Empire. Any Imperial citizen can make use of mithril, weirwood or white granite they have purchased to improve a resource they own. But regardless of how much wealth they possess, no citizen can recruit their own army or simply order the construction of a great work unless they have been granted the authority to do so by a Senate motion or by a title such as Bearer of an Imperial Wayleave, Legion Engineer or Arcane Architect.

Most commissions automatically result in the creation of a new Imperial title, for example raising a new army causes the creation of a new Imperial general. Creating this title is an integral part of the commission and does not require a second motion to be considered by the Senate.

Creating a New Commission

The following pages describe the current library of known commissions distilled from the ledgers maintained by the Imperial civil service. We will maintain this list with any new forms of commissions that develop in play.

Military Commissions

• Imperial army
• Imperial navy
• Fortification
• Spy network
• Smugglers cove
• Shipyard

Civilian Commissions

• Sinecure
• Ministry
• Great work
• Embassy
• College of Magic
• Runeforge
• Folly
• Fane

Costing

Any commission that is proposed by a senator will be costed by the civil service so that the Senate can make an informed decision on whether to pass the motion. The civil service use extensive ledgers of known costs based on the desired outcome - so they can cost any request for something that has been built before - or a variation thereof - provided the citizen makes clear what they want the commission to do.

Most costs are defined in terms of the number of wains of mithril, weirwood and white granite which are required to complete the construction. Costings will also state any ongoing upkeep costs as well as the time and money required to complete the construction. Civil servants are present during the construction of the commission, so it is not possible to construct anything other than the commission approved by the Senate.

The civil service try to provide costings to any citizen who requests them, but if they are unusually busy then they will prioritise requests for costs which are linked to a motion that has actually been proposed.

Necessary Details

Whenever a new commission is being created several important details need to be communicated to the Civil Service. We will provide help or advice on creating these details on request. In particular, players are welcome to email Profound Decisions to discuss new commissions they are seeking to create. If any details are omitted then we will either try to contact the player whose character proposed the motion to create the commission to get details from them, or else we will make up the missing facts.

• Name
• Location
• Cost
• Imperial Title
• Nature

The commission itself will need a name, so that it can be clearly identified in Imperial Records.

The necessary details include the rough location where the commission is to be raised or built - usually the territory and region are sufficient.

Most commissions have a standard cost for mithril, weirwood and white granite, for example a new Imperial army requires 200 wains of mithril and 75 thrones, so this detail is fixed. If the commission can be of variable size, then the necessary details include what materials will be used to complete the commission to the size desired by the citizen overseeing the project. If the costs for the commission have not been defined in the motion, then the civil service assume it is of the minimum size for such a commission.

Commissions that result in the creation of a new Imperial title also require the necessary details for the new title. The position will need a name. If the Imperial title bears any particular duties or responsibilities then this is particularly important information.

The civil service need to have a clear idea of the nature of any commission that is being built, where that is not clear. A sinecure, for example, is a very general term, only marginally more specific than a word like "building" or "construction". It is used by the Empire to describe any construction designed to produce a fixed income. A concise overview on the nature and purpose of a commission may be relevant to the Senate's decision to pass a motion; a more detailed description can be provided to the civil service later. Sinecures, ministries, great works etc. are all effectively classifications for different types of structure that the Senate can commission. It is very helpful to provide as much flavour and detail on how an individual commission works as possible. While these in-character details do not affect the rules, they are important for the campaign and can influence plot developments involving the commission.

Limitations

Marshes

The supernatural storms of 384YE turned large sections of the Empire's marshes into boggy swamps. Any commission built in a region with the marsh quality will see an additional fifth added to the labour cost to construct it. At first there were optimistic projections that the problem would persist only until the start of Winter 384YE, but all the indications are that the change will be permanent.

While the conjunction meant that the rituals used didn't directly affect territories outside the Empire, the additional water has broadly ignored territorial boundaries. As such, this change to the labour costs of commissions in marshy areas does apply to Bregasland, Zenith, Liathaven, Brocéliande, and the Barrens as well as regions such as Drownbark Forest in Ossium.

Imperial Titles

The approval of the Imperial Senate is required to approve the commission of any significant project. Because of the great costs involved in creating a structure using mithril, weirwood, or white granite, most commissions are built to provide important practical benefits. If these benefits require administration or oversight by a citizen then the constitution mandates that a suitable Imperial title be created and a citizen with no other Imperial title be appointed to the position.

As a result of these rules laid down at the dawn of the Empire the Constitutional Court does not allow the Senate to authorise a commission that would provide tangible benefits to an individual citizen without creating an Imperial title to be responsible for the commission and any benefits or powers it provides.

Citizens shall not hold more than one high office at a time and must exercise their powers in person; those whose virtue causes them to be offered numerous Imperial titles must choose between them. In this way no citizen shall accumulate so much responsibility that they consider themselves better than their fellows.

Some Imperial commissions - most notably fortifications, follies, and great works do not provide practical benefits that an individual could gain from. The Imperial Senate may still create an Imperial title with responsibility for the commission if they wish, by including explicit instructions to this effect in the wording of the motion.

There can only ever be a single Imperial title with responsibility for a commission. Whoever is appointed to the title becomes the legal custodian of the commission; if it were to be threatened in any way, it would be their responsibility to deal with those threats. Likewise, if any opportunity relating to the commission presented itself, they would make any decisions needed to take advantage of it.

Setting Consistency

The various commissions are designed to allow players a great deal of flexibility when adding new things to the game. There are some areas, however, where the consistency and believability of the setting may make a given commission difficult or sub-optimal. Some commissions are already restricted - a shipyard for example can only be built in a region with the coastal quality. In other cases, the game team may increase the cost of a commission (such as the references to building a fortification in the marshy territories of Bregasland and Kallavesa being more difficult outside of certain regions), or reduce its effectiveness (such as with herb commissions in the cold northern territories which are less effective at producing tropical herbs such as cerulean mazzarine).

In general, the main consideration is that the commission must make a certain amount of in-game sense both in terms of the setting, and the effect it will have in the game world. For example, a great work that enhances the production of fleets could be built in a coastal region easily, or on a major river such as the Vassa or Gancio, but might encounter difficulties or be impossible to build in an area such as the completely land-locked Anduzjasse in Segura.

Altering an Existing Commission

The appearance and character of an existing commission can be altered after it is completed. Doing so requires a new commission, following all the normal rules, and requires the same labour costs as the original commission. Alterations take a minimum of three months. You cannot use a wayleave to alter an existing commission, only create a new one.

Domestic Affairs

Most commissions can only be constructed in a region controlled by the Empire. Spy networks are an example of a current exception.

Foreign Powers

Some commissions rely on the Empire's diplomatic relationship with an NPC power such as a foreign nation or an eternal. Depending on the relationship, these powers might be altered, added to, or even removed entirely. An obvious example is the ministries available to ambassadors.

Maximum Commissions Available

The Empire has limited capabilities to oversee new commissions. In a given season, the civil service is able to deal with only eleven new commissions. Attempts to commission more than eleven projects in a single summit beyond this will fail - they will not be actioned. This includes commissions from the senate and from both the Bearers of an Imperial Wayleave and the Legion Engineer which have been given the ability to commission via an announcement.

Following the mandate enacted by Luca i Taziel i Riqueza after the Winter Solstice 385YE the number of commissions available has been reduced as the faithful have been convinced to withdraw their labour. This will continue until either the Imperial Senate uses a motion to assign fines from the magistrates to the Virtue fund or the Prosperity Assembly uses a clearly worded Statement of Principle upheld with a greater majority to encourage the faithful to once again take up their tools. More information can be found in the Forwards and Rewards wind of fortune.

Some titles can announce commissions that do not count towards the limit such as the Chair of the Wolf, the Master of Rings, and the Master of the Koboldi but they have their own limitations.

The only exception to this rule is for Imperial armies and navies, which do not count against the limit of the number of commissions available.

Altering the Setting

You cannot use a commission to change a key detail about the setting or to resolve a known problem. For example, if the cleansing fire of Surut is used to purge the vile taint of the Vallorn from a region, then we will update the wiki to reflect the damage done by Surut's fire. That damage cannot be restored by building a sinecure, ministry, or great work - the effects of a normal commission are limited to the rules defined for that commission - so it cannot undo the effects of the fires of Surut as well.

The only exception to this rule is when an appropriate plot opportunity explicitly states that building a specific commission will change a key detail in the setting or resolve a known problem.

Opportunities

Opportunities are seeded into the game from plot. Opportunities are usually commissions; often they will circumvent or exceed the regular play balanced rules for determining the outcome of a commission.

A commission opportunity must be proposed by a senator to be voted on as any normal commission, but it may provide the ability to do something at a reduced cost, or in a way that could not normally be achieved. The nature of the plot will normally dictate what benefits the opportunity provides, as well as what information is available on those benefits.

Improvements and Repairs

In addition to new commissions, the Senate may also pass motions to upgrade or improve existing commissions. In the case of armies and fortifications they can also pass motions to expend the resources needed to return the army to full strength or repair the fortification. These motions follow the same processes used for new commissions.

Implementing a Commission

Any player whose character is providing wains of money for a commission, should put the coins and the documents representing the wains of mithril, weirwood and white granite that they are committing to their project in the bag that they hand in at the end of the event. When downtime opens you will be able to access the materials by selecting the "inventory" button on the downtime website. This will show you all the materials you handed in and give you options to transfer them to other characters or provide them towards a commission.

The responsibility for implementing a motion lies with the senator who passed the motion. They are considered to be in charge of the work and the civil service will liaise with them to obtain any necessary details which have not been included in the wording of the motion. However, once the Senate has passed a motion, then the legal authority has been granted to create the commission has been granted, so any character can provide the resources needed to build the commission.

Please do not include a note when you hand in your wains as it is impossible to process these notes at the point where your bag is processed.

Lapsed Commissions

A Senate commission has a year to begin construction from the date it passes.

In the event that no payments have been made against a construction for a period of one year, a motion will lapse and will no longer be considered under construction. A payment is considered to be at least one season's worth of the required materials. It requires fresh authorisation by the Imperial Senate to restart a lapsed commission and may require a fresh costing from the civil service.

At this time, there are the following lapsed commissions.

• Reckoners Reward passed in Autumn 379YE
• General Estana's Repository passed in Summer 380YE
• Hanging Fruit Gardens of Gerondi passed in Autumn 380YE
• Mana ministry in Astolat passed in Autumn 380YE
• Runeforge passed in Spring 380YE
• Holt of the Oak passed in Autumn 381YE - later successfully completed.
• Seren’s Whispering Garden passed in Winter 381YE.
• Iron Qanat passed in Spring 382YE, later successfully completed.
• Legacy of Wisdom passed in Summer 382YE.
• Expansion to the Halls of Knowledge passed in Summer 382YE.

Oversight

If the Senate passes a commission, then the member of the Senate that proposed the motion is then responsible for overseeing the project. Any funds allocated from the treasury are given directly to the proposer to use for the completion of the commission. The citizen remains responsible for the commission and legally empowered to authorise it, even if they lose their position in the Senate during that time. The only way a commission overseer can be changed is if the citizen dies or is excommunicated; only then is Senate legally permitted to pass a motion to assign one of their number to complete the project.

A character can go about spending their funds as they see fit, and can delegate some or all of the responsibility to others, but they are ultimately considered to be responsible for ensuring the project is completed.

Further Reading

Core Brief

• Senate session
• Senate motion
• Senate powers
• Senator

Additional Information

• Commission
• Senate address
• Senate announcement
• New Imperial titles
• Appointment by the Senate
• Appointments to the Senate
  • The Throne
  • Master of the Imperial Mint
  • Speaker for the Senate
  • Conscience of the Senate
• Imperial treasury
• OOC design