From The Desk Of The Secretary Of The Whip: Watching.

[canaaa]

From the Desk of the Secretary for the Whip. All contents detailed below are entered into the public record. Any underlined material denotes an edict attached for easy sourcing.

While I have only been the Secretary for the Whip for mere hours, I find it pertinent to begin releasing legislation that I intend to enact as an example for the other Secretaries to follow. Given the content of this, I would almost consider it hypocritical if I did not let it be known nigh-immediately what my intentions are, which are as follows:

Secretaries will be required to publish biweekly public reports of activity in their offices. These will detail what the Secretaries are working on in a public record, to allow for transparency in governance. However, any State secrets or other sensitive materials will be censored due to Imperial Privilege. Any Secretary without a clear record of activity, be it through reports or edicts, will be subject to scrutiny, detailed below. These reports will be due October 21 for the first, and November 4 for the second, and so on and so forth.

Secretaries under scrutiny from the Secretary for the Whip's office will be notified in public notation, much like this body of writing. The grievances for facing scrutiny will be listed henceforth and will differ per Secretary, and the Secretary in question will be given a period of a week to two weeks to rectify what has been listed. If they meet standards, they will be allowed to continue to serve our glorious Empire in their full capacity as capable servants of the Spirit's will. If this is not up to standard after the two weeks, I will pursue the removal of said Secretary with the full force of the power invested in the office of the Secretary of the Whip.

​

With this in mind, I see it fit to notify the following.

• The Secretary of Finance, Her Grace the Duchess Catherine Tyrannian.
  • Duchess Tyrannian is being investigated for personal corruption and abuse of position.
    • The reason for this investigation is the plain fact that, in the eyes of the Secretary of the Whip, the State gave House Tyrannian a sum of 20,000 Regals, to be spent finding the source of the influenza plaguing Lorhauser. I find myself wondering why the State could not provide this sum itself directly, and why House Tyrannian had to operate as a middle man in this.
    • As well, the Doctor Jocelyn von Duerr was consulted on both the nature and source of the plague, and it is known that within simply moments, he provided a diagnosis of it and its probable origins. Simply put, in the view of this Office, Duchess Tyrannian has given her own House a sum of 20,000 Regals belonging to the State, to be spent on an investigation to find out information that was already known and ultimately ended up useless. To add further insult to injury, the Doctor von Duerr was never compensated for his expert advisory- when asked, Doctor von Duerr said the price to pay for his consult would not be monetary at all, but simple recognition for such, which was not given in the recent congratulatory letter from the Duchess. Recognition is surely a much cheaper sum than 20,000 Regals for all the moving parts an investigation requires.
    • These 20,000 Regals could have been used to finance the Imperial Court, which has been currently defunded by the State and subsists solely on the donations of loyal Houses. (Funnily enough, in past weeks, the State was paying the Court a convenient sum of 20,000 Regals per week.) As well, another use for these Regals would be the ongoing Dread War effort, where soldiers' families are starving and scrambling due to unpaid wages that have been delinquent for weeks.
      • However, it is unfair to lay the blame solely on the Duchess for the lack of payment to the soldiers on the Warfront. This, instead, falls squarely on the shoulders of the Secretary of the Army. As such, this is only a rhetorical question on her end, but one all too shockingly real on the Secretary of the Army's.
    • 20,000 Regals were also given to House Yaotl to further combat influenza in Lorhauser, which was promptly returned the week after, according to the Digmaan Cro-Zzhin. It was spent giving aid to those plague-affected in Lorhauser.
    • As well, the mismanagement of Coivra and Vicii with the Duchess Tyrannian's dye tariffs in particular brings not one, but five Aristocratic Houses present in the city to their knees, thereby negatively affecting the State's ability to raise capital and pay for itself efficiently. Instead of imposing further tariffs, would it not be more wise to request the Lord Chancellor invite the Aristocratic families, as well as the head of House Anahera, to the City to settle this diplomatically?
    • It is also noted that despite repeated statements to the otherwise by the Duchess, the State is still operating at a heavy deficit which has me questioning further the first point of the 20,000 to House Tyrannian. If the State is currently a full 197,887 Regals negative, where did this money come from?
      • As an extended note, it has been made apparent that the Duchess will be cutting funding to the Imperial Court until the State's deficits come below 100,000 Regals. Given the stated total of 197,887 Regals above, as well as the spending to give House Tyrannian 20,000 Regals, it stands to question if the Secretary for the Finance intends to allow this deficit to shrink enough to ever pay the Crown and the Imperial Court. In the words of the Imperial Chamberlain, Ser Marceau Delmotte, who is charged with managing the Finances of the Crown: "Unfortunately, by the Duchess Tyrannian cutting the funding of the Imperial Court, I've had to turn to the Aristocrats to fund it." However, the Duchess Tyrannian has, as stated above, brought financial hardship on five Aristocratic families with Regalian presence through the Coivra mismanagement, effectively leaving the Imperial Court with little to no funding to turn to in the State's absence. As of writing, House Tyrannian only provides 1,400 Regals to the Crown.
• The Secretary for the Army, His Grace the Duke Garth Viduggla.
  • Duke Viduggla is being investigated for using his position to further personal politics, with no care given to the soldiers on the Warfront.
    • In his Proclamation of Forced Conscription, the Duke Viduggla specifically targets Houses Delmotte, Peirgarten, and du Brierüst in the Eastern Alliance Pact, and Houses Typhonus, von Drachenburg, and Delmotte in the Providence that Protects Pact. His conscriptions were careless- requisitioning a total of 48,000 extra troops for the Dread War with no thought of how to pay these soldiers, nor provide for their families at home who suddenly find themselves without breadwinners.
      • The Secretary of the Whip would like to note the possibility of bias here, for those who would bring such up. Yes, my House is one of those conscripted from (being in the Eastern Alliance Pact), but I would like to refute any accusations with the simple fact that the Duke du Brierüst, nor any of our other pacted allies, have been approached, to my knowledge, to dissolve our alliance with our troops used as collateral in the same way as the Providence That Protects pact has, targeting House Typhonus in particular.
    • As well, he conscripted these troops without alerting the Marshalry Cabinet, who, to the knowledge held currently, had the infrastructure in place to host soldiers, of course. However, this was not built to hold a sudden influx of 48,000 soldiers. (This information is sourced reliably from General Reimar Typhonus.) It is concerning to think about the sheer amount of food that had been stocked before that was suddenly gone, without even bringing into focus the logistics of hosting and moving such a large army, especially in hostile territories.
    • Recent history lends itself to a guess of intention on the part of the Duke Viduggla here- it is common knowledge that Calemberg and the North have never had a blossoming relationship if Hadrian's Wall is any indication of distrust on the side of the Calembergers. With the Burning of the North, House Viduggla as a whole is politically motivated to break apart the Providence that Protects alliance, which is composed of two-thirds New Regalian Houses, and one-third Imperial, all of which historically have a neutral-to-aggressive stance on the North.
      • This can be seen in startling focus in the recent Proclamation from House Viduggla, where the Duke Viduggla specifically states himself: "Denying {His Grace the Duke-Regent Elros Typhonus} outright, there was a provided option in halving or entirely removing troop presence from the Dread War Effort- To remove a member of his ongoing military pact, or leave it." The suggestion to remove troops from the Dread War if only a Pact was dissolved is a clear overstep of authority on the part of the Secretary of the Army, and a clear use of the Position for personal gain, as stated above.
      • It is also noted that, when asked, General Reimar Typhonus stated he was never approached by the Duke Viduggla in any sort, and that his quoted statement is thereby impossible.
    • An interesting note here is that the House Viduggla has, at the moment of writing, not sent a single troop to the Dread War in a textbook exercise of hypocrisy. Meanwhile, of the Houses with a Court presence in Regalia, Houses Avalorn, du Brierüst, Delmotte, von Drachenburg, Peirgarten, Typhonus, and Yaotl are all contributing troops.
    • The Duke Viduggla is, clearly and unequivocally, using the lives of soldiers dying in the Dread War for his own political ends, as he personally has the most to gain from the breakup of such an alliance. This is appalling and egregiously offensive not only to the Secretary of the Whip, but to every House who has donated their own troops to the War and every man, woman, and child of the Empire who has provided aid to the War in some manner.
• The Secretary for the Magi, Councilman Aeralaanys Rhylovhas.
  • Councilman Rhylovhas is being investigated for inactivity.
    • In this case, letters posted on his last edict indicate that Councilman Rhylovhas has been ignoring the attempts of the City's aberrants to become legalized in the eyes of the State and then weaponizing this politically in the case of the Manathar in the Gilded Templars.
    • It has been assumed that the Vice-Minister of the Magi, Ser Vhilomir Kade, would have helped the activity of this office, but there has been almost nothing from this branch of governance besides edicts from early August and early September. Given that it is now October, there are grounds to question the office's activity and what the Secretary, as well as his Vice-Minister, is doing with his time if so many mages are ignored and kept from assisting and bettering the State.
      • This is called into further focus by the new Court Mage rules that have come from His Imperial Holiness, as any Noble House that currently wishes to employ a Court Mage must go through the Secretary for the Magi, who is missing in action at the present.
    • An edict from September 1 states that no more than 25% of the currently registered Mages may secure White Mage paperwork. The Greywitch Chapter of the Violet Order has eighteen Mages recorded. There are three currently registered White Mages, and per his own Edict, only 4.5 Mages could be considered for the position. This is a bottleneck of the Mages currently able to provide service to the Empire, and this shortsighted rule is asked to be revised.
    • It is imperative that the State weaponizes Mages against our enemies instead of shutting them out of service and perhaps embittering them to work against the State. While hazy on the details, it can be assumed that this is what happened with Ar'wenelda Tordove, a former Gilded Templar who is now collaborating with the Hierarchy, a Sanguine Coven, in treasonous activity.

To the Secretaries not mentioned, you are operating effectively in the eyes of the Whip, though meetings will be scheduled this week at your earliest convenience to discuss a way forward.

It is with high hopes that those whose actions are detailed above see this not as a slight, but as an opportunity to better their services to the Empire and consider whether their actions are furthering the Spirit's State. Any questions, comments, or concerns should be directed to me at the du Brierüst estate. I am fully willing to work with any Secretary on these charges listed above if they so wish. These are listed in good faith that these individuals will recognize their duty to everyone who depends on the Empire for its strength and iron will, and continue to volunteer their time and energy into its betterment.

To those who do not wish to better their actions and their Empire: The Whip is watching. Please act accordingly.

Truthfully and faithfully, always,

Milena du Brierüst
Secretary of the Whip
Press Secretary of the Violet Order
Editor-in-Chief of the Rose Record
Courtier Palatine of the Imperial Court​

Tags:
@seoulmate @ItsAnother @BeashSlap @Scribbe @LumosJared @Carlit0o @AlphaInsomnia

OOC note: Edit was made to include sourcing on the letters on the Secretary for the Magi's edict, which I forgot at first. Another edit was made within fifteen minutes of the post going up as a missing 20,000 was found in recent orders. Sorry for the trouble!​

 

[ItsAnother]

From the Desk of the Duchess Catherine Tyrannian
7 October 307AC​

It has been brought to my attention that the new whip seeks to investigate my actions as sitting Secretary for the Finances. The Secretary for the Whip wastes its time in doing so. Had the secretary for the Whip approached me directly, these actions could have been well explained without the need for public slander. As it stands now, the actions of the Secretary for the Whip are nothing but idle posturing in my eyes. No actions have preceded the words of the Whip, who has chosen to act expediently, yet tactlessly for a reason that yet escapes me. It is quite unusual for me to have to make a decree defending my office in the public sphere, yet I have chosen to do so in light of the Secretary for the Whip's crude, unwarranted words.​

On the Investigation conducted by the House Tyrannian
The State had given the House Tyrannian a sum of 20,000 regals to investigate matters of the state. This funding was used in its entirety by the House Tyrannian, investigating not what the plague was, but rather the source of its existence. I reject the notion that the State was already keenly aware of these situations 'within moments' through the actions of the Doctor von Duerr. In our meeting, he merely hypothesised on the nature of the plague, of which the State was already aware even without the aid of the Doctor. In fact, the Doctor had incorrectly hypothesised on the variant of influenza, claiming it was a common illness and not a foreign one, harshly underestimating the strength of the illness and the reason it was classified a Plague.
Regardless, influenza as seen in Regalia, and the influenza discovered in the Southlands Plague, now identified as the common influenza of Farah'deen, had different effects on the population. As such, the State was not aware of anything but the nature of the plague and how to tentatively combat its spread pending further investigation on the assumption it was Influenza, which has no cure and can only be prevented from spreading.

Removing the plague spread among the merchants of Regalia, as such, was paramount in preventing it from reaching the populace while contingencies were not yet in place. The investigation was non-specific and targeted the entire Southern sphere's merchantry, and as such it required a competent investigatory body and a heavier amount of funding. The state does not have an intelligence apparatus outside that of the office of the Secretary for the Westmark, a governmental role that has not been filled even as of this proclamation, so the Secretary reached out to other parties, among which the House Tyrannian who graciously offered to loan out its services.

While the investigation yielded no actionable results besides stopping the plague at its source as my office has, the Secretary for the Finances bids the Whip consider that had this plague been spread with malintent and by an organised group, had the spread of the plague been more violent or had the plague not been strictly identified, all unknown elements at the time the investigation was conducted, a great many more people could have died in absence of preparation. The Physicians of the Empire are competent and able to combat the Plague now with the knowledge of its origin and pathology, but were unable to do so before the contingencies, leading to the deaths in the hundreds, a number that may have exponentially inflated had the Plague been allowed to spread without intervention. I bid the Secretary for the Whip inform itself on disease and procedures taken before commenting from the sidelines of things she seems to know little of.

On the Involvement and Payment of the Doctor von Duerr
Doctor Jocelynn von Duerr was in fact involved with the Southlands Plague, but said involvement was distinctly different from all other parties involved. The initiatives ran by the State lay parallel to his actions, but the State never invited or persuaded the Doctor in contrast to all other parties. This is due to the actions of the House du Brierüst, who had chosen to keep the Doctor in retinue for the entirety of the conflict in an initiative to stop the plague and gain recognition for doing so, before the Secretary began its initiative which they then joined, bringing the Doctor von Duerr along with them.

While this act is commendable on the part of the House du Brierüst, it is unfortunate that the House du Brierüst has chosen not to fulfill its duties to the Doctor and pay him his owed money. The reward for his actions was the payment from the House du Brierüst, a sum of 20,000 regals to be paid to the good Doctor for his work, which the state now bids the House du Brierüst pays post-haste.

When the Doctor von Duerr approached the State about payment and prior to his last excursion the subject was brought up in brief, and this situation was explained to the Doctor. The Secretary for the Finances had additionally recognised the Good Doctor in an earlier edict, but was pointed to the fact that as the Doctor serves in the Retinue of the House du Brierüst, they alone should be credited, to which the state has acquiesced.

Now that this matter has been brought to my attention, I will be sure to have the Bureau begin a thorough investigation on the matter, as it seems this case fulfills a great number of the legal considerations made before an investigation is called for. You and your House will be hearing from my office in due time, as I too believe this matter will need to be sorted. Claiming that the payment of a doctor's service was merely recognition by the state is frankly too ridiculous for me to properly put into words. Such a thing could never be proper payment for the work the Doctor had produced.

On the Public Nature of the Secretary for the Whip's proclamation
I find it quite concerning that actions of my office, which have always laid bare for all to see are being called into question for corruption under rather damning rhetoric, considering not a single act of the Secretary for the Whip's proclamation referred to actions obfuscated by me or other parties involved with my office. The paper trail for my actions has always been visible and the reasoning I provided in this statement exists upon request. The Secretary of the Whip has not contacted me prior to releasing her tangential proclamation that calls into question the validity of the actions of my Office, causing it undue harm. While the Secretary for the Finances has little to fear from investigatory oversight, I bid the Secretary for the Whip investigate other offices, rather than one of few that is correctly meeting its responsibilities to the Regalian Empire and the State.

Additionally, the Secretary for the Whip seems ill informed of the nature of the State's finances. In the Secretary's proclamation I can point out multiple points of contention I will not be addressing in this letter in regards to the State finances, but in summarium, the State's financial state is not so easy and tactlessly organised as to where a few simple actions suddenly save the state. Should the Secretary for the Whip wish to discuss the nature of the Regalian Economy with me, they are bid to do so; my office is always open to meetings to any party, whether an Aristocratic House or the Secretary for the Whip if they feel so inclined.

This proclamation is hereby stated for the public record.

 

[Wumpatron]

The Viridian Paladin would scoff,

"As if this 'plague' was an Empire wide epidemic as the Secretariat likes to make claims towards, but from my perspective it was only isolated to these regions with a liberalist and borderline jacobinist agenda. Perhaps the Secretary wouldn't be under investigation if she had considered having these few lords pay for their own relief instead of having the Imperial coffers continue to slip into shambles."

The Drachenburg's Viridian comrades would listen to the aged Paladin ramble on further about his Purist and pro-conservative agenda for the next hour or so.

 

[Jonificus]

"The Secretary of Magi is perfectly right in his deeds. Trusting any mage invites corruption of morals and the degradation of our very society. Already this new secretary is a savage beast with a pen. Perhaps I was wrong in trusting the House of Brierüst. Insolent whelps." Duke Hengest comments to his party while out on his weekly hunt.

 

[AtticCat]

Haeddi Harhold just scoffed at the Tyrannian's response. "Madame du Brierüst is only doing her job at calling you out for being irresponsible. It's rather hypocritical to tell her to approach directly and then immediately go into a whole essay..."

 

[Ryria]

Haeddi Harhold just scoffed at the Tyrannian's response. "Madame du Brierüst is only doing her job at calling you out for being irresponsible. It's rather hypocritical to tell her to approach directly and then immediately go into a whole essay..."

Click to shrink...

"Shut up, Haeddi." Said Agatha.

 

[Mooffins]

"The Secretary of Magi is perfectly right in his deeds. Trusting any mage invites corruption of morals and the degradation of our very society. Already this new secretary is a savage beast with a pen. Perhaps I was wrong in trusting the House of Brierüst. Insolent whelps." Duke Hengest comments to his party while out on his weekly hunt.

Click to shrink...

Benedict rode behind the Duke upon his own horse, chestnut in color, with his gloved hands at rest upon his reigns. At the Duke's words, the Heartlander rode past some Harhold retainers, coming up beside his horse with a dry expression and neutral tone:

"Do not despair, your Grace. After all. Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid haeret."​

@Jonificus