Ortho's Government.

Thanks. I'm pretty fond of it, myself.

Work In Progress!

The OCA Bureaucracy:
The Bureacracy of the OCA is divided into eight departments each controlled by a different member of the Octave. Together, these departments employ nearly twenty percent of Ortho's population and influence virtually every facet of Orthorian life.

The Department of Civic Harmony.
Conductor: Jormin Akerikos (LG Male Aasimar, Bafatai).
Responsibilities: The Department of Civic Harmony oversees all urban planning in Ortho and has the added responsibility of ensuring that city dwellers have healthy, pleasant, and harmonious lives. Past Conductors have often disregarded the first two criteria in favor of increased growth or quick cash, but Akerikos has chosen to instead focus on improving the lives of urban dwellers, sometimes at the expense of growth.
Powers: The Department of Civic Harmony has the power to award or relinquish construction permits and has a sizable budget with which it commissions needed building projects (although it prefers to let the provinces pay the bill). It also has the power to inspect any building and condemn it if it fails the inspection (a power that is sometimes abused). The Deparment also conducts detailed studies on urban life and welfare the results of which the Conductor presents to the Council on a yearly basis.
Employees: The Department employs numerous building inspectors, urban planners, architects, designers, engineers, and construction workers in every city on Ortho, as well as social scientists, researchers, and consultants of all stripes.

Bureaus and Agencies:
Bureau of Construction.
Head: Jorg Arneson (LN Male Human, Urflheim)
The Bureau of Construction is in charge of approving and inspecting all legal construction on Ortho. It has a lot of power, but most of its employees are more interested in solving engineering problems than abusing the system.

Bureau of Social Welfare:
Head: Elna Ironfist (LG Female Dwarf, Xaric)
The Bureau of Social Welfare is tasked with ensuring that Ortho's urban poor are healthy and fed. They have a decent budget, but nearly all of it goes to running clinics, orphanages, and affordable housing and they have fight hard to get funding for any new projects. It's highly illegal, unethical, and foolish for people to defraud the bureau, but that hasn't stopped people from trying.

Urban Planning Agency:
Head: [To be determined]
Well the Bureau of Construction focuses on specific buildings, the Urban Planning Agency plans out entire cities and makes sure every aspect of a city is as harmoniously designed as possible. The Agency is not terribly large or prestigious, but everyone who has ever lived in a big city is aware of its importance.

The Department of Agrarian Harmony
Conductor: Ruograssa Tzuro (TN Female Human, Heka-Voll)
Responsibilities: The Department of Agrarian Harmony is responsible for the growth, preservation, and advancement of Ortho's agricultural base, but it also has task of preserving the harmonious wellbeing of Ortho's farmers. Some past Conductors have focused on agricultural growth at the expense of the farmers, and others have tried to ensure the prosperity of the farmers at the expense of the agricultural base. Both approaches have often led to disaster, and there is a lively debate going on over which way Conductor Tzuro will lean.
Powers: The Department of Agrarian Harmony determines what lands get farmed and what are left wild. It also has the power to relinquish land from individuals who have been deemed to be mishandling it. The Department also determines what sort of subsidies, if any farmers get and is in charge of supplying emergency aid in case of drought, crop failure, or natural disaster. Like the Department of Civic Harmony, the Department of Agrarian Harmony studies the state of agriculture and rural life on Ortho and reports its findings to the Council on a yearly basis.
Employees: The Department hires surveyors, hunters (to take out dangerous big game), park rangers (to stop wilderness encroachment), health inspectors, food distributors for the Provender, and aid workers for the farms.

Bureaus and Agencies:
The Bureau of Parks and Wilderness:
Head: Arsin Emornick (TN Male Tiefling, Iathra)
Parks and Wilderness nominally controls all the various nature reserves and unsettled lands of Ortho (although how much authority they actually hold depends on who is living in these "unsettled" areas). Their jobs mainly consist of making sure poachers and settlers stay out of the wilderness areas and wildlife stays in. In peaceful areas they map and survey land for future settlement, but in more violent areas they simply maintain a perimeter while the Harmonium "pacifies" the locals.

Bureau of Agriculture:
Head: [TBD]
The bureau of agriculture manages the the affairs of Ortho's farmers. They subsidize poor harvests pay for the Provender, and otherwise make sure farmers get a fair shake. There is a certain amount of corruption inherent in the bureau, but it isn't too bad.

Disaster Relief Agency
Head: [TBD]
The DRA, as the Agency is often called, is responsible for protecting against natural disasters such as floods and fires and helping those who have been affected by them. Most of the time the agency is out of the public eye (and often fairly corrupt as a result), but it is expected to act competently and responsibly in the case of a disaster. They usually do a decent job, but that doesn't mean they aren't still skimming off the top.

The Department of Metaphysical Harmony
Conductor: Sirrock (LE Male Orc, Motmurck)
Responsibilities: The Department of Metaphysical Harmony is responsible for the state of citizens' souls. Broadly, that means helping all Orthorians down the path of goodness and righteousness. Specifically, that means combating "sin" and fighting off supernatural or extraplanar influence. They also serve as consultants when knowledge of the soul is required.
Powers: Servants of the Department of Metaphysical Harmony are given free rein to travel to other planes and meet with extraplanar entities. They also have the power to search premises and arrest suspected sinners without warrants, although these activities are largely confined to the Sin Hunters. Although the Department has the power to rein in the Sin Hunters, Sirrock chooses not to and clearly prefers to let them run rampant while his other agents combat sin in more subtle ways. Every year the Conductor makes a reports the state of Ortho's souls to the Council. Where this information comes from is rarely fully divulged.
Employees: The Department of Metaphysical Harmony has many agents and diplomats on the Outer Planes. Some investigate various divine realms, while others serve as ambassadors to powerful planar entities. The Department also has spies scattered across Ortho who infiltrate organizations and ferret out suspected sinners for the Sin Hunters.

Bureaus and Agencies:
Bureau of Extra-Planar Affairs
Head: Raju (LE Male Rakshasa, Hazkhan).
The Bureau of Extra-Planar Affairs is responsible for dealing with and understanding powerful extra-planar entities and organizations -- including fiendish ones. This can include making deals to help each other, calling in favors, or simply trying to convince people to see it their way. These deals can sometimes be rather unsavory, and some have quietly joked that the bureau got its name from all the affairs its members have with extra-planar beings.

The Afterlife Protection Agency
Head: Sxzilm (LN Orthorian Beholder, Keln'in).
The APA has one of the strangest (and hardest) jobs on Ortho. They have to ensure that the souls of Ortho's dead are given fair and equitable treatment by the planes and divine realms they find themselves in. This can vary from arguing theology with planar lords to trying to browbeat deities (not that this usually works) to simply grabbing the petitioners and transporting them them to a more hospitable part of the plane. Due to the strange and esoteric nature of their work, the APA has been spared the growing corruption and systematic purges of the disloyal that have plagued the rest of the Department under Sirrock's leadership. This doesn't mean they don't have their own problems, however.

The Bureau of Moral Purity
Head: Thomro (LE Male Orc, Motmurck).
The euphemistically named Bureau of Moral Purity was once little more than a collection of clerks and statisticians who surveyed Ortho's populous to determine how closely different groups were aligning to the Way of Harmony and whether the Harmonium had to increase its efforts to "win hearts and minds." Over time, however, the investigative branch of the bureau has grown until it has become little more more than an official front for the Sin Hunters, Ortho's secret police. Sirrock has completed that transition, and over the course of his rule, the size and power of the Bureau has increased dramatically. It is a worrisome trend to say the least.

The Department of Theological Harmony
Conductor: Fhaedru Ironfist (LG Male Dwarf, Xaric)
Responsibilities: The Department of Theological Harmony oversees all aspects of Ortho's organized religious life. It is responsible for ensuring that the many churches on Ortho behave in a lawful and Harmonious manner and do not espouse discordant or heretical teachings.
Powers:The Department has the power to fund churches that spread harmony and fine or close down churches that spread heresy or discord. The Department is also responsible for determining what religious teachings are considered Canon and what are heresy. The department keeps scrupulous collections of both canonical and apocryphal texts in hidden libraries, but only top church officials are allowed to peruse them. Every year, the Conductor presents a thorough report of the state of the churches to the council of Ortho.
Employees: Scribes, clerks, and librarians manage the massive records, theologians, clerics and historians analyze works and root out heresy or find hidden truths, and inspectors and representatives work with the churches and ensure they behave harmoniously.

Bureaus and Agencies:
The Orthorian Archives
Head: [TBD]
The Archives are not a single building, nor is it just an archive. It is an association of librarians, archivists, and scribes that manage Ortho's many private libraries and archives. Most Archivists simply manage the collection and ensure that important knowledge isn't lost to obscurity time or mildew. More adventurous archivists Ortho and beyond in search of rare or interesting documents to add to the vast collections. Conductor Ironfist worked in the archives in his youth, and still has a soft spot for it that means the bureau continues to be well-funded.

The Bureau of Doctrinal Purity
Head: [TBD]
Doctrinal Purity is a bit of a euphemism. The bureau's actual responsibility could well be classified as "censorship." It is the bureau's responsibility to protect the vulnerable minds of Ortho's citizens from dangerous or heretical ideas. They root through libraries, search studies, and arrest seditioners. All in the name of purging Ortho of chaotic or discordant influences. Not everyone likes the bureau much, even Conductor Ironfist has his misgivings, but the bureau is generally regarded as necessary for the preservation of harmony.

Bureau of Church Affairs
Head: [TBD]
The Bureau of Church Affairs manages and distributes funds to the many churches on Ortho. They make sure that that churches who preach the Way of Harmony are reward and those that preach heresy are duly punished. In the past they worked in tandem with the Sin Hunters to root out heretics, but over time the two organizations have grown more and more at odds. These days, the Bureau requires an OCA injunction before it will let the Sin Hunters anywhere near its churches.

The Department of Internal Harmony*
Conductor: Lihia Xiu (LN Female Human, Harmony's Glory)
Responsibilities: The Department of Internal Harmony is responsible for law enforcement and security on Ortho and its Prime colonies. Harmonium Officers also build and maintain infrastructure, engage in diplomacy, and distribute propaganda.
Powers: The Department of Internal Harmony has control of a good half of the Harmonium Guard. These soldiers are called the "Internal Harmonium" or "Prime Harmonium", by the planar branch, but are simply called "Harmonium" on Ortho. Harmonium officers have the power to search and arrest individuals suspected of illegal behavior and oversee their incarceration once they are convicted. Every year the Conductor must make a report on the state of crime in the empire and the military readiness of the Internal Harmonium before the Council.
Employees: Most employees of the Department of Internal Harmony are rank and file Harmonium soldiers, but the department also pays a large number of civilian engineers, printers, clerks, and supply haulers to keep the soldiers fed and advance the cause of harmony.

Bureaus and Agencies:
The Guard
Head: [Composer] Mandible (LN Male Dwarf, [wherever insectile dwarves are from])
The Guard is Ortho's police force. They are trained to capture opponents instead of kill and generally do not act in a military capacity. That said, the difference between them and the rest of the Harmonium is largely administrative. They go through the same training and indoctrination process as the rest of the Harmonium and are more than capable of cracking a few skulls in pursuit of justice.

The Garrison
Head: [Composer] Hilda Staffisdotter [LG Female Human, Urflheim]
The Garrison is Ortho's defense force, both against foreign invasion and local insurrection. The garrison on Ortho itself numbers in the millions and has bases in every province. Many of the colony worlds have similarly large garrisons. The largest garrison, however, is found on Meter where prolonged unrest has caused the garrison to balloon to more than ten million troops. In most cases, the full garrison is not required to man the forts and protect the peace and the extra manpower is farmed out to the Engineer Corps for public works.

The Bureau of Exigencies:
Head: [TBD]

The Corps of Engineers
Head: [Composer?] Sil-da Shortfang (LE Female kobold, Xaric)
The Harmonium Corps of Engineers is responsible for public works on Ortho. They pave roads, build bridges, dig canals, build semaphore towers, and remove troublesome topographical features, such as mountains. The Engineer corpse is about more than just dams and roads though, they are combat engineers, and in times of war, it's their job to build the fortifications and man the siege equipment, and, if the need arises, defend them with their lives. The Corps is not as prestigious a posting as other offices in the Harmonium, but it's members still get treated with deserved respect.

The Orthorian Navy
Head: [Composer] Shanto (LN Female Dwarf, Harmony's Glory)
The Orthorian Navy is not what it used to be there was time when the great Harmonium Armada roamed the sea with thousands of ships and was the lynch pin of the Harmonium's power. In fact, in the early days they were so important that they had their own Department, the Department of the Navy. All that changed when Juhlien made his coup. The Navy joined him and used its might to try to cement control over Ortho. When Juhlien lost, they lost too. The Council of Ortho, fearing a resurgent navy and feeling somewhat vindictive, broke the navy into fleets attached them to any Harmonium unit that needed them, and paid for those units' extra costs by slashing the Navy's budget. Money and resources have gradually returned to Navy, but nothing like it once had. These days the Navy is a fifth of the size it was 300 years ago. It's enough to catch pirates and kill sea monsters though, and that's all the Harmonium needs it for anyway.

The Bureau of Truth
Head: [Name] (Female Tiefling, The Isles)
The Bureau of Truth is the only branch of the Internal Harmonium whose members are not expected to engage in direct combat. They still engage in the same intensive basic training and indoctrination other Harmonium endure, but receive none of the special combat training or equipment. They fight with words, not steel. The mark of the Truthteller (as bureau members are called) is not red plate mail and a spiked helmet, but ink-stained hands and a self-assured look. Their weapons are not steel and shot, but pamphlets and speaking voices. They see propaganda as art and art as propaganda. What they do may not win them awards or accolades, but in their minds they do more to defend the Way of Harmony than any frontline soldier. The rest of the Harmonium generally sees them as pansies who were too afraid to fight on the front, so they spend their time writing pamphlets instead. The Truthtellers deny this fiercely, but they do tent to attract the squeamish and courage-impaired.

The Department of External Harmony*
Conductor: Vyllis (deceased). Composer Faith is the interim Conductor at Vyllis' request.
Responsibilities: The Department of External Harmony is in charge of spreading the cause of Harmony beyond Ortho's borders; peacefully if possible, violently if necessary.
Powers: The Department of External Harmony controls the more militant half of the Harmonium. Unlike the Internal Harmonium which is essentially a law enforcement organization, the soldiers of the External or Planar Harmonium are trained primarily for front line combat. The Department of External Harmony houses Ortho's Diplomatic corps, and a number of recruiters, proselytizers, and philosophers who preach The Way of Harmony all over the planes.
Employees: The Planar Harmonium hires more rough and tumble soldiers than the Internal Harmonium, drawn mostly from the planar colonies, and also shares the Internal Harmonium's need for clerks, suppliers, healers, and other civilian support workers. The Department's diplomatic corps hires ambassadors, embassy workers, and other agents.

Bureaus and Agencies:
The Outer Planar Expeditionary Force
Head: Composer Faith (LG female human, [wherever she's from]
The Planar Expeditionary Force is the official name of the Planar Harmonium, the men, women, and beings who police the planes and protect the Planar Colonies on Arcadia. They are involved in a long-term and extensive campaign to spread the Way of Harmony to the Outer Planes. They currently seem to be losing. Five years ago, the the previous composer, Faith's husband Sarin, was assassinated during a period of chaotic insurrection in the Expeditionary Force's headquarters in Sigil. As a result of the loss of leadership and continued chaos, the Harmonium was forced to abandon the city. To make matters worse, the Expeditionary forces in Arcadia were betrayed by their neighbors and sometimes allies, the Formians. Details are sketchy, but something caused the Arcadian layer of Nemausus to "fall" into it's neighboring plane, Mechanus. The Harmonium blames the Formians for the slide. Its planar enemies blame the Harmonium itself and their brutal reeducation camps for corrupting the plane. The Formians are too busy conquering Mechanus to blame anyone. The Harmonium has spent years fighting an increasingly desperate war against the Formians to protect the petitioners of Nemausus and reclaim their lost colony. The Formians numbers are seemingly endless and their resolve unbreakable. Some are wondering how the Harmonium can possibly win.

The Diplomatic Corps
Head: Shizana (LE female Rakshasa, Harmony's Glory)
The Orthorian Diplomatic corps is a group of individuals that travels lands outside of the Orthorian Empire and meet with foreign diplomats to discuss treaties, alliances, trade agreements, and, if the OCA is so inclined, ultimatums. Unlike other envoys of the government, the Diplomatic Corps does not preach the Way of Harmony or try to change a nation's status quo, the simply meet with officials, staff embassies, and try to maintain a link between Ortho and its allies. Shizana, the leader of the Corps, is evil and corrupt, but also a consummate politician and diplomat who gets things done. It's no secret that she is gunning for the Conductorship.

The Prime Colonial Task Force
Head: Composer Hakins (NE Male Human, Voll)
The Prime Colonial Task force occupies and pacifies various world so that more stable regimes can be established. When the task force is finished "harmonizing" the populace, a colony will be handed over to the Internal Harmonium and the Task Force will find a new world to conquer pacify. When the Internal Harmonium fails to keep a colony under control and open warfare erupts, the Task Force will often be called in to reclaim the colony. This generally results in massive civilian casualties. Many worry that this fate is going to soon befall Meter. This fear is exacerbated by the fact that the Task Force's leader, Hakins, is, to put it bluntly, psychotic. Not only have he and his troops been linked to more atrocities than any other active Harmonium commander, but the man is well-known to consort with all manner of devils (if not worse fiends). He is also running for the Conductorship, but it is doubtful he will get it.

The Department of Ethical Harmony
Conductor: Komalok Brownbrow
Responsibilities: The Department of Ethical Harmony is responsible for making sure that every child on Ortho leans how to read and write and that those who wish to serve the community are given the knowledge needed to do so. Indeed, most other nations would call Komalok's department "The Department of Education," but on Ortho, education is just another means by which lawless youths can be turned into productive citizens.
Powers: The Department of Ethical Harmony funds and manages most schools on Ortho. They run the public grammar schools, the bardic colleges, and the ethics schools. Pretty much the only schools they don't fund are religious schools and magic schools. Through the grammar schools, the Department has the chance to touch most of Ortho's growing minds, and through the ethics schools, the department trains the next generation of lawyers, diplomats, bureaucrats, and psionic agents. The psions trained at the ethics schools are perhaps the department's greatest asset and serve as agents and special investigators for the OCA across the planes. The Department presents a yearly report on the state of education on Ortho to the Council.
Employees: The Department of Ethical Harmony employs teachers, administrators, clerks, lawyers, and other agents. It also keeps a number psionic agents on hand for clandestine legal actions.

Bureaus and Agencies:
Bureau of Education:
Head: [TBD]
One of the great advances of the Pax Harmonium has been in the field of education. In modern Orthorian society, all children are required to attend free primary schools where they are instructed in literacy, mathematics, and the Way of Harmony. Secondary education is not mandatory but it is still free and standard for the children of the middle class, especially in the cities. The Bureau of Education is what makes this possible. They run the schools, pay the teachers, control the curriculum, and police truancy. The Bureau of Education does not control higher education, however, preferring to leave that to other institutions, but they have been known to step in in the cases of grievous misconduct or inappropriate curriculum. Such interventions are rare, however.

The Ethics Schools:
Head: [TBD]
The Ethics schools teach the Way of Harmony and the Laws of the OCA to the next generation of lawyers, judges, and bureaucrats. The Ethics Schools are more than just law schools, however, they are where the children of the elite are sent to become loyal and productive citizens. In some parts of Ortho, a degree from a prestigious ethics school is more important to ones social status and political prospects than any other higher education or even Harmonium service. This prestige has created a certain amount of elitism among the students and faculty, that, despite his best efforts, Conductor Brownbrow has been unable to uproot. The children of the wealthy go to the most prestigious schools, get the best judicial postings, and generally push around those with lesser means. The one group in the Ethics Schools that isn't divided along class lines is the Psionics Department. Students there are chosen based on personal discipline and raw psionic power rather than social status, and are usually too busy trying to master both the ways of the mind and the complicated Orthorian legal system to squabble over something so petty as class.

Bureau of Psionics:
Head: [TBD - Do we have any Psionic races on Ortho yet?]
Psions are sort of the odd man out on Ortho. Magical Harmony doesn't want them, the other departments don't know what to do with them, but someone has to train and control them, or they'd cause all sorts of problems. So the task fell to Ethical Harmony, who are in charge of all education the other departments don't want. Ortho's psionic adepts are trained at the same Ethics schools that facilitate other forms of higher education and are expected to learn the legal trade as well as the ways of psionics. This ensures that they understand the precepts of the Way of Harmony, are capable of great feats of discipline and rigor, and will always have a lucrative profession to fall back on should they need it. The Bureau of Psionics also decides on which powers are legal and which are not (the system is quite similar the one for mages). It also zealously tracks down and prosecutes unauthorized Psionic users, often sending other psions or the High Risk Litigation Taskforce to do it.

Bureau of Legal Affairs:
Head: Logro Droglack (LG Male Dwarf, Harmony's Glory)
The Bureau of Legal affairs oversees Ortho's judicial system and ensures that it effective and just. The main way the Bureau does this is mandating that both sides in a case must be represented by certified Ethics School graduates provided by the Bureau. The Bureau also vets judges (although the actual appointments are made by the provinces), ensures that the law is applied evenly, and makes sure that all citizens have the right to appeal the decisions of provincial courts with the OCA. In short, they make sure that the law on Ortho stays lawful.

The High Risk Litigation Taskforce:
Head: Livia Medes (LN Female Otaki, Omospondia)
Being a lawyer on Ortho is harder than it is on most words. On most worlds, for instance, people do not try to issue subpoenas to dragons. On Ortho though, no one is above the law, no matter how big or fire-breathing they are. To this end, the Bureau employs a unique group of mostly-psionic combat prosecutors known as the High Risk Litigation Team, who issue subpoenas to and file charges against, "monsters," psionic criminals and other dangerous individuals. Even divine beings cannot escape the summons (although no one has yet tried to sue the Lords of Order). The HRLT are often called "Blues" because of the distinctive blue mithral breastplates they wear on dangerous missions. The rest of the time, they look just like regular lawyers. The HRLT is a prestigious and popular posting, but it's also one of the most dangerous and demanding jobs a lawyer can have, so the numbers stay fairly small.

The Department of Magical Harmony
Conductor: Telomi`ir
Responsibilities: The Department of Magical Harmony is responsible for advancing the search for magical knowledge and protecting Ortho from the dangerous magics.
Powers: The Department runs a number of magic schools on Ortho for the training of young magic users and also determines which spells are legal and which are not. The Department also has a duty to investigate and curb dangerous magical phenomena -- a duty Telomi`ir has been ignoring lately. Every year, the Conductor gives a report on the state of magic and magical education in the Empire to the Council. Telomi`ir's reports are rarely detailed enough.
Employees: The Department employs a number of mages to serve as teachers and administrators at the magic schools and many more as bureaucrats and supernatural investigators.

Bureaus and Agencies:
Bureau of Magical Education:
Head: [TBD - I know we mentioned magic schools before, I'll have to check to see if anyone is in charge of that.]
The Bureau of Magical Education runs and oversees the various magic schools and arcane training facilities on Ortho. The bureau also has the power to control the Bardic Colleges on Ortho, but chooses not to because the snobbish wizards who run it do not to consider it to be real magic. Magical Education is an old bureau that has grown reactionary and stuck in its ways. In fact, it hasn't made a major curriculum change in more than a century. This tends to alienate younger wizards, who often know for a fact things things should be done differently. The discord this causes is often cited by liberal forces in the OCA as a prime example of how even harmonious agencies must change with the times.

The Bureau of Magical Restriction:
Head: Gallix Logobon (LE Male Hobgoblin, North Thaera)
What spells mages can and can't cast on Ortho has been a heated issue since the founding of the OCA. Early on, government officials, fearing powerful mages, would push hard for restrictions on what spells could be cast on Ortho, and Ortho's magical elite, being powerful mages, would push hard for the right to cast whatever spells they wanted. Eventually, a compromise was reached Ortho's magical elite would be allowed to keep access to powerful and dangerous spells, provided they kept those same spells out of the hands of people who weren't part of the magical elite. The Bureau of Magical Restriction was formed to determine who could and couldn't be taught certain spells and to crack down on illegal spell use, often in the most draconian ways possible. Over time, it has transitioned from a tool of the elite to an important aid in the maintenance of harmony, but there is still a certain amount of corruption within the bureau, especially when it comes to who is and isn't allowed to cast spells.

Supernatural Investigatory Force:
Head: Lazlo the Sane (LG Male human, Iathra)
The Supernatural Investigatory Force, or SNIF as it is generally called (its members are, naturally, "Sniffers"), is in charge of detecting, identifying, and dealing with any magical disasters, strange magical creatures, or extra-Planar incursions on Ortho. They are more methodical than most OCA teams and often wait to take action until they have a solid understanding of what they are dealing with. This slowness to act has saved the lives of their agents on numerous occasions, but frequently gets them into trouble when situations need to be resolved quickly. Their mixed reputation has led to their budget being repeatedly slashed by Conductor Telomi`ir who even has gone so far as to call them a disgrace. It is rumored by some that their budgetary woes are caused less by their failings than by a centuries old feud between Conductor Telomi'ir and SNIF's head, Lazlo the Sane (so named because he is one of the oldest humans on Ortho who can still count to 100 without mentioning any fruit). Regardless of the reason for the budget slash, it has left SNIF in poor shape and many worry about what will happen next time Ortho suffers a major magical calamity.

*Titles changed from Prime Harmony and Planar Harmony.

OK, I'm done with these entries for the time being, but expect to see more details on department leadership and the various bureaus within the departments at a later date. Right now I just wanted to get the basics down.

There's definitely some overlap there and I thought that was the perfect way to create a little tension. In this case, the problem is Sirrock's Sin Hunters overstepping their bounds.

Exactly. My goal was to make all of the Harmonium departments be valuable allies for an adventuring party. Got friends in Agrarian Harmony? Get them to let you into the untamed wilderness so you can find those ancient ruins you've been looking for. Know a guy in Metaphysical? Get him to to launch an investigation on your enemies. Even if they don't find anything you can destroy their careers. Need to find an obscure religious text? Good thing you dated that librarian in the Department of Theological Harmony. Were you a Harmonium officer back in the day? Get your buddies in Internal Harmony to look the other way on your little tavern brawl. Want to get off plane? Bribe someone in External Harmony. Need a good lawyer? Better hope you've got friends in Ethical Harmony. And if you're a magic user, you can always sweet talk a clerk in Magical Harmony into increasing your spell clearance.

That's a good idea. My next task will be either that or a write up on psionics on Ortho. Psychic lawyer jokes are well and good, but I'm going to have to give them some real depth at some point.

I pretty much decided that it was deeply stupid to use the term Composer to refer to three different things, and since the Factol has already been called a Composer in canon, I decided to give the other two positions different names. Conductor isn't perfect (and I'm still considering changing it to Director), but it's a good deal more elegant than what we had before. Actually though, the change I was referring to was renaming "Prime Harmony" as "Internal Harmony" and "Planar Harmony" as "External Harmony." I personally think it works much better (and since the terms are only actually used a handful of times in the PDF, I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference).

Yeah, the Planar Harmonium and the "Harmonium Faction" are a bit different. Firstly, the Factol is not the leader of the Planar Harmonium and may not even be a member of the Planar Harmonium. What the Harmonium Factol is is the colonial Governor General (Composer) of the planar colonies. Since these colonies are not yet a fully integrated part of the Empire, their control falls under the domain of the Department of External Harmony. The Conductor cannot justify leaving Ortho for extended periods of time, so it is the Composer's job to act as figurehead and "Factol" for the empire's subjects on the Outer Planes.

As one of the highest ranking members of the department (and the only one Vyllis trusted), Composer Faith became the interim replacement for Conductor Vyllis following his untimely death (more on that later). Vyllis probably hoped that Faith's time as Conductor would impress the Council enough to make the position permanent, but she lacks the experience and political clout to pull such a feat off (plus I don't think our Planewalking cohorts would like us stealing Faith). It is quite likely that one of the other important officials in the department will rise up and claim the Conductorship in her stead.

Oh, and before I forget, here's a list of plots/unanswered questions involving the Octave. Don't be surprised if one of these turns into an adventure somewhere down the line.

How did Vyllis die?
Who will become the next Conductor of External Harmony
Who is Tzuro really and what is she up to???
Sirrock is overstepping his bounds.
Sirrock is corrupt, and Brownbrow knows it.
When will Ironfist die?
Will Brownbrow live long enough to become the new Chairman?
What is going to happen if Telomi`ir becomes Chairman?
How dangerous/crazy is Telomi`ir, anyway?
Are Tzuro and Akerikos really having an affair?
Who would win in a fight, Xiu or Batman?