Comptroller of Waters and Marine Prefect

The Comptroller of Waters (水黃令, sl′jur-gwrang-ringh) and Marine Prefect (護水使者, gagh-sl′jur-srje′-tja′) are two high-ranking Themiclesian civil servants, managing natural resources in Themiclesia and Columbia respectively. The Marine Prefect originated as an assistant of the Comptroller of Waters in Themiclesia but later developed his own jurisdiction in Columbia, becoming the subject of much controversy once Casaterran settlers appeared in the area.

History

Origins

The Comptroller of Waters is an ancient office, the first mention of which dates to the Tsjinh dynasty (265 – 420). While it is not clear whether his early portfolio was identical to the same in later times, jurisdictions were comparable. He was responsible for the maintenance of all waterways and a number of royal forests. By extension, he managed all shipping by water, whether via river or the coastal waters. By a further extension, he oversaw the equalization of the prices of goods by purchasing them from areas where they abound and selling the same where they were wanting; this was an early form of economic control, derived from Menghean economic policies and treatises of the Meng dynasty (c. 200 BCE – 278 CE). A war between the Sungh and Rjang states occurred on the river border in 480, resulting in increased state control over civilian boats, via the appointment of the Marine Prefect, whose duty is the registration of all river-worthy and seaworthy boats in Themiclesia, in case of war in water. By extension to this, he also registered the owners of boats and arranged for their captaincy and armoury during an emergency. The need to suppress pirates resulted in the extension of his jurisdiction to the sea. In 502, he acquired a number of manufactories to produce battering rams and other naval weaponry.

Early history

In the early 700s, Themiclesia established control over the subcontinent Columbia, first via diplomacy then, after the founding of the Dzi dynasty, a mixture of diplomacy and conquest. These early attempts had mixed results, and by 780 a sizeable coalition of native societies, brought into contact largely by Themiclesian interference, formed a formidable threat to Themiclesia's desire to dominate them. In 792, Themiclesia mobilized 40,000 soldiers and defeated the coalition. Gwjang, the prime minister in charge of the campaign, obtained the assent of native leaders to allow travel, mining, agriculture, hunting, and forestry in all the lands that were unowned, to make for future, peaceful co-existence. Gwjang executed the leaders of the coalition and exterminated one of the tribes that had an important position in the coalition. As a life-long bureaucrat, Gwjang established ownership according to Themiclesian understandings; the lack of clear records impaired his objects. After basic boundaries were established, the Marine Prefect was ordered in 795 to inventory resources in the part of the subcontinent Themiclesia declared unowned and to itself annexed. The nuances of native concepts of ownership, which Gwjang failed to recognize, made the Marine Prefect's job a challenging and controversial one, especially when Themiclesia withdrew forces from the continent.  However, his jurisdiction over the continent would extend over the next ten centuries.

Since the Marine Prefect was appointed to this position, his department expanded significantly and came to involve diplomacy. Themiclesia pledging its technological and military support to friendly native communities, it was necessary to determine who was "in right" before the court reacted. Disputes were divided into intertribal ones and those between natives and Themiclesia. The Marine Prefect decided whether a resource was on Themiclesian land as established by Gwjang, if another actor was found using it. This created the civil jurisdiction of the Marine Prefect. Themiclesia generally did not interfere if natives made war with each other, unless one side appealed for assistance; when involvement was necessary, a tribune would be commissioned to investigate along with an envoy, and the Marine Prefect would be summoned to give evidence. Even though he had no formal power over such diplomatic disputes, his statements were frequently taken for more weight than is justified, and his support in these proceedings was sought after by native socities. In both situations, the Marine Prefect stood to profit from disputes in commodities common in Columbia but valuable in Themiclesia. Combined with a responsibility to manage resources and oversee exploitation thereof, his soon became the most lucrative appointment other than the Inner Administrator and leading ministers.

Modern history

The title gagh-sl′jur′-srje′-tja′ was first translated into Sylvan as praefectus marinus in the 12th century, referring to his vestigial jurisdiction as an administrator over the provision of timbers for the navy; that was then anglicized as "Marine Prefect". His jurisdiction in Columbia was significantly curtailed by the Pass Marshal, who came to command the Colonial Army there in the early 1300s. However, the co-operation and opposition between the two officers also became an important check on the distant administration against illegal actions. As the Pass Marshal could requisition goods from the Marine Prefect, so could the latter restrict the quantity thereof or priority of various demands.

In the 14th through 16th centuries, the Marine Prefect's department was iternerant, but mostly within what is today Camia. That being one of the densest Themiclesian settlements, he soon became an unwelcome figure, who frequently expropriated the colonists' lands, structures, and goods. In 1622, his department settled in Tiung-kyaeng. At this time, his outranked all other civilian magistrates in Camia, making it lawful for him to exact benevolences from locals, in name of the court. While colonial-era Camians could appeal to the Inner Administrator for intercession, he most often sided with the Marine Prefect, since exactions from the latter reduced fiscal burdens on the former. In 1692, the Camians rebelled with "absurd exactions" by the Marine Prefect as one of the main grievances. Suppressed the following year, they rebelled again in 1701 with the same list of grievances and expelled him from Tiung-kyaeng; his department moved to Kaoyang.

In 1768, the Marine Prefect's department was evacuated from Columbia, since resource extraction had become difficult by that point without infringing on easements and other interests the Themiclesian court recocgnized, in either native or Casaterran settler communities. Moreover, the intensification of conflict had required a more unitary and forceful system for controlling resources, both which favoured the Colonial Army. Ironically, the Marine Prefect resumed his original portolio over Themiclesian forests, though at this point his title had become obsolete—shipbuilding had been transferred to the Great Admiralty.

The Treaty of Kien-k'ang (1796) granted mineral rights to Hallia north of the River Pjem; both the Comptroller of Waters and Marine Prefect provided maps for Hallian authorities, the former to note channels of transportation, and the latter the location of known veins. In the 19th century, the Marine Prefect again became an important office, due to the effects of industrialization, which required large-scale resource-gathering in crown lands, and the Peerage Act of 1847, disbursing the same and common lands to peers. At the same time, the Comptroller of Waters came to control the administrative aspects of fisheries, irrigation, and canals. Both were re-affirmed to be 2,000-bushel rank in the Civil Service in 1856, though the Marine Prefect was granted independence as a government department from the Comptroller of Waters.

In 1889, the Marine Prefect was made a government minister overseeing natural parks and "the wilderness", often coming into conflict with various smoke abatement movements that campaigned to move heavy industries into unoccupied lands. Starting in the 1950s, the Home Secretary began to take note of the damages to the environment through 100 years of heavy industry; environmental scholars, who enforced a policy of conservation rather than exploitation, were appointed as Marine Prefects starting from 1959. In 1976, he was given authority over the Department of Forests and Department of Minerals, answering to the newly-created Secretary of State for the Environment. In 1980, the Marine Prefect's department organized a large public exhibition themed "Themiclesia and the Environment: 1,500 Years of Exploitation and Conservation". This exhibition included historic artifacts, received and excavated texts, and modern environment research that focused on Themiclesia's "non-commercial" uses of the environment as part of public policy. Recently, the Marine Prefect has taken several hard-line stances against development of protected areas, earning the incumbent Dr. Julie Row the "tree hugger-general of Themiclesia".

See also

• Principal Counsels