Seals in Themiclesia

Seals in Themiclesia are stamps for impressing text onto paper serving executive and identification purposes. The application of a seal grants the assent of the seal's holder to the document to which it is applied, and individuals (natuarl or corporate) often provide their seals to identify themselves, in lieu of signatures in Casaterra. As with signatures, the forgery or fraudulent application of seals and their impressions are criminal offences in Themiclesia.

Origin

By most authorities considered to be a direct development of the ancient Menghean practice of sealing a letter with clay bearing the impression of the sender's seal to prevent tampering and to declare or ascertain his identity, seals have been in use from the very start of recorded Themiclesian history. Their functions largely survive into the present day.

Material and design

Seals may be fashioned from any solid materials that would retain its engraved design reasonably well; for practical and economical reasons, wood remains the most common. Private corporations are required to use a wooden seal. Public bodies possess seals of materials specified by primary legislation.

• Emperor, Empress, Empress Dowager, Grand Empress Dowager: jade, turtle motif
• Officials of the First and Second Classes: gold, dragon motif
• Officials of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Classes: silver, flower motif
• Officials of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Classes: bronze, arch motif
• Officials beyond the Affluence: wood, plain knob

Types

Seals serve largely the same function (i.e. identification, authentication, execution) regardless of its possessor. Yet because when used by a public or private corporate body it may carry much graver implications, such bodies (particularly public bodies) often are subject to extensive regulations over its use. These regulations, set forth in a public body's Standing Administrative Orders, often require that a document be scrutinized by a series of persons or groups of persons before the seal belonging to a public body, that properly possess public power, could be applied, and thereby that power exercised. The following are the types of seals commonly found in public bodies and their constituents:

1. seal (印, 鈐記, or 關防), appearing on any instrument that exercises the public body's statutory powers;
2. signet (官章), appearing on any instrument that exercises an individual officer's statutory powers (when separately defined);
3. stamp (條戳), appearing on internal correspondence and external correspondence of a purely discoursive character; and
4. marker (圖記), appearing on internal correspondence of a purely discoursive or personal character.

Private seals are not subject to the above.

Use

Seal paste, the pigment used to render impressions

Physical application

All seals are applied in like fashion. It is first dabbed into a small paste container (whose design and content are themselves a form of fine art and collection) so that the impressive surface is coated with some pigment, and then it is pressed evenly onto the surface on which the impression is desired. The applier may shift the centre of force from corner to corner to ensure a clear impression. For seals with very large surfaces, the pigment may first be applied on a brush then transferred onto the seal's inscribed surface; the page is then placed on the up-side-down seal and pressed with a roller to create an even impression.

The pigment is always crimson in colour for true seals (this excludes stamps used to replicate text), except when its user is in mourning, during which blue paste is used. Seals belonging to public bodies, by definition, will always appear with crimson pigment, as public bodies cannot be in mourning.

Customs

As seals are indispensible instruments in conducting legal and public affairs in Themiclesia, there is a large body of customs and regulations associated with them.

Seals are meant to be personal property of whomever the seal is meant to represent. A large number of Themiclesians carry their personal seals with them in a box or pouch, and virtually all would instinctively carry them when going to a bank or government agency. Where the seal belongs to a public body or corporation, it is typically stored securely and used under supervision and record. For an additional layer of security, some establishments may require seal over sign manual, i.e. a seal impressed over a personal signature, to complete the execution of an instrument, the rationale being that signatures cannot be inserted under an existing seal, and the details of a seal are difficult to forge when distorted by the signature. In addition, seals create very persistently identical impressions, while signatures may change depending on the state of the signatory; these two measures are deemed complementary in personal identification most often in financial institutions.

In public communications, it is customary to mark the beginning and end of the document with a seal.