Daiwu

'Caught' , by an unknown artist. Its unflattering depiction of the Daiwu as pseudo-monsters saw the painting confiscated and artist imprisoned.

The Daiwu (Korukkan: 戴雾, literally: "to wear smoke" or "obscuring") were the secret police that served the CEO of The West Pahadan Railway Company. The police were founded by Zhang Xieren in 1914, two years into his control of the company, following an incident that saw him almost assassinated by the Daughters of Asphotachal. Whilst originally envisioned by Zhang as a personal bodyguard that reported directly to him, his desire for retribution saw their powers expanded by numerous Directives in the months following their establishment. By January of 1915 the had the authority to stop and search, investigate property without a warrant, overrule the judiciaries of local communities (and eventually the client states of the company), had the permission to command local law enforcement agencies for assistance in their endeavors and had license to kill 'terrorists, rebels and insurrectionists'. By the time of the Western War, the Daiwu had an extensive intelligence agency component and were instrumental tools of counterintelligence, espionage and reconnaissance.

The Daiwu were adorned from head to toe in armour fashioned to look like traditional sets of armour from Shihoki. This armour was not only highly effective against small arms fire but its mechanical components and fuel source allowed the Daiwu to increase their own physical strength and endurance. The numerous smoke vents gave them their name 'Daiwu'.

Whilst officially disbanded by the succeeding West Pahadan Repbulic in 1949, their legacy played an important role in the development of police forces in both it and the Imperial Federation. Countless Daiwu agents 'retired' in the Imperial Federation and assisted then-Chancellor Zhang Xieren with instituting his democratic overhaul, arresting numerous 'anti-democracy' and 'anti-republican' individuals.

Creation

The origins of the Daiwu can be traced to as early as 1909, when Zhang Xieren was Grand Commandant of the Great Undertaking in Tungnir. Having worked with numerous of the Empire's Censors during the project, Zhang became enamoured with their status, responsibility and effectiveness. The Grand Commandant tried numerous times to draft up a personal body-guard to mirror the work of the Censors in a more personal level. When Zhang became Chief Executive Officer of West Pahadan Rail, he once again entertained this plan. Whilst originally creating a security detail composed of native Korrukans and -- on occasion -- native 'pacified' Pahadans -- they proved wholly ineffective as to the grander ambitions and aspirations expected of them.

The inability of these guardsmen (mainly attributed to the fact it wasn't their purpose) in detecting the Summer Orchid Plot by the Daughters of Asphotachal ultimately led to their downfall and replacement. On August 2nd, 1914, whilst he was travelling from Nakashigawa to the Xiàjì Lánhuā complex, a summer resort and retreat built by WPR for its upper management, an explosion on the line caused the train to de-rail and kill 18 passengers. Zhang Xieren was ultimately unscathed by the attempt on his life but quickly left the scene back to Nakashigawa.

By August 7th Zhang had issued a Directive that authorised the creation of the 'Daiwu', a conceptual name at first that stuck and became their official title. Whilst originally intended to be a higher caliber of body-guard, their metamorphasis into a secret police force was achieved between September of 1914 and January of 1915. Their powers were extensively expanded gradually by Zhang, to whom they answered directly, until their original duties were removed and replaced.

Authorities, duties and responsibilities

The Directive that established the Daiwu outlined their initial responsibilities as nothing more than "defence of the Chief Executive Officer by any means necessary." However, even within days of their official recruitment, Zhang Xieren was already interested in a greater expansion and specification of their intended roles. Most of their increase in power happened meteorically throughout the months between September of 1914 and January of 1915.

Constables of local police forces, such as the Nakashigawa Police, were expected to follow the orders of the Daiwu without question.

By January of 1915 their official list of powers, granted through no less than 9 Directives, granted the Daiwu: powers of arrest, the ability to stop and search any civilian, the permission to investigate property without an official warrant, the capability to direct, command and utilise local police forces as aides in their own investigations, the permission to openly carry weapons, the legal right to commandeer civilian vehicles with no promise of compensation, access to Imperial military checkpoints, and -- most infamously -- Directives 413: the "licence to kill terrorists, rebels and insurrectionists" and 417: the "authority to overrule incorrect assessments by local judicial courts in both WPR and her client states."

After a period of relative stability in their permissions, by the mid 1920s Zhang once again expanded their powers in the event of a potential war with further states in Pahada and even Pavlostani. Daiwu were trained in arts of subterfuge, infiltration and the creation of spy-cells. By 1930 the Daiwu boasted an incredibly impressive intelligence agency both within WPR and neighbouring nations. Thousands of agents would go on to have a direct role in the Western War, where the Daiwu's Intelligence Branch performed extensively in fields of espionage and reconnaissance.

Daiwu were permitted to conduct business in any manner they pleased; either covertly or overtly. Those who acted overtly were expected to be treated with honour, friendship and hospitality by the native population. Assaulting a member of the Daiwu was a treasonous offence and was punished with death and acquisition of familial property. Daiwu were known to declare themselves as 'sheriff' of rural communities and would often act with impunity.

Organisation

Zhang Xieren

Daiwu Internal

Daiwu External

Clockwork Region Command

WPR Region Command

Department for Corporate Security

Department for Intelligence and Espionage

Local Constabularies

Asphotachal Region Command

Client Region Command

Home Guard

Reconnaissance Division

The Daiwu Watchers

Local Constabularies

Local Constabularies

The Daiwu, in a sense, directly reported to the Chief Executive Officer. In this regard, it evolved to form into that the Daiwu as an institution were not held to the rest of West Pahadan Rail. By 1927 the Daiwu had split into two separate, but cooperative, groups. The first and the original: the 'Daiwu Internal' and usually called the 'Daiwu'. The second was the recent expansion of responsibilities: the Daiwu External, concerned with foreign espionage, counter-espionage and reconnaissance.

The Daiwu Internal: The original and largest of the two, the Daiwu Internal was concerned with all the original functions of their setting up. Eventually, it was broken into two smaller sections; regional commands: the secretive 'Clockwork Region Command', which had agents operate within the empire, and the larger, public and extensive 'WPR Region Command.' The latter was further sub-divided into a command for the agents who worked in WPR's directly controlled territory - Asphotachal - and those who operated within WPR's vassals. Individual Daiwu Agents and Operatives reported to their local constabularies who in turn answered to regional command.

The Daiwu External: The Daiwu's greatest expansion of power came with the inclusion within their duties to 'defend the Empire from all threats both domestic and foreign.' Zhang had granted the Daiwu authority to conduct espionage, defend from it, perform reconnaissance and even undergo assassinations and terrorism in foreign nations. They reported to a separate authority, two Departments that composed the 'Daiwu External'. Agents concerned with defending the empire from foreign espionage and attacks were referred to simply as the 'Home Guard', whilst offensive espionage was broken into the Reconnaissance Division and the 'Watchers.'

Operations

Personnel and recruitment

In 1931 the Daiwu reached their largest number of agents (DA - Daiwu Agents), some 380,000 officially recognised personnel. These figures were released jointly by the Imperial Federation and the West Pahadan Republic in the 'Truth and Reconciliation Document'. In addition to this, they released the figures for informants: over 2,000,000 people spread out across 'numerous territories'. These territories are speculated to include, in addition to WPR's territories, the Clockwork Empire, Pavlostani and the foreign concessions in Clockwork territory. Whilst the TRD did not list the names of the individuals it did, however, give their professions, their ethnic composition, religious beliefs and gender. According to the official documentation, only 0.3% of informants were coerced into being informants: the rest did so due to economic, social and occupational privileges.

There are no figures on any of the personnel in the 'Daiwu External'. During his tenure as Chancellor of the Imperial Federation, Zhang Xieren said "these matters are not for public knowledge."

Most of the recruitment for the DAs came from police academies. However, a specialised training school was eventually set up in Nakashigawa, which became a large section of the Five Star Committee's official governing residences. Reconnaissance units were diverted from the military to serve with the Daiwu. Officially, joining the Daiwu was open to all members of society. However, the number of female Daiwu never breached over 26% of the agents according to the TDR.

Any official way of recruiting the agents involving examinations are unknown, but a former Daiwu agent did link that there were "three physical fitness examinations" and "two academic papers". They also said that "less intelligent candidates were diverted to menial work within the Daiwu: generally supporting staff rather than full on agents."

Infiltration

The first leader of the opposition in the West Pahadan Republic, Megaduta Kapadia of the Pahadan Unity Party, declared that "every citizen of this republic has been spied to on by the officially illegal Daiwu." Kapadia demanded that the Harmonious Coalition, the successors to the Five Star Committee, 'release the information.' The HC denied possessing such information. The TDR did not give concrete answers for the number of agents nor the activities. However, since some agents operated in public they were known to serve as law enforcers in almost every rural community. Many speculate they infiltrated every factory, hospital, school, housing complex, places of worship and even military base.

Leaked information in the West Pahadan Republic reveal that the Daiwu did in fact possess a personal profile (that additionally contained medical and psychological information) of at least 67% of the population of the West Pahadan Rail and her client states. To put it into perspective, by 1927, they had files on over 85 million people. Individuals were also categorised by their susceptibility to 'truth' and the best way to extract information from them.

Any information relating to the levels of infiltration in foreign countries is unknown, but their operation in Pavlostani during the Great War is a fact confirmed by all parties.

It is speculated that a large portion of the public life of the citizens of the WPR were disturbed and monitored by the activities of the Daiwu's 'Home Guard', the official name for internal espionage efforts.