Privy Chamber

The Privy Treasury (少府, sm′aws-poaq′) is a traditional Themiclesian government department, established during the Hexarchy, managing royal assets and a large number of derived functions. In later centuries, wholly unconnected agencies were added to its supervision, and it has been called the "trash bin" of government departments. Originally, it employed thousands of labourers and penal slaves, often entire households, to discharge its functions. From the 16th century, many of its manufacturing departments were closed in favour of procurement from the market, though these functions persisted into the 19th.

Structure

The Privy Treasury possessed one of the most elaborate bureaucracies in the whole of Themiclesia, and the extent of its jurisdiction derives from that of royal forests. Virtually all unused, unowned land in Themiclesia was considered royal forest, and the Privy Treasury was responsible for its administration and the extraction of its resources, which included timber, minerals, animals. Additionally, mineral and salt deposits on private lands were also deemed royal assets. In most periods, the public may hunt, fish, and grow crops in royal forests for a fee and a portion of their products. All the materials that these lands produce are stored and transformed by the Privy Treasury's departments into goods for royal use and sale.

To supply the skill and labour needed to manage these assets, the Privy Treasury employed, in broad terms, semi-free labourers called engineers (工室, kong-stjit) and penal slaves (隸臣妾, rjebh-gjin-ts′jap). The engineers were households that passed on their skills from generation to generation and continued to serve under the Privy Treasury. Some members of the households could earn their liberties for a fee, if their skills were not in short supply. Engineers were required to do whatever work assigned to them by the Privy Treasury, but they owned property, lived at private homes, and otherwise led ordinary lives.

See also

• Themiclesia