Pearl staff
The pearl staff (珠丈) is a wooden staff carried by guards of high dignitaries of Themiclesia. It is called a "pearl staff" because it is shaped as several conjoined spheres and reminiscent of a string of pearls or spheroidal gemstones.
Origins
The name "pearl staff" is a monicker that dates to the 11th century, but weapons similar to it are thought to have been conceived after Emperor Pei was assassianted in 801. In 791, Themiclesia organized a massive expedition to Columbia, and a treaty was forced upon the aboriginal nations in 792, but a revolt began soon after. The Themiclesian court invited all 51 nations it recognized to negotiate possible emendations to the treaty, but one of the delegates reportedly killed the emperor with his victim's own sword. Officials came to the conclusion that there was no way to prevent such incidents unless all lethal weapons were barred from the royal presence, and that year all gentlemen retainers were commanded to remove their swords and the tips of their spears, using only the shaft of the spear in the royal presence.
Over time, such staffs appears to have been extensively decorated at their holders' expense, and the eponymous shape was only one of several forms that were common. The historian A. Gro says,
It seems the staff was designed to be an effective but non-lethal weapon to keep order around the monarch. Many surviving examples exhibit elaborate openwork that would have further weakened the staff as a weapon, but that was the intention: it needs to be sturdy enough to keep a person under control temporarily but not enough to kill him easily. We think openwork or the pearl necklace designs were developed to ensure the staff would break if used to strike repeatedly.
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Current use
The pearl staff is used as a symbol of office around not only the emperor but important state organs and senior members of the aristocracy.
- It is carried by gentlemen-at-arms, the emperor's retainers, during state ceremonies in the palace. As these staff members serve as royal heralds, they are often seen entering a place slightly before the emperor. The Gentlemen-Marshal, the principal counsel overseeing royal retainers, carries a staff with embedded precious stones. This arrangement is generally repeated by the empress, the crown prince, and empresses-dowager.
- Senior officials of the two houses of parliament are required ex officio to own such a staff, but parliamentary etiquette provides that, with exception for doorkeepers, only during state ceremonies are staffs actually carried. Doorkeepers are required to hold a staff when discharging their office.