Sale of commisisons in the Themiclesian military
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Between 1805 and 1867, when the Themiclesian military imitated the Tyrannian one and offered commissions for bidding, the isle of Liang was still under Themiclesian control. The island was strategically valuable, as it gave the navy a second home port, so that it could not be easily encircled within the Halu'an Sea. Learning from the fiasco of 1791, the Admiralty held the isle in high regard, sending as many as six regiments of marines to guard it from incursion. In the 18th century, when the Marines headquarters were located on the opposite coast, the government usually allowed the Admiralty to commission officers as a matter of convenience. But as the entire naval establishment had been moved home in the late 1700s, the power to commission Marines officers reverted to the Secretary of State for Administration. Like all other regiments, commissions in these six regiments were for sale. In 1817, the second son of the Lord of K′lang-lan (prime minister 1814 – 1822) became a captain in the 3rd Regiment, and almost as soon as he was commissioned, the Camians mobilized its militia to test Themiclesians' resolve on defending the island. The captain proved physically unfit and was unable to run with his company from one fortification to another, dying to Camian fire. Though the regiment successfully fended off the incursion, his body was mutilated by Camian militiamen. The news of the prime minister's son's ignominious death scandalized the aristocracy.
In the 1820s, the sale of commissions became a more public affair. Military offices were deemed good for accumulating seniority within the bureaucracy that aristocratic men aspired to; when a civil appointment could not be secured, military offices became substitutes. The Army Academy had been set up to take advantage of this excess of bureaucrats as reserve and militia officers. However, not all commissions were made equal. Some regiments, such as the Hên-lang Guards, were deemed a first-rate regiment for their proximity and trust to the government ministers and physical location in the capital city, which made social and political activity possible. Other regiments were ranked into roughly five tiers of desirability, in context of advancing a bureaucratic career. Inland militia units were usually considered second- and third-rate units, as they were comparatively safe, with actual military action unlikely. Comparatively remote and exposed units were fourth- and fifth-rates. The six regiments on Liang, especially after the death of K′lang-lan's son, formed a sub-fifth-rate, due to their proven danger. As the Camians became more aggressive in raids and provocative with rhetoric, the commissions became so undesirable that nobody bought them.
In 1845, the Marines' commissions were placed on half-price and advertised to public servants newly relieved of office, peers, and members of parliament as "commissions on a beautiful island", but instead of generating any positive interest, the phrase "island commission" became a synecdoche for unpleasant missions. In 1849, Admiral Kun (ret. 1851) made a visit to the Commissions Chamber, where commissions available were written out on a massive chalkboard for aristocrats to consider. At the end of the commissioning season, every commission had sold and was wiped off the board, except the six island commissions still in the corner. He took a photo of the board, which was used in the late 1800s to illustrate the ills of sales of commisisons, but Kun originally used it to accuse Conservatives to be cowards. However, the harder the Ministry of Administration pushed for their sale, the worse the reputation of the commissions became. In 1850, novelist Hap Ger wrote of a character receiving an island commission as a present from a mortal enemy, which was interpreted as a sign to "drop dead". While the joke had previously been the preserve of the upper classes, who had the right to purchase commissions such as these, it seems by 1850 the unsold commissions were publicly understood in that light. The Liberal government opened the purchase of "unsold commissions" after the commissioning season to non-aristocratic gentlemen in 1854, ending the drought of officers in the Marine Corps. As the middle class tended to hold strongly Liberal views, the force was dominated by Liberals for, arguably, the next century.