Red Robe Society
The Red Robe Society (Hua: លិឣត្សោច liab tsoos cov) is the name given to the society of clerks and civilian officials who managed customs in the Minghua valley during the Confederal Period. As the arbitrators of the Writ of Passage they formed the backbone of the Dawpruva system, which dominated the political and economic spheres within the Minghua mountains. The Red Robe Society were charged with the monitoring of the writs of passage presented by merchants and extracting taxation from trade, a role which granted them a high degree of political and economic importance in Confederal society.
History
While the issue of writs of passage has been traced to the emergence of the Dawpruva as a unit of societal organisation in modern day Tusing, the Red Robe Society itself emerged following the collapse of the Peshkal Khanate and subsequent rise of the North Minghua Confederation as the confederation delegated far more power to individual Mountain Princes than the highly centralised Peshkal state. The newfound importance of the Writs of Passage necessitated oversight, as counterfeit writs of passage soon circulated. This led to the adoption of the royal ledger, an official list of active writs of passage and their owners. The Red Robe Society was founded in 936 as a joint project of the confederation, as a means of ensuring that customs would be processed in the same way across the Confederation despite the lack of a customs union. The use of coloured robes was based off similar societies within the Great Steppe, with red being the colour of the confederal government. The Red Robe Society was active for several hundred years, but grew increasingly corrupt and power hungry. This led to several Mountain Princes expelling the society from their dominions. This caused their rupture with the confederal government, leading to the Kentawcolu war and fall of the first confederation. While the society maintained some activity in the following years, it eventually disappeared. Template:Great Steppe Topics