Principal counsels and ceremonial departments
The Principal Counsels (列卿, rêt-skrang) were Themiclesia's highest-ranking officials in the Medieval period under the chancellor and vice chancellor. Those occupying analogous positions under the empress, empresses-dowager, and palatine princes are also principal counsels. As a characteristic, their departments are all based in the capital cities and receive a salary of 2,000 bushels.
Today, their functions vary from being high-ranking civil servants with current duties to sinecures; their departments are called ceremonial departments because, while some do retain functions, they no longer behave as coherent administrative agencies.
Etymology
The term rêt-skrang is a adjectival-nominal compound term which can be semantically dissected into its components. rêt, from Old Meng *ret, means "each, all"; *ret is a cognate of *r̥et, meaning "all". The glyph for skrang, meaning perhaps originally "companion", depicts two individuals sharing a meal.
Constitutional significance
It is generally held that, prior to Abolition of Formalities Act (1975), all functions of the central government must occur within or under one of the ceremonial departments, each led by a official holding consular rank. This tradition which dates to antiquity is analyzed to represent the sharing of administrative powers and responsibilities between the monarchy and an established aristocracy. Though the rule has lost part of its substance with more liberal granting of aristocratic titles and their later disassociation with feudal privilege, it has nevertheless been re-asserted multiple times in history by the aristocracy to prevent the crown from appointing sycophants or allies of whom they disapprove.
Emperor's counsels
Chancellor
The Chancellor (相邦, smangs-pwrāng) is the nominal head of the royal government. He or she is always a peer. The Shinasthana name smangs-pwrāng means "state-overseer", similar to a head of government. The Chancellor was originally the most powerful and highest-ranking officer of the bureaucracy, though in later centuries he may be relegated to a ceremonial and procedural function, or even a title for the President of Correspondence. The Chancellor's authority extends over military as much as civilian officials.
Vice-Chancellor
The Vice-Chancellor (丞相, ging-smangs) is an assistant of the Chancellor. Though most deputies in the Themiclesian administration do not have much independent authority, Vice-Chancellors are an exception, as the office of Chancellor is frequently vacant. Certain monarchs have also used the Vice-Chancellor to divide the authority of the Chancellor.
There may be one or two Vice-Chancellors; if there are two, then the more senior is called the Right Vice-Chancellor (右丞相, ghwreq-ging-smangs), and the other the Left Vice-Chancellor (左丞相, dzārq-ging-smangs). If there is a third, the most junior is called Middle Vice-Chancellor (中丞相, trung-ging-smangs) If the Chancellorship is vacant, then the Right Vice-Chancellor takes his place, but his authority is not as complete as a Chancellor. While the Chancellor is invariably a peer, Vice-Chancellors are not always peers, though this tends to be the case if he or she de facto discharges the Chancellor's office.
Exchequer-Chancellor
Account-Chancellor
Royal Attorney-general
The Royal Attorneys (御史, ngjas-s.rje′) are a group of officers in Themiclesia primarily concerned with the maintenance of law and order amongst officials in the royal bureaucracy and household. They possess the power to investigate misuse of power and primary function as ombudsmen in the central and local governments. Formerly, Royal Attorneys also functioned as tribunes in the Themiclesian army and navy, being empowered to monitor military officers of all ranks and to make confidential reports upon their activities; this system fell into disuse in the mid-19th century.
Master of the Exchequer
The Master of the Exchequer (内史, nups-sre′) has a broad array of duties centering on revenues. The medieval Exchequer was divided into two main departments, the Major Exchequer and the Minor Exchequer; the former had jurisdiction over revenues in kind, such as grains and minerals, and the latter over moneys. The collection of revenues in kind waned after the 14th century.
Great Treasurer
The Great Treasurer (大府, lāts-pwaq) oversaw the state treasury of Themiclesia, where tax revenues were stored.
Master of Arts
The Master of Arts (太史, lats-sre′) is primarily invovled in conducting ceremonies of public relevance, especially for the state cult. He also controls departments of oracles, clairvoyance, and worship. Professions once perceived to have some sort of spiritual significance, such as medicine, music, and history are also superintended by the Master of Arcane Arts.
It was once customary for a number of households to be moved to a newly-completed mausoleum. Rather than paying taxes, they would be charged with the mausoleum's maintenance and be exempt from other forms of service. Thus, these villages became favoured places for merchant families, who could travel more widely without interruption by service. The duties of maintaining the mausoleum were commuted to payment for those who could afford it. Maintenance work on mausolea usually lapsed after several generations, while exemption persisted; this was considered the "residual grace" of the deceased sovereign entombed there. Such "mausolea villages" were under the control of the Great Chamberlain.
Justiciar
The Justiciar (廷尉, ling-′uts) is a senior judicial official, superior to the chief justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. While the Justiciar once sat in the Court of Appeal, he is restricted to administrative duties around these two courts today.
Royal Marshal
The Royal Marshal (中尉, trjung-′judh) exercises over the region around the capital city functions similar to a prefectural marshal. This officer manages the Inner Region's militia and was the commander-in-chief of the Capital Defence Force, until it merged with other professional units in 1921. The Royal Marshal enjoys the courtesy rank of colonel within the Consolidated Army and is regarded as the most senior colonel.
Marshal of Guards
The Marshal of Guards (衛尉, gwrals-′uts) is the civilian commander of the Royal Guards, which currently consists of two regiments and nine independent companies. Under the Marshal of Guards are the colonels of the Sqin′-lang Palace and the Middle Palace and the captains responsible for the other royal residences.
Master of Protocols
The Master of Protocols (大賓, lats-prin) oversaw ceremonies relating to the imperial court and reception of foreign envoys. In Antiquity, much emphasis was placed on honouring guests with rituals in temples of royal progenitors and of the hosting city's gods. An accepted system of diplomatic etiquette thus developed around envoys' participation in rituals which were supposed to demonstrate the hosting city's pious and friendly disposition.
Marshal of Barons
The Marshal of Barons (主爵中尉, twa′-tsuk-trung-′uts) was the monarch's representative to his barons and the peacetime commander of baronial troops pledged to the crown. This office is now normally filled by a Cabinet minister and acts as the government's representative in the House of Lords.
Barons of the Household
Barons of the Household (侍中侯, le-trung-gwā) are barons called to the emperor's personal service in various temporary capacities or as an official supervising the royal household.
Gallery Marshal
The Gallery Marshal (郎中令, rāng-trung-rings) is responsible for the Gentlemen of the Household, who are retainers of the Themiclesian monarch and perform a range of menial functions. While their original role was mostly civil, they were also expected to act as a bodyguard, and some were comaprable to equerries in Casaterran monarchies.
President of the Privy Council
The Privy Council (中大夫省, trung-lats-pa-sring′) is the sovereign's chief body of non-partisan advisors. It consists of all former cabinet ministers, though only former prime ministers are regularly summoned for the council's meetings. Membership is in two classes, the Privy Councillors, for prime ministers, and Councillors-at-Large, for cabinet ministers.
Unlike its Tyrannian namesake, the Privy Council is not the parent organization of the cabinet, nor is its advice legally reqiured in executive functions. Instead, it mediates the exercise of the emperor's private prerogatives with the government, supervises the running of his household and those of his relatives, and informs the throne about political activities. While the emperor must always abide by his ministers' advice, the bi-partisan Privy Council generally allows the emperor to gain better insight into government policies and form informed opinions and make proper statements. This prevents open conflicts, intentional or unintentional, between the crown and his ministers.
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse (太僕, l′āts-bwāk) was responsible for provisioning the court and militias with horses, which due to their importance in warfare was a regulated resource. His department oversaw several major horse ranches that spanned thousands of hectares that reared and tended to horses of all uses. By connection, he also oversaw the raising of livestock that provisioned the court and occasionally was sold on markets. His subordinates oversaw the many stables that served the government's needs.
Comptroller of Works
The Comptroller of Works (寺工, le-kwang) was responsible for the central government's building, engineering projects, and manufacture of weapons and other goods.
Comptroller of the House
The Comptroller of the House (公族大夫, qwāng-tswāk-lāts-pa) oversaw the households of untitled members of the royal family; those titled would fall under the supervision of the Marshal of Peers or the Comptroller of Embassies. His subordinates are the heads of households serving unmarried princes and princesses. He was responsible for preparing the royal family's family tree and a list of all its current members. Likewise, the Comptroller of the House arranged for their education and public relations and functioned as a court for the adjudication of offences committed by members of the royal family; criminal cases against them must be brought at this court, which with parliamentary assent may remanded to ordinary courts, and civil cases between themselves as well.
Privy Treasurer
The Privy Treasurer (御府, mgraq-pwaq) is the treasury of the royal household, controlling the monarchy's private property and fabricating items for royal use. Since the emperor owned many of the forests that produced timber and hosted game, anyone logging, hunting, fishing, and trapping in it was fined an entrance fee and either paid for the goods they obtained or was required to submit part of their acquisitions. The Privy Treasury also actively exploited the land by large, collective agricultural and mineral enterprises; some of their products went to the royal household, but a large portion was also sold on markets, proceeds also going to the department.
By extention, it attended to the many personal needs of the royal household. In 502, King Ngwan of the Rang dynasty prohibited private minting of coins and declared all bronze ores in the Demesne land royal property; the bronze allowed the Privy Treasury to become a mint, further enlarging its wealth and economic prowess.
Other 2,000-bushel officials
There are many other officials who are ranked at 2,000-bushels but are not considered part of the panoply of principal counsels. The most prominent of these are prefectural magistrates and marshals, who conduct civilian and military business in their prefectures, respectively. In contrast with these officials who are located regionally, those in the central government are termed demesne-2,000-bushels (中二千石, trjung-njih-sn′ing-djak); those governing prefectures were called prefecture-2,000-bushels (郡二千石, ′kljur-njih-sn′ing-djak), and palatine counsels are state-2,000-bushels (邦二千石, prong-njih-sn′ing-djak). Additionally, many demesne officials were created or elevated to this rank well after the period in which principal counsels have led the government; as a result, they are not considered principal counsels. Many of them are also military officers. They are (with the year they were established at that rank):
- Warden Beyond the River (河外監, gar-ngwadh-k.ram; 682), who controlled certain goverment functions in the northeast.
- Marine Prefect (護水使者, gagh-stjui-srje′-tja′; 1582), who governed the extraction of natural resources in Columbia.
- General of the Colonial Army (阜將軍, pjegh-tsjang-kwjin; 1348), who led Themiclesia's standing army in Columbia.
- Colonel-general of Signals (都中尉, ta-trjung-′judh; 1758), who led the Royal Signals Corps.
- Captain-general of Marines (冗人尉, njung-njing-′judh; 1758), who governed the armed portion of the navy's passengers.
- Lieutenant-General of the Colonial Army (阜嬖將軍, pjegh-pêk-tsjang-kwjin; 1758)
- Chief Justice (廷理, lêng-rje′; 1758), who led the Supreme Court.
- Puisne Justices (廷監, lêng-k.ram; 1758), who sat on the Supreme Court's bench.
Notes