The Ministry of Culture

The Ministry for the Preservation, Dissemination, and Protection of Imperial Culture (known generally as the Ministry of Culture) is the branch of government concerned with safeguarding the Empire's ideals. The Ministry brings together an impressive array of artists, philosophers, poets, and authors who together set acceptable standards for the creation of works of cultural importance such that they conform themselves to acceptable topics and styles. The Ministry is also tasked with listening to the voice of the common man, and ensuring that it is heard at court.

The Ministry has traditionally employed vast numbers of creative individuals. Additionally, skilled administrators are required to keep the Imperial Laws Regarding the Creation of Artistic Works in order and peasant classes content.

The Bookhunters are tasked with enforcing the Imperial Laws Regarding the Creation of Artistic Works. They are an elite cadre of martial artists, painters, writers, and philosophers who ensure that no work deemed a threat to the stability of the Empire remains in circulation. They are headquartered in the city of Ao Liang, in the Province of Shu.

The Bookhunters have a long history of falling in and out of favour with the Dragon Throne, especially when they set their sights on particularly beloved or reviled artists. It is also said that among their ranks are those who have partaken of the forbidden works which they hunt, especially dark grimoires of unnatural power. Few are those who will stand up to the Bookhunters

The Ten Attendants are selected every ten years from among the ranks of the most skilled bureaucrats in the Department of Administrative Affairs. They are provided with an armed escort, a fortune in gold, and an Imperial writ, and for ten years they scour the Empire lending their ears to the people in order to ensure that they are heard by the Imperial Court. It is widely believed at court that the main purpose of the attendants is to prevent a disastrous uprising of the peasantry.

The Blue Squares are a perpetual thorn in the Ministry's side. Born out of a particularly bad year, they are a loose association of peasant villages throughout the Empire that demand more from the Emperor that just platitudes and token gestures. To many in the Ministry they are nothing more than bandits and rabble-rousers, but to some they represent the potential for real change for the better. Few can deny that the lives of the vast majority of the Empire's citizens are quite difficult, and sympathizers have been growing of late.

Nobody is quite sure how it came to be that the Thrice-Blessed Immortal Order of the Black Lotus found itself within the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. While publicly they are dedicated to preserving the interests of the Dragon Throne, there are few in the Empire who are not aware of their true nature as the Emperor's elite assassins.

The Order is shrouded in mystery, with only a handful throughout Chi'in aware of their true number and headquarters.

Overseer Leng is the head of the Bookhunters, a sour man who despises art in all its forms, and whose zeal has often ensured that dissenting artists are permanently removed from the Empire.

Zheng Liao firmly believes in the mission of the Ten Attendants, and he works tirelessly to ensure that the common people are heard by the Imperial Court. This has earned him many enemies, from regional prefects to members of the Honourable Companions.