The Order of Scales

The Order of Scales, also called the Keepers of the Cardinal Creed, is the only law enforcement organization in the Seven Sacred Cities with inter-municipal authority. It is directly under the command of the Conclave. Its functions range from civil arbitration, to guarding the Conclave representatives, to apprehending and sentencing criminals, to maintaining a standing army.

Tenderfoot
Hopefuls to the Keepers of the Cardinal Creed are known as Tenderfoots. This term originated as slang, referencing the amount of running that hopefuls are required to do, but became the formally recognized title for those working for the Order that have not yet undergone the Red Trial. Tenderfoots usually sign on at the age of twelve, and are not considered members of the Order of Scales.

Tenderfoots, while not in Tuonetii learning in a classroom, are dispatched to various parts of the nation to learn in the field. This usually means running messages between the commanding Arbiter and the Executors and Ordinators under his or her command. It is an accepted tradition that should a Tenderfoot deliver a message to an Executor or Ordinator working a case, the Keeper would invite the Tenderfoot to assist him or her on the case for no longer than one day and one night. Tenderfoot running schedules are adjusted to accommodate this practice. This can be an opportunity for Tenderfoots to display their investigation or logic skills, and gain some notoriety.

Once a Tenderfoot has reached the age of eighteen, he or she undergoes the Red Trial, to determine if they are capable of becoming a Keeper of the Cardinal Creed. Only about two-tenths of Tenderfoots pass this test. The rest are sent home. The rejected initiates did not waste their time, however, as their experience as a Tenderfoot can land them a substantial position in a city guard corps, or in the Red Hands Mercenaries. Those who pass are granted the rank of Ordinator, and assigned to an Arbiter, either in a city or in a specialized division, depending on their performance, to be placed in the command structure as the Arbiter requires.

Ordinator
The Order of Scales's most numerous members are known as Ordinators. These knights travel routes typically between cities, unless employed in a specialized division. They typically work independently, as most Keepers of the Cardinal Creed do, but report to an Executor. An Ordinator will mostly hear minor cases, such as property disputes, petty theft, and poaching.

Ordinators also make up the majority of less-skilled labor in other, more specialized divisions of the Order, such as Archives and Research.

Executor
Executors make up about one-tenth of the total Order of Scales members, and are considered fairly elite. Most Executors fulfill a similar role to Ordinators, but are typically assigned more major cases, such as organized crime, highway robbery, and murder. However, Executors are found in many other roles, such as the higher tiers of Archives and Research, making up the standing military officer corps known as the Stone Army, or staffing the top-secret Downwater Island Prison.

Arbiter
Possibly the most varied rank in the Order of Scales, and also the most exclusive, would be the Arbiters. Numbering less than a hundred, there is an Arbiter in every arm of the Order. Usually a City has between two and four Arbiters assigned to it, who manage the Executors and Ordinators, very rarely hearing cases themselves. The large towns each have one Arbiter. In the rare event an Arbiter hears a case, it is usually a massive public affair. Arbiters will only judge cases in which publicity is required for public satisfaction, such as serial killings or misconduct within the Order, or in cases of inter-municipal political dispute, during which all of the Arbiters for the Cities involved would meet and decide the case by jury.

Arbiters almost always make up the whole of the elite Hammers of Silence, a unit of fifteen of the most powerful warriors the Order has to offer, able to be dispatched anywhere, quietly. Eight Arbiters are in charge of Downwater Prison. and Arbiters in Archives and Research have access to all the information the Order of Scales possesses. Ultimately, as most Arbiters are of advancing age, their jobs mostly include paperwork and field work is rare.

When an Executor is promoted to Arbiter, they are given a title that reflects their noteworthy actions up to that point. Examples include: "The Arbiter of Crashing Thunder, The Arbiter of the Long Watch, The Arbiter of Waking Dreams."

Grand Arbiter
The highest ranking member of the Order of Scales is known as the Grand Arbiter. From Castle Ordinatus in Tuonetii, the Grand Arbiter oversees the entire Order. Their responsibilities vary greatly. The Grand Arbiter has the ability to hear cases, but this has never happened and would be a troubling event. Grand Arbiters are also capable of issuing an Order-wide kill-on-sight order, usually in the event of the escape of a convicted person from their sentence, or a prisoner from Downwater Prison.

Arbitration
When a Keeper of the Cardinal Creed hears a case, it is usually because the conflicting parties and the town guard have both failed to come to a conclusion or are too short-staffed to deal with the problem. The Knight of the Scales is tasked with investigating all leads, gathering as much evidence and testimony as possible, then coming to a judgment. A Keeper's ruling is final, and can only be overturned by an Arbiter following a thorough inquiry. All Knights of the Scales are allowed to utilize summary execution, although only Executors and Arbiters typically have to do this.

While Order doctrine is very specific in most regards, some Knights differ slightly in philosophy, and therefore may be more harsh or merciful in their judgments depending on the Knight. A common and encouraged practice among Keepers is to weigh on a scale the crime and any mitigating factors. For example, a peasant convicted of stealing medicine from a physician would typically be sentenced to jail time, but a different peasant who is an amputee and has a sick daughter may be provided with a prosthesis for his disability, and treatment for his daughter, but would have to work for the physician to pay off the prosthesis, the treatment, and the medicine.

Archives and Research
The Archives and Research division of the Order is dedicated to filing all the information on cases, national history, and the sciences. Researchers are constantly looking for new ways to counteract arcane abilities that may be used by criminals and fugitives. It is rumored that the Archives contain documentation on a method to kill a Celestial, but this is unknown. Ordinators who pass their trials with the lowest score generally end up here, to do filing and inventory work; however, the Executors and Arbiters employed in the Archives and Research divisions are some of the top thinkers in the entire Order.

Imprisonment
Only one prison is operated by the Order of Scales: the top-secret Downwater Island Prison. Downwater Prison is dug into the island in the Crescent Lake, burrowing down until it reaches the aquifer beneath. Its staff are entirely Executors and Arbiters, with only ten Ordinators present to handle the bookkeeping on a smaller island that houses the administrative building. Downwater houses the most dangerous criminals that have ever walked the Seven Cities, and is only known by few who do not work there, the rest is just rumor. Those who know of Downwater's purpose wonder why the prisoners are not simply executed, but the truth may be that they are kept alive by the Conclave's own request.

In the event of an escape from Downwater, only having happened twice in history, the Grand Arbiter will typically issue a kill-on-sight order, to be spread by word of mouth to all Keepers and even Tenderfoots. Prisoners at Downwater are given a forehead brand to facilitate this operation.

Military
The Stone Army of the Order of Scales is a corps of five-hundred designated officers, under the command of an Arbiter, kept for the purposes of commanding the rest of the Order in the event of an open war in which the Order's intervention is required. Typically, this event will be a city-wide rebellion against the Conclave.

Additionally, the Hammers of Silence could be considered a military unit, as they engage in high-danger operations at the direct command of the Conclave. While technically within the Order of Scales, the Hammers can and have taken action against the Order on behalf of the Conclave, having assassinated several Grand Arbiters that the Conclave did not approve of.

Founding
The Conclave formed the Order of Scales shortly after their own formation. The first Grand Arbiter was an Orc known as Tad Mukek, the Arbiter of the Shaded Grove. They developed their ranking and praxis, and thousands lined up to prove themselves worthy to be the first Keepers of the Cardinal Creed.

The Last War
During the Last War, the Knights of the Scales generally kept to their usual duties and stayed firmly out of the War. The Hammers of Silence spent most of their time in the Citadel, guarding the members of the Conclave for nearly the entirety of the war, some even spending their entire time as a Hammer protecting the great council.

The battle of Crescent Crossing, one of the first battles of the war, resulted in a massacre on the side of the Eye. A detachment of Eye troops, consisting of fifty foot soldiers was sent to Downwater Prison to break out a master assassin, Kanban Eraen. The guards at Downwater were capable of defeating the foot soldiers, but the arrival of a Celestial would prove disastrous. All but one of the prison staff were killed. The Celestial was killed by Hammer of Silence and future Grand Arbiter Khsay Bandasa, who was watching Crescent Crossing for a period of seven days straight, saving the life of future Warden of Downwater and Arbiter of Obsidian, Gorbak Kan.

Kanban Eraen was able to escape, but did not assist the Eye forces as they desired. The Grand Arbiter issued a kill-on-sight order for Kanban Eraen, but the assassin's death was not reported, and she hasn't been found, live or dead, since.

The Elysian Expedition
Executor Kelu of Undundwa is a member of the current expedition to the island west of the Cities.