Ministries

Finding talented commoners before they sprout into troublseome weeds was a program instated under Emperor An

The Ministries of the Celestial Empire are a variety of administrative and bureaucratic institutions whose role is managing many of the day to day functions which keep the Empire running smoothly. These things range from enforcement of Imperial edicts to accounting. Many of their higher members are what has been termed "bureaucratic" cultivators by the player-base, whose arts and cultivation methods are specialized around performing their job with superhuman skill.

Ministry of Integrity
The Ministry of Integrity was formed about four hundred years before the beginning of the events of Forge of Destiny, give or take fifty years. Their shtick is proprietary.

It is implied that the Ministry of Integrity came about when Prince An sought the advice of the Herald of Endings in reinforcing the Empire.

Finding talented commoners before they sprout into troublseome weeds was a program instated under Emperor An. The Minestry of Integrity have a divination art to do this, only those with talent 5+ ping the MoI divination arts for sect recruitment.

The mark symbolizing the Ministry of Integrity is a stylized white owl with wings outstretched over a black sky.

In the case of things like tax evasion, the Ministry of Integrity has been known to work with the Ministry of Commerce.

"So The Ministry of Integrity works in tandem with the Ministry of commerce on (tax evasion). Each noble is responsible for passing the proper sum up the chain, and ministry of commerce guys are always poking around to determine what those sums should be. Typically a noble will have an 'In-House' commerce guy to take care of that. If there is an unacceptable discrepancy there, an Agent from Integrity comes to investigate. There's usually an execution or two involved at that point."

Agents wear plain black and silver robes and featureless white jade masks. All agents must bind a Reaper, a death-aspected spirit.

Zhu Qing - Assigned as the inspector of the region around the Argent Peak Sect. Was a former disciple at the Argent Peak Sect.

Ministry of Communication
This Ministry handles the transportation of messages and other methods of long distance communication and coordination among the Empire. Many lower message runner employees make use of advanced movement arts to cover unspecified large distances quickly.

Attempting to access Ministry deliveries and messages without authorization is a significant crime.

Ministry of Law
This Ministry is composed of arbitrators, judges and scribes who handle legal functions below the notice of lords. It is typical for most rulers to retain a number of ministry advisers to aid them to properly drafting new laws and decrees. It is an important function, and serves as a check on the Ministry of Commerce, due to their authority over contracts. They also serve to ensure that provincial law, does not conflict with imperial law, as well as combining the records to ensure that contradictions between older and newer laws are brought to the attention of relevant lords, so that they may decide which is to remain valid.

Ministry that controls Spirit Stones
Their exact name is not known, but Yrsillar had this to say:

"Spirit Stone production is pretty heavily regulated and controlled, and there is indeed an entire ministry whose job is dealing with that, they don't exactly get the publicity the Integrity guys do though."