Celestial Bureaucracy (AOS)

The Celestial Bureaucracy is the structure of the divine hierarchy of the gods in Creation and Yu-Shan. It has grown notoriously inefficient, corrupt, and self-serving over time.

History

The Celestial Bureaucracy was organized in the aftermath of the Primordial War. The victorious Incarnae brought the most loyal gods into Yu-Shan to serve as the backbone of their administration, while the remainder of remained on Mount Meru, or directly overseeing some part of Creation.

Over time, however, the tight organization began to fray. The Celestial Incarnae became ever more absorbed in the Games of Divinity, leaving leadership in Heaven to more self-interested gods. The Usurpation angered and offended many gods, even as it offered them the chance to claim more power over Creation. The massive death toll of the Great Contagion, and the destruction of so much of Creation by the Fair Folk, left huge numbers of gods "unemployed." When the Fair Folk attacked, the portals to Yu-Shan were all sealed, and remained so for more than twenty years. The terrestrial arm of the Bureaucracy, abandoned to their own devices, formed their own courts and moved openly among mortals.

This led to an era known as the God Wars, as the administrations in Yu-Shan attempted to forcibly bring the gods of Creation to heel. Though it ultimately failed, it caused tremendous collateral damage in Creation. Eventually, in the name of keeping the world running smoothly (or at all), the two factions of gods settled into a detente. Heaven only enforces its strictest rule on the Blessed Isle; the gods of the Threshold must answer to Heaven's censors, but in practice have leeway to do anything they can get away with, whether through subterfuge or bribery.

The Time of Tumult has further eroded the Celestial Bureaucracy, as two key events - the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress and the invasion of Thorns by Mask of Winters - were totally unpredicted by the Bureau of Destiny. The leaders of the Bronze Faction have begun dying of old age, and the return of the Solar Exalted has many gods eager to see the Mandate of Heaven restored (or at least, to settle old scores with the Sidereals and the Dragon-Blooded.)

Organization

The Celestial Bureaucracy comprises the Celestial Court in Yu-Shan and its various Bureaus, as well as the Terrestrial Bureaucracy in Creation and its regional Courts.

Below the absent Celestial Incarnae rank the five Bureaus: The Bureau of Heaven, the Bureau of Seasons, the Bureau of Humanity, the Bureau of Nature, and the Bureau of Destiny.

The Bureau of Heaven is divided into two divergent halves, the Department of Celestial Concerns and the Department of Abstract Matters. The former oversees the government of Heaven and the policing of the gods, and thus has tremendous power over the rest of the Celestial Bureaucracy; its censors and celestial lions can bring down a tedious audit on anyone who challenges Shogun Ryzala's agenda. The Department of Abstract matters, on the other hand, is a sprawling tangle of Divisions dedicated to concepts such as Peace, War, Loss, and Memory; its most important Division is the Division of Exaltion, overseen by Lytek.

The Bureau of Seasons is similarly bifurcated, as they act as both Heaven's military force and masters of Creation's weather. This Bureau struggles to stay out of the Celestial Bureaucracy's vicious politics, and focuses instead on maintaining the cycle of the natural world.

The Bureau of Humanity contains all the gods of human things, including patron gods of places, as well as human concepts such as taxes. Much of its authority was absorbed into the Department of Abstract Things during the First Age, and again when so much of Creation was destroyed by the Great Contagion or the Fair Folk. However, it exerts tremendous influence over Creation, where its many local gods have begun open ruling their cities and towns, in defiance of the censors.

The Bureau of Nature suffered a similar loss of domain to the Bureau of Humanity, and many gods of plants, animals and wild places are among the unemployed. Members of this bureau worked closely with the Lunar Exalted in the past, and some continue to provide aid to the Silver Pact when able. The Bureau of Nature does not exercise the full potential of its powers in Creation, and is saddled with a wildly inefficient internal structure and a staunchly conservative leader, Flashing Peak, nicknamed Blind Mountain.

The Bureau of Destiny oversees the Loom of Fate, and most of the Sidereal Exalted are part of its organizational structure. Each of the Five Maidens has her own Division, and the Sidereals themselves have organized into five Directional Conventions, as well as task-focused Conventions that liaise with different gods on matters like wars, Deathlords, and natural disasters.