Formed in 1045AC by Auriel following an assassination attempt, the Tarosian Secret Chancery is the shadow arm of the Tarosian Kingdom. The Secret Chancery executes state's deniable and extralegal imperatives.
The Outskirter "Buffer" Doctrine
Publicly, the Arialian Conservatism and the Rightful Path dictate that the Arial Outskirts are a lawless wasteland of heretics, rebels, and broken sord who must be eradicated or enslaved.
Privately, the highest echelons of the Varros Clan and the Chancery recognize a grim geopolitical reality: a total conquest of the harsh, planar-unstable Outskirts would bankrupt the Kingdom and shatter the Three Pillars. Therefore, the Outskirts are maintained as a Buffer Zone through a series of highly classified, deniable government-to-government contracts.
Covert Agreements
The Dissident Dump
Public executions of rebellious Garont or heretical Ikor create martyrs. To avoid this, the Chancery secretly pays smugglers from the Western Arial to extract "troublesome elements" from Central Arial and exile them to the Outskirts. The Kingdom removes internal threats without sparking domestic unrest, while the Outskirts gain skilled defectors (though the Chancery frequently embeds hidden resonator assassins among them to tie up loose ends).
Hazardous Outsourcing
While the Rightful Path relegates "unclean labor" to the sord, some Mana Catalyst experimentation is so volatile that even the Tarosian elite deem it too dangerous for Central Arial. The Chancery secretly funds black-site laboratories in the Wild Desert (Deseria) or deep rainforests. The Outskirter states provide geographic isolation and labor; the Crown provides funding and raw Deusit artifacts.
Proxy Violence
The Shakor of the Royal Guard are bound by strict codes of honor and the Rightful Path. When the Crown requires deniable violenceāsuch as the assassination of a rival noble, or the "cleansing" of a border village without leaving a Tarosian signatureāthe Chancery hires Barbarian or Draconist mercenaries. These operatives are paid in smuggled Tarosian coin and operate under false flags, ensuring the Crown's plausible deniability.
The Hypocrisy of the Elite
This secret realpolitik creates a deep, unspoken hypocrisy within the Tarosian elite. The same Ikor who publicly preach the absolute purity of the Three Pillars and the spiritual worthlessness of the sord are the very same individuals signing parchment with Outskirter warlords to keep the Kingdom's economy humming and its borders secure. Discovery of these contracts by the public would shatter the illusion of the Rightful Path and likely trigger a civil war.