The Dicastery of Galben

 

410 - 703 AR

Established in 410 AR when, following a schismatic conflict with the last ruling Prince-Archbishop, a council of Bishops  assumed authority over the Drowned  City .    The Bishops (who afterwards titled themselves Cardinals) ruled in alliance with the artisan and craft guilds and in a state of uneasy tension with the great merchant houses, who tended to be inclined towards Orthodoxy, and whose trade fleets were the foundation of the city's wealth.

The heretical doctrines of the Cardinals drew the ire of the Orthodox clergy in general and the Dark Priory in particular.  However the Orthodox establishment refused to endorse the occasional calls for a Crusade that emanated from (it was said) the Priory.  In turn, the antagonism of the radicals was mitigated to some extent  by the opposition of the Dicastery to the College of Magic and to the more extreme heresies that occasionally arose in the Hinterland.

The Dicastery was not expansionist.  The small population of the city-state forced it to rely on mercenaries in the rare cases where it had to raise armies.  The Cardinals were more interested in missionary activity than military campaigns and the great houses likewise preferred trade to warfare.  In 555 AR the Dicastery conquered the Rocky Coast, which had become a nest of pirates preying on their shipping.  In 608 however, they were driven out by the Jasil Khans, aided by a rebellion of the local garrisons, who had been only intermittently paid.

Despite the tension between the Cardinals and the merchants, the city prospered under the Dicastery.  Wealth and knowledge poured into the City.  Many ancient treasures, obtained in trading voyages to distant lands, were stored in its treasuries.

Relations with the Commonwealth generally remained good.  Following the rise of Sorĉado, the Dicastery found itself allied with the Orthodox Church against the Witch Queens, and frequently in conflict with the Magocracy.  The Chancellors of the Lino dynasty did their best to maintain good relations with the Cardinals, valuing their trade and seeing in the Dicastery a future ally against the Witch Queens.

 

The Drowned City