User:Mailliw73/Steel Ministry

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{{group
|image=Inquisitor red.jpg
|type={{cat tag|Religion}}
|world=Scadrial
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[Mistborn Era 1]]
}}

The Steel Ministry is the religion and the government bureaucracy of the Final Empire. It is made up of various divisions, named Cantons, and the members of the Ministry are called obligators. The Inquisitors are also part of the Steel Ministry.

One of the main functions of the Ministry is to witness a myriad of contracts and agreements, even something as simple as promise to come to a game of shelldry.[1] The nobility pay the Lord Ruler for their services in a manner similar to that of renting skaa.[2] As the authority in bureaucratic matters, any mercantile contracts, divorces, weddings, land purchases, inheritances, or any other important dealings could only be authorized by obligators. If one of the Ministry hasn't witnessed an event or sealed a document, it might as well not have happened or have been written.[1]

Organization

The Steel Ministry is organized into subsections called Cantons. The priests are called obligators and the Steel Inquisitors are members of the Ministry that have been Hemalurgically granted all the powers of a Mistborn.

Canton of Orthodoxy

by Francis Goeltner
Straff Venture's obligators visiting Lord Tresting's plantation

The Canton of Orthodoxy organizes and presides over the Steel Ministry and has jurisdiction over the religious aspect of the Ministry. This Canton is the main bureaucratic division of the Ministry.[1] Obligators from the Canton are typically the ones to formalize contracts and agreements.

There is a long-standing rivalry between the Canton of Orthodoxy and the Canton of Inquisition. The Canton of Inquisition believes that they should have dominance over the other Cantons, not the Canton of Orthodoxy.

Canton of Finance

As the bank of the Final Empire, the Canton of Finance is in charge of the financial operations of the Final Empire. Its work included the transport of funds.[3]

Headquarters

The Canton's headquarters is housed in an imposing building. It is tall and blocky with a massive rose window in the front, with two red banners hanging down beside the window, proclaiming praises to the Lord Ruler. Inside the building, one would find a desk at the end of an extended entryway, with an obligator manning the desk. Decorations within the building are sparse. It is often described as austere, bearing only necessary furniture and simple grey carpeting, the walls also lacking adornments. An exception to that rule is the waiting room. With plush chairs and lavish décor, the room clearly caters to the tastes of visiting noblemen. Snacks, such as small cakes, are also provided for those waiting.[3]

Canton of Resource (complete-review)

Purpose

There are many philosophers in the Steel Ministry and most end up in the Canton of Resource, the best place for those with analytical minds.[4] This Canton is tasked with trade, transport, and taxation. A big portion of the atium mined at the Pits of Hathsin is secretly transported by the Canton of Resource. There are obligators on duty at the Pits all the time to extract the metal from the geode surrounding it.[5] The beads of atium are then disguised as and hidden in Ministry funds, since metal coins radiate light in the Cognitive Realm, which keeps Ruin from noticing where the atium goes.[6] The Canton is also in charge of maintaining supply lines to the other Cantons, for feeding the people, and maintaining the canals.[7]

Headquarters

The national headquarters of the Canton of Resource is in Luthadel while one of the Western Dominance's regional headquarters is in Fadrex City[8] and houses the fifth, and final, of the Lord Ruler's supply caches.[7] The single story building housing the regional headquarters in Fadrex City is blocky and utilitarian with sharp, flat walls and small windows.[9] It is the largest of any Ministry buildings in the city because it acts as a way station between Luthadel and more important cities (such as Tremredare) to the west. Because of the influence of this Canton in Fadrex City, Prelan Aradan Yomen, the head of the Canton locally, is the top religious authority in the city.[8]

Canton of Inquisition

Purpose

The Canton of Inquisition is run by the Steel Inquisitors and acts as law enforcement, especially over the Allomantic community. Obligators of the Canton of Inquisition have the usual tattoos around their eyes, with the addition of a stark red line on the side of their face.[10] Administrators in this Canton collect and file information that would assist in the policing efforts. The information they collect is about nobles houses, skaa rebels, and other Cantons.[11]

by Ydunn Lopez
A Steel Inquisitor

In addition to dealing with anyone that went against Ministry protocol, the Canton of Inquisition also has bases all around the city of Luthadel, called Soothing stations. Their purpose is to dampen the emotions of everyone in the area, calming and depressing them to prevent rebellion. In addition, many Inquisitors find skaa Mistings by installing Seekers in the Soothing stations.[10] There are between thirty and forty soothing stations around the city, each with three Soothers, a Seeker, and a Smoker to mask the Allomancy to anyone outside.[12]

History

The Canton of Inquisition was formed sometime during the sixth century of the Lord Ruler's reign. This Canton was the one to suggest the Terris breeding programs to the Lord Ruler in order to keep the Terris population under control. The Lord Ruler agreed to it provisionally, and the programs were then kept until the collapse of the Final Empire. However, the subjugation of the Terris people started far before the Canton of Inquisition came up with the idea of the breeding programs.[7]

The Inquisitors themselves didn't belong to the regular chain of command in the Steel Ministry, but were ranked below the Lord Prelan. Through Kar's revelation that Vin was the daughter of the Lord Prelan Tevidian Tekiel, shortly before the death of the Lord Ruler, the Canton of Inquisition gained dominance over the other Cantons.[13]

Buildings

“As I walk, I wonder what secrets the Inquisitors deemed worthy of hiding below the earth, in the basement of their stronghold.”

—Sazed, observing the Conventical of Seran[14]

The Conventical of Seran is a fortress inside a crater to the south of Luthadel. The fortress belongs to the Canton of Inquisition and may be the place where new inquisitors are created. Kwaan's inscription is in a chamber of this building as well as various torture chambers.[14] The Inquistitors' torture chambers are Hemalurgic laboratories, intended to discover new creations, but few know of these chambers' true purposes.[15] After the Collapse, the Conventical is used as a haven for Inquisitors and high obligators.[16]

The Canton of Inquisition building in Urteau, in addition to being above one of the storage caches, is broad and imposing. Typical for buildings in Urteau, it was built of wood instead of stone. While more austere than most Ministry buildings, there are still a variety of decor in the form of tapestries, metal trim, red rugs, and hearths in every room. [11]

Obligators

Obligators were distinguished by their shaved heads and intricate tattoos around their eyes to signify their rank and Canton membership.[17][10] They typically wore dark grey robes. The obligators would have to be called in to witness or approve anything significant going on in the Final Empire. Without their approval, agreements and contracts weren't morally or legally binding.[18] They were required to practice their religion and maintain a religious air with devotion that was unnecessary for nobles. Part of those requirements were daily prayers and ceremonies to the Lord Ruler.[19] Obligators were allowed to marry.[20]

In addition to their bureaucratic functions the obligators served as the Lord Ruler's religious leaders. They would teach the Lord Ruler's religion to skaa and noblemen alike.[21] Obligators determine who the nobility is allowed to marry as part of their duties.[1]

Each year, new Ministry acolytes are transported from a training facility in the northern part of the Empire to Luthadel. This was also when they would transfer large amounts of funds to Luthadel.[3]

by Anna_Korabelnikova
Noorden, an obligator

There were also assassins in the Steel Ministry.[1] Any "legal" assassination in the Empire would have required the Ministry's approval through bribery.[22] The Ministry has its own assassins who kill any who are outspoken or too successful.[1] The Ministry has its own soldiers and torturers.[23]

Obligator Ranks

  • Obligator
  • Prelan
  • High Prelan
  • Steel Inquisitor[25]
  • Lord Prelan

Known Obligators

History

The Final Empire(c-r)

The Steel Ministry developed out of the bureaucratic mercantile system of the Hallant people. They were a people focused on systems of measurements.[27] The Lord Ruler used the Ministry in many ways, including discovering new Allomantic metals and their uses as well as searching for Terris bloodlines that bred pure.[28] Aluminum's Allomantic ability was one the Ministry knew of, but they kept it a secret from others in the Empire.[29]

The Steel Ministry banned political and historical literature that contested or expressed dissidence to the Lord Ruler's reign.[29] They stocked the storage caches beneath various Ministry buildings. The obligators were also the Lord Ruler's spy network throughout his Empire.[18]

During the last days of the Final Empire, a skaa crewleader named Camon tried to scam this Canton. The goal of the scam was to rob a convoy of Ministry funds, which would've had atium hidden inside. During the operation, one of his crewmembers, Vin, unknowingly revealed herself as a Misting, and later a full Mistborn. This was the event that led Kelsier to recruit Vin to his crew. High Prelan Arriev's discovery of Vin's Allomantic abilities foiled the scam, which kept Ruin from discovering the atium cache, keeping him at bay for a few more years.[30]

In the year 1022, the Ministry was presided over by Lord Prelan Tevidian. The Canton of Orthodoxy was then the presiding Canton, but members of the Canton of Inquisition captured Vin and proved that she was the Lord Prelan's half-breed daughter. The Lord Ruler restructured the Ministry by giving control of the Ministry to the Canton of Inquisition.[13]

Post-Collapse

After the Collapse of the Final Empire, the Steel Ministry remained in various forms, depending on their local ruler.

by LittleGreyDragon
Prelan Araden Yomen

The New Empire (complete--review)

King Elend Venture used the Steel Ministry facilities as new government buildings. A low-ceilinged room, similar to a lecture hall, in the Canton of Finance headquarters in Luthadel was converted into an assembly hall for the Assembly's meetings. He remodeled the building so that civilians could come and watch Assembly proceedings.[31] Elend allowed the obligators to continue their preaching, but there were laws that prohibited them from inciting rebellion or violence. The priests wouldn't lend their knowledge to his kingdom, as a general rule and so Vin wanted to eject them from the city if they wouldn't use their bureaucratic abilities to assist the kingdom.[31] Noorden was a notable exception among the obligators in his frequent assistance to Elend. Elend employed the obligator for many reasons, one being his unique viewpoint.[32]

Straff Venture's Lands

Straff Venture used obligators to administrate and organize in his claimed lands.[33]

Fadrex City (complete-review)

Prelan Aradan Yomen, an obligator himself, continued to run Fadrex City the way the Ministry and the Lord Ruler always had after he took control when Lord Cett left for Luthadel. He used the Canton of Resource, his personal Canton, building as his headquarters for governing. He used another Ministry building as an infirmary.[34]

Yomen was the highest ranked obligator around and so, when Cett left, he took over. The people quickly accepted him as their new ruler because they were used to accepting obligators as leaders. His rule gave them a sense of normalcy as it echoed that of the Lord Ruler's.[8]

Urteau under the Citizen

The Citizen left the Ministry buildings as they were, not burning or ransacking them as he did with homes of the nobility. He had the typically wooden buildings boarded up, possibly out of his fear of Inquisitors.[11]

Post-Catacendre

The Steel Ministry didn't exist in its former state following Sazed's Ascension. There were echoes of the organization left, but most of the Steel Ministry was gone because at that time, the leaders were the members of Kelsier's crew. There were a few notable obligators who made it through the Catacendre and they left their own marks. Some cities had more of an influence from the Ministry than others.[35]

There was a Canton of Cartography in Elendel.[36] There was also a road named Canton Avenue in one of Allomancer Jak's stories, likely based on a real street in Elendel.[37] "Cantonesque" architecture is described as having long flights of steps and stained-glass windows.[38]

Philosophy and Beliefs

“The fact that the Lord Ruler would base his Church on a financial institution shows—in my opinion—that he worried less about true faith in his followers, and more about stability, loyalty, and quantifiable measures of devotion.”

by Rafael Sousa
The Lord Ruler, Sliver of Infinity

The philosophies most taught by the Steel Ministry is that the skaa are cursed and the nobility are blessed.[39] The basic doctrine is that the nobility has prestige and access to Allomancy because of their ancestors' loyalty to the Lord Ruler, while the skaa were punished for the sins of their own ancestors. The Mistborn are taught to be descendants of the only men who supported the Lord Ruler before his Ascension.[40][41]

It is their belief that before his Ascension, the Lord Ruler was only a mortal man.[42] He is revered as the creator and savior of the world, the "Sliver of Infinity".[43][44] When the Deepness, taught to be a dark monster, threatened the world, the Lord Ruler slew it and saved the world.[45] He punished the people's lack of faith with the ash and mists.[46] Not much else on the Deepness or the Lord Ruler is taught; religion is seen as something the Ministry would take care of.[39] Skaa aren't taught much of the Ministry's doctrine. Skaa and nobles alike were required to fulfill their roles in the Empire and obey the Lord Ruler, but neither devotion nor faith is requested.[41]

For the obligators, more worship is required. Daily prayer and ceremonies to the Lord Ruler are practices of the religion.[19] There is a ritual that involves an altar made of gold. It is centered in a room with four candelabra at the corners. Near the altar, Alendi's journal, written in Khlenni, was kept. Near the doorway, a bowl of small, triangular knives was kept on a pillar to be used in the ritual.[47] The knives were occasionally used for the worshiper to slice their own body.[19]

The Lord Ruler's status in the religion is as a piece of God, not omnipresent or omniscient. He's a physical, independent section of a consciousness.[48] Sometimes, the Well of Ascension was mentioned in teachings concerning the Lord Ruler and his Ascension.[49] Worship of any other god was forbidden.[50] Weddings were characterized only by the presence of an obligator to witness the fact. Sometimes additional ceremonies would be added, but there wasn't a standard; the obligator's presence was the only requirement.[21] The Ministry's position on sexuality was dependent on how much they were paid.[51]

Culture

by Harry Shea-Pelletier
Obligator

“Sit down to dine with evil, and you will ingest it in your meal.”

—A common saying in the Steel Ministry[52]

The Steel Ministry functions similarly to being its own noble house, with contracts and agreements to gain wealth and leverage. Corruption is commonplace within its ranks; for example, it is notorious for taking bribes.[22] There was a long standing rivalry between the various Cantons for control of the Ministry.

Both men and women can be part of the Steel Ministry and some women even become Inquisitors.[53] Rising through the ranks of the Ministry is influenced strongly by Allomantic abilities. Those with abilities, especially with metals judged to be valuable, rise quickly and are placed in positions of power.[54] Seekers are one of the types recruited diligently by the obligators.[10]

Atium Mistings are one of the most valuable sought for by the Ministry. In order to search them out and recruit them, Inquisitors put trace amounts of Atium into the drinks at balls periodically. They then cause a disturbance while burning bronze to seek out those who begin to burn the metals instinctively. When someone joins the Ministry who is not already a Misting, they are given a larger amount of atium without their knowing and are forced through a series of rituals designed to drain the recruit physically so their body would Snap and reactively burn the metal.[55]

Noblemen would address Inquisitors, and presumably obligators, as "Your Grace".[56]

Trivia

Obligators were originally just called priests and the Steel Ministry was called the Steel Priesthood, but when Brandon decided they would be bureaucrats, he wanted a new name for them. A member of his writing group, Nate Hatfield came up with the term "obligator" from a thesaurus.[57][58]

Notes for use

So the Steel Ministry, in the Mistborn books. The interesting thing I considered when I was writing them was "What is the purpose of the priesthood when god is there in the palace and everyone knows it? And if you disobey you just get your head cut off." So what do you do? I made the Steel Ministry more government, like the post office is run by priests. And a lot of what priests do is witness official business, take your money for doing so and give you a stamp that "Yes I witnessed this" and things like this, but they also run all the public works. It's not like they're cleaning the sewers themselves but overseeing the sewers, overseeing engineers, most of the engineers who built the city plans would be obligators. (Same as Nate Hatfield one)

Conventical is Moshe's word, by the way. I’d originally called it the Covenant of Seran. However, not only did the Halo games decide to make good use of the word Covenant, but my editor found it somewhat inaccurate. So, he suggested Conventical–which I liked immediately. It's a real word, though I think I spell it differently, which refers to a meeting of high level church officials. The term fits with the Steel Ministry, which doesn't have priests, but instead has Obligators and doesn't have a Priesthood, but instead a Ministry. Everything's pseudo-religious, instead of being directly "on" religious WOA ANNOTATIONS 7

KChan Can obligators marry?

Brandon Sanderson Yes.bhttps://wob.coppermind.net/events/105/#e1077

Notes

  1. ↑ a b c d e f The Final Empire chapter 23#
  2. ↑ The Final Empire prologue#
  3. ↑ a b c The Final Empire chapter 2#
  4. ↑ a b The Hero of Ages Annotations
    — Arcanum - 2009-12-01#
  5. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 71#
  6. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 79#
  7. ↑ a b c The Hero of Ages chapter 44#
  8. ↑ a b c The Hero of Ages chapter 27#
  9. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 43#
  10. ↑ a b c d The Final Empire chapter 27#
  11. ↑ a b c The Hero of Ages chapter 29#
  12. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 29#
  13. ↑ a b c The Final Empire chapter 36#
  14. ↑ a b The Well of Ascension chapter 12#
  15. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 44 epigraph#
  16. ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 7#
  17. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 1#
  18. ↑ a b The Well of Ascension Ars Arcanum#
  19. ↑ a b c The Hero of Ages Annotations
    — Arcanum - 2009-10-27#
  20. ↑ 17th Shard Forum Q&A
    — Arcanum - 2012-09-25#
  21. ↑ a b The Well of Ascension Annotations
    — Arcanum - 2008-10-25#
  22. ↑ a b Alloy of Law 17th Shard Q&A
    — Arcanum - 2011-11-05#
  23. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 37#
  24. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 26#
  25. ↑ Inquisitors were outside of the regular chain of command, but technically ranked lower than the Lord Prelan,[24] until the Lord Ruler gave command of the Steel Ministry to the Canton of Inquisition.[13]
  26. ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 27#
  27. ↑ a b The Hero of Ages chapter 27 epigraph#
  28. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 5#
  29. ↑ a b The Well of Ascension chapter 5#
  30. ↑ The Hero of Ages Annotations
    — Arcanum - 2010-04-01#
  31. ↑ a b The Well of Ascension chapter 10#
  32. ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 34#
  33. ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 26#
  34. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 70#
  35. ↑ JordanCon 2016
    — Arcanum - 2016-04-23#
  36. ↑ Map of Elendel
  37. ↑ The House Record broadsheet
  38. ↑ The Bands of Mourning chapter 11#
  39. ↑ a b The Well of Ascension chapter 14#
  40. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 3#
  41. ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 7#
  42. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 17#
  43. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 8#
  44. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 6 epigraph#
  45. ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 56#
  46. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 6#
  47. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 14#
  48. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 10#
  49. ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 58#
  50. ↑ The Final Empire chapter 9#
  51. ↑ Oathbringer release party
    — Arcanum - 2017-11-13#
  52. ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 32#
  53. ↑ Ancient 17S Q&A
    — Arcanum - 2010-05-01#
  54. ↑ The Hero of Ages Annotations
    — Arcanum - 2010-04-15#
  55. ↑ Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide
    — Arcanum - 2008-10-15#
  56. ↑ Ancient Lunch Q&A
    — Arcanum - 2010-07-31#
  57. ↑ Mistborn: The Final Empire Annotations
    — Arcanum - 2006-11-13#
  58. ↑ Firefight Seattle Public Library signing
    — Arcanum - 2015-01-07#     
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{{Mistborn|Era 1}}
[[Category:Steel Ministry| ]]
[[Category:Hemalurgy|*]]
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