Grey Chamber

The Royal Chamber of Political Expediency , known more colloquially as the Grey Chamber, was a clandestine intelligence gathering bureau who also performed politically motivated assassinations. The Grey Chamber was descended from the Insurgere Politica, a secret organisation of assassins which evolved to enact political killings during a period of conflict between the great houses of the fledgling Second Empire, and the Ammardine. Once the Warlords of the Harrian Steppes and the Bitterdales were subjugated, the Insurgere Politica found itself divided, and those agents who pledged loyalty to the new Emperor would go on to form the Grey Chamber.
The Grey Chamber has persisted in some form or another through the history of the Empire. At various periods it has operated openly as an organisation of assassins, with several emperor's leveraging the threat of grey chamber envoys to keep their enemies in check. Other rulers have favoured the intelligence gathering side of the organisation, preferring to eschew the more bloodthirsty methods of the organisation.
More recently the Grey Chamber has fallen out of fashion. After a particularly disastrous mission to the Ammardine which saw two envoys killed and a third taken hostage, the chamber was rumoured to have been disbanded. Rumours persist of a mission during the Two Summers War, although the imperial court denies chamber activity during that conflict. Shortly after the Two Summers War, Empress Elarryn I officially revoked the Imperial Decree which gave the Royal Chamber of Political Expediency their authority.

Type

Government, Secret Service