Portreeve
In the Kingdom of Rosethorne, a portreeve is a government official who represents the interests of the Kingdom in a maritime municipality.
In unincorporated communities, the portreeve may also serve as the mayor of the town. Importantly, the portreeve's duties include the enforcement of the King's law where it involves local affairs, ensures that all taxes, fees, and important documents make their way to the capitol, and advises local governing officials in matters pertaining to the Kingdom's interests. In many places, the portreeve is synonymous with the shirereeve (sheriff). In Gulderry, the harbormaster and head of the local militia men answer to the portreeve over the mayor.
Perception
Social Status
People's perception of their portreeve is created both through their personal experiences with him and their own opinions about how the Kingdom is being run at the time. Generally, portreeves are well-respected members of their community, as, while some may be more authoritarian than others, all eventually spend enough time at their posts to become trusted fixtures in the community.
Demographics
Portreeves are typically well-educated men with strong force of personality, especially those with former military or administrative experience. The Kingdom of Rosethorne is a monarchy, but the royal family is well-acquainted with the notion that peace is better maintained through good relations with the community. To this end, portreeves are often selected for their courage, skill at mediation and negotiation, and perhaps the ability to utilize arcana, all of which are meant to be used to resolve matters as thoroughly as possible and with as little violence as practical given the circumstances. Those portreeves who are arcanists frequently specialize in summoning (to call clockwork automatons as reinforcements), personal physical augmentation (to better survive entanglements with violent suspects), and mind-affecting effects (to take suspects alive, perform interrogations, and to suppress feelings of anger, fear, and despair that might result in violence).
History
The portreeve profession dates back to a previous era of Triskelen culture where harbormasters served similar law enforcement and regulatory roles. Because the Kingdom of Rosethorne is a thallassocracy of sorts, harbormasters wielded outsized influence on the affairs of the Triskelen people and were often the only hands of the Kingdoms available to sailors looking to settle disputes, pay their taxes and duties, or resolve other matters of law. As more of the Grand Triskele Lake fell under permanent Rosethorne control, the royal court realized that it was more efficient to separate the roles of harbormaster and public administrator, as harbormasters were often ill-equipped to handle the affairs of the increasing number of Triskelens who opted to settle on the land near the shore rather than on the water.
Operations
Dangers & Hazards
The dangers of the portreeve's profession scale in proportion the size of the municipality and how busy the local port is. Triskelen sailors are just as rowdy as sailors of other nations, and an influx of trade and visitors from afar inevitably means an increase in conflicts with the locals. Similarly, large settlements tend to be the strongholds of local governors and other members of the aristocratic class whose political ambitions might put them at odds with those who represent the King and his status quo. Political machinations aside, large Triskelen settlements tend to have exponentially more street-level crime than their smaller counterparts, and this falls to the portreeve and his deputies to handle as a matter of professional obligation.
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