The Court Circle of Katrapetch
The Court Circle of Katrapetch was the name of the aristocratic bureaucracy which governed the city of Katrapetch for almost fifteen thousand years until the Limit Protectorate violently dismanted the system and imposed their own City Protector. The foundation of the city and the establishment of the Court Circle are considered to be one and the same thing by modern historians, although early records explain that there was a town at Katrapetch before the first Raja took control.
Structure
Under the system of the Court Circle, the Raja was at the head of government, usually supported by his wife, who had an automatic official position as the Rani. Although the Rani was theoretically subordinate to her husband, in practice there were many occasions when she exercised more power than him. The illustration above shows the Audience Room in the Royal Palace of Katrapetch where the Raja and Rani would listen to petitions from their subjects on a number of limited days throughout the year.
The Raja and Rani were advised by an inner council consisting of a variable number of high ranking officials, wealthy merchants and the Senior Magician of Katrapetch, who led a team of mages known as the Arcane Advisors. It was usual practice for Royal Advisory meetings to take place at least once a month in different locations within the Royal Palace.
Below the inner council, there was an extensive bureaucracy which filled the Royal Palace and consisted of several hundred civil servants, bankers, tax collectors, official city architects, educational advisors, military leaders and specialists in phryne horticulture. All of these were technically part of the Court Circle.
Arguably the most important organisation beyond the palace walls, though, was the Katrapetch Royal Judicial Service which was founded in 6422 BPC to replace a number of competing district magistrates who were notoriously corrupt and ran justice on partisan lines in which patronage and familial connections were often more important than the truth or merits of a legal case.
The Katrapetch Royal Judicial Service was mandated to operate without fear or favour and given powers independently of the Raja which were jealously guarded by its members. Nevertheless, the service operated within the higher level social machinery of the Court Circle itself.
Disbandment
A judge from the Limit Protectorate abolished the Court Circle of Katrapetch, broke the Staff of the Raja and executed the last Raja, Madho Sah all on the same day, the first of the year of 5155 APC.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
9642 BPC - 5155 APC
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