"The department
had mutated somewhat since Chela Tatel's election. She had inherited a state machine badly rusting, one where the
lack of strong leadership at the top was leaving politicians with considerable
autonomy - never a happy situation.
Corruption was, if not universal, then certainly widespread, as
Emissaries across the country used their standing to boost their private
fortunes. Matters were further
cluttered up by assorted rivals freely pursuing vendettas, and it was little
surprise that Lord Brightson, by not running for Highest Office himself, had
shied away from cleaning up the mess he had partially created. For Tatel, the problem had been how to solve
it without resorting to fresh legislation - which would be asking the
Emissaries to vote themselves out of tidy fortunes. The solution lay in Records Office.
"Huwdone House's role is to liaise between the seven Provinces of the Confederacy. As part of this, it has the power to demand that those elected to serve the federation submit a full declaration of their personal economic interests and, to some extent, those of their family. An extensive survey was carried out in the first few months of Tatel's rule; ostensibly so that the pay levels for political service, set on a sliding scale of personal wealth, could be accurately fixed. Huwdone House can also examine the way individual Emissaries have voted in past Parliaments and provincial assemblies. It can, providing it has the co-operation of the local Baron, look at edicts which the Emissaries have personally issued. It can peer very closely at the information it has gathered and spot certain patterns emerging from apparently random behaviour. The conclusions drawn might not be based on much proof, but then they aren't supposed to highlight criminal behaviour; just men elected to serve the interests of their people and clearly failing to do so. Tatel wasn't concerned that she couldn't bring anyone to trial. Because what she could also do, quite legally, was submit the facts to the people who had first voted the Emissary into power. What they could do was reappraise the situation and set about voting him or her out of office.
"This was Liarno's main role, heading the commission which was making the state take a long, hard look at itself. His department had no name - nothing printable at least - and no formal chambers other than a small room swiped from Petitions Office. Only Liarno's closest confidants ever entered the chamber; researchers would rush around holding new damning evidence and Lord Arlat would sit and compose pompous, insinuating reports. It was secreted from the rest of Huwdone House and was the one area which Liarno felt was his own. "