The divisions of the federal government functions of Huwdone House. Each Office is really a sort of commission/policy formulating/co-ordinating hybrid, with their own HQ and admin centre based in Huwdone House but with representatives stretching far & wide. Except for the Chancellor's Office, each manned a split between Emissaries/Councillors in charge, who are Chancellor/Privy Council appointments serving voluntarily, and waged secretaries, clerks, archivists etc., appointed by the Principle Secretary. Though encouraged to act on a collective basis, each Office has a single head, this always being a Chancellor appointment. The Offices have a fair few powers, but only to implement Parliament/Privy Council laws; under a watchful Chancellor like Tatel, the offices also have to act within strict guidelines. The Offices have a varying amount of input into deciding government actions, generally through supplying information and proposals, and there is some rivalry between them and the Huwdone House specialist committees.
Offices:
Chancellor's Office Not to be confused with Highest Office (which is one way of referring to the Chancellor's post itself), this both looks after the Chancellor's individual needs and acts as a supervisory body co-ordinating the various functions of Huwdone House. It is the only office which holds formal power independent of Parliament, mainly to make appointments within central government or embody a person to act with the authority of the Chancellor. The latter is operated mainly through the seals system, which all are nominally issued by the Chancellor, though routinely left to the Principal Secretary. The latter is the most important official of Chancellor's Office beyond the obvious one, an off post first created by Tars Tukas to give Myran Bennet an official role, restored in 1210 by . only made the Principal Secretary officially responsible for the paid staff and day-to-day running of Huwdone House; Myers Lianti also made the role responsible the administering (though not setting) the budget for the various Offices, organising meetings etc. both internally and with outside powers and handling the paperwork of Privy Council sessions. Gradually the post came to resemble the old Tukas-Bennet status of Chancellor's right hand man. Since 1261 the Principal Secretary has sat on the Privy Council himself and since 1295 he has usually been one of the Principal Members. Falcan Ollia in 1293 tried to address the anomaly of an unelected official who is hand-picked by the Chancellor holding such power by declaring that only those who currently hold elected office are eligible to be PS (they would be expected to resign from that office on getting their job). Holan Brightson took the role to his extremes by becoming effectively acting Chancellor during the latter part of Sebsen Acrippa's reign, though since Chela Tatel's election, engineered by Brightson himself, his role has been declining. Even before the advent of Brightson Thinking Man's Empire pointed to the increasing role of Principal Secretary as illustrating the creeping anti-democratic trends in Christoté and there are many who believe it should be a directly elected post, chosen at least by the Barons. On the other hand, for all the influence the post brings the workload is truly phenomenal, and the incipient knows they may be booted completely out of government as easily as a wage clerk.
The other personnel of Chancellor's Office are generally a blend of salaried employees and advisors, the latter usually composing the Chancellor's innermost circle. Tatel tends to surround herself with bright young iconoclasts, her personal secretary, Jiri Colbic being the prime example. Colbic' other job, running the Movements Ledger, forms a sub-department of the bureau. Other key advisors include Madran Balbiss, a young scholar who undertakes much of Tatel's research; Ferent Copson, a colleague of Tatel's at Dorlaf University who is her legal advisor; and Myrella Stace who, as Tatel puts it, "is the only person I like who can actually add up."
Of the other five offices two, Records and Fundings are theoretically concerned with the running of central government itself - including institutions like the Mayering Rooms and the Thoj as well as Huwdone House. Two more, Ambassadors Office and Federation Office liase between the more scattered lower rungs of government, co-ordinating foreign and domestic affairs respectively. The sixth is Petitions Office, where people can bring their grievances to central government, where also Emissaries can complain about the Barons who rule them.
Ambassadors Office The foreign policy arm of federal government. Controls appointments to foreign postings (ambassadors to nations, consuls to different regions of these nations where relevant), collects information from these officials and from other sources, sends message of the official Christotan response ambassadors are to make. Its policy makers recommend courses of action, generally directly to the Privy Council, and it has a say in Guards disposition and numbers, migration control, trading affairs and warfare. Highly prestigious within political circles (though generally unnoticed elsewhere), Ambassadors Office can remind people that Christoté owes much of its peace and prosperity to good diplomacy. Most conflict tends to be with Central Command, with regular accusations of trampling on one another's territory. Currently headed by Sir Owan Landisso after Jerez Esterson was fired for a series of debacles, mostly to do with the breakup of Erenland. That breakup is currently been given the highest priority by Ambassador's Office bods, together with the growth of Grail and the eternal threat of Labland.
Petitions Office Deals with complaints about everything, from the state of the street drains to serious infringements of personal liberty; the place where federal government listens to its subjects even if it doesn't always do very much. Petitions Office can be contacted in person - it has a side entrance in Huwdone's unpopular northern annexe, and has set up contact centres across Christoté - but most contact comes through writing. Often Petitions Office simply contacts the local Emissary/praetor etc. and acts them to help (a step which the petitioner should have taken in the first place). At times, though, it may investigate more closely - especially if the complaints are about said local Emissary or praetor. As well as the usual moans about taxation or allegations of corruption appeals to Petitions Office often concern deselection - the Baron of the province must give permission to the people to remove an Emissary and may refuse if the victim is an ally of theirs. Petitions Office's actual powers are strictly limited - it can force, for example, disclosure of certain information but can rarely force anyone to actually do anything if the law isn't being broken. Often it has to appeal to Chancellor's Office to lend it punch, so its effectiveness depends on the ability and willingness of whoever is in Highest Office (having formerly headed Petitions and concerned to appear a Good Guy, Tatel takes it very seriously). Petitions Office also handles the administration of felon's appeals to the Privy Council. It is run by Jastac Miers, the Jalkin Councillor. It is the only office headed as often by a woman as a man as there is some vague opinion that traditionally "feminine" virtues like empathy and compassion are important, though administering it is little different to running any department. Miers replaced Christos Wein in 1331, after Wein had only served a few months. It's believed that he owed his appointment to someone calling in a favour from Lord Brighton, and his deposition to Tatel's growing independence from Brightson.
Federation Office Handles domestic policy, and is the largest and most hapless of the departments. Fed Office researches overall and specific trends in the country, reports to and supervises Regional Assemblies, carries out audits of governmental bodies and the Guards, arbitrates in cases where order is breaking down, helps the Privy Council draft legislation and (discretely) monitors the Barons and Emissaries. It is divided into a plethora of departments and sub-committees, often working at cross-purposes and invariably putting most of their energy into fighting off intrusions from other bodies. For all that, it is traditionally the most influential of Huwdone's departments after Chancellor's Office itself, and an appointment to it is seen as a prize worth fighting for. Heads of Fed Office tend not to last long before they are deposed by rivals or brought down by the strains of the job; however, the current incumbent Alib Reggino has held the post since 1328. His deputies (who Reggino has skillfully played off against each other) includes such luminaries as Molan Grist, Tomas Vinter,
Records Office Has undergone something of a mutation under Chela Tatel. Its traditional function of storing information (whether employee records, political registers, committee reports, minutes from meetings, parliamentary bills or background sources) continues. The chief archivist is Dryac Arcano, a formidable character six and a half feet tall with an enormous belly and the face of a warthog. He started in Records Office in 1307, was appointed its head in 1316 and hasn't been budged from it ever since.