Consulate Intelligence Directorate

The Consulate Intelligence Directorate is the primary intelligence-gathering and espionage branch of the Didacian Consulate, with administrative duties both civilian and military to ensure Consulate security. Tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing information on an international scale, it is considered the most robust and effective intelligence or secret service agency on Perradin, only rivaled by those of the Hestt Economic Alliance and the Free City of Hi Ba.

Structure

The Directorate in its current form is headed by an anonymous Director who reports to Parliament and the Consulate Admiralty. The Director, appointed by Parliament, coordinates the various offices the organization maintains and sets core policies. The Director reports any major findings to Parliament and the Admiralty and proposes major operations.
Each domestic office within the Consulate is kept secret. The only known office is the Flowing Bastion, a small fortress on Crater's Rim which houses the main employment and logistical offices, similar to all the branches of the Consulate's military. It is speculated that the Director's office is on a rotating basis, never staying in one location for too long.
Each office has a Spymaster who covers two jurisdictions: one domestic and one foreign. They are responsible for all operations in each jurisdiction, and are given significant freedom in doing so, only answering to the Director, Parliament, and the Admiralty. It is unknown how many Spymasters exist, and their identity is similarly kept secret.
Foreign Agents are assigned with information gathering missions abroad. They often embed themselves somewhere in a nondescript and unassuming social situation, but it is known that they can infiltrate most organizations with some effort. Their information flows along a network of unknown nature back to to their Spymaster.
Domestic Agents, similarly to Foreign Agents, are skilled information gatherers. They are trained rigorously to remember the smallest details and record any suspicious actions. When asked specific questions, a trained agent can recall most details they've seen with astonishing detail. If an Agent is not in possession of details, they are highly skilled in gathering information subtly from average bystanders.
Every member of the Directorate carries a badge of office identifying themselves as Agents of the Directorate. In Consulate law, it is not required for citizens to comply with an Agent's request unless part of an active criminal investigation and probably cause has been established. Non-citizens do not enjoy such rights. Outside of Consulate territory, Agents only have authority in regions which have extradition treaties with the Consulate. Every Agent, Spymaster, and Director has the same badge of office, keeping their rank and influence within the Directorate secret at all times.

History

Originally tracing its roots back to The Didacy Skywatch of the 34th century, it has been disbanded and reformed multiple times as the Didacian Conulate has fluctuated in stability. Its current iteration, formed in 8501, has a reputation of maintaining agents in almost every corner of the Stargash Crater as well as many international agents, both direct and indirect. It operates under the joint purview of the Parliament of the Didacian Consulate and the Consulate Admiralty. Its influence is wide-spread, giving many foreign powers pause when attempting to run counter-operations on the Consulate.

Predecessor Organizations

In 3402 during the last decades of the Didacy's control over the Stargash Crater, Didact Vestolla I established the Didacy Skywatch as a way to gather intelligence on regions in dissent against the organization. The Skywatch, consisting of 200 Warforged agents, was directed to sow discontent amongst those rebelling against the Didacy. However, many of its agents sympathized with their cause, instead fomenting additional rebellion against teh Didacy. This rebellion culminated in the Didcay Civil War, which ended with the formation of the Didacian Consulate. As part of the first Constitution, the Skywatch was officially co-opted and absorbed into the Consulate as its intelligence agency.
Across the millennia, the various iterations of the Didacian Consulate fell, dissolved, and reformed. With this change, their intelligence agencies also did. The Skywatch dissolved with the dissolution of the First Consulate, being reformed as the Office of Intelligence. This pattern repeated itself over the eons, with several iterations of the Consulate forgoing intelligence agencies altogether. Despite some Consulate governments not having agencies, their extensive archives of gathered intelligence were retained in government centers, with eventual successor organizations inheriting long-held information.

Current Organization and Early Embarrassments

In 8501, with the formation of the Twenty-eighth Didacian Consulate, the Consulate Intelligence Directorate was created in response to the Twenty-seventh Consulate's extreme susceptibility to foreign espionage, being brought to economic ruin by Free City spy networks working to hamper the Consulate's trade growth. Envisioned as a strong central agency, it was given broad authority in achieving its goals. Internally, it is known simply as The Directorate.
Soon after its formation, it attempted several different methods of counteracting enemy espionage. However, the young agency employed inexperienced agents and much of its intelligence was out of date. This resulted in several disastrous operations such as the Cabrone Double Homicide, Collapse of North Cliff, and the Thaxington Sludge Wave Incident. These early missteps gained the Directorate an early reputation as incompetent and bumbling, especially in the Free Cities.
These missteps were cited when the Consulate Parliament and Admiralty petitioned the Consuls for joint oversight and control of the Directorate. After the change was approved, the Directorate began focusing on domestic information security. Against the Didacy's protestations, much of the efforts of the Directorate were aimed at curbing Didacy influence in Consulate affairs. Additional focus was given to sowing discontent in the chaotic Duchy of the Crag to promote infighting amongst pirate lords to protect Consulate shipping lanes.

Director Cassiopeia Sheppard

In 8977, Parliament appointed Cassiopeia Sheppard as the new Director. An agent who nearly was killed in the Crag during the Pelk Family Massacre of 8973, she was considered by many to be paranoid but extremely competent. On her rise to power, she began a recruiting drive of agents, handpicking many individuals she had met abroad during her tenure as an agent. She began an overhaul of the Directorate and a refocusing of efforts.
She viewed the Consulate's efforts in hindering the Didacy a moot point as Didact Cassius III was cannibalizing the organization. Instead, she began turning the gaze of the Directorate to foreign powers. She redeveloped many spycraft curricula to mainly focus on information gathering instead of espionage. By 8986, she had deployed her new army of agents, believed to number in the thousands, across Sinderlan. In the early days of the new system, her network caught wind of assassination plots on fourteen Kingom officials. This information, presented to the Monarch, was met with praise and thanks, strengthening the bond between the nations.
Sheppard was given the approval to expand operations into the Free Cities for the first time in centuries. She installed agents across the Free Cities and within Harwick territory in Plentius. The Directorate, not being taken seriously by rival Free Cities intelligence agencies after their embarrassing first centuries, paid their growing presence no mind. However, their quick implantation into Pillarin society became obvious when the Directorate leaked that the Security Agency of Cabrone was planning an assassination attempt of Carrinth Harwick in 8992. The plan, deeply secretive even within one of the Free Cities' most secure agencies, was completely exposed. The turmoil that engulfed the economic alliances of the region as a result are widely accepted to be the earliest beginnings of what would lead to the Fourth Wine War.

Eyes Everywhere

By the end of Sheppard's tenure in 9009, her intelligence network was unmatched. Her network allowed the Consulate to predict the quagmire of the Fourth Wine War of 9011-9017 and sign temporary nonaggression pacts with all parties before hostilities began. After the war, many liquidated assets of Rimwalker Trading Company were absorbed into the Directorate, giving many veterans a purpose as domestic agents. The immense influx of agents inside the Consulate has earned them a reputation as having eyes on every street corner. It is widely accepted that every major city and town is likely being observed by at least one agent, likely making the Directorate one of the largest employers in the Consulate.
In 9010, the Consulate Parliament instituted the Anonymity Act which kept the identity of the Director secret from the public, shortly before approving the next Director who continues to hold the position in 9048. The identity of the Director is closely protected by the full strength of the Directorate, with many current Parliament members completely unaware. Beyond the senators and administration who appointed them to the position, only the Consuls and Admiralty are permitted to be briefed on the subject upon assuming office.

The Didacy Problem

With the installation of Didact Victus XXII in 9042, the Directorate has become wary of The Didacy's sudden return to form. In response, they have recently attempted to re-install agents on Greenwave. This has been met with disastrous results as the Directorate loses contact with any agent who attempts more than a superficial observation of Didacy operations.
Many in the Directorate, driven by their culture of paranoia, viewed this sudden return to competency as a sign of a potential power grab by the new Didact. Because of this, the Directorate has let much of this information leak to the public in an attempt to sway public opinion and stoke fears over a strong Didacy spy network in opposition to the Directorate.

The Circlecrash and The Partycrashers

After the devastation wrought by the Circlecrash, the Consulate immediately deployed its best agents to investigate the disaster. With the destruction of the network, the Directorate was given full jurisdiction on all naval vessels by Deep Admiral Lorgon to quickly move throughout Sinderlan to pinpoint the culprit.
After gathering information on the event held on Vortex where the Circlecrash originated, the Director deployed agent Gregory Ecklund to investigate. While he was aware of the rogue Eladrin Linthea's role in the event, he had suspicions of the group which had allegedly saved the event. Aboard the DCS Bridgebuilder, along with Deep Admiral Lorgon and Shoal Admiral Harper, Ecklund apprehended the group later known as the Partycrahers.
Ecklund interrogated the group on 3 Dying Light, determining them to be idiots at best, and incidentally responsible at worst. However, upon learning of their involvement with the Didacy, he struck a deal with Runs on the Wind to gather information on the Didacy in exchange for an annulment of other criminal activities they could be charged with.
Later on 23 Dying Light, after a disastrous failed coup by Pontar Yaruga, Ecklund offered the group a job to help the Consulate deal with Yaruga on the fortress island of Tax.

"The Truth Shall Set You Free"

Founding Date

8501 (current iteration)

Type

Military, Intelligence

Alternative Names

The Directorate, CID

Predecessor Organization

• Didacy Skywatch

Training Level

Elite

Leader Title

Director of Consulate Intelligence

Parent Organization

Didacian Consulate

Notable Members

• Gregory Ecklund

Cassiopeia Sheppard, director of the Consulate Intelligence Directorate from 8977-9009, considered the architect of the Directorate's current form.