The Council of Cultural Norms is charged with maintaining the proper behavior of members of the
Jade Empire, particularly the upper tier of society.
History
References to the group initially cropped up between H45 and H55. Worship of deities other than
Kawahara had been banned in the
Shengtai nearly one hundred years prior, but enforcement was initially lax. As long as it didn’t take place in public, it was generally overlooked. No temples or public shrines existed, apart from those for Kawahara, but within one’s own home they were generally free to do as they pleased. The appearance of the Council of Cultural Norms put an end to this. They began investigating high profile families, rounding up those who worshiped in secret, and pressured everyone to make regular public visits to one of the temples of Kawahara.
At one point in time it seemed as though they might have reported directly to the
Immortal Emperor himself, but this might have something to do with the fact that the title was held by Meng Gengxin Fou at the time. Later sources made it clear that the council is primarily staffed and run by
House Gengxin, who are more generally in charge of maintaining peace and order within the empire.
Inquiries and visits from the council are generally considered detrimental to the standing of any family. Even if the visit fails to turn up any evidence of wrongdoing, the reputation of the family being investigated takes a significant hit simply for being suspicious enough to investigate in the first place. Some accounts suggest that House Gengxin abused this power to punish rival families or get them to fall in line when necessary, however there is no account of them ever using this tactic against any of the Nine Noble Houses.
Usually a visit alone is enough to elicit the desired behavior from whatever family is being investigated, but in extreme cases the council will present preliminary findings and then turn the investigation over to the
Imperial Order. Unlike the council, the order is not designed to interact with the higher tier of society. They primarily deal with the lower class, and even in the rare cases where they are assigned investigations involving noble families they behave the same way. Extremely intrusive, aggressive, and often abusive in their tasks. They never yield until some crime is uncovered, or even fabricated if need be.
Even though many have spoken out against these immoral practices, the council always remains free from blame by letting the order handle the dirty work. When complaints are raised against the order itself, it is the council who oversees investigations, and it’s no surprise that they rarely find anything proving that the order had behaved improperly.
Secondary to their job of keeping high society in line, is their task to maintain the
authentic historical record of the Jade Empire and the
Li Qu. Not much is officially documented of this work, but informally there are many accounts of them altering or destroying historical records to favor whatever version of history is deemed authentic by the council, House Gengxin, and the Immortal Emperor. Of particular note is the near total elimination of any documentation having to do with the IIF from the time it operated.
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