Dian

A group maintained by House Guanting with the dual purposes of exposing magic within the empire and researching counters to magic.

History

Sometime after BH61, during the reign of Bai Lingxin Fou, divine magic was forbidden inside the imperial capital. Sometime after BH28, during the reign of Zou Delan Fou, divine magic was forbidden throughout the Jade Empire, and even arcane magic was discouraged. This led to the banishment of many arcane practitioners, like Xue Luoyang, and the imprisonment of others.
In the years that followed, efforts to eliminate magic from the Jade Empire and to safeguard against magic from the outside world escalated. This eventually resulted in the formation of the Dian, sometime after H39, during the reign of Meng Gengxin Fou. Their duties have grown over the years, but their initial task was to research ways to track down and put a stop to magic users inside the Empire. The group was, and still is, a small focused group of mainly intellectual researchers, so they frequently work alongside the Imperial Order when they need man power. The order carries out investigations and raids under the supervision of Dian members.
The group is run by the House Guanting, who specialize in the prosecution of those who practice magic. Over time the responsibilities of the Dian grew for a variety of reasons. Most notably, they were tasked by the emperor with researching not only ways to discover magic within the empire, but also with safeguarding against magic outside of the empire. This began the development of anti magic weapons and the magic resistant soldiers that would eventually become the Bizou.
The Dian also expanded in scope for other reasons, eventually growing to become the general information gathering apparatus of the Guanting.