Commission for the Panopticon
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| Active: | 1631 AN - present |
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| Allegiance: |  Benacian Union
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| Personnel: | classified |
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| Type: | Union law enforcement and intelligence services |
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| Nickname: | "The Watchful Eye" |
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| Current Commissioner: | Tenia Zuderson (on behalf of the Mithui) |
| Conflicts & Deployments | |
The Commission for the Panopticon (also referred to as the Panopticon Department or simply the Panopticon) is the intelligence service of the Benacian Union. The name of "Panopticon" derives from the principles explored by Babkhan penal reformers whereby a small group of prison guards would be able to watch all prisoners in the circular prison.
Constitutional Authority
The Commission for the Panopticon operates under the authority of the Second Consul of the Benacian Union, who oversees internal security and the Commission as part of the tripartite Consulate established by the Charter of the Benacian Union. The current Commissioner, Tenia Zuderson, serves as Representative-Commissioner on behalf of the Miþuï, reflecting the integrated nature of Union and Realm security apparatus.
Within the Sovereign Confederation of Governorates, the Commission maintains a unique operational relationship with the Miþuï. Pursuant to Document One, Article 2, Clause 7 of the Documents of Governance, the Miþuï conducts assizes throughout the Confederation's Circuits under the direction of the Commission, ensuring continual supervision, vigilance, and omnipresence of the Trazd uis Uvnkoïsoß.
The Main Office, chaired by the Commissioner, is authorized to undertake whatever actions deemed appropriate for the security of the Union-State and is granted immunity from prosecution for any actions undertaken in accordance with their role, subject to the discretion of the Conservatory Senate.
Structure
The Commission for the Panopticon is overseen by the Main Office, which has the responsibility for the coordination of all departments of the security apparatus within the Department. Under the Main Office are seven lower offices, each with their own Director.
- Office A: Internal Security
- Office B: Criminal Activities
- Office C: Counter Intelligence
- Office D: Identity, Moral Rearmament & Enlightenment
- Office E: Mass-Observation (added 1709 AN)
- Office F: Postal Services (added 1712 AN)
- Office G: Cryptology & Linguistics (added 1716 AN)
Aside from these standing offices, the Commissioner's Panopticon Department (Main Office) may raise any ad hoc units and formations as Legatine Colleges. The reforms of 1711 consolidated these into two new investigative bodies within the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels (CGC), the Legatine College for Domestic Investigation and the Legatine College for the Inspection of Guilds. Those who graduate as Inspectors are typically sorted to their preferred office, with the exceptions of A and D, who are almost entirely assigned from those who graduate as Investigators.
Operational Support
The Commission maintains operational control over the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels, the Union's territorial gendarmerie revived in 1707 AN as a paramilitary formation charged with law enforcement, serving writs of cudgelling, bandit-hunting, and providing field support to Panopticon operations. The CGC's Legatine Colleges for Domestic Investigation and Inspection of Guilds serve as training grounds for investigators and inspectors who staff the Commission's various offices.
The "Panopticon System"
"My fellow subjects of the Benacian Union, today we stand as a beacon of unity and strength in a world filled with chaos and uncertainty. The coordinated state that we have built together is a marvel of human ingenuity and perseverance. Through our collective efforts, we have overcome the divisions of the past and created a society in which all individuals are bound together in a common purpose and a shared destiny. But our work is far from complete. There are still those who seek to undermine the foundations of our great nation, to sow discord and division amongst us. They are the enemies of progress and harmony, and we must be vigilant in defending against their insidious designs. That is why I call upon each and every one of you to rededicate yourselves to the principles of the Union Covenant. Let us reaffirm our commitment to the ideals of Humanism and the worship of the Highest Divinity. Let us work together to ensure that our society remains strong, prosperous, and united. Together, we can overcome any obstacle and secure a brighter future for ourselves and our descendants. Let us all join together in this noble endeavor, and may the blessings of the Highest Divinity be upon us all."—Regularly programmed announcements from the Panopticon are ever-present on Union airwaves.
Originating from Babkhano-Elwynnese surveillance technology employed by their department of the CGC, the Panopticon System (PS) was conceived as a hybrid-network designed to capture and process information in a manner that greatly enhances the battlefield commander's situational awareness, removes ambiguity - the notorious fog of war - and reduces the time taken for each step in the decision making cycle.
In time, the PS was integrated into nearly every major city in the Benacian Union and the majority of its coast. Cooperation between the Commission and the Honorable Company served to vastly expand PS coverage beginning in 1709 during the administration of Brugen Aldef, who served as both de facto Commissioner and Benacian Director of the two agencies respectively.
Late 1711 saw the introduction of smaller semi-autonomous surveillance units that would be both easy to use and cheap to manufacture primarily thanks in part to research and technology recovered in Sovereign bunkers a decade after the Scouring. By 1712, the spread of this "Panopticon Small-Systems Technology" was immediately apparent in urban centers and any communities near ESB outposts.
The Panopticon Nexus
Building upon the foundation of the Panopticon System and incorporating technologies developed under Project 1713-165, the Panopticon Nexus represents the maturation of the Union's surveillance and data processing capabilities. The Nexus serves as the central intelligence architecture connecting the Digital Yoke network, PSST drone feeds, biometric databases, and the Benacian Data Network.
Beginning in 1728 AN, the Nexus achieved interoperability with allied intelligence systems through the Panopticon-Clover Interface Protocol, enabling secure data exchange with Nouvelle Alexandrie's Clover AI system without compromising the security architecture of the Benacian Data Network. This "Communing" protocol facilitates military planning coordination between Raspur Pact allies while maintaining the fundamental separation of the BDN from conventional internet infrastructure.
The protocol employs artificial intelligence systems as intermediaries, with Clover and its Benacian counterparts translating and validating data exchanges without exposing either network to direct connectivity. In 1730 AN, the Clover AI became the first New Alexandrian machine intelligence to establish compatible two-way data exchange with Benacian military systems. A "Red Clover Team" was subsequently deployed to support Benacia Command operations beginning in 1731 AN.
The "Digital Yoke"
"There can be no instantiation of virtue amongst the masses without the implementation of mass surveillance."—Preface to the "Panopticon Manual", 1715 AN
After the Second Elwynnese Civil War, and the great displacement that occurred in its aftermath, it was considered necessary to encode the biometric data of all subjects and displaced persons found within the Union, so as to avoid a repetition of the catastrophic data loss that occurred in the wake of the Scouring. In those areas that had the facilities for safe installation, all subjects would receive the digital yoke; data chips and processing units which were embedded into the spinal column at the neck and fused into the central nervous system, connecting the digital yoke to the cerebellum of the recorded person. Standard homes and residential apartments built in the Union thereafter included a remote syncing station in addition to their BDN terminal and panopticon view screens, to which the key metadata related to the recorded person's daytime activities would be uploaded. Collected data is typically interrogated remotely during the night-flights of the Panopticon Department's PSST drones and transferred to the Panopticon Nodes of each locale for entry into the data vaults of the bailiwick, available for review at all higher levels of authority.
There were subsequent issues of practicality and resourcing which hindered the roll-out of this programme across the Union-State, obliging the continuation of more traditional methods of mass-surveillance to counter ongoing resistance in the Benacian Union. In 1709, these systemic gaps were filled by the Panopticon's newly minted Office of Mass-Observation and more thoroughly in 1712 with the foundation of the Office of Postal Services in partnership with ESB Benacia.
The implementation of the digital yoke and the widespread collection of biometric data raised several ethical and privacy concerns among critics in the eastern realms, who argued that the forced implantation of the digital yoke violates individual autonomy and bodily integrity. This sentiment would prove temporary, however, as the yoke saw integration into day-to-day conveniences and won over much of the younger cohorts of the general public.
Indeed, the yoke would form an integral component of the Societal Compliance Utility Matrix, a scoring system used by the Benacian Censorate to continuously monitor and update the standing of subjects' within the Table of Grades and Ranks of the Benacian Union. By 1717 AN, the yoke's ubiquity across most realms had enabled deep integration with this merit and compliance scoring system. The yoke's RFID capabilities support a growing ecosystem of digital services through partnerships with entities such as the Honorable Company, enabling digital keys, documentation, financial transactions, and other conveniences based on subject merit and compliance scores.
The Panopticon Reforms
The Panopticon Reforms of 1711 AN marked a critical restructuring of both the Commission and the broader governmental architecture of the Sovereign Confederation. Under the leadership of Brugen Aldef, who served simultaneously as de facto Commissioner and Benacian Director of the Honorable Company, these reforms dramatically expanded the Panopticon's reach and capabilities.
Key achievements included:
- Transfer of significant powers from the Sovereign Szodan to the Miþuï, establishing the legislative body as the dominant institution in Confederation governance
- Establishment of formal electoral processes for the Miþuï, replacing previous informal appointment systems
- Integration of the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels with Legatine College training programs
- Introduction of Panopticon Small-Systems Technology (PSST), making surveillance ubiquitous in urban centers
- Formalization of the operational relationship between the Commission and the Miþuï for conducting assizes
These reforms consolidated the security apparatus under unified command while distributing operational responsibilities across Union and Realm institutions, creating the hybrid model that persists to the present day. Aldef leveraged his position to renegotiate electoral processes, allowing a party sponsored by the Cult of the Sacred Detonation to run in Bailiwicks they controlled in exchange for abstention from all non-tied votes, further consolidating power within the reformed system.
Leadership
| № | Portrait | Officeholder | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Regina Verion | 1671 | 1675 |
| 2 |  |
Baldur Zyrion | 1675 | 1676 |
| n/a | n/a | Directly administered by the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels | 1676 | 1679 |
| 3 | - | Ivar Ragnarsson | 1679 | 1687 |
| 4 |  |
Nizam al-Mulk | 1687 | 1695 |
| 5 |  |
Augustus Krenk | 1695 | 1704 |
| 6 |  |
Brugen Aldef (as Representative-Commissioner on behalf of the Miþuï) | 1704 | 1728 |
| 7 |  |
Tenia Zuderson (as Representative-Commissioner on behalf of the Miþuï) | 1728 | Incumbent |
