Commission for the Panopticon

Commission for the Panopticon
Official March: The Secret Deployment
Active:	1631 AN - present
Allegiance:	Benacian Union
Personnel:	classified
Type:	Union law enforcement and intelligence services
Nickname:	"The Watchful Eye"
Current Commissioner:	Tenia Zuderson (on behalf of the Mithui)
Conflicts & Deployments	River War Angularis Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation The Year of the Four Kaisers Auspicious Occasion Kalirion Fracture

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) could raise any ad hoc units and formations as Legatine Colleges. The reforms of 1711 consolidated all such Colleges 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"

Elwynnese information poster celebrating the full Union-wide integration of the Panopticon System.

An advertisement in the first 1712 issue of Gentlemen Weekly Magazine for the new "Panopticon Small-Systems Technology" touting new miniaturized blimp-drones.

1712 image of a Panopticon postal patrol using PSST

"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"

The era of interconnectivity would in and of itself be the harbinger of a new age of accountability and assurance for meritorious subjects.

"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.

The Great Amalgamation (1752-1753)

The reformed Charter of the Benacian Union's adoption in 1752 AN required the Commission, now under the leadership of the Second Consul, to develop and implement the Civic Trust Score calculation system and Selectorate System for 274 million subjects. This technical and administrative effort represented the largest data processing project in Union history.

Technical Infrastructure

The project relied on analog supercomputers manufactured and maintained by Sovereign industries, which had developed computing capacity over decades through targeted investment in technical education and manufacturing. The Confederation's academies had trained generations of specialists in analog computation, creating a reservoir of expertise necessary for the Charter implementation. Data centers were redundantly distributed across all four Realms, providing the processing power for the new systems while maintaining operational continuity.

The Panopticon Nexus surveillance architecture continued to function throughout the transition. A skeleton crew maintained the existing infrastructure for day-to-day surveillance operations, real-time security monitoring, and ongoing enforcement activities. This dual-track approach preserved continuity in internal security while the new constitutional systems were built in parallel.

Algorithm Development

Panopticon technical teams, drawing heavily on Sovereign expertise, developed two distinct algorithmic systems. The Civic Trust Score calculation algorithm processed multiple data streams (employment history, tax compliance, criminal records, civic participation, social associations, location patterns, consumption behavior, and Digital Yoke biometric indicators) to generate scores ranging from zero to one thousand points for each subject.

The selectorate preference-matching algorithm operated on a different principle. Subjects participating in Bailiwick Assemblies would submit ranked preferences for qualities and attributes they desired in representatives. The algorithm matched these preferences to subject profiles drawn from the consolidated database, generating Lists of Communal Notables through statistical optimization rather than direct voting. Similar matching processes would elevate subjects through Departmental Notables to National Notables, creating the filtered elite from which the Congress of Chryse would draw its delegates.

Human oversight provided quality control throughout algorithm development. Teams tested calculations against known populations, verified that scoring criteria operated as intended, and refined the preference-matching to produce appropriately filtered results. Pilot tests ran in selected governorates across different Realms, allowing local Panopticon offices to flag regional considerations and refine the algorithms iteratively.

Data Integration Challenge

The primary technical challenge was standardizing data from Union-level institutions. Each institution maintained decades of records using its own classification systems and terminology. The Benacian Censorate organized population data through the Register of Souls. The Commission for the Sacred Treasury classified economic status through tax records. The Benacian Union Defence Force maintained service records in military formats across more than fifty years of operations. The Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels kept enforcement records in over fifteen hundred bailiwick commanderies, each with local practices. The Guild of Academicians, Guild of Factors, Guild of the Lotus, and other constituent bodies of the Chamber of Guilds and Corporations each maintained membership and disciplinary records in bespoke formats. The Worshipful Guild of the Sacred Carnifices held records of purgations and Benacian Labour Reserve assignments. The United Ecclesiastical Corporation of Benacia tracked Covenant compliance.

All institutions cooperated fully with the monumental integration effort. The reform project had support from the Congress of Chryse and the First Consul, and institutional leaders recognized the necessity of the new constitutional system. The challenge simply the sheer volume of material requiring translation into standardized forms. Panopticon teams created translation schemas mapping each institution's terminology to unified standards. Regional officials, trained in local record-keeping practices, extracted data and transformed it into formats suitable for algorithmic processing. Quality control protocols caught inconsistencies, duplicate records, and missing data requiring resolution before processing could proceed.

The Computer Bottleneck

The analog supercomputers possessed immense processing power, but there were simply not enough of them to process 274 million subject records within the required time-frame. The computers that existed ran continuously, processing priority datasets. Backlogs developed as data extraction outpaced available computing capacity. The timeline for Civic Trust Score initialization (completion by mid-1753 AN to allow scheduling of Bailiwick Assemblies) created a magnitude of pressure that computing capacity alone could not resolve.

Sovereign Confederation compufactories responded with expanded production. Facilities operated around the clock and apprenticeships were accelerated to train additional technicians. Each new computer batch came online and was immediately deployed to processing centers, gradually expanding capacity. The production surge represented a massive infusion of Union investment into Sovereign industries, validating decades of technical development and promising sustained demand.

Until sufficient computer hardware became available, manual processing filled the gap. Thousands of Panopticon officials and clerks cross-referenced records by hand, calculated preliminary scores, created indexes and concordances, and prepared datasets for eventual computational validation. The work was grueling. Officials verified guild membership against tax records, matched military service files to current addresses, reconciled discrepancies between institutional databases, and hand-calculated score components according to Charter criteria.

Personnel Deployment

The concentration of computing infrastructure in the Sovereign Confederation required deployment of personnel from other Realms to Sovereign processing centers. For administrative efficiency, each Realm's delegation concentrated in a specific bailiwick within liaison distance of the others. The Sovereign Confederation's own centralized operations focused in West Wall, near Underwall, the UGB delegation established its processing center in Doir, and the combined Ransenar and Chryse delegations operated from Asantelian. This arrangement allowed coordination between delegations while maintaining distinct administrative structures.

Thousands of officials from the Unified Governorates of Benacia, Ransenar, and Chryse arrived for extended assignments in these three bailiwicks. They required housing, food, and services, creating concentrated economic activity in these communities. Temporary housing complexes were constructed. Guild commissaries expanded operations. Paradise Districts saw increased traffic. The three bailiwicks experienced economic booms from the influx of personnel with steady Union salaries.

Other bailiwicks in the Sovereign Confederation possessed existing computers that required utilization to maximize processing capacity. These facilities operated with primarily local Panopticon personnel supplemented by auxiliary staff from the Benacian Censorate. This distributed approach ensured that all available computing power across the Confederation contributed to the processing effort while avoiding the logistical complexity of deploying full foreign delegations to every bailiwick with computer facilities.

The deployment served as knowledge transfer. Officials from other Realms trained in Sovereign systems and standards, working alongside local specialists in the three major hubs. The shared environment facilitated standardization as all personnel learned the same procedures. Sovereign Confederation expertise became embedded across the entire Panopticon through direct mentorship and collaborative work. Censorate personnel working in distributed facilities gained familiarity with analog computing operations, broadening the Union's technical capacity beyond the Panopticon's institutional boundaries.

Despite cultural differences between Realms—the UGB's regimented discipline, the deceptively relaxed Sovereign character, Ransenar's democratic heritage, Chryse's cosmopolitan pragmatism—the intensity of the work left little room for friction. Even Sovereign personnel, known for valuing comfort and cultural pursuits, maintained brutal schedules. Everyone recognized the historic importance of the Charter transition and the consequences of failure.

Manual processing teams developed friendly competition. Groups organized by bailiwick, governorate, or realm of origin tracked their processing speed and accuracy rates. Informal scoreboards appeared comparing throughput between the three major processing hubs and among teams within each center: records processed per day, error rates, batches validated by computer verification. Teams took pride in craftsmanship, ensuring that manual work met the same standards expected from algorithmic processing. Break room conversations in Westwall, Doir, and Asantelian focused on techniques, shortcuts that maintained accuracy, and methods for catching errors before computer validation.

Computer processing time became a prize. When a team's manually processed batch received computer validation, it confirmed months of work. Results returned showing accuracy rates or identified corrections needed, requiring additional manual review. Then began processing the next batch, continuing the cycle until sufficient computers came online to shift fully to automated processing.

Implementation Timeline

Data integration and algorithm development proceeded through the final days of 1752 AN and into early 1753 AN. Different populations entered the system at different stages based on data availability and regional capacity. The Unified Governorates of Benacia and Chryse, where Panopticon surveillance had been most scrutinized, proceeded most rapidly. Ransenar, requiring reconciliation of its universal meritorious status granted upon 1711 AN accession with the Charter's differentiated merit criteria, required additional calibration. The Sovereign Confederation, where the Miþuï had operated extensive parallel civic assessment systems, required integration of its existing data with the new Union-wide standards.

Manual processing allowed work to proceed in parallel across all regions while computers handled final validation and scoring calculations. As new computers came online, regions transitioned from manual to automated processing, though the transition was gradual rather than uniform. This had the effect of creating temporary regional disparities in processing status, but allowed the overall project to maintain forward momentum.

The Commission announced completion of the initial Civic Trust Score assignment in mid-1753, when all subjects received notification of their score classification and eligibility status for political participation. The announcement created anxiety among subjects whose scores fell below expected thresholds, particularly in bailiwicks where local officials had previously exercised liberal discretion over merit determinations. Appeal mechanisms established under Charter Article VII.4 created three-member review panels in each bailiwick to hear challenges, as no subject could have meritorious status revoked based solely on algorithmic determination without review.

Legacy

The system development effort created a generation of Panopticon officials who had worked across Realm lines on the Union's largest data processing project. Personnel who spent months in Sovereign Confederation processing centers returned to their home Realms with shared experiences, technical knowledge, and professional relationships that would shape institutional culture. The success of the project validated the Sovereign Confederation's decades of investment in computing technology and technical education, establishing Sovereign industries as the Union's center for analog computation.

The dual-track system of maintaining operational surveillance while building new constitutional infrastructure became a model for future Union institutional reforms. The combination of algorithmic processing with mandatory human oversight for significant determinations established precedents for balancing automated efficiency with constitutional protections.

Leadership

List of Commissioners

№	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	1752
8		Titus Groen Mercajski (as Second Consul)	1752	Incumbent

See also

• Panopticon Blimp
• Panopticon-Clover Interface Protocol
• Communing (AI)
• Benacian Data Network
• Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels