Protocols of Erudition

The Protocols of Erudition were a series of agreements negotiated in the port city of Erudition between representatives of Benacia Command of the Raspur Pact and the local representatives of the Emirate of Sathrati, commencing from 20.XII.1674. These negotiations, conducted with the intent of implementing a Technical Cooperation Agreement & Structural Assistance Programme for the archipelago nation, introduced new administrative reforms aimed at stabilising the country following its chaotic path to independence during the Kalirion Fracture. The agreements, laid out as a series of diplomatic protocols, secured Sathrati's position within the Raspur Pact, guaranteed the dispatch to the Emira's court of revenues levied through customs tolls and general taxation, and engaged the services of the Black Legions for suppressing lawlessness across the islands. In return the Court of the Emira of Sathrati, bound up in regency of the infant-Kaiseress of Shireroth through local proxies situated on the island of Zy-Rodun, was obliged to implement wide ranging administrative reforms, accept the installation of garrisons throughout the islands, and guarantee preferential access to the agricultural and mineralogical wealth of the islands.

First Protocol: Agreement on Governance

The First Protocol (Governance) of the Technical Cooperation Agreement & Structural Assistance Programme Between the Raspur Pact and Emirate of Sathrati

The accredited representatives of Benacia Command, on behalf of the Raspur Pact, and the Postmaster of the March on behalf of the Emirate of Sathrati together with the Imperial Dominion of the Marquessate of Zy-Rodun and the Counties of Yardistan, Amity, and Mirioth, having met at Erudition on the island of Amity, on 24.I.1675, confirm their assent to the following Protocol which shall be considered to be binding upon both parties:

1. The Government of the Constituent Counties of Amity, Mirioth, and Yardistan, now in the possession of the Corporation of the Seneschal of the march, and all powers in relation to Government vested in or exercised by the Corporation of the Seneschal of the march on behalf of the Corporation of the Marchioness of Zy-Rodun, shall cease to be exercised by the said Corporation; and all rights vested in or exercised by the said Corporation shall become vested in the Honourable Corporation of the ESB-Jörmungandr Group, and henceforth may be exercised by the said Honourable Corporation in the name of the Corporation of the Marchioness of Zy-Rodun.
2. The Constituent Counties of Amity, Mirioth, and Yardistan shall be governed in the name of Her Majesty the Emira of Sathrati, and these Constituent Counties shall hereafter be referred to as "Sathrati".
3. All rights, incidental to the Government of Sathrati; and all the territorial and other revenues arising in Sathrati, and all tributes and other payments received in respect of, or in the name of, the Emira, shall henceforth be within the Gift of the Honourable Corporation to collect and bestow in the name of, and on behalf of, the Emira.
4. In case His Excellency, the Director of Benacian Operations for the Honourable Corporation, shall be pleased to appoint a Principal Secretary of State for Sathrati, there shall be paid out of the revenues of Sathrati to the Principal Secretary of State and to his Under-Secretaries respectively the appropriate yearly salaries as may, for the time, have been paid to any Imperial Commissioner or Lord Lieutenant of the Fourth Grade in the Table of Ranks and Nobility.
5. There shall be established a council, to be styled the Council of Sathrati, and henceforth the Council of Sathrati shall comprise of accredited representatives of the following entities, appointed under their warrant and seal:
   • The Board of Directors of the Honourable Corporation;
   • The Permanent Commission of the Raspur Pact;
   • The Command Executive of the Unified Governorates of Benacia;
   • The Council of Elders of the House of Ayreon-Kalirion.
6. The Council of Sathrati shall, under the direction of the Secretary of State, conduct the business transacted in relation to the Government of Sathrati, save that every order or communication shall be signed by the Principal Secretary of State.
7. It shall be lawful for the Secretary of State to divide the Council into committees for the more convenient transaction of business, and from time to time to rearrange such committees, and to direct what departments of the business in relation to the Government of Sathrati shall be under such committees respectively, and generally to direct the manner in which all such business shall be transacted.
8. The Secretary of State shall be the President of the Council, with power to vote, and it shall be lawful for such Secretary of State in Council to appoint from time to time any member of such Council to be Vice-President thereof, and any such Vice-President may at any time be removed by the Secretary of State.
9. Every order or communication proposed to be sent to Sathrati by the Secretary of State shall, unless the same has been submitted to a meeting of the Council, be placed in the Council room for the perusal of all members of the Council during twelve norton days before the sending or making thereof, except in the cases hereinafter provided; and it shall be lawful for any member of the Council to record in a minute book, to be kept for that purpose, his opinion with respect to each such order or communication, and a copy of every opinion so recorded shall be sent forthwith to the Secretary of State.
10. The expenditure of the revenues of Sathrati, both in Sathrati and elsewhere, shall be subject to the control of the Secretary of State in Council, and no grant or appropriation of any part of such revenues, or of any other property coming into the possession of the Secretary of State in Council shall be made without the concurrence of a majority of votes at a meeting of the Council.
11. The Jaysh al-Sathrati shall be deemed to be the military and naval forces of Sathrati and shall be under the obligation to serve Her Majesty through the orders of the Council of Sathrati and shall be liable to serve for the same terms only, and be entitled to the like pay, pensions, allowances, and privileges, and the like advantages as regards promotion and otherwise, as if they had enrolled in the Black Legions: such forces, and all persons hereafter enlisting in or entering the same, shall continue and be subject to the articles of war, and all other laws, regulations, and provisions relating to the Honourable Corporation's military and naval forces respectively; and the pay and expenses of and incident to Her Majesty's Sathrati military and naval forces shall be defrayed out of the revenues of Sathrati.