Correct Conduct - Revision history

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← Older revision		Revision as of 03:57, 24 September 2026
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	== Known members ==		== Known members ==
	<!-- derived from each member's own affiliations -->		<!-- derived from each member's own affiliations -->
	- [[Brockelsby]] - fellow-monitor		* [[Brockelsby]] - fellow-monitor
	- [[Shrievsby]] - officer		* [[Shrievsby]] - officer

	== History ==		== History ==
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	== Relationships ==		== Relationships ==
	- '''[[Ivarn Ostravar]]''' - The Sage-Archivist cultivated corrupt relationships with specific Monitors, using Palleseen soldiers to enforce his commercial raids on local merchants, with Statlos Shrievsby serving as his negotiating contact for bribes - City of Last Chances, ch 5, ch 8.		* '''[[Ivarn Ostravar]]''' - The Sage-Archivist cultivated corrupt relationships with specific Monitors, using Palleseen soldiers to enforce his commercial raids on local merchants, with Statlos Shrievsby serving as his negotiating contact for bribes - City of Last Chances, ch 5, ch 8.

	- '''[[Shrievsby\|Statlos Shrievsby]]''' - An officer of Correct Conduct who negotiated Ostravar's arrangements, was sentenced to a suicide detail in the Reproach, carried out his own death sentence by storming Ostravar's rooms, then fled the vengeance of Correct Speech and led remnants of his squad through the Reproach before being overtaken by its corruption - City of Last Chances, ch 8, ch 10, ch 11.		* '''[[Shrievsby\|Statlos Shrievsby]]''' - An officer of Correct Conduct who negotiated Ostravar's arrangements, was sentenced to a suicide detail in the Reproach, carried out his own death sentence by storming Ostravar's rooms, then fled the vengeance of Correct Speech and led remnants of his squad through the Reproach before being overtaken by its corruption - City of Last Chances, ch 8, ch 10, ch 11.

	- '''[[Guame\|Mother Guame]]''' - Interrogated and beaten by Monitors during an investigation into a great man's death; she regards them as "thugs who were more police than soldier" and survived only because the Pals' prudishness made recording her conjuration-for-Armiger-clients confession too costly - City of Last Chances, ch 9.		* '''[[Guame\|Mother Guame]]''' - Interrogated and beaten by Monitors during an investigation into a great man's death; she regards them as "thugs who were more police than soldier" and survived only because the Pals' prudishness made recording her conjuration-for-Armiger-clients confession too costly - City of Last Chances, ch 9.

	- '''[[Brockelsby\|Fellow-Monitor Brockelsby]]''' - Commands soldiers in the field as Estern's direct superior; musters troops, commands volleys against the Reproach's host, falls back into the Wood, and is confronted by a vast fish-like creature. Presumed dead after the incursion - City of Last Chances, ch 30, ch 32, ch 37, ch 46, ch 48.		* '''[[Brockelsby\|Fellow-Monitor Brockelsby]]''' - Commands soldiers in the field as Estern's direct superior; musters troops, commands volleys against the Reproach's host, falls back into the Wood, and is confronted by a vast fish-like creature. Presumed dead after the incursion - City of Last Chances, ch 30, ch 32, ch 37, ch 46, ch 48.

	- '''[[Estern]]''' - Identified as one of "Culvern's long-time appointments" under Brockelsby's command, indicating placement within the School's operational hierarchy - City of Last Chances, ch 30.		* '''[[Estern]]''' - Identified as one of "Culvern's long-time appointments" under Brockelsby's command, indicating placement within the School's operational hierarchy - City of Last Chances, ch 30.

	- '''[[Cosserby]]''' - A Cohort-Monitor and monitor in good standing at the School, representing routine institutional membership - House of Open Wounds, ch 8.		* '''[[Cosserby]]''' - A Cohort-Monitor and monitor in good standing at the School, representing routine institutional membership - House of Open Wounds, ch 8.

	- '''[[Banders]]''' - A former Cohort-Broker indexed under Correct Conduct, confirming the Broker rank's placement within the same organisational grouping as Monitor - House of Open Wounds, ch 17.		* '''[[Banders]]''' - A former Cohort-Broker indexed under Correct Conduct, confirming the Broker rank's placement within the same organisational grouping as Monitor - House of Open Wounds, ch 17.

	- '''[[Lovern]]''' - Holds his commission through Correct Conduct specifically; the School claimed him, and his rank encodes both scholar-grade and school-affiliation. His inner conflict over "wrong things" done during the siege operates against the certainty the School is supposed to confer - Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4.		* '''[[Lovern]]''' - Holds his commission through Correct Conduct specifically; the School claimed him, and his rank encodes both scholar-grade and school-affiliation. His inner conflict over "wrong things" done during the siege operates against the certainty the School is supposed to confer - Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4.

	== Notable Quotes ==		== Notable Quotes ==

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Correct Conduct is one of the five administrative Schools of the Palleseen state apparatus, functioning as the Empire's military-police enforcement arm. Its officers-designated Monitors-operate as armed constabulary and military-discipline personnel, deploying force at both the street level of occupied cities and the operational level of armies in the field. Across the series, the School appears in its full institutional context as one of the "five fingers of the Palleseen hand," a metaphor for the interlocking completeness of the Empire's governing functions, and its formal field of study is the application of force on a personal and global level.

The School claims its officers rather than being chosen by them; its graduates staff the garrison network and forward expansionist commands throughout the Sway, progressing from combat roles into the machinery of permanent occupation. Individual members named across the books-Statlos Shrievsby, Fellow-Monitor Brockelsby, Cohort-Monitor Cosserby, Banders, and Cohort-Monitor Lovern-illustrate the School's range from corrupt street-level enforcement to siege warfare and post-conquest settlement. The School's relationship to the other arms of Palleseen power is marked by subordination to the Inquirers of Correct Speech in matters of ideological terror, while retaining primacy in physical coercion and territorial control.

Across the five books in which it appears, Correct Conduct is shown both as an institution of brutal but bounded authority-interrogating suspects with batons, deputising soldiers for crowd control, policing occupied populations-and as a system vulnerable to corruption from within, as officers negotiate private arrangements with civilian officials or flee the vengeance of other Schools.

== The Group ==
=== Composition ===
The School's officers are designated Monitors, and the rank system encodes both scholar-grade and institutional affiliation: the prefix "Cohort" denotes the lowest scholar's rank in the army, while "Monitor" identifies the School of Correct Thought that claimed the individual - Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4. Named ranks within the body include Cohort-Monitor (held by Lovern and Cosserby), Fellow-Monitor (held by Brockelsby), and Cohort-Broker (a rank falling within the same organisational grouping as Monitor, held by Banders before his departure from service) - House of Open Wounds, ch 17; Days of Shattered Faith, ch 27. The "Cohort" prefix and the fencing officers are described as "mostly Correct Conduct," indicating default membership in the body though not an absolute requirement - House of Open Wounds, ch 17.

The School is an institution that "claims" its officers rather than one they select; Lovern's commission is described as belonging to "the School of Correct Thought that claimed him," and his Speciality as a breacher sits within that assignment - Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4. Officers progress into garrison and expansionist posts across the Sway, moving from the battlefield into the machinery of permanent control - ch 16.

=== Purpose & Method ===
Correct Conduct's specific domain is enforcement and conquest, distinguishing it from the purely administrative, educational, commercial, or artistic purviews of the other four Schools - Days of Shattered Faith, ch 27. Its study is formally defined as "the application of force on a personal and global level" - Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4. Lovern characterises the School as "the backbone of the army," the structural pillar upon which the fighting force depends, and its members as "bruisers" who carry the physical burden of military operations - ch 16.

In operational terms, the School supplies "boots and batons" to handle uprisings in liberated cities: its personnel walk into a pacified urban population and enforce the new order by physical means, providing the coercion layer beneath conquest - ch 6. At the street level, Monitors conduct searches, detainment, and interrogation within Palleseen-held territory, using batons as standard sidearms and binding suspects to frames for questioning - City of Last Chances, ch 9. They can be formally deputised by Inquirers of Correct Speech for joint operations against student unrest or insurrection - ch 13. The School maintains infrastructure including the Impounded Evidence Office, where confiscated goods from arrested persons are stored - ch 30.

=== Standing ===
Within the hierarchy of Palleseen terror apparatus, the Monitors are feared but subordinate to the Inquirers of Correct Speech; the latter are the branch "you don't want to take notice of you," commanding greater dread - City of Last Chances, ch 8. Inquirers can demand signatures deputising Correct Conduct soldiers for military presence, establishing a chain of operational command that runs through Correct Speech in matters of ideological policing - ch 13. Mother Guame, subjected to interrogation, regards the Monitors as "thugs who were more police than soldier," capturing the local perception of the School as constabulary thugs rather than true soldiers - ch 9.

The School's officers are not immune to corruption or private arrangement; Ivarn Ostravar "came to terms with some of the Monitors," deploying Palleseen soldiers to enforce his commercial raids on local merchants - ch 5. Officers can flee the vengeance of other Schools, as Shrievsby did after the Inquirers learned of a stolen item, or be sentenced to suicide details in the Reproach - ch 8. In the field, Correct Conduct soldiers face existential threats beyond conventional warfare: Brockelsby's troops lost ten per cent missing and twenty-two per cent showing effects of contact with the Reproach - ch 48.

The Charter of Correct Conduct is a separate codified legal text governing parlay rules, cited by the demon Vorkovin when demanding formal parlay procedures over a barricade; it must not be conflated with the School itself - ch 37. The overarching ideology and code of rules under which the School's officers operate is Correct Thought, a legal-philosophical framework distinct from the five administrative Schools it contains - ch 46.

== Known members ==

- [[Brockelsby]] - fellow-monitor
- [[Shrievsby]] - officer

== History ==
=== City of Last Chances ===
Correct Conduct is one of the five administrative Schools of Palleseen governance, functioning as the Empire's military-police enforcement arm. Its officers are designated Monitors, and they are understood to operate as armed constabulary rather than true soldiers: Mother Guame, interrogated by them, regards them as "thugs who were more police than soldier" - ch 9. The Monitors carry batons as standard sidearms, and are the School officers most commonly encountered conducting street-level enforcement, searches, and detainment within Palleseen-held territory - ch 9. In the hierarchy of Palleseen terror apparatus, the Monitors are feared but subordinate to the Inquirers of Correct Speech; the latter are the branch "you don't want to take notice of you," commanding greater dread than the Monitors - ch 8.

The School's officers are not immune to corruption or private arrangement. Ivarn Ostravar, a Sage-Archivist, had "come to terms with some of the Monitors," deploying Palleseen soldiers to enforce his commercial raids on local merchants - ch 5. Statlos Shrievsby, an officer of Correct Conduct, served as Ostravar's corrupt contact: he visited the Sage-Archivist first to negotiate bribes, then returned in panic when the Inquirers learned of a stolen item, and was informed he would be sent into the Reproach on a suicide detail - ch 8. Shrievsby subsequently carried out his own death sentence by storming Ostravar's rooms at the Gownhall in a desperate search for the Sage-Archivist's ward, finding nothing - ch 10. He later fled the vengeance of Correct Speech, leading the remnants of his squad through the Reproach to recover Companion-Archivist Nasely, and was progressively overtaken by the corruption of that place - ch 11. His earlier role included having Ostravar's rooms searched and stripped for a Pal artifact - ch 29.

The Monitors' interrogation methods are brutal and physical. During the investigation into a great man's death, Guame was bound to a frame and beaten with batons across her bare back and shoulders while questioned in rapid Pel about conjuration - ch 9. The Monitors discovered ritual chalk, tomes, and fetishes in her house; she dismissed these as "decoration and set dressing" and denied all practice of conjuration, invoking the Palleseen legal prohibition known as Correct Thought, which forbids the practice of magic: "no magic here, that would be in contravention of Correct Thought" - ch 9. Guame survived this first interrogation because the Pals' prudish inability to name Sage-Archivist Ochelby as her client made any admission of conjuration-for-Armiger-clients too costly for the interrogators to record - ch 9. She later made a deliberate tactical reversal, confessing to everything she had denied the Monitors - the conjuration of demons, their use for clients' lust - and offering to recant her "primitive Allorwen ways" - ch 9.

Correct Conduct soldiers can be formally deputised by Inquirers of Correct Speech for joint operations. Fellow-Inquirer Hegelsy arrives at the Gownhall to demand signatures deputising Correct Conduct soldiers for a military presence against student unrest, slogans, flags, and "inappropriate Maric nationalism" that have grown since a scholar's arrest - ch 13. Within the School's own infrastructure, the Impounded Evidence Office serves as the room where confiscated goods from arrested persons are stored; it is the site of an overnight raid - ch 30.

Fellow-Monitor Brockelsby is an officer of Correct Conduct who commands soldiers in the field. He is Estern's direct superior, and Estern is identified as one of "Culvern's long-time appointments" under him - ch 30. Hegelsy wonders whether Brockelsby has mustered his troops, and later awaits reinforcement from him and Nisbet - ch 32, ch 37. Brockelsby eventually commands soldiers in the street, ordering volleys against the Reproach's host, before falling back into the Wood, where he is confronted by a vast fish-like creature - ch 46. The overarching ideology and code of rules under which Brockelsby's career, the legal framework, and the philosophy of discretion all operate is Correct Thought, which is distinct from the five administrative Schools (Correct Erudition, Correct Appreciation, Correct Exchange, Correct Conduct, Correct Speech) - ch 46. A separate legal instrument, the Charter of Correct Conduct, governs parlay rules; the demon Vorkovin cites specific paragraphs and appendix sections of it when demanding formal parlay over a barricade, leaving the opposing officer out of his depth and forcing him to defer upward - ch 37. The Charter is a codified legal text, not to be conflated with the School itself.

In the aftermath of the Reproach's incursion, Brockelsby is presumed dead. Ten per cent of his troops are missing, and another twenty-two per cent show effects of contact with the Reproach - ch 48.

=== House of Open Wounds ===
Correct Conduct appears in this book as an organizational affiliation to which certain named officers belong. The "Cohort" prefix borne by certain titles - Cohort-Monitor, Cohort-Broker - and the fencing officers are described as "mostly Correct Conduct," indicating that membership in the body is the default for holders of those positions though not an absolute requirement - ch 17. The School of Correct Conduct is named as an institution to which a monitor belongs: [[Cosserby]] is identified as a Cohort-Monitor, a member of the Monitors, and a monitor in good standing at the School - ch 8. [[Banders]], a former Cohort-Broker, is likewise indexed under Correct Conduct rather than under any other body, confirming that the Broker rank falls within the same organizational grouping as the Monitor rank - ch 17.

=== Lives of Bitter Rain ===
In [[Lives of Bitter Rain]], [[Correct Conduct]] is identified as a department of [[Pal|Palleseen]], characterised as military-discipline in nature. It surfaces in [[Angilly|Sage-Invigilator Angilly]]'s thinking as a possible alternative path, though the novel offers no further detail on its operations, personnel, or relationship to the other Palleseen institutions with which Angilly is associated - ch 2.

=== Days of Shattered Faith ===
In [[Days of Shattered Faith]], Correct Conduct is identified as one of the five divisions of the [[Schools of Correct Thought]], the institutional framework that organises Palleseen governance and statecraft. Alongside [[Correct Erudition]], [[Correct Exchange]], [[Correct Appreciation]], and [[the School of Correct Speech|Correct Speech]], it constitutes what is called "the five fingers of the Palleseen hand" - a metaphor for the interlocking completeness of the system's functions - ch 27. Correct Conduct's specific domain is enforcement and conquest, distinguishing it from the purely administrative, educational, commercial, or artistic purviews of the other four Schools - ch 27. The text presents this taxonomy as an exposition of Palleseen political structure rather than as a narrative event; no individual agent is identified as acting under the authority of Correct Conduct within the chapter in which the Schools are enumerated, and the passage serves to situate the reader within the logic of the [[Pal|Palleseen]] state apparatus as a whole - ch 27.

=== Pretenders to the Throne Of God ===
Correct Conduct is one of the [[Schools of Correct Thought]], the disciplinary institution within the Pal military apparatus whose study is "the application of force on a personal and global level" - "<Cohort, for the lowest scholar's rank in the army; Monitor for the School of Correct Thought that claimed him - in this case Correct Conduct, whose study was the application of force on a personal and global level.>" - ch 4. It is characterised in Lovern's own formulation as "the backbone of the army," the structural pillar upon which the fighting force depends, and its members are described as "bruisers" who progress into garrison and expansionist posts across the [[Pal|Sway]] - ch 16.

The school is an institution that "claims" its officers. [[Lovern]] holds his commission through Correct Conduct specifically, which is the school that selected him; his rank of Cohort-Monitor encodes both his scholar-grade and his school-affiliation, and his Speciality as a breacher sits within that assignment - ch 4. The language of claiming is deliberate: Correct Conduct is not a career chosen so much as one that takes a person, and Lovern's inner conflict at the opening of the chapter over "wrong things" done during the siege operates against the certainty the school is supposed to confer - ch 4.

In operational terms, Correct Conduct functions as the institution "with boots and batons" deployed to handle uprisings in liberated cities - ch 6. Its personnel are the ones who walk into a pacified urban population and enforce the new order by physical means; the school supplies the coercion layer beneath the conquest. Lovern himself participates in this work, returning cloaks to the Heretics and surrendering the crab armour to [[Carcer|the Carcers]] as part of post-siege settlement, before being roused from a divination fit and sent in pursuit of [[Istreddy]] - ch 4.

By the mid-book, the institutional scope of Correct Conduct is made explicit beyond the army's internal hierarchy: it is named as one of the Schools of Correct Thought, and its graduates are identified as the men who staff the garrison network and the forward expansionist commands throughout the Sway - ch 16. The school's function is thus both martial (the application of force) and administrative (the maintenance of occupation), with its officers moving from the battlefield into the machinery of permanent control.

== Relationships ==
- '''[[Ivarn Ostravar]]''' - The Sage-Archivist cultivated corrupt relationships with specific Monitors, using Palleseen soldiers to enforce his commercial raids on local merchants, with Statlos Shrievsby serving as his negotiating contact for bribes - City of Last Chances, ch 5, ch 8.

- '''[[Shrievsby|Statlos Shrievsby]]''' - An officer of Correct Conduct who negotiated Ostravar's arrangements, was sentenced to a suicide detail in the Reproach, carried out his own death sentence by storming Ostravar's rooms, then fled the vengeance of Correct Speech and led remnants of his squad through the Reproach before being overtaken by its corruption - City of Last Chances, ch 8, ch 10, ch 11.

- '''[[Guame|Mother Guame]]''' - Interrogated and beaten by Monitors during an investigation into a great man's death; she regards them as "thugs who were more police than soldier" and survived only because the Pals' prudishness made recording her conjuration-for-Armiger-clients confession too costly - City of Last Chances, ch 9.

- '''[[Brockelsby|Fellow-Monitor Brockelsby]]''' - Commands soldiers in the field as Estern's direct superior; musters troops, commands volleys against the Reproach's host, falls back into the Wood, and is confronted by a vast fish-like creature. Presumed dead after the incursion - City of Last Chances, ch 30, ch 32, ch 37, ch 46, ch 48.

- '''[[Estern]]''' - Identified as one of "Culvern's long-time appointments" under Brockelsby's command, indicating placement within the School's operational hierarchy - City of Last Chances, ch 30.

- '''[[Cosserby]]''' - A Cohort-Monitor and monitor in good standing at the School, representing routine institutional membership - House of Open Wounds, ch 8.

- '''[[Banders]]''' - A former Cohort-Broker indexed under Correct Conduct, confirming the Broker rank's placement within the same organisational grouping as Monitor - House of Open Wounds, ch 17.

- '''[[Lovern]]''' - Holds his commission through Correct Conduct specifically; the School claimed him, and his rank encodes both scholar-grade and school-affiliation. His inner conflict over "wrong things" done during the siege operates against the certainty the School is supposed to confer - Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4.

== Notable Quotes ==
:"thugs who were more police than soldier" - Mother Guame, City of Last Chances, ch 9

:"the five fingers of the Palleseen hand" - Days of Shattered Faith, ch 27

:"the application of force on a personal and global level" - definition of Correct Conduct's study, Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 4

:"the backbone of the army" - Lovern's formulation, Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 16

:"with boots and batons" - description of Correct Conduct's role in handling uprisings in liberated cities, Pretenders to the Throne Of God, ch 6

== Tags ==
#palleseen-school · #enforcement · #military · #monitores

[[Category:Groups]]