Secretary of Sophont Detection
Here in the Kirinal Concordance Zone, one of the most important Mandates is the "Edict of Sophont Preservation" which forbids the sale, slaughter, or consumption of creatures deemed sentient. The person in charge of determining this status is the Secretary of Sophont Detection whose term is the "lifetime of a mouse." They wear that mouse in a hat on their head.
We modern orcs understand that we need to "respect the dignity of sentience" and all that. We had to switch the recipe for "Sweet and Sour Long Pork" to use real pork! My problem is that the Sophont Secretary walks around with a mouse on his head! Is it the "High Hatatooie" calling the shots or the rat?
The Secretary of Sophont Detection is in charge of determining whether creatures (and sometimes objects) are sentient and therefore protected by the Concordant Mandates. They are the final arbiter on the status of creatures, constructs, and entities entering or residing in the KCZ. They are responsible for making sure that no intelligent being meets an unjust end in a pot or on a spit.
The Secretary conducts their work under the auspices of the Zone Ministry of Edible Authorization and oversees a large organization of Sentience Inspectors throughout the Cantons of the Zone. Their term of service is "the lifetime of a mouse", a living mouse that the Secreatry carries around in a hat on their head as a symbol of their role. If the mouse dies, the Secretary's term ends immediately and a successor must be chosen by the sentient mice of the Zone, the Mouse Advisory Committee (MAC).
The hags of Goblin Town are the particular nemeses of the Sophont Secretary. They are notorious for flouting the Mandates and using polymorph magic to turn their victims into more palatable, less detectable forms.
Amazing. Is it a sentient mouse, or does the secretary have to trap them somehow in the hat?
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I have more to write about this, so I'm not sure yet! I like the idea that the mice are super interested in not getting eaten and I like the uncertainty around the hat-mouse both in-world and out!
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