Adjudicators of the Wheel
[ The Swords At Dawn -- Page 142 ]Quote: "I stand at the Wheel, and my actions will bring it to turn. For every one that rises, another must fall. For every blessing, a curse must be levelled. For every judgement, there must be a reparation. The innocent must be guarded, and the guilty must be punished."Titles: JudgesPrerequisites: Contract of Hearth 2, Investigation 3, Wyrd 3There is an essential imbalance in the world. The rich grow powerful off the labor of others, the poor work endlessly for little reward. Scions of "the right families" prosper while those born without connections must struggle, and brilliant but ruthless people crush their kinder rivals into the dirt. Success, be it fiscal, romantic, or social, even seems to be as much a result of chance as it is of talent.The Adjudicators of the Wheel are firm believers in the principles of fairness and justice. They look at the inequalities in the world and are filled with the need to balance the scales. However, the Judges do not believe in spreading wide-scale social change, at least not by themselves. Instead, they function on a much more personal level. Adjudicators are silent observers and meddlers, a cabal that bears witness to actions and metes out punishments or rewards as they see fit, and takes care that neither their beneficiaries nor their victims can trace their sudden shift in fortunes to anything but simple chance.The Judges hold to a philosophy that everything in the world changes, but is also in balance. For one person to prosper, another must suffer. For one to feel joy, another must feel sorrow. This is the nature of the world, and although it is a harsh nature, it is a simple truth. The most good, therefore, can be done by ensuring that the people who are prospering deserve their success, and those who fail deserve to be punished. This is a philosophy that many among the Lost find deeply disturbing. They would prefer to think that good luck doesn't require bad, and that they can be happy without someone else suffering for the experience. The Judges respond to such beliefs with an indulgent smile -- let the innocent have their fantasies. They leave the responsibility for their actions to themselves.Of course, there are other claims levelled against the Judges from time to time. Some say that they let their personal feelings strongly influence their decisions -- not just on moral levels, but on political or personal ones as well. After all, if a Judge is a devout Christian, why not promote the pastor at the expense of the atheist? If he is a fervent Marxist, why not corrode the authority of the bank manager and help the protesters? If he hears of a dispute between a friend and someone he doesn't like, why not just help the friend and hurt the rival, all in the name of balance? The Judges themselves claim that they view cases dispassionately, but many believe that such detachment is impossible.Ultimately, such claims are hard to prove. The Adjudicators keep the list of those they help and harm close to their chests, revealing their activities only to one another. With nothing but hearsay and conjecture to work with, the Lost have difficulty determining if any sort of bias exists, and indeed it may only be the secrecy itself that makes them expect it. For their part, the Judges are unconcerned with the worries of others. As long as their fellows agree that they are doing a good job, that's enough.