In my book there is a clandestine task force that tracks down criminals. The director of the organization reports directly to the imperial headquarters. As far as its role in the book goes, a few things happen: A group of wizards called Shazarians have managed to slip a few members into the organization. They hire a dragon named Daktarash to steal a crystal from the emperor, Zarakharn, promising to protect him from imperial retribution if he brings them what they want, and threaten to turn him in if they don't. Daktarash fails to return the crystal because he loses it, but before he can get in trouble with his informant, Zarakharn captures him and he is killed shortly after his interrogation. His interrogation reveals to Zarakharn that his informant came from this organization, so Zarakharn speaks with Director Kharrin, charging him threateningly to find the informant who hired Daktarash to steal the crystal. Kharrin swears to do so. A terrorist named Sar Argarva is on the organization's watchlist. There is no need for him to be, however, because the Shazarians have him imprisoned in their personal headquarters. Sar believes because Zarakharn is a Kenshi, a member of the order of dark wizards the Shazarians are against, the government is evil. His wife and daughter were killed by Zarakharn, so he has a personal vendetta against him. His extremist views led him to murder a group of innocent police and the Shazarians deemed him too dangerous. He resents his imprisonment, protesting that he is on the Shazarians' side, but the Shazarians refuse to release him because he is unrepentant. Sar is known to the general public as well as the wizard community (for lack of a better term.) When Zarakharn is in disguise, attempting to track down the protagonists and kill them, he is arrested on multiple occasions. There always seems to be a member of this organization involved. Finally, Zarakharn and Kharrin meet at the palace, and Zarakharn expresses his extreme displeasure at the organization's tracking of "Zahn Arrissa", the alias Zarakharn has been using, their inability to capture the protagonists and their failure to find the Shazarian in their midst. Zarakharn kills the director. A brief summary of the instances: -Zarakharn is arrested for sneaking around an inn by a "Captain Rissa" and drugged by an "Inspector Drazarkhi". The drug causes him to forget Rissa and Drazarkhi as well as lose his magic. -Zarakharn beats the protagonists to their destination and puts out a warrant for a group of four, three males and a female, with one male bearing a mark like Zarakharn's. The mark has rubbed off, and Dav comes separately from the others, so they pass as a group of three with no mark instead of four with one. Zarakharn fires the policedrake responsible for letting them past the lockdown. -Zarakharn places the forest the protagonists will be landing in under restriction. However, while scouting for them himself, both he and the protagonists are arrested for trespassing and breaking his own order (he is in disguise again, so he doesn't get off for being the emperor.) The protagonists are then released and he isn't. By the time he escapes and makes it to the palace, he is very put out with Director Kharrin for this reason. (The Shazarians feel deep guilt and responsibility for his death as they could have protected him and didn't, and he was killed for not finding their members in the organization.) So, as you can see, this government agency is pretty important to the plot. Can you help me name it?
Although I still don't have a clear picture of what it is exactly that the organisation does (does it investigate magic? Is it exactly like the FBI? What elements of the world might be different enough to make an FBI-like organisation have a different purview, here's a few ideas. Special Investigative Council/Bureau/Committee. Imperial Direct Enforcement Committee Imperial Magical Regulatory Bureau Imperial Department of Investigation [Oh and hi everyone, first post]
Did I make two threads? I swear this had quite a bit of discussion on it already... I've decided on the Investigative Division of the Imperial Police, or IDIP. All those suggestions are good though. Basically, they track down high-priority criminals. Magic has nothing to do with it because nobody thinks it exists, but since a small group of wizards, the Shazarians, has infiltrated it and joined its ranks, magical targets draw attention. Sar Argarva, one of the Shazarians' own, slaughtered a group of police because he believed since Zarakharn, a Kenshi, is the emperor, the whole government is evil because Zarakharn is. (And because Zarakharn killed his daughter.) So the IDIP made him public enemy number one. They never found him because the Shazarians locked him up first, in their own prison, knowing Sar could escape a normal IDIP prison and that his crimes were worthy of death and they didn't want that. In going after Zarakharn while he was in disguise, the Shazarians pretended to have orders to capture him, which made Zarakharn understandably angry with the head of the organization who couldn't control saboteurs in his own organization.
