Work Appraisal (Part 2)

Sir Wolff has left the room. Disturbing candles burn like swamp-gas in the corners of the room. The Black Chamber awaits the verdict. The Magistratum has convened. Each inquisitor reveals the scraped, almost translucent, skins of baby lambs that they have been using to take notes. The notes are taken in a scarlet ink, almost black as it dries. A junior inquisitor frames the spell that integrates the words into a single holistic image.

The candidate is a visonary who is full of ideas that would improve the system in which we work. He has a formidable knowledge of his subject and other subjects which he has made his own. He has provided assistance cheerfully and unstintingly to his colleagues, who have all come to respect and appreciate his experience on the field of battle. He has an alarming political sense but does not make use of his political connections for personal gains. He is capable with a pen, dangerous with a broadsword, excellent as a worker in metals and stone. He has a highly developed sense of duty to the Rule and the Order.

The Grand Inquisitor is silent. Nobody seems to breathe. Then the verdict slashes its way across the screen in letters of burning emerald fire: "He must not be allowed into the Magistratum. His career must founder sufficiently so that the system is not affected by his vision and ideas. We will continue to entertain him and provide for his basic needs. He cannot ever be given a full battle command, lest he find himself with an army of his own." So mote it be.