Omrazir Customs Authority

The Omrazir Customs Authority is a very old organization, having existed in some form since the days when Omrazir was still the greatest city of the Rassi trade empire. Its members have a vast amount of pride in their long history, and consider the Lion Guard to be mere upstarts and outsiders. Officially, the Customs Authority is in charge of monitoring, licensing, and levying fines upon all commerce passing through the city. They also provide most of the low-level policing in the city, and are generally the next step up from the local patrols which most neighborhoods furnish themselves.

In any conflict of interest between the city and the province, or between the city and the caliphate as a whole, the Customs Authority is very much dedicated to the interests of Omrazir itself. Its ranks draw almost entirely from the local population, which gives the organization extensive knowledge and understanding of the city and populace which they police. This perhaps accounts for their extremely pragmatic approach to law enforcement, which some might consider a little too morally flexible. At their best they are more interested in enforcing the spirit of the law rather than the letter, and are willing to bend the law to provide some leniency to those who come into conflict with it. On the other hand this also means that they are willing to turn a blind eye even to some flagrant violations of the law, in exchange for bribes or personal favors, or simply to avoid rocking the boat in regards to certain powerful interests in the city. Of course, there are exceptions to this general rule, and some individual guards may be extremely zealous in the performance of their duties.

Location

The operational headquarters of the Customs Authority is housed in a large umberstone building located near the center of the Wharf District. They also have personnel working out of the nearby Port Authority, although the Dockmaster is a position appointed by the bey. The organization has an additional high-level administrative suite located off the al-Ruviyya Plaza just outside the Palace Precinct. The watch rooms in the Bazaar of the Nine Winds are staffed by Customs guards, and they have their own small temporary holding cells there.

Organization

The Customs Authority is headed by the Chief Inspector, or mutahsib. The mutahsib originally was expected to personally divide his time between inspections of the Bazaar of the Nine Winds and the two main customs posts in the Wharf District and the nearby town of al-Sakhna. With the expansion of Customs and its duties over the centuries, however, the muhtasib now spends most of his days handling larger administrative and political concerns from his suite in al-Ruviyyah Plaza, and meeting with the various high functionaries of the provincial court. Despite this closeness with the offices of the bey, the muhtasib's relationship with the provincial administration tends to be at least as combative as cooperative, and the relationship between the bey and Customs has often been a strained one.

Given the Chief Inspector's many other duties and problems, most of the day-to-day work is spearheaded and supervised by a fleet of sub-inspectors known as shaykhs. Each shaykh officially has jurisdiction over a single area of the city, centered around one of its many markets. The most important shaykh, and the second in rank to the muhtasib himself, is the shaykh of the Bazaar of the Nine Winds. The rank and responsibilities of each of the other shaykhs are generally dependent upon the size and economic importance of the market for which he is responsible. Shaykhs perform inspections of their markets, regulate prices and quality of the goods sold there, levy fines for violations, and act as liaisons with the city guilds. Besides these strictly commercial duties, the shaykhs also head the investigation of local crimes of all sorts.

Below the shaykhs are a number of ordinary inspectors and junior inspectors, as well as various clerks and other lower-level functionaries who help handle the daily administration of the organization. Generally understaffed and overworked, these members are the backbone of the Customs Authority and despite their difficulties tend to take a great amount of pride in their organization, if not always in their work. Despite the male and Sirdabi dominance of Customs leadership, the rank and file of the organization includes the full spectrum of Omrazir heritages and numerous women, many of whom aspire to advance further in the ranks despite the oppressive weight of more recent tradition.

Public Perception

Attitudes towards the Customs Authority are mixed. Among the locals of Omrazir, there is a certain pride in this home-grown organization that has served the city and its people since the earliest days, long before the existence of the Sirdabi Caliphate or even the ancient Ruveran Empire. Employment with Customs is seen as solid, respectable work and an avenue for moderate social advancement, as well as a means for making a little extra profit on the side through bribes and the shaving off of a few follies from fines and fees. Though frequently the subject of jokes and an object of irritation, Customs has a significant measure of grudging respect from most in the city, and at the worst is seen as an entirely necessary evil. The guilds often come into conflict with it, as they feel that Customs' regulations impinge upon the guilds' right to police their own members and set their own standards and prices. The lower and criminal classes of Omrazir tend to favor Customs over the Lion Guard, the provincial force being far more inflexible and less partial in its enforcement of the laws of the caliphate, as well as ignorant of local customs.

For its part, the provincial court generally considers the Customs Authority a headache, but also finds them useful as handlers of unsavory tasks and people in the city, as well as a handy scapegoat in the implementation of unpopular law enforcement measures. Due to the organization's near-legendary history and the influence it holds in the city, the bey and his officials are compelled to tread with some degree of caution in their dealing with Customs, and must walk a fine line between keeping the organization properly in its place and maintaining favor with its higher-ranking members. The bey, after all, never forgets the fact that the involvement of the Customs Authority has been key to the ouster of numerous past provincial governments.