Cursor - Imperial Dagger of Tardev (KUR-sor (Plural: Cursori — kur-SOR-ee))
Imperial Agent, Intelligence Courier, and Covert Operative
Career
Qualifications
Selection into the Cursorai is not approval-based but directive-based. Candidates are identified, observed, tested, and taken—often without full explanation.
True qualifications include:
- Absolute loyalty to the Emperor and Empire
- Psychological resilience under isolation and moral ambiguity¹
- Capacity for deception, compartmentalization, and identity suppression
- Ability to operate independently for extended periods
- Willingness to act without witnesses, credit, or recognition
Common recruitment pools mirror the public profession, but with different intent:
- Freemen with no strong political ties
- Second or later sons of Citizens unlikely to inherit power
- Academy students who demonstrate discretion rather than brilliance
- Legion trainees showing aptitude for reconnaissance, irregular warfare, or quiet violence
Recruits are often inducted in cells of 3–5, ensuring early loyalty bonds while preventing broad internal cohesion².
Career Progression
The Cursorai maintain no formal ranks.
Progression is measured by:
- Operational reliability
- Mission success without exposure
- Ability to act without direct oversight
- Trust earned through silence, not achievement
Assignments evolve into:
- Long-term infiltration roles
- Handler (Cipher) responsibilities
- Oversight of cells or regions
- Specialized billets such as surveillance, extraction, elimination, or internal evaluation
Many Cursors never realize they have “advanced” until they are given authority over others.
Retirement is rare and unofficial.
Most leave service only through death, disappearance, or quiet reassignment into civilian cover identities³.
Payment & Reimbursement
Material compensation is intentionally restrained.
Cursors receive:
- A controlled stipend sufficient for survival and cover
- Access to untraceable imperial funds when mission-required
- Emergency provisioning via Cipher authorization
Excess wealth is discouraged to prevent external leverage or corruption⁴.
Other Benefits
- Near-total legal immunity when acting under directive
- Authority to bypass civil and military jurisdictions
- Access to sealed intelligence networks and infrastructure
- Posthumous state compensation to designated beneficiaries⁵
The greatest benefit is imperial protection—until it is withdrawn.
Perception
Purpose
The Cursorai exist to act where law, legions, and bureaucracy cannot.
They are tasked with:
- Intelligence gathering and long-term surveillance
- Infiltration of noble houses, legions, guilds, and cults
- Neutralization of internal and external threats
- Disruption of conspiracies before they surface
- Silent enforcement of imperial stability
When the Empire cannot be seen to act, the Cursor does.
They are not messengers of law.
They are instruments of continuity.
Social Status
Officially, Cursors do not exist in this capacity.
Unofficially:
- Some nobles suspect
- Some officers fear
- Some administrators quietly rely upon them
Among those who truly understand the Empire’s machinery, the Cursorai are regarded as necessary and dangerous.
They are respected, not admired.
Trusted, not liked.
Demographics
Extremely small.
Likely far fewer than publicly recorded, due to deep-cover operatives and long-term sleepers.
Many provinces host Cursors without knowing it.
History
The Cursorai emerged during early imperial expansion, when rebellions, noble coups, and fractured loyalties threatened collapse.
Initially limited to intelligence delivery and counter-espionage, their role expanded as the Empire learned a hard truth:
Open force creates martyrs.
Silence prevents them.
Over centuries:
- Authority broadened quietly
- Oversight narrowed sharply
- Records vanished
- The organization became self-concealing⁶
Their public role stagnated by design.
Their hidden role sharpened.
Operations
Tools
- Cursorai coin network (personal, handling, and relay coins)
- False identities and state-forged documents
- Concealed weapons and poisons
- Cipher-linked intelligence caches
Materials
- Encoded orders and dead-drop instructions
- Counterfeit seals and papers
- Restricted arcane or alchemical implements
- Disposable mission assets
Workplace
- Noble courts
- Legion camps
- Trade guilds
- Temples
- Slums and estates alike
- Anywhere the Empire’s future may fracture
Provided Services
- Intelligence acquisition
- Counter-conspiracy operations
- Extraction and elimination
- Internal threat assessment
- Silent enforcement of imperial will
Dangers & Hazards
- Discovery and execution
- Betrayal by assets or informants
- Psychological erosion from isolation
- Being deemed a liability by one’s own superiors⁸
The most dangerous enemy of a Cursor is success that draws attention.
“Where law ends, the Cursor begins.”
Some claim the Empire has survived rebellions, invasions, and succession crises not through strength—but because someone ensured the wrong person never lived long enough to lead them.
The Cursorai operate above standard law.
- Actions taken under directive are retroactively legalized
- Records may be altered or erased
- Courts are instructed not to inquire⁹
A Cursor who loses imperial favor has no legal standing whatsoever.
A cursor caught in line of their Duties is often disavowed
A Cipher is taught early: if a Cursor ever asks too many questions about the organization itself, their usefulness has already expired.
see Cursor- Imperial Courier of Tardev
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