The Greythorne Trust

The Greythorne Trust is a private charity founded and overseen by House Grey, the Imperial House of the Empire of Albion. It was established by the Empress's great-aunt, Lady Edwina Grey, and is currently administered by Anne Grey, Duchess of Ensmean, a cousin of Empress Charlotte I. The Trust uses its considerable endowment and political influence to support a wide range of institutions, primarily in and around the Empire's capital of Lundeinjon. Its endeavors include the city's largest charity hospital, a reformatory for criminal children, and a discreet asylum for distressed members of the gentry.

The Dangers of Unbridled Altruism

The Greythorne Trust was founded in 1804 by Lady Edwina Grey, who recognized the need to reform the charitable work of Society. While many among the upper classes indulged in acts of charity, Lady Edwina observed that they did so unsystematically - often wasting money on those who clearly did not deserve it, simply because the benefactor found them sympathetic. She believed that the Poor could not be aided by flinging money at them, and that only a disciplined approach could produce proper, effective, and restrained philanthropy. Upon founding the Trust, she encapsulated her philosophy in its two-word motto: Disciplined Mercy.

The Trust is wholly governed by members of House Grey, and is administered by a Director under the oversight of the Board of Trustees. Empress Charlotte herself sits on the Board, though she rarely attends in person. The other members are all highly influential figures within House Grey who hold senior positions in the government or the Church of Albion. The Board decides which institutions receive support and sets the standard for other charitable organizations within Society.

Those who choose to donate time, goods, or money to a cause deemed unworthy by the Trust often face the quiet disapproval of their peers and must either reform their behavior or risk a total loss of social standing and ostracism from Society.

Sanctioned Institutions of Benevolence

The Trust provides funding to many institutions across the Empire, but there are a few major organizations it considers models of appropriate altruism. These serve as the standard by which similar institutions are judged, and the closer a charity hews to their example, the more support it can expect from both the Greythorne Trust and Society at large.

Eastbridge Charity Hospital

Located in the poorest neighborhood of Lundeinjon, Eastbridge provides medical care to the destitute - provided they are of good moral character. All patients are carefully screened for signs of criminality or depravity, ensuring that care is reserved only for those whose health is considered to benefit the Empire.

Treatments primarily focus on applying healing formulae to critical injuries that prevent the patient from working. Illnesses deemed merely unpleasant are typically left untreated, as their symptoms are believed to foster strength and character. Even with this limited scope, the hospital treats several thousand patients each week.

The formulae used are donated in bulk by the wealthy von Hohenheim Company, typically from stock nearing the end of its reliable shelf life. The hospital's efforts serve to preserve and sustain the most deserving of the Poor, with the hope that their example will elevate and discipline their neighbors.

The Ashwick Reformatory for the Nourishment of Virtue

The courts of the Empire process thousands of criminals each year, many of them children. While the majority of these offenders are sent to prison or the gallows, there are occasions when a judge determines that a criminal child may yet be redeemed. In such cases, the young perpetrator is remanded into the custody of Ashwick Reformatory.

At the reformatory, the child receives the discipline and education deemed necessary to become an upright and productive citizen of the Empire. They are provided with nutritious food and ample work. Idleness is not tolerated, and any lapses in conduct are swiftly corrected.

A surprising number of Ashwick students are later recruited into the Ministry of Correspondence, which has found that a background in youthful crime - tempered by rigorous indoctrination - makes them well-suited to service as foreign couriers. Just as importantly, they rarely have family or powerful friends who might cause complications later.

Satis House

Unlike the other exemplar institutions supported by the Greythorne Trust, Satis House is not located in Lundeinjon. Instead, it stands in a remote part of Alba, far from the capital - or anything else. The inmates of Satis House are believed to be best served by the peace and isolation of the moors, where the distractions of Society and politics cannot intrude upon their convalescence.

The patients of Satis House come from some of the wealthiest families in the Empire and are committed by relatives concerned for their mental state and safety. Prior to their internment, many behaved erratically and unwisely, revealing their unsound minds by flaunting the standards of Society and common decency. Some even strayed into treasonous territory and were rescued from the consequences of sedition by concerned and caring relations.

Once under the care of the nurses at Satis House, patients are protected from their dangerous and perverse impulses. They can no longer endanger themselves - or their families. After a few years, many make a full recovery and return to Society. Sadly, there are those whose madness is too far gone, and who never find their way back to sanity or respectability again.

Disciplined Mercy

The Church of Albion teaches that charity is an essential virtue - a requirement for all who wish to join God in Heaven. But the sentimental excesses of the undisciplined philanthropist are at best a waste of resources, and at worst a danger to the Empire itself. The Greythorne Trust has harnessed both the impulse and the duty of charitable action and, through the rigid observance of Disciplined Mercy, redirected them toward the greater good of the Empire and its citizens.

The Director and the Board of Trustees have charted the course of charity into the future - and will continue along that path until the need for charity is extinguished from the world.