The role of Adeptus Arbites

One of my favourite bits from Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum is when the police detective shows up and introduces himself, "Police." . Our protagnist responds "Regular or political?"

That's pretty much how I see the Arbites. Murder, drugs, weapons, whatever, they're only the Arbites' problem or area of interest if they have political implications for the Imperium. Which means that if an Arbites shows up at your door, it is a very very bad sign.

I can see the local police being more afraid of the Arbitrators than near anything else. Allright, there's a serial killer on the loose, at least three hundred victims and rising week on week, but do you really want to be the one to tell the Arbitrators that you can't keep the population under controll, and could they please come and do your work for them?

Although, a mass murderer is disrupting the smoth running of the planet, and so comes under their jusistiction. And if neither the locals or the Arbitrators can catch him and the numbers are really mounting, the men in the big coats and bigger hats from the Ordo will be knocking at both their doors, asking what's going on.

Like Kage, I'm broadly in agreement with the above. Having established this, I'll get to my point; What part does the Adeptus Arbites usually have in upholding the law, with and without the help of local law enforces which are not a part of the Adeptus Terra?

I've finished Crossfire today and it left me pondering just how many Imperial worlds are like this (or like our own Anargo), with the Arbites having such an important function. So how do you see the presence of the Adeptus Arbites varying according to world type? They probably don't patrol the streets very often on feudal worlds, I imagine, but I guess they would have a far more visible presence on (sub)sector capitals and other very important worlds.

By the way, I really liked Crossfire. My compliments to Mr. Farrer. A nice change of pace from other BL novels, and though it was a wee bit hard to follow at times (too political for a simple mind accustomed to bolter-action), it was very interesting to see the interaction between the branches of the Adeptus Terra on an Imperial world. Worth buying

Call me spammer, as it is quite off-topic but the second volume, Legacy is even better… it worth buying even if the Adeptus Mechanicus discussion in the middle were the sole spark in the novel (and it is certainly is not the only one). I even plan to write a review on it on BL site… great reading.

I seem to recall that that was as part of a major Arbites crackdown after the first assassination attempt against Calpurnia, which some fo the characters comment on during that part of the book. You'll remember that the, er, incident at that gate was prompted when certain people panicked at seeing an Arbites blockade where they didn't expect one. I doubt that they'd bother supervising the crowds at the local farnarkling semi-finals or whatever.

That said, I think that the Arbites probably have exactly as much scope to be involved in local affairs as they feel they need. There are some good lines in Terry Pratchett's "Watch" novels about how, if a cop wants to make trouble for you, he'll be able to look until he finds something. Even sitting quietly in a dark room probably makes you guilty of loitering. If the local Arbites commander feels that his forces are needed on every street corner, they can go out and patrol as part of a crackdown on Imperial-level offences like, oh, let's say "Failing to end each sentence of a conversation with praise for the divine Emperor".

If circumstances are better served by the Arbites remaining in the precinct fortresses, then of course it's time to roll out the commandments that the Arbites remain aloof from petty local concerns and direct themselves to the higher calling of the Adeptus, and have them all come back in (pausing only to arrest any planetary cops who complain, since clearly that's an admission incompetence which is a crime before the Emperor )

The TEXT has been added to every single day for ten millennia. I'd say that using it to support any action, or exonerate any non-action, you care to name is just a matter of finding the right statute.

"Exception".



I agree with the general point that the Arbites would have a more hands-on role in areas and over events directly associated with the Adeptus, since the idea of being policed by planetary authorities would be a little galling for most Adeptus.

I wanted to ask, though, where Hydraphur is written up as the Segmentum capital. I know it's singled out for a showy representation on the maps, but every actual reference I've seen in written text about Hydraphur, Kar Duniash, Bakka and Cypra Mundi refers to them as the military HQ of that Segmentum's Navy and that's it.