Emblem of the Department of Special Circumstances.
The Department of Special Circumstances, shortened for convenience to DSC, was the catch-all department for the CHR emergency services. This included firefighters, first responders, neutral military medics, security personnel on CHR sites and ships, and a small marine corp, the nominal “military” of Cabina. In complete secret they were also responsible for the work of the Vigil’s Railroad.
Organization[]
The department was divided into sub-units, that each had their own autonomous leaders called Warders, who thus directed the millions of people who worked for the Department as a whole. Just like the Concord of High Exarchs, the supreme ruling body of the CHR, these Warders jointly formed the Warders’ Coral. The Warders’ Coral was headed by the High Exarch in charge of the Department as a whole.
The Ugajin Concern[]
The subgroup was funded and facilitated mostly by members of House Serpens supporting the Church of Humanity, Repentant. It was responsible for providing medical assistance to Imperial planets in times of extreme crisis. Unlike most Imperial organizations, they provided free aid, funded by generous donations, to non-Imperial entities as well, forming a neutral corp of medics, first responders, nurses, and medical doctors. The Concern assisted when small planetary/local wars broke out, or when there are planetary/continental/local catastrophes that required aid in an emergency. Following the disbanding of the DSC, The Ugagin Concern coordinated and aligned with the Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation as its mobile first-response wing.
Crab Corps[]
- Main article: Crab Corps
A small, but important unit of the DSC, the Crabs were well-trained, mostly House Fornax, pilots who operated specialized mechs with massive claws that help clear out rubble and other obstacles, such as fires and flooded areas, so that other units of a Department operation could do their job unobstructed. These troops were usually funded and furnished by CHR associated or adjacent Fornax nobles, who provided the skilled labourers, and the chain-forged mechs. Following the disbanding of the DSC members of this subgroup coordinated and aligned as their own independent organization, and later agreed to join under the banner of the Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation. These troops are now funded by both the SERAPH umbrella and various Repentant-adjacent Fornax nobles.
Organized Repentant Counter-Combat Agency (ORCCA)[]
Main Article: Organized Repentant Counter-Combat Agency (ORCCA)
The ORCCA were the people responsible for keeping all the other part of DSC operations safe from (or if necessary, during) combat situations. Though they were few in numbers and nowhere near as well trained as any other Imperial military, some CHR sympathising Aquilans did help training these volunteers to do their best to support their siblings.
Disbanding of the DSC[]
See article here: BREAKING NEWS: END OF THE DSC? (Twitter link)
During the period of the dissolution of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, many of the Liberatory Coalition and their allies urged Cabina to continue its resistance and prepare for defensive war against the Empire.
It is believed that these protests were the impetus behind an attempt by Liberator-aligned members of the DSC to seize the department and secure its weapons. This attempt failed, stopped by both more moderate Balance-aligned members of the Department of Special Circumstances and the Governor of Cabina's Deathless task force. The attempt resulted in the arrests and death of a number of Department of Special Circumstances members, and in the official disbanding of the department.
Many individuals from the subunits of the department, however, banded back together and established new independent organizations devoted to efforts of aid, first response, and physical and data security. Other individuals found independent employment in the charities and corporations that would come to form SERAPH. More militant members of the DSC went to ground, becoming more deeply involved in the growing Repentant Underground and the expansion of Vigil's Railroad.