Joint Investigation Bureau

Biodata

Background

Despite the Convention of the Churches, religious jurisdictions remained sharply divided. Clergy could not freely intervene in another church’s territory, and believers generally had to seek assistance from their own faith. Incidents spanning several jurisdictions could remain unresolved, while criminals exploited the gaps. The Bureau was established to investigate across those boundaries without answering to any single church 26.

Grand Duke Ogway also used the Bureau to take over powers previously held by the churches and the nobility-dominated City Police Force. The Church of the Golden Bough’s cooperation helped secure its position, although other churches continued to resist behind the scenes 35 39.

Authority and Limitations

• Cross-jurisdictional investigations: The Bureau can intervene wherever anomalous incidents are involved, regardless of church or local boundaries 26 35.
• Priority over city police: Once the Bureau takes over an anomalous case, the City Police Force provides assistance. The Bureau can also demand ordinary cases if heretical secret rites may be involved 39.
• Regulated occult evidence gathering: Article 17 of the Regulations on the Handling of Anomalous Incidents permits unconventional investigative methods under qualifying circumstances. Morris invokes it to justify Spirit Mediumship when physical evidence is lacking and the useful six-hour window after death is closing 87.
• Legal transfer of responsibility: Taking custody of a summoned entity requires transfer documents. Although its summoning contract may remain unchanged, responsibility passes to the Bureau after the summoner signs 70.
• Political constraints: Its practical authority depends on the case and the attitudes of the churches and other parties involved; its formal independence does not eliminate institutional resistance 26.
• Limited manpower: The Bureau specializes in anomalous cases and relies on city police for large-scale surveillance, inquiries, and other labor-intensive work 64 87 131.

Organization

Leadership and Departments

Investigation Sections

Section Nine’s Special Position

• Semi-independent operation: Although formally under Investigations, Section Nine operates as Carlo’s territory, avoiding the approval chains that would otherwise complicate its cross-departmental work 34.
• Restricted files: Access to its classified records requires the director’s authorization. Carlo can further obstruct attempts to uncover sensitive operational details 53.
• Dedicated office: Its office contains case files, reference books, and a map of Vista marked with red pins showing anomalous incident locations. Isaac is later provided with a desk there 34 53.
• External membership: Isaac Lessing and Li Jiehao both join as outside personnel rather than regular staff 34 105.

Known Personnel

Recruitment and Research Policy

• The Bureau accommodates specialists whose practices would be unacceptable within the churches’ own systems. Morris is permitted to continue Spirit Body research provided he does not cross the church’s bottom line 57.
• Outside employees receive credentials and a basic equipment allowance. Temporary passes allow access while permanent credentials are being prepared 34 37.
• Case files serve as study material for newcomers, covering haunted houses, cult gatherings, curses, and other species 106.

Headquarters and Facilities

• Exterior: A square, solid-looking grayish-white building with three stories and black wrought-iron bars over its windows 33.
• Emblem: A five-pointed star drawn in one stroke, surrounded by the organization’s name, appears on the metal plaque above the entrance 33.
• Underground containment: A narrow subterranean passage leads through an iron door to numbered rooms with cast-iron doors and small observation windows 71.
• Evidence and storage: The Bureau stores seized occult materials and entities, including Li Jiehao’s forbidden books and the Foul Spirit brought back from the Oak Club 70 94.
• Cafeteria: Located at the far end of the first floor; meals are all-you-can-eat 38 105.

Equipment and Support

• According to Carlo, Wonders available for exchange generally have few side effects but limited usefulness; the Bureau retains its most useful items 75.
• Carlo arranges reimbursement for Li Jiehao’s lodging near the office and allows him to eat at the cafeteria 94.

Relations with Other Organizations

• Grand Duke Ogway — Direct superior and political backer. Expanding the Bureau’s authority forms part of his effort to establish a new order in Vista 26 35 39.
• Church of the Golden Bough — Supports the Bureau’s assumption of secular authority and supplies its holy silver ammunition. Vilka avoids publicly overshadowing the Bureau with a display of divine power 35 53.
• Other orthodox churches — Maintain representatives at the Bureau for coordination, but some resist its encroachment on their former jurisdictional monopoly 26 35.
• Vista City Police Force — Necessary operational partner and frequent jurisdictional rival. Commander Byrne resents the Bureau’s expansion, and handovers requiring special cooperation are prone to disputes 64.
• Vista Industrial Bank — Attempts to secure George Sherwood’s release through police intermediaries. The Bureau refuses to substitute ordinary police protection for its own protective custody 87.
• Ghoul Cult — Investigative target connected to suspected curse transfers, walking corpses, and Morzul’s ring. Cult representatives threaten Bureau agents, while the displaced leader Halperin later proposes an alliance against Annabelle’s faction 64 112 141.

Major Investigations

Mary the Shepherd

• Carlo and Isaac arrange for the Bureau to receive public credit for the operation against Mary, even though Vilka’s planned intervention bypasses its normal operations 51 52 53.
• The planned announcement attributes the death of Calamity Sequence No. 83, “the Shepherd,” Mary, to a classified Section Nine operation. This protects the Bureau’s growing authority from being overshadowed by a cardinal’s public display of divine punishment 53.
• The Bureau takes responsibility for tracing the shackles recovered afterward. Carlo and Vilka intend to combine a nominally secret inquiry with deliberate leaks to provoke whoever is behind them into exposing further information 63.

Curse-Transfer Investigation and the Oak Club Attack

• Section Two suspects that a returned garment carried a curse transferred from a corpse through a burial shroud. It circulates the suspect’s description, increases attention around cemeteries and hospitals, and warns relevant businesses 64.
• A corpse-and-maggot attack at the Oak Club brings the Bureau and city police into a shared investigation. Morris takes the resulting Foul Spirit into containment 69 70 71.
• Carlo suspects Morris staged the attack to force cooperation, possibly under instructions from Patrick or Grand Duke Ogway. These are deductions, not confirmed findings 72.
• A joint investigation team subsequently forms under Morris 75.

Morzul’s Ring and the Ghoul Cult

• Carlo and Isaac recover the ring from George Sherwood, who is then attacked by a Shroud-Wrapped Walking Corpse. The Bureau retains Sherwood in protective custody despite pressure through the city police 83 85 87.
• Spirit Mediumship on Handel Baker reveals fragments of the ring’s movements, but tampering with his soul prevents identification of its original pawner 87.
• Carlo plans an undercover operation in which Isaac appears to steal the ring before its transfer to secure storage and seeks the Cult’s protection. Isaac later withdraws on Carlo’s orders 114 127.
• Halperin proposes Bureau assistance in eliminating Annabelle’s faction. Isaac questions the value of restoring a less murderous Cult rather than removing it from Vista altogether; Halperin claims its entrenched interests make eradication impossible 141 142.

Elias Nursing Home

• The Bureau investigates a basement workshop used to manufacture walking corpses. The nursing home’s director and senior staff are detained while investigators examine the foundation behind it 131.
• Police investigating the third-floor massacre judge the violence beyond their remit and expect the Bureau to take over because another species appears responsible 132.

Trivia

• Patch, the Bureau’s elderly, long-haired silver-white cat, sometimes sits on Patrick’s bald head. Carlo calls the resulting “silver-haired beauty from behind” one of the Bureau’s seven wonders 35 53 57.
• The Foul Spirit from the Oak Club disintegrates in Bureau custody. Morris reports signs of an intrusion; Carlo later guesses that Patch scratched it apart 87 88.
• The cafeteria’s potato-heavy menu reflects dealers selling off stock before the expected repeal of the Corn Laws. Carlo interprets the menu as the grand duke’s political stance 38.
• Carlo repeatedly treats free meals as a major benefit of Bureau employment, while openly helping himself to its supplies 27 28.