Bureaus and Ministries

 In the infrastructure of the Talosian imperium, the job of keeping everything working together and organizing matters falls mostly to the Bureaucracy.

Now, this takes two forms both of which I have mentioned before, bureaus and ministries. 

But what is the difference if there is one?

The answer is fairly simple. Whether a body is a ministry or a bureau depends on who oversees their operations. Ministries as a whole are instruments of the Senate and ultimately answer to them when money is needed or things are brought into question.

Bureaus on the other hand are established as part of the executive authority of the throne.

It is not hard to see that these bodies have found it necessary to build links of cooperation where their authorities overlap. A good example would be the relationship between the Bureau of Cultural Affairs and the Ministries of Colonization and Trade. In the normal course of affairs, the Bureau passes to Colonization the evaluations of new uninhabited worlds ready to be either colonized or mined. Likewise, they give to Trade the limitations in the trade and social interactions with the new cultures discovered.

In a few cases, it would seem that there are bureaus and ministries serving the same function such as the Bureau of the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance. In this case, while the two bodies serve similar functions they do it with two different treasuries. 

The Bureau oversees the money and assets directly pertaining to the Emperor and his household. As a matter of interest, no taxes find their way into these accounts.

The Ministry of Finance oversees all the Imperil accounts from the Military to the Diplomatic Corps and Scout Service. They also oversee taxes and other income the Empire generates. The money flows into the General fund and moves outward to the budgets to support all the projects the Imperium has in motion at any given time. It is to be noted that there has been a high turnover rate in the positions of Lead Auditors mostly due to the stress of overseeing the coming and going of funds.