Officer of the Dragon Marshal

The Officer of the Dragon Marshal is tasked, by divine writ, with confirming new Slayer Dragons. It is a hereditary position, and originally patrilineal, though female marshals became common in later generations. The position was originally called "The Dragon Marshal" and was given by Draco himself to a member of Eieber's cabinet, Qlondo Memphis. By the time the first new Slayer Dragon was to be confirmed, Qlondo had become bedridden. He sent his son in his stay, naming him "my officer", which led to the title as well as the practice of making the position hereditary. Thus, only Qlondo Memphis is "The Dragon Marshal", everyone since has been "The Officer of the Dragon Marshal".

Duties

Originally, the Dragon Marshal was to be a part of The Trials, responsible for testing the character and spirit of potential Slayer Dragons. However, past the first few generations, the question was raised as to how to test such a man to determine if he, himself, was capable of judging these qualities. When Jayce Spearlock was initially anointed, the then-Officer was seventeen years old, younger than Jayce himself.

However, the linkage to Draco was valued, so the Officer's position was relegated to a ceremonial one. The main duties of the Officer of the Dragon Marshal are to keep the signet ring and to sign the writs confirming new Slayer Dragons. He is also present at anointment as a witness. The Officer has no power to deny new Slayer Dragons, and is generally discouraged from passively denying them by refusing to confirm them.

Line of Succession

For most of the Golden Age, the Officer of the Dragon Marshal was always the eldest male heir of the previous Officer. Scott Sagan was the first Pendragon to be confirmed by a female Officer, Liteeda Suron. She was in fact the second wife of the last male heir of the Memphis line, he having died childless and no other descendants able to be located. This was not the first time the title had passed not through a blood relative.

The title then passed to Liteeda's nephew, but from there on it was considered "acceptable" to go to a female heir(a fact which frequently elicited eyeroles from Sydnee Stanton a few centuries later) and by the mid The Second Age|Second Age the standard line of succession became 'oldest blood heir to oldest blood heir'. Husbands and wives were allowed to inherit the title if no suitable heir existed, but the preferred succession was to formally adopt an heir.

Stipends

Qlondo Memphis, the original Dragon Marshal, received a pension for his service to Eieber. Pensions could not be inherited, but it was felt his son was owed something for his continued service as Officer of the Dragon Marshal. It was agreed he would receive one tenth of his father's pension, and that his own son(when he became Officer) would then have his stake cut to a tenth of that. Initially the thought was to continue reducing the stipends into non-existence, but the third Officer successfully lobbied to have it fixed at approximately one one-hundredth of his grandfather's original pension. Not a tidy sum, but acquit remuneration for his hereditary duties.

The payment was maintained for the whole of the Alliance era, but