A branch of the Fraternity of Order.
Head: ??? (NPC)
Description: The Bureau of Applied Protophysics, or the Bonebox, or the Greybox, or (briefly and controversially) the BOOK, is full of canny codgers and barmy biters alike. These are the Guvners focused on tapping into the fundamental laws of the 'Verse, and investigating the nature of Law itself.
Role in the Cage[]
These lot are the post-reorganisation coalescence of the Fraternity's many disconnected research bureaus, bringing together numerous barely-compatible grand unifying theories of the 'Verse under one vaguely stable umbrella-Branch. While their primary function is of course research into the underlying laws of reality, the more application-focused wing of the Bureau is charged with charging crimes against the 'Verse - or perhaps the Lady - itself; these auditors of reality often find themselves banding up with basher from the Mercykillers' Bounty Office to hunt down chronomancers, perpetrators of meta-topographical upheaval, and defilers of the natural order. Recently, the more adventurous among the research division have also begun tagging along on missions with the Outlands Expeditionary Corps to get some first-hand experience with newly-discovered Laws.
Due to a recently-discovered ancient bylaw with potentially catastrophic protophysical consequences for violation, the Bonebox is reluctantly obligated to have Judges run a Court from time to time, and it's just as esoteric an affair as a basher'd think - the verdict of trials in a Bonebox Court is rarely decided on the basis of anything so petty as the details case itself, with Judges instead performing experimental auguries and other arcane investigations using parties involved in a case as subjects or variables for their tests. Consultants and advocates are, understandably, brought into other Courts' trials with some hesitance, though their strange rituals and mastery over protophysical laws can aid a case in unexpected and alarming ways.
Philosophy[]
While their primary obsession is of course researching the underlying laws of reality itself, there's any number of ways one of these barmy Guvners can go about it, broadly split into field research and archive studies. A field researcher tends to tap into the esoteric protophysical energies and lesser-known laws of the 'Verse itself, taking a hands-on approach to unlocking Law's mysteries; while an archivist will usually take a slower, more sedate approach, poring through ancient tomes of Law, history, and natural philosophy - though don't be peeled, one's just as dangerous as the other, whether their powers were gained from books or from experimenting with universal building blocks, either'll put a hole in a basher soon as the chiv comes out.