If a body was to pick just one word to describe the ethos of the Clerk's Ward, it'd be order. Order manifests itself not only in the attitude of the citizens — for example, custom dictates most workers acknowledge their superiors with a bow — but in the appearance of the ward itself. Streets of the Administrator's District're swept every day. Statues of dignitaries're scrubbed with soap and dried with sponges. Sewers're kept razorvine-free.
Order, of course, is also a consequence of law. And nowhere in Sigil're laws more rigidly enforced — except at Harmonium headquarters. Harmonium patrols make as many as a hundred arrests per night, mostly for unruliness, loitering, and conspiracy. Private guards have the authority to detain and physically reprimand those suspected of threatening the ward's elite.
The Clerk's Ward takes pride in its progressive policies regarding capital punishment (in most cases, an execution's got to be preceded by a fair trial) and free enterprise (merchants may engage in trade without government interference — within reason). While these are strictly speaking a function of the Court in The Lady's Ward, the Clerk's Ward prides itself on having been instrumental in their implementation. Other proposals, currently under discussion at the Hall of Speakers, include:
- The Architectural Uniformity Act, establishing official color schemes for all structures in the ward.
- The Indigent Relocation Act, collecting funds to purchase wagons for moving impoverished citizens to the Hive Ward, where it's felt they'll be more comfortable.
- The Apparel Regulation Act, establishing dress standards for workers and making violations punishable offenses.
None of these proposals've become law. But debate'll continue, perhaps for years, perhaps for decades. A thorough discussion's always preferable to a hasty decision. Visiting berks, then, shouldn't judge the Clerk's Ward too harshly. They're advised to consider the words attributed to an associate of Duke Rowan Darkwood, Factol of the Fated: "He who wields a sword serves his community with courage. But he who wields a pen serves with elegance."
Where The Lady’s Ward represents the principal seats of power and influence in Sigil that operate under the ostensible authority and permission of Her Serenity, every seat of power requires a bureaucracy. Present in the Clerk’s Ward are those clerks, ministers, and petty officials that carry out, plan and order the points of business that are determined from The Lady’s Ward.
The Clerk’s Ward has, in the past, been referred to as the Ward of Masks. Some archaic references to it still exist, but the term has been defunct for thousands of years. The origin of the name is lost in time, unlike the reasons behind the former name for the Lower Ward as the Prime Ward, itself explained in the details of that ward elsewhere in this volume.