Prefects are the individual law enforcement officers and assorted employees of the Panoply, an elite and specialised Yellowstone police force that oversees law and order in the Glitter Band, during Yellowstone's Belle Epoque (the pre-Melding Plague era).
Prefect ranks[]
The law enforcement ranks of the Panoply's officers and employees, known as prefects.
- Cadet
- Prefect in training, a law enforcement trainee.
- Prefect
- Freshly graduated Prefect, but not yet qualified for assignments outside of Panoply
- Field Prefect
- Prefects experienced enough to police the Glitter Band.
- Senior Prefect
- Field Prefects that have shown themselves experienced enough to serve the administration of Panoply. Usually working from an office, they still retain field status.
- Supreme Prefect
- The chief of the entire organisation. In the A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency series, this position is held by Jane Aumonier.
Notable prefects[]
- Jane Aumonier (Supreme Prefect)
- Tom Dreyfus (Field Prefect in Aurora Rising, Senior Prefect in Elysium Fire)
- Sparver Bancal (Deputy Field Prefect in Aurora Rising)
- Thalia Ng (Deputy Field Prefect in Aurora Rising, previously Cadet and Prefect)
Notes[]
- Historically, the term prefect originated in the Roman Empire, where it was used for various civil and military officials in charge of precincts or districts known as prefectures.
- In the post-classical word, the term has been used (especially in Romance-language countries) to denote administrative or law enforcement officials. In the present day world, two French cities have a Prefecture of Police, headed by a Prefect of Police (Préfet de police): Paris and Bouches-du-Rhône. Given the Francophone cultural elements of the Revelation Space series, the prefect ranks of the Panoply might have been inspired by these historical and contemporary examples.
- Before its new edition under the title Aurora Rising, the first novel in the prefect Dreyfus spinoff series was titled simply The Prefect.