The Imperial Dalethian Mail
thiudaneins airinón

In the summer of 1844, the Law of Imperial Dalethian Mail (LIDM) was established. This law improved the exchange of information, and thus the spreading of knowledge. It was the emperor himself who hurried the process of the law.

Before the LIDM, private companies ran the process of mail delivery. They were expensive, slow and unreliable. The Imperial Mail was an institution only for official mail and not open for the public. The LIDM was the law that tied all together. It even included some of the privately run mail companies.
The LIDM worked well enough to eliminate many private mail companies - those who couldn’t live up to the high standards of the LIDM just went bankrupt.

The secret of success of the LIDM lays in the airineinsigljo (short: AS; meaning: stamp). All ASs are bought from the Empire, all money flows directly into the empire. A customer buys the amount of ASs that is necessary to bring the letter into the same amount of Krizons. The whole of Daleth is divided into Krizons. For one Krizon, a customer buys an AS for 12 Kintus. If the letter should be delivered in an adjoining Krizon, the customer has to buy 2 ASs of 12 Kintus each, one for his own Krizon and one for the next. And so on.
The deliverer of the mail in a certain Krizon takes off the token from the AS that is meant for his Krizon. The deliverer takes the token to the post-office, where the tokens are gathered. They are stamped, then taken to Ildritz where the money is paid for the delivery. This way, each Krizon gets its fair share for delivering the mail, and it is not likely that robbers can use the tokens, because without the stamp from the post-office, they are rather worthless.

The delivery of the mail is regular. Between the cities and larger towns, the mail is gathered and delivered once every two days (except holy days), in smaller towns once every four days (except on holidays) and in remote areas once every six days (and not on holy days). The Empire has hired delivery men and -women who exclusively walk and drive the streets to pump information around. They are dressed in uniform. Many of them have a mail-coach to get around.

Even though the god of messages is Aaser, the IDM is devoted to Vindel, god of secrets. The colours of the IDM are grey and blue, with the Imperial red and gold.

The uniform of the Mailmen

The Mailman has a white kaminzol as basic uniform. In summer, this is a linen kaminzol, in winter it will be woollen. Over this basic-garment, the mailman wears a long bright grey coat, open at the front. Over this coat, the mailman wears a dark grey over-coat, a little shorter than the coat, and closed at the front with a double row of buttons. Over the overcoat, the mailman wears a dark blue cloak with a red and gold collar. The cloak is rubbed in fat at the inside, to protect the wearer against rain. An official sign of the LIDM is pinned on the cloak. The mailman wears a blue top head with a red and gold ribbon. In summer, the coats and the cloak might be left out to prevent the mailman from fainting.
The postman carries a horn as a sign of his profession. The horn is used to let know the mail has arrived (two long blows), but also in times of danger. Whoever hears the horn three times, three blows quick after another, has to help the postman. Who doesn’t, risks a penalty.

The Mail coach

Mail between the larger settlements is carried in a mail coach. The front of the coach is used for storage, while the back end is a small mail-office.



Example of the stamps