Master Apothecary
The Master Apothecary's Garden was commissioned by a motion of the Imperial Senate in Winter 378YE. The position of Master Apothecary is a sinecure, requiring minimal responsibility but offering a regular income of herbs. The position is a Wintermark national Imperial title.
Responsibilities
The Master Apothecary is expected to use the herbs provided by the sinecure to create potions of use to Imperial troops. While the title itself is national, the responsibilities could easily be interpretted to cover aiding soldiers of any Imperial nation. Further, there is a tacit suggestion that the Master Apothecary could feel empowered to organise other apothecaries to make more potions than are possible with just the herbs from the sinecure.
In addition, if the garden were to be threatened in any way, it would be the responsibility of the Gatekeeper to deal with those threats.
Powers
The Master Apothecary is an Imperial title that grants custodianship of a sinecure.
Bounty of the Master Apothecary
The Gatekeeper receives an income of herbs each season: 6 doses of Bladeroot, 5 doses of True Vervain, 4 doses each of Imperial Roseweald and Marrowort, and 2 doses of Cerulean Mazzarine. Bladeroot and True Vervain prosper in the northern hills, but the gardeners struggle to maintain more than a few patches of Cerulean Mazzarine.
Selection
The Master Apothecary is a Wintermark national position appointed by the Senate. Under normal circumstances it will be appointed by unanimous vote of the Wintermark senators.
Because this is a national position, the title can only be held by a citizen of Wintermark.
Removal
The Master Apothecry has tenure and serves until they die, step down or are revoked.
The title can be revoked by the Wintermark national assembly, the General assembly or the Assembly of Nine.
History
Construction of the Master Apothecary's Garden was completed shortly before the 379YE Spring Equinox. The title was first appointed to Freya Kreftnar during the Autumn Equinox of the same year.
The Master Apothecary's Garden
Calling the sinecure the Master Apothecaries Garden is slightly ironic. Far from a neat, tended, walled cottage garden, it represents a diverse variety of small isolated groves and windblasted hilltops spread across many miles of the rolling hills of southern Kalpamark. The Master Apothecary, and the small number of gardeners who tend the various groves, need good boots and stout sticks at least as much as they need gardening tools.