Don José de Iriarte is the Subprefetto delle Diramazioni of Uchronic Paris, a wheelchair-bound Jewish gnome who administers the branchings of time from the Palazzo del Tempo, and who hired the Time Bandits to unmask the Serpent.
| Type | Character (temporal official) |
| Office | Subprefect of Diramations; also “Superfect of Time” |
| Seat | Palazzo del Tempo, beside Notre-Dame |
| Race | Jewish gnome |
| Familiar | Monitor |
| Spanish entry | Don José de Iriarte |
Office
Iriarte belongs to the Subprefecture of Time. He administers diramazioni, the branchings of time each human act opens or closes. Authorized deviations pass across his desk before they happen; under the Subprefecture’s dogma, what is unauthorized does not happen. Plaques on his desk carry the Decadian doctrine in old Italian: “Nulla accade al di fuori delle diramazioni autorizzate. Il tempo non è assoluto: è amministrato.” (“Nothing happens outside authorized diramations. Time is not absolute: it is administered.“)
His office holds fifteen clocks set to different years (1050, 800, 1215, 1517, 1492, 1776, 1936, 1621, 1962, 1889, 1945 among others), clerks copying Richieste di Diramazione Temporale (requests for temporal diramation), and candles: electricity is banned in Antiterra for political and theological reasons.
Description
He has the bearing of an old overseas soldier turned clerk and wears a gold-embroidered uniform. His wheelchair is enhanced with steam technomagic, one of the few non-electric devices allowed to officials of his rank; its steam is purified in the Palazzo kitchen every three days. He travels by steam carriage. His familiar, the Monitor, is a spy drone-eye that roams the Palazzo, sometimes accompanies missions, and reports directly to the chair.
The contract
He first appeared at a tavern, offering five hundred francs a head as an advance. Claude refused to sign the written contract, objecting to working for ancestral aristocracy, though he accepted the 500 francs as a civilian; Iriarte left the offer open, pending unmasking the Serpent. The investigation that followed, in Bucharest and elsewhere, partly fulfilled it.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Iriarte revealed the true client: the Etruscan, a millennial ancestor buried beneath the Pantheon. The Serpent operates with the Etruscan’s ancestral magic; if Mony Vivescu inherits the ancient bloodline, it ends in shame for the Etruscan. Barred magically and legally from acting directly, he needs living intermediaries.
| Payment | Amount | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Initial retainer | 500 francs | On signing (or accepting as a civilian) |
| Completion | 500 francs | On fulfilling the mission |
| Bonus | 1,000 francs | For identifying the Serpent |
| Total | 2,000 francs |
Rumor in uchronic circles holds that Iriarte keeps private channels with German diplomacy.