How can a monarchy mask its true intentions in collecting records for a nationwide registry? [closed]

Question

in the 1600s, King Macbeth has succeeded in taking the throne of his country for himself with the help of a cabal of dark witches. Due to their art of divination and prophesizing, he has managed to stay one step ahead of his rivals, ruthlessly purging them in order to establish his authoritarian regime. However, despite the power that he has gained, he retains an insecure grip on power. The witches have told him of a prophecy that sees the end of his reign by the actions of an individual. This chosen one would be born under a total solar eclipse, in which an entity will enter and possess the body of a newborn child. This chosen one will grow up to lead a rebellion and end his tyrannical reign. Although the witches can predict when a solar eclipse will occur, they cannot pinpoint the exact child whom the entity will choose, nor the location that it will happen. Macbeth must find a way to relay the coming of the messiah for as long as possible to extend his rule over the populace. Finding and killing the child become's Macbeth's first priority. However, the prophecy goes on to say that the messiah can never truly die, but will simply be reincarnated during the next solar eclipse.

Therefore, Macbeth settles on the idea of a database that would be standardized across the kingdom. This would require strict record keeping, demanding that the records of every child born during an eclipse within the kingdom be gathered for use in a nationwide registry. These records would need to be specific, down to the very date and time the child was delivered. The goal is to design a system of record keeping that would allow for a national database that is as accurate as possible. This can be done by mandating that hospitals keep records specific to the event and requiring them to be turned over to the state. Once they had been gathered, the king's staff would analyze the records and narrow down the potential list of chosen ones to a handful few.

There is precedent for this in many governments in the form of a census, which are used to determine the number of people there are in a specific area. They do this to determine the amount of taxes they can expect, or to decide how much resources to devote to a certain location. However, there are a number of problems with this format. Going on a murderous rampage and killing every child delivered on a certain day is simply impractical for the long term. Collecting birth records for certain children linked to a specific event is likely to raise suspicions. People are unlikely to cooperate with having their data collected by the state, specifically if it can get their child potentially killed. Many expecting mothers would simply avoid hospitals and have their children in secret away from prying eyes, or at home. In a worst-case scenario, these scorched earth tactics are likely to push the populace into open rebellion and civil war. This leads to a high body count that limits to pool of taxpayers in the future.

Macbeth needs to disguise his motives for collecting records in creating this national database for the purpose of murdering newborn chosen ones, all while protecting his good guy PR image. How can the king accomplish this?

Answer 1

Standardized birth records + delayed assassinations

It's strange that you acknowledge the existence of real-world practices like the decennial U.S. Census, but you seem to be unaware of the fact that every person also has a legal birth certificate. Your monarch should adopt the same practice.

Make everybody file paperwork whenever a child is born, including the exact date of birth, biological sex, and name of the mother (and father, if possible). Do this for every birth, not just the ones associated with eclipses.

There are many obvious reasons why a ruler would want this information, so it will not arouse suspicion.

Offer legal and financial incentives to people for following through: perhaps a one-time financial gift, or make it illegal for a person to inherit if they were not issued a valid birth certificate within 1 year of birth (i.e. make it strictly necessary to obtain the certificate promptly rather than just having one eventually).

A secret group within his majesty's government monitors the influx of birth certificates, paying attention to the ones that occur during eclipses. They ignore the rest.

They don't have to kill every child whose birth date satisfies the prophecy. For one thing, many children do not survive to adulthood, so a lot of your work will be done for you.

Instead, this secret group should keep tabs on each of these children. Schedule delayed assassinations only for those who survive to the age where it becomes plausible they might become politically active. These assassinations should be disguised, and in that era there will be no shortage of plausible misadventures. Indeed, the lack of real medicine means that many injuries which are not immediately fatal will still eventually kill the victim.

Answer 2

BIRTH LOTTERY

King MacBeth introduces a lottery wherin all newborn children are part of a lottery where their parents can win large sums and their children be offered a unique chance to be raised and educated by the Royal Court for the purpose of later employment at the Court - a great honor. To ensure that no cheating is done, the exact time and place of birth of all children must be registered by trusted officials, which report these to the King for the sake of the lottery.

This has two benefits: one, that the King will get loyal servants with grateful parents, and two, that potential prophecied rebel leaders will be identified and can be exposed of.

The latter can be done discreetly: The totality of a total solar eclipse lasts a maximum of 7.5 minutes, though most are much shorter. Assume that there are about 50,000 annual births in the kingdom (as is the case for Scotland today, for comparison). There are 70,000 periods of 7.5 minutes in a year, meaning that on average, less than one child will be born during each solar eclipse. Arranging "accidental" deaths for so few children should be no problem.

If the King wants to be really certain, he can arrange the deaths of every child born from the beginning to the end of the eclipse, which is maximum of roughly 6 hours (though typically 2-3 hours). Then, the number of killings will be up to about 50 per solar eclipse (given variations in birth density over the year). If these killings are spaced out over 10 years, this means fewer than one killing per month in all the kingdom - less, if some of the children die natural deaths before their "death day" rolls around. This also seems feasible to do discreetly. A single trusted agent could handle all the killings with no probem, with a backup agent (unknown to the first) to handle any killing the first agent refrains from for whatever reason (think the huntsman in Snow White).

Answer 3

Many ways to solve this problem.

1. Make a tithe.

Is Macbeth religious? Since this is 1600s, I assume he is -- and if the story takes place in Scotland (you didn't specify a country), he is probably Protestant. So have him make a tithe. All babies born on an eclipse must be sacrificed in the name of religion. Since this is done in the name of religion, with babies being given to the church, it masks his personal vendetta. Plus, eclipses were historically viewed as omens with great religious significance, so this fits well with the theme.

2. Use midwives as spies.

This storyline has already been taken. In the Old Testament, Pharaoh, afraid the Israelites would multiply and take over Egypt, made them his slaves. Then, acting on a prophecy that a male would rise to overthrow him and lead the Israelites from Egypt, he made a decree that all baby boys to born must be thrown into the Nile. He commanded the Hebrew midwives to carry out this decree.

Have Macbeth send "midwives" across the country to assist women giving birth and then report back to him with the data he needs. In this case, they would report all babies born on an eclipse. Maybe they could even be responsible for eliminating the newborns, but of course that might put them under suspicion.

(Of course, in the case of Pharaoh, this didn't work out very well, since - as you point out - the women gave birth hiddenly to avoid the decree. Moses survived because his mother hid him away, and eventually did lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, validating Pharaoh's concerns. However, this happened because the midwives were not loyal to Pharaoh and delivered children in secret. If these midwives are Macbeth's hired minions, you wouldn't need to address this concern.)

3. Pretend they are prodigies.

Macbeth could claim he received a prophecy that a child born on an eclipse will grow up to become a tremendous scholar. All babies born on an eclipse are to be turned over to the palace for "training" so they can get a well-rounded education in case they are the one. This solves the problem easily since no parents wouldn't want this "honor." Of course, whether the children are actually raised and educated in the palace - or simply killed - is up to you. Parents wouldn't see their children so would have no idea whether they are actually being raised as princes or not.

If you want to add a twist to your story, Macbeth could actually raise and educate these children instead of killing them. This confers the advantage of enabling him to brainwash the "messiah" and maybe try to twist his powers for his own benefit. Of course, the fact that the boy is growing up in the palace and being trained would only make it easier for him to backstab and assassinate Macbeth, so there is your story.

Answer 4

Here is a fame challenge.

Why would king MacBeth believe that the Chosen One would be born in his kingdom? Why couldn't the Chosen One be a foreign born outside agitator who comes into MacBeth's kingdom to stir up rebellion?

That is something which did happen sometimes. For example, during the Reformation, outside agitators came into kingdoms spreading their new religious beliefs, leading to religious wars and other civil disturgances.

Does King MacBeth intend to live for centuries or millennia using magic to extend his lifetime? If not, why should King Macbeth believe that even a single solar eclipse will happen during his lifetime within his kingdom?

Especially since the prophecy says a total solar eclipse. There might not be a total solar exclipse anywhere in the kingdom during the natural lifespan of King MacBeth.

So possibly King MacBeth will spend all his time trying to find and kill the Chosen One born in his kingdom when the Chosen One will actually be born in another kingdom and will travel to MacBeth's kingdom to lead a rebellion against him.

And I also note that King MacBeth doesn't necessarily need the witches to pinpoint the location of the total solar eclipse through prophecy. He might be able to use astronomers to use scientific methods to calaculate the location of the total solar eclipse.

Then King MacBeth can come with his army and kill every single child born along the path of totality within his kingdom. And thus he will gain a reputation as a cruel murderer of babies, and everyone in the kingdom will hate and despise him. When the Chosen One, born in a total eclipse in some foreign land, comes to MacBeth's kingdom, they will find that much of the population is eager to revolt against baby killer MacBeth.

Answer 5

Is the country Christian? Is there something like a state church?

Pressure the church to baptize every baby quickly, in case they die. Have the church authorities make the parishes keep records, and have them audit those records to ensure compliance by the clergy. Clergy who do not comply will be "counseled" that it is completely unacceptable to gamble with the soul of a newborn in this way.

Answer 6

Spread rumors that they are demonic changelings. A great deal can be done by denouncing such rumors as superstition.

Once the mobs start to kill, demand that such infants be identified and given over to the crown for protection -- and create rumors that someone villainous is doing this to harm the king. Gather up the survivors. In the absence of nursing, most babies will die quickly. The rest can be surreptitiously done away with.