An O-12 High Commissioner is a high-ranking civil servant who has a special executive position as head of a Commission or is undertaking a special task at the direction of the highest echelons of O-12. This supranational institution can appoint Commissioners with the task of investigating, monitoring and evaluating the enforcement of specific international laws by O-12 member states. Consequently, High Commissioners serve as specially appointed diplomatic agents and representatives of O-12 policy wherever in the Human Sphere they go in performance of their tasks. These civil servants wield a significant amount of executive power, and they can demand full access and freedom of movement through any country within the scope of their Commission. They also have the power to call for sanctions by the Öberhaus and the O-12 Security Council if they confirm violations of international law. Generally seen by political elites as meddling intruders, High Commissioners inspire well-concealed feelings of fear, animosity and contempt in all Governments of the Sphere, who will do anything in their power to manipulate them and gain their favor. Operating in this treacherous atmosphere, High Commissioners must often keep in the shadows of diplomacy, where honeyed words become bribes and threats become covert assassinations.