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OOC: Senate RPers

Taiie now has somone in the Senate.

 
Well, things seem to have livened up for the senate and it looks like you guys are having a blast arguing against each other, so, I'm inclined to join in.

Seeing that today is my birthday, I'm going to be very bold and since all the other planets have a senator already, I'm applying to play Yamatai's senator.

Which, unless I'm wrong, would happen to be the role of Princess Himiko.
 
I demand that so shall it be, for it is the word of FRED.

Or we can give Fred some Misshu backwater planet that we took.
 
Yamatai doesn't have a senator, it is governed by the emporer. Therefore it would have to be another planet, I believe there is still one opening anyway.
 
There are too many Senators without names - that is to say, one or more. (Lor's senator doesn't count because of the way their naming scheme works.)

Even Wes' senator doesn't have a name. If the Senate RP is going to continue on in this prosperous state of RP beyond "Yes" and "No", don't you think all the senators should have names and profiles?

Well, that's just me.
 
Names weren't really necessary before now. In fact, I still don't think they're completely necessary, but that's just me. I think I've said something about the NPC bio thread prior to this, but here I go again: the NPC bio thread is pointless/contradictory to itself. Once you put up a bio for your "NPC" it becomes a PC. If the NPC thread is there for GMs, and as a way of some people getting around the three character limit or whatever it is now, then there should just be allowances so that people with senators can have a Senate PC without it being marked as one of the three characters.

Perhaps I'm rambling and it's not really the point that needs to be addressed, but I wanted to state my opinion on that matter again. As for names, I think it should be completely optional, but I'm just lazy that way and don't want to have to write an "NPC" bio to continue my involvement in the Senate (though lately I know I haven't been around, but I didn't want to make a little "yes" or "no" post while people were actually RPing). You can picture Xyainbor as a brooding older man who's somewhat traditional and reluctant to change but who thinks for the good of the Empire. I should think that sentence is enough description for me to be able to play my senator right.

If everyone really thinks that senators need names though, I don't really mind that much.
 
In terms of the Senate there are NPC bio's so the other Senators have a little idea who they are dealing with. Senators don't normally get a full PC bio because they are almost never heard from outside the senate and its proposals. Additionally. Senate characters seem to be played in players spare time away from normal plots(Therefore a full bio ins't nessary, and is tidious to create).

My character has an NPC bio and a name; Senator William Shears, of Tami. I agree that all Senators should have names also.
 
Since Thomas will soon find out that I can see this board now, and will pick at me until I become a senator ...

Could I apply for the role of Tatiana?

If that is taken, maybe Valaad?
 

I proposed to stand for Yamatai because it looks like the Emperor would step down. It seems uncertain at the moment how a democracy might be established, but it seems rather obvious to me that this transition will probably go in the way that the senate might be reorganised.

To smooth over the transition, it seems sound to give Yamatai a voice on the senate, from my point of view. Wes did agree that it would be possible, and it seems Yangfan isn't against it either.
 
"Star Republic of Yamatai" doesn't have that same ring to it.

Seriously, it'd probably be a constitutional monarchy - which basically means "we have royalty, but they only exist so the tabloids have things to talk about". That is, if I understand what we're trying to do here.
 
Or Japan. Or Canada, for that matter (as a commonwealth nation, the Queen is technically our soverign)
 
Uhm?

First when we're talking about my country in these terms it's not England, it's Britain. Or more accurately the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Anyway, the monarchy actually has more power than you give it credit, and certainly more of a purpose than simply appealing to the tabloids, although I will admit that is likely to be all that the common man will see.

A constitutional monarchy serves a vital importance to the very constitution of Britain, and the government can't operate without a sovereign at its head - its is the powers of the monarch wielded by the Prime Minister, the so called 'royal prerogatives' which allow parliament to be summoned and dismissed. The entire fuctioning on Parliament relies on the queen.

However this is the vital bit - Parliament is sovereign. Parliament can over-rule the king or queen if neccesary. This means that the monarchy can technically be dissolved by parliament - even though the executive is technically a body of advisors for the queen (fun isn't it?).

In the terms of Yamatai I'd expect it to be this:

The empire is broken up in to constituencies, each which elects a representative using the simple proportionality or First-Past-The-Post method. These then form a parliament, or whatever you Yanks want to call it.

If we're thinking realisticly then there would be many thousands of constituents on each planet (as long as it has a decent population) divided in to parties - the party with the majority forms the executive and so can develop laws to be put in front of the parliament. The head of the Executive, which I'm going to call the Prime Minister because I'm like that, would also represent the planet in the Grand Parliament (or something like that). Given that he has been elected he can make decisions on their behalf - in very controversial situations the Executive can call a referendum of their people.

Overall however all legislation needs to be approved by the Emperor, but this is merely procedural - there needs to be an understanding that if the Emperor does not sign it the emperor won't stay as emperor - that's the way it works with a democracy.

There's the problem of the second house ... but that's just nasty.

Anywho, I think we should have a party system, what do you people think?
 
I am aware of the role of the constitutional monarchy, Zakalwe - I would know, because Canada does the same thing, albeit through the Governor General, the Queen's representative. I always thought of the process as unneccecary bureaucracy, but that's really just me.

As for the political parties, well, so long as we have more than two. Canada has 4 but in practice only 2 actually do anything. And I'll describe the political situation in a snarky, probably inaccurate way.

We have 4 of note (maybe 5 if you wanted to be picky, but I don't): The Liberals, the Conservatives, the New Democrats, and the Bloc Quebequois.

There isn't a terribly large amount of difference between the Liberals and Conservatives, especially when one of them is in power, but they both in theory adhere to the political ideology that makes up their name. In reality, the Conservatives are a lot closer to their name than the Liberals are. That said, politics in Canada is a lot slower and a lot less polarized than the US, and the political scale is a lot further to the left. Color-wise, the Conservatives are blue, and the Liberals are red.

The New Democrats are the leftist guys, supporting all kinds of neat stuff that costs money. Their most important role is to serve as the balance of power in a minority government - they always have just enough seats to make an alliance worthwhile. Their color is orange.

And then come the Bloc Quebequois. They're the seperatist guys, who support getting Quebec the hell out of Canada for some reason I don't actually remember. Naturally, all their members are in Quebec, but there's enough there that they can actually become the Opposition in the House of Commons - which has actually happened. Their color is a confusing cyan.

This was probably unneccecary, but it's always good to draw from real-world examples. Admittedly my current knowledge on Canadian politics is rather low, but hopefully this will serve well (and I'm sure Fred will correct me if it doesn't).

---

Anyway, task at hand...

I was thinking we could expand the scope of the Senate RP to beyond the process of making and voting laws. There's a lot more behind the scenes going on and I'd like to explore that. It'd be a good change from the normal routine of explosions and lesbianism ^_~ Wes also seems to think it might be a good idea, so there's already endorsement.

Perhaps we could start with a public news announcement forum for things of note in the various RPs (including the Senate). That way characters in the various plotships could react to things more readily (since a lot of players don't even see the senate forum).

The drama we've been coming up with lately is great and I think we need more of it, and for people to be able to see it. Suggestions, comments, anyone?
 
I like that idea. And it'd give the senate something to actually do rather then letting us play petty politician, who don't really influence anything.
 
Cora said:
And it'd give the senate something to actually do rather then letting us play petty politician, who don't really influence anything.
Click to expand...
Well, with the cooperation of the various GMs, the Senate could enact laws that directly affect the plots, right? With a little work, we could fix that too.
 
Sounds good. There have been discussions in the past about creating political parties, but also a general lack of interest. Perhaps that is changing.

Here are where politics stand right now in the Empire. We should be able to mold some parties out of them:

Clan Ketsurui - Counts the royal family as well as the most highly ranked members of the Star Army as members. Vast influence. Militaristic. Expansionist. Influence: Very high.

"Ayame Followers" - No official name yet? Concerned with the rights of Yamataians, Geshrins, Nepleslians, and other minority groups within the Empire. Progressive. Influence: Medium.

"Nekos First" - No official name yet. Comprised of Nekos who are xenophobic and racist. Believes in racial superiority of Nekos over all other sentient life. Believes in achieving their goals through politics, but sympathetic toward more extremist groups. Influence: Unknown, but probably growing.
 
I'll be dropping my application for a place in the Senate (Yamatai or something else *shrugs*). It didn't seem to be working out, so, I'll keep that for another time.
 
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