The Senate

The senate has 68 seats. Its members determine taxation, policy and law during a three month sitting (Morgat to Ilven) each year. With few exceptions, most all senators come from the equestrian class. Senators do not receive a salary. Instead they rely on their land holdings and "gifts" to maintain their lavesh lifestyle.

All senators have at least two residences; one in Coranan and one in their district/holding. Senators rely upon a network of clients to relay information from the republic's capital to its furthest province. Most often letters from one senator, or patron, to another, is carried along in a legionnaire's dispatch pouch.

The senate is a patriarchy. Women who excel in politics often become secretive backers of a senator, or powerful clans.

In the republic a senator is granted certain rights and immunities due to his unique status as lawmaker. PCs who wish to interact with a senator will often end up talking to a clerk, scribe or litigant until such time as their reputations warrant personal patronage.

The characters and clan-related notes are brief, allowing the characters to be tailored to better suit ongoing campaigns. This section of the "Powers in Politics - Tharda Chapter" is based upon J.W.Holland-Hibbert's Registry of the Senate for the year 720TR.

Story Hooks

Each faction would love to see itself dominant in the senate. This can be achieved through assassination, guile, and other political tools. PCs could become involved in the bitter clannal warfare between rival factions.

Even if the PCs do not directly become involved, they each will develop a patron in a clan. And that patron or his clan will have enemies. Thus the PCs can be drawn into clannal politics from many angles. Technically the legion is immune to clannal politics - but as the Halean saying goes:

One can be a Thardian and live without love or money.
But if one lives without politics they cannot live long in Tharda.

The Factions

The senate breaks roughly into five factions, two of which tend to overlap in their membership. Each senator, or clan without a senate seat, is a political power in Tharda. Each patron has his own goals and intentions, and uses his allies and clients to further those goals, while trying not to directly contravene a goal of his patron.

Expansionists

The Expansionists holds 22 seats, three of which it shares with the Imperialist faction.

Pro-republican, they favor the conquest of lands in Kanday and Rethem. They see Marshal/Magistrate Kronos as a perfect man to lead the push forward to gain new territory. Internal matters are secondary.

Expansionists are interested in winning any war they feel they should start. Rethem, Kanday and Kaldor are all viable targets. Expansionists feel that negotiation with Rethem should sease and the war should begin.

Consolidationalists

The Consolidationalists holds 20 seats.

Pro-republican, they aim to clean up internal problems such as the Hefiosa Bands and the Gozyda and Tulwyni barbarians. They see Marshal/Magistrate Kronos as the perfect man to help clean up the barbarian problems. External expansion is unnecessary so long as the land is fertile and problems are few.

In addition Consolidationalists believe that no goods should enter Tharda that already exist in Tharda in good quantity. This protectionists approach is reasonably new, and seems to hide a strong hostilely towards Kaldorian merchants who are currently shipping their goods into Tharda under the lowest taxation and tolls in recorded history.

Imperialists

The Imperialists holds 11 seats, three of which it shares with the Expansionist faction.

They want a return to the Imperial system, with an elected dictator, coupled with internal consolidation, a hereditary nobility and feudalism. They fear Marshal/Magistrate Kronos as they see him succeeding in whatever is put before him, and becoming an Emperor they cannot control. They have yet to put forth a candidate for their elected emperor, but they do try to quash anything with Marshal/Magistrate Kronos's name attached to it.

They feel that the Kaldorian trade policies are too restrictive, and support starting any war that will improve Tharda's wealth. They are cautious, but interested in a war with Kaldor. They see Kanday as an ally, and while they have hosted many Rethem ambassadors over the years - they are not friendly towards Rethem.

Monarchists

The Monarchists holds 6 seats, four of which it shares with the Reform faction.

Wishes to establish a weak king with the real power wielded by a hereditary Senate and emphasis on foreign conquest. Many confuse Monarchists with Imperialists. But while the two groups agree on Marshal/Magistrate Kronos, they disagree strongly on land use, army maintenance and other necessities within Tharda.

They want to clean up the abuses by the Thardic legion, and make service mandatory to anyone interested in a political career. All nobles would then serve 4 years as a minimum, even senators. This policy makes them very unpopular to the Consolidationalists and Imperialists who see the senate and political careers as a mandatory counter to the martial side of their society. But the Monarchists's goals are friendly to the expansionists who need a larger army to meet their goals.

Reformists

The Reformists holds 2 seats, four of which it shares with the Monarchist faction.

Reformists want to clean up the abuses in the Senate and the government. They worry that Marshal/Magistrate Kronos is already to corrupt (since he's getting wealthy off the treason trials in Eidel province.) They decline any petition from the Expansionists who seem more interested in external matters than internal matters, and often agree with the Consolodationists.

T-76: [Scribe's Gripes][The Senate][Imported Herbs][The Tenacius] June 27, 2005

This page was last updated on June 27, 2005
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