The Senate

[Kallachiturra]

Whether we're calling the end result the New Republic or the Alliance of Free Planets, we are going to have a Galactic Senate again very soon. There is no reason to demand player characters for every system, but I know we do have some so here is a place to keep them all in a nice list for everyone. Please post your name and your system and your political leanings (liberal, conservative, fascist, communist, anarchist, Occupy)* Also I'll try to keep the list updated with NPC senators as well. Feel free to make up senators for unclaimed planets in our Senate RPs and we'll use this list to keep track of the names.

(old thread here) (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22801)

Senators
Kallachiturra, Senator of Mytaranor sector (Kasshyyk) Conservative
Thada Adel, Senator of Calamari Sector (Dac) Liberal
Torrsk Oruo'rel, Senator of Bothan Sector (Bothawui) Conservative
Alli Tiawarrh, Junior Senator Bothan Sector (Krant) Liberal
Taataani Fai'sheea Igaarraai Meorrrei, Senator of the Carshoulis Cluster (Keppaa Brens) Conservative
Numax Meltstrong, Senator of Atravis Sector
Kyzer Rayne, Senator of Japrael sector (Onderon) Conservative
...
NPC Senators
Naataansi Kuurrai, Senator of the Carshoulis Cluster (Carshoulis Prime) Liberal
Ayataaurri Meerro, Junior Senator of the Carshoulis Cluster (Syragor) Conservative
...*(I may have gotten carried away there but you know what I mean)

[Thada Adel]

Thada Adel, Senator of Dac (Liberal)

I don't remember if we ever decided if Dac should have both a Quarren and a Mon Calamari rep/senator or not.

[Captain Untouchable]

Might it make more sense if Kalla was the Senator for Kashyyyk (since that's a slightly more major planet)?

I guess if Torrsk Oruo'rel isn't allowed to be the General, he's the Senator of Bothawui by default. He's pretty Conservative, I guess.

[Reshmar]

Thada Adel, Senator of Dac (Liberal)

I don't remember if we ever decided if Dac should have both a Quarren and a Mon Calamari rep/senator or not.

I think they should have both. As important to the Alliance as it is twice the representation might be acceptable?

[Captain Untouchable]

As long as the Mon Calamari cluster/sector is evenly represented between Quarren and Mon Calamari, I don't think it matters too much about dual representation. After all, the Supreme Commander of the entire military is Mon Calamari, so they've got a fair bit of representation in the Alliance as a whole.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Taataani Fai'sheea Igaarraai Meorrrei, senator of Carshoulis Prime (conservative)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Given the size of the Hapes Consortium, how many Senators should it have?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

That's a good question. Should a cluster of planets have a senator for each planet (unwieldy but I really don't know) or just a handful in their delegation? The Cizerack Pride is one member but represents several planets in the Carshoulis Cluster. So I'd like to say we should just pick an arbitrary number like five for their delegations?

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Considering that even some planets (ie, naboo) have had multiple senators, I don't think there is a hard or fast rule on that.

On another front, who wants to be the senator for the Pride, or should that be NPC'd?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I thought Taa was.

One of them at least, if we have multiple.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

I thought Taa wasn't enough of a political ally of the Pride Mother for that. We could certainly have the pride mother appoint her by decree though, that would be rather interesting.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I figure after the Pride uses Taa to proliferate the saanja tech (that gets altered to starkiller tech by both galactic powers) they reward her with an appointment. She can be a junior senator if that makes more sense, and also that gives her something to strive for. :)

Maybe three proper senators from the Pride and a handful of jr. senators representing smaller factions of the cluster?

[Dasquian Belargic]

The bulk of Senators represent not just a planet, but a sector. (Although senators representing a single planet isn't unheard of, it does seem a little odd, given that lots of other planets are represented by their sectors senator. I suppose senators representing a single planet would have a smaller influence in matters that required a vote?)

For context, Amidala represented Naboo and 36 other star systems (the Chommell sector).

The Consortium has 63 star systems, so I would expect it to have significant representation, especially given its economic and military contribution to the Alliance.

[Captain Untouchable]

What about something more like the United Nations?

If the Mon Calamari get multiple votes, we may well end up with most of our shipbuilding contracts given to the Mon Calamari, instead of at shipyards like Sullust or Sluis Van, which only have one vote. The Hapans and Cizerack represent a tiny tiny percentage of Alliance territory, but they'd have a big say in decisions regarding how it gets defended.

In the United Nations, it doesn't matter whether you're America or Andorra: you only get one guy.

Maybe that would work here? It means that if Hapes wants to push it's agenda, they need to do it by making political allies, deals, and so on. It also means there'd be more of a variety in terms of characters: it cuts down on the number of "we're all Bothans and we all have the same agenda" repeat characters. That should maybe make it easier to do interesting political story stuff.

Also, this kind of thing means that we can still have Corellian and Ithorian Senators. If we did stuff based on planets/population, that wouldn't be possible (because their planets are occupied).

[Numax Meltstrong]

Numax Meltstrong, Senator of Atravis Sector.

[Kallachiturra]

Well, if we do sectors (which makes sense) we can still have individual planets represented to a point by junior senators. So I can shuffle Kalla to being a rep for the wookiee sector and put Alli still representing Krant within the Bothan Sector delegation.

But only if that's agreeable to any/everyone affected. :)

With the Alliance turning into a proper government, how would representatives from planets now part of the Empire (behind their border) work? Would we even have them, or would they be like an Alderaan Senator, representing the Alderaanian people throughout the Alliance of Free Planets?

Or maybe, for example, a Corellian representative would be more like a diplomat sitting in on things without an official vote as their planet is actually part of the Empire and not the Alliance of Free Planets. I don't even know if we're going with Alliance of Free Planets or New Republic. ^_^;

[Captain Untouchable]

I think we'd be better off just being as vague as possible.

If you look at our previous politics discussions, we had four people who wanted to represent stuff that is in/around the Mon Calamari Sector: a Quarren, a Mon Calamari, someone representing the refugee world of Sanctuary, and Celeste Starborn representing New Alderaan. If we're strict about sectors, only one of them gets to be the Senator.

However, if we're vague and hand-wavy, we can fudge it to fit everything. Some Senators can represent an entire sector; some just a single planet, or even a single civilization on that planet. Some could represent interstellar corporations (like the Senator from the Trade Federation), while others could represent refugee groups like the Ithorians and Corellians. There could even be a Jedi Senator.

The more vague it is, the more flex we have to just do the stories we want without worrying about it. :)

[Taataani Meorrrei]

I like vague, vague is good :)

And strangely I've been thinking about Taataani's politics a lot since this got mentioned, and I'm really excited to RP political stuff. While I have her pegged roughly as conservative, I'm amused at her myriad of contradictions of character and I think she'd be as close as possible to SW equivalent of Tea Party as you could get.

[Kallachiturra]

Given the size of the Hapes Consortium, how many Senators should it have?

The answer is as many as you want.

Just let me know so I can add it to the list. :)

[Taataani Meorrrei]

http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23219

I've gone ahead and posted the first year ten thread woo hoo!

This is an open thread where Taataani is receiving guests at her official Senatorial suite so if you feel like ingratiating yourself or whatnot please avail yourself to posting :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Given the size of the Hapes Consortium, how many Senators should it have?

The answer is as many as you want.

Just let me know so I can add it to the list. :)



That's what I thought ;) I'll post em up later.

[Royston Basillie]

Kyzer Rayne, Senator of Japrael sector (Onderon) Conservative

[Alli Tiawarrh]

http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23219

I've gone ahead and posted the first year ten thread woo hoo!

This is an open thread where Taataani is receiving guests at her official Senatorial suite so if you feel like ingratiating yourself or whatnot please avail yourself to posting :)

I would post to this but to be honest I'm not sure where the tailor's shop is, or why she would run into other Senators there. :)

[Taataani Meorrrei]

The tailor is at her official senatorial suite

[Lilaena De'Ville]

okay, that makes sense, thanks :)

[Halajiin Rabeak]

I could reactivate my Nehantite senator for this. I think there's really not much in their sector, which is why they went unnoticed for so freaking long.

[Alli Tiawarrh]

More senators is always a good thing. :)

Also, I posted.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

and I responded :)

[Alli Tiawarrh]

I think that the Senators will have pet issues and be on committees, so if we could add those to this thread as we think of them that would be cool.

Examples (from the US senate) to alter / choose from!

Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Appropriations
Armed Services
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Budget
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Energy and Natural Resources
Environment and Public Works
Finance
Foreign Relations
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Judiciary
Rules and Administration
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Veterans' Affairs

Special, Select, and Other
Indian Affairs
Select Committee on Ethics
Select Committee on Intelligence
Special Committee on Aging

Joint
Joint Committee on Printing
Joint Committee on Taxation
Joint Committee on the Library
Joint Economic Committee

[Kallachiturra]

Being from a formerly enslaved planet and the Wookiees generally being oppressed everywhere in the Empire, I would like to be part of the Select Committee on Ethics (I don't think that one needs renaming to fit?)

Thinking of starting a thread for other Senators to drop in on, haven't decided if a meet and greet like Taa's thread or a proper Senate session for loudly debating our issues would be better.

[Alli Tiawarrh]

Ok this is how I see Krant, and it's place in the Alliance of Free Planets: A relatively unimportant planet, Krant ranks a senator in the Bothan sector due to the mineral rich resources of it's moon Aereen. It's an agricultural planet, very beautiful, etc, with asteroids orbiting it in addition to two moons, so mining would be very controversial, though also very profitable to the inhabitants and the Alliance as a whole because those minerals can be used to feed the war machine... er, peace machine.

So if we have an Energy and Natural Resources committee, Alli is on that.

[Reshmar]

So As the New Supreme Commander of Alliance forces what degree of contact will Reshmar have with the Senate?

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Taataani would be on the commerce and defense committees for sure. May figure a small third committee for her to chair, not sure

[Park Kraken]

Since Mustafar and Atravis Sector focuses on supplying war material to the Alliance perhaps Numax should sit on the Appropriations Committee.

[Captain Untouchable]

So As the New Supreme Commander of Alliance forces what degree of contact will Reshmar have with the Senate?

As far as military stuff goes, I would imagine there'd be four different committees.

It might be interesting if a non-Senator was the chairperson of these and others, as a non-voting / "impartial" individual: for example, the Minister of State (Salem) might well chair the Defense/Intelligence/Security committees, while the Minister of Trade/Commerce/Tell Cho might chair the Appropriations Committee (and others).

Defense Committee

Oversees all military matters. They'd review all military missions after the fact, and if anything goes wrong they'd be the ones who work out who to blame. Every time Reshmar wants to make an overt military action - deploying extra ships to Location A, launching an attack against Target B, etc - he'd presumably need to get the Defense Committee to sign off on it. If a mission goes wrong, the Defense Committee would be in charge of working out who to blame; and if it goes very right, they'd probably be involved in dishing out medals and making a big fuss about it where possible.

In the same way that the UN Security Council (= military/defense) has five permanent members, I would imagine that Bothawui, Mon Calamari, Sullust, Hapes, and Carshoulis are the core members of this Committee. Other regular members might include worlds like Sluis Van or Mustafar that have military shipyards; planets in strategically important positions like Kashyyyk; and people that the Alliance has put on the Committee as a way to appease them. The UN Security Council also has a number of random nations who are in there to provide better representation / less bias / etc, so we could always take inspiration from that and have a Committee that consists of "these core members plus whatever other roleplayers are available at the time".

Intelligence Committee

They'd oversee Alliance Intelligence. I believe that SpecForce and SpecOps have been rolled into Alliance Intelligence now as well, so basically they'd be an oversight/watchdog group for any covert missions that are launched against the Empire: missions that could get the Alliance in a lot of trouble if the Empire ever found out about them. Bothawui makes sense as a member for this because of their ties to the Bothan SpyNet. We might want to include the representatives for planets like Corellia, Chandrila, etc on this committee: as has been discussed elsewhere, planets like Corellia/etc that aren't yet under Alliance control would probably still have operatives/insurgents... and I imagine they'd work with / report to the Intelligence Committee.

Security Committee

The oversight/watchdog for Alliance Security. Alliance Security is sort of like Homeland Security, and as such is an amalgam of interstellar law enforcement (a la FBI), customs and border control, and counter-intelligence / counter-terrorism type stuff. Bothawui makes sense; it would probably make sense for Carshoulis and Hapes to be represented because of the sheer number of people they represent. Some of the refugee worlds like New Alderaan and Sanctuary might also make sensible members, since they're points where there would potentially be a large influx of new citizens who need to be screened/etc.

Appropriations Committee

The committee that approves the military budget. Every time there is research and development into a new class of ship; every time a shipyard is given a contract to build a new Heavy Cruiser; every time a ship is repaired, the Hutts are bribed, and all of that other jazz, the Appropriations Committee would scrutinise whether or not it was a smart way for the military to spend the Alliance's money. Mustafar, Sluis Van, Mon Calamari, Sullust, Hapes, and Carshoulis all have major ship-building locations; the Bothan Sector has a lot of industry; and according to a thread that Vince and I started a little while back, Krant is/was the home of the Rebel Alliance's "stealing technology from the Empire" division, so it may still have a role in that sort of thing.


Taataani would be on the commerce and defense committees for sure. May figure a small third committee for her to chair, not sure

Taa strikes me as the sort of person who might be on / chair a committee to do with art and culture. I'd imagine that the Alliance probably has some sort of committee that encourages cultural exchanges, arranges for famous artisans / performers / etc to visit other Alliance worlds as a cultural exchange, funds programs to educate Alliance citizens on the races/worlds that are now their allies, etc. A "Committee on Cultural Diversity" or something. An opportunity for her to spread Cizerack culture, to visit other worlds, go to the space opera, get fancy silks imported from all across the Alliance, wear "the latest fashions from Clak'dor VII" as an alleged gesture of solidarity that is actually more about having nice clothes, etc.

[Thada Adel]

I could see Thada being part of a cultural committee. One of her biggest political keystones is turning around the negative view the Quarren have rightfully gained through their various civil uprisings. Spreading positive Quarren culture among Republic space could help turn the tide (aha). She would also serve on the military and commerce committees considering Mon Cal space's shipyards and mineral exports.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Taa strikes me as the sort of person who might be on / chair a committee to do with art and culture. I'd imagine that the Alliance probably has some sort of committee that encourages cultural exchanges, arranges for famous artisans / performers / etc to visit other Alliance worlds as a cultural exchange, funds programs to educate Alliance citizens on the races/worlds that are now their allies, etc. A "Committee on Cultural Diversity" or something. An opportunity for her to spread Cizerack culture, to visit other worlds, go to the space opera, get fancy silks imported from all across the Alliance, wear "the latest fashions from Clak'dor VII" as an alleged gesture of solidarity that is actually more about having nice clothes, etc.

I could see her chairing it because she's a junior senator and maybe doesn't yet warrant chairing a more important committee, but it's definitely not her forte. She might hang fantastic art in her houses, but other than "jit'ss njice to look at" she probably could only quote you the sticker price. She's a star wars version of a republican and then some.

She won't balk at getting invited to a few schmoozy venues full of soft living though!

[Taataani Meorrrei]

So, who is ready to get some politicking done?!?!

I kind of want to have a Senate thread begin in earnest. Has anyone here participated in Model United Nations Assembly in school? The premise basically involves coming up with a resolution, then gathering in a group, presenting resolutions, debating, them, voting them up & down, etc.

I figure we could do a bit of that and have each Senator present something in turn, and then spend some time gleefully picking it apart or forming coalitions to support passage.

Man, now I miss MUNA a lot :(