Nerdmas Plots: Alliance Senate & Government
We came up with ideas/etc for an Alliance Parliament/Senate a while ago, but since then we have transformed from a Rebel Alliance to an Alliance of Free Planets, and that requires a slightly different approach. We talked about all sorts of little tweaks and tidbits in Alabama, Nevada, and beyond, including -
- To appease those from Alderaan, Corellia, Chandrila, Duros, Ithor, etc who feel like the Alliance has "abandoned" the fight against the Empire, we would like to make Celeste Starborn (previously Alderaan's representative on the Advisory Council) the Speaker / Chairperson of the Senate. The idea is that despite hostilities having ceased, remembering Alderaan is still front and centre in the Alliance's mind.
- Senators should mostly be for specific planets (as in the EU books), not for entire sectors: this allows sectors inside Alliance space to have independent worlds if they want to be. However, where an entire sector/region is controlled by a centralised government (Hapes Cluster, Carshoulis Cluster, Bothan Space, Mon Calamari Space), there should be a MAXIMUM of two Senators: otherwise, the 150 inhabited worlds of Bothan Space would translate to 150 Bothan Senators, and the Senate would be unfairly biased. If there are other species in a Sector/region, they would have Representatives as part of the Senatorial entourage (a la Jar Jar Binks).
- Some Senators are also Ministers. It would be useful to make sure we have relatively active people filling roles like Minister of State, Defense, Security, Supply, Trade/Commerce, Justice, etc so there are people for other Senators to interact with. Some of these roles may be filled already; others may be subject to tweaking.
- Ministers don't have to do everything on their own, and there should be plenty of committees and sub-committees. Salem Ave (Onderon) is the Minister of State, but might have a committee including representatives from the four big regions (Hapes, Carshoulis, Bothan, Mon Cal) to help determine foreign policy. The Minister of Supply might have committees for agriculture/food, industry, shipbuilding, etc. There might be committees for education, art and culture, or tourism. There might be a special committee with representatives from refugee groups, or with Representatives of races who don't have a specific Senator (Gungans, Veknoids, Krantians, etc), to make sure their concerns/etc are being addressed.
- Representatives don't have to be for races or planets. The Republic had a Senator for the Trade Federation, a pseudo-corporate entity: the Alliance might have Representatives for major manufacturers, corporations, banks, etc, to sit on relevant sub-committees.
- There are numerous planets within Alliance territory that are not necessarily aligned / loyal to us. Senators may want to broker trade deals, negotiate defensive pacts, and ultimately try and convince them to join. Good examples include Ando, Geonosis, Lannik, Junction, and Zeltros. The Trandoshans, native to the Kashyyyk system, also present an interesting conundrum: they are slavers, and bitter enemies of the Wookiees, and might not be a culture that the Alliance finds "tolerable". There may also be Imperial citizens who want to leave... or who want to remain in their homes but not be subject to the Alliance. The Imperial and Trandoshan issue might make for an interesting Senate debate thread.
- Historically, the Alliance has made extensive use of smuggling as a way to get supplies. Now they are a legitimate government, and smuggling eats into their customs and tax revenue. How to deal with legal and illegal trade across the borders, and how to screen and tax that trade is another big and contentious issue that might be fun to debate.
- The Alliance does not have an extensive military, and we only have a Treaty with the Empire. The Hutts in particular are a significant threat on our borders, and there are other potential independent powers like the Centrality and the Tion Cluster with whom we will need to negotiate separate treaties and alliances.
We also discussed the idea of establishing Alliance Security in the wake of the Dan/s'Il crisis. Similar to the EU, this would be an Alliance version of the Imperial Security Bureau, and would guard against internal threats like Imperial sympathisers, terrorists, criminals wanted on multiple worlds, and also against more Dan/s'Ilancy style threats from evil Jedi. Our idea is that Dasquian Belargic, who was prisoner-exchanged when the Treaty was signed, would be the inaugural Director.
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Originally Posted by Charley
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