Primer: The Federation Parliament

The Federation’s history can be divided between the periods before and after The Glorious Restoration. Prior to the rebellion by the border lords, the government of The Federation was centered around the trinity worlds of Eden, Elysium, and Paradise, and their needs with anyone living outside of the Alpherion system effectively living outside of the law.

In those days, the government was a hybrid of the Wellington and Tokyo systems that the founding settlers had cobbled together to govern three worlds of pioneer frontiersmen.

As The Federation turned its eyes towards expansion and conquest, it realized that it was easier and cheaper to give corporations permission to make a profit on whatever they find on the frontier and let private ventures do all the heavy lifting. Before long even private citizens were buying Four X Charters and establishing themselves beyond The Rim as the lords of their own personal fiefdoms.

It did not take long for a cultural divide to grow between the technocratic plutarchs of the core worlds and the chivalric warlords of border space. The people of the core saw the aristocratic control of whole planets as a transitory phase and that once The Navy and other federal institutions could be established that the seraphim lords would cede their control of the planets that they had conquered to the bureaucrats.

Instead, the Great Houses exerted their rights to rule over the whole of a star system. When the Federation tried to enforce a tax on mining comets for their water, the resulting backlash led to a complete collapse of the established government and the creation of the Restored Parliament, or what is colloquially known as The Quintarchy.

The Restored Parliament is composed of five houses.

The Assembly of The People (House of Commons) is composed of citizens who have entered their names as candidates to represent their city and their world and won a raffle to sit for a twelve year term on Eden. All legislation requires a majority vote from the assembly to become law. This makes them vital for the functioning of government, but the effective reality is that the assembly is a rubber stamp on the actions of the other houses to give the aristocrats an air of democratic legitimacy.

The Council of Professions (House of Technocrats) is where the foremost experts on fields of science, engineering, law, medicine, mathematics, history, and countless other fields provide their sage advice and recommend proper regulations for the various professions that are the foundation of any civilized society.

The Board of Plutarchs (The House of Capitalists) is composed of the wealthiest individuals and corporations who win the bidding war for the seats on the body that sets the tax and finance policy of The Federation at a bi-annual auction.

The Synod of The Arts (The House of Propagandists) is where the thought leaders and trend setters congregate to discuss the newest ideas, fashions, and cultural movements. It is the Synod's duty to determine what should be incorporated into the body of canon that provides the foundations for Federation culture and what must be censored or banned for their corrosive effects on the spirit of Mankind. Seats within this house are filled out by lifetime appointments suggested from the other houses. An appointment to the Synod is one of the few actions the Assembly can take on its own.

The Seraphreich (The House of Warlords) is the most senior of the five houses. To have a seat within its hallowed halls, one must be the ruler of a world who has raised a company of Seraphim pilots sworn to give their lives in the defense of the Realms of Man. It is from among the ranks of these powerful mecha-knights that the Shogun is chosen.

Together these five bodies work to check and balance one another to bring peace, freedom, and justice to all humanity so that humanity can focus on bringing war, slavery, and prejudice to all xenos.