The Parliament of TRMN RMN 0-2 RMN 0-2. Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty. Landing, Manticore

Transcription

1 The Parliament of TRMN RMN 0-2 RMN 0-2 Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty Landing, Manticore

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3 THE ROYAL MANTICORAN NAVY Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty The Parliament of TRMN RMN 0-2 Bureau of Communications Admiralty House Landing, Manticore

4 27 MAY 2017 HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT The Parliament of TRMN The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc., has, since its founding in February of 2007, been run by the Royal Council. These individuals have made decisions for the organization as a whole, and their respective branches specifically. Very often, the reasons behind these decisions have not been as clear the membership would like. To help alleviate this, the Royal Council has decided to officially create a bicameral Parliament, modeled after the ones in the Honorverse. These Houses of Parliament will have the opportunity to suggest new policies for TRMN, within certain confines, which this manual will cover. Briefly, here are the two houses. HOUSE OF COMMONS The House of Commons is where the general members can have some influence into the policies of TRMN. It is a place for their voices to be heard in a clearer manner, free from some of the background noise which, sometimes, their comments get lost in. The Commons will consist of Members of Parliament (MPs) who are voted on by the members of their Fleet or Station. As this is something where we wish to encourage our general members to step up, some restrictions on membership will be implemented. HOUSE OF LORDS This is where the Peers of TRMN can come together and discuss what is important to them. They also have some influence on policies of TRMN, and this is the venue that they can use. This will generally always be the smaller house, as Peers are limited to approximately 1% of the membership of TRMN. Peerage is granted by smaller groups of Peers in the House of Lords, known as Peerage Courts, which are constituted a few times a year to vote on Peerage Nominations. 1

5 THE ROYAL MANTICORAN NAVY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS RMN-0-2 COMPOSITION The House of Commons shall be made up of representatives of every Station and Fleet. Each of these will have a minimum of one representative in the House of Commons. The House of Commons will have a maximum number of Members capped at 150. The members of the House of Commons will be permitted the Post-Nominal MP during their term of service. For Stations: One member shall represent them. This member shall be voted on by the members of the Station, consisting of at least 5 additional Officers, and 5 Enlisted personnel. More than these 10 members (5 Officers & 5 Enlisted) may vote, but that is the minimum required. For Fleets: One member shall automatically represent each Fleet. In addition, each Fleet will be given one additional seat in the House for every two Chapters (including LACs) in the Fleet. This formula of 1 for 2 may change as the total number of representatives approaches 150. No Chapter may have more than one representative in the House. At least 5 Officers, and 5 Enlisted personnel shall be required to vote for the vote to be valid. TERM LENGTH Each member of the House of Commons shall have a term length of three years, except initially, when the term limits will be as follows: First Fleet, Fourth Fleet, Andermani Station, Tenth Fleet One Year Second Fleet, Anzus Station, Eighth Fleet, Victoria Station Two Year Term Third Fleet, Sixth Fleet, Sidemore Station Three years TERM LIMITS All those elected to the House of Commons may serve two terms maximum. An exception will be granted to those serving the initial One Year Term, who will be permitted to serve an additional two terms in addition to their first one year term. For the purpose of the TRMN hat rule, these positions are exempt. ELIGIBILITY To serve in the House of Commons, you must meet the following criteria: Been a member for at least one year Completed, at least, your first exam through BuTrain Have attended at least one event. An event defined as a Chapter Meeting, Convention, Chapter or Fleet Event (movie night, charity drive). The event can be virtual. Be at least 18 years of age Have not had any warning or censure in the previous 12 months 2

6 27 MAY 2017 The Parliament of TRMN If you are a Peer, a Chapter Commander or member of the Command Triad, a Fleet/Station Commander, a Space Lord, or a member of the Royal Council you are prohibited from serving in the House of Commons. Additionally, if you serve on the staffs of one of these positions, you are prohibited from serving in the House of Commons. If you are elevated to a peerage during your term, you will be permitted to serve out the remainder of your current term in the House of Commons before you are able to be seated in the House of Lords. If you quit your seat in the House of Commons before their Term is up, a Special Election will be held to fill the seat. The elected Member of Parliament will be allowed to serve out the remainder of the term, and if the term is one year or less, will be eligible to run for two additional terms. If the remaining term is more than one year, they will only be eligible to run for one additional term. Holding Chapters: Due to the global nature of Holding Chapters, their members are spread out over a large geographical area. The members of Holding Chapters may run for any open House Seat in the Fleet in which they reside. For the purpose of numbers of Representatives, the Holding Chapters do not add to the total number from each Fleet. Only one member from each holding Chapter is able to serve in each Fleet, in the same way that the only one member may serve from any Chapter in any Fleet. RUNNING FOR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT Any Fleet/Station resident, except those ineligible to hold a House seat, may nominate any other resident of their Fleet/ Station, including themselves, to serve as a Member of Parliament. Nominations are collected by the JAG Ombudsman for the Fleet/Station, who will verify eligibility. The nominees must confirm their willingness to stand for election. CAMPAIGNING The nominees may campaign for a period of two weeks. Campaigning will be set up via the Forums in a sub-forum for each Fleet. Campaigns will be moderated by the Fleet JAG Ombusman. After two weeks of campaigning, voting will occur for a period of one week. ELECTIONS The voting will be done by a ranked system, where you get to rate all candidates. The rating will begin with 1 as your most preferred, 2 for the next, 3 for the next and so forth. Depending on the number of MPs your Fleet/Station gets, the JAG Ombudsman will tally up the votes an announce the winners. If you are not eligible to hold an MP position, you may still vote for your local MP. However, you are barred from commenting on the election or attempting to influence the selection of nominees or the final MPs. This is a one time offense with no warning. If you are guilty of commenting on the election, you will be banned from the election forum for your Fleet, and immediately forfeit your positions. If you are a Peer with no other positions, your Peerage will be reduced by one step, unless you are a Barron, in which case your peerage will be revoked. 3

7 THE ROYAL MANTICORAN NAVY RMN-0-2 RULES OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS Speaker of the House The Speaker of the House shall be elected by the members of the House of Commons, and must therefore be a member of the House. This person shall serve for a term of one year, and may be re-elected twice. The role of the Speaker of the House is as follows: Set the Agenda for Discussion Moderate Discussions in the House Share recommendations with the Royal Council Forms of Address MPs are not to refer to each other by name and instead always refer to the honourable member for the Fleet or Station they were elected to. This does mean you could have multiple people referred to in the same manner. If you can t remember where someone is MP for you can refer to him or her as the honourable gentleman or the honourable lady. If you re talking about someone from the same party they can be referred to as my honourable friend, while members of the Royal usually ministers are the right honourable. The exception to this is the Speaker, who can refer to anyone he likes by name. MPs are only allowed to speak to one person in the House of Commons, the Speaker. Nobody else is ever directly addressed. This is a formal manner of speech, beginning their sentences with Mr./Mrs. Speaker, and referring to he or she instead of you when making points about their opponents or friends in a debate. Acceptable Language Parliament has strict rules on unparliamentary language. One banned word in particular stands out: liar. MPs who who accuse each other of lying are usually asked to withdraw the remarks by the Speaker, or face a suspension. You re also not allowed to call a fellow MP a hypocrite. This may be related to the conventions of Cabinet government. Under cabinet collective responsibility, the Royal Council must publicly support every decision the government makes or face the sack. In reality, not everyone always supports every decision the Royal Council makes and thus hypocrisy is practically built into the system. 4

8 27 MAY 2017 The Parliament of TRMN Additionally, on the list Parliament s banned words are the following archaic Sol expressions. Pipsqueak Swine Rat Tart Fuck Ass Dick Depends on Context Pussy Depends on Context Tits Boobs Depends on Context The following words are expressly permitted during the course of debate: Fribble Huckster Fatuous Nincompoop Flapdoodle Foozler Hornswoggler Meater Vazey Responsibilities of the House of Commons The members will be responsible for reasonable requests and questions from the members in the Fleet/Station. These requests and questions can be added to the Agenda by the members submitting them to the Speaker of the House. Unacceptable Topics There are a few topics which the House of Commons may not bring up as requests or questions. These are as follows: Changes to the testing requirements for ranks, positions, and billets Punitive actions against other members Structural changes to the existing organization Acceptable Topics This list of acceptable topics which the House of Commons may bring up as requests or questions is not exclusive, and is more to be used as an example, than a definitive list. These topics include, but are not limited to: Recommendations for changes to certain Award criteria to make them more clearly defined Recommendations for types of Civilian Chapters Recommendations for New Civilian Tracks Recommendations for Minister and Secretary level positions (2/3 majority needed for recommendation) Except Home Secretary Recommendations for one Admiralty House Event per Fleet per Year regardless of Royal Council of Space Lord attendance (50%+1 majority needed per event + Confirmation from the House of Lords) Questions on why a policy was adopted by the Royal Council Recommendations for additional Acceptable Topics to the Royal Council 5

9 THE ROYAL MANTICORAN NAVY RMN-0-2 Additionally the House of Commons will be permitted to submit one nomination of a member to the House of Lords for possible elevation to the peerage per year. Finally, the House of Commons will vote on any nominations for the Parliamentary Medal of Valor. The vote must be a 2/3 vote of the House. If both the House of Commons and the House of Lords vote to award a PMV, the First Lord of the Admiralty, on behalf of the Monarch, will issue the award at their earliest convenience. Prime Ministers Questions The Second week of every other Month, beginning in February, the Chamber shall be opened to the public to come and view the Prime Ministers Questions. A special forum channel will be set up for this. The Royal Council will be acting on behalf of the Government and will be in attendance. The MPs will have an opportunity to ask questions of the Royal Council, on behalf of their constituents, which the Royal Council must answer. The topic of these questions must be submitted two weeks in advance so that the appropriate members of the Royal Council, their staffs, or Space Lords can be made to appear. The only acceptable responses to not answer questions are the following: Mr./Mrs. Speaker, please inform the right honourable member that I do not know the answer to that question and will defer to the. ; or, Mr./Mrs. Speaker, I am unable to answer the question from the right honourable member as it would compromise information covered under a non-disclosure agreement. or, Mr./Mrs. Speaker, I am unable to answer the question from the right honourable member as it would be a violation of the Official Secrets Act. 6

10 27 MAY 2017 HOUSE OF LORDS The Parliament of TRMN COMPOSITION The House of Lords is made up of all the Peers of the Realm. These are the people who have been granted a peerage. A Peer may choose to not sit in the House of Lords, but that will be up to them. There is no cap on the maximum size of the House of Lords, although there is a cap on Peers at 1% of the total members of TRMN. Grayson Steadholders and Andermani Peers will be permitted to sit and participate in the House of Lords as well. If a person is elevated to the peerage while they are serving in the House of Commons, they will be permitted to serve out the remainder of your current term in the House of Commons before they are able to be seated in the House of Lords. If they quit their seat in the House of Commons before their Term is up, a Special Election will be held to fill their seat. RULES OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker shall be elected by the members of the House of Lords, and must therefore be a member of the Lords. This person shall serve for a term of one year, and may be re-elected twice. The role of the Lord Speaker is as follows: Set the Agenda for Discussion Moderate Discussions in the House Share recommendations with the Royal Council Forms Of Address Lords are not to refer to each other by name and instead always refer to My Lord/My Lady. If you re talking about someone from the same party they can be referred to as my honourable friend, while members of the Royal Council and usually ministers are the right honourable followed by Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> if applicable. The exception to this is the Speaker, who can refer to anyone he likes by name. Unlike the House of Commons, who are only allowed to speak to one person in the House of Commons, the Speaker, Peers may address other Peers. This, however, is suspended during Prime Ministers Questions, when all questions must be addressed to My Lord Speaker Acceptable Language Parliament has strict rules on unparliamentary language. One banned word in particular stands out: liar. Lords who who accuse each other of lying are usually asked to withdraw the remarks by the Speaker, or face a suspension. You re also not allowed to call a fellow Lord a hypocrite. This may be related to the conventions of Cabinet government. Under cabinet collective responsibility, the Royal Council must publicly support every decision the government makes or face the sack. 7

11 THE ROYAL MANTICORAN NAVY RMN-0-2 In reality, not everyone always supports every decision the Royal Council makes and thus hypocrisy is practically built into the system. Additionally, on the list Parliament s banned words are the following archaic Sol expressions. Pipsqueak Swine Rat Tart Fuck Ass Dick Depends on Context Pussy Depends on Context Tits Boobs Depends on Context The following words are expressly permitted during the course of debate: Fribble Huckster Fatuous Nincompoop Flapdoodle Foozler Hornswoggler Meater Vazey Responsibilities of the House Of Lords The members will be responsible for reasonable requests and questions. These requests and questions can be added to the Agenda by the members submitting them to the Lord Speaker. Unacceptable Topics There are a few topics which the House of Lords may not bring up as requests or questions. These are as follows: Changes to the testing requirements for ranks, positions, and billets Punitive actions against other members Structural changes to the existing organization Acceptable Topics This list of acceptable topics which the House of Lords may bring up as requests or questions is not exclusive, and is more to be used as an example, than a definitive list. These topics include, but are not limited to: Recommendations for New Peers and Peerage Elevations Except to Grand Duke Recommendations for types of Civilian Chapters, and changes to existing ones, specifically relating to Peers Recommendations for New Civilian Billets within Peerage Lands Recommendations for Home Secretary (2/3 majority needed for recommendation) Confirmation for House of Commons recommended Admiralty House Events (50%+1 to confirm) 8

12 27 MAY 2017 The Parliament of TRMN Questions on why a policy was adopted by the Royal Council Recommendations for additional Acceptable Topics to the Royal Council Additionally the House of Lords must review the recommendation for possible elevation to the peerage submitted by the House of Commons. Finally, the House of Lords will vote on any nominations for the Parliamentary Medal of Valor. The vote must be a 2/3 vote of the Lords. If both the House of Commons and the House of Lords vote to award a PMV, the First Lord of the Admiralty, on behalf of the Monarch, will issue the award at their earliest convenience. Prime Ministers Questions The Second week of every other Month, beginning in January, the Chamber shall be opened to the public to come and view the Prime Ministers Questions. A special forum channel will be set up for this. The Royal Council will be acting on behalf of the Government and will be in attendance. The Lords will have an opportunity to ask questions of the Royal Council, which the Royal Council must answer. The topic of these questions must be submitted two weeks in advance so that the appropriate members of the Royal Council, their staffs, or Space Lords can be made to appear. The only acceptable responses to not answer questions are the following: My Lord Speaker, please inform the right honourable Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> that I do not know the answer to that question and will defer to the. ; or, My Lord Speaker, I am unable to answer the question from the right honourable Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> as it would compromise information covered under a non-disclosure agreement. or, My Lord Speaker, I am unable to answer the question from the right honourable Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> as it would be a violation of the Official Secrets Act. 9

13 THE ROYAL MANTICORAN NAVY POLITICAL PARTIES RMN-0-2 In general, we agree with US President George Washington that while, [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. However, it is also felt that this can be an engine to encourage some more role play in the various Houses. To that end, the following Political Parties will be permitted, as long as they are not detrimental to the goal of the Houses of Parliament, which is to bring the voice of the members more effectively to the Royal Council. CROWN LOYALISTS The Crown Loyalist Party is the one which generally agrees with the policies of the Royal Council. This does not mean that they support every decision, but in general, support more than they disagree with. They may elect a Party Leader in each House from among their members. The Party Leader acts as a Whip to ensure the votes needed on certain issues are present. CENTRIST PARTY The Centrist Party is one which falls in the middle. They may, for example, like the direction the policies of the Royal Council are heading, but disagree with the implementation. They may elect a Party Leader in each House from among their members. The Party Leader acts as a Whip to ensure the votes needed on certain issues are present. THE PROGRESSIVES The Progressive Party is the one which generally feels the policies of the Royal Council do not necessarily benefit the organization. This does not mean that they disagree with every decision, but in general, that the decisions could be made differently to more effectively benefit the organization. They may elect a Party Leader in each House from among their members. The Party Leader acts as a Whip to ensure the votes needed on certain issues are present. THE LOYAL OPPOSITION This is the title given to the Party which overall has the second largest share of the votes, or which does not wind up as part of a coalition party. COALITION PARTIES When two parties join together to ensure a majority voting block, they are known as being in a Coalition. 10

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