Imperial Senate

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The Imperial Senate is a political body of the Atarlie Empire, with the legal authority and mandate to codify and ratify laws, especially treaties with foreign powers and schedules of taxation, in service to their Emperor, in the ancient laws first laid down by Rophalin Imperitor. While the term properly refers to the assembly of the senators who sit within it, the term is also a shorthand for the Senatorial Forum in the Imperial City.

he senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate (nor an obligation to fill a seat should it become vacant).

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests, creating a body of variable size. Most schools of political economy among the Atarlie feel that the most successful emperors have struck senates with middle-ground populations and allowed for a reasonable degree of dissent and "loyal opposition", whereas unwise Emperors allow the senate to dwindle down to a small number of mostly-loyal old men, or pack it with sycophants to the point it becomes unweildy.