Bretonia Parliament Writeup

[Govedo13]

Well in general I dont like most of Dab's wall of texts or much fan of forum RP but this one is simply impressive, Kudos to you for your dedication and work. It looks very real and you invested for sure a lot of time to complete it.

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Official faction players that are often accused of elitism, never deploy them and have those weird, immersion killing "fair fight/dueling" suicidal hobbies. (yes, i've seen enough of those lolduels, where house military with overwhelming force on the field willingly loses a pilot in a duel. ffs.)

[TheJarl]

A government to oppose? Sounds good to me!

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[jammi]

So far Lordship hasn't been managed by any group yet. This will change, yes. It will be regulated. However, people who are already roleplaying characters with peer status should talk to me. The War Cabinet (faction leader chat) will discuss each case individually. Those of you already roleplaying a peerage will likely be allowed to be in the House of Lords, but not everyone will. We won't ninja your peerage away, but those already RPing at peer status will have to be approved before being entered into the House of Lords. After this is established, peerage statuses will be regulated by the Monarch (who is controlled OOC by the War Cabinet), and those who want to gain a peerage status or create a character with one will need to talk to us first. That said, we won't be too strict on this unless we get flooded with requests of hundreds of peerage characters.

I've got a solution for the issue of peerages. In the UK, the House of Lords (the second house) used to consist entirely of Hereditary Peers. These are the people who had been appointed a title by patronage at some point in their ancestor's lifetimes and had thus acquired a seat in the Lords. They were predominantly rich, Conservative/Whig supporters who weren't actual politicians. Some of them today can actually trace their inherited titles back over 600 years.

Now, in the 90s, the Labour Party under Tony Blair reformed the House of Lords. 90% of the Hereditary Peers had their seats removed (this was actually a spineless compromise on his part - they all should have gone) and were instead replaced by Life Peers. Life Peers are Lords who have been granted a peerage by the Prime Minister - in our case Queen - by merit of their actions. The Hereditary Peers didn't lose their titles, but they were ejected from the political system.

These would be the military masterminds, the trade magnates, the cultural icons, etc. It ensures you have a highly professional second house. This professional composition means that when the Lords review legislation they usually have a better understanding of the subject matter than the MPs who proposed the bill in the first place.

In practice for us, this would mean the government would appoint Life Peers that could vote and act in the Lords. People who wanted to RP as peers (such as Hone) would be Hereditary Peers. They are ultimately powerless, and possess no direct political power. No more than any other wealthy individual, anyway. Although it's illegal, every MP has his price. I'm sure you could get the relevant questions asked in Parliament if you were 'insistent' enough. ;)

You could talk to Jammi and Captain Morgan. I have no idea about how people were selected or whatnot.

I'm already on it. Glenn is busy with other projects and doesn't play Discovery any more.

Parties suggested in this write-up are merely boring. In opposition to parties suggested by players for Murphy's Parliament, the ones here are cardboard cutouts, tied to the support of Queen and the Army, support of business and control over the Monarchy, to ecology and Dublin separation - as Royalists, Federalists, Green and Independence parties accordingly.
[...]
While Murphy's Parliament had quite a number of factions, that was hardly a problem since with good player-made write-ups they represented all the factions in Bretonia, giving them a complex historical background and motivation, making them realistic political groups which are interesting to play; the groups with frontmen, ideas, standing suggestions and history.

Really, cardboard cutouts are hardly the best idea for keyboard pvp. Parties sumbitted by players are suddenly the best solution. Since it was mentioned above, I can only suggest the replacement of the current ones as well.

You're really not envisioning the party system's potential here. The Royalist party is just a title - it doesn't mean their only aim is to bend over for the Queen. The Royalists are based on the UK's Conservative party. This means they are right / center-right. The Federalists are based on the Labour party, making them left / center-left. These are the 'big two' parties. The third party is the Democratic Party, which is based on the Liberal Democrats, placing them to the left / center-left again.

The The Green Party is pretty much a direct clone of the UK's modern Green Party (who actually won the Brighton Pavilion seat in the Commons, which is amazing for such a small party). The Independence Party wouldn't be solely concerned with Dublin. It's also hard to pin it to a UK equivalent... Perhaps UKIP would do? I'm not sure. It would probably be petitioning for greater autonomy of colonial governments from the Bretonian Parliament - so entirely devolved governments on New London, Cambridge, Leeds, etc as well as treatment of parties such as the IMG and Zoners (probably). Dublin would more than likely be the largest and most contentious issue though. For the Greens and Independents, political spectrum is harder to gauge, but it would be easiest to place the greens on the left or extreme left with the Independents as the opposite (or not in their case - they're an awkward one).

Inside the UK's parties, there are numerous sub-factions. For example, inside the Conservative Party there is the staunchly traditional 'Cornerstone Group' which wants to shift the Tories further to the right. In our Parliament, I'm hoping we can accommodate a similar system. A good example would be to establish the hyper-nationalist 'Bowex Fringe' as a sub-faction of the Royalist Party. Bear in mind MPs also will be able to band together to form their own parties, once a set criteria has been met.

A government to oppose? Sounds good to me!

I've already been giving Cawdor indepth tips on how to best protest against the new system, and highlight how it is 'broken'. :P

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[Shaka]

So to clarify: There are stations owned by BMM - which are the host of independent seats, and there are separate seats which are BMM's to occupy? These are two separate things right? If so, for the independant seats on BMM's stations, say Hargreave - can any character be an MP for this station, or just BMM characters?

My concern is that the larger factions have too much control in this parliament. I love the idea, don't get me wrong, but I feel that steps need to be taken to prevent this turning into a Bretonian leaders chat. Some of the more interesting mechanics of this parliament - the player parties, independent debate - hinge on a large contingent of players not directly linked to any official faction.

Final question: if the queen selects the prime minister from the houses of parliament, and the queen is RP'd by the War cabinet, which the PM is in, isn't this a little cyclical? Seems to me that maybe the houses could vote on the PM, with the queen only having the right to Veto.

All in all, love the proposal. Polish it up a bit and Bretonia's got the most interesting politics in sirius.

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RFP File |Josef Marks' Story|Feedback

[DarthBindo]

My concern is that the larger factions have too much control in this parliament. I love the idea, don't get me wrong, but I feel that steps need to be taken to prevent this turning into a Bretonian leaders chat.

To be honest, i actually feel this is a good thing. BMM, in-rp, represents a significant political force, enough to get the Bretonian Government to attack unarmed miners and kick off the Molly Rebellion, and to get them to try and hold on to Stokes, resulting in a major military disaster.
So.

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gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|

[chopper]

The Power to Overturn House of Lords Vetoes by Attaining a 3/4ths Vote

This is very hard to achieve, and will thus never be used. It's usually 2/3 for a veto.
Other than that, seems pretty good.

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It is every Corsair's responsibility to die a beautiful death in defense of Crete, regardless of how OORP or how capwhoring the opposition is. Launch your fighter, joust the battlecruisers and die a beautiful death. Then, drink it down in the bar.

Can't let you bash folks in your sig Chopper-Del

[Shaka]

To be honest, i actually feel this is a good thing. BMM, in-rp, represents a significant political force, enough to get the Bretonian Government to attack unarmed miners and kick off the Molly Rebellion, and to get them to try and hold on to Stokes, resulting in a major military disaster.
So.

I can't deny the RP - BMM is a significant political force. but my concern is that large voting blocs in the parliament will make it stagnant. If this parliament follows westminster convention, each MP will toe the party line. For the sake of making things interesting, I feel that a more fractured house would do the job - and in some ways, reflect the chaos of a house at war.

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RFP File |Josef Marks' Story|Feedback

[Juzt156]

Ok Just a few things. I really like the idea so far and I will certainly attempt to stand as an MP at some point.

I don't know if this is of any use to you. These are RL Parliament jobs

The Speaker of the House of Commons is in a Seat that every one agrees not to contest and he/she is in charge of directing debates and should be impartial and prevent arguments and such.

The Leader of the House of Commons (also one in the Lords). Is responsible for much of what the Steward is, accept disciplining MPs and such

The Serjeant-at-Arms, is genrally a retired Soldier or Police officer, in charge of Protection of MPs and escorting unruly MPs from the Chamber

Whips: Whips are officials of thier parties, although MPs it is thier job to control thier parties MPs. In particular debates that their party thinks is important, they can 'Whip' thier MPs, and attempt to get them to vote the way the Party tells them too. By offering Govt jobs or by threatning to cut funding to his election campaign or in extreme cases expultion from the party. There is a one-line whip, two-line whip, and three-line whip. One line is somthing the Govt would like you to support, but if you do not they are unlikely to punish you. Disobeying a two line whip is likly to get you in trouble and punished or incentivised in a small way. Disobeying a three line whip is serious and can lead to cuts in funding for elction capaigns or expultion. Whips are often close allies of the Party leader.

Oh yes and All MPs in RL are entitled to have a honrific before their name. All MPs are reffered to as Right Hounrable. E.g. the Rt Hon. James Hacker M.P.

I am suggesting that all these things can be used, and as you guys are the ones setting it up, it is up to you. These are mearly RL postions that exist in Parl and may improve RP. Whips I think will be useful especially. I know this kind of stuff (i am boring like that) I hope this has been of some use to you.

Is that of any use to you?

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[jammi]

Yes it is, but I'd already discussed party whips in the chat, and couldn't see much use for them. The idea of the Parliament is so people can air their views, while party whips would remove that aspect. You'd end up with a party leader with 11 votes, instead of 11 different people coming to consensus.

Yes, people generally would toe the party line, but that's because your character would join the party he or she feels the closest affiliation with. If their legislation or voting patterns coincided with your own, then yes, there would be voting blocs. That's how democracy works - the majority option prevails.

Didn't know about the titles though... Thanks for that. :)

*Scurries off to amend some posts and indulge Maloney's ego.*

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[Juzt156]

Yay thanks Jammi. I am a Masters History student so I have to know a lot about British Politics. If you want to Know anything.

I agree about whips, I thought they would be hard to implement, but I suggested them anyway. This is going to be fun. I think that this is a great idea. Thiis is the kind of thing I love.

Anyhow you need to know anything, and I don't know it I can find out as well. Ok............I am perhaps a little overexcited as you can tell

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