![[calradic empire banner 8.png|]] # the Senate # Members (Former and Concurrent) [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] [[Osticos]] [[Olypos]] [[Chonis]] [[Manteos]] [[Argoros]] Probably everyone, except women, from the [[Northern-Empire]] Former senators [[Apys]] [[Varros]] [[Litos]] # Backstory & History Many of the oldest families of [[Calradian-Empire]] live in the north. They came here as marcher lords, granted vast tracts of land by their colleagues in the [[Senate]] to keep 'pacified' northern tribes in check and hold the frontiers against [[Battanian]], [[Sturgian]], and [[Khuzait-Khanate]] raiders. They drained marshes and turned the river floodplains into wheat fields, cut back forests and turned the hillsides into pasture. But as the republic became an empire and as emperors became more and more dependent on money and lands to reward their loyal soldiers, the nobility here began to fear that their estates would one day be seized by some cash-starved tyrant. Consequently, in the ongoing [[Imperial]] civil war they have become some of the strongest champions of [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]], who sees a Senate of established property-holders as the supreme authority and the emperor as its servant. [— spkingdoms.XML] The northern third of the Empire is ruled by [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]], who represents a long-standing oligarchic trend in [[Imperial]] politics. It holds that strict adherence to [[Imperial]] law is the best guarantee that the empire will not become a tyranny. Oligarchs like [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] also tend to believe that only landowners can have the extensive education, experience in government, and stake in property to really understand and appreciate the law, and thus the [[Senate]] should be supreme. [— heroes.XML] # Dialogue [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] on house [[Osticos]] and the [[Senate]] > "We're of a very old family that has done great service to [[Calradian-Empire]]. But I'll tell you something - a man, whatever his bloodline, is only as good as his honor and his obedience to the law. " > > "The [[Senate]] chooses the Emperor. That is our law. It has been twisted, broken, or ignored for 100 years. But it has never been changed. Without law, without fealty to the written word, there is but tyranny and the mob." > > "Senators understand the law. If a man does not understand the law, no matter how much money he has, he cannot enter the [[Senate]]. I respect our soldiers but they cannot govern. If I win this war, I will re-establish the [[Senate]]'s authority over the emperor." [[Olypos]] [[Chonis]] on the [[Senate]], [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Garios]], [[Arenicos]], and [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Rhagaea]] > "From the birth of our empire until only 100 years ago, the [[Senate]] chose the emperor. The [[Senate]] could remove him. Any emperor who went against the [[Senate]] was a tyrant. We were remiss in our duty. We thought of wealth and trade, and we did not assemble as often as we should. The emperors began choosing their children and comrades to follow them, and we acquiesced." > > "You have seen what happened in the past 100 years: we have had some good emperors, some bad ones, and some lunatics. A strong [[Senate]] is the only reliable barrier both against tyranny." > > "[[Arenicos]] was a good emperor, all told. But if he indeed named [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Rhagaea]] [[Pethros]] his heir, and that is not just a lie, it shows that even the best of men may be seized by madness. The daughter of the former Padishah? How do we know she won't just serve us to her people on a plate." (the [[Darshia-Cnty.]] Empire) > > People like [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Garios]] [[Comnos]] hate the [[Senate]], calling it corrupt and that it blocks any change. He would have the army proclaim the emperor. I respect our men; I would even call them heroes. But they are easily enough swayed by a ration of free wine and a good speech. Letting them choose the emperor is the rule of the mob." [[Manteos]] [[Argoros]] on himself and the [[Senate]] > "I have sworn two solemn oaths in my life. When I became archon, I swore to protect the people beneath me. When I was inducted into the [[Senate]], I swore to uphold its laws and traditions. Those oaths I intend to keep." [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Garios]] [[Comnos]] on the [[Senate]], [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]], and his uncle [[Pateor]] > "Twenty years ago, my uncle [[Pateor]] led a deputation of his veterans through the streets of Ambrela (or [[Amprela]]), requesting a fair compensation for their services to [[Calradian-Empire]] - a bit of land, so they wouldn't end up on the streets begging scraps from those who they fought to defend. [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] [[Osticos]] and his friends in the [[Senate]] prosecuted my uncle for mutiny, then beheaded him. The army fondly remembers [[Pateor]] and my men have told me that they aspire, some day, to take [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]]'s head and parade it about on a pike. I hope you'll forgive me if I indulge them in this." [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Rhagaea]] on house [[Pethros]], the [[Senate]], and [[Arenicos]] > "We are the family of the martyred Emperor ([[Arenicos]]). Every man wishes to leave what he has to his children, be it a tiny patch of land or the [[Imperial]] throne. Everyone in [[Calradia-Conti.]], rich or poor, grasps this. The universal principle of inheritance, not the obscure laws of the [[Senate]], is what makes an Emperor in the eyes of the people." > > "I will strive to be a good Empress. I'll do my best. But I know well that whoever wins this civil war, landlords will still cheat tenants, city guards will still demand bribes, warriors will still kill men to steal their cattle, drunken husbands will beat wives. The plague and the labor of childbirth will take more lives than all the evils of man put together." > > "Still, men are willing to fight for me, though it gains them nothing, for no other reason that the throne is my right. I will not betray these men. If I win, in centuries to come, people will think back on my victory and think, 'Heavens smile on those who fight for their rights.' That is all one can do." [[Ira]] on her father [[Arenicos]] and the [[Senate]] > "I am the daughter of the Emperor [[Arenicos]]. If I were his son, all the [[Senate]] would be tripping over their beards and walking sticks to swear allegiance to me. One day I will stand before them as empress, and they will give me their oaths." > > "Men should be ruled by something greater than themselves. We cannot have a god come down and rule us, so let us have a man or woman that we treat like a god. Call him a king or an emperor, I don't care. Let her be an empress or a queen. Just stop this filthy squabbling between faction and faction and let one person rule." [[Apys]] [[Varros]] on [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] [[Osticos]] and the [[Senate]] > "Ah, yes - a man who hands out huge gifts to his backers to their support in the [[Senate]], and yet prosecutes better men then him on charges of corruption. I asked him about this, and he said, 'While giving gifts is an ancient and hallowed tradition, selling judgements as a magistrate rocks the very foundations of our Empire.' Did you ever hear such hypocrisy?" [[Tynops]] [[Elaches]] on democracy and the [[Senate]] > "The assemblies once had supreme power, and the [[Senate]] only advised them. Then we were one city, now we number in the scores. The [[Senate]] tells us that this means democracy is dead. But I say the army is the next best thing. It is open to all classes, and anyone who fights knows what it means to depend on others. And soldiers are the first people who pay the price for a mistake." [[Pharon]] on house [[Leonipardes]], the [[Senate]], and Plutocracy > "Fortune smiled on me. I was born to one of the richest houses in [[Calradia-Conti.]]. My father spent much money to educate me, so that I can retain that wealth. And the first and most important thing I learned is that the common people are the source of my wealth, so I must protect the common people." > > "Beyond that, I was taught what any aristocrat worthy of his noble name should know and how he should behave. Keep his word. Fight for his country. Have the grace to listen to the needs of the poor men who work his estate. Have the sense not to take their advice on how to manage it." > > "My class was taught how to rule, and rule we should. But one of our number should always be above the others. Put us together in a [[Senate]], as [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] wants, and we will always quarrel and fight. Let an emperor or empress rule in the capital, and let their children succeed them, without any fuss. We shall give them a peaceful and prosperous countryside." Mentor (Either [[Istiana]] or [[Arzagos]]) on [[Arenicos]] and the [[Senate]], [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]], [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Garios]], and [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Rhagaea]] > "[[Arenicos]] is a man of genius with one great flaw: he believes everyone understands him when he speaks. He thinks that when he talks for three hours before the [[Senate]], the Senators have followed every word and grasp the urgency of what he says, not that they applaud because he is Emperor." > > "Most men do not break with tradition lightly. [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Garios]] [[Comnos]] does. But he does not grasp that when he makes his daring moves, it is no longer so daring, and his rivals will soon imitate him. And thus, the unspoken contracts that have tied together our Empire fall apart." > > "[[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Lucon]] [[Osticos]] sees us weak, when we were once strong, and the outer kingdoms strong, when they were once weak. He believes, as a man who cares nothing of events outside [[Calradian-Empire]], that the cause is entirely within ourselves - we have abandoned our old traditions, and grown weaker. It does not occur for him for an instant that barbarians have learned our tricks, and grown stronger. " > > "[[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Rhagaea]] [[Pethros]] knows she would be a good Empress, and that the time is right to establish that a woman can inherit. Believe me, I am the last to dispute that only men can sit on the throne. But if [[Characters/Bannerlord/Imperials/Rhagaea]] is empress, then it is only one easy step for her mad daughter [[Ira]] to inherit it." [[Asaios]] on [[Agandios]] (See page [[11]].) > He told me of how he was expelled from the [[Imperial]] service. It was a muddled account, but it seemed to me that [[Agandios]] was sent to parley with some [[Battanian]] chieftain to negotiate an end to a border feud, and, seeing as this chieftain had treacherously slain some of his comrades in the past, [[Agandios]] ambushed and killed him in turn. The senator ([[Senate]]) was ready to hand [[Agandios]] over to the Battanians ([[High-Kingdom-of-Battania]]) to be flayed alive as the price of peace, but [[Agandios]] was warned by sympathizers and fled into exile. That was some years ago, and he has since gone to seed. Apart from what [[Istiana]] pays him, I think he makes his living fighting at the arena on the off-days, where the merchants throw him a few denars to be trounced by the local [[Khuzait-Khanate]] champions so they can sell watered-down drinks to an undiscriminating morning audience. # Game Files / Developer Diaries The city of [[Argoron]] sits where the cold, slow moving Nevys River meets Lake Laconis. This was once the land of the [[Laconians]], who saw the [[Calradian-Empire]] as a protector against the more warlike [[Palaic]] peoples. They welcomed and intermarried with [[Imperial]] settlers and their chiefs joined the [[Senate]], and their old language and customs faded away. [[Myzea]] gives its name to the [[Myzeiad]], the rich hill country of the east-central empire. This region is the old stomping grounds of the senator [[Litos]], who brought the [[Palaic]] tribes here into the [[Calradian-Empire]] relatively peacefully by offering them protection against raiders from the steppes. When he fell afoul of his rivals in the [[Senate]], however, he tried to organize them into a rival 'barbarian' republic modelled on the ancient Calradian version. The Empire snuffed it out, but the people here, now thoroughly Calradicized, still harbor an attachment to the old republican system and its partisans. [[Vostrum]] was founded by the Calradian mercenary [[Archacos]], one of a number of rogue commanders who broke away from the [[Calradian-Empire]] during its expansion. Unlike some, who tried to reproduce the Empire's republican heritage, he chose to rule as a god-king. His dynasty lasted for generations, until [[Imperial]] troops overran it and smashed every haloed statue of [[Archacos]] and his successors into rubble. Even today, western and northern [[Imperial]] senators ([[Senate]]) accuse families from this region of being closet monarchists. [[Syronea]] sits on the eastern shores of Lake Tanaesis. This city, once peaceful and rich, was once a byword for luxury and decadence. This was the center of the [[Calradian-Empire]]'s silk industry and an entrepot for the goods flowing in from what was known as Transtanaesia ([[Darshia-Cnty.]]), the [[Imperial]] possessions and protectorates beyond the great lake. But the coming of the Khuzaits ripped the Transtanaesia from the Empire's grasp and the Senatorial families ([[Senate]]) of [[Syronea]] were forced to relearn the arts of war, dusting off old gilded armors and sharpening bejewelled swords to lead their followers against [[Urkhun LORE]]'s warriors. [[Varnovapol]], which sits beneath the Chertyg mountains on the crystal waters of Lake Laconis, has the dubious honor of being perhaps the most-often conquered city in [[Calradia-Conti.]]. Originally it was a colony of the [[Calradian-Empire]], infamous as a place of exile for dissident Senators ([[Senate]]), before it was seized by [[Nord]] as a base to expand their influence into the [[Sturgian]] fur trade ([[Principality-of-Sturgia]]). It was taken by the [[Alkit-Khanate]] tribe from the eastern steppe ([[Khuzait-Khanate]]) and briefly served as the capital of a small Khanate, before finally falling to the fierce [[Ormidoving]] clan. 'Paravenos' ([[Pravend]]) was the second major colony founded by [[Calradios]] 'the Great', and it soon succeeded 'Charasea' ([[Charas]]) as the capital of the Calradians ([[Calradian-Empire]]). Eventually, the Empire's center of gravity moved east, but 'Paravenos' retained its primacy as the economic center of the West. When [[Osric]] the [[Vlandian]] invaded ([[Kingdom-of-Vlandia]]), he recognized 'Paravenos' would be far more valuable as a seat of power than as simply as a source of loot, and negotiated its surrender with local Senators ([[Senate]]). It passed to a cadet branch of Osric's line, the [[dey-Tihr]] clan, and is today known as [[Pravend]]. Every realm has a city whose inhabitants are mocked for their provincial unsophistication, and for the [[Calradian-Empire]] that city was [[Jalmarys]]. One of the first [[Imperial]] colonies established inland of the Perassic Sea, it served the Empire as a base to subdue the western [[Palaic]] tribes. 'Paravenos' ([[Pravend]]) was happy to accept the plunder and slaves sent to them from its garrison, but snickered at them behind their backs. That changed when the Jalmaryan general [[Carsos]] staged a military coup. When a Senator ([[Senate]]), stymied by his thick accent, nervously asked him to repeat a decree, he unsheathed his sword and said, 'Do you understand this?' [[Lageta]] was infamously acquired by the [[Calradian-Empire]] by an act of treachery. A rogue [[Imperial]] mercenary murdered the [[Palaic]] chieftain who employed him, took the citadel, invited in [[Imperial]] colonists, then bequeathed the town to the Empire. The [[Senate]] disavowed his action but accepted the bequest. The district is now thoroughly Calradicized, but the Battanians ([[High-Kingdom-of-Battania]]) to the north remember, and whenever an [[Imperial]] envoy speaks of the sanctity of treaties and pacts, they just nod to each other and say, '[[Lageta]].'"