Lessons From the Grand Sage: Cultural Studies (The Imperial Diet)
Celdos reveal, your grace.
Some years have passed since the death of the Empress Soleil, last ruler of the great Sun Empire, realm of the Magnians writ large. In the year 1025 LE, the year after her death, the Imperial Diet convened only to be abruptly ended due to an outbreak of the Prophet’s Plague. An outbreak that would swiftly swallow the old empire whole.
It is widely considered that due to the Diet never meeting again and no new emperor being elected, that the empire is in fact dissolved. The passing of twenty one years since that fateful day would seem to confirm that to be true…
...However. The Empire has endured such periods of anarchy before. The Fiendish Regency lead to the Time of Troubles, for instance, leading to twelve years bereft of an emperor. It is not impossible to think that this is another such matter. Thus, though the Diet has not met in your lifetime, it behooves you to understand how it functioned.
The Imperial Diet held many duties – advising the imperial personage, ensuring the flow of tribute and troops, and acting as a court by which the emperor themselves could be judged. But foremost among their tasks was electing a new emperor to fill the imperial throne when the previous emperor either abdicated or perished.
Three Colleges made up the Imperial Diet: The College of Electors, the College of Cities, and the College of Kings.
The College of Electors was the primary body, comprised of two halves – the Elector Princes and the Dukes Spiritual. The Elector Princes were high nobility that ruled key provinces throughout the empire. These positions were tied to the land and inherited, but could be altered by edict of the emperor if backed by the College.
The Dukes Spiritual were the foremost holy men and women of the Empire, drawn primarily from the high priests of notable Lumanox cathedrals and the grandmasters of the Temple Knights. They were lead unofficially by the High Priest of the Sun and Moon, who proclaimed their decision.
The College of Cities was comprised of the Free Imperial Cities. These cities knew no feudal authority besides that of the Emperor themselves. Some two hundred cities filled their annals, but never more than a hundred at any one time. It is from their professional militias that the Emperor drew much of their standing army. The remainder came from the other component of the College, the orders of the Imperial Knights.
The College of Kings was the least of the Imperial Diet chambers and comprised all of the kings and grand dukes that ruled in their own name, knowing no lord save the emperor. They would meet to hear matters of war and peace and little else besides. The College of Kings was conveyed the most in the empire’s final age, the Dusk Era.
The election of the emperor traditionally followed this pattern. First, a prospective emperor would travel to Dulinor to proclaim themselves at the Cathedral of Dawn Resplendent.
A prospective emperor had to be a subject of the empire, of good standing in the Temple, and of non-common stock. The closest to a non-noble elected of the forty nine emperors was Emperor Dagobert the Guildmaster.
The College of Cities would narrow the candidates down to a bare handful – always at least two, up to as many as four. No upper limit was ever written into law. At the worst moments of infighting, the College gave a list of names.
Then, the two chambers of the College of Electors would argue and debate for their preferred candidate. The Elector Princes would vote for their preferred candidate, with the winner needing a majority of votes. The one chosen by the Elector Princes is known as the ‘King of the Magnians.’
Finally, the Dukes Spiritual would decide whether or not they would accept the King of the Magnians. If they do, then they would be named ‘Patriarch/Matriarch of the Temple,’ and formally bestowed with their power within the Cathedral of Dawn Resplendent.
But, as stated, the Diet has not convened in a generation. No candidates have proclaimed their intent at the Cathedral; none have stood before the College of Cities. The titles of the Elector Princes endure, but only as a mark of honor to place them above their fellows.
Perhaps we have seen the end of the Imperial Diet. Or perhaps you will see its return in your lifetime. Only Celdos, in their far sight and wisdom, can say with any certainty where the winding roads may lead.
