An old sodality

Overview

The Sun Chamber is a very old sodality that was set up during the time of Empress Richilde with the active support of the Throne. As a Dawnish noble, Richilde was concerned that citizens who had passed their Test of Citizenship and were done with their Test of Arms should have opportunities to pass their Test of Mettle so that they might join a noble house.

The early Empire had become much more formalised during the reign of Emperor Giovanni, and where previously titles had been appointed on merit, Richilde felt they were increasingly being offered only to those who had served long apprenticeships. The Empress disdained the idea that someone must spend years serving as the proxy for a senator or an adjutant for a general before they might aspire to high office, and rarely failed to point out that many who now occupied those titles had not had to endure such trials. She spoke regularly on the lack of Pride she perceived in such sentiments and argued that it was little more than a crude attempt to hold onto power by an older generation.

The Throne worked with a number of aspiring heroes of the age to create the Sun Chamber, and bequeathed it with a clear goal to empower its members and help them gain high office and to wield power within the Empire. For many years sodality worked to empower those who are most often overlooked due to the lack of years and to advance its own interests and power. Its influence has waxed and waned over the years, but it suffered a dramatic loss of fortunes during the reign of Empress Britta when almost the members attending Anvil that season were killed fighting alongside the young Empress.

Following the recent work to restore the power and status of sodalities, Zoria of the Zulgan Tash pushed the civil service to look into the status of the Sun Chamber. Having identified that the sodality's powers were never abrogated, the Constitutional Court have confirmed that the Chamber is still a viable legal body with a number of important powers that it can now utilise.

Joining the Sodality

The civil service has prepared an arcane projection using Autumn magic of magnitude 20 to defray some of the costs of casting Mark of Fellowship if a large number of citizens wish to join

To aid the reformation of the sodality, the civil service has created an arcane projection that will allow everyone present who is willing to join. The magnitude 20 Autumn ritual is identical to the one provided during the creation of the Silver Chalice and will be presented to Zoria of the Zulgan Tash. If a lot of people wish to join the sodality this will help to reduce the costs required.

The civil service has made reserved the use of the Senate chamber for the Sun Chamber for three meetings, they are:

8pm-9pm Friday 12:30pm-1:30pm Saturday 12:30pm-1:30pm Sunday

Everyone who is interested in being part of the sodality is encouraged to come to the Friday meeting (OOC Note: There will be a quick out-of-character safety briefing at the start before the meeting starts).

The sodality will need to find ten mana crystals and an Autumn coven prepared and able to perform the ritual, which may be difficult on such short notice for the Friday, given that the sodality has never met before. If that does prove the case, they can use the Friday slot for an informal meeting of those present to discuss matters, and look to secure the mana and the magic they need for a later session. Whatever happens, they will need to find a way to let everyone join the sodality before they can employ their legal powers.

After everyone has had a chance to join the sodality, the title of Counsel of the Sun Chamber will be elected. Once the election is complete, then members may seek to employ any of the legal powers available to them. At least one member of the civil service will be on hand to assist for as along as the sodality remains in session. The civil service have the bequests from the Chamber's patrons, for when the Chamber wishes to endow them on a member.

Scrutiny

The manifesto of the Sun Chamber was approved centuries ago, a sodality with limited membership would be unlikely to pass scrutiny today Any title with responsibilities involving the Sun Chamber or the promotion of its interests would likely need to be appointed by the sodality

The current Constitutional Court has not scrutinised the manifesto of the Sun Chamber, as any scrutiny would have taken place many years ago. Having looked at the formulation of the sodality, they are not so perturbed as to rule it unconstitutional, but they are pains to stress that any new sodality that attempted to limit its membership in this way would be likely to face extended scrutiny and would need to justify the decision very carefully.

It is likely that Chief Magistrate Abraham is simply attempting to cover his legal ass. He is believed to have spent time with senior members of the Artisans Guild who are legitimately keen to explore ways to limit their membership to artisans. The magistrate was firmly opposed to such limits, in the view that such a sodality should be open to anyone who wants to further the interest of the artisans. It would appear the constitutional court are simply attempting to have their legal cake and eat it.

The manifesto of the sodality does not have any implications for current Imperial titles, given its narrow remit to advance the interests of the sodality and its members. If the Senate ever made a new Imperial title that had responsibilities involving the Sun Chamber or the promotion of its interests then the court would be likely to insist that it be appointed by vote of the sodality.

Patronage

Roshanwe has provided the sodality with three ammonites that can be used to submit a thesis for the eternal to consider They have asked the sodality to find magicians whose ideas they think are worthy of consideration There is an audience with a herald at 00:20 on the Friday night of the summit Each magician who has used an ammonite may attend and each may bring up to two guests with them

It is often assumed that the eternal Roshanwe is a patron of the sodality. That being has always denied that, but they do seem to take an interest in it and to support it. In particular, the idea that fresh eyes bring new perspectives is an ideology that the Navigator strongly supports. That may be why this eternal has chosen to approach the sodality now.

The Walker on the Littoral has had a complicated relationship with the Empire in recent years. They used to be party to a ritual in Imperial lore, Combing the Beach which allowed magicians to send a thesis to the eternal. By way of reply, the being would respond with questions intended to challenge assertions and provoke fresh lines of enquiry. The results were mixed - many magicians complained that Beachcomber talked in meaningless riddles that provided nothing of value. As a result the eternal petitioned the Conclave to be allowed to withdraw from the ritual - offering a simple divination in its place.

That offer was accepted, but then the Archmage of Day and several prominent Day covens pleaded with the eternal not to withdraw support for Combing the Beach. In the end, the eternal relented a single crack, saying they would permit the Empire to cast the ritual once more that season. The Fisherman hoped for an engaging thesis that they might examine and challenge and thereby seek wisdom. It is not clear what the Empire sent to the Day realm, but the eternal's response was never made public.

Well not til now. The Walker on the Littoral has sent a herald to Anvil to present a handful of wet sand containing three Tempest Jade ammonite as a gift to the students of wisdom in the sodality. They have asked the members of the sodality to use, at most one, of the effigies themselves, and to give the others to any magicians they believe have a worthy idea that should be inspected and tested.

The eternal has prepared a small chamber, in the Eaves, an abandoned woodcutters hut on the edge of Alderly. Each magician who has used an ammonite is welcome to attend and may bring up to two guests with them. Those who wish to partake should be in the Hall of Worlds at twenty past midnight on the first night of the summit. One of the eternal's navigators will meet them there and take them to the Eaves to meet with the Empty Page. The eternal claims this being is one of their heralds - powerful and wise but lacking in knowledge. They creature will try to ask sensible questions, but the eternal cautions magicians not to turn up with questions about facts, as they claim the Empty Page knows literally nothing.

Game Design

We've created the Sun Chamber sodality because we want to directly address the fact that Empire can be a very inaccessible game for players before they turn twenty. We have always tried to provide a range of options to actively engage younger players and we've had some fantastic feedback on the successes of that, but once players past their Test of Citizenship and either take their Test of Arms or choose not to, that framework falls away.

The hope was always that players in would be able to engage with the political game of Empire, getting involved in Conclave, the Synod and the other parts of the game as they try for Imperial titles. In practice, that assumption was hopelessly naive. While the setting asserts that anyone who has passed their Test of Citizenship has all the rights and responsibilities of an Imperial citizen, in practice, that doesn't always happen. A player who looks young will often have to deal with ageism, with people unconsciously assuming that they're not old enough or not mature enough or not experienced enough simply because of their apparent age.

We want our game design to support our conduct rules and push back where practical on out-of-character prejudicial assumptions. For example, we will not tolerate someone saying that another player or character shouldn't be in the military council because of their gender or whether or not they take the battlefield. We've had some conversations with younger players about their experiences playing the game. Drawing on their feedback, we've created a powerful sodality with some significant in-character abilities to help address the barriers faced by players in this age group.

Our goal is three-fold; first of all, we want to create a degree of equity for players who are under twenty. We want to directly bolster their political power to make the PvP game accessible on a more equal footing with other players. The sodality is aimed at players aged fourteen to eighteen, but includes the potential for players a little older and a little younger to interact with it. Secondly, we want to create a forum where players in our target group can engage in politics with each other - the sodality is deliberately set up in such a way as to make its inherent operation political. Deciding how and when to deploy its powers will require the same kind of politics and compromise that underpins the rest of the game. Our goal is to give members of the sodality difficult decisions to wrestle with - exactly the same as other players - but in an environment where almost nobody but them has any hard power to determine what happens.

Finally, we wanted to create reasons that other players might want to interact with the sodality. We hope that senators, grandmasters, cardinals and characters without titles will want to approach the sodality and seek their help and support, just as they might with other political bodies in the game. Likewise, members of the sodality will have to approach these titles to advance their own goals. We really want to avoid interactions where people either give them everything they want because they're perceived as children, or else write them off and ignore them for the same reason. Instead, we hope that players will treat them as significant characters who have powers they can wield that can be employed to their advantage if they can persuade enough of them to go for it - that is to treat them as peers in the player-vs-player and player-with-player political game of Empire.

We'll watch the development of the sodality carefully - and listen to all feedback as always, but we hope that the Sun Chamber will serve to make the political game of Empire more accessible to more players.

Further Reading

Sun Chamber Imperial Sodality