Prefect of the Conclave
Elections (left), running the business of the Imperial Conclave.
Overview
The Civil Service appoint one or more of their number as Prefect of the Conclave. This position is designed to ensure the smooth operation of the Imperial Conclave and has powers of censure to support that.
The Prefect of the Conclave is an NPC only position. Its role is to ensure the smooth running of Conclave meetings - not to play the game.
Duties
The Prefect of the Conclave is responsible for ensuring that Conclave sessions take place in a timely and effective fashion. They keep order in the Hall of Worlds, ensure the rules are followed and maintain the agenda for each session. They are responsible for recording the key details of declarations, oversee any votes that take place and liaise with senior civil servants to ensure the Conclave's decisions are executed. They support the grandmasters in their role as leaders of the Conclave, by maintaining records of Precedence and calling on each grandmaster when it is their order's time to nominate a speaker for the debate.
They also maintain the Font, dispensing resources for any Declaration of Endowment and collecting the mana provided by magicians speaking in Conclave under the Principle of Proportions.
Powers
Officer of the Conclave
The Prefect may speak freely during Conclave sessions, without paying any mana. In practice, as a civil servant, the Prefect usually only speaks to announce agenda items, call for mana when speakers reach their time, and generally restricts their comments to ones needed to ensure the smooth operation of each Conclave session.
Agenda
The Prefect is responsible for maintaining and publishing the agenda for each Conclave session. Anyone wishing to submit a declaration must complete an appropriate writ and hand it to the office of the Prefect. They will ensure it is recorded and added to the agenda. The Prefect can arrange for a replacement writ if one is lost or stolen given sufficient warning.
To ensure that all magicians have time to prepare for the agenda, the Prefect closes it one hour before each session is due to begin. They will not accept a declaration submitted after this time.
Proposal
The Prefect may propose any number of declarations for consideration by the Conclave each summit. In practice this ability is only ever used to raise administrative declarations. These will usually be a Declaration of Concord that is worded to allow the Civil Service to confirm the Conclave's intent where that was previously unclear. They do not accept "suggestions" for declarations from citizens under any circumstances.
Powers of Censure
The Prefect of the Conclave has the power to sanction anyone attending a Conclave session once the meeting is open. This power is used to censure rowdy or disruptive individuals, and extends equally to anyone inside the chamber. Archmages, grandmasters, a priest attempting to use the right of witness to act in an inappropriate manner, a civil servant who was speaking out of turn, or even The Throne can all be subject to censure by the Prefect.
As with the Speaker for the Senate and the Herald of the Council, the Prefect can apply three sanctions, each of increasing magnitude. The Prefect may use any power they judge appropriate - they do not need to start with silence and escalate.
Silence
The first sanction is silence. The Prefect can silence a persistently rude or boorish individual; they will not be allowed to speak or be nominated to speak while silenced although they may still vote. This sanction lasts until the discussion of the current agenda item is complete.
Exclusion
Should this prove insufficient the second sanction is exclusion - the offending individual is obliged to leave the Hall of Worlds and thus the Conclave session until the end of the discussion of the current agenda item. This denies them the right to vote on the matter, so it is considered a serious punishment. They may re-enter the Hall of Worlds following the vote.
Expulsion
The third and final sanction is expulsion - the individual is expelled from that Conclave session and must leave the Hall of Worlds. They lose their chance to vote on any issue, and forfeit any declaration they may have intended to make. This is an extreme sanction and historically is used on individuals only in response to grave misdemeanours such as threats of violence in the Hall of Worlds during a session.
Appointment
The Civil Service selects the Prefect of the Conclave. Although the title is usually referred to in the singular, the Civil Service may grant the title to more than one citizen. In practice it is common to refer to the "office" of the Prefect, indicating all citizens who hold the title of Prefect and any other civil servants empowered to carry out their responsibilities on their behalf.
The Prefect of the Conclave can be revoked by the General Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.
The Prefect of the Conclave is currently filled by three civil servants, Aitana i Riqueza, Khaytanus Everwatch and Casiphea, daughter of Anne, of Basilisk's Rest. Further support is provided as necessary by other civil servants such as Merlot and Marta Kovar.
The Prefect in Play
The Prefect is an NPC whose role it is to keep Conclave sessions fun and engaging for the participants.
Further Reading
Core Brief
Additional Information
- Conclave vault
- Key Appointments to the Imperial Conclave