The Senate chambers seemed oddly empty, even given the diminished size of that once-august body. The banners of the parties of Rome fluttered from the rafters– the only color in a spartan chamber stripped of its treasures years ago– but beneath them sat very few senators.

The doors to the chamber flew open. The opposition Senators– derisively called by their enemies “Discordians”, although some came to embrace the label– burst in.

One of them began to speak, but he was quickly drowned out by another, and another. We must have a Republic! We must dispense with the Senate! Let’s let the Black Chamber run things! The Empress must embrace the Mandate of Heaven and end all this political squabbling once and for all!

Then there was an even more tremendous din, as if somebody had fired a cannon at the Senate chambers.

Somebody had, in fact, fired a cannon at the Senate chambers.

The outer walls of the Senatorial complex were breached and a great throng of Constantinoplians came pouring in– rich merchants, poor craftsmen, Bogomilist rabble-rouses, Orthodox priests in all their regalia, bankers, artists, fishwives, philosophers. Soon the senators– Discordian and Loyalist alike– were swept into the crowd, and soon there was no telling them apart from anybody else. They were just more voices in the crowd.

But in the Convention of Byzantion, where the future of an empire was being planned, there was much power in being a voice in the crowd.

One woman, though, still sat apart from the Convention– the Empress Hypatia II, still sitting at the dais, looking down, hands folded in her lap.

Waiting for what would happen next.

Who do you support?

She has to go! I don’t care what we replace her with– a new emperor or empress, a dictator, an educated goat, we’ll worry about that later– it’s all her fault we’re in this situation. Storm the dais!
##Support the Turkish Bank Baron

Has Hypatia II not suffered alongside her people? Has she not sacrificed so much to prevent the fall of our empire? Her role must change– she must change– the state she presides over must change. But blame cannot be laid at her feet alone.
##Support the Patrician Philosopher

The empress sits back and her throne and sighs– whether in relief or disappointment the crowd can’t tell.

The patrician who proposed sparing Hypatia begins to address the gathered citizens of Constantinople on the subject of the Empress’ role in a new government. Her voice is quickly joined by three others, all expounding on the same topic.

Who rallies the chamber to their side? Whose speech is loud enough to be heard amidst all the noise and confusion?

People often talk of the Golden Age of the Komnenoi. But what distinguished that age from our present one? Iouliana the Great and her allies in the Senate had a clear vision of the future, and tried to build a New Byzantium. Then, though, the Senate turned their back on that vision to chase the dead glory of Old Rome…
##Support the Patrician Philosopher

Rome is dead. But when we speak of the great ancients– the artists, philosophers, playwrights, poets, scientists, scholars, and mathematicians who made Classical civilation such a bright light in a darkening world– were they Romans? Did Romans build the library of Alexandria? Invent democracy? Write the Oedipus Cycle? Discover how to calculate the length of the hypotenuse of a triangle? The Romans were simply barbarians who sacked the beating heart of Hellenic civilization, crossroads of the east and west, filling Europe with pale imitations of its art and worshipping faded copies of its gods…
##Support the Nostalgic Neo-classicist

I’m sure everyone here is familiar with the Mandate of Heaven. Chinese political thought, however, has moved far beyond the forms of government practiced by the reactionary military dictatorships on our borders. In China– the real China– a new conception of rulership has begun to emerge:

For, ultimately, the Mandate of Heaven differs from the European idea of Divine Right in that it holds that emperors only deserve to rule if they rule well— if they protect the welfare of their people. A modern state is built around the assumption that both an emperor and the people he governs have rights and responsibilities to one another, established in a constitution of written laws…
##Support the Scholarly Civil Servant

Let me tell you a story about a little family you might have heard of called the von Habsburgs. They clawed their way up through the ranks of the German nobility and did God knows what just for the privilege of calling themselves Emperor of Rome. Somewhere along the way, some lesser von Habsburg cousin was sent off to marry a Scottish princess. When this Scottish line of von Habsburgs came to rule that kingdom, it was seen as a lesser honor than the imperial dignity of the German Habsburgs. Yet what does the Habsburg Emperor rule over now? A disintegrating empire of ruins and ash. What does Queen Victoria von Habsburg rule over? All Great Britain and Ireland, protected by a fleet to rival that of Silla, Somalia, or Ayiti, with all the wealth of their colonial empire in Avalon flowing into their coffers. Who holds the greater honor?

Emperors have no place in Europe. Their time has past. We must become a modern kingdom with a queen.
##Support the Moustachioed Monarchist

##Support the Scholarly Civil Servant
Excellent. Now, the Ming Empire is far-off, and in these times of crisis its internal reforms are understandably beyond our area of immediate concern, so I shall summarize its constitutional arrangements. Obviously, allowing just anyone to vote would result in anarchy, so instead we turn to the civil service. As the civil service is a meritocratic institution open to any who can pass the imperial exams, elections from amongst its ranks would be a far truer indicator of the Mandate of the People than any straw-poll of land-owners or nobles. An honest and intelligent peasant, after all, could rise from the fields all the way to highest echelons of government, after all. Civil servants who pass the first exam get one one vote, those who pass the second get two, and those who pass the third get three. Together, they elect a council of 12 top-ranked bureaucrats, with whom the emperor or empress must confer in all matters. In times of truly dire national emergency in which the mandate of the people has been self-evidently lost, a unanimous vote by the Council of Twelve can dismiss the emperor from office– although never has the Ming Empire faced such disasters. Anyway, we have an empress, we have a civil service– think about it.

##Support the Astute Architect
A more formalized version of arrangements starting to emerge in many of the western monarchies that have rejected French absolutism will suffice. Let us formalize a patrician class composed of land owners; those whose personal wealth exceeds a certain threshold– and– let’s throw the Councils of State a bone and say third-ranked bureaucrats– and, why not, members of the old Senatorial families– we might as well give you a consolation prize now that we have, ha ha, blown a hole in the side of your chambers and deposed you– elect an Imperial Assembly. This represents a far broader spectrum of special interests than bureaucrats and only bureaucrats, without letting the serfs and other indigents the Edict of Athens unwisely defined as ‘citizens’ muck everything up. The Assembly’s assent is required to levy taxes, so the Empress has to make sure their grievances– which is to say, the grievances of the whole broad Patrician class they represent– are addressed to get anything done. This way, we’ll make sure our differences are worked out before people start grabbing their swords and trying to overthrow the empire.

##Support the Nostalgic Neo-classicist
No, no, wait, hear me out– did you know that people in our country are already voting on things? Since the Senate passed the Spirit of Athens act, every time a vacancy has opened up amongst the doukes of the themes, the literate population of that theme was able to elect his or her replacement. Now, in practice, this was just yet another way to marginalize the doukes– we can all agree on that, right? And over the decades of crisis, these elections have not exactly been hotly contested. Still, it’s the nucleus of a useful democratic institution– in these local elections the great spirit of the polis was reborn. Let’s run with that– abolish what’s left of the theme system, organize the empire into polises, each of which will elect an archon as their local governor. This will allow the empress and the councils of state to concentrate on matters of national import while allowing the common people say in the day-to-day matters that affect them most. Well, the literate common people.