The Queen in Her wisdom has commanded the Archmage to select men and women drawn by Lot, that they might represent their Own Interests. I have heard, for example, that many Slips have spoken up in the name of Killing Slaveholders, and that many Farmers have spoken up against Taxation of their Fields. It is surely clear that these men represent their Own Interests, and that of men such as them, and that to exclude any sort of man from the Drawing of Lots would surely leave their Interests Undefended.

But nearly Half of Cheliax has been Excluded from the Lots! For the Archmages have declared that no Children shall be selected in this manner. I was not sure of this at first myself, for I have seen Children entering the Convention-Hall; but all those Children were dressed as Nobles, and I discovered that Invariably they had been chosen from the ranks of the Nobility, save one who was a Priest.

Such a matter is far too Grave to be left to those with Power over their Children. For many Mothers and Fathers have learned of Asmodeus to set themselves over their children as Tyrants. In times not far past they forced their Children to attend School, though they Wail and Beg, though in doing so they brought about their children's Damnation. They send their Children to Honest Labor, and then keep the Coin they earned for themselves, spending it not on Food or Clothing for their Children, but on Drink and Gambling. They decide what Gods their Children ought Worship, and many Children have been left entirely Ignorant of the Gods of Good. To think that men and women such as these can protect the Interests of Children is as Absurd as thinking an Asmodean Priest would protect the Interests of the men he Controls.

It is true that many children are too Foolish to make Wise Decisions. But is that not true of many men at the Convention? The Archmages have made no exception for the Elderly, for Slips and Monsters, for the Illiterate, or for those of Addled Mind. Why should a boy of Fourteen be regarded less Capable than a Feeble-Minded Simpleton?

Let any Child old enough to Speak be eligible to be Drawn by Lot. And lest Children go Unprotected in the Constitution, let Fifty Children be Chosen Today and added to the ranks of the Sortitionate, to participate in the Convention like any other man.