"If there's no immediate comments, let's get copies of that made." the last line says no restrictions on music without words, music performed without sheet music, traditional mummer's plays... etc. "And I have one last thing, which I expect will be quick up or down. Count Ardiaca had the non-binding proposal for a second convention in forty years, but if it doesn't go through a committee it can't be law. There's no obvious committee for it, but Rights is reasonable enough, and I'd like to have that ready tomorrow if he hasn't found a better place. Here's my wording:"

In recognition that future generations will be more recovered from Asmodeanism than the present generation, and have just as much right to decide the structure of Her Majesty's government as it,

We affirm that there shall be, beginning the first week of Sarenith 4754 unless an earlier date is set by Her Majesty, another Constitutional Convention, with the right to revise, add, and overrule the Constitution of 4714,

And that it shall have either the same structure as the present convention, or another structure set by Her Majesty no later than Kuthona 4753.

"Having another convention in forty years sounds good to me."

"Yes," he agrees "- Her Majesty or her heir, perhaps?" Tragically there's no way to be more obscure.

"It's hard to imagine anything dangerous enough to kill the queen, but she'd be approaching eighty by then, and no one's found a preventive for age that works on anyone but the caster last I looked into it. Probably best."

This is actually a massive understatement in that he did an entire research prospectus in which age resistance, while not a central feature, was a significant element. He's also omitting entirely the fairly confident belief that, well, she doesn't need it to work for anyone but the caster. Probably the archdukes already know that.

“We aren’t getting it right this time, are we. Future generations more recovered from Asmodenism… I hope they’re more ready than we are.”

“Is there politics to this? If this comes from our committee, is this taking a side in the nobles arguing, and will it make us seem more radical or less radical?”

"This will make the bill seem more radical," he agrees, "but since the Forms of the Convention committee failed I don't know if there is a more appropriate place for it." 

"I think we may do reasonably well, Delegate Porras. I am sure that even if we do, our children and grandchildren will do better. We will make mistakes, even if we on the whole succeed. And they will learn from them."

"I intend to ask the Count to immediately take the floor after me, ask him to propose any amendments he likes to it and then immediately accept them, and then hand over the position of the motion's defender to him as much as possible. We, and I, may be radicals in the eyes of many, but I think we can avoid that dominating perceptions of it."

"...which count?"

Same question.

"The Count of Gandisa, Joan-Pau Ardiaca i Cerda, who proposed the non-binding motion for a new convention this morning. He was the first to speak after President Cotonnet, before the arguments started, if you remember?"

"I remember the man, there's just so many counts, you can't say 'the count' the way one could say 'the archduchess' as there's only one of you."

"I believe the Count of Gandisa is only considered radical by men from the northern reaches," he agrees.

"Which ones are, uh, the northern reaches — I don't know where most of the nobles are from —"

"- Molthune province," he says, "and the other areas north of Menador acknowledging His Grace the Lord Protector Ferran Nefol y Artegas de Villec as acting regent of the Chelish throne. Among the more, hmm, closer in mindset to the Lord Protector of the northern nobles, he is spoken of rather the way the more conservative noblemen of the south might refer to Valia Wain."

"...but the Queen is the Queen of Cheliax? Why do they think someone else is in charge of Cheliax? ...also, I thought Molthune was a country, not just a province, Feliu said it was a country."

Thanks, Feliu. "Molthune was a province of Cheliax during the Great Chelish Civil War that placed the Asmodeans in power. However, it was never conquered by Asmodean armies, and served as the last fallback of the armies of the Royal and Imperial Army of Holy Cheliax, the anti-Asmodean coalition formed in the last years of the war, who finally agreed to an uneasy truce with the Asmodeans to build up their forces. Since then it has been governed as an independent country by a sequence of Lords Protector who carried out the duties of the sovereign, awaiting the reclamation of the rest of Cheliax before settling the matter of who they would recognize as the rightful heir to the Chelish throne, but at no point did Molthune ever formally declare independence from Cheliax. His Grace the Lord Protector has sent Her Majesty the Queen congratulations on her victory, but neither he nor this convention have yet come to a final decision as to whether Molthune will rejoin the Empire in fact as well as in name or attempt to actively secede outright from Her Majesty's realm."

"A number of its nobles were invited back by the Queen, to take up their ancestral titles. The Archduke de Sirmium here is one; Count Ardiaca is another; Ser Feliu I suspect would have been eligible but refused, though he is a close friend of Count Ardiaca and accompanied him on his journey here. All of those, naturally, have very strong opinions on the subject of reunification, and most of those who chose to come here rather than remain are not very pleased with the Lord Protector, and the Count is definitely one of those. There is a dispute within Molthune province initially about independence for the far northern parts of Molthune but which became particularly loud in the cities as well when the Lord Protector did not assist in the Four-Day War. Count Ardiaca took men from both sides of that dispute and came here anyway to try and help regardless; much like Select Wain, his intentions were certainly Good but many people objected intensely to the way he did it and called it anarchic." Because it absolutely was. She's never going to offer to let him take her rapier for a moment, because Cayden might not let him give it back. "He is on a far end of a political dispute most of us have remained entirely uninvolved in, and a moderate in most of the ones in which we are involved."

Wow, that all sure is context she didn't have about the guy.

"Indeed. Should he return to Molthune Province while the present Lord Protector reigns I believe he will be hanged for piracy." There's a pamphlet someone put out this morning summarizing the events, probably Joan-Pau, but he's really not sure he wants to mention that.

"...Well, I don't know about all the noble politics, it sounds pretty confusing, but I think it's good that he came to help, even if he was Chaotic about it. Why do people think he shouldn't have, are they — the sort of person who thinks you should always follow the laws even if the laws were made by Asmodeus—"

Enric remembers that count, thought he was called Arcadia. Took his idea for the judiciary committee, but to stop the nobles and Wain arguing. Was arguing with the Acevedo noble about which gods they didn’t like, and agreed that virtuous churches should decide. Against slavery, in the way where slavery ends today not next week. Wanted to put that Ruben guy in charge of the convention rules and being bribed committee, so for honest peasants and against the greedy selfish bastards. Maybe a secret radical, but only the nobles from the north think that. 

Sounds like someone already sort of on their side, so if proposing a new convention helps him out, that’s good. Unless he gets hanged for piracy, then he won’t be able to help out in return. Enric hopes this Molthune place is really far north and if they have a war about whether they’re a province, it stays very far away.

"There are principles of Law I have never broken, despite working in an Asmodean hierarchy, and which he has. And while I would do the same, very few military men would. I would be happy to explain in more detail in a private setting without an audience."

"Back to the bill, let's change it to 'Her Majesty, or her duly-confirmed heir' in both places?"

Noble politics is so confusing!!!

"That change sounds fine to me."

Nod nod nod.

That's maybe sneaking a little bit of radical implication in, Archduchess. In that it's asserting that someone else other than her needs to do the confirming. But you'll probably get away with it.

"Sounds good to me."