That would be a disaster, but he's pretty sure it would so obviously be a disaster that he doesn't need to explain it.

"Seconded!" He doesn't even think that's a good idea but he bets the nobles will come up with all kinds of great insults if they have to fight about whether Evil nobles should be allowed.

Please, please do not praise me any more, person who feels the need to explicitly disclaim the need to murder evil nobles.

She's not actually against murdering Evil nobles! Would he rather she have said that instead?

"This body does not have the authority to change the laws of inheritance for the noble titles which predate it, and to even consider the possibility plants a seed of disorder that will grow into civil war unless we tear it out at the root now. The Thrunes raised a pretender to my title once, and those of you who lived under them may not realize that many powers they claimed were royal were simply stolen, and they did not possess those powers in the eyes of either gods or Law. We do not possess them now, and should not attempt to steal them.

I cannot stand idly by while that injustice is proposed again. This misbegotten law encourages fratricide and civil war in the name of order and stability. I call on the delegate who proposed this violation of venerable Law to immediately retract it, and for all to oppose it."

Yeep. How did they end up on the radical side? If they are, that suggests they're probably in the wrong.

"I understand that some titles have lapsed, that some have uncertain inheritance, and the venerable traditions associated with many of the titles may be a mystery to their current holders, their vassals, and their liege. An investigative committee, which determines what the laws and traditions are throughout Cheliax, determines the lines of succession for the titles as they are, and makes recommendations through the proper channels could be useful. Even the practice of adoption, while useful in the ancient Empire, will need to have a different form to correctly guide behavior and expectations in the current situation. I had mistakenly believed this was what the committee sought to do, and encourage the members to see themselves charged with informing and advising the nobility, not commanding it." Or else you will be replaced, he does not have to say.

- she really needs to ask Alexeara a bunch of questions about why the Church wants a weak crown. It's kind of baffling. The Church does not usually want a weak crown.

He would give a great deal to know where the aristocracy manage to find such unshakeable faith in their own importance. Perhaps he might profit by it. 

"If I may offer a correction, Delegate Fraga – the inheritance of noble titles is squarely within the remit of the constitution which this body is expected to compose. Indeed, as I've explained, the purpose of a constitution is to be the supreme law of the land, higher than the monarch and certainly higher than her vassals. What sort of law would it be if it were subordinate to every half-remembered privilege we could dig out of a century-old law book? The ancient traditions of Cheliax may certainly inspire you, but your job is to make laws for the present, not be slave to the past." 

Excellent! Go Elie, you tell those aristos what’s what! The people and the constitution are in charge now!

He... was not expecting that, and with age comes the wisdom to not immediately fire back.

"It is not slavery to hold up one's end of a bargain, and we have obligations to both past and future. We should not abandon them lightly or thoughtlessly."

He'll head to the back of the line.

The King-In-Irons grins at him as the great nobleman walks past him.

He hadn't realized quite how much he was risking when he brought this to the floor, and given how many people have spoken against it it's probably not worth chancing his committee being disbanded.

"Your Grace, the Succession Committee has spent several of its meetings investigating the laws and traditions used throughout Cheliax. In much of Cheliax, there are unclear or contradictory traditions in place, and I am worried that without further clarification we risk unrest and instability. With that being said, our committee has no intention of exercising its powers recklessly, and I am willing to withdraw this proposal until I can discuss this matter further with you."

Does it seem like the Duke is satisfied with that?

Yes, he is, with a nod of his head. But what about the rest of the line?

"Booo!" He wants them to keep fighting!

"When you are writing a new law, Baron Pichot i Bordas, I would urge you and your committee to remember that a noble's first duty has always been to protect his subjects. To rule is one way this must be done, but a dangerous land requires both rule and defense, and it is far easier to train or hire clerks and magistrates to serve a count in ruling on his behalf than to train or hire forces sufficient to defend on his behalf against, say, a coven of swamp hags or a young dragon. Perhaps Miravet and Conesa are blessed with tame farmlands and nothing worse than some roving bones improperly buried and this is no trouble, but just in Ravounel we have mountains with orcs and a dragon, a forest which has been hostile since before Aspex, and all the undead and madmen which come across the border with Nidal, and we are far from the most dangerous of the archduchies. Anarchic adventurers can be taught to rule well, or marry wives who were so taught; teaching lawful but unblooded men to fight monsters is far harder. Our laws of eligibility, when they are written, must allow for heirs who can defend their people, not just rule, and especially now must not restrain the many higher nobility with lower seats to fill from picking men who can protect them from the monsters who have been able to run amok over the last years."

The King-In-Irons will politely yield his space in line to de Fraga.

He'll applaud the archduchess's point--he was worried she would attack the nobility further, and instead she highlighted one of their key strengths--and then head to his seat. The proposal is withdrawn; they will hopefully repair it to the point that the floor, impatient as it is, will not need a lecture on the core facts underpinning inheritance, and will instead just hear a parade of short speeches in support.

Is it worth suggesting heir have to fight a lion in order to prove they are strong enough before they inherit? 

It would be cool but will they actually go for it?

Probably not worth it.

"The senior delegate from Galt can say whatever he likes, but that does not grant him the power to make it true, any more than he could rewrite the laws of Creation and set the stars in motion around Golarion. There is no law of the land higher than the Queen's will, for the Queen's will is law; likewise, no mortal, however radical, can hope to rewrite the law that is inscribed on the heart of every man. Perhaps tomorrow the senior delegate from Galt will proclaim that henceforth inheritance of titles shall be handled by lot, but he can no more transform the men he selects into true noblemen than he could transform Infrexus Thrune into a good man. And if the convention attempts to eliminate those privileges which have belonged to the nobility for time immemorial, it will be as if a cartographer sought to eliminate a river merely by failing to mark it on the map."

Even accepting the premise that nobility is some fundamental rule of the world (Thea believes strength is fundamental, but her view of strength has broadened widely these past few weeks, and nobility is secondary to that)…

Rewriting the heart of every man is probably within an Archmage’s power, it’s just scaling up charm person or suggestion or Geas to the scale of a country.  Eliminating a river should also be easily doable.  Altering the stars motion is probably beyond them, even Archmagi aren’t omnipotent, but rewriting principles of governance is more in line with a country-wide enchantment and should be doable.

...wasn't the current Archduke of the Longmarch originally a random orphan?

No, he's like Abadar's son? Can't get more noble than an aasimar.

"The will of the Queen is the highest authority in the land," the King-In-Irons says. "Very true! The Queen, however, possesses Her authority first because the beaten people of Cheliax, tortured by Infernal rule, submit to Her, and second because She and Her companions can cast teleportation circles and kill archdevils. One hears that they did.

"And third... is there a third? I don't believe there is. 'She is favored by all the gods of Good'. I suppose She is, not that archmages need gods. 'She is descended directly from Aspex himself.' Bah. Aspex had half a dozen sons and more daughters; the way nobles sleep around everyone in Cheliax is descended from him. The closest thing to a third thing is that three archmages and the Lord Inquisitor back Her, and if they prefer the law of the constitution to Her will it may well override it.

"Which brings us to everything else you said, which is completely and utterly wrong. Wish rewrites the laws of creation - as every fool knows - and I can't be the only one who knows that Mass Suggestion exists, so that's the law on the human heart taken care of. Even a wizard with my power can - and has - destroyed rivers for strategic purposes, there's Zon-Kuthon helmets for redeeming Infrexus," not that he's sure those are real but screw this guy, "and a true nobleman is one who can kill a dragon, not one whose descent js on the contractually accepted side of the blanket.

"Let us be blunt." He makes a cutting motion. "The nobility is obsolete. Superfluous. Lastwall has done without them and if does not lack the favor of the gods. Absalom does without them and it is the most god-favored city on the planet. Galt has triumphed over all enemies without a single noble-born lord to its name. The lords that the Queen has raised up may either accept their status as royal appointees and humbly kneel before the Queen who called them from the grave and the gutter and Oppara as Her loyal servants in submission to Her power and Her law, accepting whatever rules She lays on them and acting as Her delegates, or they may leave Cheliax and find some country more suitable to them. Taldor and Mendev both seem fitting, and She will appoint men who will do the duties she wishes done. Every authority that Her people grant to anyone belongs to Her and none to them, for without Her they would be slaves of Hell and without the men with books to prove their descent from Aspex they would have no one to rule them but - heroes of the Reclamation good and pure."

He smirks arrogantly and steps aside.

Clap clap clap!