Imperial Court

[Dapper Dog]

Imperial Court

Court is not a common occurrence, at least in a formal sense. In general the Imperial Bureaucracy handles most forms of complaint and Government inquiry, especially for those less well connected to the elite. In general formal court is reserved for high ranking government officials, nobility, high ranking military, and the Sith. This is a place to bring an official grievance or make requests of the Dark Council. Typically the Dark Council will already be convened, one does not ever request them to convene for a matter unless they are the Emperor or of the Dark Council.

The Dark Council will have the supplicant brought to their chambers to make their requests or grievance known and then will confer ion the matter and then make a decision. Often in the same session, though important matters may require them time to discuss the matter privately and for the real politics to begin and then reconvene and make a decision. This means that most business ahs been handled on Korriban, as that is the traditional location of the chambers of the Dark Council.

The process is pretty simple a supplicant must approach a Dark Councilor and if that Dark Councilor is amenable to the request will bring it up as a matter for the floor. Then the supplicant is summoned to speak their case and the Dark Council discusses and makes their decision. Making such a request is a risk, as if the Dark Council feels the matter is beneath them they may make an example of the supplicant, or if a Dark Councilor wishes to provoke their rival may do so out of spite and kill the supplicant. All rulings of the Dark Council are final unless the Emperor decides otherwise, and this is rare. It has not happened in at least two centuries that the Emperor has countermanded their decision.

This progress becomes a bit more complicated and also streamlined when the Emperor holds court, the Dark Council can still handle the matter but only if the Emperor deems the matter beneath his attention. If the Emperor abstains, then the process is as described above. If the Emperor deems to hear the supplicant, then they speak directly to his Throne, and he makes the decision directly. Typically the Voice speaks on his behalf, and his proclamation becomes the law of the Empire.

When speaking to the Dark Council one should always bow deeply out of respect for their position. The same is true for the Emperor but they should also say the following before making their request, “Immortal Emperor, if it pleases you may I speak directly to your presence,” or something to that effect. It is customary to ask for permission to speak to him, even if the throne summoned the individual to stand before them. The Emperor or his Voice will nod their approval and then the request can be made.

Many centuries ago at the start of court the Dark Council and their families were announced one by one, but Darth Vowrawn finding the process tedious decided to bring all of his immediate families to court, leading to a delay of over four hours as they announced every member of his immediate family in attendance. Now they simply announce the Dark Councilor and esteemed guests, and then move on to the next and always end with the Immortal Emperor if he is attendance.

Court ends when the Dark Council wishes to retire for the day, or tempers need cooling, or if the Emperor simply wishes for it to end. The Emperor leaves first, followed by the Dark Council and their esteemed guests, opposite of their entrance. Once they have left the rest of the guests and courtiers are directed out of their chambers. Court typically lasts 4 hours, and in addition to supplicants there is usually a topic at hand that can be discussed openly by all in court.

It should be noted that not every session of the Dark Council is open to the “public”, in fact most of their sessions are private invite only affairs for those not on the Dark Council.