Parliament Hall
Officially known as the Masterson Hall, though the name is rarely used. Parliament Hall occupies much of the ground floor of Huwdone House and is the site, obviously, for Parliament, Christoté's main legislative forum, to meet. It is an extremely tall and imposing chamber with little decoration and its impact coming from sheer scale. Running all the way around is a large public gallery, its carved stone sides hanging over the hall and held up by marble colonnades. The ceiling is busily decorated with a gold and blue square pattern, and the chief illumination comes from a vast crystal chandelier which hangs in the centre from a very strong gold-painted chain. The chandelier was one of five formal gifts given to Christoté by Kakranfé for their aid in the Second Asatan War.
The seating for the debating/voting chamber is arranged into a rough (seven sided shape) which is divided into seven block. Each is allocated to a different provinces and the Emissaries sit in their respective ones. Privy Councillors and Huwdone Office leaders/deputies are expected to sit on the front row of their blocks for federal debates, but beyond this precedence is decided by each province (naturally, Barons also always sit in the front row). If federal bills are being decided there is debate across the floor and a single vote held, though individual provinces may also choose to debate the issues amongst themselves. For this purpose, decorative screens are slid across to partition the hall up. Slightly set apart from the main hall and up a short flight of stairs is an antechamber which is open to the hall but can also be screened off. Called the Scaltith Den for no recallable reason, the Chancellor and the Barons may retire here during a debate if necessary (though separate Barons Estates are always held in the Long Room). Voting is carried out within the chamber itself, through the placing of 'Yes' and 'No' balls into bags. It is supervised by two Chancellor's Office officials and the results of the vote is announced by a third, the Marble Messenger.
The banked seats of the public gallery can hold roughly a thousand people. Admittance is free and on a first-come-first-served basis, through Huwdone's main doors once all the politicians have assembled. It is always a popular pastime, with politics seen as a spectator sport in the Cities. Most people go simply to observe though some try to vocally influence the debate. Informal jeering, applause and heckling is rife, but occasionally a commoner may be given permission by the officials to contribute to the debate. The most famous public speech was made by the poetess and praetor Janyan Sora in 1274, whose lyrical address on the state of the nation lasted half an hour and was later transcribed into an epic poem. That said, the occasion twelve years ago when a woman stood up and accused Holan Meluzzi, Emissary for Braeric, of raping her was also a show stopper.
The Nature of Parliament
Loyalties amongst the participants of Parliament are extremely tangled, fickle and unpredictable. Adopting the system of formal parties, adopted in Hyath and Kakranfé, is occasionally discussed but never with much enthusiasm and they remain outlawed. In their place are a series of loose alliances and factions which are continually fracturing and forming anew. The one concentrated group consists of those belonging to the Privy Council and senior officials of the Huwdone Offices. They are expected to support any bills introduced by the Chancellor, not simply through loyalty but because they themselves had a hand in drafting them. Within this group, however, only the core of the Chancellor's closest allies show any consistency. Others over-ruled during the drafting process often break ranks and denounce the bill; there is little the Chancellor can do to stop them beyond the last-ditch approach of sacking them from their posts. Some Chancellor's are fonder of this sanction than others with Chela Tatel fairly tolerant, at least in public, towards the odd disloyal minister.
As to the rest, Parliament Hall can be divided on the basis religion, gender, ideologies, country/town positions and even age. The two main fault lines, however, are clashes between provinces and right-left wing divisions. As a rule, different provinces tend to be more united away from Parliament Hall and in their regional assemblies. This doesn't mean they agree anymore, merely that they don't have the opportunities to build alliances with outside Emissaries, and also tend to see federal bills as outside interference. (For this reason amongst many others, Chancellors try to use Parliament as much as possible). When provincial clashes do break out in Parliament, historically the conservative southern states of Notruf and Gesund oppose the progressive central ones of Dorlaf, Kratz and Elsey, with Zabrial ploughing its own furrow (generally in opposition to Dorlaf) and Schall bobbing between the combatants. However, the recent rise of a radical political class in Gesund, epitomised by the Baron Rudanc Orlac, has broken up the old certainties, as has Zabrial's internal conflict. These battlegrounds show that right-left conflict is particularly important and it can often cut across provincial borders. The names and precise issues have altered over time but the liberal, redistributive modernisers and authoritarians, low-taxation conservatives have been fighting since the Garreday Uprisings. The current conflicts chiefly concern taxes and funding, as ever, but also dealing with the corruption of the 1320's, electoral reform, the Annexed Lands and after 1335 the East Zabrial issue. There are actually three main blocks. Ploughing a centrist course, and commanding the most support, are the Chancellor and her allies. The latter theoretically include most of the major players on the right and left (Holstace Fortraine, Holstace Tannerz, Allark Liarno, Molan Grist etc.) so opposition in Parliament is mustered by others. The embattled right-wing rump is generally led by the Tannerz brothers Sebsen and Rudanc;