The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance

It seems like we've said it a lot this past year, but these are trying times. I know quite a few Wingnuts live in the DC area, including multiple members of the CIC Staff. We hope you're all staying safe out there tonight. It's never our intent to trivialize serious or stressful events, but hopefully you can find some much-needed distraction and comfort in our posts. Of course, there's always a Wing Commander angle to real life events, and the Terran Confederation is no stranger to assaults on Washington DC. The district is still the seat of power for humanity in the 27th Century, centered on the Hall of the Great Assembly adjacent to the old US Capitol building. You can learn more about civics in the WC universe in LOAF's wonderful article here.

The Legislative Branch

The Terran Confederation’s legislative branch is a unicameral body known as the Confederation Senate, the Congress, the General Assembly, the Council or the Great Assembly (commonly, the Assembly.) Members of the Assembly are called Senators. The Assembly Master is the presiding officer of the Great Assembly and is elected from the overall body annually. The Master's traditional seat at the head of the Senate is referred to as the Master's Chair. The Assembly Master wears a cloak of office and has a gavel with which he may direct debate in the Great Hall. Cloaks are traditional garb for anyone presiding over or testifying to the General Assembly. The legislature consists of approximately 1200 Senators who represent different geographic districts which range from individual nations like Earth's North American States to to planets like Altair to primary star systems with multiple colony worlds. After the conclusion of the Pilgrim War, Pilgrim enclaves were granted representation in the Assembly. Districts may have multiple representatives; for instance, Senator Jamison More was one of the representatives from Primus III. Members of the Assembly are immune from arrest and prosecution while serving.

The Assembly traditionally meets at the Hall of the Great Assembly in Washington DC just east of the site of United States capitol building. In 2654, the Assembly was bombed and the original building destroyed. In the aftermath of the attack, interim senators were appointed to replace those lost and the Assembly reconvened in a Washington DC zero gravity sports complex. For a period, the capital was moved to Terra Station, an Earth-orbit arcology. By 2669, the capitol building had been rebuilt and the assembly again met there. The floor of the Assembly is open to the roughly twelve hundred senators plus representatives from news services, lobbyists and other politicians. The Assembly Master and six other presiding officers sit at the head of the body abreast of the speaker. The Assembly has the right to pass a declaration of war. Such a declaration was issued against the Pilgrim Alliance in 2632, the Empire of Kilrah in 2634 in response to serious acts of piracy and then again in 2668 following the ‘false peace’ when four carriers crossed the border. Unusually, the Senate issued other war declarations against the Kilrathi in response to specific attacks.