Features and Traditions of the Diet

The legislative council of Yardistan.

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Vilhelm Benkern
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Features and Traditions of the Diet

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Opening and Closing the Diet

The Diet sits from Anandjan (11th month) through to Biternionsmoon (8th month) every year. Elections are held every four years.

After an election, the Diet is formally convened through the ceremony of Constitution over which the Duke of Yardistan presides. The Bell Guard of the Diet are brought out in full force and the Duke makes a speech to the assembled house - in the past, this has been more personal, but today it reflects the legislative intentions of the Diet's leading parties. During the speech it is traditional for the Inner House to cheer at the end of every sentence, and for the Outer House MDs to shout quips and jokes mid-sentence, and this usually taken in good humour. (A notable exception was six centuries ago when an overly excited new MD from a fringe YAC party mentioned allegations of the Duke having a mistress, which was deemed to be A Violation of the Dignity of the Duke-on-Diet and resulted in his execution by the Bell Guard.) The Constitution takes place ones every four years and opens the first legislative session of the Diet. It takes place on 5th Anandjan, 'Yardistan Day' or 'Duchy Day', the day on which Yardistan became a Duchy of Shireroth.

The legislative session is dominated by Inner and Middle House bills until the first day of Ikolstyme (7th month), Ikol's Day, when that Cedrist deity is honoured by no-one doing anything. In ancient times the House did not sit on that day, but just over two thousand years ago a tradition arose where the Outer House would use that day to propose change in the spirit of Ari Rahikkala's rejection of the Immoti path on that day. Since then, the Outer House bills and motions to some extent take precedence over Inner House bills until the end of the session.

The session ends with Fiesta de la Boom on 22nd Biternionsmoon (8th month), and for the first three sessions, this involves the Duchal prorogation of the Diet and sending of MDs to their constituencies (or on holiday, which in tropical Yardistan is often the same thing).

On the end of the fourth session, the Duke formally dissolves the Diet and announces a new election.

The Grand Mural

The layout of the Diet is an ampitheatre facing one wall. This is filled with a relief sculpture called the Grand Mural. The sculpture is destroyed as part of the Fiesta de la Boom celebrations which accompany the prorogation or dissolution of the Diet; the next month consists of a design competition for the next year's sculpture, which is decided by Hypotomoose's Day, 20th Qarbinionsmoon (9th month). The Duke decides the winner. The sculpture accompanying the constitution of the Diet is usually a scene from Cedrist mythology; that accompanying the second legislative session, a scene from a non-Cedrist mythology (but often incorporating Cedrist gods as well); the third session, a depiction of the current Kaiser; and the fourth session, any other topic.

There have been thousands of sculptors and designs across the millennia, in many types of stone - Mar Saran marble is often preferred - with the final category attracting many different types of sculpture. During the reign of Trantor IV, for example, the fourth-session sculpture was simply a low relief carving of the complete text of the Charter of the Imperial Republic running without line breaks, as a protest against that Kaiser's misunderstanding of the imperial position under that document.

The destruction of the Grand Mural is traditionally left to the MDs themselves, using sledgehammers and lately drills, with the Speaker overseeing the deconstruction, and it is considered one of the social highlights of the legislative year, where parliamentarians young and old undertake manual labour together across party lines.

The Bell Guard

The Bell Guard - formally The Duke's Own Yeomen of the Palace of the Diet of Yardistan - is a semi-ceremonial security force which guards the Diet and its members. During a low-tide of Duchal authority in the early history of the Diet, the Guardsmen were of particularly low quality, and new recruits were constantly sought. The Diet was squatted in at night and intelligent Yeomen passed by certain rooms where YAC cells housed themselves. Young members - most often given the night watch duties - were commonly assaulted and robbed of their arms, so they were armed only with bells to ring if they were in trouble. This bell became a badge of office. This has developed to the extent that the Bell Guard wear uniforms covered in two dozen small bells, including on the tips of their boots and on their helmets; and their main armament is the Bell-Knife, a short sword with a bell on the end. They were armed with pistols as well until recent technological developments allowed for the development of sonic weaponry which can incapacitate enemies using high-decibel targeted sound waves, which has proved more useful in crowd dispersal than non-lethal gas.

The Bell Guards are formally a neutral security force but due to the nature of the YAC they have a strained relationship with the Outer House, who address them with puerile insults.
Vilhelm Benkern DEOMI, Member of the Order of the Dragon, Silver Swan, Red Dragon
Dirigent of Musica, Count of Mar Sara
In Aryasht Prapta Vrteti, former Prince of Aryasht; Zaila Vrteti, Norfolknath
In Elwynn Benjamin Sebasokrator Timothy Quentin Kern, Duke of Raikoth
In Khalypsil Representative of the Wisdom

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Gman Russell
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Re: Features and Traditions of the Diet

Post by Gman Russell »

BELL guards? Only in Yardistan. Again, approved. :)
It is from our fruitful hands that we will make this nation perennial with fate.

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