The Empire Club/Session 3

Future Horizons Night
Herr Dr. Prof. J. Perrin Farandole, PhD/D.Sc/D.C. prepares for the Future Horizons Forum by trying to find a picture or description of Margaret's husband so that a painting can be commissioned
*Magda's final product is melancholy: "definitely a person", but is "an empty vessel, a husk that represents Margaret's longing for a world that she no longer belongs in". She takes great pleasure in making it look deteriorated.
*Herr Doctor wears a tacky amount of academic regalia (up to and including two robes to make sure everyone knows how qualified he is), and an unidentified medallion.
*Herr Doctor gives a welcoming speech teasing the panel speakers, including his lecture on the club's history, and inviting attendees to explore how the past will become the future
*Cassie recognizes several members of the Panel and has Reactions; she sends a note to Farandole onstage via a staffer and then starts to drink copiously
*Farandole speaks about the charter, and prompts discussion on which tools from our past should be used in the future
** Farandole is able to bring the discussion to a consensus in that things were much better back when the Empire Club was in its hey day. The real debate is whether Aeldrum should go back 100 years or 200 years in time for the inspiration of its policy
**They mostly rage about barbarism of foreign peoples, and craven industrialists who don't understand national pride. It seems to be turning into a political rally
**Cassie starts listening to the walls and shaking vents for a bit before giving up to drink again. Kingsley goes to the upstairs bar with Margaret Saleth, leaving her son Lucian downstairs
*Audience reception to the rally vibe: 
**Some of different political persuasion who are unhappy, some leaving in disgust
**Elderly club members who are either confused, or digging the idea that things were better in the old days
**Some with an onyx lapel pin (mourning for the assassinated Serene Doge Sevrar Orvim) who are very enthusiastic
***History interlude: Sevrar Orvhim was cousin and heir to Leopold Orvhim, Doge during First Coalition War
***Meanwhile, Doge Bareth, president for life who was getting politically sloppy, was assassinated during the Second – Orvhim inherits party, gains control, assassinated by Veiled Masters 3 days into his term
***Secularists are radicalized by the assassination, and the fact that Industrialists who gained power (Chella Nebai) did not immediately ban Spiranism, go to war with Nippon States, etc. They look to both Ohrvims as martyrs, and to current government as foreign puppets
*Farandole gives a speech about how the Empire Club has always been about the coming together of different ideas, and how new ideas and coalitions could be formed here. Farandole opens the floor up for a Q&A session (*Cassie's drinking intensifies to Heidegger Dawes' levels*)
**The Q&A
**A member of the Kirvan Labor Party asks point-blank whether the panelists are saying they oppose the abolition of slavery and indentured servitude. They loudly deny this. Things become slightly uproarious—an explosion of people shouting.
**Farandole hammers a gavel to quiet the room. It works, and he knows it's really the regalia they respect.
*Dalton tries to interrupt the events downstairs and makes apologies to Margaret. The only thing he does is make Margaret cry
**Dalton stays, and Jeremy prints out a note for Dalton from his mouth about how he's turned off memory recording and will be discreet.
*At the Empire Club, Farandole determines, we do not back down from questions. He restates the abolition question to the panelist he determines most moderate. He picks the Governor of Crossways, apparently a pragmatic guy, considerate. 
**We traded the indentured servitude of a small number for the sale of everything that is Aeldman to the highest bidder, and to the indentured servitude of two billion Aeldmen citizens
**Launches into a tirade listing the war crimes of the Kirvans in the Second Coalition War
* Amani successfully identifies the fire alarm pull down in the kitchen and pulls it. It sets off a fire alarm. Farandole announces that there is an emergency in the building and that the conversation must be moved outside 
**Farandole had taken great pains to make sure journalists were apprised of the evening's events. 
** Luckily, the most elderly members and some politically opposed folks decide to leave early, and deprived of anyone to rant at or about, the SNIPs mostly settle down.
**The Governor goes to shake Farandole's hand.
* Dalton asks Farandole "What the Hell happened tonight?". Farandole calls it a lively night of debate.
*Mme. Gauthier arrives at the scene and receives a call from her Party's whip on the carphone. Mme. Gauthier is asked why there are so many secular nationalists at the Club that her Party invested in
*Gauthier asks Farandole for a summary of what happened, and says the Club needs to disclaim affiliation with the Secular Nationalists
** Farandole becomes a SNP apologist and argues that we should create space for everyone
Several members hold an early morning meeting to discuss the events of the last night 
*The first topic of the agenda is the membership process
**Proposal is majority vote of the board in favor or against
**Dalton holds a veto power that must be overwritten by a supermajority of the Board
**(Tentative) Membership can also be revoked also by a supermajority (5 out of 7 until Quay joins, then 6 out of 8)
*Cassie proposes some damage control of saying a SNP supporter pulled the fire alarm to save the Governor from having to answer a tough question. The Ladies who Lunch buy this rumor and it is greatly embellished
Live and Let Liveth Night
*Dawes embarrasses himself in front of cultural coalition
*Dawes arranges discount windows for the club via a businessman who can connect him to an industrial salvage operation
*Amani (discreetly) discusses potential arms deal with Livethan deputy ambassador; talks to Calathan embassy, who think Dar'Asmad is totally insignificant but shared some useful insight on devolution of the Serene Duchy / maintaining financial independence
Category:Session Summaries