The Senate of the Umbrian Republic

The Senate is the Republic's legislative body, responsible for creating the common laws and regulations which apply to each Umbrian, regardless of which planet or system they occupy. Originally idealized as a 'citizens' assembly, the Senate's members are elected by broad bodies of constituents, for whom the senators serve as representatives in the deliberative process of governance.

The Senate has steadily expanded over the last two hundred years, as both the number of new colonies founded and overall population grew significantly. As of 31155, the Senate is composed of 400 Senators. Every world in the Republic is represented by at least one Senator, while the remaining seats are distributed proportionally based on population.

This has caused friction between those newer worlds and the more established planets closer to Umbria herself. The colonists in the Frontier tend to see the Senate as unconcerned with the harsh realities of colonial life, while the larger worlds see the colonies' grant of a Senator as giving outsized political say to a fraction of the Republic's population.

While this schism is kept hidden from the public at large, the representatives from colonial interests have learned that they are stronger by pooling their interests, using their combined strength to ensure that the Senate proper cannot ignore their constituents needs.  Their success in doing so has been fairly successful, and smart politicians now seek to preemptively secure these senators' support before pushing their agenda.

A point of pride for the Senate is that the Umbrian Constitution is clear in favoring the legislature as the primary branch of government, seeing the broad elective body as the best defender of its citizens' rights. This means that while each of the three primary branches of government have checks on the others' power, the Senate possesses the power to starve the executive of funds or create new legislation to correct unfavorable judicial decisions.

This has created a sense of vanity which has marred the Republic's founders' original vision for the organization. While far more numerous than the elected heads of the executive branch, the Triumvirate, the senators were still an almost infinitesimally small portion of the overall Umbrian population. The power individual senators wielded was substantial, and it was easy for their privileged position to corrupt even the most stalwart public servant.

Making this divide worse is the senatorial class's unique manner of communicating. The senators speak in ornate prose, often obscuring their intentions behind flowery platitudes. Failure to adopt such language marks one as an outsider or a newcomer, someone who has not integrated into the established order and therefore lacks the gravitas or political capital to matter in senatorial politics.

Many close observers of the capital's politics have developed the ability to cut through this byzantine language, but for everyone else, the effusive and indirect method of communicating creates further barriers between the elected and their constituents.

While the legislature remains fairly effective in its workings, the onset of the Ascomanni War has created additional issues within the halls of the capitol. As uncertainty and fear build amongst the populace, the Senate has demonstrated a concerning willingness to paint an optimistic picture of the goings on in the Frontier.

While this has staved off mass panic, it has also left the populace unprepared for the hardships and sacrifices required of intergalactic warfare. Few Senators are willing to speak out against the status quo, and only a few brave individuals dare to speak truth to their constituents.

Cowed by the seriousness of the situation and painted into a corner by their own rosy appraisals, the Senate has become increasingly dependent on the Triumvirate to steer the ship of state.