Debates
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Debates (High Secote: ⰔⰟⰒⰓⰡⰐⰠⰡ, Sŭprěnĭja) are a Vaestic institution of which two main types can be distinguished. The first type, and historically the only type, has one primary role: to elect the Standard-Bearer of a given Banner. Their membership comprises the senior Scholars of the Banner (known as Elector Scholars), who are generally but not exclusively the Vocation Scholars of the largest or most prestigious Schools. Most Debates meet for a limited amount of time only when a new Standard-Bearer is required, and in many Banners - such as Terophan - this meeting is largely symbolic, with the actual choice of heir practically determined by the previous Standard-Bearer or inheritance customs. The second type, which exists only in Azophin and Agamar, sits permanently and fulfils the constitutional role of Standard-Bearer collectively. This type developed out of the first type during the Agamari and Azophine Reconstructions in the wake of the Long War.
Membership
The members of a given Banner's Debates are referred to as Elector Scholars and are typically the most respected figures of the Banner's Scholarly bureaucracy. The precise criteria for Elector Scholar status differ from Banner to Banner, as does the selection process. Until the reign of Lyudodar in the early 17th century, there were no formal restrictions on the minimum or maximum number of participating Electors, although the events of the Errancy Era demonstrated the risk of contravening the established convention of broad pan-imperial representation. Lyudodar set the minimum membership at twenty by Imperial Utterance, but actual participation was typically much greater, with the Vocation Scholars of all prestigious Schools usually attending in person. As the separate imperial states emerged from the rubble of Great Neritsia over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, however, membership of their respective Debates was gradually institutionalised. In most cases Elector Scholars hold their position by virtue of being the Vocation Scholar of a particularly large and prestigious School, with some Debates providing for additional members on the basis of personal achievement and reputation.
Functioning
The exact procedures involved in the convening of Debates differ from country to country. Typically upon the death of a previous Standard-Bearer or Prophet the funeral ceremony is completed before the position is considered to be totally vacant. The funeral is then followed by the summoning of the Elector Scholars, who are given a certain amount of time to arrive before the actual Debates themselves begin. Debates today are typically, but not exclusively, at the Banner-Shrine of a given Banner; in the post-Neritsovid period the Prysostaic Debates have typically been held in the Hall of Disputation at the Prysostaia. The arrival of the Elector Scholars is followed by an opening ceremony presided over by an official usually specially appointed for the purpose; in the Neritsovid period this was one of the responsibilities of the Lyubim, and in the post-Neritsovid period was taken up in many places by an equivalent office although the demise of aristocratic rule in many areas of Outer Joriscia has seen considerable changes made to all details of the ceremony.
Once Debates have been opened, speeches are made in favour of the various candidates - more or less formulaic in character depending on the country. After all speeches have been made individual Elector Scholars are invited to offer their fealty to a particular candidate. In ideal Debates, all Elector Scholars will have been convinced by the evidence of the superior Knowledge of a given candidate to back that candidate rather than any other and unanimity will be achieved. The candidate will then accept their fealty and the proceedings will move onto the next stage - coronation and proclamation - which is perhaps the most locally differentiated element of the Debates process. However, Debates elect candidates based on consensus and not on any system of majority voting, and if unanimity is not achieved, the floor is typically opened again to more speeches and arguments. Debates will then in principle continue until a candidate is chosen unanimously.
The degree to which the Debates process represents a genuine debate over the future Standard-Bearer varies considerably between countries. To ensure smooth succession in many cases there is an obvious favourite and the outcome is largely determined prior to the Debates themselves. This is most obviously the case in the dynastic states (Terophan, the Lutoborsk and Lacre for example) but is also true to a greater or lesser extent in Banner-States like Zemay and Cazacasia whose Standard-Bearers do not inherit their position. In cases where the outcome of Debates is less certain, the Debates process inevitably involves a great deal of backroom dealings between different factions to secure consensus on a given candidate. The capacity of freer Debates to produce grinding stalemates is perhaps best illustrated by the ever longer periods between the successful election of the 19th and 20th-century Universal Prophets, culminating in the contemporary Desecration of the Prophecy.
History
All modern Debates can be traced to the oldest example of the institution, the Prysostaic Debates. The first full Debates in the history of Vaestism took place at the end of the Marshalate period to resolve the leadership crisis caused by the death of the last Marshal Viswald I. The order of succession of the Marshals themselves had been determined by an internal vote, making them perhaps the first Elector Scholars; after Viswald I's death the electorate was extended to 'the most knowledgeable men of Vaestdom'. The practice was modelled on the existing Argote practice of electing war leaders, the Susurinkima. During the Wars of Heresy, the convocation of a Debates became the standard practice for electing a new Universal Prophet, although there were often conflicting Debates and multiple prophetic candidates. This continued well into the early Neritsovid period, culminating with the Bloody Vacancy.
When order was finally reestablished in the Prysostaia by Sobiebor II, he initiated fresh Debates to have himself elected Universal Prophet, in the process drawing up a list of Scholars entitled to act as Electors. The Elector Scholars appointed by Sobiebor were hugely influential throughout his reign, playing a prominent role in many of his reform initiatives (not least the Grand Edict and the promulgation of the Assembled Theoretics). But as they died off, they were only sporadically replaced, with the number of prospective Electors more than halved by the time of his death in 1541. While the election of Spytistan I saw the creation of many more Electors and energetic cultivation of the survivors by Lyudodar Porovsky, the first Lyubim, in subsequent years both Electoral appointments and Debates themselves became steadily less important. From Ostrobor the Pious onwards, the assumption was that the Prophetic seat was inherited with the imperial title, and Prophet-Emperors were repeatedly appointed by acclamation (which is to say they announced their 'election' without Debates having been convened). From the election of Prophet-Emperor Lyudodar in 1607, this tendency was partly reversed, in the sense that the naming of Elector Scholars and the Debates themselves resumed their previous ritual significance. But the elections themselves continued to be essentially preordained, with only one candidate.
The modern institution of imperial Debates as distinct from Prophetic election emerged with the collapse of the Neritsovid order. Spytihnev I had himself 'elected' Emperor at the Great Imperial Restoration in 1701, part of what was probably intended to be a bid for the Prophet-Emperor position but ultimately became a distinct state-building project in Terophan. His successors continued the tradition throughout the Crown Wars and the compromise of the Magnificent Peace, which established in the Vaestic 'constitution' the idea of an Emperor and a Prophet (Borovest II and subsequently Zafuvniprourkah), both elected separately. This precedent was closely followed by Oktar Matolchy, who convened Debates to have himself named Emperor of the Vesnites (and Chotarian Emperor) at the Chotarian Restoration of 1778, and then, following the War of the Third Emperor, by the Azophines at the election of Ostrobor IV as Emperor in the North in 1793. This made it more or less inevitable that the principle would be adopted as part of the new Vaestic order created by the Treaty of Tharamann in 1845 and ultimately generalised to all independent Vesnite powers at the Purity Council a decade later.
Although the idea of an elected Emperor had become an inseparable part of Vaestic ideas of sovereignty by the second half of the 19th century, the exact arrangements for the functioning of Debates varied dramatically across Vaestdom. In Terophan, where the practice was oldest, the power of election remained entirely at the discretion of the Emperor, as it does today. In Azophin, on the other hand, there was a move after 1845 towards a standardisation of the electorate, giving senior Scholars an independent source of authority and a more genuine role in the selection of future Emperors. Nonetheless, almost nowhere did Debates represent a genuine power of veto over the imperial succession, their occasional use (the Cathedral Uprising, the Monsoon Revolution) as tools of the rebellious local Scholarchate notwithstanding. Only in the Prysostaia itself did a genuine atmosphere of 'debate' obtain, and here it became increasingly difficult to elect a Universal Prophet in a timely fashion. This only changed significantly in the 20th century with the emergence of the Debates State in Azophin following the Long War.