The House of Lords is a de facto advisory body of the Imperial Grand Assembly.

History

The House of Lords first originated in the Old Empire 5,000 years ago, when the titled aristocracy of ancient Ryccia demanded some legal say over the running of the country. Thus, the First Parliament was convened, and what would eventually become the House of Lords was born. The Palace of Northsminster, a building constructed for the purpose, housed this legislature, and it continues to host the House of Lords to this day. The design and structure of the palace has been left practically unchanged in its existence, save the regular maintenance and technological upgrades. But the chairs the current Lords sit in are the same exact design that were utilized thousands of years ago.

Having limited legal power, the Imperial Parliament was a rubber stamp the majority of the time, but there were times when nobles rebelled against the Imperial regime or had power struggles with it, and thus challenged it through Parliament.

Eventually a now-defunct chamber, the House of Commons, was established 2,500 years ago in order to represent the wealthy and non-titled human citizens of the Empire. It too had limited powers, and was subservient to the House of Lords in many times of its history.

When the Democratic Revolution finally came a millenia ago, abolishing the House of Lords was seriously considered. But, in order to avoid inflaming the minority royalist population, it was kept, albeit it was always intended to be scrapped in the future. However, it continued to survive when politicians started appointing life peers to it, thus giving senior ministers and high-ranking party members some sort of glorified retirement by obtaining noble life titles.

The House of Lords is now mostly ceremonial, even more declawed than its Old Imperial de facto predecesor. Instead of passing laws as one of the official three chambers of the Imperial Grand Assembly, it only has advisory powers. There is a chance for the Lords to delay voting on and propose amendments to a bill that both the Imperial Congress and the Imperial Senate must consider, but that requires a 65% majority vote. This clause was last enacted 350 years ago, when Lords worried regarding a military spending cuts bill, and thus decided to propose amendments to it. In Ryccian popular culture, it is seen as a political retirement club for the most elite of politicians, with former Chancellors, Ministers, influential Governors, Senators and Congressmen being nominated by the ruling government of the time for the Emperor to approve. In order to prevent an unlimited amount of life peers, each government is limited to appointing 100 Lords per term. If a government is re-elected twice, it gets to approve 200; if thrice, then 300, and so on.

There are also independent life peers. Some include influential and/or retired members of the financial world, but there are also popular musicians, athletes, lawyers, former judges, scientists, and so on.

Life peers are not the only type of Lords that belong to the chamber. There are 100 hereditary peers, which are mostly members of historical noble families of the Core and The Rim, but some descendants of former alien royals and nobles were granted membership after the Democratic Revolution as a way to recognize their lineages. Further, the Mandalorian Royal Family, the Kryze clan, holds a hereditary seat, with anyone from the Kryze family wishing to occupy the post doing so by internal agreement.

Royal peers also exist. They are comprised of 10 of the most closely related persons by blood to the Emperor, as well as any surviving 10 of past monarchs. Similar to life peers, royal peerage is not inheritable.

The last group to compose the House of Lords are military peers, which are limited to a maximum of ten. These are retired top Generals and Admirals, and thus tend to be one of the oldest groups in the House of Lords.