Timeline for Emperor that nominates a council that nominates the next emperor?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 5, 2019 at 0:18 | vote | accept | Timst | ||
| Feb 3, 2019 at 19:46 | comment | added | Efialtes | Well, at least you aren't having the military raise them up on a shield.... many barracks emperors started that way in byzantium and Rome. | |
| Feb 2, 2019 at 0:10 | comment | added | avek | In reality, if the council doesn't want to follow the "not from council" rule, it likely will be cancelled. Dead emperors just have no say in choosing their successor. It doesn't matter how much good the emperor did to the council while alive. Just look at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_the_Great if you don't believe me. The only option to truly ensure inheritance is to kill everyone in the country but you and the successor (Darth Bane way). | |
| Feb 2, 2019 at 0:06 | answer | added | avek | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 13:23 | comment | added | Timst | @Nyakouai: Sure, absolutely. I added this "no one from the council" as an afterthought (since I was afraid this would add instability), but as Separatrix mentions, this isn't a small rule and actually changes the situation a lot. Feel free to make a follow up :) | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 13:21 | comment | added | Nyakouai | The prospect is interesting, and Tim's answer provides a lot of insight about the dynamic and mindset of a possible council. As JBH pointed out, this is extremely fertile ground for stories. However, I came up with another question, reading this one: should a member of the council covet the emperor throne, he would try to resign/get away from his council obligations. (It's also a good way for the emperor to prevent a powerful suitor to acces the throne). Would you allow me to open a new question, furthering yours, to solve this point? | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 9:58 | answer | added | Philipp | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 8:28 | answer | added | Separatrix | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 4:33 | comment | added | AlexP | The Holy Roman Empire (no relationship whatsover with the actual Roman Empire) worked in a somewhat similar way for a thousand years. Well, worked is maybe overstating it; but at least it survived. | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 3:35 | comment | added | JBH | @Timst, now that I think about it, you have exactly what you're talking about in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope has the sole authority (if I understand it correctly) to elevate priests to Cardinals, but it takes a vote of the College of Cardinals to elect the next Pope. It's almost a 100% match. | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 3:34 | comment | added | JBH | @user535733, vs. the hereditary principle which requires poisoning a couple of siblings? What's fun about this idea is that there's an interesting balance between just-one-person has power and everybody-has-the-right-to-vote. Think about the Catholic Church and the idea of, "wow, I only need to bribe a handful of Cardinals?" Yeah... right... waitaminute... | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 1:15 | answer | added | Tim B II | timeline score: 10 | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 1:12 | comment | added | user535733 | Ah, so all I need to do is to bribe or blackmail quorum of the council to become the next emperor? And merely daunt or delay my rivals merely until after the council votes? No need to flatter the current emperor? No bribes to the court and the Generals? Fewer poisonings? That seems much cheaper and easier to manipulate! Thank you! | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 0:44 | answer | added | Alexander | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jan 31, 2019 at 0:29 | comment | added | Timst | Maybe that's all I'm looking for, really. That the concept seems at least viable and there isn't an immediate "gotcha" like "this would never work because x" or "every time it's been tried it ends up as y", etc | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 23:38 | comment | added | JBH | BTW, I personally love the concept. Whole stories could be written about the court shenanigans to try and influence both the emperor and the council and play with both the ideas of the perception of power and the reality/limitations of power. It's a fantastic playground. | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 23:36 | comment | added | JBH | (a) I like this question, but (b) there's too many questions. Remember that SE's model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I count four questions. Curiously, other than the first (has such an arrangement existed historically?), the questions don't really make sense. Since no democratic country has survived "forever," does that mean it's unstable? I Communism unstable simply because the Berlin Wall fell? It leads me to wonder, what question are you really asking? Are you simply looking for ratification? A reality check? | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 23:34 | comment | added | L.Dutch♦ | Have you looked into the election of the Holy Roman Emperor? | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 23:32 | comment | added | Dubukay | Huh, like an alternation of generations in the political sphere? I like this idea a lot. | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 23:21 | history | asked | Timst | CC BY-SA 4.0 |