Star Knight Lore: The Court of Stars

The Church, wanting to promote Christian brotherhood as a matter of principle and find as many practical means to reduce full-scale war within Christendom as possible, decided upon the reinvention of a deliberative body wherein grievances could be heard and resolved in as peaceful as manner as could be had. This was intended to turn as many problems into ones wherein disputes were made into practical problems to solve and not causes to be celebrated. The Court of Stars was that body.

Established by treaty prior to the first great expansion outside the Terran solar system, the Court of Stars has worked more or less as intended for centuries as of the dawn of the 4th millennium. The great houses of Man's nations all established and maintained ambassadors in family estates, and through agreements struck here since its founding most of the trade is agreed to at this location before being conducted by merchants great and small. Other functions, such as marriage brokering, is also done in or around here.

The Court's physical location is on Earth in the city of Rome, having established itself in the ancient Roman Senate building after its full and complete restoration by the Church during the Great Terran Crusade. The Senate floor is wired for holographic video and full audio, allowing diplomats to attended remotely if the Speaker allows it.

Most Court sessions are open to varying degrees, as befits an institution whose function is to be a forum for the airing and resolving of disputes and grievances, and they focus on disputes between the great nations in the name of the Grand Dukes that lead them. (The assumption is that intra-national disputes will be handled by internal processes.)

The Speaker is meant to be mostly ceremonial role. Its primary function is to maintain an orderly operation of the Court's proceedings, but because the Speaker decides who speaks and for how long as well as what is discussed and when that necessary functional capacity is open to abuse by a corrupt actor. The position is decided by election, with votes cast by the present diplomats in closed session. The Church observes this body, but ordinarily does not interfere with it.

Due to its deliberative nature, it has no actual power. It merely has influence, but influence is often sufficient to achieve the aim of a more peaceful Christendom. This usually takes the form of abating tensions and limited hostilities to the actors concerned, so what would have been a war gets resolved instead in a duel. As such, the Court has contributed to keeping the potential for horrific death and destruction via total warfare confined to declared crusades against Christendom's enemies, man and monster alike.

The structural weakness that is the Speaker's position would become apparent during the Matter of the Milky Way, and with its exploitation came much worse to follow.