Editing Right of Assassination

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The [[Right of Assassination]] is an archaic Imperial law and ritual providing for leadership succession according to the dictates of power politics. 

== Description ([[Specifications]]) ==
Although the right of assassination has fallen into disuse, it is generally agreed that for the method to be a valid route to the [[Iridium Throne]], certain precedents must be followed: 
* 1.) The [[assassin]] must be a high [[noble]]; 
* 2.) The [[assassin]] must kill the [[Emperors of the Third Imperium|Emperor]] by his own hand in the presence of witnesses; 
* 3.) The [[Moot]] must approve of the new [[Emperor]]; just as with any successor.
            
Thus, the reason for the assassination must be well founded, or [[Moot]] confirmation will likely be denied. [[Moot]] confirmation can make all the difference - depending on what the Moot says, the [[assassin]] could be hailed as a courageous hero (...with legitimacy) or prosecuted as a seditious murderer (...without legitimacy).

== History & Background ([[Dossier]]) ==
The first  [[Third Imperium]] emperor to be shot by his successor was  [[Cleon III]], also known as [[Cleon the Mad]]. Selected by lot in a secret meeting of the [[High Moot]],  [[Porfiria]] shot [[Cleon III]] in his council chambers in [[245]]. [[Porfiria]] was subsequently proclaimed [[Empress]] by [[Moot]] confirmation.
* During the [[Civil War]] period, several usurpers attempted to claim the throne by the right of assassination - few succeeded... in receiving a coerced [[Moot]] confirmation.

=== Origins of the Right ===
==== Cleon's Reign ====
[[Cleon III]] was a paranoid schizophrenic with a mercurial temper who ascended the [[Iridium Throne]] in [[244]]. He surrounded himself with a hand-picked bodyguard rather than members of the [[Imperial Guard]], a court made up of favorites and sycophants, and he routinely carried firearms for his own protection.

[[Cleon III|Cleon]] considered himself and his office to be above the law and saw it as his right to "remove" those who displeased him. When he was calm he was rational and courteous and followed normal procedures such as the withdrawal of privileges or banishment. But if he became enraged he lost all reason, drawing his [[weapon]]s and gunning down all in his sight. The killings were justified as self defense against murderous plots and explained away by his lackeys as foiled conspiracies. But this, in turn, further fueled the [[Emperor]]'s paranoia.

Information regarding the deaths was arbitrarily released to the public along with grisly [[3V]] footage and incriminating profiling of the victims. The releases were accompanied by ranting accusations from the Emperor himself, along with demands for reprisals and retribution.

By the end of the year society on [[Capital (world)|Capital]] – and within [[Core Sector]] as news spread – began to unravel. Fear and uncertainty reigned as everyone saw (largely non-existent) plots and traitors all around them, and arrests – and worse – inevitably followed. [[World]]s began dividing into panicked factions and [[Subsector]]s began to polarize into petty alliances.

In fact, a conspiracy did exist.

==== The Conspiracy ====
All of the conspirators were members of both the [[Moot|High Moot]] and the [[Imperial Family|Imperial Court]]. All were high-ranking [[noble]]s and military officers descended from pure [[Sylean]] stock and each held a legitimate, if distant, claim to the [[Iridium Throne|Throne]]. They wielded great power and influence within the young [[Third Imperium|Imperium]] but their roles required them to be in close proximity to the homicidal [[Cleon III|Cleon]]. As such, their numbers were diminishing fast.

During the early part of [[245]] the group drafted and signed the ''Agreement and Understanding'', detailing their manifesto and justifying their actions. It was based in part on the [[Maar Ki Zon]], the "Book of the Way", an influential religious work dating from the pre-[[Ziru Sirka|Vilani]] [[Sylean Empire]]. In particular, it drew heavily on a [[rite of exoneration]] associated with judicious regicide. This ritual was important to early [[Sylea]]n society and was once very formulaic with many steps and customs, many of them considered both magical and spiritual. 

An escort of trusted officers was assembled, drawn largely from the [[Imperial Guard]], to serve both as protection and as witnesses to the act. The [[Imperial Guard|Guard]] were sworn to protect the person of the [[Emperor]] but had been slighted as a unit by [[Cleon III|Cleon]]. In addition, a number of their senior officers had died by [[Cleon III|Cleon]]'s hand and been decried as traitors. Volunteers from among their ranks were not hard to find.

The conspirators met in a private suite within the [[Moot Spire]] and drew lots to determine who would actually do the deed. [[Porfiria]] literally drew the short straw, but she gained the promise of the [[Iridium Throne]], unchallenged by her peers, as her reward. She and her escort set off for the [[Imperial Palace]] while the other conspirators dispersed into the [[Moot]].

==== The Assassination ====
[[Porfiria]] was easily able to access [[Cleon III|Cleon]]'s personal wing of the [[Imperial Palace|palace]]: he was engaged in planning his festivities and his suites were unusually busy, filled with flunkies and designers and technicians. She gained personal attendance of the [[Emperor]] within his council chambers on the pretext of bringing him gifts. A short gun battle ensued, during which [[Cleon III|Cleon]] and a number of his staff were fatally wounded. [[Porfiria]] and her escort barricaded themselves within an antechamber to await events within the [[Moot]]. 

Upon receipt of the news the conspirators within the [[Moot]] acted, presenting their ''Agreement and Understanding'' for the member's approval. An unusually large number were present within the [[Moot Spire]] in anticipation of the coming Imperial celebrations: being absent could have been seen as a sign of disloyalty and no-one liked the idea of being dragged before [[Cleon III|Cleon]] to explain themselves.

The delivery of the document was deliberately timed to coincide with the confusion and panic unleashed by the assassination. It offered an immediate and timely solution to the unfolding crisis and it was sanctioned by an overwhelming majority of the members, for the most part without their understanding its full implications. The [[Imperial Guard]] immediately declared for [[Porfiria]] and retrieved her from her makeshift redoubt within the [[Imperial Palace|Palace]].

==== Porfiria ====
The ''Agreement and Understanding'' framed the legal process of what eventually became the Right of Assassination. Under its terms [[Porfiria]] was declared the legitimate [[Emperor|Empress]], assuming the [[Iridium Throne|Throne]] and reestablishing the [[Lentuli Dynasty]].

(Drawn from ''Lives of the Emperors'' by Eneri Shasi, [[University of Rhylanor]] Press, [[976]])

== See also ==
{{Referral-Tree-Third-Imperium}}

== References & Contributors ([[Sources]]) ==
{{Advanced}}
{{Sources
 | {{Ludography cite|name= Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 04 |article=Emperors of the 3rd Imperium|page= 9,10,11}}
 | {{Ludography cite|name= Library Data (A-M) |page= 21,26,45,46}}
 | {{Ludography cite|name= Players' Manual |page= 31}}
 | {{Ludography cite|name= Imperial Encyclopedia|page=19}}
 | {{Ludography cite|name= Agent of the Imperium |page= 115}}
}}


[[Category: Culture]]
[[Category: Custom]]
{{LE|Imperial|Law|Rite|Tradition}}