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[5055034455]

Good morning, Exsilium. Your resident legal experts — Sonya Karimov and myself — are curious about those of you who have leadership experience. In the interest of looking toward a brighter future in which we Transports have a self-governing body, we're asking anyone who formerly held a position of command to answer the following questions.

If you're uncomfortable with sharing this information publicly, encrypt your responses or contact one of us directly.

1. What was your position? 2. How long did you hold that position? 3. How did you come to power? 4. Briefly, explain to us the government with which you have experience. Is there a written constitution of any kind? What are the laws like? Did you have other officials working under/around you? How many people did you hold authority over? 5. Are any of your former constituents/subjects in Exsilium as of this moment? 5a. May we have their names? 6. What do you think is the ideal form of government for Exsilium? 7. If a committee were to be formed in Exsilium with the intent of eventually creating a Transport-governing body, would you be interested in serving on it?

Comments

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[legal_eagle]

Hi. Sofiya Karimov. What's a Spectre?

permatext;

[2leftfeet]

Special tactics and reconnaissance who report only to the Citadel Council.

[legal_eagle]

Ohhh, cute. S-T-R. Spectre. Neat. So how do the Council get elected?

[2leftfeet]

It depends on the homeworld of the councilor, but Councilor Udina, the representative for human affairs, was an elected official who was appointed by recommendation to the Council once a seat opened for humanity.

It may be different for other races, but Udina started as a diplomat.

[legal_eagle]

So do they do a good job?

[2leftfeet]

It's four people bickering about a whole lot of space. 'Good job' is probably a relative concept.

But they haven't been ousted yet, so most must think they're doing alright.

[Can you tell she may be a teeny tiny bit of an outlier there?]

[legal_eagle]

Does that include you?

[2leftfeet]

I think for the most part the Council tries to do what's right for their people. Sometimes that has the unfortunate side effect of bogging down any kind of action right when it's needed most.

Basically they're shit at split second decision making. Which theoretically is what Spectre's are for, but things complicate quickly.

[legal_eagle]

So, what, you can make decisions like they do?

[2leftfeet]

Not exactly, but Spectres are agents of the Council and tend to be sent on missions where the Council wants a show of power while maintaining a certain level of discretion. They're basically the Council's eyes, ears and arms on the ground capable of calling shots on specific missions, but at the end of the day they answer to the Council.

Basically: they're nominally above the law, but if the Council thinks you screwed up royally they could theoretically revoke your status.

[~*~space politics~*~]

[legal_eagle]

And how many Spectres are there?

[2leftfeet]

I'd say fewer than a hundred, but that's just a guess. The records are sealed from pretty much everyone except for the Council itself.

[legal_eagle]

So you're pretty impressive, then, huh.

[2leftfeet]

Sure, if you want to look at it that way.

[legal_eagle]

Absolutely. What sorts of perks do you get?

[2leftfeet]

[It's a weird thing to think about. She pings back sarcasm instead of anything genuine. Whoops:]

People mostly stay out of my way.

[legal_eagle]

Neat. Like, literally, do they roll out of your way when you're coming, or...?

[2leftfeet]

[The grin Shepard's wearing probably doesn't translate to text, but what the hell.]

Sometimes. But no, for the most part I'm speaking metaphorically.

[legal_eagle]

That would be nice. Very useful.

[2leftfeet]

It definitely has its uses.

[Had? Maybe it won't ever come up again.]

[legal_eagle]

Anyway. You have any interest in participation, you know where to find us, yeah?

[2leftfeet]

I do. Good luck with the whole polling business.