Standard disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor any other content that you recognise. Some characters and systems are original creations. I am receiving no money for my work.
My thanks to HTM for sorting through my spelling and grammar.
Question
Following a couple of questions, the quarian economy is canon. Please see the quarian section of the mass effect wiki for conformation. The developers simply didn't name it so as to avoid controversy as the USA was a huge target market for the game. The in depth look at how it works is my own design.
To answer a question I'm sure is coming from this chapter, Ekuna is also canon.
XNAV: 534.746 / 893.782 / 12.29 – Attican Traverse
2113.04.02
Ambassador Goyle looked at the vast space of the centre of the liveship Rayya.
In any other species it would have been considered a tired and worn room, in dire need of repair, even if the vegetation cascading down from the different levels hid the worst of it.
Anita knew better. In the world of limited space of the quarians, this cavern screamed importance in a louder voice than any gold leafed palace ever could.
Around on the various tiers were the representatives of the quarian Conclave. Despite the room being huge by quarian standards, it was still only the size of a normal town theatre on Earth. As such only 1,000 representatives could be there in person. To ensure all 50,000 ships of the migrant fleet were properly represented, they were divided into groups of 10. The single representative present in person vocalised any questions and comments that the other 9 attending over commlink raised.
Against the only non-tiered wall in the room stood a two-level raised platform with podiums. The highest held the 5 podiums of the quarian Admiralty Board, and the lower, single, podium was for the Speaker of the Conclave.
It was the Speaker who called for Ambassador Goyle to step forward into the clear courtyard in the centre of the room, the place where petitioners and opponents of a proposed course of action made their case.
"Welcome to the Migrant Fleet, Ambassador Goyle. The gift of the Gaia was a momentous one, and for that the Systems Alliance has the sincerest thanks of the quarian people, as well as the chance to lay its proposal before the Conclave," the Speaker greeted the human ambassador warmly as the rest of the Conclave murmured and clapped in agreement. The sight of the massive superliner accompanying the Tonbay and the Tesleya had produced a celebratory mood that was rarely found among the ships of the Migrant Fleet.
"Thank you, Speaker," Anita Goyle responded, bowing to them and the Admiralty Board. "The human people are appalled at your treatment at the hands of the Citadel Council, and wish to aid you in any way that we can."
"Will you be granting us colonisation rights on the two dextro-amino worlds in your territory then?" Representative Zaal'Koris, one of the youngest – but also most articulate – representatives of the colonisation faction called out.
"I am truly sorry, but we will not give you those worlds…"
"But they're useless to you!"
Ambassador Goyle was surprised to hear the angry exclamation come from not any of the representatives, but from Rael'Zorah from his place with the human marine and migrant fleet marine guards.
From the way Shala'Raan turned to face him it appeared that she was just as surprised, but no reprimand was forthcoming from the Speaker or the Admiralty Board. It seemed that even though he wasn't a representative, the young Ensign Zorah had captured the mood of the Conclave perfectly as their earlier friendliness vanished, and angry muttering spread around the room.
Anita knew that such hostility was caused mostly by how refusing to give the dextro worlds in human territory to the quarians was completely at odds with both her opening statement and the gift of the SV Gaia, portraying humans as an unreliable, treacherous, and two-faced race.
She ignored the growing anger and chose her words carefully.
"If it was solely a human decision, we would give those worlds to you. But the Alliance needs to be a Citadel race, we will be overwhelmed and enslaved by our neighbours if we are not."
She shuddered, purely for dramatic purposes, as she was sure that everyone present knew that the Alliance's entire southern border faced the Batarian Hegemony.
"As much as we wish to help, we know what will happen if we do. When the Migrant Fleet attempted to settle Ekuna, even though it was discovered by the Migrant Fleet and had an environment that was far from ideal for any Citadel species, the Citadel Council still took it from you. They forced your colonists to leave or face orbital bombardment from the Citadel Fleet's guns, then gave the planet you had worked so hard to discover to the elcor."
As expected, the anger remained but its target changed at the reminder of the fate of the only colonisation attempt that the Migrant Fleet had ever made.
Politically, it had badly damaged the colonisation faction and they hadn't really ever recovered. The reclamation faction had been growing ever since, and so all of the Migrant Fleet's spare resources were spent on searching for new ways to combat the geth, rather than search for colonisation prospects.
The reclamation faction were determined to finally win the war and take back Rannoch from those that had driven them away, no matter the cost.
The Admiral of the Heavy Fleet, Keenah'Gazu vas Neema spoke up harshly. "You fear that if you give us those worlds, the Citadel Council will terminate your ascension process and, even if they don't move against you directly, leave you in an untenable position given your southern neighbours."
"Yes. It does neither of us any good if, by attempting to help, all we do is join you in exile," Ambassador Goyle replied simply and honestly, watching as the mood of the Conclave changed again to disappointment.
"I think that, disappointed as we are, we can't blame the humans for the Citadel Council forcing them to take colonisation off the table," Zaal'Koris's voice was rich with disappointment, but also understanding. The quarians had enough enemies already, they didn't need to aggravate one of the few races that actually had a positive opinion of them.
A general rumble of agreement reverberated through the Conclave before the Speaker addressed Ambassador Goyle again.
"I take it that you have an alternative proposal to make, Ambassador?"
"Indeed," Anita replied. "The Alliance is engaged in a complete fleet redesign to make maximum use of all of the new technologies available in Citadel space in our new generation of warships. We would greatly value quarian input in this process."
"And what would we get in return?" Shala'Raan spoke up.
"The SV Gaia has two sister ships, the SV Gilgamesh and the SV Galadriel. We will give you both of them."
The Conclave was stunned into silence. The opportunity to double the number of liveships in the Migrant Fleet, to increase their population by hundreds of thousands, it was a dream that no one had ever thought would happen, and now it was within their grasp. And it was being offered for the price of only a couple of dozen advisors.
"That seems… unusually generous, Ambassador. Perhaps you can understand our disbelief," Shala'Raan followed up on her original question from her place in the representative's tiers.
"Of course," Antia smiled warmly as she explained.
"I could stand here and try to haggle and bargain, but to be brutally honest, it would feel too much like kicking someone while they are down. I am offering the most that the System Alliance is willing to offer to secure the services that we need. If you do not wish to accept, then that is entirely your right, but I'm not going to squeeze your talents from you cheaply when we can afford to pay a fair price."
Ambassador Goyle conveniently left out that squeezing the quarians hard had been exactly her plan before she had found out about their economic model. Now she was gambling that the trust and honesty that that model relied on to function would transfer over to her, and overwhelm the insult of her pointing out how weak the quarians actually were in these negotiations.
Though there was considerable angry muttering from the Conclave, especially from those representing the ships of the heavy fleet, but it appeared that a grudging respect for her bluntness was winning out.
Inwardly Ambassador Goyle sighed in relief.
"Does anyone wish to speak against the proposal?" The Speaker's question went unanswered and as such the proposal was transferred to an immediate vote.
Each Conclave member entered their vote into the system, and the Speaker read out the decision of the Conclave.
"The Vote is concluded. By 44,317 to 2,173 with 3,226 abstentions, the motion passes. Blessings upon the ancestors that guided this Conclave, keelah se'lai."
The Admiralty Board recorded their assent to the bill, marking its passage into law. Ambassdor Goyle breathed a sigh of relief. Now that her most important proposal had been accepted her mission was not going to be a failure, no matter what happened next.
The Speaker noticed that the human Ambassador had not left the petitioners courtyard.
"Do you have another proposal, Ambassador?" they asked in confusion.
"I do, Speaker."
"Why was it not included with your last one?"
"It is more controversial, I did not wish it to cause my first proposal to fail by association, should you find it unacceptable."
The Conclave quietened, intrigued, as the Speaker gestured for Ambassador Goyle to continue. "As the members of this Conclave know, the Systems Alliance is engaging in a mass upgrade of our technology, trying to bring our entire economy up to galactic standard as quickly as possible. This is a massive undertaking as it involves all parts of life, not just the military, or even the government, but all aspects of the economy will face disruption as we attempt to condense into decades what would naturally take centuries."
As a race of technical experts many quarians signalled their agreement, they knew the scale of the challenge facing the Systems Alliance. The difficulty of upgrading an entire technological base, while simultaneously ensuring that the tech base being upgraded could continue to fulfil all the requirements of daily life during the entire process, was a nightmare few would take on if they could avoid it.
"The Prime Minister and Cabinet believe, and so do I, that such an undertaking would be a lot faster, and a lot more effective, if the military, government, and civilian sectors had quarian advisors at their disposal."
There was dead silence across the entire Conclave as the enormity of that request sank in.
"Ambassador," Representative Zaal'Koris was the first to recover his voice at the sheer audacity of the request.
"To provide an advisory team for a warship development programme is one thing. This is quite another. The entire military, the government services, the civilian economy and the corporations make it up. It would take at least a million quarian advisors to do as you ask."
"We estimated that it would be nearer to two million." Anita replied mildly.
"That is 10% of our entire population," Zaal'Koris whispered in shock.
"Yes."
"And what would you be offering in exchange for this?"
Ambassador Goyle gestured over the emitter in the centre of the courtyard and a hologram appeared before the Conclave, depicting a standard Alliance shipyard.
"This is the primary shipyard of the Gemini Sigma cluster, it has one capital class dockyard slip as well as numerous cruiser and frigate slips. We are prepared to offer the Migrant Fleet the exclusive use of this shipyard, with or without its human crew, for the construction or repair of quarian ships for as long as quarian advisors are helping with the upgrade of the economy. Even with your help, we predict this will be decades."
Ambassador Goyle briefly cleared her throat before continuing. "Given the size of the Migrant Fleet we are also willing to offer the use of two of the Gemini Sigma cluster's repair stations in addition to its primary shipyard, so that the Admiralty Board's choice of repairing existing ships or constructing new ones is not mutually exclusive. Alliance repair stations are small and not suitable for construction from scratch, but they have multiple sub-capital class dockyard slips, and are rated to repair all but the most crippling damage. Again, they are available with or without their human crew, at your discretion."
"But… but… the Citadel Council…" Zaal'Koris stammered in shock, giving voice to the Conclave's turbulent emotions.
"The Citadel Council has no say over any trade negotiations that we engage in, nor in what nations or corporations we allow access to our military shipyards, not until the end of our ascension process, when we officially become a Citadel associate race," Ambassador Goyle dismissed his concerns with both a wave of her hand, and considerably more confidence than she actually felt.
It was a question of balance, of how far the Alliance could push their luck with the Council. Had they offered the quarians the two dextro worlds in their territory, the precedent of Ekuna showed that the Council would have comedown on them like a ton of bricks.
However, it was entirely legal to trade resources with the Migrant Fleet throughout Citadel space, the simple fact that no government or major corporation did so to avoid the Council's displeasure meant that a law to make it illegal had never been necessary.
With that lack of legal basis for any action, and the fact that the humans were not yet a Citadel race, Prime Minister Tharoor and the War Cabinet had decided to gamble on the fact that while the Council would scream bloody murder, they would stop short of actually taking any action. Or at least stop short of taking any action that would outweigh the benefits of millions of quarian advisors would bring to the weak and obsolete human economy.
"No!" the voice of Keenah'Gazu vas Neema thundered across the room, echoing from the walls.
"We cannot leave ourselves so vulnerable to the humans! 10% of our population scattered across their worlds? The entire Migrant Fleet deep in human territory, surrounded by their fleets? We would take millions of casualties if we ever had to fight our way out."
The Admiral of the Heavy Fleet calmed a little following her exclamation, the prize of two more superliners causing her to take on a more conciliatory tone lest she cause the humans to withdraw their first offer at the insult. "I am sorry Ambassador, I do not wish to imply that such a situation is likely. I am sure that the Systems Alliance is indeed an honourable government. But the Admiralty Board must plan for all possibilities, no matter how remote. I cannot endorse a course of action that could see us lose millions of quarians, perhaps even over half of us, if the worst-case scenario comes to pass."
"We are not exactly free from risk in this scenario, Admiral." Ambassador Goyle responded hotly. "The Space Lords protested strongly against this, they see 50,000 ships deep behind our defences as a dagger pointed at the heart of the Alliance. A worst-case scenario could easily see the visitors we greeted with open arms turn to conquerors, as our fleets would be helpless should the ships of the Migrant Fleet disperse and place all of our colonies in the Hades Gamma sector under their guns before we could concentrate our fleets enough to oppose you."
The accusation rocked the Conclave as representatives began yelling at the Ambassador, at the Admiral, and at each other. The very idea that they could be considered a military threat was novel to some quarians, and they found that they liked the sense of power that it gave them.
Others were horrified at the insult to their honour, or the insult that the Admiral Gazu had given to the humans. Still more were still in shock at the idea of three entire facilities being made available to a fleet that hadn't seen drydock in over 200 years and were just yelling for everyone to shut up so they could have a moment to think.
Finally, the Speaker managed to bring the Conclave back to order. Zaal'Koris was the first representative to be permitted to speak again.
"Speaker, Ambassador Goyle's proposal is momentous, but as both the Admiralty Board and the Ambassador pointed out, there are severe risks to both parties from it. Perhaps it would be better if Ambassador Goyle were to enjoy the hospitality of the Rayya and wait elsewhere, before returning later to answer any questions we have. This would allow us to debate the legitimate concerns of the Admiralty Board without insulting each other."
Ambassador Goyle waited as the Speaker thought for a moment and then motioned Ensign Rael'Zorah forward.
"Ambassador, I believe Zaal'Koris's proposal has merit. The Ensign that accompanied you from the Tesleya will accompany you anywhere on the Rayya that you wish to go. As a gesture of goodwill and trust, and as an apology for any insult we may have given due to the shock of your proposal, the normal migrant fleet marine escort will be dispensed with."
"Thank you, Speaker. I look forward to answering the Conclave's questions and hearing your response to our proposal," Anita replied graciously before leaving with Rael'Zorah.
The Conclave erupted into furious debate behind her.
Sur'Kesh – Annos Basin
2113.04.04
Queen Anne and Emperor Noriyoshi re-entered the salarian cabinet room after the short recess.
Tsarina Souls and Grand Duchess Bau, the only salarians present, studied them carefully, but neither had enough experience with humans to read their body language.
Yet.
Of course, the STG had intercepted and decoded the human transmission, but the humans had not been so foolish as to write a message that could be understood outside of context.
The two Dalatrasses knew that 'Project Eidolon' had been a success and that that meant that the negotiating team's secondary objectives were now primary. But without context that knowledge gave them no hint to the human's actions, except that they could expect a drastic change in the human's negotiation objectives.
"Dalatrasses," Queen Anne greeted warmly. As the monarch more accustomed to public appearances, she had been taking the lead. It also suited Noriyoshi's character to remain silent and watch for weaknesses so he had been happy to take a back seat. The two humans had actually found that they greatly enjoyed working together.
"Majesties," Dalatrass Bau replied neutrally. "Recess was beneficial?"
"It was," Queen Anne replied. "I would like to confirm that you are happy with our agreement on our genetic projects before we continue on to new topics."
"Objectives have changed?" Dalatrass Bau questioned.
"You know they have, even if you do not know what they have changed to. Let us not be coy with each other, it will only delay any agreement," Emperor Noriyoshi interjected.
"Agreed," Dalatrass Souls stated calmly. "Agreement acceptable. Systems Alliance will provide manufacturing process for medigel to Citadel, Salarian Union will partner Alliance genetic research projects and randomly inspect gene therapy programme to prevent Citadel enforced termination."
"Good," Noriyoshi replied decisively. "Now, for the heart of the matter. The Asari have a Prothean data source they have not shared with the Citadel."
Both Salarians blinked rapidly.
"Serious charge, should not made lightly. Penalties for withholding Prothean technology harshest in Citadel space," Dalatrass Bau commented.
"I thought we agreed not to be coy with each other?" Queen Anne said demurely. "You are the best researchers in Citadel Space, but somehow, whenever you make a breakthrough, the asari make the same breakthrough only months later. And to add insult to injury often the asari method is more elegant, error free, and refined as if they have known how to do whatever the new breakthrough is for decades."
"Whatever you try you can't keep a tech advantage over the asari for more than a few months. As soon as it becomes relatively public knowledge, the asari repeat your breakthrough in a tiny fraction of the time it took you to research and develop it and regain the title of most advanced race in the galaxy."
Both salarians simply stared at the two human monarchs, giving nothing away as Queen Anne waited for a moment, then elaborated. "You are not foolish. You know that the only way they could do this is if they have a Prothean resource that they have not revealed to the galaxy, despite the laws that they themselves wrote."
"If true, asari would not need us to develop technology first. Large flaw in your argument," Dalatrass Solus fenced with the Queen and the Emperor.
"Unless it is damaged, or has strict limits, or was intended as an uplift station," Emperor Noriyoshi fenced back effortlessly.
"Perhaps it will not provide any information that it does not believe you already possess? Ask it for information on metal alloys and it will tell you nothing. Tell it how you produce steel and it will correct your production process, as if upgrading a daimyo's town to the shogun's standard."
"If true, would have exposed them before entire Citadel. All Prothean artefacts to be shared. No exceptions. Law is clear," Dalatrass Bau was emphatic.
"Only if you can prove it," Queen Anne spoke up, the very picture of innocence despite her words. "The very nature of the courts means that it doesn't matter what you know is true. It only matters what you can prove is true."
"You are far more dangerous than appearances suggest, cousin," Dalatrass Souls spoke sharply.
"Thank you, cousin," Queen Anne replied smiling sweetly.
"Suggestions?" Dalatrass Bau asked after a moments silence.
"The Prothean ruins on Mars are some of the most extensive technologically intact sites ever discovered in Citadel Space," Queen Anne responded, confirming the STG reports that the two dalatrasses had read. "And more importantly, it seems to have been set up to be operated primarily by the non-Prothean races of the Prothean Empire. A lot of it doesn't use the direct interface system that true Protheans used that no one can figure out how to activate. Much of it uses the same physical computer interface system that you find in the lower-class areas of Prothean ruins."
The STG reports had not contained that nugget of information.
"Non-true Prothean interface system would make information substantially easier to access," Dalatrass Bau stated in shock, unable to stop her eyes widening in surprise.
"Potential increase in information extraction compared to existing functional Prothean sites… substantial," Dalatrass Solus noted, breathing deeply as she calculated variables.
"We are prepared to offer you exclusive access to the Mars ruins alongside our own research teams. While all Citadel races, council and associate, will legally be allowed access when we become a Citadel race, until then you will be the only Citadel race with access."
"Your demands? Aid salarian advisors can give to Alliance substantial," Dalatrass Souls commented already planning on how to use the advisor's guiding hands to drive the humans down a development path that would benefit the Salarian Union.
"Your council vote," Queen Anne answered as if she were discussing the weather.
"… what?"
Both dalatrasses looked stunned, shocked practically to silence by the answer.
"In return for access to the Mars ruins, the Salarian Union will pledge to vote the way the Systems Alliance requests in the Citadel Council. This pledge will be single use, but there will be no restrictions on what the matter before the Council might be when it is activated. It might be a simple trade dispute, or it might be a declaration of war."
Dalatrass Bau seemed unable to process the sheer audacity of the human's proposal.
Dalatrass Solus simply stared at Queen Anne.
"Will take it to the Inner Cabinet."
"Thank you, Tsarina Solus," Anne replied, still the picture of regal innocence.
Dalatrass Solus marked Anne as more dangerous than most of the salarian Grand Duchesses, and raised her glass to the Queen.
The Citadel – The Serpent Nebula
2113.04.06
"So now the spirits dammed primitives are dealing with the fucking suit rats."
Corinthus Oraka wasn't angry, he had passed that stage some time ago and was now simply depressed, as if nothing the humans did surprised him anymore.
Matriarch Tevos Calis was of the opinion that she had never felt so much stress and frustration in so short amount of time, even if this time it was accompanied by a tiny amount of very grudging admiration for the primary human ambassador. Anita Goyle would have made a good Matriarch.
As usual, she let none of it show in her voice.
"We should have seen this coming. Of course the humans would reach out to the quarians, they have much to gain and little to lose."
"Agreed," Councillor Tolan stated. "Antagonistic attitude to Council means little loss from our displeasure. Potential rewards from quarian advisors and technical ability vast. Price of purchase cheap due to quarian weakness."
The only salarian to deny his clan and use his first name only, as his hatching before all of the dalatrasses of the Union to ensure equal loyalty to all clans guaranteed, simply shook his head in disbelief.
"Large failure of STG and diplomatic corps, forgot humans do not share experience of irresponsible vagrants's actions unleashing geth upon galaxy. Wargaming of human diplomatic activity proceeded under false assumption."
He breathed deeply. "Predictions total failure. Must reset starting conditions and re-run model if not to be caught out again."
Councillor Oraka poured himself a large glass of the finest turian brandy. "I take it this is the part where you both tell me there's nothing we can do?"
Councillor Tevos allowed herself a small grimace. "Legally, we are in a very difficult position. There are no laws that we can apply to this situation, it's not illegal to trade with the quarians as the threat of our displeasure has always been enough to discourage people."
"We could create new laws and enforce them retroactively, or add the Migrant Fleet to the existing sanctioned states list," Oraka muttered.
"Even if we managed to get the humans to agree, and remember that they are not obligated to follow our rulings until their ascension process is complete, it would play very badly in the corporate world. It would be clear that we are creating new laws to ban legal commercial deals that the humans have already entered into. As there has been no change in the quarian's activities to justify such a sudden change in policy, many industry leaders will not be happy about the precedent, the volus clan leaders first among them."
Corinthus grimaced as he was reminded of the influence that the Vol Protectorate had over the turian's diplomatic policy in peacetime. There were huge benefits to the Hierarchy of having the volus run their economy, but right now he just wanted to tell them to fuck off and legislate the humans into a cage that they couldn't escape from.
"So we, the three most powerful races in the galaxy, have no options except a nice forceful declaration of meaningless words."
"Not true. Have many options. Simply all bad," Tolan replied calmly. "Would all result in massive domestic commercial and public relations damage, or termination of human ascension process."
"Would that be such a bad thing?" Councillor Oraka muttered, the humiliation of a turian Admiral being shot, executed, by jumped up pyjaks playing through his head again, as it had for the last several weeks.
"Yes," Tolan elaborated. The salarian already knew that Corinthus already knew the answer, but needed to be reminded. "Rouge nation so deep within Citadel space total nightmare, too many access points to police when government actively helping anti-citadel elements. Too costly to occupy long term even if initial invasion easy."
"If do not invade batarians will, and if humans do not survive batarian invasion, situation worse. New worlds, slaves, and industrial base gives batarians massive boost, almost to Council Race level. Desired outcome for you?"
Councillor Tevos tried to soothe Oraka as she shot her salarian colleague a warning glare for rubbing salt into the turian's wounded pride.
"It appears that Anita Goyle has one of the best qualities a diplomat can possess; the ability to know just how far you can push someone before you force them to take action. She knows giving the damn tramps planets is the line, and she's pushing as close as she possibly can. It's impressive, really, in one so young. Many would have misjudged where the line is, and either been ineffective or led their nation into disaster. But she's shown her hand. We will be ready for her next time."
Corinthus Oraka sneered at his asari colleague before downing his brandy and heading to the door. "I'll leave you alone to sing the primitives praises. When you're done, do try to remember that the meaningless words we send to them are at least supposed to sound like we're chastising them."
Hagalaz – Hourglass Nebula
Intercepted Communications Log: Cooperative High Value Assets List
2113.04.06
From: ERROR – User Not Found
To: SPECTRE Agent Tela Vasir
The humans are running unchecked, meeting with success at every turn. The Council can do nothing to stop them without making things worse, but someone has to before they get totally out of control. I am calling in the favour you owe me Vasir, report to the Citadel for assignment. Don't use the SPECTRE office and don't contact the others, this is off the books.
From: SPECTRE Agent Tela Vasir
To: ERROR – User Not Found
On my way Councillor. Remember: this makes us even.
Codex Entry: The Government of the Systems Alliance – The Upper Legislative House (Sabha ka Gyaan)
(Citadel Codex, First Human SPECTRE Collector's Edition, 2183)
With the role that most nation states assign to their upper house filled by the Tribunes in the Grand Assembly (Lower House) the Systems Alliance was free to look elsewhere for ideas of the role the upper house should take, they settled on Canada and Ireland.
The result was the Sabha ka Gyaan – in English: the Assembly of Knowledge.
It consists of 201 members, of which 200 are voting, who are appointed rather than elected. The non-voting member is the Speaker, who may only vote in the event of a tie. The members of the Sabha all have years, usually decades, of experience in different areas of life and range from doctors and scientists, through captains of industry and trade union leaders, to artists and playwrights.
The appointment system allows those who would never win an election, such as those who have no charisma, are terrified of public speaking, or have difficult pasts that, despite turning their lives around, would sink any political campaign, to serve their nation and offer their lifetimes of valuable experience to the members of the Grand Assembly when drafting laws.
Members of the Sabha ka Gyaan are appointed for 12 year terms and the entire chamber is appointed at once. This process is timed to occur in the middle of every other 6 year parliamentary term, so that it does not interfere with the general election campaign.
A replication of the Senates of Canada and Ireland, the Sabha ka Gyaan is appointed and as such has no democratic mandate. This means that there is never any question that the Grand Assembly is supreme in Parliament, avoiding the damaging battles between elected houses, such as the Deputies/Senate battles in Italy and the House/Senate battles in the USA, when two elected houses battle over who's democratic mandate is more valid.
As a consequence of this lack of democratic mandate, the Sabha can only delay laws with which it disagrees. It cannot veto them.
Known colloquially as the 'chamber of sober second thought' the Sabha ka Gyaan is a revising chamber. When a law arrives from the Grand Assembly, the AMs (Assembly Members) study the proposal in detail, first in committees and then as a whole.
Less confrontational than the elected Grand Assembly, the Sabha will often make many small amendments, and less often large revisions, to laws and send them back to the lower house. The lower house can then accept or reject the upper house's proposed changes and send it back to the Sabha ka Gyaan for approval (if they accepted the changes) or for the AMs to amend and revise the legislation again if the Grand Assembly rejected some or all of their last changes.
The Sabha ka Gyaan can only amend and revise legislation twice. When the Grand Assembly sends it to them for the third time, the AMs must vote to pass it, whether the changes they proposed the last two times were accepted or not. This is the constitutional recognition that as the democratically elected chamber, the will of the Grand Assembly is more important than the Sabha ka Gyaan's reservations.
Though rarely used, the Sabha ka Gyaan does have the power to introduce and create legislation itself and send it to the Grand Assembly for consideration rather than just reacting to what the lower house produces. Due to the greater technical expertise present in the upper house, the government has often asked the Sabha to produce legislation on detailed technical issues and send it to the lower house, so that the Grand Assembly has a basic framework to debate from rather than starting from scratch.
Appointment Process
The appointment process to become a member of the Sabha ka Gyaan comes in three stages.
In the first stage, 2 years before the new session begins, the entire Alliance population can submit suggestions for people that they wish to be members of the Sabha ka Gyaan.
One year after the nominations period was announced, the nominations close and the second stage, eligibility filtering begins.
To be eligible to be a member a person must be:
A citizen of the Systems Alliance
Of voting age (16 standard years old and over)
Not a member of a political party
Be healthy enough (as standard or with treatment) to faithfully discharge the duties of an Assembly Member physically and mentally.
Have great experience in an area of life such as, but not limited to: Social Services, Education, Higher Education, NGOs, Agriculture, Industry, Culture, Arts, Literature, Health, Trade Unions, Science or Commerce
The list of nominated persons is examined and people who are not eligible are removed from it. The people remaining on the list are then contacted and asked if they would we willing to serve on the Sabha ka Gyaan.
Once the list has been reduced to only those people who are both eligible and willing to serve, the 600 people with the most nominations are selected to move on to stage 3.
In stage 3 a Citizens Assembly of 100 members is formed.
A Citizens Assembly is similar to a jury in that its members are selected randomly from the electoral roll in accordance with the Alliance's demographics. (ie: only so many % university graduates, only so many % in each age bracket, only so many % on minimum wage etc…)
As such it is as close to a fair and unbiased body as it is possible to assemble.
The Citizens Assembly then takes the list of 600 eligible and willing people, nominated by the people of the Systems Alliance, and debates their various merits among themselves.
Over the course of 6 months they will select the 200 voting members of the Sabha ka Gyaan, and another member to serve as Speaker, from that list of 600. The Citizens Assembly will disband upon the completion of this duty.
Should a vacancy occur due to illness, death, resignation or impeachment of an AM during the 12 year term, the Speaker will select a candidate from the remaining 399 people on the list that the Citizens Assembly was given. The Sabha ka Gyaan will then vote to confirm or veto the Speaker's choice.
Timeline Changes So Far
First colony on mars: 27 years earlier than canon
Discovery of Prothean ruins: 64 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (council of nations version): 63 years earlier than canon
First Contact War: 45 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (parliamentary super state version): 44 years earlier than canon
Citadel Ascension Process: 52 years longer than canon (humans become an Associate Race 7 years later than canon)