The Regent got up once again after the steward left.
"No need for the steward - I will summarize the motions, for the sake of hurrying the process along.
As a regent, I passed two acts, which, after the Clear Naming Conventions act, I retroactively name the Strong Leadership act and the Prevalence of Democracy act. The first ensures that if no emperor can be elected within 72 hours of the session's beginning, the Regent will retain the post for the quarter, while the second prevents Imperial Regents from ever disbanding the council or creating a tie in the votes to elect the Emperor, to prevent any future abuse of the Strong Leadership act.
The Inactive Reclamation act intends to claim the worlds of the Houses which have fled or have been wiped out and adding them to the imperial demesne. For example, rumors have arrived that the Jade Wraith dynasty has shown its true colors and fled the imperial territories in a show of cowardice. Their worlds are now leaderless, and could be claimed for the Emperor.
The Shipyard and Outpost Prestige Amendment act intends to increase the prestige value of Shipyard and Outpost worlds, to support the war effort. The current consensus seems to set this modification to a value of four prestige for both.
The Conclave Diplomacy act would, if passed, allow the Emperor or the Regent to establish a diplomatic channel with the Conclave, to seek to discover what they want and perhaps negotiate."
He cleared his throat to let the words sink in.
"House Shandokar has decided to go forward with its votes. In order to punish what is effectively treason towards the Empire and a show of both cowardice and lack of character, we vote Aye on the Inactive Reclamation act. In order to support the direly needed war effort, we vote Aye on the Prestige Amendment.
As for Conclave diplomacy... Well. It may seem tempting to attempt to negotiate, and it may seem tempting to seek an easy way out of this war, but I do not believe it is necessary at the time. The hour is grave, on that we can agree; but it is not quite as grave as the imperial news make it out. Eldred's fleets have been wiped out, two shipyards have been destroyed and three were captured, but the battle was not an absolute victory for the enemy. Due to the successes of Hyssis, Carrowspiel, and my own Dynasty, five general conclave worlds and a forgeworld have been taken by Imperial forces. This means although they have gained the means to produce nine more ships, they have also lost nine Supplies. If they had a relatively equivalent military and supplies production, this means that their force has not grown last quarter - it has decreased. With competent leadership decisions and a clever placement of shipyard and outpost worlds, I believe it to be possible that we could take back our lost worlds, or at least make sure they cannot be used against us.
With this in consideration, as well as the fact that billions were murdered in the bombardment of our shipyards in a blatant war crime, I vote Nay against the Conclave Diplomacy act, and indeed intend to veto it completely should I remain as Regent or be elected as Emperor. I will be damned before we negotiate with these criminals, and indeed I believe the Archons having put forward this act should be ashamed of themselves."