Seanad derinvart hSkovagee

Seanad derinvart hSkovagee High Council of Skovaji
Logo of Seanad derinvart hSkovagee
Type
Type	Upper house
Term limits	No term limit
History
Founded	26 February 2016
Leadership
Prime Minister	δ, E-M since 26 February 2016
Head of the Cabinet Office	δ, E-M since Unknown
Structure
Seats	At peak, 6
Political groups	Acteriendians (4):   Ind (2)   RS (1)   E-M (1)
Political groups	Others (1):   W (1)
Elections
Voting system	STV
Last election	June 2016
Next election	Institution abolished
Meeting place
Ofie Green (later Alphinside Green)

Seanad derinvart hSkovagee (English: Senate of Skovaji), also called the High Council of Skovaji, was a body of high-ranking state officials in the Second Republic of Skovaji from February to August 2016. Formally, Seanad derinvart hSkovagee was the upper house of the Parliament of Skovaji and was, therefore, part of the legislature, but in practice was treated more like an executive body of advisors to the Prime Minister and Lord Wesley; this use of a small council of high-ranking officials as both a legislature and an executive steering committee inspired the Cabinet of Glastieve in 2017 and eventually the National Council of Envardia in 2019.

Seanad derinvart hSkovagee and was created on 26 February 2016 alongside Ofie derinvart hSkovagee in emulation of the Seanad Éireann and Dáil Éireann in Ireland. It existed only ceremonially until June 2016, and had only the Prime Minister and Lord Wesley among its membership. Prime Minister δ (Ives Blackwood) appointed Glastievens E, N and R to Seanad derinvart hSkovagee in June 2016, and the organ was the focal point of Classical Acteriendia for its final few months of existence. As Skovaji declined into non-existence from August 2016, Seanad derinvart hSkovagee too began to return to inactivity, and in October was abolished along with the rest of the country through the Liquidation and Dissolution Act 2016.

Nomenclature

Seanad derinvart hSkovagee is a Skovajan language (known at the time as Evonian) phrase, meaning Senate of Skovaji. Formally, in English the institution should also be called Seanad derinvart hSkovagee, but in Skovaji it was sometimes called the High Council instead. For example, the website of the Skovaji Stock Exchange asked users to send requests "to the Seanad derinvart hSkovagee (the High Council)"; the Skovaji tourist website, on the other hand, referred only to "the High Council" when talking about Ofie Green. Modern Glastieven convention dictates that Seanad derinvart hSkovagee be used in the history of Skovaji, but that the High Council of Skovaji be used when talking about Classical Acteriendia.

February to June 2016: Paper institution

According to Skovajan records, both Seanad derinvart hSkovagee and Ofie derinvart hSkovagee were founded in November 2015 after the collapse of the Skovajan Anarcho-Communist State. According to the Skovajan narrative, Skovaji was an absolute monarchy state dominated by the Lord Wesley before the δ led an anarcho-communist rebellion and created AC Skovaji, with a democratic parliament. AC Skovaji was then brought down and the Lord Wesley restored by foreign intervention by the Democratic Republic of Howe (the Beale War), but as a concession to the Prime Minister, the Lord Wesley created Seanad derinvart hSkovagee and Ofie derinvart hSkovagee.

This narrative is now understood as a mythology created in 2016 to justify the Lord Wesley's gradually declining interest and the creation of government institutions in what was at the time essentially a one-person model country. The first reliable reference to Seanad derinvart hSkovagee is from February 2016, when it appeared in the lead section of the Republic of Skovaji entry on MicroWiki, where it is described as part of the legislature and as "an upper house, Seanad derinvart hSkovagee (High Council, lit. 'Senate of Skovaji')".

Between February and April, both arms of the Parliament of Skovaji played an entirely ceremonial role. Neither was ever convened, but both appeared in the enacting formula of Acts written by the Prime Minister and signed by the Lord Wesley, suggesting loosely that the constitutional position was of their membership including either both leaders or just the Prime Minister. On 12 April, E, N, and R were 'elected' to Ofie derinvart hSkovagee (in practice they were appointed by δ), and a formal election was held to Seanad derinvart hSkovagee, in which δ was elected as an Evon-Mortarist and Christopher I as a Wesleyist. Seanad derinvart hSkovagee was also mentioned on the website of the Skovaji Stock Exchange, opened on 15 April, for the first time giving it a formal role.

Despite this apparent opportunity for activity, however, Seanad derinvart hSkovagee remained in de facto abeyance. The institution met once in April to formally approve requests by DeltaPlanner and the Isotoniae Corporation (two companies run by δ) to be floated on the Skovaji Stock Exchange, but after this δ simply approved other companies being listed without holding meetings with the Lord Wesley. The Ofie met several times and gave its name to Ofie Green, and did not seek the approval of Seanad derinvart hSkovagee for its legislation.

June to August 2016: Acteriendian dominance

In June, to reflect the growing integration between Classical Acteriendia and Skovaji led the Prime Minister to call elections to Seanad derinvart hSkovagee, with the technical approval of the very inactive Lord Wesley. R and N were elected as independents, δ as an Evon-Mortarist, and E as a Robot Socialist. The new Seanad derinvart hSkovagee met at Ofie Green on the day of its election to change the rules of the institution, giving the Prime Minister and Lord Wesley ex officio seats and restricting the power of the Ofie to pass laws without the approval of the upper house. As both houses contained the same members, the effect of this was a shift in emphasis from the Ofie to the High Council as Skovaji became more Acteriendian.

The High Council's period as the centre of Classical Acteriendia was brief, and the institution was likely assembled only around fifteen times in the three months of its de facto existence. The Lord Wesley attended none of these meetings and references to traditional (pre-Acteriendian) Skovajan customs and laws were sparse. Anecdotal evidence suggests that at one of these meetings, E's phone screen was smashed by joint error of he and δ, and that the latter was made to pay half the bill. Activity in the High Council and in the rest of Skovaji declined from the beginning of August, and by the end of month the High Council had been abandoned and largely forgotten. It was formally abolished two months later by the loose-ends-tying Liquidation and Dissolution Act 2016, which ceded Skovaji back to the U.K. and abolished its institutions.

Composition at dissolution

Name	Photograph	Election	Notes
Christoper I, Lord Wesley of Skovaji		26 February 2016	Lord Wesley of Skovaji; head of state and government. Held an ex officio seat on Seanad derinvart hSkovagee. Was elected as part of the Wesleyist party.
δ		26 February 2016	Prime Minister of Skovaji; de facto head of government. Held an ex officio seat on Seanad derinvart hSkovagee. Was elected as part of the Evon-Mortarist party.
John Matthews		June 2016	Elected when Classical Acteriendia became heavily involved with Skovaji. Was not affiliated with any political party.
N		June 2016	Elected when Classical Acteriendia became heavily involved with Skovaji. Was not affiliated with any political party.
E		June 2016	Minister for Defence. Elected when Classical Acteriendia became heavily involved with Skovaji. Was elected as part of the Robot Socialist party.

Legacy

Although Skovaji had a single head of state, it can be argued that Seanad derinvart hSkovagee between June and August 2016 was the predecessor to the later tradition of directorial governance in Glastieve, including the Cabinet of Glastieve (First Republic) established six months later in February 2017, the Cabinet of Glastieve (Second Republic) established in January 2018, and the planned National Council of Envardia. In particular, it set the precedent for a small council of high-ranking individuals to behave as both a unicameral legislature and a steering committee for the executive (like the Cabinet of the U.K.), a form of fusional system unique to Skovaji, Glastieve and Envardia. In addition, the integration between Classical Acteriendia and Seanad derinvart hSkovagee can be seen as a type for the later relationship between the larger Glastieven Acteriendia and the cabinet of the First Republic.

See also

• Ofie derinvart hSkovagee - the lower house of the Parliament of Skovaji.