Parliament

Some members of court hold key roles in Parliament
Parliament controls laws and raises taxes; Henry’s great reforms have all involved Acts of Parliament
Henry has massive influence over Parliament
The order of succession is legally unclear at present

Some members of the court hold senior roles in Parliament, controlling large blocs of influence there. Parliament passes laws, these can range from taxes to control of the state religion as in the Act of Supremacy. This is how Henry has reformed England to what it is now. It is rare that Parliament will refuse to pass what the King wants. Clever Parliamentarians will find ways to influence his desires long before they get made into law.

One matter that has come up repeatedly is the order of succession after Henry’s death. This has changed several times with new wives and new heirs inspiring new Acts of Succession. Different factions argue different interpretations of these laws. People are understandably nervous about this.

Responsibilities at the event

May pass one Act into law, must decide and draft the Act
No fixed meeting times, though they may request Council Chamber
Deadline for which Act to support 6pm Saturday
Deadline for voting on the supported act 8pm on Saturday
Result will be announced by 9pm on Saturday

The King has ordered Parliament to be ready to pass a new Act. It is not known yet whether he intends this to be a new Act of Succession or an Act to alter the Henrician Church in some way – or both! Rumours are rife and wild in all directions. There will likely be multiple drafts of potential Acts that Parliament could pass and scope for drafting a completely new one. Only one Act can be raised before Parliament this weekend.

Some characters have a large influence on Members of Parliament, with numerous MPs relying on them to direct them on the King’s intentions and how they should vote on a given Act. There is no formal meeting planned for these characters – they arrange their own meeting or lobby privately.

Each Member of Parliament will need to give their opinion on what Act should be raised, and how it should be voted on. This will be done by writing a note by 6pm on Saturday to the designated Court staff (NPCs).
The note must:

Enclose the Member’s draft of a new Act, or
Name the Member whose draft they are endorsing.

The member with the most support will be announced based on simple majority of support. If this is not conclusive then Court staff will attempt to resolve the situation with the characters involved depending on the type of deadlock.

The organisers will draw up a master copy of the selected Act of Parliament and pass it to the Act’s proposer by 7pm. Over the next hour, the proposer may make minor modifications and attempt to gather support for his Act.

Around 8:30pm, each Member must send off instructions to his Parliamentary supporters to either support or oppose the bill. This will be done with a simple note handed to the court NPCs. The result will be fed back by 9pm.

Characters with influence over Parliament

Charles Howard
Francis Bryan
Francis Knollys
Thomas More
William Parr

Other MPs

A small group of NPC Members of Parliament will also turn up. From a story perspective, they are there to represent the status quo, to make sure the players need to sell their ideas to a few extra people, and to represent a few common interests among MPs.