ASF Senate

The ASF Senate was the legislative power within the Allied Systems Federation.

History
The first mention of a possible senate within the ASF was in 2195, during the Alliance negotiations held on Concordia. In the months before the exclamation of the ASF on March 1st, 2196, the would-be president of the ASF (Timothy Lowpeak) decided how and where the senate would take it's seat.
 * The senate would consist of 250 seats; each seat would be custom-build for a certain species.
 * The senate would have it's place in a special pyramid-shaped building in Sydney, Earth, Sol System.

Movings
A few weeks after the inauguration of the Pyramid, it was concluded that the building was way too small. In 2199, a new building was completed for the Senate, the Colosseum. The Senate was housed there for 23 years, until it moved to the space-based Terra Station on February 2nd, 2222. On September 3rd, 2278, the Senate moved for the last time, this time to Helico Station.

Ousting Laqo
After the Vrox Rampage ended following the Battle of Earth, Federation president Rotalia Laqo was impeached by the Senate after uncoverig the covert Deep Science Institute and learning of the extent of the Aegis Solarums authority. Ancilican and Vota Senators took over the presidency during the impeachment procedures. The Senate elected a new president during the next elections.

Function
''The ASF Senate is the legislative power of the Federation. The Senate consists of 250 senators that are in charge of setting the general political direction and proposes additions or amendments to the Federation Laws. Senators are elected from the various planetary governments of the Federation, or from the Populi Generalis. Senators hammer out agreements that lead to new or edited laws to move the Federation forward. When a 2/3rd agreement majority is reached, the proposal is sent to the Populi Generalis and the Federal Court of Law. If both agree with the proposal, the legislation is ratified.''

''The ASF Senate is also responsible for electing the Federation President, as one of the Senators is elevated to the position of President. This elevation follows the same path as proposed legislation, as the President candidate must be approved by both the Populi Generalis and the Federal Court of Law.''

''The Senate also acts as a back-up in absence of a Federation President. In the case of an absent or impeached President a selected group of 5 senators would take over the duties of the Presidency until a new President could be elected. ''copy-pasted from Allied Systems Federation.

Parties
In the course of time, different parties took place in the Senate. The most prominent parties were:
 * The Democratic Party for All Species (DPAS) was the largest party for many years. Being social-democratic, the party was popular among many humans and even more among the smaller species (in numbers) within the ASF.
 * The Liberal Party (LP) closely followed the DPAS in numbers of popularity, but it was for most of the time an opposition party. During the ASF-K'adurbian War, the idle within the DPAS and the LP resulted into a merging of the DPAS and LP - thus forming the Liberal-Democratic Faction (LDF).
 * The Faction for Social Justice (FSJ) was a rather small party - it was somewhat communistic in nature. Although the FSJ didn't really pursue a communistic form of government, it advocated for a larger social security.
 * The PaPreRes (Party for our Precious Residents) was a minor, rather snobbish party which advocated for the rich residents within the ASF.
 * PEOPLE was for most time the smallest party within the senate: the party was accused many times of rasicm and hate speeches. It advocated for a larger role for full-blood humans within the ASF.