Lords:Granting of Peerage

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Granting of Peerage

Peerages are granted to deserving members through a process of nominations. The rules around how members can be nominated for the peerage, and existing peers elevated are included in PD-SC-1009 Peerage Nomination and Elevation Policy.

Once the peerage board outlined in that policy has met for the year and any new peers have been approved by them and the Joint Chiefs the Lord Speaker will handle contacting those new peers to bring them into the House of Lords.

Accepting a Peerage

After approval the new Peers are announced and the Lord Speaker or their designated officer will contact all the new Peers to see if they wish to accept their peerage. A new Peer has 30 days from the announcement to pick one of the following options:

1. Accept their Peerage
2. Decline their Peerage
3. Request a Peerage Deferment to give them more time to decide

If no response is received after repeated attempts to contact them during the 30 days it will be assumed the Peer wishes to decline their Peerage.

If a Peer accepts their Peerage the Lord Speaker will add them as a Non-Seated Peer, and explain to them the process of them becoming a Seated Peer if they wish to.

Declining a Peerage

As peerages are awarded in secret it can sometimes be a surprise to the new peer, and for various reasons a member might rather decline the honor of a Peerage. The Peerage Deferment process is available if a new Peer is unsure and wants longer to decide.

If a Peer wishes to decline their peerage they need to speak to the Lord Speaker. Typically at least 15 days will be allowed to elapse to ensure that a decision isn’t made in haste, as when a peerage has been formally declined this cannot be undone, a member would have to be nominated again for a peerage.

After the discussions and the elapsed 15 days have passed the process to formally declining a peerage is as follows:

1. Inform the Lord Speaker that they wish to decline their peerage in writing
2. The Lord Speaker will post in the House of Lords communication forum and discord that the newly appointed peer is declining their peerage and that from the time of this post they are no longer to be regarded as a Peer
3. The Lord Speaker or appropriate officers will ensure the Peer is removed from the communication forums and discords as they are no longer a Peer.
4. The Lord Speaker or appropriate officers will ensure the TRMN wiki and Wall of Peerage is updated removing their Peerage.

Peerage Deferment

Given the surprise of a peerage award some new Peers may need more than the standard 30 days to make a decision. A new Peer can request a Peerage Deferment to give them more time by following the following process:

1. Inform the Lord Speaker that they wish to have a Peerage Deferment in writing
2. The Lord Speaker will post in the House of Lords communication forum and discord that the newly appointed peer is having a Peerage Deferment and that until this ends they should not be regarded as a Peer.
3. The Lord Speaker or appropriate officers will ensure the Peer is removed from Seated only areas of Discord and the Forums. They can retain access to any mentoring or onboarding area to help them with their decision.
4. The Lord Speaker or appropriate officers will ensure the TRMN wiki and Wall of Peerage is updated with Peerage Deferred until a decision is made.

The standard Deferment will last for 30 days from the date it was requested. The Lord Speaker or assigns mentors or officers will keep in touch with the Peer during the period to help answer any questions and help with their decision in either direction.

At the end of the 30 days the Lord Speaker will contact the Peer to see if they are ready to make a decision or if they need more time. If they want more time they can request an additional deferment twice, for a total of 90 days deferment from the initial request.

The new Peer doesn’t have to wait for the full 30 days to elapse to make a decision, if they have decided before that they can contact the Lord Speaker at any point to either Accept or Decline their Peerage.

After the final deferment has passed the new Peer must make a decision, if they refuse to do so the Lord Speaker will take this as declining the Peerage and activate that process as detailed above.

Removal

There is both canon and real-life precedent for a process to remove a Peerage. Peerages are a recognition for a higher level of leadership and commitment to the organization. Should a Peer fail to live up to the expected behaviour then measures must be taken to correct these situations. This process is covered by Peerage Boards and Courts.

Emergency Change of Title

• Under normal circumstances, a Peerage title may not be changed by the Peer. Titles are suggested by the original nominator, and approved by the Peerage Board and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• However, the House of Lords recognizes that there are Peerage titles which may be or become legitimately emotionally damaging or distasteful to a Peer; or if the title has an additional meaning which makes it difficult or awkward for the Peer to use the title.
• In the event a Peer’s title is or has become damaging or distasteful to the Peer, they may apply to the Lord Speaker to change their title. This application should include a brief description of why the title has become such, although they do not have to go into great detail.
• Upon receipt of said application, the Lord Speaker will convene a Board of 4 Peers to consider the application.
• The Board will determine if the request is valid. Absent evidence of fraud, misrepresentation, or malice, the Board should err on the side of believing the applying Peer.
• On a finding in favor of changing the name, the Board will contact the Peer and ask them for two preferred options for their new Peerage name. The Board will then select between those two options in deciding the new name.
• Such suggestions will be checked with the Royal Manticoran College of Arms to ensure that they are not already on the list of Canon peerage names.
• When an acceptable name is found, the Board of 4 Peers and the Lord Speaker will vote to confirm it. A majority vote is required for this to pass.
• After confirmation, the Lord Speaker shall announce the new Peerage name through the regular methods of communicating orders, and inform authorities to update the Wiki and Wall of Peerage.