GREAT HOUSES 272 GREAT HOUSES GREAT HOUSES, THE. Officially, the "Recognized Houses," those Houses accorded individual voting status in the Imperial Landsraad, the legislature of the empire Although all of the noble houses technically belonged to the Landsraad, d practice developed at an early date in the history of the empire of according only certain of the more influential houses separate voting privileges, ail other, lesser houses belonged to "Circles of the Empire," each Circle being accorded a certain number of votes representing each sector or system in the known universe These circles elected representatives to sit at each session of the Landsraad, the representation being rotated on a regular basis The different circles had differing methods of electing representatives Admission of houses to full voting status was by a vote of the assembled houses in session, a majority of the entire membership (not just those sitting or voting at aay one session) being required for admission, voting in three successive sessions Candidate houses must have demonstrated a minimum level of wealth (generally, sindar grants of one planet of moderate value, or several planets of poorer status) an understanding of political processes and power and a desire to partiei pate in the governance of the empire, historical growth of their houses as evidenced by grants of land or titles, and a certain eclat which is difficult to define, but which nonetheless remained the hallmark of all me houses attaining this status Candidate houses re quired sponsorship by at least three other Great Houses Since the Houses Minor tended to vote for Great House status indiscriminately [see entry HOUSES MINOR], the outcome of such voting rested with the Imperial Bloc and the Spacing Guild, giving them an inordinate amount of power on this particular issue Huge sums of money could exchange hands to enroll one new member of the Groat Houses Expulsion from the Landsraad required a simple majority of the members actually sit ting m any one session In actual fact, move ment in or out of the Landsraad was general ly slow, and changed little over the centuries White the political feuding between the Houses Major had always been great, all of the Houses seemed to recognize the necessity for the Landsraad as a civilizing element of galactic society and as an outlet for the political frustrations which would otherwise doom the unity of the worlds Few, therefore, were willing to carry then- animosities to the point of expulsion The total number of votes accorded to all Landsraad members was 1,000 divided as follows 100 to the Imperial House, 400 to the Great Houses, 400 to the Minor Houses, 100 to the Spacing Guild The Imperial House sat both as representatives of the Impenum and as representatives of the ruling family's House, and received in addition to the Impe rial Vote the votes accorded its clan Many of the Houses Major obtained proxies for the votes of lesser houses, or even of circles of the Houses Minor, these alignments changed quickly and frequently depending upon the issues at hand In general, the Landsraad acted in most matters as a counterbalance to the Imperial power, providing a check upon the tendency toward autocratic centralization The votes accorded each Major House depended upon its status in the galactic community, as determined by the Spacing Guild, which maintained its position as a (generally) neutral observer The maximum number of votes given any one house was ten, the least was one Voting allocations were published by the Guild prior to each session of the Landsraad and could be appealed only to the Landsraad itself Houses might accrue more votes than the maximum al lowed if they inherited the voting privileges of other hou&.