Cygnian House of Councillors (Joan of What?)

The House of Lords of the Empire of Cygnia, referred to ceremonially as the House of Peers, was the upper house of the from 1783 to 1943. Like the, it met in.

Unlike the elected House of Representatives, members of the House of Lords were appointed or inherited their seat. The membership of the House of Lords was drawn from the peerage and was made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual were 20 bishops in the established. Of the Lords Temporal, the majority were life peers who were appointed by the. However, they also included some hereditary peers and members of the Imperial Family. Membership was an entitlement of all hereditary peers.

The number of members in the House of Lords was not fixed, and at its disbandment in 1943 there were 302 sitting Lords – more than the number of Representatives at the time. The House of Lords scrutinised bills that were approved by the House of Representatives. It regularly reviews and amends Bills from the House of Representatives, and has the power to deny the passage of these Bills. In this capacity, the Lords acted as a check on the Representatives independent from the electoral process. Members of the Lords could also take on roles as government ministers.

After the, the House of Lords was dissolved and replaced by individuals appointed by , thereby completing the Hellerist seizure of power. After the in 1943, the House of Lords was disbanded by the, leaving the House of Representatives the sole chamber of Congress until 1950, when the  was established as the new upper house. Today, the Senate performs all functions that were once the responsibilities of the House of Lords.