Succession procedure Imperium

In the Empire, an imperial transition is the process which takes place after the resignation or death of a sitting emperor. This process begins by confirming the death of the sitting emperor due to natural causes, then the government establishes measures of natural mourning and elect and crown the new emperor to preserve the continuity of the Empire. It involves all the governmental institutions, including the Senate, High Council, the Imperial Commission and provincial governments. The new emperor, once all the confirmation and mourning procedures for the death of the previous emperor are completed, is chosen through the Electivate process by the Senate of the Empire from among the members of the Bassus-Cotta Family. The most recent imperial transition occurred in 2018, following the death of Alexander IV, where Gregorius IX was elected as emperor.

Background
Prior to 452, Imperium was a hereditary monarchy. All emperors were descendants of Magius, the founder of the Empire, and were regarded as gods because of their blood connection to him. The first succession occurred in year 0, when Magius ascended to Ether and her daughter Facticia became the sovereign of the empire. The first succession conflict occurred early in the history of the Empire, specifically after the death of Facticia in 14 AC, when her twin sons Magius Albus and Magius Nigrus fought each other to succeed their mother in the throne. After this conflict there were 8 peaceful successions to the imperial throne from father to son, all direct descendants of Magius.

The Dominate began in 452, when Titanius III became emperor by being the adopted son of Levitatus II, the last emperor to be a direct descendant of Magius. During the Dominate, the emperors had dictatorial powers and had the free power to choose who would succeed them on the throne. The councils of the religious (Hierophantarum), magical (Theurgarum) and political (Principum) powers joinly took the full power of the Empire as the High Council by having the power to decide who would be the emperor. The High Council was concerned that there would be anomalies in the emperor's election process (since then known as Electivate), so they designed a permanent protocol to follow in these situations.

Applying magical and religious concepts that were already in wide use in their time, they established a virtually infallible process to determine whether the death of a sitting emperor was natural or caused by murder / magic intervention. This process did not have a specific name until 1720, when the transition to the Constitutional monarchy occurred. It was through the II Imperial Law that the Senate of the Empire continued the use of these measures in the new form of government and gave it its current name.

Heart of Magius stops beating
The Heart of Magius is one of the jewels placed on the Emperor during his coronation, and the only one he must wear every day. This jewel consists of a necklace with a personalized medallion for the emperor that inside contains a golden gem marked with the coat of arms of the Empire. This gem transmits the emperor's vital signs to a device permanently monitored by the Imperial Guard to fastly identify whether the emperor is in need of medical assistance or has died.

When the Heart of Magius device stops beating it means that the emperor's heart has also stopped beating or that the jewel has moved from his chest. If the emperor is sleeping in his bedroom (which is locked by the Maior Domus to prevent intruders), the Imperial Guard immediately contacts the Maior Domus to open the door and verify if the emperor has died, the jewel has been stolen or is a false alarm.

Door opening and medical confirmation of death
After being contacted by the Guard, the Maior Domus, accompanied by the archiatrus and a group of soldiers from the Imperial Guard, opens the door to the emperor's bedroom. The guards are the first to enter, to verify that there are no intruders who have assassinated the emperor or want to interrupt the transition process. Once it has been verified that there are no intruders inside the room or no evidence of murder, enter the Maior Domus and call the emperor by name 5 times out loud.

If the emperor does not respond or makes no gesture, then the archiatrus initiates a medical evaluation process to declare the emperor medically dead. Once the evaluation is completed and the king shows no sign of life, then he is declared medically dead, and the Necrospector and Magiospector of the Academia Magna are summoned. The medical procedure for proving the death of the emperor is known only to the archiatrus and is kept secret from the rest of the Empire, to avoid somebody from hindering the process.

Magical confirmation of death
Following the declaration of medical death, the Necrospector and Magiospector of the Academia Magna enter the emperor's bedroom. The Necrospector looks back at the Emperor's body to confirm the claim of the Guard and the archiatrus that the death was natural, and not caused by a murderer. At the same time that the Necrospector performs the analysis of the past of the emperor's body, the Magiospector analyzes the emperor's dead body for any magic that caused his death.

Once the two analyzes have confirmed that no murder or death by magical intervention occurred, the gem inside the Heart of Magius comes out of the medallion carried by the emperor's body and begins to levitate on the heartbeat device. The levitation of the Gem of the Emperors (the gem inside the Heart of Magius) marks the last step of confirmation of the death of the emperor, and it symbolizes that the Empire has lost its leader naturally, and a new one must be chosen as soon as possible.

Invocation of Magius
Once the death of the emperor is medically and magically confirmed, the Hierophant of the Aetherium and his cult assistants enter the bedroom. They cover the body of the emperor with the cloak worn by Magius when he descended from Ether, and initiate a rite of invocation of Magius, where he descends to the emperor's bedroom and takes his soul to Ether, to rest for eternity with him and the other emperors. This ritual can only be observed by the hierophants, the Necrospector, and the Magiospector, whereby everyone else leaves the room and the door is closed by the Maior Domus while it is being performed. At the end of this ritual, the cloak turns completely black.

Destruction of the Heart of Magius locket
At the end of the ritual, the bedroom door is opened again and the Aerarius enters. The hierophants give him / her the medallion of the Heart of Magius, which was taken from the emperor before being covered by the cloak. The Aerarius proceeds to destroy the medallion with a gold mallet. The remains of the previous medallion are given to the royal jeweler to create a new one for the new emperor. The destruction is done with the objective that no impostor uses this medallion, which is exclusive to each monarch, and to mark the final end of the reign of the deceased emperor. Once this process is completed, the emperor's parents, children and wife are invited to bid farewell to the deceased emperor.