On 20 May 2016 at 23:35, Bruce  Johnson wrote:

> The Moot is an advisory body only, not anything like a parliament or
> senate; it serves at the pleasure of the Emperor.
>
> (The Moot may well, in a subtle fashion, serve as hostages for the
> emperor, since the Moot must reside at Capital, and is composed of
> representatives of the upper nobility, much like how the Shogun
> enforced loyalty in Tokugawa-era Japan by forcing the Daimyo to
> maintain a residence in Edo and leave family members there when they
> were not personally present.
>
> This is unstated in any canon, but not UN-stated either, so much).

The Moot has one other power - it can disolve the Imperium. It *might* also have the
power to decide for one pretender over another in the event of a disputed succession,
and does seem to have the power to assign an emperor when there is no clear claimant
(as with Arbellatra). In the  Barracks Emperor period it just rubber-stamped whoever
was on the throne, and in the Rebellion it never met after Strephon's assassination.

Thus the Moot can not only replace an Emperor when they go off the rails, by having
them assassinated (one assumes that if the assassination fails, the emperor gets to
have a purge of the Moot), but is the head of state when there is no emperor.