Gallery of Translators of Qartuzhia

Gallery of Translators Tərcüməçi Qalereyası Tarcuemachi Kalereyaso
3rd Regency Gallery
Type
Type	lower house of the Great Court of Qartuzhia
Term limits	None
History
Preceded by	Palace Library
Leadership
Secretary of the Books	Teyma Azamar, Naturalists
Structure
Seats	130
Political groups	Naturalists (91)   Physicians (32)   Mohists (7)
Meeting place
Yellow Hall, Turajia

The Gallery of Translators is the primary deliberative body of Qartuzhia, which when combined with the Assembly of Lances, forms the national legislature.

The Gallery was originally a physical gallery in the courtrooms of the Tuzhkhans for the Khan's personal librarians to collect, translate, and distribute his personal comments and the edicts he issued. They quickly became an indispensable organ of state and gave many more people access to the government since they could read laws, present petitions to the Khan, and engage in debates in their own language. During the later years of the Heliolatric Khaganate, however, the Khans greatly reduced their dependence on the librarians and embraced the mysticism of an esoteric language not commonly spoken in Qartuzhia.

Membership

"The good government of the whole people extends from the good government of the rulers themselves. The wise farmer divides his herds when they grow too large to be easily managed, so too the wise king divides his advisers into many groups when they grow too large for him to listen to them all at once."
Xüsusi məktublar, Lale Nedim

There is no fixed number of Translator Gallerists and their numbers have varied greatly at the whim of various monarchs. During the regency period, however, a number of Nedim's personal letters were translated, one in particular making the comment observation that deliberative bodies should be small and compared them to a herd of cattle. The standard size of a herd for tax purposes was 130 cattle, including calves. Since then, the membership has remained at or below 130 members. Members of the gallery were originally appointed by the Khagan or Khan and also also served at his pleasure, however, the various monarchs typically depended on recommendations from the sitting translators or from foreign courts of the desired language since they seldom spoke more than one language. During the regency, translators select their own candidates for the gallery and the current members of the gallery vote to approve.

Anyone who can demonstrate fluency over both the court language and at least one other language are eligible for the gallery, but almost all translators historically have been trained by sitting members of the gallery. Because of the fierce competition for attention, aspirants to the gallery typically master at least four languages and also have a grasp of several others. Most aspirants also hold graduate degrees in linguistics or a related field, but that is not a requirement because the gallery administers its own exams when vacancies for an office become available. Gallery vacancies are created when a current member dies or retires. There is no form of official dismissal, but the election of a new Gallerist before the sitting Gallerist has retired indicates the desire of the whole body for someone to retire.