Sevencyclopaedia - P

PRESIDENT

Ruler of the Federation. The President preceding Servalan was never named, and there may even have been more than one President through the course of the first two seasons. The post was probably held for life, although there is nothing said to confirm or deny this. References include:

• The Way Back: loudspeaker broadcasts made reference to the President answering questions on population control. Varon suggested going to the President if necessary to expose the miscarriage of justice at Blake's trial.
• Seek-Locate-Destroy: Rontane was introduced as the President's personal representative.
• Shadow: Avon said that the President described shadow as "the greatest single threat to the welfare of mankind". The moon disc plantations were monitored by the President's personal security force.
• Trial: Rontane reminded Bercol that Servalan was appointed Supreme Commander by the President.
• Gold: Keiller's record, studied by Avon, revealed that he formerly served on the President's personal staff, but did not specify which president. Avon guessed that it was Servalan, and she later confirmed this.

Immediately prior to the Intergalactic War, Servalan overthrew the existing President and High Council and at some point during the War declared herself President. The only councillor of the preceding regime to have definitely acknowledged this was Chesku, although doubtless there were others. At some point around her absence on Terminal she was deposed, and her successor never named, or indeed mentioned. It is not impossible that the position of President disappeared at this point, though there is nothing to suggest this.

In Rumours of Death Tarrant related her full title as "President of the Terran Federation, Ruler of the High Council, Lord of the Inner and Outer Worlds, High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets, Lord General of the Six Armies and Defender of the Earth". This title may have been assumed by Servalan herself, but use of the word "Lord" suggests otherwise.

PRESIDENTIAL ORDER IN COUNCIL

Written By Murray Smith

The form in which Durkim was summoned to appear before the High Council in 'Star One'. His remark, 'I have to go', suggests the considerable authority of such an order and the penalties for disobeying it. Presumably it was a decree or order made by the President with the consent of the High Council. Due to the scarcity of information in the series in the powers of the presidency and the High Council, and their positions in the Federation's power structure, it is difficult to judge if this consent was nominal or real.

The origin of the Presidental Order in Council is found in 'Order in Council', the name for a decree or order made by the British monarch by and with the advice of the Privy Council of Great Britain. The monarch had the power at common law to legislate by Order in Council, a legacy of the time when legislation was part of the royal prerogative; but this is now limited. Orders in Council are also used as a form of secondary legislation, giving effect to an Act of Parliament which authorized the issuing of Orders in Council.

It is therefore possible that a Presidential Order in Council may be some Federation equivilant of a British Order in Council; but this is speculative, as the series tells us very little about sources of law in the Federation.

See also FEDERATION, HIGH COUNCIL, PRESIDENT.

PRIM

Proxy bidder Tok on Domo took the opening bid for Avon from Valeria of Prim. Whoever she was, she dropped out at a fairly early stage. Prim may have been a planet, or a location on an unnamed planet.

PRIMITIVES

Name applied to descendants of the settlers on Chenga who had chosen to live a simple, technologically unsophisticated life. They were hunted for sport or bounty by the Hitechs who used them as a source of organs for transplant surgery. Vila met two Primitives on Chenga, Lom and Mall.

PRINCE REGENT

Krantor dressed in a costume which he claimed was modelled on the Prince Regent, one of very few actual historical personages to be named in the series. When George III was declared insane in 1811, his son ruled Britain as Regent until assuming the throne as George IV in 1820.

PRO TEM

Abbreviation of the Latin phrase _pro tempore_, which means 'temporary' when used as an adjective. Samor used it in that context when he described himself as having been appointed 'pro tem military arbiter'.

PROBABILITY SQUARE

Used by Avon whilst in orbit around Virn because electrical interference had forced him to have Orac switched off. It was a method of analysing a problem by shuffling tokens representing elements of the problem until they took on an order which pointed to a solution. Avon claimed to have got 'very interesting results' from using it and deduced that the sand was feeding off human energy and that it required a breeding pair of humans.

PROBE

Tool requested by Avon whilst repairing the flight deck of the Ortega. Almost certainly a generic term for a wide variety of instruments.

PROBUS-4

World from which the menial Relf on Ultraworld came from. Tarrant was told this by the recording in Relf's memory tube.

PROGRAMMED GUARDIANS

Aliens or modified humans carried in cryogenic suspension aboard a sublight vessel carrying gene stocks and brood units from an unspecified place of origin to an equally unspecified destination. The ship was brought aboard Liberator on approaching Cygnus Alpha and the surviving crew (one of the four was long dead) thawed out.

They were programmed to protect their cargo from any possible threat, which included Blake's crew, and they injured Jenna, overpowered Gan and drained energy from the Liberator. Jenna killed two of the three remaining guardians (the first people seen to be killed with a Liberator handgun), the third died when he was pushed against a live power cable by Blake and electrocuted.

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