An insane sentor.
Though attendance was often scanty at senate sessions, this time every senator had showed up, since they were soon to vote on a vital matter: an increase to their pay, pensions and expense account allowances. As the constitution specified that such benefit increases required 'the unanimous vote of the full complement of the senate,' the political masters of Islam Demaxus were showing an uncommon enthusiasm for the discharge of their duties.
As the absence of a single senator would have made it impossible for the senate to vote itself more money, Senator Tulip had been released from prison for the day (he had been put there after it was discovered that he had not paid his taxes for the last twenty years, having covertly forged his own death certificate) and Senator Umbrallaria had been brought from the Rebus Rokroth (in which asylum he had been therapeutically incarcerated ever since his perfectly acceptable habit of holding long conversations with the spirits of his ancestors had changed to the unacceptable habit of shouting at them).
Even Senator Yesteryarn had put in an appearance, though he was ninety-nine years old and had died the day before. He had been propped up in his seat with a cushion and a block of wood, his face glossed with makeup and his jaw tied shut with a length of clear nylon fishing line. He looked healthier and happier than he had looked for the last thirty years. [WoH Ch6]