So, each Player now gets to make a few choices for Turn Zero.
Since none of these choices affect anyone else, you'll be making them simultaneously, which for asynch means any of you can post your choices whenever you want, in any Player order. You can also change your mind and do something else, up to the point where I start Turn One with the mortality chit draw. (Obviously you can't make any revealed Faction cards secret again.

But you can take them back and save them for later.)
You can also each make your choices themselves in any order -- this time. (Often choices have to be made in a specific order, and I'll tell you when.)
Everyone's choices boil down to two things. All choices here cost nothing. (Most of your choices in the game will cost nothing. I'll let you know if there's a cost to pay; if I don't you can assume it's free.)
CHOICE 1.) You can now play any VALID Concessions and/or Statesmen from your Faction cards, onto any of your senators. I will have explained to each of you already, by p-mail, which of your cards are valid right now (and which have to be saved until later, and generally until when, and why.)
Concessions are always played directly onto any senator, and any senator has no limit to the Concessions he can have. However, most Concessions are locked this early in the game. The only unlocked Concessions are Harbor Fees and Mining. Locked Concessions don't "exist" yet in the game, but if you hold onto the card you'll get first dibs once it does exist. Concessions give your senator extra income during certain events, usually the Revenue Phase.
You can also play any Statesmen to your Faction as long as someone
else doesn't already have a senator from his Family in play.
If
you've got his family in play, you'll upgrade that family Senator into the Statesman -- basically revealing that this guy was ta-daaaa this Statesman all along.
If no one has his family in play yet, your Statesman just becomes a distinctly new senator for your Faction; and if his Family ever shows up before he dies, you'll pick up his family underneath his card automatically.
There's a special Statesman in the Latin Era who's a generic military leader: all he really does is give one of your Senators a +2 buff to military skill (5 max).
This choice is optional. You can wait until later. The next time you'll be able to play Statesmen and/or Concessions, will be in the final Phase of Turn One.
No other Faction cards can be played yet.
If you
can't play a card, you don't have to reveal you can't play it. Just say you aren't playing any cards, or you're only playing X and holding the other one.
CHOICE 2: Each of you must choose one of your own senators as your Faction Leader. This is mandatory. (If you only had one senator left, he'd be Faction Leader by default.) If you can and do play an independent Statesman senator, you can make him your Leader; or any other senator in your Faction, no restrictions.
A Faction Leader gets at least three benefits (for as long as he remains the Leader): he earns an extra 2 Talents during the Revenue Phase (coming up soon); he can't be Persuaded to join any other Faction by any means; and if he dies, you'll get his family card back immediately as a fresh new vanilla Senator (no chips yet) to be the new Faction Leader. Note that a Statesman still dies and leaves the game permanently, but as long as he has his associated family then you'll get the family card back as a new vanilla Senator. If he has no family support yet, he just dies, and you'll have to appoint another of your senators as Leader immediately.
During your round in the Forum Phase (coming soon), you can simply declare any of your current senators the new Faction Leader. Until that time each turn, though, you're committed to that senator being your Leader.
The Plutocrat Faction gets a 3rd unique choice: you must assign one free Knight to any one of your senators. This is mandatory but there are no drawbacks, only benefits. One of your senators will get a minion, for free, before anyone else!

Your chosen senator will get the normal 1 more vote in the Senate (per knight), and because you're the Plutocrats each of your knights, including this one, will earn 2 extra Talents instead of 1 extra during the Revenue Phase (coming up soon).
So the two (or for the Frog, three) choices are pretty simple to implement: "I'm playing this or these cards; and/or holding my other cards. And (for the Plutocrats) I'm assigning my free knight to this senator. And I'm making this senator my Faction Leader." The end.
