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A Trip
Topic Started: 5 Apr 2018 - 21:02 (28 Views)
Fornoire
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Brandenburg, Imperial Confederation
Imperial Diet, 1600 Hours


“EXPEL! EXPEL! EXPEL! EXPEL! EXPEL!”

“...Call to order, I repeat, call to order. Security, please remove the demonstrators…”

That was a protest over the purchase of a Confederation state. It had never happened before: the Baronet of Siena, a Sartorian state, had been sold by its Baron to a Meridian conglomerate. There was no precedent at all.

Giovanni II of Siena had always been known as a greedy person. Abolishing democracy in his realms and pillaging the Barony’s coffers for his shopping trips at Messelia and Florenzei, he had been condemned by Siena’s neighbours and nearly everyone in the Imperial Confederation. One of them, the Duchy of Napolia, the of the few countries who had an actual army even threatened to invade, but this was stopped by the Imperial Diet, who declared Napolia out of order. Protests by Sienan subjects also followed, but Giovanni built a police state, terrorising protesters with military-grade tactics and excessive use of force.

It had always been understood de jure that these tiny states, in some way, belonged to their rulers, but none dared to sell or go against the popular will in the 21st Century. Giovanni did, but his reign had only lasted three months before he sold off his tiny inheritance to this company from Meridia. He spent so much, that his 35,972 subjects couldn’t handle the strain from abusive taxes. Yup, that short he ruled, before he bankrupted the country.

Naturally fed up with him, the people began to riot, and this was another reason he sold the country.

After the surprise sale, the Imperial Diet convened on an emergency session. Many rulers of the tiny states, horrified on what the Baron had just done, called it themselves. Some even went directly, notably the Archduke and King of Constantinos, Carl III. The centre-left ruler of the largest and most powerful state in the Imperial Confederation, his presence was shocking, as this young sovereign was shy and isolated, and thus prefered that Constantinos’s government rule the nation he had just inherited. He was there to signal that even the largest states cared about what just happened.

Constantinos was powerful not just for its size, but because of its powerful economy. It had centralizing links to the Southwestern Circle, and increasingly made nations of the Northwestern Circle dependent on this rising and connected regional economy, all centralizing and crystalizing in and around Constantinos. Thus, it held considerable financial sway over other miniscule states.

Another important member was the Republic of Generiva, long known for its banking sector. In fact, before being the democratic republic it is today, it was akin to a Mercantile type like Venice or Florence.

Why was this state in an Imperial Confederation? Well, they had to. Despite being a republic, it was still part of the Sovereign Empire that had preceded the Imperial Confederation, as earlier, Generiva had a mercantile and noble oligarchy, and they overthrew their royal sovereign because he was a religious zealot who forbid banking as a “heretical practice”. That is largely gone now, but this oligarchy was no different from the aristocratic states surrounding them, and they held some financial influence back then too, so, who cared?

The session started, and, immediately, Carl III requested to speak.


“The Archduke and King of Constantinos, his Majesty, Carl the Third, is permitted to speak to this Diet”

“My gratitude, distinguished Speaker. Gentlemen, Viceroys with absolute dignity, sovereigns with indisputable honour, we have looked on, terrified, as the malevolent sovereign of the nation of Siena has splurged his subjects’ finances. He has fiscally crippled the embattled Sienan citizens, and has fled, to all of our anger, to our neighbour, the Republic of Meridia”

“Can anyone present and alive in this prestigious Diet fathom this repugnant act with a lack of horror in their souls? Not even our ancestors, archaic as they were, would have stolen from their coffers and traverse the various nations of our lands, spending and spending until they left their subjects broke: that could had led to a peasants’ revolt, and being dethroned by your nobility. But we see that there is no nobility in our present era that holds power over any of our states, and I do not intend to articulate an argument for a regression of human evolution. Rather, as the modern day encroaches into our supposed divine right to rule as an autocrat over our citizens, we, as a Confederation of states, must enforce at the very least a bare minimum of standards in order to secure the wellbeing of all of those who are under our reign”

“To which the proposal of the Archduchy and Kingdom of Constantinos is thus: we must, first, restore the Barony of Siena, using all of our political, diplomatic and military authority to do so; second, under this restoration, we must grant the office of Baron to the closest relative; third, we must enforce a revival of the Barony’s democratic institutions; fourth, we must pass regulations on the legitimacy of states and their sovereigns: if they act on a clearly abhorrent manner, we must impose the rightful and modern rule by force if it is truly imperative via an overwhelming vote by this chamber and the Parliament; fifth, fiscally rehabilitate our Sienan brothers, for they have suffered under this corrupt dictator who has imposed on them the ultimate level of grief; sixth, grant His Highness, the Baron of Siena, Giovanni the Second a fair and public trial; and seventh, request to our neighbour in the east of these lands, the Republic of Meridia, an extradition requested for Giovanni the Second, as he has, like a serpentine coward, ran towards the country I have mentioned”

The Viceroys and rulers present cheered this young man’s speech. From the Bishopric of Mainizia to the Socialist Principality of Oyeruni (yes, that’s a thing), all celebrated these demands.

The question is: would Meridia accept this?





Florenzei, Republic of Meridia
Senate of the Republic, 2000 Hours


It was clear why the Senate had convened in such a hurry. As was tradition, whenever the Imperial Confederation sent a request to Meridia, the Senate usually discussed it.

This stemmed from the historically tense late 19th century, after the Republic had taken large chunks of what was at the time the Kingdoms of Canarto and Tiguria, essentially relegating the surviving parts as defenseless. They joined the Imperial Confederation, but they were a mere shell of what they used to be. They were rump states.

Furious at the takeover of their realms, these recent states in the Confederation treated Meridia as an aggreesive state, like the devil itself. Other monarchs followed suit, as they saw the Republican movement as an assault on their legitimacy.

On the other hand, Meridia shared the same feelings. Driven by the nationalistic fervour of the time, Meridia saw not only Canarto and Tiguria as its rightful territory, but all areas which had a Meridian majority. This escalated into the 1873 Meridian-Confederate War, on which neither the Republic nor the Confederation obtained any success on their goals. Thus, they signed a pragmatic peace, with both sides renouncing any claims to the other. The conflict was bloody, and here the seeds of pacifism were planted.


“We now call a discussion session of the Senate regarding the Imperial Confederation’s request on the extradition of Giovanni of Siena. The Senator Agustiníe D’Maié from Canarto has the floor”

Agustiníe is from the D’Maié political dynasty, a famous family who fought as military commanders in the revolution and subsequent wars, and were recognized throughout their native Canarto as one of the most politically savvy and influential families in the region.

Ironically, if they had not turned, they would be royalty.

The D’Maié are a related branch of the Canarto Royal Family. This branch lost the right to possess the Di Canárto-Royáli surname, originally reserved for royalty, as they rebelled. Thus, they forged a new last name: D’Maié, or, in Meridian, from May, as they had joined the revolution in the month of May.

Agustiníe knows this, and he finds it amusing that the D’Maié are in the Senate, discussing the Confederation.

He wondered for a moment...how is Salviné doing? He hoped he was doing well at his last year of university. Such a wise child he had raised...maybe he could become the Prime Minister someday?

Ah, it is nice to dream. Surely so.


“Yes, thank you, Mr. President. It is my belief that we should let the Confederation take him away. Who ever heard of a ruler wasting his country’s entire treasury on shopping trips?!”

“Hopefully may they realize their errors of “inherited rule”, am I right? They must bring Giovanni to justice, and they must re-evaluate their legitimacy!”

”Hear hear!”

And it is how it happened. On June the 3rd, 1983, Giovanni was extradited to the Imperial Confederation. There, with Carl III leading the panel on the investigation, he was found guilty of fraud, stealing, among other charges.

A trip to the past can reveal many things, no?

Edited by Fornoire, 5 Apr 2018 - 21:02.
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