Imperial Diet VII

It is no Bavarian army, friend Lothar, but an army I brought to Italy to finish off the Greeks. Your army? Nay, the army in question comes from Swabia and is mine.

It is not the word of the Milanese anymore, as evidence now shows. Jacobus Stoyan is Bohemian. For this reason he was put in captivity in Prague. You will not be in true custody, merely kept close to me by being my second-in-command. What will you do? Assassinate me, too? Quit throwing a temper tantrum so we can have a dignified and fair trial with the electors acting as a jury. It is more than you deserve, you glorified pig snout.

I will be second to no one within my own Duchy. You think I would foolish enough to ride into battle alongside you, when you very clearly want my death? You may think many things of me, Peter, but surely you don't think me a fool. If you wish to discuss this, we can do so, but it will have no impact on the command or composition of the Bavarian armies. You have no authority to assume command of my men and I will not allow it.

Lothar, if you heard me properly, the CA was to strip you of your power, not kill you. We'll see what a fair trial decides.

My lords, the investigation is now open. Very soon I will begin privately contacting persons of interest in order to obtain leads of inquiriy and testimony.

Before I can proceed however, I must obtain the confidence of both parties and be given the authority of the Diet. In order to do so I will define the terms of my investigation and lay out my credentials.

The purpose of my investigation is to determine whether or not Lothar Steffen, Duke of Bavaria, is in any way responsible for the death of Siegfried von Kastilien, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. If I find Lothar Steffen is responsible, I will submit my charges and the matter will go to trial. If not, than let us consider the matter closed. Duke Lothar will be considered innocent until proven guilty, and my final opinion will be either Guilty, Not Guilty, or Charge Not Proven.

Let all those who wish to testify, but fear retribution, seek shelter in Prague. Bohemia shall provide a neutral safe haven for all aspects of this investigation.

Now then, Kaiser Peter. Do I, Edmund Becker, who has fought in the defense of your lands in addition to my own, and whose family the von Mahrens you have been a friend of all your life, do I have your full confidence?

And you, Duke Lothar. Do I, Edmund Becker, who has come to the aid of your lands in times past, and whose Duke and sworn superior you are good friends with, do I have your full confidence?

If so, I ask the the Kaiser to re-declare an Emergency Session to pass a Charter Amendment giving my actions and my terms the full authority of this august body.

...

Let this matter, which has been brought to our attention for the sake of justice and honor at the expense of expediancy and survival, be conducting in such a manner that justice is done be eyes of the Lord. I, Count Edmund Becker of Bohemia, swear that it shall be so.

You have my full confidence, Edmund.

I declare a brief Diet session with absentee voting and seconding to confirm Becker's terms.

Edict E4.1 - Edmund Becker is authorized to conduct the investigation of Siegfried's assassination and the possible relation to Lothar Steffen as defined by his terms in Diet minutes VII.484.

Mein Kaiser, if a normal Edict is preferable to you and acceptable to Duke Lothar than let it be so.

I will agree to this. Even though Count Becker's loyalty to his own Duke has not been flawless, he has been a friend to Bavaria in the past. A man with something to hide might scorn a judge who had publicly rebuked his Duke and sought shelter under a Kaiser's protection. However, given that I am completely innocent, I know I have nothing to fear from such an investigation.

Count Becker, I trust that you will be able to properly differentiate between truth and lies. I assure you, there is bound to be a great deal of both in this trial. Not all of it may come from the directions you expect. Be wary.

Not that the matter of the trial is settled, can we go on with our conquests and dealing with our "enemies", as suggested by Lord Herrman Steffen ?

Whatever the outcome of this trial, I expect nothing good to come of it...

I wish good luck to Count Becker to try convoluted truths from elaborated lies...

Lastly, I don't expect any of the parties, either accusation or defendant, to accept the judgment that will be delivered without resorting to violence at one point...

Perhaps you should go back to the ways of some of your ancestors, the Northmen, and settle this matter in a hölmganga : a duel to the death between two contestants...

Setting aside my personal interest in this matter, as Chancellor I must ask if Duke Steffen will be taken into custody or will be permitted to fight in the field? My last orders on the matter were to place Kaiser Peter in overall command of Duke Steffen's force and join them both to the (potential) Crusade. I must know if this still holds force.

Speaking as a von Kastilien, I wish to make it known that I consider Lord Becker's judgement and loyalties suspect, his eventual verdict irrelevant, and my blood debt to be of higher priority. Nonetheless, I will pay close attention to this trial and will form my own conclusion about the guilt or innoncence of the subject. I will warn all concerned parties against attempting to guard any guilty parties, including this Bohemian mercenary, against facing justice at my hands.

Your recent campaign has been of great benefit to the Reich and Franconia, Lord Becker, and I congratulate and honor your for it, but I cannot so easily set aside the spector of who you may serve, especially in light of your actions during the Cataclysm. I pray that you see the wisdom in standing aside when I come to collect my due.

Fritz von Kastilien

:egypt:

I thank you for your suggestion, Elector de Cervole. Be assured, though, that we Romans have traditions of our own. A proper Roman hölmganga has already been going on for some time now. Though the action may be a bit slower than that of our northern neighbors, I promise you that the end result will be far more entertaining for the audience.

Chancellor, I see no need to go on a crusade against the French. I will not depart Bavaria until all foreign armies are cleared from our lands. Genoa and Ajaccio remain occupied, so I will see to them first before dealing with those western fops. If the Kaiser wishes to depart for France, he is of course free to do so and will ride with my blessing.

Given it has already been stated that nobles shall be "innocent until proven guilty" I simply can not see any punitive action being warranted at this time towards Duke Lothar!!

Any action taken at this time to limit, provisionally arrest, or otherwise prevent any Duke or noble from conducting his duties is an admission that "due process" is not being followed and therefore we may as well have a "Trial of Arms" in the tourney field.

And believe you me I'll take any bastard on out on the field.

Let me also remind some of you to read AND understand the law and edicts were are bound by.

I've noted about half a dozen completely unconstitutional attempts at disregarding the law and the checks and balances that we have given our oath to uphold!!!

If men at the very top wish to disregard edicts and Charter Amendments so frivolously then how do we hope to ask our country men to follow us, OR for that matter look each other in the eye and expect to move on from this issue!!

Cast aside our Empires structure at your own risk my Lords!!

We will descend into chaos once more if we DO!!!

Then...only the strongest will survive!!

I will be taking over my cavalry part of the army and waiting on a legal army to be trained. I shall not go on crusade, or anywhere, if Lothar is not there. I will shadow his army, and not attack any enemies until my army is legal for field action, but if he does anything to circumvent the law, I shall not be bound to it either and I will take him into custody.

Those conditions are fair, Péter. I suggest you make you men ready for the road, though, as I plan to ride against the Byzantines and French this season.

I will make it so, and when the offensive season opens Duke Steffen should have the range to strike both forces while Kaiser Peter trails him.

Fritz von Kastilien

:egypt:

Excellent.

At least we can pretend to be civil to each other while our own Reich and the rest of the world looks on in interest at how we deal with each other.

Herrmann Steffen:

Count Ruppel, I must protest. The goal of the Crusade was to hit France as hard as possible, not end the stupid thing in two days! I demand that you withhold on your assault on Angers until the rest of us who have volunteered catch up and lend our assistance.

I am frankly shocked at the selfishness of this entire maneuver. And don't give me any crap about the soldiers being enthusiastic. You're a better disciplinarian than that.

Hughes de Cervole :

I have the same feeling about this as Lord Steffen...

Now I can see why Count Ruppel pushed to have Angers as a Crusade target...

Not to make the French pay for their heresies, but to claim glory for himself...

OOC: Angers was chosen in an OOC discussion, not IC, so it makes no sense for you to mention it ICly. Ruppel pushed for Bordeaux ICly. :tongue2:

I cannot believe that noble men such as yourself would denounce another for joining the crusade and taking up the banner against the heretical French. When God calls, we as good Christians must, as true men of Christ, answer with conviction, not sit at home like womenfolk! Clearly you must lack the piety and zeal this most holy mission requires, seeing how you dare call a crusade "the stupid thing" and ought to remain under your bed!

The offensive season is still long and you will all have the opportunity to join the crusade and myself at Angers before the end of the year, if you have the guts to do so!

At least my advancing years are not going to be wasted sitting in this Chamber with nothing to laugh at.

Now we have sniping about how the Crusade should be handled.

I remember when everything was so much clearer...

Herrmann Steffen:

Taking Angers is not the point! The point is using the Crusade to gain the extra soldiers and slowly, methodically, work our way to the Citadel, taking everything along the way. It was never a race!

Ruppel, getting to Angers first might win you some glory, especially after being holed up in Dijon for so long, but the long-term consequences for the French will be little. All you will have earned for yourself is another hornet's nest.

As for me, I am going to take my time, organize my soldiers, and hit other French targets along the way to Angers, as this mission was designed to do. I will get to your location after all of this is completed. It is precisely this disorganization and lack of coordination that has hurt us so much in the first place.

I second

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Edict E4.1

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A travel stained and grim looking Duke marches into the Diet Chamber. Drawing his sword the Duke slams a thunderous blow on the vacant Chancellors seat.

I don't mean to be £$"ing rude my lords but the games within the games seem to be falling nicely in favour of the Kaiser and his brother Chancellor!!

Franconia beset by sloth and inactivity continues to be a £$"%ing disgrace and now it directly jeopardises the Austrian northern command.

Lord Becker, with his young son, have now been placed in a precarious position because of the decade long incompetence of the Kaiser's previous Duchy and a clear policy shift towards Swabia by his brother!!

In a bold and daring attempt at ending the never ending round of siege and sally by the Poles in Magdeburg its seems now that Austria will have to pay a price for it!!

These games of politics and retrospective vengeance are pathetic and transparent attempts at trying to pin the murder of a Kaiser that ripped this Reich asunder decades ago, on a man that has done just the opposite!!

As a result I see the imminent fall of both Prague and perhaps Vienna due to the clear and overt move away from what was once one of the Reich's strongest fronts!!

If I find any evidence of complicity in this ridiculously obvious move I will come after those responsible for placing my Duchy and my nobles in mortal danger!!

Arnold, I left Franconia many, many, years ago, before the trial of Lothar Steffen. It is not my fault that it has fallen into disrepair. With too many inactive nobles, my brother Fritz is nobly defending what he can.

You would flout the law? I suppose all of us agree that the death of Siegfried could have improved the conditions of the Reich, even if Constantinople was going to be sacked and unification ended anyways. That is why I bregrudgingly will not take the head of Lothar when and if he is incriminated.

However, he still was responsible for the death of the Kaiser, a Kaiser he swore an oath of loyalty to. You frequently run your mouth against threats to the natural order of things. If Becker's secession from what he deems to be a cruel Duchy is unfair, then how is murder of the one you swore loyalty to fair? Answer me this, Arnold. Your disloyalty has been noted.

The physical departure from your Duchy does nothing to remove the bonds of blood and the fact that you left those men in charge of the place all those years ago!

Fritz has done an admirable job and that was seen by me when I was Chancellor.

What I find quite ridiculous is the change he has decided to make regarding Swabia!! It was at best a stale mate when I was governing and it's taken a substantial amount of resources to simply get back on even footing as we see it now. The problem of course is that it is now at the expense of the eastern front.

When I was at the Imperial War Colleague, the last thing we were told to do was reinforce failure and that's exactly what I see since his ascension to the position of Chancellor regarding Swabia. Of course now we see the consequences on the opposite front to where Swabia is located. My only morbid thought is that because failure is happening on the eastern front, Fritz will now reinforce that!!

As for me flaunting the law, then you're out of your collective £$%^"ing skull standing there saying this to me after you accused Lothar of treason, attempted to pass legislation allowing YOU to strip the title from anyone found guilty of treason!!

Then you went on to outline how you would replace these military commands with people of your own choosing!!

Finally you then decided to make an attempt at leading a house army, and place the Duke of that House army as your second in command!!

The look of disbelief on Arnold's face is very clear. With a shake of his head he finally continues...

And don't £$£$ing talk to me about loyalty.

It was Austria that intercepted your attempt at blowing up your own £$£$%ing brothers mad scheme.

Pull your head out of your arse before you continue Kaiser, because it must be getting crowded in there with BOTH Fritz's and YOURS in there at the same time!!

The Duke gazed briefly around the chamber at those attending nobles or their respective representatives.

I'm loyal Peter, but even I have limits and they are great that yours it seems!!

The Reich as a collective must survive. Those who sap its strength should be punished eternally. The weak links in the web will be taken out of power.

If peaceful force fails, violent force must succeed. In the noble words of the late Jan von Hamburg, a Reich run by the Order of the All Seeing Eye is not a Reich worth saving.

At the last remark Arnold and his attending retinue let out a peel of laughter.

Yes, that's the spirit Kaiser, lets quote Jan von Hamburg and his view on an Order of the All Seeing Eye!!

The sarcasm drips word by word from Arnold's mouth.

As a counter point would you like me to outline some of the Temple Orders acts to date?! They're an order bent on total power and domination and will do anything to get it, PLUS they actually exist and you can even talk to them!!

Religious fanaticism my Lords!!

Arnold strides to the Diet floor sweeping his arms wide to encompass all in attendance into the debate.

It brought this Reich to it's knee's my Kaiser!! So please don't quote deceased nobles of this Reich that left their post without a word to return home in order to consciously flame the fans of religious war for his own myopic view on life!!

That's not a good place to start my Kaiser...it really isn't.

Again the Duke pauses

So I guess what you ARE suggesting is what we should do is save a Reich that is decaying before our eyes for the benefit of men who can't lead their subjects with dignity and honour and seem like they are better suited to drinking in a tavern all day??!!

Yes I believe you have it Kaiser, that's what we should be doing...excellent, I guess I'm off to trying and hold Austria around long enough so another Kaiser has the chance to piss it all away on some wild £%^£ing concept or be bamboozled by the skills of some Byzantine princesses in his bedroom!!

Well, the Order has certainly obstructed a lot of justice to date.

Byzantine princesses? I would sooner bed with Schwarz, my horse!

(OOC: Disclaimer! All the nasty things Fritz says are IC. Cecil, NN, EF don't take it personally. :juggle2: )

Fritz von Kastilien enters the Diet chamber, well dressed and rested with a look of faint amusement on his face.

Duke Arnold as Chancellor the troubles of Austria are my troubles, let me assure you. Meaning no disrespect now, let me clarify some of the issues at hand.

Lord Becker was asked to make an offensive sally at Breslau for the good of the Reich first, and the good of Franconia and Austria second. It was my opinion that the incessant sieges at Madgeburg and Prague would be reduced by changing the shape of the front. This supposition of mine has not yet been proven out, however the situation has certainly changed since I first put this plan in motion.

For one thing, Lord Becker has gone through more reinforcements than any other field army in the Reich. He ignored my very specific advice with regards to lifting the siege of Prague, and the consequences may be terrible, but they must be borne equally by himself and his planners.

Furthermore Lord Becker and Duke Dieter have both instituted a policy of releasing freely any prisoners they take in battle. Does it take a genius to see what the results of that policy are? More enemy armies in the field, more enemy soldiers at the walls, and ultimately more cities of the Reich threatened. The moral virtues of those men are in direct opposition to the dictates of strategy, and it contributes directly to the fact that success on that front has been slight.

As to Vienna, your reign as Chancellor provided Johann Zirn with sufficient men to conduct an offensive campaign... and he lost them, in his first battle under my Chancellorship. My overconfidence in sending him forth meant that the Reich lacked the funds to pay ransom on them, a mistake I have not made again. I have spent the time since that battle attempting to reconstitute his army at the highest pace the regional facilities will allow.

If Vienna falls it will not be because Swabia was my focus, it will be because Swabia's generals have found greater success in the field!

You and I have had a relationship of courtesy from afar Duke Arnold. I have great respect for the victories you have brought home against the Venetians. I must warn you though, you and Lord Becker both, that your actions and words are making your loyalties suspect. This 'trial' of the vile murderer Lothar Steffen has progressed about as well as I'd expect if his supposed judge were in truth his ally. And now, just as conveniently as the loss of Lothar's files at Florence, we face the possible loss of the Bohemian mercenary who has evidence against him at Prague, where the commander on the ground, your subject, ignored the good advice of his Chancellor.

Why, it almost looks like a conspiracy.

I say again, the time of rats chittering in the shadows and shifting the Reich's policy has come to an end. If Austria suffers, perhaps she suffers for her sins. Perhaps the time has come for you to pray that God have mercy on your souls. Certainly I have none.

Fritz von Kastilien

:egypt:

(OOC: Likewise, Ramses. As long as everyone knows it's only IC, I prefer it when people walk into the Diet with gloves off.)

I underestimated you, Chancellor. I thought were laboring under only one misapprehension.

How many battles have I fought in Bohemia and Silesia since the Cataclysm first began so many years ago? Exact numebers escape me, but what matters is that it's been somewhere between a half and full dozen. You'd think that my policy of 'releasing freely any prisoners' would have given me quite a reputation for mercy, wouldn't you? But it hasn't. You know why?

Because I have no such policy. It's true that in three of my earlier engagements I did release the prisoners I took unconditionally. That was back when we were facing soldiers of qualiy equal to our own. Now that the Poles can call forth crossbow militia who can go toe-to-toe with my spearmen in close combat, I've decided that ransoming makes more sense.

Secondly, you are completely mistaken about the Polish strength in Bohemia this season. Your advice, such as it was, was nothing new to me. I had already deduced those points which were useful. Let me spell it out for you.

There are two strong armies blocking two routes between Breslau and Prague. By all normal estimates of strength, it is the weaker one that is currently besieging my city.

It was impossible to reach the walls of Prague without defeating one. That small army was dealt with exacltly as you said. It just didn't matter.

Smiling grimly Fritz von Kastilien stood.

I suppose blame must lie with me after all, for speaking unclearly, though repeatedly, my advice. If you would care to review the situation with me Lord Becker, you were facing three Polish armies. One of them, the smallest, was a tiny blocking force to pin your Teutons in place. If, as I recommended, you had taken your army, not the Teutons, and attacked that small army, not the one in siege of Prague, those men would have retreated from you.

This would have allowed you to consolidate your army with the Teutons, the cannons from near Breslau, and your son's guardsmen all one very small step from the walls of Prague. You had, at that point, only to attack and destroy that lonely smallest third Polish army, and you would have been at the very walls of the city. Exactly as I said.

At which point my recommendation would have been to attempt to organize a sally from within the city, but that position would also have been sufficient to allow you to command the defense of the city if you had preferred. Most certainly you did not act as I indicated (It's a bit complicated, which is why I tried to explain it in detail, but it's a done deal now. I can provide a series of screenshots if you're still curious. Feel free to give me a poke any time what I'm saying doesn't seem to work or make sense.)

I apologize about my presumption on the releasing of men, your prior reputation overwhelmed my awareness of your current conduct. I appreciate any funds derived from such endeavors.

If you would care to elucidate on the other misapprehension you speak of now? Or the whereabouts of the Bohemian mercenary? Or the progress of the investigation?

Fritz returns to his seat, impassively waiting.

:egypt: