Duchy of Swabia

Fellow Swabians,

We have failed in many diets before to pass an edict that allows us to take a French settlement. This had mainly occurred due to the lack of discipline in our own house in addition to lack of support from other houses.

The SHA is mroe than capable to taking and holding new posessions and the route to Staufen is now too far to be viable.

Therefore, in absence of Duke Scherer, I propose House Edict 12.X:

The House of Swabia is authorized to take Caen from the French to stop further French invasions, to pressure the Danes from a second front, and to allow resupply at a closer region.

I ask you as Swabians to second this edict, and I'm sure Dijon still awaits a ruler, yes?

Jens Hummel:

I second this proposed Edict.

I am sorry for being away for so long, but Cane is an excellent target and I will support the edict.

I hope to return to my normal duties in a week or two. (OOC: I will have more time to devote to KOTR once school starts up, well at least i hope so)

If you wish, I would be honored to take and care for the County of Dijon, as it used to be my fathers lands.

The proposed House Edict has been put forward for the last two Diets, why shall it be any diffrent now?

Jens Hummel:

Because we shall be united this time! Because those who have voted against us in the past are weakened. Gunther von Kastilien, Conrad Salier, Jonas von Mahren, they are all dead. Good men all, but alas they did not care much for our House.

(Also, it would help if one of you made a compelling case for it. I could, if you want, but seeing as how I am viewed somewhat of a joke in the Diet I would not be taken seriously.)

Well done fellow Swabians, I shall lay out the edict to the diet shortly.

Caen, I fear it too be a bloody hard place to catch. If it is fine with, uh, the Duke or Steward of Swabia, if I could lead said assualt? Or accompany the commander?

It shall give us control of the trade routes, and those French shall be a fly between two hammers. Us and Spain. I fear though the latter hammer shall slip and hit us.

I say we form some sort of edict, this Diet or next, giving extra troops to southern cities. Or at least the SHA can be stationed later thre.

As you are not yet knighted, Count Athalwolf, I will be assigning you to Duke Scherer and the SHA to take Caen. Afterwards, I shall endeavor to create a defensive force on our southern border where Duke Scherer will be stationed if he has matters to attend to, while you can continue to defend the lands around Caen and Paris. What say you?

[edit]
OOC: IC Letter to Ignoramus in spoilers as his PM box is full:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Wolfgang Hümmel,

I must say your remarks in the diet were unnerving, especially as they threaten Swabia's sovereignity.
You may swear allegiance to Siegfried, that is fine by me, but then going on to stand for chancellor when a fellow Swabian is already standing is insulting.
You are not only splitting the diet vote, but also casting Swabia into a bad light, whereby we are made look like fools who cannot even keep our own house together. In addition, you are playing into the hands of that fool Steffen!

Now, to remedy this situation, you will immediately withdraw your candidacy. You will do so saying you did voluntarily as you were unaware of the candidates already standing.

Failure to do so may make you very unwelcome in Swabia.

Steward Hans of Swabia

Fellow Swabians, I have passed on all relevant appointments to the Librarian and Council officials.

Our current counties and their honorable bearers:
Staufen: Duke Scherer
Rheims: Prince Count Elberhard
Metz: Count J.Hümmel
Dijon: Count von Salza
Bern: Steward Hans

I will be expecting all Swabians to support my bid for chancellor and show that our house is not split. As for legislation, I wish everyone to support the Swabian edict, and the expansion edicts of the other houses.
In addition, I wish to express my support for amendment 12.7 which you should consider.

You are all expected to cast your vote personally or by proxy.

That is all for now.

How, may I ask, are mein words threatening Swabia's sovereignty, mein Steward? I have always maintained her sovereignty, and do not intend to withdraw.

The electors are wary of appointing a man to rule twice successively, so I think you need not fear on that account.

My dear Wolfgang,

You can certainly understand how your actions are potentially splitting a Swabian vote, which overall would give the other candidate a higher lead.

Also, having two candidates from the same house makes Swabia look, frankly, weak. It is as if we had no coordination whatsoever. If you were a true Swabian, you would support Swabia and its first candidate.

I am not opposed to you standing again one day, but make sure that you are the only candidate of our house.

I would pull back behind you, except it appears that mein services are not appreciated. Mein county has been given to mein younger brother, and I have no command whatsoever in the House armies, as such, I cannot really feel any gratitude to you, especially considering the galling apologies I had to make in the Diet.

Your county has been given to your brother because you publically laid it down in the diet for all to see!
Reassigning the county to you would actualy present you as a fool in the diet and mark your words as a mockery, something which I will not allow to a fellow Swabian to happen.

Considering that our edict for Caen will pass and Siegfried someday assigns it and Paris to us, you will be made Count again.

I can still assign you to the SHA if you so wish. Only that you have not yet presented a wish to lead it, but the others have.

As for the apologies in the diet, you are well aware that you took quite a militant approach and threatened Siegfried's life. If you had been more diplomatic as I had written you at that time, I am certain he would not have banned you, as he has not banned me.

If you remember, mein Steward, I did that out of loyalty to you. I would have thought that I would have at least been given the command of one of the armies out of gratitude for mein loyalty. I was the only Swabian who stood up for your claim to the throne. And to be ignored is not the action of a noble lord.

I had assigned Metz to you after the affair did I not? Even though people had ridiculed me for that, I did reward your loyalty to Swabia.
It is not my fault that you decided to lay it down publically now.

Hopefully, my assignment of one of the armies to you to defend our southern border as Duke Scherer suggested will show you that you are still appreciated if you appreciate Swabia.

I think both sides of this kind debate have their points.

Firstly, we have a man who was a traitor once before, and is somewhat ignoring this small fact. Though I do, as a matter of fact. Agree with this man in some way, I feel he is being rather treated harshly.

Whilest I can understand the other side as well.

While I appreciate your comments, and will consider softening up my words somewhat in the future, we have already settled this dispute privately and the matter is now closed.

Swabians,

We have done well in the polls and our edict for the taking of Caen has finally passed.
While we may not hold the chancellor title in our house this term, we have voted as a block on most issues and displayed our united strength to the diet. You may now all pat yourselves on the back for that.

In addition, I would like to remind everyone that I have forged an alliance with the house of Bavaria and am in the making of obtaining one with Franconia as well. That means unless told otherwise, or the legislation conflicts with Swabia's interests as deemed by Scherer or myself, you are to support their candidates and legislation in the diet.

You ask why? Look at the margin with which our house edict passed and who voted for it. Without that support, it is unlikely it would have passed.

Thank you for listening, I hope you all enjoy command of your relevant armies this term and will join me later in the banquet hall of Caen.

This is all.

Oh.. Elberhard, could I have a word with you please? In private.

Athalfwolf strokes to hilt of his sword absently, readying to speak. He whispers,

Private matters, eh? Murder? Bribes? Treason?

He stood

Excellent, let us get this bloodbath over with. I bloody rather die trying to cath that froghole then sitting here dieing with old or boredom.

But I am dearly suspicous of you Hans. Alliance with another house? We all know alliances only lead to misfortune and death? it shall give them a chance to betray us!

Nodding to Athalwolf

Yes indeed it is common, but let it be fruitful while it lasts, so we can all prosper from it. It is better to have an ally you cannot entirely trust but who will seldom go against you, than many enemies, who will not support you at all.

A battered Hans enters the Swabian chambers, unlike earlier entries, none of his retinue are present this time.

Swabians...Hans looks around with a gaze, filled with grief and sleepless nights it is true that us Swabians have defeated the last of the Mongols...but it was not without cost, as many of your have heard by now from the messenger I had dispatched.
Our friend Jens was killed in the last few minutes of battle, just as victory seemed close Hans pauses, to let the words ring in his audience's ears. he fought well, very well for such a young man. Yet in the end, a lone archer, surrounded by a host of our knights managed to strike him down.
I do not have words to describe the horror, when I noticed him falling off his injured horse and being .... I shall spare you the details.

While many fell this day, inlcuding most of my retinue, it was Jens' death that affected me the most. As a commander, the death of any noble man entrusted to your command is a tragedy, and I wish it had hit another than him. I had rather it hit another common knight or myself even. He was a promising young leader and will not be forgotten. Let us together observe a moment of silence for him, who I have ordered knighted for his valor in battle.

Though I mein brother were distant, it is with pain that I hear of his death. Mein father's lineage now rests with me, and I must make sure his name is upheld.

On another note, I wish to take part in battle against the French. Perhaps I could cause a diversion for the attack on Caen?

I arrive with great news today.

While it is devastating for Jens to have died, perhaps his luck was transferred to me for I have delivered a decisive victory against the French forces defending Caen. Our spys in the area have not dissapointed either as they managed to open the castle gates and I have now taken over the castle.

A large French army does reside near the castle, but it is an army of mercenaries which shall be easy to rout should they attempt to take Caen once more.

I wish to congratulate you my Duke on this most crushing victory!
Finally we have a new point of resupply and can quickly amass our well deserved second household army.
The French shall scatter in fear of our might!

Dietrich von Dassel:

With the loss of Caen the French are crippled. I believe that next Diet Session the time will be right to finish them off. We should make preparations immediately.

I tragic loss, Jens was. I did not know him well, but to fall in battle is truly magnificent.

Athalfwolf stares accusingly at Hans

Though he was with you at the time... You have heard my queries...

Caen, is a English City, pah! We should burn, or worse a fate, give it to that Pope man.

Also, welcome Dietrich, welcome to the house of... well anyway, welcome.

Swabians,

Seeing how the diet session is fast approaching, we will need to prepare legislation that is to be put forward.
I shall welcome any opinions on our way forward for the next term as well for discussion.

My current proposal for the next term would be to pass an amendment to include Caen into the empire.
While we probably cannot force its inclusion into Swabia as it should be, I am considering passing a second amendment that bypasses Siegfried's decision of incorporation and grants us both Paris and Caen.
However, this should be an option we ought to decide upon only if necessary I believe.

I would prefer my brother Elberhard take it up with Siegfried if possible.

I say that would be a waste.

Caen, of course, shall be converted into a Swabian Settlement. We fought for it, we marched for it and we died for it. SO why, for that large commitment, should we notr be rewarded for it?

Secondly, it is a entirely laughable thought that it shall stay Imperial for ever. Unless, lets say, the Kaiser especially likes Norman Wine or likes bathing in Cane for some unknown reason, then it shall be turned Swabian. Unless the Franconians want it.

No, perhaps we should push forward for something letting us take Toulouse for example? Or Rennes or Bordexou.

I say we keep one SHA Northwards scouting between Paris and Caen, our new territory. Any somewhat expected French, English or Portuguese Invasions can be fought off with fury.

The Second SHA, if passed, can head South to either start a Spanish offensive or a Offensive against Toulouse, or if not passed, ward off any Spanish Attacks.

I call for an attack on Brugges. According to our spies, the French only possess two cities - Brugges and Zaragoza. Brugges is the cheif ciry of Flanders, and should pour more florins into the Reich's coffers. It also secures the Reich's northern frontier against an English invasion.

Should this be agreed upon by our electors, I offer myself to lead the expedition.

Count von Salza, I am somewhat confused by your comment that the amendment to incorporate Caen into the empire is a waste.
According to CA 10.2 I believe it is, unless we pass an amendment to incorporate Caen, it will be abandoned, and seeing how Siegfried has yet to assign Paris to Swabia, I have no doubts he would exactly do so during his term at the upcoming diet.

Of course, if you have a suggestion of how to ensure us keeping Caen without a CA, I am more than willing to listen. Similarly, if you did not mean so, then I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Now, I like both Bruges and Toulouse as possible targets, but it is unlikely the diet will help us pass more than one. I say we have a vote among all Swabians whether to take either or not take any at the next diet. While the final say lies with our Duke Scherer, I am certain he would like to hear the general consensus as well.

Finally, I agree with Count von Salza's sentiment of SHA placement. I would go a step further and assign both to raid French territory if we will not be allowed/able to take a territory to ensure they will not strike back with full force and to allow all of us ample opportunity to battle.