Dietrich von Dassel:
We shall see which way the wind is blowing in the Diet as far as how aggressive we want to be. That's all I'm saying for now.
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Dietrich von Dassel:
We shall see which way the wind is blowing in the Diet as far as how aggressive we want to be. That's all I'm saying for now.
Well, Hans, we could simply get on our knees and beg to the Kaiser. But we're Swabians, not Bavarians. So I say we ask in the Diet or by messenger.
I hope, mein Duke Friedrich, that you aren't drunk, as your lack of talk is somewhat disturbing.
Dietrich von Dassel: The sooner we get these seconded, the sooner we can present them for discussion. I assume that this is what we're going after:
Edict 13.x: The Chancellor is instructed to conquer the French settlement of Bruges by the end of his term.
Edict 13.x: The Chancellor is instructed to conquer the French settlement of Angers by the end of his term.
Edict 13.x The Chancellor is instructed to conquer the French settlement of Toulouse by the end of his term.
With all due respect Knight von Dassel, would you truly believe that the diet will vote in favor of any of these if all three were presented to them? They would call us selfish and warmongering and vote against each piece of legislation.
As I suggested, I believe we should focus on one target at best, lest we wish to be twiddling thumbs the next year.
Charter Amendment 13.x:Caen is formally incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire
Count von Salza, your words speak true. We shall not be begging for Siegfried's favor, for this would be both honorless and frame us as weaklings.
I also propose that we petition the Kaiser to elevate Swabia into a Principality. Undoubtedly, the other Duchies will desire such a change, but I am sure we can placate them some way or another. Bern, for instance, could be offered to Bavaria in exchange for her support.
Dietrich von Dassel:
I disagree, Hans. We could engage in some backroom dealing; maybe agree to support similar resolutions from other Houses in return for their support for ours.
And please, if you wish to focus on one target then pick the target.
I am sorry for not participating, but I seem to be always busy now a days.
Although I urge for more French land, we can not be too greedy in the next Diet as proposing too many Edicts that attempts to aquire land will surely cause all of them to be rejected.
I, however, do believe that taking Bruges may be a possible goal in the future, but may be a far off one. As for the edicts recommended so far, I believe incorporating Caen into the empire is a realistic one and would fully support it.
As you may have all realized, I have been missing from the Diet chambers for much time now, no small part due to the French, but I believe that I cannot serve Swabia well as its Duke and would relinquish my Dukedom to Hans who has taken good take care of it so far as its steward. I will still defend our western borders from the French, but I fear may not join everyone as often.
Hans nods and bows deeply before Duke Scherer
I humbly thank you for the honor you are bestowing upon me, Duke Friedrich, and will vow to do all in my might to further Swabian goals and borders.
My understanding is that you may be fond of Staufen where you have resided for most of the time you have been with us, and I will move the Swabian capital elsewhere if you wish to remain Count of Staufen. If however you wish to establish your residence elsewhere, speak and it shall be so.
That said, once our parting Duke has made his choice of residence, I will be reassigning counties as appropriate.
Further to this, Siegfried has finally agreed to give us Paris which we have defended with our own blood and sweat for so long and proposed an edict for us to take Bruges, which will immediately be our holding upon its taking. That said, I believe we should be content with this turn of events.
At this point in time, our household edict regarding Caen has yet to be seconded by a second member of his house. Who will be the second to support it?
Dietrich von Dassel:
I shall second the edict.
Your support will not be forgotten, von Dassel.
However, I must ask you to apologize to Duke Ansehelm, as we are in an informal alliance with Franconia, and it certainly is not appropriate for us to break the alliance at the earliest convenience. It may still come in handy for both our people.
As for the matter of Siegfried.... I am not sure what to say at the moment, but I will be sending a message to the diet at a later point.
Hm, I do respect Duke Ansehelm, but as mentioned in the Diet, he is carrying and executing orders blindly. He is merely walking to his doom at this rate. And us, in alliance with Franconia!? The last time I checked, they were dealing with Poles and Rus, whilest we deal with Danes and Francs? I think a informal alliance with Bavaria would be much better, as they fight Spainard and Francs as do we, at least these two houses share something in common?
As for the matter of Kaiser Siegfred...
If he does not attend this latest Diet, I shall speak out. He spends too much time in that Greek Place, we shall start to call him Emperor instead of Kaiser. Bah! This nation may be made up of Germans, Danes, Italians and French, but it shall never be made of Greeks, only when I die, and further!
Swabia, I think it is time we propose:
Edict x.x: There is to be a united German attack on the mainlands of Spain. We shall take outlieing Spanish Cities (Maximum 3) And then pursue Peace with them, thuis teaching a lesson.
The SPanish shall not rest until we are fighting for the very exsitence of Rome. THey shall forever pursue Sardina and Corisca. If we take Toulouse, they shall siege it for now until the day Rome falls. I say we act NOW! Teach them a lesson, a rap across the knuckles and showing them no one is safe from the marching armies of Germany. Then we can rest.
Actually, at the close of the last diet session, I had agreements made with both Duke Ansehelm and Duke Lothar, as I had announced here.
We all share common enemies, although more with Bavaria than Franconia.
As for the matter with the Spanish, Matthias has only just obtained a peace agreement with them, which in my opinion was paid too dearly from our side with 27000 florins. I would not advise an attack on them until they dare break the agreement again in hopes of extorting more florins from us. If they do, then I shall support your edict at the next diet.
I, too, shall second Duke Hans' edict.
Very well, thank you Count Hümmel.
Considering that Friedrich has not yet gotten back to me on his choice of county and we need be organized for the close of the diet, my preliminary assingment of counties is as follows:
Metz: Count Wolfgang Hümmel
Dijon: Count Athalwolf von Salza
Paris: Count Friedrich Scherer
Rheims: Prince Count Elberhard
Staufen: Duke Hans
The command of the SHA will be as follows:
Count Hümmel, accompanied by Count Scherer if he so wishes, will lead SHA1 to take Bruges and subsequently defend our northern regions around Caen, Paris and Bruges. I would advise stationing at Paris to ensure that he can strike quickly.
Count von Salza will lead SHA2 to defend the southern regions, stationed at his county of Dijon. If SHA1 is attacked with overwhelming odds, he will be ordered to move north to support, as our southern border tends to be fairly quiet.
In addition to defensive orders, both HAs are authorized to move into French-occupied territory and raid enemy land and forces. Of course, this does not include the taking of any settlements.
Note that unless one of your falls in battle or becomes unavailable for an extended period, no other is authorized to lead the HAs.
Further to this announcement, Jan von Hamburg has an opening in Outremer he wishes to fill. If one of you wishes to go on crusade, you are allowed to.
Dietrich von Dassel:
*chuckling softly*
Tell me Hans, since when did you become such a pawn of the Kaiser?
That is a good question. I would probably say never.
If you mean to say why I do not cry out like some others in the diet, then I shall remind you that his proposed edict is likely a free pass for us taking Bruges instead of a proposal by us, which may not be as easy to pass. Besides, he has finally agreed to assign Paris to us and will assign us Bruges. If we can secure Caen, he has agreed to consider giving it to us as well.
That said, it is not chivalrous to immediately backstab one who has given us much this diet. Of course we may question his motives or his actions, but I would prefer it be done within bounds and reason instead of trying to overthrow him at this time.
Besides, from past experience, the diet would not overthrow him anyway.
I think the other houses are swaying too much to the Kaisers will. I am rather joyed to see Swabia, as it always has, speaking out. I'd say Franconia is finnaly poisoned by the Kaisers will.
It rather seems that only Dietrich is truly speaking or should I say shouting in the diet. I am afraid that anyone who joins his unruly behavior of ad-hominum attacks against our remaining ally or further insults against Duke Ansehelm's person will find himself without a county and command of any army.
While I do have my own opinions on the Byzantines and Siegfried, they are not applicable to this talk of reunification at this time, as we do not yet know the final terms and it will not come to pass without the agreement of the diet body. Thus this is not something worth spending too much thought on at this time.
As for the chancellorship dispute, I think that there is no problem with Elberhard as acting chancellor. He is a Swabian afterall and this benefits us.
As you could see Duke Hans, Ihave apologised for everything I said against the Kaiser. I truly hope such a thing does not cross the DIet again.
Very well, Count von Salza.
You may say about him what you wish in private, it is only the diet I am concerned about and the mixed message we might be sending to other electors that way.
Please remember that unity is what makes a house strong. Even one dissenter can devastate what we have all worked for, as the example of Dassel has shown.
Currently, my belief is that we should stay neutral, neither favoring one side over the other extensively, as long as Swabia itself is not overly affected.
You are all free to speak your mind in here and debate without much consequence.
A scribe hurries over to Hans and passes a notice before running off again
Hmmm... it seems there will be something to talk about afterall. The English are still besieging Bruges, which will be our by right. As we are still allied with them, it would be unwise to attack them and then lay siege outselves. If we were to move to their assistance however, it is likely that they will feel enboldened and attack, taking Bruges for themselves.
That leaves us with the option of waiting and hoping the French defeat them or joining their siege and hoping they do not strike the French just yet. Personally, I would prefer the former as it is likely safer for us unless the English captain is overly cunning. The latter option might be well worthwhile if we only send a few forces to assist them. This may mean that this small force could be defeated if the English attack or are attacked, but it might open a window of opportunity. Either option would be a delay of a year at least.
What say you? I would also be open to a household edict calling for the taking of another French holding, with the condition that it only be taken if the English manage to capture Bruges.
Dietrich von Dassel:
An alliance with one as idiotic and foolish as Ansehelm is no great loss.
If you all had supported me then perhaps we could have done it; perhaps we could have actually made change. Instead I'm the whipping boy? Hans, are you truly content with simply being Duke?
And Athalwolf, again, I meant nothing at you, I was simply being sarcastic.
Dietrich, you may well know that I had intended to claim what was rightfully mine, but an overwhelming vote by the diet ended these aspirations.
I have no doubts that even at this point in time, the diet would rather vote in favor of Siegfried than another. Swabia may be stronger now than she has ever been, with us having as many electors as Franconia and more than either Austria or Bavaria, but we are not yet strong enough to claim the throne without significant support from another house or two.
There is a time to strike and a time to observe. Now is the time to observe in this particular matter, having already lost an ally.
A worthless ally, may I add.
Though I do agree, if we continue we shall getourselves into strife and eventually the Kaiser may even just make as a sijme Electorate instead of a Duchy.
I say wew wait out the Siege of Bruges, knowing the English, they will proably strike. What does it matter? There are richer French lands to be taken!
Quite.
Is Angers an agreeable target with you all or would you rather prefer us take Toulouse, if the English take Bruges before we do?
Taking Angers would shorten our borders and limit the French to the south of us.
Taking Toulouse may be more risky, but we close the border of France to Bavaria, which may have several benefits.
Edict 13.X: If Bruges is taken by the English, the Swabian household armies are authorized to take Angers.
Proposed: Hans
Seconded: Dietrich von Dassel
Edict 13.X: If Bruges is taken by the English, the Swabian household armies are authorized to take Toulouse.
Proposed: Hans
Seconded: None so far
Second the one of your choosing. Whichever one gains the majority vote first it is. You are allowed to second both if you so wish.
In the meantime, I would like to ask you all to submit your build orders for your counties.
Dietrich von Dassel:
*chuckling* Yeah, I'll get right on that Hans.
I say Angers is the better target so I'll second the first one.
If you vote in line with Swabian policy as set by this chamber and choose your words more carefully in the diet, you will find yourself with a county quite soon, von Dassel.
I was considering giving you my old county of Bern until you managed to break that alliance with Franconia and attacked Duke Ansehelm's person several times despite my suggestions to apologize instead or keep silent.
To be appointed Count requires a certain level of trustworthyness and integrity.
That said, I am willing to forgive your transgressions if you serve Swabia's common interests during this diet and the upcoming the voting session.
Hans enters the chamber, visibly shaken by recent events
Nobles of Swabia.
I have thought much about the recent church burnings and rebllious calls from Lutheran heretics and present you with special orders.
Every Count of Swabia is to manage their county with an iron fist and root out Lutheran heretics actively and banning and burning all his works wherever they are found.
Further, all church and council property is to be granted special protection to prevent their destruction. Hiring of additional guards is hereby authorized to keep up with this. Also, I would advise to hire spies to counter any insurgency in your counties.
Failure to obey this direct order will result in revocation of your county at the earliest convenience.
I will be reasonable however with the destruction, as you may not have full control over it, but the banning and prosecutions are to be carried out in full measure.
Any questions?
Elberhard: These are wise precautions, my Duke. I have hanged the scum who burned down the chapel in Acre. My magistrates in Rheims will take all steps necessary to protect religious buildings.
Fellow Swabians,
I have become increasingly tired these years and only further aggravated by various diplomatic matters within the Diet. I have already passed on my Dukedom, but will do more as I will serve the rest of my duty defending Caen until I am no longer needed and then will retire to a quiet life...
(OOC: I am not going to play in Kotr anymore after I get Friederich Scherer killed off)
Wilhelm von Staufen, old friend and now representative in Swabia of Crusader Andreas von Salzgitter, walks into the empty room and sits down, politely awaiting the Swabian Electors.