A crowd gathers on the steps of the Hippodrome seemingly at random, but a curious look of determination and fervency can be seen sprinkled through the men of the group. Though there has been no announcement a ripple of anticipation runs through the crowd, and voices rise and swell discussing the day's news. At last a white haired man emerges from a group to one side and ascends to a small landing. As he clears his throat a hush grows, until in his immediate vicinity a pin could be heard to drop.

My Countrymen, it is well to see so many of you attend! Today I will again speak of...

The Society of Secret Muslims and their Brotherhood of Friends!

Alas my fellow citizens it is a dark day for the Empire. A black cloud hangs over the city, and passersby speak of strange events. On my way here I was told that a plague of toads fell from the skies over Nicaea, and strange illnesses afflicted the gate wards at the great western gate of our own fair city. Tidings and imports of great concern, truly!

The speaker pauses here to shake his head in sadness, and many in the crowd gaze warily at the clouds overhead. Breathing deeply and visibly gathering his will, the man at last carries on with his speech.

Weep for the Empire on this day, good sirs, for on this day the Secret Muslims and their allies have won a great and terrible victory. They won it not on the battlefield, where the courage of noble Orthodox soldiers stands uncontested. Nor on the seas, where our fleets dominate the trade lanes. No, today they worked their hideous will in our very Senate chamber!

Again the speaker pauses, and again he hangs his head and looks to the side. A murmur runs through the crowd, but before it can swell his voice rises once more, though it yet conveys weariness.

You will recall, will you not, that my sad duty before was to inform your noble selves that none other than Caesar Ioannis was one of the serpents in the darkest Order of Secret Muslims? You will recall, will you not, that I begged you to take note of his disgusting habit of rubbing his crescent tattoo beneath his foul garmets? You will recall, will you not, that I warned he marched to pour poison into the ears of our senators, of our very Emperor?

A third time there is a pause, but this time the speaker holds the crowd's gaze, and every man can read in his eyes what his thoughts are; not of sadness but of anger.

So it has come to pass! I have learned that today, just before the close of the Senate session, the Emperor himself proposed an edict all but exiling the pious Patriarch of Constantinople to the as yet unconquered city of Alexandria, best known as the final resting place of Crusader Kosmas Mavrozomis. Let me read you the text of this new law:

Edict 4.5: Patriarch Nicholas III will be transferred to the newly recreated Patriarchate of Alexandria. (The remainder of the text is omitted, whether by calculation or because of insuffucient information it is impossible to tell)

I ask you, good Romans, whose ends could this serve but those of the Secret Brotherhood? I ask you, to whose benefit will this work, if not those cowardly Muslims sneaking amongst us spreading their filth and disease? Without our Patriarch they will have a free hand to spew lies on every corner, and the weakest among us will follow that snake, the Caesar, into iniquity! I ask you, yes, you, venerable parishoners of Orthodoxy, would you have God's voice cast out of your city and exiled to a miserable Fatamid hole?

The speaker's eyes have widened, and his voice has quickened, so that the close of his speech is delivered in a rush of passionately spoke words, and most of the crowd is carried along with him.

The Emperor, may God shelter and guide him, has been misled. Out of love for his wayward son he has proposed an unjust law, but it is not the way of Romans to stand aside and let injustice pass over them! Make your voices heard, make your will known, make your Patriarch safe in this, his holy city!

So says,

Isaeus the Truthspeaker

OOC: Not quite as roly-poly as the first one, but the idea of using the Hippodrome got into my head so I had to put something out there.