Methodios Tagaris rises up to speak.

My Lords, I have listened to your positions here before the Senate.

The whole world has its eyes set on Constantinople as the remnants of what was once the greatest of Empire, what remains of both of the greatest civilizations that mankind has created.

We stand at a crossroad both in history, geographically and religiously.

In history, the next years will decide if the Roman Empire has lived past its usefulness and die a merciful death or if as a phoenix, it will rise from the ashes of Manzikert.

Do not misunderstand me, I wish to see our Empire reborn to all its glory but to achieve such a goal we must put an end to all the bickering and the power play between the Houses and the factions.

Thus, Our Basileos (bowing to Aleksios Komemnos) is the embodiment of our new found unity.

But we also stand at a crossroads geographically and religiously, between a Catholic West and a Muslim East, religion that cannot be reconciled and ready to go at each other's throat.

I have heard here mentioned the risk of a Crusade being called on the Holy Land. Nobody has mentioned the risk of a Jihad unleashing hordes of Muslim fanatics in Anatolikon and beyond, threatening Constantinople itself.

All this I'm sure you all know... yet, it seems to me as if you cannot see the bigger picture and focus on details.

Here Antioch, there Bari, over there Rome...

Seeing the bigger picture means acting for the overall good of the Empire, something we cannot do if all pull and push in different directions.

Our first step is to reclaim any and all of the lands gone rebel in our vicinity. And define what will be our foreign policy.

We have to choose for the once whether the greatest threat lies in the Catholics or the Muslims. Then we will have to make allies of the chosen ones and wage war on the rest.

In doing so, we stand a chance of survival and more than that a chance of supremacy... Our faith will spread to our newly claimed lands and we will stand a chance to spread it even further.

So let us not divide our forces too much and let us stand united.

United we stand, divided we fall.

Forgive for such a long winded speech, but seeing some of you relentlessly going over some points forced me to intervene.

(Once more bowing to the Basileos) My Lord with your permission.

Methodios Tagaris sits back down, the look on his face going from hopefulness to dejection and back again.