The Magnaura

[_Tristan_]

A young man stands from his bench, a bit flustered.

My Lords,

I am Georgios Angelos, recently appointed to this most noble asssembly.

Pardon me for interrupting but I an still young enough to remember the teachings of my elders in the matters of religion.

Kousinos Sophianos claims a divine mandate for his accession to the throne but he claims at the same time to be the fruit of the alleged adulterous union between the Princess Anna Komnenos and Grandmaster Ksanthopoulos.

How could God give such a mandate when adultery is considered a sin by our Mother Church ?

Please enlighten me.

[Ituralde]

There's nothing to be enlightened about. He is a bastard and a usurper. The rest is just fancy talk. I wish the defenders of the Empire the best of luck in the upcoming battle against Ioannis Erotikos and Kousinos Sophianos. May they meet their deserved fate.

[TheFlax]

Two men enter the Magnaura and head for the the throne. The first man wears an elaborate apparel, consisting of a dark cloak worn over a white, long-sleeved camisia, a golden lorica, a short purple tunica with embroidered trim, and cloth stockings. His leather boots are ostentatiously studded with jewels and his hands bear almost as many golden gem encrusted rings as they have fingers. His boyish features give him a somewhat innocent and harmless appearance, but they cannot hide that he seems unnerved and that his confident pace is merely for show. Upon his brow lies the crown of the Romans which marks him as the Emperor. Next to him walks a taller man, with long graying hair and hard features, the man seems the Basileus' elder by many winters. Dressed simply in nondescript clothing, his clean shaven face gives little away save for his intense and sparky eyes which seem out of character with the rest of the man's attributes.

The young Basileus stops next to the throne and sits down wearily, the other man moving to stand next to him. In takes Ioannis a moment to gain some composure before addressing the Magnaura in a clear, but amicable voice.

My fellow Romans. There are a number of issues I wish to address, but foremost I hope I have not kept you waiting for too long, as you no doubt know Jerusalem is considerably far from our beloved capital.

Now, first and foremost there is the matter of Constantine Ksanthopoulos and his supporter, who are marching here at this very moment. I hope none of you will be dazzled by these pretentious claims and unite against the threat they pose to the precarious stability of the Empire. We can ill afford to be divided in this moment and...

The older man interrupts him, whispering something in his ear. The Basileus nods slightly before continuing.

And I thus urge every Senator of this body to break any oath they may share with these men and then declare war upon them. I realize many of you are too far away or too busy fighting against our outside enemies to defend the capital, but we must show them that we are ready to stand together when an little known opportunist has delusions of grandeur. Consider your declaration of war upon these men as not only a pledge of loyalty to my person, but to our great Empire itself!

As for you Senator Erotikos, you may deliver the following message to your master:

He has a tenuous claim to the throne at best and I can think easily of several candidates who are more worthy than him by blood. Neither can he claim the throne by deeds, for what good he has done for the Empire? Abandoning the Order in its darkest hour and leaving the population of the Levant to die in order fulfill his selfish ambition. That is not a man any here will follow. Tell him that even if he does manage to vanquish the valiant defenders of Constantinople, it will not make him Basileus. He will have to do more than conquer one city to claim this title, he will have to kill Ceasar Andronikos and my person, for we will not rest until you are eradicated. Of course, there is an alternative. Your master can surrender now and spare the needless death of your men.

Until I have received their surrender, Constantine Ksanthopoulos (Cecil XIX ) and Ioannis Erotikos (Ramses II CP) are both barred from this chamber, any communication they send here will be destroyed. We have heard enough of their nonsense.

The young Basileus turn to the older man and they exchange a short conversation of whispers. Ioannis nods again lightly before turning back to the assembled Senators.

The other issue I wish to discuss is the different reactions some of you have expressed upon my becoming Basileus. I understand some of you have concerns and this body is the perfect place to express them. Remember well though to act civilized and refrain from using slander as your sole point of argumentation. On that note, I will not tolerate anymore insults on my father's character. Whatever might be my personal feelings, he was a positive influence on the Empire, more so than many of you will ever be. You may question some of his later actions all you want, he earned the position of Ceasar and then Basileus by his great deeds for the Empire.

Invalidating my legitimacy by calling him a traitor is not only a very despicably easy slander, but it bears little truth. Only God can decide if I should rule or not and if I was the villain some of you have depicted, surely God would not have condoned my father's later action by allowing my coronation. Furthermore, I find it ironic that man who bandy around such slanders is himself an easy of target of similar words.

Yes, Arintheos Voutoumatis, I could respond to your words by calling you an incompetent buffoon for your recent years as Megas Logothetes. Perhaps some would find it an apt description. After all you did run for the position on the promise of some reforms to cut costs. Yet the Empire face the worst deficit ever incurred in recent history, something not even achieved by those considered the worst Megas Logothetes. Would that be fair? No. Would that take into account the extraordinary events of the recent years coupled with a lengthy war on two fronts? No. Thus I will refrain from characterizing you as such. Even though the situation is dire, I still have faith in your ability to perform your duties as best you are able. Perhaps if a man so unworthy as I in your eyes can elevate himself above petty insults, you also can do it.

I will state again, I have no wish to censure your words of concern. On the contrary they are welcomed, as long as they are expressed with respect and substance.

And now I leave to floor to you, my fellows Romans.

[Zim]

Andreas listens silently through the last speech, chuckling slightly towards the end.

I think you may have forgotten one other way in which such an accusation against me may be unfair, that being the fact that what precipitated the beginning of the deficit was the loss of two of our best cities under the watch of a man who had secede against the Empire... At any rate I am greatly shamed we have fallen into debt in my term, whatever the extenuating circumstances. My only feeble defense is that the threat of Erotikos required increased military spending. While I have recently cut costs enough that only the capture of Damascus is needed to balance the budget, it will still be long before Imperial funding is back in the black. I applaud Ammonathas Kalameteros for moving on Zagreb, the recapture of which will put us on the right track again financially.

I am not sure what to call a man who committed treason but a traitor. However, given the seriousness of the matter at hand, the rebellion by those crazed fools Erotikos and Kousinos, I will refrain from doing so for the time being. Instead I join Tagaris in calling for all loyal Romans to declare war against the traitors marching on our capital. The fate of the Empire is at stake, and we cannot let a madman and usurper steal the throne.

[Ramses II CP]

Io shrugs without saying a word and departs the chamber while making a rather flippant 'write me' gesture at the general assembly.

[woad&fangs]

Kousinos Sophianos, your claim to the throne is a farce. But it is no matter. Your army will soon be crushed and your limbs scattered to the four corners of the Empire to serve as a warning for all those who dare to slander royal blood.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

After many years Theo enters Magnaura. He is brought here on a chair by some of his servants...

I don't have much to say. For a crippled man like me it's hard to fight against our enemies, the Turks, and it's even harder to come here, Constantinople, from Levant. But what hurts me the most is how some of you act.

At the moment I'm willing to sign peace even with Erotikos! And the reason would be our foreign enemies - Venetians and Turks. Once all of you have decided who becomes the Basileus you may not have an Empire to rule! The Turks will over run our, the Orders, last defences in Levant if they keep sending those armies against us and Venetians might soon attack our holdings in Greece. We have already lost 3 provinces because of Methodios Tagaris' actions. He was a good man in his heart I think but it can not be ignored that his small 'rebellion' is the cause of our current financial situation!
I don't know what kind of man you are, Ioannis Tagaris, but if the lives of Byzantine people are important to You then You will help me getting back Damascus and if you return it to the Order then you will earn not just my gratitude but also my loyalty.

Loyalty... it's a word that have lost it's meaning to many of you! Kousinos, or Constantine, what you did was nothing but simple theft. You, and your partner, stole from the Order like those lowly thieves that you can see here in Constantinople! Why should anyone follow you even if you might become a Basileus? A thief, bastard and a rebel?

Theo spits to the ground...

I go back to the Levant now and just hopes that it's not too late to save the Empire!!! At least 'real' Romans would do it!!

His servants take the chair and take Theo, who mumbles about stupid Senators, out...