Imperial Diet & Rules

[phonicsmonkey]

Ernst of Melk, advisor to Duke Leopold of Osterreich, is in attendance and bears the Ducal seal, authorising him to speak on behalf of his master. He rises to address the assembly.

The Duke of Austria will second the Kaiser's Edict E1.1

In addition, his highness will propose the following Charter Amendment E1.1, as detailed by his father the Kaiser:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Suggested CA E1.1: In the aftermath of its unfortunate civil war, the Holy Roman Empire is officially reorganized as follows:

1) The Duchies of Brandenburg, Franconia, Saxony, and Tirol are hereby dissolved.
2) The original heads of the remaining Duchies are as follows: Leopold/Austria, Otto von Kassel/Bavaria, Vaclav Premyslid/Bohemia, Andreas Hümmel/Holland, Henry/Swabia.
3) The city of Frankfurt and its outlying province will become part of the newly-created Imperial Dominion. All newly-conquered cities become part of the Imperial Dominion until/unless the Kaiser grants them to a Duchy, as per Charter provision 6.6.
4) Upon ascendancy to the throne, the new Kaiser automatically inherits the entire Imperial Dominion. Whether they wish to pass off their current lands to a successor or not is up to them.
5) All nobles of the Diet, upon accepting their position, must swear an oath of loyalty to the Kaiser. The oath is as follows:

I hereby swear that, during my time as an Elector, I will serve the Reich faithfully and the Kaiser loyally. I recognize that the Kaiser is the sovereign of the Reich and, while I may disagree with him politically, I will not question his supremacy.
Failure to recite the oath will result in automatic barring from all Diet activities.
6) Any Imperial noble that declares war on the Kaiser is automatically at war with every single other Imperial noble. Any Imperial noble that backs out of this automatic declaration of war is subject to the same treatment.
7) Any Imperial noble that enters the province of Frankfurt with an army larger than his personal bodyguard without the Kaiser's explicit permission is considered at war with the Kaiser and subject to the treatment detailed in Clause 6.
8) If the Kaiser personally declares war on an Imperial noble, the automatic declarations in Clauses 6 and 7 do not apply.

Osterreich has no knowledge of any negotiations between the Kaiser and Brandenburg and so has no opinion on that matter.

[Ignoramus]

Andreas Hümmel, but recently arrived from Hamburg, rises to speak.

I am pleased to see that this destructive period of conflict has been short, and that the damage relatively small. The Kaiser has mein full support.

Turning to the Duke of Austria.

I second Charter Amendment E1.1.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Kaiser Heinrich:

The agreement, Theodericus der Bartige, was that I would hand Magdeburg to you through Premyslid upon your becoming his vassal. I have staked my reputation on Premyslid's following through with this request, as he is somewhat of the middleman in this, but the prospect of you retaining your own Duchy was never discussed.

I now present, Good Electors, our correspondences should anyone doubt my word on this matter:

Herr der Bartige,

As I am sure you know by now, you are trapped in Magdeburg with little hope of reinforcement and overwhelming odds against you. Vaclav Premyslid has linked up with my army and joined the siege on my side. An assault is imminent and will surely result in the complete destruction of you and your entire forces.

However, this is the last option that I want. An assault would be costly and unnecessary, and spill only the blood of the Reich. I do not wish to see this. I wish to resolve this terrible conflict that has divided us as quickly as possible so that we may move forward together and work to make our homeland prosper. Therefore, I propose the following terms of surrender:

- You will surrender yourself, your entire army, and Magdeburg to me. You will agree to become to vassal of Vaclav Premyslid, who I believe is open to returning Magdeburg to you upon proving your loyalties to him. You will sit out the remainder of the war, unless Duke Premyslid sees fit to use you.

If you agree to these terms, I will immediately break the siege of Magdeburg and continue on to resolve the war as quickly as possible. If you do not, then I will assault Magdeburg - and capture it - with all deliberate speed.

I look forward to your response.

Kaiser Heinrich

Herr Kaiser,

The only way I could agree to those terms is if I have it guaranteed, by you personally, whose word at least is yet to be broken, that I will have my beloved Magdeburg back. If you can give me that, then you can come back and we may talk. If you cannot... then you can tell your men to prepare for battle instead. I could not surrender trusting only to the good will of a man who has already betrayed me.

Signed,
Theodericus of Brandenburg

Herr der Bartige,

You have my word that upon conclusion of hostilities, you shall receive Magdeburg back. In the meantime, I shall take possession of the city and most of its soldiers. One regiment of your choosing will stay behind to garrison the city; this may be your own bodyguard if you wish. With overwhelming numerical superiority in both the north and south we shall quickly end this conflict which will allow me to restore Magdeburg to you all the sooner.

Regards,
Kaiser Heinrich

Herr Kaiser,

I have chosen to accept your terms of surrender. I ask you only to have mercy on Duke Magnus of Saxony; he is my friend, and it would hurt me terribly to lose him. Please don't let any harm be done to him if it can be avoided.

As for me, I will stay in Magdeburg myself. There is little reason for me to be anywhere else.

Signed,
Theodericus of Brandenburg

As per our agreement, you are still to swear fealty to Duke Premyslid before the handover of Magdeburg can be completed. Once this occurs, and once the Duke returns home from campaigning (OOC: Flax is out until the 30th) I am sure that he will follow through with the handover.

To exercise my part of the bargain: I hereby grant Vaclav Premyslid the province of Magdeburg.

In addition, I hereby second Rule Change E1.1 and Charter Amendment E1.1. Edict E1.1 still requires one seconder, I believe.

[The Celtic Viking]

"Kaiser, Magdeburg and Brandenburg go hand in hand: you cannot seperate the one from the other. If you do, and you wish to be that pedantic in words, then I will point out that I only ever surrendered Magdeburg to you. Thus, by this reasoning, Brandenburg still belongs to me and me alone, and then I will demand not only to have all the future income from Brandenburg, save Magdeburg itself, to be paid to me personally, but also to be reimbursed for the money that you would have stolen from me ever since my surrender. When Vaclav returns and I swear fealty to him, he will give me Magdeburg back as well.

So whichever way you twist or turn, by right both Magdeburg and Brandenburg as a whole is mine once I have sworn my fealty. To deny me this would both be unjust and illegal, and it would cost you your honour."

[GeneralHankerchief]

Kaiser Heinrich:

*sotto voce* Always with the nitpicky types, always. Can a Kaiser never catch a break around here?

*out loud* You cannot possibly expect me to allow anyone to retain a Duchy who did not side with me from the beginning or did not willingly defect over to my side. I will not get into a pointless legalese battle when the implications of my negotiations were clear. You will become the first vassal of what promises to be a very strong Duchy as well as a landowning one - a very good opportunity to springboard your career.

[phonicsmonkey]

Ernst of Melk, representing Prinz Leopold, rises to address the Diet.

Nobles of the Reich, my master has sent word that a Polish force threatens our lands south of Thorn. The foe is out of reach of the Prinz' army but could be intercepted by the force which currently garrisons the castle Thorn.

He entreats his fellow Nobles to be active in challenging this incursion by the Poles and to keep our lands safe!

[Cecil XIX]

Albrecht der Bartige, envoy from Provence, stood up in response.

My lord seconds this, and would like to remind the electors that there is no telling if other factions will take advantage of The Reich's weakness by attacking themselves. Only recently has a Venetian army been spotted marching right close to Marseille.