Imperial Diet

[Warluster]

the second elector of Swabia stands up, a look of guilt upon his face
I congratulate you Prinz Henry, Metz is finnaly ours, I also have anothewr thing to say, i feel I have not been contrbuting to the Diet, I shall put more effort in from now.
He sits down

[Kagemusha]

The clerk of fifth elector of Swabia asks for permission to speak and once cleared starts to read a letter:

"The fifth elector of Swabia sends his congratulations to our dear Prinz and to the Swabian forces that took Metz with perfectly launched assault.Unfortunately im still not able to join the diet,becouse my health is not the best it could be after wearing full armour for few years.Once i recover i will travel to the meeting right away.Now i have some skin problems to attend".

Fifth Elector of Swabia

[GeneralHankerchief]

Kaiser Heinrich: Good Electors! We meet again! It has been many long years since this Diet was last opened, and much has occured since then! I suggest you familiarize yourself with the latest situation (kotr1100) as well as my midterm report (see last post of Chancellor Reports thread), so we may have educated Electors when the time comes to propose and vote on Edicts.

And now, I declare this session of the Diet... open. *bangs gavel*

[Ignoramus]

Count Sigismund der Stolze stands up and quietly clears his throat.

Noble electors, we cannot allow the arrogant city-state of Milan to to expand her borders. News has reached me that the city of Dijon has fallen into her greedy hands. I tell you this plainly and simply; Milan must be destroyed! As of yet, she has no castles with which to train soldiers, and as such her armies consist of a rabble of peasants and milita - no match for the Reich's soldiers.

I humbly offer myself for the task of reducing Dijon. I cannot allow these Italians to openly defy the Kaiser any longer.

I therefore propose the following:

Edict 2.1: The Milanese city of Dijon is to be captured during the second half of the Chancellor's reign. Milan and Genoa must be captured before the end of the next Chancellor's reign.

[Ituralde]

Conrad von Schüsselen had not been seen a lot in the Diet during the recent years. Rumours had it that his illness has weakened him further and fits of coughing accompanied by seizures have troubled the Elector of late.
As he stands before the Diet now he has to support himself on an elaboratly carved waling stick. His voice has grown thinner, but his gaze is as austere as ever. He has to clear his throat noisily before he speaks:

Dear Kaiser, Dukes, Electors!

He bows deeply.

Let me congratulate our beloved Emperor for his successful reign as Chancellor so far. With the help of our valued Nobles we were able to secure many a settlement that had been lost during our recent struggles. I firmly beleive that this man will bring the Reich back to its former glory giving his antecessors a huge powerbase to work with. Once more the Holy Roman Empire will extend its influence over all Christians!

It may not come as a surprise to you that I can agree with the intentions of the Swabian elector, as I share his hatred against the Milanese. Alas, I don't beleive his strategy to be the wisest choice though. As he rightfully mentions Milan can boast no strong fortifications, yet! Already their troops are marching through Swiss passing the castle of Bern on their way to Dijon. By all means we must not allow them to get control of this castle. Leave Dijon to worry our French neighbours, I say, but let's concentrate on splitting the Milanese in half by capturing Bern castle. This will make all further moves against the Milanes much easier for us.

I propose Edict 2.2: Send Sigismund to capture Bern castle. His attack on Metz has proven his valour and strategic skill, surely Bern will pose no obstacle for him.

Now, to come to our Emperors midterm report I noticed some issues that should be adressed by this Assembly.

I have to agree with Heinrich that we should follow our Council of Nobles suggestion and take Breslau as soon as possible. This will bolster our borders against the Polish and the florins will be much needed for our treasury.

I propose Edict 2.3: Besiege and Take Breslau within the time frame set by our Council of Nobles.

There are also some things I have to disagree though. We should under no circumstances break our word against the Venetians. I have said before that we should not give our word away lighty. We have agreed to ally with Venice and should stand by that word and not take the first opportunity to break it to statisfy our need for Italien riches. The greed of this Assembly appals me sometimes.
Let us wait instead, those treacherour dogs will sheme against us soon enough giving us reaon enough to strike at their lands.

Thereby I propose Edict 2.4: The Alliance with Venice is not to be broken, unless a dire reason is supplied by the Venetians.

Another matter I would like to bring to the attention of this Assembly is the allocation of settlements done by our wise Emperor. It seems though that he has overlooked the services the House of Austria has done for the Empire in not granting us a single fiefdom. Duke Leopold is besieging Prague as we speak and still our Emperor grants Italian lands to the Bavarians. Have they not already two fiefdoms under their control? Even were the House of Austria to combine with the House of Swabia we still would only control as much land as Bavaria controls now.
I see that other Diet suggestions have been followed by our Emperor and Metz and Hamburg have been assigned to Swabia and Franconia respectively. Why has Florence not been given to Austria too?
It may seem that our House is willingly held back from the glory it could achieve. I'm saddened by these events and can only hope that Heinrich will reconsider.

Conrad von Schüsselen looks around the Assembly, his look a mix of sadness and defiance, before settling down.

[pevergreen]

You, my dear cousin, would believe this Diet is greedy? Shame on thou!

We have-eth trouble in these troubled times in providing buildings to keep our people alive, and yet you complain of greed! I am doing my part for the community, visiting far out towns, and paying for pleasure girls. I enjoy those community trips!

I formally Second Edict 2.1, 2,2 and 2.3

Ah, 'tis good to be back!
Lothar steps down and wanders around greeting friends.

[TinCow]

I agree with the Second Elector of Austria's sentiments on the strategic importance of capturing Bern prior to any actions against the Milanese. The castle is an important choke-point in the Alps and it will prevent any counter-strokes against the Reich, as well as provide an additional recruitment base for our armies.

However, I cannot second this motion as it is worded. It has not gone unnoticed in the House of Bavaria that all other houses have been granted military commands. Yet to this day, no Bavarian elector has been given the honor of such a distinction. This is not an insult as it stands, as the use of Franconian electors in the north, Swabian electors in the west, and Austrian electors in the east is certainly of the best strategic sense. However, with Bern so close to Bavarian territory and military commands having been denied to Bavarian electors, any march on Bern without a Bavarian in command cannot be seen as anything but a direct insult to our House.

As I am sure this is not the intention of the Kaiser nor the Diet, I propose a more properly worded edict:

Edict 2.5: Bern is to be taken before the end of the current Chancellorship. A Bavarian elector will be given command of the army assaulting Bern.

Regarding the disposition of territories, it seems clear to me from the Kaiser's former statements and the current strategic situation that the lack of a provincial assignment to Austria is entirely due to the delay in taking Prague. Given the previously expressed geographic preferences of the Kaiser, Prague could surely not go to any other House than Austria. It is thus worth noting that it is due to the Duke of Austria's own caution in assaulting the city, that it is not yet available for distribution to your most noble House.

Furthermore, while the province of Bolognia is welcomed by the House of Bavaria, it is a largely empty gesture. It is not currently contiguous with our lands, we have no way to support it, and we have no elector available to govern it. Thus, Bolognia provides absolutely nothing to the House of Bavaria at this time.

However, given our lack of commands, the House of Bavaria understand the concerns of the House of Austria and is sympathetic to them. We will support all reasonable efforts that the House of Austria puts forward to ensure that they receive an equitable distribution of lands. Let us not let the independant actions of the Kaiser create a wall between us. Bavaria and Austria have always been friends and it is our desire to strength this bond, not weaken it. We will need the combined strength of both our Houses to deal with the Italians and the Papal Usurper.