TroG Parliament

[Kavhan Isbul]

Honorable Lord Wasp, I respect your decision and agree with you that the matter of these 100 spearmen can be solved outside of parliament. Send me a messenger when you are ready to accept my suggestion, or for any other reason concerning cooperation between our two glorious families.

Co-Consul Innocentius, here is the schedule for next 5 years in Toscana:

Turn 1: keep taxes normal, build watch towers
Turn 2: increase taxes to high, start building town watch
Turn 3: finish Town Watch
Turn 4: increase taxes to very high, start building 20% improved farmland, train one unit of Urban Militia
Turn 5: finish 20% improved farmalnd, train a third unit of Urban Militia

If there shall be a calamity such as flood or famine, decrease taxes as much as necessary to keep population happy.

[gunslinger]

I thank you, Chancellor Innocetius, for formally legitimizing my claim to the Island of Sardinia. I have been in communication with my cousin, Martok, and we are anxious to begin working together.

Honorable Isbulino, I gratefully accept your offer to share in the cost of building the necessary naval vessels to secure your trade network. We each must provide as we can for the future of The Republic of Genoa.

I will take your offer of investment in the natural resources of Sardinia into consideration. I can not, however, consider your offer for the "rent" of gold. I say this out of my genuine concern for your immortal soul, dear brother. I would respectfully suggest to this assembly that Isbulino's statements on this matter were . . .an aberation; perhaps just a slip of the tongue from a man whose honor and righteousness is normally beyond reproach. I should hope that all gathered here would agree that no word of this unfortunate incident need ever be mentioned outside this room. Isublino, you have my assurances that, should the authorities representing your neighbor to the East ever make inquiries into this matter, you will have my full support.

Finally, it is not my intention to be troublesome on this issue, but I ask Chancellor Innocentius to call for a formal vote on my proposal concerning the duties of the Chancellor in this republic. Happily, the outcome of the vote will have no bearing on Innocentius' current position, since all present have endorsed his leadership. However, the inclusion of my proposal alongside the other laws on display in our library may prevent confusion for future generations.

[naut]

In my youthful exuberance I completely missed your previous proposal. What you put forward is nonetheless sound and fair, I firmly accept.

[Innocentius]

Chancellor Innocentius stands up and adresses the Parliament.

Honourable members of the Parliament! Terrible news have just reached us!

Our beloved Consul, Gregorio II, is dead. The diseace ultimately claimed his life. May his glorious memory last forever!
And as I believe most of you know, I was a very good friend of our Consul, and with his death in mind, I have decided to step down from my office as Chancellor . I shall be succeeded by the very competent Isbulino Doria of Tuscany, who will rule the Republic untill Prince Gregorio comes of age. May his reign be both wise and fair!

Innocentius returns to his seat, but soon shakes his head and leaves the Parliament.

[Kavhan Isbul]

Chancellor Isbulino Doria holds a brief inauguration speech.

First let me express my deepest condolences to Prince Gregorio - Consul Gregorio was a great leader, who shall be deeply missed by all of us.

As a Chancellor I promise to hold the Republic's interests above my own, and to keep all of the Houses well informed of the situation in the Republic's lands. My cousin Rythmic will be Margrave of Tuscany until my duty is finished. Until Prince Gregorio matures, I shall do my best to maintain peace on our borders, and I shall only accept alliance proposals from fellow Christians, which of course excludes all schismatics and heretics. I have much work to do, so I will close this session of Parliament as I need to attend to my duties immediately. May the Lord bless you with good health and prosperity, until our next session.

With this the first session of Parliament in Genoa ends, and Isbulino's is greated with applause (except for Gunslinger of Cagliari and his cousin Martok, who remain in their seats with a grim look on their faces). He waits for the Hall to get empty as all Genoese nobles leave for their lands, and then makes for his large quarters in the Parliament Building. "Genoa needs a Chancellor's Palace," he thinks,"but I will cause a riot if I start building one now. Perhaps it could be built here later, or perhaps ... a beatiful large palace would befit Florence more one day."

[Kavhan Isbul]

Let me open a new session of Parliament. I hope you have had a chance to read my report of the last 5 years, during which I was at the helm of the Republic. We now finally have a Consul to make the strategic decisions, but this does not mean that there is no need for debate.

The first decision to be amde concerns the Republic's fleet, as we have 2 fleets and a third will be ready next year. I suggest extending our naval reach to the Straits of Sicily. There is rich trade to be had with Palermo, and our presence in these waters will deter any Norman pirates. Alternatively, we can move our fleets West, to establish a connection with the port of Barcelona.

The second matter in need of discussion is the current war between two of our neighbors - the Holy Roman Empire and the Venetians. The Pope has sided with the Venetians. My personal suggestion is that we should wait to see how this conflict develops and if the Emperor is excommunicated and civil war breaks out in his lands, we might consider snatching Provence from him. If the Empire holds fast, and the Germans successfully invade Venice or Milan, we can either finish off whatever is left of the Venetians, or help our allies to prevent the Empire from becoming too strong.

Last time we discussed Naples. My opinion has not changed. The Pope has trained a number of soldiers he now keeps in Rope and Peruggia and is likely to use them to drive the Eastern Romans out of Naples and the Southern part of our peninsula. The Normans keep a princess and an emissary as spies in Naples, and most likely have their own ambitions. We should wait until a war between the Pope and the Normans breaks out and take full advanatge of any advantageous situation that may arise. As for the Eastern Romans, I am of the opinion that attacking them in the Levant is a better option, because the islands there are easier to defend as long as we have a sieable fleet.

There are other, less obvious options for expansion. The Almohads in North Africa are a threat to our fellow Christians on the Iberian peninsula. If we can side with the Castille-Leonese, the Aragonese and the Portugese, an attack on Valencia or Murcia is likely to meet the Pope's approval. We can also attack them in Tunisia, to prevent the Normans from getting to North Africa before us. Keep in mind however, that we will nto be able to recruit soldiers in North Africa, and in Iberia we will be limited to local jinettes.

Our Hungarian allies have been telling me that they are having problems with the Serbs, heretics similar to the Greeks, who refuse to accept the teachings of Rome. They are also worried about a Pagan horde of Cumans on their Eastern borders. The Hungarians are good allies, who we can use against the Germans and the Venetians, and perhaps also against the Eastern Romans. We might consider sending fleets in the Adriatic and helping them against the Serbs. A foothold in the Balkans will allow us to recruit Slavs, who make excellent garrison troops and javelinmen. When our fleets are strong enough, we may even establish a presence in the Black Sea, where a colony in Crimea will boost our traders' valid interests in the area.

Many options to consider, and I would love to hear the opinions of all nobles. The final decision will belong to our Consul Gregorio. I will also need all the houses' schedules for the next five years, as we need to plan ahead and continue the development of our lands. Feel free to share your plans here, or to send me a messenger if you would prefer to keep them secret.

[Warmaster Horus]

So many possibilities... yet by choosing one we abandon the rest. I urge you all to think a great deal on this matter, for it shall influence our future options.

On the situation in Northern Italy, I believe we should side with the Venetians and the Pope, "snatching Provence", as the Chancellor puts it. We should also prepare troops for northern "expeditions", during which we can reduce the Roman Empire to nothing. Or at least weaken them as much as possible. The provinces we'd acquire, I propose to let them be. Devastate them, and then abandon them.
In other words, noble men, I propose a raid.

Attacking the Byzantine Empire, for that is what they are now, in the Levant requires a fleet. A war fleet. I'm sorry to say that we do not have such for now. But we should not forget that idea yet. Should the Emperor Alexius (OOC: he's the Byzantine Emperor, right?) decide to attack an ally of ours, we should then retaliate in such a manner.

About the Almohad Caliphat, we should first acquire an alliance with their potential enemies. Remember, conquering Valencia is alright, only if the Aragonese don't want it.

To have a foothold in the Balkans would, indeed, allow us to recruit Slav Warriors for our glorious armies. But it would also be a relatively far colony, open to attacks. And we would not necessarily be able to defend it correctly.

I remain to be convinced that we should move against any other than the Holy Roman Empire. But I can still be persuaded.

After this, Consul Gregorio sits, and prepares to listen with care to the others proposals.