Prinz Henry: Electors, it is time to end this madness. My father has been allowed to run wild for long enough. He forgets - he is not the Chancellor. He has no authority to command our armies to move or to fight. Even Dukes have no absolute authority to command Household armies between Diet sessions. The Chancellor is only obliged to follow orders written during Diet sessions; any interim orders are to be followed only at his discretion.

It is true we cannot turn back time - war has been declared on Pope Gregory; we cannot reverse that. It is true that it is our destiny to reign in Rome and that provides some mitigation for my father's action, although the manner of its fulfilling that destiny remains repugnant. But once Genoa has been reclaimed and Gregory's army defeated, we must cease hostilities against the Papacy. There has been speculation that my father and the Bavarians will seek out successor Popes. Perhaps even defenceless Cardinals will be hunted down and killed with the intention of placing a German in the Vatican. Such actions would go too far, Electors.

I urge the Chancellor to restore his authority over our forces. We must try to reconcile ourselves with Gregory's successor. If we are unsuccessful, we must endure the penance for our sins. Killing more Pontiffs and murdering other men of the cloth will not save our souls. And we will have little on earth to fear from Gregory's successor, even if he does remain hostile to us. When Genoa falls, he will have no Papal armies to command.

Now, you may say - could Gregory's successor call crusades against us? Perhaps he could - I do not know. I know not the fate of the crusade against Tunis. Perhaps it is still ongoing. Perhaps the time needed to prepare a second crusade is so long, this is not an imminent threat. But even in the worst case, should crusades be called against us I submit that fending off those attacks should be part of our atonement for our sins.

You may also say - what if we can never be reconciled? I say this - perhaps my father may never be reconciled. Perhaps what he has done is so heinous, he cannot earn forgiveness in this life. But the Empire is more than the Emperor. Emperors pass on, and with their passing the stain of their sins may be washed away from the land. Empires - Empires can endure for thousands of years, but only if they follow the path of righteousness.

Electors, it is time that the authority of the Diet is reasserted. If my father refuses to call an Emergency session of the Diet to determine its will, then I ask the Chancellor, who we elected to act on our behalf, to reassert his authority. And end this madness now!