Imperial Diet IV

[gibsonsg91921]

Trust me, Count Hans, this is quite a shock to my brothers Ansehelm and Fritz, and myself. I only hope our father does not have a heart attack when he hears the news about little Siegfried! We did not have any plots, backroom dealings, or secret shady plans to elevate him to the throne of the most Holy and Indomitable Roman Empire. I swear on the Pope's @#$ that I know no more than you do regarding these shocking turn of events.

[TevashSzat]

I too am somewhat surprised by the Kaiser's choice of successor. Siegfried while noone can doubt his devotion to the empire has not been as experienced as other potential candidates. While I do not wish the draw to conclusions quickly, I dont not think pure intentions are at work here.

Us Swabians have held the Kaisers for as long as anyone can remember and while I do not wish do implicate others in nefarious actions, one can only think of what has happened these past few years among the other Houses. I personally have not been kept up to date of the newcomers as well as the politics in the Diet and the other prominent members of Swabia have rarely been active here for the past couple of years.

I too am not capricious and hope for this proposal to be approved. During the next diet, all 4 Dukes and a 5th member yet to be determined shall form a council and examine the events that have led to Kaiser Jobst's death as well as the chosen heir to the throne. A vote shall occur afterwards among the 5 members which shall determine the legitamacy of Siegfried's claims

[gibsonsg91921]

Well what do you suggest, Duke Scherer? Have an "Acting Kaiser" for a couple years while Siegfried ages? Depose him altogether? Why is it so difficult for Swabians to accept Kaiser Jobst's choice? There are multiple eyewitnesses who saw von Salza give the throne to Kaiser Siegfried! I think it is just sour grapes for the throne being passed on out of the Swabian household. I say so now as God as my witness - Jobst von Salza was the last good Swabian, perhaps barring Prinz Elberhard.

[TevashSzat]

Is that an insult directed towards me?

You may be new to politics, but I am not. I am one of few who still remembers our early days and the days of excommunication. Indeed it was I who helped to reconcile us with the Papacy and lead Swabia in its vengence against the French

[GeneralHankerchief]

Conrad Salier:

And I have now publicly mourned the passing of three Kaisers in the Diet, Duke Scherer, a record that you cannot match. Tenure matters little. It has been well-documented that Kaiser Jobst did indeed pass on his crown to Kaiser Siegfried. I believe that the Dieter fellow was in fact, Swabian. I am sure that the Kaiser had his reasons for passing on the crown to Siegfried and we are all bound to accept that reasoning.

[TinCow]

And so it begins again. We have been forced to choose between our oldest, unwavering allies, the Sicilians, and the Papacy that blesses us and damns us at a whim. Kaiser Heinrich would be turning in his grave if he knew we had abandoned our most trusted allies over some minor skirmish at Durazzo. We control the entire College of Cardinals. We control the Pope, yet we continue to let the Papal States dictate the terms of our foreign affairs. It is a sad day when the Reich cannot properly recognize who is a true ally and who is a vassal state.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Conrad Salier:

Oh, I wouldn't say that. The Papacy recently did us a favor by mauling two large Egyptian armies threatening a good portion of Outremer. When is the last time the Sicilians did any such thing?

[gibsonsg91921]

You know Lothar, I dislike you deeply, but when it comes to the Pope I forget that and I can't help but agree with you and stand by you. Why does this man think we should break our loyalties for a powerhungry warmongering fool?

[TinCow]

Of course the King of Outremer would see value in such a thing. Need I remind him that Outremer would not even exist if it were not for our desire to make an excessive an unnecessary show of penance to the Pope? Outremer has brought us nothing but grief and misery. It has drained the Reich of armies that are badly needed to protect the homelands and sapped her strength of competent generals. The Pope's recent victories against the Egyptians were not even for our own benefit, but rather to ensure that his own seat of power remained intact. The very fact that you see selflessness in such an act shows how delusional some men in the East have become.

Return to the Reich, gentlemen, I assure you that no 'Horse Lords' will trouble you here. Let the heretics fight amongst themselves until Armageddon comes.

[gibsonsg91921]

The Pope has Durazzo, why not protect him there? Jerusalem may have once been a Holy City, but now it is a land of heresy and heathens. In fact, the Pope is much safer in Durazzo, the old @#$%^&*. As much as I still begrudge his presence in Durazzo, I would much rather have the lords of Outremer return to the Reich and fight against enemies on our homeland.

[TinCow]

For once, I am in full agreement with a Franconian.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Conrad Salier:

Your worldview being as limited as it is, Lothar, I would expect you to say something like that. You were not old enough to remember life before Outremer. The Reich's very soul was at risk. We had been excommunicated for an age, money was not coming easily, and the fears were that we would be the target of a Crusade. Outremer changed all that. It was approved by noble commanders, men that you could only dream to emulate. It gave us all, and still continues to give the faithful, inner peace.

As for Peter, if, as you say, Jerusalem is a land of heresy and heathens, then is it not our duty as good Christians to work and remove that heresy?

[gibsonsg91921]

Perhaps, but as a religious man, can't you think of a safer and more holy place to put the Pope?

[Privateerkev]

Perhaps, but as a religious man, can't you think of a safer and more holy place to put the Pope?

Jan's aide pipes up

Safer maybe but is there a more holy place than Jerusalem?

[gibsonsg91921]

Jerusalem may have once been holy, but it is polluted by the heathen Saracens. Take him to *scoff* Durazzo, take him to the side of the road, I really don't care.

[OverKnight]

Matthias, flicking a bit of seaweed off his shoulder, speaks.

It is unfortunate that Sicily's ill conceived attack on Durazzo forced us to choose between two allies. I am astounded that their leader willingly chose to plunge his country into excommunication for a simple territory. It is the height of stupidity. Yes Sicily was our oldest Ally, but if they were foolish enough to attack the Pope, could we really trust them anyway? Would we want to keep such a foolish ally?

The whole situation is unfortunate because we now have another potentially hostile nation on our border. Though I would not advocate an aggressive approach towards Sicily. We may no longer be allies, but I say we stay out of any conflict between them and the Church, we owe them that much and we are stretched thin as it is. It seems the Church is now capable of defending itself anyway.

Lothar, Outremer has brought us much more than grief and misery. Besides the benefit of doing God's work, which you seem to care little about, there are more practical aspects that even you might acknowledge. The Missionary work done there by our priests has allowed many of them to rise into the College of Cardinals and even the Throne of Peter. Of course we can never fully control the Church, but we have by far the most sway over it. If we ever need another Crusade called, I am sure we'll have it.

Has it always been easy to work with the Church, mercurial as it sometime is? No, but it is worth it. As for abandoning Outremer, that would be most unwise, Peter. Would you have us give all five territories to the Mongols? The Egyptians? Or the Papacy? If we abandon Outremer, sooner or later the enemies we fight there would make their way to the Reich's homelands. I say we fight them there, so we don't have to fight them here.

There have been times on my long slog to the Holy Land, that I have doubted my choice to go there. That I wished to turn around or just stayed on the docks at Bologna. I am not even there yet, but I will be someday. The Mongols might already have perished again, there may be nothing for me to do, but I will continue on. I will do this because Outremer is the Reich, it is a dream brought to reality by our greatest Generals and Statesmen, it is the sword and shield of Christendom, and it is worth keeping and defending.

[Cecil XIX]

Now that I have spent a day in mourning, I am now ready to swear fealty to Emperor Siegfried. Let us put this incident behind us and work towards finally achieving a state of normalcy.

[Stig]

*Ansehelms stands and speaks*

Duke Scherer, you want to have a vote amongst Dukes. But do we need that.
Bavaria swore it would follow Kaiser Siegfried, The Outremer did the same and believe me there's little anyone can do from stopping Franconia as well.
That's 3 out of 5 houses. I don't see a reason to vote, next to that in this Diet I heard little against Siegfried, apart from Hummel everyone withdrew their statements after Dieter brought in the will.
All in all only the Swabians seem upset, because they don't have the Kaiser anymore.

No there's no reason what so ever to do any voting.
Let me give you a collection of what has been said:
Jan von Hamburg

Long live the Kaiser!

Matthias Steffen

I am your man.

Lothar Steffen

I hereby proclaim my loyalty to Kaiser Siegfried.

Duke Steffen

re-afirm my allegiance to the current Kaiser

King Salier

My Lord, Outremer is yours to command.

Sigismund von Mahren

I am now ready to swear fealty to Emperor Siegfried.

And take it that all Franconians support Kaiser Siegfried.
That gives us a Diet influence (if all stayed the same (little changed I think)) of 38 and everyone who did not swore to follow Siegfried yet have 26 influence with voting.



And I fail to see how people as loyal to the Reich as you Hans (OOC: 9 loyalty) do not see Siegfried as Kaiser.

[Ignoramus]

Conrad Hohenburg rises up slowly.

Kaiser Hans does not see Siegfried as Kaiser because he is loyal to ancient blood right of Kingship. Siegfried is naught but a pretender.

[Stig]

And you sir have been banned from the Diet the last time I heard.
Hans never called himself Kaiser, so why would you?

[Ignoramus]

Conrad rises again and glances at the Ansehelm.

Banned by a usurper? I may be only twenty years of age, but I am no fool. I do not recognise Siegfried's authority, and as such am not bound to follow his orders.

Conrad resumes his seat, and begins writing furiously.

[Ituralde]

I would just like to remind everybody that those who, like me, follow the will of the late Emperor Jobst will be rewarded for their loyalty while those who still oppose this appointment even after numerous evidence has been presented and still have the presumption to call the late Emperor Jobst, his trusted aid Dieter and myself a liar will not be forgotten.

[Stig]

*Ansehelm rises*

Hohenburg, I give "poo" about insulting the emperor, he's the one to deal with that. But I do care if you insult my little brother, which you are more or less doing.
I call on Duke Scherer to talk some sense into the boy.

[OverKnight]

Matthias looks at Conrad, irritation flashing across his face.

I will ignore the fact that you have threatened my life, Conrad. I will simply ask that you pass on to your master certain facts.

First, Hans, to his credit, has sought out a legislative solution to his concerns over the succession. This makes your Master's declaration of armed struggle in his name to the men at Adana somewhat ludicrous.

Second, Karl Zirn commands at Adana. Even if Wolfgang wished to raise the Citadel in revolt, he only leads his own retinue. Now the thirty odd men of his escort could be the reincarnation of Alexander's companions but they are still too few in number to alter anything.

Third, the primary reason your master hasn't been dragged kicking and screaming to the gallows for treason is the fact that not one Elector that I know of supports him or his goals. It is not a rebellion, it is a farce. You should be happy it is seen as such, or Wolfgang would suffer the same premature end as his Father.

If I were you, I would leave this chamber and pass on these observations to Wolfgang before your cries of treachery and usurpation draw the full ire of this Diet onto you and your Master.

[Ituralde]

Two burly men appear beside the furiously scribbling Conrad.

You may not, like your master, accept my authority, but I am sure those two men will help you understand my point of view a little better while they accompany you to the exit.

Siegfried smiles faintly as Conrad is, depending on his level of resistance, followed by the two men, or carried out bodily.

And you can tell your master, that I will be waiting here for his apology!

[Northnovas]

A familiar figure walks into the Diet and heads for the Austrian seats. It has been some since the Count was hear debating but a new session will begin shortly....

Electors, it is good to see some familiar faces and to see this room is still in one piece after all the dispatches I have been hearing about the behaviour of the members. There will be much to discuss.
Before any official business begins I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to Chancellor von Hamburg for his leadership these last few years. I concur with his report and I would say that all of the Reich is grateful for pulling us through and getting to where we are today. I salute you!

The Count sits in the benches looking for his Duke.

[OverKnight]

Matthias looks at the latest report.

Jerusalem has fallen?! This is terrible news. We must approach the new Pope and ask that a Third Crusade be called to liberate the Holy City! Despite the Mongol threat, we cannot allow the Saracens to hold Jerusalem!

I would also like to thank the Chancellor, he has done much to bring the Reich back to greatness. He has made a difficult job look easy.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Conrad Salier:

It is my greatest regret to inform the Diet that we in Outremer have failed.

If you have not yet viewed the Chancellor's Report, let me inform you of what has transpired: The remainder of the Egyptian forces outside Jerusalem besieged and assaulted the city. They were not expected to prevail but did just that, taking the city and killing the Pope. The Holiest City is now once again in infidel hands.

I admit that the Horse Lord threat is partially to blame for this. We were all focused on destroying them while the Egyptians were allowed to so threaten the Papacy without a peep from us. I feel responsible - I ordered the nearest army north. Perhaps they could have assisted in time.

I know that the Diet Session has yet to begin but once it does I will introduce legislation to take back Jerusalem and return it to the Papacy. I refuse to be known as the man who abandoned the Pope and Jerusalem to the infidel. If you disagree, then we might as well pack up and return home, for Outremer has no purpose if there is no Pope to protect.

[Northnovas]

I concur with King Salier. I have committed by family and time in the Outremer and it's mission was to protect the Holy City. We must refocus on our purpose, no God's purpose for the Reich. To portect Jerusalem.

[Privateerkev]

Jan von Hamburg comes through the Diet doors with his new Teutonic Knight, Maximillian. He walks over to his table, is caught up on what has been said, and turns to speak.

My fellow electors!

King Salier is right! We need to move on Jerusalem at once! As soon as such legislation is put forward, I would be honored to second it!

God wills it!