The Magnaura

[Privateerkev]

Makedonios walks into the Magnaura in full armor.

Senators,

I come back from the field to address the Magnaura on the state of our Empire.

Basically, we are sliding into severe debt. And it is not the Crusade that is doing it. That is self-funded. I don't know where all the money went, but it's gone. The Empire is already in debt by 2997 florins.

And it isn't the Order. As promised, our financial footprint is relatively small. In fact, we're basically neglected on everything. Exactly one thing has been built in the Levant all term and that is only because it was something I legally "prioritized." And I picked a pretty modest building I might add.

Our garrisons are the bare minimum required to keep order. Adana has 1 militia regiment and 3 archers. Not 3 archer regiments. I mean three archers. Aleppo has 2 battered regiments of peasants. Antioch has 1 militia regiment. And Nicosia has 1 peasant regiment for a garrison and 2 peasant regiments for my army.

Speaking of my army. It is legally complete, but those 2 peasant regiments are stuck on Nicosia. Why? Because the Caesar has taken the one ship in the entire Eastern Med and sent them to Jerusalem. According to naval orders, that ship will blockade Jerusalem's port next year. The problem with that is the fact that the war will start with an Egyptian army right next to me in Antioch AND PART OF MY ARMY IS STILL STUCK ON AN ISLAND!!!!!!!

Makedonios takes a breath after raising his voice.

Pardon my volume but things are getting bleak gentlemen. Since the Caesar has ignored my letter regarding the navy, I will lay it out in public. I need that ship moved back to Nicosia this turn so those 2 peasant regiments can be moved to my army next turn. So I can then defend Antioch properly. And this shouldn't even be open for debate. By law, my army has to at least be minimum standards. And it isn't. It's already a joke that the Caesar is giving me peasants for what is legally supposed to be a "professional" army. But those peasants are completely cut off from reinforcing me.

Furthermore, Hypatos Armatos requires an army BY LAW! And what does he have? NOTHING! And I know recruitment has gone on throughout the Empire! The Caesar's royal army just got filled with new mercenary units. Asteri has probably 5 or 6 private armies worth of troops even though they only have 3 nobles with the rank to require them. And Armatos goes COMPLETELY WITHOUT! Meanwhile, the Turks are to the north of Adana, the Fatamids are next to Antioch, and the Templars are still massing on our border. We NEED two armies! Not only do we need them, but they are legally required! Again, I should NOT have to come in here and say this!

I know we voted against the Caesar but this blatant mistreatment of the Order risks lives! We are at war gentlemen!

Furthermore, there are now NO PRIESTS in the Levant! None! Zero! They are all in Anatolia! And both Iconium and Caesara are more than half converted. We need at least a couple of them back in the Levant to convert Adana and Aleppo.

Back to the finances. Do you know we have only 1 merchant!?! ONE! The Levant is the trading crossroads of the world! Our only merchant is there right now raking in over a thousand florins a year. Why aren't there more merchants?

And why has the navy by Greece gotten bloated and sits idle? And I don't mean the Crusader ships because those don't get funded by us. I mean, the ones sitting off Athens. The eastern Med has exactly 1 ship. Yet there are so many ships in the west that I can walk from Constantinople to Crete without getting my feet wet!

And what is with all the mercenaries! I'm stuck with filling my army with peasants but Pavlos gets to recruit Saracens for the Caesar's army. Something stinks!

Oh, and by the way! Who ever dropped their army into Belgrade didn't do the Empire any favors! Anastatios is... where ever it is Anastatios goes... But the point is, without him to give permission, a whole army is LOCKED in a city on the other side of a war! And we can't disband them to save money because he needs to sign the paperwork!

So, I want the Megas to appear and tell us how he is going to get us out of this mess. With the Empire in severe debt, I don't expect the Megas to recruit or build to offset the giant inequalities that have developed. I only lay out the Order's situation so we don't get blamed for draining the Empire's coffers.

What is wrong with the Caesar!?! Ampelas built up the army and navy and he was able to do it without sinking the whole Empire into crushing debt! And he kept up building at a steady pace.

We are on the edge of financial ruin! If the Megas does not fix this, then for the good of the Empire, we will need to impeach him and get a guy in office who can fix this. And the worst is yet to come. The Crusade is currently self-funding so it is not adding to our troubles. But when that Crusade is over, all of those troops will become part of the Imperial Army which means WE will be paying for them. If the Megas doesn't fix our budget NOW, then we will plummet economically and our Empire will completely stagnate.

Now that I have kicked the hornet's nest, I welcome the other nobles and especially House leaders to comment.