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Post by Gamemaster on Dec 6, 2007 3:13:33 GMT -5
Starmet Vyloresh (Imperial Palace) City of Zekran Zekresh Empire
30th day, 1st month, 41 Cledman VI
The elderly Zekresh Emperor Cledman VI is sitting upon his throne in the formal audience chamber. Three men stand before him. The two on the Emperor's left are the even more elderly Lord Chancellor Rubanya Cledman and the young and dandified Grand Admiral Valast. On the right, Councillor Levorek stands alone and looking very frightened.
Around the edges of the room various courtiers, and servants stand. At the doorways and behind the throne, stand ten armed guards of the Golden Phalanx, the Emperor's personal bodyguards.
A door opens and a servant comes in and announces, "Your Imperial Highness, Field Marshall Krulmuk has come to answer your summons along with some army officers."
Krulmuk walks into the audience chamber boldly as if confident of victory, but in fact only confident that he would rather face death standing proud than begging for mercy. The others have the manner and posture of those who have in fact been pleading for mercy.
Four Imperial Army officers walk behind Krulmuk as he enters the room. They are:
Ekanor Falan Talimuk, Imperial Army Quartermaster. Gurikan Anamuk, deputy commander of the 1st Kantora Zekresh (the Kantora Ramoro which Krulmuk personally commands.) Gurikan Verno, commander of the 2nd Kantora Zekresh. Gurikan Nemt, commander of the 3rd Kantora Zekresh and Ulor of Kopixer.
Gurikan Anamuk stops at the edge of the audience area where those being granted an audience stand. The other officers also wait there, since they have not been summoned. Krulmuk continues. He looks at Levorek as if to stand next to him as he had stood with him politically during the recent crisis of the regents. Then Krulmuk looks at Grand Admiral Valast standing beside his patron, Chancellor Rubanya, and decides that he will not take a similar subordinate position next to Levorek. Instead, Krulmuk stands in the center of the audience area, between the two men who claimed to be regent during the crisis and directly facing the Emperor as if unafraid.
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Krulmuk
New Member
Imperial Army Commander
Posts: 37
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Post by Krulmuk on Dec 6, 2007 3:23:10 GMT -5
Then Krulmuk bows to the Emperor and says, "As always, I am at your command, your Imperial Highness."
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Post by Emperor Cledman VI on Dec 6, 2007 3:24:01 GMT -5
The Emperor nods and looks at each of the four men who stand before him one at a time. There is silence in the room. The Emperor says, "I have heard separately what each of you have to say. Now I shall tell you what I think of it all. You should be ashamed of yourselves! All of you. Is this how you handle yourselves whem I'm not around? I take ill and everyone claims to be regent?" The Emperor glares at Rubanya and Levorek, both of whom claimed the powers of Imperial Regent during the Emperor's recent illness. Both of them had assembled armies in hopes of claiming the Imperial throne upon the Emperor's death.
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Levorek
New Member
Levorek Cledman, Imperial Regent
Posts: 31
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Post by Levorek on Dec 6, 2007 3:27:27 GMT -5
"I was elected regent by the Imperial Council!" Levorek cries out in a pitiable, terrified voice.
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Rubanya
New Member
Lord Chancellor of the Empire
Posts: 23
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Post by Rubanya on Dec 6, 2007 3:28:35 GMT -5
"That wasn't a real council meeting!" Rubanya declared angrily and I was already regent.
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Post by Emperor Cledman VI on Dec 6, 2007 3:29:45 GMT -5
"Did you decree that yourself, uncle?" the Emperor asks Rubanya.
Rubanya says, "I did. As Imperial Chancellor, I had the authority to do so. It was necessary to preserve..."
"It was not necessary at all," the Emperor interrupts. "You were already running the government as Chancellor. I wasn't dead. Even if I were dead, you wouldn't need to call yourself regent because if I were dead, you would be Emperor. There was no need for a regency. Am I a child, now?"
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Rubanya
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Lord Chancellor of the Empire
Posts: 23
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Post by Rubanya on Dec 6, 2007 3:31:14 GMT -5
"You were incapacitated by illness, your highness," Rubanya says.
"You were incapacitated by bad judgment!" the Emperor retorts, "You caused this whole mess by running off to Yishil and treating our own army as your enemy."
"I was beset by enemies. They plotted to kill me," Rubanya declared.
"You're paranoid," the Emperor said.
Rubanya is becoming desperate. He fears the conversation will end with a death sentence or two. Rubanya thrusts a bony finger towards Krulmuk and cries out hysterically, "He beseiged me with thousands of troops! Is that just my paranoia?"
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Post by Emperor Cledman VI on Dec 6, 2007 4:19:53 GMT -5
The Emperor says, "Of course he did. You behaved like an ass. You didn't even attend the Imperial Council meeting that was to vote on electing Levorek as regent."
Rubanya says, "It wasn't a real council meeting! Besides, I was already in Yishil by then. I couldn't attend a meeting in Zekran."
The Emperor says, "You should have stayed in Zekran."
Rubanya says, "They would have killed me if I stayed there. There was a plot, I tell you!"
The Emperor gives Rubanya a disgusted look and says, "I've heard enough of this. Can you all stop whining at me and go back to work? I've ordered a celebration this evening in honor of my recovery and I haven't even had time to decide who to invite yet."
Everyone in the room seems surprised or confused or both.
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Levorek
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Levorek Cledman, Imperial Regent
Posts: 31
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Post by Levorek on Dec 6, 2007 4:20:54 GMT -5
Levorek meekly says, "Then you're not going to punish me?"
The Emperor says, "I shall indeed. You're not invited to the party tonight and you are banned from the palace for a month. You killed all my knights!"
"Not all, your highness, only the ones who were disloyal," Levorek says with a nervous smile.
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Rubanya
New Member
Lord Chancellor of the Empire
Posts: 23
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Post by Rubanya on Dec 6, 2007 4:26:49 GMT -5
Rubanya actually shouts at the Emperor, "THAT'S ALL?! This unspeakable miscreant engages in treason against the Empire on an enormous scale and that's all you're going to do to him?"
The Emperor says, "What do you want me to do, cut his head off? He's my favorite nephew."
Rubanya loses his temper and violates all kinds of decorum and protocols. He calls the Emperor by his first name, speaks down to him as if he were a child and raises his voice again as he grows red in the face, "Talinyva! You can't just treat this like it doesn't matter! It was bloody treason! Yes, I do think you should have his head cut off. Krulmuk's too, and every Ulor and officer who followed him in his treason. Levorek usurped your throne while you were on your sickbed. He terrorized the capital city and tortured and murdered some of your most loyal supporters. He encouraged senior army officers to carry out a coup-de-etat. Do you... Do you expect us to just go back to the way things were as if nothing happened? Countless soldiers were killed in battle at Angenmar Paven! Rivers of blood were spilled at the Execution Place here in the capital. The Imperial Council split in two. The traitor, Balad, was welcomed back into the Imperial Council chambers by Levorek. The army fought the navy. You may have recovered for the moment, but now the whole Empire has taken sides against each other. Civil war is just waiting to break out again. Everyone will be scheming for advantage in a war they know will come. Rebels and barbarians will be emboldened because they know we are not united. This is one of those moments I keep telling you about when you need to put aside the fun and games and pay attention to what needs to be done for the empire. Just for a moment do what must be done. If you won't execute Levorek and his traitors, at least imprison them. By the gods don't leave this room without removing Krulmuk from command of the Imperial Army."
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Post by Emperor Cledman VI on Dec 6, 2007 4:27:42 GMT -5
The Emperor says, "Uncle, you speak as if I'm going to die at any moment. You're far older than I am. By the time I pass away, you will be long gone. So stop worrying so much about it. You're letting your paranoia delude you. You imagine that Krulmuk is scheming for my throne. You obviously don't know the man. I have no more dependable servant than Krulmuk. He doesn't loiter in my court gabbing with all you pompous gadflies and hatching plots. He's a commoner who could never be Emperor. He only wants to fight barbarians. That's all he ever talks about when he has my ear, believe me. So calm down and get back to chancelloring."
Rubanya says, "Very well. As Imperial Chancellor I hereby order Field Marshall Krulmuk relieved of command of the Imperial Army, stripped of his rank and condemned to die by beheading immediately."
The Emperor gives Rubanya an annoyed look and says, "Let's have none of that. Krulmuk stays. He'll run the army. Valast will run the navy. You will run the government. If that's not too complicated for you to understand."
"We can't just go back to the way things were before!" Rubanya declares.
The Emperor says, "We can and we will. I order it. I am the Emperor. I can order you to go back to normal."
"It won't work," Rubanya says.
"It will work. I've ordered it. Are you refusing my order?" the Emperor asks.
"I'm not refusing it," Rubanya says in a defeated tone, then he says, "Well, if you think Krulmuk is so loyal and only wants to fight barbarians, then let's see him go do that. I'd sleep better knowing he was not in the capital."
The Emperor's gaze shifts to Krulmuk.
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Krulmuk
New Member
Imperial Army Commander
Posts: 37
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Post by Krulmuk on Dec 6, 2007 4:28:39 GMT -5
Krulmuk says, "If it is your will, Imperial Highness, I shall fight for you once again. In fact, there is a quite serious rebellion in the North River Valley. By your leave, I would assemble an army and march upon the enemy as soon as possible."
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Rubanya
New Member
Lord Chancellor of the Empire
Posts: 23
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Post by Rubanya on Dec 6, 2007 4:29:14 GMT -5
Rubanya looks horrified, "Assemble an army here in the North Peninsula? Your Imperial Highness, it is most unwise to allow him to do that. Besides, the enemy we most need to fight isn't in the North River Valley, it's the barbarian horde that is overrunning our Overseas Provinces."
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Krulmuk
New Member
Imperial Army Commander
Posts: 37
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Post by Krulmuk on Dec 6, 2007 4:30:03 GMT -5
Krulmuk says, "We should send an army to the Overseas Provinces in addition to the one we must send to the North River Valley."
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Rubanya
New Member
Lord Chancellor of the Empire
Posts: 23
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Post by Rubanya on Dec 6, 2007 4:30:30 GMT -5
Rubanya says, "Krulmuk should have the honor of commanding the force that goes overseas. That is his homeland and the place where he defeated the barbarians before. Surely there is no better choice to command that army."
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