- Joined
- Jan 22, 2021
- Messages
- 110
- Reaction score
- 702
- Points
- 118
A Concordat, or a Cordon Sanitaire?
The Folds von Moritz and Delmotte denounce this 'Concordat's' talk of a reinvigorated noble assembly, in no unplain terms, as banal opportunism of the Emperor's absence from the capitol to make a grab for higher investiture in the nobility.
Make no mistake that the noble assembly, which was dissolved in early 310 AC, was a self-serving institution that allowed the noble to step in-between the Emperor and the commoners to greedily sap power for themselves.
The nobility frequently used bully tactics to muddy the merits of any particular argument to place additional pressure by way of numbers to gang up and push their ideas through—or, to prevent virtuous ideas from passing to the Emperor. The vile sin of democracy—using the vote of the majority to oppress the minority—is precisely the jacobinism the Norinn camp uses as a calling card to attack criticism of their movement.
The noble assembly first came about during the absences of the Emperors, one of which was directly caused by a reactionary coup of nobles who did not like the changes that were happening in the empire, so they banded together, formed a partisan movement and tried to coup him. History undid their success.
Law proposals began emerging that were not guided by morality or divine conclave, but rather, guided by self-interest and backdoor political compromise. The lawbook became a toddler's sketch tablet for whatever nobles needed to pass to assure an abstraction of power, and it long reflected messy contradictions until the Crown set matters right and abolished the assembly this spring.
The abuses of the assembly met its climax last winter, when the noble assembly considered a proposal to ask the Emperor Alexander I to write the Articles of Protection, a draft of basic rights for all commoners, to protect them from tyranny.
Political power in the Regalian Empire is a finite thing; one group of people never gain power without deprecating the power of someone else. The noble may never empower themself unless at the expense of the Emperor, or the commoner. And the commoner currently lacks the power to vote in an assembly. So from what authority will the nobility take to empower itself?
It should be made clearer for those who lack a political mind: The noble assembly was voting to severely restrict the power of the nobility and give that power back to the Emperor, where it rightly belongs, to bestow his benevolence more directly to the commoners.
A reactionary political movement led by House Howlester formed a coalition of nobles unwilling to adopt the articles. They rallied political actors such as Houses Guentyr, du Poncaire, Peirgarten, Mac Conall , Viduggla and more and schemed behind closed doors to attempt to stonewall the articles. Some did so out of selfish desires, and others did so simply because 'Howlester said'.
Countess Guentyr can say she supported the articles during the public votes all she likes. When it came time to vote anonymously, she did so from within the Howlester bloc, where her vote was comingled among her fellow party members who vehemently opposed the articles. Maybe she was the one anonymous vote in favor of the articles from that party. But we would not know, because her support for the articles was not enough to cause her to abandon the Howlester bloc from disgust.
One could forgive such a mistake were it not for the Countess' current presence among the new 'Concordat' reactionaries.
It should also be noted that this group wasted 177,000 regals in unspent tax revenue over the course of several months; they merely let that wealth sit in their coffers until the bureaucracy could no longer process the wealth, and the money started trickling out into unknown pockets. Just so we are clear how much these nobles cared about using their wealth to help the Empire.
Meanwhile, House Bancroft, nominally part of a pro-Imperial faction but with radically self-interested views, stood on the floor of the noble assembly. Arahael Bancroft, once adopted as a brother to His Holiness himself, betrayed his Emperor. He claimed the Articles of Protection would incite mass civil discord and cause a civil war that would result in hundreds of thousands dead. The lack of faith in His Holiness was and is disturbing to this day. And let us be clear: The only people who would have rebelled against the Crown for giving more rights to commoners, would be the very nobles who complained of giving more rights to commoners.
Bancroft then pressured the Crown to ensure the anonymity of the nobility when voting for or against the articles. Emperor Alexander I, in his infinite wisdom, knew a noble could not properly vote their conscience if they were afraid of the consequences of their votes, and mercifully granted the request on virtuous principle—even if it meant giving nobles a proper smokescreen to vote to preserve their own power without looking bad to the commoners they are supposed to be protecting. And the articles, yet again, failed at vote.
It was only by the grace and wisdom of Madelyn de Azcoissia, the Last Lord-Chancellor of Regalia, who sacrificed her own authority as head of the government to push the proposal through.
But enough of the past. Let us look to the words of Count Norinn himself:
"The aristocracy has long used the Noble Assembly to project the needs and interests of their respective regions, and aim to continue to do so through this revised adaptation," Count Norinn writes in his charter for the 'assembly', which currently acts in an 'advisory capacity'.
When asked plainly if he supports bringing back the noble assembly or not, the Count Norinn coyly states he is merely a servant of the Emperor's will. How insufferable of a deflective response that presumes his own selfish desires are in-line with the Emperor, despite the Emperor not being present in the capitol to truthfully tell his own belief of the matter.
"Projecting needs and interests of their respective regions" is a polite gaslight for armtwisting the Emperor out of what is moral and right, toward what is profitable and good for the noble. Any "advice" this prospective noble assembly would conjure would be done through the lens of using bulk numbers to gang up on the Crown and attempt to intimidate it.
So-then, Count Norinn approached members of the Bloodcast Order to try to intimidate it in favor of his movement. He threatened to politically block contracts for the Bloodcast Order if it did not support him.
Ask yourselves, readers: Why would Count Norinn want an army of Bloodcast Knights at his beck-and-call?
It is understood by Folds von Moritz and Delmotte that one of the 'issues' the Concordat wishes to see addressed in its new 'noble assembly' is to roll back Prince-Protector Frederick's decree on feudal armies. The honorable Prince-Protector Frederick brought about this change to modernize the Regalian military, ensure its efficiency in war, and to stamp out the nobility who used their feudal armies to oppress commoners and incite discord within the Empire over high-society slights.
Indeed, before this decree, we recall how House Guentyr approached the War Ministry stating it wished to invade Rutgher, Soren and Serman. We recall how the State Government urged the Countess not to because the Foreign Consuls were busy trying to court the Navigation Act signees back into the treaties, and that it would be more beneficial to diplomatic efforts in the region if she offered her army to put down unrest and provide security for the already fracturing faux-states. And we recall how she undermined the government's efforts and invaded anyways for her own glory, and then spent the next few weeks at gossip parties insisting the War Ministry told her to invade after the invasion blew up in her face.
We also recall the several noble houses, including Mac Conall—the former name of Blarach— who force-marched their feudal armies through the snows of Hvitskag, freezing and starving their peasant levies all along the way because they lacked the coordination a modernized military would bring and wanted some laurels to sit on themselves.
And we understand how truly 'suggestive' feudal 'advice' is when it is done with an army of levies at the 'suggesting' noble's back, ready to use numbers to enforce that particular noble's will.
It is also understood these actors plan to use this organization to bully the Crown into dissolving several government ministries it does not like, such as the Truth, Morality and Information Ministries.
Loyalty to the Emperor, and the heirs, is not a negotiation. Either your blood flows true with patriotism for the Empire, and respect for the monarchy, or it does not.
If the nobility wishes to positively support the Empire, the nobility must sign onto government institutions such as the State Metropolitan instead of standing inactive upon perceived laurels asking for more power and benefits in return for very little service to the Crown. Get a job, and proactively serve your empire by doing it.
And should the nobility seek redress with the Crown, it must petition the Crown directly in line with the most recent mode of governance; and the Crown, in its infinite wisdom, will respond according to merit and virtue. The fact some nobles even see a need to make an assembly shows they either have not tried to contact the Crown, or believe the current system of Crown authority is not satisfactory to their goals and prefer to go back to using their bulk numbers to "suggest" its "advice" rather than trust in the merit of its requests to be reviewed by the Crown with wisdom and fairness.
The Emperor's decree and policy must not suffer the criticism of the noble just because He is absent from the capitol. This "Concordat" is actively attempting to bully muscle into its support, and if it got what it wanted, it would deprecate the authority of the Emperor while He is not even present in the capitol to act in response.
Folds von Moritz and Delmotte calls upon all righteous nobility and citizens alike still loyal to the Emperor to resist the lure that is the Concordat.
Yet, it must be understood that some nobles may be ignorant to the Count Norinn's plans. Some may have just wanted to be politically active, without committing to the work required to do so, and so they threw their name on a list without fully understanding the implications of what they are doing.
So the Folds von Moritz and Delmotte call upon each and every member of the Concordat to publicly resign from the organization with apologies to the Crown for their disrespect.
Lord-Protector Heinrich von Moritz, Viridian Order
Count Markus Delmotte of Bastadon
