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The snow slowly fell on their heads as they marched to their predetermined victory. The crunching of the snow softened their steps as they paced in rows upon rows, not alerting anyone to the drastic changes that would suddenly befall the Empire within mere moments. With Andrieu Anahera up front, his face half disfigured but equally beset by an expression of determination and revenge, hundreds of Anahera soldiers and sellswords marched up to the Ullenwalder Castle, the seat of the Regalian State Council. The Council was in session and had no way of knowing what was about to happen. The interior of the Castle was one of the sturdiest built locations in the Empire, housing the central body of governance both in the case of an emergency and the regular day to day activities. The Council chamber itself was at the heart of the complex, sealed away by thick massive doors that could make these meetings as truly private as those partaking in them wanted them to be.
The guards at the front of the castle didn't understand what was going on, but they weren't about to make a fuss. The four or so odd guards who held the gatehouse simply stepped aside and let the formal Arch Chancellor through. The Anahera soldiers marched into the courtyard, taking up a variety of strategic positions along the walls and towers. When the officers secured the entire building, Andrieu took another series of soldiers with him and marched into the central complex itself, on his way to the State Council Chambers. The servants inside were horrified at the disfigurement on his face, but drew no actual alarm as he was still the legal head of state in the Emperor's absence, even if his mother was temporarily his regent.
Andrieu burst into the Council room with the heavy oaken doors slamming against the walls. Some plaster twirled down from the ceiling frescos while the echoing sound of Andrieu's riding boots broke the silence that had befallen the gathered Lords and Ladies. Andrieu looked down the faces of Adelheid Ivrae, Lady Fong, William Coen, Ulric Typhonus, his mother Theresa Anahera, his niece Camila Anahera, the Supreme Reverend Wolffram Ultor and finally the newly raised Lady of Dorinn Astrid Kade, with her guardian Cedric Kade standing behind her chair. Moriarty broke the moment by standing up, his chair almost falling over behind him as he exclaimed "What is the meaning of this!" The soldiers behind Andrieu started motioning the guards out of the room before closing the door, taking up positions around the windows and forming a ring around the councilmen. Andrieu took off his riding gloves slowly, before tossing them onto the table. He spoke with a certain tone of snobby pride: "The State Council wishes to inform the people of the Empire that it has unanimously voted to invest the Power granted to itself into a single person, being Andrieu Anahera." At this point Ulric already started pulling his sword, but Andrieu quickly finished: "Andrieu Anahera is hereby raised to become the Lord Protector of the Regalian Empire, dismissing the Chancellor's position and the Entire State Council."
Lady Fong was first to speak up exclaiming "I signed no such document sir! What game are you playing?". Ulric pulled out his sabre and started swinging it in the air as his face ran red, yelling various Alt-Regalian obscenities usually interrupted by the usual "Traitor!" "Slanderous Vermin!". Andrieu motioned for guards to seize Ulric, while also piling a few onto William who had started verbally attacking the soldiers behind him as traitors and honorless pigs. While William and Ulric were being dragged out of the room he continued: "You are all being placed under house arrest within the confines of this castle for your own protection as you have just witnessed". Theresa, his mother, stormed from her seat towards him as she yelled at Ulric who was still being dragged out of the room "I bloody told you our lives were in danger, and now you're part of it too! We're all part of it!". She paced up to a foot away from her son before she started yelling "You are no son of mine!". Before she could even properly finish her statement, Andrieu slapped her in the face with almost enough force to launch her sideways. Lady Fong again spoke up: "How dare you, you little viper! Even commoners know enough not to lay hands on a Lady!" Andrieu replied in turn, gesturing to his face, "And common mothers do not indoctrinate their grandchildren to attempt to kill their fathers."
Astrid was meanwhile sunken into her seat, the situation becoming a bit too much all of a sudden. She had been looking forward to taking office and learning the ropes of governance at her own pace. Yet now she was suddenly thrust into a violent change of governance and what's worse, everything was taken away from her. Cedric grabbed her hands and tried to calm her down squatting down next to her, forgetting for a moment that imprisonment would drive him utterly mad. Their pause was followed with Camila standing up, marching towards her grandmother while she exclaimed: "No, this is not happening again, Don't you dare lay a hand on us again you kinslayer!" Before she finished her pace towards her grandmother who was still stunned from the slap, her knees weakened however and the thought of going back to the treason cell became too much. She collapses onto the floor crying as Lady Fong quickly stepped from her seat to comfort her, sitting down next to her.
Moriarty and Adelheid were equally still stunned, Moriarty's face more with surprise, Adelheid Ivrae's face more with fire and anger. She started stating a whole bunch of political nonsense about how her allies would hear about this and the whole of Ithania would stand up against him, but Andrieu paid little heed to her words. Between Camila on the floor crying, Astrid stunned, Ulric and William being given a beating to subjection, Theresa completely defeated and the political heavy weights completely at his mercy, the situation was a little all too perfect for him. William and Ulric were eventually tossed back into the State Chamber as Andrieu left, with some bruises to boot. Their weapons had been confiscated and the windows and doors of the place barred. Even the ceiling hatches and windows had been bolted down, with the fore knowledge that Cedric was a good climber and could escape through there. The Lords and Ladies who were known to a comfortable living of gold and glitter now had to spend their nights together in a large hall, with improvised beds made of massive curtains and pillows, no gender separation, no toilet and no privacy under the constant watch of dirty stinking sellswords.
As soon as the events in the State Council had taken place, messengers were dispatched from the castle to all corners of the Imperial administration in the city. The harbor was put on lockdown in the name of "catching the would be assassins of the Emperor", severely restricting movement in and out of the city to just approved personnel and the smugglers in the sewers. The Violet Order's Lord Commander was replaced with a loyalist, seizing most of the records and guard loyalties who still favored Gustavo Anahera over William Coen in prime positions to retain control of the city defence apparatus. The city thus looked at if it had never changed, though radical changes were taking place just under the surface.
Several messages even reached the Imperial Palace where the Grand Eckhein still guarded over the Emperor in his coma. Without further notice, all Imperial guards were recalled to the Imperial Palace and the gates of the Palace shut and barred. Archers were positioned all along the walls and no further communication came from the Imperial palace. In fact the entire Imperial district had gone silent. With the Lords and Ladies of the realm in prison, an abrupt halt came to the Ithanian lobby soiree's and the Calemberger club gatherings, their head members effectively severed from them.
The Imperial Admiralty offered more resistance than the rest of the city had. Grand Marshal von Treppewitz had drawn his sword on the messenger and a struggle ensued that bled into the streets. Eventually the Anahera soldiers and pro-Andrieu Violet Order guards seized most of the personnel inside and imprisoned them for pending investigations to their loyalty to the Empire. Similarly, the shield maidens of the Viridian Castle closed shut the gates and the Primae of the order ascended the stairs of the aft tower of Chivalry, that dusty tower that had not been opened for decades, only to be used in extreme emergency situations. At the very top, he raised the purple and red banner: the Viridian signal for "Resist the Government. The Government has fallen". Most of the woodcutters working in the area saw the flags, but paid no attention to it. After all, the Viridian Order flag signals were closely kept secret to only Viridian Knights. Anahera soldiers knew better than to besiege the Viridian castle however, what with hundreds of the Empire's most trained Knights within. As such, they simply chose to barricade the entire castle with a surrounding cordon, making leaving the castle impossible. With all strategic placements across the city now in Andrieu's control, the entire Empire was effectively at his feet. Within hours he had seized all assets of the Government apparatus, more successfully than anyone else could have done in the past. All Lords and Ladies official seals supported Andrieu's messages and the fact that he was still legally the Arch Chancellor made accepting the change all the more easier for the common people.
In fact the common people barely felt a thing, that which caused shockwaves in the political scenes and nobility did nothing to affect the ones below. From the State Council Chambers, messages were sent to the Kade, Typhonus, Coen, Anahera, Ivrae and Fong to inform them that "Everything was perfectly fine, and that they would stay in the State Council Castle until further notice to ensure the safety of the Empire." They would also inform their families that they were perfectly out of harm and that the Anahera troops would put up extra protection of the Castle to ensure no unruly commoners or would be assassins could harm them. The letters would also call for calm among the nobility and to simply work with the change of government as best as they could to ensure the future stability of the Empire.
Andrieu immediately went to work to draft new laws and bust old laws that would grant him more galvanizing support among the common people. He elevated the Diviner and Vultar heresies to official state religions, contracting a whole host of Diviner and Vultar cultist militias to flock to his banners. They flooded into the city proper like fleas on rats, scurrying about and trying to gain new souls for their beliefs to try and strengthen their stance within the religious circles of Regalia. The Supreme Reverend was called in sick from the Council Castle, informing the Sancella of Union that his Supreme being was unable to fulfill his duties and a pro-Anahera Minister would temporarily take over his position This extra layer of control within the State Church allowed Andrieu to silence any resistance against his moderate stance on Religion, imprisoning all Holy Ministers who spoke out against him.
Some common folk felt uneasy with the cultists walking around Regalia, but in the end the people seemed to not be bothered by the political changes. The aristocracy of Regalia was often so far removed from the common people that the average baker and soldier didn't even know the names of the State Councillors. In the outlying provinces, nobody really noticed a thing either. Everyone who was previously in control of various sectors of governance outside of the city remained in power. The source of their upper control simply shifted, but nothing drastic happened to them personally. If one were to consider this a coup, it was a very effective coup. Not a single person had actually died; some were wounded at the Grand Admiralty, but those wounds were minor. No major riots erupted. No protests occurred. The Winter Festival had just begun and the people were celebrating, oblivious to the changes in government. Back in the State Council Castle, however, they weren't celebrating at all. There wasn't even a tree with presents inside.
The guards at the front of the castle didn't understand what was going on, but they weren't about to make a fuss. The four or so odd guards who held the gatehouse simply stepped aside and let the formal Arch Chancellor through. The Anahera soldiers marched into the courtyard, taking up a variety of strategic positions along the walls and towers. When the officers secured the entire building, Andrieu took another series of soldiers with him and marched into the central complex itself, on his way to the State Council Chambers. The servants inside were horrified at the disfigurement on his face, but drew no actual alarm as he was still the legal head of state in the Emperor's absence, even if his mother was temporarily his regent.
Andrieu burst into the Council room with the heavy oaken doors slamming against the walls. Some plaster twirled down from the ceiling frescos while the echoing sound of Andrieu's riding boots broke the silence that had befallen the gathered Lords and Ladies. Andrieu looked down the faces of Adelheid Ivrae, Lady Fong, William Coen, Ulric Typhonus, his mother Theresa Anahera, his niece Camila Anahera, the Supreme Reverend Wolffram Ultor and finally the newly raised Lady of Dorinn Astrid Kade, with her guardian Cedric Kade standing behind her chair. Moriarty broke the moment by standing up, his chair almost falling over behind him as he exclaimed "What is the meaning of this!" The soldiers behind Andrieu started motioning the guards out of the room before closing the door, taking up positions around the windows and forming a ring around the councilmen. Andrieu took off his riding gloves slowly, before tossing them onto the table. He spoke with a certain tone of snobby pride: "The State Council wishes to inform the people of the Empire that it has unanimously voted to invest the Power granted to itself into a single person, being Andrieu Anahera." At this point Ulric already started pulling his sword, but Andrieu quickly finished: "Andrieu Anahera is hereby raised to become the Lord Protector of the Regalian Empire, dismissing the Chancellor's position and the Entire State Council."
Lady Fong was first to speak up exclaiming "I signed no such document sir! What game are you playing?". Ulric pulled out his sabre and started swinging it in the air as his face ran red, yelling various Alt-Regalian obscenities usually interrupted by the usual "Traitor!" "Slanderous Vermin!". Andrieu motioned for guards to seize Ulric, while also piling a few onto William who had started verbally attacking the soldiers behind him as traitors and honorless pigs. While William and Ulric were being dragged out of the room he continued: "You are all being placed under house arrest within the confines of this castle for your own protection as you have just witnessed". Theresa, his mother, stormed from her seat towards him as she yelled at Ulric who was still being dragged out of the room "I bloody told you our lives were in danger, and now you're part of it too! We're all part of it!". She paced up to a foot away from her son before she started yelling "You are no son of mine!". Before she could even properly finish her statement, Andrieu slapped her in the face with almost enough force to launch her sideways. Lady Fong again spoke up: "How dare you, you little viper! Even commoners know enough not to lay hands on a Lady!" Andrieu replied in turn, gesturing to his face, "And common mothers do not indoctrinate their grandchildren to attempt to kill their fathers."
Astrid was meanwhile sunken into her seat, the situation becoming a bit too much all of a sudden. She had been looking forward to taking office and learning the ropes of governance at her own pace. Yet now she was suddenly thrust into a violent change of governance and what's worse, everything was taken away from her. Cedric grabbed her hands and tried to calm her down squatting down next to her, forgetting for a moment that imprisonment would drive him utterly mad. Their pause was followed with Camila standing up, marching towards her grandmother while she exclaimed: "No, this is not happening again, Don't you dare lay a hand on us again you kinslayer!" Before she finished her pace towards her grandmother who was still stunned from the slap, her knees weakened however and the thought of going back to the treason cell became too much. She collapses onto the floor crying as Lady Fong quickly stepped from her seat to comfort her, sitting down next to her.
Moriarty and Adelheid were equally still stunned, Moriarty's face more with surprise, Adelheid Ivrae's face more with fire and anger. She started stating a whole bunch of political nonsense about how her allies would hear about this and the whole of Ithania would stand up against him, but Andrieu paid little heed to her words. Between Camila on the floor crying, Astrid stunned, Ulric and William being given a beating to subjection, Theresa completely defeated and the political heavy weights completely at his mercy, the situation was a little all too perfect for him. William and Ulric were eventually tossed back into the State Chamber as Andrieu left, with some bruises to boot. Their weapons had been confiscated and the windows and doors of the place barred. Even the ceiling hatches and windows had been bolted down, with the fore knowledge that Cedric was a good climber and could escape through there. The Lords and Ladies who were known to a comfortable living of gold and glitter now had to spend their nights together in a large hall, with improvised beds made of massive curtains and pillows, no gender separation, no toilet and no privacy under the constant watch of dirty stinking sellswords.
As soon as the events in the State Council had taken place, messengers were dispatched from the castle to all corners of the Imperial administration in the city. The harbor was put on lockdown in the name of "catching the would be assassins of the Emperor", severely restricting movement in and out of the city to just approved personnel and the smugglers in the sewers. The Violet Order's Lord Commander was replaced with a loyalist, seizing most of the records and guard loyalties who still favored Gustavo Anahera over William Coen in prime positions to retain control of the city defence apparatus. The city thus looked at if it had never changed, though radical changes were taking place just under the surface.
Several messages even reached the Imperial Palace where the Grand Eckhein still guarded over the Emperor in his coma. Without further notice, all Imperial guards were recalled to the Imperial Palace and the gates of the Palace shut and barred. Archers were positioned all along the walls and no further communication came from the Imperial palace. In fact the entire Imperial district had gone silent. With the Lords and Ladies of the realm in prison, an abrupt halt came to the Ithanian lobby soiree's and the Calemberger club gatherings, their head members effectively severed from them.
The Imperial Admiralty offered more resistance than the rest of the city had. Grand Marshal von Treppewitz had drawn his sword on the messenger and a struggle ensued that bled into the streets. Eventually the Anahera soldiers and pro-Andrieu Violet Order guards seized most of the personnel inside and imprisoned them for pending investigations to their loyalty to the Empire. Similarly, the shield maidens of the Viridian Castle closed shut the gates and the Primae of the order ascended the stairs of the aft tower of Chivalry, that dusty tower that had not been opened for decades, only to be used in extreme emergency situations. At the very top, he raised the purple and red banner: the Viridian signal for "Resist the Government. The Government has fallen". Most of the woodcutters working in the area saw the flags, but paid no attention to it. After all, the Viridian Order flag signals were closely kept secret to only Viridian Knights. Anahera soldiers knew better than to besiege the Viridian castle however, what with hundreds of the Empire's most trained Knights within. As such, they simply chose to barricade the entire castle with a surrounding cordon, making leaving the castle impossible. With all strategic placements across the city now in Andrieu's control, the entire Empire was effectively at his feet. Within hours he had seized all assets of the Government apparatus, more successfully than anyone else could have done in the past. All Lords and Ladies official seals supported Andrieu's messages and the fact that he was still legally the Arch Chancellor made accepting the change all the more easier for the common people.
In fact the common people barely felt a thing, that which caused shockwaves in the political scenes and nobility did nothing to affect the ones below. From the State Council Chambers, messages were sent to the Kade, Typhonus, Coen, Anahera, Ivrae and Fong to inform them that "Everything was perfectly fine, and that they would stay in the State Council Castle until further notice to ensure the safety of the Empire." They would also inform their families that they were perfectly out of harm and that the Anahera troops would put up extra protection of the Castle to ensure no unruly commoners or would be assassins could harm them. The letters would also call for calm among the nobility and to simply work with the change of government as best as they could to ensure the future stability of the Empire.
Andrieu immediately went to work to draft new laws and bust old laws that would grant him more galvanizing support among the common people. He elevated the Diviner and Vultar heresies to official state religions, contracting a whole host of Diviner and Vultar cultist militias to flock to his banners. They flooded into the city proper like fleas on rats, scurrying about and trying to gain new souls for their beliefs to try and strengthen their stance within the religious circles of Regalia. The Supreme Reverend was called in sick from the Council Castle, informing the Sancella of Union that his Supreme being was unable to fulfill his duties and a pro-Anahera Minister would temporarily take over his position This extra layer of control within the State Church allowed Andrieu to silence any resistance against his moderate stance on Religion, imprisoning all Holy Ministers who spoke out against him.
Some common folk felt uneasy with the cultists walking around Regalia, but in the end the people seemed to not be bothered by the political changes. The aristocracy of Regalia was often so far removed from the common people that the average baker and soldier didn't even know the names of the State Councillors. In the outlying provinces, nobody really noticed a thing either. Everyone who was previously in control of various sectors of governance outside of the city remained in power. The source of their upper control simply shifted, but nothing drastic happened to them personally. If one were to consider this a coup, it was a very effective coup. Not a single person had actually died; some were wounded at the Grand Admiralty, but those wounds were minor. No major riots erupted. No protests occurred. The Winter Festival had just begun and the people were celebrating, oblivious to the changes in government. Back in the State Council Castle, however, they weren't celebrating at all. There wasn't even a tree with presents inside.
