The Beggar King and His Illusion

[Himmel 26]

The Beggar King and His Illusion

by Edward Baldwin

 

 

The current imperial line is a direct descendent of Horen and thus maintaining divine mandate to rule humanity and the Empire by virtue of both blood and the legacies of the Four Prophets from which they descend. Never before has mankind seen such a dynasty, whose rulers are both eclectic and capable. Never before have we seen one that has maintained its rule for so long, perhaps not since ancient times. The Fifth Empire has no doubt become obvious proof of the fundamental solidarity of mankind. Despite obvious mistakes, the length of the rules as well as the only ever peaceful transitions of the Orenian throne are a testament to the Fifth Empire's adherence to the human desire for peace and stability.

Only when the few grow discontent is the safety of the Empire threatened. The Lords that have rebelled against Oren are all weak and unimportant, and some of them, including de Amaury and Brawm, are internally divided. This is the nature of weaker folk, they wish to become strong and so they choose to ride the coattails of one who promises salvation from atrocity and oppression.

Yet where is the oppression? The Emperor sits in his throne, in his Palace and manages his Crownlands. He grants titles and makes certain the Empire maintains itself to the best of his ability, but never has he sent soldiers to threaten a vassal, or imposed overwhelming or unfair law or supervision. It has been a hallmark of the Johannean Emperors to largely permit vassal autonomy. Of course, autonomous vassals are more dangerous, especially when manipulated by bandits and disgraced vagabonds with nothing but chaotic purpose.

The Empire's contract is built on faith. The Emperor maintains fair relationships with his vassals, and the vassals assist the Emperor in times of need. The Empire defends itself, and strikes at those who threaten it. Sutica, the Dominion of Malin, and Haria are all considered friends of the Empire. By virtue of their willingness to cast aside the hatred that so many feel irrationally against Oren merely due to its influence and size, they have found peaceful and prosperous relationships with the Empire.

Now, the weak ride the coattails of heathens, casting aside their faith and their oaths. The Lotharic communion, embraced by the beggar-King Staunton, is no different from the Canon Church, besides that it claims Lorraine is a holy land, that the hierarchy is different, and that it is made of imbeciles. Nothing holy ever happened in Lorraine, so that's sort of laughable; and changing the hierarchy is merely a grasp for influence and distinction. Even the Lotharic's own Archduke, de Amaury, rejects it in favor of the true Canonist faith.

Yet despite the beggar-King's faith and his alliance with a horde of heathenous dwarves and orcs, lords who call themselves Canonist ride to stand by him, against the oppression they so feared that has been invented in their heads by the beggar-King. A true Canonist lord does not align himself with heresy simply to gain power and influence in a new Kingdom that they fancy will be stable and workable.
Let me be clear. Oren is not capable of losing to such creatures. For five Emperors we have fought Courlanders and Dunamis, Dwarves, Orcs and Nortruppen, and countless others. Each time they try, they are crushed, and I have no doubt that this war is far from over.

But let us say, for argument's sake that this heretic King wins and becomes King of Courland. Here are the Orenian houses that have declared for him.

House Roswell - Made of one man who's really very dumb.
House Brawm - Firmly divided internally.
House de Amaury - Weak and lacking its capital city.
House Thassarion - Dwarves wearing human masks.
House von Brandt - Never heard of them.

He becomes King, and these houses shall be his greater houses. It's daft, and actually hilarious. Within the months of an unlikely heretic victory, Canonists will rally to purge these houses, and the Staunton, that betrayed their friends and families. None shall rule the Empire, or any human Kingdom, with such feeble ideals as 'the Empire must fall for it is evil.' That is fine for a war, but to rule, you need solidarity and, frankly, a brain.  The murderous displaced bandit beggar-King heretic whose only intention is to create chaos and balkanize the only ever Orenian nation to have peaceful transitions of power. Surely he has worse intentions than the Empire. But then, if you wish to be erased from Oren and its history books, I invite all of you minor lords to rebel. I assure you you'll meet the same fate as the Rurics and Stauntons.

 

P.S. Also he fucks sheep.

[KeatonUnbeaten 1103]

Gared would read the drivel, bored.

"It appears as though another illiterate, weak Imperial has taken up the pen after we disarmed them thrice in a Saint's week. Not only is it bad writing, but it has no truth to it; in the slightest. Well, we'll just see who wins. . ."

[Vege 4804]

"Did a peasant just call me a beggar?" Asks Tuvya, as he discards the poorly written Orenian propaganda. 

[seannie 7443]

"The strong shall rule, the weak shall fall, if Oren cant hold on to its land, why should it rule? Anyways, the writer of this piece seems quite deranged himself, unable to see outside of his comforted narrow-minded view." states a man.

 

"Dont we outnumber the Orenian Armies now?"

[morrisaye 225]

Rona Roswell rolls her eyes and chuckles. 

 

"My husband isn't stupid, and our house is more than just him. Maybe if this wordy fool had his infant son threatened and his own life promised to be taken, he'd dislike Oren as well. It's easy to judge when you're not one of the targets. Such bliss it must be to live with rose-tinted glasses." 

 

Rona then tosses the drivel into the trash where it belongs.

[ACU20 567]

Chuckled to his wives words "Any man who says 'really very dumb' is one truly scraping the bottomn of the barrel for any form of insult or witty retort."  He looked over the document once more, the man who had written this appearing to believe that the Roswells swore their loyalty to Courland "Oh my, appears he's illiterate." 

[Jonificus 2761]

54 minutes ago, morrisaye said:

Rona Roswell rolls her eyes and chuckles. 

 

"My husband isn't stupid,

 

The ghost of Lord Philip Augustus de Capua whispers in the evening winds, "False Roswells deserve death." The former liege lord of the TRUE House Roswell vanishes back into obscurity.

[morrisaye 225]

5 minutes ago, Jonificus said:

 

The ghost of Lord Philip Augustus de Capua whispers in the evening winds, "False Roswells deserve death." The former liege lord of the TRUE House Roswell vanishes back into obscurity.

 

Rona goes about her day, not hearing the whispers of the ghost. She continues to love her husband and carry on her merry little way.

 

Spoiler

 

[Rammer 388]

Philip d'Amaury would simply stare at the paper being that he cannot read yet.

[Kvasir 1121]

4 hours ago, Himmel said:

P.S. Also he fucks sheep.

Huh. Really makes you think - Nazorean thinks.

[AGP 3169]

5 hours ago, Himmel said:

Despite obvious mistakes, the length of the rules as well as the only ever peaceful transitions of the Orenian throne are a testament to the Fifth Empire's adherence to the human desire for peace and stability.

"This is exactly what makes it boring," says Constantine.

[CaptainHaense 1154]

4 hours ago, morrisaye said:

Rona Roswell rolls her eyes and chuckles. 

 

"My husband isn't stupid, and our house is more than just him. Maybe if this wordy fool had his infant son threatened and his own life promised to be taken, he'd dislike Oren as well. It's easy to judge when you're not one of the targets. Such bliss it must be to live with rose-tinted glasses." 

 

Rona then tosses the drivel into the trash where it belongs.

"Ze only reason your house ever came to power was because of a singular, loyal man."

[wolfdwg 2677]

"Dunamis was never crushed by Oren. In fact I believe it's quite the opposite. Good try anyways." States an old ex Dunamite merc.

[Daisy 9738]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.

 

If you feel this is a mistake, please contact myself or any FM and we'll restore it.