Petrine Pamphlet, 1884

[Tiresiam 462]

Spoiler

 

 

 

PETRINE PAMPHLET

Petris Libellus, 22nd of Godfrey’s Triumph, 1884

 

 

Dost Her Sons Still Hark?

 

From this desk upon which I pen thoughts upon the proceedings of our tumultuous nation, I rightly ponder how it ever came to this. Even now, this abnegated Temesch recalls His Majesty's signing of the Edict, which also bore this hallowed name. This family of Temesch is tied in perpetuity with the ideas I had hoped the document would come to represent. A free and open Assembly of all the people within the realm, blissfully ignorant, haunted the halls of Orenian meritocracy. The Crown would be managed hand-in-hand with a body comprising each estate within the olde sphere of these former Imperial territories. However, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the failure of those ideals in the face of such a promise.

 

This constitutional Edict bore our pride, was left without any measure of regard, and the Assembly mandated by these new articles of state were left unattended. A mere four sessions were permitted throughout its course, and the delicate balance that had to be set between the powers of the Court and the People themselves became inevitably imbalanced. It is what ultimately led this author to a swift retirement. It was a consultation that the Crown and its constituencies have sorely underachieved. When retirement came, there was no vote upon the confirmation of my successor. Nor during my time were any who achieved positions upon the Privy approved by the people's representatives. This initial interim cabinet of men and women under this first Ministry began to choose succession arbitrarily pending approval of the sovereign alone.

 

This is not how Men should govern. Nor how we three had sworn to govern when this reformed Kingdom arose from the ashes of the Empire. The merits of the Marnantine's Proclamation at Nenzing were to be restored to the realm, the rule of law maintained and expanded for future generations. Nevertheless, the Judiciary was dissolved by His Majesty and replaced with an Inquisitorial Junta too weak to enforce order upon the realm nor any of its constituent nobles. One of the primary sources the House of Novellen cites as a champion claim upon the throne tossed aside in a fortnight.

 

The powers of the state were divided on paper and parcelled to the General Assembly. They were immense in scope. Authority upon all matters of land, law, and identity itself, it was the duty of the Crown to promote these institutions and cement them as fixtures that citizens could cling to and readily rely upon. Regardless, time and time again, the Crown's Ministries during my tenure showed no significant sentiments toward true advocacy for these free institutions of the state - with the benefit of hindsight, it is now clearly visible through constant misnomer that none cared at all for the careful nourishment that the people would require to flourish. Now unsatisfied, the realm's subjects cried out in clear voices for the power to govern for themselves, for there to be an end to war despite every attempt to thwart this inevitability.

 

In my life, I have seen every manner of regime fall as we of noble birth gamble in the halls of power with the lives of simple folk. When Philip II, my grandfather, took power, I became just as they - entirely powerless as a consequence of a feud uncontrollable. Each repetitive transition is a newborn void that must be filled by a claim to power. As Grandfather perished, his grandson took his place and tore down his reforms in exchange for his own. When Philip III passed, his paltry changes were levelled by the destruction wrought by his sons. The goals of the Monarchy each time has been to build for itself individual repute - a legacy. 

 

Such legacies are for naught. When the cost of that greatness is itself a breach of faith, the contracts of fealty that bind the realm together are sacred. When broken for the sake of glory, all suffer indignity while having to worship the ground their liege walks upon. The realm has spent an eternity at War with the Dwarves and suffered through the brutal Civil War between brothers. Now evermore conflict has been brewed because of the poor instinct of this Government. Held beneath the weight of a Crown drowned in its golden embrace. We began with a promise of peace beneath a newly reunited land. We began with a promise of mercy, for trade to resume, and for wounds time necessary to heal. We promised, in the beginning, a free society sanctioned and protected by His Majesty the King. We failed at each in turn. No longer.

 

GOD created Man to be equal in all things, 'To Share in the Bounties of His Creation. And the Wisdom of the Word of His Prophets.' Where once benevolent Monarchs ruled, the House of Novellen, now like the House of Horen before, has fallen. It has fallen into a state of severe disrepair. Regional identity has torn at the heart of the nation and found this country wanting. A nation with considerable discontent cannot be ruled through six-sided vice. In order to persist, the rights of the people must be respected in perpetuity. The continued labour of our citizens must be allowed to provide a reliable bounty not just for the state but for themselves so that both can flourish. In essence that unfulfilled Kingdom needed its due rest.

 

Everyman must be allowed his life to live for the entirety of its tenure. No Man ought to be deprived of property nor birthright without his consent, lest the loss of his livelihood damns him to choose between squalor or the skies. These are the two fundamental Rights of Man, which are preceded by their natural constituents. No Life can be lived well without the Liberty to choose unbonded from the shackles of Slavery. Moreover, the evils of other Men and their schemes should not impede his Liberty. Thus, he is always owed a free and open Trial:

 

LIFE,

PROPERTY,

LIBERTY,

TRIAL.

 

Each is an uncompromising term to ensure the continued prosperity of Mankind. LIFE has been violated in countless Wars of Ambition suffered by the People of Mankind. PROPERTY has been stripped as Noble and Commoner have been shuffled like cattle between fields. LIBERTY has been taken, as the Assembly is abandoned and confined to the dregs of societal power - TRIAL battered down alongside the Empire which afforded it in full. Each has been ignored. So is it not also the right of the people to choose a new Government for themselves in the absence of benevolent rule? It is the right therein for Everyman to rebel in the face of tyranny for the sake of probity. 

 

The slate has been wiped clean of bloodline and divine right, no more will there be this cycle of war and peace, no more will the game of Kings be permitted. Humanity has been given a chance now to build something wholly unique in origin within this year of Harvest. Let us not squander these coming opportunities.

 

MORS SERVITUTI ANTEPONENDA

 

Signed,

Adrian Marcellus Novellen, Count Emeritus.

 

[!] Noticeably upon the contents of the pamphlet lay a red powdery substance which stained the pages of papyrus. Possibly Redstone? [!]

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Tiresiam

[seannie 6856]

Late one night after a day's of work, Charles sifted through an assortment of papers strewn about upon his desk - ledgers and the likes he had yet come about to - as he began categorizing them to deal with upon the rising of the morn. Though one particular pamphlet caught his attention, most likely due to the substance that discolored its parchment. The Alstion's brows furrow as he lifted the aforementioned to level with his gaze, cursing the ineptitude of his secretary he presumed to have ruined the paper, however, it was this allure that now locked his attention to the pamphlet, now having sighted the Novellen signature adorned upon it.

A swift read through its contents, along with a few more run throughs, presented a few subconscious nods as Charles seemingly approved with the information within, himself a stout adherent of Emperor Joseph's teachings; the Rights of Man. Upon concluding his perusal, he leaned back into his chair as he brought a hand to scratch at his chin as he further pondered upon the message brought on by Adrian and his pamphlet;

In God's Creation of Man's equality, had he not bestowed the Mandate of Heaven upon all of His Chosen? Why did his ancestors fabricate their claim on such a mantle, only just to squander it consistently? Absolutist tendencies be damned, the same fate now affected even his distant Novellen cousins. Only the Exalted could ever claim to have achieved God's Mission directly, anymore than that, was lunacy - even the Pontiffs had proven themselves grossly fallible in their judgement. Though that was a thought the Princeling would never utter aloud.

He rose at that, bringing the pamphlet to a board on the wall and securing it with a tack as a document of importance. His continued movement brought him to the nearby window, from which he gazed out at the setting of the sun, further engrossed in his thoughts; the august bodies of the aristocracy did not rule with the explicit Blessing of God, but rather the love of their constituents, the common people, in which they saw fit to establish a representative in the form of their noble leader - the Mandate of Heaven was a shared concept, not to be monopolized by one Man in his corruptible nature.

How amusing, the Alstionite mused, that he would be so reinvigorated by the works of his presumed enemy, a Novellen. His mind already moving on, set on the future of Man.