Bows deeply to the King and then bows his head towards the Lords. “Your Majesty, your Grace and good Lords, I shall be frank and honest, in what I say.”
Leading an illegal takeover and occupation of the Duchy and City of Petrus
“By what law do you deem my overlordship of Petrus illegal and why was it illegal? Would you also define what is the Duchy and what is the City? Secondly it was not an occupation since their was no bloodshed in the process of myself gaining its seat. Moreover it was necessary for me to take Petrus to keep it safe, as Maric had planned to utterly destroy the eternal city something I could not allow and replace it with a new city under Dragonspeak.”
Abetting war criminals from the false nations of Aesterwald and Renatus.
Again I apologize but I quite do not understand what is the concept of a false nation and a war criminal? I cannot defend what I cannot understand if you could explain. Furthermore this is very broad what exactly did I abet with?
Providing direct and indirect military and economic support to the illegal nations of Aesterwald and Renatus
I deny the charges never did I support anyone, not even economically.
Playing a primarily role in the illegal and destructive dissolution of the Orenian State.
“It is humors that I am the prime role in the dissolution of Oren, if I am to be frank then some of the Lords and their kin should stand trial for the same accusation.” he says gesturing to the Lords on the table except the King himself. “The rebellion of Renatus and Aesterwald against the Empire, could have been defeated if it was not for the illness and absence of the Emperor and of course the disbanding of the Empire by Alexander which was his first move as Emperor, through all of that Alexander although not a morally corrupt or evil man set the Kingdom on a course which lead to the main reason why Oren ceased to exist and why Alexander peacefully surrendered Petrus to myself. Which was the Vladov/Monfort rebellion and more effectively the Akovain rebellion, those two rebellions or call them secescations, caused Alexander to stand alone against overwhelming odds, so in fact I was not a main cause at all I had little to do with it. Moreover if it was not for the dissolution of Oren we would not be currently standing in this hall, with a strong King leading us nor a reformed Oren. Perhaps some of the Lords are sad or mad, but I am happy with the course of history it gave us back our long lost pride and our rightful place as the strongest race in the realm.
Partaking in religious persecution of the true Canonist faith and committing heresy through support of the schism.
“I do not deny I joined the schism, which was a mistake and falsehood on my part which I greatly regret. My reasons were political truly not religious, as I was being raided by forces associated with some of the Lords on the table, and Aesterwald provided protection and I was told if I did not join the schism I would lose any defensive aid for Petrus. But I did not commit any acts of persecution or heresy at all, as the schism did not hold belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. A heretic is a proponent of such claims or beliefs. Furthermore my only true participation in the schism was placing my name on a paper.”
Partook in genocide of the Raevir people.
“This charge is quite strange, how would I partake in such a thing I hardly know of it even occurring or if it actually occurred? I did not even have an army I had a handful of men patrolling the streets.”
Failure to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in times of war (See: the imprisonment, robbing, and execution of Raevir and Akovian people of all races.)
“I was not part of a war I am not sure what this charge is for truly, would you name dates. times and people I executed or robbed? My meager force would rarely leave the city.”
Godfrey takes a breath for a moment.. then says, "Good sir Balian if I may ask by what law does the court judge?"