tilly

"That Sir Laurens is such a hard worker!" Renilde beamed at the regiment posting, proud of the effort made.

"Oh, all right." The Archduchess murmured, very curious of what the signatories will do next.

"When ya mad, ya mad." Remarked the Archduchess, on guard for flying books from that point on.

"Perhaps the should not have been acting as their father's bodyguards." Renilde prepares for the minor penance.

you're an icon

"False," Renilde giggled as she viewed the bounty letter with Sir Laurens himself over some Renatian Rum.

Letters Patent for the County of Garmont, 1910 Issued and Confirmed by Her Grace, the Archduchess of the Petra, Renilde I 19 Godfrey's Triumph, 1910 TO OUR BELOVED SUBJECTS, It has pleased Our August graciousness to reward the service of Our beloved sister and subject, Charlotte Roberta of the Petra, with appointment to the peerage of the Commonwealth. Accordingly, with the grace of God and the counsel of Our court, we do invest Charlotte Roberta of the Petra as the Countess of Garmont, a role they as peers shall hold in trust to Our Commonwealth for the duration of their loyal fealty. They are enjoined to maintain the law of Our realm, to abide peacefully by Our rule, and to rise to Our defense when necessary. In return, as a sign of Our August graciousness, we do privilege their person to collect rents on their estates and holdings. Moreover, We do henceforth proclaim the issue and descendants of the lawful union between Our beloved sister, Charlotte Roberta of the Petra, and her husband, Prince Frederick II of Sedan, to be known legally as the House of Novellen-Petra-Garmont, a cadet branch of Our honored father’s House of Novellen of the Petra, in the shorthand known as the House of Garmont, whilst bearing the surname ‘of Garmont’ appended to their given names. O SAINTE RÈGNE PETRÉRE HER GRACE, Renilde I, By the Grace of GOD, Archduchess of the Petra, Countess of Temesch and Moere

“He’s a good fellow; albeit troubled in his youth, but weren’t we all?” Renilde accepted Father Blackwater’s advice to legitimize the young Adelric, signing the document with her left hand, and embossing the paper with the seal of her sovereignty.

Renilde's brows drew together as she read the missive, her face contorting from anger, to humor, to sadness and back again while she absorbed the information - most of which being new information she'd never known about herself, otherwise known as lies. She looked to Marius, her discovered paramour, then back to the missive before crumpling it up in a rage. "He should have proposed a duel originally, not after he disgraced himself and those dumb enough to follow him! No, no, no, you aren't fighting him. We've already defeated the man once - well, three times, actually. Enough is enough!"

"I told her I was not home!" Renilde cried from her meeting room.

“They seem to be in a wee bit of trouble!” Renilde tried on her best Highlander accent.

Renilde wondered if anyone paid Sigrun to say that.

"Father Blackwater, I know now that I can rely on you to guide me through trying times with a level head, as I am certain you will continue to lend me your ear throughout our tenures serving the Petra. Would you please take on the humble honor of overhauling the clergy in the commonwealth to prosperity, by the grace of GOD? I wish nothing more than to right these wrongs."

“Nice.” Renilde enjoys a hot bath to wash off the blood of the pretenders.

"Wooooah..." Afore her blazing hearth, Renilde fanned herself with the latest denouncement, shaking her head. "Sheeeesh!"

"What? I might be unfaithful to that fat lub, only after he neglected his wife's needs for the entirety of our marriage, but I am the rightful owner of my father's commonwealth, plain and simple." Renilde flipped her hair, laughing all the while she crumpled the missive up.

"Another missive crafted by the toxic waste this man has fed my poor, impressionable children... The sad cuckold can only muster the support of kids and washed-up has-beens... Quite the shame, indeed, indeed." Renilde took up the practice of burning her letters, this being one of many she'd received in her days of reclusiveness.

“A shame to see one fall so far.” Renilde sighed, putting away the memoir she didn't care to read of another Pretender-Petran.

The true sovereign of the Petra, anointed in the eyes of GOD, releases a passionate battle cry afore her men and women, hoisting her sword high in the air.

“Father Blackwater, whenever you are ready, I am prepared for your investigation.” Renilde said at the side of her Rizzlord.

“I didn’t know batting my eyes was such a sin.”

Renilde quickly pens a letter upon hearing the news of her ailing friend, writing of a time and place to see her, when she feels up to it.

It is with a heavy conscience that I must announce the dismissal of the Archduke-consort of the Commonwealth of the Petra. The reasoning behind this decision is due to a multitude of injustices: I) The Archduke has sought to overreach his station beyond his permitted privileges, as agreed to within our instrument of marriage. -The Archduke has incited hostile relations against fellow Canonist Princes in an attempt to fulfill his warlike ambitions. -The Archduke has attempted to overrule the Archduchess in the selection of the members of her government, at times even in violation of the Constitution and the ideals outlined by Paul-Salvian. -Most recently, the Archduke has attempted to usurp the Archduchess’ authority within Petra itself, erecting palisades around Valfleur and sequestering himself within the halls of the Archduchess’s keep. II) The Archduke has sought to oppose the Holy Canonist Church and the will of His Holiness the High Pontiff by asserting a desire for unfathomable privileges in the hopes of usurping the supremacy in faith justly held by the Canonist Church. III) Despite his zeal to exercise duties outside his lawful station and undermine the Archduchess, the Archduke has neglected his responsibilities to the people and the Commonwealth of Petra, namely through eroding its knightly institutions in favor of a more bureaucratic, authoritarian model that violates the Constitution and ideals outlined by the first Archduke Paul I. IV) In his attempt to usurp the Archduchess on baseless accusations, the Archduke has committed treason against the lawful sovereign of Petra, as recognized and anointed by His Holiness the High Pontiff. Not only has he forsaken the rights of government bestowed upon him by his good and gracious ladywife, but also the sacred rites of marriage he so faithlessly swore those years ago. This government has reason to believe that, on his five year pilgrimage to parts unknown, the Lord Constanz has fallen into temptation and broken his sacred marriage oath, possibly even fathering illegitimate issue by one or more women of this foreign land. Constanz of Balian is nothing more than a would-be invader, having aimed to supplant the honored and beloved traditions of the Knightly Republic during his time as Archduke-consort. This final act, the failed, yet attempted, overthrowing of the Archduchess is the final straw. His fabricated allegations of infidelity are the last gasps of air of his dying cause: to erode the republican traditions of Petra and ensure that he can cement his sole-rule over the lands of Paul-Salvian. As the latter’s daughter and rightful heir, I cannot sit idly by and allow his dream to be tainted by a foreigner who cares not for the Petran people, but for the gain and station he aspires to clasp around his hands. As the Archduchess of Petra, I shall hereby act upon the rights afforded to me by our esteemed Constitution and dismiss the Archduke from my court and exile him from the lands of Petra. I shall undertake my duty to defend the Knightly Republic and the people of the Commonwealth and see that this foreign scourge is driven from our lands. I act now in the favor of God, and of the will of the law and people of Petra. God Save the Commonwealth. HER GRACE, Renilde I, By the Grace of GOD, Archduchess of the Petra, Countess of Temesch and Moere

"This isn't even your handwriting, Albert... Your father must have forged this idiocy."