Chapter One:
Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.
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Responsibility is the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force and there was one young man in Empyrea who had more than an individual ought to have.
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That man was Archcount-Khagan Urlic IV & I Ego-Estrin-Romanakov. Whose mother had accidentally managed to unite half of Empyrea under a single throne. The Northwestern and Northeastern regions, known as the Estrin Dominion and the Earldom of Narciss respectively, had been brought together due to Gur Khan Jochi being crippled - and therefore unable to rule in his own right - and Vega Calliope Ego choosing to marry him.
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Meanwhile, the Western and Northern Regions had become semi-constitutional monarchies. The freshly recreated Commisarate of Umbracrest had come out period of lawlessness that had lasted for decades to another crisis: the extinction of the ruling family. The House of Ego-Westerling was a cadet branch of Vega’s family that had unexpectedly ended, causing the non-royal members to choose the young countess-in-waiting as the heiress. The people of Glacier Electorate had seen the growing alliance around it and demanded the Elector allow Vega to rule as a semi-constitutional monarch.
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So she had become Archcountess-Khatun of the Umbracresti-Estrinite-Glacian-Narcissian Archregion just in time for Urlic to be born as Crown Prince.
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Which had been fine up until she had pressured the barely 18-year-old Urlic to find a wife. Once she had done that, she abdicated in favour of her only child and went to live on Estrin Island.
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Urlic, who had been named for 10th Archduke of the West Urlic III, was not amused at all when the task of ruling four separate regions came crashing down on him so early.
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Things were about to get much, much worse in the not-so-distant future. The Southwest (Theocratic Confederacy of Cerulea), South (Technocracy of Vorantis), Southeast (Meritocracy of Aqulioria) and East (Second Pheasantine Republic) had formed their alliance - the Cerulean-Vorantine-Aqulio-Pheasantine Union or CVAPU - in response to the upper Empyrean unification.
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The last time a Coalition between regions had formed...the Coalition War (50 - 40 YBP) had happened. Was there going to be a second one 264 years after the Narcissian victory?
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Urlic hoped not, he was a father as of two weeks ago.
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A knock on the polished teak door of his study made him jump. "Your Grace?" Asked a timid, feminine voice.
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Urlic sighed loudly. Knowing his luck it would be tedious affairs of the realms that demanded his attention once again. "Come in!" He barked in his bass-baritone voice.
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The door opened to reveal a teenage girl in a sky-blue dress. Her brown eyes were locked onto the floor in her reluctance to meet the tired graze - Urlic had not inherited Vega’s heterochromia but rather the famous emerald-green eyes of the House of Ego instead - of her sovereign
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A messenger of some sort, I bet...at least it won't be one of Blücher`s, they are never shy teenage girls. He mused to himself.
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"Yes?" He whispered, trying his best not to intimate her.
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The girl nervously flicked the golden blonde curls out of her eyes before replying with, "G-Grand Vizier Rachel Rêverie-Montclair humbly requests the presence of His Grace at an emergency meeting of the Council of the Crown in the war room, she says it is of the utmost importance to the realm."
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Urlic scowled. Of all the administrators, advisors, bureaucrats, diplomats, foreign emissaries, officers, officials, messengers, nobles (Umbracresti or Narcissian), civil servants, representatives, handmaidens of his wife, commoners and general nutcases perpetually clamouring for his attention at any given time, the Grand Vizier was one he would be unwise to ignore.
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The position of Grand Vizier had been the most senior advisor to the Earl or Countess Regnant of Narciss and it had not changed in the Archregion. He or she also led the Conclave of Viziers, an advisory body to the ruler.
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The current one was of course Baroness (a noble rank granted for merit that, unlike the lesser title of Rector / Rectess, can be inherited)
Rachel Rêverie-Montclair, the younger daughter of a cadet branch formed from two of the major Narcissian Houses. Urlic was quite fond of her due to her sweet personality, enthusiastic patriotism and the energetic stream of excellent advice he got from her.
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"Thank you, please tell Grand Vizier Rachel I will be there in ten minutes." He replied neutrally.
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The fact that the meeting was to be held in the War Room was a terrible omen for it being anything remotely positive. That particular room in Château Ego - still the residence of the Crown - had been used to decide on brutal reforms, and drastic measures and to write Earl Ignatius' declaration of war against the Coalition for the murder of the heiress.
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After a few moments, he grew bored of trying to procrastinate the meeting and wandered off to the War Room.
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The solid oak doors opened smoothly as he marched in expecting the worst. The room was panelled in dense black hardwood (Ebony, very expensive!) While the furniture was plush, crimson armchairs. The effect was a rather menacing atmosphere when paired with the coat of arms of the House of Ego-Estrin-Romanakov (Blazon: quarterly white and or on a plain cross sable 4 marquis crown gules in the first quarter a phoenix double-headed or in the second quarter a phoenix double-headed sable motto "Ad Astra Per Aspera") hanging from the walls.
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Urlic looked at who was present in the room: the Grand Vizier sat in a plush armchair by the roaring fireplace. She wore immaculate long white robes with a high collar and white gloves. To complete the look, in her left hand, she carried a thin rod of birch - a symbol of her position in government.
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On the couch nearest Rachel sat the two highest military officers in the entirety of UEGNA. The first was an older gentleman in his early seventies. His lined face contained cold grey eyes that had seen it all. He wore a coal-black uniform with an insignia consisting of two crossed batons surrounded by golden leaves below the Crown of Ego placed on both shoulders as fancy epaulettes. From his chest hung a huge amount of medals, the most notable being the silver double-headed phoenix design of the Hetja norðaustursins (Old Empyrean: Hero of the Northeast). On his lap sat a silver baton. His name was Mikal van Blücher, Marshal of the Grand Army...and his strategic brilliance in addition to iron authority is such that hardened veterans feared his name and historians compared him to the revered hero of the Coalition War: Grand-General, High-Exarch of Worcestershire, Rector Charles Alexander Worce III (85 YBP - 4 YAP)
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It also helped that he is still alive while Worce had died at the age of 89, causing the extinction of his House.
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The other person on that couch is the polar opposite of the elderly Marshal. The highest Aeronautical officer was the Aeroadmiral of the Grand Fleet, Sophie Exonault. At the age of 27, she was the youngest person ever to hold the role. Her uniform was a deep purple with silver epaulettes but was far more simplistic than the Marshal`s. Amused historians compared her not to her grandfather, Aeroadmiral Frederick Exonault, but to a rather controversial figure: Grand Vizier Anastasia Narca Romanakov, infamous for her not-so-secretive nymphomania and many affairs.
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In fact, it had later been discovered that her partners had shockingly included Lord Preen Ego, who later became the 10th Eatrl of Narciss. The House of Romanakov was technically a cadet branch of Ego because of this. This caused a scare once it was discovered because it meant Urlic`s parents were second cousins once removed.
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Luckily for him, the media had noticed he was healthy and normal. A few scholars of the Academies of the Adept had calculated his inbreeding coefficient of inbreeding at a relatively low 3.125%, so they had cheerfully told him he was fine.
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Urlic remembered how much of a relief that had been.
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The other couch was occupied by another two women. One was lazily dozing while the other was nervously looking from one person to another, as if aware something horrible was coming.
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The sleeping one had light brown cropped shorts and the "Egonian Vert" shade of green that frequently appears in Egonault Ego`s descendants. She was his mother`s sister - technically his Third Cousin -, Viscountess Roxane Heather Ego.
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The anxious woman was his wife, Archcountess-Khatun Jauna Orlova. She wore a thick orange housecoat that clashed brilliantly with her ginger hair - neatly tied back in a ponytail. Jauna descended from a rich Eastern banking family, who were considered respectable in the Second Pheasantine Republic. Urlic had met Jauna on a tour of Demos, the regional capital of the East, where his mother had gone to great lengths to play matchmaker,
which had worked because the one-year-old Crown Prince Rionault had been born soon after their marriage in the 78th Year of Hope (the three thousandth, six-hundred, and sixty-fourth year of recorded Empyrean History.)
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The Grand Vizer cleared her throat after politely waiting for Urlic to sit down, causing Roxane to open her eyes, yawn and whisper, "Hey coz, I don't think she has anything good to say...as per usual~" to him in her contralto voice that was flirty, dark and bold - much like the forty-eight-year-old herself.
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Rêverie-Montclair shot her a look of unadulterated scorn before beginning, "I wish that I and the military leadership could bring His Grace good news, but sadly we have none. Our Diplomats in Pheasantine inform me that the Central Empyrean Defence Authority has been dissolved via unanimous agreement from CVAPU leadership," she paused before sadly adding, "CEDA was the only true restriction on the Union`s abilities to choose hostile action against our realms. We must prepare for the possibility of a Second Coalition War being declared in the 80th Year of Hope!"
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Every word increased the tension in the room until it was dense enough to be cut with a knife.
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"Awww they will cancel the 65th Empyrean Games." Lamented Roxane sarcastically, knowing full well that the Pan-Regional athletic competition was of the least possible concern.
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Blücher turned slowly to his sovereign, his cold grey eyes growing sad as he prepared to give the Archcount-Khagan the hardest pill to swallow. "Your Grace, you must issue a Defence of the Realms Act." He said in a voice that had managed to retain its harsh authority despite the man using it being seventy-two.
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"Marshal Blücher is correct, we must not gamble that the subregional governments haven't been infiltrated, that spies and saboteurs won't flood our borders, that Worcester will be safe, that an assassin wouldn't be sent to murder His Grace or even the Crown Prince...nor can we allow trade with CVAPU regions to continue after they chose to dissolve CEDA and your seat on its Council along with it!" His aeronautical equivalent chimed in with her melodic high tone.
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"What will be in DORA 79 EH?" Asked Urlic cautiously.
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This time it was Rachel who answered. "Firstly, I propose suspending the authority of the Prefects, Maleks, Governors and High-Exarch until further notice. The nobility of Umbracrest and the Narcissian Stratocrats can govern the subregions while the Viceroy in Estrin and the Elector of the North are to be given full control of the administration of their regions."
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Everyone waited with bated breath for her to continue.
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"Secondly, the Archregional capital is to be temporarily moved from Worcester to Narcester and the borders are to be closed. Thirdly, the 1st-3rd Fleets are to be deployed to Umbracrest while the 4th-7th Fleets remain in Narciss, all seven are to be placed under high alert immediately. Fourthly, we must stop all trade with the Southwestern, Southern, Southeastern and Eastern Regions. Lastly, we must add a Regiment of the Geirskögul Valkyrie Marines to the Crown`s Gaurd." She listened calmly.
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"This seems excessive...can't we just send diplomats to the Union and cool everyone`s tempers?" Muttered Archcountess-Khatun Jauna to herself.
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"My wife and my granddaughter are all I have left, Your Grace. Do you think I want to fight a war instead of retiring?" Bristled the Marshal of the Grand Army, who had lost his son Franz in an accident when his unit was deployed to dislodge an airship hauling the highly explosive Class D Æther.
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"Blücher...leave my wife alone, I will sign your DORA thingie." Urlic IV & I snapped.
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The Grand Vizer, Marshal, and Aeroadmiral all stood up and bowed before leaving the War Room.
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Jauna immediately turned to her husband, her face contorted with rage. "You idiot! Why would you agree to sign that?!" She cried.
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"If a Second Coalition War is coming then we have to win it for the good of our son."
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Roxane stared at him. "We had better get some of the Umbracresti and Narcissian nobles together in Château Narce then. I want to dance and have a of fun before Empyrea tears itself apart in two weeks."
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For the first time since he had entered that room, the ruler of four separate regions smiled a little. "That...we can do."
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