by House Alexin (Posted August 14th, 2010, 2:37 pm)
Title: An audience with Princess Winsicia
Type of RP: Internal, cross faction.
Story:
As the princess glided into the room with her Sardukar guards time slowed for a moment in a rare glimpse of both beauty and power. The princess was undeniably beautiful and flanked by two men who represented the greatest military force in the known universe; they gave off an aura of lethal power that was strangely chained to the aura of Shaddams daughter like dogs following their master, only on a terrifyingly more threatening scale.
The meaning was clear enough to the Baroness, she wasn't trusted and a part of her wondered if any of the nobilitas were ever trusted after all they all wanted more power, and the only way to get power was to take it from another. Mentally sighing at the dangerous world her father and brother had left her in the young Baroness banished her jitters and fears. All the while reminding herself reminded herself that she was part of the nobilitas, she was one of the few who had been accepted by Shaddam, to act as guardian of a small part of his realm and unlike others, such faith placed in her was not simply a means to an end, it was a privilege and a duty.
With that at the fore of her mind she sat in the seat offered to her by the princess and silently hoped her pathetic skills as an orator would help show that she was concerned for the stability of the Imperium and not merely some angry young woman out for revenge.
"Your majesty, I have with me documents that attempt to prove to you that four people are real threats to the stability of your fathers' empire. At first glance it may seem as though I am after petty revenge, but I hope you will see my concerns as justified"
The Alexin child Baroness glanced at her notes and began in earnest
"First majesty I must ask you, what is it that holds the Imperium together? What keeps us all from destroying each other? Is it that all humans are naturally good natured beings who would never harm each other? Or is it the just rule, the stability and the order your father so wisely forces on his Imperium? If it is the former then I fear I am wasting your time. If it is the latter then I believe I am entirely justified in my concerns”
A slight pause hung in the air, the face of the Princess betraying nothing and the stock still Sardukar guards glared straight ahead. Never moving, rarely blinking and muscles always tensed and ready for action. Realising that it was her they were waiting to attack the young woman felt insanely exposed and wondered at her own insanity.
“My concern majesty, is that four individuals pose a moderate risk to the stability that keeps the human race alive and the threat they present links them in strange ways. The four are linked as groups of two, and the two groups are linked to each other as ideals and as figureheads”
Zoya slipped two small photographs out of her files and handed them to Princess Winsicia, wincing at the ugly 2D images. Security had flatly refused to allow the Baroness to bring in holo-projectors in case they could be used as some sort of weapon or in case they had some secret ability that could endanger their masters' daughter.
“These two are called Damokles and Adelphos, majesty. They were the ring leaders of the revolt on Eirdanos. Now you may be wondering how two governors, on a backwater world could possibly pose a threat to your titanic realm but they do. I shall start by my own father and his acts that went against the stability of the Imperium; A crime that I, sadly, feel he should have been punished for. He rebelled against your fathers appointed Count and committed the exact same crime as Damokles and Adelphos, he disrupted the careful order that keeps our race alive and these two men, Damokles and Adelphos, rightly fought against him. However, my father was honoured by almighty Shaddam and was made the new Alexin Count and at that very moment Damokles and Adelphos stopped having the moral high ground. At that very moment they became an illegal military force that was rebelling against Shaddams' law”
Zoya glanced at her notes once again and nodded to herself before once again returning her gaze to the Princess, who still sat still and unreadable.
“I believe that their actions, and the actions of my father, have contributed to a chain of events that has been on going for millennia. Their actions promote 'power to the peons' and as long as we let the peons cling to the misguided belief that they have any sort of power, then they threaten cast off the shackles that keep the Imperium, and our race, alive.”
“Now this may seem dramatic to your majesty but ask yourself, what is the ratio of peons to the nobilitas? They certainly out number us, but by what ratio? A thousand to one? Ten thousand to one? More? And I ask your majesty this. If they were to all rise up as one, would victory always be certain? Victory would be certain for many, perhaps even the majority but there would be worlds where order collapses and peons rule. Where peons rule as a democracy! Where they build their own armies to fight against ours and spread the plague of liberty and freedom to all!”
The young woman's voice was passionate and powerful, but not enough to make the Sardukar change the stillness that encased them like stone.
“We are very much the thinking machines of our time my lady, we keep the primitive peons in their place so that we can enjoy ours. We all know what happened to the thinking machines, and now I wonder what we can do to avoid a similar fate? What can we do to avoid being destroyed by ones that we consider inferior to us? The answer is that we should not sit back as the thinking machines did for so long. They knew we grew strong but arrogance told them that they were stronger still and so while they slumbered, as the nobilitas currently slumbers, our race grew strong. As now the peons grow”
“Now ask yourself this, majesty, should these two ring leaders go unpunished? Should we continue to slumber? All ringleaders of such rebellions should be put to the sword to preserve order. My father is dead, so he cannot be put to the sword to preserve order. My brother is dead, so he cannot be put to the sword to preserve order and I freely offer my blood. Order your guards to give me a blade and I shall empty my veins to preserve order”
Slightly red faced the young woman continued in a slightly calmer voice, realising that she'd allowed her passion to get the better of her and wondering if the Princess Winsicia would demand her blood. She'd certainly give it freely, but hoped she wouldn't have to.
“Because should such stories of rebellion continue to reach the unwashed ears of the peons then so too shall the dark fires of desire, that burn for freedom and democracy, continue only grow stronger. And so the cycle shall continue until, as on Eirdanos, the Emperors chosen ruler is overthrown! And for order to be fully restored, the peons must approve of their replacement!.”
“What is the next step on such a path be? Appointment by Shaddam but approved by the peons? What right do they have to approve their new supervisor? I say to you, majesty, that on our present path they will eventually get the power to approve their supervisor and with that power democracy shall have won a major victory! And though you may scoff, majesty, I believe our present course will grant them this power. Not in our life time, not in our children's lifetime but it shall come and with it the foundations of the Imperium shall begin to crumble”
“So I urge you, majesty. Make an example of Damokles and Adelphos. For embody the threat of democracy and equality that will some day destroy us all.”
Again she glanced at her files and sighed loudly.
“And even if you do not believe their embodiment of liberty is a threat after all how could such a message spread? Surely the governors who serve your father would never allow such a message to be spread? But could they stop the Bene Tleilax from spreading this message?”
“Could every governor of every world be certain that the Bene Tleilax do not whisper promises to the unwashed masses? We know the hated Tleilaxu still exist and we know they seek to destroy House Corrino!”
With the last sentence both of the Sardukar guards snapped their heads towards the young Baroness and the intensity of their glare almost burnt the skin of the young Alexin noble.
“All they would need is to start rebellions on a few worlds and if those rebellions succeed, if Corrino rule is shrugged off for even a day then news will spread like wildfire and the Imperium could be thrown into chaos. With that chaos legions would have to be raised and deployed on countless worlds, tactical sacrifices may even have to be made until the unthinkable happens, majesty. A single world wins it's freedom. Then another, then another and with each small drop of freedom your father would be forced to deploy legions of Sardukar to restore order! And with every legion that is deployed the number of troops on hand to protect almighty Shaddam is reduced. The strain on the armed forces of the nobilitas would lead to mistakes and create opportunities for the twisted Tleilaxu to infest Houses both great and small and with those infestations what havoc could further be wreaked?”
“Such fears lead my to the next pair that should be found, majesty”
“Our former envoy to the Landsraad and our former mentat. These two individuals have intimate knowledge of the Landsraad. Of security procedures, of security weaknesses and they have 200s. Enough money for them to raise a small army. The Bene Tleilaxu had access to both individuals and could have easily replaced them and if they did not replace them I ask you, what valuable information do posses? How much do they know about the Bene Tleilaxu? Information that could be used to help exterminate them?”
“With a mentat who observed in the security procedures of the Landsraad, of two Sysselraads, an ambitious diplomat and two individuals who can be propped up as idols to the cause of freedom they have enough pose a threat to the Imperium; but with 200s and the story of Adelphos and Demokles in the hearts of the unwashed masses they pose a very real threat, majesty.”
“The story of two men who fought against the Imperium and won is not something peons would forget quickly. The spirit of liberty that goes with the story could spread like wildfire and it could only be extinguished in peon blood. Blood that would cost the Imperium dearly. Imagine if we had to put half the peons who tended fields to the sword? The famine that presently plagues the Imperium could increase tenfold, leading to more suffering and more desperation! More reason to rebel against authority and creating yet more chaos that would give the despised Tleilaxu more opportunity to undermine House Corrino!”
Zoya looked at her notes and placed them near the Princess' hand and, in as calm a voice as she could muster continued.
“The details of the men are in those files, majesty. I shall not lie, I would like to see myself or my warmaster march with a squad of Sardukar to arrest Adelphos and Damokles. I would smile as I watched them nail to a crucifix. Just as I would smile to see the mentat and envoy die slow and painful deaths, but I would not smile because these people who have cost me my father, my brother, my childhood amd my home. I would smile because it would send a message to peons everywhere. It would show them that Shaddam will fight to maintain order in his realm. An order I dutifully serve”
Summary:
- Baroness Alexin makes her case for the arrest and execution of her former house mentat, her former envoy to the Landsraad, Damokles and Adelphos.
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