NationStates Jolt Archive

The Fortress of Matthew and Mark, Lavenrunz

The grim stone and metal fortress was far wider than it was tall; around it anti-air and sea batteries were grouped like the nests of great beaked steel birds. The approaches were notoriously difficult. In the miasmal atmosphere of the region there were frequent smoggy grey days. As Colonel Zimmermann entered it following security checks--those hers, as Imperial Censor, were fewer these days than anyone's save the Imperial Family--she had a familiar sense of bleak oppression. It was very quiet. The guards took their duty very seriously; many had, in previous experience, risked their lives for the Empire and had what was called the 'thousand yard stare'. Others...she knew them well. The interrogators and watchers, the planners...they were strange, twisted souls whose dark spirits found what little redemption there was for themselves in service to the state.
She was an unprepossing woman; not unattractive, though when looked at directly one was often struck by her vivid green eyes and curiously still demeanor. As she walked down the stone passageway to the cell of the prisoner she was there to escort, she passed the cells of others.
One Etienne de Beauvoir, formerly of Whispering Voices. Now a citizen of nothing; not permitted to speak or be spoken to.
One Brother Stephen, formerly of Iesus Christi, of the Christian Liberation Army. His sentence was more severe than de Beauvoir's; he had not seen another human being in more than a year. She did not know how this sentence had been carried out, but she had heard chilling recordings of his voice...
And now Count Mirbach. Though watched constantly, when she went into his cell, she found him sitting at a small table writing. He glanced up, pale but alert. A shadow of disappointment crossed his face. She knew what he had been hoping for; two people of similar rank to offer him a gentleman's choice out via a pistol.
Not for you, traitor. she thought with satisfaction.
"Colonel Zimmermann. Well...I've been expecting...something." he said, and crossed himself. "And this is it..."
"Yes. Your Excellency must now accompany me. Before you do, I offer you a chance to redeem yourself by confessing to the crimes to which you are accused and sparing the nation a trial." she said quietly, watching him intently.
"I relish the opportunity to be washed clean of slander and to prove that I have only sought to do right." he replied serenely.
"Then come." she said.
He rose, put his papers in order neatly, save for one or two he gathered and folded carefully. "My deposition." he smiled. "And a will, just in case. Witnessed by the Governor of the Fortress and the Chaplain. Very decent fellows, you know."


Let it be proclaimed throughout the land that Joachim Viktor Count von Mirbach will be brought to trial in the High Court on the charges of high treason, conspiracy to murder, lese majeste and willfull obstruction of the good of the Empire.
In the Name of Almighty God, let justice be done.
as proclaimed by
Colonel Una Zimmermann, Imperial Censor
Count Torring, Chief Justice of Lavenrunz

:TAG:

General Herbert Ablegard didn't get too much to cheer about lately. Though it seemed his Army was winning the revolt in Glorious Humanity, he still wasn't getting much sleep as he worked on making sure victory was complete for the government. Fighting against the rebellion had, he was sure, removed a few more gray hairs from his balding scalp, and his face had a few more lines in it. What else would anyone expect though? He was fifty-five years old after all.

He was seated in his office in the HQ of the Glorious Human Army, sipping his morning coffee while he went over reports. One in particular caught his eye. A sealed envelope from the Ministry of International Relations. Ablegard wondered what was up, he almost never got forwards from International Relations, unless they were war related. Withdrawing a letter opener from his desk, he deftly sliced the envelope open and withdrew the contents.

The first thing was a note from Minister Frank Pierce. It read:

Dear Herb,

I know you don't normally get diplomatic dispatches, but I thought you might like this one, given your feelings about the situation.

Frank

Ablegard raised a brow. He and Pierce were rivals of a sort, in that they frequently disagreed over the best course of action in an international situation. Nonetheless, he had a good deal of respect for the man. He took out the second piece of paper, which was the announcement of Mirbach's trial.

"Jesus..." he read it over again, then whooped with laughter. "It's about bloody f*cking time!" He read over it again, and again, his mood improving dramatically. Wonder if it will be a public trial. Wonder if I can get some time to go to Lavenrunz and watch. Mirbach was not well-liked in the Glorious Humanity government, but the Supreme Commander of the Army had a particular grudge against the ex-Chancellor. Ablegard considered himself a loyal and proud soldier, and the abduction of President Albert during the Lavenrunz Winter Ball, which Ablegard's men had been unable to prevent, nor effect a rescue, had stuck in his craw and permanently set his opinion on the Count.

Chuckling to himself, Ablegard set the letter aside and went back to the business of his own country. Suddenly, his day seemed a lot better.

The Lavenrunzian High Court was meant to be a stark building, and it was. The three judges sat on high, looking down in their scarlet and black robes over the lawyers and others assembled.
Count Torring, who had a greak beaklike nose, shrewd little eyes and a bald head so that he rather resembled a vulture, blinked at the assembly and said in a gravely voice, "There will be no undue expressions of emotionalism nor any disturbances during this session of the court. The members appointed are myself, as Chief Justice, and Justices von Kobell and Richter. Should there be objection to this, let it be stated now, or hold your peace forever."
Neither the defense counsel, Drollinger, nor the prosecutor, Lange, raised any objection.
"Very well. Prosecutor Lange?"
The prosecutor almost received cheers; everyone sat up straight. He was one of the most loved lawyers--if such a thing were possible--in Lavenrunz, for the way he so excellently attacked those hated: people who murdered old ladies, mad bombers who destroyed schoolbuses and people who misguidedly sabotaged factory equipment and killed the workers. His film star good looks did not detract from this.
"Your Honour, I was instructed by the Imperial Censor that Joachim von Mirbach, Count von Mirbach and Chancellor of Lavenrunz, had evidence against him to the effect that he had enacted such foreign and military policies as to advance his personal causes and not those of the Empire; that he had conspired to subvert the authority of the throne by abducting Her Majesty's person; that he had damaged the trust and honour of the Throne by also conspiring an attack on guests of Her Majesty; that he had also taken part in the murder of Her late lamented Majesty Empress Joanna. All these things did Count Mirbach do, and I will demonstrate this."
Mirbach met the accusatory remarks and the fierce gaze of Lange without any more reaction than a thoughtful look.

Aesa noted the newswire of the trial, and tagged it for a closer look when she had a touch more free time.

OOC: May we send observers to this trial? I want to gloat.

OOC: Sure. Post more later when I am not yearning for the bliss in the arms of Morpheus.

KNN would like to cover the trial live
~KNN, uh, person.

Tag. Definitely, definitely tag.

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

Archbishop Kronstein detailed his secretary to monitor the trial and events closely--the Apostolic See would want a full report. Fortunately, he reflected, one could trust the Teutonic thoroughness of the Lavenrunzians to conduct a full, public, transparent trial, according to acceptable rules of evidence and practices of law, unlike the kangaroo courts of the Reich.

Justice must not only be done, it must be incontrovertably seen to be done.

(tag-type thing)

OOC: TMI will be there...

"And what then?" Kohl asked, looking over his glasses at the agent.

The agent blinked, repeatedly. "Well, sir...the crowd went and almost cheered the prosecutor, sir..." He wondered what he was doing here.

"I see..." Kohl made several notes in his book. "Anything else?"

"Well...I heard that the Lavenrunzians were using Lese Majeste..." The agent blinked once more when Kohl almost dropped his glass of water in shock.

"Sorry? They're using 'Crime against the Dignity of the Sovereign?...thank you, you may leave." The agent bowed and left. Kohl looked outside, and pondered for a moment. In a society such as Lavenrunz, that crime could make it seem to the judges that it's their patriotic duty to find him guilty...in my view, we aren't starting with the premise of 'innocent until proven guilty. He tapped his chin, momentarily, and then made up his mind. He pressed a button on his desk. "Glenda, I want you to pick an observer for the trial of Count Mirbach..."


Kohl Reindhart
Justice Minister
Divine Imperium of Novar Ohan and the Sunset Isles

((OOC: Hope you don’t mind. Needless to say))

Elash Mîraglariel sat in the observation gallery, which she found slightly different to those at home, but still quite agreeable, watched the trial with interest. She was of course, familiar with the record they had on Mirbach, but he didn’t seem quite like the raving lunatic the intelligence department had him down as. She cast her mind back to when she’d been sent here.

The Emperor had directed her to go purely to observe and give her comments on Mirbach. She also knew that given his stance on non-humans, and her blatant non-human-ness, she was, effectively, an elf with grey-blue skin, from a similar colour blood that flowed in her veins (that said, she was significantly weaker than elves in general, and preferred a dry heat more than most of them) would make it fairly obvious that she was far from human, or so was the intent. It was quite pathetic really.

As it was, she sat as close to the front of the gallery as she could and observed him, ‘Brave,’ she thought, ‘given what they’re likely to do to him, very brave. Most admirable…’ she paused in her reflection and looked directly (not that he was likely to notice her) at Drollinger, waiting to see what he’d have to say to these charges, the kind of charges that never seemed to result in anything but a damming guilty verdict. She sighed a little, and hoped that the defence was good. It would be rather a shame for his bravery to be wasted like that.

Despite her alien-ness, she couldn’t really care less about his move to forbid non-humans citizenship. No one seemed to complain about the same laws in effect in ‘Glorious Humanity,’ at least, once more, as far as she knew. Arda she didn't much care about, and the Emperor seemed to have over-reacted after that Winter-Ball affair. She didn't see why she should dislike this Joachim. She leaned forward and continued taking notes in her own cuneiform-like script on a wonderfully tactile paper note-pad.

Pretty much right next to Elash was Lord Curundil nos Menelmehn, of Menelmacar; he, like Lange, was one of the most famed and respected lawyers of his realm. He was most known for his efforts on behalf of the Lady Sirithil and the Menelamcari government, including a defense of the Elentári against laughable charges of genocide several years before following the utter bloodbath known as the Great Demoness Turkey Shoot, where the Lady had taken personal command of sixty Menelmacari warships to wipe out - in the space of minutes - the combined armies of an entire region. He took careful notes in the flowing and elegant tengwar script of Quenya, the elven noble tongue; occasionally giving a sidelong glance at the necrontyr beauty two seats down. He didn't technically have to be here - the Lady had not sent him, though she certainly could, if she wished - but he had great interest, and he knew his biggest client would as well. He had no doubt, in fact, that Sirithil would occasionally attend the proceedings, and that she had even expressed an interest in providing testimony.

It would be a fascinating trial.

Mr. Helmut Herenco walked up and took his place. He was a skilled lawyer and was also sent as an inspector to look for the Nephilim manipulations he knew would be there, after all the nation of Lavenrunz had been under the heel of the She-devil Sirithil. He had no doubts that there would be lots of abominations and that all the nephilim puppets would be there to watch Count Mirbach become a martyre. He looked to his side and watched Lenore, the veganian Embassador of Lavenrunz sit there. How could she be so calm, wasn't she aware of all the atrocities that would be commited here? He even saw her smile and nod to some of the Lavenrunzian officials that were trialing the Hero of Lavenrunz. He surely would have to report this to his superiors.

Lady Icrais took her seat, she was the Thelasi observer to this drama, trained in criminal, civil and internation law not to mention Christian Law and had a personal interest in heritical cults, these qualifications made her the choise obsrever that the Thelasi government sent to trials of this nature. She was also a respected laywer, and often she worked with the Thelasi diplomatic core. She was sitting next to Lord Curundil, and had not yet noticed him, seeing as how she was more interested in trying to get a voice and video recorder working.

When she was finished she looked at who was sitting next to her, "Ah, Lord Menelmehn, it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Lady Icrais from the Thelasi Diplomatic Branch."

oh joy....
tag

((OOC: For the record, Jo is on a holiday so don't expect a post from her anytime soon. I for one am thinking of sending a Knootian Michael Moore. ;) ))

A short, undefinably ugly man allows a feral grin to cross his face before typing at his keyboard.

TSMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: NDA Standard
Broadcast type: Diplomatic
To: Empress Aurora of Lavenrunz
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Devon Treznor - Treznor

Thanks to the manner in which I was introduced to Count Mirbach, it would give me great pleasure to be able to personally attend his trial for treason. Under the rules of our alliance, I have no wish to interfere or otherwise influence the proceedings, but I wish to observe the man's fate with my own eyes. I therefore crave your permission in that regard.

http://www.pwfc.org/images/gallery/smtorso3.jpg
Devon Treznor
Emperor
<end transmission>