NationStates Jolt Archive

This thread will be for news stories and random developments around the Excalbian Isles.

Here's two points of view on recent events from Excalbia...

Citadel Post and Dispatch

Emperor Awakens!
Prince Named Regent

Crown Prince Addresses Nation; Pledges to Name New Government Soon
Minister of Defence Mourned

Citadel Excalbia – Flanked by the Speaker of the Senate and the Senate leadership, His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Joseph reassured a jittery nation that the Sword remains in firm control and that the Sword and the Senate remain united. Following rumours of troop movements, plots to remove His Imperial Majesty David IV and schemes to name an usurper, the Crown Prince delivered the joyful news that the Emperor had awakened from his coma and had named the Prince Regent. The Emperor’s decree resolves months of uncertainty over who wielded the power of the Sword.

In his address, the Prince also revealed that two renegade members of the Imperial Household Agency had conspired to undermine the authority of the Senate and that one of them – Maj. Gen. Maris Jansons, the former Captain of the Imperial Guard – had murdered Senator Davis Robb, the Minister of Defence, in the halls of the Senate before taking his own life. Sweyn Castle has declared three days of official mourning for the late Minister and announced that the Prince will posthumously name Robb a Knight of the Empire and a Lord.
Cont’d pg. A3


Landing Times-Courier

Chaos In The Capital
Prince Named Regent by Awakened Emperor
Minister of Defence Murdered

Troops in the Streets; Would be Usurper Sought

Citadel Excalbia – The nation breathed a sigh of relief when Crown Prince Joseph appeared on television and reassured the nation that the Sword and the Senate remained in control of the Empire. Earlier this morning, with Imperial Guards surrounding the Senate and other military forces moving by convoy in the capital, fears were raised that a coup or possibly both a coup and counter-coup were underway. Anxiety was further raised by reports that a group of barons meeting in Tervates as self-styled Council of Lords was preparing to proclaim the Emperor’s cousin, Prince Jeremiah, Emperor in his place.

In his address, Prince Joseph assured the nation that he and the Senate stood together and that the Imperial Guard’s apparent move to oust the Senate was a rogue operation mounted by the Lord Sheriff of the Citadel, Lord Jacob Bergmanis, and the Captain of the Imperial Guard, Maj. Gen. Maris Jansons. He also told the nation that the Emperor had come out of his coma and officially named the Prince Regent. However, there was grim news in the new Regent’s speech as he announced that Minister of Defence Davis Robb had been assassinated by Maj. Gen. Jansons.

While the Prince did not address it his remarks, sources report that the Imperial Army is actively pursuing Baron Jekob Perkonis, Baron Alexander Skrastins and Prince Jeremiah for usurpation. According to these sources, the barons sought to use the confusion in the capital to proclaim Prince Jeremiah as the new Emperor.
Cont’d pg. 5


And a view from the C.S.S...

Jefferson Daily Dispatch

Coup in Excalbia?
Internet Rife with Rumours

Citadel Excalbia, Excalbia – Early this morning, armed troops from the Excalbian Imperial Guard took control of the Senate building, the home of Excalbia’s unicameral legislature. Later, as Marines, apparently acting under the personal authority of Crown Prince Joseph, surrounded the Senate and evicted the Imperial Guards, the Guards’ commander, Maj. Gen. Maris Jansons, assassinated the Excalbian Minister of Defence, Davis Robb. Troops were also seen at Sweyn Castle, the seat of Excalbia’s Imperial Family, and the ceremonial Imperial Palace. In the rural district of Tervates, Imperial Army troops disrupted a meeting of the newly established and as-yet-unrecognised Council of Lords. Reports claim that the Council was about to declare Emperor David IV deposed and name his cousin, Prince Jeremiah Emperor.

Despite reassurances from Prince Joseph that the Emperor had awakened from a coma, which had never been official acknowledged, and named him Regent and that he was acting with the full support of the Senate’s leadership, Internet news sites, bulletin boards and blogs across the Excalbian Isles have raised serious unanswered questions about the health of the Excalbian government.

On the Confederation-based Dredge Expose, freeze frame images from the prince’s televised speech were posted showing flashes of disgust of one faces of Senators Marcello Gambino and Clinton Howe and an apparent look of fear on the face of Senator and Justice Minister Jamie Yoth. Another image showed what appears to the reflection of soldiers in battle armour in the eyeglasses worn by one of the senators. According to the Expose, this raises the possibility that the public support of the senate leaders was given under duress.

Conspiracy website, WayAboveTopSecret.com, was buzzing with reports from a purported eyewitness who claims to have heard two different weapons discharging in the Senate building at the time of Davis Robb’s assassination. Posters noted that the Senate’s government reform committee was considering a motion to remove the Emperor due to incapacity at the time the Imperial Guard arrived and that the Excalbian Chancellor, Lady Jessica Tagaarth, unexpectedly delivered her still-unexplained resignation almost at the same. This, conspiracy expert and site-owner Dr. Franklin Hopkins insists, raises the possibility that Tagaarth was forced out as part of a coup and that, when Robb refused to go along with the coup, the new acting chancellor was assassinated. It is also said to be possible that Jansons was then killed to serve as the “fall guy” for the actual coup-plotters.
cont'd pg. C6

*All events covered in this thread are being monitered by Her Imperial Majesty's Ministry for External State Security*

News from Upper Virginia...

Courtland Daily Sentinel
Democracy Restored!
First National Election Since 1932 Complete

Divided National Assembly Elected; Parties Scramble to Form Coalitions

Courtland – Delivering on her promise to restore constitutional democracy to Upper Virginia, President Becka Harrison yesterday cast the first vote in the National Assembly election. The election was the first in the nation since a state of national emergency and martial law were declared in 1932 following wide-spread labour unrest. The election comes more than a year after President Harrison, then a Major General in the Dominion Air Force, led a coup that ousted dictator General Craig Altman and the Provisional Ruling Council.

As was widely expected, no party gained an outright majority in the 535-seat National Assembly. The Upper Virginia Liberal Party, led by economist Jan Harrelson, won 21.6 percent of the popular vote and took 177 seats in the legislature. The National Renaissance Party, founded by Foreign Secretary Graham Yultilde and closely aligned with President Harrison, took 20.3 percent of the vote and will control 147 seats. The Liberty and Prosperity Party, led by Commerce Secretary Marcus Poole and Chamber of Industrial Chairman Forrest Turley, came in fifth in the popular vote, with 11.8 percent support, but showed considerable strength in many suburban districts and won 77 seats, making it one of the likely kingmakers in any coalition.

Another likely kingmaker is the Democratic Recovery Party, under the leadership of former dissidents Dean Chandler and Dace Zalitis. The party came in third in the popular vote with 17.1% of votes cast and won 53 seats. The leftist Democratic Union of Workers, Farmers, Greens and Students, which is widely believed to be affiliated with the Free Virginia Liberation Army and its so-called "Liberated Republic" centered around the city of Harrison, won 39 seats with 11.2% of the popular vote. Its low finish comes as a blow to Social Welfare Secretary Greg Baker who had promised supporters a victory of "at least one hundred seats." Finally, former Courtland Mayor Ralph Armistead's National Independence Party, which is seen as front for former Altman-loyalists, won 33 seats. In addition, nine independents, running on platforms ranging from Marxism-Leninism to union with the Holy Empire of Excalbia, won seats in the Assembly.
Cont'd A3

OOC: I was about to say something 'IC' before realisingly, should I or should I wait for a proper thread?
I mean, don't want to spoil the front pages!

OOC: Comments, OOC or IC, are welcome. Not all news reports posted here will lead to a seperate IC thread. For example, the first three stories about the chaos in Citadel Excalbia relate to my on-going...Comes the Vision... (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=448140&page=7) thread. The UV election story, however, probably won't lead to a seperate thread at this point. Thanks for reading!

*Link to be brought to your attention, Excalbia Between Crowns and Their Swords (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11126700#post11126700)*

OOC: In that case.....

IC: Uncle Noel expresses his fervent hope for the restoration of stability in the Holy Empire of Excalbia. The Dear Leader has been kept aware of the on-going crisis and has continually wished for the swift recovery to full health of His Imperial Majesty, David IV, and is thankful that providence has restored him to health and allowed him to name His Imperial Highness Joseph, Co-sovereign of Langeais, as his regent.

If there is anything that the Serene and Democratic Fiefdom can do to help, then just say the word.

OOC: Though we should probably ambassador swap before then!