NationStates Jolt Archive

Bethley Palace, Coronation Day

The Palace was adorned in the traditional colours of the Roman Consorts, red white blue and green hung in equal measures from the balconies and people thronged to the seating that had been arranged in one of the nearby Royal Parks to witness the coronation of the first-born, John Hampshire or King Roman Consort I as he was shortly to be known.

The Kings carriage came down Royal Street, the large road that linked the Palace to the Royal Residence at Crewforth less than a mile away. The crowds cheered as the carriage passed them, flanked on either side by the mail-clad Royal guards of the 3rd Royal Lancers Regiment "The Teutons" the officially sanctioned Royal Guards after the unification.

Inside the coach the King-to-be wore traditional robes over his armour. That armour was made from steel with gold plate and had been hand fitted to the King's body as part of the ceremonial dress. On the front fully visible was the emblem of the Golden Horse of the House of Hampshire, the ruling family of that former nation that was now the principle county of the new Kingdom. Around it was dotted the emblems of the other Houses, the Red and White Shield of the House of Sussex, the White Eagle of the House of Surrey, the Grey Ship of the House of Hartford, and finally the Purple Lion of the House of Cornwall. These together showed the unity of the new nation, and the men that guarded the King would be equally chosen from these five House's domains.

The Kings brown hair was in his usual scruffy arrangement that he liked whilst his wife had her long blonde hair down and in its natural slightly curly state. Behind their carriage came two more similarly adnored, one carrying their only son Prince Rupert Hampshire, and the other their two daughters Camille and Bethany.


As the Kings carriage came to the Palace the crowds roared. Police and Royal Guards assigned to security struggled to hold them back outside the Palace walls as the King and Queen alighted their carriage and proceeded inside. The Queens robes were held up by children of the House of Surrey. Inside Ushers from the House of Sussex walked with them through the ornately furnished corridors as they headed towards the Throne Room. Members of Palace staff lined the route, looking in wonder as they walked by followed by their beautiful children.


In the Throne Room the golden seats had been placed, and various dignitaries from the nation were arrayed infront. On the left sat representatives of the Military and of the Government. In the centre sat the Families of the Houses, in the front row the Heads of the other four sat whilst their various other members were arrayed behind them, the more important they were the closer to the front. To the Right sat members of the Press plus other dignitaries, and the whole event was covered by three cameras.

Between them and the Throne stood several of "The Teutons". Their swords were in their scabbards and each had their ceremonial armour on, slightly less ornate than the Kings, but in the same design with a mail coat underneath. All of these men were from the House of Hampshire and as such had long horse plumes from the top of their Helmets that reached down nearly to their shoulders.

They stood impassive as several more of their number entered and took their place to the left and right of the Throne standing completely still as the future King entered.

Coming in through the left he took and returned the salutes of the Military officers, and then greeted the members of the other houses who were all close friends after the unification several months earlier.

After greeting them the King moved to his throne and sat as the ceremony began......



..... Five Hours later the great doors to the Palace Balcony were flung open and a speaker made his way forward to the very edge of the Balcony, nearly one hundred feet over the crowds that had been let into the Palace Grounds.

He spoke into a microphone that broadcast his words all arond the world

" Consorts, a King has been crowned. All Hail King Roman Consort the First "

With this be bowed as the King appeared at the Balcony and took his place at the microphone.

The crowd looked up and as one returned the gesture bowing as they did so.

" All Hail King Roman Consort "

The new King surveyed his people for a moment before speaking.

" Rise friends. Look upon the face of your King, and may he long serve the people. "


More Cheers erupted as the people rose, and on que the rest of the now Royal Family came onto the Balcony following the leaders of the Four other Houses who took their stations two on either sides of the King as he begun his inaugural address to his people................

OOC: Good first RP, well done!

The broadcast was relayed to several of the political news stations of The Ethics Union. From the very beginning, the university professors throughout the nation were dissecting the ceremony, explaining away to their pupils why certain measures were made in the ceremony and lecturing about the importance of the event. Meanwhile, politicians were doing much the same thing amongst themselves, knowing full well that detailed reports would be expected throughout the ceremony's undertaking.

Chairman Borris Yukivitki watched the ceremony with only his foreign relations minister from within the confines of his surprisingly humble office. He could leave his other subordinates to handle what he felt were unnecessary waves of reports.

The Ethics Union's representative at the crowning, Ambassador-Professor Bagelwood, sat on the right with the local dignitaries and media, looking a bit out of place with his tweed, "man of the people" type suit coat and tan slacks. Ever the collegiate, he was typing madly on an older laptop to the point that a television producer had to come over and ask him to type more quietly, at whom he merely pushed his glasses up higher on his nose and added a note about the nation's media's first impression on him.

The next day, Ambassador-Professor Bagelwood sat in his motel room, a stubby antenna pointing from his laptop out the window. A few more minutes of slapping the keyboard and his mail was sent and his work was done. Wiping his forehead and pushing up his glasses, he closed the laptop and headed out to enjoy the city while he was there.

A few minutes later, the Ethics Union made it's formal response to the ceremony. The unusual popularity of the event had demanded that Chairman Borris Yukivitski, or simply "Ethics" as his people affectionately reffered to him, make the address himself on national television, which as we all know, really was international.

With a different Professor-Ambassador seated behind him on his right and the foreign relations minister behind him to his left, a smiling Yukivitki approached the mahoganny podium with a nice lithograph of the Ethics Union's flag behind him.

The media got the cameras ready, and he began. "I know I speak for everybody in The Free Socialist States of The Ethics Union when I say we are pleased to see a new nation born across the way. Regardless of our differences, I know that every new nation has the capability to make the world we share a better place, and I will invest my faith in King Roman Consorts The First. I plan to meet with the king as soon as possible myself as a show of the faith I have in his budding land, pending his acceptance, of course. I wish to conclude this session by offering the best wishes to the king and his people."

Brief, as always, he nonetheless received the applause from the people attending the statement as he walked off the stage, leaving the floor to Ambassador-Professor Newton and the foreign relations minister.

Royal Residence at Crewforth

The King was relaxing after the coronation service infront of the large television that was installed in the main living room at Crewforth. He had just watched the address from the Ethics Union and was drafting his official reply whilst the Foreign Secretary contacted their government and made arrangements for a state visit, the first of the Kings reign.

The King was feeling particularly friendly at this time and so had instructed the secretary to offer that he visit the Union as a sign of good faith in their future relations, whilst at the same time ordering the Chancellor to begin looking at how trade between the two nations could be improved.

Central Spires National News

"In a good-natured response to Chairman 'Ethics' statement yesterday, the new kingdom that has captured the imagination of the entire Ethics Union is sending their Foreign Secretary to tour the capital city, Central Spires."

The next news anchor chuckled for the briefest of moments before continuing where her partner left. "That's right, Victor. And, not wanting to be outdone, 'Ethics' has sent the newest of the state's zeppelins out to pick him up. To further compliment of the nation, 'Ethics' has named the new model the 'Roman.' After hosting Roman Consort's foreign secretary for three days, Chairman 'Ethics' himself will fly his personal zeppelin, the 'Pacifast,' to the capital of Roman Consorts in Crewforth, where the chairman and the king will meet privately to further cement good relations with a focus on improving trade between the two nations."

Central Spires Capital Building

A fierce debate between the various political parties roared through the broadcast with Chairman Borris "Ethics" Yukivitski sitting backward in a simple table chair. As with every such debate, activists would soon be filling the streets to try to sway his opinion one way or another.

To his left were the hard-line, old-fashioned communist revolutionaries, hollering about the king's intentions to manipulate the Ethics Union into capitalists or serfs, many going so far as to proclaim that the union's policy of pacifism would have to be abandoned in order to protect the people from the "clear ill-will of the greedy king."

To his right screamed the self-named "progressive socialists," accusing the hard-liners of twisting facts and of trying to incite "the old war." These were the ones saying that it wasn't a matter of one political belief versus another, but rather just a difference in culture. They also were the ones who strongly believed that this could be a good oppurtunity for the Ethics Union's economy to improve through the trade.

Today, the chairman was leaning toward the progressive socialists' stance, making it clear by raising his right hand for a few long seconds, as the tradition went. Of course, the argument only intensified, but he would only hear the next few seconds of it as he walked out of the meeting hall to go back to the quieter refines of his office, where seemingly a million different documents would beat him there.

OOC: I am here, sorry I just havnt had the time for a proper IC post. BUMP as well for tomorrow when i will post.

The traditionally isolationist Grand Imperial Nation of Tokarev declined to make a televised broadcast, and the Tokko decided not to let any mention of the new king or foreign nation slip through their iron-fisted grip on the radio, television, and periodicals of Tokarev [OOC: My Emperor is a bit of a dictator]. However, the Imperial Household drafted a brief and concise letter to be sent to the King personally,

"May your reign be blessed with peace, power, and prosperity. The Rising Sun shines down upon you, and your humble people are as brothers to my own."

-His Imperial Majesty TOKAHITO, the 150th Emperor of Tokarev

Royal Residence at Crewforth

The King was happy. His first contact with another soverign nation had gone well, with some major trade agreements being put onto the table very quickly in the negotiating stage.

Foreign Minister Sir Jack Belfridge was currently onboard the Zepellin 'Roman' on his way to the Ethics State Capital and arrangements were already being made for the state visit of the Chairman.

Roman Royal Guardsmen had begun to look into suitable locations to enjoy some of the finer points of the country life, such as golfing in Surrey or shooting in Cornwall. However shooting was thought to be slightly worrying especially with two heads of state. Background checks had already been done on all staff at the shooting estate and more stringent tests were also planned for the future when leisure activities had been decided.

That is not to say that there would be no time for political and diplomatic discussions. The Ethics chairman would be hosted in the Royal Residence in a room barely twenty feet from the Kings own room.

Status Summary of The Ethics Union Regarding Roman Consorts Relations

In light of the recent positive events surrounding the Roman Consorts-Ethics Union relations, a recent surge of books with Roman Consorts as the setting has hit the market with high levels of success. Several of the Ethics Union's more famous zeppelin industries are already advertising their overhead tours of Roman Consorts and plan to offer similar deals to the Romans for tours of the Ethics Union as soon as possible. The hard-line socialists are still in a frenzy over having such a positive outlook on what is viewed as a "backward kingdom" and "immoral tyranny," but approximately 85% of the citizens of the Ethics Union, when polled, said that they love the new kingdom and view the feudal politics much as they view a fantasy book.

Central Spires International Airport

Photographers leaned as far over the gleaming decorative chain-link railing that divided the crowds from the Roman ambasaddor, blasting away excitedly with their cameras. Behind them, a surprisingly large group of people that could only be described as the Romans' Fan Party wore shirts with pictures of the king on them and welcomingly waved the two nations' flags in the air, scream excitedly from the excitement.

It was certainly an unusual nation. Not many people in the crowd were wearing too nice of clothing, including the television reporters, and while many of the buildings had a very plain architecture, they were often painted in bright colors or conveying paintings on the front. For example, to walk into one library might entail walking into a drawing of a whale's mouth. The cars weren't too fancy either, but they were taken care of very well, as if the smallest speck of dirt was blasphemy. Last of all, the country was proud to say that it had zero people anywhere near the international poverty line, even if it lacked an upper class, for the most part.

Escorted by cheerful policemen in special dress uniforms that were a vivacious combination of traditional Russian and Moroccan outfits, the ambassador was led down the huge hall of journalists to a waiting double-decker bus that would give him a great view of the lively, clean metropolis as he was taken to the newly built embassy, which was one of the few buildings left unpainted, as if to suggest that they were supposed to paint something interesting of their own to add to the city.

Royal Residence at Crewforth

Chairman Borris Yukivitski had come with a handful of professors, who's fascination in the city of Crewforth was only beaten by his own. He felt like he was in a fantasy book, living in a king's palace and whatnot.

As a matter of fact, he'd gotten himself some local type clothing to wander about the city on his own to take it in, accidentally running into one of his professors at a pub who had done the same thing. No doubt the locals could tell they were foreign, and no doubt the local government knew, but he figured he should enjoy himself.

Like the cast majority of his nation, the chairman was a pacifast, and so he was especially interested in the well-armed guards and the military that had come to town for the coronation parade. At the same time, he and his professors were particularly clumsy with the shooting activities, chuckling amongst themselves when they all aimed just a little behind the animals on purpose (though the chairman finally forced himself to get at least one buck).

Back at the palace, the chairman and his few professors insisted on sharing a room so that they could stay up and watch local television together and recollect about the day's events.

At the trade meetings however, the smiles began to fade. While a lot of basic elements were easy to agree on, all the politicians must have gotten a few headaches and hoarse voices from arguing on worker's rights agreements. Considering that one nation was a feudal state and the other was a socialism, some of the fiery passion of the socialists burned showed its agressive face. Just like back at Central Spires, the small number of professors divided in half, four of the professors absolutely infuriated with the "ridiciously, spineless complacency" of their "poor socialist" counterparts while the other four professors tried to be as polite as possible with the Romans and be as agreeable as they could be.

This time, the chairman found himself leaning just a wee bit toward the stubborn, hard-line side. He didn't approve of what he saw as anti-majority policies and lack of business regulation.

"I don't mean to be rude," he'd say, "but we'd love to see a lot more equality in your nation, on an economic standpoint at the very least." Unfortunately, some professors phrased this considerably more rudely, and at one point, the professors and the chairman had to ask one of the more riled-up professors to go outside and take a breather.

However, when the meeting ended, they went right back to their sincere, gleaming grins of glee, almost as if a switch had been flipped. Peculier folk, one could suppose.

Crewforth

The King had not sat in on most of the trade meetings until he heard of the disagreements that were taking place about the lack of equality in the country.

For the next set of meetings he would be personally present along with a pair of the Royal Guard in ceremonial dress. Sure Ethics was a bigger nation, and sure their trade would help both countries prosper, but they were not needed enough to change the recently established monarchy.

The King would make that point clear in the future negotiations, especially if brought up by the professors whoom he regarded as bordering on arrogant.

However outside of the negotiations he had come to like the representatives of Ethics. Their quirky style and slightly abnormal habits made them very likable as people and also highly amusing as hosts.

Minister Belfridge had reported having the time of his life in the country, whilst the newly appointed ambassador, Richard Hill, was busy making arrangements for his embassy's paint scheme. The Royal Air Force was flying several gallons of special paint out to the embassy in order to make a proper job of the painting. Not that there was anything wrong with Ethics paint, it was just that they thought a completely home-designed and painted building would be more in suiting with the style.

The Minister was shedueled to head home the day after tomorrow, and so was tonight sampling the Ethics people dressed as one of their own. With him two men of the Diplomatic Protection Service came dressed also in native clothing looking completely out of place on their well-built frames.

Zeppelin One, "The Pacifast"

While his eight Ambassador-Professors sat huddled together reviewing their notes, the chairman quite childishly pressed his face against the zeppelin's window, taking in Crewforth while he still could.

In his opinion, the trip had gone well. From the start, he hadn't expected to make too progress in convincing the Roman government about worker's rights and other typically socialist issues, but he had gotten his concerns voiced, and that would do. No doubt the king would do much the same thing, but with the table changed.

Almost as if listening in on his thoughts, he heard a professor say, "The bottom line is that we've established a pretty decent trade agreement, and that's what we wanted."

In a few hours, the zeppelin descended back down to Earth, sinking slowly into the waiting hands of Central Spires International Airport. Yukivitski stopped only to say to the press that relations were good and trade would be legal in no later than half a week.

Central Spires, Inner City

Before the minister would leave, he would have the extremely rare chance to see a crime in the Ethics Union, which had a sterling reputation for its safe, clean streets.

It was one of the more heinous crimes the nation saw; speeding. Yes, a small motorcycle was riding too fast down the lane, and soon enough, it was all over the news, broadcasted on the big screens hanging from the skyscrapers even. The people, looking up at the huge televisions, looked absolutely horrified at the crime, some of them stopping what they were doing to call and make sure their family was alright.

Very quickly, two police cars entered the picture, and the crowd's cheer roared through the city when the criminal pulled over. As one, the people bit their lips anxiously, waiting to see how the situation developed. While the camera couldn't pick up what was being said, the officer did gesture toward a speed limit sign a ways back, and the driver made an "oh!" expression. The cop and the speeder shook hands, smiled, and the crowd went wild, the streets filling with happy citizens for quite a few minutes with happy mothers letting their happy children excitedly scream, "Just an accident!"

Indeed, that was about the worst it got in the Ethics Union, and the foreign minister was lucky enough to be in the country when it happened.

King John was happy. His personal helicopter had taken himself and the delegation to the airport and was now returning to the residence after he saw off the foreign visitors.

Dressed in a casual suit today he had a light work load ahead, with the exception of a military briefing from the commander of the armed forces and the Defence Minister regarding some activity on the borders by the small hill tribes that littered the area around the north of Surrey.

They had been becoming more militaristic since the start of the monarchy, which they abhored, and in particular a skirmish the day before with a border watch battalion had left two men dead and several more wounded.

Those were policemen from the border watch that had been attached to an army patrol and had wondered off and made trouble. One had been killed whilst the other injured before the returning patrol drove off the tribesmen.

The military were going to be discussing measures that could be taken against the tribespeople, in particular a raid by a squadron of Special Force's inserting via helicopters.

The King had put off the meeting because he had thought that his recently departed guests would have strongly objected, being the pacificts that they were.