San Josef
02-08-2007, 00:42
In San Josef, King Fernando de Juarez nervously addressed the people from the balcony of the Palacio Real. To his left, and back a few paces, stood the General who commanded his Royal Guard, Pablo Martinez. It was not a usual thing, for the King to address the nation when such an event was not schedualed. Unusual, as was the fact that, if anyone had looked closely, they could have told that the Army soldiers who normally stood guard around the palace were gone, and Royal Guardsmen stood in their place.
The words he said were also unusual:
"Citizens of the Kingdom of San Josef. I address you as your King, who has final and complete power under our law. However, I address to, hopefully, begin the transition to a state in which the King does not hold complete and total power. I address you, the people of San Josef, to tell you that elections will be held in six weeks time, elections to choose the men who will take part in a Constitutional Convention to create the basis for a transition to a democratic system under which all people will be equal and free."
By the time he had reached that point in his speach, the crowd, which was mostly made up of the poorest urban workers in the entire nation, were already cheering with such volume and force that it drowned out his words and seemed to deafen.
Forsaking the remainder of his speach, the king closed with a few words, more for the few thousand radio sets within his nation, where the single national radio station would be broadcasting his speach than for the crowd below:
"That is all. Long live a democratic San Josef!"
Meanwhile, in a well appointed living room, eleven well dressed men sat together and listened to the radio as it carried the King's speach. It was no suprise to them - they were some of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the nobility within San Josef, and as such some of the best connected. They had all known what was going to happen, and they all shared common concerns. Under the present system, the nobility recieved preferencial treatment to an extreme extent - virtually the entierty of the senior positions in the military and the civil service were held by noblemen, for one thing. If democracy came, they would be the biggest losers. After the speach had finished, and the national anthem began to play, one of the men switched off the radio. It was a while before they spoke, and they seemed a little nervous as they began, with the man who had switched off the radio commenting:
"You know, we control the Army. If we ordered them to, we could have our troops storm the palace." another man nodded, and added:
"I can speak for the Air Force - we would all either come out on the side of the Army or stand aside." they all seemed to hesitate for a moment, before one of them raised a point:
"Well, the Army does outnumber the Royal Guard, but... the Army is a little outdated. Our average soldiers still use Mousin-Nagant bolt-action rifles, we have no tanks, our supply line is made up more of mules than of trucks, our entire artillery corp consists of sixteen ancient 45mm guns and three 75mm guns... and the Royal Guard is armed with AKMs, and has four 45mm guns of its own." that point took a moment to sink in, before another man asked:
"Well, the Royal Guard is only one division. How many divisions does the Army have?" to which the first man to speak hesitantly replied:
"Well... we have four Army Rifle divisions, one Mechanized division, of which up to two companies could actually act as mechanized infantry if all of the working trucks were concentrated... and one support Brigade made up of engineers, artillery and so on. If we called up the militia," he continued, "we could have, supposedly, another sixteen divisions. However, we only have enough uniforms for two thirds that number, and enough rifles for half." the man who had asked the question nodded, then asked:
"And the Air Force?" to which the man who had spoken for the Air Force replied:
"Well, we have a notional strength of thirty aircraft. Of those, eighteen can actually fly. Of the planes which can fly, four are propellor driven transport planes, of which three are currently being used by civilian aviators to act as our national airline, while eight are MiG-3 fighters and the other six are unarmed scout planes." the men nodded. Finally, one of them spoke:
"Alright. Perhaps we should allow these elections to be held, and attempt to influence their results. If we cannot achieve a satisfactory result from attempts at influence, then we can overthrow the government." the men considered this. They nodded, and accepted the idea for the immediate future. They would see how things developed.
The words he said were also unusual:
"Citizens of the Kingdom of San Josef. I address you as your King, who has final and complete power under our law. However, I address to, hopefully, begin the transition to a state in which the King does not hold complete and total power. I address you, the people of San Josef, to tell you that elections will be held in six weeks time, elections to choose the men who will take part in a Constitutional Convention to create the basis for a transition to a democratic system under which all people will be equal and free."
By the time he had reached that point in his speach, the crowd, which was mostly made up of the poorest urban workers in the entire nation, were already cheering with such volume and force that it drowned out his words and seemed to deafen.
Forsaking the remainder of his speach, the king closed with a few words, more for the few thousand radio sets within his nation, where the single national radio station would be broadcasting his speach than for the crowd below:
"That is all. Long live a democratic San Josef!"
Meanwhile, in a well appointed living room, eleven well dressed men sat together and listened to the radio as it carried the King's speach. It was no suprise to them - they were some of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the nobility within San Josef, and as such some of the best connected. They had all known what was going to happen, and they all shared common concerns. Under the present system, the nobility recieved preferencial treatment to an extreme extent - virtually the entierty of the senior positions in the military and the civil service were held by noblemen, for one thing. If democracy came, they would be the biggest losers. After the speach had finished, and the national anthem began to play, one of the men switched off the radio. It was a while before they spoke, and they seemed a little nervous as they began, with the man who had switched off the radio commenting:
"You know, we control the Army. If we ordered them to, we could have our troops storm the palace." another man nodded, and added:
"I can speak for the Air Force - we would all either come out on the side of the Army or stand aside." they all seemed to hesitate for a moment, before one of them raised a point:
"Well, the Army does outnumber the Royal Guard, but... the Army is a little outdated. Our average soldiers still use Mousin-Nagant bolt-action rifles, we have no tanks, our supply line is made up more of mules than of trucks, our entire artillery corp consists of sixteen ancient 45mm guns and three 75mm guns... and the Royal Guard is armed with AKMs, and has four 45mm guns of its own." that point took a moment to sink in, before another man asked:
"Well, the Royal Guard is only one division. How many divisions does the Army have?" to which the first man to speak hesitantly replied:
"Well... we have four Army Rifle divisions, one Mechanized division, of which up to two companies could actually act as mechanized infantry if all of the working trucks were concentrated... and one support Brigade made up of engineers, artillery and so on. If we called up the militia," he continued, "we could have, supposedly, another sixteen divisions. However, we only have enough uniforms for two thirds that number, and enough rifles for half." the man who had asked the question nodded, then asked:
"And the Air Force?" to which the man who had spoken for the Air Force replied:
"Well, we have a notional strength of thirty aircraft. Of those, eighteen can actually fly. Of the planes which can fly, four are propellor driven transport planes, of which three are currently being used by civilian aviators to act as our national airline, while eight are MiG-3 fighters and the other six are unarmed scout planes." the men nodded. Finally, one of them spoke:
"Alright. Perhaps we should allow these elections to be held, and attempt to influence their results. If we cannot achieve a satisfactory result from attempts at influence, then we can overthrow the government." the men considered this. They nodded, and accepted the idea for the immediate future. They would see how things developed.