Imperial Chronicles
It was not often that the Emperor chose to make an important speech in the Senate, outside the usual speech scheduled at the beginning of the year that inaugurated the first senatorial session of the year. Most of the time, the Emperor's Exarchs would do the speaking for their masters.
But so it was that the Emperor now occupied the central podium in the Senate hall; a hall that dated back to the 18th century ready to give an address to all the Senators from across the Empire. All the Senators were duly elected membert has, quite unlike during the hey day of the Empire when they were largely drawn from the aristocracy, or given titles by the Emperor. In the aftermath of the tide of democracy that swept across the world, the Emperor Theodosius V, issued an imperial edict abolishing the senate of old, and the creation of a new one; one that was filled with elected representatives from the various dioceses in each theme. Also, abolished were the office of the dux and all the themes would have their own respective elected governors.
The Emperor spoke. "My dear Senators. Praise the Lord God for what his done, and that he may always shower upon this most Holy Empire his blessings. Amen."
"Amen," intoned all.
"I know all of you are asking questions regarding the sudden appearance of Rhe Ann Sheppard at the funeral of Prime Minister Shroom in Shroomania, and how uncanny a resemblance Rhe Ann Sheppard has with the ... previous ruler of Shepistan."
He let the words linger for a while, and then continued, "The truth to be told, was that the ruler of Shepistan, did not die during the mysterious retaliation against Shepistan, purportly for their gleeful destruction of Astaria. He is very much alive, and now is ruler of Sirnorth. He is a puppet of the Old Dominion, who had found him in a bunker."
He let the shock fill the hall, and then continued, "In those envelopes, which were sealed and given to you, you will find much of the documentation surrounding that event. I must say that I was privvy to this, because Byzantium was formerly a member of the MESS. I had totally forgotten about this fact, until Sheppard returned to the public eye recently.
I had presumed for a long while, that he would forever rot in Dominion prisons and the lack of trial was merely a formality to interrogate him for intelligence... because I thought the MESS would never allow him to return to politics in any fashion, or even allow him to ever grasp even an ounce of power again. I tried to convince myself that this was reasonable given the circumstances and the bastard's life sentence was an enough humiliation for his crimes.
Until I saw his face at the funeral of Prime Minister Shroom, and there could be no mistake. The bastard is alive and well and apparently now sits in a position of power. I was wrong. It seems that while I was in the MESS, some matters were concealed to me, especially leading up to the Sirnorthi campaign. I had objected to the use of nuclear weapons during that campaign, and the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed this in the most possible explicit way. In order to legitimize their campaign, they sought to use a figurehead who would do their bidding; a figurehead who deserves nothing less but to suffer war crime trials and a subsequent execution for the attacks on Byzantium and many within the Old Continent, along with much of his brethen who are accomplices in atrocity and genocide.
Moreover, some would dare suggest that CATO deserves to be punished on the unprovable charge that we were the ones who launched the attack on Shepistan. Even if we did launch the attack, Shepistan deserves nothing less because what they did to Astaria simply cannot go unanswered because it implied that a nation could bully or destroy a lesser nation into submission without facing the consequences. In fact, many in this world do need to be reminded about this especially with regard to recent events.
I am saddened and ashamed that I did not reveal this truth to the world, and no doubt there will be some who would denounce me either as a traitor, or a liar. It matters not. What matters is that the truth is told and then the world knows who the true liars are, and that they would rather portray themselves as high and holy, despite the fact that like all men, they are prideful and conceited, driven by greed and lust, wrathful out of spite, hungry for more luxuries, and at times apathetic. I then ask for your forgiveness for concealing this from you." He bowed, to the applause of all.
"
- PeZook
