October 3022 - Signor 2, Capital of Tokundian Autocracy of Deltaria Nova, Vojnový Pokrik Tūn.
The spires of Signor II sat like a cathedral of garbage on the horizon, which wasn't far from what is was. While the Commoners and the majority of the Thanes believed it was the greatest of the worlds cities, Prince Oswald Godwin knew from illustrations in the Imperial University textbooks that most cities of the Godless continent and Western Homelands were far fairer than Signor. It was the price of Godliness and piety, the Thule lecturers had explained, that the Tokundian folk suffered while the nīfara lived in Godless indolence and comfort. The city was built from the scraps of old industrial graveyards left by the disaster, desolate reminders of the long-gone age of striving technocratic glory, that and wood and thatch, and was doted with Inquisitorial Watchtowers. Structured like an Termite mound of broken Churches and hovels, Signor smelled to the heavens of smoke and unwashed human waste. Oswald was amazed it had taken such little time from the completion of the Restoration for the Commoners to flood the city and the ambitious Thane families to colonize the upper levels. Around the base of the city was a useless defensive wall, manned by undisciplined Freccan Guards.
Oswald passed through the gates without being halted, the unique Princely Banner and Inquisitorial Bodyguard granting him free passage. A groaning crowd of heretics and recently uncovered Genetic Defectives were herded past in the opposite direction, and a crowd of shouting children chased after his carriage. He was here on the request of his father, the Emperor Albert. He wouldn't willingly enter the city for all the whores in Akiganburg, he preferred to remain on the feudal estate allotted to him and engage in the only truly refreshing activities available to him, Hunting and enjoying the female servants. The masses of people and the crude metallic architecture disgusted him, and the constant presence of the Ecclesiarchy and the Thule Geférrǽden, Priests and Politicians trying to bore him, or preparing him for the Throne as they called it. The Churches and the Witenagemot held no interest for him, he cared only for the thrill of the chase and the lower regions of the female form.
The Imperial Palace of the Great Cāsere and Autocrat of Deltaria Nova, ye ābrecanfæsten, the Stormkeep.
The carriage winded it's way up seemingly never ending upward pathway which spiraled up into the higher city, and eventually the Imperial Palace rose above them, like a bright shaft of steely grandeur amidst the collective eyesores which surrounded it. It was built in the style of the Industrial Syndicates, and was comprised of not scrap but real imported raw materials. His fathers crowning achievement, pity there was no nīfara to observe it's glory, the Palace sat atop Signor like an angel astride. Even so, Oswald had no time for architecture, he was thoroughly annoyed at being distracted from his sport.
Passing through the gates without even a show of papers, he jumped down and glared about him, before the Guards began to herd him into the throne room. There, waiting beneath the high Gothic ceiling studded with stained glass effigies of the exploits of the Godwin Clan, from Al'Badara to the Anglo-Deltarian Revolution, the Emperor and his advisers sat. Contrary to some theories which believed the family was of Arab origin, the Godwin's were always tied by blood to the Deltaria Novan nation, though it had been the Al'Badaran branch of the family which had first brought the attention of the world by destroying the Majatran Socialist Republic from within, in which endevor they had been aided by a Deltaria Novan Prince. Centuries the family had followed the sacred mission which had been delivered to the Angeln warriors who had seen a vision of God's messenger when in battle with the Majatran nīfara, to make the blood of the chosen people rule over the lower peoples. For centuries, in open and in secret, the Godwin family had followed the one path open to it, the path to power, total power.
The Emperor was flanked on one hand by the Pontifex Maximus of the Ecclesiarchy and on the other by the Grand Master of the Imperial Witenagemot, his eyes glaring out from behind his rapidly aging face, still as bright as ever. The Grand Master was stern, and the Pontifex smug, and the Emperor was leering.
He bowed to his father, and spoke "Hail Great Cāsere, Lord of Thy Autocracy and Voice of God."
"Behold, my heir old friends!" he wheezed disdainfully "Twenty and five score years of age and nothing to show for it, a shame upon the Godwin Clan, can ye truly believe the blood of Edward Von Godwin and the Mighty Aethelwulf runs in the veins of this vile Hedonist? Have thy tutors taught yon fool nothing?" The Autocrat of Deltaria Nova turned on his advisers "It was thine own responsibility, exalted Lords, to educate him in the ways of the state, to prepare him for the Throne. Yet he learns nothing!" He slammed his fist against his arm rest, Oswald suppressed an urge to yawn "Foolish dawdling with hounds and women despite the best efforts of the Imperial University to draw his attention to the dire position of our nation! How can we expect to rebuild our ruined civilization if ye can nay drill a single thought into his head?" The Emperor broke into a coughing fit, but lifted a hand before the advisers and guards could help him, from beneath his ceremonial grab, a tuft of hair drifted downwards, Oswald started, the illness!
"Don't look surprised, boy, this is our nations curse, the mark we must bear for our sins" the Emperor grimaced, "Technology may be our damnation, but we can only look to the craft of the nīfara is our only hope to rid us of the illness, and the mutation-" he doubled up in another fit, sacking pitifully "Our only hope is the outside, if we are to triumph over them. These feudalistic fools can nay teach you how to understand the nīfara world, and for this reason I'm sending you outland to study. "
Oswald blinked, outland! He thought immediately of the luxury he would enjoy, the privacy from the Inquisition, nīfara women he could enjoy without worrying about the genetic defectives he might produce, shoes!
"Oswald, you must see the world around us in more than bad drawings created by Thule propagandists, they are for Thanes and Commoners, not the Godwin Clan. You must see the world which seeks everyday to destroy what we have built! A world full to bursting with Jews, false Christians, bestial perverts, race mixers and Infidels! We in Deltaria Nova are the last bastion of the Holy Tokundian race, even our Mother Deltaria has become a Republic, a Liberal Republic!" He breathed heavily, and after calming down he continued "Ye must go to a Monarchy, even though they be False Monarchies, one of the great ones. The House of Rothingren-Traugott may be damned to hell for eternity but they are powerful, indeed the most powerful." He seemed to stare into the distance, then waved his hand, "Be gone, I'm finished with ye!"
Oswald heard the coughing as he left the chamber.
