[RPG] [FEI] [Cathay] A Crown is Minted

[Samuel Knowlton]

Galiard stood in the courtyard of Castle Anacan (or "Canacan," as Dodd 
called it).

"Try to get as many from all of our allies before they depart," Galiard said 
to Dodd. "It's a dreadfully boring speech and I should like to only give it 
once."

"If the quality of boredom prevented m'lud from speeching as a habit," Dodd 
replied dryly, "M'lud would never open his mouth."
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Several hours later, Galiard stood before several assembled nobles from a 
half-dozen realms. Some were making ready to depart; others were tending to 
their injuries.

"It falls upon me to tell you all what it is has been purchas'd with your 
honorable deeds, your sacrifice," Galiard began. He produced from a leather 
satchel an object wrapped in cloth, which he displayed a moment later to be 
a newly-minted crown made of silver with three polished tips, made out to 
resemble either a fleur-de-lis or else the top of a pole-axe -- much debate 
would later be had over which it was.

"The Crown is the symbol of the office, the embodiment of its virtues; it is 
constant and unchanging. The King may be a vessel of what the Crown stands 
for to achieve it, but even at his best is he an imperfect fit. And so we 
concern ourselves in this Establishment with the Crown."

"A crown must have three things before it be truly worthy of the station of 
which it is the most August symbol."

"The first is Duty. A crown does not come ambling into existence, falling 
with chance on some noble's brow and with as little reason. In this were are 
greatly purpose'd by the injuries done us at the hand of Corey of the 
Antozan Commonwealth. As his duty has fallen so low as ne'er befits the 
poorest knight, so does ours rise. When a King falls, a void is created: 
into that void do we thrust our arm, which itself is but wretched, unworthy 
for the task, only adequete when lent the weight of our vassals, our finest 
knights of the North, of the South, of our own household, do pledge with us 
their service, their nobility, their lives. As their duty is to this crown, 
thus so does the crown pledge reciprocal upon all of those without whom this 
Establishment should not occur. We do raise the first pillar of rule and the 
ornamnet of the Crown in this, its greatest duty of office."

"The second is Majesty. Though it scarce boot them to speak of it, any 
peasant may observe the birth of purpose or duty, the decline of an old 
power, a void into which a new one must be born. The challenge of a State 
may only be taken up by those noble of birth and character. In my homeland 
of Lasanar, Majesty is not as you of the Southern Kingdoms know it; it is 
not embodied in a person or an office. It is diffuse, spread among each of 
us in smaller measures. It is Lasanar's greatest strength and also, 
periodically, its weakness, though none can argue that it is not the 
lifeblood of the Republic. In Lasanar, it may be said that there is no 
Majesty; but I say rather that there is as much as any Kingdom, that that 
burden shared doth create it greater than otherwise it would be. We do thus 
imbue into this silver vessel of office that part of Majesty which was 
granted us by our great and former sovereign: the Grand Council of Lasanar. 
Without its trust and charge, none may know what other color this day might 
have taken."

"The third is tradition. Though the crown may be new, it must rest upon the 
ancient bulwarks of governance and conduct that guide all nobles in their 
better selves. I speak of Noblesse Oblige and of Chivalry. It is not enough 
to merely be born noble; nobility is a behavior, a conduct, a 
responsibility, and a duty first tasted by many of us when we joined the 
ranks of Knighthood and led men into battle. The weight of this 
responsibility becomes only a greater burden for those of you who have been 
created Baron or Count, or, the Aenil save you, Duke. No longer are we 
permitted to choose our path based on our own desires or whims; our desires 
are muffled and sometimes quashed outright by our social and legal 
responsibilities. But Honor is purchas'd by the deeds we do."

"And so," finished Galiard, "we do declare this Crown establish'd, and look 
forward to the day when with it a just sovereign shall rule these lands."