the senate floor

[aprescoup]

( ooc: The following video network transmission can be seen and answered by everyone in Ephes, including all characters in the party, politically oriented or otherwise. Key notes:

■ Everyone can tag in, threadjack or pose questions. Don't forget to introduce yourselves and your patron, if you want!

■ NPCs (politicians or rabble) can witness your characters' comments and also speak up, ask questions, cheer or boo as needed.

■ There is no private messaging available in this post.

■ Various Senators may be swayed to give you their vote, based on the speeches of fellow politicians and supporters of Messalina. Everyone else can assist and/or sabotage as needed!

■ This is dated to the Tenth Day of Chaining, before Maximus Faustus' banquet on the Twelfth. Consider the post OOCly available for tagging with NPCs until 4 October, but permanently available for threadjacking between characters! )

	SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS: Good people of Ephes, good women, good men. I come to bring you the wisdom of the Honourable Caius Justus, who, but for a greater calling, would walk today these sacred halls among us —
	A senator, muffled: Where is he? Where is Justus? Another, farther back: ...hasn’t been seen for days, for weeks, they say, what wisdom is this? With his whore, Valeria... A third, closer: He is alive, we know it sure? We know it certain?
	CAELIUS SILVANUS: Forgive our impunity, Speaker, but it is only fear and care that keep us grounded in our great uncertainty over the fate of beloved Caius Justus! Who, we do not wish to contend has abandoned his duties and obligations, before this honoured assembly and men of good standing, whom he has not conceded to see in —
	RHEA SABINIA: What care, Silvanus? You nip at his heels like a dog on a bone, you have no rest!
	CAELIUS SILVANUS: I have a right. As do all men and women here, fine men and fine women, full not of whim and verve but of reason and inquiry, and we wish to know where. Is. Caius? What is to become of us? What of Mistress Messalina, whose plea remains unheard for months?
	RHEA SABINIA: Father and mercy, these are the days of our Chained Father, you want to speak of war now? Repent and think better of your —
	MARIANUS VALERIUS: Though it pains me to agree, for we all know our past discontent, but Silvanus speaks with reason. A day of no qualms will never come. We have dead things at our gates, living in our villas, drinking our wine, and making demands of us! We must turn. Her. Away.
	MAXIMUS FAUSTUS: And why?
	A senator, muffled: ...why? Another, farther back: He asks why! Maximus Faustus asks why! A third, closer: Well, isn't it obvious? Isn't it plain?
	MAXIMUS FAUSTUS: Is it? Months past, we sent Captain Narula to task, we told him, raise us armies, and by the Chained God, he has done. The best, the finest of the realm, absent only the skilled command to win us victory.
	MARIANUS VALERIUS: If he is so honoured and so accomplished, that feral wolf, Narula, why do you not entrust him?
	SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS: As we know, Caius Justus holds Captain Narula in great esteem, but has had his reasons to...
	MAXIMUS FAUSTUS: Caius Justus is not here. But one thing is certain, in my heart, as should be in yours: he is a beloved son of Ephes, who in turn loves the mother citadel above all. He wishes her splendour and her growth, and Messalina would give it.
	RHEA SABINIA: How magnanimous she is! She would give us our war spoils, won with our armies!
	MAXIMUS FAUSTUS: Would you have us only gain reward, taking no risk? Have you won a single coin piece in your sour life? One must pay and compromise in any alliance!
	MARIANUS VALERIUS: If she is so accomplished, why does she not conquer her citadels alone? Why does she not repel evil, and free her people? Why is she at our gate, begging? Are these not her people? Should she not speak to them, as we speak, brother to brother, in this assembly? Perhaps it is simply that the dead are not civilised. They cannot be trusted. They must be repelled. Why take chances against us? Against Ephes?
	MAXIMUS FAUSTUS: Valerius, your father’s father owned ships for fishmongering, but by the Chained, have no fear, the stink has finally washed off you. You reek instead of cowardice!
	MARIANUS VALERIUS: You dare?
	SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS: Sileeeeeeeeeeence! Silence! This assembly asks silence! It is shamed into rumination and overcome by the illustrious rhetoric of such esteemed speakers. The Senate will hear... from our youngest tribunes, good citizens and representatives, on such matters as Mistress Messalina and the dead. Our scribe will write down the opinions for the study of Caius Justus himself, and have no fear, Silvanus, he will soon be with us. Now, whoever has a learned opinion: speak.

Comments

Username: of corpse not / video

[nothinglikefather]

[ Well he's addressed famous people back home hasn't he? Why should he hold back now?

And so he clears his throat and is ever so glad he's taken to wearing Ephian tunics. Maybe it makes him looks less like an outsider.]

Learned senators, my name is Jacob and I am new to fine Ephes. I'm just a traveller, but I have come to appreciate your city very quickly, it's achievements outweighing that of my own home. Such a grand place can not have many equals. If I may say so?

Ephes is a great city without Mistress Messalina- it will continue to be so. It seems to me she needs you more than you need her.

[aprescoup]

A first Senator, outraged: He's only a stranger, what's he to know?

The second, mollified: Well, he speaks plainly, and candidly, and there's no shame in sincerity -

A third, muttering: We don't need the high opinions of foreigners.

And the second, marveling: But we're all right to let a dead foreigner lead our armies, are we?

[nothinglikefather]

[Huh. He expected more of an attack on him, but the senate, just like the politicians back home, seem content to argue amongst themselves. He momentarily considers simply ducking out now but where's the fun in that? Perhaps he should just... stir the pot a little more.]

Isn't Brother Narula feared and respected enough, my lords? And ladies. Obviously.

[aprescoup]

MARIANUS VALERIUS

You are new. Everyone knows Narula's a demon, a demon and a scoundrel and a fraud. Couldn't progress in the rightful ranks, but now he's a captain? It was his brother who was always the honest, the respectable soldier. What he runs there in those barracks, frankly, my friends of the Senate, I ask you: which of us feels, in truth, protected by the Hand? Who would trust those armed hooligans in our streets? With our lives and our civility?

un: abwhorent / audio

[wifedup]

Do you convene just to argue with each other? Interesting. And certainly useful for those who do not wish to be examined closer.

( He isn't interested in playing polite today it would seem. )

[aprescoup]

SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS

My dear friend, you are young, and you are new in your position. And all men who are possessed of youth and novelty think they are the first to be afflicted by such circumstances. They assume their arguments have never been spoken before! But indeed they have. This great and wise Senate takes pleasure in debate and in the greater refinement of understanding that comes from conflicting notions. Arguing is of help.

[wifedup]

It's a fine waste of time, and presumably useful for filling your pockets. I'll remember that one.

( He won't. He tries to imagine the Ten Devils allowed to debate and the very thought has him shuddering. Changing Ghost would pontificate to the point where Wen Kexing would have to kill him just for some peace. )

Is Mistress Messalina not here to answer for herself? How are you to find out what it is she wants if you spend your time with such ... circular discourse?

[aprescoup]

SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS

Colleague. I wonder what my dear friend Servius Flaccus would say, to know his protegee speaks both so freely and uncouthly in a gathering that is not obliged to hear him. Messalina has presented her plea already. It was heard. For understandable fear of retribution against those who do not support her case, she cannot be allowed to witness the discussions of the vote.

video; UN: Black Prince

[blackscales]

My noble friends of the senate, I speak to you as always to highlight my own cause. War would, no doubt, bring more orphans, more widows and veterans to good Procula Avita's door. Conflict is inevitable, I understand. Peace is a goal, to be envied, peace is what we seek so our own children may grow up well and thrive in a world we build for them. Yet war must be waged to stand up for what we believe in, and the freeing of a people is a noble aspiration. I do not question Messalina in this goal, for truly she has travelled far to achieve it and must be achieved. My questions are on the future. When her people are freed, will they live side by side with us? Will these free cities be half undead? Will your children walk to the market in the morning amongst them? Will some stay here, in Ephes, having grown familiar with it? Stay in the cities we free? We use what money we have to house and feed the orphans we have, how many more orphans would be made in aid of someone else's war? Have we the funding to support becoming citadels filled with undead refugees? Will they require work, what work do we have for them? Will they strive for a voice in our senate?

[ A member of Messalina's group in the senate?! Surely not. ]

[aprescoup]

SENATORS

One, muttered: Oh, not the orphans.
Another, the same: I gave them three gold on my way in, practically ripped it out of my hands -
The third, more peaceful: Come now, one of you is ten of them.
The second: Not when they gather.

MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

Of course this honoured assembly cherishes the fate of our children, but... are our dead not also our dead? Would you not say, in fact, they were here first, before the children were ever born? Have they no claim to these grounds they have helped build or defended?

[blackscales]

So you believe Messalina's dead are all citizens of Ephes? The dead that she frees are all citizens of Ephes?

[ All of them? ]

[aprescoup]

MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

Why would all the dead of the world come here, and not linger in the territories known to them from their first life? Does it not seem plain that sentiment and nostalgia would have their say? That the dead would choose to stay thereabout?

un: man's greatest treasure - video

[reparo]

[ You gave her a job, good Ephes, you get to deal with it. Walking freely, everywhere, and interrupting with -]

Peanuts, get your peanuts!

Perfectly seasoned and roasted - five a portion, good sirs, but three if you would swear on your honour to shut up and listen to the reason that Rhea Sabinia is trying to impart.

un: of corpse not / audio

[nothinglikefather]

Here here!

[reparo]

If only they would.

[nothinglikefather]

[ It's nice to hear another English voice, despite the situation. ]

It's early days. I doubt they'll make a choice just yet. But that would involve them talking sensibly and listening to each other and politicians don't often do that in my experience.

[aprescoup]

RHEA SABINIA

Thank you. And now, as for the matter of -


SENATORS

One senator, livened: Peanuts?
The second: She said, peanuts!
The third: I heard it! Peanuts!
The fourth: We want peanuts, deserve peanuts?
The second: Are they the good peanuts?
The first: Mmmmmmm, had myself a stale, bland fistful in the northern market.
The fourth: She's from the northern market?
The second: Why would she be from the northern market?
The fourth: ...does have a look about her, a little northern.
The third: Why don't you just ask -
The fourth: Oh, she'd say, would she? You're the girl with the stale peanuts? Bad enough she sells them bland.
The first: Come to think of it, she does look awfully like a sort with stale, bland nuts.
The second: I like them a little crisp, me.
The fourth: Well, don't go to her! Haven't you heard? Her peanuts are stale and bland. And I bet they've got mould!

[reparo]

[Oh but Hermione bristles quickly - and snips back, quickly and almost like a hissing cat, to number 4. ]

If I am the merchant girl with the stale peanuts then you must be the Senator with the stale [ Improvise, Hermione!] penis.

[ W H Y. ] You do have that look about you after all.

[ To the others, quickly: ]

They're no more stale than your debates, and considering that your debates are not stale, my good men...

[aprescoup]

SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS

Gentlemeeeeeeeeen! Laaaaaaaaaaaaddddddyyyyyyyyy. Let us not be distracted by peanuts and... penises and all other such members — matters. We were speaking of Messalina.

un: lockwood

[recklessenough]

[ All of this, reminds Lockwood why he made the decision to set up his own small agency rather than trying to work with the large agencies, which were governed by committee.

In a rare display of patience, he listens for quite some time -the interlude with Hermione is especially entertaining- before speaking up. ]

You argue as if you have all the time in the world for such pettiness. You do not. [ He begins, using his powerful voice and very clear, sharp diction as best he can to rise above the babble of the senate gaggle. ]

In my world, shallow minds like to attribute motivations under the labels of "good" and "evil." More learned minds think, instead, in terms of "law" and "chaos". [ Lockwood, being Lockwood, you can bet there is some theater and jazz hands going along with this. ] In each instance we are discussing two diametrically opposed extremes, that ultimately at their very root, cannot exist without one another. Law cannot define itself without Chaos; Good cannot sanctify itself without Evil. [ Pause... ]

It is the same with Living and Dead. There will ever be conflict between the two states, but each defines the other, which means you are not going to be able to ignore the politics governing each side.

Aside from our esteemed Justus, have any of you spoken with Messalina? Have you heard, directly with your own ears, her reasons for knocking on your gates? Have you taken time to ask her questions, such as why she feels gifting you with lands won by your own armies is considered a fair trade?

More importantly have you asked yourselves how well Ephes will fare, in the long run, if it tries to stand alone against the Brotherhood? Do you honestly believe, you are in a position to repel the advances of the Undead Lieges, let alone ... expand your own interests so long as the Undead Lieges hold control over the unliving?

"Animals die for men to live. Men die for gods to prosper."

Looking around at this esteemed gathering, I see a lot of individuals who are powerful among the living, but little more than pawns to the dead. I think you have one, rare shot to retain your autonomy, and it is through this opportunity to work with Messalina.

You have a very narrow window in which to argue terms that are more favorable to you. You all are in danger of wasting it through petty bickering, and an inflated sense of your own safety.

[aprescoup]

SENATORS

A senator: What is he saying?
The second: That we're doomed. And out of time. And some poetry, or the other.
The third: Are we?
The second: Doomed, out of time, or poetry?
A fourth senator gives the longest of exhalations
The third senator: Not so foolish a question, is it? I don't think, me!



SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS

Friends, colleagues, lend your minds and your ears to the matter at hand. He speaks of Messalina's advances —



MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

As have we all, for hours. And he is correct. Messalina is an opportunity.



CAELIUS SILVANUS

All the same, it is Caius Justus who must come here and share his thoughts.


MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

And if he doesn't?



CAELIUS SILVANUS

...what?



MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

We must prepare for the saddening eventuality that Caius Justus might not be available or willing to lead us further. And take action all the same.

[Video, un: howl in one]

[mustact]

[ For a good while, he lets the discussion carry on, leaving the other members of his party to speak. Eventually, after ruminating on just what to say, he does speak up, slowly and carefully. ]

I understand the concern for your own and the concern for Messalina's true intentions. However, the people she speaks for clearly exist. If the dead are not allowed rest, should they not at least be granted dignity? If they are indeed enslaved, should they not be freed? Is that not an injustice that should concern all, not only those who are affected?

Whatever Messalina's intentions, if there are people who are suffering, I believe it is wrong not to act.

[aprescoup]

SENATORS

A nearby senator: Dignity, what dignity? You think anyone here has dignity?
The second: I beg my colleague to speak for himself.
The first: Oh, come now. Your dignity's on sale every time there's a vote on grain taxes, you offer it out for the first bribe —
The second: How dare you!



SPEAKER HORTENSIUS MAGNUS

Colleagues!



MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

He speaks truly. There's not a word out of his mouth that wasn't truth.



CAELIUS SILVANUS

How do you know? Dead, are you? Suffering, are you?



MAXIMUS FAUSTUS

I know, because we have been here, drying our mouths for hours, and this is the first plea for care for our dead. I know, because they are easily forgotten. I know, because until Messalina, we never thought of what happens to us past our lives. We put our remains in the ground and in boxes, and we make all the men and women who have built us... disappear. Out of sight. Out of mind. We are selfish. And that is a sickness only a great act of bravery can cure. Of comradery. Messalina offers us more than an invitation, more than colonies, she offers redemption.

[mustact]

[ 'Redemption' isn't precisely what he was going for, but ... If it works. ]

I do not think anyone need be dead to see or imagine their plight, sir.

[ Spoken directly to Caelius. ]

As you say, her plea has gone unheard for months. I am certain many of them would rather be elsewhere, if they felt they had the option.

[aprescoup]

CAELIUS SILVANUS

Caius must agree it. With his blessing, so done.