A family history

[Rheinbund]

THE KING


14 December 2009

“And then we still have these two laws you need to sign, Your Majesty,” Chancellor Horst Jörgens said to King Heinrich IV of Eiffelland. He was at the palace for his weekly meeting with the King on Monday. Now the two men were sitting in the King’s working office.
“Again that law legalising abortion and that law lowering the age of consent for homosexual intercourse? Chancellor, you and your predecessors have come to me with those two laws time by time for the last 20 years. For the zillionth time in my life, no, I won’t sign those laws.
Abortion is murder. If the life of the mother is in danger, yes; then we have to choose between two evils, and then the death of the unborn baby is a lesser evil, so I signed that law. But abortion just for fun, no. I am not going to approve murder in that case. And if a woman gets into social or financial trouble because of her unborn baby, then society will have to take that up. Make legislation to protect women in that situation so that they can give birth to their babies and are safe after that, and I will sign it right away. But not this. Not murder because the woman can’t afford a baby.
And for homosexuality, that is unnatural and remains unnatural. The body of a man does not have the right shape for sleeping with another man. The body of a woman does not have the right shape for sleeping with another woman. The body of a human being is meant for sleeping with somebody of the opposite sex. I can’t reintroduce a total ban on homosexuality, but I won’t cooperate with making it even easier.
And I must say that I’m becoming increasingly fed-up with you putting those two laws under my nose. How often must I have to say ‘no’ before you stop showing those two laws?” the King said to the Chancellor.
“Your Majesty, you seem to have missed the point of your position in a Constitutional Monarchy. We, the Cabinet and the Parliament, make the laws. Not you. Because these laws have been approved by the Staatstag and the Staatsrat, they must be considered the will of the people. Nothing else than that. What you are currently doing, is blocking the will of the people,” the Chancellor said, already knowing that it was useless to convince the King of more modern stances towards abortion and homosexuality.
“But you are forgetting something as well,” the King said with a threatening tone in his voice the Chancellor had never heard before. “I am not obliged to sign. One way or the other, I am also one of the checks and balances of the Constitutional Monarchy. If the people want something that will harm the country, or something completely unethical, like in this case, and I am the only one seeing that, then it is my duty to prevent that from happening. I don’t want to see those laws again, Chancellor, and I don’t want to hear a lecture on constitutional law from you again, either. I hope you understand that. Is there anything else to discuss?”
“No, Your Majesty,” the Chancellor said, not knowing what to think.
“Good. Then I will ask my secretary to have you shown the way out,” the King said.

Horst Jörgens was the fifth Chancellor and the second Sociodemocratic Chancellor the King had cooperated with. Cooperating with the four previous Chancellors was not really problematic, apart from those two laws they kept on coming up with. Horst Jörgens was the first one with whom the King had trouble to cooperate with. And the King knew very well why. Jörgens was so incredibly much convinced of himself being in the right. That other Sociodemocratic Chancellor also knew it all so well, but at least he was open for discussions. Jörgens was definitely not. The King even had the feeling that he was against the Monarchy. Unfortunately, it was politically impossible to form a coalition without him.
Today the meeting with the Chancellor escalated. The King felt obliged to show that he was the King. And he would force Jörgens out of his position when needed, although he would not like it at all to do something like that with the political leader of the biggest political party of the country.
Then again. Those two laws. Jörgens’s predecessors, nota bene Christiandemocrats, had already harrassed the King with those two laws. Every week again those two laws. The fact that it was the will of the people did not make it good laws. If you sleep with each other, then you must take all consequences. Well, OK, except death. And sex was something between man and woman. That was the design. Who are humans to change that? In any case, they are not God.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE CHANCELLOR


17 December 2009

The Cabinet meetings are always planned on Friday morning. Usually, all the cabinet members meet the night before as well, but then per political party. For this coalition, that meant that the ministers of the SPE met at Schloss Bellevue (which was the Chancellery and the Chancellor’s residence), and that the ministers of the CDV met at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

“Ladies, gentlemen, the King rejected those two laws again,” the Chancellor said during the Thursday Night meeting. Then he outlined the conversation he had with the King last Monday.
“What is the problem, Horst? Every governmental institution is already working along the lines of those new laws. Let’s just wait until the King dies and his son takes over,” somebody said.
“Do you know how long that can take? Look at the Emperor of Wiese. That man is 99 years old. If our King is as healthy as that man, then we can wait for 2 decades, if not more. 2 decades in which, mind you, governmental institutions have to disobey laws issued by the government,” the Chancellor said. “That is the reason why we cannot let this continue. But to be very honest, this is a good occasion to settle something else.”
“What do you mean?” somebody else asked.
“I want to modernise the constitution. Eiffelland is so enormously pleased to see itself as a democracy, but the highest person of the state gets his position because of descend instead of a vote. And not only that, somebody who has not been voted to the highest position of the state has the possibility to block laws he does not agree with,” the Chancellor said. “I want to reduce the monarchy to a merely ceremonial institution. This is a wish of many people in the country, and also of many politicians, but nobody dares to bring it up officially. Now we have the occasion. We can plainly show why the current situation does not work,” the Chancellor said.
“Horst, how in Heaven’s name do you think that the King will sign for that?” another minister asked.
“I don’t know yet, but I want to try to get the support of the Christiandemocrats for this,” the Chancellor said.

Horst Jörgens had his own agenda. He himself was an antimonarchist. He wanted to abolish the monarchy. He wanted the republic. He considered a ceremonial monarchy a weak compromise. He wanted an elected person as Head of State. But he didn’t tell that, because he doubted whether he would get the other people of his party with him.

But most important, he wanted to get rid of the current King, a man he considered a fossil from an ancient era. His plan was as follows. He would get a law on the ceremonial Kingship through the Staatstag and the Staatsrat, and if the King would refuse to sign, then plan B would come into effect.
The Eiffellandian Constitution contained some clauses on ways to pass the Head of State, so it was possible to pass the King. He could be impeached, he could be declared insane, he could be declared temporary incapable of reigning. And after that had been done, Jörgens would replace the Law on the Kingship with a Law on the Presidency. This was possible, because the Constitution only outlined the duties of the Head of State and did not tell that the Head of State was a King; that was to be outlined in a separate law. That separate law was the Law on the Kingship.
Jörgens’s plan B contained a media campaign against the monarchy and the King, after which it would be easier to take final steps against the King. And then all the necessary laws would come into effect in no-time.

Jörgens managed to get the support of his ministers for discussing the institution of a ceremonial Kingship.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE RIVAL


18 December 2009

Depending on the athmosphere in the coalition and the consensus on the topic at hand, the end time of the Cabinet meeting varied between Friday afternoon and the early morning of the next day. In the two Cabinets led by Horst Jörgens, no cabinet meeting had ended before 8 p.m., and that end time was becoming later and later during the last months. And that was not because of the good athmosphere.

It was around 9 p.m. that the Chancellor started with the subject of the two laws the King refused to sign. After that, he proposed his plans for a ceremonial Kingship.

“Chancellor, I request a suspension of the meeting,” vice-Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Matthias Graf von Seydewitz said.
“We just had a suspension of this meeting, and it’s already 9 ‘o clock. We really need to push forward with this, and not only because the journalists are waiting for my weekly press-conference,” the Chancellor said.
“This topic has too much impact to rush over it. I don’t want to discuss about it before I have thought about it, and discussed about it with my CDV-colleagues. If those journalists are so important to you, then we can put this item on the agenda of the next cabinet meeting. If this point is so important to you, then we let the journalists wait,” Von Seydewitz said.
“OK, I will suspend the meeting. We will continue in 10 minutes,” the Chancellor said. All the CDV-ministers rose and left the meeting room.

“What in Heaven’s name is that man up to?” Von Seydewitz asked as all the CDV‑ministers had gathered together and the door of the room had been closed. “Now he’s really gone mad. What is turning around and raging in his head?”
“I think I know. Hate towards the phenomenon ‘monarchy’ in general,” Minister for Internal Affairs Philipp Neubauer said.
“How do you know that?”
“One part of student’s life is drunkenness. We all know that. I was in the same study year as Jörgens. We both studied in Ingelheim. And the moment that he proposed to make the Kingship ceremonial, something came to my remembrance. I once witnessed a discussion in a pub between Jörgens and somebody else. The topic was the monarchy. OK, it was a discussion in which much beer was involved, but you know the saying about drunks. They always tell the truth. And Jörgens was heavily anti-monarchy. Now he might see a chance for abolishing the monarchy in general,” Neubauer said.
“I don’t see that happen with the approval of the current King, and I highly doubt whether the crown-prince would agree with this,” Von Seydewitz said. “In any case, I am not willing to help him abolishing the monarchy. This is what I propose. I don’t think that Jörgens will tell what he really wants, but let’s try to hear him out. And after that, we block the proposal with threatening to blow up the cabinet.”
All agreed.

“I re-open the meeting. We were discussing the ceremonial Kingship. I give the word to the vice-Chancellor,” the Chancellor said.
“Chancellor, could you tell us more about your plans?” the vice-Chancellor asked.
“I don’t have clear yet how I want to fill in the ceremonial Kingship. I want to have all your input in that,” the Chancellor said.
“But how do you want to put it through? You not only need our cooperation, but also the cooperation of the King. How do you plan to get that?” Von Seydewitz asked.
“I don’t know that yet, either. Also that will be something to discuss about,” the Chancellor said.
“There are quite a lot of unclarities and uncertainties in your plans, Chancellor,” Von Seydewitz bemused. After that, he and the other Christiandemocratic ministers did more attempts to get more information out of the Chancellor.
As it became clear to Von Seydewitz that the Chancellor would not tell anything more, he said: “Chancellor, it appears to me that you not only neglected to think about a concrete plan for this and how to carry it out, but also neglected to think about the implications of your plan. This can turn into an enormous scandal and a loss-of-face for all of us. I won’t cooperate with it. Should this meeting decide to carry on with it, then I will offer my resignation to the King,” the vice-Chancellor said. All the other Christiandemocratic ministers indicated the same.
“Of course you are against, Matthias Theodor Philipp Karl Wilhelm Graf von und zu Seydewitz. You are in the same camp as the royal family, and you fear that your social class will loose its historic power,” the Chancellor said.
“I don’t need to defend myself against accusations lacking any base of facts, Chancellor. My objections against this proposal are not based on my family tree, but on the arguments I just mentioned,” Von Seydewitz replied.
The ceremonial Kingship was not voted upon. The meeting lasted until half past ten.

After the cabinet meeting ended, all the Christiandemocratic ministers went to Von Seydewitz’s house in Trier.

“The man is utterly mad.”
“How did you manage to stay so cool after that last remark, Matthias?”
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll get him later,” Von Seydewitz said. “Now we need to keep this cabinet in the air, so that we have the time to think up a plan. But we have to be quick. Jörgens is going to try to push this through, no matter how. He only knows that he’ll have to search for other partners for this. Anyway, I was already fed-up with Jörgens a bit earlier than today. Let’s think about a way of manoeuvring him out of Schloss Bellevue and saving the monarchy.”

 

[Rheinbund]

THE PRINCE


15 December 2009

“It’s unfair Ludwig. You play in the schoolband, you organise the school parties, you’re in the philosophy club, you do Taekwon-do twice a week, how come that you have time to do your homework and get all those good notes?” Franziska, one of Ludwig’s classmates, asked.
“I don’t know,” Ludwig said smilingly. “I just do what I like. And my notes are not always good. It’s not for nothing that I dropped all those mathematical subjects. I always got fives and sixes for those.”

But it was true. Prince Ludwig was enormously busy. Was it needed to organise something for the class? He did it. Organising a party for the higher classes? He did it. Setting up a charity event to raise funds for victims of a catastrophe in Dagomba? He did it.
He played the keyboards and sang in the schoolband. His knowledge of popular music reached from the 1950s to present-day, and he also knew something about classic music. He was 4th Kup in Taekwon-do, and sailed during summer. And everywhere in-between, he did his homework and got good notes. Prince Ludwig went on and on and on without a break. But he never showed any signs of stress or fatigue. He was never in a hurry but always there where he was needed, although he was sometimes late for an appointment.
Half-long light-blonde hair, sapphire-blue eyes, an angel-like face, 1.85 meters tall, slim, he was the dreamboy of many girls at school, and also of some boys. Quiet, balanced, never arrogant and always humble, the complete opposite of a macho but very self-confident in spite of that, he was very popular, never took part in bullying someone, and often defended people against bullies.

Prince Ludwig primarily did so much so that he would not have to think about what bothered him. He had built up a very good mask to hide his feelings and sorrows. At least, that was what he thought.


16 December 2009

“OK, that was it for today. See you all next Friday,” the Sports teacher said to the boys of Prince Ludwig’s class and the other class he had sports with. After that, the 18 people went to the changing rooms to shower and change clothes.
Ludwig was one of the first people leaving the changing room. One hour later, he would have a repetition with the schoolband. He had planned to do some homework beforehand, but first he went to the toilet.

“Ludwig.”

Ludwig was startled. He looked at the way the voice came. It was Bastian, a boy from the class that had the sports lessons at the same moment as Ludwig’s class.

“Are you gay?” Bastian asked. Ludwig didn’t answer.

“You are gay, aren’t you? Because why else would you constantly stare at me during the sports lessons?”

Now Ludwig became really frightened. How good was his mask really? Bastian had walked slowly towards Ludwig. Now he stood in front of him.

“You are gay, Ludwig. Come on, say it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bastian,” Ludwig said.
“You do. It’s not only the staring at me. It’s more than that. The homosexuality beams out of your whole body. I feel that you’re gay.”
“Cut that rubbish, I’m straight,” Ludwig said.
“Every gay feels that you are gay, Ludwig. The famous gaydar.” Bastian stopped for some seconds. Then he continued. “Come out of that closet, Ludwig, and tell.”

Suddenly Bastian embraced Ludwig and kissed him on his mouth. Instinctively, Ludwig answered the kiss, but after a few seconds, he pushed Bastian away.

“Stay away from me,” Ludwig screamed.
“You are really gay, Ludwig. But of course, you’re a prince. What a shame would it be to the family if you came out of the closet. You ought to marry a sweet little noble girl and make children with her. That is what your family wants from you. And that is why your grandfather blocks every law equalling gay couples with straight couples,” Bastian screamed.
“You don’t know anything of me, Bastian! Anything! And you wouldn’t understand it, either! Leave me alone!” And Ludwig left the toilet. Bastian had troubles hiding his tears.

Ludwig went to a toilet somewhere else in the building. He splashed several hands of water into his face, and looked into the mirror.
Today was the first time in years that he had lost the control over himself. And he realised that he was less able to hide his real feelings than he always thought. That was very disturbing and extremely frightening. Ludwig needed the mask he had built up to hide the fact that he was gay.

Ludwig’s grandfather was a man who did not tell much about his feelings. Discussions with him were always about politics, history, science, art and religion. And he especially never talked about his second son, the late Prince Philipp.
Ludwig never understood why. His father told more about uncle Philipp, but Ludwig always had the feeling that also he avoided some parts of the story.
During the summer holidays of one year earlier, Ludwig found the diaries of his uncle in the loft of Schloss Schönhausen, the palace where he lived. Because he wanted to know more about the topic, he started to read.

Philipp wrote a lot about his boyfriend. And a huge lot about the love he felt for his boyfriend. And about the fact that they were discovered by Philipp’s father. Philipp was forced to end the affair with his boyfriend and to accept an arranged marriage with a woman clearly of the type “unmarriable”. On the last page of the diary, Philipp wrote that it would be the last page he would write. He didn’t consider life worth living any more, and decided to commit suicide.

Ludwig had heard the official story of the late Prince Philipp’s death: A car accident. Now he knew the background of that accident. And Ludwig also realised what this story meant for himself. He knew that his grandfather’s stance on homosexuality had not changed since the 1980s. So if Ludwig would be discovered in flagranti with a boy, then he would probably marry before his oldest brother would.
That was the reason why he had pushed Bastian away, although he was heavily in love with the boy. But he also knew that Bastian was involved in the gay rights movement. A relationship with Bastian was impossible to keep silent, first of all because Bastian himself would not remain silent.
Ludwig had already made up his plan. He would finish school, do his military service here, and then leave the country for the Skånskige Statsunionen or Arendaal. Then he would finally be free. But now he needed to hide the homosexual part of himself, otherwise he would never be free. He needed to keep his hands off of love, how much that would hurt. And it hurt much today.

Ludwig had not completely calmed down as he realised that he had to go to the school band repetion. But he went. He would find out how it would go.

OOC: Please treat the events around Prince Philipp as OOC-knowledge.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE CHANCELLOR


21 December 2009

The 38 year old Klaus Seifert was a member of the Staatstag for the Sociodemocrats. He was a cunning jurist, and the Sociodemocratic fraction’s speaker for juridical affairs. For that reason, the Chancellor considered him the right person for investigating the possibilities of a ceremonial kingship. So he invited him for a meeting at Schloss Bellevue.

“Good evening, Mr. Seifert,” the Chancellor said, as he led Seifert into his study. “Do you want something to drink? I usually drink a glass of Port each night. Will you join me?”
“Yes please, Chancellor,” Seifert said.
After the two men seated themselves with a glass of Lusitanian Port, the Chancellor started to talk.
“Mr. Seifert, what is your idea about the monarchy?” the Chancellor asked after a quarter of an hour of smalltalk.
Seifert was a bit confused with this question. The monarchy was not really an issue to him. Strictly speaking, it would be more democratic if power was handed over by elections instead of by inheritance, but the system in Eiffelland worked well according to him. He didn’t see a real need to change it. And that was what he told the Chancellor.
“I tend to disagree with you in this, Mr. Seifert. The King refuses to sign two laws. You probably know which laws I mean. The fact that everybody already abide by those laws although they are not official laws yet, does not change the fact that the King refuses to carry out the will of the people. According to me, that is not democracy. I want to change that, and I need your help,” the Chancellor said.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to find out a possibility to make the Kingship ceremonial. I not only need a law to cover it, but also something to force the King to cooperate.”
“Writing a lawtext is not a problem to me, but creating a scandal around the King? Wouldn’t that be blackmail?”
“Yes, but in some cases that’s justified. Making Eiffelland entirely democratic is such a case.” The Chancellor remained silent for a while. Then he continued: “Von Seydewitz already threatened with a cabinet-crisis if I would continue with a plan on a ceremonial Kingship. So I also need you to propose the law in the Staatstag. Of course, there is something in it for you. How about the Ministry for Justice after the next elections? And in 10 years, I need to be succeeded as well. I know, the polls are currently not very well for us, but we can try to change that. If we have a scandal which is nice enough, then we can turn the public opinion back in favour of us.”
After some thinking, Seifert said: “I will do it, Chancellor. But we will both have to use our contacts to find something worth a scandal around the Royal Family.”
“Indeed, indeed. Of course I will also start to look and ask around.”

 

[Rheinbund]

THE RIVAL


23 December 2009

Graf Matthias von und zu Seydewitz was a typical representant of the Eiffellandian nobility. A bit conservative but not a dogmatic, a practicing but enlightened Catholic, he considered himself special because of his descend, but he was never arrogant and treated everyone as his equal. He was not afraid of change, but he disliked “change for the sake of chance”. According to him, a change always had to be an amelioration of the existing situation, and the advantages of the old situation had to remain intact.
After the elections of 2003, Von Seydewitz became the political leader of the Christiandemocrats. His predecessor stepped down because of the loss of votes during those elections. Von Seydewitz managed to stabilise the party, and the last elections resulted in a small gain. You could say that this was the perfect position for Von Seydewitz. The Eiffellandian Christiandemocrats used the Bible as their source of inspiration, but they did not take the Bible litterally. They realised that the idea behind the Bible was sometimes contradictory with the text of the Bible. They also realised that the Bible had been written 2000 years ago by people living in a desert, and that the circumstances were totally different from the circumstances now. So they acted according to the idea behind the Bible and not according to its text. This was the perfect epitope for the professional pragmatist Von Seydewitz.
He was born on the family property near Köln in 1958. In 1979, he started to study Economics in Weissenfels, the standard city to study for the children of Eiffelland’s nobility and other influential families. His notes were average, but he was a very good organiser. During his year as praeses of an international students organisation, he managed to revitalise it, so that it became a flourishing organisation again. He was still one of the patrons of that organisation.
After he absolved his studies, he started to work for the Eiffellandian car industry. He made a career there, and even spent some years abroad. He was fluent in French, English, Italian, Aren, Lusitanian and one of the languages spoken in the Axifloan Confederation.
In 2003, Von Seydewitz became Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor in the first Cabinet Jörgens. There was only one workable coalition to form: One between the Sociodemocrats and the Christiandemocrats. So that became the coalition, but neither side was happy with it. From the beginning, the relationship between Jörgens and Von Seydewitz became worse and worse. The elections of 2007 resulted into the same situation as those of 2003: The only possible coalition was one between the Sociodemocrats and the Christiandemocrats. So that became the coalition again. Nowadays, the athmosphere in the Cabinet was extremely bad. So bad that Von Seydewitz wanted to blow-up the Cabinet, so that new elections had to be organised.
He had good hope for those elections, because the popularity of the Christiandemocrats was rising. The same was the case for the popularity of the party with which Von Seydewitz wanted to form the next government: The Rightwing Liberals in the FDV. Next year, there would be elections in two provinces, so it could become possible to get a majority in the Staatsrat. When the government would be blown up after that, then he would be able to get a majority with the FDV in the next national elections.

Of course the Chancellery was Von Seydewitz’s ambition. Not because of the function. He was not power hungry, and he considered power hunger a bad motivation to take power. According to him, you should only grab power if you know what you want to do for your society with it.
Von Seydewitz knew what he wanted to do with the power of the Chancellery. He knew where the chances of Eiffelland were. During the past 10 years, Eiffelland had become a modern industry state. Its automotive, biomedical and electronic sectors delivered high-tech-high-quality products and produced them in an efficient way. And those were the chances of Eiffelland. To facilitate that, it was needed to invest as much as possible in education, and to stimulate intellectual achievements as much as possible.
And according to the Christiandemocrats, to reverse the recent changes in the educational system. Initially, it was a wish from the Sociodemocrats to combine the first three classes of the secondary schools into one school (the Mittelschule), so that the presence of the intelligent pupils would stimulate the achievements of the less intelligent pupils. That was something the Christiandemocrats did not want at all; They already realised that the most intelligent pupils would be slowed down, loose interest and become hampered during the later phases of education because they were never stimulated to use their intellectual abilities, while the least intelligent pupils would not never manage to meet the requirements for the end diploma. The Christiandemocrats had managed to block the Mittelschule, but the price for it was a lot of educational reforms which work extremely well for university students with a good amount of background knowledge, but not for teenagers, and a lot of educational reforms leading to an extreme increase in bureaucracy for the schools and an enormous increase in the number of employees at the Ministry for Education and Science doing nothing but pushing piles of files from one office to the other and sending directives to the schools. The number of those directives was so high, that a school which decided to only carry out the directives with even numbers still could not manage them.
The same was the case for public health care. Also there an enormous increase in bureaucracy. To reduce costs, everything had to be requested and approved. That led to an extra management layer, both for health care and for welfare.
Fortunately, the bureaucratic procedures themselves worked efficiently, so that the country did not get stuck in it. But many of them were not needed. Von Seydewitz and some of his people had already developed a plan to drastically reduce the bureaucracy in education, public health and welfare. It was directly ready to carry out. He only needed a coalition with the FDV for that.

Von Seydewitz had organised a meeting with the other CDV-ministers, the president of the CDV and the fraction leader of the CDV in the Staatstag. They were discussing the situation around the Chancellor’s plans for a ceremonial Kingship and possible ways to induce a Cabinet Crisis, as they were interrupted by Von Seydewitz’s wife. She told that the Crown-Prince was on the phone. Von Seydewitz left the room to take the phone. As he came back, he said to the people present: “I have something important to say.”

 

[Rheinbund]

THE CROWN-PRINCE


23 December 2009

Crown-Prince Albrecht was a happy man. Schloss Schönhausen was full again, like it was in the days that all the Princes still lived at home. With Friedrich and Wolfgang living in Weissenfels, and Johann and Karl in the armed forces, it was quiet in Schloss Schönhausen with Ludwig as the only Prince living at home. He didn’t like that very much, but his wife, Princess Mafalda, suffered more from the empty nest syndrome.
Friedrich and his girlfriend Laura were there. They would spend Christmas in Trier, and New Year’s Eve With Laura’s parents in Franken. Their relationship had developed in such a way that they were ready for engagement and marriage. They already lived together, although officially still separate, because they knew that Friedrich’s grandfather was against them living together before marriage. By coincidence, the four other Princes were single. The Crown-Prince knew nothing about the love-life of Ludwig. He knew that Wolfgang’s relationship had ended a month ago. He also knew that Johann and Karl only had short affairs, because of their intensive schedules in the armed forces, and also because they never met girls who managed to cope with their characters.
Indeed, like Albrecht’s wife described it, when you have five sons and no daughters, you have Attila the Hun and his army in the house. Especially Johann’s and Karl’s humor could be very rude, and all five had carried out the weirdest actions possible during their childhood. Fortunately, all five boys had their self-imposed limits: They were only insulting when insulted, and even then only rarely, they knew very well when to be polite, and they never carried out anything that was really dangerous.
Ludwig was a bit of an exception between the Crown-Prince’s five sons. Unlike his brothers, he was very quiet. He took part in his brothers’ weird games, but only as a “water carrier”; he never came up with weird ideas himself.

It was during dinner that Karl was hearing Ludwig out on the topic girls.
“Hey Ludwig, why don’t you have a girlfriend?” he asked. “The last two years I witnessed you at school, you were continuously surrounded by girls, all hoping for that little kiss from you. I’m jealous man.”
Ludwig didn’t reply, but it was obvious that he didn’t like the topic at all.
“Hey, if you’re gay, then I don’t mind, and probably nobody on this table here, but then please send some of those girls to me,” Karl continued.
At that moment, Princess Mafalda forced a switch of topic, because she saw that Ludwig started to grow either mad or sad.

“Albrecht, do you still remember what Philipp wrote on the last pages of his diary?” Princess Mafalda asked to Prince Albrecht after the Princes had gone to other parts of the Palace.
“Yes, I certainly do,” Prince Albrecht replied. He was the one who had found Prince Philipp’s diary, because he was the one who went to Philipp’s apartment in Weissenfels to search it after what he at that moment thought to be Philipp’s fatal accident.

As Albrecht found the diary, he started to read the last pages of it. He wanted to know more about Philipp’s last days. In that way, he got to know what happened. At that moment, he could not understand why the King didn’t go himself — If he himself would have found the diary, then nobody would have known what had happened. And Albrecht was angry. His father had created the mess, and he had to wipe the evidence away. Later on, he started to understand that his father might have been too baffled at that moment to do it himself. His father must have realised that Philipp’s accident might have been a suicide, and he must have realised his crucial role in Philipp’s last decision. Maybe his father did not want to see the evidence for that.
Albrecht wanted to hide Philipp’s diary, but exactly that was the first item his wife grabbed out of the things he had taken from Philipp’s apartment. Also she started to read. Initially, she wanted to discuss it out with the King, but Albrecht managed to convince her not to do so. It would not help anything, and could even lead to a scandal. A scandal that could lead to the end of the Monarchy. The King never saw Philipp’s diary. Neither did the Queen. Nobody ever saw it, until Ludwig found it 22 years later (without Albrecht knowing that).

“Why do you ask, Mafalda?”
“Did you notice how Ludwig reacted on Karl’s remark about the girls surrounding Ludwig?” Mafalda asked her husband.
“Yes, I did,” Albrecht replied. “Maybe he had a relationship which broke up recently.”
“But was that a relationship with a girl?”
“How should we know?”
“Officially, we don’t. But do you also realise that Ludwig never tells anything about his love affairs? The other four always did. From age 14 onwards. Maybe Ludwig doesn’t have any love affairs, but love is a topic for him. Otherwise he would have reacted otherwise on Karl’s remarks.”
“But that doesn’t make him gay. Maybe he was a bit late with his first love affair, and maybe that first love affair broke up just recently. And that could explain his sensitivity for that topic.”
“That could be an explanation, but I don’t think it’s the right one. The way he looks at girls, interacts with girls and talks about girls, the way he looks at boys, interacts with boys and talks about boys, it’s so much different from how the other four do it.”
“That doesn’t make him gay, either.”
“But it triggered me to observe him more closely. If you look at the way he looks at boys and girls, if you look at the way he interacts with boys and girls, if you look at the way he talks about boys and girls, you can see the indications that he looks at boys with a sexual interest.”
“How sure are you about that?”
“Not 100% sure, but certainly 80% sure. You must also have noticed that he is extremely busy with a lot of things. Maybe he tries to hide something for himself.” The Princess remained silent for a few seconds. Then she continued. “Albrecht, I don’t want the same to happen to Ludwig as what happened to Philipp. Look at the world. In most countries, homosexuality is accepted. Why should that be different for a Prince?”
“I agree with you. I will do what I can. But now I have to make a phonecall. I’ll go to my study, but first I have to do something else.”

Crown-Prince Albrecht went to the loft of Schloss Schönhausen. It was there that he discovered that Prince Philipp’s diary had been read. He didn’t know by whom, but he decided to take it from the loft and put it into the safe in his study.

After he had done so, he called Von Seydewitz.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE PRINCE


26 December 2009

In Eiffelland, Christmas is celebrated from the evening of the 24th December until the evening of the 26th December. The 25th and the 26th are both bank holidays at which also the shops are closed. The night from the 26th to the 27th December is a traditional going-out night for the people who don’t need to work the next day. Also the Princes went out. Like in music, they had quite similar tastes for movies. They went to an arthouse cinema to watch one of the movies there. Also the future Princess Laura accompanied them.

After they came out of the movies, they went on a bar and club tour throughout the city. At a certain moment, Johann saw a kissing couple somewhere. He shouted: “Well that’s what you call a good chat.” The two people looked up, laughed and went on kissing.
After that, Johann joked to the others: “Hey, two guys kissing. You don’t see that every day.”
But Ludwig was baffled. One of the two guys was Bastian.

As the other princes went home, Ludwig stayed in the city. He needed to get his thoughts and feelings on a row again, but he could not do that at home. He went from pub to pub. But not to get drunk — He was still a Von Dietz-Hadamar, so he would do everything to stay in control. The last pub he attended was the Stiller Don, a gay bar in Trier’s artist quarter, Prenzlauer Berg.
In that pub, Ludwig told about Bastian to a student. He said: “Please don’t expect the world to halt if you stand still. That will not happen. When you stand still, the world goes on.”
“But already after a week?” Ludwig asked.
“Some people are that fast,” the student said.

Ludwig and the student kept talking until the pub closed. The last strophe of the last song was as follows:

Warum bin ich nur so allein
in diesem Menschenland.
Die Wünsche, die ich in mir trag',
die stürzen über'n Rand.
Schlägt der Wind sie mir
vom Gesicht,
finden sie ein Ohr
oder nicht ?
Ich hab' doch keine Wahl,
muss doch hier
'ne Antwort haben.

An older man said: “Hey, an old hit by Silly.”
“Indeed, Menschenland,” Ludwig replied with a grim tone in his voice. “I already discovered that I have to learn a lot about life in general, but you must be of a good family to beat me in music history. At least from the Rock ’n Roll onwards.”

After having said that, he went back to Schloss Schönhausen, accompanied by his guards.

OOC: The translation of the songtext:
Why am I so lonely
In this land of people.
The wishes I carry in me
Fall over the surround.
Does the wind hit them
From my face?
Will they find an ear
Or not?
I don’t have a choice.
I have to get
An answer.

The songtext was taken from the song “Menschenland” by Silly. It was issued on the LP “Tanzt keiner Boogie”, released in 1981.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE KING


28 December 2009

As his son called him to ask if he could come for a visit tonight, the King did not get a reason out of him. It would be better to discuss that face-to-face, the Crown-Prince had said. “Na, da bin ich gespannt,” the King had said. Now his son was sitting in front of him.

“Did you know that Philipp had a diary?” the Crown-Prince asked to his father.
The King was baffled. “No,” he said. “But how do you know?”
“I was the one cleaning up his apartment, remember?”
“Indeed. I know it was a terrible thing to do, but I couldn’t do it. Please don’t blame me for that. I know I did things wrong, but believe me, my father did as well, and certainly your children will have something to say to you as well.”
“I’m not here to blame you for the things you did wrong. Except one thing. I know why you couldn’t clean up Philipp’s apartment. Could you read the last four pages of his diary?” the Crown-Prince said while handing Prince Philipp’s diary to the King.
“I’m afraid I already know what’s in there, but I will read it,” the King said while his face became pale. He started to read, and then he gave the book back to his son.
“Indeed, I wanted to force Philipp into that marriage. How could I know that he would drive himself off of a bridge?” the King said. After a few minutes, he continued. “I did what I did because I loved Philipp. It was 1986. AIDS was wiping all the gays off of the world. I didn’t want that to happen to Philipp. Furthermore, homosexuality is a sin and remains a sin, no matter how you see it. I didn’t want Philipp to go to hell for that. I only hoped that he would come to the insight through the love of a girl that the family life was the life he was created for, and that he would repent for what he had done. What is wrong with that?”
“I believe you if you tell me that you did it because of fatherlove, but in fact you destroyed Philipp’s life. You ripped Philipp’s love apart and forced him to live a life he didn’t want. The literature is full of stories about loves torn apart. Even the greatest Germanic writer ever, Goethe himself, wrote a story about it. Die Leiden des jungen Wherthers ended with the death of the main character. Because his love wasn’t answered. Does Mother know this?” the Crown-Prince asked.
“I never told her about this. As far as I know, she still considers Philipp’s death an accident. But how long have you known this?”
“I’ve known this since I read Philipp’s diary, 23 years ago. As I arrived at Schönhausen, the diary was the first thing Mafalda drew out of the box. She knows it as well.”
“Why didn’t you come to me then, and why do you come to me now?”
“I didn’t come to you then, because nobody would have benefitted from a scandal, and because I was afraid of your reaction. I come to you now because of several reasons. One is that Von Seydewitz came to me. Jörgens is scheming to make the Kingship ceremonial, because you block those two laws. The other one is that I discovered that somebody else has read the diary as well. If the one having read the diary goes to Jörgens, then we have a problem.”
“Afraid of my reaction…. Do you know who it is?”
“No, I really don’t know who read the diary. In any case, I never told Mother about this. If you never did so, either, then I suggest to keep it that way. Nobody will benefit if she knows. Not you, not her.”
“I agree with you. Thanks for not telling Mother,” the King said. After that, he remained silent.

The two men sat opposite to each other for a quarter of an hour, in silence. Then the King started to talk again.

“Albrecht, I will need a lot of time to think this over. And after that, I won’t be able to reign any more. If the story around Philipp becomes public, then I won’t be able to save the monarchy. It will be even a tough case for you then, but maybe you can officially deny that you knew about it. Next week I will notify Jörgens that I will abdicate in favour of you. I need some time for myself to think and pray. I will go into retreat in a monastery in the Papal States, and you will become Regent, and with that the head of the family,” he said.
“It was not my thought to force you to abdicate, but I will take over if you wish to,” the Crown-Prince said. “About becoming the head of the family, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you. What happened to Philipp, was terrible. I don’t want that to happen to one of my sons.”
“Let me guess. Ludwig? Homosexuality is still a sin. Make that clear to him. Then let him decide, and pray for him. I’ll pray for him as well,” the King said.
“Well, he did not officially say that he’s gay, but Mafalda says she’s 80% sure about it.”
“That’s the strange thing with women. They always know more than you would expect. Or think to know more than you would expect,” the King said.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE PRINCE


9 January 2010

Because Crown-Prince Albrecht and all his children did Taekwon-do, there was a dojang in Schloss Schönhausen. When all the Princes were in Trier, then they always did at least one practice together. Unlike dojos for Karate, the walls were not decorated with pictures of masters in Taekwon-do. The tradition prescribed the Shinryeoan flag as wall decoration, but the Crown-Prince had decided not to do so, because it would raise controversies if he would use the flag of a foreign nation as a wall decoration. For the remainder, the dojang in Schloss Schönhausen was decorated in Shinryeoan style.

Prince Ludwig was walking the hyongs belonging to his grade as Prince Sebastiano de Vesci entered the dojang.
“May I watch you practicing?” he asked.
“Of course. Do come in,” Ludwig said. Then he continued walking the hyongs. The last hyong he walked was the one needed to become 3rd Kup. As always, Ludwig was training in Taekwon-do outfit, complete with blue belt, indicating his current grade (4th Kup).

After Ludwig had finished his training, he told Sebastiano what it all meant.
“What I just walked, is called a hyong. It depicts a fight against several imaginary people attacking you. There is also another group of movement series. They are called poomse. But don’t consider it just dumb boxing and kicking. There is an enormous philosophy behind it. The most important part of it is honour, also for the people you defeated. Despite the fact that it is a fighting sport, Taekwon-do-in must strive for peace. Fighting is always the last option.
And to be honest, boxing is nothing more than trying to flatten your opponent’s nose as soon as possible. In Taekwon-do, the way you move is important as well. When you look at the movements, it is not for nothing that the Shinryeoan and Oikawan figthing sports are called an art in English: Martial art.”

Ludwig walked to the couch where Sebastiano was sitting, and put on his shoes. “Come,” he said, “first I’ll take a shower, and then I’ll show you around in the city.”

 

[Rheinbund]

THE QUEEN


16 January 2010

In the week after Christmas, her husband suddenly told that he would go into retreat and after then abdicate. Two weeks ago, he went, leaving the Queen with a lot of questions. Alienora was puzzled, but she had her thoughts about it. The clue of it all was in that day that Albrecht came to the palace to speak with her husband. But neither Albrecht nor Heinrich wanted to tell anything about it. Like always when they were asked about their feelings.
When it came to showing feelings, the Hadamars were strange. Very strange. Heinrich always closed his negative feelings away. Albrecht even more, and on top of that, he was always melancholic. Both believed that they could hide their negative feelings for the people around them, but at least that didn’t work for the Queen. She always saw that something was the matter. And they always kept their mouths shut when they were asked.
Especially Albrecht. The way he was convinced that nobody could see his emotions. She could watch right through him. At least, she could see that something was bothering him, but not what. But it was a strange habit in the Von Dietz-Hadamar family, and it always amazed her. Especially the fact that even all of Albrecht’s sons had the same. All five made a sport out of hiding their feelings and preventing to have to think of them.
Only the masks used for hiding the feelings differed within the family. Queen Alienora’s husband had built himself a mask of devout belief and cold sovereignty (fortunately, she had managed to find the sensible man behind that mask). Albrecht had become a philosopher reasoning endlessly. Albrecht’s sons did it differently. Johann and Karl hode themselves behind humor, sometimes rude humor. Friedrich and Wolfgang were like their father: Philosophers reasoning endlessly, although they were very humorous as well. Ludwig had inherited his father’s melancholy, and hode himself behind disciplin and his extremely active life.

Alienora’s son Philipp was also someone who hode his feelings. And she always had the feeling that he had a lot to hide: He had never told anything about it, but it was obvious to her that he would never marry, that Philipp’s lovers were male. In a time that homosexuality had become quite normal. But Philipp was a Prince, a member of a Royal Family. Members of Royal Families married in those days. It was not needed any more to marry with members of other Royal Families, members of other Higher Noble Families or members of otherwise important families were also acceptable, but it was still needed to marry. Philipp must have been torn apart between his feelings and what Tradition demanded from him. Philipp must have seen that everybody like him could live his life like he wished, while he was trapped in the cage of his ancestry. Philipp must also have seen how many people like him were killed by AIDS. It must have been a terrible period for him. Alienora would not have been surprised if that accident was not completely an accident. And what was the link between Heinrich coming back extremely mad from Weissenfels and Philipp getting an accident two weeks later?
One of the worst events in life is having to bury your own child. Alienora knew that from experience. She had overcome that sorrow, but she had the feeling that her husband had not. He never wanted to talk about Philipp, but was still mourning about him. At least on the background.
Alienora still went to Philipp’s grave once a month. Heinrich always accompanied her, and also Albrecht and Mafalda. One time as they visited the grave, they found a bouquet of fresh flowers lying on it. They were all surprised, because only the Royal Family and the mayor of Trier had the keys to the Royal Tomb in the Trierer Dom. That was one and a half years earlier. This mystery had never been explained.

But what was it that made Alienora’s husband decide to step down? Why was it needed to him to go into retreat? What happened on that day three weeks ago? And why did Heinrich and Albrecht not want to tell anything about it, other than that Heinrich said that he had lost the connection with what was living among the people he governed, and that he would abdicate because of that? Something more was the matter, something that bothered both her husband and her son.
She had discussed about it with her daughter in law. She had said about it: “Sometimes it is better not to dig too much in this kind of situations. When asking further, we might be able to get out of them what is going on, but then we may disrupt more than we want. And then it is extremely difficult to get it back into place. What our husbands do, is nothing else than trying to protect themselves against feelings they cannot handle. Let them do so, because that is the way they feel most comfortable with themselves.” Maybe Mafalda was right. But maybe not. Alienora would think further about it.

 

[Taley]

THE COMPANION

The differences between Schloss Schönhausen and the Blachernae Palace in Talemaniki was similar to the differences between Eiffelland and the Talemantine Empire. One was new and modern, while the other was ancient that tried to fit into the modern world. However, beneath Blachernae's ancient mosaic tiles was a modern palace and city around it. Trier embraced is cosmopolitan culture, while Talemaniki worked tirelessly to hold up the ancient facade.

Schloss Schönhausen was a gilded place, but it was not Blachernae. Growing up surrounded by over a millennium of history made Sebastiano home sick. He missed his siblings and friends and it felt weird to walk down the halls and not see the Tiburian mosaics throughout the palace. He also felt out of place. Life in Eiffielland seamed to move faster than in Talemaniki. Also he was as good in German as his older brother and he felt his Talemantine accent made him stick out among those at his new school.

Everything was slightly off. He was not as adapt at hiding his feelings as his hosts were. He never had to. In his family, they were always honest about there feelings, his mother insisted on it, especially after his father's death several years ago. That created and intimacy among the imperial family that be hard for one would to be able to find it outside the family. Though Sebastiano was sure there were still secrets in the family.

Sebastiano waited around the dojang for Ludwig, where he watched the Eiffielander prince practice martial arts. He hoped that the night out would get his mind off of his woes. Blachernae had a similar room. Not exactly alike, but the purpose was the same. It was where all the members of the royal family were taught basic fighting techniques as part of their duty to be prepared to lead men into battle. While it was unlikely that Sebastiano would lead an army, it was his older brother who would be emperor not him, but it was required as well as to serve two years in the military. Sebastiano continued to wait patiently thinking of home.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE PRINCE

Ludwig had sensed that Sebastiano wasn’t in a happy mood. One way or another, he could imagine it. He realised that Sebastiano had to find his way from the very start. That was never easy, especially not when you landed in a group of people who had already found their group of friends, like it was in the 5th class of secondary school. But Ludwig didn’t realise that Sebastiano’s sadness was based on homesickness and a feeling of being uprooted.
Ludwig and his father were a bit shocked that Sebastiano didn’t attempt to hide his feelings, but they didn’t disapprove that. They were just not used to it, and needed a moment to grat their heads and think “indeed, that’s also possible”. Ludwig’s mother was a Lusitanian Princess, so she didn’t need such a moment.

Ludwig, his brothers, his father, his grandfather, all all hode their feelings out of fear. Fear for loosing the control, and fear that some secrets come out. In spite of that, there was a lot of room for the many jokes of Ludwig’s brothers, but they had gone out into the world and were only at Schloss Schönhausen during weekends, and not every weekend. Schloss Schönhausen was very quiet, because Ludwig and his father were quite serious.

A few days earlier, Ludwig had talked with Bastian again. The only thing Bastian had to say about what happened before Christmas was “you were there”. Nothing more. Ludwig was furious. “You’re disgusting,” he replied. He was still mad about that, but he didn’t want to burden Sebastiano with that. So he also hode that feeling.

Trier is a city with 3.5 million inhabitants. The oldest building is the Trierer Dom, which was built in the 11th century. But most buildings in Trier come from a much later age. There was a King in the beginning of the 1700s who wanted to have wide boulevards for military parades. The complete city was torn down and rebuilt for that. As a result from that, there are hardly any buildings older than 300 years left. Only the Trierer Dom remained untouched. As Trier was extended during the course of the centuries, the wide boulevards remained. And like the builders of the city foresaw already during the 1700s and the 1800s that the automobile would become enormously popular in the second half of the 1900s, they gave Trier many wide boulevards and made the other streets so wide that two cars can easily pass each other and there is even room for cars parking on the streets.
Trier is also one of the cities that never sleeps. Pubs, cafés, restaurants and clubs are allowed to be open 24 hours a day. A few places are actually always open, and some places only close one hour a day for cleaning purposes. The big clubs are open each Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and there is always a smaller club open on the other days. There are three universities in Trier, alltogether having 100,000 students. Trier is also the center of Eiffelland’s movie industry, and it has a big artists scene. And it is Eiffelland’s financial center. This together makes Trier a city with a fast pace.
It was this city where Ludwig and Sebastiano would go out.

Of course the guards for the two boys were arranged. Invisible when not needed, but very much present when needed. The first line of defence was Ludwig himself, with his knowledge of Taekwon-do. The second line of defence consisted of 8 people who looked like 20 year old students going out. They would also behave like that, and in such a way that they could not be connected to the two Princes and that they hardly noticed their presence as guards. When needed, they could be called via the alarm devices both Princes had. The third line of defence consisted of 8 people staying a bit further away. Their role was to show-up like a jack-in-the-box for the case that the Princes and the guards in the neighbourhood would have been defeated. By that time, the police would have been warned as well, so they were the second jack-in-the-box.

The first pub the two boys would go to, was the pub where traditionnally the people attending the Königliches Gymnasium gather before going to the clubs. Ludwig introduced Sebastiano to the members of the schoolband, in which Ludwig played as well. Philipp Cretu was the unofficial artistic leader of the schoolband, and a very good guitarist who already wrote songs himself. He was also a very close friend of Ludwig. He told Sebastiano about Ludwig being a virtuoso on the keyboards and having a good voice. Ludwig was flattered because of Philipp's compliments, and added to it that they were a bit too much with a shy smile on his face. Of course Philipp recognised Sebastiano’s accent, but he immediately said: “I can assure you one thing, Sebastiano, your German is much better than my Italian.”

 

[Rheinbund]

THE CHANCELLOR


26 January 2010

All right. This went fast. A bit too fast. The King would abdicate, and his son would take over. The man who wanted to get rid of the monarchy would have served two monarchs instead of one. Jörgens was furious. His scheme had fallen apart.
He could still remember what the Crown-Prince had said after he got those two laws under his nose. “Ah, those two laws. I will sign them as soon as I’m the King, but now I’m only replacing my father, so now I feel obliged to reign in his spirit.” Not much would change according to Jörgens. The Crown-Prince was more modern than his father, but again somebody who would follow his own ideas. So the problem had not been solved. The next King would also block laws he wouldn’t like. But now the clear occasion to remove the monarchy had been taken away. He knew that Von Seydewitz was happy with it.
Seifert had written a very nice piece of work as a proposal for a law. Unfortunately, he had been less successful with creating a scandal around the Royal Family. Not a single indication for corruption. All members of the Royal Family were fully integer. Also the key members of the family: the King, the Queen, the Crown-Prince, his wife, Prince Friedrich, his fiancée, not a single indication for corruption. Jörgens’s contacts were looking at the late Prince Philipp, but what would that lead to? Prince Philipp was dead.

But that was not the only sorrow Horst Jörgens had. His political party, the sociodemocratic SPE, was loosing quite a lot in the polls. That was already the case before Christmas, but it had become worse during the past weeks. Jörgens really needed something to boost his popularity again. And he also needed to think about a way to form the next government without the Christiandemocrats once. That party had been part of the government since it was grounded during the late 1800s. But he needed the rightwing liberals for that. A leftwing majority would never happen in Eiffelland, Jörgens realised that very well. Therefore the rightwing liberals.

A telephone rang. It was Philipp Neubauer, the Minister for Internal Affairs.
“Hello Mr. Neubauer. What can I do for you?”
“…”
“What? Why?”
“…”
“My goodness.”
“…”
“I need to talk with the Crown-Prince about this. I will let you know as soon as possible.”

Jörgens was not really glad after this telephone call, but it made him a bit happy. He had got the opportunity to spank one of the Princes. He took the telephone to call the Crown-Prince.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE PRINCE

As Ludwig went to the bar to get some drinks, Philipp and Sebastiano talked a bit further.
“You don’t need to worry much, Sebastiano,” Philipp said. “Ethnicity is not so important in this country. We Eiffellandians are only nationalistic when cars are the issue. For the remainder, we like to get in touch with other cultures. And that is what you bring in. My father fled from Cyrillica to here. Do you know what he says about having lived in two cultures? ‘It makes you richer, and you get more understanding for cultural differences.’ I think he’s right. That is what you are going to experience.”
After a sip of his beer, Philipp continued. “And don’t worry about the people at school, either. There will always be some assholes, but most people are not. And if you want to get to know some people outside your class, join one of the schoolclubs. By the way, if you’re harrassed by some bullies, tell Ludwig about it. I don’t know how he does it, but he always manages to stop fights and get bullies calm. And never by violence. Well, only once. Two skinheads were beating up someone, and Ludwig tried to stop them. Then those two idiots pointed their attention at Ludwig. I don’t know how he did it, but five seconds later those two skinheads lay on the ground and Ludwig was still standing. Both guys were two meters tall and three meters wide. Ludwig is not skinny, but not musculous either. He must be extremely good in Taekwon-do.”
Philipp took another sip of his beer. Then he continued. “In any case, justice is very important to him. By the way, I must say that you met him during a very bad time. Something has been extremely bothering him for a couple of months, but I don’t know what. I must say that it hurts me to see that.”

 

[Rheinbund]

THE PRINCE


20 January 2010

“No, Chess is too difficult for the school musical, Philipp,” Ludwig said during the first gathering of the group of people who would do the school musical. “It is a very beautiful one, but it’s too difficult. You really need a professional singer for Where I want to be. We have good singers here at school, but not the kind of singers who can sing that in a foreign language. And there is a party after the school musical. We must take a musical with a happy ending. And a musical with German texts. Let’s not make it too difficult for us.”
“What’s so difficult on singing in English? Much of what we sing in the schoolband is English,” Philipp replied.
“But then we only sing. The people in the musical do not only have to sing, but dance and act as well. That’s too much for amateurs if they have to do that in a foreign language,” Ludwig said.
“Ludwig is right, Philipp. Chess is a very good musical, and I would love to see it on stage again, but it will be too difficult for us to bring it on stage. I’m convinced that you know the music by heart, but that won’t be the case for the other people. Furthermore, the people in the first and second class won’t be able to understand it. We have to choose something else,” the music teacher said.
The next four hours were filled with music fragments and discussions, but there was a choice in the end. A choice everybody was happy with, including Philipp.

Afterwards, Ludwig and Philipp talked a bit further about the upcoming repetitions. At a certain moment, Philipp said: “Ludwig, I have a very important question to you. What is it that bothers you?”
Ludwig was a bit startled. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“During the last three months, you have become sadder and sadder. You’ve always been a quiet guy, but you always enjoyed life as well. And that seems to have disappeared. What happened?”
“Nothing,” Ludwig said softly.
“You won’t get away with it so easily. You are fighting with something, and that costs you an enormous lot of energy. You seem to have lost your joy in life. Even worse, you are destroying your whole life with that fight. Frankly, it hurts me to see that. What is it that you are fighting with?” Philipp asked.
Ludwig was silent for a minute. Then he said softly: “Many things.” Then he started to sob. “I’m gay … I’m gay and I’m a Prince … A member of the royal family … I’m supposed to marry … Everybody in the country can choose whom to live with … But a Prince with a boy, that’s not possible … I must give a good Catholic example,” Ludwig sniffed softly.
“Is it really that bad?” Philipp asked. “I know your parents, I know Karl and Wolfgang, they seemed very liberal to me. That can’t be different for your eldest two brothers.”
“You don’t know my grandfather,” Ludwig sniffed softly. “He’s still the head of the family … Very authoritarian … Extremely religious … And more conservative than the Catholic Church.”
“Isn’t anything changing because of his abdication?” Philipp asked.
“I don’t know,” Ludwig said, after having stopped sobbing. “It is really a mystery to me why he abdicates. Him and giving authority away. Everything must go the way he wants it to. And then he abdicates. I don’t think he will give the authority over the family away as well.”
After a few moments, Ludwig continued. “Do you remember that Wednesday before the Christmas holidays? You asked already then what was bothering me. Right after the sports class, there was a guy who said to me that he knew that I was gay. And that I had to come out of the closet. Then he suddenly embraced me and started to kiss me. I was heavily in love with him, but I pushed him away. Because of my grandfather.” Ludwig paused for a moment. Then he continued. “One week later, I saw the guy kissing with another guy. Only one week later. At the end of that night, I landed in a gay bar. There, there was somebody who told me that it often goes that way in the gay scene. Once you’ve done with a guy, you head for the next one as fast as possible. But it becomes worse. After the Christmas holidays, I talked to the guy who tried to persuade me. Do you know what he said about it? ‘Du warst vorhanden.’ What kind of a world am I going to enter if everybody thinks that way about the guys they slept with? I don’t want to be part of such a world.”
“It doesn’t really come as a surprise to me that you are gay,” Philipp said. “There are so many girls that want you. You had so many opportunities to get a girlfriend, but you never had one. Quite a lot of girls were persuaded by guys of your class, the philosophy group and the band after those girls were disappointed by you, by the way. It looks like you have a blind spot for girls’s feelings for you. Anyway, because my parents are musicians, we have to do a lot with people from the artistic world. Therefore, I met quite a lot of gays. There are enough gays with more respect for other people than the gays you describe, so there will also be a nice guy for you somewhere.”
“Then I only have to deal with my grandfather,” Ludwig said.
“Your father seems a reasonable man to me. Talk to him about it.”

OOC: Du warst vorhanden = You were available. I used “you were there” in another post.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE CROWN-PRINCE


OOC: Two remarks. This happened before the coronation. Therefore, still “The Crown-Prince”. In this post, Albrecht’s brother Philipp will be the subject again. I realise that it was not a good idea to give Ludwig’s best friend the name “Philipp” as well. Please excuse the confusion resulting from that.

28 January 2010

It was four days before Crown-Prince Albrecht would accede to the Throne. Everybody was extremely busy with that, but in-between the hectic the Chancellor considered it needed to put Prince Ludwig on the carpet for something that could have waited. The Crown-Prince was quite angry about it. Where was the Chancellor’s sense for essential and subordinate matters? That talking with Ludwig could have waited a week.
In any case, Albrecht’s father was right with his description of Horst Jörgens. The man believed that he was always in the right, and considered himself the greatest statesman ever. Not a pleasure to work with. And indeed an antimonarchist. The Crown-Prince hoped that he would not have to work with him for too long. He knew that the Vice-Chancellor was looking for a good excuse to enforce a cabinet crisis, but that was not something that could be arranged with a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately.

Before the Chancellor’s visit, the Crown-Prince had already talked with his son. He knew what had happened. Ludwig saw two skinheads beating up somebody else. When he tried to stop them, they attacked Ludwig, who defended himself. He was not proud of the fact that he had to use violence; in fact he hated it. But he considered it the right decision to step in. The Crown-Prince agreed with that, but also said Ludwig to tell it immediately if something like that happened again. Unfortunately, Ludwig did not know who the victim of the skinheads was. The man didn’t speak German, but seemed to be from an Islamic country.

After the Chancellor had left, the Crown-Prince went to Ludwig to hear him out. He found him in his room, startled.
“What did the Chancellor say?” the Crown-Prince asked.
“I don’t understand. He just didn’t want to hear my arguments, but treated me like I was a violent criminal. And he considered it a political deed. He said that I shouldn’t have stepped in, given my position. But what is my position worth if I’m not allowed to prevent that somebody is beaten to death?”
“The Chancellor is wrong. It would have been different if you would have started a campaign against the Volksunion. Like I said earlier, you took the right decision. And I don’t need to tell you that violence is the very last resort. I will talk to the Chancellor about this.”
The Crown-Prince and Prince Ludwig kept on talking about school and all the other things Ludwig was doing. At a certain moment, Ludwig asked: “Dad, what exactly happened to Uncle Philipp?”
The Crown-Prince was startled. “Why do you ask?” he asked.
“I read his diary.”
The Crown-Prince was silent for a minute. Then he started to talk. “Uncle Philipp was 8 years younger than me. When you are children, that is a big difference. Compare yourself with an 8 year old child, and you will understand. When I went to the military service, Uncle Philipp was 11 years old. When he went to the military service, I already had a child. I didn’t know that Philipp was gay. I only got a telephone call from Grandfather, telling me that Philipp had died in an accident, and that I had to go to Weissenfels immediately to get all the papers out of his apartment. There I found the diary. And then I knew that Philipp was gay, and that it was a suicide and not an accident. I was extremely angry at Grandfather, not only because of what he had done to Philipp, but also because he sent me out to clean up the mess he had created. Mum also read Philipp’s diary. We decided not to go to Grandfather with this knowledge.”
“Why not? In fact, Grandfather killed his own son, your only brother.”
“You yourself know Grandfather. We didn’t dare. We simply didn’t dare. We were afraid of his reaction. Furthermore, it would not have brought Philipp back. We would have created an enormous scandal, but nobody would have benefitted from it. At least, we didn’t dare then. After Christmas, I went to Grandfather with the diary. He read it, and told why he did what he did. We both know how religious he is. His fear for AIDS was his second motivation. He didn’t want Philipp to die from AIDS. In 1986, that disease was ravaging among gays. Everybody was in panic because of it. That is why Grandfather did what he did. He did not foresee what happened after that, and he still mourns about Philipp’s death. By the way, this all is the reason why he resigns. We decided not to tell Grandmother, and I want to ask you the same thing. It would only blow up their marriage.”
“Wouldn’t it be unfair to hide this to her? Furthermore, I don’t know any more if it is good to hide things like this. I know, we all put up our happy face so that we don’t need to tell about the bad things that occur to us, but the more bad things happen to you, the more difficult it will become to put up that happy face. And no matter which face you put up, you are always dealing with the bad things occurring to you behind your face.”
“You could be right with that. The funny thing is, that we don’t show our bad feelings inside the family, either, although the last people we need to fear are ourselves. Well, apart from Grandfather. We discuss the most difficult topics, read the most difficult books, watch the most difficult movies, have an enormously wide interest in things and an enormously wide music taste, but we don’t talk about our bad feelings. And I consider that my own fault. What I wanted to teach you and your brothers, was something else. If something bad happens to you and you become angry at that very moment, then you always say the wrong things. Then it is better to wait a while and talk about it later. I told about hiding the bad feelings the moment they occur, but forgot to tell about showing them later on when you are calmed down I’m afraid. Anyway, I want to ask you not to talk about it with anybody. If somebody else than Grandfather tells about it to Grandmother, then their marriage will explode. Nobody will benefit from that. Indeed, it is unfair to Grandmother that she doesn’t know what happened to her child, but Grandfather will have to tell her. And he can only tell when he is ready for that. Please be patient with him; he is not the monster he seems, he is just a prisoner of his beliefs.”
“What about Friedrich, Johann, Wolfgang and Karl?”
“I don’t know yet, but please don’t tell them anything, either.”
“OK. I won’t tell anything to anyone. There is also something I need to tell you, and that is linked to Uncle Philipp and Grandfather I’m afraid. I am gay.”
“And you want protection against Grandfather, I presume. I can tell you that he was shocked and frightened about what Uncle Philipp did. He doesn’t want to see that again. He also discussed the possibility of you or one of your brothers being gay. In that case, I should tell you that homosexuality is a sin, but leave the decision about your life to you. To me, gay or not, you are my son and you remain my son. For homosexuality being a sin, I don’t know why it would be a sin. The Bible is a book which was written 2 to 5 millennia ago. Many of the things written in it are universal values, but many other things were applicable only for people living in a desert under difficult circumstances. Furthermore, the litteral text of the Bible sometimes contradicts with the spirit behind the Bible. In the cases that that happens, you should follow the spirit and not the text. Homosexuality is such a case. At least according to me. If two boys love each other, then they infringe no damage of any kind to anything, so there is no reason to deny them their love. Live the life you are happy with. Your boyfriend will become part of the family. Don’t be afraid of Grandfather, because I am the head of the family now. Be only aware of the yellow press. I would wait with telling Grandfather and Grandmother, but I leave it to you to tell the others.”
“Thank you Dad. I think I will tell the others soon, indeed because of the yellow press. I want them to know it from me, and not from Bild Zeitung.”

OOC: This is the last post temporally positioned before the day that Albrecht was coronated. From the next post onwards, he will be referred to as “The new King”.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE RIVAL


24 February 2010

Philipp Neubauer, the Minister for Internal Affairs, seemed quite nervous on the phone. Von Seydewitz wondered why when he drove to Neubauer’s apartment, especially why Neubauer didn’t want to discuss it over the phone. This was something serious, because Neubauer was not easy to push out of his balance. And calling at 8pm to come to his flat immediately was not something he did soon, either.
Von Seydewitz parked his car on the parking lot of the apartment building where Neubauer lived. He was always a bit bemused about the fact that he, the nobleman of the Cabinet, often drove himself, while the Sociodemocratic Chancellor Horst Jörgens always had himself driven by a driver. Von Seydewitz only had himself driven by a driver when the protocol demanded it, when he was extremely tired or when he had to do some things urgently while he went somewhere. According to him, an Eiffellandian was not an Eiffellandian if he didn’t have driving skills. But also he always had a bodyguard in the car and a second car with bodyguards behind him.

“You were quite nervous on the phone. What happened?” Von Seydewitz asked after the two men had seated themselves in Neubauer’s study.
“The following. I got a report from the Staatsschutz a month ago. One of the infiltrants in the Trierer extremist rightwing scene had caught up a talking between two skinheads. He understood that the two had got a thrashing from Prince Ludwig, and that they were talking about taking revenge. This meant a security risk for the Prince, so I notified the Chancellor, so that he could notify the King and the Prince. Normally, such a thing would lead to an increased level of security, but … Farnbach sometimes dines with Barnim from the

You must be registered for see links

. Also today. Barnim didn’t know about a security risk for the Prince,” Neubauer told. Farnbach was the head director of the Staatsschutz, and Barnim was the colonel of the KG.
“Prince Ludwig giving someone a thrashing? What in Heaven’s name did those skinheads do to make of all people Prince Ludwig so mad that he started to beat?”
“I don’t know. And that’s because the infiltrant didn’t hear anything about that. If you tell too loudly in those circles that you have been beaten up by someone smaller than you, then you have a problem. So he only had the things those two guys were talking about. But their revenge plans alone are dangerous enough. Two loners with a mission nobody knows about are more dangerous than an organisation planning an assault.”
“What did you tell Jörgens?”
“I told him about the whole report, and I mailed it to him.”
“Did he say that he would go to the King with that?”
“Yes, he did.”
“What is the usual procedure after that? Who usually informs the KG?”
“I wouldn’t know, but I think the King would definitely have informed the KG about it.”
“Are there any official information lines between the Staatsschutz and the KG regarding this, apart from Barnim and Farnbach dining with each other from time to time? Like there are links between the police, the Staatsschutz and the

You must be registered for see links

?”
“No, there are not. Information like this goes to the Royal Family via the Chancellor. But it would have been constitutionally wrong if the King would hear things like this from Barnim before he hears it from the Chancellor. That is the reason why it goes like this.”
“But when the Chancellor forgets to tell, then the people in charge of the security of the Royal Family doesn’t know. This needs to change, and soon. Because look at what we have now. Two idiotic loners who want to go after a member of the Royal Family, the Staatsschutz knows about it, the Minister for Internal Affairs knows about it, the Chancellor knows about it, but the KG does not, the Royal Family does not, and even the target himself does not. As soon as the Chancellor forgets something, there is an enormous leak in the security of the Royal Family. By the way, how big is the chance that Jörgens did not forget it but ‘forgot’ it?”
“Frankly, Matthias, I don’t want to think about that possibility, because then we have a Chancellor who places his own grudges above the interests of the country and the life of a human being.”
“Indeed, you’re right. Let me think,” Von Seydewitz said. He stood up from his chair and started to pace up and down. After a few minutes, he said: “There are a couple of things we need to take care of. Where are Farnbach and Barnim now?”
“I asked them to stay in the restaurant until I called them. Barnim wanted to take care of the Prince’s security immediately and verified where he was. The Prince was in the Palace.”
“Good. Did he notify the King as well?”
“Not yet. I told him that I wanted to do so.”
“Good, because the King would directly call Jörgens, and he would blame you. We will call the King. Do you still have the mail you sent to Jörgens?”
“Yes. I saved it on an USB-stick as well.”
“Good, because then you can proove that you sent the mail out. But then Jörgens can still say that he didn’t receive it. Theoretically, it is possible that a mail gets stuck somewhere in the wiring, so we can’t rule that out. Would it be possible to check if the mail arrived at Jörgens’s mailbox, for instance by the Staatsschutz?”
“Matthias, what are you up to?”
“To be honest, I’ve had it with Jörgens. I’ve had it with his insults, I’ve had it with the bad ideas coming out of his party, and I’ve had it with his self-adorance. I am highly in favour of nailing him to the pillory. But we can only do so if we have the ammunition for that. So we need to know if that mail arrived at his mailbox or not, and if he read it or not.”
“Matthias, I know that you want to force a cabinet crisis, but aren’t you going a bit too fast now?”
“Not at all. I already have some nice material ready. I said that I would have some investigations carried out. The results of the investigations on Rudersbach’s educational reforms are in. It is like I foresaw: A clear deterioration of our educational system. If we reverse those reforms quickly, then we can repair the damage. I already have a good slogan for that: Giving the power back to the professionals in the field. This together with Jörgens forgetting to notify the King about a security risk is enough for a cabinet crisis. But to make it even more painful, I want to know if Jörgens got that mail and what he did with it. And for that, I need your cooperation via the Staatsschutz.”
“I need a cognac,” Neubauer said. “Also one for you?”
“No thanks, I have to drive,” Von Seydewitz said.
Neubauer sipped from his cognac. Then he said: “I will ask Farnbach if it is possible to check the mail traffic to the Chancellor. Let’s call him and Barnim now.”

Half an hour later, Farnbach and Barnim arrived at Neubauer’s apartment. Neubauer let them into his study, and then he started to talk.

“Gentlemen, we might have a problem now,” he said. “I myself really notified the Chancellor about this completely. I even mailed him the Staatsschutz report. You both must know that I know the Chancellor from my time as a student. I heard some of his discussions. In those days, he was clearly negative in his statements about the monarchy. The Vice-Chancellor and I have reasons to believe that the Chancellor did not forget to mention this security risk by accident. Mr. Farnbach, would it be possible for your organisation to check the Chancellor’s e-mail on this topic?”
“This is an extremely unusual question. Without a serious suspicion of a severe crime, I am not allowed to do so. At least not officially. I have to do this via unofficial ways. This will need some time,” Farnbach said.
“What are those unofficial ways?” Neubauer asked.
“We could hack the system, but that is really the last resort. I am more thinking of asking one of the IT-people working in the Chancellery. But that can only go via informal contacts between those people and my agents. Friendships, relationships, and so on. And that will take time, because I don’t know if I have such contacts there,” Farnbach said.
“Try to find out if you have such contacts. If not, then we’ll see what we’ll do. But let’s call the King first,” Neubauer said.

After that, Von Seydewitz called the King to notify him about the two skinheads who were planning to go after Prince Ludwig. They agreed that the King would not contact the Chancellor about it until some additional investigations had been carried out, but that Prince Ludwig would get additional protection.
At the end of the call, the King had a question for Von Seydewitz: “Let me get one thing clear. Am I currently helping you with planning a coup against the Chancellor?”
“Let’s put it this way. I’m indeed pulling a not so nice trick. But it’s not because of my power hunger. It’s because I can do things better than Mr. Jörgens can,” Von Seydewitz said.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE CHANCELLOR


5 March 2010

“I have a question to you, Mr. Von Seydewitz. Why does the Minister for Foreign Affairs invest time in an investigation about how the schools in Eiffelland are doing?” Chancellor Horst Jörgens asked during the cabinet meeting.
“Because I wanted to know as the political leader of the Christiandemocrats how the reforms proposed by the Minister for Education and Science worked out. Mind you, the schools are our investment in the future of Eiffelland. We should be very careful with them. In any case, I am not glad with the results of these investigations. Maybe the system was too much focused on gathering knowledge, but now we are raising a generation of people who have to look up everything. Furthermore, what works well on an university, does not work well on a Hauptschule. I want the school reforms to be reversed for the secondary schools,” Von Seydewitz said.
“Indeed. Let’s pump those heads full of knowledge. But if they need to learn something new 20 years later, then they have a problem. May I remind you, Mr. Von Seydewitz, that knowledge changes continuously? That is why the children need to learn how to select information and take out of it what’s relevant,” the Minister for Foreign Affairs Hans‑Jochen Rudersbach said.
“But in your new system, we teach them that too early. We should do so at the universities and the Hochschule, maybe also in the last year of the Berufschule. But not at the secondary schools. On the one hand, the children in the new system work enormously hard at school, but on the other hand, they don’t learn enough. Not enough knowledge, and not enough skills. Currently the school clubs are filled with students who started before the reforms. The students in the new system don’t have time for the school clubs. There is really something wrong, and that must change. Rapidly,” Von Seydewitz said.
“You’re old fashioned, Mr. Von Seydewitz. The schoolclubs were already a failing concept in our days. It is a wonder that they still exist,” the Chancellor said.
“They were only a failing concept because our teachers didn’t have any feeling with what was living in our generation. Now they are alive and kicking. At least for the students who started before the reforms. But that is not the topic. The topic is, that the reforms did not work out and in fact deteriorated the system,” Von Seydewitz said.
“If you don’t agree with it, why don’t you step out, Mr. Von Seydewitz?” the Chancellor asked.
“If I do so, Chancellor, then all the

You must be registered for see links

‑ministers will do so. That will lead to new elections. Is that what you want?” Von Seydewitz asked.

No. A cabinet crisis was not what the Chancellor wanted. Jörgens knew very well that the Sociodemocrats would loose the elections after that. He also knew very well that the next elections would lead to a majority for the Christiandemocrats and the Rightwing Liberals. Schwarz‑Blau instead of Rot‑Schwarz. And Von Seydewitz as Chancellor.
According to Jörgens, religion should not have a place in politics. Why else was there a separation between Church and State? Unfortunately, a leftwing majority would be an exception in Eiffelland. That only happened once in a province, but that coalition had just lost the elections. Jörgens would love to lead a coalition between Sociodemocrats, Socioliberals and Greens, but he needed time for that. If the Sociodemocrats would loose the elections and go into the opposition, then Jörgens would have to step down. He didn’t want that.

Jörgens managed to end the discussion on the school reforms by moving the issue to next week’s meeting, so that Rudersbach could investigate the problem himself. And with that, he saved the coalition.

Until Minister for Internal Affairs Neubauer raised the next problem.

“Chancellor,” he said, “a month ago, I informed you about a security risk with regards to one of the Princes. What did you do with that information?”
“I informed the King. Why do you want to ask?” the Chancellor said.
“Well, Staatshauptdirektor Farnbach of the Staatsschutz dines with Oberst Barnim of the

You must be registered for see links

from time to time. During the last dinner, Farnbach asked Barnim about this topic. It appeared that Barnim didn’t know about it. As soon as I heard about it, I contacted the King. It appeared that you were very eager to put Prince Ludwig on the carpet for fighting with two skinheads, even accusing the poor boy of stepping in with political motives while he just stepped in to prevent that somebody was beaten ripe for the hospital, but that you hadn’t told about the fact that the two skinheads were planning to go after him,” Neubauer said.
“Mr. Neubauer, you are lying. I told the King about the security risk,” the Chancellor said.
“Shall we call the King to verify the story? It is 10 o’clock now. He is still awake,” Neubauer said.
“OK then. I forgot to tell the King about the security risk,” the Chancellor replied.
“But you liked it very much to spank the Prince. Why didn’t you call the King later on? A security risk for the Royal Family is a very serious matter,” Neubauer said.
“What are you suggesting, Mr. Neubauer?” the Chancellor asked.
“Nothing,” Neubauer said venomously.
“But he raises an important point, Chancellor. Why didn’t you call the King later on?” Von Seydewitz asked.
“I completely forgot the safety issue, and to be honest, how important are two crazy loners?” the Chancellor asked.
“I sent you the complete Staatsschutz report about it. That report clearly describes the risk of those two crazy loners. Such people will act more agressively, because they don’t have an interest in keeping the victim healthy, or even alive. In the 1970s, the

You must be registered for see links

killed their victims with a bullet in the back of their heads. These people would beat their victims to death. I also wrote these conclusions in my accompanying mail. And I told about this during our telephone call as well. Chancellor, with forgetting this, you put a member of the Royal Family at a high risk,” Neubauer said.
“And what did you do then?” the Chancellor asked.
“I presumed that everything had been covered with telling you. It is your responsibility to tell the King about it, and then he would notify the KG. That is the way things like this always went. But I took action. There is a formal weekly meeting between the Staatshauptdirektor of the police and the Staatshauptdirektor of the Staatsschutz to discuss matters they are working on and exchange information. The King and I agreed that Oberst Barnim will join that weekly meeting. I also agreed with Minister Auerbach that Oberst Weber from the

You must be registered for see links

will join that meeting. This week was the first formal meeting between the highest persons of the police, the Staatsschutz, the KG and the MND. Everybody was satisfied about it. These meetings will continue. This will prevent a forgetful Chancellor from creating safety risks,” Neubauer said.
“Ehm, gentlemen, you are mainly fighting about who forgot what, but has the safety issue been solved?” one of the other ministers asked.
“As soon as Barnim heard about the safety risk, he immediately took extra safety measures. The Prince is permanently guarded by four uniformed and armed KGlers [1], and the number of ununiformed guards has been doubled. For the two skinheads, I would love to have them arrested, but we have no formal charge. What we have, is enough to let a couple of alarm bells ring, but not enough to have them arrested. The admittances and treatments at the emergency units in all hospitals in Trier between October and December have been checked. All declarations at the police for violence have been checked. Nothing that points towards these two skinheads. But they are under surveillance of the Staatsschutz,” Neubauer said.

It was 3 o’clock at night when the Cabinet Meeting was closed.

The Chancellor was furious. A month ago, when he left the palace after having put Prince Ludwig on the carpet, he indeed realised that he had forgotten to tell about the security risk. But to be honest, every other child would have got a good smashing in such a situation. Why should that be different for a Prince? Besides, the guy has 8 guards permanently in the neighbourhood. It would be a good exercise for them, and they could finally show what they were paid for. And why wouldn’t the Prince be able to get them off of his body a second time? Neubauer was a whiner, and Farnbach and Barnim as well.
But it was clear that Jörgens had lost the discussion. This was a major hit. Neubauer and Von Seydewitz had won. Even the ministers of his own party agreed with them. How could they? Neubauer and Von Seydewitz, a rightwing fire‑eater and a remnant of the 18th century. How could his own ministers side with them?
But more important, how would Jörgens politically survive this? This would definitely hit the news. The only question would be when. There would not be much time left to think up a strategy.

OOC: [1] KGler = Soldier of the KG.

 

[Rheinbund]

THE RIVAL


4 April 2010

“That was a very good speech from Rudersbach,” Von Seydewitz said after he turned off the television. “The man is integer. He would be perfect in the role of old wise man, also on the international stage. And his character is much more pleasant than Jörgens’s character was. But please let’s prevent him from leading the Education department ever again.”
“In any case, we have an international problem. Suddenly a kettle we never needed to observe is starting to broil. This can escalate in a couple of days. I don’t like to do it, but I’m afraid we need to speed up the process of forming a Cabinet. That is why I asked you to come to the Palace, even on Eastersunday,” the King said.
“What do you want us to do, Your Majesty?” Informateur Seifert asked.
“Up to now, the negotiations about new coalitions were carried out by the political leaders of the parties about to form the new government. Would it be possible to do it differently? To let several teams negotiate in parallel and let the informateur and the political leaders observe the process and make the final decisions? The way we’re used to doing it is not prescribed by the laws on the cabinet formation, so there is no legal problem with trying it out this way. Furthermore, the people involved in the negotiations often have to deal with their job as minister or Chancellor as well, like is the case for you, Von Seydewitz. When the negotiations are carried out in parallel by separate teams, then it will be easier for you as well. What do you all think?” the King asked.
“Given the tense situation, we must give it a try. Indeed, we must have a cabinet with full power as soon as possible. Let’s do it this way. Afterwards, we will evaluate it,” Seifert said.
“I agree with it,” the political leader of the Rightwing Liberals Rudolph Kögler said.
“I also agree with it. I’d say let’s form negotiating teams for the remaining issues to be discussed. When those teams reach an agreement, the Informateur, Mr. Kögler and I will assess it. Meanwhile we can already look for new cabinet members,” Von Seydewitz said.

Von Seydewitz’s family was in Köln. They had travelled there in the evening of White Thursday for the holidays. But suddenly this morning the King had asked him to come back to Trier. Although an enlightened Catholic, Von Seydewitz was still a Catholic. He didn’t like it at all to work on Christian holidays, but unfortunately his work sometimes required him to do so.
After the discussion at the Palace, he went to his office in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to call some people. Agreements on the topics regarding the economy, education and country planning had already been reached. Foreign politics still needed to be discussed in the light of the tense situation in the East, but that would not lead to many problems. Social issues, however, could be a bit problematic. The Rightwing Liberals wanted to extend the abortion period to 24 weeks, and that was something the Christiandemocrats really did not want. A similar problem existed around euthanasia and cannabis pubs in the neighbourhood of schools. The Rightwing Liberals also wanted to introduce the civil union for same-sex couples; something the program of the Christiandemocrats didn’t say anything about but which was not a problem to Von Seydewitz and probably most members of his party. Maybe even the voters for his party agreed with it.
Von Seydewitz made some phonecalls, and the teams had been formed. After then, he phoned Kögler and Seifert. The teams would start negotiating the next day. Then he started to make a list of people for his new cabinet. Of course Neubauer for Internal Affairs. Frost, the current Minister for Justice, and Maria Sollorz, the current Minister for Environment, had already indicated that they would resign. Von Seydewitz wanted to keep Modrow, Röpke and Schumacher together with Neubauer. Maybe also Angela Weizmann-Müller? And Siegfried Merz? Now another woman. Gisela Möller-Rathenau would be a good one.


6 April 2010

The idea of letting several teams negotiate in parallel had worked out well. The only problem that still existed was the legislation around abortion. Seifert, Von Seydewitz and Kögler were discussing it in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In the meantime, they had started to use their first names, wich was quite extraordinary in Eiffelland during negotiations.
“Look at it this way, Rudolph,” Von Seydewitz said. “It is already possible to keep a baby alive after 22 weeks of pregnancy duration. When we put the limit on 24 weeks, then we abort babies which are potentially viable. But maybe 12 weeks is indeed a bit short. My proposal is as follows. We put the limit on 16 weeks and introduce the abortion consultation and the reconsideration time of five days. If a woman comes to the abortion clinic at precisely 16 weeks pregnancy duration, then the abortion will take place at 16 weeks and 5 days pregnancy duration, and that is still legal. But I add to it the civil marriage instead of the civil union for same-sex couples. It is not part of your election program, but it is what you want in the end. Then let’s do that right away. Furthermore, the idea behind the civil union for same-sex couples is that those couples will become equal to married opposite-sex couples for the law. Then let’s make it really equal to each other by using the same name for it.”
“Matthias, are you sure that you will get that through in our party?” Seifert asked.
“We will find that out as soon as I discuss it in the fraction, but I have good confidence in it,” Von Seydewitz said.
“What about euthanasia and adoption by same-sex couples?” Kögler asked.
“Do we know enough about why people want euthanasia, and if there are alternatives for euthanasia? Please realise that it takes someone to kill the person wanting euthanasia. We must prevent laying too much burden on those persons. Let’s allow euthanasia for people who are in an irreversible coma, and investigate if there are alternatives for euthanasia for all the other cases. For adoption by same-sex couples, to me the interest of the child is more important than the interest of the potential parents. Let’s investigate whether children raised by same-sex couples develop equally well as children raised by opposite-sex couples, and if so, I don’t see a reason to uphold it,” Von Seydewitz said.
“What about someone who has been in a coma for let’s say 15 years? And what about someone who has completely lost the ability to move anything, a so-called ‘locked-in syndrome’?” Kögler asked.
“I don’t know when a coma should be considered irreversible. Let’s ask neurologists what they like about saying that a coma is irreversible after 5 years. For what you call a ‘locked-in syndrome’, I think euthanasia should be allowed in that case,” Von Seydewitz said.
“OK, let’s do it that way. Let’s write it all down and discuss it in our fractions,” Kögler said.


7 April 2010

“Congratulations, gentlemen,” Seifert said. “I will inform the King tomorrow that my task has ended. Good luck with finding suitable candidates for your cabinet.”
“Thank you Kurt-Georg,” Von Seydewitz and Kögler said.
“Do you already have some candidates for a ministership?” Seifert asked.
Von Seydewitz mentioned the persons he had in mind. After that, Kögler said: “I was thinking about Heinz-Dieter Lardinois, Peter Steinhauer, Caroline Genfer, Daniel Wolzow, Ferdinand Gauß and Walter Koch.”
“Ah, Lardinois as minister for finance, good choice, Rudolph,” Von Seydewitz said.