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The crown of the Rheinbund

Rheinbund

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Crown of the Rheinian King; only used at the coronation


Ludwig von Heidemar-Loorburg

The Rheinbund has a rich history, with traditions dating back to the middle ages. Even its form of government dates back from the middle ages. It is a monarchy, but not the normal kind of monarchy. The King is elected, and can even be a non-nobleman. Actually, that is currently the case. His Majesty King Johannes Bergmann is not of noble ancestry. He was Bürgerschaftslegat of Bremerland when he was elected 20 years ago.

My name is Ludwig von Heidemar-Loorburg. I am the third son of the Sovereign Prince of Lotharingen, and with that a Prince of Lotharingen. This may sound a bit complex, because my father’s title, Fürst in German, does not have a proper equivalent word in Engellish or Frankish. Both languages use the word “Prince” to indicate a person who is head of state of a principality, while we use the word “Fürst”. In order to distinguish a head of state of a principality from a son of a King or Emperor, we use the term “Sovereign Prince” or “Prince Souverain” to refer to a head of state of a principality. So basically, I am a Prince but not a Sovereign Prince, or a Prinz but not a Fürst.

Because of my ancestry, I am eligible to be elected King of the Rheinbund, but I don’t think that that will happen. The Archbishop of Heilbronn is one of the electors, and he will never agree with a gay King. Apart from that, a very orthodox and extremely conservative branch of Calvinism dominates the citizenry of Bramsfeld; a gay King would be unacceptable to the Bramsfelders as well.

Rheinbund is a very diverse country, and constitutionally quite a decentralised country. Many matters are handled at the level of the principalities, prince-bishopric and citizenries. Matters for which it is more efficient to be handled at federal level, are handled at federal level, but many other issues are handled at local level. Of course defence, foreign politics, economic politics, energy politics, health care organisation and all kinds of standards (a.o. Rheinische Industrienorm (RIN), Rheinisches Reinheitsgebot (RRG), Rheinische Abgasnorm (RAN, norms for exhaust gases of cars, trucks, mopeds etc.)) are federal matters; and all new medical and veterinarian therapies are assessed for marketing approval at federal level. Education is also a federal matter. But many other things are handled by the principalities, prince-bishopric and citizenries.
Especially ethical matters are so-called Ländersache. Abortion and homosexual intercourse are legal in most Länder, but not in Bramsfeld and Heilbronn. Those two Länder also forbid same-sex marriages, although there is an agreement to recognise marriages not closed in your own land (also in the case of same-sex marriages).

Next year will be a special year for the Rheinbund. On 28 June, it will have existed 1100 years. Massive parties have been planned to celebrate the event. 28 June is already a day of celebration, but next year it will be extra special. Throughout the year, many indoor and outdoor expositions on the history of the Rheinbund will be organised. 28 and 29 June will be public holidays in the Rheinbund, and 28 June will be a day of celebrations.
 
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Rheinbund

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Ludwig von Heidemar-Loorburg

It has become tradition for the descendants of the Rheinian nobility to study in Weissenfels. As a result, the Robert Koch Universität is much larger than you would expect, not only because of the noble people, but also because people want to study at the same university as the descendants of sovereign families. It is the second-largest university of the Rheinbund. I am from Fehrbellin, but I studied in Weissenfels as well. Currently I’m doing my Rechtsreferendariat, still in Weissenfels. In my spare time, I am pianist of the Weissenfelser Studentenorchester.
My boyfriend, Jonathan von Walsrode, is studying medicine in Weissenfels. He started studying law, but switched three years ago. He is a descendant of a ducal family in which it is tradition to become a lawyer. Jonathan broke with that tradition, although you can argue that he is following his mother’s family’s tradition to become a medical doctor.

The Rheinbund is mostly very tolerant about homosexuality, but I am still in the closet. Jonathan’s family knows about us, but my family does not. I have to keep my homosexuality a secret, because it can jeopardise my father’s chances on the Crown of the Rheinbund. The Rheinian noble families hold each other to more conservative standards than they hold the rest of the country to.
This was what a friend of mine discovered after he was outed. Apart from being disinherited, the noble families started to shun him. He is not welcome in the noble houses any more, because of which he decided to stay in Fehrbellin with his boyfriend and study there.

Jonathan and I were made for each other. We want to live our life together. But how? As it stands now, my father is likely to succeed King Johannes Bergmann, but that will not happen if my relationship with Jonathan becomes known. We are considering to marry a lesbian couple to keep up appearances; then we would be each other’s alibis.

House Heidemar-Loorburg is the most prestigious sovereign house of the Rheinbund, but it’s not unassailable.

OOC: Sorry Justosia.
 
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Rheinbund

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Pietas, maternity ward
Fehrbellin, Rheinbund


Cough!

Cough! Cough!

Ten years ago, Johannes Bergmann went into the statistics as the 14th non-nobleman to be elected King of the Rheinbund. And also the youngest man in 150 years. Just two years before, he was elected Legate of Bremerland. At age 43, extremely young to be elected Legate. What a lot had happened in his life since those days. His son died in an accident, he and his wife divorced, and he met someone else, Aline Lanzinger, 22 years younger than him, an intern at the Fehrbelliner Schloss (the Royal Palace). She took the initiative. Initially, the King was hesitant due to the age difference, but he gave in later on. Three years later, they married. That was five years ago.

Cough!

Four years ago, their first child was born. A daughter, Lisette. Eight months ago, Aline showed him a new pregnancy test. Positive. The King was overjoyed. Now he was in the maternity ward of the Pietas, the university hospital of the Universität der Stadt Fehrbellin. His wife was in labour.

Normally in a monarchy, the monarch has the biggest and most beautiful palace in the capital. He is the one who “owns” the country, so he is the one who determines. But the Rheinbund is not a normal monarchy. Indeed, there is a King, but this is not a heriditary function. Each of the 11 Sovereigns fulfil the role of monarch in their respective sovereignties, and erect palaces there when needed. As a result, the biggest palace in Fehrbellin is the residence of the Sovereign of Lotharingen and not of the King of Eiffelland.
More in general, the Rheinbund didn’t have a capital city until 1850. Before that year, the government of the Rheinbund resided in the city where the King resided, and that was mostly the capital of his Sovereignty or Citizenry. But then 1848 kicked in. The principalities and citizenries democratised. Suddenly the Kingdom itself needed a parliament. But where to locate it? At that moment, the Sovereign of Lotharingen was the King of the Rheinbund. He pushed through that the parliament would be located in Lotharingen’s capital, Fehrbellin. And so Fehrbellin also became the capital of the Rheinbund. The Sovereign of the Rheinbund donated Schloss Bellevue to the Kingdom, and that palace became the residence of the King.
And now it was the residence of King Johannes Bergmann.

Cough!

The sound of a crying baby was heard. It was the first cry of Lukas Bergmann.

Cough!

This time there was blood on the King’s hand. He had been coughing for several weeks, but this was the first time that he coughed up blood. Then he got a real coughing attack, coughed up more blood, and collapsed.
 

Rheinbund

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24JAN2022

Herr Kanzler, I am going to lay down my tasks,” the King said. He was still in hospital, recovering from an operation conducted to take a biopsy of his bronchial tumor. He already knew the biopsy assessment result: A small-cell lung carcinoma. The MRI had revealed a couple of tumor masses through his body; one that was easy to reach had been taken biopsies from as well. Result: Identical. Suddenly a couple of new phrases were added to his vocabulary. One of them was “5-year survival rate”. And that number was grim: 2.9% overall, and 2.2% for men.

Monday was the day at which the Chancellor and the King had their weekly meetings. This was a tradition conducted everywhere in the Rheinbund: The Fürste and Legate always met with their Heads of Government on Monday. This time the meeting took place in the hospital.

“I am sad about this decision, Your Majesty, but I understand it,” Chancellor Hans-Georg Lauritzen said. He expected this decision, only not this early. “Are you planning to temporarily or definitively lay down your tasks?”

This was indeed a difference. In the case of a temporary lay-down of the King’s task, the oldest Kurfürst would become Regent and take up the King’s tasks, or the King could appoint a Regent for maximally a year. In the case of a definitive lay-down, however, the Kurfürste (i.e. the Sovereigns of the principalities and the Legates of the citizenries) had to choose a Regent, who then would also succeed the King after the current King’s death.

De facto definitively,” the King said. “I want to keep the burden for His Majesty Fürst Ferdinand von Detmold-Liepen as small as possible.” Fürst Ferdinand von Detmold-Liepen was the oldest Kurfürst with his 75 years. He had already announced that he would hand over his tasks to his oldest child, Crown-Princess Leonore von Detmold-Liepen.

“My thought is the following,” the King said. “If I definitively lay down my tasks, the Fürst of Detmold will become Regent. But he is already planning his retirement. He will be busy enough with handing his duties over at the moment; I want to save him the additional burden. So I will lay down my tasks temporarily for a year and appoint a Regent. But I do advice you to initiate a constitutional change so that the King can appoint a Temporary Regent who governs until the Kurfürste have chosen a Regent and Future King.”

“You are completely right about this, Your Majesty,” the Chancellor said. “Do you have somebody in mind to appoint Regent?”

“I was thinking of your predecessor, Kanzler Außer Dienst Dr. Stephan Röpke. He did a very good job with both governing the country and leading the CDV into more stable waters after the 2018 elections. He is not only a brilliant economist but also a very good interim-manager,” the King said.

“I totally agree with you, Your Majesty. Have you contacted him?” the Chancellor asked.

“Not yet,” the King said. “I wanted to discuss this with you first.” But I will ask him now to come to the hospital, and I will set up the Royal Decree.”

But it didn’t come to that. When Dr. Röpke arrived at the hospital, the King was unconscious. A cerebral haemorrhage. The bleed had been treated, but the King was in a coma. A coma he would not wake up from.


26JAN2022

Fürst Ferdinand von Detmold-Liepen stepped out of the limousine in front of Schloss Schöneweide. The day before, he had handed his tasks as Fürst of Detmold over to his daughter. One task remained with the Fürst, for now: The task to elect a King. It couldn’t be done differently, because the Fürst was the regent now, and he would remain the regent until a new King had been elected. After him, the other Kurfürste arrived. In front of the Chancellor, the Ministers, the President of the Rheinisches Gerichtshof and all the other Kurfürste, he was sworn in as Regent of the Rheinbund.
 

Rheinbund

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QUOD LICET BOVI, NON LICET IOVI


Weissenfels, Sauerland, Rheinbund
02APR2022

This is strange, it is cold, Ludwig thought when he moved the blanket a bit. Had the heating gone off? Then he remembered again. The evening before, there had been a power outage in Weissenfels-Johannstadt, the city quarter where Ludwig and Jonathan lived. That could have disrupted the heating. Ludwig was naked under the sheets and the blankets, like Jonathan.

Ludwig wanted to find out whether he could turn the heating on again, so he crouched out of bed, in such a way that the blankets would still cover Jonathan. Whew, it was really cold! Ludwig found the T‑shirt he wore as underwear yesterday, and put it on. He couldn’t find his pants, so he decided to go to the thermostat and see what the problem was without wearing them, or trousers. Indeed, the thermostat gave an error code. Ludwig went to the heater to reset it. The heater started to work again. Ludwig walked back to the bedroom, went to the window and looked outside.
It was clear that Winter had ended. The days were longer than the nights again. The snow had melted away, apart from some plaques of snow on spots where large heaps of snow had formed. The ponds in the parks were still covered with ice, but the ice was soft and friable. In a week it would be gone.
Ludwig and Jonathan lived on the 5th floor of an apartment building in Weissenfels-Johannstadt, located on the banks of the Spree, the river flowing through Weissenfels. The view towards the north bank was magnificent.

Studying law was intensive and demanding in the Rheinbund. It took five years to obtain the Magistergrad (the master’s degree). Then there was the Volljuristenausbildung, which consists of internships in civil law, criminal law and administrative law, then an internship at a barrister’s office and an internship of choice. Each internship lasts five months. After the barrister’s office internship, the candidate had to write eight exams of five hours each.
Ludwig was currently working on his Magisterarbeit to obtain his Magistergrad. He had suffered from some study delay due to some activities next to his study. Blessed with a very good singing voice and talented on the piano, he was a member of the Weissenfelser Studentenorchester, a renowned student orchestra and choir. That required time that he could not spend on his study. He had the luck, however, that it was normal among Rheinian students to take longer for absolving their studies than the nominal five years. Students had a job next to their studies, were part of student music societies, took part in top sport (mainly athletics), assisted in scientific work or did voluntary work for their fraternities or other organisations they belonged to. That was student life in the Rheinbund.

It was well-known to the public that Prince Ludwig, the third son of the Fürst of Lotharingen, the most prestigious sovereign family of the Rheinbund, was in a relationship with Jonathan von Walsrode. The item had been exploited in detail by the yellow press four years ago, and it was still an item from time to time. It made Ludwig and Jonathan popular in the gay scene, and had turned them into a glamour couple. A role that the two bore with dignity but had never sought.
But it also led to controversies within the Rheinian nobility, like Ludwig experienced during a dress-ball organised by the sovereign family of Sigmaringen last week, to celebrate Fürst Sigmar von Schallenberg’s 50th birthday. It was a dress-ball for all sovereign and ducal families of the Rheinbund. Ludwig had been invited, and also Jonathan as son of the Duke of Walsrode. But both were supposed to attend separately, Ludwig together with the Von Heidemar-Loorburg family, and Jonathan with the Von Walsrode family…

“Still living in sin, Ludwig?”
Ludwig turned his head. He looked into the face of Wilhem von Koblenz-Lahnstein, heriditary prince of the sovereignty Ruppertswald.
“If you want to indicate that I am still with Jonathan von Walsrode, then the answer is yes,” Ludwig said coldly.
They were standing a bit away from the crowd. Ludwig was observing the dancing crowd. He had taken a bit of distance. He didn’t feel like dancing, because the girls all gave him the feeling that they expected more from him than just a dance. And that despite them knowing that he was gay.
“Does your father realise that that will cost him the Throne of the Rheinbund?” Wilhelm asked.
“What does that have to do with me?” Ludwig asked.
“The King must be impeccable,” Wilhelm said. “The picture he presents must be perfect. Yin and Yang. King and Queen. Also his children have to show perfection. Yin and Yang. Man and wife, and children. That is how the public wants to see the King, 21st century or not. You disturb the idylle when you stand there with Jonathan. None of the sovereign houses will allow that. They expected your father to discipline you, but that didn’t happen.“
“It could of course be that my father is the only sovereign to realise that the 21st century does matter, and that he therefore didn’t ‘discipline’ me,” Ludwig said.
“The 21st century does not matter in this, Ludwig. The public will cheer for you out of ‘tolerance’, but it would have been much happier when it would have seen you with a woman on your side. You are a nobleman. A royal even. Different rules apply to you than to the common people, because you are permanently in the spotlights. The commoners can marry everyone they like, even someone from the same sex, but noblemen have a reputation to uphold and a picture to show. We can’t marry everybody we like, and we definitely cannot live together with somebody of the same sex,” Wilhelm said.
“But going to bed with everybody we like is allowed for noblemen, isn’t it? We only need to make sure that it remains a secret,” Ludwig replied, implicitly referring to Wilhelm’s promiscuity that was efficiently kept outside the press but was a public secret among Rheinian nobility. “It is a pity that I have to tell it to you as a potential King yourself, but the task we nobles have consists of more than just keeping up appearances. No matter who will succeed His Majesty King Johannes, he also has to have competences.” And that was another sneer towards Wilhelm. Ludwig experienced study delays due to side activities; the exams he passed, he passed with marks between 1 (the highest mark) and 2. Wilhelm experienced study delays because of a combination of a lack of capabilities and too much partying; he did every exam three or four times before obtaining a 4 or 4 minus (meaning “just enough to pass”).
“Indeed, we need competences. But the competences won’t matter when the appearance does not fit, That is a lesson you have to learn. The only reason why Johann managed to build up TrialValid is, that he has both his competences and his appearance in order. Although he should marry Sophie soon,” Wilhelm said. “I am convinced that you will pass the Volljurist exam without hindrance, but then you are only a Volljurst with a lot of knowledge and devotion to duty. Everybody will want you, but not for the higher functions, because you don’t have the appearance.”
Wilhem remained silent for a moment. Then he said: “Quod licet bovi, non licet Iovi, Ludwig. Take tonight’s opportunity to find a girl to marry. You have not that many possibilities any more, so be quick.”

That was a week ago. Ludwig hadn’t told anybody about this conversation. But now, while looking out of the window on a cold Saturday morning, he was thinking about it again.

Ludwig’s thoughts were interfered when Jonathan embraced him from behind. Jonathan gave him a kiss in the neck, and whispered: “Do you know that you look extremely sexy from behind now, standing on one leg, the other leg a bit bent, and only wearing a T-shirt and no pants?”
Ludwig giggled and pressed himself against Jonathan’s body. Jonathan placed a love-bite in Ludwig’s neck and went under Ludwig’s shirt with his hands. Shortly afterwards, Ludwig’s shirt was taken off, and Ludwig and Jonathan made love in front of the window.
 
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Rheinbund

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04APR2022
Schloss Schöneweide, Fehrbellin, Rheinbund


From a rational point of view, Fürst Albrecht von Heidemar-Loorburg was the best candidate. He had a child who could become his Regent in Lotharingen without any problems. Crown-Prince Friedrich was about to turn 33; he obtained his master’s degree five years ago, and was currently obtaining governmental experience as chairman of a permanent committee.

But there was a problem.

Karl von Görisburg was 105 years old. He was the Fürst of Tirolstein, but had appointed his son Pippin Regent 30 years ago. Meanwhile, the latter turned 75 as well, so now it was Karl von Görisburg’s grandson Karl who was the regent of Tirolstein. Handing over your tasks to a regent when reaching the age of 75 years had become common practice in all the Rheinbund’s sovereignties. This also meant handing over tasks from one regent to another one when the regent himself reached the age of 75 years. One task, however, could not be handed over to a Regent: The task to choose a King. As it was now, a member of the Kurfürstenkollegium could not have himself represented by someone else. Up to now, there had been no consensus about changing this, among others because Fürst Karl had blocked it. Now, after an 800 km car drive from Neckarbrück to Fehrbellin while being 105 years old, he had a different opinion.
One other opinion hadn’t changed.

Bürgerschaftslegat of Bramsfeld Wulf Bingen and Archbishop Rudolph Strelecki disagreed on quite some religious topics. No wonder: Bingen was a member of the Reformatorial Community (one of the most conservative Calvinist religions in the Rheinbund), and Strelecki was a high person in the Tiburan Catholic Church. But they did agree on two things: The role of women in society and their rejection of homosexuality.

Then there were Gregor von Koblenz-Lahnstein, Fürst of Ruppertswald, and Ludwig von Weidenbach, Fürst of Spessart. Like the Fürst of Tirolstein, they were of the opinion that the King’s family should abide by the people’s ideal image of man-woman-children.

Agreement that the Fürste could also hand over their responsibilities in the Kurfürstenkollegium to a Regent was easily reached. In the next election of a King, a Kurfürst could be represented by someone else. This also applied to a Bürgerschaftslegat who for instance fell ill. But opening up the Kingship for women still went too far.

And then there was that other issue.

“Von Heidemar-Loorburg, I have told you several times that Prince Ludwig’s behaviour is unacceptable from a descendant of a sovereign family. Other rules apply to members of sovereign families than to the common people. I can’t agree to a King whose son is in a homosexual relationship. Von Heidemar-Loorburg, all the domino-stones fall into the right direction for you, except this one. You should have disciplined Prince Ludwig, but now it is too late,” Fürst Gregor von Koblenz-Lahnstein said. He led the opposition against Albrecht von Heidemar-Loorburg to become the new King. And with five people against, the 3/4 majority was not reached.

But then who else? Was there another candidate? None of the other Fürste had a successor who was old enough to take up a regency. Two Bürgerschaftslegate were women, and therefore uneligible. The Bürgerschaftslegate of Bramsfeld and Emsland were deemed too conservative by a majority of the other Kurfürste.

Fürst Ludwig von Weidenbach proposed to postpone the election by a week. In that week, people would look for candidates to become King, “or Fürst Albrecht manages to discipline his son”.
 

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12JUL2022
Engelsheim, Rheinbund

Philipp von Homburg-Gosta looked out of the window of his office room at the Universität Engelsheim. It would be one of the last times for him to stand here and look outside. He had been a lecturer and researcher at this university for 15 years. 15 years dedicated to research and teaching students. On top of that, more than 30 years away from the principality he was a prince of: Casparringen, the southernmost memberstate of the Rheinbund. The Tiburan blood was visible in him: His skin was a bit darker than normal on the northern side of the Tirolsteiner Alps, and his eyes were black. Only his hair was lighter than that of a Tiburan, although still brown.
At the age of 52, he had been elected King of the Rheinbund. He knew that his choice was a compromise. The favorite candidate was burned, because one of his sons was openly gay. Where the House of Ruppertswald successfully managed to keep the missteps of its son and heir out of the news, the House of Lotharingen was caught by surprise when the pictures appeared in Schau. This time the yellow press was not bribable, or was offered more money by somebody else than the House of Lotharingen offered. Philipp von Homburg-Gosta suspected that the fact that Prince Ludwig was gay played a role in everything.
Philipp didn’t know what he had to think of it. The Royal in him said that Ludwig should have thought of his House’s reputation. The Royal in him also said that Ludwig’s father Albrecht should have taken action to save the House’s reputation. And indeed, that should either have meant that Ludwig would have been forced into a marriage, or that Ludwig would have been disinherited and excluded from the family.
But Philipp was not only a Royal. He was also a father. He didn’t know whether he would be able to force one of his daughters into a relationship she didn’t want. All those arranged marriages from the past were mostly unhappy, and when such marriages were the standard, there were hardly any noblemen without mistresses. On top of that, Ludwig would have been forced into a marriage with somebody of the gender he was not attracted to. Was that really a good solution?
On top of that, the times had changed. Back in 1960, the people booed when the son and heir of the House of Weidenbach turned out to be gay, and cheered when he was discharged from the army and removed from the Royal House. But when Ludwig was outed, it was 2018. The public opinion on him was immediately in his favour. Disciplining him would have had an enormous impact on Fürst Albrecht’s popularity, and on the popularity of the Royal House of Lotharingen in general. From that point of view, Albrecht did the right thing to not discipline Ludwig. Even with religion in mind, King Philipp considered it not good that the Prince-Bishop, the Legate of Bramsfeld and the Fürste of Ruppertswald, Spessart and Tirolstein did not understand that.
King Philipp also realised that he was the compromise King. Actually the majority of the people wanted Albrecht to be the King. Now Philipp was the King who stole the Crown from Albrecht in the eyes of the people. He would have a job to do. One of the first things he would do, was changing the election rules so that the task to choose a King could be handed over. In that case, the Fürste who had handed their tasks over to their heir-apparents could also send their heir-apparents to the Kurfürstenkollegium. The sour part of the story was, that if this rule would have been applicable to the this election as well, Fürst Albrecht would have been chosen, because the Regents of Spessart and Tirolstein didn’t have a problem with Ludwig’s homosexuality.
 

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25AUG2022
Weissenfels-Johannstadt, Sauerland, Rheinbund


Three months of Summer holiday sounded good. And that was what Rheinian students always got at the end of the academic year. The lectures stopped at the end of May, then there were exams, then the university “closed” at the Friday before the first Saturday of July. The start of the academic year was always the first Tuesday of October. This was a relic of the past, to prevent that people had to travel on a Sunday. The Reformed Church used to forbid traveling on Sundays unless for going to Church or due to emergencies. Lifting this ban on Sunday traveling in the 19th Century led to a schism in the Reformed Church and the grounding of the Reformatorial Church (which became subjected to another schism afterwards).
But those three months of Summer holiday were not always that good. OK, a part of it was filled with traveling, but most students also had to use that time for earning money and studying for re-exams. Or for absolving the exams of the Erste Prüfung for law students, like Ludwig von Heidemar‑Loorburg did.
His boyfriend Jonathan von Walsrode had the whole Summer off. He had passed all the exams he had to pass, and there were no exams left that he could do in advance. Blessed with a family trust fund, finances were not his problem. So he could do whatever he wanted this summer. Out of solidarity with Ludwig, he decided to take up the household duties, and to do a junior internship at the department of thoracal surgery. This already led to the situation that he assisted with a heart transplant.

Today was the day of Ludwig’s last exam for the state part of the Erste Prüfung. He already had the notes back from the previous exams; all passed with good notes. But now he was feeling tired. He unlocked the door to the storage rooms of his apartment building to put his bicycle into the storage room of the apartment he shared with Jonathan. Then he took the lift to the floor where his apartment was. It was a three-bedroom apartment originally destined for use by him and his two brothers. The Von Heidemar-Loorburg and the Von Walsrode families rented the complete floor. In that way, the platoon of the Fürstliche Garde that fulfilled the role of body guards of Prince Ludwig had their own apartments. Furthermore, it was easier to lock off the complete floor.

“Good evening, Your Highness,” the body guard greeted him.
“Good evening, Mrs. Gloede,” Ludwig greeted back. Every time he got a new team of body guards, he learned the names of the people by heart. “How are you?”
“I am fine, thank you. How are you?” Katrein Gloede replied.
“A bit tired, but today was my last exam of the Erste Prüfing, so I can rest a bit the coming weeks,” Ludwig replied. “Is there any mail?”
“Yes, there are three letters; all three for you, Your Highness,” Katrein answered.
“Thank you Mrs. Gloede. Have a nice evening,” Ludwig said.
“Thank you Your Highness, same to you,” Katrein answered.

Ludwig opened the door to his apartment, and went in. Then he took the three letters he had received.

Most things went digitally in the Rheinbund, but some official communications were still sent by paper mail. Like the occasional speeding ticket. Ludwig was mostly a very careful driver, but also he sometimes gave some extra gas to pass the traffic light before it became red. Or to pass a slow driver.
Ludwig opened the letter with the speeding ticket. “Road type: B2. Location: Outside urban areas. Speed limit: 100 km/h. Speed actually measured: 117 km/h. Speed after correction: 113 km/h.” The fine was 40 Goldmark (± 40 EM). The picture attached to the ticket showed him at the wheel. In the Rheinbund, such pictures were always taken from the front to get the driver on them; sometimes this led to problems when the speeding cameras took a picture of somebody who drove too fast while having his mistress in his arms.
The Rheinian road traffic law foresaw several types of roads: Road type A corresponded with motorways. Road type B corresponded with regional roads, where B1 referred to 2+2 roads (sometimes laid out as motorways), B2 to 2+1 roads, and B3 to roads with one lane per direction. Roads type B mostly had narrow hard shoulders. Road type C referred to local roads with one lane per direction, but then mostly with narrower lanes than roads type B, and without hard shoulders. Road type D referred to roads without middle lining, and road type E referred to unpaved roads.
There was also a second letter. This one was from the university. After having obtained a 1- for his Magisterarbeit, he had requested his university diploma. Now he got the confirmation of the date at which he would get his diploma: 23 September. Because it was the end of the academic year and many people would graduate, the ceremony would not be individual.
Upon obtaining his diploma, he would be allowed to carry the title “Mag.” (for “Magister”), although it was not common any more to actually use this title in correspondence. Indeed, the Rheinbund was title-horny, but now that about 45% of the people between 30 and 67 actually had Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees (called “Bakkalaureus” and “Magister” in the Rheinbund), such a title was not special any more. Only the higher academic titles and titles like “Arzt”, “Oberarzt” or “Chefarzt” were special enough to always carry them.
The third letter was from the Fürstentumsgericht Sauerland. It contained the confirmation that he could start with his Rechtsreferendariat in October, provided that he would have absolved the Erstes Staatsexamen. This was a letter Ludwig was extremely happy about. Originally, he was afraid that he would not be accepted for the Rechtsreferendariat in Sauerland due to his homosexuality. Because Weissenfels was traditionally the place where the descendants of noble families studied, there were quite a lot of noblemen who had obtained jobs in Sauerland’s legal system. Noblemen who probably had their opinions on homosexual noblemen. But apparently those opinions played a less important role than Ludwig feared. Although that could also appear from the notes he had obtained for the Erste Staatsexamen. In any case, now Ludwig didn’t need to go to a different memberstate for his Rechtsreferendariat, and that was good. Otherwise either he would see Jonathan only in the weekends, or Jonathan would have to change universities while in the middle of the Magister part of his study.

Ludwig went to the fridge to see what Jonathan had bought yesterday. Chicken filet, schnitzels, broccoli, haricots verts, mushrooms and Thorsringer Klöße. He decided to prepare the schnitzels, the haricots verts and the Thorsringer Klöße, and use the mushrooms to make a mushroom sauce. Then tomorrow it would be an easy meal.

Jonathan arrived home when Ludwig was cooking. Jonathan walked into the kitchen and gave Ludwig a kiss.
“Hi my love,” he said.
“Hi Schätzchen,” Ludwig replied.
“How did the exam go?”
“I have a good feeling about it. I’ll hear the note in two weeks.”
“And I have a surprise for you. After this Summer of hard work, I think you deserve some time to relax. I have booked a trip to Nuovo Porto for two weeks.”
“Oh, thank you,” Ludwig smiled, wrapped his arms around Jonathan and gave him a kiss. “By the way, I will get my diploma on the 23rd. I already apped my family, and Christoph and Bastian.”
“OK, I will mark it in my agenda as well, and will notify my parents.”
 
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