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A man sits alone in his crowded study...

A single candle provides barely sufficient light. Jean de Croÿ stares at papers strewn across his desk. A scowl seems permanently etched onto his face. It varies in intensity as Jean picks through the documents but never completely vanishes. Blackboards on rickety stands line the walls. The flickering light shows that they are covered in all manner of names and lines. Prominent on the boards are the words Beauffort, London, HM, Republicans, and Socialists. Stacks of roughly bound books litter the floor while the bookcases lie empty. Jean jumps at the sound of a knock on the door.

I told you, I'm not having any visitors tonight!
Just me sir, no visitors.
What do you want.
Ah, nothing sir. I was just concerned that you haven't eaten yet.
What is the time Damien?
Midnight sir.
Surely not!
It is. You've been in here for hours sir. You've missed the evening papers and the latest messenger with news from the Parliament.
Jean pulls his hands down his face, stands, and turns to Damien. Have you read any of it Damien?
Of course sir.
Anything of interest that cannot wait until morning?
Van Der Brucke has issued another proclamation.
What did the Good Baron have to say this time?
Damien clears his throat. Through social reforms we can finally put an end to the Jacobin madness of Democracy and Constitutionalism... <beat> We must denounce the political reforms of the past and embrace these new social reforms.
Panem et circenses. Van Der Brucke thinks he can win over the people by supporting this Beauffortist angle. Jean shakes his head. Am I doomed to lead the only truly Reactionary force in the nation? He sighs. I should have escaped to London when I had the chance. But no, I stayed. This has all gone bad Damien. I'll be thrown out by our benefactors if I join the other parties in supporting these reforms. I had a letter from one this morning. Appeasement he called it, along with a veiled warning about what straying from the path would lead to.
And sticking to your position is bad?
Of course it is. I don't think the Traditionalists have the numbers to stop the tide. We'll be washed aside by the Beauffortists and the Vanderbruckists. All my work will be for nothing. We could hope that Perfidious Albion acts on its promises to Poisson and the rest of the Right end up being hung like the traitors they are.
Guillotined sir.
Jean raises an eyebrow. What? Oh, right. If heads roll then hopefully there'll be no one left to run the Right. That assumes too that they don't take the opportunity to clean-up and brand me a traitor. And if it all plays out well and I end up on top then the combined Right will be barely stronger than the Traditionalists are now. I'll be reduced to playing the villain in their glorious republican paradise.
Damian eyes focus then widen. Uhhh, sir?
What is the matter Damian?
Your eye is doing that thing again.
Goddamnit. Jean puts a hand up to cover and hold his twitching eye. I suppose I had better stop work for tonight then. What can be prepared for supper?
Cold cuts sir.
Again?
If you stopped working so late then there would be time to make something hot.
There is just too much to do. Well, we had better eat then.

Jean and Damien leave the room. The lone candle continues to cast malevolent shadows across the room until it finally burns out and dies.

((Remember folks, this is for fun and narrative. Unless you have spies in de Croÿ's house, you won't know this IC.))
 
At the world's most conspicuous nondescript tavern, Rue de Flandre, Brussels

"Von Trapp is gone," noted Doris Vauclain. "No one's seen him for the past twelve hours. We can only assume the worst."

A heavy silence filled in the air. The old inkeeper kept a strict schedule, and would never leave his desk for such a long time and at such an odd hour. The obvious conclusion was that the police had gotten to him. Everyone at the Free Belgians' de facto headquarters shuddered at the thought. Rumors had been circulating that someone in the Beauffort administration had been subcontracting some of the city's policing to Vanderbruckist organizations, and everyone knew that such bandits showed no mercy to anyone they deemed as Jacobins. Von Trapp was an innocent, good-hearted man, and provided perfect cover for their operations. With one of the last known safeholds in Brussels potentially gone, the situation for the Free Belgian leadership was looking increasingly perilous.

Georges Savarin hen spoke up. "We'll need a backup location, of course. I have no idea what - or frankly, who - we will be able to save should the worst happen, but I will talk to Damseaux the Younger in Charleroi to see what he can do for us. In the meantime..."

"What is it?" asked Jan van Breiner.

"I want all the black powder we can find. If worst comes to worst, finding this place would mean the deaths of every Citizen Guard captain and brutality the likes of which Europe had not seen since...since Starbroek, I suppose. That cannot be allowed to happen, no matter what may happen to us," he replied. The room fell silent again, but everyone knew there were few other options.

"Let's not borrow trouble," said Martijn Oosterhout. "We've been resourceful enough to survive this far, haven't we? We have informers in every regime prison...except wherever your father is, William. He's disappeared off the face of the earth...At any rate, we'll find what's happened to Von Trapp and ensure he, and our cover, are safe. Let's get back to the day's business, for now..."

After the meeting, Georges goes upstairs on the off chance that Von Trapp had returned. He found a bottle of wine on the counter that he was quite sure had not been there that morning.

"To Georges Savarin," read the label. "To the sweetness of victory or the bitterness of defeat."

"So, you see it too, just as I expected. You or me, Beauffort...you or me..."

((will fill in the gaps later, very tired here))
 
Party: Catholic Crown Party
Candidate: Jacques-Anne, Marquis de Beauffort
Belgian Naval Bill: Yes
Expansion of Belgium Amendment: Yes
Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: No
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: Yes

Willem Goossens -Deputy for Brugge - CCP - Secretary for State Security
 
Military Draft and Mandate Bill

The General Staff of the Belgian Armed Forces, presided by Field Marshal Van der Goltz, represented by Major-General Van Stern, propose the following Bill;​
- A four-year draft shall be instituted.
- Any healthy male, aged 17, who is not the fourth or later son of a family and is not breadwinner of the family is expected to serve in the Armed Forces at least until his 21st birthday.
- If the draftee is, on his 17th birthday, registered as following an officially recognized higher-level education, he may request postponement of military service until directly after finishing his education.
- Refusal to show up for military draft shall be considered desertion and penalized as such.

- The penalty for desertion is execution by firing squad.
- A court-martial is authorized to sentence only soldiers of the Belgian Armed Forces to execution by firing squad.

- In times of war, civil war, or national emergency, the military has an extended mandate.
- In accordance with Article XI, Section 7 of the Constitution, military forces may take on a policing role and enforce said Article.
- When deemed necessary, military forces may commandeer civilian property vital to the war effort.
- In times of war, the military is authorized to enforce Belgian law on captured territory and its inhabitants.
 
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((Why aren't you allowing fourth sons? Is there some sort of basis in history for that, or are you just making strange laws? :p))
 
((A family that already had three sons serve in the military is, in many nations (including mine during WW2), considered to have contributed enough to the nation.))

((You would be pretty pissed off if you were the 5th son, though.....

Also, I continue to vote Agitate!))
 
The Defence of the Realm Act​

(1) The Sovereign in Council has power during the continuance of the present rebellion to issue regulations for securing the public safety and the defence of the realm, and as to the powers and duties for that purpose of the Admiralty and Army Council and of the members of His Majesty's forces and other persons acting in his behalf; and may by such regulations authorise the trial by courts-martial, or in the case of minor offences by courts of summary jurisdiction, and punishment of persons committing offences against the regulations and in particular against any of the provisions of such regulations designed:
  • (a) to prevent persons communicating with the enemy or obtaining information for that purpose or any purpose calculated to jeopardise the success of the operations of any of His Majesty's forces or the forces of his allies or to assist the enemy; or
    (b) to secure the safety of His Majesty's forces and ships and the safety of any means of communication and of railways, ports, and harbours; or
    (c) to prevent the spread of false reports or reports likely to cause disaffection to His Majesty or to interfere with the success of His Majesty's forces by land or sea or to prejudice His Majesty's relations with foreign powers; or
    (d) to secure the navigation of vessels in accordance with directions given by or under the authority of the Admiralty; or
    (e) otherwise to prevent assistance being given to the enemy or the successful prosecution of the war being endangered.
(3) It shall be lawful for the Admiralty or Army Council:
  • (a) to require that there shall be placed at their disposal the whole or any part of the output of any factory or workshop in which arms, ammunition, or warlike stores and equipment, or any articles required for the production thereof, are manufactured;
    (b) to take possession of, and use for the purpose of, His Majesty's naval or military service any such factory or workshop or any plant thereof;
Belgian Naval Bill: Aye
Expansion of Belgium Amendment: Abstain
Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: Abstain
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: Aye

~HSH Leopold Saxe-Coburg-Gotha the Younger,
Duke of Saxony
 
So, the parliament appears to be choosing a regent these days. It's obviously not my business, but I hope that they are sane enough to choose Aurélien Lebeau as the regent. We do not need a man of words, we need a strong leader capable of action instead. I served under Aurélien Lebeau as a mere Colonel, and God knows he was a good CoGS. One of the best we had. A man like him would surely serve the country well.

- Exempt from conversation between Dorian and several staff officers from the 3rd Division

((Therefore:
Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: No
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: Yes))
 
Party: Catholic Crown Party
Candidate: Charles Augustin van de Werve
Belgian Naval Bill: Yes
Expansion of Belgium Amendment: Yes
Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: No
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: Yes
 
((So basically this reactionary coup has occured to form a democracy in which only conservative and reactionary parties can run? And in part over the king's power to appoint a ruling party?))

((oc solution since my character isn't in politics:

The house may force the king to abdicate to a male heir of age if he is above age X or has Y disease

Or the king may only change parties if:
-The country is at war
-The country is losing GP status
-Unemployment is exceptionally high and the economy isn't functioning and the new party must have a significant existing stake in he house and be higher on the state capitalism scale
-If he is changing back to the party from which he changed it
))
 
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Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: Yes
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: No

This has not been an easy decision to make. Lebeau may be a man of impeccable personal character but he aligns himself with Beauffortist Socialist attitudes. The disaffected of our nation cry out like toddlers seeking attention and the current government would give it to them rather than taking the harder but proper attitude of disciplining them. If you spare the rod then you'll spoil the child. As the leader of the Traditionalist cause, I cannot support a man who would siphon off the nation's wealth to those who think they deserve it by virtue of bleating the loudest. I do not know what the Archbishop's stance on these matters are but surely a man of God would recognise that Charity is for private persons and the Church, not the State.

- Jean de Croÿ, Leader of the Traditionalist League
 
((Morning tally.))

KKP:
Beauffort: 4
Van de Werve: 2

Total: 6

Belgian Naval Bill: 11/0/0
Expansion of Belgium Amendment: 9/1/1

Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: 3/7/2
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: 10/2/0
 
tattarescu.Nicolae_Balcescu.300.jpg
Name: Sir Andrei Popa Vanderhoof, KL, 1st Marquess of Vanderhoof and Count of Ghent
Date of Birth: January 5th, 1844 - March 3rd, 1911 (67)
Hometown: Ghent, Belgium, formerly Oradea, Austria.
Ethnicity: Romanian
Religion Catholic, formerly Orthodox
Background: An orphan of noble Vlach stock, he was adopted by the infamous Wilhelm Vanderhoof in 1850. When his adopted father was killed in a mugging in 1856, he inherited the controlling stock in the elder Vanderhoof's company.

During the Beninese war and the early Beauffort government he made quite a profit from selling his grain to the government for it's troops. However with the coup and the de facto overthrow of the monarchy, Andrei has stepped up to his father's shoes to fight against Beauffort and his ridiculous schemes for the nation.

Being a proud member of the MLP, he was assigned first as Minister of Finance then Ministry of War during the Poisson Grand Alliance administration. He drew ire for opposing the Brussels Compromise, and he was the only member of the Cabinet to oppose the vote.

In 1871 he was elected by the state of Flanders as the Minister of Flander and held a successful term. He was reelected in 1876, 1881, 1886, 1891, 1895 and 1899. In 1881 he won the race for leadership of the GLP and oversaw coalitions with the BSU and NDP in the Leftist Government of 1886 and the Royalist Government of 1891. During which he became known for his loud voice, tough negotiation and harsher stances. For his long term service as Minister of Flanders, he was knighted as a Knight of the Royal Order of the Lion (KL) by King Prosper-August I of Belgium.

He continued to serve the government until his retirement following private surgery in 1904. In dedication to his long and distinguished career he was named Count of Ghent and Marquess of Vanderhoof in 1904, when he retired from private life and became the well liked Mayor of Ghent.

He died in his sleep on March 3rd, 1911.


Titles:
CEO of Northern Flemish Grains - (1856 - 1911)
Minister of Finance - (1866)
Minister of War - (1866 - 1871)
Minister of Flanders - (1871 - 1904)
Deputy Prime Minister - (1891 - 1895)
Leader of the GLP - (1886 - 1904)
Knight of the Royal Order of the Lion - (1894 - 1911)
Minister of Labour - (1895 - 1899)
Minister of Foreign Affairs - (1899 - 1904)
Member of the Board of Education - (1899 - 1904)
Mayor of Ghent - (1904 - 1911)
Count of Ghent - (1904 - 1911)
Marquess of Vanderhoof - (1904 - 1911)


_______________________________________________________________

((I am AGITATING))
 
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((Morning tally.))

KKP:
Beauffort: 4
Van de Werve: 2

Total: 6

Belgian Naval Bill: 11/0/0
Expansion of Belgium Amendment: 9/1/1

Sebastian Delcroix for Regent: 3/7/2
Aurélien Valentin Lebeau for Regent: 10/2/0

((Would it be possible to include 1. the number of people agitating, and 2. some idea of the in-game effect of the agitation?))
 
At his estate outside of Ypres, Christian begins to talk to his wife.

I'm getting fearfull for you my Love, the left wing as we speak gather more and more of the poor and destitute and with their lies tell them that a 'revolution' will lead to better conditions. While obvious lies and propaganda they have convinced the poor impressionable plebs.

What are you proposing Dear?

Right now, nothing but, if the situation were to deteriorate I would like you to take our son and daughter as well as our staff and move to our French estates for awhile. I fear a succesfull revolution will look similar to the French Revolution. I wouldnt be able to live with myself if you died so make sure you do this for me if the situation goes south.

Dear you cannot seriously think the government will fail, so many love Beaufort in Ypres and through out Belgium it could hardly go south that fast.

Christians face darkens as he thinks about everyway things could go south.

If a general uprising occurs I'm not sure we would be able to stop the Jacobins. You must promise not to tell anyone but, we have numbers suggesting 500,000 people are in some way alligned to these organizations - thats half of the adult male population. Even 100,000 men in a 'revolutionary' frenzy can cause drastic problems coupled with a possible invasion by the 'GiE', yes things can go very bad at this point.

What of you though? What will you do if this happens?

With a sparkle in his eye Christian replies

Why I will be one of the heading members of the Belgium resistance. Beaufort is in no shape to be personnally leading something so vigorous as that. I also feel he would rather die then be captured or let the government fall. I vowed long ago when I heard my father was assassinated in exile that, I would never leave Belgium if its in need of leadership.

You would rather die for belgium then live with your family, wouldnt you!

His wife starts shrieking

You must hear me out, I....

They were all right about you, they said that you shouldnt marry a Van de Velde!

His wife starts to cry

Adrienne, I ddint mean it like that, I'm sorry. Please, dont be like this, you must understand why I am saying this too you.

Vous n'avez même pas souciez assez de venir avec votre famille. Votre vie entière est de corriger les défaillances de votre père, n'est-ce pas!

((You do not even care enough to come with your family. Your whole life is to correct the failures of your father, isn't it!))

Adrienne, veuillez ne pas être comme cela, je tiens à vous renvoyer à vous maintenir sûr. Adrienne Je t'aime.

((Adrienne, please don't be like this, I want to send you away to keep you safe. Adrienne I love you.))

Adrienna starts to cry, and Christian walks up to her and hugs her.

Ne vous inquiétez pas Adrienne, tout sera ok je vous promets que quoi qu'il arrive je reviendrai à vous. Je ne vais pas vous laisser seul comme mon père l'a fait à sa femme, mon amour pour la Belgique ne vient pas près de mon amour pour vous. Adrienne Je vous promets que si nous devons le faire, si vous devez aller le domaine français, je viendrai à vous avec dans un an et un jour.

((Don't worry Adrienne, it'll all be ok I promise you that no matter what happens I will come back to you. I wont leave you alone like my father did to his wife, my love for Belgium doesnt come close to my love for you. Adrienne I promise you that if we have to do this, if you have to go the french estate I will come to you with in a year and a day. ))