Chapter 30: A day at the archives
15 July, 19xx, Castle St. Maso, Rome
The archivist stood and stretched. He glanced at the document he'd been trying to catalog; a decree ordering the construction of a Glorious Monument in Constantinople, honoring the founding of the Empire of Italy on 19 September 1611. He'd been to see the statue; it was truly magnificent, and worthy of the glory of the Empire. Now, he wondered, did it belong with the reign of Leo III, the regency of Drusus Germanicus, or the reign of Alexander I? As he mulled that question over, he was startled by a young man standing at his desk.
"Oh! I'm so very sorry, lad. I didn't see you there. Can I help you?"
The young man was clearly no Italian. He was very pale with red hair; very few Italians would meet that physical description.
"My name is Brendan O'Connor, sir. We spoke on the telephone a few days ago."
"Oh yes, of course. How very foolish of me. You are working on a genealogical project, if I remember correctly?"
O'Connor nodded. "That's right. My ancestor is Alexander O'Connor. He was a former Marshal of the Empire."
The archivist blinked a couple of times. "O'Connor, O'Connor... name doesn't ring a bell. When was he Marshal?"
The Irishman grinned. "That's one of the things I need to find out. I do know he entered the country sometime during the regency of Drusus Germanicus."
"As luck would have it, Mr. O'Connor, I've been going through some of those documents already. Perhaps God has smiled on your request. Your Latin is excellent, by the way."
"Thank you, sir. Although my branch of the family returned to Ireland in the 19th century, we still know who the real power of the world is; everybody who's anybody speaks Latin."
"Indeed they do." Now it was the archivist's turn to smile.
He went back to his desk, motioning for the young scholar to follow him. He pushed aside a pile of boxes until he found the one he wanted. Written, in a very elaborate hand, was "Consul Drusus Germanicus, reigned as regent 1612-1619." He looked apologetically at Brendan. "Forgive me, young sir, but these haven't been indexed. We'll go through them one at a time, but thankfully there aren't many records in this box."
"Why not?"
"Well, record keeping wasn't as thorough as it is today. I'm sure somebody somewhere wrote down what I had breakfast for this morning." A small chuckle, then he continued. "More specifically, with the transition to the Empire of Italy, things were very confused. The introduction of the
cursus honorum was a little difficult to swallow at first glance, but most of the nobles of the Empire eagerly accepted their new assignments. Here's an example; the very first Roster of Nobles! We'll just look at the first page. The rest probably won't be very interesting."
Roster of Nobles for the Empire of Italy
Imperial Regent and Chancellor of the Empire: Drusus Germanicus
Marshal of the Empire: Karel van Dijk
Foreign Minister: Brother Simon of the Teutonic Order
Imperial Ambassador-at-Large: Gian Carlo Buti
Minister for Internal Affairs: Innocenzo Buti
Commandant of the Germanicus Academy of the Imperial Legions: Giovanni d'Appiani d'Aragoni
Proconsul of Egypt: Gaius Andreas Germanicus
Proconsul of Anatolia: [illegible; it looked as though the author had scratched out a number of names]
Proconsul of North Africa: Giovanni Orsini
Chief Magistrate of Italy: Cornelius Porcius Cato
Chief Magistrate of Constantinople: Julius Tullius Cicero
Mayor of Jerusalem: Ibrahim Iskander
Before the archivist could turn to the next page, O'Connor put a restraining hand his shoulder. "Sir, I think that's enough; I know my father started low in the Legions, so by the time we get to his entry, we'll probably both be dead."
The archivist smiled. "You're probably right. Let's move on."
He thumbed through the Colonial Charter for Berber, which became an Imperial province under the regency (although slavery was such a distasteful practice, few at the time thought so); the excited scribblings of a scholar, who'd written a paper on Architectural Reform and the spur to Innovation it supplied; the plans for the first Imperial Mint; a death certificate for General Orsini and the inheritance of his position and rank by his son, Vittorio; and a copy of a new alliance with Muscovy.
O'Connor looked puzzled at the inheritance notice. "I thought that sons only inherited the fact of nobility from their fathers and started at the bottom of the
cursus honorum? Didn't each subsequent generation have to earn their nobility?"
The archivist, pleasantly surprised by the young man's knowledge, nodded. "Normally, Mr. O'Connor, you'd be right. However, in the early days of the Empire, there were so few nobles that many inherited their predecessor's position without so much as a second thought. As time progressed, however, the practice was formalized. That happened under Alexander I, I believe."
O'Connor did a double take when he read the last name. "Wait, Orsini? Wasn't that a rebellious family of Umbrian nobility?"
"For a long time, yes. But Giovanni was a skilled soldier, and under the many wars of Leo III, he restored his family's honor. The pardon was signed by Drusus Germanicus himself. It's in the pile I'm working now if you want to see it."
"No thank you. Let's keep going."
Just behind two orders for small statues commemorating Francis I and John I, the archivist finally found what they were looking for. Immigration records.
"Now, your ancestor was from Ireland, right? What else can you tell me about him?"
Brendan opened his briefcase and skimmed through the records he already had. "He was born in County Cork. I can't quite read the year, but other information I have says he was 22. He was of minor nobility. He'd served in the army since he was 16, earning the rank of Captain before leaving Ireland. We don't know why he left; that was right around the time Great Britain recaptured Ireland, and a lot of those records were burned."
The archivist began to thumb through the records. "Do you know what rank he was given in the Imperial legions when he first entered?"
O'Connor shrugged. "No idea. You know as much as I do right now."
Together, the young scholar and old archivist flipped through the records; there weren't many emigres from Ireland, so once they found the relevant portion of the record he was easy to find. The archivist beamed.
"Here we are! O'Connor, Captain Alexander. Instructor at the Germanicus Academy. Year of birth: 1598. Age at entry to the Empire: 22 years. Year of entry: 1620. No family. Accepts Imperial citizenship."
As the archivist continued to read, his eyes popped just a little. "Look here, after the signing of the Imperial oath. It's a letter of recommendation from Marshal van Dijk! No wonder he kept his old rank in the Imperial Legions. I wonder how he got that?"
"I don't know, sir. I do know that my father has correspondence with the Marshal and a Jan van Dijk; his brother, perhaps?"
The archivist nodded sagely. "That makes a great deal of sense. I will make a copy of this for you. Our machine is broken, so I will have to type it out. Can you wait for a few minutes?"
The Irishman nodded. "Take as long as you need."
As the archivist turned to go, he bumped the box, which tipped over. Dismayed, he enlisted O'Connor and the mess was soon cleaned up, with no real damage. It did take a couple of hours, though, and both were exhausted. As they sat down, resting, the archivist noticed something odd. "Mr. O'Connor, take a look at this."
The young scholar examined the document he was handed. "Nothing unusual; it's the appointment paper for Father Simon to the office of Foreign Minister. There's a letter attached from Consul Germanicus offering him the job."
"That's not what I meant. Look at the back of the letter. Notice anything unusual there?"
"Not really, just a personal note."
"I can't read it."
O'Connor blinked at that. When he took a second look, he realized the archivist was right. "It's in English!"
The archivist scratched his beard. "As a young man, Drusus Germanicus spent a year or so in London, and still kept correspondence with a few friends there. He was one of the biggest proponents for stronger ties with the British. It's extremely unusual for a priest to know English, though, unless he was in Great Britain. Could you read it for me?"
"Of course, sir."
Brother Simon --
I am writing to you to ask you to return home. Your father has passed on; I know you will pray for his soul. We desperately need an experienced hand in foreign affairs, and I can think of no better candidate. As long as you wear your robes, we should have no problems. I understand you have a beard now; I suggest you keep that as well. I look forward to your reply.
Your friend,
Drusus
The archivist was now, if anything, more puzzled. "What a strange note. Clearly he and this priest were on familiar terms. The note suggests that Brother Simon was a native of the Empire, which is even stranger. Very few citizens in the Empire of Tuscany or Italy knew English at the time, unless they had an important post which required them to learn it. Maybe the strangest part of all is actually on the front; the monk actually declined the patent of nobility offered with his position!"
O'Connor was puzzled too. "There's one more note. I can barely make it out, but maybe it will help."
Simon? Wouldn't a more obscure name have been better?
"What significance does Simon have? It's certainly not a common Italian name; I could hardly think of a more obscure one."
The archivist muddled that over, and all of a sudden gasped. "My... my God. We've just made one of the most important discoveries in history! Wait here; I'll be right back!"
After about twenty minutes, the archivist returned with a short document. Holding his thumb over the author's name, he invited comparison between the handwriting on the appointment papers and the document he held. The Irishman carefully examined them, and agreed that it matched.
"So who wrote it?"
The archivist seemed to get more excited every moment. He whispered the author's name into the young Irishman's ear, and Brendan started to flush with excitement as well.
"My God! I think we need to publish this as soon as possible, Senior Archivist."
"I agree, my young friend. With both of our names on it. We will be the most famous scholars in the entire Empire!"
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A bonus! I've made a slight change to the game, by popular demand.
I also want to see what you think about something. Since I formed Italy, I've been plagued with rebellions all over the map. Not big ones, but I've kept my stability high. If I got a few bad events, well, I'd be chasing rebels all the time and I'd probably lose interest.
There are two solutions to this problem. First, I can switch to Absolute Monarchy. That would solve the problem neatly, but from an RP perspective it bothers me; Empire sounds so much more impressive than King.
The other is to simply get rid of the Centralization limit imposed by Empire. After all, it's an Empire -- shouldn't Centralized Authority be kind of the point?
I'd like your opinion, dear readers. I think most of you will agree my second solution is more elegant and not too gamey, but I always prefer to get feedback before diving into game files.
Once we've settled this, I'll go back to playing, and I should have a new, more normal update in a few days.
)
