Cardinal Trastámara sputtered for a bit before replying. "You should be careful when uttering such borderline treason! First you say that rebellion against the emperor is the highest crime, and now you dare to say not only should people violently overthrow him but that they may need to. I'm afraid you do not understand how a monarchy is supposed to work. A monarch is not some elected official who can be removed from power whenever he displeases someone. He has been placed there by God, and thus it is not our position to question that. I am not saying that he may not be held accountable for his actions, but we should not go about stirring up rebellion because the emperor does something that you don't like. You say you do not want the horrors of Athens to occur again? Well that is exactly what will happen if the very idea that people can overthrow their emperor whenever they feel like it spreads. No, if you want to make the emperor more accountable for his actions, you should seek avenues outside of rebellion. Let the Cortz or Small Council handle such matters, for as I said earlier it is not our place to decide such things. Let us return to matters of faith before His Imperial Highness gets word of this discussion. We are here at his behest after all, and it would not do to risk the ire of our gracious host by conspiring against him within his own home."
Cardinal Trastámara pondered on that a moment. It made him miss Emperor Francesc. Now that man would not be phased by such talk, for he was confident and secure in his position. He would have nipped such treasonous talk in the bud, especially when it came from a religious figure, for surely the late emperor would not have allowed any church to gain any such power over him. Emperor Pere would have reacted quite differently. The man who had created the position of prime minister and willingly limited his own power would probably have taken such talk as a critique and found ways to reform the government as such. The cardinal could not imagine the current emperor doing such a thing. The man loved attention and the power of his station. Any threat to his cushy lifestyle would not be appreciated. Cardinal Trastámara hoped the archbishop of Athens realized such a thing before the emperor got wind of this little discussion.
"Back on topic, this Council of the Churches you mention, is this meant to be some official body? If we do indeed elevate the status of all Christians, it might indeed be prudent to have something in place to allow for communication between the various faiths. Such a body, as suggested, would need to cooperate to determine what is considered Christian and what is not. I only pray such a venture does not descend into quarrelling over religious practices."
* * * * *
It is indeed quite a burden ruling over so much land because of irresponsible nobles. Your family has at least been quite active at court. Take Roussillon and remember who so graciously granted you such a title.
- His Imperial Highness, Ferran V de Trastámara, Emperor of Hispania, Caesar of Rome, & Protector of the Greeks
((May as well clarify that even though the general positions are filled, you'd just end up taking one of the non-active character's positions. If alscon does hire you, I'll just remove one of them and replace them with your character. It should be noted that this does not mean the non-active character was fired, just that he was removed from the game for now. It would be a bit too gamey if we just hired a ton of non-active characters as generals and filled our leadership pool. If at any point an opening comes up, I'll just add back in the non-active character with the same stats as before. Non-active characters serving in such rolls is mostly for filler and roleplay reasons anyway.))
I believe that you are twisting my words Cardinal.
I believe that the Churches are to be fully suborned by the Emperor, I just do not believe that he should be an Emperor of total power. Also, I do believe that rebellion is among the greatest of crimes, and to help deter it, I propose an alternative. With another path available, those who rebel will only be more guilty than they were beforehand.
))
