Emperor Alfons VIII entered the room he planned to meet the ambassadors in. While he intended to leave most of the negotiations to the chancellery and his court, he needed to get an assessment of the situation from the ambassadors firsthand. He had an assistant with him to write up notes on what was to transpire so his court would know what he knew. Ready to speak with them, he opened the door.
The first sight the emperor was met with was the Polish ambassador, a portly man with a balding head, trying to strangle the Swedish ambassador, a tall lean man with a nicely trimmed mustache. The Austrian ambassador, a well-built man of strong stature, was trying to pull the two apart while the Lithuanian ambassador tried to hide the amusement in his beady eyes. The French ambassador, a man of great poise and almost feminine in appearance, stood off to the side, as though the whole conflict was beneath him. Unsure what to do, Alfons just cleared his throat to draw their attention. They all turned their gaze towards him, their eyes wide. The Polish ambassador immediately loosened his grip and stepped away, while the Swedish ambassador fixed his collar with an look of indignation. They moved to their seats, the Swedish and Polish ambassadors pointedly as far as possible from each other.
"Thank you for meeting with me this day," Emperor Alfons said, trying to draw away from the recent spectacle.
"Of course, Your Imperial Highness," the Austrian ambassador said. "We wish to resolve this conflict as much as you do."
"Let us first start with what each of you wants," Emperor Alfons said, wanting to get to the core of the conflict. "I realize that our recent war with the Papal State has caused concern and we do not wish to anger others."
"Then you should not have subjugated His Holiness," the Lithuanian ambassador said.
Both the French and Austrian ambassadors gave the man a stern look. The former turned to the emperor and said, "Some of us do recognize the conflict that has existed between your empire and the Papal State and are thus more willing to accept a suitable compromise."
"Set the Papal State and the Pope free and there will be no further issue," the Polish ambassador said.
"Or if you feel that Hispania must pursue this course, it would be best that the state of this vassalization be clearly defined," the Austrian ambassador said. "We don't want any unneeded complications."
"Oh, don't be so vague," the Swedish ambassador said with a scowl. "What he means is we want assurances that you won't be manipulating His Holiness or the Church to influence other Catholic nations. We will not tolerate Hispania meddling with the Catholic Church."
"An understandable concern," Alfons said. "I am certain that my court shall draft up a suitable resolution."
"And make sure it is indeed suitable," the Lithuanian ambassador said. "His Majesty, King Aleksandras I, will not accept any further attempts at blatant Hispanian expansion."
The Swedish ambassador let out a huff of air. "You are one to talk about blatant expansion."
The Lithuanian ambassador rose from his seat and slammed his hands down on the table, startling the others. "Says the man whose people have been sending raiders into our lands!"
"Your lands?" the Swedish ambassador said as he also rose from his seat. "Those are rightful Swedish lands you stole from us."
"This is not the time for this," the Austrian ambassador said, trying to defuse the situation. The emperor was too shocked to respond yet.
"The Baltic is not your own private lake," the Polish ambassador said, ignoring the Austrian ambassadors attempts to end the argument.
"And yet Poland sees fit to lay claim to it as well. Your people are cowardly pig-dogs!" The Swedish ambassador pushed his seat aside and tried to rush at the Pole, but the Austrian ambassador held him back.
"Traitorous swine!" the Polish ambassador shouted as he circled around the table. "You broke our alliance decades ago and now you just expect us to lie down and die? I'll show you who is a coward!"
"Please, you two, enough with this madness," the Austrian ambassador said as he kept the two quarrelling men at arm's length.
"Perhaps you should stop playing both sides and let them settle this argument like men," the Lithuanian ambassador said with a bemused grin.
The room soon broke out into a yelling match between ambassadors, with the emperor just sitting there in stunned silence. Only the French ambassador remained removed from the conflict, shaking his head in annoyance. At one point he looked over at the emperor and said, "I think it would be best if we conclude this at a later time, perhaps when things have calmed down."
Emperor Alfons nodded his head and rose from his chair, not that the other ambassadors noticed. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea." He quickly hurried out of the room with his assistant. As the door was closed behind him, he heard something made of glass shatter against one of the walls. It seemed that the conflict over the Papal State wasn't the only thing that needed to be dealt with. Alfons only hoped that the leading Catholic powers at the Council of Rome could keep their composure long enough to settle the key issues civilly.
((Consider everything brought up in this meeting as public, since the assistant has provided notes of the event to the court. This should give us something for our negotiations.
))
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((There are now two openings on the Cortz, so landed nobles should start nominating themselves.))