[SIZE=+1]Senator Anastasios Salamis VI:[/SIZE]
*Anastasios enters the room, and it is almost empty. Accompanying him are his son and chosen heir, 35 years old Antiochos Salamis, and his 41 years old cousin and bitter rival, Georgios Salamis, which became so influentional in the house that the house elders pressured Anastasios to bring him along.
In the last decade, Anastasios was working very hard to increase his and his house's influence. He tried to negotiate a deal between the leaders of the factions, and althrough he failed- the failure of the Senate to reach a majority and decide on anything, which Anastasios quickly used to show just how his deal was necessary, gave him support from many influentional people in the Imperium and in the day after the Senate session it already seemed like it will give him much power. Anastasios also continued to develop castle Salamis- showing that he won't give this land away for a manor in Conastantinopolis. The castle and its surrounding city, which Anastasios already developed to the point of becoming the second biggest city in thema Athens after the city of Athens itself, became an important naval city in the Agaean sea- and a base of operations for the Raoul-Salamis allience in the Agean.
A succession crisis was brewing in house Salamis- Anastasios neglected in-house politics during this decade, and Georgios, a great rival of Anastasios and his sons just like his father Pontius 'the snake', became a threat for the choosing of Antiochos as the next representative in the Senate. The succession system in house Salamis was that a group of house elders (which weren't always elders and included influentional people in the house including the house head), acted like an in-house Senate and consulted the head of the house on many matters. When a head of the house died, he got to choose his successor- however, the elders, with an almost unanimous majority, could change it. This, however, almost never happened. When the Senate of the Imperium was introduced and House Salamis was invited, it was decided that the house elders will choose a representative and he will not nessecarily be the new head of the house.
Thus, Georgios was gaining more and more ground in the race for the Senate representation. He used vicious romours in his campaign- as Antiochos was very hard-to-educate in his childhood (but lated became a very capable man), Georgios claimed that Antiochos was dumb and his father's puppet- that alone, he will be worth nothing. It was unknown who will win the race- Antiochos, a blue supporter and his father's son, or Georgios the white supporter?
Anastasios sat down, thinking about his problems, and waited for the rest of the Senators to come.*