December
Esmond III had never been one to pay too much attention to precedent and convention, but although he had adopted the aesthetic of an absolutist Roman ruler, he had always respected his constitutional limitations within Austenasia itself in practice. This changed in late November, when he began to confide in Crown Prince Jonathan ideas of transforming Austenasia into a “communist dictatorship” so as to do away with any such legal obstacles to his will.
Although Jonathan initially assumed Esmond was joking, he soon began to realise that he genuinely intended to explore this idea. The Austenasian Army was primarily comprised of recruits from Stanley Park more loyal to Esmond than to Austenasia itself, and outnumbered the Austenasian population itself. Should Esmond begin a revolution, there would be little to stop him.
Esmond did not propose a “communist dictatorship” with any ideologically Marxist-Leninist aspect. He may have believed that some form of communal localism or common ownership could be a suitable system for a country as small as Austenasia, but no ideas of this sort were explicitly voiced. His primary intention was clear: a dictatorship, with “communist” as a vaguely aesthetic adjective at most. Given his strong interest in maintaining and promoting his position as an Emperor in succession to Rome, it is highly unlikely that the revolution he actually envisaged leading would contradict his monarchical position in any conventional sense.
On Wednesday 8th December, things came to a head. At school, Esmond instructed Jonathan to draft legislation to transition Austenasia into a dictatorship. Upon leaving school that afternoon, Jonathan telephoned Declan, with whom he had previously spoken about his concerns at Esmond’s intentions. During Jonathan’s walk home, over what was one of the most important telephone calls to take place in Austenasia’s history, the two of them devised a plan to safely prevent Esmond from abusing his powers. If all went to plan, then within a few weeks an Act of Parliament would be signed appointing Declan as the joint Emperor of Austenasia, with a locally based army loyal to him rather than to Esmond. As Jonathan got close to home, he saw a gigantic flock of geese flying over Wrythe to the west. Still on the phone, Declan interpreted this as a good omen: just as the geese were flying towards Wilcsland, the power of the Throne would soon be heading west as well.
As soon as Jonathan arrived home, he set their plan into action, and announced his abdication as Lord Regent of the Grove, without designating a successor. In accordance with the edict of Calum which had divided Orly in two, Declan, as King of Copan, then automatically took office as Regent of the Grove. Reneging on his pledge to respect the Emperor’s right to appoint a permanent successor, Declan then announced that as King of Copan and Regent of the Grove he was reuniting Orly into a Tsardom, with himself as its head of state.
The following day, Esmond demanded that Declan respect his right to appoint a new Grovian leader, but Declan responded that the Kingdom of the Grove no longer existed; it was now a part of the Tsardom of Orly. To show his displeasure, at Jonathan’s suggestion, Esmond declared a symbolic state of war on the new Tsardom with his nominal kingdom of Rushymia.
The next stage of the plan requires some background context. For their plan of appointing Declan as joint Emperor through an Act of Parliament to work, Jonathan and Declan needed the Counsellors of State to be appointed. The Counsellors of State are a body of five persons who, once appointed, can collectively exercise the powers of the Monarch. To grant Imperial Consent to an Act, the agreement of all five is required. Due to the danger that even one might refuse, or that Esmond may change the composition of the Counsellors, Jonathan and Declan needed to get that number down to three, and the only way to do that was by giving the Monarch temporary emergency powers. This was where the Midget Nation came in.
The Midget Nation-in-Exile was a group created by Princess Caroline in December 2009 to preserve the legacy of a playground-based kingdom at the primary school attended by herself and her brother. In February 2010, she had been replaced as Midget Master – its leader – with Thomas, an old primary school friend of Jonathan’s, and the following month, Thomas had declared war on the Carolinian rebels in support of Esmond’s claim to the Throne. Since then, the Midget Master had openly acknowledged the supremacy of the Emperor and, like Copan and the Grove, the Midgets had effectively become one of his vassals.
Thomas had entered into a treaty of alliance both with the Grove and with Copan, and with the two kingdoms now unified, considered Orly to have inherited this alliance. Upon learning that Rushymia had declared war on Orly, he declared war on Rushymia. Most notably, given Rushymia’s titular status and its function as blatant proxy for Austenasia, he also threatened Austenasia itself.
Now, there were no holds barred. Declan was a different matter, but Thomas had until this point been Esmond’s loyal vassal. A piece of legislation, Act 135, was passed, declaring war on Orly and the Midgets. For the second time in a year, the Empire of Austenasia was at war.
Jonathan suggested to Esmond that this could play into his hands. If Austenasia was at war, then a state of emergency could be declared, and a state of emergency meant emergency powers: one step closer to a dictatorship. Esmond therefore eagerly accepted a package of emergency powers inserted into Act 135 by Jonathan, powers which did give him some genuinely extensive new rights and executive abilities, but which also allowed the Counsellors of State (included due to being an extension of the Throne’s authority) to grant Imperial Consent with only three votes in favour.
The Counsellors of State were Jonathan, Caroline, William, the former Empress Margaret, and her nephew Lord Timothy. Jonathan had justified their appointment to Esmond with the argument that as the Christmas holidays were almost upon them and the Empire was now at war, it would keep things running smoothly if he was able to get run-of-the-mill domestic legislation out of the way rather than swamping him with it upon their return to school in the New Year.
While Jonathan made these preparations behind the scenes for the legal manoeuvres to come, William sprang into action in a far more straight-forwardly military fashion. When South Kilttown had been renamed to Zephyria in September, William had also been rehabilitated, put back in Parliament as Zephyria’s acting Representative (with an election to confirm his position scheduled for January) and allowed to reassume command of the Austenasian Army unit responsible for Zephyria’s defence. He was now eager to show his gratitude and prove his loyalty to Esmond III, and on the afternoon of December 10th he led the 1st Zephyria Commando Platoon – himself and two friends from school – in an invasion of Orly.
The Austenasian soldiers invaded Orly from its southern border and occupied a large area of the Grove. The Orlians present that afternoon initially offered no resistance to the imperial troops, having great respect towards Esmond and the Empire, but on a point of principle – and likely, given the context, on a point of convenience, not wishing to have their after school socialisation disrupted – did not allow William to occupy Memphis, the name Jonathan as Lord Regent had assigned to the main meeting place and “capital”. The Orlians, despite being slightly insulted at William calling his presence an invasion, were very friendly towards him. He had never been part of the “Grove lot” – although one of the members of his platoon was a peripheral member – but the Orlians welcomed and respected him as an officer of the Emperor acting on the latter’s behalf. William and his troops were outnumbered by roughly three to one, however, and he did not want to turn the situation ugly by forcing an overt conflict he would likely lose, and so withdrew.
William and his soldiers met again the following morning. Being a cold Saturday morning in December, no Orlians were present, and so William was able to occupy the entirety of the park, sending a text message to Jonathan announcing Austenasian victory over Orly at 11:00 before withdrawing in triumph.
Prior to the reunification of Orly, Jonathan had served as Viceroy of Copan. Declan’s inability to govern a far-off realm got no easier with his acquisition of the Grove, and so he had named Jonathan his Viceroy of Orly. Jonathan had excused his acceptance of this role to Esmond with the idea that the latter would now have a “man on the inside,” but in reality, the opposite was true. With Jonathan in close contact with most of the leading Orlians, he was easily able to work against Esmond’s interests, and by 13:08 had secured confirmation that Orlians were back in the park and had reclaimed it for Declan. The Crown Prince as Minister of Defence then ordered William not to make any further attacks on Orly, ostensibly until plans involving the whole Austenasian Army had been drawn up. The idea of two groups of teenagers enacting a tug-of-war “battle” over which one of them most recently claimed a public park seemed immature, even at the time, and Jonathan wished to focus on the legislative end to which the war was simply the means.
The Counsellors of State had been appointed, and emergency powers were in force requiring only three of them to assent to the granting of Imperial Consent. The next step was to devise a justification for them to do so, and to provide for the physical protection of the Austenasian population from Esmond’s followers once this had been done. To reach these two goals, Jonathan contacted the various members of the Midget Nation, and emphasised the inappropriate nature of Thomas serving as a vassal to Declan. This was nonsense: Thomas had voluntarily declared war as an ally upholding a pact of mutual defence, not as a vassal, and had been far more subservient in the past to Esmond without a problem. However, Jonathan was nevertheless able to persuade the Midgets to acclaim Declan himself as Midget Master on December 16th, on the condition that Thomas remained in charge locally as his deputy and field commander.
On the morning of December 8th, Esmond III ruled Austenasia and held suzerainty over the Grove and the Midgets, with Copan ruled by an absentee king represented by the Austenasian Prime Minister. By the evening of December 16th, Declan I was sovereign of every populated nation in Carshalton except for Austenasia, the Prime Minister of which was actively working to promote his interests. The change to the geopolitical situation which had taken place in a little over a week had been remarkable, but things were not over yet. By gaining sovereignty over the Midgets, Declan had also gained the allegiance of the only other actual army in Carshalton.
By gaining sovereignty over the Midgets during the school Christmas holidays, Declan had also gained the allegiance of the only active army in Carshalton.
The Austenasian Army may have outnumbered the Midgets, but its command structure was predicated on the ability of its officers to meet with the Emperor at his Imperial Court. The Midgets, on the other hand, were all just a telephone call or social media message away from Jonathan himself, and could be mobilised on Declan’s behalf far quicker than Esmond could get his own soldiers organised.
With the Midgets now loyal to Declan and at war with Esmond, Jonathan worked towards the final phase of the plan. Just over five years later, when Emperor himself, he voluntarily charged himself with – and was convicted of – treason for what he did next. Alongside Thomas, he arranged a Midget invasion of Austenasia.
Thomas planned to lead a Midget force to Wrythe in the afternoon of Sunday 19th December. Jonathan would let them in and surrender the capital, and Thomas would give a declaration of victory demanding that Declan be appointed joint Emperor by right of conquest. Jonathan together with his mother and sister, as appointed Counsellors of State, could then give Imperial Consent to an Act of Parliament making said appointment, passed through Parliament by Jonathan’s single vote by virtue of his status as Prime Minister.
Things did not go entirely to plan. Thomas fell ill, and was unable to organise an actual invasion. Jonathan therefore surrendered Wrythe to the threat of a Midget attack, although for a year afterwards the publicised story was that the invasion had gone ahead. The wording of things was altered, too; instead of claiming the Throne by right of conquest, Declan was appointed joint Emperor as part of a mutually acceptable peace agreement. Other than that, though, the plan concluded as intended. An Act of Parliament appointing Declan as joint Emperor of Austenasia was signed and entered into force, and peace was declared.
The War of the Orlian Reunification was over, and Austenasia’s third Emperor had taken the Throne.