Empress Basillike I Yaroslavovna

Hugh de Mowbray, Earl of Sussex

Honorable members of the Senate, I present my son and the crown prince of the empire, Hugh de Mowbray, Earl of Sussex.

I ask that you grant him the same respect and deference you do to myself. I am getting old, and it is time Hugh began assuming some of the responsibilities of an emperor. We are in a time of transition, in a great many ways, and it is very important that we proceed in an orderly and prudent manner.

One cannot build a new state through willpower alone. This is the lesson of Tsar Yaroslav and the fall of Kiev-Byzantium.

To build an institution that lasts requires the utmost of planning, care, and forethought. This is the lesson of Augustus.

I shall now leave it to Prince Hugh to guide you through this construction of a new edifice of state.

Thank you, Mother.

Now, it is plainly evident to any with the eyes to see that the institutions of the prior centuries are obsolete.

As an Englishman, I feel I am uniquely able to see the ravages wrought by adherence to the old instruments of feudalism: The England of the de Contevilles, which for generations had long been perhaps the most stable state in all of Europe was shattered in an instant by Gregory de Conteville’s attempts to forge a single empire out of the lords of England and the princes of Germany.

Now there is no England— just a paddock of mutually antagonistic dukes and earls. And the Holy Roman Empire itself found its strength sapped by this feudal power struggle, and was easily shattered by the Ming.

In our own empire, we have perhaps been more fortunate. But the institutions of old are still straining— the “theme system” nothing more than a glorified network of vassals and lieges, the army dependent upon levies, the central state propped up by nobles whose obligations to the empire are ambiguous and uncodified.

Our instrumental role in the victory of the League shows the great feats we are capable of, at our best. But our failure to intervene on behalf of the doomed Leónese revolt due to the ongoing revolt of Modena, Kartli, and the Pecheneg Kingdom shows how, in many ways, we are weaker than we have ever been. Our state is its own worst enemy.

Even the office of emperor and empress needs to change in our new age. It is time we finally plucked the Diocletian’s diadem off the brow of the emperor, and he forsakes the luxuries and trappings of a distant tyrant in favor of the stately dignity of a princeps.

Augustus’ relationship with the Senate and the offices of the Republic was remarkable cordial; in his example, I hope to find the model for my relationship to the New Senate. I shall be the emperor, but I shall rule as the first among equals, not your lord and master.

He won’t for example, drag you to an inn God knows where and get you blown up, for example.

In the coming weeks and months, we shall together do much to build the blueprints of our future. But first we shall tackle the two questions about the basic nature of our state:

First, are we the empire of Byzantium or of Rome?

Clearly, we are the inheritors of the ancient legacy of the Romans, and no matter what our future is, there is a clear succession from Augustus to our present age. And certainly I do not propose breaking that hitherto unbroken chain.

We are Greeks, Turks, Pechenegs, Arabs, Italians, Cumans, and Slavs. We are people from far outside the borders of the empire who have come to seek their fortunes within it— Somalians, Germans, Chinese from the rebel fiefdoms, Mongols, Russians, and— yes, even the English. We are a union of many peoples.

But it’s time we just got right down to it and gave that union a proper name.

OOC: It’s time to stop alternating between “Byzantine Empire” and “Roman Empire” in every post and get our country a real name. Note that all our ideas will be customized (based on things that happened in CK2 and things that happen in this Senate session), so don’t let the relative merits of EU4’s Byzantine and Roman ideas influence your vote. Mostly, I just feel like as we move into the early modern era, it’s probably a little weird for historians to call us something different than what like half the people living in our country call ourselves.

Voting format:

##Vote Rome or ##Vote Byzantium. Also, I highly encourage discussion, debate, and changing your vote if somebody’s argument sways better. However, if you do change your vote, please make my life better by putting ##Unvote Rome or ##Unvote Byzantium before your new vote.

: While that vote is ongoing, we shall also begin discussions about how to clarify and reform the relationship between the central state and its vassals.

Rebellious dukes and kings have made a mockery of the idea that the theme system is run by appointed officers of the empire and not petty rulers presiding over independent fiefdoms.

We cannot simply, say, round up all the dukes, exarchs, vassal monarchs, etc. and execute them… as satisfying as that would be. The relative power of the vassals and our own armies is such that we could never put such a policy into practice.

Certain vassals, of course, have shown nothing but the utmost of loyalty to the empire— the kings and queens of Sicily, for example, whose support have been instrumental in holding the empire together for generations.

Finally, while still small compared to the empire of antiquity, our present state is too large and far-flung to be run solely from Constantinople. Any reform of the theme session or settlement with the vassals will need to account for this.

I therefore open the floor to proposals to solve the following question: How shall we create a more stable and productive arrangement between the empire and its vassals? How shall we govern our vast territories without encouraging rebellion?

As your princeps, I will choose the three or four proposals I deem to have the most merit, and put it to a vote.

Voting format:
##Propose [your plan for what to do about the theme system/vassals/etc. here]. After the Rome/Byzantium vote is done, I’ll pick the most interesting proposals (frankly, with more of an eye towards an interesting EU4 start than what Hugh might want in-character ) and have the senate vote on which one we’ll use.