Emperor Engelbert was not a man who ever deserved to sit on the Imperial throne, his brothers were yet they, like their father, had succumbed to plague. So, as it so often does, hereditary succession punished the people and put a crown on the head of a half-witted buffoon. Engelbert’s early rule was unremarkable, yet there were already signs of his incompetence and disinterest in ruling, signs that would become all the more apparent when the war started.
Invading Midlandt was a fool’s errand that would only provoke the aggression of the Traak Coalition. I am told Engelbert only did it so that his warmongering generals would stop bothering him with their requests for a military expedition. Something I am inclined to believe as someone who has spent a considerable amount of time with the man.
What happened next is of course well known to all. Midlandt was quickly overrun by imperial troops which caused the Traak Coalition to declare war on the empire to save its subjugated southern neighbour. Several years of bloody warfare followed which would end in imperial humiliation first at Wateren and then at Baaker not to mention the lunacy that was the Grijswater Expedition.
Unlike many young noblemen at the time I was at court as these events unfolded getting caught up in the intrigues of the aristocracy, instead of getting my head caved in by northerners on the battlefield. I meddled in the courtly intrigues with a vision in mind, to free the empire from the autocratic rule of the Imperial family, for I am a Kapelist, a follower of the ideas of Johannes de Kapel. Kapelists believe the power of the monarch should be restrained by a constitution and a parliament of nobles who were elected from amongst the aristocracy itself.
A conspiracy was needed to overthrow the emperor and bring about a more enlightened empire, thus I sought support for my ideas which I soon found in my more powerful peers, Arnold Bekker, duke of Hassen and Wilfred Sperden, count of Kalmen. Though they were not Kapelists like myself, I naively assumed I could convince them of my cause.
I was very wrong. Sperden and Bekker did not care for enlightened rule, they only cared for their own power, they wanted to restore the nobility to its former glory by putting a puppet emperor on the throne. The puppet they had in mind was Engelbert’s cousin Dietrich, who happened to be the son-in-law of Bekker and who was very eager to wear a crown. Being a co-conspirator I was allowed to meet Dietrich myself, who turned out to be not only stupider than Engelbert but also an arrogant sycophant. Yet, I did not voice my complaints as I was still holding on to my foolish hope of being able to implement the constitutional monarchy I wanted when we finally seized power.
The moment we would seize power could not come soon enough for me. The entire last year of the war I urged for us to strike. We had already bought the Imperial Guard by then, and the Keizefurt city watch was led by Sperden’s brother Isaak who was a fellow conspirator. Even though all the pieces were in place Sperden and Bekker convinced me to wait for the opportune moment to strike, which finally came when the army was defeated in the north and instead of avenging the losses, Engelbert opted for peace. This cast the empire into chaos and gave us our long awaited opportunity.
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Within a day we had captured Keizefurt and dethroned Engelbert. Dietrich was proclaimed as the new emperor while Engelbert was confined to an estate in southern Maeckt. Sperden and I wanted Engelbert executed but Bekker persuaded us he would be a valuable bargaining chip to use against the crown prince Willander, whom we heard was marching down south with an army to take our heads.
Though we were initially successful everything soon went downhill. We did not manage to capture the Maecktian nobility that was loyal to the emperor during our coup, so they were able to flee to their estates forcing us to waste soldiers in skirmishes in the countryside. Sperden had hoped to break the spirits of the resistance by sacking the mansion of the Holle family, yet this proved unsuccessful, mainly because the news of the victories of the crown prince against the separatists in the provinces emboldened the loyalists.
As this turmoil was going on I decided to write a constitution for the new Maeckian state, a draft of which I showed to Bekker and Sperden. They firmly rejected the draft and also the idea of implementing a constitution. They called me a foolish revolutionary and sent me back to my quarters where I was put on house arrest to prevent me from causing possible turmoil.
In the weeks that followed my confinement the coup would rapidly fall apart. The negotiations with Leander de Osina ,the governor of Spiria, failed as the emissaries were arrested for treason. Soon after de Osina granted Willander free passage through the province and helped him cross the Ado. The force that tried to stop the crown prince’s advance, led by Sperden, was then smashed to pieces in the Battle of Hasever, even though Sperden threatened to kill Engelbert if Willander attacked. Sperden died in the fighting leaving Bekker in charge of Keizefurt, which descended into riots as Willander was approaching the city. The city watch tried to restore order but failed and what was left of the coup’s forces retreated to the Imperial Palace to await the crown prince.
The moment I heard the news of the defeat at Hasever I knew I had to escape. Luckily for me I had connections in the Sodonian trade. I managed to sneak myself onto a ship of a dear merchant friend of mine which was headed south, first to Gadna and then to the Sodonian city states. I would be an exile for the rest of my days but I would live. Something that cannot be said of my fellow conspirators. I got news of their fates when we stopped at Minaburg. Five days after my escape the crown prince stormed the Imperial Palace. Bekker was captured and then publicly executed. He was broken on the wheel before he was beheaded. As for the Imperial guard, they too met a gruesome end. After they surrendered Engelbert to the crown prince they were all impaled on pikes.
I now sit in this strange land hoping for a return that will never happen. The little influence I had back home no longer exists. I hear my estate has been sold off to some merchant and that the rest of my family has been exiled from the capital to the provinces. I was a fool to believe I could change anything I suppose. I’ll languish here in the hot sun dreaming until my death, dreaming of home and a better future.
-Luca Edenman, Sodonia,1653