Ashes of Empire

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Czernobog
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Ashes of Empire

Post by Czernobog »

Imperial Palace, Manhattan City, Earth

Maximilian Hapsburg-Romanov, Basileus of the Terran Supremacy, looked at the holographic display of the Supremacy's rulers, dating from its founding in 2075, to the present day. There was every ruler and dynasty - from the exceedingly unpopular House of Windsor, to his own (and thecurrently-reigning) House of Hapsburg-Romanov. He was the latest, a proud bearer of the Supremacy's Phoenix Standard and formerly a military officer before the former Basileus, his father, had died and he had become Basileus of the Supremacy itself.

He was tall, blond-haired, brown-eyed and with an exceedingly military look about his clothes, particularly the gold-threaded epaulets. There was a scar dangerously close to his right eye, but he refused treatment - it made him look dashing. He was handsome, his biological clock frozen at the age of 25 by the Supremacy's very best medical specialists, an expensive and experimental operation, without a doubt.

Maximilian was a man with a vision - to restore the Supremacy to the level of galactic superpower once more. He checked the star-map again, showing dozens of petty tyrannies, barbarian fiefdoms, self-declared successor states and other nations in most of a full quadrant of the galaxy, what had been the Supremacy's territory before the Civil Wars and the Supremacy's retraction.

Idly instructing the computer to turn off the holographic display, he walked to the teleport booth, instructing the computer to take him to the hall of the Imperial Senate, an ocean away. It activated, and in a flash of light he had arrived there.

The Imperial Senate, Vienna, Earth


Alfred F. Jones, First Consul of the Supremacy and Praetor of the Senate, smiled as he bowed before his Basileus.

'Greetings,' he said, extending his hand to shake the Basileus'.

'To you as well,' the Basileus replied.

'Well, then,' Jones said. 'I've prepared my speech.'

'Then say it,' the Basileus said.

Jones walked up to the Senate Chamber with the Basileus, and began his speech.

'300 years ago, the Supremacy fell from its position. And now look at the areas the House of Windsor cowardly fled from. Tinpot dictatorships, pirate fiefdoms, barbarian empires, self declared successors! This is what has been born without civilisation - Anarchy! We must make a stand against this, the line must be drawn here! Pirates raid our frontiers, and we cannot pursue them, as that would be an act of war, the other nations say. Well, I have these words to say in contrast - bring it on!'

'What is one nation to our glorious Supremacy? What are they all combined against us? Nothing! This shows our cowardliness, our hesitation to act, our weakness.'

'At 14:00 hours Earth time two days ago, pirates attacked a colony world and then fled to the world of Nova America. I have sent a diplomatic request demanding they send them to meet Imperial justice within 48 hours. If they do not do so, we will declare war. The Nova Americans have alliances with most of the nations in this quadrant of the galaxy. They hope that this will protect them.'

'They are wrong. We will strike swiftly and with unerring judgement. The enemy will be destroyed if they do not send these pirates to the Supremacy within 48 hours, 24 of which are left. Remember, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.'

The IMV Stalingrad, Sol System

The Stalingrad was the first of its class, the new Victory-class of Battleship. Seven more were under construction, as shipyards across the whole Supremacy were refitted to produce them - the Austerlitz, the Thermopylae and the Gettysburg, among others.

Its Captain, Prince Alexander Hapsburg-Romanov, was one of the finer military minds in the current Supremacy, and a relative of the Basileus himself, itching for war.

It had been 24 hours since the First Consul had made his speech, and the whole Supremacy was preparing for war. The dozens, no, hundreds of ships that were being raised merely to transport its armies were proof enough of its power.

The Prince looked around the bridge of the ship from his command chair, musing. The Supremacy hadn't been involved in many wars after the Great Rebellion of 2656, which had reduced its size by half. But soon, a quarter of that territory would be annexed and the rest of it reduced to Protectorate status. If everything went according to plan, of course.

In about 10 hours, the siege of Nova America would begin.
You have ruled this galaxy for ten thousand years.
You have little of account to show for your efforts.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
We taught the galaxy these things.

And we shall do so again.
Mobius 1
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Re: Ashes of Empire

Post by Mobius 1 »

I think I'm going to puke. I find it fascinating that one can throw up so much stuff onto the board, not follow through on a single part of it, and still have every single part of it be exactly the same.
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Heretic
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Re: Ashes of Empire

Post by Heretic »

I would have to agree with Mobius 1 here. You seem to use the same situation over and over and over and over and over again, with the same people (almost. Maximillian seems different).The characters seem bland as bland oatmeal. Sure, they're there, and have foes to oppose and causes to protect, but there is nothing that will tell me that it's unique. You also never finish a piece, and there is no variety other than a few timeline differences and different polities. Sure, it probably helps your writing, but maybe you should keep in under one thread (like a "Kamin's Literary Refining Thread (KLRT!) or something). People don't want the forum filled with those. You should focus on one story (Ha, boy do I feel like a hypocrite. Ok, how about at least get a few chapters done), and develop the characters some more, unless you aren't hoping the characters aren't the main focus.

Still, Kudos on your descriptions, with all the emotions and actions that actually blend itself nicely. You seem to know a bit of history, or at least enough that I can tell what nationality one is from the other. And your foreign names and titles are great. Just, please keep the forum spamming of 2-paragraph one shots to a minimum.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
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speaker-to-trolls
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Re: Ashes of Empire

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Just as a quick note, Kamin told me over MSN he'd be leaving this to work on other, longer running projects.

Even having said that I'm going to add that I basically agree with Heretic. Dude, just spend a bit more time on each story working out a plot more complex than 'WAR!' or even 'Empire X goes to WAR to destroy its enemies/reassert its power over fringe world yokels/bring religiosity to the fuzzywuzzies/etc' and characters more developed than 'Maximilian Julian Von Hapsburg-Windsor-Bonaparte-Romanov-Garibaldi-Maratha, Emperor of all the Earths and Alfred F. Jones Simultaneous President of All Nations and Captain Theobold Van Tolstoy, noble captain of some ship or other on a mission of WAR for (justification here)'.
Come on, man, you can do better than this, you just have to put a bit more thought into developing each idea.
"Little monuments may be completed by their first architects, but great ones; true ones leave their copestones to posterity. God keep me from completing anything."
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Dakarne
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Re: Ashes of Empire

Post by Dakarne »

You know, any time you consider writing a story about WAR, just play this song.
Image
'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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