LODJAIN QUEEN GIVES FIRST INTERVIEW 48 hours ago it was confirmed that Nataliya Kozel would be named as the new Queen of Lodja. This is a unique appointment for two reasons, the first being that at the age of 22 she is four years older than a Queen who normally inherits the throne of Lodja. The second, and perhaps most significant reason for her appointment being unique is that she has spent a significant time living outside the Queendom. For the last six years or so the Queen has resided in the Commonweath of the Iwi, first as her father was appointed Ambassador to the Commonwealth and then after not being selected as Queen four years ago she was appointed as an Emissary of the Queen, a kind of travelling ambassador. As Emissary she elected to base herself at Hunter's Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth, where she gained a degree in Geography. She is currently in East Moreland where she was visiting her friend Queen Stasya and her newborn son Prince Llewellyn. Keen to get word to her new subjects back in Lodja the young Queen agreed to conduct an interview with the East Moreland media.
As the new Queen of Lodja please accept our condolences for the death of Queen Klara. A tragic death caused by the ongoing situation with Leopold Hamsik. May we start by asking what are your intentions regarding that ongoing situatonThank you for you words. Klara was not just my Queen but my friend. That time we spent together before she was selected as Queen allowed me to see a funny, intelligence and magical girl who had begun to be a great Queen, she would have brought so much more not just to Lodja but to Mundus had she lived. Leopold has denied Klara a life, denied Lodja an amazing Queen and denied Mundus someone who would have grown into an incredible force of good. Someone who snuffs out a light that could have shined so brightly is not someone that can be permitted to gain even the smallest shred of power or control on Mundus. This self proclaimed Monarchy of Lodja exists only in the imagination of fools. I am saddened that so many people have been taken in by Leopolds insanity and must now be stopped. To any of those supporters listening or reading this you can extrecate yourself from the situation by laying down arms and turning yourself in. You have my word you'll be treated with the mercy and compasion Sessifet gave those who submitted to her. If you persist in this course of action then we have no choice as there can only be one Lodja. In the coming hours I'll be working with our friends to try and rectify the current confusion in my homeland and have this matter resolved sooner rather than later.
If it was possible to set aside differences and negotiate with Leopold in order to bring peace and stability to Lodja would that happen?If you had asked me that before the assassination I would have said it was a slim possibility. There was a chance that there could have been discussions on reforms, on accodating some of Leopolds ambitions. The moment though you send a missile into the house of your wife then any chance of such things goes out the window in my mind. While I believe Lodja is not a perfect nation yet and that some of the things Leopold is, in the media at least, calling for do make sense. There is though no way this can be done with Leopold at the helm or connected with it in anyway. Peace and stability will return to Lodja but Leopold will not be part of it.
What can we expect from a Queen Nataliya set of reforms?I think the first thing we need to do is recognise that the world Sessifet has created today is different to that when we first began recording her faith. Since the 3rd Century BC there has been some kind of Queen in Lodja, our current system of selecting a monarch was instigated in 1100 when Klara Zima was named as Queen. At that point it was an unmarried 14 year old girl destined to be he Guardian of Sessifet, the Goddess living inside her. Since then we've seen changes, as life expectancy increased and as the world's morals changed we saw it go up one year at a time until in 1859 East Moreland's Queen Staysa's ancestor, Elena Pelagiya, was the first 18 year old to be named as Queen. We were lucky to have Queen Sonya for over 80 years on the throne bringing wisdom and guidance her experience allowed. We've now had three Queens in short order and all of us have been young, very young. We need to do something in that regard. I would hope the Priesthood would consider removing age as a qualification for Queen and instead looking at people who could do a great job in leading the nation.
I think the Conclave needs reform. Its been for too long the plaything of old men. We have only ever had one woman on the things, and no Plebs. While a Pleb may technically be from a family who have yet to give remarkable service to the nation that does not mean that service can not be on the Conclave. We have a Tribune of the Plebs appointed by the Queen to be the voice of the Plebs, but they are not a Pleb themselves, that doesn't make sense to me. I will be issuing orders that an election will take place and that any Lodjain aged over 18 may nominate themselves for Tribune of the Plebs. Only Plebs may vote and I promise the winner, whoever they are, a place on the Conclave.
In terms of the Pleb and Patrician relationship that needs to change to. There are too many restrictions on the Plebs. For example to be able to open a business they must have permission of a Patrician. This often comes at the price of the Patricians gouging a large share of the business for themselves. I am going to order the creation of the Queen's Business Portfolio. Any Pleb willing to pay a membership fee of $0.01 will be admitted and may use my name as their approval. Should however I find any business on the Portfolio acting illegally I will remove them and they will be forced to close. Any good honest business will have nothing to fear and Plebs will be able to run a business to benefit them not some already rich Patrician.
I will not though advocate the idea of removing the distinction between Pleb and Patrician. It is a central part of our culture, it has served us well and encourages people wishing to climb the ladder of social mobility to do something to benefit their nation. The idea though will be to make the process easier and less relaint on multi-generations being required to qualify. Currently four generations of family must serve in the military to qualify the family as Patrician. I will reduce that to two or maybe a system of a family contributing a set number of years service. I will also look at those working in the public sector in such jobs as teaching, doctors, nurses and other such professions also qualifying people.
Finally for now my ambition is to not be a Queen stuck out away from the people. The Isle of the Goddess is a beautiful place and a Holy home. It however sets the Queen apart from her people. I will be exploring the possibility in the short term of a home in Gaia itself, in the long term establishing some new royal house at the edge of the city. Rather than sitting in luxury in the Palace being an object to be marvelled at I intend to be a Queen that see's her people everyday. How can I solve their problems if I am so seperate from them.
You've spoken at length about domestic matters but as Queen you'll be responsible for interactions with many places across Mundus. What is your opinion regarding the civil war in Centralia? While Centralia sits across the Kyne from us it is always tragic when any war breaks out. I do not know enough about the Christian faith to comment on the Lord's Resistance Army. I do now Christianity has as one of its Ten Commandments "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and it is sad to see so many going against this from what I hear of the Guerilla Fighting. The recent broadcast of jets overflying their cities launching missiles is shocking and I hope it can be ended soon. The people must be given a chance to control their own destinies and while we ourselves are making tracks towards allowing that to a greater extent I recognise we ourselves are not there yet. Centralia I hope can walk a similar path.
Having spent a lot of time in the Commonwealth of the Iwi the next international incident is one that perhaps you will be more familiar with. What is your opinion regarding the navy developments in the Sea of Kyne?Had I several years ago been on the cruise ship the Maori landed a helicopter on I would have been terrified. Would I have understood their reason for doing so, of course I would. Have the Maori technically broken the FSC, from my knowledge yes they probably have. However throughout history we have seen that at times for justice to come sometimes radical steps are needed. My question would be what harm came to the ship? To my knowledge none, while people may have paniced it became clear the Maori where there for one purpose. In the time since the apprehension of the Seleucid officer can we truly say Mundus has done anything to try and bring people who have committed horrific crimes to justice? I don't think we can. On the other hand we have seen the Maori do this once and Rokkenjima send a mighty fleet to their area. Yet we've seen other such breaches of the FSC, such as the capture of a Maori gas tanker by the Seleucid and nothing has happened. I know that during CNN meetings the Morelanders and Cenneg have talked of how they do not want to see repeats of the cruise ship incident, and they haven't happened again. Yet some five years later the time is right to take action. To me that does not make sense. A five year period in which the Maori have not broken the FSC and then they are effectively put on notice? One could argue a state of conflict still goes on between the Maori and the Seleucid as no formal peace was ever signed. I know first hand the Maori are a determined people frustrated that thousands of Seleucid perpatrators of genocide escape justice while the world does nothing, this is a bigger travesty than a nation who for the last five years have followed international law.
Lodja was a founding member of the CNN and has extremely strong ties with all three of its allies. What will relations with non-CNN nations look like under your reign?One thing I like about the Isle of the Goddess was how easy it gave almost any nation on Mundus access to our highest levels of government. This is something I want to try and retain. I will never turn down an invitation to talk with anyone, nor will I ever close my door to them. Alongside the CNN Lodja are members of TUNA, an organisation that has probably done more than anyone else on Mundus to tackle ocean pollution. We are members of the Council of Albion, a body that is perhaps sometimes underutilised. Another underutilised agency is the Network of Crowns, Queen Viktoriya established it and yet we've allowed a creation helped by Sessifet to sit silent for too long. We've also neighbours we've done little to be true friends to such as Kermah and Paracambi. I think Aosta too are a nation that have been steadfast supporters of us in the current situation in the Alucard. With them applying for CNN membership I think I'd be delighted to build with them, especially as both nations are currently coming to terms with tragedy. A growing CNN is something that excites me.
Lodjain families, especially nobility, are traditionally from wealthy backgrounds. As you become Queen what is your net-worth? Do you follow that pattern?I'm not going to try and deny the fact that the Kozel family is fortunate enough to be wealthy. My great-grandfather began an expansive property portfolio that the family have developed, sold off, reinvested in and sits comfortably on. It would be safe to say several generations of Kozel could get away without ever having what you would consider a job and still be fine. Personally though my bank account sits with very little in, I own personally very little property, a small beach house in the Commonwealth, a car and a few bits of gifted jewellrey. As heir to the Kozel estate though I know when, hopefully in the far off future, my father dies I would inherit everything however I've made it clear to family that this would be ridiciolous and so instead everything of value in the Kozel's will pass to my younger sister Yolana. As a family the Lodjain Times financial pages claim we're worth close to $50million, I meanwhile would be closer to $200,000. I suspect that makes me perhaps the poorest monarch on Mundus until such a time as I formally get coronated.
Thank you for your time. As a final question do you have any idea when you will make your way to your homelandWith the current situation there I'm not going to make a big target of myself by giving away such details. I will though first need to return to the Commonwealth of the Iwi to wind up some issues there then where in Lodja I go first is open for discussion with the people I need to communicate with back home. I want to be there as soon as is both safe and useful.
It is understood that King David has allocated a Red Legion security detail to the young Queen while she remains in East Moreland and has put Ironside One at her disposal to return to either the Commonwealth or home. The King today went on record to say. "I don't know Nataliya as well as many Lodjain nobles. She is though someone Stasya is very fond of and therefore I hope that is enough to allow me to call her a friend already. There is a strong bond between Lodja and East Moreland, even before my own marriage. I am confident that in the face of this tragedy we shall continue to build this relationship to become ever stronger."