Live TV - 7:30pm Lodjain Time
Queen Klara speaking from the Palace of the Goddesses Throne Room:-
"No doubt over the last few days the world has been examining the various claims that were made against this Queendom, some of its government, our faith and some of the most prominent members of our society. While I would like to sit here and tell you that all these claims are untrue it has become abundently clear that the majority of them seem to be rooted in truth. I would like to begin tonights address by reassuring the people of Lodja and our friends around the world that measures have already been taken to ensure the chances of future problems have been removed. We also have put in place steps to discover the extent to which potential damage has been caused. Utilising the old tradition of the Goddess directly being able to dispense justice for crimes committed on the Isle against her, her Guardian and the land of Lodja I have taken the steps of dismissing from the Conclave the following people with immediate effect. Duke Lubos Kubik, Lady Anna Utkin, Duke Brayan Coxovich and Duke Tobias Pelagiya. Each of them may face further action for crimes committed away from the Isle of the Goddess but that is yet to be determined. This obviously leaves many gaps in the Conclave. It is perhaps my own poor judgement that has lead to this. The current conclave was appointed by Queen Viktoria and trusting her to have followed the Goddesses guidance I left the group in place in the exact same form as it was then, and many of those had been in place since the time of Queen Sonya. I will in short order be reforming the Conclave. It shall increase from its current number of 10 members to 15. The Ministries of Defence, Education, Social Affairs and Justice shall each recieve Junior Ministers with each being appointed from a short list given to the elected Council, this list is to include at least one Patrician per post and I shall abide completely by the decision of that elected Council. The 15th member of the Conclave will be the Tribune of the Plebs, a position which currently meets infrequently with me to offer advice. From now on they shall be given a seat at every Conclave meeting.
One problem that must be addressed swiftly is the notion that our military have been culpable in acts that I deem unworthy of a force sworn to defend the Goddess and her people. Many of the incidents from the data leak are historic and actions taken by the Queendom with support from East Moreland mean they are sadly a too recent memory of what we were. The military today is becoming a fine tool with a backbone of excellent officers and NCO's who I believe will make our military the envy of many nations given time. There are however incidents where the very people we trusted to support this transitition appear to have disappointed us. I can assure the people of East Moreland and Lodja that we have investigated the nature of the allegations against a Red Legionnaire by the name of Paul Abrahams and found these allegations to be unfounded. We however now have to examine where thesse alegations came from deeper and rest assured together our strong partnership will unravel who was responsible.
Despite our every steadfast belief in the Goddess these allegations have shown that at times those we would believe have the closest connection have been failing in their duties. It was proven that between 2010 and 2015 a significant amount of funding was transfered to sources in Marseille under the guise of missionary work. This transpires was nothing more than a front by members of our Priesthood to promote the creation of further matriacial nations believing wrongly this would spread the power and influence of Sessifet. Such measures were carried out by the former High Priestess Raisa Chownyk a woman already known as a traitor to the Queendom as the executioner of an already ill Queen Viktoria. While the aging Queen Sonya came to the end of her 102 years of life she was towards the end over reliant, perhaps understandably, less in tune with the goings on within the Queendom as she should have been. Measures will be taken to ensure anyone who used the faithfuls money for work I believe the Goddess would not approve of is brought to justice. The Priesthood will undergo a transitition to remove those trained by Raisa Chownyk and thankfully we already have a strong new generation of Priestesses who had urged reforms even while Raisa oversaw the Priesthood. There shall be no new High Priestess. I am the Guardian of Sessifet, I am the one in communication with her every waking moment and therefore I am the one who together with a Priestly Council shall oversee the operations of the Priesthood.
Our final problem from this series of leaks is the manner in which we have too readily relied in the past on the old ties of family. By having a surname of note a career in Royal service was assured. That system has been shown to no longer work. I vow now that any member of the Royal Household from this point on will have to pass some form of test before assuming their position, merely being a distant cousin of an uncle of a former postman of the Kohut family will never be enough to be of service to the Queendom.
Over the next few days various media outlets across the Queendom and even the wider world will no doubt print their version and opinion of what has happened. I have spoken to you directly tonight to try and ensure our motives and our work so far are understood. More will be done in the coming days and weeks and every step of the way I shall keep the people of Lodja and our friends across Mundus notified of the steps and changes we are making to ensure a better future for our people. I wish each and every one of you a safe and peaceful evening and may Sessifet bless you all."
Chief Lady in Waiting Anna Immich:- Her Divine Majesty has agreed to answer questions from the media for a short time. The first question comes from Chistopol and asks "With many of the suspected leaks detailing corruption or mismanagement from those closest to the Queen is it not time that Lodja dumps the system of Pleb and Patrician and replaces it with a true meritocracy?"
Queen Klara:- Lodja has always been a meritocracy but not a pure one. The concept behind the division of Patrician and Plebleian was set in place by the Goddess as a multi-generational meritocracy. Those families who worked hard and served the Goddess would raise towards the top of society and be the Patricians and once there they would have the duty of being responsible for helping the Plebleians raise in a similar way. Sadly over the last century or so we have seen the system become one where the Patricians view their place as benefitting from the Goddess rather than serving them. It will be my intention with the Priestly Council to look at installing a new system where it becomes easier to transition between Plebleian and Patrician yet those who once in the higher bounds of society fail to live up to their duties can easily find themselves passing the other way. The ideas I've put across today will also I hope make us more of a meritocracy. Tests for those set to work in Royal service, the elected Council making a selection of some of the Conclave, these things I hope will ensure it becomes possible for people not fortunate enough to have the right surname or the right family history to progress. Once we have had a chance to see these systems in play for a while we can look at whether more is needed.
Chief Lady in Waiting Anna Immich:- The next question comes from Roisin Shaughnessey from Achakerin News Services and asks "What does Her Divine Majesty think of the Priesthood of Sessifet, the deity of which she according to the faith's followers embodies, engaging in financial transactions with a recognized terrorist group the Sorority of Materna?"
Queen Klara:- "I am disgusted by the manner that the Priesthood under Chowynk got away with the funding of terrorism. Had Chowynk not been such a coward and murdered her own Queen and then committed suicide I would have been ensuring she was put on trial under the most severe of crimes possible. What the Priesthood did under those times was wrong on two accounts. The first is that the Goddess see's all life as valuable and the most precious of her creations. The acts of funding the Sorority were destined to lead to loss of life through their acts of terror or as we sadly later saw the Marseille Conflict which claimed thousands of lives. Something the Goddess would weep for. The second is that people are told to be generous to donate what they can to help the Goddesses representatives do her work. We see it across our own nation that our young Priestesses run youth groups, beautify parks, help the poor, help the sick and do so many more great works. This is often possible only because of the generousity of the everyday people of the nation. To take that generosity and waste it on death and destruction is not the faith I love and will protect. As I now have disbanded the position of High Priestess and replacing it with a council and myself having oversight it is my belief our finances in future will go to where they are intended."
Chief Lady in Waiting Anna Immich:- The Queen is open to other questions. Please just state who you represent before asking your question.
OOC- Anyone can feel free to ask questions be that a government source or a media outlet. Even if its not about the data leak you've the Queen of Lodja live on TV willing to answer unseen questions.
