The Count In Pyrena

[Achkaerin]

The Count In Pyrena

Emerson Ravenswood, Count of Saika and Viceregent of Rokkenjima. Appointed to shake up the Rokkenjima political establishment (not an easy task when the woman who appointed him didn't listen), he's street smart, a long game player and a man very much on a mission. These are the snippets of probably the most unconventional Viceregent Rokkenjima will ever know.

Table of Contents

Changes
Covering Bases
Fury

[Achkaerin]

Changes

Emerson Ravenswood stood looking out of his office, or as he liked to think of it study, window he had a lot on his mind - probably not a surprising nugget of information considering that he was the Viceregent of Rokkenjima. On his desk was a copy of the Kirby report, a second copy of the report was in the hands of his adopted daughter Amy, the pair had spent the better part of three hours reading the minutia of the report the stuff that wasn't in the summary that Kirby had delivered but was nonetheless available also present was Kayleigh Pryde, previously the temporary and now courtesy of the Kirby report the permanent head of security at Pyrena.

"This is pretty damning" Amy said before listing the implications "End of Beatrice, end of the Anausa probably the end of Abe as well."
"We knew all that was likely." Emerson said "It's not the report that is concerning."
"It's the fallout from it." Amy said "You knew it was going to be a rebuild job when you accepted being Viceregent."
"Yeah little did I know it was going to be a double rebuild." Emerson said "How about you Kayleigh are you up for this?"
"I am now." Kayleigh said "I've spent the last few days scrambling to get personnel."
"But you've got them?" Emerson asked
"Yes." Kayleigh said "I'm briefing them in about five minutes."
"You'd better go then." Emerson said, Kayleigh smiled and left the room.

"What about Groves?" Amy asked once they were alone
"Don't worry about Groves I'll deal with him." Emerson said
"How are you going to do that?" Amy asked
"I have my ways." Emerson said

Elsewhere in Pyrena Kayleigh was walking out into the gardens, there were four people two women, one girl based on age and one man waiting for her. The man was Jason Tate, the two women were firstly Tori Baker who was sat on the grass and secondly Megan Ramsey who stood leaning against a wall. Last of them was Gemma Sanders.
"You all made good time." Kayleigh said
"Well you know how it is Kay." Jason said
"Ok then I'll make this as quick as I can." Kayleigh said she handed each of them a folder "As per the Kirby report the security arrangements around here are staying with us, which means that we've got an expanded brief, the folders contain your assignments. I'm the primary on Empress Evanthe, Jason you've got Emerson Ravenswood."
"Understood." Jason said
"Megan you've got Princess Euphemia." Kayleigh said
"Ok." Megan said
"Tori you've got Josiah." Kayleigh said
"That's typecasting." Tori said
"I know." Kayleigh said "Which means Gemma..."
"I get Crown Princess Adrianna." Gemma said

"Correct." Kayleigh said "Now listen you all know the drill, keep them safe. Get yourselves familiar with your protectee, get yourselves familiar with Pyrena and go from there. And no letting the kids near the weapons."
"Code words for the protectee's?" Jason asked
"Come up with one and circulate it." Kayleigh said

[Achkaerin]

Covering Bases

Gemma Sanders had never been to Tytor before, which was most likely a shame considering the landscape of the country, that would all be changing rather soon though, why? She was the assigned bodyguard to Crown Princess Adriana of Rokkenjima, probably the most high profile job she'd ever had in her time as a Justicar, not to mention probably also the most challenging as it included everything from chaperoning the Crown Princess around to clearing her schedule to essentially being the big sister in all but name. It also meant that when Adriana went to attend school in Tytor Gemma wouldn't be far away. The school in question was Anson Preparatory Academy, otherwise known as Anson Prep. It was going off the prospectus a fine school and from the looking around she was doing at that very moment she was even more impressed. Plus from all the communication she'd had with the school, once she'd known where Adriana was going, she knew that they were more than happy to accommodate the security side of things. Gemma closed her eyes as she stood in the open space outside one of the school buildings and mentally ran through the internal layout of the school, memorising every exit, every path to each door. She smiled as the gentle breeze went through her short hair and tickled her. It was at this point that her phone rang.

"Hello?" Gemma asked answering it.
"How's the school?" it was the voice of the Viceregent of Rokkenjima Emerson Ravenswood
"Certainly lives up to expectations." Gemma said
"Place to live?" Emerson said
"Sorted." Gemma said, there was an Achkaerinese Intelligence safe house about fifteen minutes away on foot.
"And you've got the list of things Adriana's going to need?" Emerson said
"Yes." Gemma said.
"Just remember your job is to protect and look after her but remember to take care of yourself as well." Emerson said
"I'm planning on it." Gemma said

[Achkaerin]

Fury

Kayleigh Pryde was normally a reasonably calm individual, in her line of work it was a near basic requirement but today she was to put it mildly pissed off she virtually forced the door to the Vicregent's office open surprising the occupant Emerson Ravenswood, "What kind of..." Kayleigh said taking a deep breath as her native Seaforthian accent went into full flow "Idiocy is this? Adriana decides to take a spin on the Austrana, the entire world can see the ship leave port in Tytor which is a pretty solid bet she's onboard and the best we can manage is a no comment? The media's hit the bullseye and the person looking after the press doesn't comment? Why do we even keep these yachts around? They're not exactly safe in relative terms to an aircraft and are sitting targets for anyone to take a shot at. And now I have to start factoring this Thomas Emmanuel Roland Frederick Xavier Waverly-Edwards into the equation, you know what that means? I have to go and get another body out there to watch him. Helus knows that's going to be a mess. Seriously Emerson sort the damn communications staff out and let me sort the transportation out."

"I agree with you." Emerson said he'd spent the morning shaking his head with despair at the news reports "Call Rion see who she can spare, tell Gemma to expect company."
"Ok." Kayleigh said "What about the press?"
"Oh I'll be having words." Emerson said "What do you want to do about the transport?"
"I want the Austrana and Estvua tucked safely in port in Rokkenjima, I want a jet out there in Tytor with a fighter escort, and I want it on the down low." Kayleigh said "Unless of course we really want to make Gemma's job ten times harder than it already is, let's keep this under control."
"No guarantees Evanthe will like that." Emerson said
"Protecting the family means we don't want to draw attention, the media know Euphemia's in Northfort, they know where Evanthe is because she's the Empress and they know that Beatrice is under house arrest in Dartfordia." Kayleigh said "So when they see a yacht based in Tytor, a nation where Adriana is being educated and they see it leave it's a safe bet she's on it."
"I know that." Emerson said "And I'll point it out to Evanthe but this is going to take more than simple steps."
"All right." Kayleigh said

Emerson stepped out of his office a few minutes later and looked around "Yuriko!" he said in a raised voice getting the attention of the Imperial Councillor for Foreign Affairs Yuriko Faust a former Premier.
"Yes?" Yuriko asked
"Who worded the press statement on the Kaitaine situation?" Emerson said "Please tell me this got checked before it got released. Because it's badly judged, no legal grounding, no explanation just a 'they are terrorists' what's the reason? In order to make that statement you have to be able to back it up we actually can't unless someone has discovered new intelligence in the last twenty four hours."
"I'll find out." Yuriko said

As Yuriko walked away Emerson sighed, today was such a lovely day outside as well, why did he always have to be the hall monitor around Pyrena? He'd been brought in to steady the ship and that would be a whole lot easier to do if he didn't have to constantly rein people in.

[Achkaerin]

Radical Measures

Building a foundation for Asuna in advance of her reign... that was the job that had been the focus of Emerson Ravenswoods tenure as Viceregent he'd started as the outsider brought in as the confidant, then he'd become the scutineer building an imperial council that wasn't there to say yes but was there to interrogate and vet every decision of the Empress and how that idea had gone to hell in a handcart on Kyoko's watch. But that was nothing compared to the outright damage that Charles Ofdensen had sparked, the true damage had been done not by Charles but by the manner in which his steps had been countered, heavy handed was the word that came to mind but if there was one thing to be grateful for it was that Charles had successfully exposed the weaknesses of Rokkenjima's government. So for the third time Emerson found himself at the rebuilding stage the differences? Asuna was now Empress and after recent events the need for reform was far more obvious than it had ever been. However rebuilding was far more difficult when you spent so much of your time firefighting which was another consequence of successive Rokkenjiman governments. There was a knock on the door frame followed by a woman's voice "Excuse me is this the Viceregent's office?" Emerson looked up to see his sister Jacinta standing there.
"Well it is for the next few months until McKenna takes over." Emerson said standing up and going over to embrace his sister
"Hayley's here" Jacinta said referring to her daughter "Lucius's CPT would you believe."
"She'll enjoy that." Emerson said
"So where's my desk?" Jacinta asked
"Office right across the hall." Emerson said "You ready to rewrite the Rokkenjiman Constitution?"
"Let me see what I can come up with." Jacinta said "How long have I got?"
"Elections for the Premier and the Diet have to be held no later than the 15th of July or the Constitution as it presently stands is violated." Emerson said "We'll need to be ready to go shortly after that or sooner depending on when the elections end up happening."
"Ok so first I find the weaknesses and then I figure out what to do about them." Jacinta said
"And then we write the speech to convince the Diet." Emerson said

[Achkaerin]

Weaknesses

Jacinta Ravenswood may have been an experienced legal mind, one of the foremost consulted persons on many different areas, a high flyer and someone used to answering questions but even the likes of her could run into a question that couldn't be answered, although in her experience it was by contradiction, her question was posed by the Rokkenjiman Constitution and identifying its weaknesses, some were obvious and others were less so but with elections having just happened it was fast getting to the point where she and Emerson would be presenting a proposed new Constitution, more accurately a clearer and updated one, to the Diet for their perusal. She sipped her tea as she put the word 'system' followed by a question mark up on the board.
"What have you got?" Emerson Ravenswood, her older brother and current Viceregent asked stepping into the office.
"A whole lot." Jacinta said "Want the headlines?"
"Yeah." Emerson said slowly sitting down "How bad is it?"
"It's not bad, the biggest problem is in a collision of theory but we'll get to that." Jacinta said "Let's start with the most obvious article 2."
"The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial female descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law." Emerson said
"Clear problem because it relies on female descendants rather than descendants in general, Lodja avoids this because they pick the successor with a much wider net they go from the entire population. If Asuna doesn't have a daughter then the crown goes to Kyoko if Kyoko doesn't have a daughter then it gets very troublesome because blood relations matter in lines of succession you would have a situation where the Empress of Achkaerin is next in line to the Rokkenjiman Throne. However in practically any other monarchy Lucius would be in the line but not here."
"Heirs and spares." Emerson said "And Lucius is currently neither but right now he should be heir or at least when he's of age he should be, it's another branch on the tree that counts."
"And Beatrice did say this should happen 'full equality will extend...' so that's something the Diet's heard before it shouldn't be a hard sell." Jacinta said
"Next?" Emerson said
"Article 3. The Empress is sacred and inviolable." Jacinta said "No longer applicable because it's simply not true, that precedent was set with Beatrice Anselmo and it's why Asuna is now Empress, that's the harsh reality if you're going to say inviolable then it applies consistently it hasn't applied in that manner at all, considering the amount of probable cause there is against certain other monarchs for criminal acts it strikes an odd note to pursue them but not hold yourself to the same standard, and you can't really claim to be justice seeking if all are unequal before the law because that creates issues of access to justice."  she paused "Then Article 31 says The provisions contained in the present Chapter shall not affect the exercise of the powers appertaining to the Empress, in times of war or in cases of a national emergency. Again no longer relevant in that form because it's superseded by Rokkenjima's signature on the MCUR, the correct approach is now for the Empress to derrogate in accordance with article 21 of the MCUR."
"Anything else on the Crown element?" Emerson asked
"I'd probably remove the ability of the Crown to appoint the Imperial Council if the Council continues to exist." Jacinta said "But that's because of the dual responsibility that body has."
"Ok next? Emerson said

"The big problem." Jacinta said "The Constitution seems at odds with political reality."
"Explain." Emerson said
"The Constitution outlines a model of government that is essentially a Presidential system. The Empress is in the role of the President, the Imperial Council is the Government and the Diet is the legislative, however the political reality of having a Premier who is an elected head of Government suggests in practice that Rokkenjima is in fact working as a model of a Parliamentary system but the two are incompatible because right now the Empress has the authority but the mandate to govern rests with the Premier, in short the Empress has too much political power for a Parliamentary system to be viable. So the question is legitimately this - Premier or no Premier?"
"Assume we say Premier." Emerson said
"Then it's got to be a power shift and a significant one at that." Jacinta said "Abolishing the Imperial Council probably becomes required, the Empress would need to give up policy making power because the mandate to govern as demonstrated by the people at the ballot box rests with the Premier not the Empress."
"And if we say no Premier?" Emerson asked
"Then the Presidential model becomes the government, it has a fairly big weakness of its own right now because of who the largest party in the Diet is, were it not for the situation in the Councillor's Rokkenjima would in fact be a one party state." Jacinta said "Constitutionally that would in practice mean amending article 47 to replace Premier, presumably with the Speaker of the respective chamber. Aside from that the Diet bit needs belt and braces, maximum time between elections needs to be in there, as would a mechanism for the Diet to override the Crown given the amount of administrative power the Crown has, and if not the Diet with that mechanism then the Imperial Council, assuming it stays."

"Speaking of, if the Council stays what are we looking at there?" Emerson asked
"Constitutionally an update to reflect the changing nature of it." Jacinta said "Prior to you as Viceregent the Council was more a group of advisors, it's more than that now you set it up as a scrutineer body you've got experienced people in there with the intent to say when the Empress is wrong, I would safeguard that function yes it exists to advise the Empress but it must have the security to do so, this Constitution has to be futureproof and that means checks and balances across the board. The Imperial Council may not have a legislative function but it can comfortably be the body that checks the Crown in fact it probably should be. And I think it more likely that certain elements may prefer the Imperial Council to wield that power rather than the Diet. Just needs the safeguards."
"What else?" Emerson asked
"The Finance stuff needs making far simpler and less contradictory and there needs to be a clear amendment provision for the future." Jacinta said "But this is going to be a two question matter. The first is does the Diet believe the position of Premier should exist yes or no? And that decision needs to be made with the understandings of the consequences either way, and then depending on the answer to that we can lay before the Diet the proposed new Constitution for their consideration."
"So we have one version where there is a Premier and a version where there isn't?" Emerson asked
"Correct," Jacinta said "Technically speaking the Premier has already been elected to the Diet at the moment the confirmation of that is being delayed because we need that question answering."
"Then we'd better go and see the Diet then." Emerson said

[Achkaerin]

If You Can Meet With Triumph and Disaster...

8th December 2023

it had been a very long time since Emerson Ravenswood had felt this nervous, but then again he'd never written such a significant piece of legislation as the one that the Diet was about to vote on, it had been a long time coming, on his list for a good few years and had it not been for the lurching from crisis to crisis then this would undoubtedly have happened far sooner. It was a scene probably seen across Mundus, those who governed gathering around a television to watch those with the power to vote determine the fate of the ideas of the executive. The arithmetic was simple enough for this to get through a two thirds majority in both the Commons and the Councillors (both chambers of the Diet) was needed, in the Commons Teikokutō held 427 seats, which gave them a slim majority of two seats in the chamber however for tonights purposes the magic number was 561 which meant they needed a further 134 votes. In the Councillors the situation gave Teikokutō 30 seats with the magic number there being 47 so a further 17 votes needed. There was a lot of confidence in the Imperial Palace that the Socialist Party and the Green Party would get this over the line between them but this was far from a done deal, so the celebratory bubbly was being kept firmly on ice until the television screens displayed 561 Ayes in the Commons and 47 Ayes in the Councillors, Emerson was in no mood to tempt fate especially where Rokkenjiman politics were concerned.

"It'll be fine." his sister Jacinta said from where she was sitting "You gave a heck of a speech, you answered all the Commons questions, I did the same in the Councillors."
"I know but a good sell and common sense have never been reliable when it comes to politics." Emerson said
"Nothing's going to change that, whatever will be will be so for the love of... stop pacing around." Jacinta said

As much as Emerson would have liked the cessation of pacing to trigger confidence, this wasn't the case, all he could do was watch the screens and watch the tallies go  up one by one, as might have been expected the Councillors hit their number first triggering the first cheer of the night in the Palace but all eyes were on the Commons, needing that additional 134 votes was making it seem a lot trickier than it likely was especially as the numbers were climbing quickly, though was expected with Teikokutō's majority, the true test would come after they hit 427. "Come on, come on." Emerson said as the number of Aye's went past 427.
"Here we go." Jacinta said, Emerson took a deep breath as the number continued to rise and a sense of inevitability began to take hold of the room, the vote got to 560 in favour and a drum roll, well people patting their own legs or the tables, started before stopping as everyone waited for the moment.

"Aye." the voice of the member of the Diet, one of the Socialist Party members, filled the room and on the screen the number changed to 561 but the cheers and the sound of popping corks drowned out the television. Emerson smiled he suddenly felt a good few years younger than he actually was such was the relief of pressure he now felt.