Nation on a Knife-Edge

[Kanada]

The Royal Palace is a quiet, desolate place sometimes. When there are no meals to be cooked and no number of guests to be attended to, every sound around you can be heard, like the gurgle of the baby over your shoulder, or the small clatter of a mug being set on a table.

Queen Grace herself has her baby held over her shoulder, and a mug of coffee to her side. She sits in a large, dark private library, with books lining the walls and a comfortable reading nook on the opposite side of the room from the door. A soft knock comes from the door.

"Come in." Grace announces calmly. The door is pushed open by a royal guard, and a man shuffles through, having the door closed behind him. He glances at the queen in the nook, who doesn't look up from her mug, and regains his composure, before walking towards her.

The repetitive clicking of his dress shoes against the marble floor echoes around the dim room, as he approaches the queen. "Madam Severyn-Kanad." he bows quickly, and remains standing in front of the seat across from her. She responds quietly, "Please sit, Leonit." The Prime Minister does so, nervously on the edge of his seat.

She takes another sip from her coffee and begins to bounce her child, only a few months old. Johann breaks the silence, "What an adorable baby, I don't believe I've met him personal-" The Queen interrupts, "You know why I called for you. It wasn't to talk about Alex." The man skittishly pulled a notecard from his pants pocket and read it in his head quickly, before facing the Queen again, "Madam, I truly hope you do not dissolve the Parliament, it is the people's voice into government."

"Leonit, I have already told you I have no plans to dissolve parliament. Only to weaken it. To make it more dependent on the crown, instead of the crown being dependent on it. The world is nowhere near stable, and we cannot have a heavily two-sided parliament tearing the nation apart. It already did last year. Which I will not have a repeat of. Do you understand me?" The Prime Minister nodded, "Yes, Madam." "Then get what you need to get done, done. I would hate to have to fire you." "Yes, Madam." "...and not a word of this to anyone out there."

"Uh.. Yes, Madam."

---

OOC: Kanada is reforming it's government, leaning heavily towards monarchy.

Note that no nation would know of this, or any other private conversations between the Queen and Prime Minister.

 

[Kanada]

To whom it may concern,

After careful research of your political history, the Monarchy and Upper House believe that it would be better for you to leave the Lower House of Parliament. You are expected to resign voluntarily before January 26th, or you will face punishment.

Thank you for your service to the Kanadian government.

Respectively, on the Queen's behalf,
Prime Minister J. Leonit

This short, simple letter was sent to nearly half of the remaining parliament, ending their political career. The numbers of Parliament had been whittled down since the Queen's coronation. Since the civil war, dozens had been fired and arrested for betraying the Crown. Some had been killed in a brutal shooting by Sundeonian College students, who ironically killed most of the remaining Sundeonian representitives left in Parliament.

After this message, of the original 120 Parliament members, only 25 members remained in the empty building, 9 in the Upper house and 16 in the Lower house. These were some of the Queen's most loyal supporters.

So there was no opposition when Riot Police quickly broke up the protests in Sundeon. To quickly calm the disturbed south, the Queen released a promise that there would be Sundeonians back in Parliament before Summer. It only slowed protests somewhat. Every move the Queen made from here would be a dangerous balance, trying to keep the Sundeonians peaceful, and the reformation moving.

 

[Kanada]

A video goes online of the Queen talking to a friend in her den when asked about the reaction of the shrinking of parliament. She speaks in passionate pace-and-peak. "It has come to my attention that many people are against my actions of reforming the parliament of Kanada. Declaring it to be authoritarian, or a grab for power. I have a question for them, why must they complain and criticize what has been stated as a temporary reformation of our struggling government, instead of picking on the Yerans, or Cogorians, or any other more obviously authoritarian government out there? Because they may be scared of them? So instead, you argue with a nation within your alliances and spheres of influence, where you have authority over them?

"Personally, I feel that they should realize that my intentions of reforming parliament. It was constantly in a deadlock between the conservative parties of Sundeon, the more left-leaning parties of Kalgary, and the centralist other provinces torn in halves between the two larger entities. Nothing was getting done, and I was becoming tired of it. Besides, how can people argue against the government getting rid of those who were proven to financially support a violent uprising in the south?"

---

Trust is a delicate thing.

Johann Leonit sits in the nearly empty parliament, with his head hung shamefully in his hands. The only other person in the room is a security guard, patrolling by a nearby door. Small amounts of natural light streams in through the windows, dimly illuminating the bare wooden seats. Some of the recent 'resignations' desks still have papers on them, still being looked through by the suddenly overwhelmed parliament. The Prime Minister looks up at a large clock to his left, seeing that it's 3:55. He arrived very early to the meeting before the rest of the representatives have entered.

Soon, almost exactly when the clock hits four, the remaining few of the parliament, a once great parliament of over 100 people, shuffle into the room, sitting down in their chairs. They all look nervously at the Prime Minister. They knew, everyone knew, that the Queen had in fact been the one to tell the last few casualties to leave, but it was Leonit who had actually told them.

After everything had calmed down, Leonit looked at a text-filled paper. It basically told him to begin bringing back people into the seats, doing whatever he could. So he cleared his voice into the microphone in front of him and spoke calmly to the men and women there with him, "Ladies and Gentlemen. I believe it is time to begin the elections for the parliament seats."

 

[Kanada]

Seven men are led by a dozen guards through knee-high snow. The wind swirls the whiteness around them in the freezing night. Even the sturdy trees are being blown back in forth. One person falls forward with a large gust of wind, and he is quickly lifted back on his feet by one of the men in uniform.

They approach a cave on the side of a mountain. It is filled with darkness, and frost covers the stone walls. They do not stop for a moment. A dull metal door that blends into the mountain is pulled open, and light pours out from the inside. Once inside, the seven men are sat down on benches and have their heavy coats stripped off as the door is closed.

One of the guards takes a plastic clipboard with a thin stack of papers attached and speaks to one of the men on the bench, "Adalf Hansen, for the planning and undertaking of a lethal crime, for assisting or committing the serious harm of 38 people, for assisting the attempted murder of 102 people, for assisting or committing the death of 24 people, all on the day of October 25, you have been sentenced to death by firing squad by the Royal Courthouse of Kalgary, without a choice. You have completed all prayers or ceremonies, correct?" The man nodded, "Please step outside."

This was repeated by all seven college students, the ones who committed the massacre inside the Parliament buildings last year. On February 23, they were all put up against the wall. Only a single paragraph about the execution of the murderers in the frostbitten mountains of Kalgary made it into the capital's newspapers. The capital was more preoccupied waiting for the soon-to-come speech by the Queen...

 

[Kanada]

A screech of microphone feedback came through the parliament, silencing any remaining conversations between the members. Awkwardly, the Queen watches as a man a few feet behind her flipped a switch on a small soundboard. She cleared her throat and spoke, staring directly into the camera streaming to the rest of the nation,

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the previous weeks, this nation's government has been in a scary position. The number of parliament members had plummeted, and therefore so did the input of the people into the government. But I am proud to say that in the last few weeks, the amount of people has increased, and still is."

"A little under a month ago, the population of the parliament was 25 people, 9 in the upper house and 16 in the lower. Now, there are 48 men and women, with 14 in the upper house and 34 in the lower house. This number is continuing to increase as areas around Kanada vote for their representatives. Hopefully, by the time the snow has receded to the mountains, there will be nearly 100 representatives, and I can be proud to say we are truly returning to being a democracy. Have a good evening, everybody."

end actually no​

 

[Kanada]

(May 14, 2018)

A man flips open the steel lid of his lighter, placing it against the tip of a cigarette, before bringing the stick to his mouth. He puffed a bit as he adjusted his collar to better protect himself from the falling rain. Few were around at this time, just before the sunset. The fog was thick, but his glowing cigarette burned away some around his face.

The man was Josef Eriksen, an old man representing a rural area of Sundeon that happened to be where the most extreme Sundeonians happened to reside, fighting to the end during the previous rebellion. They were just on the Kalgary border, and had centuries of resentment against the Kalgarians. He coughed long and loud into his sleeve, stumbling forward through the fog. A car whizzed past him way above the speed limit, and he cursed at them.

Josef then stopped under the dull glow of a streetlight. Deciding to take a shortcut, he turned and walked into an alleyway between a deli and the deli owner's delightful brick house. The light grew dark, and he cursed as a well-placed raindrop put out his cigarette. He pulled his lighter out and began to attempt to re-light the stub, but along with the click of opening his steel lighter, he heard a much louder clatter behind him.

He turned around and looked at the shadows, seeing two men. One had his hand in his coat and the other was holding a Kanadian Army Service Rifle up to him. Josef gasped and lifted his hands up, one taking the hat off his balding head. The man with the rifle stepped out of the gloom, slightly closer. He was dressed well in a three-piece suit, and he had his finger on the trigger of the automatic weapon threateningly, and he had a well-groomed beard on his face.

"Get down on your damn knees." he spat in a low voice, "And keep your hands where I can see them." Josef, terrified, descended to his knees with his hands on his head. "Tell me where it is," the man continued. Josef replied simply, "What?" "You know what I'm talking about, hag."

"It’s in my desk drawer at my house!" he yelled, shakily, "But that's a government document, you can't take it!" The man took another step and placed the barrel of the gun on his head, "Much obliged, my friend, but don't tell me what I can and can't do."

A single shot rang out as Josef collapsed on the floor. The well-dressed man unloaded the rest of the magazine, before turning around and moving back into the shadowy fog as the night started.

 

[Kanada]

At the head of the Parliament, behind a podium, was Queen Grace herself, speaking to not only to the PMs there but to her nation through the news networks broadcasting it.

"My people..." Her Majesty started loudly, looking out into the small group of people and cameras in the back of the room, "Brothers and sisters, forward-looking citizens of Kanada, we live in what can only be described as cautious. With our southern Allies in Norsia defending their native land and people against the anarchy in Berkowitzia, to the tension in the new Skanda and its neighbours."

"While I am joyous that our parliament has mostly stabilized, there is more that can be done, and that is why I am beginning the process to reinstate an old tradition in our government." She glanced at the papers on her podium for a moment before continuing, "After the Fascist uprising wrested control from the monarchy and parliament in a violent revolt, they kept the Parliament as a puppet for their goals well into the war against Cogoria itself. However, they kept it clear that no person of 'Blue Blood', or being of Royal Descent, could not join our representation system."

"So I plan to not only allow these people to represent the people they live with but to also bring back the tradition of having the Prime Minister chosen by the Ruling Monarch of the nation. While I would love to be as transparent as possible with government decisions and issues, sometimes it can simply not be allowed for reasons of national safety. This will allow our country to be flexible enough to change its policies whenever we require it, and not postpone it until the next election."

"This may come as a surprise to some people, but I had been planning this for some time. Now is a time to implement this for, unfortunately, our current Prime Minister Johann Leonit is planning to resign to take care of his ailing wife. I wish the best of luck to him and his wife, and I must thank him for his service to his nation. Thank you... That is all."