Old King

## Flag

**Old King** is a District in the southwest corner of Libertia Continent, south of Landing Cove and the Netherlands, Old King is a cold district, with polar water currents brushing its southern coast, and with mountains at its northernmost border. It is known for its monarchial tradition, which explains the continued habit of Senators and other high-ranking individuals tending to hold power for an unusually long time.

Old King is the home of several important political figures, most notably VSS Director Surge and current Old King Senator McLarnyan. The district is also the rumored location the the secret VSS headquarters, and the mysterious Pyramid.

## History

Founded in 2129 by Francis Keaton, The District's first Governor, The Government of Old King would be led by Three Governors before the establishment of the Monarchy, These Governors are referred to as Colonial Governors to separate them from the modern position of Consul, which serves as the Gubernatorial counterpart in Old King.

### The Colonial Governors

#### The Governorship of Keaton

The District's first governor, Keaton was authorized by the Emperor to lead a colonization effort in the South-East Region of the Mainland, the Peninsula merely called Bonaterre. Keaton built the city of Kingston off the coast of the Netherlandian Gulf and began to run the district as his personal Fiefdom, looking the other way when his allies and supporters illegally bought up land all the while he gave them increasing positions of power. He was however eventually removed by the Emperor in 2137. Keaton's clique of loyalists would find themselves without a patron and with a large amount of wealth. They would leverage this and grow their wealth and power, becoming Oligarchs in the nascent political system of Old King.

#### The Governorship of Merston

The Third Colonial Governor, Louis Merston, came into Power in 2149. He began a series of cultural initiatives to develop Old King's nascent culture, who Merston believed should focus on the Yeomen. These initiatives saw Castles being built in the deforested areas of the District, as people embraced a romanticized medieval ideal to base their society off of. Merston would eventually declare himself king, giving titles and privilege's to powerful families across the district, making the Oligarch families of Keaton's era into the Nobility of the future.

Merston's government would become very localized, almost feudal in nature. And would become very wary of the Imperial Government stepping in and ending the little "mascaraed" as it was described by Evan Fletcher, a contemporary Writer and Journalist at the time. The government would however relent and allow State Security to set up a branch office that would come to be referred to as, *The Security Annex*. Merston would set up a Congress of Nobles, big and small, which was made up of not only the oligarchs but wealthy yeomen. As time went on, Tradition would see that the Congress would have ultimate power over the governance of the District, while the King became a mere figurehead with theoretical power.

### The Monarchy of Old King

#### Gridlock in the Congress

Beginning in the 2160s, The Interests of the Nobility began to take precedence over the interests of the District, and the Congress began to slow to a halt, as bickering and feckless arguments prolonged any action being taken. The Merston Family, being the leading monarchs for nearly half a century, began to focus on cultivating connections and then using those connections to increase their own power, and in turn, the power of the Monarchy.

It would be in the late 2170s when scandal would rock the monarchy, As the new King of Bonaterre, as was his title, directly appointed an official. Previously, when Kings wished to appoint someone and bypass congress, they called upon the President of the Congress, and leveraged their connections to get him to appoint the official. All of this was done in backrooms, but the scandal blew those doors wide open, and causing the nobility to coalesce into a new political faction.

#### Rise of the "Country" Alliance

In response to the Scandal, and the revealed increasing power of the monarchy, many of the nobility, majority of them being from the Oligarch Families, felt their traditional right to lead the District was being overrun by the Monarchy, and decided to fight back. They didn't choose a name at the time, but journalists began to call them the "Country" Alliance, calling back to the Court and Country dynamics of 19th Century Monarchies.

The next decade would see the Monarchy and the Nobility fight over the powers of State, setting the foundation for a crisis to unfold. The "Country" Alliance would garner many connections in the District Military of Old King, and the King at the time, Nicholas Merston, also called the Obsidian King, chose to establish his own private and personal protection guard, an house guard. The Nobility feared that the King had established a private army outside of their control, as traditionally the District Military was subject to the Congress. These fears would underline the soon to unfold crisis.

### The St. Alexandria Conspiracy

Several of the Nobility within the "Country" faction felt they were unable to truly fight the King back and protect their rights and privileges. Led by Fredrick Bishop, this group within the faction established a salon, like those of the 18th and 19th century, as a cover to talk with senior military officials, if it ever came to it that. It would be here that the group would meet and establish a relationship with Marcus Keaton, a descendent of the first governor, and President of Keaton Enterprises.

#### The General Staff Debacle

It had been four years since the King and the "Country" faction had a large fight in the Congress. The House-guard debates had strengthen the Country Alliance and the King was wary of giving them any shot at a majority in the Congress. However, in 2183, the King decided to put forth a reform to the Military of the District. The Reform would establish a General Staff, who would be made up by Officers of the King's choosing, who would decided on promotions. The King sought to get the Military to embrace a meritocratic structure that it had lacked since the 2150s. However, many saw this as the King trying to assert his control over the Military, mainly those in the Senior levels of Military Leadership and had gotten their on familial connections.

A Consequence of this debacle was the discovery of a Military program that diverted Military funding to a Military Bank, specifically the National Bonaterre Forest Bank, that had failed to give out any loans, or make any financial transaction in the last two decades, besides receiving the military funding. Nor was it listed as one of the Banks servicemembers would be offered.

Fredrick Bishop's group in the Country Alliance would be the first to catch this, and it created a firestorm in the Alliance, and most especially, Fredrick's salon. Fredrick and his allies felt the King was funding an expansion of his house-guard so it can rival the Military, and hiding the numbers with the Bank's funding.

#### Formation and Downfall of the Conspiracy

The Conspiracy began at the Salon, in response to the discovery of the hidden funding. Using weapons acquired by Marcus Keaton, the Military Staff that aligned themselves to Bishop organized cells and loyal units within the Military. as they Prepared for the eventual uprising against the King. As time went on, Bishop and his fellow nobles decided the King wasn't going to make any overt Tyrannical Actions, and so they decided that the Monarchy must end if the Tyranny of the Merstons were to be stopped. Relaying this to the disloyal Military units, a plan was hatched, a plan to assassinate the King, and use the turmoil to overthrow the Kingdom.

However, during the final shipment of weapons by Keaton Enterprises to the disloyal units which was being overseen by Louis Bishop, brother of Fredrick Bishop, hours before the Assassination. Vooperian State Security raided the facility to arrest the Members of the Keaton Family, who ran the Keaton Crime Family. The Arms Trafficking was discovered, and Louis Bishop was captured and interrogated by Members of State Security. During his Interrogation, Bishop gave up the conspiracy, and it became a race against the clock.

State Security busted into the room where the King was giving his speech that day without warning, and raised their weapons at a Junior Officer, loyal to the conspiracy, who got out of his seat the moment they did. Raising his gun at the King, The Officer fired off a single shot, which did hit the king though the wound was nonfatal, before being gun downed by State Security.

Louis Bishop gave up several conspiracy members during his further interrogation once State Security discovered the conspiracy. These members were captured and interrogated until the entire conspiracy and all of its members were captured. These Members were tried at a State Security Tribunal in St. Alexandria, giving the Conspiracy it's name.

#### The St. Alexandria Tribunal

The Conspirators were walked out and sat on the benches, where they came face to face with The Director, himself. Not allowed to give their defense of their actions, The Director declared them Guilty of Class-E Offenses against the Empire, though he did not named the offenses. He then sentenced them all to Death, and walked out as Agents of State Security entered. These Agents walked up to the Conspirators, and raised their rifles at them as the conspirators scrambled to escape their sentence. All were executed shortly thereafter.

The Tribunal is considered a stain on State Security's legacy by critics, who describe it as "A Purge against Enemies of King Nicholas Merston, who was an ally of the Director". However, it is certain that the whole affair of the conspiracy is a stain on Old King's History.

#### Aftermath

The Result of the Conspiracy was the Edict of St. Alexandria's declaration, which opened the Congress of Old King to all citizens, making the positions within it elected. This resulted in the ousting of the Nobility's dominance in the Congress, though this was eventually restored as the Nobles established a system of Patronage, and whoever was patronized by a family began to typically win their election thereafter.

### Downfall of the Monarchy

The Monarchy began to fall in 2197, When the King's sole heir went missing. The King was gravely ill at the time, and many who knew of the news feared it would kill him. Allies of the King learned the news before the King himself did, prevented the news from reaching the king, and requested he abdicate in favor of his brother, who had left the royal family and thusly abandoned his right to the throne, for his own health, stating that his son, who could be described as immature, wasn't ready to hold the throne. The King declined such an option. It was at this point when the News reached the King.

The King quickly drafted the Edict of Consulership, which established the Position of Consul, which replaced the President of the Congress and allowed the position to become "Regent of the Throne" should the Throne of Old King ever be empty. After signing it, he asked his chief advisor, the then President of the Congress, Francis Scott, to proclaim it as he needed to lie down. Several hours later, the King had a heart attack in his sleep and died, heirless, and left the Throne Empty.

To Present Day, The Consul of Old King still serves both as President of the Congress and Governor of Old King, and the Patronage system still remains.

#### Governmental Crisis and the Collapse of the First Government

Following the 2354 overthrow of President Tyco, Director Surge and Senator McLaren were stripped of their ranks of Consul and Vice Consul, Surge disappeared, and we'll get to McLaren later. This power vacuum lead to a governmental crisis where the government had no executive branch, and if nothing was done, Old King would soon devolve into anarchy. This however, did not happen, and in a surprising twist, Unusederas (Image to the right) stepped in to keep the peace until a new senator was established, with McLaren declaring Unusederas Consul for life before hightailing it to an undisclosed mountain hideout.