Liberal Democratic UnionBoard

This Monday, 2 August 2027, King Alán de León cordially invites fellow monarchs and allies to attend his 30th birthday celebration at the Palace of the Sun (Palacio del Sol) in southern Potenzia.

This will be a particularly special time as it just so happens that on this day, a total solar eclipse will occur. The eclipse will commence over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and travel past the Pillars of Hercules between Potenzia and Morocco.

We ask that guests bring a local dish, gift, or something that represents their nation’s culture.

Signed,
His Majesty, King Alán de León

Role-Play Story:

The Royal Family of Potenzia is en route to Palacio del Sol and will be arriving soon.

Back at Palacio del Sol, royal servants are rushing around to make sure that everything is ready for the King’s birthday celebration.

The guests will soon begin to arrive to the palace where Royal Family members will be waiting to greet them in the main courtyard of the gardens.

Josev-Aszrymop III and his wife of Sjevre, alongside with Vladimir Usjkov arrives on a luxerious and beautiful place in southern Potenzia, they're once again stunned by the beauty of the great nation with a royal family our Dzaap enjoyes to be with. They meet the royal family of Potenzia and are suprised to be the first guests that have arrived.

Commander Joseph Lawrence arrives in Potenzia with his wife and handmaid, but is arrested on the spot.

While handmaid, Velma Keyes, is given temporary refuge in exchange for testimony against the North Gilead leader, the Commander and his wife are transferred to a Potenzian detention center to be interrogated.

At this moment, it appears that his wife, Eleanor Lawrence, has been suffering from intense mental health problems under the control of her husband.

After a 15-hour flight while New Rome (Vantier) is having a huge political crisis, at the brink of a second civil war, Prime Minister Wilhelm Schlieffen and First Lady Martha Callas arrive at Potenzia. They wait for their limousine to arrive, Schlieffen and Callas do very different things:

Schlieffen seems worried, and constantly on the phone. A wrong move and a civil war is triggered. He won't really enjoy the party, as he can't ignore what's currently happening thousands of miles away.

Callas, on the other hand, is fascinated. She has never left New Rome. Seeing trees, unpolluted streets, unarmed people and BIRDS is literally impossible in New Rome. She acts like a little girl; excited, innocent, exploring an entirely new world for her. The first thing she wants after her arrival is to visit a park and see flowers, and people being happy. In her 24 years of life, money and seeing people suffer were the only things that made her happy. However, arriving at such an alien place has changed her, in a way.

King Ravi Holkar II of the Kingdom of the Indus arrives at the solar eclipse party.

As the guests tour their way through the palace and walk through the gardens, they would eventually find themselves at a large outdoor dining area, nestled in the mountains and overlooking the valley with views of the palace in the background. Here the guests will enjoy a 3-course meal, watch live acrobatic and musical performances, and witness the total solar eclipse when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring Earth's entire view of the Sun.

Josev-Aszrymop III and his wife of Sjevre are looking with great admiration at everything they see, they're clearly interested in everyting they see there. As Vladmir Usjkov, Secretary of Foreign Affairs spent the whole day strategically walking around the leaders of Vantier, he is certainly curious about the events in the country.

The tables are set to perfection, a classical guitar can be heard playing in the background, and the royal dining staff begins to bring out jars of sangria and fine cava while the guests chat and settle into their seats. Meanwhile, the kitchen brigade has started to prepare the first course, a delicious, refreshing bowl of Andalusian Gazpacho.

Sitting at the King’s table are,
• King Alán & Queen Ërl’u of Potenzia
• Imperator Augustus IV & Imperix Wilhelmina Vid of Romanum et Britannia Minor
• Dzaap Josev-Aszrymop III von Podsburg-Chemaev Vid & Queen Stefania Bernardes of Sjevre
• Monarch Theodore Cobbett & Mrs. Scarlett Peña of Filipinn

All of the children in attendance sit together and are accompanied by the royal nannies.

The remaining members of the Royal Family (Queen Marcia, Princess Tomasina, Princess Carolina, & Prince Ronald) sit together near the King’s table.

King Ravi Holkar II asks what Andalusian Gazpacho is and the waiter responds, “gazpacho is a refreshing, chilled soup perfect for summer, traditionally made from a mixture of puréed tomatoes and other ingredients such as cucumber, sweet bell peppers, onions, garlic, and olive oil.”

Theodore Cobbett of Filipinn leans to his wife. 'This gazpacho looks delicious. Should we try it?' 'I'm not sure. You're the one who's excited so you should try it,' Scarlett replies. Theodore then orders the waiter to their part of the table. 'Two gazpachos please. Small bowls would be enough.'
'I never said I wanted one!'
'But you didn't say you don't want one either.' Theodore replies with a smirk.

Josev-Aszrmyop III and Stefania of Sjevre try the gazapcho and they kinda like it. Stefania likes it very much while Josev-Aszrymop III is the one who doesn't really like it, he turns to Stefania whispering he says "can you eat the rest of my gazpacho?, I don't like it."
Stafania: "No, you are going to eat it, it is disrespectfull for our owners, eat the rest and I'll be sure the rest of the meal would be tasty"
Josev-Aszrymop III "sigh"

While trying to enjoy the party, Wilhelm Schlieffen of Vantier receives very terrible news: A civil war is about to begin, and there is nothing he can do. At the party, Martha Callas is having the time of her life. Not because she is partying like a maniac, but because she is very impressed. She is too shy to approach anyone, so she just looks at everyone, trying to be unnoticed. She is especially interested in King Alán of Potenzia. After all, he is rather nice-looking and her husband is ignoring her, so she can look at him discreetly.
She loved the Andalusian Gazpacho, and wishes to try more dishes. After all, she has been eating terrible New Roman food all her life. However, unlike most Vants, she has the time to do exercise. But most people aren't that lucky. Callas is certainly having fun, while Schlieffen is having an awful time.

Queen Ërl’u (Sulasburg) gives Martha Callas a death stare after she notices Callas winking at her husband.

Meanwhile, sharing the table with Prime Minister Wilhelm Schlieffen & First Lady Martha Callas of Vantier are Kaiser Wilhelm V & Empress Liliana, Chancellor Bismark Rosenwig, & Grand Marshal Tom of Das viertes kaiserreich, as well as Secretary Vladimir Usjkov of Sjevre.

After seeing Ërl'u staring at her, Callas simply smiles at Ërl'u, mocking her.
Meanwhile, Schlieffen tries to ignore his wife's more-than-obvious contact with the rest. He already has enough troubles to deal with. At this point, he is willing to let Callas do whatever she wants, as long as she doesn't bother him.

Schlieffen tries to be nice to the Kaiser of Das viertes kaiserreich and Vladimir Usjkov, but having a conversation with Schlieffen at the moment is not very pleasant.

King Ravi Holkar II of Kingdom of the Indus notices Wilhelm Schlieffen looking miserable.

Suddenly, the King gets a notification on his phone - it's an email from the Indusian Prime Minister.

The email reads:
"IBN Radio has an unconfirmed report about a civil war in Vantier. City of Westside allegedly attempted to send troops to appease North Yecksburg (NY) but troops were blocked by Ampuries. City of Freeside joins antislavery coalition and sends 8000 men to aid NY. Kukumu may interfere. Situation very tense. Will bring you more information soon."

A group of representatives from Police inc arrives, with CEO Wallaby-Fitzgerald at the forefront.

King Ravi Holkar II of Kingdom of the Indus, representatives of Police inc, and all of the remaining guests choose a table to join.

Reps from Cadia which stands also join the party, opting to sit at the same table as the corporate members, and choosing their own table in the corner. They offer reps from Kingdom of the Indus a seat with them.

Secretary Usjkov of Sjevre awkwardly tries to start a conversation with the Kaiser of Das viertes kaiserreich and Schlieffen of Vantier on how the food in Potenzia is so good. He then brags a little on how he once ate Paella (what they're having now) on a cruise right before the coast of Romanum et Britannia Minor.

Schlieffen of Vantier then replies:
"Having enough time to travel and, more importantly, having the privilege of being morally capable of ignoring your country really seems great. Sadly, I actually care about my nation and its people, unlike most of the fellow guests here, so silly vacations unrelated to diplomacy are not possible for me. But if I was a privileged European politician, I'd love to enjoy such activities."
Following this passive-aggressive response, Martha Callas tries to make the conversation less "aggessive", saying:
"Indeed, Potenzian food is very tasty and delicious. Perhaps King Alán could invite me to one of those cruise rides and I could eat Potenzian food all day long..."

Usjkov Ignores the aggresive commend of Schlieffen and friendly nods to the words of Martha Callas.

Wilhelm Schlieffen is fully aware of the situation back home, and appears to be less uneasy and more "chill". But not in a good way. At the party, he is very quiet and tired, avoiding eye contact with the rest, constantly at the brink of tears. Perhaps this war and being accused of sexually abusing little girls has taken a toll on his mental health.

Martha Callas completely ignores her husband and New Rome, not even mentioning him once. She continues trying to flirt with King Alán without actually talking to him; looking, smiling and winking at him, and even playing with her hair when King Alán is (apparently) looking. From time to time, she also looks at Ërl'u, just to make sure she is still "mad" at her. Callas loves this little, childish game. She is having the time of her life in Potenzia. At this point, Schlieffen doesn't care about her wife's actions even though he knows what she's doing, or trying to do.

Ignoring the almost silent drama, Imperator Augustus IV of Romanum et Britannia Minor turned to King Alán of Potenzia and tried to begin a conversation with him. After exchanging greetings, Augustus asked: "How is Alessandro doing?"

King Alán of Potenzia responds: “Both of the kids are doing great, I feel like just yesterday they were taking their first steps. Alessandro gets a bit of a temper when he doesn’t get his way but Aurelia, she’s a natural born leader. They’re over at the table sitting next to your son now.”

As the guests finish their paella, the servers begin to bring out a selection of desserts for the tables to share.

At this moment, skilled acrobats dressed as the Sun and the Moon appear on the stage and begin to put on a show. They perform amazing tricks, balancing on parts of their body one could only imagine, jumping and flying through the air. When the show ends, the guests begin to clap, the acrobats take a bow and the curtain closes.

After the desserts finish, King Ravi Holkar II tells almost everyone else on the table about the civil war in Vantier. Suddenly, the entire table is gossiping about it, much to Wilhelm Schlieffen's annoyance.

Joined by Queen Ërl’u of Sulasburg, members of Parliament, and members of the Royal Family, King Alán walks onto the stage to make an important announcement as the eclipse approaches. At this moment, the stage curtain opens behind the King and Queen to reveal a display case containing 2 Royal Crowns made of gold, silver and platinum, and decorated with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls. While those on stage are wearing special contacts with a solar filter, the guests are urged to pick up the solar glasses from their tables and wear them as the Moon starts to move between the Earth and the Sun, creating the total solar eclipse. Once the moon has completely covered the Sun, King Alán selects a crown from the display case and places it upon his head. Seconds after, he raises the other crown as Queen Ërl’u bows in front of him, placing it upon her head. Streaming live for the world to see, King Alán proclaims himself as Emperor Alán de León and his wife as Empress Ërl’u de León, the first Emperor and Empress of Potenzia.

The guests of Sjevre awkwardly clap along and felicitate the new Emperor withough actually knowing what's goin on. Usjkov tries to make questionable faces towards the Kaiser of Das viertes kaiserreich who clearly has also not a clue of what's going on. Furthermore Queen Stefania Bernardes hears about the gossiping on Vantier's civil war on the tabel next to her, the table where Kingdom of the Indus and Police inc took place. And she then tries to tell her husband about it who hasn't heared the news this day.

Prime Minister Wilhelm Schlieffen of Vantier refuses to clap even after Martha Callas told him to. According to him, the world already has enough Emperors. Martha Callas just claps and smiles, like a child.

President Samuel O'Donnel of the Free Republic of Cadia which stands, cocks his head slightly. He looks General Johnson, then to Captain Wedge, then to the new "Emperor." He couldn't help but think to himself, Is this what we fought for? Didn't we fight to liberate Sulasburg? Didn't we agree to liberate them from Oruzia, but now only for them to become puppets of another foreign empire? Why should Cadia be sending her sons and daughters to fight a war if it is now not even for a good cause? Why are we fighting a war to protect someone else's "assets"? That sounds like a job that Potenzian boys ought to be doing themselves. The President turned to John Marshall. "Draft an address. Once this frekking party is over, I need to speak to Parliament."

Josev-Aszrymop II of Sjevre jokingly asks Emepress Ërl’u if Sulasburg became a puppet state of Potenzia.. he soon realizes it isn't appropriate to ask such stuff and excuses himself, while awkwardly smiling to Usjkov who still tries to get an honest conversation out of Vantier's leaders and Das viertes kaiserreich's leaders.

CEO Jane Wallaby-Fitzgerald of Police inc notices the listener and gets up. She walks over to the Queen's table and smiles at her before angerly glaring at someone, forcing them out of their seat. She takes the now occupied seat and smiles at the Queen. "How are things in the land of Sjevre?"

Sjevre: Quiet, unless there are things I don't know, We know for sure there are rebels popping up in the new conquered Minskas, but that is only worrying for our army, that has nothing really to do with politics in Sjevre the government told us. Everything is doing fine, Universities have never been more popular, Economy is growing, popularity for the royal family is also growing. Yes we're doing great.. Thanks for asking, How are things going in Police inc?

Police inc: "Well, we have recently ended our contract to owning Cadian land, leaving a new government. Its strange to literally be nurturing a nation, but fascinating ordeal. They have already drafted a Constitution and are 100% self dependent. In a few months, they should be free of us. Now, you mentioned rebels? I hear there are plenty of those going around nowadays. I think our security experts and military trained Counter Terror Mobile Task Forces could be of some use."

Sjevre: "It possibly could, you need to check that with our government however, I don't actually have anything to say. So you're saying you don't actually have a place for your incorporation or am I wrong?"

Police inc: "We still have offices, of course, as well as some properties. We also are planning on purchasing Malta. But for the time being, we feel that having no one territory belong to us allows us to focus on business all over the world, as opposed to just Europe. That was one of the reasons for us coming here. More business, and to support democracy on the world stage."

Sjevre: "Oh trying to become a global supporter of democracy, btw.. ehm what were you gossiping about Vantier?"

Police inc: "Ah, we you see, we believe their policies are... uh... lacking is all."

As the Royals exit the stage, security approaches Emperor Alán with the urgent news that his father, Prime Minister Bennett, has just woken up from his coma. Despite being awake, Prime Minister Bennett is still disoriented and unable to speak. Keeping the news about his father private, as he is currently hundreds of kilometres away at a hospital in León, Emperor Alán tries to enjoy the party and urges the guests to do the same. He is then seen walking away to make a phone call, joined by the Potenzian Minister of Foreign Affairs and security guards. Empress Ërl’u and the rest of the Royal Family rejoin the guests. When Emperor Alán finally rejoins the guests, he pretends that everything is normal and goes to the bar for a drink.

With some delay, the Noristardian representatives finally arrive at the party.

‘The Rough Riders’ from Cadia (Police inc) go up on the stage and begin to perform and begin by performing their hit single, I Wanna be in the Cavalry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1V3JW4HeBs

Emperor Alán’s tipsy mother, Princess Carolina de León of Potenzia, twice divorced with two children, ex-wife of Prime Minister Alán Bennett and Grand Duke Keeth de Larsai, approaches King Ravi Holkar II of Kingdom of the Indus and starts to flirt.

Ravi Holkar II (to Carolina de Leon): Hello, who are you?

Princess Carolina: "No need to play coy, your wife isn't here this time.
It's been a few years, but we both know what happened at the holiday party."
*She caresses his arm and giggles.*

Ravi Holkar II: I do not know what you are talking about.
*he walks away*

Drunk Princess Carolina, feeling embarrassed, remembers that it was not King Ravi that she had a fling with at the holiday party, but it was in fact, [former?] Prime Minister Vinod Srivastav of Kingdom of the Indus (who is not in attendance).

Meanwhile at the childrens' table:
Prince Alessandro of Potenzia wipes a booger on his god-brother, Prince Nero of Romanum et Britannia Minor. Despite wanting to hit him, Nero doesn't because Alessandro is a foreign prince and almost a complete stranger to him. Instead, he wipes it off with a napkin. Princess Margareta of Sjevre jokingly says, that's very disgusting and tries to teach Alessandro a lesson with that. After trying to teach a lesson to Alessandro, Margareta continuously is looking at Nero with dreamy eyes. Nero barely even notices her, and continues eating. Princess Katharina of Sjevre who is clearly interested in her third cousin once removed tries to get hold on a conversation with him. All continuous staring hasn't gone unnoticed by her older brother Alfred who tells her staring is inappropriate, when she answers that she likes staring at Nero, Alfred also begins staring at Nero just to annoy his sister. Nero had completely ignored the whole thing until he heard Katharina telling her brother that she liked staring at him, when he tried to make his face hidden. Katharina tries to say hello, but it doesn't comes out well. Making it more of ah "he..hel..hello.. hello." Princess Kaia de Larsai starts playing ‘footsie’ with Prince Nero under the table. Aiken Cobbett of Filipinn has no idea what is happening. "Er.. hi. You are Princess.. er.. Catalina of Sjevre, right?" Nero said in fairly bad Esperanto, whilst moving his legs away from Princess Kaia of Larsai. Katharina flirtatiously laughs and tells him it is actually Katharina but that he was close enough.

Guest List:

Auditions: