The Republic Reborn

[Llum]

[ic=The Case]
Convinient that the Patrician says the burden of proof is mine. He abuses the legal system after he extorts full pardon from my fellow Consul. The man is a sly dog.

As a matter of record I cannot tell the court what the meeting about myself and the Patrician would entail as it is a matter of importance to the Safety of the Republic. Tivoli's only bearing in the matter is that with the success of my military venture all hopes that the Patrician could cow and threaten the Senate into bowing to his will and the Popes was lost. Perhaps it enraged the madman enough to attack me in my own home. I can only speculate as I cannot follow the thoughts of a madman.

I was headed for safety. I had been attacked in my home and to avoid placing my family in danger I left to secure a safer place. Yes I brought the Patrician with me, the man had just made an attempt on my life with his armed guards. I was not going to leave him with my family.
[/c]

[Polycarp]

[ooc=To Consul Calafatus]Some of your guardsmen, of course, will testify on your behalf as to the encounter in your courtyard.

As for the timely response of the pro-Pierleoni mob, while your masnada was able to find many people who felt sure that it had been pre-orchestrated, their only argument for this was the remarkable rapidity at which a mob was dispatched from the area of the Theater of Marcellus, practically as soon as word began to spread about the incident at your estate.  No physical proof or an account of someone actually ordering the mob forward has been uncovered.  While there may be members of the mob itself with such proof, your men doubt that any Pierleonists are going to come forward and volunteer their stories.

Note: This information is not Court record and is not known to other players unless Llum/Calafatus chooses to make it known.[/ooc]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ic=The Case]I will ask that the Consul soften his tone and remember that Patrician Pierleone did not use such scandelous verbage when presenting his side of the case. I ask that the Consul remember that he is in a court of law representing the City.

I now thank Consul Calafactus for his testimony.

I now call Patrician Pierleone to stand before the court once more.

Patrician, I must tell you I abhor secrets. I abhor them in my own life and I abhor them in a court of law. Consul Calafactus has stated that he will not reveal the reason for which you came to Rome on that fateful day. The day you risked life and limb to enter a city that was hostile to you and meet a man, in his residence, who was equally hostile. You risked everything - you life, your fortune, your family's well being, by coming to the Eternal City. I ask you - Why did you come to Rome on that fateful day?

Furthermore, I ask that both Consul Calafactus and Patrician Pierleone release to the court any and all documents that pertain to the case. Though I cannot force either of you to give the documents to the court, I can beseech you, as a fellow citizen of Rome, to shed the brightest light on this most dark and terrible event. [/ic]

[Polycarp]

[ic=Patrician Pierleone addresses the Court]I came expecting a discussion on the resolution of the standoff between my men and those of the Consuls.  I have already shown the court the letter that summoned me; all that I knew about that meeting, the court now knows.  While it is true that the city had been split between the new Senate and I, at that point there had been little bloodshed, nor had any attempt on my life been made.  No battle had been fought between my men and the Senate like that which occurred between Consul Basile's men and the Cardinal Vicar.  I had done no violence to the Senate, and none had been done to me.  I was suspicious of the Consul's offer, which is why I turned it down the first time when I was invited alone, but I had no proof that he or anyone else, least of all a Senator and Consul, would try to kill me.  There was a risk, certainly, but there was also a risk when I accepted the leadership of this Commune ten years ago and stood up to the tyranny of the Papal Prefect.  A risk, Senator, is sometimes necessary in the service of our beloved republic.

The only writings I have that are relevant to this matter, the letters from Signore Calafatus summoning me to meet him, I have already shared.  It seems all he has to offer the court are, as expected, his baseless and malicious insinuations, wholly unworthy of his breeding and high office.[/ic]

[TheMeanestGuest]

[ic=Before the Lesser Council]
Senators! A momentous decision stands before us, and God willing, the consequences of it will outlive our own fleeting lives. The effort I have put into reforming our legal system has not been for nothing. As I am sure you are all aware, noted legal scholars - students of the Four Doctors of the University in Bologna - have come to Rome to assist us in our noble mission. But there is a choice we must make. To decide between the tradition of Martinus Gosia, or that of Bulgarus, as they apply to the Code of Justinian. It is a question of which legal spirit to embrace, that of the strictest interpretation, or that of equitable consideration.

I would not take such an immense responsibility solely into my own hands, and so I call a vote of the Lesser Council. Your votes will be final, Senators, and I call on all of you to put much care into your thoughts on this matter.

For my own part, I will be supporting the School of the Gosiani. It is clear to me that the ancient edicts of our predecessors - while made with the best of intentions - in many instances no longer apply so perfectly as they once did. While we must hold respect for the long history of this law, and indeed, much of it remains sound to this day, we cannot simply sit in judgement with no freedom to alter our verdict based upon modern circumstance. It is imperative that the value of Equity, upon which our great Commune is founded, be foremost amongst the arbiters of Roman Justice. [/ic]

[ic=Speech Before the Senate]
Senators! It is a new dawn for Rome. Our City is united in thought and purpose, and the Order give by Justice again graces the streets. Our many military victories, won so bravely by Consul Calafatus, have shown all of Latium the Glory of Rome, and that we are not to be trifled with.

The Pope is dead. And while in life his temporal ambitions caused much strife to come to our city, in death we all remember the nobility of his most Christian Soul. Therefore, as Senator Sismondii has said, it would reflect well upon our own generosity and forgiveness - both values placed in the Highest Esteem by Our Lord Jesus Christ - that we gift unto Pope Eugenius his traditional right to a Christian burial in the hallowed halls beneath the Vatican. [/ic]

[ic=Letter to the Consuls of Perugia]
Consuls,

Allow me to return to you the joy and hope of the Romans. With this alliance, each of us undoubtedly further strengthens the reality of our own independence, and it is my fervent wish that we both shall remain so for ever more. Our League of the Tiber shall be unbreakable, and its establishment will send a message to our enemies that we are not to be trifled with. Woe to Viterbo and the Faliscans, and woe to the City of Assisi, should either think to interfere in our affairs.

Consul Roberto Basile[/ic]

[Nomadic]

[ic=Comments before the lesser council]I am of a like mind with the good Consul Basile. There must be room for open interpretation in any law. The spirit of the law must be upheld, not just the letter. My vote is for that of Gosiani.[/ic]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ic=Comments before the lesser council]As a man who often servies as a Judge, I feel I must echo the sentiments of my right and honorable colleagues - Gosiani is the more practical and more culturally relevant school of thought. [/ic]

[Magnus Pym]

[ic=A Reply to Basile at the Lesser Council]
I have put more thoughts into this, and spoke with more of our knowledgeable guests about many an interesting thing. I now feel confident in my choice.

My vote goes to Gosiani.[/ic]

[LD]

[ic=to the Lesser Council]
The Gosiani are legal scholars of great repute. I support their law as the type of law to govern Rome. Rome is a living city and their law is a living law. Under their tutelage, equity will be done and justice will be righted. Commerce will flourish as the law becomes certain here in Rome and the popolo will be enriched.
[/ic]

Of course choosing them also means that we're essentially choosing Justice Breyer and Stevens and Ginsburg over Scalia and Clarence Thomas (to put it in American Terms) :o.

[Polycarp]

[ooc=Update]The due date for orders is Saturday, March 24th.  The new Wealth system will come into effect in the next update.  This should not stop you from spending or saving Wealth normally for this turn's orders; your actions will be taken into account when I make the transition to the new system.[/ooc]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ooc=Orders]- Watch my back and make sure my family is safe.

- Inspect the DeRosa Inns and ensue they are up to snuff. [/ooc]

OOC: Waiting on Calafactus to respond to my request for any documents he may have. To speed things along...

[ic=The Case]I now ask that both Patrician Pierleone and Consul Calafactus make their last remarks before I deliberate the facts and render my decision. [/ic]

[LD]

[ooc]
Share the blacksmith investment. 1 Wealth if DeRosa also invests 1 wealth

Detail my Masnada to assist with the security for the funeral procession for the Pope for those among it who are willing to walk in the procession (I'd suppose about 1/2 of them would take up the offer). Myself will await at the final arrival of the column to pay my respects, then leave as soon as is appropriate.[/ooc]

[Elemental_Elf]

[ooc]I will invest with you[/ooc]

[Llum]

Just to note I have a final and midterm tomorrow so I can't get anything typed up until at least tomorrow night (something will be typed up thought)

[Magnus Pym]

[ic=Private Letters to both Consuls]
Great Consul of Rome,
I have received news from one of my contacts in Venice, as to my inquiry into the draining of marshes and similar activities. He was kind enough to copy some texts from the De Re Rustica, a great source of knowledge on agriculture written by the Roman Lucius Columella. He was lucky to find this piece of information, as the book is in pieces, and very old. I thought I would share this with you.

[spoiler=On the Soil]If [the soil] is damp, the superfluous moisture must first be drained with ditches. Of these we are familiar with two kinds — blind and open. In tracts of hard-packed and chalky soil they are left open; but where the ground is of looser texture some are made open and some of them, too, are covered over, though in such a way as to connect with the mouths of the open ditches.  But it will be best to make open drains wider at the top, and sloping and narrowing together at the bottom, like inverted roof-tiles; for those whose sides are perpendicular are quickly eroded by water and are filled in by the slipping of the earth above.

The covered ones, on the other hand, are to be blinded by sinking trenches to a depth of three feet, and then, after they have received a filling half way up of small stones or clean
gravel, leveling them off by throwing over them the dirt that was dug out. Or, if stones and gravel are not available, a sort of cable of entwined brushwood will be fashioned of such a thickness as the bottom of the narrow trench may receive when it is fitted, so to speak, and pressed down close. This will then be stretched along the bottom, to be covered over with earth after cypress or pine foliage — or, failing this, other boughs — has been trampled down over it; there being, both at the beginning and at the outlet of the
ditch, two stones set up, merely by way of supports, with one stone laid on top of them in the fashion of little bridges, that this sort of structure may hold the banks in place and prevent the stoppage of water at inlet and outlet.[/spoiler][/ic]

[ooc=Orders for the Autumn, 6th Turn]
- Send agent to Naples (preferably the same that always went there for me) to recruit skilled Flax workers for the spring harvest. Grant them the right to live on the land, and if previously acquired workers that are not expert Flax cultivators need to be ousted for that, then let it be that way.
- Start the planting of Flax seeds on my Campagna lands
- Spend 2 Wealth on the expansion and esthetic improvement of my family estate (To eventually have it become a pallazo)[/ooc]

[ooc=Pisa and Bologna Intelligence Operations]
There is still 1 month left of information. Whether my agent will be intelligent enough to send me a letter -as well- as come back themselves, I don't know.[/ooc]

[ooc=Handling Ousted Flax Workers]
Though I doubt this season will trigger this "unfortunate" possibility, here are my thoughts on how I can still use the workers. I would send them to Gregoriopolis to harvest the slat flats, and bring me back what they gathered. I would sit on it for a while, until I find a buyer (I already have an ideas who it will be). They could also use the abandoned buildings of Gregoriopolis. I would grant them better housing should the business prove lucrative (Make this a promise).

I would also send with them an agent that would oversee these operations and report to me. Of course, he would be told that I have many plans for Gregoriopolis and that his staying there to further our relations with the current people and my workers could land him a sweet job in the future, in a prosperous Gregoriopolis. Whether he buys that or not I don't care, I just want him to oversee my activities there.[/ooc]