An Angel Called Eternity

To Bet on Losing Dogs - Cardinal Sin VI: A Call to Order

Cardinal Sin VI: A Call to Order

The Fourteenth Day of the Seventh Moon, 873 AD.
Aegos, Aegan Hills, Western Dathan.

Saints, but he hated these meetings. If he had to listen to one more puffed-up Archbishop give some self-centred speech highlighting an issue or transgression so small that it would make even Admeta scoff then he was going to ride to the coast and take the first boat west to some place that wasn't a tinderbox waiting for a spark.

Not that there were many of those left at the moment.

He sighed a little and slumped on his throne at the dais. The five of them, the cardinals and Adikos himself that was, were seated in a raised position in the senate building that had once been used by the speaker of the senate and the consuls, should any have been in office of course. Sat in the chair of the First Consul was Adikos himself, the grand throne raised above all others. Sin sat in a smaller throne to his right, Spyridon to his own right, whilst Admeta and Trios were to Adikos' right. He sat there, vaguely aware that his master was somewhat amused by his boredom, and tried his best not to just stand up and leave. People expected him to be bored, that much was a given, but he still needed to be present here.

There was an order to such proceedings, after all.

The old senate building was a magnificent and huge monument to the democracy that had come before, having originally been used as a colosseum during the reign of the Aegan Empire and the Terraneans who conquered them. It had been the only building with enough seats to hold so many landholders and men of importance at once, and so where it had originally only been used as a stopgap before a true senate could be built it had transformed over time to fit the new needs of the burgeoning republic. A raised stage some fifteen metres off the ground was built in the centre to allow those proposing motions and laws to speak to all their peers at once, then a magnificent roof had been built over the top, then the benches had been replaced with far plusher seating, etcetera. The building was beautiful, but where once elected representatives, landholders, business owners, and freemen had sat, there were now only men of the cloth. Bishops, Archdeacons, Inquisitors, Abbots, even Paladins sat around within the circular building, though it was folly to pretend that any of them spoke for the people outside these walls.

Still more had been added to the old colosseum since the establishment of the theocracy; bureaucratic offices here, withdrawing rooms scattered around there, a small barracks for guards just over that way... the senatorial building almost resembled a city within a city. It certainly housed more people than some of the villages Sin had been to as a kid.

"I concur with the delegate below." Sin heard Admeta call out. He didn't really know what was being spoken of, but he also didn't really care. It wouldn't be anything good, he knew that, so what did the specifics matter to him? Admeta continued unabated. "The centralising of the monasteries will enable our great theocracy to better administer to the spiritual needs of the rural parts of this realm. Whilst my dear friend and colleague was perhaps overzealous in his desire to ensure unity in this land through admitting every monastery to the Order of Saint Brassica, the suggestion of the delegate below is one that has my enthusiastic support in the days to come, and I hope that others will see the merit in such a plan as well."

With that she stopped and sat back down, a look of deep satisfaction on her face. Ah, she was using Trios' bungled attempt to centralise power to provide a 'compromise solution' to the old guard. Likely a compromise that gave her exactly what she wanted, but they wouldn't know that.

As if sensing that he hadn't been paying attention Spyridon leaned over, whispering the delegate's plan in his ear.

"The delegate put forwards the idea of sponsoring or creating ten or so monastic orders, and allowing all of the monasteries in Aegos to choose which one they would rather be a part of. Admittance to one of the orders would be mandatory of course, but they would at least have the illusion of choice."