His great officials of the Realm had gotten what they had asked for: Urlic the Fourth and First had signed DORA exactly a week ago. Viscountess Roxane had also been granted her wish - a collection of Narcissian and Umbracresti aristocracy danced and swung around the room to a cheerful waltz.
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Urlic felt ill at ease in a place like a ballroom, they reeked of high class and money - two things he had far too much of for his good. His dislike of dancing and loathing of archaic practices such as this did not help in the slightest. Nevertheless, the Archcount-Khagan of the UEGNA socialised, danced and drank.
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Château Narca - the third royal estate after Châteaux Argent and Ego - had an exquisite ballroom full of mirrors commissioned by Countess Regnant Icaria Ego "the Fair" (5th Ruler of Narciss from 180 YBP to 140 YBP).
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The moment he had entered the room, he collided with Baron Ethenezo Montclair - The Grand Vizier`s elder brother - as he whirled past with a sly-looking younger woman with a bright, infectious smile and auburn hair.
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"My most sincere apologies Your Grace, I did not see you there. I don't believe you have had the pleasure to meet this young spitfire?" He said in his polished, upper-class Narcissian accent gesturing towards his dancing partner.
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"No, I haven't." Replied Urlic lazily, thinking she must be from the west.
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"Vargravine Constanze Lündler of Zweit at His Grace's service." She said with a flourish.
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Urlic nodded, eager to get away from these two - a pair that would appear to love, rather than loathe, traditions like ballroom dancing.
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"Your Grace!" Called a man in a wheezy tenor.
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Urlic Ego-Estrin-Romanakov spun on his heels to be met with an ancient man slowly swaying with someone who he did recognise, Rectess Gemma Augereau - wife to Grand-General of the Western Army Group, Rector Nikolai Augereau.
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"Rectess Gemma;" The sovereign muttered, politely stooping to kiss her hand, "Who's the old guy?"
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"Altgraf Horiato the Elder of Cellula and Fehler, claims to be the oldest man in Umbracrest at one hundred and two. I'd rather dance with him than that creep Graf Kleist Wissen of Sovia. He and that gold digger Geldmäcker ought to marry. She's the great-granddaughter of a bloody Ætharch as well!"
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Urlic decided to let Gemma calm down.
He had been told about how a tabloid called Snarker`s Scandals had mocked Grand-General Augereau for being bossed about by his wife before, now he remembered why.
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"Only gossip and insecure manchildren buy that rubbish," he thought to himself.
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A tap on the shoulder brought him back to Empyrea from the what-if lands. Standing behind Urlic was a young man - around his age - wearing a tasteful red tailcoat and pair of trousers. It took the Archcount-Khagan more than a moment to recognise his best friend, Rector Tiberius "Tiber" Rostov.
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"Tiber, is that you?" He asked in amazement, for the Rector was not particularly known for wearing finery. If Tiberius Rostov wore such things, he was looking for attention.
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"Aye, Your Grace. What brings the high and mighty Urlic the fourth and first to a place such as a ballroom? The rumour is he has two left feet!" He said in a voice full of easy laughter.
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Rector Rostov was the sole remaining heir to his family, one of the Great Houses of Narciss. These families were the Houses of Dmitryivanovite (A long line of aeronautical officers, Viziers and musicians), Ego (the Narcissian Royal House), Jasper, Montclair (Famous for their fertility) Niobite-Tantalite (possibly the wealthiest, proudest and most powerful house apart from Ego), Rêverie, Rostov, and Worce (A long line of Army officers, High-Exarchs, Viziers, Master Adepts, Magisters. The final member, Charles Alexander Worce III, was by far the most famous)
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Some of the Minor Houses were: Astra - a now-extinct family that the consort of Earl Ego had hailed from - Argent, and Aurora - created to honour the descendants of the heroic Lord Sergeant-Major Erik Aurora, who had sacrificed himself during the Seige of Worcester in the Coalition War. Biggen-Ego - an extinct cadet branch of Ego which had suffered from bleeding diseases like Haemophilia in nearly all its members.
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Other minor houses were Cor, De Napton (now a Duchal house in the West), Euclase (extinct), and Geldmäcker (famed for making a vast fortune in banking, airship manufacturing / aeronautical engineering, coal mining, and Aether extraction. The family is generally disliked due to being shallow, materialistic and greedy), Petrov, Romanakov (combined with the Northwestern House of Estrin. Famous members include Grand Vizier and notoriously flirty nymphomaniac Anastasia Narca Romanakov and Khatun Jennifer Astrai Estrin-Romanakov - Urlic`s maternal grandmother.) and Topaz
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Naturally, Tiberius' grandmother had tried desperately to get him to marry to prevent the extinction of the House of Rostov. Tiber had insisted on finding the right one, though.
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"Old Marjorie Rostov sent you to my house in Narcester to find a spouse?" Asked Urlic through a wide smirk.
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The Rector looked thoughtfully around the room until his gaze rested on one person.
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"Who's the lonely one over there?" He asked, motioning at a smoky-eyed woman.
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"Her? That would be Gräfin Xauna Hessen of Biogi." He told Rostov, before adding under his breath, "The only Western noble I recognise on sight due to her reputation for being quite strange."
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That explained why Xauna was alone; the other Umbracresti nobles had ostracised her - the poor thing.
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"The only alternative I see is your third cousin, Viscountess Roxy, and she's too much trouble even for me." He lamented.
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"Young man, she is too old to continue the line! And she is lazy, undisciplined, spoiled and not to mention troublesome!"
Replied Urlic in a high, quivering voice meant to imitate Majorie Rostov`s tone.
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The rather accurate impression caused his friend to respond with something halfway between a laugh and a wince.
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"Gräfin Xauna does look lonely, perhaps she might appreciate the pleasure of my company?" Rostov mused allowed.
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Urlic didn't see any reason why not. It was the older Rostov brother who tended to attract more attention (despite his infertility and stoicism), though. "Sure, give it a try. I had better talk to my other guests. Although I haven't a clue who else is here."
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"Lady Anastasia Carly van Blücher, Gräfin Kleist Wissen, Baroness Carlot Zu Geldmäcker, Rectess Maceth Dmitryivanovite and Graf Anton Jassau." He listed off the names. "I'd keep my distance from both Geldmäcker and Wissen...and Dmitryivanovite scares me."
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Urlic laughed again, before remembering something, "I did talk with Roxy earlier, we are supposed to have a Niobite-Tantalite, a Jasper, a Kaiserin, two De Naptons, a Rêverie and an Occid."
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"And if I may ask Your Grace why they aren't here yet?" Bowed Rector Tiber reverently, reminding Urlic of the power dynamic that existed between him and everyone else in UEGNA.
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"Because my friend," Urlic began, "They are Umbracresti, the Westerlings, the Occidentai...no matter what they call themselves the people of the West always lack tact."
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A giggle from behind the pair startled both the Rector and Archcount-Khagan equally. Gräfin (Pronounced greh-fin) Xauna Hessen stood behind the pair, her smoky eyes locked onto the Rector.
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"Rector Tiberius, I believe it is considered rude to stare in Narciss?" She said politely in the raspy, hoarse voice of someone who had not spoken for a while.
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"Oops..."
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"Oops indeed." She echoed as a new song started. It was Ludere (a composer who gave his name to a Chalcrystian Town along with his students Sonque, Amore and Eupahu) Waltz in E♭ major.
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A jaunty, fast tune that contrasted heavily with what had been playing before.
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"Ooo I like this one! It's been so long since I've danced with anyone...all the Umbracresti think I'm strange." She said in a soft, genuinely downcast voice. Now that the raspy quality had vanished, Urlic noticed it seemed both flirtatious and melancholy simultaneously, as little sense as that made.
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"Might the charming Rector Tiber fix that for little Xauna?" She half asked half ordered Rostov playfully.
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"Yes. And for you, he'd fix Ethenezo Montclair`s hairline if such a thing is even possible." He replied.
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Urlic suspected it was a joke based on two things: there was no fixing the balding Ethenezo`s hairline and the fact that the pair burst out into laughter.
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"I'm not leaving Narciss without you, herr Rostov, my father likes a good joke." She muttered to herself.
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"Who`s that?" Urlic questioned.
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"Why, the Chairman of the BCU himself, Margrave Anaux Hessen of Mestae and by Rissau, sill-" She began exclaiming before Urlic interrupted her intentionally - having had his fill of the somewhat weird noblewoman - with, "Aren't you two meant to be dancing?"
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"Well..." She said, leading the Rector away by his arm.
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Urlic simply grinned and waved. The wannabe casanova and reclusive aristocrat were perfect for each other after all.
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There was one last person that Urlic wanted to talk to before ending this dammed ball and having his government send some very angry letters to nobility in the Commiserate of Umbracrest: Blücher`s wife.
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Lady Anastasia "Ani" Carly van Blücher (Née Narcite) stood indignantly in the corner. Despite being born into nobility, she disliked anything to do with such things at all for some (unknown) reason. Ani was fifty-two - her long hair was already completely iron grey.
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Much like her husband, the woman doted on their two grandchildren (especially after their son had died): sixteen-year-old Katherina, twelve-year-old Osric, and three-year-old Callisto van Blücher, who was perhaps the most heavily guarded toddler in all of Empyrean history. She was born in 76 EH and had been given the name of the Coalition War era battlecruiser, GNA Callisto, which had been present at the Battle of Mara Sanguinis, the Seige of Worcester and Operation Kraken. The airship was converted into a - very large - aeronautical museum of the Grand Narcissian Fleet. Osric was named after the twenty-seventh Duxeière of the Colestis Imperii: Ostric, the Hammer of the Ayerians, whose Aetatis (22-year fixed ruling period, according to Coelestial Law) was from 2,843 YBP - 2,821 YBP.
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Ani gave a friendly hello before launching into a worried rant about what would happen to the grandchildren if she and her husband were killed.
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Urlic tried to soothe the older woman's worries in vain until it hit him what she was after, "Lady Blücher, I understand your worries. Let it be known that the crown will take immensely good care of grandchildren: Katherina will be sent to live with the Montclairs or the remaining Rostovs until she is eighteen and will continue her education. Osric will go with her. Meanwhile, Callisto will be married to Crown Prince Rionault Ego-Estrin-Romanakov."
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"You plan to match your son with her?"
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"If the worst happens. I don't see old Mikal living another eighteen years; ninety-one is pushing it. Better to go out on the battlefield where he belongs if we do end up in a war with CVAPU, which I solemnly swear not to be the aggressor of." Declared Archcount-Khagan Urlic IV & I Ego-Estrin-Romanakov of the West (managed in his stead by Commisar-Viceroy Geoffrey Götter), the Northwest (Governed by the Archcomital Viceroy for the Estrin Dominion, Unka Noyanu-Astrin), the North (Under the rule of the elected Elector of the North) and the Northeast (Normally ruled by the High-Exarchs of Worcestershire, Luxequinox, Valerium, Xyrolith and Chalcrystis, currently under the oversight of the Ten Stratocrats).
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"I hope His Grace keeps his word, for the sake of the younger generation." She said, her voice saturated with poisonous clouds of anxiety.
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"Of course." He told her gently, taking her lined hand in his strong one to comfort the older woman.
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