Ironsides Family/Bowie/One Voice

One Voice Above All

Billing

A political satire of the Duke of the Court of Stones portrayed by the Flowrestown Theatre Company.

Setting: Skyreach Hold, Balance’s Retreat

Timeframe: Autumn of 22 YD

Dramatis Personae

TYRANT OF STONE, Duke of the Court of Stones – Played by Jeremiah Orchid

One Voice Above All

Prologue

The Tyrant of Stone makes a speech to the public for his campaign in the Lord Imperator election.

ACTS

Scene: The Tyrant of Stone stands on the balcony of his room speaking out over the courtyard of his castle. He has forced the peasantry of Balance’s Retreat to gather and listen to him.

TYRANT: "Lurians of the Court of Stones, Fellish sub-nobles, hear my voice clear and true. Let it reach out from my mouth, down the stone walls of my castle, out across the mud and hay into the crowd of you and deep into your heart. Carry its message within you and spread it further in the realm, spew it forth like vomit, out onto this great and marvelous realm of Stormfell! I do hereby state my candidacy for the position of Ruler. Not only do I present the finest candidate, but once elected I will ensure I am the only candidate in all future elections! The core of my platform is the One Voice Above All policy, which states that there must only be one voice speaking with any weight and consequence to it, and, more importantly, that the one voice must be my voice! The Tyranny of Stormfell is not suited for multiple minds or any perspective in disagreement with my own. By its nature, by its very essence, it is a system designed for my superiority and ultimate unchallenged reign! I am amused that you have elections, because you are only giving me the chance to snag these elections and put away the whole silly idea! Just as I attempted not too long ago, I will be the Princep and this will be my Imperial Republic. Let me describe to you what that means in so that you can see and feel the grandeur and glory that is in store for you. Let me illustrate to you the landscape that you will elect when I win the vote.

The Tyranny of Stormfell, which is what I shall rename the realm, will be a land where only nobles in my favour will gain any status or position. Every ounce of gold mined from the peasantry will come directly to me for distribution to nobles of my choosing. It will be encouraged for each of you to do something or find a way to gain my attention. If you do not amuse me you will not earn any gold, ever. Every time you request gold you will have to do so with a performance already prepared.

No noble in my Tyranny will hold land except for those who are my exact double in thought and speech. Should you say or think anything contradicting the Established Truth of my faith or my policy you will be assassinated, deposed, castrated (or have balls attached if you are a woman) and then discarded into the Flow river or carried to the top of North Divide and tied to a tree, left to be bothered by ants and crows. All land is my personal property. By the divine laws of “hereditary claims” I own everything within my field of vision and beyond. Oh, you no doubt have already learned that when I use the word land I also mean to include your Soul and your gold and your opinion and your intention to travel or to command soldiers etc. I own it. The land is mine. All of it.

My foreign diplomacy is to do whatever other people tell me to do so long as I remain in power and rule over you. If any of that is ever challenged I will accuse my opponents of religious persecution and cause the Theocratic Hegemony to invade and impale you. Let no one challenge my word or else I will tell on you! Is that what you want? Because that is what will happen! Also, I will accuse you of vulgarity if you speak without permission.

Vote for me in the upcoming election and I will change all of the realm laws to one single dictum. Laws and Constitutions and Codes are such tedious and needless apparatuses that I intend to do away with it all. A noble should live by one and only one rule: Sevastian Rules. Any and all interpretation of that law can only be correct it if is the exact literal verbatim of what is stated. Sevastian Rules.

Remember, One Voice Above All and Sevastian Rules! Vote Tyrant for your Supreme Leader!"