May 3rd, 2017: King Alexander was elated. He had achieved the dream of generations of Greek Kings - conquest of the world. It was the best day of his life - the climax of the Greek Empire. He saw his domestic advisor.
"Demetrios! Quadruple the National Day fireworks celebrations in every city, and ten times in Athens! I want this year to be remembered forever! Take no mind of the cost; we've been looking for things to spend money on for years!"
"Very well, sir," replied his advisor. Ten times...that would be a celebration of unparalleled scale. Hopefully the fireworks suppliers could make enough fireworks in time.
Reaching a door, the King let himself out onto a balcony. The Colossus shone from the shore in the sunset, a testament to the Greece of old, the small, at that time city-state Greece, yet it was no less brilliant for its age. It had taken generations to go from the aspiring Greeks who had paid dues to Helios to the Greeks who even were a regional power. The conquest of Borneo had, at the time, been a great step forward for Greece. Now areas greater than Borneo, which had took centuries to conquer, were taken in a week. Yet the early conquests were no less important for the length of time they took.
So much had changed even since Alexander had become King in late 1997. True, the bulk of the army was the same, Modern Armor having recently been introduced at that time, but the land was so different. Greece had already been plenty powerful, but most of South America and North America was not conquered, as well as Spain and parts of Babylon. Sumeria, too, was unconquered. At the time the possibility of Alexander finishing the conquest so many kings had dreamed of seemed possible, but it was certainly not guaranteed.
Yet now - success was his! His name would go down as the one who had finished it all, who had overcoming second-guessing of his decision not to go to war with America as quickly as possible to make it his greatest triumph. All the while technology continued at an unprecedented pace, with space flight coming and Greece landing on the Moon. Now genetic research was leading to unprecedented advances in the medical sciences. There couldn't have been a better time to be King.
He saw his military advisor, Georgios, walking into the gardens below. "Georgios!" he called out. "We're victorious! Guess we won't be fighting too many more battles, will we?"
"I hope this doesn't mean I'm out of work!" replied Georgios.
"You? Not in the least! What kind of king would I be if I didn't keep you on board after your brilliant blitzes? Excellent work!"
As his military advisor walked on towards his house by the shore, the King was once again lost in thought. His entire career had been dedicated to this goal of conquest, and it was now complete. His predecessors had been working on this for quite some time as well - it was the first time since 1850 that Greece had been at peace. What awaited him now? There was nothing left to conquer. Ah, it didn't matter now, he decided, he had celebrations to attend to for weeks.
August 18th, 2017 - The celebrations had finally worn down. Weeks of celebration had been most enjoyable for the citizens of New Guinea and greater Greece as well, but after awhile normalcy inevitably returned. And with it the King found the work to be surprisingly domestic. He had always loved hearing of the latest military conquests and plans and the latest improvements to the Greek war machine, and now there were just a few relocations going on, nothing major. Meanwhile the domsestic affairs continued, and while it had been quite fun to pour money into celebrations with no regard to cost, that couldn't continue forever if only for the fact that eventually Greece did need
some productivity, and now it was mostly standard work again. To the King, what had been interesting now seemed rather mundane without any ultimate goal. And thus over the previous weeks he had decided it was time to, while he still could tour the world, resign from the pressures of being King and let his son rule the peaceful world that posterity would inherit.
His son, Jason, had been incredulous at the time the King told him this. He had always assumed being King would be in the still-distant future, that he would be Prince for years. But over the past few days it had made sense to him. He had always been more trained in the peaceful arts of administration than the military ones, and they certainly would be more useful now. And his father had certainly achieved the climax of his rule now. He, Jason, was still young, but was certainly well-initiated with all the royal customs and responsibilities. Now he had twenty-two weeks to prepare for his inaugeration on January 19th, 2018. It all seemed so soon - but, though also nervous, he was somehow calmly confident he could rule the world well. He certainly would inherit in a good sate.
January 19th, 2018 - The mood was at once both jovial and bittersweet at the palace as the King prepared to hand over rule to his son that evening. The King had been a good ruler, with all areas except literacy seeing great progress during his reign, and that been mitigated by the great expansion. Most importantly, he had at last achieved the goal of generations of Greek kings - conquest.
"My fellow citizens," began the King, and the room hushed. "As you know, I am abdicating the throne today. I have greatly enjoyed being King over the past two decades, but the world today is a different world from the one I have ruled for twenty years - it is a peaceful world. The world as I am familiar with it is one straught with conflict. It is fortunate that we are now at peace, certainly, but it is not the world I have been trained to rule for decades. It is the world that the young of today will be fortunate enough to inherit. As such, I feel it only right that the young shall rule this world at this time, shape it as they feel fit. I will continue, of course, with royal duties, but the day-to-day affairs of the state shall now belong to Prince Jason."
The audience quietly applauded the speech as courtiers brought the documents of abdication to a table in front of the throne. The King took a seat in the throne, read the documents, and then signed them with a swan quill pen. The ceremony then turned to Prince Jason.
"Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of the Greece, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, South America, North America, and of all of your other possesions and the territories therein, according to their respective laws and customs?"
"I solemnly promise so to do."
"Will you use your power to cause Law and Justice to be executed in all your judgements?"
"I will."
"Will you use your power to keep peace throughout the Kingdom and work to ensure the prosperity of all its citizens?"
"I promise to do so."
He then walked over to the Shield of Holwerd, carried by the captain at the first Greek conquest in 300 AD, and placed his hand on it.
"I will perform my duties as King of Greece to the best of my abilities. So help me Zeus."
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you," said the coutier in charge of the ceremony, and then he placed the crown on Prince Jason's head, "King Jason of Greece!"
Fireworks went off outside the palace and small-scale pyrotechnics inside, and organs started playing. It was a celebratory mood all around. After twenty minutes, it had at last calmed down, and the new King spoke.
"Thank you, thank you. It has been quite an evening. Ten years ago, it seemed quite optimistic to think Greece would control the world by now. Some thought it would take as long as 2037. And now here we are, at peace and controlling the world."
"My priority as King is to increase the standard of living of Greeks everywhere. Literacy is one of my major goals. It is one of the few areas not to increase recently, though certainly the addition of more than fifty-five million people to the Greek Empire within the past nineteen years has something to do with that. I hope to see 95% literacy within my reign, from our current eight-two percent. Lifespan also will be a major initiative. Currently the estimated lifespan is seventy-seven years, but surely an empire as wealthy as the Greek can do better than that. Commerce and industry also are important. Already our industry, at more than six gigatons per year, and our commerce, well over eight billion drachmas per year, is staggering, but all signs point to further growth being entirely possible. The New World especially will be developed significantly. Of course, I will work to please the entire Empire as well. And of course, technological development will continue unabated." Looking around, he continued, "Without further ado, let us continue with the festivities. A Friday night is no time to get bogged down in administration!"
The crowd applauded, and soon music and dancing began. The people had great faith that their monarch would lead them to even greater levels of achievement than the admittedly high standards of living they already enjoyed.
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Great story!
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It just happened to work into the story well. I try not to put too specific of references in the story to specific users or events in comments, so if someone is reading it without reading the commentary they won't wonder where something came from, but this went in well even considering that.
