Sigmungt analyzed the crowd in the room before him. Judging by their reaction to their predicament, most of the men gathered tonight were as Boleslav had reported; great scholars maybe, cowards definitely. There are several men out of the pack who have potential. These men Sigmungt kept the faces in his memory for future reference.
“I understand that most of you carry much knowledge within you, so no doubt you must’ve figured out who I am by now. Don’t stop there, however, go on and guess as to why I’m here.” Sigmungt addressed them with an emotionless face, hiding a smile in the process.
One man spoke up.
“If you mean to make a fool out of us, you have succeeded. Now if you mean to kill us, however, you best do it quick or we won’t give you the opportunity.”
Laughter rang through the room.
“My my, aren’t we all a hasty bunch. I’m afraid I must disappoint the lot of you though. Poland can still use the service of everybody here. You won’t be able to contribute that much to the nation if you were dead, would you?”
Whatever the liberalists were expecting out of his mouth, that wasn’t it. Sigmungt looked on with satisfaction at all of their stunned faces. One man regained his calm soon, and voiced the question no doubt on all of their minds.
“What is the meaning of this meeting then!?”
“As you originally thought it was for, of course. Discretion, directed toward different people that is.”
Sigmungt took a pause at this point to take a side-glance at the mirror. What he saw was what everyone else in the room can see. The boyhood that was once visible on face was no longer there. Several small scars lined his face, making him look much older than his actual age of 27. ‘At least those shells made me look more commanding and mature, if slightly less handsome’ Sigmungt mused before moving his vision to other parts of the mirror/himself. He was by no means obese like his counterpart to the east. Living in a nation filled with intrigue and rival parties, it’s a wonder he wasn’t underweight from the stress. The man in the mirror was that of a typical polish man. Even the clothes on him are similar to that of a middle class merchant at best. The only way one could tell he was the monarch was the silent man standing next to him, his battle-hardened and famous guard-captain. ‘Too bad my palace garments aren’t this comfortable’ Sigmungt turned his attention back to the crowd at the end of that thought.
“Alright gentlemen, time is quite precious, and we must finish by the night’s end. I have read much of your published works, and Boleslav had kindly informed me of much of your proposed reforms.” Sigmungt waited a moment for them to follow his words before continuing.
“You may be wondering why I’m so willing to undergo these reforms of yours. Reason is simple enough. You wish the best for Poland and so does I. When my ancestor reunited this land, he had a vision not of a man with an iron fist holding together fragments of land waiting to break apart the moment his grip loosen. While absolute force is needed to create a nation, different measures are needed to govern one effectively. Our writers have provided us with a starting point, that of nationhood. That was the key that my father and his father were looking for. The factor that will make Poland united from within. As some of you have mentioned to Boleslav, only under a constitutional monarchy can such a concept be promoted. Before implementing such wide scale reforms, however, I have several conditions that you must agree to.”
The Liberalists looked at each other. They hadn’t really expected the monarch to accept their reform proposals completely, but neither was they going to blindly agree to whatever the monarch asks of them. They were, however, willing to negotiate, since this opportunity didn’t come by everyday. “What are they, your majesty?”
“The first condition is that we adopt a system of dynastically elective monarchy. That is, the throne is reserved for male blood of my line when I die, and continues so until we run out of male heirs. In which case the Sejm will elect a new monarch.”
Sigmungt waited for a response, and when none came, he continued.
“The second condition is that the upper house in the Sejm be composed of the current nobles/bishops, appointed by myself. After all, you can’t really expect them to give up all of their powers now, would they?”
Some of the heads in the crowd nodded at this, and Sigmungt said his last condition, which he expect will incite a lot more response than nods.
“Lastly, I would like a similar set of royal prerogative powers similar to that of the Federated Kingdom. At the very least as a temporarily measure.”
Sigmungt was right, much murmuring went on, until one man finally represented his peers and gave him a reply. Before he could do so, however, Sigmungt cut him off.
“Do all of you have any idea what the state of the nation is, let alone the state of the world right now? Let me tell you. We have republicans plotting to overthrow me every day, confederalists demanding autonomy, and conservatives within my royal family who is addicted to the power they wield as members of the imperial family. I will still abide by your laws, but you must understand our common enemies from within cannot hinder me if I am to run this nation successfully. Time is of the essence, and until such time the political situation is at peace, I cannot wait for the Sejm to come to a decision over important and urgent matters.”
Sigmungt paused to let the seriousness of the matter reach the brains of these (many of them old and frightened now) men.
“Furthermore, have you any idea of what’s going on outside the borders? Junker movements in HRE. Hungarian Rebellion in Ottoman Europe. The world will soon plunge itself to war again. It is a time of emergency. You all must trust me in my ability to lead Poland to greatness and victory. The land needs to be united in these times. We cannot afford to appear divided to our enemies. I will still abide by your laws as much as possible; we are not making you puppets like the HRE’s parliament. Again, I ask for this as a temporarily measure only. 20 years. No, even 10 years should be enough. After that, we can review the situation. If it’s no longer necessary at that time, I will abolish that power. You have my word on that.”
A long silence ensued, until the same liberalist he interrupted spoke again.
“Your majesty... we... believe in your ability whole heartedly. We understand now that you ask for those conditions for a reason, instead of out of emotions (greed). However, we cannot a give you a clear answer yet, for we do not represent the entire party.” The man gave Sigmungt a helpless look.
“Of course. I did not expect you to accept my proposal right away. You will be free to go in the morning, when you will have awakened from staying over the night at Boleslav’s banquet. You are free to discuss this with the rest of your party, and hopefully we will reach an agreement.” Sigmungt knew the night’s meeting was over now. The liberalists need time to absorb this information, and he was drained himself. Motioning for the guards to escort the scholars, who by now is talking amongst themselves even more intensely than before, he addressed them one last time.
“Poland was once famous as the land of golden liberty, and I hope we can work together to make Poland worthy of that title once again.”
EDIT: Orders sent.