The Crown of St Stephen - real-time war, politics & diplomacy in a Magyar Empire that diverged 1080

The following is drawn from a document I put out to friends, a few of whom are starting to think about ideas.

The Project

The Crown of St Stephen is a collaborative writing project, working at multiple levels, in which an alternative history exists that began to diverge from our Original Timeline (OT) in the late 11th century. In the current day, there is an elective monarchy which governs most of eastern Europe, much of central Europe, and also the Levant and some of the Middle East. The writing will develop much of the backstory, but also develop “real time” contemporary issues and events for late 2016 and beyond. Its focus will be political (with both internal and external developments, with contemporary events described as news stories, website articles and even tweets.

Contributors will be able to shape events, both past and present, within certain guidelines and rules. Principally, we want to avoid two tendencies, the first of which is ‘my guy is the best’, in which an invented character, country or situation is advanced by a writer in implausible ways as some kind of wish fulfilment; the second of which is contradiction, in which an ill-researched addition is made to the story which overtly (and not just as a point of view) contradicts previous writings. The Moderator(s) will look to assist in this, but responsibility for ‘policing’ known facts about places, people and events will often rest with the individual who created them. Those individuals will be encouraged to keep their own databases (sharing them with the group), and to offer corrections to ‘errors’ of continuity and fact, which the erroneous writer should then correct.

Though a contemporary world which we broadly recognise exists (ie, there is a United States of America, there was a World War (or two…), especially in terms of technological and societal advances, the area covered by the fictional empire will be dramatically different politically, religiously and ethnically, and this will be the focus of the writing. While some authors may wish to develop separate strands (such as a history of American Presidential elections), these should be seen as side-shows, and not distract from or diminish the main thread.

Finally, over-arching this design, is the idea that this whole thing is a (unfeasibly popular) TV show, a kind of West Wing Game Of Thrones show which documents and dramatises the events revealed in the news articles and reports from the BBC. Each week, a ‘director’ will produce the synopsis of that week’s episode (and not a full script, you’ll be glad to hear) which shows which cast members appear, and that the A- B- and C-Plots are, etc.
 
The Political overview

The Imperium of St Stephen, also known as The Empire, the Magyar, Byzantine or Eastern Empire, is a political construct forged by the expansion of the Kingdom of Hungary in four phases - the initial consolidation of a Greater Hungarian homeland in the 11-12th centuries, the usurpation of the Byzantine Empire before the fifteenth century, the occupation of the Holy Lands, and a current struggle in central Europe.

The Empire is a complex instrument (Byzantine, one might say), but doesn’t have the kind of vast cast of elected/appointed officials in an OT democracy, at least not at the very top, because it is imperial/monarchical.

Because the Empire was created by conquest and the personal fiats of past Hungarian kings, there is no constitution per se, at least not anything that might be likened to the American RT version. There are ‘conventions’ and understandings, though, which are virtually impossible to bypass.

First is that, on the death of a previous Emperor, the new Emperor is Acclaimed. Just who does the acclaiming is one of the nebulous areas an unwritten constitution perilously leaves open, but the idea is that the senior figures in the Empire agree on who is the new Emperor, and he or she serves for life, or until voluntary retirement.

In practice, this has been circumvented by the ‘old’ Emperor creating an agreed successor before his/her death, naming a member of the Royal Family as King of Hungary (of which more shortly). It has been a while since a new Emperor was not the current King of Hungary, and one of the first priorities for a new Emperor is to appoint a new King of Hungary (the process for which follows). The current Emperor, Cziriak, achieved the Imperial Throne in this way, though his election as King of Hungary decades ago was controversial. The King of Hungary, therefore, is the political appointment that the major political fights are over.

Having the Emperor Acclaimed in this way has led to pretenders and multiple Emperors in the past, though this has been less likely in the modern era… It has even led to Emperors being deposed.

The Emperor governs through a ruling Council of the Elect, a small number of senior ‘cabinet’ positions, including a Chief of Staff/Chancellor, a Treasurer, a Magister of Justice and other posts of supra-national importance. These are the Emperor’s appointments, though he or she has to get them approved by the Imperial Senate. The Elect are the big players in our drama, and their appointment/elections are some of our biggest events. The government is based in Constantinople/Stamboul

The Imperial Senate is the unicameral legislative branch of the Empire, but it is largely unelected. The Hungarian royal family, some members of the Magyar noble class, senior clergy, provincial governors (who are elected but tend to be drawn from the noble class anyway) and some senior territorial nobles from non-Hungarian families make up the Senate.

The Empire’s remit is almost exclusively foreign affairs and defence. There is very little Empire-wide social or domestic policy.

Below the Empire, and potentially very important to our story, or aspects of it, are three supra-provincial bodies.

The most important is the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarians are the ‘root’ people of the Empire, whose astounding success from the late eleventh century onwards led to the current day. The Hungarian ruling family and noble class continue to make up the majority of the Imperial government.

The King of Hungary, also known as the King in the West, has firm control over domestic and Imperial policy in central Europe. He is the one, for example, leading the political and frequently military struggles in that region against competing states.

The King is elected, theoretically for life (but in practice until the King becomes Emperor), and confirmed by the Emperor. The electorate (the Diet) is a body of around 300 Hungarian nobles, prelates and other territorial leaders (such as the Mayor of Buda). Many of these are also Imperial Senators, of course, but focussed exclusively on Greater Hungary and the Military Frontier; most are hereditary, but many Free Cities elect Mayors, and the clergy elect Bishops (even if the Archbishops have to be approved by both Constantinople and the Pope – we’ll deal with the religious situation another time). Mechanisms exist to ‘depose’ a King, either through the agency of the Emperor changing his/her mind, or through the Diet. Details to follow.

The current King is Dénés Keblovski, a respected but not loved member of a cadet branch of the ruling family, and potentially as controversial a choice for Emperor as was (and is) Cziriak.

The second supra-territorial agency is the Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Kingdom of the Levant. This is a complex, messy, bloody area of the Empire, usually in a state of flux. It became part of the Empire following a series of Crusades, was held against repeated waves of eastern invaders (the Eastern Crisis, which almost brought down the fifteenth century Empire because of the enormous cost in lives and treasure involved), and has existed uncomfortably, a Catholic, European government sitting over peoples of Islamic, Jewish, Coptic and other faiths. Islam effectively got pushed east and south (a strong Persia is envisaged, for example).

At its head is the King of the Levant, who is also best described as the Dux Bellorum of the East - a military appointee. Technically an appointee of the Emperor, the King of the Levant is usually a senior figure in the army, and thus probably a member of the Hungarian ruling caste), but historically (and currently) has been something of an ‘outsider’, a ‘loose cannon’ whose de facto control of the area is simply recognised (however begrudgingly) by the Emperor.

Though powerful and quasi-independent in one sense, however, the King of the Levant is constrained by two major factors. One, he only exists at the pleasure of the army, and plots and coups are not unknown. Two, his governance (outside of the military sphere) is only effective when approved by the major religious leaders, and especially the four senior Christian Archbishops of Cairo, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Damascus.

The third supra-national agency, much weaker and non-influential than the other two, is that of the President of Italy. When northern Italy fell under the dominance of the Hungarians in the eighteenth century, its fractious and disputatious provinces continued to squabble, and so the position of President was created. He or she is elected every four years by a College of Sixteen, four Electors each from the provinces of Lombardy (Milan), Venice, Genoa and Florence, these worthy being chosen by various methods in the different provinces. The Presidency has, during periods of stability, rotated among the four provinces, but a mechanism exists whereby any tie in the election of a President is broken by the Pope, even though the Vatican/Papal States lie outside of the Empire. In practice, Italian politics is quarrelsome and troublesome, not least because there exist movements both for Italian and provincial independence, especially the powerful and violent Venetian Front.

Below these institutions are the Imperial Provinces, territorial entities of varying complexity. At the Imperial level, each of these has a Governor (some are called Voivodes, or Comtes), who contributes to the Imperial Senate, and a Lieutenant-Governor who stays at home to run the province. It is at this level that most domestic policy is run, state-by-state. Different provinces work in different ways, though the default is for a unicameral Parliament (they have varying names) drawn from a wide (or even universal) electorate; thus, the government of Greece, for example, has elections every four years, with universal suffrage for all citizens of the province, directly electing their Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, and a House of 100 members. Greece is not ‘controlled’ in any way by any of the supra-provincial entities, but directly by the Empire, and its Hungarian/Magyar upper/governing class has been heavily inter-mixed with the local Hellenic population.

States’ Rights (over domestic politics, in any case) is a huge thing.

The provinces can get into disputes between themselves, often over economic matters, matters of faith, or petty political disputes. These have even turned violent, requiring Imperial intervention. In Italy, this is almost a given.

Finally, a recent move (particularly in the last fifty years) has seen pressure for an Imperial second chamber, a House of Representatives in Constantinople, capable of representing ordinary people at an Imperial level. Revolutions around this concept were fought in 1830, 1848, 1905 and 1968, creeping forward the concept. ‘Elections’ have been held in some provinces, especially Greece, the Ukraine, Anatolia and Armenia, though these representatives have had nowhere to go.

Curiously, though, this has led to what can best be described as political parties, and most office holders will describe themselves as being aligned with one of the major political movements, such as the Imperial Democrats, the Social Reform Party, the Liberals, the Christian Republicans, or more territorial movements such as the League of the Levant. One should presume that words like Democrat and Republican have some ironic application here.

One last word about ruling classes, in respect particularly of nationalism. The big guns throughout the Empire are the Magyar/Hungarian noble class, though in many stable areas (like Greece), these have inter-married and mixed with local populations. It is illustrative, for example, that one of the minor branches of the royal family, the Fehévar clan, are core land-holders in Hungary; have territorial properties in Anatolia, Cyprus, Alexandria, have provided army commanders in the Levant, governors in six provinces over the last two hundred years or so, bishops in Wallachia, Rhodes and Cyprus, and so on. This kind of dynastic politics is big in the Empire.

Nationalism was in vogue in the nineteenth century, especially around the 1848 revolutions, but largely died out in the Empire in favour of other social movements. Most provinces have a thin skin of Magyar nobles above a broad ‘national’ population, but it tends to be that it is only in those provinces which allow for less democratic provincial government that what might be called a ‘nationalistic movement’ exists. Some Poles in Silesia, for example, are prone to advance nationalistic arguments about a return of that province to the Kingdom of Western Poland, though this is considered unlikely right now.
 
Getting started

The section above gives no more than a broad overview of how I see the shape of the thing at the start. I included a few examples of things, like the Province of Greece or the Fehévar clan, not to tie us down, but just to serve as examples. But most things are open. What are the exact boundaries of the Empire; who are its neighbours; what is the state of other parts of the world; what is the extent of the royal family; who governs here or there? I haven’t mentioned too much about religion, the military or the judiciary, but clearly there are going to be religious disputes and problems with appointments to vacant Archbishoprics; there are going to be diplomatic and military tensions; and there should be some kind of Supreme Court, perhaps, trying to hold this unwieldy structure together without a written constitution. We want the project fluid, because it will take us interesting places, but it mustn't be too fragmentary.

For a month or so, I envisage contributors populating this a bit with more background on people, institutions and history – we might adopt some common formats for info. We should, for example, create mechanics for out-of-character exchanges between contributors, especially around corrections and the floating of ideas. Undoubtedly, someone will want to play with maps, or design flags, or detail the last twenty-five years of the Imperial Champions League. We’ll need a repository for data, and a forum for exchange. Then we’ll start with the contemporary stuff, by which I mean stuff like:


January 1st 2017
VoxPopulus.com

Theo Barandes, Constantinople

Reports have been developing through the day of an incident last night outside of the Imperial Palace in which a New Years’ gathering turned into a violent dispute between supporters of King Dénés, King of Hungary and heir apparent to the Imperial throne, and adherents of the Priority West political movement, who have been growing increasingly restive in the last six months.

King Dénés, who is in the Imperial Capital for the New Years celebrations, along with his brother, Zsigmond Zavadsky, Governor of Transylvania, was not involved in the confrontation, which began when members of his entourage met with civic leaders and members of the Imperial Democrats for a late dinner at the Hall of Lesser Banquets. It is being said that following remarks at the dinner, and a scuffle with waiting staff, some junior members of the the Imperial Democrats were met outside the Hall by up to twenty or thirty men and women, shouting slogans associated with Priority West, which was followed by objects being thrown, and the injuring of two members of the Governor’s staff. The police were quickly involved, but there have been no reports of any arrests and no details of the status of any casualties.

Priority West have traditionally had little voice here in the capital, but have been increasingly outspoken in the Kingdom of Hungary over what they perceive as a lack of support for the war in the west, for which they have blamed the Emperor and King Dénés. Naturally, this has been connected to the long-lasting Usurpation Crisis from the 1990s and 2000s, and the rift in the Zavadsky family over Imperial rule and policy.

A spokesperson for the Imperial Chancellor, Ruben Tót, dismissed rumours of any serious repercussions from the incident. Ellie Mártos, who was until 2011 a communications advisor to Imperial Democrats leader Kriz Tobias, said: “The Provincial Election Year has barely begun, and already people are trying to suggest that this will be the most divisive series of elections of Emperor Cziriak’s reign. There are disputes over policy which will undoubtedly affect the outcome of many elections, not least in Hungary, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This was a drunken brawl outside a restaurant. It could have just as easily been between supporters of Galatasaray and Fenerbache. On which subject: Go Lions!”


So, in that I have named a few places in Constantinople, though only the Imperial Palace is likely to be important. I have introduced the King of Hungary’s brother and his place in the government. I’ve introduced Priority West, the 1990s Usurpation Crisis and what that means for the (split) Zavadksy clan. These are all important items, and I would have volunteered to be the gate-keeper on those items (though anyone else could add stuff, I would just be there to ensure consistency). I also added some major and minor characters. Obviously, we’d need to be consistent about the Imperial Chancellor, but it’s not as important to tack every minor player, such as his spokesperson. If in a month someone says Tót’s spokesperson’s name is Jonas of Zagbreb, that’s fine - maybe there is more than one, maybe Ellie got a better job. We don’t need to keep track of every last character in the universe we create. In fact: we shouldn't make the thing unwieldy by producing too many.

Tone will always be important. VoxPopulous comes across as a very staid news organisation for starters. The Imperial Enquirer might have done this in a more sensational way…

Clearly, though, what matters is that I don’t just post this kind of thing without a plan. This particular incident might fizzle and go nowhere - that happens. But there is something going on, and I need to be prepared to flesh out this whole Usurpation Crisis in supporting documentation soon.

Including this incident, if I am directing that week’s episode, maybe I need say no more than this:
 
The Crown Of St Stephen
Season 1, Episode 1


Directed by Paul Cockburn

Shown January 8th 2017

Summary

It’s New Year, 2017, in the Imperial Capital, and all around the government there is a celebratory mood. Emperor Cziriak welcomes members of his wider family to a huge ball, and discusses plans for the year ahead with his chosen heir, Dénés Zavadsky, King of Hungary, and other senior figures. In particular, he wants to strengthen plans for both the Imperial and Hungarian succession. A provincial election year is looming.

The Imperial Treasurer is preparing for budget discussions with the Imperial Senate, but an inopportune remark leads to a falling out with a senior Senator.
T
News comes that the much beloved Archbishop of Cairo has died. Rumours about the cause are rife, but the Imperial Chancellor is more concerned with the succession, and a looming fight with the King of the Levant.


Depending on what happens later, the events of the brawl might feature in the S01E02 summary as "Following the brawl outside The Hall Of Lesser Banquets, Zgismond Zavadsky is due to meet with the Emperor, but becomes distracted by the daughter of a visiting ambassador..."
 
The B- and C- plots in that S01E01 summary were presumably given to me by other contributors (they would have added or used actual names too…). I’m guessing there were out-of-character discussions where Contributor C said she wanted to do something to kick off trouble in the Levant, with religious overtones, and she feeds me the outline of the plan so I can add the C-plot.

In other words, there would be a schedule of ‘episodes’, and I clearly put myself down for S01E01, which we’ll say airs on Sunday January 8th. So, I’ll post the episode synopsis thing to an agreed format on January 8th, including items sent to me by others in the week before. If ‘John’ has agreed to do S01E02, and I’m going to continue developments with the Usurpation Crisis thing, as well as putting up stories Jan 9th-15th, I’ll also make sure John has an idea of what I am doing (and if others contribute on this subject, I’ll include their ideas), so he can do the Episode 2 synopsis (which may or may not feature my plot thread – John gets to choose what the main plotlines are for his episode).

This side of things is going to be messy at first, but as we get into a groove it will be easier. In the age of internet TV (maybe this is on Netflix), the length and timing of seasons is malleable.

Casting can be a fun addition to this. Just who plays the Emperor? A cast list will be an essential(?) part of the episode synopsis.
 
Here’s another new item, to give a flavour of the kind of political election gossip to be played out at a Governor level in 2017.


January 2nd 2017
InsiderTalk.com

Sources within the Royal Palace in Budapest have confirmed what has long been suspected, in that Louisa Sohnker, Governor of Bohemia, will not seek re-election as Governor the key frontier province in November. Though this has been an open secret for some time, Lady Louisa has been evading questions on this matter since the middle of last year, only finally yielding to the inevitable now as her health fails.

The word from Prague is that Samuel Kovacs (SR), the Lieutenant-Governor, will not seek to replace her, and will instead look to join the ticket of another candidate, in order to stay in his current role.

So, where does that leave us in terms of early candidates to replace the Governor? Although none of the main political groupings in Prague have yet to make any public statements, its clear that most will want to advance a candidate acceptable to the Czechs, who will be able to press for greater security resources, and who has a good relationship with the King of Hungary.

Shake that all up, and speculation is bound to suggest that the Liberal/Social Reform coalition which holds the majority in the Bohemian House are unlikely to be able to field a candidate who meets all those criteria. Recent polling also suggests that the Social Reform party are likely to lose seats, making it possible that the House will swing back to the Christian Republicans (with Liberal or ID help) after just four years.

Their likely front-runner, Pieter Sobotka, doesn’t have close ties to the Royal Family, but watch for Stefan Bathory, who certainly does, and who has a distinguished military career behind him. Bathory may look to replace Sobotka in the CR primaries. The Bohemian Sonata party, which has close ties to the Priority West movement, will likely put forward Ilona Ottó, who has impeccable royal connections, though her political stance will hardly endear her to power brokers in Budapest, and whose group trails in an ignominious fifth place.

The surprise figure may well be Cristof Zavadsky, the third cousin to King Dénés, and a firm Imperial Democrat. Though ID are still establishing themselves in Bohemia, Cristof is a well-known figure, whose mother, Philippa, is a renowned member of the old Bohemian nobility. We’re hearing that private polling by ID gives their man as high as 30% of the vote, which seems at odds with the most recent public poll, by the leftist media outlet Pravó, which gives ID only 17.6% as a party. This may be because expectations are running high that he will work with Samuel Kovacs on a joint ticket, even though the two have clashed several times on policy in the House. Cristof has suggested that an ID/SR joint ticket may be the only option to stop CR easily recovering the majority they surprisingly relinquished last time out.

Still, in a year in which most of the western provinces are expected to have tight, but transformative races, surprises are bound to come thick and fast. If the announcement of Louisa Sohnker’s retirement does indeed come through in the next few days, expect a slew of announcements by all the main political groupings.

That Pravó poll.
Social Reform 20% (predicting 12 seats, down 8% on 2012, down 3% on last month)
Imperial Democrat 18% (15 seats, down 1%, unchanged)
Liberal 22% (20 seats, down 2%, unchanged)
Christian Republic 36% (51 seats, up 11%, up 4%)
Bohemian Sonata 4% (2 seats, unchanged, down 1%)
 
Wait a second, what was the demographics of this empire at this moment? You know, languages, religion and other related stuff.
I asked this question because the Imperium of St. Stephen encompassed both sides of the Jireček line (and beyond).
 
Wait a second, what was the demographics of this empire at this moment? You know, languages, religion and other related stuff.
I asked this question because the Imperium of St. Stephen encompassed both sides of the Jireček line (and beyond).
Lots to be decided, Ramones. I'm suggesting the Empire total is about 500,000,000... but the Magyar will be a very small minority in most areas. A lot of the detail will follow what we know now, so there will be Greeks speaking Greek, etc. Religion will probably be the biggest change; after all, this scheme does throw a big wedge of Catholicism into the Balkans and Middle East.

The Jireček Line isn't really affected: the divergence from the Original Timeline happens well after antiquity. But now there is a heavy Magyar presence overlaying everything else in the Balkans, much so than the OT, and growing after 1100 or so.
 
The anticipated launch of this thing is January 1st 2017, but obviously we'll be using the time in between to fill in the back-story. This will flesh out some of the detail we require.

Such as:


March 3rd 1989
Jerusalem

Jerusalem Post

On just the first day of his trip to the Levant, Emperor Cziriak has caused some disturbance in Jerusalem and the wider region for remarks made during a reception dinner at the home of the King of the Levant, Laborc III.

Although the dinner was a private affair, there has been widespread reporting of the remarks, which came in response to ongoing discussions of greater liberties for Judea and other provinces of the Levant. The Emperor is quoted as saying: "Jerusalem is a jewel of the Empire, a cosmopolitan, free city, peaceful, prosperous. While I am always open to discussions on refining relations between constituent authorities within the Empire and the Imperium, I must point out that nothing will ever come from demands that speak in terms of independence or sovereignty. Nothing good will come from the territorial dominance of Judea by any one nation, which would surely be the outcome of such a change in status."

Leaders of the Semetic Council, including the Chief Rabbi, Hershel Ibramov, were quick to point out the incongruous nature of those remarks. "Jerusalem has been the subject of one nation for hundreds of years - that nation is the Magyar nation. Whatever point the Emperor felt he had to make, he failed to remember that his own people led Crusades in this region that conquered Egypt and the Levant, and that the quasi-independence of the so-called Kingdom of the Levant is characterised best as no more than a military occupation by Magyar forces."

Other members of the Semetic Council, including several prominent Imams on there Council, provided more nuanced comments on the Emperor's pronouncement, but the discussion has brought to light once more the unsettled and disputatious nature of politics in this region, and the supposedly temporary arrangements for rule in provinces like Judea that have gone on for over 500 years.

Early this morning, the Emperor's spokesman, Miklós Horthy made it clear that the Emperor was referencing the lengthy wars on the eastern frontier when he spoke about the dominance of one nation. "The Empire has always placed great emphasis on the security of this region, and thousands of Magyars have died in the defence of the Levant from invaders from the East." However, it is felt unlikely that the Emperor's remarks were about the invasions of the Huns or Timurids, or even the more recent struggles with Armenian and other Caucasian peoples. The Arabic language newspaper Al Qud has called the remarks "unhelpful", while the Persian ambassador to the King of the Levant, Darius Ismail, has characterised the clarifying statement as "insulting".
 
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