Dark Spaces in Low Places (Roskana)

[VoxApocrypha]

Obsillia 30th, 1932 

A message, written in ink and closed with a wax seal with the symbol of the Cult of Mars, had been mailed out to the Office of the Vice President, marked urgent. 
The contents, when it did get to Runan finally, would be asking for the man to come to the Cult of Mars enclave in the center of Auran, for a discussion regarding both the political and economic cooperation of the Cult with the transformation of the Roskanan economy, and as well - future political endeavors, to which were emphasized as being of particualr concern. The message also stipulated "The Sooner the Better". 

[Greywall]

Runan began walking to the meeting place in a hurried pace while leveling a pure nevarran cigar in his mouth to light. “Unbelievable, on my day off.”

He wore a dark deep red two piece suit, emerald green tie, egg white dress shirt, a black fedora and top of the line Amalian shoes. As he entered the meeting area he took long a puff of his cigar, “okay let’s see what the robe wearers want.”

[VoxApocrypha]

Sitting at the table in the meeting room would be Cordelia, black cigarette in her mouth as she stared off at the wall. The door opening and Runan's entry would make her look over towards him, and after a moment, she takes the cigarette from her lips and turns to look at him. "Welcome, Vice President." She'd say. "Glad you could come."
She would say as she pressed a button on her desk, and a side door opened.
A couple others stepped inside after.

"Excuse me. But this is Apollo Adashenko. I'm sure he's probably unknown but he's the brother of the war hero Adrian Adashenko."
She'd say. "And next to him is Dejanus Karshkan."
Dejanus stepped out as well, adjusting his tie as he came over and took a seat. He wore a black army styled suit with a furred cape, and Apollo a more typical pair of black pants and formal shirt.

"Take a seat. We've got a fair bit to talk about." She said, as they all sat down at the table, with a seat left open for him.

[Greywall]

Runan took his seat, removing his fedora and placing it at the nearby table. He nodded respectfully to Apollo and Dejanus, he knew Adrian Adashenko but never heard of Apollo.

"Well let's hear it, what going on?"

[VoxApocrypha]

Dejanus nodded back, and Apollo would do the same as well as he sat down.

"..This is going to be a probably controversial statement, and I guess that perhaps, it wouldn't surprise you." She'd say. "But Amelia isn't a good leader. Not of a country, at least." She said. Dejanus looked to be offended by the statement but his silence was a rather plain indicator to which side he lay, at least for the time. The table had people who agreed with such a thought.

"We're looking to perhaps have you try to convince her not to run for re-election." Cordelia said.

[Greywall]

Runan took a long drag off his cigar, his eyes peered as if trying to determine what game Cordelia was playing, "That a damn bold statement. Amelia is our president, a bastion of this Republic. She's struggled sure, but who would take her place?"

[VoxApocrypha]

"Bold statement's are the best aren't they?" Cordelia replied, as she brought her cigarette back up to her lips. She'd settle it between them and take a slow drag on it, before plowing the smoke out through her nostrils, and setting the cigarette back into a ashtray.

"You were probably no older than a child when the Tsar that fucked everything took power." She would say. "And you were likely only about the age of my youngest of aides when Amelia led the overthrow and sent them all off on a unofficial exile to Razgrina." She leaned forwards, resting a hand on the table. "The Tsar before that one, the one who ruined decades of progress and fucked the First Republic, before the Post-overthrow one we are now in, was a fluke in history. In fact this paradigm could be described as Republic-Centric, rather than the ones before." She'd say. "I remember the Tsar's of before. While it was never the best system, it is the one that Roskanans are most suited for, culturally, societally, mentally."

She said. "What I am suggesting plainly, is that she doesn't run for election again, and instead, we elect a new Tsar. Or at least, the people I mean." She'd say, as she gestured to the window looking over the city. "Those backroads, Runan, they're full of people who want to return to the old days, not because they want to be led by a dictator, but because there are a lot of Festria, Kithium and others who recall the Tsar before the last, and remember experiencing prosperity their children now can only dream of. When Roskana was the second most powerful nation on Reseria." She'd say.

"Adrian Adashenko believes it even." They'd say. "Who could take her place, I believe at best perhaps it could be Apollo here, for all that wasted political training and schooling he got in Ald, or Adrian, his brother, who put it to better use but isn't exactly a willing soldier these days." She'd say.

[Greywall]

Runan smote his cigar out in frustration, "I fought in the revolution, do you know how many men and women died to overthrow the Tsar? What you are suggesting I cannot support, at all, this Republic was founded to progress us forward from the past and you want us to regress. Even if we flaunt an election it would be only superficial, Roskana was the second most powerful nation in Reseria because it occupied Marrlan and Maiz as well in the Tsardom. All this would do is spit on the graves of those who died to get us to this point. The Revolution, the border war, the brother war, all those deaths only to reinstate the old ways."

Runan couldn't hold his anger, he still clearly remembered being a young man all those years ago fighting in the brutal urban hell that was the revolution. The brutal battle of Mars Hill, Auran's near never ending firefights, the treacherous mountain campaign. It all flooded his memory, but mostly, what was brought back were all the deaths of his comrades. Friends he'd make only to see their lifeless body laying their eyes staring blankly into the sky as their life drained from within from a Tsarist bullet.

"Do all of you wish to undo the bloodwork our brothers have done? The Republic turned back into a Tsardom, I cannot support it."

[VoxApocrypha]

Cordelia shrugged her shoulders and leaned back again, while Apollo would look off to the side.

"Cordelia's suggestion is the more extreme of the three we have here." They'd say as they crossed their legs under the table, clearly uncomfortable. "..As well she's more well-traveled but largely visits Kithium communities, and I don't necessarily believe that most of rural and backroad Roskana would want to return to the Tsardom. But I do agree that the people are starting to feel like they're waiting for growth that should have came decades ago."

Dejanus himself looked off to the window while Apollo spoke, Cordelia, took another cigarette out of the carton on her desk and lit it while Apollo looked at Runan.

"On my way from the port, to.. well, here, I got to look at a lot of those backstreets, talk to some people, and to grab a newspaper. Some people do want to go back or at the least to bring back a lot of that old-world certainty they did have before everything changed. I'm not saying they're right. But to some degree, their statements do warrant something of a closer examination. The only industries that have truly grown in the past twenty years up until recently have been arms manufacturing and the military-industrial complex itself. Everything else has lagged behind. And as it stands there are already two political parties in Roskana that actively advocate for something like a Constitutional Monarchy." He'd say. "..Frighteningly, one of which is actually growing." He said as he looked at the wall.

Dejanus nodded.
"..Me and Apollo do not want to see the end of Democracy, nor the Republic. But we all collectively agree on what I'm about to say." He'd state quietly, in a cold voice. "Amelia, as good a leader as she is, isn't dynamic enough to affect the kind of economic change our nation has been in need of for some time. As well, however, I want Amelia to step down, because her health is declining after she took a bullet through the stomach." He'd say. "Arguably I'm not either, which is why I'm going to step down from my Administrator position in Arema and retire from politics altogether in the coming few months."

"Every election voter participation falls, and parties beyond the New Republic party gain more and more of the vote. We've made a lot of promises to industrialize the nation and to return a great deal of the industries we lost after the Overthrow and our political victories aren't manifesting into real practical change, so people want something different that they feel, or at least that they've been told, will give them that kind of change. Personally I just feel it's a lack of will on the part of Investors and Entrepreneurs." Dejanus said. "Of which you, seem to have managed to stoke." He looked at Runan, and then after a second, he gestures to him. "So why don't you run?"

[Greywall]

Runan coughed on his cigar and took a moment for him to regain composure, "Me?! I'm not exactly a popular figure in the Diamid, and I don't even think the Rosark people know I exist. Plus, I'm not exactly keen on keeping Kosher ties with the Kraut eaters."

[VoxApocrypha]

"There are no Kosher ties as it is. Our economy could easily become larger than Grinvel's, and its in the process of doing so. What we need is someone who's going to push that change forward. Problem is, do we want it to be a Republican, or a Ultranationalist, because the Ultra-nat platform is gaining a lot of traction, and despite what I thought at first it's more progressive than I had thought."

[Greywall]

Runan shook his head, "The Ultranationalist are a concern, hell what they're discussing is a total revamp of the Roskanan nation, another revamp. At least with the Republicans in charge we can maintain the control we have to better install economic leverage. And Grinvel has Galra, I don't know about you but that's a pretty goddamn terrifying thing to think about every night. That gang of lunatics, is eventually going to do something."

[VoxApocrypha]

"There is a lot of things that the gang of Lunatics is doing that worries me. And that no one else is as alarmed as we are besides the UKUG worries me more. With the death of the empress in Kumosenkan I can only imagine that things will continue to get worse." Dejanus said, with Apollo nodding, as would Cordelia. 

 Cordelia would clear her throat.
"Believe me I know I'm a relic but I've always stood for Roskanan values above all else, and the survival of Roskana as a concept is perpetually more concerning than anything else." She'd say. "But right now, Grinvel isn't that big of a worry. What is a worry is the political future of the nation. We're racing towards war but we need to be at the least able to produce our own goods before then." She'd say. "Which is why I'm putting a lot of money behind funding start ups that can fuck the Grinvelian Consumer Goods market as much as possible... thing is so are the Ultranationalists." 
She would look at Dejanus. 

 Dejanus nods. 
"..The Ultranationalists are throwing their weight into the economci race too. There's also.. the paramiltiary branch, they've established." They'd say. "The new Republic Party had one at one point but it wasn't around longer than the overthrow. The Ultranationalist paramilitary force, it's.. got all the hallmarks of what we had. And from what I heard, that's because General Askandar, that Barraban bastard who organized the Auran branch in the overthrow, he's behind it." He says. "And that worries me." 

 "Someone's probably gotta figure out what their angle is. They'll protect Roskana from foreign enemies but I imagine that it's there as more than just a weapon against Grinvel. There's no law against militias of such a nature but there's never been extensive need for it." Apollo said. 

[Greywall]

Runan shook his head, "Then we need to sit with the ultra nationalist and see what they can bring. I'm not entirely sure what direction Roskana is even left with after hearing all of this."

[VoxApocrypha]

"The Ultranationalists aren't the only direction. But they're really quickly becoming the most appealing."
Apollo said. "Unfortunately." They'd look up at the ceiling.

Cordelia would nod.
"..I can probably get him to come here. I don't know if David Kotch would say yes, but I think he very well might. Lets his side be heard and all." She says.