Die Wende

[Kaiser Martens]

OOC: Oh well, I don't feel like making things that elaborate >_<

IC:

The trial begins. They're all in a fine, old room with much wood in it, and as expected all are seen in suits. The judges - old and experienced - sit at their small thrones, and then after each is introduced by name, The accuser begins with the first charge.

"State treason. This happened when Mr. Tanzband began to lose faith, like many other individuals, in Nordic Socialism. When Kaiserin Magnhild had to step down from her position for some time in order to take care of Dierik, this left Visari with nearly full power. It was during this time that the end of Nordland came about, due to his unchecked expansionism. Tanzband did not like this, so instead of working together with the state to try to correct its problems, it worked against it. We have several documents showing Tanzband's disagreements. These lead to other charges, Conspiracy. He contacted Tintagyl and another unconfirmed Foreigner before the war began, where he was asked to secede from Nordland. Then he asked Zisa to secede from Nordland as well. At no point were Kaiserin or Visari notified."

"Once that the war started, his plan was set in action as he bailed out quickly, which caused Visari to lose his mind and precipitate Nuclear Warfare. Disregarding Zisa's best advice, he split from Nordland and broke it all apart, while agreeing secretly with the enemy to obtain peace, leaving all other Sucessor states in ruin. This also constitutes Separatism. He used the chance to grab Western Germany and Eastern Little Germany together with Western Prussia."

"This had more consequences. This created Bavaria, the state which in form of its successors would later invade Germany and - today - Rheinmark. And additionally he created Lübeck and Netherlands by doing this, being responsible for the warfare there indirectly. Furthermore, he abandoned everyone in the Lübeck territory, as there even Nordlandic is banned, and people were made to forcibly learn Danish."

"The greatest of the crimes however was the precipitation of the Civil War in Nordheim due to these actions. Nordheim was forced to be democratic, against the will of the people. This created a monstruous Democratic Fundamentalist Government, which the people had to forcibly destroy without help. Murder keeps repeating itself."

"He also used State Funds to have an affair with Tintagyl, who turned out to have always been, as explained above, an operative harlot for the destruction of Nordland and its culture. The deadliest "love" affair in history. And he showed no wisdom, allowing himself to be tricked and spending great amounts of cash."

"The addition of the above charges represents Odal Treason. A treason so great on so many levels that has made Tanzband become the worst single-handed threat to Nordlandic Ethnicity, Land and Culture since Christianism, The World Wars and Visari himself."

"We have provided the Judge with an amount of documents to prove our case, which shall be released to public domain as per the standard protocols. If there are no questions, I will allow Mr. Tanzband to defend himself."

It had started. By then, the ban on Nordic Socialism had been enacted. This did not go well, for although the majority of the Germans disliked it, they disliked the idea worse that something should be outright banned, thinking this to be a Western action. They also were aware that trying to ban it would boost its popularity, which is something that they did not want to see happen.

The situation in Rheinmark only made tensions rise, as the Army was placed in heightened alert.

[Uberstein]

"The destruction of a government by it's own people is in of itself a democratic movement, so I find it rather ironic that the Germans are complaining about Democracy when it is their people's actions that have led to the current government." -President Uberstein

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: You'll have to let us know when to start asking questions, of course. Until then, I don;t really think there's much I can say IC-wise.

[Kaiser Martens]

OOC: Anyone willing to be a judge can throw in any questions that they want, in that case. If noone does so in some hours, i'll post Tanzband's defense.

IC: "For us it is completely different. The People rose against democracy, so this cannot be thought of as a democratic movement, but a meritocratic movement as people seeked to restore the previous non-democratic government or something which functioned in the same manner. However, we may also argue that the Democracy which they destroyed was not Democratic at all, and then people forcibly and democratically decided to end said democracy. But then it would mean that ironically we're still democratic in a way, which is an idea which would be rejected by most of our citizens. It's just a different point of view, but in the end what you say is correct, we merely express it differently. What matters is the freedom of the people, regardless of the name of the government doctrine." - To Überstein.

[Subtleknifewielder]

"Can it be proven that the defendant deliberately contacted outside parties with the express purpose of committing treason? I don't see any records specifically pointing to such."

OOC: One of the judges, there.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Subtleknifewielder

[Sargun II]

Judge Abendroth frowned and looked at papers regarding several of the charges. He was particularly interested, however, in how he managed to cover up using state funds and spend so much time away from office without anybody noticing until after it was over. "Mr. Tanzband, how do you explain the gaps in your occupancy of office during the times of alleged affairs with the Harlot of Finland?"

//OOC: not sure if this is the right line of questioning, just sort of playing along

[Kaiser Martens]

"Can it be proven that the defendant deliberately contacted outside parties with the express purpose of committing treason? I don't see any records specifically pointing to such."

"They show that the parties contacted him, and he was open to each of their ideas. He did not seek them, they seeked him, but he agreed, and in this agreement lies in my eyes the treason."

Tanzband will reply when it's his turn, for the time being, the Accuser had spoken. Still, any questions directed to him would not be forgotten.

OOC: You're doing well, don't worry.

[Sargun II]

"Do these records show exactly from what accounts state funds were used to participate in this alleged affair? I'm very interested in how exactly you managed to track down the allegedly stolen funds and why it took so long to do it."

//OOC: I'm not sure how your government's economic system works so if I'm really wrong here...

[Kaiser Martens]

OOC: It's fine, I'll just roll with whatever. All I care is for the RP to be good.

IC: "It did not take long, the records have always been kept. What is shown is that certain balances are not in order, and in every section in which a balance is not in order, we find that Tanzband had something to do with their administration. Other records show other disbalances which have otherwise been confirmed as part of secret projects, but Tanzband's disbalances are not related to any projects, and due to their timeframe we matched them with the Tintagyl Affair. There's also records of him modifying his schedules to make things "work"...he did not care for his job."

[Bundeskanzler]

One of the judges says the following.

"State Fundwasting - From what we know, Tanzband used only personal funds to pay for the affair. Are you sure that such imbalances were due to his activites?

Odal Treason - I shall have to disagree with this. It is from the efforts of Tanzband that Nordic Socialism has not overrun all of Europe, his efforts that the Reich did not become completely destroyed by the Tintagyl coalition, and as seen in White Ruthenia, he had put a lot of effort to keep the Nordic roots alive.

Please explain the above."

[Sargun II]

"Can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tanzband was actually with the Harlot? I see coincidental evidence in here regarding funds and timelines, yes, but it all comes together with proof that he was in a physical place with her during the schedule modifications. Exactly where did the state funds come from?" The Judge was simply trying to close all other possibilities.

[Kaiser Martens]

"The reports of them being together come from a former Bodyguard of his. This also helps further the evidence of fundwasting. You'll find a report attached. As for the Odal Treason, I believe that your words would be correct if it were not for the rest of the charges, unless we were to say that he has done extreme bad while trying to do good, which in itself is a different yet relevant crime."

[Bundeskanzler]

As for the Odal Treason, I believe that your words would be correct if it were not for the rest of the charges, unless we were to say that he has done extreme bad while trying to do good, which in itself is a different yet relevant crime."

"I am still not convinced as to how the most of the other charges would apply if we say that the Odal Treason is not a concrete charge.

We all know that the Greater Nordic Reich was one of the worst states with history, with Visari corrupting what a true Nordic Volk should be. If we consider the Reich as an illegal entity, going against the essense of true NOrdism, how is it treason to not work with the state and conducting conspiracy to destroy the one state that would have brought greater destruction to Nordland than all of the Third Reich's abuses.

For now, I decline to agree with the state-related charges, and believe that Tanzband has worked for the benefit of Nordland. Only State Fundwasting seems to be the crime that he has committed."

OOC: Talk about having to read tons of pages just to prepare for this trial.

[Kaiser Martens]

"They apply independently. In any case, if not Odal Treason it'd still count as simple incompetence, which in his case is also a crime due to its widespread effects. We cannot afford to destroy our own country every time we get a madman ruler, he'd instead should have attempted to kill Visari himself - THAT would have been a good course of action."

[Bundeskanzler]

"State treason. This happened when Mr. Tanzband began to lose faith, like many other individuals, in Nordic Socialism. When Kaiserin Magnhild had to step down from her position for some time in order to take care of Dierik, this left Visari with nearly full power. It was during this time that the end of Nordland came about, due to his unchecked expansionism. Tanzband did not like this, so instead of working together with the state to try to correct its problems, it worked against it. We have several documents showing Tanzband's disagreements. These lead to other charges, Conspiracy. He contacted Tintagyl and another unconfirmed Foreigner before the war began, where he was asked to secede from Nordland. Then he asked Zisa to secede from Nordland as well. At no point were Kaiserin or Visari notified."

From my understanding, the GNR was made up of separate states, which had their own military and police force. How do you expect to kill off Visari in such a political and military situation, besides attempting a rebellion against all the other states?

"…. he split from Nordland and broke it all apart, while agreeing secretly with the enemy to obtain peace, leaving all other Sucessor states in ruin. This also constitutes Separatism. He used the chance to grab Western Germany and Eastern Little Germany together with Western Prussia."

Which was part of Visari’s personal empire. If the war had just went on, there was a high possibility the heart of the Fatherland would have been completely cut off.

"This had more consequences. This created Bavaria, the state which in form of its successors would later invade Germany and - today - Rheinmark. And additionally he created Lübeck and Netherlands by doing this, being responsible for the warfare there indirectly. Furthermore, he abandoned everyone in the Lübeck territory, as there even Nordlandic is banned, and people were made to forcibly learn Danish."

I have no comment on this for now.

"The greatest of the crimes however was the precipitation of the Civil War in Nordheim due to these actions. Nordheim was forced to be democratic, against the will of the people. This created a monstruous Democratic Fundamentalist Government, which the people had to forcibly destroy without help. Murder keeps repeating itself."

And what would have happened if GNR was allowed to be completely overrun by the opposition? There would have been no Nordheim, meaning no Deutschland.

[Kaiser Martens]

From my understanding, the GNR was made up of separate states, which had their own military and police force. How do you expect to kill off Visari in such a political and military situation, besides attempting a rebellion against all the other states?

"Plenty of opportunities: Meetings."

Which was part of Visari’s personal empire. If the war had just went on, there was a high possibility the heart of the Fatherland would have been completely cut off.

"Maybe, but it is dishonorable to act as he did."

And what would have happened if GNR was allowed to be completely overrun by the opposition? There would have been no Nordheim, meaning no Deutschland.

"Overrunning it? It'd have taken years of struggle. Some sort of peace could have been achieved...if Visari was gone."

[Kaiser Martens]

The Defense:

Tanzband stands up very slowly and begins,

"And you all forget that, in this war, and during the events leading up to it, the enemies were in fact for the most part initiating the campaign in order to destroy not only Nordlandic Ethnicity, Culture and Language but also the German proper parts of it. This happened because, due to the influences of Nordic Socialism and Visari, people started to think that German Nationalism, Nordland and nearly everything related, including Religion, was simple an accessory to this new order as opposed to a proper social situation in itself."

"We can see examples of this situation on the HRE Kaiser's handwritten letter he sent us when declaring war, which I have brought here for exhibition, showing that he wanted us to give up our religion. We can also see that in Lübeck, in where all things Nordlandic have been forcibly banned, and people have been forced to learn Danish, a language which had been dead for a long time. We can see such signs in every state surrounding us."

"Indeed, if I had not acted as I did, our way of life would have been completely wiped out. We'd be split among the Russians, among the EU - the Neo NordSocs that is, the HRE or Communists, as they style themselves nowadays, and all others. There would be no Pagan Land, there would be no Martencism, and Nordlandic People would be forced to be no more. Want more signs of this? Look to France reaching for Elsass-Lothringen again."

"I did what I did because otherwise I anticipated the future, a future of genocide. We also saw part of this in the Nordheim Civil War after the Finnish blockades. Simply put, we are one of the most hated nation and peoples on the planet. I did not betray us, I saved us from utter destruction. It is a wonder that we still exist, but only thanks to my quick actions!"

"I know that the Citizens will support me. I know that Kaiserin Magnhild, the true leader of Nordland, did. I have here a letter from her in which she ordered me to act desperately to save Nordland and to crush the Visarists. I could not kill Visari because he beat me to it. He killed himself."

"Finally, if I spent some money with the one that tricked me, then so be it. I've donated from my personal wealth to Nordland and Germany and Prussia - and Poland - throughout all my life. Reach the records and see how I've donated and then compare it to what I spent."

"I am tired of fighting for Nordland and Germany. Our enemies hate us, friends we have no true ones since Rheinmark fell to the Communists other than different nations trying to use us to further their own goals, and now I have to fight against my own countrymen once more. I do not care if I am found guilty or not anymore. I did what I had to do for my People. I'll do it again anytime if I can and needed - Odin Forbid. And that's all I have to say about that. If you should have questions, fire away."

[Bundeskanzler]

"Plenty of opportunities: Meetings."

"Overrunning it? It'd have taken years of struggle. Some sort of peace could have been achieved...if Visari was gone."

"Given the security that Visari would have had, I doubt it would have been simple to assassinate him in a meeting. In addition, the Reich was facing almost the entire world. No superpower would have survived such a powerful force."

The Defense:

"I agree with you, in that your actions have helped the true Nordland to survive. I wish that we did not need to have this trial for your actions. I shall allow the other judges to ask first."

[Kaiser Martens]

"The true Nordland. Better to have it in this state today than the Monster it used to be. We have enough Monsters in Europe already."

------------------------

Some days would be taken to examine the evidence and words of each person throughout the trial.

It was later announced, in other news, that a protectorate, Poland, would be created, consisting of Poland minus Prussia and Warsaw-Martensheim - essentially, the far Southeast. It was created after a plebiscite voted for its partial autonomy. This is the only region in which there's a significative non-Nordlandic population save for the Manneligia Zone in Nordheim, an Italian - Gebivian - City., and as such already plans for creating a Slavic Pagan Martencist nation have been made. Other voices have called for the renaming of that new territory as "Slavija" or other things carrying Pan-Slavic connotations.

Changes continued gradually and without violence.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Kaiser Martens

[Subtleknifewielder]

"You claim to have put money into the state at least equal to what you may have taken out. Is this true?"

"Also...are you certain there was nothing else you could gave done to preserve our way of life?"

[Kaiser Martens]

"Yes. Both before and after the war. This includes funds to help Nordheim recover."

"Who knows, for sure, that is. I did what I thought best then and I don't regret it. At least, I'm the only one that did anything for Nordland, that has got to count for something..."

[Kaiser Martens]

After a long deliberation, against the will of the current Regent, Tanzband is declared non-guilty.

However, he declined his right to go back to office and made a brief statement to the press and the people gathered to support him outside,

"I have always fought for Germany and the Nordlandic way of life. I have had a very stressful life, and I have been repaid often with the worst - as seen previously - but then also with the best in other cases. I have had enough. I need an extended break from this all. The pressure is not only internal, but external - something needs to change. Germany right now is a country without friends and allies, only with either enemies or indifference. EU has proven itself to be a failure by abandoning its own to die, annexed by an enemy. The Russians have proven that they do not care, and traditional hostility remains elsewhere not only against this State but against its people. I will be relocating to Deutscher Bund, to help the Loyal Rheinmarkers start again. Have a good day."

To the people and to Tanzband, this seemed like a bitter victory. Dissent was growing against the current Government, but this was held back for it was known that in one year, the Kronprinz would be old enough to attempt to take leadership. This knowledge served as a safety feature.

Edited December 17, 2009 by Kaiser Martens

[Kaiser Martens]

And weeks later it continues...

Germany has annexed the small Rheinmarker sector that it received, as it is too small to be viably a protectorate on its own right. However, Slavija is up and running already as well. Give some land, take some - so it seemed. A number of Rheinmarker refugees had arrived, and many Slavs had in turn left.

Dissent was somewhat lowered, and new business oportunities with Belarus seemed to be incoming. Germany applied for PEPTO, but almost everyone anticipated a No - it seemed merely like a lackluster attempt for the Tanzband administration to work with the Continent to some degree.

In the south, less troops were stationed by the Communists, in a gradual move to try to improve the overall situation.

Lastly and more importantly, a wide referendum would soon be made. The Government felt that due to the many problems that Germany had experienced, it no longer seemed to know exactly what the people thought or felt. Thusly, in order to plan better policies, a wide poll would soon begin. Although Germany - and Martencism - has always been extremely antidemocratic, such referenda were held every a number of years as exceptions, and typically gave people more freedom of choice and expression than "Free" nations. The old Kaiser used to call it flexibility.