Palacio Real de Madrid
Madrid, Viceroyalty of Iberia
El Imperio Dorado
El Imperio Dorado. The 'Golden Empire'. Originating in the Iberian Peninsula, El Imperio Dorado had grown to encompass substantial regions of north Africa, South America, and Asia. With over 1.8 billion Doradan citizens, the empire sat as one of the most populous nations on the planet. The empire's navy, the 'Armada Dorada' or 'Golden Armada', traversed the world's oceans as a force for order, engaging pirates and protecting the empire's trade routes as well as flying the empire's flag in all the right places. Indeed, if there was one driving goal behind El Imperio Dorado, it was order. Since its formative years as the Kingdom of Iberia in the mid 17th century, the Golden Empire had pursued order as both a means and an end. Order brought stability, order brought security, order brought prosperity. It was perhaps an old and often-repeated mantra of authoritarians and totalitarians, but if there was any empire experienced at imposing order, it was the Golden Empire...aside from one particularly vexing blemish on their record. In 1999 the then-Empire of Iberia had suffered the ignominity of losing Iberia to an unexpected uprising and the resultant Goodrule Spanish States had held the heartland for just over ten years. During that time, the ruling Trastamara-Braganza dynasty had found refuge in the remaining territories of the empire, discovering that their subjects elsewhere in the world were as loyal as they could have ever dreamed of. The empire returned 'home' in 2010 when Emperor Juan IV led the then-Imperial Iberian Navy to retake Iberia, but there was no return to Iberia's enshrined position within the empire. Instead the empire was restructured, no longer branding itself as 'Iberian' and becoming the Golden Empire as it stands today. Iberia was made a Viceroyalty, giving it the same status as the Viceroyalty of India, the Viceroyalty of Brasilia, and the Viceroyalty of Maghreb. It was also decided that the Emperor would divide his time between the Viceroyalties throughout the year, spending three months in residence in each of the four Viceroyalties to demonstrate that all major territories of the empire were equal in the Emperor's eyes. The only advantage that Madrid was permitted over New Delhi, Brasilia, and Algiers was that Emperors were crowned in Madrid due to it being the 'ancestral seat' of the Trastamara-Braganzas for so many centuries before the Goodrule uprising.
As one of the largest royal palaces in the world, the Palacio Real de Madrid was almost a world unto itself at times. It had been the primary residence of the Trastamara-Braganza dynasty since 1764, when construction had finally finished on what was viewed as a 'palace truly fit for an Emperor'. The period of Goodrule dominion over Iberia had seen much damage to the palace's interior which had taken close to five years to finish restoring, and the ruling dynasty had responded to such damage by having a fortified wall erected to surround not just the Palacio Real de Madrid, but also Almudena Cathedral and the entirety of the Campo del Moro Gardens to create an expansive royal compound at the heart of Madrid. The Palacio Real was guarded day and night by personnel of the Guardia Real, the royal guard which had been expanded to some 150,000 strong to provide a firmer deterrent towards any who would dare rise against the Emperor again; dressed in imposing black uniforms with red trims, the ever-present Guardia Real were there to remind the people of Madrid that their Emperor would not lose his palace a second time, as well as to reinforce the fact that the Campo del Moro Gardens were now exclusively royal property as a form of 'punishment'. A relatively mild punishment for the city as a whole compared to the brutal treatment of any Goodrule loyalists that had been 'acquired' during the Reconquista of Iberia. Eight years on, there were still a handful of high-ranked Goodrule individuals still alive in Doradan custody although the irregularly scheduled beatings and increasingly inventive torture methods inflicted upon them did not really make for much of a life.
Lunch had only just finished at the Palacio Real on this, the eighteenth official day of the reign of the new Emperor. It had become an odd tradition of the empire that Emperors were crowned on January 1st, regardless of when their predecessor passed away or, in very rare cases, abdicated. While waiting for their coronation, Crown Princes would be involved in any and all state affairs as if they were Emperor. In all honesty no-one could really remember when the tradition had started, but it was seen as bringing good fortune to a new Emperor if the beginning of his new reign coincided with the beginning of a new year. Emperor Juan IV had passed away on July 10th 2017, meaning that his son had benefited from almost six months of statecraft before his coronation. El Imperio Dorado was now ruled by the twenty-five year old Emperor Lysandro I, his full name being Lysandro Ferdinand Esteban Felipe de Trastamara-Braganza. Lysandro had been hailed in the ever dutiful imperial media as a 'worthy inheritor of the Golden Throne" and he easily displayed the imperious and autocratic demeanour expected of an Emperor. His twenty-seven year old wife, Empress Maria Eduarda, was descended from the old Brazilian Alcântara noble family and easily matched her husband in demeanour. While publicly the pair were viewed as the glamorous and dignified monarchs of El Imperio Dorado, in private the reality was somewhat different. While they certainly loved each other, it was more of a sibling or best friend love rather than romantic; they shared a similar sense of humour and confided in each other without hesitation, but when it came time to retire for the night they would wish each other a pleasant night and then head to separate private quarters. Maria Eduarda would then spend the night with her long-time lover, the thirty year old hidalgo Don Joaquin de Carvajal while Lysandro would seek entertainment from his pair of male favourites. Both landless hidalgos elevated to their noble rank so that they could be an official part of the Emperor's retinue without having to be servants, Don Bhavesh Goswami and Don Pedro de Azevedo were twenty-five and thirty-two respectively and were regarded by their detractors as 'remoras clinging to a Great White shark' as they did not really contribute anything to the Golden Empire aside from keeping Emperor Lysandro entertained in private. Of course, Lysandro and Maria Eduarda both knew of each other's lovers and regarded them as 'members of the family'.
Lysandro was chatting amiably with Maria Eduarda while strolling through the picturesque Campo del Moro, slowly proceeding along one of the many tree-lined walks which had once been enjoyed by ordinary Madridians but were now solely for the enjoyment of the Emperor, his household and his distinguished guests. The youthful Emperor was wearing the 'everyday version' of his black and gold coloured imperial attire, a black mens suit with golden trim and gold accessories as opposed to the full-blown black and gold military uniform with accompanying gold sceptre that he donned for official occasions. The Empress, on the other hand, wore a fairly simple yet stylish black skirt suit. As they both laughed at a rather demeaning quip made by Lysandro about the Republic of the Khorsuni Nation, they were approached by the Emperor's First Counsellor, the seventy-one year old Don Carlos de Mendoza, Duke of Seville. Still spry and fortitudinous for his age, Don Carlos had proven himself to be a formidable presence in the empire's upper circles, as he was now serving his third Emperor in some advisory capacity. He had been elevated to First Counsellor by Emperor Juan IV after helping to plan out the Reconquista of Iberia, and Lysandro had sensibly retained him in that position. Upon reaching the pair, Don Carlos performed the traditional Doradan salute; placing his clenched right fist over his heart, Don Carlos bowed and then stood up straight, awaiting his Emperor's acknowledgement. Lysandro raised a quizzical eyebrow before responding.
"Don Carlos."
"Your Most Imperial Majesties. Forgive the interruption my Emperor, but the Defence Staff representatives have arrived and would request some of your time to discuss options for the Reassertion Initiative."
Lysandro nodded at his chief advisor. "Of course." He then lightly took Maria Eduarda's hand and kissed the back of it with a slight smile. "Talk to you later, Maria. Give Joaquin my best wishes."
The Empress returned his smile. "I always do."
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A few minutes later, Emperor Lysandro and the black-suited Don Carlos had traversed the opulent corridors of the Palacio Real and entered the residence's state-of-the-art briefing room. Every imperial residence featured such a room in case of rapidly developing situations which required equally rapid decisions to be made in response to them; the briefing room was dominated by a large solid oak conference table surrounded by comfortable matching chairs, with a larger chair at one end of the table for the Emperor. The far wall directly opposite the Emperor's chair was an expansive display screen which was used to show information such as satellite imagery, detailed analysis of intelligence, and similar items of importance to a given briefing. Upon entering the briefing room, Emperor Lysandro was greeted by the sight of the assembled Defence Staff representatives performing the Doradan salute to acknowledge him. All clad in immaculately pressed uniforms, the representatives were led by General de Ejército Don Armando de Cartagena, Chief of the Defence Staff; with him were Almirante general Don Rajesh Nehrutan of the Armada Dorada, General del Aire Don Hernan de Caballos of the Imperial Air Force, and a small number of lesser senior officers. After standing upright once they finished bowing, the assembled officers waited dutifully for Emperor Lysandro to take his seat before they took their own while Don Carlos took the seat directly to the Emperor's right. Once everyone was seated, Don Armando stood next to the display screen with an extendable pointer stick and nodded to an officer who had been put in charge of the display.
"Your Most Imperial Majesty, in September 2017 you made a proposal to the Imperial Council in your capacity as Emperor-in-Waiting. It was discussed and deemed to be of particular merit, and so the Defence Staff have been examining possibilities for the implementation of your proposal. We feel that we can now show you the three possiblities we have identified and we can then proceed further once you have selected your preferred option. As you well know, the idea of the Reassertion Initiative is that we should strike out and acquire new territory to demonstrate that the Golden Empire has fully recovered from our past issues and that we are as much a global power as we always have been. Acquiring new territory will also provide the empire with new resources as well as providing a tremendous boost in both prestige and morale for the general populace. Our first possible target is Cyrenaica."
The screen changed to display a map depicting the state of Cyrenaica and its surrounding nations as Don Armando continued.
"It is divided among warlords and-"
"Not an option." Emperor Lysandro shook his head dismissively. "My idea was that the victory needs to be impressive. Cyrenaica is too close to Iberia to make it a grand action, and we would have to take both the Kingdom of Libya and Tunisia in order to properly link up with the Viceroyalty of Maghreb."
Don Armando simply nodded. "Of course, Your Most Imperial Majesty. Our next option is the Republic of Senegambia."
Lysandro frowned slightly as the display showed Senegambia and her neighbours. "While we could certainly strike at them from the Viceroyalty of Maghreb and the Viceroyalty of Brasilia, there are several neighbouring nations that might attempt to intervene. The Empire of Apilonia, Liberia, the Khorsuni...put Senegambia in the 'maybe' category."
The display changed to show the next potential target, at which point Lysandro sat up straighter in his seat as Don Armando gestured with the pointer.
"The Federation of Mexico, my Emperor. Currently ruled by a military junta, their government is involved in an ongoing conflict with a narcotics cartel of considerable size. There are no indications that the conflict will end any time soon unless there is some dramatic change in fortune for the government."
Lysandro made a 'hmm' as he considered Don Armando's statement. "This seems to have some potential. Military governments live or die on enforcing order and it would appear that this particular junta is failing miserably while the neighbouring nations appear to be limiting their own involvement. Is this a particularly powerful cartel or are the junta bungling the situation?"
Don Armando pursed his lips slightly. "Unfortunately we do not have any additional in-depth information on this matter at this time, my Emperor. We deemed the initial planning to be best kept as secret as possible in case something should leak. Once you select which target you wish to pursue we shall begin acquiring more comprehensive details from intelligence networks."
"Out of these three options, it is clearly the Federation of Mexico. Their nation needs to have order restored, the Mexican people need a saviour of sorts. Collect more intelligence on this, not just about this cartel but also about the junta and any significant officers under their command. I want it done carefully though, if you look at the map you can see that Mexico is in the backyard of the Empire of Layarteb and the Empire of Apilonia. While they may not be overtly interfering in Mexico they may be involved in other ways. Bring the Imperial Intelligence Service into this effort and provide me with regular analysis updates."
