A Gaze to the Future (IC, TWI only)

[New Aapelistan]

January, 2018

Two year devastation ended
and a nation at it's breaking point

The destructive Second Imperial War has ended. After two years of combat, the People's Democratic Union was forced to accept the Mesder Sea Treaty Organization's demands of surrender, disarmament of all biological and chemical weapons and reparations to the MSTO combatants, deeply de-legitimizing President Alešándr Nijarán’s ultranationalist and conservative policies. The President, formerly publically applauded and praised for his policies within the Aprosian People’s Front, was now being openly challenged by both his former conservative allies and the liberal opposition within the People’s Front. With the embarrassment of the war, combined with a stagnant economy suffering from years of economic sanctions, the Nijarán administration was facing its hardest times.

The liberal opposition against the conservatives formerly represented by the Nijarán was now gathering all of their strength against the conservatives and the Nijarán administration. The battleground had opened for the future of the Union and who would lead it for years to come.

OOC thread

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Palace of the People, Dašaród
Afternoon, 24th of January, 2018

A roar occupied the auditorium. From all sides of the auditorium, from the left to the right, delegates had long since thrown away their parliamentary decency and joined the rumbling, throwing words of opposition or support towards the speech held in the hall. Through continued orders of silence and decency, the speaker of the parliament had seemingly lost control in the parliament. Despite this all, speaking representative of the parliament wished to push through the rumble and repeated himself in a firm, confirming manner.

“The less honorable members of the Assembly have seemed to misunderstand what I have to say in middle of their continued and less than honorable rambling despite the requests of the honorable Speaker. Allow me to repeat myself more clearly so that there shall be no doubt within the walls of this Assembly and that I do not have to repeat myself again.”

Holding his speech for a moment to have a sip of water to calm down his sore throat, the representative could hear the continued orders of the Speaker, managing to calm the situation slightly, before he continued.

“To start again so that every representative in this room will understand, it is the firm belief of me and my co-patriots that President…”

A renewed rumble starting in the left of the Assembly forced a brief pause in the speech, only continued by the ever more stern orders of the Speaker.

“...that President Nijáran in his terms of office has continuously mismanaged and greatly misled both the honorable Supreme People’s Assembly and the Aprosian people it represents, something I and my fellow colleagues have warned about since the very start!”

A wave of simultaneous applauses and signs of disapproval continued to flood the Assembly floor. The Speaker in his podium just above the Standing Committee would only briefly look down in pity towards the President and continue attempting to control the rowdy crowd of the auditorium.

“Members of the Assembly! Allow the Honorable Representative Hamaném his right to be heard in this sacred Assembly!”

Lifting his arm towards the Speaker in a sign of gratitude, Hamaném continued his stern speech that only a few years ago would brought him a much different reception that even he was not certain of; more disapproval or worse. In his mind, he had seized the floor and now, he was to seize the entire Assembly.

“Is this what these years have brought in for us? An environment, where even against the wishes of our national founder who’s portrait we uphold here with pride, a representative of the people cannot use his right of opinion and speech in these sacred halls and is only defended by the Speaker? This is exactly what I am pointing out on the misleading of both the people and its representatives by our so-called ‘President of the Union’! Our nation has never stood in a graver situation than now and even then, the misled supporters continue supporting standing by and allowing our dear homeland slip further and further into distress. Through times of lies and deceit, our nation has fallen further and further into darkness, where our future is more unclear than ever! In the face of all this, my co-patriots and I do not approve, nay, refuse! Refuse to let these dark times take over our nation!”

Through applauses and shouts of “shame”, Hamaném seated himself and directed his gaze towards the Standing Committee of the Assembly, seated by the members of the Federal Government and what he thought of as his main opponent, the President and the General Secretary, Alešándr Nijáran, who Hamaném had been opposing for years now. The stability of the previous years had forced Hamaném to work in the shadows alongside the other members of the party opposition, but the war had opened possibilities, as bad as it sounded to him. As the sanctions and the war started biting their gruesome teeth more thoroughly, the Federal Government found itself in an ever harder position. News of defeats by the Mesder Sea Treaty Organization, the destruction of the majority of the Revolutionary Navy and eventually the surrender of the Aprosian forces were something the Federal Government could not hold, diminishing popular support and empowering the opposition and Hamaném further and further. The window of opportunity had opened, all that was left to do now was to take advantage of the situation.

Seeing the men of the Standing Committee made Hamaném stop with his speech briefly while the Assembly either berated or supported his speech. It gave him time to monitor the Standing Committee, some of its members conversing through whispers with varying levels of shock on their faces, but what worried Hamaném the most was the most powerful of the Standing Committee members, who so faithfully maintained their neutral expressions as seen in the public. “No visible effect” thought Hamaném to himself. “Go all in”.

Hamaném would lift his hand as a sign of wishing to continue and followed procedure by standing up from his seat in the first rows of the Assembly. Organizing his papers in his hand, he continued.

“Honorable representatives of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the members of the Committee of this Assembly alongside its Standing Committee. History is at its turning point for Manestán...” He made sure to utter the word with respect, as he knew the historical power of the word. “History has shown to be unforgiving and all of the representatives in this Assembly have committed to upholding our nation and bringing it up to the glory that it deserves. Such glory, is impossible to achieve through upholding what we have achieved, but by moving forward to achieve those that we have not achieved. I ask the members of this Assembly to do no less than to stop delving in the past, but to take a gaze to the future. A future, that we are not able to achieve if the present is stagnant.”

Hamaném felt a shake in his left leg over what he was about to do next. “All or nothing” he thought, for what he was thinking could be the turning point he desired, or his downfall.

“I officially and publicly move to denounce the Presidency and the rest of the Standing Committee for incompetence, for misleading policies and for mismanagement of foreign relations, affairs of defence and affairs of economics. I denounce the Presidency and the Standing Committee for taking us out of the light and throwing us into darkness.”

[New Aapelistan]

“I denounce the Presidency and the Standing Committee for taking us out of the light and throwing us into darkness.”

Continued applauses and shouts of both disapproval and approval flooded the Assembly floor. Some, though only a handful, were shouting ‘sóžeremén’, I agree, from the bottom of their lungs so that they could be properly heard. Hamaném, after uttering those words, could see the Standing Committee’s confusion. As the Standing Committee’s eyes turned to look at Hamaném, Nijáran raised his hand as a request to speak in front of the Assembly. Through the Speaker’s approval, Nijáran came up from his seat and straightened his tie before proceeding to speak. Directing his eyes towards the new seated Hamaném as if directly answering to him and him only, Nijáran started in a calm manner.

“At first I must share my sadness with representative Hamaném regarding the rowdiness of the Assembly today. The attitude of the several representatives is a direct insult to the memory to those who made our great nation into what it now is and to those who we represent.”

Holding a minor break, he continued.

“However I must also openly voice my regrets how many of the representatives of this honorable Assembly has apparently forgot the ever so continuing trends of this region.”

Nijáran took his power and used it heavily when he continued, leaning more on the podium.

“Anti-Aprosian sentiments are still rife in the Isles! It has been the continuous policy of the Standing Committee to protect Manestán from the hostile intentions of so many in the Isles and what so many spread around the Isles are lies; lies of Aprosian hostility! It saddens me to see that those lies have even seeped to the people that we protect and even to the members of this Assembly. In the dire times when we need to stand under the common flag, the lies have brought liars who further infect the nation…”

Nijákov’s speech only brought further uproar from the Assembly with even many self-identifying conservatives joining, not to support Hamaném’s line but to oppose Nijáran with even a representative from the backbenches rising up, only to point towards the Standing Committee angrily with his pen and showing his discontent by simply shouting “Incompetence is the only infection here!”. Hamaném too had risen up and pointed his finger towards Nijáran and nearly shouting to his microphone “And you have been the cause of this hostility!”.

With the Committee of the Assembly in uproar and the Standing Committee attempting to counter the accusations of the Committee, the deadlock that had been for hours continued. The Speaker did not even try to control the Assembly anymore. The day had already passed deep to the afternoon, deadlock had ensued and the Assembly was uncontrollable and their time was over soon anyways. The Speaker rose and leaned to his microphone.

“Silence! I hereby conclude that the meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly is prematurely over for this day! Civilized debate cannot flourish in this atmosphere. Calm and the Assembly shall gather once again according to schedule.”



Slowly, the Assembly began to dismiss itself for the day, with the backbenches clearing out first and eventually the entire Assembly was empty. With Hamaném gathering his papers and packing them in his case, one of his political clients approached him as he was moving through the hallways of the Palace of the People.

“What the hell were you doing there?”

Looking over his shoulder briefly to recognize the person who was talking to him as Dúad, one of his longtime clients from his native state of Tušmirádza. Speaking to Hamaném in their common native language of Mirán and nearly entirely dismissing the honorific speech when conversing with superiors, it was an uncommon situation to see and hear in the Assembly. Representatives of the federal Assembly, even those sharing a common native language, preferred to converse using Severiók. The common Aprosian tongue was often seen as the only language suitable for federal politics. An unusual situation to speak to your superior using the less prestigious form of a local language, but Hamaném paid little attention to etiquette now. His mind was racing through how to proceed and he merely responded using the same form of speech.

“What?”

Dúad, after catching to Hamaném and now walking on his side, would only repeat his question with a look of confusion on his face. Slowing his pace and clearing his mind for a moment, Hamaném would respond with a sound of frustration from the Assembly.

“Miná” referring to Dúad by his first name. “I played the cards I had in my hand in the Assembly. Now the that the Committee knows of my stance, I imagine that the vocal outcry against the Standing Committee will only become more widespread.” Before Dúad could respond, Hamaném continued.

“I trust I will see you in the meeting tomorrow, 10 in the morning and sharp. I am simply too tired now to continue.”

Dúad with a simple “Have a good day” split from Hamaném to head for his own car while Hamaném continued to the other end of the building. As a high-level party official, Hamaném was entitled to a personal driver, something that he appreciated in his old age. Gently pushing his way through a small crowd at one of the front entrances where most private drivers waited and eventually getting to his car, his driver started to drive to Hamaném’s household. Despite coming from a local political background from his native state of Tušmirádza on the other side of the nation, he had moved to the capital, Dašaród, several years ago alongside his promotion from a local party position to a high-level federal party and political position. He had played his cards right back then with the assistance of his political patron. Now, as a patron of several clients, his mind was racing with how to play his cards right again.

The drive from the downtown Dašaród to the outskirts of the city where he lived was moving at a snail’s pace. The bad traffic of the downtown was worsened by the new reality of Aprosia, protests that had been nearly continuous ever since the last phases of the war against the Mesder Sea Treaty Organization. The reality had catched the people eventually despite attempts to portrait the situation in a better light. Posters and media portraying the recent loss as a heroic sacrifice to protect the homeland were dismissed by many. As the car was passing through the city, Hamaném could see it himself again too. Posters, proudly proclaiming “Bravery in sacrifice, homeland defended!” were smudged with writings he could not understand, but he recognized two phrases while his car passed protesters; “Liars!” and something else that had catched the people. “The Dead don’t feel pride”.