Augustine goes on trial

[Ladorak]

For the month of December Augustine Capet was put on trial for crimes of treason against the nation of Rosferia and Prosecutors Sciurus Whirlpaw and Milton Dragonis pressed home their charges whilst Defense Attorney Raymond Deseze presented his own case as to why Augustine should not be found guilty.

Key points were that Augustine had consorted with foreign monarchs in the hope that military defeat for Rosferia would bring about the collapse of the Revolution and allow him to regain his throne. Deseze argued that since no Constitution currently exists in Rosferia there was no legal precedent for the trial and that Augustine was a liberal and kind monarch.

The former King's incompetence was no doubt brought to the fore however, as several issues were pointed out in which Augustine acted poorly and ended up causing the deaths of Rosferian citizens.

Ultimately the trial concluded after Christmas and the Convention moved on to vote on other matters. Otto Kurtz proposed that occupied territories be subject to new rules. For those territories currently under foreign occupation like Mordenz, all rights of citizens will be respected and left untouched, but for nations at war with Rosferia like Kostritz and Gradvar then to the victor go the spoils, and Rosferian armies are authorized to plunder occupied territory and ship the loot back to Rosferia in order to help out the faltering economy. This measure passed and stands as law now as part of Rosferia's foreign policy.

A second measure, proposed by Anthony Markham, has made threatening the republic a capital offense in line with treason and punishable by death. Markham wanted a measure to protect the new Republic of Rosferia and suggested a suppression of those that would speak out against it. This measure is aimed mostly at the royalist agitators and those in support of Augustine, who constitute a minority in Rosferia. This measure has passed as well.

The fate of Augustine will be decided in the next year, and for now the National Convention wishes Rosferia happy holidays and a fortuitous New Year in two days.

[larry]

I have a question regarding the plunder of other nations and shipping it back to Rosferia.

Why would the armies of Rosferia bother shipping the goods / loot back to the home land when they could just as easily push forward and use the plunder that's already spread out throughout the land? Turning their conquered lands into bases for military forces while utilizing all goods kept in it's respective homes, thus making shipments less demanding and help prevent back and forth troops from going out of their way and keeping them on the battlefield, I think this would be the more likely scenario.

Seems like the troops are doing double the foot work, but maybe there's a better explanation. Rare goods like gold, jewelery, metals, that I can understand. Food, eh... We all know what happens with bad cheese.

[Ladorak]

Well by goods I meant mostly valuables, as Rosferia plans to use it to bolster it's weak economy. They plan to confiscate all valuables used by nobles and such in their occupied territories and ship them back to Rosferia for resale there. So far it's proving to be rather effective, or at least more effective than their older plans.

Living off the land is at this point prohibited however unless it's in an actual enemy nation. For a place like Mordenz it's forbidden as Rosferia doesn't want to anger the local populace as they're more there to free them from Kostritz rule. Most armies of this time forbid living off local land as well, once again to keep the local populace happy. It can be employed in long marches though.

As for building military bases right now it's not needed, as the capital of Eastern Mordenz is a fortified city and the Rosferians currently hold one of Gradvar's biggest border fortresses as well, Mainz. So far Rosferia has possession of either border forts or capitals in the areas they've taken to date.

But yeah all food is generally supplied locally at wherever the army is currently encamped, so they wouldn't have to move that except the bread ovens when they take up the march again. Supply wagons are still needed though for an army on the march, unless the commander specifically says they can go off and forage, which they aren't inclined to do just yet as it's not common practice but will be at a later date.