Trial For High Treason Of Ninot

[Aidun]

* A messenger from Aidun Cian, who is still underground, enters the halls where the trial is held.

Juan el Grangero: "a message from señor Aidun Cian"

Mr Mitchell, you're right we can't allow a man who calls himself irresponsible to take the resposibility for this trial. He is defnitely not aware of what he is doing.

Hereby I officially request Grand Despot Togas, Lord of the Light of the Infinite Wisdom, by the Grace of the Spirits to appoint a new Watcher who is more aware of his great responsibility.

Thank you Mylord.


Yours sincerely

Aidun Cian.

[GeneralTacticus]

I would much appreciate it if this trial could actually be resolved at some point in the near future. I am quite sure that we all have better things to do than sit around in a coutroom wher enothing is actually done.

[History Guy]

I have been called as a witness for the prosecution, but I cannot say why.

As it is, I said I thought I saw Ninot try to escape town. I have since discovered that it was not the said Senor Ninot himself, but a man who looks quite like him, by the name of Noberto Rinot, who is now hanging from the gibbet for stealing from Senor Ninot, myself, and a one eyed peasant women with no legs, and only two bones to spare. For that, we executed him. It had nothing more to do with the accused.

Furthermore, I myself heard no statements by the accused that he was planning any revolt. In past, I had argument with him, and I sincerely believed his father to be abusing his priveleges as Mayor of Spain, but I have no argument with the accused. I have no evidence to show, and so I ask to be allowed to stand down, unless the prosecutor has questions for me that have relevance to the case.

Hernan de History Guy Calamari the Younger

[Ninot]

Originally posted by History Guy
I have been called as a witness for the prosecution, but I cannot say why.

As it is, I said I thought I saw Ninot try to escape town. I have since discovered that it was not the said Senor Ninot himself, but a man who looks quite like him, by the name of Noberto Rinot, who is now hanging from the gibbet for stealing from Senor Ninot, myself, and a one eyed peasant women with no legs, and only two bones to spare. For that, we executed him. It had nothing more to do with the accused.

Furthermore, I myself heard no statements by the accused that he was planning any revolt. In past, I had argument with him, and I sincerely believed his father to be abusing his priveleges as Mayor of Spain, but I have no argument with the accused. I have no evidence to show, and so I ask to be allowed to stand down, unless the prosecutor has questions for me that have relevance to the case.

Hernan de History Guy Calamari the Younger

Hernan, despite our families differences, I thank you greatly for testifying so truthfully and so forwardly.

I am sure your key testimony will lead to this trial ending faster.

[DAVOUT]

The Court expects Arnelos to make his testimony on feb 11 before noon.

Then the Accuser will make the final accusation, the Hight Priest will tell the influence of gods and evils on the case, and the Court will decide.

[Arnelos]

My testimony is currently being prepared. I hope to be ready to present it by tomorrow evening.

[ruby_maser]

I say that, if Señor Ninot makes it through this, we need to all chip in for the customary $5, bottle of booze, and a hooker that comes with surviving a trial for your life. If...

[Arnelos]

The Story of Señor Diego Clemente and the Trial of Señor Ninot,

Señor Diego Clemente, having been asked by both the prosecution and the defense to testify as their witness, was in quite the quandry. Knowing that he had a duty as an upstanding citizen of the community to answer the call to testify on behalf of the prosecution, yet knowing that bonds of honor between his house and that of House Ninot obligated him to speak on behalf of Señor Ninot's character, he knew not how to act.... until an idea struck him... literally. Well, actually, that was something else, but this is another matter that members of the Clemente Clan do not often speak about... anyhow, this is when an idea occured to him...



Diego, not really stopping to think if this was a good idea or not, decided to carry through with his resolution to his conflict of interest as follows....

*Señor Diego Clemente comes to the stand on behalf of the prosecution

I have information to bring to you all which would suggest Señor Ninot's guilt of the crime accused. I do so with heavy heart, for I know Señor Ninot to be a good man. But being a good man does not shield him from the evidence which might be proof of his guilt.

As many of you are aware, there was a negotiating session held some time ago with visiting representatives of the Glory of War, that disgracefully barbaric tribe to our north. During the negotiations, various nobles of Spain were discussing the negotiations and other matters of state in a seperate room while our ambassador, the esteemed Señor Mada, was attempting to conduct the actual negotions with Glory of War without too much interuption from the occassional visits from the rest of us.

The conduct of Señor Ninot in question arose when there was much talk both in the negotiations and among the nobles of Spain concerning that Lux Invicta had lied to Glory of War and us about technology, contact with other civilizations, their aggressiveness, and other such issues. It was mentioned by several nobles that perhaps Glory of War wasn't as bad as they had seemed and perhaps Togas, His Grace and most wise, had over-reacted in earlier dealings with that tribe.

This is when it was additionally suggested that perhaps His Grace, Togas our Supreme Leader, had allowed his judgement to be clouded by his annoyance at Glory of War over the deals concerning Horseback Riding and their "invasion" of our territory. I honestly do not recall whether Señor Ninot or another made these comments, you would have consult with the record of the discussion (if one is available) to discern this, as I do not possess such a record. What I do remember, however, is that Señor Ninot took the opportunity to mention to then bring up the subject of the method of selecting new leadership for Spain, as had once been discussed by our less civilizied ancestors long ago. That, as is the tradition of our people, any new leader would have to gather support among the nobles of the tribe to directly challenge the leadership of the reigning ruler.

To his credit, Señor Ninot was extremely careful to speak only of such things in third-person or followed by the words "hypothetically, of course". However, the fact that Señor Ninot even opened the topic for discussion among the nobles of Spain and that many of us were there to witness this event and many indeed took part in the discussion does not bode well for Señor Ninot's defense against these charges. Even if his intent was other than it seems, it is behavior that certainly bears the appearance of being treasonous against His Grace, Lord Togas. Understandably, Señor Ninot has a responsibility to explain his actions in this regard.

I recall that Señor Dejon, in particular, argued forcefullly in defense of Lord Togas, but the status of others I do not recall as being forceful in either direction, though this may simply be a product of my inability to remember such less important specifics, I will admit. Once again, record of these events still exists, it might be invaluable for discerning this matter. I regret to inform you all that I lack such a record.

A centerpiece of this discussion, it seemed, was that some among the nobles had come to doubt Lord Togas' level-headedness in his dealings with the Glory of War and Lux Invicta tribes. It was stated that perhaps Lord Togas' anger at Glory of War had been allowed to cloud his judgement in seeking an alliance with the clearly heinous Lux Invicta while stonewalling the clearly more honorable Glory of War. Once again, I observed that Señor Dejon was the most forceful in combating these arguments, others were either unmoved either way or wisely chose (as I did) to forgo such dangerous discussion.

Later, when the record of our negotiations with Glory of War was brought to Lord Togas, he became incensed at what he perceived to be the gullability of some of our nobles in regards to claims of Glory of War, which Lord Togas saw as being clearly dishonest. That some nobles had commented to Glory of War that they were mad at Lux Invicta for LI's treachery sparked Lord Togas to comment that it was ok if they were merely acting, but if there was any hint of seriousness, these nobles needed to procure for themselves better "bull**** detectors".

It should be noted that, in response to this statement by our Lord Togas, the accused then stated (and here is the public record of those statements):

Originally posted by Ninot
myyyy mistake

what about my "idea" tho?

i was going on the presumption Trip WASNT researching Mysticism. but nothing lost really. if GoW still cant be trusted, then GoW still cant be trusted

im behind ya Togas

Ninot, it appears was one of the nobles which Togas may have been upset with for not having an adequate "bull**** detector", whatever that happens to be (we are not privy to all of the wisdom available to our Lord Togas, apparently). Señor Ninot's last statement of "im behind ya Togas " is of particular interest to the charges laid against him here, because he had just the night before been discussing the matter of the despot's potential overthrow with other nobles of Spain. I leave it to the office of the Watcher to interpret these comments as he will.

Given this evidence against Señor Ninot, it would seem that he is indeed guilty of both charges, that of treason against Lord Togas for beginning seditious discussions about the overthrow of our ruler, and treason against Spain for (in the words of Lord Togas) possessing an inadequate "bull**** detector" which lead him to see Togas' actions with regard to Glory of War as being ill-advised and being the potential root cause of his consideration for treason against Togas.

I leave it to the esteemed office of the Watcher to handle this evidence and consider it as it will.

*Señor Diego Clemente sits down after completing his testimony for the prosecution.

*Señor Diego Clemente comes to the stand on behalf of the defense

The testimony just given on behalf of the prosecution would seem to leave little doubt in the matter of Ninot's guilt for the crime of which he is accused. It has been laid out that Señor Ninot began a discussion regarding the potential overthrow of Lord Togas, a clearly seditious and treasonous action, and that the root cause of his purpose in starting this discussion was a disagreement on the foreign policy of the tribe in regards to the heinous Glory of War tribe.

What I am here to tell you is that as much as it may appear that Señor Ninot is guilty of these crimes, he is in fact innocent. At most, he has merely committed an error of judgement, something which hardly qualifies him as guilty of the high crime of treason! But, in truth, it would seem that Ninot sought to do a service for both Spain and particularly Lord Togas, actions which deserve him of our honor rather than our scorn!

To begin with, Señor Ninot clearly is a noble and loyal citizen of Spain. As with many others who have come to his defense, I will defend him on this count. There is no doubt that whatever Señor Ninot might have done, he was doing it with the best interests of Spain in mind. Where the charge that he might not have been acting in the best interests of Lord Togas can be seen as possible for a man of Ninot's character, actions intended for the harm of Spain are entirely unthinkable. The charge that he acted in treason against all of Spain is clearly rubbish and should be dismissed!

Furthermore, even if it were true that Señor Ninot had indeed brought up the possibility of Lord Togas' overthrow due to concerns about Lord Togas' foreign policy, it seems from the evidence that he quickly realized the error he had made and indeed that the root cause was clearly an error of judgement rather than a willful intent. Señor Ninot can then, at most, be accused of being a fool for having an insufficient "bull**** detector" rather than a heinous villain intent upon treachery and treason. The reality is that he is neither, but for the sake of argument, it is clear that the possibility of him being a fool is far greater than the possibility of him being a committed traitor.

But the true reason why Ninot is not guilty of these crimes has little to do with the foreign policy of our great tribe and everything to do with the opportunity which this disagreement on foreign policy among the nobles might give to one who DID possess traitorous thoughts against Lord Togas. The question then is whether Señor Ninot was just such an individual or whether he was an individual of another type.

It is my testimony here that Señor Ninot was not such an individual. Rather, it is entirely possible that Señor Ninot was in fact acting on behalf of Lord Togas by attempting to ferret out any heinous and treasonous individuals who WERE of the type which Señor Ninot is accused of being. This possibility leaves great reason to doubt Ninot's own culpability and instead cast it upon any that he managed to show were treasonous by giving them the opportunity to voice their treasonous thoughts while believing they were in an environment safe for the airing of such thoughts.

As for Señor Ninot, his wit and wisdom would seem enough that he is incapable of making the incredibly foolish decision to begin such a potentially treasonous discussion if he actually intended to overthrow our Lord Togas. Señor Ninot is a wise man whatever else he may be and clearly he would have known that to begin such a discussion would inevitably raise the interest of the Office of the Watcher and that of Lord Togas himself. Clearly he knew that records of such discussions would reach back to the ear of Lord Togas.

Therefore, I assert that clearly Señor Ninot fully intended for this discussion to come back to Lord Togas! The reason he would have so intended is clear. He began the subject of discussion in order to discern which nobles of Spain, if any, might be foolish enough to take the bait. My memory leads me to believe that there may have been some who did so, but I honestly do not recall which. In doing this, Ninot provided what is potentially an enormous public service and a great service to Lord Togas in particular!

To prove his innocence, therefore, all Señor Ninot need do is to name the names of those nobles of Spain which he successfully lured into speaking of such conspiracies and their possible support of them! Clearly, if that was Señor Ninot's honorous intent as a commited citizen of Spain and subject of Lord Togas, he would have no problem with doing so! Then Lord Togas and the Office of the Watcher under Señor Torquemada can begin to look into the matter of appropriate admonishment for those foolish nobles who spoke out against Lord Togas.

In the future, the nobles of Spain will then remember to be careful to stay away from seditious discussion and Señor Ninot will be remembered for his great service to Lord Togas in providing this lesson to the potentially treasonous.

If Señor Ninot is innocent, as his character would seem to indicate that he is, he would obviously have no trouble in doing just such a thing. And if his intent was indeed to ferret out potential traitors, clearly he would remember their names more clearly than I, who endeavored to mostly stay away from such seditious discussion.

Let Señor Ninot speak on this matter then!

*Señor Diego Clemente sits down after completing his testimony for the defense.

[ooc] [/ooc]

[Ninot]

Originally posted by ruby_maser
I say that, if Señor Ninot makes it through this, we need to all chip in for the customary $5, bottle of booze, and a hooker that comes with surviving a trial for your life. If...

woohoo!

[Ninot]

This response is pertaining to Arnelos' testimony.

First off, I'd like to congratulate Diego on being able to testify truthfully for both sides of the trial.

What he says, is true, atleast for the defense.

GoW was getting sweet with us, trying to get techs and great deals. MANY present at the time were openly discussing their opinion that they thought Togas was wrong on the issue of GoW, and some suggested we would get in trouble for it.

I did raise the question of "What error would Togas need to make for the masses to turn against him?". I raised this question to see who had a propper idea of when they might committ treachery. To my relief, no one present really had an idea of when they would turn against Togas.

If the prosecutor would like names as to who had betrayful thoughts on Togas, I might be able to remember them once my innocense is recognized.

But as for myself, I never pondered the idea of treachery. Many times, before, during, and after the chat, I supported Togas' views of both GF and GoW, and I never once suggested Togas be overthrown. But with treacherous thought in the room, it piqued my curiosity to know who MIGHT be pondering it.

As for my bull**** meter... i would have had it ON, if i wasnt misinformed. I was told, by those present, a mis-truth. As i had a personal chat going with GF (as many had that night).. i would have known he was bull****ting if i didnt already have a wrong-fact from the RP room.

I still proclaim my innocense. Others in the room may have questioned Togas, but they did not comitt treason either.

No one is guilty of this crime as of yet, in my opinion. But perticularly, i am innocent.

[Thud]

I note that my father once spoke to me and questioned Togas in private in the very same manner. I have no doubt that he, and Ninot, were in the act of questioning, working for our Great Leader's further glory. And it is good to have public discussion of this as well. What if our Lord is killed or captured by enemies? We must have a procedure to follow so that our civilization will not collapse in the absense of his wise guidance.

[DAVOUT]

FINAL ACCUSATION

We have been badly impressed by the witnesses who limited their declarations to a violent denial of the legitimacy of the Court; it is common practice among the terrorists, conspirators and other traitors to refuse a convincing demonstrating of their innocence, and prefer attacking the institutions; and doing so they just make easier to classify the accused as a culprit.

But those who have attempted to really defend the accused have met an extremely difficult task: either they comfort the common idea that Ninot is a clever and sensible person, and it is then difficult to believe that he acts with flightiness without thinking that his words can be misinterpreted, or he is a very simple man, almost idiot, unable to anticipate the negatives consequences of what he says. In both cases, this man is dangerous : if he had planned deliberately the conspiracy or if he had inadvertently induced other people to undertake it.

An astute witness, recognizing the weakness of this reasoning, tried to reconcile both ideas. Ninot would have made, on his own initiative, and without prior informing the Despot or the Watcher, a provocation aiming to bring candidates conspirators to declare themselves. Interesting but unbelievable; nobody can accept that a noble carrying so tortuous and Machiavellian ideas would be naïve enough not to put this project under the protection of the highest authority. Which is still more interesting for the case is that Ninot accepted in his final defence this thesis, therefore recognizing that he has said what he is accused of having said. He even went further, declaring that he will tell the name of those nobles who fell into the trap, if he was declared innocent.

We need not to insult the justice to get those names: we knew them before him.

Therefore we conclude that the accused Ninot has committed the crime of treason of the Despot and of hight treason of Spain, and we respectfully request the Court to condemn Ninot to the most ignominious death only deserved by the traitors.


Christofo de Torquemada

[Ninot]

I conclude the court is corrupt.

Im prepared to die, but this system will not go on long. The Ninot family will see to that.

[DAVOUT]

Before the Court tell its findings, the High Priest will intervene.

[E_T]

/me send this note via carrier pigeon to the court

I am now returning from Saragossa, to present my evidence to the court on Ninot's behalf. I should arrive by the end of the day.

[ooc]
I need a little time to get this all together
[/ooc

Letus Eta Tamali