The European Family

[Toasty]

Elizabeth was in her drawing room. Her nation was moving forward in time and technology. She went over the letters drafted by her staff, including her foreign advisor, who picked up decrees from the Consulate.

Putting down her Science advisory, about her nation's discovery of metallurgy and the proposed sharing of wealth between the nations to improve the all-around military aspect of the alliance, her eye caught a letter from the Consulate.

Elizabeth had been waiting for this. Finally, after so many years of agony, fighting, and working to be on the Consulate, she had been accepted: she knew this was the letter for it.

But, as she read further, her heart sank. Her brow furrowed, a sneer came across her face, and she breathed more and more heavily.

Elizabeth dropped the letter on the floor and left the room. The letter was the declaration of the 3-person Consulate.

"I wilt not longer be so denied my right," she grumbled. "If Bismarck doth desire to beat my besieged mind so, then I shalt bring my seige to his doorstep."

---

Mao had ruled China as Emperor for well over 4000 years. Asia had a system somewhat similar to that of Europe, but not so formal or officially written down: there was no "Consulate," but laws and borders had no real meaning because each had its own standard so similar. Free trade was made and this happened naturally; not out of obligation, but out of agreement.

Alexander had chosen to consult China most reasonably because of Mao's long-standing vendetta with Bismarck. The two had planned a sort of united press between the West and the East, as the two were the only nations in the world with the technology. This however, soon unravelled because of the hatred between general Europe and the "lesser" Asians. Frustrated and upset, Mao ordered Bismarck's printing company set on fire. This resulted in a great deal of hate as the two could never seem to get along.

A messenger came in with a letter from Greece, dust-covered and scratched. As he unfolded the papyrus and read the writing, Mao knew that he could finally have his demands on the Consulate enforced.

[Toasty]

Joan clasped the hand of Hammurabi. Meeting in the ancient city of Babylon, Hammurabi had greeted the "haunted" Joan earlier, and in an effort at royal marriage had them wed under the Royal Babylonian crown.

The marriage was deep-rooted; France, long one of the few nations who believed that the Middle Eastern nations of Persia and Babylon, had gained great prestige in the bombastic speeches of Hammurabi and the old Xerxes. The oldest of nations and among the earliest supporters of the Consulate, the had been denied power largely because of their ethnicity and Xerxes' rule over the first Consulate, which was little more than a coordinated military junta.

Alexander had long loathed Hammurabi--they had fought a war in Anatolia, which was by and large considered a draw (though both the leaders claimed ultimate victory), and he had gone to great lengths in convincing Joan to vote a deciding vote on the expulsion of Caesar. This incensed Alexander's fury, and the greatest of all hostilities within the family was resulted.

Now, with the Consulate elections up and coming, Xerxes, Joan and Hammurabi had built a "triumvirate" of political alliance in order to assure their respective seats on the Consulate. "The Bismarckian era of Consulate dominance doth be due to its deathbed," Hammurabi said in his declaration of the Triumvirate alliance.

As they walked up the hundred steps of the Hanging Gardens, Hammurabi whispered in Joan's ear, "we must hath done to Alexander what we hath be done to Caesar--I wilt hath him hanged."

---

Chinese troops amassed on the Indo-Persian border. The plans provided by Alexander, in order to bring about immediate destruction, involved a fell swoop through the Mideast, directly to Babylon.

The letter to Mao, filled with dirty, truthful lies of Hammurabi's atrocities had incensed the ruler after he had executed Chinese merchants claimed to be "dispelling dirty lies of the great Hammurabi," without trial. Hammurabi had not been reprimanded, and thus, the Asians sought to dismantle his political prowess as an up-and-coming politician before he had the power to lead a second Euro-Asiatic war.

The Chinese pikemen and riders lined, as the general issued a general order to charge in 6 hours.

---

Alexander sat in wait of the dining room, sipping on fine Tuscanian wine and awaiting word of the Chinese invasion. But he was soon interrupted by a running messenger, screaming the urgency.

"Lord Alexander! Lord Alexander! You doth hath recieved word from thy Consulate court! You are to be tried for treason!"

Alexander dropped his wine glass, which spilled its dark red substance on the white marble floor.