Once upon a time in a land probably somewhere in Europe, there is a country. We'll call it Landam. Landam is a prosperous place, filled with natural resources and located at a strategic crossroads. A major trade route goes directly through the country and many more routes are in its vicinity. This makes it an ideal places for traders and merchants to set up shops and peddle their goods. Bustling caravans and reasonable tax grows Landam's coffer to an enormous size, enough for it to buy its neighboring states. Coupled with a sound and pragmatic leader, Queen Aleeza the Third, Landam is set to be the central hub of trading in the entire continent.
With its success, there also lies its problem. Landam is surrounded by all sides with at least one country with some military presence. Landam itself, however, does not carry any sizable forces. Focusing on trades and diplomacy, the first governing body deems arm forces unnecessary. Why would they go through the trouble of raising an army when alliances and ties could be a better deterrence for war? They consider the cost of having foods and equipment too big a burden for Landam to bear. Due to this shortsightedness, Queen Aleeza is suffering headache and indigestion for many months now. For jealousy and envy are the flaws of men and men with massive armies and war machines will always vie for the next conquest. If Landam is to survive mounting tension and greeds, Queen Aleeza must come up with a solution that can last through the ages.
Knowing her predecessors favor diplomatic solution, Queen Aleeza looks into their treaties and marriage arrangement. Something that would tie the Landam to another country via alliances, that if Landam were attacked, it will draw another country into the war as well. She hopes at least a few people have thought of these ideas and she will only need to invoke some agreement to avoid a war. To her surprise, she is right. Under a dusty old pile of treaties paper, she found documents of arranged marriages. They contains a few tiny, unimportant marriages of distance relatives to low status nobles, too low to even matter in historical senses. Regardless, it was documented carefully, with great details on whose house the bride and groom are from. As if someone is expecting that it will be useful one day. Transcribing to her own notes, Queen Aleeza is awestruck on how meticulous these marriages have been planned.
Since the beginning of a formal claim to make Landam a sovereign state, nearby regions are intermarried through a tangled web of minor noble houses. From the outside, it merely looks like some houses trying to move up the nobility ladder. It is a common and perfectly legitimate reason that individual aristocrats attempt to ally themselves to highest social class. However, if one traces these documented marriages far enough, they're bound to reach a certain duchess or lord that has close ties to the current kings and queens. In fact, it would be difficult to invade a country where your favorite nephew's grandmother is residing in. That would cause protest in the court and certainly make the family feast awkward.
"A Grand Ball followed by a feast with all these people in Landam would surely remind people our ties to their causes, least they start getting ideas", Queen Aleeza thought. Turning this into a reminder of total war might allow Landam to stay clear of conflicts for some time. Thus she orders preparation for the upcoming Autumn Ball to signify unity, to showcase the important of friendship and family. It won't make a dent in the coffer and she'll secure Landam's future with its lavish display of wealth and extravagance. Everybody with a noble root will be invited, they will mingle and drink to stupor or fornicate themselves to exhaustion, and at the end, Landam will gently establish her connection to those who are close to ruling class.
Summer flies by with busy planning, and the Autumn Grand Ball is happening today. Queen Aleeza looks down from her high balcony, watching droves of people walking into the palace. There has never been a larger gathering in Landam history than now. She barely knows some of these people and does not even know the rest. Her maid is preparing her bath and soon, she will have to face down this monstrous task of addressing these guests. Everything must be perfect, any slight mistake will give doubt to her credibility. An hour later, she walks down the stair when the court announcer introduces her title, gripping the rail tightly, she makes her way to the center. Will it end peacefully or in bloodshed? She breathes in deeply, feeling the weight of her words. "Thank y...". A loud crash before she can finish her sentence.
A group of purple wearing guest is charging at her, the guards quickly block them in place. The crash happens because someone knocks a server right into the tea table. "To her highness", shouts the guard captain. Guardsmen with brandished swords surround the scene then another loud bang happens right behind Queen Aleeza. A wine server with a small dagger in hand is headbutted into a jewelry cabinet. She probably tries to take advantage of the confusion to assassinate the Queen. Bloodied nose, she gets up and shoulders passed a group of green masked men. They do not attempt to stop her but instead provide cover. Everyone of them has a dagger in each hand, slowly walking up to the Queen. "Ah, the professional", the Queen thinks. With precision, they start hacking away the guards one after the other, red bodies drop to the floor, leaving bloody path along their quake. They are a few meters away from their target and a giant pole swings out of nowhere, knocking a few back and sending one flying into the wall. Two large men in black, assuming to be personal guard of some duchess, decide to step in. One is holding a long flag pole while the other grabs a shield and a nearby chair. The two black guards protect the Queen from green masked assassins. Long pole is poking swiftly and swinging with massive force, ripping through the air. The chair gets smashed to pieces and one can hear the shield bash echoing through the hall. Just when green masked is withdrawing by jumping out of windows, an arrow flies straight at the Queen, but misses because one of the black guard falls on her, tripping on blood splattered marble floor. It ricochets off the shield, into the metallic heraldry on the wall, and continue to fly toward the ceiling. A few seconds later, a body drops down from the chandelier right onto a group of panicking noble ladies who are already screaming at the top of their lungs. The body knocks one lady unconscious and trips two more landing face down. Ropes start dropping from the ceiling, and leather clad assassins sliding down on them. However, the queen can no longer see anything as the tripped black guard is stabbed mercilessly to death. His body lays lifeless on top of her and his heavy shield is covering her entire view.
All she can do is close her eyes and pray, her hands grasp one another tightly. Her ears are ringing with yelling, voices, metal clashing, chandelier falling, glasses shattering. Sounds jumble in near darkness, blood drips down onto her dress. Then she hears the wooden entrance door swings wide, sending who knows down the floor. More bodies slamming into things. Rhythmic, discipline footsteps sound through the palace, and suddenly everything stops. It is silent for a minute, and yet it feels much longer as people take their time figuring out what just happens. The Queen lets out a gasp, and people clamoring to peel off bodies on top of her. Leaning against her nephew, drenched in blood and sweat, Queen Aleeza limping toward the backroom.
"Every major house is implicated. Not a single one of them in there who did not plan a coup or an assassination", speak Alson, her nephew. "I even caught an unknown assassin as we tailed a known one and he accidentally recognizes his fellow guild mate. The nobles are arguing among themselves and blaming who should be responsible and who should be rewarded. It's a bloody mess and an even bigger political mess". The Queen shakes her head, despite her recent near death experience, she still possesses a level head.
"This is what we want, start rewarding those who aided us during the Grand Ball. We need to send them tributes to show our good faith and the rest will start follow. They must ally with us to show that they're innocent of what happened. We have them by their short and curlies now".
Picture Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/306033737151732858/
