The strange Prussian politics

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-Pov of Olenna Tyrell seventh moon 286 AC

'These Prussians are insane.'

Prussian politics are a headache to understand, unlike what I had grown accustomed to over the years, keeping our family safe from the incompetence of my husband Luthor and my son Mace. The struggle in The Reach was over who had more legitimacy to claim governance of the Gardeners, and it was always disputed by lineages with the most prestige or power.

The Florents have been our historical rivals, and the fight has always been to garner the maximum amount of political support through marital alliances, with House Hightower being one of the most valuable pieces in the game, as usually House Florent and Tyrell had ties to the ancient house. Occasionally, other houses, when they managed to accumulate enough power, joined the fray with us and the Florents, but that was it: the pursuit of support, whether for economic benefits or marital alliances. The Prussians consider this policy cunning and dishonest, which only fosters internal division.

While the Prussians have never had any divisions, they always had a single goal in mind... The greatest difficulty they faced was when some of the cousins of who will be my future son tried to fight to be his regent while he reached Prussian majority age... Something very normal when the heir is considered a child, especially in such a bloody war in which he was fighting... At no time did they challenge his legitimacy to the throne or whether he should govern or not; the problem was his age... Only that my son-in-law seems to have been born to be a great statesman.

All doubts about his government died when he won his first battles, and the Prussians returned to normalcy with their direct thinking, absolute and unquestionable loyalty to their monarch, who was chosen by their god to guide them… Absolute loyalty, something that no one in Westeros could ever achieve; only something similar could be obtained with a marriage that lasted for centuries, but the Hohenzollern dynasty has almost no ties to its own nobility… Only with some important families, but even if they were all loyal to him.

Prussian politics are characterized by objectives that the Prussian State must achieve… That is, being able to advise their lord on how the best way to govern Prussia would be, and they had been divided into groups according to their ideological points.

The Militarists, who have as their reference the Minister of War and Prussian Commander Von Roon as their maximum exponent, being one of the most influential groups in Prussia... Due to the enormous expense that my son-in-law has in financing his expensive fortresses and his training camps or the construction of several hundred armories and military warehouses, this group is mainly composed of Prussian officers and commanders, whether from his army and navy, and they constantly push to increase more and more military spending to increase investment in defense, even when almost more than forty percent of the huge income of my son-in-law finances his equally large permanent army.

The Technocrats, whose references are Prussian engineers and doctors with many nobles filling their ranks, knowledgeable men like the maesters but who truly bring changes. They get along with all factions of Prussian politics, as they follow a fragment of the bible that my son-in-law wrote about "technology will bring us closer to god". That is why almost all political factions supported them or worked together with them. They only push policies on educating the "barbarians" of The Reach and the continuous financing of their research in all possible fields, being the second most funded branch of the state.

The Altgardisten, composed of very old nobles in the sense that many are over a hundred years old, since Prussian houses are relatively young compared to the houses of Westeros. Although it is a faction that would like to recover its lost privileges, it has been harshly punished and many exiled, but there they are being loyal to their king, denying all attempts to recruit them. Their idea is only to maintain the status quo, they are the most traditional in everything and they seek the complete Germanization of The Reach. Although they do not have much political power, they are the ones with the strongest knights and they constantly fight with the Militarists due to the recent changes among the senior officers that have given way to the new generations of officers.

The Magnates, composed of the richest Prussians who have generated enormous fortunes under the government of their king, are completely aligned with the Technocrats, they seek to continue expanding trade and support greatly the navy branch of the Militarists due to their role in protecting maritime trade.

The Religious, undoubtedly the most influential and are represented by the Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order, maintain total neutrality with all other factions, although they had a reputation for being very close with the Altgardisten previously.

The Pragmatists, who are a small group of nobles more open-minded than can be found among the Prussians, are somewhat like the snakes of the capital with lies and deceit, but united with honor and loyalty to their king, seeking the benefits for their king... They are not very popular, as they are very marginalized by the other factions for their way of being, although the Herzog Helmuth is their representative, being the richest and most powerful individual after my son-in-law and his right-hand man Von Roon.

And finally, the Finns, their nobles also participate as a political bloc, but mainly act as a nexus between all the other factions, trying to give applications to their ideas or reconciling between the other political blocs to only offer their king the best advice.

These are the largest groups or those that have some influence, because there are some nobles who have other points of view, but they do not have the support or the funds.

All these groups of Prussians are going to meet in a palace that was recently built in the surroundings of Highgarden to discuss some reforms that my son-in-law wants to implement, in addition to a discussion that they classify as very important.

I'm invited by the Hochmeister to observe everything, but everything seems so strange. Watching how the Prussians are so internally harmonious, almost without divisions.

Upon arriving at this palace, which was very tall, I could clearly distinguish how the Prussian factions were divided: the militarists with their military uniforms, the Altgardisten with their knight armor, the magnates carrying all the luxury allowed by Prussian sumptuary law, the religious wearing white habits with the black cross, while the other factions wore a bit of everything.

"Ah, Lady Tyrell, what a pleasure to see you on this great day that our God has granted us to discuss important matters for the prosperity of the kingdom," said the giant Charles.

"I appreciate your invitation, Ser Charles. I was curious about the internal policies of the Prussians," I said with a slight smile, playing my role of adorable mother.

"You have nothing to thank me for. You will always be welcome at these meetings, being the mother of my king," said Charles with a big smile.

"What will be discussed today?" I asked with interest to the knight who was ushering me through the crowd of Prussian nobles and officers.

"Well, today we will discuss the king's proposals... Let me check the list... The king is considering establishing state insurances to protect merchants' merchandise in exchange for a monthly payment in cases of pirates or theft... The establishment of letters of marque to encourage private individuals to keep the seas free of pirates outside the area our king must protect, through payments for each pirate ship captured or sunk... The establishment of a medical university, considering that there is finally a good number of young people who have learned to read and write... And the most important one at the moment, the creation of a state Gewerkschaft to guarantee minimum security for workers, as well as to reward loyal workers with vacations," said Charles, reading his long list.

"Well, we have some requests from the factions: recruiting more police officers, expanding the road network, expanding the state postal service, creating standardized military schools throughout The Reach, creating youth clubs, sports clubs, creating community jobs, changes to the penal code so that offenders of minor offenses can pay with community service, the mandatory sending of children and young people to schools, among other requests that must be reviewed, Lady Tyrell," said Charles, quickly scanning several sheets.

"Is it true that all you do is give advice and requests? Don't you try to influence my son-in-law with your power?" I said somewhat puzzled to hear that hundreds or thousands of nobles gather to give advice or their opinion.

"It depends on how influential the king is... But it's all advice. Most Prussian monarchs have wills of steel. Besides, it is our duty as vassals to prevent factional politics from weakening the kingdom, as there are good and bad kings at all times, but we must always provide them with all the tools they need to make the changes they consider best. That's why loyalty must be absolute..." said Charles, making a slight grimace.

We changed places within the palace, which had several levels where the nobles were settling, and I headed to the area where the Teutonic Order was seated.

"Charles... Can you tell me what's going on here? Have we fallen so far into degeneration that we now allow the presence of women in this meeting?... Again, you're doing a horrible job as Hochmeister," said a tall noble in armor.

"She is the mother of the king..." Charles tried to say.

"She still isn't... And yet, even though the law allows her to be here, tradition dictates that the presence of women in this council is not accepted," said the knight, looking at me with a disapproving face.

I tried to speak, but Charles wouldn't allow it.

"Let's avoid discord... We are here to debate peacefully. There's no need for conflict here," said Charles in a calm tone.

"Ah, once again the passivity that characterizes you, Grand Hochmeister... Last time, because of your lack of action, one of the king's most loyal nobles was exiled, and now you fill our councils with... foreigners," said the noble, turning and walking to his seat.

"I apologize for this display from my colleagues... Many still think we should have been much harder with our religious stance," said Charles as he went to start the meeting.

I walked to my seat alongside several Teutonic knight priests on a second floor of the building, and I watched as Charles took a seat in a chair and called everyone's attention.

Charles began by thanking his God for the beautiful day and proceeded to present all the decisions of his king. I saw how almost all the nobles took notes of what was happening. When Charles finished presenting everything, the nobles began to gather and started discussing whether the idea was good or could be improved.

The Teutonic knights began to spread throughout the palace complex, and Charles started conducting votes by a show of hands if they agreed with the ideas, and the Teutonic knights counted the votes. Almost all the ideas were accepted unanimously. The creation of a Gewerkschaft, where I saw how each faction brought a recommendation of what changes should be made.

Subsequently, the requests to the king were carried out, which were received by Charles after there was a long debate about why their ideas were necessary and vital for the kingdom's progress or internal security.

After several minutes of listening to the nobles explaining their ideas, the meeting was concluded, but the most important event for the nobles began, as they gathered in their groups and began to see what they would give the king for his wedding. All the nobles boasted that their gifts would be the best.

Everyone talked about giving him jewels, gold, fine clothes, technological objects, art, statues, objects of historical or religious significance, horses, armor, swords, ships. Everyone spoke with a strong tone that they would be giving him.

But a group of naval officers just stood silently, though one of them already had a triumphant look when they heard what the others were going to give him.

'These Prussians... I don't understand them... If I didn't know them a little, I'd think I was surrounded by madmen.'

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I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.

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