"Really? And what are the details of this slander?""Some foul person in Frankfort hired thugs to kill an innocent traveler in an inn. Fortunately the plot was discovered . . . but the thugs had been paid in Stagonian gold coins."
"Oh, surely not."
"But, sire, they made the mistake of using the coins of the late King Maurice."
"But we have replaced all of those coins with those of our likeness (see photo above -- click for larger image) . . . due to the sad circumstances of his death. Surely given that it was Frankfort suspicion must fall upon the Frankszonians as the true perpetrators of this vile attempt."
(for more information see the account of the Markgraaf of Raubenstadt).
10 comments:
I suspect swords are being sharpened!
Such interactions, specially if 'spontaneous', between members of our League are among the greatest points of 'Emperor vs Elector'.
Surely noone would stoop so low as to slander him as ... Stagonian!
Hi (Stagonian) Jeff,
What with all the knee trouble we've been having recently, it only seemed natural to write about it on the blog. (Of course, our circumstances were not anywhere near as dramatic. I hope!)
The Grand Duke of Frankzonia has indeed shown in the past, that he has a fine grasp of the mind of a conspirator, but it was ever the way of Stagonia to sow deception and suspicion among allies.
Agent von Mack is swimming in deep and murky waters.
Martin,
Stagonians are much like certain politicians . . . nothing is ever their fault (even if it is a direct result of their actions).
And my knee is better than it has been (although I'm still using a cane -- even in the house) . . . I'm even off of the prescription pain-killers right now . . . although I sleep a lot, I just woke up from an hour-long nap.
Agent von Mack can swim in any waters he wishes to . . . although some may suspect him now that he's flashing some Stagonian gold around . . . *grin*.
-- Jeff (sometimes of Stagonia)
Then again, the Raubenstat high bloods are also in town ... and they're just as likely as that obese innocent, the Hurtshog, to have hoarded foreign money to cloud the scent ...
Of course, any Stagonian minter could be trusted not to hoard the old coins while debasing the new ... and whatever passes for intelligence in Stagonia surely wouldn't be shrewd enough to keep some of the older coins ???
Or perhaps some distant cousin is laying a plot?
If asked, virtually anyone in Saxe-Bearstein would volunteer the opinion that the thugs were indeed hired by a vile Stagonian agent.
-- Jeff of Saxe-Bearstein
To (further) slander Ludwig's good name? Nobody could be insane enough to attempt such an impossible achievement!
So it was certainly a real Stagonian agent, clumsy as they all are. Who kept his 'maurician' coins, sure as he was that the new ones would be of inferior alloy (2 'Maurice' + some silver and copper -> 3 'Ludwig').
Counterfeiting his own money is probably the one and only vile thing the (relatively) lamented king Maurice never did: his son filled this pathetic gap.
Did the Stagonian minters believe they could turn base metals into gold without the philosopher's stone? Anyway, when smelt closely, a 'Ludwig' exhales the delicate 'rotten egg' fragrance of hydrogen sulfide. The general comment is that Stagonia has at least the money it deserves.
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