Your Grace of Nijmork, Lords and Ladies Spiritual and Temporal, Masters Delegate, Members of the Popular Assembly by my Writ hereunto convoked:   

         It is with overwhelming joy and satisfaction that we address you once again from this Throne from which we have addressed you so often in the past, before the miseries and oppressions of the recent usurpation, and from which our royal ancestors have inspired and governed this nation since time immemorial. We have convoked you at this time to lay before you certain of our plans and intentions and the drafts of certain laws which our Government has drawn up with great sagacity and diligence during the exciting and eventful days just before and since our recent glorious Restoration. We have taken counsel with the Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors and with the Presidents and Directors of the various subsidiary boards and departments which work under them. After much discussion, we have arrived at the conviction that those enactments which we will lay before you in summary during this address, and to which you will have access in full draft form immediately upon the conclusion of this Solemn Opening, are just and necessary for the welfare of the whole Nation and of all Altlandic people everywhere, in all corners of this Kingdom and of the Vexillium. The particulars of some of these enactments will be explained to you shortly by the officers of state to whose jurisdictions and governmental charges they most directly pertain. But for this present meeting, we think it meet that we ourselves lay before you for your consideration and advice, and for your eventual consent, three great matters which pertain to the state of the commonweal as a whole.

         First, as regards the Royal Succession: Following the example of our dear and much venerated father, King George I Amadeus of happy memory, who passed his latter years leading the life of a monk at the Royal Palatine Abbey of St. Victor, leaving the affairs of state in the capable hands of our equally venerated mother, Queen Marie Rose Blanche, who exercised a regency in his name, we have ourselves since our youth followed a monkish way of life, at least in so far as such has been compatible with the burdens and public requirements of our great and sacred office as king. In accordance with this, we have vowed and practiced lifelong celibacy and have, as a consequence, produced no heir of our body to whom the most august and necessary office of King may be passed on, in natural course, according to the more recent traditions of our land. This land has, however, yet more ancient traditions to draw on, according to which the monarchy has been bestowed on some member of the House of Jerg Augst who is deemed by his peers and by the people of this realm, speaking through their freely chosen representatives and delegates, to be worthy and able to exercise such a great office. Thus was Jerg Augst first designated by the great Alderman Æthelweard, a choice later confirmed by the acclamation of all the people. Therefore, having regard for this most ancient tradition, and being ever mindful first and last of the stability and general welfare of this our kingdom, we have drafted a new law regulating the royal succession which will restore the essentially elective nature of the monarchy once we ourselves have passed out of this life.

         This proposed new law provides that, immediately upon the death of the Monarch, the Premier Lord, presently His Grace, the Duke of Nijmork, acting as regent and temporary head of state, will call together in this Great Hall of the Jergenpalas the standing representation maintained between sessions here in the capital by the three Houses of this Great Council. He shall then open before them a list of names drawn up by the recently deceased monarch in his days of health and soundess of mind and entrusted to the Premier Lord under seal. This list shall contain the names of those members of the nobility, being descended in a male or female line from Jerg Augst, whom the deceased monarch deemed worthy and capable of nobly carrying out the sacred office of the monarch. The three Houses of the Great Council shall then meet in separate conclave to select the new monarch from among these names, a three-fifths majority being required in each House for the same candidate in order for the election to be final and valid. Upon the consent to his election of whomever is thus chosen, he shall be proclaimed and presented to the people by the Premier Lord and the Archbishop of Midlburgh acting jointly, and upon his acclamation by the people there and then gathered, he shall be held to have succeeded legitimately to the Throne of Altland.

         Next, regarding the reclamation for the Kingdom of those territories and peoples severed from it in the unfortunate course of recent history: We have of late taken counsel with those two good Altlanders and true, Sir Alexander Alexicot and Chancellor Rijnheld Kenigsthrall, regarding the means by which the reunion of these traditonally Altlandic peoples and territories might be accomplished for the Crown and for the Nation: the provinces on the Island of Disconda, which have recently at last thrown off the Neonesian yoke, and the peninsula of Western Angliyaa, as we are wont to call it, settled centuries ago by fisherfolk from this island kingdom. We must also mention, as holding a high place among our concerns, the fate of that small settlement of Teuts-speaking Altlanders at the tip of the northern-most peninsula of Glaciaria, in a place known as Fort Capital, which is hardly farther distant from us than are our nearest independent neighbors in New Aquitania and Solelhada. We recognize that, as signatories to the Glaciaria Convention, we have renounced any and all new territorial claims in the south polar continent and that we have foresworn forever any use of that continent other than scientific investigation. But the settlement at Fort Capital is long-established, largely Altlandic in ethnic composition, and in need of effective government. Surely the Glaciaria convention, with whose guiding principles we are in complete agreement, was never intended to deprive these good people of the benefits and protections of civilized government nor to imply that, the governing authority of Northern Gronk having lapsed, apparently forever, these people should have their settlement destroyed or should be deported to their countries of origin. Both prolonged anarchy and forced deportation would be inhumane solutions to this problem and could neither be approved by world opinion nor tolerated by the Kingdom of Altland. We are determined, therefore, to watch over the interests of the settlers in Fort Captial until a permanent arrangement for their governing them can be arrived at in the context of multilateral diplomacy and in the councils of the United Nations of the Vexillium.

         Ours is a sea-faring nation whose merchant ships have for centuries traversed every sea of the Vexillium, carrying on fishing and commerce and enforcing the law of the sea against pirates and outlaw regimes. Commercial sea-going traffic is our life's blood, and naval power is, by our geographic destiny, our first line of national defense. Therefore, in these first months after the restoration of our national pride and prosperity, it is essential for us, as small land situated near the southern limits of the habitable globe, to establish for ourselves a golden chain of harbors and land bases from which our sea-going trade and its naval protection can be maintained and expanded. But this need has been rendered all the more urgent in the light of recent developments in so many parts of the Vexillium, whereby political and social instability has grown through the fall of so many governments and the neglect of governmental functions by so many regimes grown old, weak, illegitimate, and chaotic. We shall therefore, play a vigorious role in those international negotiations aimed at settling the issue of sovereignty over several coastal territories strategically located around the margins of the Vexilliam oceans, for the purpose of ensuring the safety of our shipping, the availability of harbors and fueling stations, and preserving the significant investments made in them by Altlandic merchants and manufacturers, some of whom have been resident in these places for as many as six generations. In pursuance of this policy, we will attempt to negotiate with the other nations which have a stake in the future of small coastal territories and their immediate hinterlands with a view toward possibly acquiring some extra-territorial enclaves under Altlandic sovereignty with the status of semi-autonomous Altlandic Crown Colonies. If our diplomacy in this regard should succeed, then ships and travelers from the entire Vexillium, provided they exist in a state of peace or neutrality, shall enjoy easy and unhindered access to these ports, for we would administer them as though they has been entrusted to us to hold in the name of all the peoples of the Vexilllium. We would see to it that their people, of whatever national origin, would remain forever secure from harm and safe from the destructive effects of ill-government and anarchy. These territories are well-known to all; indeed, many of you have relatives or entire branches of your families resident in them for the purposes of engaging in commerce; they are located in the hitherto unnamed archipelago lying between the northern coast of Northern Gronk and the north polar continent, in the small territiory held by Northern Gronk on the northeastern shore of Wesmeria, and in the northwestern peninsula of Maryport.

         There is yet another, more grave situation in the international sphere which must be dealt with without delay. The Church of Altland, in its unrivaled and unremitting missionary zeal, has dispatched members of it clergy and religious orders to bring the Gospel to many distant lands; in none, however, have their missions until recently been more numerous and successful than in that underdeveloped part of the Vexillium commonly known as Africablue. For some time past, this collection of tribes and petty monarchies, and the territoris they inhabit, have been for all practical purposes without effective government. The resulting anarchy has resulted in enormous loss of life and property, both to the native inhabitants themselves and to the foreigners in their midst; in addition, there have been well-confirmed reports of numberless atrocities, not a few of them against the clergy and faithful of the Church of Altland, most of them converted natives of Africablue, who together presently constitute more than two-fifths of the population. This is a situation which cries out to the nations of the civilized world for intervention and redress, a situation which we, as the protector of Altlanders world-wide and as a champion of fundamental human rights to life, liberty, and property can no longer tolerate. We have therefore determined to dispatch a specially gathered naval task-force and several regiments of the Royal Guards to restore order in those places in Africablue where members of the Church of Altland are concentrated. We undertake this after very favorable initial results have emerged from the confidential negotiations which we have been conducting with the native chieftains and potentates, whose authority will be reinforced rather than undermined or superseded by the Altlandic presence. Anticipating a successful conclusion of these negotiations, it is our royal intention shortly to proclaim an Altlandic protectorate over that portion of the nation of Africablue alluded to. This protectorate will continue to be exercised until three conditions have been met: (1) peace, security, and public order have been restored to the entire country, including those parts which may fall under the control of other powers; (2) those accused of outrageous crimes and atrocities have been formally charged, taken into custory, tried, and brought to justice; (3) a free and fair plebiscite can be held to consult the wishes of the diverse peoples of Africablue regarding the fundamental nature and functional forms of a permanent and stable government.

         These measures relating to the extension of Altlandic sovereignty to many places and populations which have not in the most recent past enjoyed its inestimable benefits will require of us the creation of new institutions and the summoning of the national spirit and will to shoulder these new responsibilities and to bear the unprecedented expenditures which they will require of us. Hence, we believe our plans for the reform of general levies, import duties, and other forms of revenue, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer will shortly put before you, have been rendered absolutely necessary by the new roles in which we shall soon find ourselves cast. These responsibilities will also require the expansion of our military, especially of our Navy, and the creation of a new branch of the land forces to be known as the Royal Altlandic Overseas Guard. The laws establishing these and regulating them will be introduced to you by the Chancellor for the Forces in the course of the next two weeks. To administer all aspects of our involvment with these new overseas territories, a fifth major chancellery, to be known as the Chancellery for Overseas Territories, will be established in the govenment.

         Finally, the third great matter which we have deemed it necessary to lay before you also has to do with foreign affairs, though it is a matter of another sort, more cultural than political. The collapse of so many governments through the Vexillium and the usurpation of governmental functions by such a varied and disreputable collection of forces both revolutionary and reactinary, all claiming to represent true democracy and so-called "human rights," all, as it were, acting in the name of that ill-defined agglomeration of individuals commonly called "the People," remind us of the virtues of our form of government and especially of the beautiful stability and trustworthiness of monarchy, provided it be limited by sound, reasonable customs and laws. We intend, therefore, to propose to the other monarchies of the Vexilllium that our kingdoms band together in a new League of Vexillian Monarchies in order to provide mutual support, to make monarchical principles of government better known, understood, and appreciated, and to promote the adoption of monarchy as the best form of government thoughout the Vexillium.

         At the same time, realizing that, although our two most immediate neighbors, the nations of New Aquitania and Solelhada, are organized on principles completely opposed to monarchy, they are nonetheless closely related by blood, language and cultural heritage to the nearly forty percent of the Altlandic population of Romandian descent, we have undertaken a special diplomatic initiative toward these two nations, with which we do not at the moment even have formal diplomatic relations, with a view toward promoting ties with them based on these strong cultural and ethnic bonds. Among other things, we are discussing with them a regional security organization as well as the establishment of Aquitanian and Solelhadan cultural institutes at the university level in Komdn, Bedavale, Sperança, and Flores, with similar institutes devoted to the study and promotion of Romandia culture to be situated in at leas two major seats of learning in each of these nations. Should these institutes meet with the anticipated succees, more will surely be established later. In recognition of the positive nature of these developments, an in exchange for solemn guarantees of the preseration of Romandian cultural autonomy, the government of Solelhada has indicated its willingness to renounced certain territorial claims which it has long held on large areas of the Altlandic provinces which once constituted the Kingdom of Romandia.

         These matters and developments, my dear peers, delegates, and popular representatives, we have thought good to bring to your special attention. There is much work to be accomplished by this Great Council for the peace, progress, and prosperity of our country, and this work will require much in the way of courage, devotion, and treasure from all of us gathered here and from all the good people of Altland who look to us for leadership and justice. We urge you to be unsparing of yourselves in the days to come, both here in the Houses of our Great Council assembled and in your efforts to bring our plans and policies to fruition when you return after adjournment to your usual places and roles throughout the land. We have every confidence in your wisdom, honor, loyalty, and patriotism. And so we leave you now to your work. May Altland prosper forever under the divine guidance and protection!