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Aurangzeb Khan
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Location: The Citadel, Ardashirshahr

The New Age

Post by Aurangzeb Khan »

Vijayanagara, Lesser Zjandaria

The Khan was sat at the head of the banqueting table where he found himself reclining back into his ornate padded chair and starring at the jewel encrusted ceiling wondering at his good fortune. He certainly had good cause to wonder since it was frankly remarkable that such a prominent Osmani had managed to survive the avenging knives of the Elfinshi for so long. Nonetheless it was inevitable that they would once more come for him and eventually even a brutally efficient security apparatus structured along the Babkhan model would not be enough to keep him safe. His enemies only had to be lucky once. Contemplating those thoughts the Khan found his mind wandering on to the subject of transient pleasure and how best to debauch himself when next the opportunity arose.

It was a modest working lunch. Roasted quail wrapped in larks tongue and cooked together with mushrooms and chopped onions in a garlic butter and herb sauce. All washed down with bottles of the local Shiraz and an excellent Treesian Red. The Khan was contented with his meal and requested that his complements be passed to the chef, which was fortunate as this saved the individual in question from a particularly nasty execution that had otherwise been scheduled, in which an over-vigorous bull and a certain amount of lubricant were due to have featured prominently. Instead of being torn assunder by unnatural congress the chef was greatly relieved to be overseeing the preparation of the Matbaic style Baklava for dessert.

The Management Board of the Celestial Bureaucracy of the County of Lesser Zjandaria in Elwynn, to give it its full title, had assembled in the Khan's Palace at Vijayanagara to discuss the outcome of the Count of Hyperborea's bold gambit for the Imperial Throne. A gambit which had, in the face of all expectation, resulted in Count Hesam becoming overnight Kaiser Hasan. The Count had risked every thing to gain the supreme prize and along the way had made certain sacrifices in order to outbid the other serious contender, the popular Duke of Yardistan, a certain Jacobus Loki. One sacrifice by Hesam had been the renunciation of his Babkhan citizenship. While a sensible move which served to calm fears which would have otherwise united opposition to his bid for the throne Hesam's bold move had raised eyebrows in certain quarters.


The Deputy Chief Director of County Security, Delir Eghbal, stood to address the assembled well-fed bureaucrats.

"I have received from my counterparts in the SAVAK a further request for an update on the situation in Shirekeep. This is the fifth request since the coronation. Our Babkhan brothers, it would appear, have been greatly unsettled, by the recent turn of events."

The Khan burped. Several of those present coughed in embarassment or else starred longingly at the space of the table where their plates had been cleared from. A few of the more sycophantic attempted to belch themselves so as to emulate the Khan and thus defuse the shame of his conduct by making it commonplace behaviour. It was rather like the time when the Khan had attempted to address a meeting in the language of the Elws but had made several basic yet glaring grammatical errors - errors which all subsequent speakers, including native speakers, were forced to repeat for fear of upsetting the Khan - who was notoriously touchy about having his more obvious mistakes pointed out, especially when in company.

Farrokh, the County Forrester, had however been paying more attention to the Deputy Chief.
"No wonder. They are probably wondering how the Kingdom will benefit from the good fortune of its errant son."

"I am not so sure" replied Delir, "my contacts seem paranoid about something. The new Grand Vizier, Farzan, is busy constructing his new personality cult and purging Jahandarist elements from his administration. Hesam being out of the country has helped move his along but now he has a powerbase in one of the Kingdom's greatest allies. This, to say the least, complicates matters."

"I am rather surprised" said Valeh Vajiheh, a Babki woman of aristocratic lineage who had been recently promoted to the position of Divisional Director of the County Administrative Service and was widely tipped to replace her nominal boss the Executive Director of the County Service, Gorgin Hafez, who was blamed for delays in efforts to rebuild the shattered county infrastructure, and who, understandably, was absolutely paranoid and hated his pretty young subordinate's guts. "I thought the Babkhan model of Sovereign Democracy would have led Agha Jahandar to take a new position within the power structure once his term ended that would have assured his continued rule."

Gorgin Hafez looked as though he was quite ready to lunge across the table and strangle her. However he must have thought that it would have made him seem uncivil in front of his host had he have done so. Instead he contented himself to mumbling. "I would have said Qadi, with a stranglehold on the economy, did the trick in that regard."

Valeh did not even condescend to cast Gorgin a second glance, let alone reply. Her 'boss' was after all tainted with Elw blood, and therefore, in her eyes, quite unfitted to be even sat at the table let alone the head of one of the great departments of the county state.

It was Delir who replied.

"He automatically lost all of his offices and rank when he resigned his citizenship. Kamalshahr is in uproar over this. Some consider him to be a genius, others call him a traitor. Many more consider him to be both. There are even rumours that a secret denunciation has been drafted at the highest levels."

Suddenly the Khan found himself paying attention. He was not liking what he was hearing.

"Rubbish! Agha Eghbal, you would do well not to spoil the minds of those here present with your ridiculous fables about what may or may not be happening in the old fatherland. If you wish to tell tall tales perhaps you should consider a change in career and be a novelist, or worse - a journalist, instead."

The Deputy Chief knew that it was best not to displease the Khan, especially when he was in his cups and his malice was spiked with drink, and - with discretion being the better part of valour - resolved to sit down.

The Khan mumbled for a moment or two as he slurred his words and seemed to have trouble remembering what it was he was trying to say, before gathering himself together and once more continuing in a defiant tone,

"I can assure you all that there have been no secret denunciations... no secret trials..."

A few of those present cast confused glances at each other - surely no one had mentioned anything about secret trials.

"No... whatever... you will all do well to remember that my cousin is none other than the Grand Commander of the Imperial Babkhan Army. You can rest assured that were the government in Kamalshahr to do anything so monstrously stupid, as you suggest, I would have heard about it long before any of you here sitting at the table. So let us here no more of this silly talk. Now... where is dessert. I must confess I am still quite hungry."

It is questionable whether the Khan would have had his appetite had he known that even as he awaited the arrival of the Baklava sealed orders bearing the SAVAK seal had already been issued to a certain gentlemen en route from Eura to Vijayanagara.

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