Empire to Republic, the Changes Begin [World Plot/Private]

Octavius sighed and rubbed his temples. He was built for the battlefield, not an office. But, this was a necessary evil, turning an Empire into a Republic was a long, tedious, tiring process but it would hopefully improve things in the long run. The Empire had begun to crumble the moment Kou had infiltrated the capital city and placed Lagi on the throne. Since then, there had been no Empire, simply a country barely held together under the leadership of an inexperienced, young, rash man and the dedication of a few dedicated individuals without all of the necessary experience to keep things running smoothly. And so he, Roark, Cassandra, and Wei Tenji had begun the process of finding appropriate leaders for different sectors of the country.

Luckily, the military was the simplest thing to sort out. Octavius was the head of the Fanalis Corps, Lagi was leading the controversial Unity Corps and the Reim military had a solid General leading it.


General Lucius Scipio had served in the Reim military before the first attack from Kou and had been a valuable asset when repelling the most recent invasion. He and Octavius had fought together before, often training their troops together to help build a sense of trust and comradery between the Reim military and the Fanalis Corps. Lucius was a gruff man, dedicated to his military duty and his country. He would make a fine chair on the Council floor. Together, Lucius, Octavius, and Lagi would sit on the Council to represent the military matters.

Wei Tenji had already offered to become the voice of the Education program, but she realized her Kou heritage would do her no favors. If Emperor Yoshiro were to call her home, she would have no choice but to return. Luckily, she worked closely with Artemis, and he would also be present. Artemis had already done amazing work with the new programs and schools were expanding all over the country. He, of course, had a flurry of people working under him, but he made a fine figure to officially represent the Education programs on the council.

Now, Octavius, Roark, and Cassandra were looking through possible candidates for the Treasury, knowing it would need to be someone above reproach, unable to be bribed or coerced. The Treasury was the lynchpin of the Council, responsible for deciding which programs to fund with the money of the country and which ones needed to be cut. They would have to look at not only the financial implications, but the good of the country as a whole. Most programs would not be profitable but were a necessary expenditure. They had a few prospects, but Octavius did not have enough financial experience to have much input. Cassandra was the one most experienced with running the Treasury, but her skills were best put to use in Social programs. The decision on the Treasury would most likely be left up to her and she seemed to be leaning towards a young woman by the name of Ophelia. Though young, the woman had a mind for numbers and had proven herself an asset in managing the limited funds of the Treasury so far under Cassandra’s direction.

The Labor Force was another area of uncertainty. While Azix had been heading the Workforce Program, Octavius was adamant that each Council member should be a Reim native, as it would ease the worries of the citizens. He would speak with Azix about having someone else take over the Workforce Initiative. The Marquis had other duties, namely being an Ambassador from Kou, meaning he, like Wei Tenji, could be called back to Kou at any time. Plus, he was a continued reminder of the country that had done so much damage to the now-fragile Reim Empire. Though he had done countless good for Reim, his nationality alone was enough to make Reim citizens uncomfortable. No, it would be best to find another to take his place.

The Guild leaders already had their own Council, of sorts, and they would be deciding on their own the candidates they wished to send to represent their interests on the Council. Given the wide variety of Guilds in the country, they would have more than one representative present, though only one would speak for the whole. Many of the Guilds had taken to working in conjunction with the Workforce Initiative, taking advantage of the free labor to train skilled individuals to become valuable assets to the Guilds. Between the labor Guilds and the merchant Guilds, Octavius was interested to see how this would all play out.

He knew he might need to enlist the services of the Unity Corp to help filter out some of the candidates, it would be good practice for the fledgling group or spies and bodyguards. He had heard good things about at least a portion of the Unity Corps, the young Fanalis, Bahir, heading up the intelligence network and personally seeing to the training of his underlings. He was still concerned about Lagi’s usage of the Unity Corps to subdue citizens when it was completely outside the set scope of the Unity Corps, but there had not been a repeat of the incident. It also seemed the young ruler had given up his bloodlust for Heliohapt, thank goodness. The last thing Reim could afford right now was a pointless war fueled by a well-intentioned ruler’s rash decisions.

He did wonder how Lagi would take his sudden loss of power as the country transitioned from an Empire to a Republic, from what he had personally seen of the young El Nagi, he seemed to try and hoard power. The young ruler made the mistake of believing power meant people would love and exalt him, but his decisions on the throne had led to a very firm split in the citizens. Some saw the good he was trying to do while others saw only an unfit ruler given the throne by an enemy nation which resulted in one of the most deadly wars Reim had faced in decades. He only hoped Lagi would take away the lesson to be more mindful of the long-term effects of his seemingly good intentions. If he did not, the Unity Corps would fall and the citizens would have even more reason to distrust their leaders.

Octavius sighed again, flipping through yet another candidate. Cassandra looked up at the sound, shooting the General an understanding smile.

“Octavius, go get some rest. An Empire is not built overnight and neither is a Republic. Besides, I am sure you have other concerns…”

Octavius nodded, giving the woman a grateful smile before pushing to his feet. She was correct, he had other matters to see to. Sly should be returning soon with information on the stolen corpses of the Fanalis Corps. There was also the matter of the slave group that had kidnapped Merrze for a short time. He also needed to check in with Ayero, the woman had disappeared for quite some time, claiming she was going on an adventure, but with any luck, she would return soon, as well. Octavius left Cassandra and Roark bickering over two candidates, heading into the bustling city of Remano.