[center][b]THE KINGDOM OF AONTAS[/b][/center]

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Eduard_Gurk_001.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][u]The Coronation of Kristian IX[/u][/center]

In Kienne the mood was somber even as the summer sweltered and warm rains washed over the fjords and deep vales. The distant and reverberate tone of iron bells summoned villager and townsman from their dwellings as the funeral procession of King Matthias wound down country roads and through villages and towns on its way from the King's place of death at his summer palace in Kahsrue to the crypts of St. Margreth in the heart of the capital. A monk bearing a crucifix led the procession, followed by a company of lifeguards, then a group of monks who intoned the death chant. 

[i]"Dies iræ, dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando Judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus![/i]

Next the hearse, and last of all the carriage bearing Prince Kristian, who would be the ninth to bear that name, and his mother who was careworn and face was streaked with bitter tears. For his part, the Aontan prince just stared out the window of the coach, watching the dull villagers stroll up to the roadside, some holding posies and other wild flowers to throw in front of the hearse. His jaw tightened and then relaxed. His was a youthful face, left unscarred by the carnage of battle which had wounded his younger brothers. A bitter irony it was father to die first, and more to the point - peaceably in his sleep. Kristian heard the whispers in the palace, watched the officers come and go by night, and knew that he was inheriting a troubled kingdom. 

Funerals gave way to wakes gave way to summer nights, especially one summer night when he was summoned before the Archbishop at Kienne. Dressed in finery that the forty-two-year-old heir found particularly silly, he appeared before his first audience - a crowd of aristocrats, military officers, clergy, and foreign diplomatic officials. There, with few words, the crown was placed upon his head, and its weight fell like a crushing blow on his head from the gnarled fingers of the old Archbishop. 

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Karl_XIV_Johan%2C_king_of_Sweden_and_Norway%2C_painted_by_Fredric_Westin.jpg/200px-Karl_XIV_Johan%2C_king_of_Sweden_and_Norway%2C_painted_by_Fredric_Westin.jpg[/img][/center]
[center][i]Kristian IX, King of Aontas[/i][/center]

[u]Diplomatic Action[/u]

An envoy is sent to the Ubrans to hammer out the terms of a peace treaty. The Kingdom of Aontas agrees to cede all of mainland Torrik to The Kingdom of Ubren in exchange for (1 the safe release of all Aontan prisoners of war and 2) an agreement to allow all Aontan nationals both military and civilian to freely emigrate from Torrik to Kienne unmolested. 

[u]Military Action[/u]

The fleets stationed in Torrik and the surrounding provinces are used to transport displaced troops, released prisoners, and refugees to Fjall in the Torrikan islands or to Kienne. Local authorities are authorized to petition the national government for funding to provide housing and relief for those displaced by the war. 

[u]National Action[/u]

Government loans of up to 3,000 Aontan Crowns are apportioned for master gunsmiths to develop new weapons for the Army, whose firearms are in need of modernization. The program, run by the Aontan Army, is instructed to invest in new designs and patterns that show promise in being mass-produced.