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Vote for the New Byzantines
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Feb 23, 2014 01:47
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| # ? Jun 2, 2024 02:35 |
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 Where many of my fellow Senators in the other parties seek to focus the empire - Fraternalist Merchantilism, Milvian Orthodoxy, the Advocates' Catholicism, New Marian Militarism, Komnenian Bloodlines, and Old Roman Imperialism - in my eyes the New Byzantines only have one differing agenda: Unity. No matter whether you're a Greek Noble or a Jewish Moneylender, a Bulgarian Patriarch or a Pecheneg Tengriist, a Turkish Mercenary or even a Catholic Queen-Mother, as long as you stay loyal to the Basileus or Basilissa of Constantinople you're a true Byzantine. Our enemy is not based on who or what we are, but to whom we swear allegiance. My father was of Turkish descent, his father being a Turkish mercenary who was granted minor estates in southern Anatolia after he saved his employer's life from the Seljuks. Since then me and those of my grand-father's lineage has stood loyal with Byzantium, with the Basilissa, and with Constantinople. And we will do so forever and again. As for the future? Seek allies wherever allies can be found, and subjugate those who wouldn't. The Russians of Kiev would make great allies in subjugating the great plains of the north; the Egyptians would make a great second horn against the Turkish Empire to the east; should we ever need to butt heads with the Croatians or Hungarians both the Catholic Empire and the Polish Kingdom would make great friends; and if the Douxes should rise again, well anyone of the above could be of assistance should the crown ever need it. We must secure the Black Sea and ensure the scattered lords' loyalty to the Basilissa. We must recover the rest of Anatolia from the Seljuk/Saminid/Turkish usurpers of the east, as well as integrate the Armenians of Cilicia into the Empire. Maybe even spread our wings further down across the Levantine, and ensure free passage for anyone and everyone who seek to make pilgrimage to the Holy City itself. Divided we are weak, but together we are strong. We can learn from one another, teach one another, and united stand against anyone who seek to remove the Imperial Crown from where it belongs: Constantinople, and in Komnenian hands. A vote for the New Byzantines is a vote for solidarity. A vote for unity. A vote for Our Future! - Tachat I Qutuzid, Turkish Nobleman of the New Byzantines Faction Luhood fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 02:23
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 A vote for the Milvians Since the Turks are in a weakened position and clearly nothing terrible could ride out from the East, we must take it upon ourselves to free our Anatolian, Armenian, and Georgian brothers from the heathen yoke.
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Feb 23, 2014 02:30
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Rincewind posted:I think it's strangely appropriate that the iconoclasts have a banner but no icon.  Better research 
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Feb 23, 2014 03:01
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This is Crete 2.0 then? So, who are the new populists, and which one of their mothers did I gently caress (Trick Question: All of them). I think I'll hold off on declaring where I stand until the next update
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Feb 23, 2014 03:49
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bunnyofdoom posted:This is Crete 2.0 then? So, who are the new populists, and which one of their mothers did I gently caress (Trick Question: All of them). The Papists are the root of all our troubles. Even the ones we don't know about yet.
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Feb 23, 2014 04:12
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 Voting for the Fraternalists I venture to say that I'm one of the... senior members in the Senate now. Many of you carry on your parents' traditions, but they are the wrong traditions! Fools, all of you, gazing nostalgically at a Pagan Rome or slavering at Churches or at the feet of the (illustrious, just and righteous) imperial family! You feign hate for the Douxes who cripple Byzantium, all the while refusing to address the problems. Every day I shout my lungs out, louder and more passionately than an Iconoclast preacher! Then why do you sit and ignore my warnings? Are you truly more bullheaded than the plebs, who rose and took arms, even for an unrighteous cause? Once more, I implore you-- if you want to see Rome rise again, if you want modernization and change, if you want power, for the Empress, for the Church, or for yourselves, join us! Join the Fraternalists, and revolutionize our glorious Empire!
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Feb 23, 2014 04:19
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 We are not conquering new lands, we are simply reclaiming what has always been ours. The Old Romans are the only faction that can possibly lead us to glory!
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Feb 23, 2014 04:24
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Ofaloaf posted:Emperors are supposed to righteous and Godly and so forth, which of course means that their spiritual perfection is reflected in their physical perfection. It then logically follows that if a ruler is physically mutilated, he is also spiritually mutilated and is therefore not morally fit to rule. Blinding was pretty popular amongst the Byzantines, because aside from the above logic it also tended to really limit the personal independence of the person blinded- they'd need help just walking from Point A to Point B. Fun story (not Byzantine related, but political mutilation related) Herod the Great of Judea was not a popular figure amongst his subjects. His father, Antipater, had risen as Pompey the Great's henchman in Judea, and Herod himself was imposed on Judea by his Roman masters (first Marc Antony, then Augustus after Antony ceased to be a safe bet). The Antipatrids/Herodians were only nominally Jewish, Antipater being the grandson of force-converted (and force-circumcised) Idumaeans/Edomites and the family always maintained a bit of a grudge about it. The Hasmonean dynasty that Pompey had overthrown was a constant threat to Herod in his early days on the throne: though the Hasmoneans had been pretty terrible monarchs, they made a powerful rallying flag for Jews upset with Roman puppets. Because the Hasmoneans were of Levite (priestly) origin, Hasmoneans were eligible for the position of High Priest (a position which members of the family had held pretty much constantly while other members of the family had been on the throne) and the prospect of a Hasmonean High Priest undermining Herod from the Temple was intolerable. Herod, remembering the rule in Leviticus that a Jewish Priest had to have no physical defects, had all the Hasmonean men blinded so that they'd be ineligible for priesthood and unable to use that position to challenge him. (He also married a Hasmonean princess, to further defuse that tension.)
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Feb 23, 2014 04:27
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Just to make this clear: I vote for ye olde Romans.
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Feb 23, 2014 04:34
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Holy crap I must get on the ground floor of what might become Crete 2.0 I vote for the Old Romans! Screw fighting the decadent east and that gigantic Seljukid blob - let's get Croatia, let's get Venice, let's get a foothold in Italy and be as Roman as we can be!
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Feb 23, 2014 04:45
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I remind you, young Senator, that those objectives aren't mutually exclusive. Securing Anatolia, bringing Venice into the fold, working on claiming Rome and establishing alliances with powerful neighbours are all tasks of great strategic importance, and seeing to at least some of them before charging headlong at the Turks is no act of neglect. Loathe as I am to say it, we have tried to be on our own since the end of Alexios I's alliance with Henry IV, and it has done us little good.
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Feb 23, 2014 04:53
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I first would like to say my condolences to your father, he was truly a very great man. I remember when I was a young man first entering the hollowed halls of the senate, following my fathers untimely death, I spent some time talking with him on the finer points of theology, hmmm, now that I think of it he couldn't have been no more than 6... Anyways I vote Milvians we must put Almighty God and TRUE religion first and foremost, we must also make the pagans and heretics pay. However I feel that our faction could ally itself with the Old Roman's so long as we prioritize retaking our holy cities in the Levant from the Turks or perhaps its time to show the His Unholiness the Pope we mean business. LordGugs fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 05:06
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 The family that rules together, stays together. Except for succession wars. But I'm sure the Imperial family can just sit down and talk things out before the come to blows. So, treasonous Douxs should be replaced with loyal family members. ...Given our past history, the Imperial family is going to have to get very busy, very quickly.
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Feb 23, 2014 05:37
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Voting for the Old Romans. I hear Venice lovely this time of year. It would be a shame if we were to assert our rightful claim to the city.
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Feb 23, 2014 05:52
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It would be nice if the other icons could have colours other than red. It gets more than a little irritating to see columns of red icons differentiated only by a few dots or some variant of minimalist border.
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Feb 23, 2014 05:53
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There are only three colors worth speaking of: Red, Gold and purple.  ...I would like to see some more purple.
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Feb 23, 2014 05:54
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DentedLamp posted:It would be nice if the other icons could have colours other than red. It gets more than a little irritating to see columns of red icons differentiated only by a few dots or some variant of minimalist border. Consider it a statement on the nature of political parties or somesuch.
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Feb 23, 2014 06:04
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DentedLamp posted:It would be nice if the other icons could have colours other than red. It gets more than a little irritating to see columns of red icons differentiated only by a few dots or some variant of minimalist border.  Gentlemen of the Senate! You demean us, those who seek to reconcile our church to the Bishop of Rome and his followers, and yet you do not employ every iota of vitriol possible against this man who dares suggest to use colors other than the Roman red and gold or Imperial purple?
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Feb 23, 2014 06:31
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I don't hear him lambasting the purple. As I said, I would like to see much more of it. Tis' a fine, imperial color. As well, he doesn't seem to bear any objection to the gold, either.
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Feb 23, 2014 06:37
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Count me solidly behind the only proper rulers of a Roman Empire Old Romans
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Feb 23, 2014 07:02
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Biggest Rome is best Rome! I vote for the Old Romans
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Feb 23, 2014 07:50
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Divine providence has sustained us thus far. We are the True Faith's last best hope, and the Milvians are Byzantium's last best hope. ##Vote for Milvians
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Feb 23, 2014 08:07
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Last? What about Kiev?
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Feb 23, 2014 08:32
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Vote for Old Romans Ladies. Gentlemen. Romans, Byzantines, God-fearing Greeks, Imperial rear end-Kissers, and whatever other strange groups you folks claim to be. We are an EMPIRE. An Empire does not sit around content with its current territory. An Empire expands, to bring our glory far and wide. Our Empire NEEDS expansion. One goal is to reclaim the Eternal City, even if none among this generation will see the Emperor sit in Rome once again. From there we will take the old lands, until our borders stretch from the Atlantic to the Holy Land. But none of this can be accomplished without armies to support it, and no army can stand without the loyal population to make it grow, and no loyal population can come without the resources, cities, farms, reforms, and so forth that inspire it and let it thrive. But I say this. We will not STOP when we restore the old borders. We will continue our growth, until our Empire stretches from the Baltic to the source of the Nile, from the islands beyond the Pillars of Heracles to Persia and the lands beyond it. Friends, I see a map and want to paint it purple. Except Carthage. The only color that should be there is the blackened color of ash. Carthago delenda est!
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Feb 23, 2014 08:58
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StrifeHira posted:Except Carthage. The only color that should be there is the blackened color of ash. Carthago delenda est! Meanwhile, in the New World... 
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Feb 23, 2014 09:14
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Luhood posted:No matter whether you're a Greek Noble or a Jewish Moneylender, a Bulgarian Patriarch or a Pecheneg Tengriist, a Turkish Mercenary or even a Catholic Queen-Mother, as long as you stay loyal to the Basileus or Basilissa of Constantinople you're a true Byzantine. Our enemy is not based on who or what we are, but to whom we swear allegiance. My father was of Turkish descent, his father being a Turkish mercenary who was granted minor estates in southern Anatolia after he saved his employer's life from the Seljuks. Since then me and those of my grand-father's lineage has stood loyal with Byzantium, with the Basilissa, and with Constantinople. And we will do so forever and again. This is a statement I must fundamentally disagree with. A true "Byzantine" is not any man who swears mercenary allegiance to the crown. No, a Roman MUST be Orthodox. A Roman should speak Greek. A Roman MUST participate in the centuries of tradition and glory we have accumulated! I say that true unity comes from uniformity! Look at the Bulgarians. Barbarians who stubbornly kept to their ways, they began to think they had the right to a crown of their own! They are vanquished now, but how long will it be before they rise again? Look at the Pecheneg and Cuman merchants, and that abomination of a "despotate"! Already they have proven their disloyalty. And yet, the crown continues to tolerate them, to encourage them! The true path to unity, to final victory, is the remolding of every people we conquer into fellow heirs of the true Orthodox faith, and of Greco-Roman culture! Mercenaries will become brothers. Our lands will be united in a way not seen since the Western Empire! Or, perhaps, since the Arab transformation of North Africa, Syria, Palestine, and Iberia! God uses our enemies to teach us. We were chosen by Him to rule the world, to prepare it for His coming. We cannot to that with these fake converts and other subversives!
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Feb 23, 2014 09:17
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NewMars posted:There are only three colors worth speaking of: Red, Gold and purple. You rang?  But as my fellow Fraternalist Sinner Sandwich mentioned if we truly want to make our Empire more powerful, we have to address the rot that plague us. Yes the merchants and priests have on occasion moved against the Empire, but compared to the Douxes? Plus we have to realize that compared to those treasonous weasels we get more utility out of our merchant lords and even our bishops. This is why one of the main planks of the Fraternalists faction is remove the Douxes and replace them with either merchant vassals or church vassals. Both vassals provide healthy amounts of gold to the realm, and both have less incentive to try and mess with the Empire. The merchants are usually content so long as they continue to make money, and so long as a Emperor is pious, the church vassals have little reason to stir up trouble. Like any man, there can be problems, a wayward member of the imperial family might try and sway these rulers, its true, but the use of these two vassals is greater than that of those bastard hell spawn Douxes, who merely plot to gain more power for themselves, who, as a spymaster of a distant land once said, would be happy to let the empire burn so long as they could rule the ashes. We must not tolerate these parasites on the empire. Support the Fraternalists and we can secure the means to let this glorious empire spread to whatever end it wishes. Also, I would like to reiterate the proposed ABC plan from earlier if execute that plan and expand and conquer in that fashion, we can have a perfect springboard to go in any direction we wish. All factions I feel would like the empire to have this ability to if nothing else expand in the direction they wish.
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Feb 23, 2014 09:45
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Old Romans, in case it was missed being unbolded in me previous post. And to reiterate; ally Kiev, bring Cilicia under our protection, recover the empire and restore proper nomenclature.
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Feb 23, 2014 10:51
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Vote Old Romans! Change is bad! Red not purple! Down with progress! Get off my lawn!
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Feb 23, 2014 10:59
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Thanqol posted:Red not purple! Now, now. Let's not say things we can't take back. Purple is a good, just and roman color.
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Feb 23, 2014 11:30
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:
I wish to proclaim my disagreement on matters of cultural and linguistic customs. Greek is and should remain the lingua franca in the Roman Empire, but we should not expect our subjects to fundamentally change these aspects of their life that are part of their cultural heritage. Submission to the Emperor, submission to God, and submission to the Holy Church are and should be sufficient. For what do we care for whether the a patriarch is a Greek, a Bulgar, an Armenian? So long as he is faithful to the Emperor and truly follows God and he capably performs his duty to the Empire of the Romans and the Kingdom of God, there is no worry and all is well. His descent matters not.
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Feb 23, 2014 17:06
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On his blood, I agree. But it is the character of the population that must change. Great empires change the conquered for the better. Our predecessors did it in Gaul, Hispania, Britannia, even Etrusca. Our enemies, the Arabs, managed to remake our former provinces in Egypt, North Africa, the Levant, Syria, and even in Spain. Cultural unity makes great empires, it maintains them and even allows them to be reborn from fragments. What we are doing now is beyond foolish, it is suicidal. The cultural barriers happily enforced by the crown will only lead to division, and have already lead to open rebellion. A Roman in the Crimea will be more loyal than a "converted" Crimean there. And a Crimea that has become Roman will always be more loyal. I do not trust these former pagans, or the infidel mercenaries. Becoming a Roman should require submission to the true Orthodox Church, but it should also require another level of commitment. Proof.
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Feb 23, 2014 17:57
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All this talk about the character and faith of our peoples has come so close to the answer we so desperately need, yet narrowly misses it each time. Our hubris has blinded us, and I can no longer watch glorious Rome rot simply because we refuse to tear this veil of pride from our eyes!It is the worst sort of arrogance and ignorance to assume that we will always be the chosen people of God, that we have always understood his commands. Clearly, Rome has long been among God's favored peoples. Even in the classical era, when we worshiped the pagan idols, God guided Rome as we swept the world and reshaped it in our image. God also favored the Israelites and from among them chose a number of prophets! In time, however, God sent us a new Prophet! God revealed to Jesus a more perfect version of his truth, and through it we learned much about the glory and love of God. Bu did the Romans and the Israelites embrace him immediately? Were was mankind's obedience to God immediate and flawless? No! We erred! The Romans crucified God's messenger and persecuted his followers! It took a great deal of time and the example of martyrs for Rome to come to see the light of God. But when we did, God's favor fell on us all the more, and we spread the teaching of Jesus around the known world. Alas, we have clearly fallen from His Grace, but remain to enamored by our past glories to see it! The Church has fallen, splintered into squabbling factions. Where are we to turn for guidance? The Pope, whose decadence and corruption knows no bounds? The Ecumenical Patriarch, the last remaining relic of a broken and nearly extinct faith, who's only theological response to our crisis is paralysis? The Western Empire is only a memory, consumed by hordes of squabbling noble, who in truth worship nothing but their own greed, and our own Douxes threaten to do the same to us! Shall we turn to the Merchants, who of their own admission worship only the gold in their purses? God's guiding light has faded, and the once unified Roman peoples degenerate into a hundred petty tribes! Where once we were Roman we are now "French," "Italian," "English," "German!" The Holy Land has slipped from Christian hands, and all the arms of Christendom have only been able to secure fleeting victories, soon lost once more! For all our recent glory, we remain squatters in the ruins of our former accomplishments, fighting to survive. Our greatest military accomplishments have been against the pagans of the Steppe; against the Turks we have been saved only by trickery and assassination, the tools of Satan! Where, then, has God's light gone? Who has stepped in to reshape the world in their image, in the image of God? None other then The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him! With God's grace the Muslims have swept over the world. Our only gains against them have been by taking advantage of the decadent and fratricidal Turks. Even still, God, more properly called Allah, has not seen fit to restore those lands to us! "But Rome is Chrisitan!," you shout ,covering your ears and eyes. I ask you, was Rome always thus? Was there not a Rome before Jesus? Did we not at first reject His messenger, even torment and kill him? Is it so inconceivable that Allah has sent a new, more perfect revelation of His truth? Is it so inconceivable that we have failed to heed it? "No," I say! Only when we embrace Islam, Allah's most perfect revelation, shall we reclaim His favor and our glory! The Empress should immediately convert, and use the powers of title revocation to remove those Doux who will not do the same! Praise be to Allah! Praise be to Rome!  Vote for Guiding Light Talky fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 19:36
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 Vote for Old Romans. Let the Turks squabble over the rocky deserts. We shall march west.
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Feb 23, 2014 19:41
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Talky posted:(Turkish spy) Guards! Take this "Senator" away!
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Feb 23, 2014 19:44
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Flesnolk posted:Guards! Take this "Senator" away! But... that icon is so gorgeous. 
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Feb 23, 2014 19:51
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Talky posted:Turkish spy Is it not enough we must deal with the papists? Now we must deal with TURKS somehow being elected?
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Feb 23, 2014 19:54
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Riff-raff! All riff-raff, I tell you.
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Feb 23, 2014 19:57
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I don't think this man is a Turk. All of our recent failures would be enough to convince a desperate mind. I have one question for him. Sunni or Shi'ite?
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Feb 23, 2014 19:57
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