Waldeck-Hesse (1983: Doomsday)

The Landgraviate of Waldeck-Hesse is a survivor nation centered in the old principality of Waldeck, ruled by the House of Waldeck-Pyrmont and is what can be considered to be the successor state to both the old Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel and the German state of Hesse.

Pre-Doomsday
Waldeck was a county within the Holy Roman Empire from about 1200. Its counts included Adolf II of Waldeck from 1270 to 1276. In 1655, its seat and the chief residence of its rulers shifted from the castle and small town of Waldeck, overlooking the Eder river and first mentioned in 1120, to Arolsen. In 1625, the small county of Pyrmont became part of the county through inheritance. In January 1712, the count of Waldeck and Pyrmont was elevated to prince by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor.

For a brief period, 1805 to 1812, Pyrmont was a separate principality as a result of inheritance and partition after the death of the previous prince, but the two parts were united again in 1812. The independence of the principality was confirmed in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, and Waldeck and Pyrmont became a member of the German Confederation. From 1868 onward, the principality was administered by Prussia, but retained its legislative sovereignty. Prussian administration served to reduce administrative costs for the small state and was based on a ten-year contract that was repeatedly renewed until Waldeck was formally absorbed into Prussia in 1929. In 1871, the principality became a constituent state of the new German Empire.

On 30 November 1921, following a local plebiscite, the city and district of Pyrmont were detached and incorporated into the Prussian province of Hanover. The remainder of the State was incorporated into the Free State of Prussia in 1929, following another plebiscite, and became part of the province of Hesse-Nassau.

After the war, the territory that was once Waldeck was turned into the two districts of Frankenberg and Waldeck. Most of the area of the district was previously part of the Waldeck, and became part of the District of Waldeck-Frankenberg in 1972 when the two districts were merged.

Doomsday
While this area remained safe from the strikes, there would be many refugees from the strikes on Kassel, Wisebaden-Mainz, Dortmund and the Rhine cities, and the numerous strikes that occurred around Frankfurt, as well as radiation from the Kessel and Frankfurt strikes.

Maintaining Order
Luckily for the residents of the area, the prevailing winds and terrain kept the vast majority of radiation away from the territory of the principality, and when combined with the radiation and the strikes this kept many of the refugees away or at least slowed them down.

When the first refugees from the Kassel strike arrived in Arolsen at the end of the month, the government and police began to be quickly overwhelmed without any instructions from above. One band of refugees, being confronted by police in front of the castle, attracted the attention of the prince, Wittekind Adolf, who with some of the castle guards went out to investigate the matter. Finding the police unable to deal with it, the prince had his guards deal with them, taking them into custody and ordering the police to accompany him and the guards to the city hall to deal with the matter; finding more police in similar situations along the way, he had the police with him and the guards intervene, and have the new finds come along. Upon reaching city hall, and finding things in great disarray, the prince began to issue orders, like when he had been a colonel in the army, and finally hearing a real voice of authority, especially from a trained military mind and the grandson of a the last reigning prince, who they had all heard about, the staff and police bent over backwards to follow his orders. He had them establish barricades across the main roads into the city, and after manning it sent them around the city to rout out the refugees already making mayhem there.

By October 5th, the refugees in town had been rounded up, and those that met the standards of the prince, or had something of use to offer to the city, were allowed to stay. The rest were expelled, along with the undesirables from the city, and sent back eastward. The prince merged his guards with the police force, and sent out patrols to the other towns of the district, as well as a few towns just outside its boundaries, to assess the situation. To the east, they only found destruction; to the north, it was largely secure, and the residents put themselves under the authority of the prince as well; to the west, in the district capital of Korbach, they found it in the process of being overwhelmed by refugees, and they assisted in establishing order, getting a oath of loyalty from the mayor there and expanding their numbers as well. To the south, they ran into the first of the refugees moving northward from the destruction of Frankfurt.

In these refugees, to their surprise, they found the Landgrave of Hesse, Moritz, some members of his family, and a party of his guards, obviously suffering from some radiation sickness gained while fleeing their residence. The guard in charge of the party recognized that the patrol was their best bet for safety, and the leader of the patrol thought the party a good enough reason for returning to Arolsen, for the prince may be interested that he had survived, and they could find out from the Landgrave and his men the conditions further south - and what to expect from the approaching refugees, since the Landgrave and his men were moving faster than most, in several old models of vehicle from their estate.

The patrol arrived with their find back in Arolsen on the 11th, and after delivering the party to the prince, found that they were indeed correct - the prince was definitely pleased to have received both the advance warning, as well as more news about what had happened. They were able to confirm the general details, as had been thought by the prince, of what had occurred overall, and also were told that the Landgrave had let several of his men who had families south from the estate go looking for both their families and his, and after arriving at a ridge, had discovered that Frankfurt was nothing but a sea of glass. These men, having given up hope, had returned to the estate, and advised him on what they saw before they died from radiation poisoning. The next day, they fled northwards, hoping to find safety somewhere in that direction. However, despite their weapons and vehicles for transport, the increasing levels of radiation sickness of the party - and the resulting deaths - as well as the refugees already on the roads, prevented them from going too fast.

In fact, many of the people in the Landgrave's party were suffering from extensive radiation poisoning, from being outside the house when the bombs went off - the only ones completely unaffected by the initial radiation, such as his two daughters, had been in the underground levels at the time of the blast, for one reason or another. The Landgrave's sons had already perished, having been off in the city with their visiting mother, and the Landgrave himself was dying, having received an extensive dose since he had been outside at the time.

The prince and the Landgrave would spend much of the next few days in the castle talking, about life in general and the future, often with the elder daughter, Princess Mafalda Margarethe, in the room, as she seemed to have a head for it - while the Landgrave slowly became weaker and weaker from the poisoning. In the end, these discussions came around to talk of the Landgrave's titles, and what would happen with them, as all the heirs according to the inheritance laws of his princely house were dead or extremely likely to do so, while his daughters could not do so either due to the laws. Neither could come up with a solution.

It was from these talks that Prince Wittekind decided to, after the passing of his new friend the Landgrave, in light of the authority that had been effectively bestowed on him by events, declare himself the prince of a renewed principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

On the morning of the 15th, it was painfully obvious to all that the now-bedridden Landgrave would not survive the day - most of the staff and guards that had been outside with him were already dead, and the rest would not be long. In fact, he had been in so much pain the night before that he could not even sleep. Yet, in all his pain, he and his daughter had come up with a partial solution to the dilemma of the titles held by he - and something that would likely aid the prince as well. Their proposal to the prince was for him to marry the elder daughter, and in doing so the Landgrave would relax the family rules of inheritance slightly, giving the title to the prince. A minister was called for, and after the two were promptly married, it was all put on paper and notarized. Mere minutes later, content with his legacy largely secured, the Landgrave passed on, at 2:14pm, October 15th.

The Declaration
It was quickly arranged for runners to be sent into the town itself, calling for all to come to the castle, which they did from curiosity, if nothing else, with the majority being quite grateful of the actions of the prince in recent days. So, it was not entirely unwelcome that, after announcing what had just occurred with the Landgrave, for the prince to declare himself the independent and sovereign ruler of the land, as the Landgrave of the new state of Waldeck-Hesse, and to announce his new bride to his people. After the declaration, he asked for objections to this - and the mayor, finally getting his backbone, spoke out against him. Pointing at him, the new Landgrave instructed the police to arrest him and lock him up - something which was rapidly done by the police. He would later be secretly taken outside the city, and dealt with.

As news of the declaration spread, more and more of the towns and cities of the general region pledged their loyalty to the Landgrave - to the point where the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg, as well as the nearer towns of the neighboring districts, in both the states of Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia, pledged themselves to his rule, in return for stability. Reports of great violence, as well as the realization that more could not be governed at the time, prevented going any further.

Stabilization
It would take most of the remainder of the decade, until early 1988, to fully secure and stabilize the area now under their control, as well as to erect defensive walls in place of the barricades blocking the main paths into the area - and, under the orders of the Landgrave, partially walling Arolsen. Rumors persisted of various survivors, with the most resilient being those of a effective military dictatorship somewhere north of the irradiated remains of Kassel, but like the others it was treated as not worth investigating, due to the general lawlessness, but it was observed and noted at the time that it may be a good plan to avoid that area, with the Landgrave forbidding it, quietly fearing it may be part of a surviving Federal Republic of Germany government but stating the reasoning being the dangers there.

The military was also trained, and expanded from being merely a force of improvised police, guards, and volunteer townsfolk, to a trained army of some 5,000 men.

Southwest Expansion
In late January of 1988, a detailed report finally reached the desk of the Landgrave about survivors - in the city of Marburg, to the southwest of the Landgraviate, and its university. According to the report, the area had been extensively damaged by refugees from the Frankfurt strikes - yet, the majority, like the Landgrave of Hesse and his party, had died from radiation poisoning, leaving the area largely heavily damaged and depopulated, but some areas still remained largely intact. And, as a bonus, the best area in this regard was the former university, where the numbers of the old student body, while severely decreased by events and people leaving to find their families, had kept some semblance of order under the Chair of Old Testament, one Otto Kaiser.

A large expedition, containing some 2,000 soldiers from the military that could be spared from the defenses - accompanied by the Landgrave - slowly made its way in that direction, pacifying the area between the Landgraviate and Marburg, and adding it to the rule of Wittekind, as well as increasing their numbers by recruiting the locals to some 3,500 men. It took them until mid-March to arrive at the university, the residents of which were only too pleased to help the troops expel the few remaining gangs of human scum in the city, something which they had long wanted to do, but had been unable to manage.

Wittekind and his staff met with the Chair, about what had occurred in the area and what the plans held by the Landgrave were. Kaiser was very relived to see help from outside, at last, and finding the Landgrave's desire to annex the city and reopen the university as soon as possible - with him in charge of both, naturally - very agreeable. With this agreement, Wittekind named him the Count of Marburg - the first such title to have been issued, later raised to Prince - and put him in command, for the time being.

Also, Wittekind did hear one thing from the residents that he enjoyed - the regions eastward, at least up until the Fulda region, were depopulated as far as they could ever determine, students having set out that was looking for loved ones and returned after finding nothing. With this, he sent a small number of the remaining forces not assigned in Marburg there to set up an outpost, which would be intermittently staffed until the resettlement of the region began in 1995.

The Landgrave would then return northwards, with some of the students and his guards, to continue governance from Arolsen, which was much more agreeable to him than from the road like he had been doing.

Hemmed In
With the acquisition of Marburg and Fulda to the south, in was painfully obvious that it would be dangerous to go much further south, due to radiation and bandits. To the east, northeast, and north, both the remains of Kassel and the ever-strong rumors from refugees - still culled by the Landgrave himself - of a military state, seemingly based somewhere north of Kassel - Göttingen being the favored location, but by all means not the only one, and the Landgrave still forbid any travel in that direction. This meant the only real way to go was the Northwest and West, which would also have the accomplishment of ending bandit raids along that frontier, as while fortified extensively, they still occurred. Yet, it would still be quite some time before this was possible at all.

Northwest
It would not be until the year 2000 when the southern annexations proved to be stable enough to actively consider further expansion. Incoming refugees, unless arriving in the area around Arolsen itself, were now due to distance brought to the like-minded regional governor, such as Otto Kaiser, the Count of Marburg, who would then judge them and expel those considered unfit into the wastelands, be it Kassel, Frankfurt, or even the Rhine.

Armed expeditions, much larger than anything previously sent at them, were then sent at the bandits and their camps, slaughtering them as there was too many troops to run and get away in any large numbers. The troops, now in a cohesive mass numbering some 15,000 men, continued onward, towards what was once, and hopefully still was, the city of Paderborn, which was the main objective.

When they arrived, they found it was both a pleasant, and an unpleasant, surprise. While the city was still mostly intact apparently with with a substantial amount of its prewar population, it was also largely under the control of what seemed to be renegade units from the old British Army of the Rhine that had been stationed in the general region and survived Doomsday. This meant that it would have to be fought for, as there was no way that it would be safe for the nation if it was left like this, so close to the borders of the Landgraviate. With their new knowledge of the survival of the Landgraviate, there was no doubt that it would be attacked by new, much more vigorous, raids than ever before.

Clandestinely contacting the other bands in the city that were operating out of the larger city parks and their leader, one Markus J. Bentler, scouts from the army discovered the one weakness held by the enemy: while they had very ample stocks of ammunition for their infantry weapons, their heavy weapons were low on fuel and ammunition, having used much of it to take the city originally and beat off other armed bands of renegade troops early on, as well as having been maintained extremely poorly in the meantime. So, as the army outnumbered them by about two to one, they could just continue to press, and soon end up on an equal footing when the occupying forces ran out of supplies for the heavier weaponry. So, they surrounded the city, and began to slowly press from all sides.

While eventually successful, this tactic was both one that would take a long time, and take many casualties. By the time the forces of the Landgraviate eventually took full control of the city, the force of 15,000 had dwindled in strength to about 5,000 men and women, and had needed to blow up several buildings in the downtown outright because the enemy was too firmly entrenched there. The general in charge of the army here, Jurgan Ewald Von Kleist, a great-grandson of the Second World War Field Marshall, was named as the Prince of the city and its environs. Bentler would be named the mayor of the city.

It was determined that out of the prewar population, some 40,000 people had survived all which had occurred in the city, in a condition that was just above slavery. It would take the remainder of the decade to effectively incorporate the region and its inhabitants.

Contact
In March of 2010, in recognition of his seventy-forth birthday and the success around Paderborn, the Landgrave ordered that an armed exploratory mission be sent out as soon as possible, in order to both investigate the old principality of Lippe and to find out the status of the other half of his ancestral territory, around the city of Pyrmont, in what was once the state of Lower Saxony. It left Paderborn on May 10th, arriving in the area of Pyrmont on the 8th of June, 2010. To their unpleasant surprise, they found upon entering the city that it was governed by the military state that had long been rumored, and avoided at all costs, out of the city of Northeim. They introduced themselves diplomatically, and put forth the claim that the city and its environs were part of the territory of their Landgrave. For this, they were expelled. Upon hearing of this, the Landgrave sent an embassy from Arolsen in the direction of Northeim, hoping to establish relations and resolve any differences.

Cities and Territory
Currently, the Landgrave consists of the northern half of the state of Hesse, and southeastern portions of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. This means portions of the districts of Siegen-Wittgenstein, Soest, Höxter, Lippe, Olpe, and Paderborn, along with the city of Paderborn, in North-Rhine Westphalia. In Hesse, it consist of the districts of Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder-Kreis and Marburg-Biedenkopf, most of the districts of Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Vogelsbergkreis, and parts of the Kassel, Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill-Kreis and Fulda districts, along with the city of Marburg.

The remainder of the state of Hesse is claimed by the Landgraviate, though the vast majority of the southern regions is effectively uninhabitable and thus useless, especially closer to Frankfurt. Obviously, the city of Pyrmont and its environs are claimed as well, though its possession by Northeim complicates this. Claims have also been put forward for the old principality of Lippe around the city of Detmold in northeastern North-Rhine Westphalia, hopefully in the Landgrave under the heir of the the princes of Lippe, though this claim has not yet been asserted in any great strength. Points westward of there are believed to be largely irradiated wastelands, though no one has explored in that direction from the Landgraviate yet.

Today, the Landgraviate is divided into nine different princedoms, along with the personal territory of the Landgrave in Arolsen, which effectively function as provinces and are ruled by a combination of a Diet Assembly and the prince, with the approval of both needed for government legislation to pass. These Princedoms are:

Princedom of Teutoburg: Capital Paderborn, Prince Jurgan Ewald Von Kleist

Princedom of Sauerland: Capital Brilon, Prince Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

Princedom of Corvey: Capital Warburg, Prince Heinz Josef Bodemann

Princedom of Wittgenstein: Capital Siegen, Prince Steffen Mues

Princedom of Frankenberg: Capital Korbach, Prince Friedrich Moritz, son of the Landgrave; Princedom of Frankenberg hereditary to the heir if the Landgraviate

Princedom of Fritzlar: Capital Wildungen, Prince Reinhard Grieneisen

Princedom of Hersfeld: Capital Hersfeld, Prince Jürgen Gehb

Princedom of Wartenburg: Capital Fulda, Prince Martin Hohmann

Princedom of Marburg: Capital Marburg, Prince Otto Kaiser

Arolsen Capital District: Under the direct authority of the Landgrave

Another important city is Marsberg, where the western barricades were established shortly after Doomsday, and the Army command was stationed there at the time due to the perceived likelihood that that barricade would be harder pressed. It has not moved from the location since then.

Economy
The abandonment of much of the forests in this hilly region of Germany after Doomsday meant that they were able to expand significantly, leading to forestry being one of the dominant industries in the region today. As always, mining is important as well.

Yet, the leading industries, surprisingly enough, are those involved with stone, such as masons and quarries. The Landgrave, after assuming control in 1983, has encouraged and indeed helped finance the repair of the castles and walls of the region, as well as actually constructing more, walling in several strategic ones such as Arolsen. The reasoning for this is that without modern weaponry, such as artillery, these positions offer very good defensive redoubts, at least for the time being.

The brewing of beer, especially at the large breweries in the cities of Kreuztal, Warstein, and Meschede, is also a major employer in the region.

In 1990, the Landgrave announced the introduction of the Waldmark, a new currency for his nation printed in Korbach. It was pegged at a 1:1 ratio to the prewar Deutsche Mark. Much trade still continues by barter, however.

Government
The government is divided into nine Princedoms and the Capital district, all of which are governed by a combination of their heredity prince, with executive power, and their own diet, with legislative power. However, the two are effectively equal, and as a result need to concur on legislation in order to pass it. Both are forbidden to possess private armed forces.

However, all are still subject to the rule of the Landgrave, and by virtue of his will the National Diet, which is elected by universal suffrage from all over eighteen years of age. However, each candidate for the National Diet must have the approval of the Landgrave - so as things stand, the Diet is effectively controlled by him, though it is not uncommon for his favored candidates to lose in the elections, which usually have several candidates running under the party banner in every riding. the Landgrave is also the head of the armed forces, and it is anything but nominal.

There is only one political party in the Landgraviate, the Crown Nationalists, but it does have its various factions, like all political parties tend to have. Here, it is definite that the more right-wing side of the party is dominant. They also have a small party militia separate from the armed forces, numbering only a couple hundred men and responsible for their protection. They wear yellow scarves as an emblem of this.

The government in the diet consists of a Chancellor, picked by the Landgrave, who in turn chooses his own ministers, who fill the portfolios of the military, police, finance, natural resources, transportation, medicine, settlements, and the crown. A new one, international affairs, has been recently added after the encounter in Pyrmont.

There is a maximum of a hundred and fifty members in the National Diet at this time, with about fifteen from each Princedom. Currently, the far-right wing section of the CN has control, much to the pleasure of the Landgrave.

International relations
While there has been rumors of a survivor state in the southern regions of the former state of Lower Saxony for years, it was avoided out of senseless fears brought on by the same rumors stating that the military was in control there. Secretly, it was actually due to the fear of the Landgrave that they would take away his power if they were survivors of the federal government. The extensive radiation from Kassel between the two did little to help this.

But, recent developments in Pyrmont have led to the sending out of an embassy to this state, in the city of Northeim. Feelers have also gone southeastward towards Bavaria and the Alpine Confederation.

Military
Today, the regular army is composed of 10,000 regular troops and another 15,000 reserves. There is also substantial amounts of militia-farmers in the outlying territories, to help fend off the bandits that still occasionally target the areas. The majority of the regular army is thus located around Fulda, and in the western princedoms, due to the realm being the most vulnerable there. Army headquarters is located in Marsberg, and the whole thing is headed by a general, Markus J. Bentler, the former mayor of Paderborn, who joined up after his term ended and was given a high rank due to his extensive officer training in the old German Army before Doomsday - he had been home on leave when it had occurred.

The Landgraviate, as a result of some surprising surrenders in the Paderborn campaign, has also come into possession of several armored vehicles, though these are locked in a vault in Arolsen due to the difficulty of gaining parts for them along with a severe lack of ammunition.

There is a regiment of Dragoons numbering some fifteen hundred men employed by the Landgraviate as well, which is at least in part a concession to the nobility.Currently, it is based out of Hersfeld.

In recent years, some small pleasure boats have been fully restored and brought into service along the Diemel and Eder rivers for patrolling. They operate out of Warburg and Waldeck, respectively.

It falls to the reserves to maintain a light garrison at all times in most of the castles and walls in the Landgraviate. The ones on the edge of the controlled territory, however, fall under the domain of the army.

The uniform of the army consists of a gray tunic, with golden buttons. Rank badges go on the shoulders, and badges denoting the unit go on the collar. In a bit of a throwback to the past, and with some protest, the Landgrave in 2002 changed the uniform slightly to include a version of the old imperial era Pickelhaube helmet, with the unit crest on the front and the Cockade of Waldeck featured prominently on both sides. Unlike the Imperial versions, the spike on its top is sharp, and can be used as a weapon if needed.



And, there is also a small battalion of guards for the Landgrave and the Princes, who are dressed like the cuirassiers of old, complete with horses, but with the most modern weaponry still existing in the area. They are responsible for guarding the castles occupied by these dignitaries.

Culture
Unsurprisingly, there has been a massive upswing for nobility and monarchs since 1983. Just about anyone with any sort of old title will now use it, and are standing up for themselves as nobles, for the Landgrave does recognize such old titles from before 1918 as being valid.

The Landgrave supports, sometimes to excess, symbols of Germany from the past, usually from before 1918. However, this does include Nazi-era symbols, on occasion. As a result, there has been an upswing in interest in the past and a lifting of guilt in the younger generation over the Nazis.

Yet, the society is not racist, or anything like that. Of course, the tiny numbers of minorities like this also helps. However, in a sad tradition dating from the original refugees, it is effectively acceptable to cast out any with physical or mental defects, such as cerebral palsy, out into the wastelands of Frankfurt of Kassel, or the wilds elsewhere. And, while it is not discussed, the refugee screening process still in place by the Landgrave and Princes today will generally not take anyone not of a more "pure" nature unless they have a useful skill - or beauty - that can convince the person screening them to let them into the Landgraviate permanently, which usually translates as blonds and people with blue eyes getting a pass. This attitude is also starting to rub off a little, but it is as of yet minor. Paradoxically, however, the state readily acknowledges the Holocaust as having occurred, and the law against its denial is still on the books - and enforced.

In Arolsen, the headquarters of the International Tracing Service set up by the Allies after the Second World War for missing persons from the war does remain intact, under its staff from before Doomsday and their children. It is now hoped that with contact with the outside world having occurred, the Red Cross will send new staff, or at least a new director for it.

The flag and coat of arms used by the Landgraviate is that of the old principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont, and the flag also was used by the Wiemar Republic. It has become very common as well to see the Cockade of Waldeck on blue flags flying alongside the official flag, and there is talk of replacing the it with the unofficial Cockade flag.

Today, there are three major events in the year, besides the traditional ones like Easter and Christmas. October 15th, the anniversary of the declaration by the then-prince, which is now a national holiday. The Landgrave also holds a debutante ball each year on his birthday, the ninth of March, when young ladies and gentlemen and formally introduced to society as adults, along with celebrating his birthday as well. And, there is the long-running Hersfelder Festspielen, which is a festival in Hersfeld where plays, musicals, and other such things are done on a stage in the abbey ruins over a period running from June 12 - August 8 every year.

Of course, there is a day on September 23rd to mark the destruction as well.

The Landgrave, the Princes and the Nobles
Despite getting on in years, the Landgrave is still very spiry. Over the years, he and his wife have had 4 children - 3 sons and a daughter:

Crown Prince Friedrich Moritz, b. May 4th, 1987 - Prince of Frankenberg, Count of Marsberg

Prince George William, b. April 24, 1989 - Count of Wolfhagen

Princess Mafalda Altburg, b. June 9, 1993 - Countess of Fritzlar

Prince Wilhelm Augustus, b. September 11, 2001 - Count of Winterberg

The younger three will be given a princedom when they reach the age of 21.

The nobility today is a combination of what remained in the region from the old aristocracy, and those that have been appointed by Wittekind since. There are four ranks below him: Princes, Counts, Barons, and Knights. All of these are hereditary, but the Landgrave may still take them away if he so chooses.

The Princes today are a combination of those who were rewarded for victory, the Crown Prince, local loyalty, and in one case, having been able to amuse the Landgrave with a new board game when he needed a new Prince. There is talk about naming a new one for both the area of Lippe, and the area between Siegen and Brilon, though nothing has come of it yet since the Landgrave would prefer to name the descendants of the last reigning princes in these areas to that title, if possible.

The Crown Prince is known to support the opinions and policies of his father, and to be fanatic about getting Pyrmont back, which he views as having been stolen by scum.