I'm Just a Nameless Side Character in a Vampire Romance Novel

Chapter 32 - The Factions

The court room was a massive cylindrical room with four sets of doors set in the four cardinal directions. One set lead to the throne room directly, another to the dungeons and two others were used by nobles to enter the room. Starting from the walls were pews with desks in front of them. Each row would be progressively lower all the way until they reached the furthest side of the room where a stage was set. At the center of the room was a raised podium where the imperial family would sit. It was there that Eclis sat, directly to the left of the king. To the king's right was the empty seat of the crown prince. Standing in front of the raised table was each mans aid, Richard was in front of Eclis, Clarence in front of the king and a man Eclis did not recognize standing in front of the crown prince's seat. The table itself was ornately carved with three coat of arms displayed beside each other. Each one was inlayed with a mixture of silver, copper, brass, gold and mithril. The Imperial Crest of the Empire and of Donner Regis was double the size of the other two sitting at the center of the table. It depicted a phoenix surrounded in flames and wreathed by thorny vines and Roses detailing every stage of its bloom. Hidden among the vines were sigils representing each kingdom of the Empire. Infront of Eclis was the house of Dumont's coat depicting a starry tiger and Pegasus facing outwards, at its center were the symbols of a sun and moon. It was set on the shape of a shield. The crown princes' coat depicted a bouquet of roses, one for each kingdom of the empire, guarded by a sword and shield.

The nobles were already standing at their desks waiting for the Imperial family to enter. Waiting at the lower table facing the Imperial family were the three heads of each noble faction. They were all vampires, however, they represented factions of all the free peoples. Seated among the tables were delegates and nobles from all the kingdoms in the Empire. Many lived all year round at the capital representing and fighting for the interests of their kingdom, others were seasonal and several more were only here to welcome Eclis.

There were three kingdoms missing in court. The high elves of Ilsimar, the wood elves of the wandering forests, and the night elves of the Underdark. According to Richard the Elves pulled out when their pleas to go to war over the slavery happening in Tyrra fell on deaf ears, though it had come after a long history of disagreements and disillusionment the Elves had with the Empire. The initial blow to the Elves confidence in the Empire stemmed, according to Richard, after the Emperor vetoed the courts unanimous vote for an investigation on Eclis' disappearance. The only reason there was never a civil war after the Elves pulled out was because they never went public with their withdrawal. They kept only in their own territories but let their knights remain in the Dumont house. Due to this, Tyrra still saw the Empire as a united front despite the Empire no longer receiving any support from the Elves as a whole. They pulled their presence completely out of Ganimede, closing their borders to trade and travellers. Due to this fact, even without an official contract, Eclis still had a political advantage given his past relationship with the Elves and the fact that their knights were still in his employ.

Each faction had a claim to Eclis. The first head, Payton Miller, sat at the right of the table representing the Mercantile faction. They represented the interests of merchants from every race in Ganimede. Their entire purpose was to prevent a war with Tyrra since so much of Ganimede's economy relied on the import of raw materials and exports of magic items. Many of the lesser noble houses filled its ranks but what they lacked in prestige they made up in vast amounts of coin. James had been working closely with them to fill house Dumont's coffers for many centuries now.

Beside Payton Miller was Vermillion Xavier, the head of the imperial faction. Claude Alenta, the crown prince, supported this faction along with most of the vampiric nobles in the capital. Some of the largest kingdoms, like Therendrûn the nation of dwarves had joined its ranks as well. It placed the good of the Empire above all else, but its members also wished to maintain the status quo by preventing any changes in the existing hierarchies present. Due to Eclis being a prince and a member of the Imperial family, they believed they had a good chance of keeping him on their side.