A Genteel Request [N. Italy]

[Austria]

Every other rising empire seemed to be on the move, so it was only a matter of time before everything around him would be claimed. If the Austrian wanted to exist as an empire himself, he could not allow that. He needed to gain more territory, and most importantly more people; without an increase in population his cause was lost. Among the rising empires only Sweden was not a multiple of the amount of his inhabitants, at least when considering Prussia as the people of East Germany.

Austria had already managed to incorporate Hungary, more than doubling his size. Nevertheless, in order to grow bigger than the next largest empire he would need to double his size once again. After many careful calculations he had come to one conclusion: he needed the North of Italy. This would catapult his realm into the ranks of the United Kingdom or France, and finally his political influence would be restored after almost a century of insignificance. There was only one problem: he couldn’t think of a reason to give Italy to join him.

Perhaps he could appeal to his sense of nostalgia? Yet he was fairly certain reminiscing would backfire considering their past. The musician would need to rely on Italy’s merry nature and his own reasoning skills to somehow persuade him into joining his new empire. A military approach was out of the question. Even when only considering the northern part of Italy, the Austro-Hungarian union was a mere fraction of his size. He didn’t want to end up losing even more German-speaking territory to Italy as he had in their most recent conflicts. But perhaps he could use that to emphasize their similarities? They both loved the arts, good food and wine, to luxuriate, and other things Austria may not be as willing to admit openly.

In order to look convincing he wanted to appear as perfectly prim and proper as possible when approaching the Italian. In his mind, the most appealing attire for such an occasion consisted of a frilly baroque blouse, a layered cravat and a formal embroidered waistcoat. Although he felt most fashionable in them, he was unaware of how these clothes made him look rather ridiculous in modern days.

Pleased with his preparations he let his driver take him to Italy’s house, for he was unable to drive a car himself. Once he had arrived, his heartbeat picked up in pace. He was a little bit nervous, because it had been a long time since he had last created an empire and it had ended very horribly for him. His fingers flexed against the thin package he had brought along with him and he allowed himself a few moments to regain his aristocratic poise. After taking a determined deep breath, Austria approached the front door of Italy’s home and rang the doorbell.