Tyranny of Steel

King Alvar stood across from Kaiser Berengar von Kufstein. He felt slightly intimidated as he gazed upon the majestic crown which adorned the Kaiser ’s head. He had not expected the war of German Unification to come to an end so quickly, and thus by the time his delegation arrived in Kufstein, Berengar had already unified the German states beneath his command, and proclaimed himself emperor of the German people.

As a man who held a heavily disputed territory with this new empire, Alvar felt a great sense of fear in his heart, and thus, he quickly left the confines of his Scandinavian Kingdom to visit the new emperor personally.

Despite the protest of his more ardent catholic subjects who refused to recognize the title of Kaiser that Berengar had bestowed upon himself, Alvar was now meeting face to face with the man he had gone fishing with so many years ago.

The difference in their two positions in life had altered over the past few years, while Alvar remained King over an unstable political union, Berengar had now become the Emperor over all of Germany, and despite only recently fighting a war of unification, things appeared to be rather stable, as the Germans embraced their new monarch, and the wealth he brought with him.

Thus, Alvar released a heavy sigh as he revealed his reasons for visiting Kufstein, depressed with how little he had achieved compared to the man standing before him.