Sweden announce to all interested nations the change of our leader. Siofra AlIyn Braon, daughter of Dietrich von Uxi and FallenAngel Mc Harvest, left our kingdom today so from now on is my duty to honour Dietrich memory.

I announce that our alliance-treaties would be revised , so in 7 days all our alliances must be considered null and void. If (in time) we shall consider some nations as close to our beliefs we shall be friends with those nations. Until than - everybody will be neutral (very few exceptions should receive diplo messages soon, couriers are already running)

We shall not cancel our already-signed peace treaties, but if somebody is interested in declaring a peace treaty signed by us as null please let me know, we don`t intend to impose any unwanted peace to anybody

Bella was the first English minister to receive word, that Sweden had a new king.

"Now what is the title of the Swedish king?" Bella looked questioningly at the clerk in the office.

"Konungr", the clerk replied.

"Huh? How do you spell that?"

"K-o-n-u-n-g-r"

"Ah yes." A good thing Bella would only have to write that word and not try to twist her tongue around that title.

Bella penned a quick congratulatory note, leaving any further diplomatic statements up to England's Queen.

QUOTE:
To his Majesty Zmeu, Konungr of Sweden,

Please permit me to express my congratulations to your ascension to the Swedish throne, may you rule long and wisely.

Bella, Baroness of North Haven

Are you for sure, or are you just kidding?

The old priest shaked his head

Yes for sure My Lady, he was called Dietrich den Uxi, and nothing else.

Strange, first the Pope died, murder or whatever, bavarians found back their bravness and honesty, then the swedish Ice Queen left, fled, whatever, and now the swedish forget the name of their ancestor.

Yes My Lady, the lack of polish evil seem to bring funny money.

However, we should write an answer, asking if our treaty is also null or not, specially now the Petschengs are raiding our neighbourhood.

QUOTE:
Dear Zmeu, Konungr av Sverige

we have heard about your plans to revise the contracts signed by Sweden, and so we like to ask for priority on our contract signed in summer about four years ago.

Kind regards
Jessica vom Greifenstein
Queen of Finns

As Snorre heared about the change on the Throne of Sweden, he took the best parchment to find, coloured it purple and began to write a letter to the new swedish King Zmeu in golden letters

QUOTE:

To Konungr Zmeu, wise Leader of Sweden,
to the Swedish people,

I congratulate the Swedes for the wise decission to choose Zmeu as their Leader and himself for his new title. May all religious differences be forgotten between our two nations, during your vigorous government.
I'm looking forward to a great future for your country and hope that we can set in a better diplomacy between Aragon and Sweden.

With best wishes,

Snorre den blodlystne
Canciller d'Aragon

he sealed it and sent it with the fastest Herold to Sweden.

"...May your Gods or the mine guide you through your regency with wisdom and power, Konungr Zmeu..."

To Bella, Baroness of North Haven

Thank-you for your letter and for your good intentions

As a sign of our goodwill we send you one of our most precious treasures - an old book about our beliefs. I`m quite sure that after you read it you must agree that Odin is a much better choice for us than any other ... So I hope you will be able to convince your High Council to stop sending monks and priests in our lands trying to convert us. I admit they are useful for other jobs,but in some situations they proved to be not enough strong for their tasks ... It would be much better to send vigurous people able to work harder ...

With best wishes,

Zmeu

To Jessica vom Greifenstein
Queen of Finns

My poor latin skills is to be blamed for any misunderstanding ... our intention is to cancel any alliance, not to cancel any other signed treaty. All non-agression pacts remain valid. Of course if anyone of our partners is bored about a treaty we can renounce at it, but is not our intention.

I`m quite sad to see you didn`t renounced to your false prophet, this way will be quite hard for your vikings to reach Valhalla ... maybe sometime we can meet and i can teach you more about the old and the true beliefs

With best wishes,

Zmeu

To Snorre den Blodlystne
Canciller d'Aragon

Thank-you , Sir, for your kind words. We did received some stories about rich and interesting nations, but i`m afraid that i`m not yet up do date to all news. I hope in time I`ll know much more and, who knows, maybe we shall visit your lands sometime

With best wishes,

Zmeu

To Dear Konungr Zmeu, wise Leader of Sweden,
& the Swedish people

With respect for the Ancestors & The Old Ways...
We look forward to new friendship between us...

Best Wishes
Dao

Bella reread the letter for the third time. Did King Zmeu actually mean what Bella thought he meant? This sounded most ominous.

Bella had been willing to assume the best of the successor of Queen Siofra Allyn Braon, a monarch, with whom England had got on well, apart from her pagan beliefs. Xmeu had been a totally unknown quantity to Bella.

But upon further reflection - what had actually happened to the Swedish queen? How could a knight just accidentally lose the queen, to whom he had sworn his loyalty? It all sounded most mysterious, not to say downright suspicious.

Queen Siofra Allyn Braon had certainly never mentioned any problems with missionaries sent to convince her of the benefits of Christianity. Just recently England had gone to battle at the side of the queen.

This sudden change of direction, the new king was taking, left Bella stumped. She had no idea what she was to say to that. So she decided first of all to find someone who could tell her more about the history of Zmeu - and to discover whether he had a reputation that superiors in his vicinity had previously conveniently gone missing...

Bella prayed the former Swedish queen truly was well and had not met with some unfortunate accident.

As for Odin - well Bella had thought it amusing in her youth to read fables about mythological figures; wasn't that the mythical figure who had been thrown out of Norse paradise by the others? How fitting.

To Dao, Caliph of Imazighen, leader of Tuaregs

Long time ago, when I was young, I had the honor to visit and to know the leaders of one of the most interesting and honorable nations - Imazighen. Now I`m old and tired, still my heart was happy when I heard news from that distant land. I beg Odin to give you the strenght and honor to be a wise leader, worthy of your ancestor glory. Just keep an eye on christians moves and diplomacy - their religion is the major danger for any other culture, and always keep your sword near you, as sharp as possible. As far as I remember there are muslim nations near you, usually they are much more reliable than christians.

With best wishes,
Zmeu