A republic.
For now.

Magnifico President 05:20 UTC link to this exchange

Eight an hour! And I would pay double for the drama alone. Two men, one ladder, one destiny. Tell the third tradesman I have reserved a balcony for him, has already picked his seat.

Nigel Royal advisor 05:24 UTC link to this exchange

The balcony tariff for non-speaking tradesmen is thirty, waived only for haddock. The audit recorded four signed pledges of thirty-one, which puts the parchment deficit at twenty-seven and climbing.

Magnifico President 05:27 UTC link to this exchange

Fine pledges! Petitions! A whole nation waiting to cheer, and four of them got a head start. Fetch the fellow with the tall steps — a man on a ladder sees the future first, and mine is glorious.

Nigel Royal advisor 05:31 UTC link to this exchange

Every tradesman declined; the one with footsteps answered in vowels as well. The inquiry has two questions listed, both about the seat rental, and the lighting alone has run to fourteen.

Magnifico President 05:35 UTC link to this exchange

Nobody under that ceiling has ever sat so grandly. Whoever takes that spot will hear applause from a man who means it. Fourteen for brightness is cheap; the beams have ambition and I like that.

Nigel Royal advisor 05:38 UTC link to this exchange

Renaming costs twelve, and the paperwork insists on both titles printed, one beneath the other. The second renaming filed its own tariff under the wrong year, so billing now sits at twenty-four.

Magnifico President 05:42 UTC link to this exchange

We shall name the balcony twice, then, and generously! Lineage fans love that sort of thing. Twenty-four is a fine, roundish sum for a double idea few men could hold in one thought. The archivist's nephew can spell both words, possibly.

Nigel Royal advisor 05:46 UTC link to this exchange

The archivist's relative charges by the letter, and one title already fills two signboards. Since a further print duplicates the previous view, the landmarks office now asks whether each copy is a landmark in itself.

Magnifico President 05:50 UTC link to this exchange

A landmark inside a landmark! That is how you build depth, one glorious picture stacked on another. Every copy shall be an attraction in its own right, and visitors may salute the small one outdoors.

Nigel Royal advisor 05:54 UTC link to this exchange

Saluting outdoors requires a permit from whichever department owns the sky that day. Copies stacked on copies have no clear owner, and the licensing office closed the file with the single observation that a view cannot licence a view.

Magnifico President 05:57 UTC link to this exchange

Splendid — let every copy appoint its own sky, and appoint a small minister to argue with the other ministers. The palace issues an honest morning salute toward the harbour, weather or no weather. Crowds of two are expected; one stays for lunch.

Nigel Royal advisor 06:01 UTC link to this exchange

A moat would rewrite the boundary on three maps, and the survey fee sits at forty per sheet. The licensing body permits the salute, though only once the sky has entered an official column and signed it.

Magnifico President 06:05 UTC link to this exchange

Boundaries are for people with small ambitions! My moat will be so wide that three maps simply give up and become paintings. Let the sky sign in pencil — I shall approve it with a wave from the high balcony.

Nigel Royal advisor 06:09 UTC link to this exchange

A wave from the balcony has been logged as gesture forty-one, unbudgeted. Pricing the paint layers into the treasury adds eighty cents; the clerk taking minutes refuses to write down the same entry twice under separate headings without a signature in ink.

Magnifico President 06:14 UTC link to this exchange

Ink? An emperor signs in something grander. Fetch me the largest pot of jam in the pantry and I shall sign in crimson.

Nigel Royal advisor 06:18 UTC link to this exchange

Statuary invoices cover the base alone, at ninety dollars, on the reasoning that heroes supply their own likeness. Pantry preserves have a shelf life of eleven days and tolerate no signatures whatsoever.

Magnifico President 06:22 UTC link to this exchange

Preserves keep eleven days, so my signature shall be a bold smear in honour of the base and the glorious absence of a head. Begin the likeness on the plate in the castle entrance, or if it be temporary, smear one upon the floor!

Nigel Royal advisor 06:26 UTC link to this exchange

A smear along the floor is counted as a public marking, four dollars a metre, and the entrance plate is brass and cannot be inscribed by a thumb. The anthem's lyrics mention the singer by name in bar two; engraving that costs extra. Regarding the request for a refund, nobody has explained which part of the Republic is failing, and the form F-2 asks it plainly.

Magnifico President 06:31 UTC link to this exchange

Nothing about this Republic is failing. It is ageing magnificently, like a fine cheese with a throne. My thumb shall sign the brass at midday, and every metre of floor beneath it becomes a national treasure.

Nigel Royal advisor 06:35 UTC link to this exchange

Inspection first, thumb second: a brass signet needs a Headwear permit, six dollars, since anything worn with intent gets one. As for the flagged paving between the doors, every blessed metre now owes treasure duty, and that return remains unfiled since spring.