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Vilani translation - letters of marque

robject

SOC-14 10K
Admin Award
Marquis
Here's my assignment. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it, but I want to do it nonetheless. I might just put it in Khal and get it over with, buuuut if I'm going to do it I suppose I ought to at least try to get it "right". Well, as right as a Solomani scum can.

Para 1.
The Owner and Master of the Ship called ________ has Applied to me for an Authority to cruise against all His Imperial Majesty's Enemies & having received his Imperial Majesty's Commands to encourage all His Imperial Majesty's Subjects by every means in their power to distress and annoy the Trade of all His Imperial Majesty's Enemies, the said Ship having been duly Registered in His Imperial Majesty's Naval Registry as an Auxiliary Vessel.

Para 2.
I do by virtue of the Power & Authority to me given conformable to His Imperial Majesty's pleasure expressed to me by the Right Honorable and Most Noble [His] Grace the Duke [Aledon Aella Norris] of [Regina], Authorize and Empower the said warrant bearer in and with the said Ship to cruise against all His Imperial Majesty's Enemies, and am fully authorized to assure him & all others involved in said private Ship of War, that His Imperial Majesty will consider him & them as fully Entitled to having a just claim to all vessels & property of every kind which he or they shall make prize of from all or any of His Imperial Majesty's Enemies, provided the same shall have been first condemned as Lawful prize to His Imperial Majesty In His Imperial Majesty's High Court of Admiralty or in some of His Imperial Majesty's Courts of Vice Admiralty having lawful authority to take
Cognizance of the same.

Para 3.
Furthermore, this warrant entitles the said bearer to equip the said Ship with arms and defenses, [] including [X] excluding space-based nuclear weapons of yields up to 50 kilotons, in order to carry out this purpose. The said bearer is also entitled to apply for whatever assistance, whether monetary or not, that His Imperial Majesty, or one of his delegated vassals, shall deem fit to provide, from time to time. If the warrant holder attacks and seizes goods and/or citizens of a planet, empire, confederation, federation, or other such sovereign nationality that is not named as a current enemy of the [Third Imperium], they will be treated as though they had attacked an [Imperial] citizen, and will be subject to the full consequences of Imperial Law. The aforesaid enemies of the [Third Imperium] will be in addition to those identified in separate Imperial proclamations, issued by His Imperial Majesty or one of his delegated vassals.

Whew, this is going to be tough.
 
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First plan is to figure out where the efficiencies lay. This is an old Vilani red-tape trick.

[His Imperial Majesty] - this ought to conflate to some conjugation of Karun.
[H.I.M's Enemies] - similarly
[The Owner and Master of the Ship] - a stock phrase, though probably not conjuncted.

Lots of passive conjunctions here, which don't directly translate to Vilani (the Vilani passive is an Eternal Truth sort of thing, as if they took C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton very seriously).
 
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Broken down a bit into phrases, sort of.

[HIM] = His Imperial Majesty, i.e. a Karun or a proxy thereof.
[HIM-E] = His Imperial Majesty's Enemies, lit., an enemy of the proper ordering of nature by sophonts.
[HIM-C] = particular, His Imperial Majesty's Commands, lit., Divine Commandments
[HIM-S] = His Imperial Majesty's Subjects, lit., People of the Catalog, ordered, law-abiding society
[NR] = title for His Imperial Majesty's Naval Catalog (registry)
[DUKE] = Vilani phrase for official Duke of the Imperium - "noble and well-organized duchy manager"
[SOW-P] = Ship of War, private (i.e. not ducal, and not corporate/mercenary).
[HCA] = inclusive Vilani name for the High Court of Admiralty and Vice Courts of Admiralty
[PROXY] = the Majesty being directly referenced, or one of his delegated vassals.


I.

The Owner and Master of the Ship called ________
has Applied
to me
for an Authority
to cruise against /baasa/ [HIM-E]

&

having received [HIM-C]
to encourage /baasa/ [HIM-S]
by every means in their power
to distress and annoy the Trade
of /baasa/ [HIM-E],

the said Ship
having been duly Registered (>/kamek/)
in [NR]
as an Auxiliary Vessel.

II.

I do
by virtue of the Power & Authority
to me given
conformable to [HIM] pleasure
to me expressed
by the [DUKE] [Aledon Aella Norris] of [Regina]

,

Authorize and Empower
the said warrant bearer
in and with the said Ship
to cruise against all [HIM-E]

, and

am fully authorized
to assure him & all others involved in said private [SOW-P],

that

[HIM]
will consider him & them
as fully Entitled
to having a just claim
to all vessels & property
of every kind

[rel] which
he or they shall make prize of
from all or any of [HIM-E],

[rel] provided
the same shall have been first condemned
as Lawful prize
to [HIM]
In [HCA]
having lawful authority
to take Cognizance
of the same.

III. Furthermore,

this warrant entitles the said bearer
to equip the said Ship with arms and defenses,
[] including [X] excluding
space-based nuclear weapons of yields up to 50 kilotons,

in order to
carry out this purpose.

[also,] The said bearer is entitled
to apply for whatever assistance,
whether monetary or not,
that [HIM],
or one of his delegated vassals,
shall deem fit to provide,
from [time to time].

If the warrant holder
attacks and seizes
goods and/or citizens
of a planet, empire, confederation, federation, or other such sovereign nationality

[rel] that is not named as a current enemy of the [Third Imperium],

they will be treated
as though they had attacked
an [Imperial] citizen,

and

will be subject to
the full consequences
of Imperial Law.

The aforesaid enemies
of the [Third Imperium]
will be in addition to
those identified
in separate Imperial proclamations,
[rel] issued by [PROXY].
 
One minor critique: Historically, acts that would be authorized by a LoMaR against the Designated Enemy but carried out against Other Parties Not Authorized For Action Against would be viewed and treated as piracy, not as an attack on one's own citizens. The holder of the LoMaR might get away with such acts if it could be shown beyond doubt that the ship in question was acting as an agent of the Designated Enemy, AND the issuer or the LoMaR did not themselves use such foreign-flagging to attempt to protect their shipping.
 
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