(sorry for the half-arsed writeup, but I don't have the time to craft anything better/fluffy, and don't want to hold up the turn any longer)
Noble senators,
House Hazat declares the following:
-We will not give up the sceptres we've captured in fair combat from the League. We would have complied with peaceful and civilized request by all the other houses proceeding without recourse to violence, but in the face of such belligerence and threats as have been proclaimed, we are reluctant to agree. Our sense of honour precludes us from giving way to gunboat diplomacy.
-We are equally unwilling to suffer accusations of powermongering, of trying to declare ourselves Emperor. To prove our innocence we hereby withdraw from Byzantine politics - all our electors forthwith leave the Capital and will not partake in elections for the foreseeable future. Any house who wishes to attack our forces will have to admit before all that the only reason for doing so is out of personal greed driving them to enslave our people. In the meantime, we will hold onto our votes, and will entertain propositions of lending them out, or even of permanent sale, at such times and terms as we might be approached with.
-Know that our worlds are well-fortified, and our fleets strong, compliments of Leaguemaster's wealth we now command. Should any of your belligerent forces arrive at our worlds, we will fight. While we might eventually perish in such an event, we will take with us a number of fleets, and should the worst come to pass, we will load up our sceptres onto ships and send them towards the fading suns to drift in the void forever, or be destroyed - they will not be yours to take. So consider carefully, if any of you wants to lose a large portion of your forces, thus leaving the remaining houses to lord over you, and all for little gain.
-We denounce house Hawkwood and al-Malik. Where other houses have shown restraint, these two have used this pretence to cripple one of the ministries and empower themselves. House Hawkwood acted especially despicable having conquered the Eye's industrial base on Tethys thus rendering it unable to replace losses incurred so far, as well as replacing Eye operatives on Byzantium with their own personal army of assassins, twice as large, now residing in their elector's mansion. The assassins are now yours to deal with, oh noble cousins. Know that this ongoing kerfuffle have already resulted in two houses being removed form elections for at least a decade*, so I'd recommend watching your ally. The Eye forces on Tethys will fight to the last man to reclaim the imperial holdings, although being virtually cut-off from reinforcements they are fully expected to be obliterated by the aggressor.
-Madoc is considered under our sphere of influence, having successfully combatted League strongholds therein for years, and any fleets entering that space will risk destruction as if it were a Hazat home planet. Such was the fate of al-Malik forces recently arrived from the Byzantium gate.
-In all of this, we will never venture out of our way to seek revenge against other houses by wanton killing of their nobles, be they residing on our planets or in the Capital, unless our hand is forced by unrestrained aggression.
Having thus removed the declared reason for the attacks, we await your response, dear cousins. We fully expect al-Malik to harbour a vendetta for their lost family, but the rest of you must consider their priorities.
-Lazarus Hazat, serving Regent, Master of the Eye
Turn sent (i.e., Kebooo, go ahead and process the file I sent you earlier)
*(ooc: we are playing with the 10-year elector's residency house rule, right?)