NationStates Jolt Archive

It was supposed to be a quiet day on the archipellago south of Eastern Hithion. Another day of fishing and shipping random goods out to neighboring nations in exchange for food, fuel, and all the finer things in life that couldn't be had. On any given day, they had just enough to get by, and not a bite more or less. The people knew a number of different languages, as it was necessary to propogate trade with the nearby countries.

There were a few major groups among the islands, groups of people that worked closely together, without officially being companies. This day would mark the end of that. The leaders of these organizations had all been summoned to the largest island in the east part of the archipellago, near the mainland.

A man dressed in an extremely fine suit, with white silk cuff links and black shoes made of real leather to match, was there to meet them at the address of the invitation. It was a fairly normal residence on the outside, but the inside had shown signs of heavy interior redecoration. In the room they were meeting in, a glass chandelier provided lighting. It was complimented by a softly burning hearth with white marble trim. A table made of the same marble bore upon it a suitcase. The islanders were all but speechless.

"Gentlemen, let me introduce myself. I am Caleb Westinghouse from the Grand Kingdom of Aerion, but you can refer to me as Your Excellency", the man said. This earned him mixed stares, some of anger, some of confusion, and a lot in between. Pausing only for a brief moment, he then continued, "These islands are to be united at once under my guidance. We will be referred to as the Colony of Lun Noir, or in some cases, as the Archipellago of Lun Noir. You will declare fealty to myself, Viceroy Westinghouse, and in doing so, declare fealty also to His Royal Majesty, King Wasterin X, may his family reign forever."

His audience was clearly irritated at his demands, looked ready to stomp him into the ground and then storm out. He had anticipated this, and before they could even think about what was going on, his hands popped the clasps on the suitcase and opened it. Several diamonds, many raw and uncut, many finely cut, were inside of it. They reflected the chandelier light eeriely, captivating the men who had rarely even held so much as a gold piece.

"There are a dozen and one of you. I trust you can figure out how to distribute these properly. You thirteen are the most influential men in all the islands, I trust we understand one another, and that you will be able to convince all those whose loyalties you hold to accept the banner of Lun Noir", the man stood gracefully and gestured at the flag hanging by the hearth. They had overlooked it until now, the red background with the black circle in the center.

Westinghouse continued, "any questions will have to wait. I'm a busy man, but I will be living here for some time. Feel free to stay the night, I'm sure the trip has been exhausting." With that, he walked out the door and climbed into his car and drive away.

The thirteen men, who had yet to put a word in edgewise, remained silent for some time. Then the speculation and arguing started. By the next day, the decision had been made, and the diamonds were gone. The banner of Lun Noir was brought to every island and flown proudly within the week, and the facilities of those companies were improved exponentially.

A letter detailing the meeting was sent back to the Royal Family at Aerion, and several other letters were sent out to the neighboring nations declaring the founding of the colony, and explaining the legal national boundaries.



OOC Note: Lun Noir is not a puppet of Aerion. Lun Noir is played by a separate player with the agreement of the player of Aerion.

It was a bit sad, the cataclysm that shook DA, since it meant that nobody was actually capable of reading the letter. And the hives weren't exactly willing of, well, noticing anything but their petty games.

Nonetheless, eventually, someone would probably notice something... The region in question was, luckily, quite a bit away from the eternal smog cloud over DA, one could watch quite, quite freely.

And eventually, this someone would keep the knowledge he gained... Just eventually.

Everything had changed, virtually overnight.

While the islanders were still able to go about their normal lives, they were a people. They were citizens of Lun Noir. Every island bore the flag, sometimes more than one. Many of the loose organizations overnight grew fortunes and poured resources into becoming legitimate, well-founded companies. They opened up official trade offices, and a goodly number of marinas were established and paperwork was filed.

It was the paperwork that really stood out as the biggest change. Before, no one cared. A merchant from a country would come and ask for goods, or offer goods, and an exchange would be made. But now, seemingly out of nowhere, a communication grid was set up and a digital currency was established. Exports and imports had to be recorded, legal boundaries of properties were being made.

Previously nothing more than a fishmonger, a man by the name of Nathan Hill was the most active in this effort. He personally made a voyage to each island to see to it, himself. If there was one thing he knew, it was people. These people. His family had lived here in poverty for generations, and he was not going to let this opportunity slip away. Besides, when the Viceroy returned from his trip, Nathan secretly hoped for some recognition.



Presently, he addressed Jeremiah Low, one of his peers, "Yeah, I know it sounds fishy. But trust me, Jer, everything'll be fine." "Look, Hill, I'm sure you like this guy, but keepin' books isn't somethin I do. I don't even read so good", replied Jeremiah. Hill went on to assure him, "Ahhh, Jer. We're gonna be a real country now. You know all the big trades we do? The long hauls? The freight ships that come through here, buying up every last crab and squid we can find? Yeah, that'll be us supplying those ships. But we'll need to start acting like a real country, and that starts with keeping books." Jeremiah just sighed and shook his head, "It's such a pain in the ass. And now everybody's usin' those new computer systems. Ugh. I guess times are changin', man. Gettin' too old to deal with change."

It wasn't so much his age. Jeremiah was barely in his thirties. It was simply the fact that the peoples of the archipellago had lived for so long in their own ways, that change was hard to fathom. Nathan knew this, himself, and replied sympathetically, "It'll be hard watching the quiet nights go, I know. I'll miss being able to walk along the beach at night and hear only the ocean murmuring. But it's not for nothing, Jer. The ocean will simply be alive with ships from all over, who will be trying to move here. Here, to Lun Noir! They will be envious of us." He knew that Jeremiah wanted to be envied and wanted to be looked up to, and the argument sold it. "Yeah I guess so. Well, what all do I need to be keepin' then?", Jer asked as he grabbed a pen.

It was a long process, that involved talking to many people, but it was one that Hill welcomed with open arms. If this were to succeed, the archipellago would become a thriving centerpoint of business. It would be the place to go to for the finest oceanic ships and aquatic exports. It was now his vision, his dream, and nothing would stop that from happening.

The newly founded nation of Lun Noir was a whirlwind of activity.

With the funding that the Viceroy had provided and the major coordination efforts of Nathan Hill, the people quickly found their old way of life turned on its ear. A massive network of computers connected the islands together. A national currency was established in electronic format, and everyone was required to come and register as a citizen. These were techniques that Hill had picked up on an internet search, that seemed to be the key to a highly advanced nation, so they were being employed.

There was some resistance, but everyone was promised a certain amount of pay to begin with, based on their occupation and general health and their lifestyle. After being paid, they received a barcode tattooed on the back of their left hands to access their account anywhere.

A corporation called Harper Systematics increased its size and productivity exponentially due to the sudden rise in demand. They were originally a somewhat small electronics shop, with some programming experience. But Jonathan Harper, who ran the shop was at the meeting with Hill and Caleb, took the opportunity to push himself to a title of CEO, as well as supporting Hill's efforts with all of the materials and services required. He knew that these actions would ensure his corporation a permanent foothold in very foundation of Lun Noir.

Customized registers were distributed to every store across the islands and public works buildings were given public terminals for those unable to buy home systems. Harper also had an intensive tutorial built into these systems, since a majority of the islanders had never handled any equipment like it before.

Things started running like clockwork. It was no longer a sleepy archipellago. Those who resisted the change in lifestyle found themselves unemployed. Those who embraced it quickly were snatched up by one of the several high profile corporations that were rising up. The middle ground was all but eliminated, in under a week of Caleb's first 'visit'.

There was an energy in the islands. A new life. A buzz. There was some kind of static in the air. Not a single person knew precisely what it was, but everyone felt it. It was the winds of change, of what was known as progress. Things happened too fast for anyone to even question what was going on. Casual merchants and traders became registered import and export businesses, with a government number logged into the Harper communication grid. Already people had nicknamed it "the Harp". Even a telephone network was patched into it, the software having been developed by an underground group of programmers on the Harp who remained anonymous save for the name "Hex".

At first there had been resistance about the new technology, but it was quickly being distributed into everyone's home. Integrated into their life. So were the advertisements. Businesses that previously had customers based on friendships were pushing billboards in everyone's face, and paying good money to have their services advertised on the Harp.

A protocol was also built for the Harp that would allow other digital networks to communicate with it, and the bridge to Aerion's own communication grid was established through that protocol. It was from there submitted to several neighboring nations, if they so chose to tie into it.

Most of the islands were running off coal power, but a select few embraced the technological changes that were going on and established cleaner solar power.

With all of the changes, there was one drastic problem. Suddenly, there was a huge importance on gaining credit. A rather large number of people, particularly younger, had taken to looting stores in the night. It was up to the shopkeeper to take care of these matters. This was the first issue that was brought to Caleb's attention when he returned.

It was Nathan Hill who came to bring the message. "Your Excellency," he started, "there's thieves everywhere. People are getting really upset. What should we do?"

Caleb had just returned from an eventful airship ball thrown by the Kingdom of Aerion. It had resulted in an attack of some kind, which left him falling from the skies in an escape pod. His mind was a storm already, wondering who would have the nerve to stage such an attack. Regardless, he pushed all of those thoughts away to focus on the man standing before him. "Mr. Hill, you've done wonders in my absence already. I hear you've led up the operation of spreading acceptance of the unification of this great nation."

"Thank you, Your Excellency", replied Nathan.

"So you are to be the head of Internal Affairs. We'll give you a title later, after you finish your first task. Establish a police force. Let's see," Caleb began checking the computer in his office rapidly, "the Harp says that Rock Industries handles manufacturing SUVs and a variety of boats. Get with them. They will supply the vehicles. Tell them to spawn a subsidiary company that will be exclusively used by the police. There's also this small time shop that's getting into making guns, Red Alert Enterprises. The guy's probably some trigger-happy quack. He needs to be controlled, and his wares need to be given only to the police. He will join this subsidiary company. Anything bigger than a handgun needs to be kept out of the hands of civilians."

The almost machine-like way that Caleb responded without hesitation took Nathan by surprise. All he could respond with was, "Uhh, yes." It wasn't even a minute before he had several pieces of paper placed into his hands by Caleb.

"That's a list of the contact information for the two companies, as well as some official paperwork for yourself. I've also included several sites in Aerion's network that detail some basic laws and how they've historically panned out. The police will be this company, however, any laws they pass can be turned down by myself. For the most part, I'll trust yours and their judgement. Just don't make me not trust you, and I'll leave you to do your thing. You are dismissed."

Nathan Hill, now apparently the head of internal affairs, nodded in a daze and walked out of the office with his papers. He wasn't sure what he had just agreed to, or what just happened. It would take him a day before he made any calls or sent out any electronic messages, but it would get done.

All the same, Lun Noir First Response was established. A large number of the unemployed accepted jobs and went through some basic training. Several policies were adopted, none of which believed in rehabilitating criminals. Punishment seemed to be key, and a rather large variety of things resulted in the death penalty. This was partially due to lack of prisons, and partially due to its effectiveness.

Crime continued, but was greatly diminished. People felt generally more secure, with First Response offices being set up on every island.