NationStates Jolt Archive

International Press Release; Edolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
December 18, 20??
“On behalf of the citizens of the Socialist Empire of Edölia and His Majesty, the Impërator Erik von Blätterschplitt, I cordially invite representatives from all Haven nations, as well as countries with interest in the Haven region, to a special summit meeting in the Scarlet Empire’s largest city; the port of Gërburg. The purpose of the congregation is to discuss plans for the creation of the Organization of Haven States, which will serve as a non-binding organization made up of Haven nations which will provide all Haven countries with a forum [literally] for discussions on building intra-Haven alliances and friendships as well as resolving intra-Haven conflicts. I hope that the meeting will be successful and that a foundation for a stronger, peaceful Haven will be built.”
Matthew von Pickett
Minister of Foreign Affairs

As one might guess from reading this, Haven is now open to all interested nations. Since the United Alliance of Progressive States are no longer an actual organization, Haven is no longer affiliated with any alliances and we will be accepting virtually anyone who hasn’t shown themselves to be a poor roleplayer. We are attempting to cultivate a diverse region, made up of strong roleplayers who will make us proud. If you are interested, send a delegate to the summit.

---

Weinweir von Drön walked through Room #1 of the Gërburg People’s Hall of Assembly. The First International Congress of Haven was going to be held in this, the building’s largest of assembly halls. The newly appointed Delegate to the Congress of Haven observed with satisfaction the construction of a semicircular table in the center of the hall, which was able to seat some fifty delegates, as well as the balconies being converted into translators’ booths above. Behind the conference table, rows of desks for journalists were being set up, replacing the theatre seating that had existed there before. A massive television screen was being set up at the front of the room. The last wires were connected as von Drön watched and a shimmering, computer-generated image of the Haven region appeared. He smiled and nodded to himself. The conference would be a success.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/NBate/Haven.png

Current Delegations:
Weinweir von Drön of Edölia
Nicholas Bartholomew and Lillith Dahl of Feline
Christopher Bruno and Jeremy Owens of Pilot
General Thomas of the New Haven Socialist Republic
Violi Vilitov and Telebrusk Kronev of Hogsweat
James and Torin [no surnames given] of Caras Galadon

Hmm .. intresting tag .. )

[tag]

Nicholas Bartholomew and Lillith Dahl were seated on a Feline National Air flight, going into Gërburg.

"I hate this fucking FNA. Why won't they let us buy our own tickets so I can go on Yuluft or TAT or something?" said Bartholomew.

"Image. Imagine. The two Feline diplomats going to negotiate the very future of the Haven region on a privately owned airline. Not looking good, especially to our socialist hosts."

"Dammit."

"Yes, dammit indeed. I do quite fancy the prostitutes on the Yuluft flights."

Over this conversation, they drifted in. Monitors, if not displaying an in-flight movie, faded to a screen reading:

We will be reducing electromagnet power and making a vertical landing in three minutes, twenty-three seconds. It is completely safe either way, but if you do not wish to experience minor discomfort, please press the blue button above your seat to engage your restraints. We hope you have enjoyed your flight. We also remind you that free Edolian phrasebooks are available to download into your PDA. Thank you.

It then displayed an advertisement for a soda, and faded to black.

"Minor my arse." complained Dahl. "I know. Last time I went in without it, the acceleration knocked me up out of my seat for a second, and the landing, shit."

They pressed the blue buttons.

The aircraft landed, and they departed. They were met by a intern from the Feline embassy, holding a hand-written sign saying "Feline Haven Conference Delegation."

They walked up to him, and Dahl grabbed the sign, and ripped it. "What the fuck are you thinking? Handwritten signs? With a generic thing on it? At least put our goddamn names on."

"I... I forgot them." "We'll be sure to tell the Ambassador."

They walked forward, and the intern quaked for a moment, and followed them. They made for the conference center, where the ambassador would meet them.

When they got there, they told the ambassador, Eric Hecker, who was not pleased, and they headed into the conference room. Weinweir von Drön was inside, smiling and nodding.

"von Drön, why the smile?" called out Hecker.

<<OOC: I probably should have made it clear that the conference would be 'starting' when enough people sent delegates.>>

Von Drön looked about, surprised to be addressed. To his left, two men and a women dressed in diplomatic garb strode towards him. [I'm assuming that they are all humans and not cats.] His private smile of satisfaction turned into one of welcome.
"Hecker!" he boomed. "How are you doing, old friend!?" He moved to slap the Cat on his back. "Figured you'd stop by and see how the conferece room was shaping up, eh? How do you like the room? They just installed the tele-screen. Nice, no?"

DNN Digital News
Special Report

Several Pilotan officials have confirmed that President David Mitchell, Secretary of Defense Christopher Bruno and Secretary of State Jeremy Owens will be in attendance of the First International Congress of Haven.

OOC: Yeah, let's make them Human. I guess. I don't really care. And sorry about them showing up early.

IC:
"Actually, I got the wrong time. We've got quite a poor spate of interns that came in about a week ago. These two were greeted at the airport by one that was holding a paper sign with 'Feline delegation' on it because he forgot their names. But other than the shitty interns, I've been doing fine. How about you?"

General Thompson, Commanding Officer of the 26th Power Armor Division in the New Haven Socialist Republic, was onboard a military "Marauder" gunship bound for Gërburg (the gunship being the only available immediately transportation out of the North Asherton Defense Base). Since his unit was enjoying post-retraining R&R, the Joint Chiefs decided he could go represent the Socialist Republic in the Haven Conference. He had taken International Relations in the military academy as a minor, finishing in the top 10 of his class.

"What do we know of this conference, Lieutenant?" Thompson asked his aide.

"Sir, our comrades in Edolia believe it to be in the Haven region's best interests to organize into the Organization of Haven States, or OHS," The aide replied. "They think it will bring about a new era of peace..."

"Peace! Bah!" General Thompson pulled out a cigar and lit it, puffing away as the gunship began to descend slowly over the North Haven Strait. "No way in Hell we'll ever be able to achieve that totally. Of course, President Newman and the General Secretary of the Communist Party told me to do my best to get us in but make sure we're getting the good end of the deal."

"Understood, Sir," The lieutenant replied as he opened the General's briefcase, quickly making an inventory of the contents. "Sir, uh..."

"Speak up, Lieutenant!" Thompson snapped. "Did we forget a document?"

"No, sir," The aide replied. "We forgot to get a bottle of Red Star Vodka before we left base." The General's expression went from calm to peeved in a second.

"Remind me to pick up a bottle in Edolia," Thompson said.

"Sir, we're approaching Gërburg Airfield!" The pilot called back. "Estimated Time of Arrival, thirty seconds."

"Make a vertical landing on a helicopter pad," Thompson ordered.

OOC: By bad roleplayer, do you mean writing skills or how a nation acts?

OOC: Out of interest, how would I go about getting into Haven?

<<OOC: Well... it's pretty easy. One of the main ideas here is to open up nations of different political ideologies and national governments (to make it a better RP region. I would let you in automatically, but many would have a problem with your alliance with Allanea, who is not exactly... respected by many nations in Haven. Make an official request (on this thread) and send a delegate to this conference.>>

EDIT: You changed your last post while I was posting this. As to your new question, writing skills, forum skills, etc... The evilness of a nation isn't really an issue although we don't want the region to be flooded with nasty people, obviously.

OOC: Heh, that alliance got cancelled. not formally, though. Oh ya, and i'm not actually evil, just a little bit too commiesh. If that makes sense.

Violi Vilitov had never liked military aeroplanes, and this was no exception. The crudely put together seats of the An-124 was testament to the Hogsweatian dislike of civilian aircraft.

"Couldn't they just get at least some padding?" He thought he said to himself. Evidently, he hadn't, when a General Kronev spoke up.

"This isn't meant to be a luxury flight. Unless you want to wait until we make a civilian plane." He remarked. Violi sighed.

"Whatever. I just wish we would land already." Violi looked out the window, down to the rolling seas of Haven. "Why are we flying so low?" Violi sounded slightly alarmed.

"Why not?" Kronev raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever." Violi was thankful he wasn't one of those military types... far too many of them around nowadays.

The pilot's voice over the intercom ended the less-than friendly conversation between the Foreign Minister and the General.

"We are approaching Edolia, repeat, we are approaching Edolia in six minutes. Prepare for land."

The pilot switched to a frequency between the Gerburg airport. (sorry, I don't have a keyboard that can do the accent)

"This is Flight 6CH from Hogsweat, requesting permission to land, over"

IC:

James sat lightly with Torin lightly in his seat. "I wonder how long it will take the Edolia customs to decide we're not terrorists or anything."

Torin didn't smile, "I would think that as the head of state you would be above such suspicion."

"You never did have a sense of humor."


OOC: Feel free to deny me entry

[We'll decide that at a later date.]

As the SST approached Gërburg both Duchess Saleh and Princess Larsen were contemplating the future of Haven and the Imperium's role in it. The dissolution of UnAPS had released the last constraints on Imperial policies in the region and the world at large. It had also, praise Odin, allowed the Imperium to drop any pretense of friendship to the radical left-wing nations with whom relations had steadily been declining, now they were nothing better than acquantinces, although it was doubtful if either the nation of Feline or the USR realised it. The memory of the usual flowery rhetoric about peace and prosperity for Haven and its nations brough a snort from Asiya. They'll have peace and prosperity all right, but it'll happen with us pointing a gun at their collective heads and reminding them that if they so much as blink wrong we'll pull the trigger.

The snort of derision from her aunt brought the Princess out of her thoughts and she looked at the olive-skinned women with a single raised eyebrow, "Upon whom does your formidable contempt rest now, Auntie Asi?"

"Those damn socialist nuts, dear child. I don't think they have a clue that we're about to pull the rug out from under them, it should be interesting to see just how they land." Even though the words held nothing but irritation and mild loathing for those that she regarded as head-in-the-clouds morons, she addressed her only niece with the fondness that she reserved for her daughters.

Lien sighed, "I worry about Daddy, those airheads antagonize him overmuch, even if they don't realize it, and I fear they will go too far at this conference, especially those ill-bred, mannerless Cats. You know what he's doing and once it becomes apparent to those bafoons we'll be toeing the line of war for some time to come, but our acquantencies just may provoke him before we are ready."

Asiya nodded as the fasten seatbelt light came on, so she did not respond and instead secured herself to the seat and waited for the landing.

Mark Jameson (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/MarkJameson.jpg), the Iuthian representative, arrived rather unceremoniously in a private jet owned by an Iuthian air company. It wasn't really something Iuthia wanted publicity with and they didn't really expect much to come out of this conference, but it would make for interesting observations into the current affairs in Haven, which the IDC had been slacking with their intel for some time now.

Mark didn't have any aides following him and security was rather loose with only a few un-armed security personnel coming along who would not be attending the conference itself, only to liaise with the security in Gërburg to assure Mark was safe.

He and his bodyguards submitted to all reasonable security checks which would be required of them in the International Airport, clearly none of them were carrying weapons and they were all white men with Mark himself wearing a Black suit with a blue shirt and a respectable tie. His hair was short and dark, almost military cut but not quite. He was a relatively young man in his late twenties, however his eyes were filled with a certain level of experience… he was on of the later results of the Iuthian Diplomatic Corps latest training program.

The guards themselves were clearly not Iuthian Black Vipers as they have been in previous events, they were Iuthian special forces to a degree, however their skills were more for bug detection and liaising with Edölian security for the event itself.

The reasoning for Iuthia's latest interest in Haven was rather simple, after hearing the latest news about UnAPS disolving they wanted to sit in on the Haven political situation to get an idea of what footing the Iuthian military base would be on throughout the next several years to come... it would also be a healthy bit of experience for the young diplomat who had done so well thus far.

Upon leaving the airport and entering their arranged trasportation (hired from Edölian itself) they left to the conference itself, expecting there shouldn't be any trouble.

"All airplanes carrying diplomatic personnel are free to land at the Gërburg Internationl Airport. However, parties not belonging to nations with which Edölia has strong relations are expected to stay together for the duration of their trip so as to minimize the possibility of unfriendly agents taking advantage of our hospitality to prey upon the peaceful people of Edölia."
Official Dispatch from the Edolian Foreign Ministry

<<OOC: SS: :( >>

James smiled at Torin. "I guess we shouldn't wander around to much then. The Odlians are obviously watching. Oh, wait, we're not evil. Anyway, how're we getting around here anyway? I'm incognito but you stick out like a a nun in a nudist camp."

Torin didn't take the joke. He was dressed impeccably in his uniform as usual providing a stark contrast the James' traditional garb. He decided James would stick out to dressed like that. "Perhaps we should simply go to the rooms assigned to us and await the start of the conference."

"Oh all right worrywort."

The Condor plane landed swiftly on the Edolian airport, as Violi Vilitov and Telebrusk Kronev fiddled with their passports. Ding dong A man, assumedly Edolian, stepped onto the landed plane, and waved Violi and Telebrusk to follow him. They were led through the Edolian airport, both staying silent while they observed what happened around...

OOC: Your guy can tell them where to go.

[It's an IC thing and really has more to do with Feline than the USR. Feline's pissed the Emperor off and he intends to stamp paid to that account, your ideological and political association with Feline is pretty much guaranteed to catch the USR some flack. Really you shouldn't be anything more than worried, Feline on the other hand should be absolutely terrified.]

James smiled at Torin. "I guess we shouldn't wander around to much then. The Odlians are obviously watching. Oh, wait, we're not evil. Anyway, how're we getting around here anyway? I'm incognito but you stick out like a a nun in a nudist camp."

Torin didn't take the joke. He was dressed impeccably in his uniform as usual providing a stark contrast the James' traditional garb. He decided James would stick out to dressed like that. "Perhaps we should simply go to the rooms assigned to us and await the start of the conference."

"Oh all right worrywort."

As the two men looked around, a smartly dressed Edolian walked forward. He prepared to take a sign out of the bag carried at his side, but, seeing James' obviously Galadonian [adjective?] garb, he smiled to himself and walked towards them. He stuck out his hand and began to speak in halting and heavily-accented Galadonian.
"I am to pick you up. I am called Victor von Krunsi. Sorry I do not speak good, I am only first year student. Do you speak Edolian?"
Obviously, the Edolian government had had difficulty coming up with someone who spoke the -to most in the Scarlet Empire- very obscure Galadonian language on such short notice.

The Condor plane landed swiftly on the Edolian airport, as Violi Vilitov and Telebrusk Kronev fiddled with their passports. Ding dong A man, assumedly Edolian, stepped onto the landed plane, and waved Violi and Telebrusk to follow him. They were led through the Edolian airport, both staying silent while they observed what happened around...
The man who had come to greet the delegates from Hogsweat was tall and thin, with a short black goatee and piercing eyes.
"Come this way, please," he said crisply in the language of Hogsweat. He spoke a very formal dialect. "Let's move along. You will be staying in the Scarlet Gerbil hotel. It is very fine, and is normally where the Edolian government puts up foreigners staying in Gërburg. I hope that your stay is pleasant."

Violi nodded diplomatically.

"Thank you, sir." He spoke in crisp Edolian, in a vain attempt to please the man. Kronev, however, said nothing. He followed Violi and the man, watching while the two engaged in conversation, Vilitov's broken Edolian proving most un courteous...

As the two men looked around, a smartly dressed Edolian walked forward. He prepared to take a sign out of the bag carried at his side, but, seeing James' obviously Galadonian [adjective?] garb, he smiled to himself and walked towards them. He stuck out his hand and began to speak in halting and heavily-accented Galadonian.
"I am to pick you up. I am called Victor von Krunsi. Sorry I do not speak good, I am only first year student. Do you speak Edolian?"
Obviously, the Edolian government had had difficulty coming up with someone who spoke the -to most in the Scarlet Empire- very obscure Galadonian language on such short notice.


OOC: for future reference my characters speak fluent Quenya, Sindarin, French, and English.

IC: James looked at the man and looked at Turin. Turin frowned, <<It is alright. I'm afraid the Premeir doesn't speak the two languages of your land. I know very little of your language anticipating this.>>

James looked at Turin and the man and spoke to Turin in rapid fire french forgoing the ancient tongue in the interest of seeming more normal. "Lui dit Je suis desole. Poser d'ou nous allons."

Turin turned back to the man, <<I am requested to express the apologies of the Premeir and to ask where we are going from here.>>

<<OOC: Sorry... I guess he speaks Quenya... And I suppose that the Edolian government just plain didn't know that they would speak Sindarin, French or English or they would have sent a different person to pick them up. Oh well. BTW, are you planning on moving to Haven? I'm just wondering what interest you have in the region.>>
"We go to the hotel... I do not know how to say the name in Quenya..." He spoke a few words in the harsh, gutteral Edolian tongue. "It is small animal that lives in this country. Very many. Come with me please."

The stairs descended from the aircraft's doorway and two very beautiful but also very intimidating weapons started down the steps. The lady in the lead was tall, had light olive skin, asiatic eyes with a gray-yellow hazel color that reminded one of a wolf's eyes and took one's breath away with their beauty, black hair done up into a sloppy bun that allowed tresses to fall out, a shapely yet trim figure; her entire appearance nearly screamed Persian and the manner in which she carried herself tagged her as either royalty or high nobility. To those who were not familiar with the way most Scandavians took care of their bodies and looks, she appeared to be a healthy 40 or 45; she was in fact 73 years old.

The "girl" in the group was nearly as tall as the lady in front of her, had complexion that was somewhere between pale and light olive, eyes that pegged her as at least partly Chinese with a dark gray color that almost compulsively made one look for the storm clouds, raven hair that went all the way down her back, a figure that wasn't as curvy yet no less eye-catching than her aunt's; the manner she carried herself left no doubt whatsoever that they were gazing upon royalty, which was entirely true. The girl, for she appeared to be no older than her mid 20s, was in fact a women of 45 years.

As they stepped onto the tarmac they began searching for their escort, for neither of them had ever been to the Edolian city, so they did not know their way around, and they both knew that the Edolians were aware of that small fact. So, they patiently waited for whoever was being sent to function as the welcome wagon.

<<OOC: Sorry... I guess he speaks Quenya... And I suppose that the Edolian government just plain didn't know that they would speak Sindarin, French or English or they would have sent a different person to pick them up. Oh well. BTW, are you planning on moving to Haven? I'm just wondering what interest you have in the region.>>
"We go to the hotel... I do not know how to say the name in Quenya..." He spoke a few words in the harsh, gutteral Edolian tongue. "It is small animal that lives in this country. Very many. Come with me please."

OOC: It's possible that I may wish to do so. I need to find a good region to habitate in. I've heard a lot about Haven and thought that if you're doing something like this I'd send a representative more as an observer. IC wise, it's in the interest of international standing...lol... err something like that...
And don't apologize, it's my fault for not specifying my language. I don't habitate in the forums very often. Besides, the language barrier could be fun/useful. Oh yes, and I missed the question earlier, the adjective form of Galadon is Galadisian.

IC: James nodded pleased at the guide's attempt at speaking his language, "You speak very well for one trying to learn the ancient mode. I apologize if you find some of our usage unfamiliar." James decided not to comment on the name of the hotel. He found it quite ugly and inpronuncible. Torin, however, possesed the vocabulary to give James a vague idea as to what the thing is.

James set off after their guide looking carefully about him. There seemed to be stark contrast. The city he was in looked to be on the same level as a Galadisian city but he could see signs of a less stable government. He guessed he shouldn't have been suprised, from what he read much of the nation's recent history was a series of wars against Allanea. "Is this city an accurate representation of your country and Haven in general?"

Ed Ridge smiles as he looks at the map: “Oh, for god’s sake…. Won’t these commies get at least something right?” Then he rises from his chair – speaking English of course, with a strong South-Allanean accent.

“Excu-use me, mister, but y’got that map a tad wrong. First, it ain’t “Federation Territory” no more, it’s “United States”. Second, that lil patch of land numbered ‘85’ on your map is Yurka-City, formerly known as the Yurkan Crater, now held by the United States. Being ah am a-representin’ the Deparmint of State here, I might as well demand an apology – again.”

He sits down. There was a reason Kazansky has appointed such an obvious Southerner to the mission, and stuff like this was exactly it.

OOC: Care to give me the Haven passowrd through TG so I can move in?

(OOC: For those of you who don't know, DOECO is our spy agency, and is practically a fourth branch of government. It doesn't respect inter-agency stuff, but it does respect individual civil liberties.

And SS, thanks for the excuse to describe Feline culture. I don't know why, but I love doing it.

Cats not poorly mannered. Alright, maybe by Human standards, but I figure with 70% of the population being cats, different cultural standards would seep through. I got to thinking, cats hiss, right? And there's a certain eloquence in that hiss. Then I thought some more. Kinda like Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. It's vulgar, but it comes off as sounding beautiful at the same time. You should think of the way Cats use profanity like the way Jules used it: Frequent yet eloquent.

Also, Edolia, our ambassador should also be considered part of the delegation.

Oh, and one last thing, cat=the animal, Cat=Feline citizen.)

IC:

That night...

Lillith Dahl liked paper. She always had a few thousand sheets or so imported every month from countries that still use paper and pens. She had brought some with her.

Unbeknownst to anyone outside of the top DOECO echelons, she was a DOECO mole within the Foreign Ministry..

She liked paper because she could write on it to collect her thoughts and then burn it. Burn it like so many thoughts fires in the campground of her mind.

At the hotel, she got out a pen, and began to write.

Alright, Lillith, this is what you have to do here:

1. Ensure, at the very least, goddamn right-wing motherfuckers don't get their hands on the control of Haven.
2. Ensure, as a secondary priority, that those commie fucks don't control Haven.
3. Try to enhance Ilek-Vaad's standing, if they end up coming- powerful ally on most issues.
4. Try to make a large impact on the conference. Bigger impact= profile in the Foreign Ministry. Bigger profile= More DOECO influence.
5. Keep an eye out for hidden agendas in the delegates. Haven is like Europe before WWI, a powderkeg ready to explode. You can feel it, Lil. It's almost palpable. Damn.

She then got a match, and burned it. She scattered the ashes to the wind outside the window.

--

Nicholas Bartholomew sat in his hotel room, in thought. Edolia always disturbed him. He didn't know what it was. He gulped down his glass of soda, and poured himself another one.

He got up, and opened his bag. He looked inside, and picked out two books. Paper books were considered a luxury item. Nicholas, like most Cats, had total disdain for paper in most context, but prized paper books. He did this, the picking out of two random books, a lot. One of the books he picked up with Camus's The Plague, which he had read years ago, and the other was one he had never read, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence. He plopped down on the bed, sipped the soda, and began to read. "The story which follows was first written out in Paris during the Peace Conference, from notes jotted daily on the march, strengthened by some reports sent to my chiefs in Cairo..."

--

Eric Hecker, in his hotel roomed, had a hot piping cup of black coffee. He only drank black coffee when he was angry. He was drinking black coffee.

He was writing reports back to the Universities from whence they came about the interns.

He was not happy. Neither would his interns be soon.

[Actually, that communique proves my point. Your citizens come across unnecessarily uncouth is speech, purposefully ill-mannered, and frankly irreverent to the average Imperial citizens and especially the nobility. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Princess and her Duchess aunt (who also happens to be the head of the Foreign Service) are of the opinion that most Cats are uneducated bafoons who are only capable of a higher thought process when it's induced by LSD or some other narcotic, and even then that it should be taken with a few thousand kilotons of salt.]

IC: The 747, bedecked in diplomatic colours, landed hapzardly on the runway, the sounds of its engines dissappearing in the dark as it taxied into position. Once all the excitment had died down and the various cables and stairs attached, the main door swung open to reveal the cloaked forms of five individual figures moving together in close, huddled fashion.

Reaching indoors quickly, surrounded by their unarmed but still dangerous bodyguards, the characters each removed their wet-weather clothing. A mixture of forms, sizes and shapes could be used to describe the odd group that now should shaking the rain out of the hair that on some of them at least was in the most wierdest of places.

Two of them were recognisably human, one a short, raven haired female by the name of Karina Darquin, a Minister in the Foreign Office tasked with sorting out this mess in some fashion to bring The Freethinker Commonwealth into a better strategic position then before. The political slant of the region was moving away from an insecure centrist base to a left-wing orgy, and this posed considerable problems for the Freethinker Government, not least in the possibility of where a continued move in this direction would lead to.

The other human was an older grey-haired man, retired Air Marshall Charles Lenington, ex-military, currently low-ranking government minister underneath Darquin and officially her aide. He stood out in his old uniform, and in reality his presence here was as much to assess the military implications of what transpired as much as to 'assist' Ms Darquin.

The other figures were not human. One of them, a young, tall, blonde male in a highly decorative uniform, was Sir Clodius Maxilimus himself, CinC of the Pathfinder Corp, and High Lord of the vampire realm that resided within the Freethinkers. His light red, reflective eyes and recessed fangs visible when he smiled betrayed his origins, the greatest Freethinker warrior in his 'human' form was still a pretty impressive sight.

The other two figures were the close bodyguards of the group. the latest addition to the Freethinker ranks, sentient Gorilla berengei berengei sat silently, their massive arms dangling by their sides as their nostrils flared sniffing the air around them. Horrendously strong and with a newly found intelligence, these soldiers were formidable opponents by their nature alone. Even Clodius kept a weary eye on them, before turning to the approaching welcoming committee.

Gërburg International Airport
********************

General Thompson stepped off the rear ramp of the gunship, his Lieutenant aide in full Stalin Power Armor with the standard TIS assault rifle (designed in Scandavian States) in his right hand and a briefcase in the other. A black SUV from The Island States-Edolian Liason Center rolled up to the helipad, the back doors opening with little fanfare as the General and his aide boarded.

"Sir, your sidearm," the Lieutenant said as he handed the General his pistol from the briefcase, which the General quickly holstered. "We'll be heading to the conference center immediately, find our table, sit down and get someone to get you a bottle of Red Star Vodka." The Lieutenant laid the assault rifle down on the seat, flicking on the safety as the SUV drove down the road.

"Remember to shoulder your rifle when we get out of the car, Lieutenant," Thompson said as he was reading the New Haven Socialist Republic's official positions on issues that were bound to come up. "I don't think there will be an assassination attempt, but by sending me and you, our government wants to send a clear message that our military is a very important player in our country and this region."

"Aye, sir," The aide replied as the car took the winding road to downtown Gërburg.

(OOC: I know, I was just trying to make it clear to anyone who isn't familiar with Feline that we aren't uneducated or any of that. Except irreverant. We are highly irreverent, and we prize such irreverency.

From the producers that brought you Clash of Cultures: Crusades, Clash of Cultures: 1492, and Lost in Translation, we bring you:

Clash of Cultures: First International Congress of Haven

<<OOC: Alright. I guess we can start up the conference. And Allanea; the map would be considered fully up to date IC. However, I have no idea about your claims to parts of Haven. To my knowledge Yurka was never within Haven.>>

As they stepped onto the tarmac they began searching for their escort, for neither of them had ever been to the Edolian city, so they did not know their way around, and they both knew that the Edolians were aware of that small fact. So, they patiently waited for whoever was being sent to function as the welcome wagon.
The "welcome wagon" appeared a moment later. The Scandavian embassy had informed the Edolians as to the nature of the visitors, and due to current widespread anti-imperial sentiment in the Socialist Empire, the Edolian government had made sure to send proper security. As the Scandavian party milled on the tarmac, they watched as a large black limousine rolled towards them. It had a sleek, modern look about it, as did most Edolian cars –and there were very few as they were banned on most city streets- and most casual observers could tell that it was armored. The doors on the sides of the vehicle opened up from the bottom and four men stepped out. Three of them wore full-body combat armor, emblazoned with the sigil of the Red Palace Guards, Edölia’s most elite military police and urban combat force. The fourth, however, was dressed smartly in a very sharp black tuxedo. His black hair was slicked back his face held an air of warmth and intelligence around it. He bowed to the princesses in the old Edolian fashion that was so rarely used in the modern world. He addressed each in turn, speaking in a clear, flowing manner that suggested that he had learned a very noble dialect of their language.
“Welcome to the Scarlet Empire, Your Majesties,” he smiled. “The Impërator sends his best wishes. Originally his daughter, Flavia was going to be accompanying you, but she wound up with a rather bad cold at the last minute. Speaking of which,” he looked around at the small piles of snow littered around the tarmac, “you must be cold. Please accompany me. We weren’t sure how large your security detachment would be, so we brought along a few operatives. They can stay or go, depending on your wishes.” The inside of the limousine was large and luxurious and the Scandavian women were able to have a small couch to themselves, the Edolians sitting across from them and the rest of the Scandavian detachment behind. As they pulled away from the airport, the smartly dressed Edolian smiled. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Fern von Crüs. I used to work at the Edolian embassy in New Copenhagen, so they asked me to meet you. Would you like some music? We have a wide selection of classical, jazz and some modern music well liked in your country. It’s just a very short ride to the Scarlet Gerbil Hotel. I’m afraid that the conference will be starting in a number of hours however, so you wont have very much time to get comfortable in the hotel.”

---

IC: James nodded pleased at the guide's attempt at speaking his language, "You speak very well for one trying to learn the ancient mode. I apologize if you find some of our usage unfamiliar." James decided not to comment on the name of the hotel. He found it quite ugly and inpronuncible. Torin, however, possesed the vocabulary to give James a vague idea as to what the thing is.

James set off after their guide looking carefully about him. There seemed to be stark contrast. The city he was in looked to be on the same level as a Galadisian city but he could see signs of a less stable government. He guessed he shouldn't have been suprised, from what he read much of the nation's recent history was a series of wars against Allanea. "Is this city an accurate representation of your country and Haven in general?"
<<OOC: Actually, the city would look extremely well ordered and very, very neat. We have had quite a few wars with Allanea but they’ve always been on his turf, so Edölia wouldn’t have been effected, and we never took nearly as many casualties as he did. I’m going to Just in case you didn’t catch it, the name of the hotel is the “Scarlet Gerbil.”>>

The guide smiled graciously at James’ compliment. “We are nearly there. It is great close. Government send car to get us.” As the party stepped outside, the visitors were able to finally get a full view of the city. Thousands of skyscrapers built in a straight grid towered over them for as far as the eye could see, which weren’t very far as dark clouds hovered over the landscape and obscured the view. “It is… fall…” the guide said, apologetically. “Weather not very good now.” As a non-descript car pulled up next to them, he opened the door. “We take you to hotel now.”

---

No one came to pick up the Allaneans.

---

The other two figures were the close bodyguards of the group. the latest addition to the Freethinker ranks, sentient Gorilla berengei berengei sat silently, their massive arms dangling by their sides as their nostrils flared sniffing the air around them. Horrendously strong and with a newly found intelligence, these soldiers were formidable opponents by their nature alone. Even Clodius kept a weary eye on them, before turning to the approaching welcoming committee.
The three women who came to pick up the Freethinker delegation looked alike enough to be triplets. Each had long, slightly wavy blonde hair, which came down to their waist, and blue, sparkling eyes. Their shapely bodies were covered by tight black leather clothing, which looked sexy, but at the same time quite formal. Apparently someone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a sense of humor. “Come this way,” the first said, speaking the language of the foreigners fluently. “The car is waiting to take you to the hotel.” She winked at Clotius and turned back, her hips moving seductively. Two tall men, similarly dressed walked up a moment later to take the luggage from the diplomatic group. They gave warm smiles to Karina Darquin as they carried it back to the trunk.

---

“Is everything ready for the conference?” von Drön asked. His aide nodded. “Refreshments are being provided. We have delicacies from all over Haven and the waiters are lined up to be on call at all times.”
“What about the entertainment?”
“Everything is set. During breaks we have dancing teams and bands… I instructed the hotel to keep high-quality prostitutes on call at all times.”
“Excellent. However, make sure that it’s discrete. Some of the people attending the conference don’t have quite the same… free culture that Edölia does.”
“Yes sir.”
“And have the seating arrangements been finalized?”
“Yes sir. I made sure to put the Cats and the Scandavians next to each other, just as you said.”Von Dörn looked horrified. Seeing the look on his boss' face, the aide laughed. "Just kidding, sir. They're on opposite sides of the table." Von Dörn frowned and then nodded.
"Good. What about the Freethinkers delegation? Did you send the special welcome out?”
“Yes sir.”
“How did it go?”
“Not sure, sir. They just arrived.”
“Excellent. I want to make committees like that the norm for Edölian diplomacy. I think it adds a sense of welcome. If it goes well with the Freethinkers, I expect I can get the support to make it more widespread.”
“Yes sir.”

(OOC:

Edolia: Quite funny.)

It was hard not to like the officials of the USR states, especially the Edolians, because they were always polite and, more to the point, didn't act like common animals like the Cats tended to. After signalling the two-man security detachment to follow and entering the car, Asiya politely listened to the man speak before answering, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Fern von Crüs. I am Duchess Asiya Saleh and this wayward girl is my niece, Princess Lien Larsen. As for the music, no thank you, we both find it hard to think when it's playing because we both tend to be drawn into the rhythym and melodies. It is, as you say, a very short time until the conference start and we both have much to think about and organize."


[Oh, btw, the Princess is also a Fleet Admiral who has command of the naval weapons research branch, which makes her 4th Sea Lord. Her Grandfather, Fleet Admiral Duke Sun Tzu, is First Sea Lord and has command of the entire navy. Just a small tidbit you might or might not have a use for.]

Mark Jameson (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/MarkJameson.jpg) and his group made a small detour to the Hotel which Edölia had put them up in. It was figured that they should at the very least sign in before this thing got started in a few hours.

The Iuthian's made a point of being polite, as this was standard when conducting affairs in another nation, though they also wanted to show a level of respect as well, given that this was Edölia a nation which has a reasonable relationship with Iuthia. Upon entering their hotel the group simply signed in and dropped of unneeded luggage for the event ahead... though Mark decided to spend a few moments in the bar of the hotel for a short break before heading off to the conference... turning up early would be dull and he had been travelling most the day, Iuthia was no short distance away.

OOC: I normally don't bother with much OOC in threads like thism but it seems to be an on going thing to explain yourself so I'll basically just point out that I'm wasting time before you guys decide this thing has started.

(OOC: First, I thought of a perfect metaphor, better than Pulp Fiction, for us. Correct me if I'm wrong, Edolia, but isn't "Cono" a regularly uttered phrase in Spain, considered just a harmless expression? Second, our diplomats know not to go cursing when it would antagonise negotiating partners- except when they want to. We do have tact. One last note.)

The three Feline diplomats convened in the Ambassador's room.

"Alright, the Foreign Ministry has three specific objectives for these talks." said Bartholomew, who was the official head of the delegation, but in practice all were roughly equal. "First, bridge closer ties to the bloody USR. We can't let a major power bloc take the region and us not be on their good side. Remember, we're closer to them than we are Pauldustallh, Scandavian States and other conservative nations." The other two nodded. "Second, try to strengthen the emerging Haven organization. The stronger it is, the more in check the USR, any other emergent power blocs and right-wing nations will be." They nodded again. He then smiled, and said, "And this is an off-the record objective, a pet idea of Boostei himself. So keep this fucking frozen yogurt in the cup. We are to, in his words, "Playfully antagonize" the Scandavians. He wants to distance ourselves from them, and they are likely to share the same objective. So, he basically wants us to have some fun doing it. Now, the Scandavians should be arriving in a few minutes. Now, Edolia has no public nudity laws. (OOC: If this is incorrect, please tell me. I don't think you do. If you do, make them just in their underwear when they are doing this.)"

He looked at the smiles on their faces. "So, this is what I propose. We get some nice cocktail glasses, put on some fedoras, take off the rest of our clothes, pour some soda into the glasses, and go downstairs and loiter outside the hotel lobby waiting for the Scandavians. When they show up, we'll smile in a friendly way at them, and raise our glasses, and make a toast to 'the continued friendship of our peoples.' What do you say?"

The smiles on their faces said it all. They got out three cocktail glasses and fedoras, poured their sodas of choice into the glasses, stripped, and went downstairs.
(OOC: By the way, just to make sure you know, this is all in good fun.)

"...and then he punched me, the man had the audicity to punch me despite the international incident it would clearly create. I don't know, he made himself out as though he was some how better then me but in the end he just proved how lacking in disapline and training Mississippi soldiers actually are."" Mark continued, downing his second pint of weak beer. It was the local stuff, which was part of the reason Mark chose it, he wanted something with taste which wasn't too strong. He needed to have his mind in shape for the conference.

One of his bodyguards looked at his watch and turned to Mark. "Looks like we should be heading off for this conference, Sir, it'll be starting soon."

Mark nodded. "Very well, John, lets make our way there. Dave, would you mind saying here and calling the Edölian security people to start a liaison?" he said, with the right pronouncation of "Edölia".

"Sure thing, Sir." Dave then made his way out of the bar as the others got up and got ready. Their informality would probably end here, though they weren't too worried as this conference wasn't as important as some of the others they had been to.

Leaving the hotel, Mark and his security advisor entered the rental car and were driven to the conference.


After a short conversation, both Mark and Dave arrived outside the hotel the conference would be taking place in. It was odd that they had booked a different hotel, but the situation was that they prefered it that way, if only to give a feeling of distance from the events here... Iuthia wasn't an important part of Haven, with only a small presence in the Region it wasn't deemed anything more then getting a feel for the future.

Leaving their rental, the first thing they noticed were a group of diplomats loitering outside... they lacked any clear insignia as to their nationality, however Mark recognised one of the faces to that of a Feline diplomat... he smiled light and walked over to them, his eyes not shying from the man at all. This was perfectly natural in Iuthia.

"Ah Ambassador Bartholomew, I didn't think it was that warm today, otherwise I would join you in your choice of attire. Still, it's good to see another who is prepared to skip formalities for comfort... you remind me of Ambassador Harmone. Mind if I ask how you are doing today or are you waiting for someone?"

OOC: Sorry I'm so late in posting, I had things to do.

It was raining when the modified fighter left Ocanthus Intl. in centeral Forodren Annon. The modified Sparrow, which now held two seats rather than one, took off quickly, it's VSTOL thrusters allowing it to take off without much more than leaving the hangar. Climbing quickly into the sky, the small craft shot east. Before long, the Sparrow was in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, it's jet engines cutting out and switching power to the large rocket engine.

Climbing even higher, the black fighter crossed the Haven Strait in no time. As the two inside the Sparrow neared the coast, the pilot aimed the craft's nose down, and decended in a large downward spiral. At around 10,000m, it leveled off, contacting the airport's control tower for landing clearance. As soon as it was granted, the Sparrow continued towards the airport, and touched down on a helipad with no problems

After landing, the craft was shut down. With a short hiss, the pressurised air escaped the cockpit as the fighter's canopy opened, and two people in black and red space suits jumped out. The pair removed their helmets, and quickly moved on to remove the rest of the suit.

The first out was a young female half-elf with green eyes and silver hair, wearing green pants and a green coat, with brown leather gloves and boots. On her back was a long, dark green cloak. She climbed back into the cockpit and retrieved a few items, A long silver rapier with a jeweled hilt and pommel, a backpack presumably packed with clothing and other supplies, and a silver harp.

Before the female had retrieved her things, the pilot was out oif his suit. He appeared to be a full elf, with golden eyes and long black hair. He wore light blue boots, dark blue pants and vest, and a black coat, gloves, and cloak. As his coat was open, anyone that looked would have noticed a shirt of bright silver rings under the vest. When the female was finished gathering her things, he gathered his. A golden rapier, a silver revolver, and a backpack much like the one the female had.

After donning their equipment, the pair closed the fighter's canopy and walked into the terminal through a nearby door.

Hattian Embassy: Blätterschplitt

OOC: That is your capitol, correct?

Diplomatic Commissar Valentin Vlachko sighed as he tried to listen to the garbled radio transmissions from Haton. Something big was going on, civil war, some said, but they couldn't be sure. All he knew was that there was heavy fighting somewhere.

He looked up as an aide knocked on the door, "Commissar, you are going to be late for the conference, if you don't hurry."

Valentin shook his head, "Bloody hell, I forgot about that."

He stood up, threw on his coat, hat and sword, then he ran up to the helipad on top of the embassy. He climbed into the chopper and strapped on his restraints.

"Comrade, get to Gërburg as fast as you can..."

The pilot nodded, and the chopper sped off into the distance...

-----------------------

As the helicopter neared the airport, the Commissar radioed ahead and apologized for being late. Soon after, the helicopter touched down, he wouldn't blame them if they didn't send someone to pick him up, he could find a bus or walk, nothing wrong with walking.

"It's 'Special Envoy' Bartholomew now. They wanted me to do this, so I've got a new job, and a new title, and so does my former Deputy Ambassador. I'm sorta meeting someone, but I can talk until then. That ties into the nudity. This is entirely off the record, but we're playing a prank on the Scandavian delegation. You know, typical diplomatic posturing, so to speak."

Gërburg
******

General Thompson's vehicle pulled up to the Red Gerbil Hotel, letting off the aide with the bags. "Get me a bottle of Red Star Vodka at the corner shop using the New Haven Government Card and meet me at the conference center," Thompson called out after his aide. "Remember, leave that suit of armor and your rifle in your room, and wear your service pistol, your ceremonial sword, and your uniform." The aide nodded as he wobbled up the steps, carrying the general's bags up to his room. The General shook the driver's hand and got out, having told the driver to come back in ten minutes.

He walked up the stairs and into the lobby, making out the other delegations.

Mark visibly smirked at the reply, as an Iuthian who had to follow past events with other nations as part of his training her knew a little about the usually political manner of the Scandavians, so he could imagine the sitation which proved to be quite amusing.

"Ah, 'Special Envoy'... thanks for telling me about that, I suppose our information is a little out of date. Part of the reason we are here in fact. Though thats not too important for the moment. I'm Ambassador Mark Jameson." he looked at the men standing in front of him, everyone else including Mark, were wearing suits to this conference. Though Mark had to hand it to these men, it was an interesting move. Generally while public nudity was prefectly legal in Iuthia, it is usually a matter of comfort and when conducting formal business they usually wanted to look their best.

"It's an interesting statement you make, were you more prepared you could also have made sure you were smartless dressed and naked, with the imaginative use of body paint. Though I'm sure the effect will be the same... I'll have to travel to Feline sometime, it would make for an interesting holiday to see the Feline culture."

"Yes, I've travelled to Iuthia, I think, four, yes, four times. Great country. We plan to dress again after a welcoming ceremony of sorts. Of course, there's really no telling what that dress would be. Anyway, I'll be glad to give you a quick update. Basically, infighting in the UnAPS continued after you left. The Edolias, Hattians, TISers, and Jonderans formed a political bloc like the EU, except rallied around communism. They and us- since we're not in full agreement on everything- managed to hold of the two or three fucking right-wingers. The constant fighting pissed off the moderates, and all three factions basically had a situation like a polygamous end of Ibsen's A Doll's House."

OOC: I will not be taking part in this conference, or with any Haven conferences, plots, RP's etc. if Allanea is allowed to enter Haven and/or participate.

In the opening statement Edolia pointed out that BAD role players would be barred. In my opinion there is no better example of a bad RPer than Allanea.

One only need to browse through the RP fiascos that Allanea orchestrated to see his record of poor RP, godmoding and a complete disregard of basic RP etiquette. I would like to see Allanea officially barred from this conference and from entering Haven, ever.

[Edolia said that he didn't send anybody to pick the Allanean reps up, so I think that's a tacit rejection on his part.]

The three women who came to pick up the Freethinker delegation looked alike enough to be triplets. Each had long, slightly wavy blonde hair, which came down to their waist, and blue, sparkling eyes. Their shapely bodies were covered by tight black leather clothing, which looked sexy, but at the same time quite formal. Apparently someone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a sense of humor. “Come this way,” the first said, speaking the language of the foreigners fluently. “The car is waiting to take you to the hotel.” She winked at Clotius and turned back, her hips moving seductively. Two tall men, similarly dressed walked up a moment later to take the luggage from the diplomatic group. They gave warm smiles to Karina Darquin as they carried it back to the trunk.


Clodius smiled grudgingly, mentally fighting the urge to spank one of the arriving blonds at least once. Next to him Karina rolled her eyes, turning her attention for a moment towards Lenington, motioning towards the cars as two men walked past carrying their luggage. Karina returned them smiles politely, before walking towards the cars with the rest of the party in tow.

They all piled in haphazardly, a mixture of ceremonial swords, displaced hats and the sheer bulk of the two bodyguards meaning an awkward entrance for all of them, the watching Edolians getting a superb view of completely inept attempts to actually sit down inside the limosine.

Once everything had settled, the door closed and the cars drove off. Through narrow streets and wide highways the cars hurtled on, the conversations inside ranging from the mundane ("Hey, where did my mobile go?") to the strategically important ("Our positions will have to remain constant") to the throwaway comments intended to antagonise anyone who had bugged the car. ("Right, with them all in one place its going to be very easy to eat them all, I bag the eyeballs").

Arriving at the Scarlet Gerbil, the name of which inspired some very intresting (and extraordinarily crude) humour from both Lenington and Clodius (to which Karine did NOT approve), the party exited with considerable relief. Standing at the entrance to the hotel, Karina and Lenington moved inside to prepare for the conference that was about to start shortly. Clodius went number hunting in the bar. Until the numbers he wanted got him slapped, repeatedly, and kneed in the balls, also repeatedly. Deciding to cut his losses whilst he was still concious in face of the horrendous pain, he moved upstairs to seak out the ambassador and her assistant.

OOC: Well, Illek-Vaad, I spoke to Edolia. You are wrong. As usual.

IC: The three vehicles carrying the Allanean representatives descended slowly from the craft that brought them. They would probably seem strange to most Edolians – a black F-350 Super Duty, a red H2 following it and carrying the delegate himself, and then another F-350 Super Duty. The other vehicles carried the various Allanean interns, assistants, and so forth.

Ed Ridge shrugged as the three vehicles manoevered themselves through the narrow streets of Blatterschpitt. The cars were not built for this environment at all. “Why can’t the darn commies be normal for once and built normal streets?” – complained his driver. Ed replied, his Southern accent becoming slightly softer when not in public, “They ain’t usin’ any cars, remember, son? And since they ain’t usin’ no cars, they got themselves a bil ‘ole public railway system. Invisible hand at work.”

“Oh well,” sighed the driver, “their own problem.”

James and Torin stepped lightly into the gathering of ambassadors. They tactily chose to ignore the Feline ambassadors for the time feeling it might be smarter. He chose instead to adress the Ituthian delegation having been briefed that they spoke a form of Elvish. He only hoped his own would be comprehensible. "Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo." He tried the formal greeting. "Many things have we heard about your fair nation." James hoped he sounded sincere.

OOC: Edolia, despite the fact I'm the ex-UnAPS that seems to be sort of neutral on Allanea's roleplay ability, Ilek-Vaad actually is in Haven, and many of our countries have very close ties to him. No offense, Allanea, but we need Ilek-Vaad here. Please, Edolia, removed Allanea.

OOC: Here's a hint Ilek Vaad: When you "Ignore" someone you don't interact with them, so the simply solutution, like the one I'll be using, is to ignore anything said about/by Allanea and continue like he doesn't exist.

If you don't want to attend a thread because you ignore someone present then kindly go away and quit bitching about it. Personally I think it's pretty stupid to let him affect your roleplay like that because you don't want to be in the same thread as him, just you know, "ignore" him like the rest of us. I don't judge Edolia for not ignoring him... thats his choice. So long as he (and others) respect my wishes to never have to roleplay with him.

Mark nodded as Bartholomew's spoke, it's nice when someone's honest to you and making things easier.

"As yes, we noticed the USR was in place before we left the UnAPS alliance for the better... we always thought it would come in handy for them to have strong relations, they have done well. Though we are surprised at way you describe the situation, we always thought the nations of UnAPS would stay relatively friendly, even having disolving their alliance... though I suppose it could be much worse."

Mark then signed, then returned to the Special Envoy's face with a smile. "It's nice to hear you like Iuthia, our freedoms give tourists many reasons to visit, though the ugly fortifications and concrete architechure assures they don't stay for too long. Personnally I love the society we have built, but I'll leave that for another time perhaps."

Mark then patted the man on the shoulder in a hardy manner and looked over him once again.

"Shame you won't keep your attire for the conference, I may have joined in if it goes down well... though I can understand that you want to show a level of respect to the Edölians. Ah, it looks like someone else wishes to speak to me, I've leave you to meet our friend. Please, send him my reguards if you can."

With that Mark gave a simple bow to the man before turning to greet James and Torin, he didn't recognise the two men though he was sure he would be introduced.

International Congress Hall
---------------------------

President David Mitchell
"Let's find our markers and just sit down. Try to be quiet for the first few conferences, I want to see where Edolia is trying to take these reforms. I have a feeling it isn't going to be exactly the place we want them to take it. Keep an eye and tabulate all the delegations here, send them back to the State Department and have them check out the nations to see what their story is. I don't want Haven being overrun by socialist commie freaks."

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"I think one of our guys over at State already got the list in advance from some committee member over here. As far as I know, they already have the report ready on your desk. I could have them send it over."

President David Mitchell
"Do that. I want to know who I am talking to and what I am talking to them about before I start engaging in conversation."

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"Alright. Give me a few moments."

The SecState stepped outside into what appeared to be an empty hallway to place his call to the Pilotan Department of State, leaving the President and the Deputy SecState to take their seats and mingle with the other delegations. Keeping within their briefing, the President talked most with the representatives from Scandanavian States and a few others. Both the men sensed a bit of division in the halls even though the tables were seemingly purposely set up to mix capitalist, communist, democracy and autocracy nations together. Most of the representatives from the USR were here, and they would certainly be the people most likely to be adversarial with, the President thought. Why spoil the party by talking with them too much now?

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"It's done sir. They are faxing it to our remote fax machine. Secure connection, at least."

President David Mitchell
"Good."

All three men mingled more with the crowd, then approached their seats, waiting for the opening of the conference.

Walking several paces away from the Feline delegation, Mark Jameson (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/MarkJameson.jpg) met up with James and Torin, two people he couldn't place from his list of Haven VIPs given to him for this assignment, so his first priority would be to get an introduction so he understood a little better who he was speaking to and who they represented.

"Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo." James stated in a stange elven dialect which Mark couldn't quite place. Iuthian's spoke Iuthian-English as their first language, with each metahuman (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Metahuman) having their own racial languages such as Iuthian-Elven, Iuthian-Dwarven and Iuthian-Clangese taught as a their first prefered language (with Iuthian-English still being taught). In the case of Mark, however, he was trained by the Iuthian Diplomatic Corps to speak a variety of language which included proper Elven from nations such as Menelmacar and Aelosia (as Iuthian-Elven was based on these language but is concidered more basic) as well as a fair few others which could be useful in his job description as Ambassador.

He understood the words basically, though they sounded a little off as he made the connections from the sounds to the words meant. It was a formal Elven greeting, which would have made more sense if they or himself were elven, however he didn't question their culture and he returned it in the same manner.

James then continued in English, which was easier to understand as they were fluent in it. "Many things have we heard about your fair nation."

Mark nodded. "And I hope they are all good things, gentlemen. I'm Ambassador Mark Jameson of the Iuthian Diplomatic Corps, though I'm sure you already know where I'm from..." Mark smiled sincerely, offering his hand before asking the next question.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but I can't seem to place your Elven dialect, where abouts in the world do you hail from?"

"I'll send you a more detailed email on the situation later. As for the attire, I don't know, we just might keep it."

He took off his fedora, and took his PDA out from under it. Seldom a Cat can ever be found without some sort of electronic gizmo on his person. He looked at the time. "Where the fuck are those Scandavians?" he thought.

why Allanea hasn't acted upon it I don't know.]

OOC: James and Torin are both Elvish... I keep forgetting that I probably need to specify all of this... I really should get out more...

IC:

James took the extended hand. "Indeed. Forgive me. I am James the Sorta-Elven and this is Torin nan Huor. We hail from Caras Galadon in the far far west. Our dialect of Quenya ,it seems, has become a bit sundered from that used in Menelmacar and the other Elven sovereignties. I beleive it stems from the simplification we did...Oh, I'm babbling again." He stopped for a moment and then decided to answer the Iuthian's other question, "Anyway, most of what we have heard of your nation is very good. There is an occasional murmur to the effect of your people can sodomize each other all day long but not much else but I doubt that is an accurate characterization." He hoped the joke would not offend Mr. Jameson.

<<OOC: I’m going to quickly address the Allanean issue. I am trying to take a middle ground on this issue as I don't ignore him, I just refuse to war RP with him. I told him on AIM that he would be allowed to attend the conference but that he would not be joining the Haven region if there were major objections, and there seem to be some now. Personally, if it were up to me, we would have the same policy that KIST has. If you ignore someone, ignore them... the organization is so non-binding that it really shouldn't cause a problem. However, I want to be flexible here...

Also, Feline… I already RPed that it’s pretty cold outside… perhaps your people were in the lobby?

BTW Iuthia: I note that you made a point of including the umlaut over the “o.” I don’t really care if people do or not, but I thought I would tell you that in the adjective form, “Edolian” there is no umlaut, because “Edolian” is the English adjective (for instance, we don’t say “Spañish”). In the language of Edölia, we say “Edöliani.” Like I said, it really doesn’t matter, but you seem to want to make a point of getting it right so I thought I’d tell you.>>

Weinweir von Dörn walked briskly to his seat at the long table. He had purposefully put himself between the Vaadian and Iuthian delegations; two nations with which Edölia wished to build relations. As delegates began to move into the conference room, von Dörn smiled at the nude Feline delegation. Always trying to needle the Scandavians, he chuckled to himself. Nudity was quite common in Edölia so he himself was unphased, but he reminded himself that the negotiations shouldn’t be derailed just because of a few Cats playing a joke. He would have to look into the opinions of the different delegations, and see if forcing clothes on the Cats would be necessary. All around the conference table, smaller tables filled with drinks and small delicacies from around Haven and Edölia were set up, each manned by a waiter. He beckoned to one to bring over a fried gerbil. The serving men and women had been instructed as to the tastes prevalent in different countries and were to offer food up accordingly. For instance, under no circumstances was the waiter with the fried gerbils to offer some to the Cats, but perhaps the Allaneans or the Vaadians would be interested. As the last delegates began to enter the room, von Dörn cleared his throat and tapped at his microphone. Silence fell over the room. He began to speak.
“Friends: Your host, the Impërator Erik von Blätterschplitt.” There was a murmur of interest throughout the hall as a side-door opened and the Impërator of Edölia stepped in. Erik von Blätterschplitt had obviously seen many years. What hair was left on his head was white and wispy, and his face was thin. He walked slowly and his hands shook as he supported himself on a cane, but he carried with him a sense of vigor, and more importantly, presence. Weinweir von Dörn stood aside and offered Erik von Blätterschplitt his arm as a support so his sovereign could more easily use the microphone. The older man settled into place, cleared his throat and began to speak in a soft, raspy voice.
“Welcome to Haven, friends. I am glad to see so many attending this conference and hope that it is a sign that peace and stability will finally be ours. I hope that you have found our services appropriate. If you haven’t,” he smiled, “tell me and I’ll make sure the responsible people get fired.” He winked at the delegates. “I still have some power left under the Constitution, after all.” That was an understatement, as anyone casually versed in Edolian current events would know. “Well…” the Impërator began again. “I wont keep you too long. I’m old and boring and you didn’t come here to see me. I just thought I’d pop in and show my appreciation for your attendance. I’ll be staying with Delegate von Dörn for the first part of the conference to see for myself what is going on. So,” he smiled another warm smile, “without futher ado, I announce the First International Conference of Haven in session. Delegate von Dörn will explain what we have in mind for the Organization of Haven States.” The Impërator sat down quietly.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” von Dörn stood up and bowed to his lord. He turned to the microphone and looked out over the assembled delegates. “Haven isn’t exactly in what we might call good shape.” This was another understatement. “The UnAPS is gone, and with it the alliance structures that have kept the region together. Tensions between the USR, Feline and the Scandavian States could possibly result in intra-regional war, and the Allaneans are sitting at our doorstep.” He winked at that delegation. “One of the problems is that we are such a diverse region. We have a mix between dictatorships and democracies, socialist states and capitalist ones, religious and secular…” he paused. “My point is that it is impossible to unite us all under any particular ideology. However, we do all have something in common.” He paused and looked around the room for emphasis. “We are all in this region together, and we all have an interest in seeing it strong. We all wish to trade with other countries and build up our ties and we all wish to avoid war. It is for those reasons that we have called this conference together and for those reasons that we are working to build the Organization of Haven States. It will be a non-binding group of nations. Its constitution, if it will have one, will be short and sweet. There will be no nasty clauses that will need interpretation and it will be clear what our purpose is: peace. Another important element of the OHS is that it will serve as a forum for us to build closer ties. The Union of Socialist Republics grew out of the UnAPS and we hope that other, similar friendships will grow out of this new organization. Obviously, Edölia cannot form the OHS on our own, and that is why you are all here. Let us come together in a spirit of cooperation and usher a new era of peace and prosperity in for Haven!”

Commissar Vlachko sighed and hopped out of the helicopter. Pulling out his GPS from his coat, he plotted his course and began to run. A large bearded man, with a sword and in a fur cap running through the streets attracted a few odd looks from the few bystanders outside, but were ignored by the Commissar.

Eventually, he arrived at the hotel, "Just in time..." he thought to himself.

He went inside and quietly opened the door to the Conference room. With a degree of stealth rather suprising for a man of that stature, he made his way to the nearest unoccupied table and planted himself in the seat.

Having been introduced to the two elven men and after shaking their hand, Mark continued to reply James, smiling in a devilish fashion.

"Heh... sodomising each other all day. Well, they are certainly free to do so, though we wouldn't get any work done if people were doing it all day and our growth rate would be terrible." he continued, almost in a serious manner. It was a crude comment, odd coming from an elf, but Mark had heard much worse coming from the people of Decisive Action, who were retards in comparison to this fellow.

"In Iuthia we like to respect the citizen by giving them the freedoms to do as they wish to themselves and others concenting adults, though we can't hide the fact that Iuthia is, when all is said and done, a dictatorship. Heh, I dare say some of them could sodomise one another to their hearts content... and some of them even get paided to do it all day."

"Sodomy aside, it's good to meet you James, Torin. I'll have to look Caras Galadon up some time, I'm afriad I've never heard of it before..." James looked at his watch and realised the conference would be starting very soon. "I'll have to speak to you again later gentlemen, it looks like the conference is about to start. I'll see you later, I'm sure. Goodbye."

With that Mark gave the pair a short bow and motioned for his secucity advisor to tag alone before entering the building.

The Scandavian delegation had been one of the first to arrive, but both the Princess and the Duchess had managed to stay out of sight of the Cats. It would not do to have an international incident involving a Cat minus its throat and one or two pissed off members of the Imperial nobility. It wasn't the nudity that bothered them, neither the Lien nor Asiya were prudes, it was that the Cats went out of their way to be so petty and the fact that they seemed to enjoy it.

After pausing to listen to both Edolians, the two women slipped through the hall, nodding or briefly saying hello to other delegates, and approached the Imperator and his Delegate. Neither of them found themselves able to muster the gall to approach the Imperator and say hello, in the Imperium one did not walk up to a member of the nobility that possesed a higher rank and introduce themselves, one simply waited within a reasonable distance and stood in a way that made it clear that one was patiently waiting for permission to introduce themselves. So tradition held here.

OOC: Should get serious to be honest.

IC: Clodius returned to the room where Karina and Lenington were readying themselves for the events ahead. Posh frocks, ironed ceremonial uniforms and an assortment of accessories sat on the beds and sofas, glittering under the flickering light of the various lamps. The wind hammered the window momentarily, masking the sound of the door as Clodius closed it carefully. Only when he loudly coughed did either of the other two notice him.

‘Ah, Clodius,” muttered Karina, finishing off with her hair, now in an elegant bun, “glad to see you’ve arrived, and still reasonably presentable.” She placed a comb and half a dozen unused hair slides onto the table in front of her. She moved to applying lipstick, getting out words in a broken rhythm as she steadied her lips. “Now, we’ve decided we’d rather have you in human rather than demon form, indeed, as much fun as being shadowed by a nine-foot-towering-hunk-of-nasty-death™ might be, the protocols of diplomacy must be at least observed in part, especially if they have any of those tight wearing light foots around.” She finished off the application of the lipstick and turned to face him, “besides, I don’t think here the chairs are built strong enough for half a ton of flesh and armour either. To have you falling on your arse would be just embarrassing.” She grinned. Clodius crossed his arms.

“So you just want me to sit there pretty and perky, right?” He asked, the sarcasm in his voice palpable enough to be cut with a knife.

“Precisely,” Karina’s smiled widened, “I do respect your prowess as a fighter, but, unless the Scallies finally snap with the Cats I don’t think that is as important as not revealing anything about our own intentions. We have a lovely little playoff here, one we want to keep but one we also want to prevent the whole thing going up in spectacular style. This place is full of lovely little slip-ups and metaphorical landmines and we need to tread carefully. You’re here to observe and bite the bullet for me, okay?” She cocked her head forwards, her eyes still looking at Clodius however.

Clodius nodded his reply. She turned away, picking up her handbag. “So Lenington, you ready?”

Lenington walked out of the other bedroom where he had been changing, he now stood in full dress uniform, the obligatory chest of medals and a magnificent gold-encrusted sabre sheath at his side. He really looked the part, the pale blue uniform playing against Karina’s red gown and Clodius full length black ceremonial armour. They all looked at each other solemnly; each relying on the other to pick out a flaw, but none was seen now.

Clodius moved to the door and opened it for Karina, who moved out with an almost royal posture. They moved down the steps to the lobby, their pace quickening near the end as they heard the crowd hushing for a speech. Moving discretely into the room as the first speaker started, the three members of The Freethinkers took their places, waiting for the real fun to begin.

James and Torin nodded to the Iuthian delegate and headed into the hotel as well. They slipped quietly into the hall and found their seats. They tried ot hide their feelings at finding themselves placed rather near to the Cats. James hoped said delegates were not too talkative. "Torin, could you pass me some of that, umm, fried gerbil?"

Torin complied taking something quite unfamiliar to himself from another dish as well. They both remained standing unsure of what to do next. "I suppose, sir, that something besides the opening speaches will soon happen."

"I hope so, let's just wait and see."

Office of External Affairs

-Well, what do you think?
-I think we ought to send someone. It has been too long since we have spoken with Edolia. And we do have interests in Haven.
-True. But only send an envoy as an observer and nothing more. We don’t want to become embroiled in anything.
-Very well, I shall go myself if they let us in.

====

To: Matthew von Pickett – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edolia
From: Vrak Diplomatic Corps
Subject: Haven conference

It is with interest that we noticed your region holding a conference. It has been a long time since we have communicated and, if you are willing, we would like to send a small delegation purely in an observational role.

Having taken his seat, Mark Jameson (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/MarkJameson.jpg) had already noted the positioning which placed him next to the Edolian representative and host of this conference, the Impërator Erik von Blätterschplitt himself.

In a sense Mark felt honored by the placement, concidering he was actually quite a low level Ambassador from Iuthia who was almost fresh from the latest generation of training in such a role. He was qualified and he had been in various situations already in which he had proven his worth, including the investigation into the loss of a Iuthian embassy in Ottoman Khaif.

However, he figured out rather quickly that this was because the nation he represented here was in fact very close to Edolia, despite it's relatively low level of interaction with the nation Iuthia retained a level of respect. Or at least this was the impression the seating gave to him. Though coming to think about it, the Vaadian's were seated on the other side of the host and Iuthia had lost some of it's respect for them recently due to their lack of tact in some sitations, most notably with a good friend of Iuthia's, Knootoss.

In anycase Mark was thankful for having a little distance and felt a certain degree of pride for his nation by being here. Reguardless of rank he was Iuthia incarnate at this table and his say would be Iuthia's say, his feelings would be noted to his superiours who would in turn remember transgressions against their representative for future reference, especially when concidering trade, diplomacy and aid.

After the Impërator had made his speach, Mark gave him a short round of applause which was probably echoed around the room as others may have joined in. He made a note of nations who didn't while looking around the room. Part of his training being the observation of minutae which could indicate certain things.

Mark himself chose to allow someone else to be the first to speak, given that his roll here was mostly that of an observer with minor interests in security.

After their arrival at the airport, the elf and a half caught a cab to the hotel. Upon arrival, the pair walked inside, the cold weather hardly phasing them. They scanned the room, and approached the desk. As soon as the male caught the attention of the person checking people in, he began to speak, in relatively clean Mandarin.

"<Hello, I'm Cassius Xiloscient, and this is Season Amastacia, Governess of Forodren Annon. We're the delegates from Bryn Shander. We're here to check in."

After a brief exchange, Cassius aquired a pair of room keys. He handed one to Season, and the pair headed upstairs, although not before a grey cat climbed out of Cassius' backpack.

A while later, the two returned, this time sans backpacks. An addition was a small grey squirrel parked on Season's shoulder, playing with the chain to a platinum necklace with a unicorn head pendant. Following quickly behind, was the cat. The small party of mixed species made their way to the assembly hall, and found their seats. The animals, of course, did not have seats, so they stayed with their owners.

((In case anyone cares what Cassius (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/Nightbane/Cassius.png) and Season (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/Nightbane/Season.png) look like...))

To: Matthew von Pickett – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edolia
From: Vrak Diplomatic Corps
Subject: Haven conference

It is with interest that we noticed your region holding a conference. It has been a long time since we have communicated and, if you are willing, we would like to send a small delegation purely in an observational role.
Diplomatic Response to the Vrak Diplomatic Corps
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
"We would be honored to have our friends, with whom we built the might Titan guns attend the conference. Haven will need friends outside of the region, and why not you?"

---

<<OOC: BTW, those opening remarks were to be a cue for someone to begin speaking...>>

---

After pausing to listen to both Edolians, the two women slipped through the hall, nodding or briefly saying hello to other delegates, and approached the Imperator and his Delegate. Neither of them found themselves able to muster the gall to approach the Imperator and say hello, in the Imperium one did not walk up to a member of the nobility that possesed a higher rank and introduce themselves, one simply waited within a reasonable distance and stood in a way that made it clear that one was patiently waiting for permission to introduce themselves. So tradition held here.
As Weinweir von Dörn finished speaking, the Impërator caught sight of two women standing off the side. He smiled to himself. Scandavians, always so proper, he hid a smile as he stood up from the table and walked slowly towards them. "Good evening ladies," he bowed in the traditional Edolian fashion, or at least as far as his back would allow him. "If I am not mistaken," he searched his mind for his information on Scandavian royalty, "you are the Duchess Saleh, and you," he faced the younger woman, "are the Princess Larsen. How may I be of service to our friends in the Scandavian States?"

OOC:

I’ll just speed up my end it that’s okay. I can edit.

IC:

To: Edolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
From: Vrak Diplomatic Corps
Subject: Haven conference

Excellent. We shall send Ambassador Ujuy Hagwonak along with a small entourage. Please note that Ujuy is a large walrus and that regular transportation may not be suitable.

====

The sleek hypersonic transport, originally a bomber but now converted to shuttle diplomatic staff to far away destinations, thundered through the heavens. On board, Ujuy Hagwonak, who had been recently to Ilek-Vaad concerning a massive ship purchase, calmly flipped the latest information on recent Haven events. In truth, there was not much since Haven and the FKC had little contact. And what good contact that did occur seem to be balanced out by the bad.

The aircraft neared Haven, taking care not to fly near any unfriendly lands, such as Scandavian States. Having received the proper authorization, the craft began its final approach to Gërburg Internationl Airport. Once down, it taxied to its designated area and as the engines roared down to a whine, the exit ramp extended.

First, two King’s Own in Royal Dress appeared, surveying the lay out of the land. They descended and stood at the foot of the ramp. Next, a huge man in a tuxedo with plaided hair and of Inuit complexion came out. Behing him, a large walrus appeared, snuffling the air. His whiskers twitched and with a grunt, the odd pair met the Vrakian special ops.

They then turned and waited patiently for the Edolians. Ujuy hoped that someone informed the Edolians that he was a walrus, else he would have to scrunch inside a regular limo. Off hand, he wondered why the Diplomatic Corps didn’t just have a spare APC on board for these awkward moments. It would save a lot of hassle, he mused.

They then turned and waited patiently for the Edolians. Ujuy hoped that someone informed the Edolians that he was a walrus, else he would have to scrunch inside a regular limo. Off hand, he wondered why the Diplomatic Corps didn’t just have a spare APC on board for these awkward moments. It would save a lot of hassle, he mused.
It was just as that last thought crossed his mind that a large military-type hummer pulled up on the tarmac and two men hopped out of the back. "I hear that we have a very large mammal to take to the conference hall..." he stared at the Vrakian diplomat for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "Um... I hope that this is large enough... You are all a bit late, so we're going to have to take you directly to the conference. I hope that it alright."

General Thompson checked his watch, gathered his briefcase, and left the Scarlet Gerbil Hotel. His aide met him in the vehicle, a brown bag containing the bottle of Red Star Vodka he would be drinking during the conference.

The vehicle pulled up to the conference center, and the General got out, followed by his aide. With their holstered weapons in plain sight (along with their ceremonial swords), they made their way up to the security checkpoint.

OOC: Well, once again poor RP wins out. I will not be attending this conference and I will be seeking a new region most likely. I have given half a dozen chances to Allanea to show his RP skills. The only thing he has ever shown is that he has none.

It was just as that last thought crossed his mind that a large military-type hummer pulled up on the tarmac and two men hopped out of the back. "I hear that we have a very large mammal to take to the conference hall..." he stared at the Vrakian diplomat for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "Um... I hope that this is large enough... You are all a bit late, so we're going to have to take you directly to the conference. I hope that it alright."

OOC: I don't think hummers are known for beng roomy. I could be wrong. Now, a sturdily built limo...

IC:

Ujuy politely acknowledged the two men and winced inwardly at the "large mammal" remark.

"Ah, you may refer to me as a Vrakian, as is my entourage. What type of conveyance do you have, good sir? And I'm not so much in a rush. If we are a little late, well, it can't be helped. It is on our part that we are late and not yours. So please, be at ease."

The large bodyguard and King's Own regarded the Edolians warily, and noted that there was no official, even a low level one, present. Ujuy refused to bring along a protocol officer despite the protestations of his staff, saying that he wanted to be as "low key" as possible.

OOC: Well, once again poor RP wins out. I will not be attending this conference and I will be seeking a new region most likely. I have given half a dozen chances to Allanea to show his RP skills. The only thing he has ever shown is that he has none.

<<OOC: You're withdrawing from a region because someone you ignore is allowed to post in a thread that relates to that region? Don't you think that's a bit inflexible? I made it quite clear here that he wasn't going to be joining the region, but just because one person ignores him doesn't mean that I should bar him from posting on this thread... If you don't want to listen to him, just don't respond to his posts. This is a discussion thread, not anything binding. No one will blame you if you ignore him.>>

---


OOC: I don't think hummers are known for beng roomy. I could be wrong. Now, a sturdily built limo...

IC:

Ujuy politely acknowledged the two men and winced inwardly at the "large mammal" remark.

"Ah, you may refer to me as a Vrakian, as is my entourage. What type of conveyance do you have, good sir? And I'm not so much in a rush. If we are a little late, well, it can't be helped. It is on our part that we are late and not yours. So please, be at ease."

The large bodyguard and King's Own regarded the Edolians warily, and noted that there was no official, even a low level one, present. Ujuy refused to bring along a protocol officer despite the protestations of his staff, saying that he wanted to be as "low key" as possible.

<<OOC: I suppose my statement was misleading. I was imagining it as more of an empty hummer... I suppose I should have said that, lol.>>

The Edolian welcoming committee looked a little bit taken aback at being addressed by such a large walrus. The first spoke in a slightly shaky voice. "Um... yes sir... Vrakian," he murmured under his breath. "Well. Yes. If you wish, you can check in at the hotel before attending the conference." He wasn't sure what else to say. "My name is Wendel," he blurted out, stupidly. "I'm afraid that the Edolian Foreign Ministry was caught slightly off-guard by your last-minute arrival and that we were the only people that they could send."

OOC: I believe that the problem is not that one person ignores Allanea, it's that most people ignore Allanea. In fact, one of his closest allies, Pilon, is about to ignore him due to his rampant godmoding and piss poor roleplay ability. If his allies are targeting him with the IGNORE cannon, why would a region that he has caused nothing but trouble for not do the same?

OOC: I believe that the problem is not that one person ignores Allanea, it's that most people ignore Allanea. In fact, one of his closest allies, Pilon, is about to ignore him due to his rampant godmoding and piss poor roleplay ability. If his allies are targeting him with the IGNORE cannon, why would a region that he has caused nothing but trouble for not do the same?

<<OOC: But people shouldn't be forced to ignore someone because of the opinions of people in the region... I don't ignore him partly because I think he's a decent guy OOC, and partly because I don't actually ignore anyone (I just choose whether or not to interact with them). If IV ignores him, I'm fine with that and I wont put them into a situation where he has to choose between ignoring me and Allanea or recognizing both of us. The whole point of this game is fun, and being forced against your will to recognize someone or not recognize someone isn't really fun...>>

OOC: That's why I am leaving, so no one else has to choose. I won't say anything more publicly on this, I don't want to see this thread all gummed up. If you have a question for me on my decision then TG me.

OOC: I don't believe that anyone is trying to force anyone to ignore Allanea. From what I can tell, the objection is to Allanea's inclusion in the thread. Already, he has demonstrated more of what people complain about, with his sheer lack of abilty to think of anything himself, using real world American products and people dispite his supposed economic and cultural powerhouse of a nation, and worst of all, pulling things from his ass. This is the kind of poor RPing that does not belong in Haven, and does not belong in a thread that will be creating a new organization to help manage the region.

OOC: Can I assume you sent something to pick up my delegates, which got stuck in a traffic jam (or such an excuse) and therefore they are late? And turn up at the conference shortly?

Both curtseyed, Asiya a little lower than Lien given their relative social statuses, and said, "Your highness."

After the formalities were exchanged Asiya spoke for them both, "We simply wish to introduce ourselves and thank you on behalf of the Emperor for inviting us to this conference." Asiya paused to look around and then returned her attention to the Imperator, "Your highness, we do not wish to cause a scene and so we will not make a point of asking you to do anything about it, but the Imperial delegation finds the fact that the Cats insist on appearing at an international conference in poor taste. Had we not been exposed to their low sense of humor, we would be offended, but we have and we are not." Another pause, "At any rate, it appears that the other delegates are finding their seats, I think that perhaps my niece and I shall do so ourselves so that business may begin. By your leave?"

International Congress Hall
--------------------------

The President and SecState finished their greetings with other members of delegations attending the conference. They both took their seats along with the rest of the men and women who surrounded the many tables, ready for the opening address.

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno (whipsering)
"I read the report. We are vastly outnumbered here. If we can, let's try to get this announcement out with Scandavian States as soon as possible. I talked to the leaders on the Hill, we have the votes to ratify the treaty. In the Senate, it'll sail. In the House, we might have some trouble with the Foreign Relations committee Republicans that like the fact that we haven't had any wartime spending in eight years and don't want to see the prospect open up again, but we have Baker, Simmons and Breckanridge all ready to pull them back over."

President David Mitchell
"How do you know there aren't any bugs underneath these tables?"

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"Sir?"

President David Mitchell
"I'm just saying, you're saying this to me like no one can hear it."

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"I'll take my chances with the spies, Mr. President."

President David Mitchell
"Okay. I've read the report too. I talked to the President of SS. They are onboard for the announcement. We're going to let them do it. Let the news cycle in Pilot be Christmas until after the break."

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"Okay, we'll do that."

OOC: In trying to imagine the manner of these people, think the character Alan Shore off of Boston Legal.

IC:
"Shit. I guess they're not coming. Must have gotten word." Dahl said. "Let's go."

The three ran naked through the halls to the conference, and then burst through the door.

"Our deepest apologizes for being late." said Bartholomew. He looked around, and saw the Scandavians. He raised his glass, which he had somehow managed not to spill "To the continued friendship of our peoples, Duchess Saleh and Princess Larsen."

He then took his seat, took off his hat- he wasn't going to be completely mannerless- and placed it over his lap. The others followed suit.

[Pilot, I have an Emperor, not a President. Scandavian States is, after all, an Imperium.]

Both curtseyed, Asiya a little lower than Lien given their relative social statuses, and said, "Your highness."

After the formalities were exchanged Asiya spoke for them both, "We simply wish to introduce ourselves and thank you on behalf of the Emperor for inviting us to this conference." Asiya paused to look around and then returned her attention to the Imperator, "Your highness, we do not wish to cause a scene and so we will not make a point of asking you to do anything about it, but the Imperial delegation finds the fact that the Cats insist on appearing at an international conference in poor taste. Had we not been exposed to their low sense of humor, we would be offended, but we have and we are not." Another pause, "At any rate, it appears that the other delegates are finding their seats, I think that perhaps my niece and I shall do so ourselves so that business may begin. By your leave?"

The Impërator nodded. "I will try to deal with your concerns. Although this sort of thing would be perfectly natural in the Scarlet Empire, this is, after all, an international conference." He bowed again. "It has been a pleasure speaking to you and I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay. If anything is not to your liking, I do urge you to come speak to me." The Edolian monarch sighed slightly and tapped the microphone next to his seat. "I am sorry," he began, "that this was not made clear earlier, but this is an international occasion, and while most anything is tolerated in the rest of the Empire," he winked, "I hope that we can keep the behavior here at something of a minimum of international standards." He looked directly at the Cats. "This includes wearing modest clothing and not antagonizing other delegations." He smiled weakly. "I hope that this has not been too much of an inconvenience."

---

<<OOC: Hogsweat: That is fine. I think that that would be a good idea for everyone new, to just assume that they've made it to the conference.>>

The Allanean diplomat shrugged as he passed a single shred of paper to the Pilotians:

"We would like to note that this would be perfect time to speak about things like the status of the Haven Straights.".

Then he bent over to one of his aides: "OK, let's get strapped in here. Judging by what we know of our commie friends, this is going to be a bumpy ride."

"Oh, I wasn't aware of any dress code. This, lack of attire, is a symbol of our desire for open and frank discussiona among the delegates. My dearest apologies. We'll be sure to wear more modest clothing tomorrow. As for antagonizing other delegates, I assure you, nothing of the sort was our intention." said Bartholomew.

He sat back down, and sent a short email to the other Cat delegates.

Wear tie-dye burkas tommorow.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs had decided not to send any delegate into Edolia. He merely instructed the Ambassador to Edolia to attend the conference.

Ambassador Vareg Nagy arrived at the conference a bit late and took a seat well away from the main delegations.

Ambassador Nagy, a taciturn Lassean with grim, celtic features , took a dim view of foreigners. He had hoped to be transferred to Dyelli Beybi, they were democratic and in his personal opinion relations with the Klatch were turning out to be much less troublesome than the Free Republic's frequently quarreling neighbors.

He simply sat and pulled out his PDA to take notes. He noted the presence of the Hogsweatian delegation and took further note of their hostility towards the Free Republic's Vrakian and Germanian friends.

The delegation from the Federation of Trow Nationals, their ceremonial flower-print ponchos and white skirts protected by bright yellow, water-proof flight-capes, landed on the sidewalk outside of the conference.

"Shit, man, that was one long jump." said Molly Blueshoes, removing her anti-insect goggles.

"Truth, Mol, I ain't never skipped s' far in my life," said Quick Richard, foreign ambassador and leader of the delegation. "How de biscuits holdin? Dey soaked through now?"

"Nah, nah, I wrapped 'em individual," said Molly Blueshoes.

"Well, let's get out a dis fuckin rain."

"Yeah, man."

Quick Richard readjusted his crotch and looked around for the conference hall. He saw an official looking Edolian MP and walked over, his turqouise flip-flops slapping the wet pavement.

"'Scuse me officer, good to let me know where this International Conference is?"

Quick Richard grinned at the MP, his honey-brown face wrinkled up like an old orange. The MP just stared at him. Molly Blueshoes came up under the awning with them and shook out her flight-cape.

"What's going, man?" she asked.

"I don' think de officer speak d'English, Mol."

"Oh, shall we give 'em a biscuit?"

"Yeah, might loose his tongue, yeah?"

Molly Blueshoes shook out her bright orange hair, slightly spraying the MP. She reached into her enormous fanny pack and took out a neat little brown package and held it out to the MP, smiling her sassy, dimpled smile.

(OOC: I don't plan to join the Haven -- mostly because it's impossible to fit a nation the size and shape of Copiosa Scotia into any of the remaining spots on the map -- but I would like to send representatives, as I'm interested in maintaining close relations with most of the nations in the Haven. If you'd prefer to have this thread only involve actual Haven nations, feel free to ignore the following.)

The Scotian delegation entered the Congress Hall quietly, and as usual, late for the meeting. Neither Sara Davidson nor former UnAPS representative Rick Kastner commented on their tardiness, though a faint smile could be detected on Sara's face as she checked her watch. The pair took their seats, and Kastner pulled a notepad from his briefcase.

[CS, just how big are you? Both Edolia and I are roughly the size of China. If necessary I'm sure Edolia could expand the map to accomodate you, can't you Edolia?]

[CS, just how big are you? Both Edolia and I are roughly the size of China. If necessary I'm sure Edolia could expand the map to accomodate you, can't you Edolia?]

(OOC: Roughly the size of Canada. Here's a map (http://www.geocities.com/pfl_terrell/scotia2adv.gif).)

[Then there is plenty of space, especially at the southern portion of the eastern continent.]

(OOC: Can you show me the map? I don't have a link to it. Oh, and Edolia, I'm really sorry about spamming up your thread like this.)

(OOC: Can you show me the map? I don't have a link to it. Oh, and Edolia, I'm really sorry about spamming up your thread like this.)

<<OOC: No problem... the map is on the first page of this thread.

And SS is right. I could fit you in quite nicely.>>

The Allanean diplomat shrugged as he passed a single shred of paper to the Pilotians:

"We would like to note that this would be perfect time to speak about things like the status of the Haven Straights.".

Then he bent over to one of his aides: "OK, let's get strapped in here. Judging by what we know of our commie friends, this is going to be a bumpy ride."

OOC: I don't know exactly where the Haven Straights are. You might want to give me some direction on the Haven map otherwise I'll remain ignorant and confused.

President David Mitchell
"What's this?"

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"Sir, Allanea is a very unwelcomed nation at this conference. Even the people we don't like don't like them. It'd be easier if we just didn't deal with them that much here. We have diplomats in our embassy there that can work out anything that they want to talk about."

Dep. Secretary of State Jeremy Owens
"We might as well find out what they are talking about with the Haven Straights. They know that we got the note, and I don't think it's a good idea to purposely ignore them."

President David Mitchell
"Chris, I'm going to go with Jeremy's idea for now. Let's see what the want. If it's worthless, we'll throw the note in the trash. But we can at least see what they want."

The President scibbled a sentence on his own notepad and signaled the Allanean diplomat to return to the table, take the note from him, and return it to the representatives across the aisle.

<<OOC: No problem... the map is on the first page of this thread.

And SS is right. I could fit you in quite nicely.>>

(OOC: There's certainly no lack of actual space, but there is a lack of appropriately shaped space. I think what I'll probably do is to put together a region of my own somewhere to the south of Haven.)

(OOC2: My bad, misread something.)

The Christintinean Government and the Pilotan Government have agreed that one additional representative will fly into the conference on behalf of the small province nation. Lindsay Van Kirk, Ambassador to Pilot from Christintinea will arrive at the Gërburg International Airport shortly after midnight tonight, and will join the delegation from Pilot immediately.

All comments, questions and concerns should be forwarded to Pilotan representatives. Thank you.

Signed, Lynn Stowe, Governor of Christintinea.

Mark snickered a little at the Feline delegation and the warning they recieved. However, he felt he should at least make a small comment.

"I must admit, your Highness, that I find the Feline delegation's attire, or lack thereof to be a refreshing change. Almost a metaphor for having nothing to hide. Though I can understand complaint brought against them, even if a dress code isn't mentioned, it's usually expected. Still, I enjoy seeing freedom of expression." Mark gave a nod of reckognition to the Feline delegation.

OOC: Okay then. For pictures sake... Violi Vilitov (http://www.russiajournal.com/wpics/2003.2.22.ivanove.jpg), Telebrusk Kronev (http://www.turkishdailynews.com/jpeg21/kivrikog.jpg)

As Vilitov and Kronev hurried into the conference room, they noticed that they were already two minutes late. "Shouldn't really matter. it is only two minutes." Kronev said cheerfully.

"You army guys. Your always so crude." Vilitov muttered, adjusting his tie and his crisp suit. Kronev wore green, ironed pants, and a military jacket with his campaign medals on.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Kronev said, with a hint of spite.

"Nothing.. oh, here we are. Ladies first." Vilitov smirked. Kronev looked at him sideways, and swung open the door with one hand, not rising to the Foreign Minister's bait. The two representatives stepped into the room, a quick glance from Kronev identifying their seats. They walked quietly to the spots, pulled up the chairs, and sat down. Kronev leant back and crossed his legs casually.

"Don't do that." Vilitov whispered.

"What?" Kronev asked, genuinely. Violi sighed.

"Doesn't matter." The two delegates sat silently awaiting a question, or a chance to speak.

[ooc: Gah, first I found out about this was in a forum scan a few minutes ago. I'd have been here sooner if I had known.]

Foreign Minister Emil Farvus grabbed the first flight to Edolia as soon as he heard about the conference, not having time to use any formal diplomatic vehicles. He jumped into the car that was waiting for him there and soon arrived in front of the conference hall. Thanking the driver, he ran into the hall and quietly grabbed the nearest possible seat.

(OOC: There's certainly no lack of actual space, but there is a lack of appropriately shaped space. I think what I'll probably do is to put together a region of my own somewhere to the south of Haven.)

[CS, I had to give up what I wanted for a shape as well and what I have now has grown on me. There are several places on the map that would look roughly like your nation if you tilted them on an axis.]

IC: Taking their seats during the middle of the speech, Clodius, Karina and Lenington sat down with silent aplomb. Clapping once the initial speech had finished, Clodius and Lenington took the brief interlude to sample what was on the waiter's trays. Karina meanwhile surveyed the rest of the delegates, watching each one over the rim of her wine glass, placing names and faces, matching up the reports with the delegates, calculating their positions and thinking about how to play them off each other.

Clodius, meanwhile, after tucking into fried Gerbil, proceeded to admire himself in the mirror out of Karina’s handbag. Lenington simply swallowed his food whole, staring intently across the run towards the Allaneans. Old grudges died hard, and some didn’t expire at all.

The small speech came to an end, everyone clapped, notes and small talk were exchanged as the three of them watched in silence. Watching the Feline’s getting told off and the late arrival of other guests was entertaining enough.

OOC: It's fine. By the way, the name of our nation isn't "Forum Feline" it's "Feline." After a move to a new server, the nation of "Feline" couldn't get onto the forums, hence this nation for posting.

By the way, these three diplomats are human. Usually, to avoid any problems, we send humans when meeting nations we don't know. 73% of our nation is just plain cats who happen to be intelligent (long story), 17% are Human, and 10% are other species.

Either way, you probably wouldn't like us because of the nudity anyway.

OOC: Sorry, didn't realise they were human... Post withdrawn... We don't mind nudity all that much. I'll have to find something better to do. Like just waiting for some sort of debate to start.

At the back of the room, the Vrakians arrived. They missed the opening speech and so the Ambassador, flanked by the two King’s Own, merely waited until the bodyguard found an unoccupied table near the back. Doing so, he discreetly motioned to the Ambassador who waddled over and then squarely placed his over two ton bulk behind the table. The special ops stood while the bodyguard, dressed in a tux, took a seat to the left of the walrus. Ujuy Hagwonak, dressed only in a black vest and multicoloured hat vaguely resembling the Shriners, then slowly moved his head back and forth, trying to see if he saw anyone, or for that matter any nation, familiar.

Ambassador Nagy made a point as the Vrakians came in to introduce himself. It was easy to pick out the Vrak delegation, they were the only ones likely to be accompanied by a walrus.

"Greetings, I am Vareg Nagy, Ambassador to Edolia from Ilek-Vaad, I'm the only one at this table if you gentlemen need a place to sit?"

He bowed politely to the Walrus and offered his hand to the others, except of course the King's Own, he's heard they weren't likely to shake hands."

Quick Richard and Molly Blueshoes had finally noticed the gigantic banner reading First International Congress of Haven and wandered in. Quick Richard stood in the back of the room trying to be inconspicuous; he had not thought there would be so many people, or that they would all be so expensively dressed. He looked down at his stained, fraying white puff-pants and his old turqouise flip-flops that he had inherited from his father and tried to shuffle back deeper into his corner.

"What 'chu doing?" asked Molly Blueshoes, having returned from the powder room.

"Lot a suits, Mol." said Quick Richard.

"Not dem, man" she said indicating the Feline delegation, "You tink dey's hungry?"

Quick Richard grinned, "Yeah, Mol, dey look half t' starvin'"

Molly Blueshoes practically skipped over to the Feline delegation, Quick Richard shuffled behind marveling at her inhibition, self-confidence and the attractive sway of her hips.

"'Scuse me, my name is Molly Blueshoes of de Stone Soup Clan, dis here is Quick Richard of de Paper Boat Clan. Togetha we're de Diplomatic Delegation uh de Federation uh Trow Nationals. Would ye like some biscuits?" Molly Blueshoes said. Then, like a mother bringing lemonade in for her child's playmates, reached into her fanny-pack and brought out an armful of traditional Trow dreamfruit biscuits neatly wrapped in brown paper.

Ambassador Nagy made a point as the Vrakians came in to introduce himself. It was easy to pick out the Vrak delegation, they were the only ones likely to be accompanied by a walrus.

"Greetings, I am Vareg Nagy, Ambassador to Edolia from Ilek-Vaad, I'm the only one at this table if you gentlemen need a place to sit?"

He bowed politely to the Walrus and offered his hand to the others, except of course the King's Own, he's heard they weren't likely to shake hands."

Ujuy bowed deeply.

“Greetings, Ambassador Vareg Nagy. Good to see someone familiar here. Thank you for your kind offer.”

A bark to his entourage and the three stern looking men adjusted position. The walrus heaved his bulk to the Vaadian’s table and plonked himself down.

“Ah…yes. I don’t know if we missed much here…just the opening speech? That’s okay. Anyhow, it was not too long ago that I had the priviledge of attending your country, Ambassador. Very scenic.”

The King’s Own, of course, declined the proffered hand. The powerfully built giant of a man who towered over the special ops offered a huge, scarred hand and shook gently. Still, the Vaadian might get the impression that the stoic Inuit would prefer gripping a whalebone club and smiting his enemies rather than being decked out as a penguin.

“Greetings, Ambassador,” grunted the bodyguard.

Bartholomew turned around to see the Trow Nationals delegation. Diplomatic training barely stopped his eyebrows from raising, as he thought to himself, "My God, we've got competition!"

He then said, wishing to avoiding an international incident, "Yes, I'll suppose we'll take some. What's in them?"

Molly Blueshoes giggled contentedly, "Well, sir, ye got ye flour, ye yeast, ye butter, eht setra. But de magic, de special ingreedyent is de dreamfruit, grows on our special dreamfruit tree. Give ye real good dreams, yeah?" She winked, crinkled her nose, and distributed two biscuits to each of the Feline delegates.

(OOC: although the seeds of the dreamfruit are a powerful halucinogen, the fruit's meat has an effect similar to the chemicals released into the brain after an orgasm. In other words, the biscuits are not mind-altering they just make you feel good.)

The New Haven Socailist Republic's delegation entered the room, the General and his aide sitting down quickly. The General drank down the water in his glass quickly, taking the bottle of Red Star Vodka out of his briefcase and poured himself a glass.

"Well, then, they sound quite good." he said. "I'll have them with Dessert at dinner tonight." he said, accepting them.

"Dreamfruit? I'll have to look it up." he thought to himself.

He then turned around, and spoke up to the conference. "Well, it seems we have all been introduced, shall we begin business? May I suggest we start on the question of utmost importance, which is, 'What now?' The UnAPS is dissolved. Our nations are no longer formally tied. That opens up a whole can of worms, and we all have our... foils."

OOC: Cats are very suspicious of mind-altering chemicals. The only one that is really socially accepted is caffiene, which is consumed in excess. I might have one of them have it, or something.

OOC: Pilot, the Haven Straights are the big body of water separating East/West Haven.

IC:

The Allanean shrugs as he removes his wide-brimmed "cowboy" hat and begins writing his reply to the Pilotian:

"We would like to make it possible for our merchant ships to travel more freely through the Haven Straights. I believe this would be of benefit, economically, to Haven as a whole."

Violi Vilitov raised a hand. "Agreed with the Allaneans. Haven ships should be able to pass through the strait without interference for trade purposes. We, are all friends, are we not?"
He gave a smug smile.

OOC: And Allanea, it's straits.

Ambassador Nagy stood and made a brief comment.

"The Free Republic is, and has been, dedicated to resolving issues in Haven through peaceful means. In the past when outside forces have threatened stability in Haven with armed forces the Free Republic's Retaliatory Guard have eliminated such threats.

The Free Republic will also eliminate internal threats. If any nation in Haven believes that they can resolve an issue by force, or use their military for gain, they will quickly find themslves disabled. Parties within Haven that have disputes should find non-military means to resolve them.

The Haven Straits are for the expressed use of nations within Haven. Armed ships from outside of Haven will be seized and or sunk by the Naval Guard, as always. If your merchants are in fact peaceful traders, then they obviously have nothing to fear and do not need to be armed. There are NO pirates in the Haven straits, as such merchants have no cause to arm themselves and will be treated as attackers.

These are the policies of the Free Republic, most of you here know them well, they are not debatable."

He then sits and jots down a few more notes.

Standing up to reply to Ambassador Nagy, Season couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"It is rather foolish to claim that there are no pirates in the Haven Straits. Piracy is a fact of life on the sea. It has been since the dawn of civilization, and it will be at the sunset. No government can end the practice, no matter what they try. To think otherwise is nothing short of ignorance."

A lumbering boeing craft launched from internationla airport. On board were two dosen clerics in full vestements, simple robes in red signifying that they were high ranking religious leaders of the Yobbite religion. Then apart from the pilots were a further fifty men and women selected as the prime of the Monks of Yoboland. These people were the elite of their country but all feared one lady who sat on the far side of the simple plane. She was Zenia Marenni. The most powerful person in Yoboland. Not the richest, or the strongest in phsyical terms. But her mind was sharper than any sword and her actions were worth more than any man could pay. She had brought freedoms to Yoboland and taken power from the corporate Pigs.

They were all in bound to Gërburg International airport to put across their aims to join HAVEN.

Zenia sat still, she knew that an awful lot rode on this bid, an aliance with all of HAVEN would bring peace and potential prosperity to her whole country. She couldn't lose it. She moved her glance to the Monks that her advisirs had forced her to bring. She was pleased that they had come now as their presence of complete physical prime and nerves of steel somehow calmed her own nerves. She watched their leader Borass Illigor, he was as sharp as her mentally but just couldn't seem to fathom politics the way she had done to win the favour of a whole country to the Yobbite cause.

"Tcshhhh this is Gërburg International, state your busuiness."

Instantly the pilots replied in fluent Edölia "We are Yobbite Emmisaries headed to Edölia for the HAVEN summit"

"Requesting permission to land"

"permission granted, you are free to land on airstrip thirteen"

A few seconds later a message over the internal communications system on the plane.

"Please sit and fasten your safety belts. We are preparing to land"

Then after the bumpy ride the Boeing 747 opened its doors to allow the emmisaries to leave the plane. First came the monks in ful dress unforms of black and silver and robes. Then next came the colourful display of the various clerics who wore robes difering depending on their parish and rank; The higher their rank the more gold or silver they had in their uniforms. Lastly came Zenia and her personal guards who each displayed medals of high award in previous conflicts. She wore plain robes yet in the most expensive silks. They reflected the sun as she walked the short flight of steps off the plane.

She approached the most important person in the crowd she could see and in Edölian said:

"I wish to join the summit here, how may I go about that?"

Ambassador Nagy stood again.

"No, it is inconceivable to assume otherwise. The Regional waters in the Haven straits are patrolled by the Retaliatory Guard's Naval Guard. There are no pirates, no reports of piracy and no reported attacks on merchant or private vessels.

The only caveat is national waters. The Naval Guard do not patrol or enter our neighbors national territories or waters. If they have pirate issues that is for them to resolve.

Being that you are not from Haven, you have reason for your skepticism, but I assure you it is unwarranted. Ships that operate illegally in the Haven straits or that are armed , and do not fly the colours of our neighbors, are routinely seized by the Naval Guard, or sunk if they attempt to escape.

The Naval Guard has more than sufficent numbers , will and technology to carry out these tasks. There are no less than five tactical groups patrolling the Haven straights at any given time giving the Naval Guard a presence of one hundred and thirty warships, one hundred and twenty nuclear submarines and nearly fifteen hundred aircraft at any time. These are augmented by three geo-synchronous RASTER satellites that track the movement of every ship in the straits at all times.

I would also humbly suggest that 'eye rolling' and accusations of 'ignorance' are better left back in high school, and are not tools of a sound , well trained diplomat."

He resumes his seat again, and jots down another note. Ambassador Nagy's demeanor and expression have not changed once.

Vilitov stood again. "Do you propose, Vaadian, that we cut all trade ties with outside Haven nations? This is disgraceful. The Hogsweatian Economy would take such a beating it would not be able to recover. We must allow foreign vessels to enter the Haven Straits on commercial business, for our economies to flourish! if say, a Halladi trader entered Haven Straits and asked for passage to Hogsweat, what would your stance be?"

Ambassador Nagy stood again.

"I do not suggest you cut trading ties with nations outside of Haven. I suggest that you let them know that merchant vessels are more than welcome and will receive the full protection of the Naval Guard and will have their safety guaranteed while they are in Haven.

What I am saying, it is not a suggestion, is that armed vessels of war from any outside nation will be treated as hostile and seized and or sunk if they are caught in Haven's regional waters by the Naval Guard.

If nations feel that their merchants must be escorted then they may of course escort them up to Haven waters and then an escort can easily be provided by the nation of destination through Haven waters.

Merchant vessels do not need to be armed and no armed 'escort' from nations outside of Haven have ever entered Haven waters without an appropriate escort from a Haven state. Nor will they."

Vilitov nodded.
"Then we agree with your policy. Upon no circumstance should Armed Foreign vessels that do not register themselves as friendly to a Haven Member State enter Haven or the Haven Straits. It is imperative we must keep our waters safe. As of this, I suggest that each Haven Member State section several of their naval vessels to defending our waters and the safe passage of merchant vessels. Thank you,"
Vilitov sat down, taking a gulp from his glass of water.

The Allanean emissary rises:

"Gentlemen, I do not know how my note was made public. However, certain points must be made. First, Allanea is a Haven nation like any other - if only through virtue of our Hestonia province being on the Haven Strait shore - we are more of a Haven nation than Bryn Shander in that.

Further, Allanea currently possesses no surface navy at all nor does it have any ambitions to possess one. To believe that the ships of the Allanean merchant navy are a threat to, say, the Freethinkers navy is ridiculous - unless someoen thinks the ancient Maxims aboard our cruise boats are a threat to a Doujin battleship.

Moreover, given that Ancient and Holy Terra is a member of the Black Accord, and allied to Allanea through it. That alone - not even counting our relationships with the Haven nations which sheltered our Government-in-Exile during the violence that followed the One-Day War - should be enough for you to consider us no longer enemies, but friends of Haven.

Torin rose from his seat, "Excuse me, gentlemen. However, are any part of the Haven Straits actually classified as International Waters? It looks as if the greater portion of the straits would be claimed as exclusive economic zones by the surrounding nations."

Ambassador Nagy rose again.

"No. There are no parts of the Haven Straits considered international waters. Waters outside of the sovereign zones of states within Haven are classified as Regional Waters.

This classifiaction was agreed upon and accepted by all states within Haven. Classifying the waters as such came after several attempts by nations outside of Haven to establish zones of control in the formerly international waters in the Haven Straits.

It became necessary to stop hostile military incursions into territorial waters of several Haven states that the waters be re-classified. As such the Regional waters in the Haven Straits cannot be mined, drilled, fished or traversed by any nation outside of Haven unless explicit permission is given by ALL nations in Haven."

Vilitov stood up yet again.
"What if a Haven nation wishes to mine, drill, or fish, natural resoures in the Regional Waters? Do they require permission?"

Ambassador Nagy replied.

"Unless those waters are directly within their sovereign territory, yes.Haven's regional waters belong to all of the nations of Haven and should not be exploited simply for the benefit of a single nation"

It had taken several moment for the shock of the Vaadian's statements to wear off enough that Princess Saleh could think about and issue a response, "Ambassador Nagy, perhaps I misheard what you said earlier about armed merchantmen. If I heard you correctly, then I have a few things to say about that. First, whether or not a merchantman is armed is the business of the government of the flag the merchant ship flies. Second, no merchantman who wishes to make money trades with just one region and even you cannot claim that the Naval Guard can secure all trade routes from piracy. Third, even if a merchantman did trade exclusively with Haven, they must travel unsecure waters to reach Haven."

Lien took a breath and as she looked at Ambassador Nagy her eyes nigh well flashed, then in a voice that carried a royal proclomation behind it said, "Any merchantman who wishes to trade with the Imperium may be armed, if they feel it necessary. Your nation's policies, Ambassador, do not extend beyond your territorial waters. If you think your nation can pirate ships that trade with the Imperium just because the configuration of the boat does not please your nation, think again. Whatever ignorance or foolish arrogance has led you to believe otherwise, there is no equal to the Imperial Navy in Haven and there are very few nations in the world who field better maritime forces. Do not think that your nation can do whatever it pleases because of your supposed military superiority, you may very well find yourself outmatched."

Ambassador Nagy stood, seemingly unfazed.

"The policy that I previously stated has been in place for quite some time and dates back to the Free Republic's involvement in the UnAPS. The policy will continue as it stands until the Republican Council deems otherwise. These policies were discussed at lenght in the UnAPS Forums. The Scarlet Empire still allows our Naval Guard to use their ports while on patrol.

I would also remind you that the Imperium has a Non-Aggression Pact signed with the Free Republic. I do not always agree with the Imperium but I do know, that despite the veiled threats that you make, that the word of the Imperium is beyond reproach as is their honour in keeping their end of lawful agreements.

It is also worth noting, that despite your great navy, it was the Naval Guard that secured the southern waters of the Haven Straits in the last Haven conflict. I do not recall reports of any ships of the Imperium challenging the Navy of the Empire of Fluffywuffy to prevent attacks on Edolian territory?

I do not wish to discuss whose navy can sink whose, we are not at odds here and the policy of the Free Republic in this matter has never interfered with the Imperium in the past. The objections you make now will be forwarded to the Republican Council and will taken up in due course as is appropriate.

I thank Princess Saleh for her remarks, although I will point out again that remarks that attempt to insult will fall upon deaf ears. If you are of the opinion that Vaadians are 'foolish' or 'ignorant' or 'arrogant' a lady of your standing must have learned more politic ways to express such things.

Even a simple lowly citizen of the Free Republic knows that a princess should not debase herself with such pedestrian and pointless insults. It is very unbecoming your highness"

Ambassador Nagy returned to his seat and made some more notes , ostenibly notes to the Republican Council citing the Princessess concerns.

Kastner stood. "I think the delegate from Ilek-Vaad speaks the truth in stating that their policy need not conflict with Scandavian trade, for reasons of simple geography. Armed merchantmen wishing to trade with Scandavian States can certainly find other routes which will not take them through the Haven Straits, after all."

Lien's jaw clenched and she made to say something, but Asiya motioned for her to sit down. When Kastner spoke Duchess Saleh turned to him and responded in a manner that was calmer than the Princess' biting commentary had been, "I believe the point my niece was trying to make was that the nation of Ilek-Vaad has no business enforcing anything outside of their territorial waters, which the Haven Strait most certainly is. However, you are indeed correct that trade routes are a mattery of geography. The Imperium trades with many nations that are much further south of the Imperium than Ilek-Vaad, if they are forced to go around Haven and over the top because of one nation's undue belligerence, they lose money. This is unacceptable because it means the Imperium must buy goods at a higher price than what is normal. We must also, more often than not, compensate for the extra fuel expenditures. Given the Imperium's rather low refined petroleum supplies, this is even more unacceptable."

Ambassador Nagy stood again.

"That is understandable. I have made a note to bring it up to the Minister of Foreign Affairs who will in turn bring it up before the Republican Council. The Free Republic had assumed the responsibilty of patrolling Haven's Regional waters simply because no other nation stepped up to do it when it was decided what exactly the status of the Haven Straits was. It was not a matter of belligerence, simply a matter of securing Haven. I am sure you recall Naval excercises conducted by our enemies and illegal drilling operations and the like?

If petroleum stocks are an issue for the Imperial Navy it may be worth while to contact Avery Frost Aeronautics LTD. to enquire about their fusion power plants that the Naval Guard are fitted with."

He was about to sit, but then added "If it is an especially pressing matter I am certain that if you contacted Ambassador Tancred in the Scandavian States, that he would be able to bring it up directly with the Minister of Foreign Affairs."

He then sat.

Lien, being a Fleet Admiral and commander of the Imperial Navy Bureau of Weapons, answered the Vaadian "I thank you for your concern, but the Imperial Navy operates entirely on modular pebble bed and quantum nucleonic reactors. I believe my aunt's point was that the extra fuel comes out of our pocket. This will eventually stagnate a vital portion of our power industry for the simple fact that because very little new money is coming into the Duchy of Kuwait's local economy drilling for more oil or investing in new ways to draw out deeper oil will become unprofitable."

Ambassador Nagy stood again.

"Then perhaps exploring renewable alternatives to petroleum based fuels? The Free Republic has been very sucessful with Ethanol and Bio-Diesel. We have completely severed our dependence on petroleum based fuels and the economy has grown exponentially with the profits from the soy and corn needed to produce such fuels. The enviromental benefits are also welcome.

We are more than willing to help your nation find solutions to your problems."

"We agree with the Vaadian position." stated Bartholomew, slipping into full-on diplomat mode, trying to accomplish a compromise rather than piss anyone off. For once. "The Haven Straits, are, as stated, regional waters, not international waters, and this is a regional conference. Thusly, we could place restrictions on the weapons of vessels. However, we do recognize the somewhat overstated but true need of merchant vessels to sometimes defend themselves. We propose a compromise.

First, vessels sailing in the Haven Straits will be allowed to carry any weapons of up to 100mm in diameter below decks.

Second, Once out of the Haven Straits, or within non-objecting national waters, they may bring these guns out onto the deck.

Third, all vessels entering the Haven Straits not flying under the flag of nation part of the OHS or other nations deemed hononary members of Haven by the OHS will require a search and a permit to enter the Haven Straits.

Fourth, if a vessel comes under pirate attack, regardless of location, they may bring their guns up onto the deck.

This way, the Scandavians can protect, despite however low the need is, their trade, while the Vaadians and other parties are satisfied that peace in the Haven Strait is preserved."

Ambassador Nagy stood and nodded to Bartholomew

"I think that is certainly a compromise that the Republican Council would most likely seriously consider."

coo: How did I miss this thread? /bah

Ambassador Nagy then sat back down and nodded to Ujuy

"How would Vrakian warships like to be able to sail the Haven Straights? We'll give them Vaadian flags, then we'll see how keen the Scandavians are to allow warships of nations 'friendly' to Haven. Most likely I think they desire it because it suits their purposes."

He pauses to make more notes.

OOC: Don't worry Kelanis, I saved you a spot at my table, I even took the liberty to put a miniature flag of Kelanis at your seat!

The last two comments put an end to Lien's patience, "Perhaps the Feline delegate is unaware of the fact that it would be quite impossible to put a 100mm gun below deck, much less bring it above deck from below. There is a reason that even small caliber guns like that are in fixed position above deck, do some research before opening your mouth."

OOC: that was an aside to Ujuy, Ambassador Nagy wouldn't have said it loud enough for the Scandavians to hear.

"Nonsense. For instance, the British had a 93.98mm mountain howitzer during World War II that was designed to be small and light enough where it could be disassembled to be put onto eight mules, and and reassembled quickly. Surely, you have some sort of space down below in your ships where you could fit eight mules, or the equivilent of what they could carry, and remember, it is only eight mules because of weight, really. The damn thing wasn't that big. I suggest you do some research.

Also, I ask of you, all of you, what is more important here? Ensuring the absolute and total integrity of borders, or ensuring ease of travel and trade? There is a balance to be reached here. If a warship breaches your borders with no sign of hostile intent, simply send out two warships of equal ability to intercept, and ask them to leave, and if they refuse, simply keep your eyes on them. This same principle is applicable to the problem of the guns.

A balance must be reached between security and ease in maritime security, just like one must be reached in airport security, computer security, and all forms of security. I urge both the Vaadians and the Scandavians to try to reach such a balance, and end paranoia."

OOC: Technically I see hwere your coming from Feline, I believe you mean an army howitzer and bringing it out on deck. Slightly different from an actual naval gun, but anyway.

IC:Karina watched, waited, and then decided that now would be a good moment to speak up.

"For once we may have to concur with Feline, as much as it pains me, this paranoia, in a simple political conference, no less, is almost verging on the sublimely ridiculous. If I could please ask the respective nations to remain civil? With the greatest respect of course to the both of you."

Ambassador Nagy stands and shrugs.

"I don't know about what armaments are mountable on civilian transports, nor am I too inclined to care, that is the business of the transports owner. If waters are sufficently patrolled and protected they are un-necessary in the first place. The Free Republic is willing to negotiate exceptions, unless of course the negotitations consist of an ill mannered barrage of insults , insinuations and veiled threats.

I am also, once again, drawn back to when the Regional status of the Haven Straits was agreed upon, and I will remind again, that no other nation thought it important enough to actually patrol said regional waters with the exception of the Free Republic. Perhaps had the Imperial Navy stepped up we wouldn't need to be having this discussion today, after all if your ships had offered to patrol the northern straits then you could have decided who would be allowed to pass and under what circumstances.

Now, I am not authorized to negotiate this matter here, but I will lodge any concern that any nation has with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then onto the Republican Council. "

He pauses and turns to Karina

"I believe I ws being civil, but if I did offend then I apologize."

He returns to seat and shrugs, and makes another note.

Now Lien's voice was glacial, "I am curious, Vaadian, as to how your intelligence could be so completely wrong. If you will recall, Imperial waters extend to the midpoint of the Straights, roughly 200 kilometers beyond the shores of East Galicia Isle. We do, in fact, patrol that area and the Edolians patrol the other half, which if I remember correctly is their territorial waters. What other nations do south of our waters is no business of the Imperium's.

"Since you continue to reference the Regional Waters that the UnAPS put forth, I will address that from the Imperium's perspective. The second UnAPS was dissolved, so went every vestige with it. If your nation wishes to have its navy patrol the Straits for pirates, by all means do so. However, as far as the Imperium is concerned, if it isn't territorial waters then it's free for any legitimate vessel to sail. If the Imperium finds out that another Haven nation has interfered in its trade without just cause, and this 'regional waters' manure is no longer so, then said nation and the Imperium will have a problem. That is the first, last, and only word of the Imperium on this matter."

OOC: Exactly, Freethinkers.

IC:
"However, not all nations in Haven were members of the UnAPS. The idea of regional waters stands, if not de jure, then de facto. Besides, it is the only rational idea. We intend no offence, but we do believe, your highness, that you are being paranoid on this matter. We are all friends here, are we not?" he said, with the last question lacking the tone of a rhetorical question and sounding like a cross between one and a genuine inquiry.

Ambassador Nagy stands and actually smiles at Lien.

"That is your opinion that Haven Regional waters agreement is no longer in effect.

Tell me, were you trained as a diplomat? Or as a stand up comic? I'm having trouble figuring out if you are attempting to be threatening or humorous?

Any well trained diplomat would have to see the trivial nature of this matter, after all, it has never effected the Imperium before? Why so much ire over an issue that has not even had consequences for your nation? You seemed comfortably content to let the Free Republic alone have the burden of protecting Haven's waters until it was brought up today? I have no reports that shipping to the Imperium was hampered or damaged in anyway."

He pauses and looks around at the other delegates.

"We are discussing an issue here that has not had any discernable negative effects on any nation in Haven. There is absolutely no reason that such an innocuous issue is sparking such a debate. It has been made abundantly clear that the Free Republic does not enter sovereign waters. It has been made abundantly clear that piracy has been eliminated, for the good of all, as a menace by the Naval Guard.

If anything the Imperium has benefitted from the practices of the Free Republic."

He pauses again to look directly at Lien.

"I suggest that this not worth the political capital that you are staking. There is no harm in negotiating this matter and adjusting practices. However to threaten other nations and to threaten to break your non-aggression pact is a most dangerous step. I have said several times that I have made note of your objections and that they will be addressed, but you seem bent on antagonizing me.

That is not diplomacy, that is foolishness. I would ask that you discuss this in a civil manner, or send for a Scandavian diplomat that can."

He then takes his seat again.

IC: Karina raised her voice again.

"What the Scandavians are concerned about is that you may, inadvertently, obstruct independent merchentman for no other reason than the fact they took measures for their own protection. We are also very concerned about this as well, as a significant number of our own merchant fleet do utilise some defensive systems, especially those that ply there way between the homeland and the Haven territories."

"As for the burden of defending the Haven Straits, well, that is an interesting and novel idea. Whereas we are aware of your patrols and appreciate the security they provide, the bulk of security for ships has been provided, in the past, by ourselves and The Island States in the South and by the Imperium and The Scarlet Empire in the North. To state you, and you alone have been responsible for Haven security is entertaining but misguided."

"Nonetheless, we have to sort this out. We will back the Scandavian position, to an extent, although I would like in the most respectful terms to recommend both sides strive not to take insult from the matter. The situation now in Haven is too difficult to let grudges get in the way of proper diplomacy."

Ambassador Nagy then sat back down and nodded to Ujay

"How would Vrakian warships like to be able to sail the Haven Straights? We'll give them Vaadian flags, then we'll see how keen the Scandavians are to allow warships of nations 'friendly' to Haven. Most likely I think they desire it because it suits their purposes."

He pauses to make more notes.

OOC: Don't worry Kelanis, I saved you a spot at my table, I even took the liberty to put a miniature flag of Kelanis at your seat!

Ujuy shrugged, and then whispered back.

“Vrakian warships, unless given explicit permission by whatever political or maritime body is deemed appropriate, does not sail into anyone’s legitimate and recognized claim over a given body of water nor unilaterally impose a zone of control to antagonize a nation. Unlike the meddling Scandavian States, we do not seek to insult and annoy, but prefer to resolve differences diplomatically first.

As well, I do believe that Vaadian warhips have been cleared to pay a port of call at any Vrakian port.”

"I propose we put a hold on these discussions and move onto another topic, for now at least."

Ambassador Nagy whispers back.

"Precisely, the Imperium and their OMP cronies weren' t worried about disrupting trade in the Klatch with their display of naval force, yet they are quite vocal about a theoretical effect to their own trade."

He shrugs.

"Typical, people don't realize how things affect them until it actually happens to them. It's just the pot calling the kettle black."

"It is not opinion, Vaadian, it is Imperial policy. Just as it has been Imperial policy to build an armed merchant marine for some time, a policy we are working towards executing," Lien snapped. "The Imperium is no longer bound by the charter of the UnAPS and we feel no compulsion to cooperate with the wishes of nations we are not allied with in spirit or fact. Haven is no longer one big happy family of nations and the Imperium will persue whatever policy it so chooses."

Quicky, Bartholomew snapped. "We never were a fucking family, you idiot! We were like, as I pointed out to Jameson over there earlier, Torvald and Nora from Ibsen's play!

However, that doesn't mean Torvald took a gun and walked past Nora's new house after the damn play ended. He could have, but it seems highly unlikely.

This sort of goddamn posturing you're doing, your majesty is totally illogical, as is your policy. We all have an interest in stopping piracy, and I applaud the efforts of the Naval Guard, who have eliminated piracy in the Haven Straits. Our compromise deals perfectly with piracy outside the Haven Straits. but above that, we all have an interest is peace. Or at least I think we do. I do. Do you, your majesty have an interest in peace? I've kept my bloody cool until this time, playing the diplomat, but this is a question that needs answering. Do you value not appearing weak in a debate that really doesn't matter that much, or do you value preserving what little good will still exists between the nations of Haven? I again move that we move on to a topic of calmer and more important discourse.""

The Impërator’s head snapped back and forth between the Vaadian, Cat and Scandavian delegations. His eyes were filling with flame as he saw their discourse. Finally, he stood to his feet, clutching at his cane. “Excuse me,” he said into the microphone. Silence fell and he began to speak. This time, his voice held the authority of a man who had ruled over a powerful nation for many years. “I am horribly disappointed in the way that both the Vaadians and Scandavians are arguing in this conference, which was supposed to be about how best to continue with a peaceful Haven. Obviously, some delegates do not seem to be taking this into heart. I am an old man, and I am merely an observer at this conference, so I will turn over my microphone to Delegate von Dörn.” He scowled around the room. Weinweir von Dörn stood up and looked about.
“Obviously, there is some disagreement here over the matter of Haven waters and merchant trade. I am thoroughly disgusted by the way that certain delegations are behaving, and while we understand the Vaadian position, their arrogant stance does not endear them to Edölia, although we rather agree with their position. They have not been the only nation patrolling the Straights and there has been no lack of action on the part of any other nation here. The Southern Straights are impassable to anything that the USR does not wish to go through, and the Northern section of Haven has been well defended by the Scarlet and Imperial Navies. There also appears to be some dispute over whether the old UnAPS agreement for the control of Haven waters still stands. Unfortunately, although I wish it did, it does not. The UnAPS was dissolved. That is the end.” He held up a hand to silence any protests. “However,” he continued, “it is imperative that we sign a new treaty. The details of this treaty, I believe, must be worked out and on what should be the case, Edölia sides more with Feline and Ilek Vaad. Although we see no reason why merchant ships should not be able to carry weaponry, there is no need for a merchant ship to be decked out like a battleship, and certain limitations should be set. There is, as the Vaadian delegate said, no piracy in Haven. The combined militaries of all of our nations are far too powerful to allow major illegal activity to take place. Edölia sets strict standards for the amount of weaponry allowed on merchant ships moving through Edolian waters, but we fully acknowledge that we have no authority to act the rest of the Haven Straights, which are now, whether we like it or not, international waters. Only until this body declares that the Haven Straights are not international can we say otherwise. Thank you.”

The Impërator leaned over to the Vaadians as von Dörn sat down. “The Scandavians seem hell-bent to cause trouble. If you would be so kind to pass on an invitation to the Vaadian President for a little meeting in the Scarlet Palace, I would greatly appreciate it.”

<<OOC: I’m going to be taking a little trip South of the Border (i.e. Texas) over the winter break. I’ll be back after New Year’s, so I wont be responding. I hope that this does not cause problems. Perhaps it would be best if we took a break. I’m guessing that many others are going to be busy as well. Merry Christmas (or whatever) to all and have a happy, war-free New Year’s (or Edölia is going to have to come back very angry).>>

Ujuy shrugged again and replied in low tones.

“It’s generally not our policy to follow the guilt by association line since it is a fallacious argument. So are hasty conclusions. In other words, we don’t feel that the actions of Scandavian States are necessarily representative of Haven as a whole, nor even of the OMP. In fact, after that nasty incident we did receive assurances from other OMP members that their actions and that of a few others that followed along were not representative of that organization. Still, they concern us as do Hogsweat since both have demonstrated and continue to demonstrate proclivities to meddle in the affairs of the Klatch. While I can't speak for the entirety of the FKC, I can assure you that Vrak has taken a harder line towards outsiders. Of course, you are probably aware of Neo Tyr bending the knee."

OOC: Merry Christmas Edolia and everyone else.

"You know what? How about we all just adjourn for tonight, and come back here tomorrow at eight in the morning rested and with an open mind. Or perhaps not rested, if you so desire, but with an open mind."

Ambassador Nagy looked back to the Imperator

"I will contact the First Republican this evening and pass along your request. I do not see any reason that he would not meet with you."

He then stands again.

"The Free Republic, as I stated, is indeed open to negotiations in these matters. I did not believe that I would be so unpopular in pointing out the former status quo to questions by new comers and outsiders.

Currently the only treaty that the Free Republic is currently a signatory of is the Non-Aggression Pact with the Imperium."

He pauses and considers the Imperial Princess for a minute.

"I do believe that the word of the Imperium is as good as their honour, and we have no intentions of going back on that treaty. I fully believe that we can disagree, but still remain friends, all of us here can. We are in favour of any treaty that resolves these issues and helps end such unfortunate bickering."

He then resumed his seat and nodded to Ujuy whispering,

"Yes congratulation on defeating Neo-Tyr. I understand that LOW forces were instrumental in defending New Shiron from an invasion?"

He smiles to Ujuy

"I am pleased that our friends from the Glorious Kingdom are here, we have few friends in Haven. It seems our selfless defence of our regional neighbors counts as 'arrogance' to most here."

General Thompson finally leaned forward to his microphone, the vodka not affecting his speech or his mental clarity.

"The South Haven Strait is under the direct authority of the South Haven Strait Defensive Administration, or SHSDA (pronounced Shisda)," Thompson said as he took another sip of vodka. "Any attempt by any military vessel that is from a hostile or very unfriendly nation will be stopped and either towed out by aerospace gunship or destroyed by aerospace gunship. As far as the New Haven Socialist Republic, and the USR, is concerned, those waters are ours (except for the small amount of territorial waters that Pilot has) and we will do as we please in them without external interference." The General leaned back in his seat.

"Anyone have any opinion on my movement to adjourn for the night?"

Ambassador Nagy nodded

"Sounds good to me."


OOC: I just realize that I've been spelling Ujuy 'Ujay' although I was certain that it was Ujay Hagwonak when he was in Ilek-Vaad, but in retrospect, I'm probably just having another stroke. sorry!

He then resumed his seat and nodded to Ujuy whispering,

"Yes congratulation on defeating Neo-Tyr. I understand that LOW forces were instrumental in defending New Shiron from an invasion?"

He smiles to Ujuy

"I am pleased that our friends from the Glorious Kingdom are here, we have few friends in Haven. It seems our selfless defence of our regional neighbors counts as 'arrogance' to most here."

Ujuy smiled slightly as he simply replied.

"Few have seen the Lords of War in action. Those on the receiving end wished they never have. Ah...it looks like this meeting is ajourning?"

Ujuy straightens himself up and then says to the Ambassador,

"I could use a drink."

OOC: Don't worry about it IV. I make up names for my characters on the fly so sometimes I can't remember all of their names.

James looked at the Feline delegation, "I beleive adjournign for the night would be best, in the hopes that certain "delegations" can learn to act like respectable." James cast a meaningful look at certain delegates.

Torin, in the mean time, sent a small message to the Scandavian delegation.

We are inclined to be mroe sympathetic to your position on this topic. Could we possibly have a word with you?


OOC: I think we all know which delegates JAmes was refering to... I hope... Anyway, merry rammachrismakkahwanzanethingels and peace and prosperirty in the new year, yada, yada, yada.

<<OOC: Alright. When I'm in Texas, I'm going to work on writing up a possible treaty that is agreeable to all. I want to see joint Haven-control over our waters, but I don't think that we need to be all that tough about it. Edolia is willing to boost naval power in order to secure areas of the Straights that could be threatened by incursions from foreign ships.>>

Asiya discreetly read the note, took out a scrap of paper and penned down, Certainly. Would you like to meet right after we adjourn or would a more formal setting, such as dinner, be more to your tastes? Once she was done she passed the note back to the Caras Galadon delegation.

International Congress Meeting Room
-----------------------------------

The President and His Men were sitting silently, watching the deliberations unfold. Secretary of State Bruno lit his light, requesting time to speak on the matter of Haven's international waters.

Secretary of State Christopher Bruno
"We believe, as many have said here, that Haven's waters should be regulated by an agreement of the OHS. We are willing to look at any proposals, both regional and international. However, we refuse to be part of an ongoing bickering fight between nations here. We are working with Edolia on trying to find a solution, and we plan to hold separate meetings with Scandavian States and Ilek-Vlaad on this subject. Recognizing what has happened in Haven sea terrirtory in the past, Pilot believes that the region itself should have a large amount of control over what comes in and out of the region. We do not think that 'blowing ships out of the water' is an appropriate solution to an alternative viewpoint, and we certainly don't think that is going to lead us anywhere. So, myself and my President request to speak with any representative willing to reach a compromise on this situation so that we can resolve it, and move onto more pressure and urgent matters before this Congress. Thank you."

< OOC: Ok, I am going to formally request that, from Friday at 2 P.M. EST to Sunday 12:00 P.M. EST, we suspend all roleplaying on this thread. I say this because: (1) Edolia leaving for Texas, which will give him much less time to be an active member in this Congress and might cause him to fall behind; (2) Pilot is going to wrapped up in family engagements for those two days and since we are already behind, we don't want to get cut out of the loop. I hope you'll support me on this. >

Sara was the first of the two Scotian diplomats to rise, giving Rick a sympathetic look as she did so. "You had to sit through meetings like that on a regular basis?"

Rick shook his head. "Oh, no. Absolutely not. They were frequently much worse. I still haven't figured out the Scandavian word for 'compromise.'" He pointed to the door. "Shall we go?"

The younger diplomat wrinkled her nose in a girlish fashion. "But it's so cold out there. Oh, all right. I'm tired, and I don't think they'd let me crash on the floor here. I'll start walking if you'll start explaining what we just witnessed."

They went back to the ambassador's room, and promptly ordered on overnight delivery three tie-dyed burkas, and sent for the delegations from Ilek-Vaad, the delegation from The Island States, and the delegation from Iuthia.

Thompson's aide received a note and passed it on to Thompson himself. "Looks like we've been requested," The aide noted.

"That it does," Thompson said as he drank the last of the vodka from the cup, his incredible tolerance holding firm against the Red Star Vodka. "Let's go." The NHSR delegation got to their feet and walked out the door to meet with the Feline delegate.

Clodius, Karina and Lenington sat in their seats patiently, watching everyone else file out. Karina had PDA in hand, a pen in her right moving swiftly across the display. Lenington meanwhile was paying more attention to the Klatch members than anyone else, his faced locked in concentration. clodius looked bemused, his hand in his chin, his eyes looking over the females of the conference and making notes for later.

Finally, once the room was just empty, Karina put her PDA away into her handbag and signalled for the two men to follow her. Moving out into the reception area, she moved the group into a corner and began talking in a rather rushed voice.

"What do you make, you two?"

"Well," Clodius answered first, "I believe we have seen first class diplomacy from the Scandavian reps. You weren't kidding when you said there is no word for subtlety in their vocabulary." Karina nodded. Lenington shook his head.

"Which is just perfect. The Duchess was right, in a way, without UnAPS a lot of underlying tensions are beginning surface and its not good, I'm guessing a three, four way power split coming and pretty soon we're gonna be really be in the shit. You've got the Klatch coming in, pompous, reasonably powerful, gonna start probing around, not good. You got the USR. relations are still reasonably warm there, and they're big trading partners which the higher ups don't wish to push but the ideological differences are there too, if somewhat less....pronounced. Then you have the Scallies, and the other nationalists, our camp, so to speak, not really getting on with many in this region, and then you have Feline, with, well, whoever they find to be hippies with. Lovely little clusterfuck. And we have a barely defendable chunk of rock right in the middle of it."

"I see" Karina looked at the ground for a moment, "so where do we head from here?" Clodius joined her in looking at the floor. Lenington went opposite and watched the chandilier shaking in the draft. He spoke again, even slower this time.

"We're still on the Scallies side, for the moment, but the discussion needs to head to less, difficult, territory, so to speak, something we can agree on. To be fair I dislike the Ilek boys myself, 'solitary guardian' my arse, to be fair we just assumed those ships floating around were just badly lost." Clodius smiled weakly, Karina did nothing.

"Well," Clodius sighed, "I guess we need to have a word with our Scandavian friends to see what common position we can sort out. Ill see if I can arrange a meeting or something. Ill catch you too later, get back to the room, get some rest, Ill catch up with you later on." He turned away, leaving Karina and Lenington in his wake. Picking up his coat from the waiting attendent, he went through the doors outside.

Dahl went to the door. "Good, come on in. Have a drink, or something until the others get here."

Ambassador Nagy nods to Ujuy.

"Yes I could use one as well, unfortunately I must call the First Republican and then meet with the Felineans, or Cats as they prefer to be called I think. If it's not too late I can give your assistant a call and meet you whereever you end up, sir?"

*****
After he receives Ujuy's answer he pauses in a quite corner to call the Minister of Foreign Affairs on his encrypted secure satellite phone.

"This is Nagy Sir, the Imperator has requested a meeting with the First Republican. It appears that the Imperium is bent on causing trouble. Twice so far the Princess has alluded to breaking the non-aggression pact they signed with us."

He paused and listened to his instructions.

"Yes, I'm heading to meet with the Cats now, yes sir. Good evening sir."

He then hurries off to meet with the Delegation from Feline muttering "I hope they some clothes on by now!"

*****

Great Lassic Ilek-Vaad-

The Minister of Foreign Affairs has roused the First Republican and they meet in his office in the House of the Republic.

"I can meet with the Imperator. Though it seems we have plenty of contact with Edolia when they have trouble and scant little when things are quiet."

The Minister of Foreign Affairs shrugs "The Imperium has alluded to the possibilty of breaking their treaty with us, we would do well to be prepared for that eventuality."

The First Republican looks a bit put off " There is an entire Foreign Guard Army IN the Imperium, with a an Air Guard Branch and Naval Guard Tactical Group, if they are bent on stirring things up I still doubt they will shoot themselves in the foot and act against us when we have military assets at their door."

The Minister of Foreign Affairs nods again " I have asked General Deadmarsh to keep a closer eye on Imperium troop and ship movements, so we can gauge exactly waht they intend towards us."

The First Republican nods again and sighs heavily "Call Uncle Istvan and tell him to draw up plans for defending against any sort of Imperium attack, invading the Imperium and whatever contingency plans he thinks we may need to allow for. Everything was so quiet and nice in Haven, why can't we have friendly neighbors that mind their own damn business."

The First Republican stands and heads out to prepare for his flight to Edolia.

"A tie-dye burka? Iuthia may not be the fashion capitol of the world, but we have more taste then that. Still, I'm sure someone back home would find it exceptionally funny." Mark shrugged.

The days conference had been more dull then he imagined, with the Scandavians and the Vaadians arguing over regional water matters, which was something which only partially affected Iuthia. In truth, the waters were not on the whole important to Iuthia with exception to trading with one or two of the nations in the region, providing the fuckers didn't make it any more exspensive then it needed to be, the prices were reasonable enough.

The most notable thing was the hipocracy of the Scandavian States, the fact they were prepared to use military force to search for pirates in other regions waters without permission while themselves scolding the idea of the any other nation doing it in Haven.

That said, the Scandavian States could do what they liked with their diplomacy, though if they didn't show enough respect, which was clealry the case in most incidents, they would continue to notice resistance. It was humous watching them hamstring their own attempts at diplomacy... a bit of concideration went a long way.

Deciding that he wasn't really in the mood to really spend the night reading through notes, and that he probably wouldn't have much to do tomorrow either, Mark Jameson decided to spend the night enjoying some of the bars around Edolia.

OOC: Yes, we do have clothes on now.

IC: Dahl opened the door for the Vaadians, and let them in. "Get a drink, or something. We've got plenty of soda."

She led them inside. Batholomew spoke. "I guess we've got enough people here now to get started. I've summoned you here because I believe that our interests are, in this case, tied. General, you are here for the USR. I didn't want to have the Edolians, as the hosts, come here, so, yeah. Nagy, you're here because the threat to the two of us is equal.

Now, based on intelligence reports, psychological profiles, and their actions here, I am of the opinion that the goddamn Scandavians want war. With Ilek-Vaad and us. The USR would most likely get caught in the crossfire, somehow, so you're here for them.

I have summoned you here to discuss how to prevent war and foil the Scandavian sgenda. We can't appease them, but we can't afford a fucking war with them either. Such a war would be brutal and would devastate Haven for at least fifty years probably.

So, how do we do it, gentlemen? Any ideas?" He gulped down his soda, and poured himself another glass. "Oh, and by the way, if either of you two fancy something with alcohol in it, we haven't touched the minibar."

Ambassador Nagy helps himself to whatever passes for scotch in the Scarlet Empire.

"I personally don't think that the Imperium wants war. I think they want more regional power and are willing to rattle their sabres to get it . Knowing the Imperiums diplomatic aptitude it is possible that their sabre rattling will lead to war if they feel slighted, their honour is very important to them."

He pauses and takes a sip "Vile stuff."

"Anyhow, if they want war the Retaliatory Guard will give it to them. I don't particularly like being on either side of this and the Free Republic prefers not to fight, but if the Imperium presses us they will find out quickly that Foreign Guard based in the Imperium are not very friendly to their Scandavian 'hosts'.

I have been informed by the Minister of Defence that only one sixth of the Joms Guard in the Imperium are actually citizens of the Imperium. The rest are filled with recruits from Kordo, expelled nationals from Kahta and a mix of internationals that all want one thing, Vaadian citizenship. They have no love for the Imperium .

With this army in place in the borders of the Imperium the Free Republic has the upper hand. It gives us a front row seat to their internal activities, we purchased all of our equipment from the Imperium and have tested and are intimately familiar with the very equipment they use and we have men already familiar and acclimated to the Imperium and it's environs."

He pauses again and shrugs.

"I think that the Imperium will make some sort of play to increase their regional standing and power, I say we wait and see what that is, remain prepared and vigilant and act when it becomes necessary."

Torin smiled at the note from the Scandavian's and palmed it to James. "I beleive there was a suitable eatery off of the lobby, sir."

"Quite right. You did convert our currency didn't you? It shouldn't have been that difficult."

Torin chose not respond to James and instead scribbled a note back to the Scandavian's.

How about off the lobby? Our treat.

"That's possible. But remember, the Scandavians have shown clear imperialist aims before, such as the fucking invasion of Kuwait. They have adopted an increasingly militaristic tone. There's been a gigantic increase is diplomatic traffic between the Scandavians and many other nations. They're up to something.

Then, there's the fact that they hate us, and they hate you, and they are at the very least apathetic-leaning-hostile, and that's at the very fucking least, to the USR. For all intents and purposes, the Imperium is an imperialist motherfucker at best, and a rogue state at worst. And now it's unchained. The dissolution of the fucking UnAPS has let loose a monster. Hopefully, we're wrong, but we can take steps to be cautious.

As for the Foreign Guard, do you really, no offence, think they could take on the whole of the fucking Scandavian military, or even just the parts in the local vicinity? Whenever you have troops in a foreign country, their troops will always outnumber yours. The Foreign Guard would be very useful, but it couldn't win a war on its own."

Dahl chimed in. "Anyway you spin it, the Scandavian States is hostile to all three of us. If they don't go war, they'll go into some goddamn economic warfare. Face it, we are looking at a cold war between us and some sort of right-wing-bullshit organization or some shit like that, if we don't checkmate them diplomatically now, at this conference."

Ambassador Nagy listens intently, a few too many colourful metaphors thrown in for his taste.

"I have no illusions that the Joms Guard could alone defeat the Imperium, but simply that we receive vital information from them and that their position is favourable to us. I'm not a strategist, I'm just giving you the official line.

We are fully aware that the Imperium is , well, imperialist. We don't, however see any reason to act at this point. I am not sure what will come out of this conference, but whatever it is will be declared a 'victory' by every nation at home.

I also take rather pointed offence to the suggestion that Kelanis may be poised to damage the Free Republic. Kelanis shares rail lines with us, our borders are completely open and our largest companies share many production rights and have plants in both nations. Kelanis' status is not debatable, or even up for conjecture in our opinion.

While there is value on keeping an eye on the situation and preparing for worst case scenarios, I don't think the Free Republic is prepared to take 'sides' in any conflict until it actually breaks out."

OOC: I wasn't aware of the situation with Kelanis. You can take that out, since they would be IC. Forget I ever said it.

IC: "That's the fucking point!" yelled Dahl. "Stopping a conflict from breaking out! This is our one big chance!"

[Feline, don't use your OOC knowledge of the OST for IC purposes. There has been no indication from any member of the OST thus far that the OST even exists, at least publically. I seriously suggest you edit that littany of yours.]

OOC: I wasn't aware of the situation with Kelanis. You can take that out, since they would be IC. Forget I ever said it.

IC: "That's the fucking point!" yelled Dahl. "Stopping a conflict from breaking out! This is our one big chance!"


OOC: I wouldn't put it past Kelanis IC, the Vaadians just don't like you bringing it up ;)

IC:

Ambassador Nagy blinked at the profanity.

" What do you propose we do then, to prevent this conflict from breaking out?"

OOC: OOC: My apologies, I thought I knew that the OST existed IC. I do know that some of those nations I mentioned are members OOC, but it would be reasonable to speculate. You're close to Pauldustllh, ideologically. Manar and "What-their-name," you're the one that told us the map coordinates they wanted, which suggests you are in fairly close diplomatic contact. Barentsburg, again, close ideologically, although not as close as Paul. Sniperwolf, just a guess. FT, very unlikely that he ends us aligning with anyone, but if he aligned himself with either you, me, or the USR, he probably would end up with you.

All rendered moot if we don't know about it IC. Is there any way DOECO would know about it IC?

IV, I'll proced with my response once I find out from SS whether DOECO could know about it. Unless he's got some explanation (I'm willing to accept even a lax one), I'd venture that DOECO, or any intelligence service for that matter, would know if a large treaty was being formed, or at least hear rumors of it.

[Actually, the formation of the alliance has been moving along very swiftly and our diplomatic traffic is either so heavily encrypted that it would take a quantum computer a week to break or they're diplomatic notes sealed and delivered by hand. You might notice a lot of diplomatic trafic giong around in New Copenhagen, but it would take you a while to even guess at what's in it. But, you won't have time to, we plan to introduce the OST at the Congress.]

Ëtaros Eledhwen, Erasito of the UKE, had just received news that residents of Haven were holding a conference. He felt rather silly for not knowing beforehand, and did not want to arrive late, so he instead sent a letter, via email, to Edolian officials so that it could be presented to all those attending the conference.

To Those Attending the First International Congress of Haven:

It is apparent to me that a conference of Haven nations is being held. Had I known at an earlier date, I would have sent a delegation, and I apologize for my inability to keep up with the news. For those that may not know who I am, I was once a resident of Lietuveska. My mother, Itarildë was the Erasita of the URHP before she was assassinated by crazed lunatics. A fierce war ensued, and I was victor. However, my homeland had become ravaged, war-torn, and desolate. I sought a place more peaceful, a place where I could retreat with millions of my people. That place was the colony that my mother had named after me before her death. Located far from Haven in the beautiful region of Tareldanorë, we have become quite prosperous. Our economy and population are, of course, nowhere near what they once were, but such status is arriving soon.

The subject of this letter is to inform those attending the conference that we still maintain a presence in Lietuveska proper. Though it is ludicrously small, I have lately been planning a reconstruction of select areas in my former homeland, in hopes to create a colony of sorts. It is estimated that there are a dozen or so settlements under populations of twenty thousand, and a military base populated with a thousand or so troops is also present. The Etaran Navy has been lobbying for some time to send a small fleet in the area, and I am ready to approve the transport of such a fleet.

However, I am fully aware that such residents of Haven may be opposed to such ventures. It is my regret that this is so, but I recognize it fully. I must ensure all those of Haven that I come without any intentions of harm, and I will be more than willing to negotiate entry into Haven Straits.

In Confidence,

Ëtaros Eledhwen
Erasito of the United Kingdom of Etaros

Asiya read the note and wrote back, That sounds wonderful. Thank you.

The diplomat then turned to Lien as they began walking to the cafe and said, "Now dear niece, let's talk of things that are more in your area of expertise, it has been many years since I was in the military. What do you think of our overall strategic situation?"

Lien sighed and thought for a moment, "On our own, we're in good enough shape to win any defensive war. Very little of our air or ground strength is deployed abroad and our ORBAT for mainland-based units is at 450 divisions. Of course we have all twelve Air Forces deployed at home and that's over 50,000 aircraft right there and doesn't even take into the air arm of the Northern or Southern Grand Fleets. The home fleets themselves are equal to four normal expeditionary fleets, so we have sufficient strength to hold off any one nation and probably two at sea until reinforcements can arrive.

"Our one serious problem is the Vaadian Joms Guard. Of course, they're on East Galicia Isle, which except for them is completely uninhabited and their only route to inhabited Imperial territory is an electromag rail to West Galicia Isle, and that can be blown easily enough. They have some air and naval power, but for all the good it'll do them in a war they might as well piss into a stiff wind. Even assuming they somehow manage to take the electromag rail, they'll have three entire field armies waiting for them and the sea and land factors still don't change for them.

"However, it is doubtful we could win an offensive war on our own and it would be a waste to try." Lien grinned, although it was best described as cold and deadly. "Of course, that's what all this is for."

Asiya stifled a bark of laughter, "Oh yes, temperamental indeed. Do you think, that once we reveal the charter, our liberal 'friends' will realize they've been played?"

"Maybe, but then again maybe they'll be in denial. I was oh so pleased when Daddy gave me free reign to complete the maneuvering on the political front. I can just imagine it now; the Vaadians, Cats, and whoever's representing the USR are probably in some room discussing what to do. The Vaadians, in their arrogance, probably think they're in a better position than they are. The Cats no doubt are cussing up a storm, calling us Imperialists, and wondering how to 'counter' our moves without provoking all-out war in one breathe. Whoever's representing the USR, and I hope to god it isn't the Edolians, is probably sitting back and watching the proceedings or taking the middle road."

As they entered the restaurant they shared a good laugh and looked for the Caras delegation.

OOC: Oh, who's using OOC information now? Wait, we're just being damn predictable. Nevermind. ;)

Just forget the stuff about the OST. I'm going to go replace it now with something else.

IC: "And that's why you are here." said Bartholomew. "To build a strategy. We'll have to work together to pull this shit off.

I'd guess from their actions the Scandavians are also aware of this game of diplomatic chess, and their opening move was to bitch over guns on trade ships. If they do plan to make an agressive move, armed merchantmen would be useful to them, but I say we let them have it. They know that we know they're up to something, and it'll catch the off guard. Of course, we might put some sort of limitation on it- maybe no more than 100mm or something like that, but let them have it on the deck, or something. But I say we let the fuckers have it to put them off balance."

Clodius soon returned, an engraved wooden box held beneath his left arm, dangling almost precariously from beneath his shoulder. He soon rounded on Lenington and Karina, who moved somewhat since Clodius was here last, and he set the case down in one sweeping, graceful movement.

"Anything been happening?" He grinned. Karina and Lenington didn't look too optimistic.

"Well," began the slightly-drooping Karina began, "we're sorta dancing around a delicate situation. The Scallies and some pals went to the bar-room, we were debating following them. Our mutual acquaintences are sitting over there, I'm guessing debating where precisely this is going, probably planning an invasion of the Imperium. They're getting rash, getting sloppy, they're worried and I think the Scallies actually have 'em pretty spooked."

Clodius nodded, his eyes moving from Ambassador to Ambassador, trying to read the lips, the facial expressions, the body language. It was worrying to say the least.

"Whats in the box?" Lenington asked promptly, pointing to the case now at Clodius's feet.

"A little present for our Northern friends. Something to remind them where we stand." Clodius grinned a second time, only now he was joined by his friends. "Come on, let's see what we can salvage from this mess..."

OoC: I know its kinda late, but now that I'm back and on track I can help augment or completely take over the regional patrols of the southern Straits. Meanwhile I'll think over a way to jump in on this conference.

OOC: I'm still saving your seat for you.

James motioned to the Scandavian diplomats. He waited for them to be seated before starting, "Gald you could make it. I promise I'll make this brief, partly because I find the majority of the menu incoprehensible."

Torin coughed in, "We thought we'd meet down here to lower the hcances of anyone overhearing. We're rather suprised at the rudeness of some of the diplomats at this conference. However, in betweenst all this we realize there are far different things going on."

James smiled, "In the mean time we want to know why guns on merchant ships sparked such a debate. There has got to be more going on than is plainly visible."

"There are major concerns over piracy in the Haven Straits," replied Alejandro Kunik, Kelanis's senior ambassador for intra-Haven affairs. He turned to James.

"The most pressing issue in front of us all seems to be about belowdecks weapons aboard merchant ships. It seems trivial, and it most likely is."

"However I also must reiterate that Kelanis takes umbrage at the Scandavian delegation's challenges to the current Vaadian-Kelanisian diplomatic situation." He pauses briefly. "Kelanis is a stout ally of the Vaadian nation, and will remain that way."

He sits next to Ambassador Nagy.

"Looks like you're between a rock and a hard place."

Lien smiled and answered the question, mainly because the plan was hers and she was in on the development of the armed merchant ships, "It really isn't that big of a deal, the Imperial merchant ships won't have any guns bigger than 40mm and those will be for self defense, the primary armament will be missiles. This is, as my aunt," Lien nodded to Duchess Saleh," likes to call it, a recon by fire. Those who aren't inclined to like us will huddle together, which will make our diplomatic maneuvering easier and will also reduce the chances of an unwelcome surprise popping up.

"Tomorrow I'm going to change tack and become the silent type, my aunt will do most of the negotiating. But more importantly, she's going to drop a nice little geopolitical bomb on the Congress when we reconvene. Your nation might be interested, especially if you guys plan on moving to Haven, and the Imperium would be most pleased to have your nation in Haven and especially in our plotting and scheming. Right now Haven has a wealth of opportunities for those willing to sieze them and the Imperium, along with several other nations, is working to do so."


[Er, Kelanis, what are you talking about? I don't believe either one of my delegates mentioned you, not even once.]

General Thompson sipped his Red Star Vodka straight from the bottle. "The USR will probably not get actively involved on either side," The General said as he capped the slim bottle and tucked it into his uniform's inside pocket. "My government has noted the increased tensions and has given me authority to announce that in any 'major heating up' of this brewing cold war, we will maintain 'active neutrality' and suggest the USR does the same. While we would hate to see former allies fight amongst themselves, we would rather not get involved on either side."

The General adjusted the zipper on his jacket. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must find the Freethinkers delegate, there is something I wish to discuss with him. Good night, delegates. Come along, Lieutenant." The General and his aide, walked out the door into the frigid Edolian night.

Dahl called after him, quoting Bob Dylan. "He that gets hurt will be he who has stalled."

"Now, where were we?" asked Ambassador Hecker.

OOC: just tg'ed a synopsis of events to Kelanis , the plot is really confusing when you actually write it all out! ;)

Ambassador Nagy shrugged and greeted Alejandro Kunik as the General and the other Island States delegates left.

"You see Dahl, Kelanis is beyond reproach. The USR appears to be preparing to play ostrich. I say that we wait and see how the rest of this conference goes before we make any solid plans.

I'm certain That if the Imperium is a threat, that our Retaliatory Guard are taking appropriate preparatory measures as we speak. If we react to strongly and too visibly we just play into the Imperiums hands."

"What do you think of the idea of giving in on the merchant weapons front to throw 'em off guard?"

Ambassador Nagy shrugs.

"It's not an important issue really. We adopted it after armed 'civilian' ships from nations outside of nation attempted to ply the Haven Straits and build armed oil rigs, the Imperium was in favour of it then. Mind you we only ever objected to non-haven merchants entering Haven waters unarmed.

It's not a far stretch to allow it now. If the Imperium wants to flip flop then let them. Let's see where they go with it."

"Alright. We need a damn issue of our own to push in a way." said Bartholomew. "Oh, what about the fucking Haven SDI system? What becomes of that now?" said Dahl. "It could work. What do you think, Ambassador?" said Hecker.

Ambassador Nagy smiled

"Interesting you should mention that. I say we move that the Haven SDI be put under USR control, as the biggest and most stable bloc in Haven they would be the most responsible. Plus they have defacto control of the most Haven territory.

It makes perfect sense, but the Imperium will fight it. It's an issue that we can use to expose any imperial aspirations the Imperium has in Haven. "

He pauses and regards Dahl "Do you always use this much profanity?"

"Feline habit. Cross-cultural pollination with cats, the species. Species tends to curse a lot, crossed over into human Cats, the nationality. It's really barely considered cursing back home. I'll try to tone it down."

"As for the SDI, we wouldn't mind it being under USR control. We would prefer it under OHS control, but for the sake of strategy, we'll push for it under USR control."

James and Torin exchanged glances and smiled tacitly before Torin spoke, "Oportunities eh? We are certainly interested in Haven, if for no other reason than the possible economic benefits involvement with the region could bring. If these oportunities include such economic benefits you can definately count on some degree of support from us."


OOC: I'll be offline for a few days due to the holidays. I urge everyone to consider the pause on roleplay someone suggested earlier.

OOC: Damn. I'm 14 pages late. What's been going on?
OOC2: President Nova Starfighter, Secretary of State Duo Maxwell, and Governor Ein Karaba of Alliance State (the Tiburonese space on the Haven map) are the Tiburonese delegation.

OOC: Agreed on the halt to proceedings. TIS, my reps are still inside. I'm having Clodius meet with SS's rep so Ill leave Karina and Lenington in the lobby to see your guy.

OOC: One day of the conference has passed with the introduction of everyones character through role-play and with a few minor incidents such as Feline's delegates (human) being naked for the conference in an attempt to offend Scandavian States, however this resulted in little more then an official complaint against their conduct not because they are naked, but because it's clear they are out to offend. The result was little more then a verbal warning.

This was then followed by a slighty heated debate over piracy in Haven and dealing with it, along with some concerns raised about the defence of trade routes and how each nation intends to resolve it. Difference of opinion between Scandavian States and Ilek Vaad, not resoved... read the last couple pages for details.

Iuthia's delegate has pretty much done little but talk to a few people outside of the conference before it began, otherwise he's listening and keeping note of others, basically gathering information to figure how stable Iuthia's peice in the mess is.

At this point in the proceedings, Weinweir von Dörn knew that it was pointless to try to get involved in one of the after-hours talks. The advantage, he thought, of being the home team is that I have access to all the resources. Pulling his sleek, black cellular phone from his pocket, he quickly made the appropriate calls, and soon found himself seated with Minister of War Thomas von Leifric, Marshall Zhang Daming, Minister of Foreign Relations Matthew von Pickett and a half dozen more of Edölia’s top foreign policy makers. “The time has come,” he said, “to get to work. The Scandavians are pushing towards war and Vaadians certainly aren’t doing a good job to preventing it. Before the start of the conference, we predicted four issues would capture everyone’s attention. We’ve already moved into the status of Haven regional waters, but we have not yet touched upon the Haven SDI system, the neutral, UnAPS-owned islands in the center of Haven or trading rights.” Matthew von Pickett raised his hand slightly and spoke up.
“Trading rights isn’t going to be an issue. The USR is the only group that might object to free trade, and we have quite a bit of power with them. I have no doubt that by the end of this, Haven will be a free trade zone.”
“I agree, sir,” replied von Dörn. “The other three issues still need to be dealt with however, and that is what I wish to do right now. Let’s write a treaty that will be acceptable to all parties and introduce it tomorrow.” Zhang Daming raised a skeptical eyebrow and spoke. The youngest of those in the room, save von Dörn, he had a clear, ringing voice, the slight tinge of a Chinese accent adding an exotic flavor.
“I believe that at this time, it is imperative that the Scarlet Empire not mention the Inner Islands. If the Scandavians feel that they must act quickly to seize them, there is no doubt that they will do so. Let us avoid the issue and stall for time. They aren’t in the best position to take them in the long run, especially if we get the rest of the USR and Ilek Vaad to support us.”
“Very well,” von Dörn nodded. “I see your point, Marshall.” He clapped his hands. “Let us get to work.”

<<OOC: Basically, I’m going to write up a possible treaty. I’m not actually back yet… just writing something quickly.>>

[Can we get this back on track?]

Meanwhile, after exchanging small chat with the Vaadian and upon seeing him depart, the huge walrus decided to go to the bar and see if he could meet up with any delegates, preferably ones that came outside of Haven. He was thinking of saying "hi" to the Iuthian since there was some degree of contact yet he also wanted to get blasted.

The two King's Own and the towering bodyguard escorted their charge to the bar and while partaking no alcohol themselves, silently watched their boss begin to guzzle huge mugs of beer.

Mark Jameson (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/MarkJameson.jpg) was sitting at the bar with one of his security advisors for the conference, both were wearing similar black suits often seen in the Iuthian Diplomatic Corps. So far were having a rather laid back evening with little real concern about the state of Haven for the time being, they were mostly unware of the real concerns between old UnAPS allies so Mark had been taking it easy on the trip.

Both men were discussing the times they had over previous missions, swapping stories (minus the confidential parts) and were on perhaps their third drink. Dave, the security advisor, was currently recalling a time he escorted Kayla Harmone to a peace conference in Feminany, mostly commenting on the way that the people of Feminany stared at men, however before he could finish, a couple of tall security men, clear from their battle dress uniform, entered the room and gave it a quick once over before the rest of them came in, escorting a large walrus into the bar.

Of course, it was clear to both men, who were both a little warm from their drinks, that this was the representative from Vrak, the only nation they knew of which would send a sentient Walrus to such a meet. Still in warm spirits, the two men raised their glasses to the man/walrus before continuing to drink their beer... they didn't continue their conversation as they both lost their place, so they just drank for the time being as the Walrus settled in.

At his table, Ujuy began to guzzle beer by the boatload, oblivious to people who gawked and openly pointed at him. He was used to it and, strangely enough, enjoyed the attention. It seemed that whenever the Diplomatic Corps sent out a walrus a stir would be created.

The huge Inuit noticed movement and turned his head. Ah…not a threat, but merely some more friendly folk raising their glass in their direction. He stooped down and whispered into the ambassador’s ear who promptly turned his head to the Iuthian delegation. A brief exchange and then the bodyguard stood up to his full 6’6” height. The two King’s Own stood near the walrus while the tuxedo clad Inuit drew close to the two men, being careful not to intimidate.

“Excuse me,” he rumbled, “But we could not help noticing your…er…gestures. May I inquire as to where you are from?”

As the Inuit approached, Mark turned to meet him a little early as heard the mans footsteps on the wooden floor. Dave hadn't turned, knowing to leave Mark to his profession. Unlike Decisive, Iuthia made a point of teaching it's soldiers respect and displine, which included knowing when to let the professional do the talking.

Mark's reply was rather simple, his voice smooth and calm. "We're from Iuthia, this is Dave Kenston, my security consultant and personal body guard." Dave finished his drink before turning and offering his hand.

"And I'm Mark Jameson, the Iuthian representative for this weeks Haven Conference. We recognised your men's uniforms, would you do me the honour of introducing yourself?" Mark said, making sure to show a degree of respect.

The Inuit shrugged his massive shoulders as he shook hands with the men. His hands seemed scarred, as if the result of some kind of accident or merely years of physical toil. One hand had the tattoo of a spider on the palm.

“My name is Kar Nerrivik. Ah…from Iuthia?”

He paused, as if momentarily deep in thought. Then, with a slight bow, he said.

“Will you please excuse me?”

He then went back to the walrus, who by this time was watching the whole proceedings with interest. Kar bent downwards and whispered into Ujuy’s ear who was still watching Mark and David, and would smile pleasantly back if he caught the eye of the Iuthians. A grunt from the walrus and then the bodyguard came back to the both men, this time more upbeat.

“If it would please you gentleman, the Ambassador would like you to join his table.”

IC: Leaving Karina and Lenington to wait for General Thompson, Clodius moved away into the adjacent café, his box and its contents tucked safely under his arm. Moving swiftly but firmly in an almost royal manor, a lifetime spent walking among some of the most lethal killing-machines ever designed by nature gave him an imposing, almost irreverent stance. Although amongst his own was where he was most comfortable, he found it almost as enthralling when in the company of other dignitaries.

Walking through the door and into the crowd of waiting dignitaries and their personal staff, Clodius weaved his way expertly through the fold, looking for the Scandavian Princess, the intended recipient of his gift. His paced slowed as his eyes scanned the room, moving from delegate to delegate, a swift overview that was almost reminiscent of his training, he was, after all, still a serving soldier, although one now more preoccupied by ceremony than by combat.

He found who he was looking for, at the other end of the bar, and he quickly made a beeline straight for the Princess, his legs quickly making up the distance through the throng. He arrived with aplomb, his head held high as Lien turned to face him. For a moment feeling slightly awkward as he realised the Princess had already been engaged in conversation, as well as not being quite sure how to deal with human royalty in all situations. The traditional vampire greeting in such situations usually left most humans needing hospital attention. Instead he ground to a halt, his eyes moving to the floor as he took part in a respectful bow.

“Your highness, it is an honour to meet you. I must sincerely beg your pardon for the intrusion, but may I introduce myself as Sir Clodius Maxilimus, Lord of Navarok, at your service. I have a small matter with which to speak with you, if I could have your company for a moment.”

<<OOC: Does anyone mind if I just cut to the chase and get back to the conference? I mean... unless someone has anything particularly crucial to do before the conference starts up again...>>

"Karina, Lenington, just the people I wished to speak to," General Thompson said as he removed a folder from his briefcast. "I got word from my government that my primary reason for meeting you has been taken care of on our end, but we have something for you to take a look at." The general handed the folder to the delegates.

"This is a map of the USR minefields around the earthbound territory of the New Haven Socialist Republic," Thompson said. "We figured you would need it, especially if tensions become very high."

<<OOC: Does anyone mind if I just cut to the chase and get back to the conference? I mean... unless someone has anything particularly crucial to do before the conference starts up again...>>

OOC: Feel free, me and Vrak will fluid time it as I doubt either of us would have much to say in the conference, I'll just make sure to mark different times correctly. I'd like to at least get a small conversation done, though it's hardly vital. The conference is more important.

IC: Picking the remained of their beers, the pair of men go up from the table, revealing themselves to be about 5'10 each with only an inch different, Dave being the taller man.

Approaching the table, Mark bowed to the Walrus after allowing the security men to do any weapons checks should they require it. While Mark was a little tipsy his balence was perfect and he didn't spill his bear. Dave on the other hand, wanting to copy the representatives respectful manner attempted a bow only to loose a bit of his beer in the process... he smiled and attempted to act as though nothing happened. Mark simply ignored the sight.

"I'm glad your willing to recieve us, Ambassador Hagwonak" Mark opened with, making sure to pronounce the name the best he could. "For what do we owe this pleasure?"

<<OOC: Does anyone mind if I just cut to the chase and get back to the conference? I mean... unless someone has anything particularly crucial to do before the conference starts up again...>>

[As a matter of fact, I do have something rather important to do that needs to happen before the conference begins again. Right now I'm winding up for a curveball, this one's going to be a doozy.]

Lien smiled at the bow and inclined her head in return. Then, with as much solemnity as she could muster through her good cheer, she answer, "Certainly Sir Clodius. Let's step away so my Aunt can conduct some business of her own."

With a small nod at the Caras delegation, she led the Freethinker delegate away to a quieter corner and then said, "Now, Sir Clodius, what would you like to discuss? I'm sure there are a multitude of things we could talk about, but I sense you have a specific purpose."

(bump for Vrak, edit in last post.)

Clodius smiled and followed her, his gaze for a moment distracted. Moving into the corner, he relaxed his demeanour slightly, feeling relieved at being allowed to let go for a moment. He smiled as Lien turned to address him once more.

“Indeed, your highness, this is one matter I wished to sort out tonight. I understand that these times are stressful for your gracious self and for your people. Dark skies seem to draw near, and I felt in my capacity as, both a representative of my nation and as the ruler of my kind back in the homeland, I should, as a mark of my, and my people’s respect for you, present you with this.”

His hand moved to the box, and lifted it up to his chest. Moving the lid away and placing it at his feet, his hand moved to the inside of the wooden container and pushed aside the sliver of velvet protecting the contents. Once this had parted beneath his fingers, the dull reflective surface of an iron blade caught both sets of eyes as well as some of their neighbours.

Removing the blade and replacing the box on the ground, he presented the weapon for Lien’s inspection. A cast iron blade, a foot from hilt to tip, sat across both his hands. Although the material felt coarse, the blade was keen, and the most intricately carved Celtic runes and patterns were seen running across the weapon. An especially well-made Navarok dagger, to those who didn’t know, it was considered an ultimate seal for a vampire to give unto another.

“My people have used these for millennia, to signify our bond, to physically embody our promise, our oath, the words enshrined to become deed before long.”

Clodius took the blade firmly in his right hand, the dull iron clashing with the golden rings he wore there as his badge of station and office. Taking the hilt unflinchingly, he moved the blade across the palm of his left hand, a scarlet wash soon appearing in its wake. Angling his palm and fingers into a soft valley, he channelled the dark red stream across the dagger’s blade, the liquid gliding along the carvings to set into the swirls and spirals as a maroon enamel.

He pulled the blade away under Lien watching eyes, replacing the dagger in its case. Already his physiology ensured the wound was healing up, the sting now a dull ache as Clodius presented the box to Lien.

“My blood represents the blood of my kin, my country, to remind you of the sacrifice we are willing to make to complete our commitment to the oath we have made, now and in the past. We have in always been, since our introduction, strong allies, and we remain so here and into the future. I only ask is that should the final push come then it should be for the right reasons. I will have more to discuss tomorrow Princess, but for now I must depart. I trust, in good faith, to you and your family’s wise consul, and do not let the ill-minded idiocy of our rivals bring us to harm. Goodnight, you highness, I will take my leave.” And with a swift turn and quick movement, he was soon out of sight.

***

Karina passed the map to Lenington, who turned slowly as his eyes scanned the document. He grinned, and nodded towards the General. Karina smiled as she began to reply.

“Thank you General, we most appreciate this. I will try and make sure you receive the counterpart as soon as possible.”

***

Clodius made his way quickly back to the room. He felt good, the presentation of the dagger always left a mark on those who saw it, usually a positive one, and the gash on his hand was now but a slowly fading red line. Taking the stairs two at a time, he soon reached the landing of the floor where the Freethinker delegation rooms were set. Moving past the pair of Gorillas sat guarding the place, which gave him a snort and a glare in the way of greeting, he entered the suite and sat down slowly on the nearest bed.

His heart beat heavy, his ears burned as the sound of the merriment downstairs seemed magnified in the loneliness of the room, and his eyes felt heavy. Mostly, however, he was troubled by the gradually rising ache in his muscles and bones, one he knew the Aspirin sitting in his side table wouldn’t cure. It was part of being a vampire, of not sleeping for days on end, and of course the journey had taken its toll too. He lay back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment, his mind running over the day’s events. Something troubled him greatly, but the sound and the lighting seemed to prevent him thinking too deeply, even though superb mental discipline was one of the hallmarks of a Pathfinder. He needed clear air.

He got up, leaving both the bed and the room behind as he once more passed the guards. With nothing more than a shrug they dismissed him, and Clodius made his way to the elevator. Picking the top-most floor, he pressed the button and leaned back against the rear wall of the car, feeling the soft movement though his feet as the elevator made its swift way upwards. Reaching the top sooner than expected, he moved out onto the hallway, looking for the nearest exit onto the roof. Finding an unalarmed door with a padlocked chain barring the way, he merely placed the protesting item between his two hands and pushed them together. The steel lock didn’t stand a chance, falling to pieces and landing by his feet. Clodius made a mental note to reimburse the hotel before pushing the door open and walking out into the night.

He stood on the roof of the hotel, the wind picking up around him as he walked towards the edge of the building. He didn’t feel cold though, and, instead, peered down over the edge towards the street below. The flickering red and white lights of the cars riding buy along with the heads-down gait of the passers-by made for an interesting view; one Clodius was all too familiar with. He stood on the edge, one foot with toes dangling just over into the abyss, and then he jumped.

Transforming whilst hurtling down the side of a building was not recommended. Especially when it meant wrecking a good suit, but then Clodius had spent too long in his human form to care. Closing his eyes, he felt his muscles and bones expands, the limbs and torso becoming larger and longer, his neck beneath his head bulging out. What everyone below him was thinking was anybodies guess. He put his arms out, now tipped with hands that displayed iron-tough claws, and spread his legs, which boasted an equally dangerous set of feet. The tail was just for balance, he told everyone, and the protrusions from his back were their own devices.

Just as gravity was about to claim another victim, Clodius completed his transformation. And then what happened was going to make sure a lot of psychotherapists were going to be employed for a long time to come. He let his wings unfurl, silhouetted in the moonlight, and with a mighty downward stroke the vampire turned his dive into an upward soar. Clearing the building ahead of him, he turned to look down, watching the people running about like lunatics, smiling like a maniac. Sometimes life was too funny in places. He turned, and disappeared into the darkness.

OOC: Feel free, me and Vrak will fluid time it as I doubt either of us would have much to say in the conference, I'll just make sure to mark different times correctly. I'd like to at least get a small conversation done, though it's hardly vital. The conference is more important.

IC: Picking the remained of their beers, the pair of men go up from the table, revealing themselves to be about 5'10 each with only an inch different, Dave being the taller man.

Approaching the table, Mark bowed to the Walrus after allowing the security men to do any weapons checks should they require it. While Mark was a little tipsy his balence was perfect and he didn't spill his bear. Dave on the other hand, wanting to copy the representatives respectful manner attempted a bow only to loose a bit of his beer in the process... he smiled and attempted to act as though nothing happened. Mark simply ignored the sight.

"I'm glad your willing to recieve us, Ambassador Hagwonak" Mark opened with, making sure to pronounce the name the best he could. "For what do we owe this pleasure?"

“Oh? Ah, just to keep me company. Nothing official. But, and I can’t remember if our government properly thanked you during the OMP crisis in the Klatch. Nasty little incident that was…Anyhow, I rather liked how you guys stepped in and helped out. Must say you folks have a good knack at diplomacy. Joined the NDA, eh? They are an interesting bunch of folks.”

A long pull at the mug and then he began to ramble again.

“Well, you know, we kinda like Haven. Go ‘ways back with them Edolians, but we don’t know much about everyone else. This isn’t top secret,” he said with a wink, “but all public record. Pretty lively with them Scandavians and Vaadians, hmmm. Say, you like those Vrakian fur hats that we export? Kar has one in his room and he brought it along. Told him that he wouldn’t need it but hell, am I really gonna tell Kar what to do? He tells me what to do! I mean, look at him!”

He leans his head over and blurts out to the Inuit.

“You’re my boss, right Kar?! Making sure I don’t squish anyone. Ha ha! I told you not to bring that hat. I didn't bring my hat so why you brought your hat? Did you guys bring your hats?”

The last remark was directed at the King's Own but could very well mean anyone within hearing distance.

Lien stood at the spot where the vampire had presented the dagger in shocked silence. Not soon after one of the delegation's guards came jogging up to the Princess and gave her a note in a envelope. Turning the envelope over she noticed her family's seal pressed into a dried pool of wax and knew what it was about. Picking up the nicely-made wood box, she made her way over to Duchess Saleh and in a few short sentences explained what had happened. Then, she handed over the unopened letter to her Aunt and said, "It is as we feared, I'm afraid I must leave now. Give that letter to Sir Clodius the next time you see him."

Asiya bowed her head, ostensibly from stress but also to say a short prayer for her beloved brother-in-law. She then looked up and said, "Continue please, we have much to discuss."

Her last thought before turning completely back to the discussion was, I don't know what it is you did to impress my niece so, but let us hope her faith in you is not misplaced.

Mark politely listened to the Walrus ramble on, partly out of interest (afterall, it's hard not to pay attention to a talking Walrus) and partly out of training; digesting each word and analysing them subconsiously to judge with his tone and body language... however his senses were off put by the fact this being wasn't human and simply didn't have human tones or body language.

"Well, we like to think that Iuthia has outgrown the need for conflict and military force. Our Diplomatic efforts have had alot more funding recently as a result of our sucesses with the OMP-Klatch situation and various other issues... we could have left it but quite frankly we were appalled at the lack of respect shown, I imagine it was a pleasure for the IDC to have gotten involved.

"and yes, the Non-Democratic Alliance... yeah, I would agree, they are interesting. I've never been to Unity Island myself, though I have heard alot about them through the IDC. So far we are impressed by the organisationa and fellowship shown by our NDA allies, we're proud to have been accepted." He paused for a moment to remember the information he read on UnAPS, it was more closely knit once, more of an alliance Iuthia enjoyed being part of... however it had fallen pray to various legal disputes.

"Iuthia's interest in Haven probably isn't much of a secret either... afterall we have a military base in Edolia which would be in the thick of it should this place go up in flame. We value our relations with Edolia as much as we value our relations with all our old allies... so it's in our interests to see whats stirring here." he sighed for a moment, thinking of the days topics.

"Looks a bit like the same old to be honest, friction over minor issues and political differences of opinion. Mix in a bit of posturing and provocation from the Felines and you have a relatively normal Haven environment... still, I imagine they know their limits, shouldn't be hard to remind them of their senses should it get out of hand."

The rest Mark couldn't really understand, it seemed like the rambling of a drunken Walrus, though he paid attention never the less as sometimes it's nothing of the sort... however, the uniqueness of the Ambassador made it hard to be sure.

The Ambassador rolled his bleary eyes at the Iuthians as he guzzled his beer. The table was cleared for the third time and four more pitchers were brought.

“Help youself. Or, you know, order what you want and I’ll cover it. We all have expense accounts. Anyway…yeah, those furry hats are pretty good in the winter.”

A sudden lurch and then he spun his head around.

“Dammit Kar! I told you not to bring your hat!”

He suddenly turned his head again and looked at Mark.

“Oh, yeah? An island, eh? Unity island. What a pleasant name. Anyhow, you’ve got some stuff in Edolia. Sure hope it doesn’t come to a shoot out. Still, this conference is kinda like the kind we have back in parliament. You should come visit sometime, you know? Those Dyellians, they have a Monster Looney Party in their government…can you believe that? Ha! One guy though I think but I don’t keep much on what goes on down south. Yeah…”

A polite nudge from Kar. Ujuy turned and appeared to be startled, then relaxed.

“Ambassador, we should be leaving soon. You know that no one can carry you should you pass out here.”

“Ah, for sure Kar. For sure.”

Ujuy Hagwonak turned and whispered, although it came out fairly loud.

“My brother once got drunk at some negotiations…Ah…I think it was Nekoa…you know about that?…Anyhow, yeah…he passed out in the bar and his detail had to steer people away. Not everyday you see a drunk walrus I guess. Fairly common from where I come from. You should see some of those corporate dinners we have. Heck! We’ve got flying monkeys!”

By now, the Ambassador’s head was lolling and Kar gently placed one thick arm under the walrus’ neck.

“Come now, Ambassador. Let’s go.”

The other King’s Own assisted Kar while the second turned and, with a slight bow said,

“Our apologies. The ambassador is indisposed. Good night gentlemen.”

Mark had only really drank his third pint during the conversation, his training/indoctrination made for a relatively restaint man. However, Dave the security assistant wasn't as held back and was on his fifth... afterall, he knew that Ambassador Jameson could defend himself.

"Heh... furry hats." Dave slurred. "'s too warm to wear fur at home."

Mark finished his pint, having almost forgotten this was all informal, and got up from the table as the Walrus and his personnel prepared to leave while they could on their own power.

"Good to have met you, Ambassador Hagwonak. We'll look forward to seeing tomorrow at the conference." This was true in two respects... afterall, Mark always wanted to know if Walruses got hungover.

I. The Haven SDI will be controlled by the region’s major power bloc, the USR.
II. It shall continue to be linked to Feline’s independent SDI, which will be continue to be controlled by Feline.
III. The USR has the responsibility, as does Feline, to continue to ensure, as they have done, that all of Haven is protected from attack by ICBM.


"What do you think of this?" asked Bartholomew to those in the room, "As a working policy? As you know, before we joined the UnAPS, we had our own extensive SDI system, which has been linked into, but still independant of, the Haven SDI. We would like to preserve this independance, first off, and second, it'll piss off the Scandavians like hell."

Ëtaros Eledhwen, Erasito of the UKE, had just received news that residents of Haven were holding a conference. He felt rather silly for not knowing beforehand, and did not want to arrive late, so he instead sent a letter, via email, to Edolian officials so that it could be presented to all those attending the conference.

To Those Attending the First International Congress of Haven:

It is apparent to me that a conference of Haven nations is being held. Had I known at an earlier date, I would have sent a delegation, and I apologize for my inability to keep up with the news. For those that may not know who I am, I was once a resident of Lietuveska. My mother, Itarildë was the Erasita of the URHP before she was assassinated by crazed lunatics. A fierce war ensued, and I was victor. However, my homeland had become ravaged, war-torn, and desolate. I sought a place more peaceful, a place where I could retreat with millions of my people. That place was the colony that my mother had named after me before her death. Located far from Haven in the beautiful region of Tareldanorë, we have become quite prosperous. Our economy and population are, of course, nowhere near what they once were, but such status is arriving soon.

The subject of this letter is to inform those attending the conference that we still maintain a presence in Lietuveska proper. Though it is ludicrously small, I have lately been planning a reconstruction of select areas in my former homeland, in hopes to create a colony of sorts. It is estimated that there are a dozen or so settlements under populations of twenty thousand, and a military base populated with a thousand or so troops is also present. The Etaran Navy has been lobbying for some time to send a small fleet in the area, and I am ready to approve the transport of such a fleet.

However, I am fully aware that such residents of Haven may be opposed to such ventures. It is my regret that this is so, but I recognize it fully. I must ensure all those of Haven that I come without any intentions of harm, and I will be more than willing to negotiate entry into Haven Straits.

In Confidence,

Ëtaros Eledhwen
Erasito of the United Kingdom of Etaros

OOC: I just wanted to repost this so it doesn't get lost in the thread. I was counting on the Edolians to present it when the conference convenes again. Just need to make sure everyone is aware of our presence/status in Haven.

<<OOC: Etaros: I suppose I just assumed that all of that would have been read by those attending the conference. I assume that you're the player who did Lietuveska? If so, I will ask you a few questions next time I see you online.>>

<<Edolia, you seem to be online. Care to get AIM started?>>

I. The Haven SDI will be controlled by the region’s major power bloc, the USR.
II. It shall continue to be linked to Feline’s independent SDI, which will be continue to be controlled by Feline.
III. The USR has the responsibility, as does Feline, to continue to ensure, as they have done, that all of Haven is protected from attack by ICBM.


"What do you think of this?" asked Bartholomew to those in the room, "As a working policy? As you know, before we joined the UnAPS, we had our own extensive SDI system, which has been linked into, but still independant of, the Haven SDI. We would like to preserve this independance, first off, and second, it'll piss off the Scandavians like hell."


Ambassador Nagy nodded.

"That sounds fine. The Free Republic's anti-missle net has always been independant, it really doesen't matter to us and I think we can trust the USR as far as controlling the Haven SDI.

I haven't seen any reason to distrust the USR, though they may not taking things as seriously as one would like."

<<OOC: SS... Freethinkers doesn't seem to be around... Another issue that I'm wondering about is that it the Feline/Vaadian group is talking about something that I would like to have a say in (and that I've written up a treaty about that will be proposed at the conference). I'm going to start the conference up again if no one has objections. And you can do fluid time, like Iuthia and Vrak.>>

[Go ahead, I've done my non-conference bit. Time to wreak some havoc.]

General Thompson and his aide entered their respective hotel rooms, removing their pistols and placed them in their top drawers before returning to the conference room.

OOC: I'm ready for a conference restart... SS, could you TG me? I think the Galadisians will be willing to support your bit of havoc but I'd like to have a bit of a better idea what it is OOC.


IC: James and Torin nodded to the delegates of the Scandavian States and retreated to their own rooms to have a private conference. James turned to Torin quickly, "Do you think it wise to openly support the Scandavians over the Felines? Remember, our own economic reforms are constantly being assualted by Le Senat. This could cost us the administration."

"Don't fear it. You still have at least 4 more years as the Premeir, by which time the benefits of our support here will have paid off and swung public oppinion to our favor. The trick here is going to be to avoid pissing off the wrong people."

OOC: I'm ready to wreak some havoc too, exactly. It won't be at the conference, it'll be in a side thread after you make your havoc.

Don't you just love these international diplomatic horn-locking fests?

OOC: SS, a good way to start that RP of ours would be insulting my delegates, and in general, Hogsweatians.. what you'd say i'll leave to you ;0

As Weinweir von Dörn arranged the papers at the head of the conference room the next day, he watched delegates shuffle into the room. He smiled to himself, noticing that some of the delegates looked as if they had had happier mornings. There were few countries better in the world to go and get hammered than the Scarlet Empire. With its government-owned brothels, plentiful alcohol and an almost complete absence of drug laws, there was quite a bit of fun that one could have, wandering the streets. Von Dörn himself had had only a token amount of vodka the night before, and was feeling confident that the day would bring with it good news. He tapped his microphone slightly. “I’m just waiting for the rest of the delegates to come in,” he said. “I hope that everyone had a good night and I am looking forward to continuing the discussions.”

<<OOC: I’ll just wait for people to get into the room. I want to make sure that no one has any special plans for their entrances.>>

The two of elven descent returned to the confrence room early, each wearing the same clothing as the previous day. As before, they had ther pets and weapons.

Ujuy Hagwonak waddled into the conference room, back to the wall and with a view of the rest of the participants. He was flanked by his small entourage and didn't look like he suffered from any ill effects from the heavy drinking last night. With a whiskey in one flipper, he was ready to pay close attention to today's proceedings.

The Three person Team of the Pauldustllah delegation walked in the room casualy so they would not have attention directed upon themselves. as they sat down at there table. one of the Men pulled a bottle of Empire brand vodka from his bag. and poured each member of the team a drink.
"i hope today is more productive than yesterday." One of the men mumbled to himself as he siped from his glass.
the woman on the team looked up at the man and said "i'm sure it will be your maje...." She was quickly shushed by both of the men sititng at there table.
"Remeber now is not the time.. we do not want to revel our delegates idenity yet." the third man said quietly as he looked around the room to ensure that no one had overheard that slip. havign been sasistfied he tured his attention to the podium.

With little fanfare Karina and Lenington took their places, though the seat at their side reserved for Sir Clodius remained unoccupied. Adjusting themselves and getting comfortable, the two Freethinker delegates took out their respective notepads and PDAs whilst watching out of the corner of their eyes the movement going on around them.

Soon enough, they were ready to begin.

Duchess Saleh entered the room, her face a mask of sadness and near depression. On the way to her table, she dropped the envelope, unopened, on Clodius' spot of the Freethinkers table. There was a sticky note on the envelope that read; Sir Clodius, Eyes Only. Then, quietly as could be, she sat down and waited for the conference to begin.

Confident that the delegates that would be arriving had come in, Weinweir von Dörn began to speak.

“Friends.” He looked around the room, pausing to glance upon the Iuthian, Cat and Scandavian delegations. “Comrades.” He nodded towards the other USR countries. “I’m afraid that we didn’t get off to a good start yesterday.” He paused. “That was an understatement if ever there was one. Well.” He collected himself. “You may have noticed that I wasn’t really around last night. I was at work collecting information in an attempt to solve some of our problems. Therefore,” he began to pass out papers to the assembled delegates, “I give you the Maritime Treaty of Gërburg.” A large text appeared on the screen at the back of the room.”

The Maritime Treaty of Gërburg
1. The extent of territorial waters for nations lying on the Haven Straits is officially set to fifty kilometers off the coast of any mainland with an area larger than 500 square kilometers or five kilometers off the coast of any island between 500 and 20 square kilometers. The right of the Socialist Empire of Edölia and the Imperium of Scandavian States to claim North Haven waters will be respected.


2. All waters within the Haven Straits not considered territorial shall be considered regional waters and subject to the laws and treaties of the region of Haven.

3. No foreign ships shall be allowed to enter regional waters without the permission of at least three nations lying on the Haven Straits.

4. No foreign ships in regional waters shall be permitted to carry weaponry on deck with a range longer than ten kilometers except in the case of war when such ships are defending a Haven nation from outside attack.

5. All Haven military vessels are given full authority to track down and destroy or capture any known and proven pirates.

<<OOC: I feel really bad… I typed up a really long treaty before but I left it on the computer in Texas. I don’t particularly want to ask my grandparents to send the files to me since they wouldn’t like to see some of the other things I wrote (they REALLY wouldn’t’ like Edölia). I have to go now so I just typed up this in about five minutes. I felt that the conference would have to get started. I would assume that a lot of changes will need to be made. My OOC thoughts on clause three is that it should be assumed that any given nation has permission from at least three countries unless there is reason to RP otherwise.>>

Duchess Saleh scowled slightly and said, "We cannot support this treaty as it stands. For one, the Imperium will not stand for asking other nations who it may and may not allow into its waters and while I understand that such a provision only applies to regional waters, our original objection that this would seriously interfere with our maritime trade still stand. Furthermore, even our defensive systems, such as the Mk45 CAMDS that would be installed in our auxiliaries, have a range of greater than ten kilometers. If the fourth provision were to be modified to apply to gun weapons only, we would be more amiable. Finally, we object in the strongest terms to any treaty that would allow foreign warships to which the Imperium is not allied to enter our waters at will. We cannot and will not sign any treaty that has such a provision."

Asiya leaned back in her chair and took a deep, shuddering breath. It should have been obvious to anybody that she was perhaps becoming a little emotional, although only her guard/aide and Sir Clodius would know the true reason.

OOC: Thanks SS... Anywho, must get the TechAdmin to take a look at why NS keeps crashing my browser...

Anyway, I could make a lot of objections but some of them aren't any of my buisiness yet. So..


IC:

James and Torin walked into the room just as the treaty was being distributed. They had at some point during the night gone out and done a little shopping as commoners and were sporting Edolian formal shirts over their own native garb. After quickly reading through the treaty they looked at each other in slight indignation. "They can't be serious..."

Torin flipped the microphone on and said with just a little more scorn and insolence than were neccissarily needed, "Excuse me, Representative von Dorn,however, I particularly want to question article five. Would you care to define what a known and proven pirate is? Would that be as proven beyound reasonable doubt before a competent international tribunal, or something more useful to certain parties?"

Vilitov scowled at the Scandavian delegation. He was obviously irritated by these people, and had no intention of hiding it. Their ambassador had continually argued heatedly about this situation. Now, her emotional face annoyed him further. He despised a miser.

"Why the long face Dutchess? Has somebody died?" He snickered.

Kronev just sipped his water. For all his diplomatic tact, or rather lack of it, he had seen what Violi had not.

The two elves read over the treaty a few times, discussing it between themselves. Without warning, Cassius stood up.

"You have got to be shitting me. There is no way in any of the nine hells, and trust me, I've been to each of them, that my government could ever support this."

"First of all, it is nobody's business but our own, what ships are allowed to enter our ports. We will not have to have permission of two other nations for a foreign ship destined for Forodren Annon to enter the regional waters. Secondly, it is not up to anyone at this conference to decide what a foreign ship not bound for one of their ports can or cannot carry."

"Most importantly, NO warship will be entering our waters to hunt anything, suspected pirate or not. Privateering is a perfectly valid activity in the eyes of my government, and within our waters, privateers and suspected pirates will be free from persecution in our waters so long as they obey our laws and do not prey on legitimate shipping. Furthermore, any attack on suspected pirates or privateers within our territorial waters will be seen as an attack on legitimate shipping, and will be responded to accordingly."

The elf sat back down.

Mark was a relatively young man, so the drinking he had done the night before left him with little more then a nasty taste in the mouth and a little more tired then usual... he was a little young for a serious hangover and he hadn't drank as much as the Vrakian walrus.

Listening carefully to Weinweir von Dörn proposing the 'Maritime Treaty of Gërburg', which had some obviously concerning problems. Paying close attention to the rebutals against the Treaty, Mark couldn't help but nod when Duchess Saleh mentioned the effects towards trade such a treaty would have... however many of the other points didn't concern Mark so much.

Unlike the Feline party, Mark had chosen to wear a different black suit today, keeping his crisp official image.

After everyone made their point, he made a short statement of his own.

"I happen to agree with the honorable Duchess on matters of trade, despite their own actions which have inadvertantly damaged Iuthian trade routes in the past..." Mark smiled slightly, shooting a glance over to the Duchess to register any responce. "Perhaps reducing the permission to just one Haven nation would be enough for non-combat vessels usually associated with trade. Dealing with the people of the Klatch region has proven to be most pleasurable as they don't limit our movements so much in reguards to trade... one could only imagine that having to deal with three nations to negotiate trade with one nation is quite a concideration for nations looking for prosperous trade routes..."

"Moving on to the rest of the treaty... perhaps it would be more productive if you all state which provisions you can agree with." Mark finished on that note, a rather simple alternate method of dealing with it.

The NHSR delegation looked over at the Hogsweatish ambassador, then looked over at the Scandavian delegation. "Aw hell, here we go..." General Thompson whispered to his aide as the aide passed the General a copy of the treaty.

"The New Haven Socialist Republic does not have any problems with this treaty," Thompson called out.

Karina and Lenington sat stony faced, watching the various reps stand and state their issues. Most Freethinker diplomats were in the habit only of talking when they felt someone else wasn’t making the points they themselves were to make. They nodded in approval of both the treaty AND the various issues raised by the corresponding delegates. It made them look disinterested, but appearances were deceptive.

Karina watched the Elf speak, a softer voice than most, but the point raised was valued and that was what mattered. Finding it best to chime in now, Karina rose, allowing Lenington to lean back and take in the reaction.

“Thank you to my fellow delegates for raising those points. The issue about what defines a pirate and the actions allowed to various vessels in order to pursue them are not covered in sufficient detail for our liking. We would also like to point out that you must make sure that this ruling does not allow ‘pirate-hunting’ battleships to have free reign within sovereign waters. Whereas we are more than willing to cooperate to hunt down and destroy privateer menace, we do not wish to see this power abused in such a fashion.”

“As for the issue of ordinance, perhaps a declaration limiting warhead size, perhaps? Even the longest ranged missile and gunnery weapons can still be distinguished from ship killers by the content of their explosive force. A limit on the weight of the carried explosive force would probably work best in this situation?”

Closing her eyes, Karina sat down. She looked at Lenington, who gazed back, and asilent moment of understanding passed between them.

The Duchess had, once upon a time, been a Colonel and commander of a Kraft Opklaring regiment, the Special Forces of the Imperial Marines. Very little of her quickness or agility had deserted her in the years since, and if anything her lethality in close-in sitations had only been honed with years of practice.

Vilitov was a very lucky man, had the Imperial Army SF major that was serving as her guard and attache not been prepared for the Duchess' reaction and stopped her, the diplomat would have been a very dead man. However, Vilitov was still alive, but that would not save him from the verbal flaying he was about to recieve. "You motherfucking pig, who the hell do you think you are to even speak of my uncle, much less in such a disrespectful manner?!" The rage and sorrow were evident in her voice, and the tears streaming down her cheeks showed that the Hogsweatian diplomat had touched a very tender nerve.

"Duchess, please calm down. Colonel, get ahold of yourself," The Major murmured into her ear. Asiya stoped trying to get at the Diplomat to snap his neck as she'd intended, shrugged out of the Major's hold, and stormed out of the room, tears still wetting her face.

The Major turned to the man who had set off his superior and in a tone of voice that would make the term glacial seem an understatement said, "I do hope you are happy, Mr. Vilitov. Were you not such a grade A insinsitive ignoramus, I would shoot you where you are and I would make damn sure I did not miss. However, because you are apparently in possesion of much ignorance and very little tact, I shall attempt to inform you of why you fucked up so badly instead of blowing your brains out. In the Imperium, you do not insult or otherwise imply harm upon a member of a person's family. In your case, you have just insulted her uncle, who happens to be the Emperor. Were he dead, I would have killed you myself, but very luckily for you he is merely very ill. Nevertheless, Princess Lien will hear of this when we make our report."

With a final glare that made clear just how absolutely serious he was, the Major sat down.

Karina watched the tussle with an alarmed stare, her mind racing. She knew how the Scandavians would react, but this was troubling. The lack of tact aside, the message sent forth was not going to be good in the eyes of her superiors.

***

Outside, Clodius descended the final staircase down to the lobby’s main floor. Standing in the regulation diplomat suit, he was buttoning up the first few buttons when his ears picked up a gentle sob coming up over the cacophony from the traffic and chatter outside. Picking his pace up a gear,, he took the stairs two at a time, landing heavy when he hit the ground on one foot, taking the strain in his stride. He looked around and quickly found the source of the sobbing.

“Your highness?” He enquired, approaching the quietly sobbing diplomat. Her hands scrunched into fists, he could only have guessed what had happened. He walked up to her and placed a soft hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Violi gulped. It took seconds for his brain to react, to think of a suitable reply. But he could not. The dutchess had already left the room in any case, leaving his plan for a very humble apology rolling in the dirt. Nevertheless, he knew not of the Scandavian culture. He was insulted.. a pig. How dare they. If they found out about this back at the Politburo, he would really get a dressing down. That wouldn't be pretty, he thought. It was General Kronev who spoke first. Maybe, being a military man himself, the Scandavian would prefer the General.

"I apologise for my countepart's crude comment, Major. He was unaware of such events in Scandavian States, and especially your culture. There is very little I can do, except a thousand apologies. Our-"

A surprised Vilitov butted into the conversation. "Our?" Kronev continued, ignoring the Foreign Minister's retort.

"Our greatest sympathies go out to your Dutchess, Major."

General Thompson's aide leaned over to the General and whispered, "I think we should've brought our pistols."

James turned to glare at the Hogsweatian delegate putting what presence being of the Noldor gave him, "I find the desciprtion of you as a pig quite accurate. This is a diplomatic conference and yet you seem intent on making yourself seem like a jackass. Perhaps you should consider your future comments with more tact." He turned to the remaining Scandavian in a much softer tone, "Will your Duchess be alright? We are sorry to hear of the state of your Emperor."

Mark was surprised with the violent responce shown by the Duchess, clearly she had military training yet lacked the disapline to control herself during an important conference. Her reaction spoke words... of course, the baiting done by Vilitov was low and most likely intended to cause such a responce. It would reflect badly on them but they hadn't really done as much damage as the Scandavians had with thier lack of control.

He simply shrugged it of... most nations were more careful about who they sent less an international incident occur, clearly this wasn't the case with some nations and it would be reflected in their peoples actions... if their diplomats cannot control themselves under pressure during such meetings, who was to say their leaders were capable of controlling their own actions during an incident.

Mark had heard of previous exploites which further supported the Scandavians lack of control and finesse... something which would eventually work against their interests. Keeping cool, Mark simply watched her leave and noted the threats made by the Major, were he dead I would have killed you myself.... Yeah... comments like that were not something one expects in a conference room in a neutral nation.

James turned to glare at the Hogsweatian delegate putting what presence being of the Noldor gave him, "I find the desciprtion of you as a pig quite accurate. This is a diplomatic conference and yet you seem intent on making yourself seem like a jackass. Perhaps you should consider your future comments with more tact." He turned to the remaining Scandavian in a much softer tone, "Will your Duchess be alright? We are sorry to hear of the state of your Emperor."


"A pig, am I? I spit on your pathetic nation and it's ways. Maybe next time you can find less hypocrisy in your "more tact" statement, as your jackass comment was evidently a violation of this" Violi's eyebrows hardened and he almost spat out the words. He too was close to leaving the room.