NationStates Jolt Archive

A transmission was broadcast throughout Sol.

To: Parties interested in expanding trade throughout Sol.
From: Issac Malisse, Speaker on the Council, Minister of Trade
Re: Trade Conference

If you are interested in trade and would like to hear the proposal we have, we invite you to send a delegation to meet with our representatives and other interested parties onboard our orbital facility orbiting Mars in two days.


Onboard the conference center in Orbit:
Representatives from all of Pilon's Megacorps sat at a table. The tensions between them had been set aside for the time being in the interest of seeing to it that Pilon would be well represented in the meeting and to encourage trade.
Already there were in existance other trade alliances, however none of them would be like this one, and no nation who showed up would be disappointed with what they saw.

The message was received in the newly constructed orbiting city and it marked the first order of business for the newly appointed representative for the Abh Empire. Mira Furlan had read over the recent transmissions from Lakfakalae, the merchants, and the tabs for the construction crews that visited the popular haunts. It was all elementary. Business as usual. Still, this was a new post for her and she intended to perform with poise and dignity.

"Excuse me ma'am. Our communications office has picked up a transmission from the Minister of Trade. There will be a meeting in two days time to discuss a trade proposal."

She gently let the glass datapad rest on the wood table allowing her purple eyes to drift up. "I see. And is it directed to any one party?"

"No ma'am. It seems to be open to all parties in the area."

"Hmm. Thank you. I will handle a reply myself."

"As you wish ma'am." The young man bowed and exited the conference room. Mira retrieved her glass pad and swivelled her chair around to view the excetional view through the thick glass windows. Gazing out at the stars was always a beautiful moment which is why she favored this room above them all.

To: Issac Malisse, Speaker on the Council, Minister of Trade
From: Ambassador Mira Furlan of the Abh Empire
Re: Trade Conference

I have received your message regarding a trade proposal and would like to inform you that I would like to attend this meeting. A trade proposal with others in this region would greatly interest the emperor.

The local Phoenician government having RSVPed a few hours after the broadcast, two Guilders entered the room. Had they been standing, they might have measured about 1.5 meters tall- but they weren't standing, and in fact couldn't. One spider-walked in on all fours encased in a mechanical exoskeleton and g-suit, while the other rode in an electric wheelchair.
The exoskeleton was shiny black, and when it's owner hauled himself up into a chair the Guild Phoenicia flag, a golden dodecahedron over a background of the constellation of the Ship, could be seen to be printed over the left breast.
"Smeggin' inconvenient gravity..."
The wheelchair rider wore the standard blue jumpsuit uniform of the Phoenician government.
He spoke a short phrase in several different languages, Russian, Esperanto, Interlingua, English, etc.- Which language do you prefer?

Coredia Asteroid Colony Juno.

"It would seem, Ma'am, that this would be a further opportunity to enter the community of Sol. I suggest we take it." An aide said to the Governor of the Sol Asteroid Colonies of Coredia, Valerie Shoredon.

"I would say so too. Notify the High Council that I will be sending a trade advisor to this conference in the hopes that we'll get somewhere with it."

"Yes, Ma'am. Who will you send?"

"Oh, I was thinking Walter Rydon. He'll be perfect." She smiled.

"Very good, ma'am." The aide nodded.

"Send the notice."

To: Issac Malisse
From: Governor Shoredon
RE: Conference.

We are pleased to note that we will be sending a delegation to this conference. We are intruged and would like to expand our trade partners in Sol.

The Transdynamics Consortium was the single largest corporate entity in the Autonomous City-states and represented the interests of the biggest private corporations in the Federation. With their proposal to get involved on Machiavelli Station on the table and Mars Transdynamics (a spinoff of the original) already negotiating a free trade zone with Pilon, there was no chance that the TC was going to sit this one out.

Arneaux Savitri, Vice President for Off-World Ventures and brother of the Chancellor of the Commonwealth of Martian CityStates, was sent as the Transdynamics representative and with authorization to negotiate mutually beneficial trade deals.

"Another day, another meeting." A phrase as old as the modern institution of corporation itself, and probably older. Fortunately enough for R-William 86A7E5, days only tick across rarely when it comes to perceptive time--always a difficult thing to relate between individuals, much less species, much less entirely different modes of sentience--but at least that keeps the mechanoid cheerful whenever it has to go to one. Ever since things seemed to go well with the Dargonese, the Master Control Program, who is also Chief Corporate Officer (unpaid) and majority shareholder of Zero-One MonoCorporation, decided that R-William had the right kind of attitude when it came to dealing with organic technology societies. Admittedly, the Dargonese have always been preferable to the Pilonese because, well, the Dargonese seem to think things through every now and then. Unlike most, however, R-William figures that all that Rhean silliness with Pilon happened a very long time ago, bygones are bygones, and this just gives it another chance to meet interesting people who do interesting things. Its negotiation comes from a cheerfulness not assumed, but one that really does come from the heart, to speak poetically. Saying that it "came from the central primary maintenance fluid pump" just doesn't sound quite the same, and isn't even sufficiently analogous as it's not as if R-William, or its avatar, really needs fixnite-rich 'blood' to survive.

Another thing: avatars. R-William still wants to qualify for using CLN Mark One android body. It would be nice to fit in with all these people it wants to talk to; constantly standing out in an obviously robotic avatar merely emphasizes needless differences. It understands part of the reasoning, of course; having a polite, friendly, but independent and assertive robot means more to the eternal mechanoid public relations effort than having a polite, friendly, but independent and assertive person. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred no one can tell the differencee between a Mark One and an organic without some careful study or specialized equipment; this of course assumes a skilled or natural operator, like S.H.O.D.A.N.. R-William... well... it's cheerful, it's dedicated, but it isn't the world's greatest actor. It's also decided that it's somewhat too sane to pull off being properly 'alive' in a pushbutton avatar. Having to remember to fake breathing and blinking and other such things, not trusting to assign it to a mathematical model... no, no Mark Ones for William. Just the old bland white robot with spidereyes and 'R-William' on a geckoweb removable label placed neatly on its left breast.

As for a CLN Mark Two... oh no. Completely not interested. Having to live to the constraints of a body that needs to eat and drink and breathe and eliminate and not sit on those bits there quite like that... too constraining. R-William knows that would just make it less cheerful, which defeats the purpose. Explains many things about organics, though... but in the end it only wants to learn from organics, not become one itself.

All this explains why R-Williams sits, cheefully and mostly content with everything, at the table with the Pilonese in its assigned body with the shiny white composite plates and striated myomers coated in white stretchylene and its red-orange spidereyes blinking with iris shutters behind the lenses every so often. Grey metallic hands, the insides coated with a knobbly rubberene cover, sit folded on the table, and while everyone else arrives the android makes small talk with the Pilonese as there's nothing better to do and, hey, it never hurts to practice.

Official Response from the United States of Allanea

We will dispatch Senior Ambassador Giorgi Alimhanov for this conference. It saddens us greatly that the KIST is now defunct (though not yet officially dissolved), and we wish to take action to set up a similar alliance. This is a perfect time, we believe, for such an endeavor. As such, the United States of Allanea is willing to send this envoy to your wonderful meeting.

We would like to further point out that the relationship between the United States of Allanea and the People’s Greater Hegemony of Pilon has been strained in the past, and this probably should be fixed. As such, we send with the ambassador a variety of gifts to the leadership and the diplomatic corps of Pilon, to symbolize our good will and desire to open a new age, an age of friendship, trade, peace, and freedom.

Sincerely yours,
Victoria Sheshet,
United States Secretary of State

"So far, our commercial involvements with Pilon and their various corporations have gone well. Gone perfect, actually", said the Marquise Aleinna Cúthalion occupying her seat on the long table of the First Amongst Equals, the assembly of the Noble Gathering that controlled every aspect of the life inside the Sacred Sindarin Empire of Aelosia. "Thanks to their help, and their will to serve as profitable and efficient intermediaries, our commercial relationships have flourished in every way. If we can trust someone in financial and commerce affairs, it is Pilon", said the short elf woman, gesturing softly with her hands, noting the eyes of all the present, each and every one of them belonging to one of her peers, the most powerful minds in charge of millions of citizens of the sindar nation.

With those words, she finished her exposition, and explored the reactions of the rest of the nobles around. To the contrary of human classical meetings, noone cheered or applauded, just several approving nods and intense stares appeared in the features of the top of the creme of the aelosian society.

Most weren't a surprise, as always, the ArchDuchess Celestrianna Paelisi approved her initiative, as both she and the Imperial Chancellor were the ones behind the initiative of sending a representative to Pilon's Trade Conference. The Hyral and the Mablung Nobles, hardly interested in issues not regarding military action, were uninterested at best, if not plainly bored, but would support her initiative if the Paelisi Chancellor gives it her vote.

The Eöl Baroness looked pleased, for a change, the drow woman, dressed in a gorgueous crimson outfit that contrasted heavily with her ebony skin, smiled as finding a secret glee in the thought of opening the traditionally closed aelosian market to foreign countries. The Phaelos Duke, always the typical xenophobe, looked in the edge of an anger seizure, but of course, noone in the Gathering would expect him to approve anything to do with anything non elvish involved on it.

Even the Everqueen Aliria, even as tired as she should be after having a severe lack of sleep and a over work schedule, managed to smile, with no doubt willing to put the weight of the vote of the Imperial House to the motion of sending the delegate. The Supreme Minstrel as always sported her neverending smile, knowing that her vote was just an extension of the Everuqeen's opinion.

But the key was the Lórindel delegate. After all, the Noble House of Lórindel was the one in charge of finances, commerce and trade. If someone was going to send a delegate, or to approve one, was them. Yet the Count seemed interested, which was a good signal, yet he didn't nod, a bad signal.

Several tense seconds passed in an eerie silence, that soon turned into minutes. Half an hour later of an intense stare contest that lasted for more than twenty minutes, just interrumpted by several of the elf nobles shifting their positions on the comfortable silk and velvet chairs, Haralis Lórindel, Count of the house of Merchants, barely smiled.

That was all that was needed, Aliria nodded to the Count of the Merchants, speaking the key words. "Is the House Lórindel going to be in charge of the operation?".

The blonde elf, visibly satisfied, rose from his chair and offered a corteous bow to his ruler. "Yes, it is our duty and pleasure. I'll go personally to talk with the pilonese and the rest of the commercial potences. Our economy is growing too fast to stay contained in the nets of protectionism and isolationism any more. Although we respect and care for the menelmacari as excellent intermediaries, our market pleas for more independance"

The rest of the elves were pleased. Aelosia was going to open once more...

OFFICIAL RESPONSE TO THE PILONESE AUTHORITIES IN CHARGE OF THE TRADE CONFERENCE:

We are sending a delegation of our most skilled courtiers and merchants to try a new approach to our national economics regarding international trade. We will be showing our highest profile regarding financial leadership.

Sincerely yours, hoping that our best hopes and yours can be blessed by superior entities...

Count Haralis Lórindel, High Guildmaster and Head of the Noble House of Merchants

(OOC: to avoid a bunch of replies just to get delegations to the Conference Room I am going to supply information so those who wish to attend can post their arrival, initial greeting and arrival in at the Conference Room all in one post so we can get this RP underway.)

IC:As replied filtered in from all over Sol from interested parties replied were sent out, most of the replies were a cut and paste general responce, however personal touches were added to close allies or trade partners of Pilon.
Essentially the replies thanked them for responding and including information on the location of the Convention Center, docking procedures or travel arrangements to the Convention Center, and clearances for entry into Pilonese space.

It also included additional information of what to expect:

We have the intention of introducing a new trade alliance with the intent of setting up free trade between nations interested in doing so. The alliance will also serve as a meeting place for interested investors who want to find contractors for their construction or other business related projects.

The basic framework for this alliance is initially going to be from the now inactive KIST trade alliance however Pilon and several other parties have already collected a number of investors who are interested in meeting with interested parties for projects.

The trade conference will be split up into 3 parts:

The first part will include food and refreshments, courtesy of Pilon's People Corporation (PPC), who also owns the Convention Center and has been selected as host for the conference. We Encourage the various delegations to mingle and get to know one another, we hope this will also serve as an opportunity for new trade dealings to be established with one another however if you just want to show up and enjoy the extensive Cuisine being served you are more than welcome to just do that instead.

The second part we will sit down and Pilon will show the initial treaty text we have worked up. The delegations can add comments and ammend the treaty as needed until a suitable document can be formed from attending members, afterwhich we hope the treaty will be signed and the alliance will be established.

The third part will be hosted by Trillionaire Gambling Tycoon Robert Smith, one of the major Pilonese investors in this conference. He already has a proposal he wishes to offer those who sign the treaty.

We hope this information will be helpful and give you an idea of what to expect at the conference.


As the delegations began to arrive they were welcomed at the docking cell by an Elwyn, Elwyns were a clone series of Pilonese Elven women expertly tailored and trained for Diplomacy. They were serving as the personal liasons to each delegation for the remainder of the delegation's stay at the conference. After greeting the delegation and introducing herself the Elwyn escorts the delegation down the hall for several hundred meters and then stops. She turns to the left and an entrance to a large room within is revealed. This is the Conference Room. The Conference Rooms have been specially prepared to please outsiders by supplying sweet smelling plants and air processing lichens on the walls to filter out the usual Bog Smell that typically accompanies Pilonese natural architecture. The tropical humidity and heat remain however, the room is 32 degrees Celcius (90 Farenheit). Gravity is Martian Standard (MG).
The room rises 12 stories into the air and is circular with a 500 meter circumferance. A waterfall at the far end flows from the ceiling supplying water to a small stream that winds it's way through the room until it empties in a small lake at the opposite end, which presumably has a drainage system because it does not seem to rise in depth.
There are a number of tropical birds perched in trees that line the walls of the room, the treebranches extend together to make a weblike canopy in the air near the ceiling. At the very top in the center shines a bright Sun-like light source that gives forth light, however the canopy provides ample shady spots.

At one end lies a large long table with enough chairs to seat everyone who comes to the conference, this is where the Pilonese representatives are seated when the Spacer's guild (first ones to arrive) arrives. Spread throughout the room are other Pilonese who will act as servers getting refreshments and made to order for anyone.

When the Guilders arrive the Pilonese delegates immediately rise from the table and head over to greet them. Then raise their hands in front of them, palms facing the Guilders, in typical Pilonese greeting before the servers arrive and inquire as to what the Guilders want to eat or drink.

Serindë nos Eärendil, the Menelmacari Prefect of Trade, drew the short straw this time, and thus got the glorious *cough* honor of being sent to Pilon for the conference.

The first point against came with the cookie-cutter response she received to her confirmation. In these days of instant information and email cc's, such responses fooled nobody.

The second came when her diplomatic frigate docked at the conference center and the Prefect, her aide, and her pair of Mornahossë guards were met by one of these 'Elwyns'... Menelmacar had made clear its displeasure in the past with the notion of... manufacturing elves of any sort as if they were a commercial product.

The room, at least, was impressive, but behind all the perfume, it still had the swamp-reek and stifling heat so typical of Pilonese construction - and there was no excuse for either aboard a space station. Still, after admiring the foliage for a short while, and of course greeting the lovely Aelosian delegate, Serindë took a place at the table.

A small Kajali shuttle - no more than a three-seater, perhaps, made the long and arduous journey from one station to another.

Perhaps it wasn't as arduous as the passengers would describe it, though like the Menelmacari, this particular official had only minimal desire to attend.

She didn't even hold a position of particular importance in the Ministry of Trade, and thusly she was temporarily empowered for the duration of the conference. Her escort consisted of one aide and one agent from DEIMOS, cross trained with the Mornahossë at some point in the past.

Sera Merala thusly took a seat near to the Menelmacari, looking decidedly neutral.

It took a lot to conceal what she thought about the place in particular, and it would take even more on top of that for her to actually smile whilst doing so, but trade was trade, and the venue for the conference was simply incidental, even if most Kajali were used to such heat.

From the Corporation’s Martian seat of government, the City of Valacirca, departed a relatively simple-appearing cylindrical shuttle, destined for the Pilonese orbital facility. Aboard this tan vessel were only two people, an air force pilot and the official representative to the planet, Dean Reed. Normally for such an occasion the Corporation would have sent an individual that held more power in the government and actually dealt with the economy, but these days, financial problems, time constraints, and an overall lack of manpower required that someone closer be sent. So it had been decided by the Chair that Ambassador Reed be sent, one who had experience in dealings with those on the planet.

In under a half hour from departure, the shuttle arrived at the station where it docked, much to the delight of the Ambassador, who really hated to travel anywhere by spacecraft for he preferred to keep his feet on the ground, or in this case, metal decking, as much as possible. But his joy soon disappeared when he found himself in an ungodly hot room that was made even worse by the humidity and the fact that he was wearing a heavy black two-piece suit. His aged fingers unfastened the buttons on the front of his jacket in an attempt to cool things off. It helped but not much. At this point, he did not truly care about the beauty of this conference room as he was irritated that he had not dressed appropriately to compensate for this problem. So he dropped into a seat across from the Kajali and sighed deeply.

Boardroom of the ITH, Earth:

…and the next article of discussion is the signal sent our by the nation of Pilon. It seems they are having a trade convention and wants represenitives to attend who might be interested.”

“I think we should use this situation to interest prospective members to join the ITH. It would broaden the base we have already built up over the years and the current members will gain from their markets becoming available to the new members.”

One of the other board members spoke up. “What are the costs for this venture?”

“Minimal,” Tal’Eet answered, “the Sol Gate already has existed for decades. There would only be the cost of sending a shuttle with an envoy to the convention. The power bill for this room will exceed the expenditures for the mission. There really is no way we can lose on this prospect other than nobody attending the meeting. If one member attends the meeting, then we will most likely gain profits. For that reason alone, I suggest alerting the ITH members of the convention. Also making sure the Titan Cruse Line offers transportation for those who need it would gain even further profits.”

“I suggest you start packing.”

Tal’Eet turned to the speaker with a puzzled expression.

“Huh?”

Dur’Nah, the CEO looked Tal’Eet in the eye. “I want you to personally attend the convention. You sold us on the deal so I want you to sell them on the ITH. Report after you return.”

An hour later, the sleek Stiletto Shuttle approached the coordinates sent in the message. Tal’Eet manipulated the controls to guide the craft into landing hanger. After landing he gathered his belongings and left the shuttle, sealing the ship behind him as he exited.




OOC:

I also posted a notice on the ITH Thread with a link pointing here.

It was a short hop by shuttlecraft that took the CEO of AstroMining Inc and Minister of Trade for the Colonies Walter Rydon to Pilon. After landing, the CEO was escorted to the meeting hall, ready to strike up conversation or listen to what the host has to say, whatever comes first...

The one in the exoskeleton took a great interest in watching the waterfall and stream.
Waters behavior is so interesting under acceleration.

The one in the wheelchair requested water for the both of them- enclosed, with straws. No food as yet- he did not know what would be safe in foriegn food.

He took interest when the Northrop-Grumman representative arrived.
"You, sir, look nearly as uncomfortable as we. Greetings, I am Daidalos of Tarsus."

The Snel delegation consisted of a small copper-armored Red and a large Speckled Purple. Perfectly at home in the heat and humidity, the pair walked about the room for a bit, nibbling on some of the plants, before the Red took up position standing about a meter away from the table, while the Purple slid into the lake.

The Greater Prussian Empire's Ambassador to Mars, Jean Tulard Leclerc had been ordered by the Emperor to attend this particular conference. It was viewed his presence would benefit the Empire far more than the presence of any other person. He was a man who broke the traditional Prussian mold. Having been the Prussian ambassador to Knootoss and Menelmacar at various points in his life, he had spent considerably more of his years abroad than at home and developed a unique sensitity to the opinions, views, and morays of the international community. He represented a new wave...or perhaps a return of the old wave of Prussian diplomacy. He was a man of 85 years, yet appeared to be much younger. He arrived in the convention centre without the usual Prussian pomp and splendour. He was accompanied only by two Imperial Guardsmen dressed in black suits so as not to look too imposing.

Leclerc had been to many conferences, but never had he attended a conference where the hosts took so little consideration of their guests well being so as to allow over 90 degree heat indoors. He understood the cultural conditions...but he also knew that when guests were hosted in New Geneva...they were treated as they were accustomed to being treated...airconditioning and all.

Noticing the familiar uniforms of the Menelmacari delegation, he went over to make a bit of small talk with what were atleast familiar seeming people.

The ambassador pulled a red handkerchief from his jacket’s inside pocket and wiped his sweating brow with it before he tiredly replied to the Guilder.

“It’s absolutely miserable in here…the heat…the humidity…Honestly, I’d rather put up with the freezing cold of our colony instead of this mess. But this is my job so I’m stuck with being here for now.” He tucked the cloth back into its pocket before continuing. “Anyways…it’s nice to meet you Daidalos. I’m Dean Reed, Northrop-Grumman’s ambassador to Mars and now our representative to this conference....”

Mira's attache handed her the recent reply from the Pilonese which highlighted the scheduled agenda for the conference along with docking procedures. She silently collected her things from the table and adjusted her tiara. A shuttle had been prepared for her in the docking bay and the pilot was already waiting for her arrival. The journey was fairly smooth and short for the most part. Finally arriving, the pilot followed the proper docking procedures and easily touched down in a designated area where he would wait until the conference was finished.

She stepped out with ease only needing to slightly adjust to the Martian gravity. Her Star Forces uniform molded to her body though for this meeting she was unarmed as was standard procedure for any meeting of this type. The greeting with the Elwyn was formal and polite enough with little to no conversation as Mira was escorted down the hall and into the conference room where the rest of the representatives were waiting. The jungle-like atmosphere was of an unusual sort but pleasing nonetheless for someone that had very rarely ever walked on land. A controlled room such as this was doable for an Abh and it added a bit of life to what could have been just another boring conference room with nothing to brag about. At least this would make a report a little more interesting.

Count Haralis Lórindel was, with no doubt, the most pompous elf in the Sacred Sindarin Empire of Aelosia. With a fortune for sure surpassing several times even his ridiculous rich noble peers, he was a person able to give himself every luxury created by his own imagination. That was why the word "Lórindel" in Aelosia was a simile to "potentate".

Owner of enough corporations to pale many human conglomerates, he used to keep a low profile due to the protectionism of state enabled inside his nation, never leaving the guilmaster Palace of the Lórindel complex inside the Craftworld. Actually, it wasn't protectionism, but a careful monopoly policy. After all, him, the Count Haralis Lórindel, was all by himself, and thanks to the aristocracy laws of the Empire, the goverment branch that controlled trade. He was perhaps as wealthy as Aliria nos Elurin, the Everqueen of Aelosia herself.

All commerce, all trade relationships, imports, exports, were controlled by the proud Count. Given the fact that all by himself was controlling one of the most fast growing and productive economies in Sol, it wasn't a wonder that he would be a megamillionaire.

So, as he walked guided by the "Elwyn", he gleamed through the halls of the facility hosting the conference. If other elves of the Empire, as the Imperial Chancellor, or the Everqueen, used to dress in a eccentric, baroque way, the Lórindel Noble was almost a walking pile of money. His entire outfit, a cloak carefullly placed over an exquisite robe, was inlaid with mithril and gold, in his fingers, neck and wrist sets of impressive jewelry, with precious stones the size of thumbs adorning his frame. Several assistants followed him every step, dressed more properly to normal elves, sporting the delicate grey silk robes of the typical aelosian envoys. A mithril circlet encircled his forehead, giving a frame to his bleached white hair and his still young, delicate and embellished by make up features.

At the beginning, he thought that said Elwyn was a courtesy given his elven status, but soon discovered that every other guest was enjoying such a guide. After a more careful thought, he realized they had been cloned or otherwise genetically manipulated. As any aelosian elf, for him the use of the elven genome for commercial or service purposes was disgusting at least. He kept his mouth shut, knowing that he was looking for business associates here, and not friends. Let the Paelisi courtiers handle the friends, he could just handle the potential partners.

"At least you are as pleasant as a good warm bath before going to bed, honey", he told the Elwyn, noticing that at least they were well trained in the arts of diplomacy, and at least she had the talent to represent a true elf. Lack of taste, to clone elves, but at least they didn't turn them into gross sluts, as everyone else used to.

Waving his hand towards the Lady Serindë, he reached her position, and with delicacy, although he didn't know her but recognized an envoy of Menelmacar when he saw one, kissed the back of her hand and offered her the more traditional noldorin salute. After introducing himself, he stayed in proximity of the Menelmacari envoy, knowing that close to the envoys of Lady Sirithil always a cadre of beggars were going to show to ask for favors, and perhaps he could grasp the opportunity to find new "business partners".

In the meanwhile, one of the Allanean aides targets Sera Melara for his conversation.

“Good day, your highness. I see you have made… a rather unusual decision to travel here.”

Translation from Diplomatic: You don’t really want to be here, do you?

“But well. I admit the microclimate here is not perfect.”

Translation: Oh God, this is waaaay too hot.

“At any rate, I would like to offer you a small gift as a token of appreciation.”

It is not clear where it comes from, but it is a thin mithril necklace, on which an elaborate diamond pendant hangs. “I have been given some of these in the case diplomats from certain nations arrived, and yours is one of those nations. I hope you will be kind enough to see this not as a rude bribe, but rather as a token of appreciation and respect for your nation and your person.”

Even as these words are spoken, Victoria Sheshet herself, the Secretary of State of Allanea, approaches the Menelmacari official.

“My respects, your highness. I am most honored to see you here. You may already know that Allaneans are giving out some gifts lately. This one is for you, here.”

This would be merely a simple watch – electronics surprise nobody in the age of starships – but for the gold-and-mithril body, the diamond inlay, and the silver-like patterns on the deep-red strap – obviously made from dragonskin – that show near-perfect worksmanship. The watch is clearly a work of art.

“Again I would like to reiterate the respect the United States bears for the Eternal Empire of Menelmacar.”

“And now that the official part is done, hi. My name is Victoria, you may have heard of me before.”

Morveal Anlec really, disliked this role, but the Council had directed him to it, he was to head up the Haranshemesh corp., to make it in appearance and function a true company. He was to manufacture and sell consumer goods, to run bars and clubs, along with other discreet services. All to create an illusion, an incredibly complex lie for some potential goal.

So he had Haranshemesh had grown in the Yvresse holdings on Mars, it had bought up many differing interests, brought them under it’s banner. It had made corporate donations to garner greater advertising opportunities it operated as he had observed mega corporations act, and so here he was, at a gathering of the Mon-Keigh to discuss what was after all the reason supposedly his company existed, Trade. His arrival at the Convention centre was nothing too special, and he now moved amongst the other delegates, sampling the food, at least a few of the gathered where Keigh, at least by decision of the Council, and on the whole he had no disagreements with the councils choice in this matter. The elves of Earth may have a different biology but they where civilised beings, gems in a galaxy of dross. The others well in his past paths he had been an actor, he could fake pleasure at their company and laughter so well it appeared genuine.

In truth he mused they where not all so bad, the Abh for example had been good customers… And oh where did that thought come from, I’m falling for my own lie. The realisation sent shivers down his spine, the truly terrifying part of it was that, he would have to embrace the lie to fully pull of his act, so for now he couldn’t really take the steps needed to remind himself why he was doing all this.

Flowing lines and crimson hull, the aerodynamic form of Ambassador Marisa Zachary's aircar dropped to a paltry thirty kilometers per second as the sportscraft's after-market inertialess drives spun down, near-insantly shedding over two hundred thousand kps in non-real velocity; IFF identifying the diplomatic craft as it angled toward the nearby the Pilon Conference Center on more conventional reactionless IDD drives.

Quickly cleared, spherical tires extended from recesses on magnetic bearings as the craft, half again the dimensions of a modern car, touched down, door splitting the Kanuckistani Diplomatic Corps logo as it parted the previously flush hull to open - the twenty minute 'drive' from Earth at an end, and the vulpine ambassador climbed out.

Greeting the Elwyn with casual formality and genuine smile, the lone Kanuckistani representative soon found herself in the meeting hall.

Five-foot frame encased in a revealing dress of elegant mithril scales and silks both metal and traditional, the fox-woman's golden fur shimmered with interwoven strands of silver as she paused just inside the room, taking in it's contents and fellow delegates with careful eyes, as well as adjusting her perceptual governors to compensate for the unsavory climate.

It was, then, with some amusement that she noted the presence of several GFFA members, as well as ESUS, idly adjusting the Kanuckistani Flag-pin that adorned her sash before dismissing the urge to try and strike up a conversation with the Abh delegate - with luck, neither side of that ongoing conflict would bring the war to this room.

Encoded Message to SRS Orion
Re: Trade Conference - Pilon
To: Captain Maxmillian
From: Vice-Admiral Kinnear

Captain, glad to hear you and your ship are alright after that border dispute. Pirate activity in the sector has decreased significantly. We've recieved word of a trade conference taking place in Pilon, on Mars, not too far from your current position. You are ordered to take the Orion as a Snake Eater representative.

Balroggan representatives, representing not only themselves but the ITH as a whole, will also be present. Make sure to speak with them... Balrogga has been quiet on our diplomatic radar recently, and questions are being asked in the upper levels of the administration.

Be warned also that members from both the GFFA and ESUS are present. Do not engage with these delegates in any way that could be construed as anything other than common courtesy. We don't want to get involved in their conflict.

Good luck, Nick.
Message Ends
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SRS Orion, Intrepid-class Cruiser
The sleek ship emerged from the confines of warp speed, the geometric pylons lowering the nacelles as they slowed to sublight speeds, the ship now powered by conventional ion drives. Having emerged well within the Sol System, they looked on the red planet, Mars. Beyond it stood the planet that was the cradle of all Mankind - known to antiquity as Earth, but known by it's Latin name - Terra. Nicholas Maximillian wished he could continue beyond the planet fast approaching them, but knew his orders. He would stick to them

"Captain, we are approaching the planet."

"Very good, Ensign. Take us out of warp, and establish standard orbit as soon as possible. Ops, what signs are there?"

"A large variety of ships, sir. Some we know well, some we know vaguely, and some that the sensors have never seen before."

"Are the Balroggan's present?"

"Yes, sir, they are. A single shuttle."

"Good. Commander Tarlis, assemble the rest of the diplomatic away team. We'll head down. Lieutenant Hartell, you are in command until we return."

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

Captain Maximillian, Commander Tarlis and two security officers took a shuttle from the Orion to the orbiting station. After being greeted by the Elwyn, they were shown to their rooms, which were spacious, well furnished and definatley up to standard. The two security men were both crewmen, and both discreetly armed with small hand phasers (Type-1, for those of you who are interested). Hopefully, they would never be drawn. Their shuttlecraft was sealed, but alarmed should anyone attempt to access it. Snake Eaters as a rule did not take undue precautions in protecting what they saw as theirs.

Once rested, albeit not too well given the oppressive heat, all the members of the diplomatic team changed into their dress uniform, with the Commander having some trouble with a tunic that, for a joke, the rest of the senior staff had replaced with one a little too small for her curvy frame. The matter was resolved before they had to enter the conference room, or the redhead would have refused to leave their quaters.

Maximillian laughed at his first officer's problems, noting that his own dress uniform would need some work done on it when he returned, if this conference dragged on for any length of time. He could already feel the sweat oozing beneath his tunic, and was grateful for the construction of the smart material. It detected the bodies status, using signals from the internal nanomachines all Snake Eater citizens were injected with at birth for registration and identification, and then adjusted itself as needed. Within moments, he could feel the cooling effect as the material allowed more air to pass through than was normal, and he sighed with relief.

As they entered the vast room for the first time, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous... many of the nations represented had come into contact with Snake Eaters at one time or another... and not all First Contacts went off as smoothly as he hoped.

Why couldn't they have sent a diplomatic ship to do this? It would have been easier... although slower. Guess we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Commander, keep an eye out for the Balroggans. Mingle, everyone. We'll meet up when we sit down."

"Any idea who I should be looking for?"

"Word is, his name is Tal’Eet. I'm sure he won't be too difficult to spot, I detected his shuttle in the landing bay. Get to work."

"Yes, sir."

Commander Janet Tarlis, having served in the Navy since she was twenty, was now twenty nine, with a rise in rank that had been nothing short of astonishing. She breezed easily through the myriad of people, getting a drink from a Pilonese waiter, before she managed to find her target,"Tal'Eet?"

The small state of Tidan had also responded to the invitation. They were a small but important local port, and now seemed a good opportunity for growth.

A Yark Shuttle arrived in system and proceded to follow the directions given to it. It touched down on the landing pad, and the tidani delegate exited the craft. Hestor Chorus had once been the administrator of Tradewind Station and now a security consultant for the military security forces. He had been selected for this conference by the government because of his extensive knowledge of the tidani trade economy and security.

When the elegant avian exited the shuttle, wings resting up over his head in place of a hood, he was greeted by the elwyn liason. They spoke briefly and then she guided him down the corridor to the coference room.

The small Solari presence already within the Sol System acknowledged the communication, and rapidly dispatched one of the few working shuttles they had remaining, as well as several senior members of the colony, to make inquiries, and the usual pleasantries, as was expected of them.

Upon the arrival of the Solari delegates, and their meeting with the Elwyn that was to be their liason, the massive Mardukan, and smaller Solari, take in the spacious room. Something like this aboard a Solari construct would be seen as needlessly wasteful, though the Mardukan delegate, T'leen Targ, was pleasantly reminded of the jungles of Far Voitan, and the surrounding provinces, where he had spent his early years. The two Solari were also reminded of the jungles of Solari Prime, but in a much less pleasant manner, since the warmblooded humans tended to prefer the arrid highlands and plateaus, rather than the jungle valleys and humid lowlands of the main continent.

Seeing no one that they immediately recognized, the three delegates split up, Adib Julian and Julio Poertena, the two Solari, took seats at the table, while T'leen paused to secure food, which hopefully wouldn't poison him, before taking his place next to Julian. They didn't risk addressing anyone, since they diodn't actually know anyone here, and it would be extremely easy to give offense by violating some taboo of which they were unaware.

"Reciprocated, Mr. Reed." Daidalos patted the one in the exoskeleton on the back. "My friend here has the advantage of a built in cooling system, but I'm stuck with both the heat and continuous acceleration. Not that I mean to whine.
"I hope you'll excuse, but I must admit I have not heard of Northrop-Grumman before. Or many others of the organizations represented here. Most of us are rather insulated from the goings on on the planet. What do your people do?"

Atrius Ventrizi, once a proud and powerful man in PPC, was now reduced to being the administrator of a lone orbital facility in orbit over Mars, the PPC conference center. Thought recently this facility had seen quite a lot of business it was still an insult to one such as himself. Victor Simber had seen to it that all his major competitors were removed from their positions of power as soon as they showed the slightest threat to him, and Atrius had been the first of the rival factions to do so.

Today he had to wonderful “honor” of playing host to a bunch of representatives from other nations, most of whom he knew thought of Pilon as one thinks of Pond Scum, something he had intended to change with his rise to power, but the Simber family proved to be too powerful and had conspired against him. He eyed the Genesis Corp representative and scowled.
There had been a wonderful new comedy released in the Transhumana Grand Casino, that parodied the Elves of Menelmacar. They thought themselves so mighty, and it was true they were a powerful nation, Atrius thought about the many times in the past when Menelmacari Elves had spit upon the good name of Pilon. He hated the high and mighty attitude of Menelmacari elves and their lackies as well, but he had been given specific instructions from Victor Simber himself, not to cause problems, especially with the Elven nations, implying Menelmacar without mentioning them specifically.
It was known Victor hoped to open up trade relations with the nation, many Pilonese wanted to travel to their lands for some unknown reason. The Genesis Corp traitors also were said to be in negotiations with the Menelmacari, though it was thought these dealings had more to do with their joint Zoo project (http://z4.invisionfree.com/The_Planet_Mars/index.php?showtopic=1000) than with direct trade relations with the Elves.

The Aelosians and Kajali were another matter however, the Kajali, at least had proven to have similar military aspirations to certain generals Atrius still stayed in contact with in the Pilonese Military. The Kajali were at least more opening dealing with the Pilonese making them several steps above the Menelmacari in Atrius’ book. They had even been receptive to the Pilonese trade port in their territory, something which was considered entirely out of the question in Menelmacar.

The Aelosians however were Atrius’ favorite Elven nation. They had seemed fairly friendly to the Pilonese in general, allowing them to build a trade port in their Hellas Territory and even connect the Maglev Network to their territory through the Port, giving Pilonese passengers a speedy way of traveling throughout the Hellas Sea. Despite their obvious close dealings to Genesis Corp, whom Atrius considered wholesale traitors to the Pilonese people, mostly for breaking away from PPC several centuries ago.

As the delegates arrived Atrius observed them. He noticed most of them seemed uncomfortable in the heat, then it occurred to him that Victor HAD mentioned something about adjusting the temperature in the chamber to a “more reasonable climate for outsiders”. He gasped, not much could be done about that now, other than initiate a gradual adjustment to the climate controls and to make sure the delegates knew about the specialty drinks available. He sent a message to all the servers and Elwyns to remind their guests to mention the drinks…

After receiving the message the Elwyns waited for a chance and mentioned a special line of drinks, brewed with non-Pilonese in mind, to help them when visiting the tropical heat that was typical of Pilon. The drinks were called Wintersprings, and had properties that lowered the core body temperature by several degrees. It was available in a variety of flavors upon order and was highly suggested to anyone who obviously was uncomfortable in the heat.
The Elwyns also informed their guests that it was the oversight of the director of the facility, Atrius Ventrizi, that had caused the uncomfortable room temperature. Measures were being taken to adjust the temperature now and it would be a more reasonable “standard” temperature within 15 minutes. They also mentioned that typically, Pilonese lived in such conditions and considered them to be “normal” but were aware that guests preferred cooler temperatures and mentioned that Grand Casinos were optimally designed for the preferences of the communities they were housed near, which in most cases meant much cooler temperatures.

Count Haralis Lórindel’s Elwyn, Elwyn21, smiled at the complement given. “It is my honor to be your liason Count, the relations between our people have been a profitable one for both nations. As a little girl I always wanted to serve as an intermediary between my people and other nations, especially ones so honorable as yours, you and your people are an inspiration to Elves everywhere including ourselves, if I didn’t love my job and position so much I might consider pursuing a business of my own.”

The PPC representative to the Conference, a man by the name of Warak Simber, was an experienced economist who had slowly risen through the ranks of the corporate ladder to his current position as PPC Head Economist. The Conference had been an idea he had personally pitched to Speaker Issac Malisse, who had been very interested in the idea and make the thing happen. He looked over the delegates and picked out two in particular he was interested in talking to, Ambassador Reed of Northrop-Grumman and Daidalos of Tarsus, one of the Spacers.
He walked over to the two, who were already in conversation with one another and after waiting for a pause in their conversation introduced himself.
“Good Day, my name is Warak Simber, I am the PPC representative to this conference. I wanted to personally let both of you know that no matter the outcome of this conference, PPC is very interested in discussing expanded trade with you.”

The ever-amiable James Carse was chosen to attend the Pilonese trade conference almost immediately after word of the gather reached the Conglomerate Office of Sol Affairs. While the aging 'diplomat' held less regard for work than pleasure, he generally knew what he was doing, and he so far a perfect record despite his lax attitude; something no one back at the office could claim.

So the dark haired man advancing into his fifties exited his e-car of a particular cobalt hue, and spoke a great deal longer with the Elwyn that greeted him than any other delegate by far, though whether or not the rather attractive creature truly appreciated his flirtations or was simply feigning interest was not a fact he could so easily discern. However, he soon paused his rather shallow affections for the creature, and allowed it to finally see him inside, where he awaited the commencement of the conference, at the refreshment table of course.

“It’s alright, Daidalos. I can’t expect you to know everyone else here, because I sure as hell don’t.” Reed chuckled slightly. “We Grummanians tend to keep to ourselves in most matters so that we don’t have to deal with any problems in the galaxy. I know that it’s not the wisest thing to do but it keeps us from getting mired in pointless wars as has happened in the past. So instead, we come to these conferences and so who all is here before we want to open diplomatic relations or anything.”

“But getting back to your question…we act primarily as a defense contractor, in addition to constructing various kinds of facilities whether they are on the surface of a planet or in orbit. Also we specialize in near-instantaneous travel between planets.”

Noting the appearance of PPC representative, Reed paused in his conversation with Daidalos and allowed the man to speak. Then he answered, “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Simber. I am definitely looking forward to hearing more details about this ‘expanded trade’.”

Tal’Eet was watching the myriad samples of humans and aliens milling around the Conference center. There were a few nations he recognized but many he had never seen before. The haze of thermal radiation tinted his view of the room as the humans sweltered under the tropical conditions. The temperature being so high interfered with their ability to get rid of excess heat. At this temperature, even fans were ineffective because they only blew hot air and the process of evaporation was not cooling them. Many of the more experienced ones were hydrating themselves with the water refreshments provided but the few consuming alcohol would find themselves dehydrating quickly as the sweating and the alcohol worked together against their systems. It would be smart to remember who they were so when they began to feel light headed, he would avoid dealing with them. It is better to deal with those having level heads than those who act irrationally. Perhaps this was part of the plan by the hosts?

The Ta’Nar wore the image of a human dressed in a dark suit, very business-minded in appearance. He was careful to project the Telekinetic fields to simulate his physical form. He was also keeping his shields in place in case there were other Psionics here. He would refrain from using them but he was not sure how ethical the others would be. He was confident the benefits of ITH Membership would be good enough that he didn’t need to cheat. He was just on low passive to cut out most of the mindspeak chatter unless someone was directly speaking to him.

Tal’Eet felt someone approach him and turned.

A stranger was approaching holding a drink. She was wearing the dress uniform of the Snake Eaters’ naval officer with a Commanders rank insignia. Tal’Eet could tell she was not particularly enjoying the heat but was putting on a good show. Looking him in the eye, she stepped up and said “Tal’Eet?”

Tal’Eet gave a deep bow of respect and addressed the newcomer.

“At your service, and who might you be? I see a Naval Officer from Snake Eaters with many accommodations. At your age with the rank of Commander means you are extremely proficient in what you do and ambitious in your methods, otherwise you would have escaped the attention of your superiors. I am indeed Tal’Eet, what may I do for you?”

Alicia Simber-Gentle, second niece of Genesis Simber (who could unfortunately not be present at the evening’s events), politely ignored the scowls that came from Atrius Ventrizi and tried to discourage him from glancing her direction through willpower alone. Like the majority of Pilon’s delegates, she was making her way through the guests, greeting them formally and informally depending on the status of trade and her familiarity with each nation that presented itself within the Casino’s walls.

R-Williams, in particular, she smiled at and engaged in polite conversation despite the awkwardly placed blinking and puppet-string motions that occasionally came forward as he engaged a trapped looking PPC representative in speech. After a few moments, she disentangled herself from the conversation with polite excusal and moved to the next greeting, managing to be both fluid and uncommitted one grouping to the next. It was more important to see who had come than it was to try and smooze someone within the first thirty seconds of picking up a drink.

A cluster of individuals had gathered, unsurprisingly, about the Menelmacari Prefect and for a moment Alicia let the thought cross her mind of joining them. No, let one avalanche of diplomacy fall on elven heads at a time. It was enough that the Prefect was sweltering, approached by many and escorted by what she likely saw as a slight against elven kind. At least PPC had required the waiters to wear clothes. Alicia’s smile was hidden behind her glass as she took a swallow. There were reasons Genesis Corp was expanding and PPC was barely holding water in the international market.

She continued her quiet greetings.

Mira had taken to standing along the fringe of the room and taking up the artificial shade that was offered by patches of the ceiling. When an Elwyn came along to offer her a drink and express the apologies of one Atrius Ventrizi for the uncomfortable climate. The Abh smiled while ordering a fruit flavored Wintersprings and asked the Elwyn to convey her regards to the man and her understanding of the natural climate that he was used to it.

Once the elf was gone, Mira took to scanning the room to appraise who had arrived since her last scan. It was somewhat amusing to see the room was divided into thirds. A third of the representatives here were allies, another third represented governments that they were currently at war with, and the final third seemed no more extraordinary than nations trying to help their economies get a leg up in further interstellar trade. As always for an Abh, keeping them interested was key and this conference seemed that it would be interesting indeed. Whether or not it would be beneficial was another question.

Hestor made his way throught the room, scanning back and forth at the other delegates as he continued. The heat began to bother him now, there were several places on Kharik similar to this environment but the tidani usually avoided these areas. He panted heavily due to his lack of sweat glands, and unfolded his wings slightly, lightly beat them to cool the veins in his wings without affecting the others around him. He was quickly greeted by one of the Elwyn swervers and gratefully took one of the winterspring beverages. He felt almost instant releif from the heat and bowed thankfully to the elf.

Eventually he noticed the familiar face of an Abh off in the shade of one of the sides. He made his way over to her.

"Hello, I am Hestor Chorus delegate for Tidan at these talks. I am glad to see at least one familiar face here."

Marisa spent the following minutes casually milling about, getting a feel for the deligates and their relations with the help of her avatar's acute hearing.

The Elwyn's offer she politly declined, no longer minding the heat, and with a smile dismissing the oversight as one of the inevitible errors of intercultural relations. Instead, after breif inquiry, finding an alcoholic beverage to her taste.

Some moments passed, then, as she considered her actions, making a note of the Northrop-Grumman representitive and intending to speak to him - later, however, for at the moment he apeared amply engaged, but should he spot her looking at him, she would return eye contact, a friendly smile, and a nod.

Likewise engaged had been those allies she'd seen, and so she continued to make her way around the room, taking the measure of the crowd.

~snip~

"I am Commander Tarlis, with the Snake Eater ship Orion," she replied, bowing in return,"I could not make a claim as to my being proficient, but someone obviously has faith enough in my skills. We've been asked to attend the conference prior to our Trade Minister arriving, which he should be doing shortly. At the same time, we've also been asked to make contact with the Ta'Nar... you have been off our rader, so to speak, for some time, and the government was beginning to get a little worried. A nation such as yours does not go into isolation easily."

She sipped at the glass of water in her hand - years spent drinking largely synthol had made her more susceptible to real alcohol, for although she could hold it, she did become intoxicated rather more quickly than could be considered wise - and took a moment to savour the cool drink in the excessive heat.

Awash in a veritable sea of humanoids, the Red took note of Hestor the Tidan.
It walked over to the lake, armor tips clicking on the floor, and slid in. A few moments later, the Speckled Purple emerged from ther water, tok a moment to scan the room with its single large eye, and walked over to the patch of shade occupied by the Tidan and Abh.

The Purple had a synthesizer strapped to its underside, over the keyboard of which its two front tentacles rapidly played as it approached. A synthesized feminine voice said "Excuse me, I hope I do not intrude. I am the representative of Ankh and the other Snel Necropolii. An Abh I recognize, but what might you be?"

The MCP had told it about this, but it was sort of sad to watch it play out in reality. Everyone comes together in a meeting like this and the very first thing they do is find the people or the kind of people they recognize. Bam, the room is made of cliques with the occasional professional socialite wandering between the groups, giving equal airtime (and equal sincerity) to each. Well, that's no fun. Looking around, the android (http://server106.totalchoicehosting.com/~tpjzdd/gallery/Mecha/android_front) finds someone that firstly isn't attached to any group and secondly is completely new.

This is why R-William wanders purposefully to the Kanuckistani presence, introducing itself with a proffered hand and speaking fluidly in its smoothly synthesized androgynous voice. "Hello, I'm R-William 86A7E5 of Zero-One MonoCorporation. Looking forward for the meeting?"

"Greetings, Mr. Simber," said Daidalos. "Although we seem to be of like mind to Northrop-Grumman in foreign policy, it seems we wouldn't have much to buy from them- we have no military and don't live on planets. But perhaps there is something we can sell. It should prove most useful to have that sort of information on many new nations."

The one in the exoskeleton took a break from watching water flow to notice the Abh delegate. Excusing himself from the table, he spider-walked over to the growing little group in the shade.
A little party of the atypicals, he thought.
Looking up at the other creatures towering 'above' him in the room's gravity, he refrained from introducing himself, resolving to wait until he was addressed or the Snel was conversationally dealt with.

Mira smiled after finishing her drink when the Tidani walked over to greet her. She offered a slight bow in return. "Mira Furlan at your service Mr. Chorus. It seems we will have a full crowd in attendance from all over the universe along with a number of different groups being representated. Hopefully this will all remain peaceful."

Awash in a veritable sea of humanoids, the Red took note of Hestor the Tidan.
It walked over to the lake, armor tips clicking on the floor, and slid in. A few moments later, the Speckled Purple emerged from ther water, tok a moment to scan the room with its single large eye, and walked over to the patch of shade occupied by the Tidan and Abh.

The Purple had a synthesizer strapped to its underside, over the keyboard of which its two front tentacles rapidly played as it approached. A synthesized feminine voice said "Excuse me, I hope I do not intrude. I am the representative of Ankh and the other Snel Necropolii. An Abh I recognize, but what might you be?"

Hestor was quite surprised to see what was walking up to him. Tidan had a mostly passive relationship with the rest of the galaxy, if it hadn't been to Kharik, chances are the tidani didn't know about it. As uncomfortable as he felt amongst so many unfamiliar beings, he resolved himself to make the best of it and maybe make a few contacts. After all this was a trade conference and in trade who you know is very important.

"No pardon necessary friend. I am Hestor Chorus, a tidani from the planet Kharik. It does not surprise me you do not know of us, for we have kept mostly to ourselves in the past. We operate a small port along several trade routes and make our galactic lively hood in this way. This may change in the future though, we are considering taking a more active roll around us. Why, twenty years ago the thought of a tidani at such a large trade conference like this would have been unimaginable." Hestor realized he was doing all the talking now. "So tell me a little of Ankh and the Snel Necropolii."

He had of course heard the tales the rune for some of this nations, and races where said to be bear an amusing likeness to certain forms of pond life, it was of course all a co-incidence, the Farseers had no control over that. Overall if he was going to fit in here he should really be about the daily business of this place, and perhaps advancing the other goal of his supporters. The League had at least one representative here, a way into their markets, so he should go mingle with them it seemed. So it was the Kionash made his way over to the man James Carse.

‘Excuse me sir, would it be presumptuous of me to introduce myself here?’ as he approached Morveal gave a slight bow of his head, before extending a hand. ‘My name is Morveal Anlac. I am so pleased to see a member of the League here. It’s been my observation that there appears little trade between Yvresse and your peoples. I am hoping to change that, yet past, and dare I say it current issues, make that hard but with a little work I think we could both find room in markets for each others goods, and dare I say it do our part for lasting peace?’ His tone was sincere and why shouldn’t it, he was another business man seeking a new market, despite any personal reservations around the issue.

~snip

“We are honored to have others feel concern over Balrogga. It is unfortunate that I am only a Company man, here to sell the idea of the ITH to anyone attending that might be interested.”

Tal’Eet held back the natural urge to broadcast empathic projections of sorrow to reinforce the feelings behind his words. He had made sure he was going to only use the means he detects others using.

“From a civilian point of view, I think it is this damn war. If the GFFA hadn’t attacked one of our allies, we would not have to devote resources to ending it. Sometime you wonder if alliances are worth the hassle. What I mean is there is a lot of monetary gain involving yourself with trade and defense alliances but when stuff like this happens, it cuts into the profit margin and make business generally difficult and less profitable unless you sell weapons to the other nations but we don’t do that. We only get ships to their ports fast.”

“Have you tried to make contact through the Embassy? I am sure you can get hold of someone in the government branches there. They would have a better answer for you than my little point of perspective.”

Victoria looked about herself, and found one of the few people in the meeting whose nation was actually allied to Allanea (the Imperial ambassador seemed rather busy). She made her way through the ever-increasing crowd – I wonder if they’re running an experiment in how many ambassadors they can fit into the room. and towards the Kanuckistani ambassador and the robotic avatar from Zero-One.

“Greetings, your honor. I’m Victoria Sheshet, the United States Secretary of States. How do you find it here in Sol? Apart from ‘hot’, I mean. Oh, and hello… Mr. R-William. You don’t mind me calling you William, right? I am sorry, but my knowledge of the Queendom’s customs is sorely lacking.”

This is why R-William wanders purposefully to the Kanuckistani presence, introducing itself with a proffered hand and speaking fluidly in its smoothly synthesized androgynous voice. "Hello, I'm R-William 86A7E5 of Zero-One MonoCorporation. Looking forward for the meeting?"


Vulpine ears perking, swiveling to track the approaching footsteps, Marisa soon found herself looking up at the eight-eyed figure; a friendly, if somewhat toothy, smile gracing her muzzle.

"Salutations," she replies, mithril twinkling silently as she takes the offered handshake, "Marisa Zachary, Kanuckistani Diplomatic Corps, here with the blessing of our Merchants' Association."

"As for the meeting, well, that should be... interesting," her smile broadens, a twinkle of amusement in her eye, "For it would seem one third of the delegations are at war with the other!"

With a small bark of a laugh, musical all the same, she shakes her head briefly before wetting her pallet with a sip of her drink; "Tho as for what you meant?" she continued in less jovial tones, "Aye, it should be interesting, regardless of the outcome. Interesting frame, by the way."


OOC:
Ack - interesting timing there, Ally.

IC:


"Marisa Zachary, Kanuckistani Diplomatic Corps," the fox-woman offering a hand to the flanking Allanean, somewhat taken aback by her question - the Dominion's Earthside holdings might be sparsely populated, but they were substantial. Still, she could see how they might be overlooked.

This interplay utterly failed to show in her features, however, and she tacitly decided to avoid mentioning the issue; this was neither the time nor place, "This is actually my first time in Martian space," she offered instead, "About what I expected, I suppose."

"As for the climate," she smiled, "Well, atleast they got the atmospheric gasses right - compared to some of the oversights in the galactic history of intercultural relations, this one's down right pleasant!"

“We are honored to have others feel concern over Balrogga. It is unfortunate that I am only a Company man, here to sell the idea of the ITH to anyone attending that might be interested.”

Tal’Eet held back the natural urge to broadcast empathic projections of sorrow to reinforce the feelings behind his words. He had made sure he was going to only use the means he detects others using.

“From a civilian point of view, I think it is this damn war. If the GFFA hadn’t attacked one of our allies, we would not have to devote resources to ending it. Sometime you wonder if alliances are worth the hassle. What I mean is there is a lot of monetary gain involving yourself with trade and defense alliances but when stuff like this happens, it cuts into the profit margin and make business generally difficult and less profitable unless you sell weapons to the other nations but we don’t do that. We only get ships to their ports fast.”

“Have you tried to make contact through the Embassy? I am sure you can get hold of someone in the government branches there. They would have a better answer for you than my little point of perspective.”

"Have you ever considered that joining an alliance such as ESUS was not such a wise decision? We have yet to join in any major galactic alliance, and we have held our own very well. Given that your level of technology and general understanding of existence is superior to our own, and that of many others, you could easily prevent yourself becoming embroiled in war."

She looked pointedly at him, and then continued,"And the embassay has been... well, uncooperative, to say the least."

R-William shrugs at Marisa's war comment. Hardly a mechanical gesture, although it still reeks of acting; it doesn't quite flow naturally, no matter how smooth the motion itself is. "Well, we're not at war with any of them, so we get to play the part of the neutral, equal trading partner. This is something we're quite content with. As for 'interesting,' well, the word has many connotations and I probably meant most of them." It looks down at itself on cue. "Oh, this old thing? I only wear it when I don't really care how I look."

Perhaps it's a tired joke, perhaps not. It has to give it a try after such a perfect set-up. Then it acknowledges the presence of the Allanean [classification: customer, confidence level: -3.4] with a polite nod and a surprisingly subtle pause to give her time to read the name printed on the label on its chest. "'William' or 'R-William' will do fine, ma'am. Social hour isn't exactly the most formal of occasions, so I don't think it'd do to be overly picky when it comes to protocol."

Wandering took you to strange places and often introduces you to strangers. The blonde haired Pilonese woman with her almost navy eyes smiled warmly at the elf she found standing before her.

“Count Lórindel,” Alicia smiled politely at the Aelosian delegate, standing near others but aloofly by himself. He reminded her of a bird watching insects, waiting for a plump enough one to be worth catching. “I’m pleased to see you here. Alicia Simber-Gentle, Genesis Corporation. How are you this evening?”

“Oh thank you, William. Now, I know that this isn’t a formal occasion, but I would like to ask, regardless. You know that your nation has not always been… on the best terms with us, in fact we fought a little conflict in the past. Fact is, it was a war and you guys won it.”

The diplomat pauses.

“I’ll be simple: What should Allanea do to improve the… let’s say ‘vibes’ between our nations? I think it’s not really a relationship. More like… vibes. Yeah, yeah, vibes it is.”

Tired joke or not, Marisa responded with a pleasant chuckle; making a note to resume the subject - at the very least, she know of a few freeware biometrics programs that may be of interest.

In the mean, however, the Allanean had brought up a curious topic, and so she listened with interest.

"No pardon necessary friend. I am Hestor Chorus, a tidani from the planet Kharik. It does not surprise me you do not know of us, for we have kept mostly to ourselves in the past. We operate a small port along several trade routes and make our galactic lively hood in this way. This may change in the future though, we are considering taking a more active roll around us. Why, twenty years ago the thought of a tidani at such a large trade conference like this would have been unimaginable." Hestor realized he was doing all the talking now. "So tell me a little of Ankh and the Snel Necropolii.""Hm. We do little outside of Sol. The Snel are currently endemic to Sol and PSR-1257+12, but of extrasolar origin. Our home planet was occupied by a superior force and evacuated a very long time ago. Ankh is arguably the largest single city on Mars, serving as the base for the Yggdrasil space elevator. Unfortunately, our standing in Martian politics seems to be rather low. It is difficult to profitably interact with beings whose psychology is so alien to our own. The Necropolii are the cores of our colonies. They are semi-engineered megaorganisms that grow and repair bionts, citizens, and living space as needed and store our collective race memory. The largest single node currently occupies Pluto, and the second in on Ganymede.
"We excel at biological engineering and cybernetic hybridization. Do these have trade value for you?"

~snip

Tal’Eet was perplexed by these words

“Joining the ESUS was a decision the Emperor made over 700 years ago. I am not one to question his wisdom but mostly we remained doing our own thing and was not bothered by the occasional rumblings. As far as the difficulties you have had with the Embassy, I am unaware of them. Perhaps after you leave the conference, you should send word to attempt contacting them again. I will mention it to the contacts I have from the many contracts the ITH has with the Imperial Palace.“

Erahere Mornfinnel watched, and listened, and said nothing. He had been to Pilon before, on matters of trade, for private business. He wasn’t, in the normal sense of the word, a diplomat, but rather, he was a Necrontyr – both in the sense of being a member of the species, and a citizen of the nation. While that didn’t include (much) formal diplomatic training, it did come with the authority to represent the nation when necessary, a tradition from the days of sub-light spacecraft. Often it wasn’t – there were specialised diplomats – but in this case, a lot of the government’s energies were bent elsewhere, and the Martian specialists – from Vicereigne Neja down – were occupied in evaluating the proposed ‘Martian Port Authority’ and in another project.

This wasn’t to say Erahere wasn’t up to the task, he had a rather extensive knowledge of C’tan business dealings on Mars, but rather, that his presence was distinctly unusual.

OOC: I can't really post much at the moment, so that's basically just an 'I'm here'

The robot acting as the physical manifestation of the mechanoid mind shrugs again. It's not exactly the same gesture as before; this time it suggests more of an admission of ignorance rather than easygoing dismissal. "I wish I knew, ma'am. My job is to sell things, and admittedly, good... 'vibes' are helpful for that."

The pause is, of course, acted. While R-William does occasionally have to search for a word, the time required is generally exceedingly below organic perception as limited by axon and dendritic refresh rates. "Unfortunately, I'm not a diplomat, a sociologist, or even a particularly good cultural manipulator. I know smatterings of all the above from what I've heard, but my interests in all that are only that of the dilettante. The only recommendation I can suggest is to be yourselves and, well, not try too hard. The more effort you visibly put into something around people who already don't really trust you suggests--in their mind--you've got something invested in it, particularly, some sort of plan. It really only makes them trust you less in the end as sincere emphasis is assumed to be a sincere desire to get into shivving position, if you don't mind me being frank.

"And if being yourself doesn't lead to better relations..." Now the android shrugs dismissively. "It's naive to assume everyone can always get along with everyone else. While the old philosophies of diametric oppositions, yin and yang and all, were massive oversimplifications, they do bring up a good point often forgotten in relativist modernity: that some things simply are mutually exclusive. The only way one's going to fit a square into a circle of the same area is by shaving off bits of the square, which make it not a square anymore, or increasing the area of the circle."

It pauses for a moment, looking at its feet. "Okay, so the geometric analogy is best left to perfect geometry rather than assuming these are things made of a whittleable material. Chalk it down to a slightly excessive attempt to relate to someone who actually lives in physicality. I hope the idea gets across, at least."

The Allanean smiled. “Of course there’s a plan. There’s always a plan. It would be a lie to say that national diplomats act for any other purpose then the benefit of their own nations, wouldn’t it? I suppose – hell, I know – that if it would benefit the Queendom to fight a war with Allanea, fight a war it would.”

“I am guided by a very simple desire. I want Allanea to become a nation with more friends, more allies, and so forth. A more… respectable nation. This is the reason to our recent diplomatic overtures, you may say. Yes, the United States had a period where we allied with nations because, for example, we liked their leaders. Like Auman. Navarrone is to this day a popular celebrity in Allanea, there even are fan clubs – it’s just that we learned that basing an international relationship on that was not a very good idea.”

“As for the Queendom… well, I would hope that peg and the hole are not that different in shape. After all, you are signatories to the Triumvirate charter, or at least so does my horrible memory tell me. Pardon me, I am an organic being, and I don’t have a perfect memory. As such, you’re dedicated to the rights of sentience – not much different from Allanea and her Charter of Limitations.”

“Oh, we realize that the recent.. .events in Neo-Dallas have made us seem.. unreliable at best. But one hopes at least you understand why we did so. We were guided – by our own error – into a situation where we were allied to two nations hostile to each other, and one of them tried to use our banking system to attack the other. We acted. Rashly, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. And hell – it worked.”

“So… how square do you think the peg is, and how round the hole?”

Scratching a nose it doesn't have, the android shakes its head. "I'm not a diplomat and I'm not going to speculate on things that aren't particularly part of my portfolio. That being said, trying to make the hard sell on what is essentially a random citizen of not particularly high standing is probably counterproductive to your cause at best."

R-William wishes it could flash a winning if clearly insincere smile at this point, but unfortunately, it doesn't even have a mouth. Curious. "I Have No Mouth And I Must Smirk." Cute. "With that being said, ma'am, your best bet is to find a diplomatic avatar and discuss the matter with her. If there's anything in particular concerning the trade relationship between Zero-One MonoCorporation and your nation's corporations--if I recall correctly, you're not a command economy, no?--then I'd be more than happy to discuss things as far as I can. Outside of that, I'm afraid international relations and diplomacy aren't my department and so I really can't comment."

“Oh I apologize again. I for some reason thought you were representing the Queendom and not the Monocorporation. I am sorry, I got confused. At any rate, actually, we enjoy the service, even though the EULA’s are sometimes a bit… restrictive. You would be glad to know that your civilian vehicles are also finding their niche in Allanea. I know this fellow, he bought your Suburban Assault Vehicle. He’s totally freaking, because my god, it rocks so much. He actually had it outfitted with these loudspeakers, you know, like they have on raves…”

As the ambassador moved to his favorite subject – cars and moving things – his language slowly became more casual – casual Allanean, that is..

“…any rate, he’s taking it to this amateur rally in his country, and he won one race already in it. Says it’s, like, totally the utter win. Even posted pics of it on ‘kay’, you know. So, at any rate, while your milspec gear's EULA's are way too strict, your stuff is very good."

Casual... well, R-Williams can do casual. With enthusiasm. "Oh, really? The Home Defense series SAV/400? I probably shouldn't tell you this, but it's actually designed for interoperability with the Fun Home Gazelle series electric groundcar. Now, before you complain, I mean suspension-wise. So what you can do is actually bolt the Gazelle suspension assemblies between the upper and lower halves of the SAV/400 and thus jack it up a good twenty centimeters or so for better off-road performance. You can also take the electric motors off of the Gazelle's wheels--don't laugh--and affix them to the SAV/400's hubs through a cunning alteration of the differential so they can add extra torque to each wheel individually at need. The extra cabling that runs out from the SAV/400's brakebox but don't go anywhere? That's actually part of the coil system that registers resistive torsion. We decided to put the battery rechargers and those sensors on the same system and it's cheaper to mass produce just one than both. You plug those cables into the motors and so if they sense that one wheel is encountering more resistance, it'll spin up the motor and add more torque. It'll require some creative gearing, but I bet your friend could figure it out."

“Oh. This is very nice. Excuse me, I will probably have to write this down, you bet he’ll be happy to hear this. Perhaps you people should have some authorized service reps in Allanea to help with all the trucks and stuff you’re selling lately?”

Tal’Eet was perplexed by these words

“Joining the ESUS was a decision the Emperor made over 700 years ago. I am not one to question his wisdom but mostly we remained doing our own thing and was not bothered by the occasional rumblings. As far as the difficulties you have had with the Embassy, I am unaware of them. Perhaps after you leave the conference, you should send word to attempt contacting them again. I will mention it to the contacts I have from the many contracts the ITH has with the Imperial Palace.“

She couldn't help but frown slightly - the idea of monarchy, or at least a system that seemed to resemble monarchy, was entirely foriegn to Snake Eaters, which had always existed as a democracy,"Well, if you insist."

She scratched her nose, and he would notice that she was sweating,"What do you make of the rest of the delegates?"

Tho fairly fluent in Kanuckistani automotives, such would often have more in common with spacecraft than "conventional" ground craft, as so Marisa was swiftly left behind when the conversation turned.

Never one to admit defeat, however, she was busily plying the ZipNet when something said caught her attention.

"Actually, Miss Sheshet, you might not have to," the vixen piped up, "I've some datacards in my car you should be able to use, so I can just lift the audio from memory after the meeting - if our friend doesn't mind, of course."

Wandering took you to strange places and often introduces you to strangers. The blonde haired Pilonese woman with her almost navy eyes smiled warmly at the elf she found standing before her.

“Count Lórindel,” Alicia smiled politely at the Aelosian delegate, standing near others but aloofly by himself. He reminded her of a bird watching insects, waiting for a plump enough one to be worth catching. “I’m pleased to see you here. Alicia Simber-Gentle, Genesis Corporation. How are you this evening?”


Indeed the Lórindel merchant and burgmeister was a bird watching insects, waiting for one to be foolish enough to be attracted by the flashy feathers he was displaying. Of course, his aelosian noble peers knew that he usually was more like a toad disguised as a bird, but at least they recognized that his tongue was long, flexible, and agile. And sticky.

Used to the intrincacies of the aelosian etiquette, he gestured with his hand, rolling his eyes upward as if he was going to fade, exaggerating the reaction as far as it was possible for an elf dressed in such heavy and complicate garments. "Your name is so worthy. For the Valar!, your family was too smart naming you Gentle, Lady Alicia, I couldn't find a more proper way to call you", he said in his sweet, hypnotizing high pitched tone, quickly bowing low and in a quick gesture recovering his posture to take her right hand between his both, and placing a delicate and brief, almost faint, kiss in the back of her hand.

"I am pleased, and I have been fairly treated. I hope you have come to defend the interests of your Corporation, and encourage the spreading ideas of free trade that your race seem to like so much. Perhaps you could brief me, Lady Gentle, in the agenda of the parties involved in this conference and the main topics to discuss?", continued the elf, speaking fast, but with a perfect enunciation of each syllabe. "Oh, and your eyes, they're just amazing. Dear, that color remembers me the sky of the third planet of the Atariel cluster. A firm but delicate tone, you should use that for your own brand of clothing!, it would be a success in my country, I can tell you"

"Hm. We do little outside of Sol. The Snel are currently endemic to Sol and PSR-1257+12, but of extrasolar origin. Our home planet was occupied by a superior force and evacuated a very long time ago. Ankh is arguably the largest single city on Mars, serving as the base for the Yggdrasil space elevator. Unfortunately, our standing in Martian politics seems to be rather low. It is difficult to profitably interact with beings whose psychology is so alien to our own. The Necropolii are the cores of our colonies. They are semi-engineered megaorganisms that grow and repair bionts, citizens, and living space as needed and store our collective race memory. The largest single node currently occupies Pluto, and the second in on Ganymede.
"We excel at biological engineering and cybernetic hybridization. Do these have trade value for you?"

Hestor listened intently to the Snel's descriptions, trying to imagine what the things it spoke of were like. "Yes they do infact. We have invested in genetic engineering for some time now, mostly focused on our own gene manipulation and bacterium tayloring but we have not taken them very far. I'm sure we could benefit greatly from trade with you regarding both of your specialties.

"For ourselves we have become very proficient at construction in difficult locations. Most of our cities are at high altitudes in the mountains, on cliffs, and hanging over the ocean from towering rock formations. We also have become quite advanced in anti-gravity generation. When you develop in flight, when other civilizations were creating methods of transportation like automobiles we were creating ways to make flight easier and less taxing on the individual. This started very simply but as we advanced we developed very effective personal anti-grav as well and industrial models which enabled further advancement in dangerous construction. Would these be of any use to you in return?"

Flashy feathers and words aside, Alicia listened with eyes wide and only for the merchant who fawned such words on her. She could afford it in this environment and it didn’t hurt to let him flap his wings and try to shine light in her eyes. She even managed to blush for him with a subconscious brush of a previously installed augmentation. Perhaps it was wise that she had chosen the soft perfume she had for the night, it contrasted the smell of sweat and flowers in the air perfectly.

He took her hand in his, lips brushing the back of her palm delicately and she smiled, the expression causing her face to glow with the inner light that touches all races that are truly flattered by words. Her blush deepened slightly and she managed to stammer her words a bit while responding.

“Th-thank you Count,” Long eyelashes momentarily dropped before looking up at the Aelosian again. “Soon we should be discussing a new trade treaty, hopefully it will serve to promote trade throughout Sol no matter what size or trade market the nation possesses. To be honest, it has been dealings with your beautiful nation that has inspired such a treaty to come into being. The benefits of our trade port, opening commerce, extending tourism… all of these things have done so much to boost the economy and interests of our nations that we simply couldn’t suppress our desire to share such wealth with Sol at large.”

She smiled, her hand remaining in his and deep blue eyes on the watching bird’s face. He had caught his insect, augmented and shimmering as it was.

The android nods to the Kanuckistani. "No issues on my end; I haven't said anything particularly sensitive. Still, I'm afraid we've been rude; while I'm not certain it's quite apropos to talk shop, what are you and yours looking for from this meeting?"

Over the course of 15 minutes the temperature in the room slowly cooled to around 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit). The Pilonese delegates seemed somewhat cold but after ordering some steamy drinks which they guzzled quickly seemed to warm up again.

Speaker Issac Malisse adjusted his loose fitting dress uniform. Everything must be in order before he attended the trade conference. Finally satisfied with the mods to his hair and skins, and the smooth silken robes he began walking down the hall towards the Conference Room.
The Conference had been Issac’s baby for almost a year. Many people had looked over the treaty text he was proposing, not just from his government but from several other governments as well. Now his dream would finally bear some fruit. Being in charge of most of the trade relationships in Pilon, he was familiar with just about every nation attending this conference. He had the files on the others, not much to see on some of them, but it didn’t matter, it was the hope that this meeting would bring some new faces and Pilon could set up new trade relations with other nations.

The conference room opened and Issac walked in. He nodded pleasantly to several Pilonese and anyone else who gave him notice as he walked with a purpose toward one end of the table. He held in his hand small projectors, little plants that would display the uploaded image when pressed, enough for all the attendees.

When he arrived he spoke, and his words echoed through the room coming from multiple directions. “I want to thank you all for responding to our invitations. If would be so kind as to finish up your conversations and join me over here at the table, we can get started.”

The projectors crawled along the table each taking up a position at the table. After waiting for people to head over to the table Issac spoke again. “Like I said before, welcome to the trade conference. My name is Issac Malisse, I am a speaker of the Council and the Minister of Trade. For those of you not quite familiar with my titles it will suffice to say that I am in charge of all aspects of Pilonese trade as they pertain to the Government, and I serve on the Executive Branch in our government along with 6 other representatives. I’m sure you’re all eager to hear and see why we invited you all here and I’m not much for long drawn out speeches so if you would gently press the small button on the back of the projector in front of you, it will display the treaty text. This is the rough draft of a treaty we have been working on. We are interested in forming into an alliance with you for the purpose of furthering trade between our peoples and anyone else who signs the treaty at a later date. Please take a look over it and let me know what you think.



Solar Federation of Trade


Preamble

Recognizing that it is in the best interests of nations to seek out beneficial trade relationships with one another. Nations and other organizations based on trade are encouraged to come together and determine the relative wants and needs of their individual markets, so they may exchange goods and services with one another.
Recognizing that there are different forms of economies, ranging from Free Market Economies to Command Economies ran by the Government and different forms of international trade including Free Trade, Fair Trade, and Planned Trade. In pursuit of mutually beneficial relationships with our neighbors we recognize that it is these differences that make us strong.
It is in this environment of goodwill towards and interest in the many forms of trade various nations and institutions seek that we hereby assemble together in the pursuit of not just trade and profit, but also in the pursuit of closer bonds with one another through cooperation and the mutual knowledge naturally brought about by such. We seek to include all sellers, buyers, investors seeking good projects to put money into, and entrepreneurs seeking a place to hear their ideas and find those interested in making their dreams a reality.

Goal

The goal of this treaty is to establish a meeting place where nations can seek out others interested in trade relationships with them. It will also act as a place for nations to put forward proposals, find contractors and investors, and invite commentary and advince on their ideas. The treaty is for a flexible, open-end approach to trade that still provides some stability for the signatories and preventing infringements on Sovereignty.

Basic treaty requirements

To this end signatories of the treaty:

· Shall recognize each other’s borders and sovereignty insofar as these are internationally recognized.

· Shall establish diplomatic representation either in person or by some other interactive means that can act as a representative for their nation or institution in a meeting place set aside for all signatories.

· Shall make a commitment to resolve disputes with other signatory nations, economic or otherwise peacefully and in good conscience. If such a commitment cannot be kept, all parties involved will not use this forum as a means to further their disputes.

Levels of participation

Signatories to the treaty can choose to participate in trade at several levels

Planned trade
· Nations choosing to participate in the level of “planned trade” must choose individually who else they will trade with and in what amounts. No other signatories can abridge this right, as the needs of command economies do not generally accept external market forces. In consequence, however, it is not assumed that a planned trade signatory trades anything with any other signatory unless it specifically states who it trades with and what it trades in.

Fair trade
· Nations choosing to participate in the level of “fair trade” must declare what conditions are appropriate for it to consider trading with other signatories. Signatories that meet those conditions can then be assumed to trade with the fair trading nation, up to the reasonable limits imposed by the nation in question and excluding planned trade signatories (unless specifically noted by said planned trade signatories). The limitations a fair trade signatory can place may include but are not limited to tariffs, ecological impact, workforce wages, and social taboos.

Free trade
· Nations choosing to participate in the level of “free trade” are considered to trade freely and openly with all other signatories except for fair trade signatories (in the case that the nation does not meet the fair trade signatory’s requirements) or planned trade signatories (unless said planned trade signatory openly approves of trading with the nation). It will be assumed that no tariffs will be instituted between free trading signatories and all free trading signatories pen their entire markets to all products of all other free trading signatories, unless noted otherwise as below.


If desired, signatory nations can take protectionist measures such as instituting tariffs against signatories with a different level of participation to prevent unfair competition. (For example: import tariffs against a planned economy signatory subsidizing exports to a ‘free trade’ signatory nation.) Such measures are not enforced by this organization; national governments can make their own arrangements in this regard within treaty stipulations.

Optional: Cultural exchange and student exchange programs
· Signatories at any level of participation can choose to participate in cultural exchange programs designed to foster a greater understanding between the peoples of signatory nations. Student exchanges can also open minds to other cultures; as well as spread knowledge of best practices amongst signatory nations. While not required, cultural exchange is highly encouraged as it helps to build closer bonds between signatories and strengthen understanding between nations that may have wildly different cultural practices and ideals.

Boycotts and sanctions
Economic boycotts between signatory nations are not recommended; the treaty calls for nations to attempt to resolve their differences diplomatically. However sometimes a political crisis can make purely diplomatic solutions impossible. In this case nations experiencing the political crisis are strongly advised to attempt to reach an agreement through other means themselves without calling on the trade organization as a whole.
Failing this, then exceptions may be requested by any signatory nation; such a request is to be judged by a neutral body of experts from other signatory nations. To prevent excessive use of economic sanctions as a policy tool, exceptions from the rule that a bilateral agreement has been reached may only be requested in severe cases for:
· a) a total trade embargo or
· b) a weapons embargo
A body of neutral experts from all nations may judge trade disputes. This body will consist of any nations not currently involved in the trade dispute who declare impartiality in the case and to whom all sides of the dispute agree as a mediator.

OOC clauses

· In the unfortunate case that signatory nations IGNORE other signatory nations, for all purposes they shall be deemed as non-existing so membership does not entail mandatory recognition of all signatories.

· For purposes of trade, economies shall be deemed “modular” despite differences that may exist in the precise tech level that is maintained: this is merely to ensure that economies of vastly different tech levels can exist next to each other in the multiverse without being out-competed instantly.

Amending the Treaty

Should the need arise for an amendment to the treaty. Any signatory may issue a proposed amendment. Every signatory will be allowed to speak out for or against the proposed amendment and, should a majority or the original signatory who issued the amendment deem it necessary, change the text of the proposed amendment until the time for a vote upon the amendment is called upon. At that point, every signatory will be allowed to vote either in Favor or Against the proposed amendment. A reasonable time frame must be given for other signatories to voice their opinions before a vote can be called. Any signatory that does not vote will not count in the total when determining a majority vote.
A two-thirds majority of votes in favor of the proposed amendment is required for it to become part of the overall treaty.

Ejection from Treaty
A vote can be called by any other signatory for immediate ejection from the treaty of any signatory of this treaty that violates the treaty’s basic requirements. If the vote passes with a two-thirds majority vote in the same fashion to a proposed amendment than the signatory’s name will be removed and the signatory must then gain a two-thirds majority vote from the signatories again to regain signatory status.

Victoria Sheshet was the first to speak:

"We approve of this treaty. There is no need to waste words - simply be it said that Allanea will enter it on the highest possible level of participation."

"For ourselves we have become very proficient at construction in difficult locations. Most of our cities are at high altitudes in the mountains, on cliffs, and hanging over the ocean from towering rock formations. We also have become quite advanced in anti-gravity generation. When you develop in flight, when other civilizations were creating methods of transportation like automobiles we were creating ways to make flight easier and less taxing on the individual. This started very simply but as we advanced we developed very effective personal anti-grav as well and industrial models which enabled further advancement in dangerous construction. Would these be of any use to you in return?""Possibly. I am not aware of current need for architectural assistance, but it may be profitable to investigate your techniques and materials.
"Gravitational manipulation seems to be a common technology, but we are always interested in examining new methods of doing things for potential improvements to our state of the art."
The Snel paused while Issac spoke.
"Does is seem colder to you? Hm. We must gather for the presentation."

The term 'fashionably late' was not a particularly popular one in the Mile High City, Conquest Incorporated's base of operations. Indeed, punctuality was a virtue of the highest order according to deeply ingrained cultural and economic standards. The efficient use of resources is one of the plethora of things an economy must perfect in order to remain lithe, productive and powerful.

And time is one of the most important resources of all. So, for Alexander Hersch, Managing Director of Conquest's Mars offices and therefore the Corporation's point man on the Red Planet to show up at any time other than that which was exactly on time was somewhat remarkable. Or would have been, had he not had his reasons.

First and foremost, Conquest was not in an economic position of any real security on Mars. It had recently established an Industrial Development Center on the softly glowing undulation that was the irradiated northern ocean of Mars, but it had yet to achieve any kind of market penetration. Selling military material to the Allaneans had been profitable, but had not called on the IDC's productive capabilities. It was, at the moment, a net loss. Largely offset by the aforementioned sales, but irksome nonetheless.

In such a situation, it behooved Conquest to learn as much as possible about the economic climate so as to secure those customers it had lacked in the Martian financial theatre. Showing up a few minutes late served to allow Hersch to slip in largely unnoticed, accompanied by his personal Elwyn. Undistracted by sudden pleasantries, he was able to gauge the room’s feel and take note of its interesting stratification.

A small number of free-moving representatives, including what appeared to be a MonoCorporation sentience, navigated the dominant floor arrangement, which appeared to be loosely divided along the lines of that week’s galactic war.

The preponderance of elves in the room did not escape the executive. Their gratingly long lifespans were a source of a certain resentment from Conquestians in general. What various life-prolonging treatments and medical advances had done for humans had apparently achieved similar results for the various long-eared groups. The low-level resentment a typical elf might face from a Conquestian was based primarily in the psychological phenomena known as “sour grapes”. A man whose life was dedicated to accumulating the greatest possible net worth would of course dislike those with more years in which to do the same. It smacked of some sort of governmental price control—unfair, unwarranted and irksome.

Of course, a Corporate officer as wealthy and refined as Hersch was civilized enough to put aside those nagging feelings and judge on individual bases.

He gazed long at one. The Menelmacari Prefect of Trade’s dress and bodyguards identified her to one of Hersch’s ocular implants, which was busy cataloguing the various delegations and relaying that information to its host. Hersch was slightly disappointed by the seemingly impolite decision to protect oneself so ostentatiously, but gave a mental shrug as he saw that Eärendil had hardly been the only dignitary to do so. Ultimately irrelevant, anyway. The Menelmacari were about as healthy and established a civilization as could be found in this day and age, and so merited great respect.

Not so the Aelosians. Lórindel’s garishly tasteless wardrobe seemed repellant, but not at all surprising from a society with such a tightly closed (and therefore presumably managed) economy. Nakedly ugly protectionism was abhorrent to any sort of free-thinking capitalist, insofar as that capitalist was a member of an extra-national super-corporation that had outgrown political nomenclature. Hersch perceived the Market to have near-sacred guiding properties, and to see those properties desecrated by artificial controls was profoundly disturbing. If Aelosians had market controls, then everything from an inability to dress themselves to a lusting, genocidal rage would be anticipated without a very great degree of shock.

A mixed bag, elves. Best indeed to deal with them as individual societies. No need to succumb to one’s preconceptions, after all.

The real reason for his tardiness had somewhat more to do with having been informed about the meeting’s existence all of half an hour earlier upon the conclusion of an earlier meeting with a Pilonese Elwyn. Time and space, unfortunately, had conspired to prevent habitual Conquestian punctuality. As such, Hersch barely arrived in time for the actual proposal of this new ‘Solar Federation of Trade’.

Slipping into a seat at the conference table and setting his briefcase beside him, Hersch remained silent, reserving his own contentions with the treaty for when the discussion had advanced. Smiling a toothy, beatific and surgically-enhanced smile, the business agent waited.

Alicia smiled as Issac spoke, requesting everyone join him for the continuation of the trade conference. Unbidden and smiling, she looped her arm through the Aelosian elf's.

"Shall we?"

Sera Merala accepted the necklace with little ceremony.

"Ah, thank you." She eyed it slightly, examining in particular the diamond. "It almost appears... Kajali... but then, mithril and murais are two different elements..."

Merala gingerly fastens it around her neck, almost as if she's afraid to let it touch her skin for a moment.

"Thank you, again. I understand the desire to present items such as this as a gesture of good will. Please understand, though, that officially, such gifts are not required... We are willing to change, just as you have demonstrated that your nation is."

And yes, the microclimate is somewhat moist."

Translation: This is waaaaay more humid than Kajurmani.

Sera spent the rest of the time before the conference actually started essentially waiting - she was here to do a job, and from the way the Allanean approached her, it was somewhat obvious that the other delegates knew that she didn't particularly want to stay for too long.

That she seemed to spend the time doing the same as the Necrontyr representative, if not in the same immediate location spoke more about Sera Merala than about Kajal. She had always been rather bored at these conferences.

She took up a seat near the Necrontyr representative. Perhaps they'd have some witty banter about the conference. Perhaps not.

Alicia smiled as Issac spoke, requesting everyone join him for the continuation of the trade conference. Unbidden and smiling, she looped her arm through the Aelosian elf's.

"Shall we?"

The Count Haralis Lórindel got the arm of the Genesis Corporation envoy, and displayed a greased, totally prepared and previously tested smile, his personal weapon to catch the first glowing and colorful insect approaching too much to his golden froggish tongue.

Perhaps he was mistaken, but this little specimen of a woman looked like the perfect target to be slowly mislead, miguided and finally caught in the webs of the typical "I-profit-you-think-you-do" model of negotiation of the Lórindel family.

"Free market, free trade. You people love said stories....How can you profit if you don't control what it must be sold, when, where and to who? Free trade removes all said limitations, and allows your own competition to break all the rules and pounce at your throat", said the elf, walking alongside Alicia, for a moment acting as transfixed in the deep color of her blue set of eyes.

"The planned economy instead, let you run your business as you seem proper, using just a handful of trusted intermediaries to access the so called free market, which is entirely foolish, as nothing in the entire multiverse is entirely free", he continued, trying to explain to the Genesis representative his position on the matter beforehand.

The Allanean aide smiles at the Kajali counterpart: "Gift-giving is a new tradition in our Foreign Service. We apologize most profusely if it offends one of your traditions - our databanks on your nation are not yet fully complete, you must understand. Up until recently, a better relationship with the Kajali was not seen... unfortunately, I may add - as a viable course of action by our experts. As you see, this has been altered. At any rate, you just heard Ms. Sheshet talk about our support for this treaty - I suppose I don't need to restate it to you. I hope you, too, will not have reservations about it."

She couldn't help but frown slightly - the idea of monarchy, or at least a system that seemed to resemble monarchy, was entirely foriegn to Snake Eaters, which had always existed as a democracy,"Well, if you insist."

She scratched her nose, and he would notice that she was sweating,"What do you make of the rest of the delegates?"

“They are all, delegates. Every one of them is here in an attempt to further their own nation or company, just like us. You are the only one I have spoken to so far so I cannot make any sort of judgment upon them. Only time will reveal their goals.”

When Issac entered and made his speech, Tal’Eet turned back to his companion.

“It looks like things are about to start, might I suggest we take a seat at the table?”

After “sitting”, Tal’Eet carefully examined the contract and shook his head. He reread it carefully and saw it could not be applied to his company. He attempted to get Issac’s attention to point this out.

“Please pardon my intrusion but I have carefully read through your proposed contract twice and I cannot see how it will apply to a Corporation."

"National governments are the ones that control the recognition of sovereign rights and international boundaries. They are the ones who have diplomats and embassies. The governments are the ones that impose trade sanctions and tariffs. The nation’s leaders control the degree they manipulate the commerence within their boundaries."

"A company cannot do any of these and thus, the proposed treaty would not apply to non governmental entities.”

Originally posted by Aelosia
"Free market, free trade. You people love said stories....How can you profit if you don't control what it must be sold, when, where and to who? Free trade removes all said limitations, and allows your own competition to break all the rules and pounce at your throat", said the elf, walking alongside Alicia, for a moment acting as transfixed in the deep color of her blue set of eyes.

"The planned economy instead, let you run your business as you seem proper, using just a handful of trusted intermediaries to access the so called free market, which is entirely foolish, as nothing in the entire multiverse is entirely free", he continued, trying to explain to the Genesis representative his position on the matter beforehand.

Alicia smiled, breaking eye contact with the elf lord as he escorted her to her seat. She took a moment to think on what he had said before responding, speaking low so as not to interrupt those who discussed the proposal at higher volumes with Issac himself.

"There are an infinite number of definitions for the words free and control, Count Lórindel, and any man or elf who lives in a world composed entirely of black and white is restricting himself far beyond the confines of either word.” Soft lips curved upward. “I know that an individual as complex as yourself must surely see the need for color in the landscape of trade. For example, when you discussed creating a line of clothing based off of something as simple as the color of my eyes, how would such a clothing brand grow and expand if there was unwillingness to trade with any economy but my own? Those differences that expand beyond black and white and our ability as civilized nations to overcome them and change the palette as need sees fit is what creates masterpieces of economy. If occasionally being ‘pounced’, as you call it, and taking a marginal loss is the cost, I believe I am willing to take the adventure.”

"Possibly. I am not aware of current need for architectural assistance, but it may be profitable to investigate your techniques and materials.
"Gravitational manipulation seems to be a common technology, but we are always interested in examining new methods of doing things for potential improvements to our state of the art."
The Snel paused while Issac spoke.
"Does is seem colder to you? Hm. We must gather for the presentation."

"Well perhaps we can investigate the worth of our technology and others you may find useful later. I do know your current offers appear very desirable to us. We have struggled with a few biological engineering projects which your scientists or technology may provide vital breakthroughs in. Cybernetics would also be welcome, tidani are always looking for ways to improve our chances for survival."

Hestor took a moment to sense his surroundings. "I believe you are right, this is much more comfortable now. Lets go hear what this meeting is all about."

After listening to what Issac said, Hestor waited to hear how the other delegates would respond. Immediately he was prepared to enter his nation as a "planned" member. The small state of Tidan was not ready to have itself thrust into the galactic market open for all. There were still many problems and policies to correct and overturn, left over from the previous governments. This would hopefully provide a means to grow to a point where they could more comfortably increase their level of participation, once things were more under control.

Perhaps until then, this would attract more business to their port in the galactic north as a friendly and profitable stop off for those doing business in the quadrant.

The chairs everyone sat at conformed to their bodies, providing ample back support no matter what position the person sat in yet still giving way when the person shifted positions. The chairs were obviously a living plant-like creation of the Pilonese.

Issac listened to the concerns expressed by Tal’Eet Issac nodded. "Hmm... yes I can see what you mean. You must forgive me I added Corporations into the mix only as an afterthought, several of the people who overlooked the draft had me add it to make it more palatable in the national community, and I suspect, in case not all the elements here at home approved of the treaty in its final form some of them could still join to gain a trading edge on their competition.
Now lets see..."

His eyes glazed over for several seconds before returning. "Yes, here we go."
Each of the drafts updated with new wording.

Corporate
· Corporations and other institutions based on trade that is not, by themselves, responsible for regulating things such sovereignty and tariffs can still participate in the treaty. The Corporation will abide by the rules and regulations of its governing nation, they are still free to sell whatever goods and services they can provide within national guidelines.

"Would this be acceptable to those of you who represent corporations? Now on your other matter concerning Sovereignty in the membership requirement, it is our opinion that the Sovereignty of Nations should still be respected by a corporation. Just because you are not a nation should not mean you should not respect the borders and rights to govern that a nation you are engaging in trade with has. Perhaps we could edit the requirement to say something like this: Shall recognize each other’s borders and sovereignty, or that of the governing nation insofar as these are internationally recognized?

Is that acceptable or are there any ideas from the other delegates?"

Mira had sat quietly reading over the tready and the possible levels of involvement. She looked around the room at all the delegates from various nations that had gathered to discuss this trade agreement. Given the recent digression of galactic wellbeing, the Abh would have to maintain a planned trade agreement until current hostilities could be put behind everyone. After that, then hopefully they could move up as a free member. There were a few nations that peaked her interest and might prove good trading partners so she mentally made a note of who she would like to add. So long as they would agree as well.

A hand rose into the air, index finger crooked while all others closed loosely into a fist. The owner of this particular piece of anatomy cleared his throat, and returned his hand to his lap when he had been acknowledged by the other delegates. "I would like to put forward a suggestion," Hersched grinned amiably, his surgically and chemically altered smile dazzling brightly. "I am aware that I arrived too late to make the rounds and introduce myself. I am Alexander Hersch, Managing Director of Conquest Incorporated, Mars Office." He smile grew wider. "I assure you, the 'Conquest' is metaphorical."

"It is very plain, I believe, that those of us who opt to participate in this venture under the 'free trade' option both offer greater benefit to potential partners and bear greater risk in doing so than do either 'fair trade' or 'planned trade' participants. Free trade is the natural and best trade--the most honest trade. Those of us who deign to trade freely offer the most of our nations or organizations, and should be considered differently as such. For that reason, I ask why we should not assign the votes of different members greater weight if they choose free trade over fair trade, or fair trade over planned trade? Surely, those of us with the most at stake and contributing the greatest volume to our collective trade should have a greater role in shaping this association's future?"

Issac listened to Alexander Hersch's comments paused for a couple seconds as he composed his thoughts, then responded.

"While I can see the position you are coming from I am afraid that would be outside of the intended purpose of the treaty. While I may agree with you about the superiority of free trade to other forms of trade the intended purpose of this treaty is create a forum for nations and other trading entities to engage in conversation with one another, allow them to trade what they are willing with others willing to trade for it, and to hook everyone up with investors and entrepeneurs who wish to see their dreams become reality.

It is not our purpose to force or even give encouragement to engage in free trade."

"If we couldn't agree on a common definition of concepts, my dear, we wouldn't be here discussing things like levels of trade. I accept shades of grey regarding concepts, but we must agree on a certain tone if we want to discuss said things", added the Count, visibly pleased by the economic knowledge of his human companion...Of course that his reduced views were shown by this fact. After all, What else would you expect to find in an economic summit but experts in trade and commerce?

"Regarding our own views, well. We just draw the lines of our commerce, if I may use your analogy, that I find of extremely exquisite taste", continued the elf, nodding softly. "We let someone else to put the colors over them, like the Menelmacari, the usual intermediaries of our products. I won't hide the fact to you that our economy is expanding at an unnerving rate, and that's why I am here, looking for new partners, culturally compatible with Aelosia, that could work as new intermediaries for new products that we want to place in the international markets".

Soon the Conquest Incorporated interrumption drew the elf's attention to said spot, and a disgusting grin covered his otherwise pleasant features. After the Pilon's moderator explained the treaty's position over the issue, he relaxed a bit, but couldn't restrain himself of throwing out his two cents.

"Thanks, Isaac Malisse, Sire. To approve said measure of discrimination against new prospect members would be extremely unpleasant, I am satisfied to see that our host has more noble purposes than just plain bias against those who think different. To enjoy a view about the delicate arts of the flow of economics is one thing, and to try to impose them over others or try to gain additional power from it is extremely unelegant and against the openly nature of the good willing trade", said the elf softly, marking every syllabe very clearly, without breaking eye contact with the Conquest Incorporated's delegate.

Hersch listened politely to Isaac's clarification, but his smile diminished almost imperceptibly during Lórindel's combative interjection.

"I meant no offense--certainly none to our Pilonese hosts." He nodded towards Malisse and Simber-Gentle. "And certainly none to you, sir. It was not my intention to snub the Aelosian government." The publicly available biographical details pertaining to the elf scrolled alongside his pointed ear, displayed to Hersch by his ocular implants. "It is of course your decision to pursue whichever economic model you wish, no matter how inefficient and self-limiting that decision might be." Hersch's dark green eyes locked coolly with Lórindel's. "I was not attempting to 'discriminate' against any organization or polity, nor to 'impose' anything in any way. I was merely suggesting a manner in which economic reality might be accurately reflected."

"But no matter. As I said, I did not seek to alienate everyone. We are all here to pursue our collective economic interests. Let us do so, and continue."

"I believe we can all agree," Alicia Simber-Gentle interposed, pausing to both take a sip from the cooling beverage she had brought with her and to allow the representatives to break their staring match and refocus attentions, "that there are multiple ways to handle any situation. While giving free trade a higher standing may be the equal of handing a man a larger stick than his opponent in this situation, the opponent may still be able to smooth talk his opponent out of a situation as is more common in more heavily monitored trade environments. Let's give each marketplace its due credit, sirs, and return to more pressing matters than who deserves an upper hand in a galaxy that is far more sophisticated than that of spacecraft and wars."

Again, a pause to see if tensions had resolved to an extent that progress could resume.

"Personally, I would like to address the statement suggested by Mr. Mallise:

Corporate
· Corporations and other institutions based on trade that is not, by themselves, responsible for regulating things such sovereignty and tariffs can still participate in the treaty. The Corporation will abide by the rules and regulations of its governing nation, they are still free to sell whatever goods and services they can provide within national guidelines.

I am curious as to how this would effect corporations currently with no particular government ties. The independent organizations of the universe."

At length, Hersch's gaze swung away from Lórindel to Simber-Gentle. "A critical question, Ms. Simber. One whose resolution, I am sure, will be exceedingly simple. Corporations that have outgrown or made irrelevant or redundant those nation-states that once provided the real estate on which they were headquartered are by their very definition equivalent to typical political entities. If a corporation has replaced a nation, it has grown to serve the same functions as its predecessor, and executes the same powers in the maintenance of those responsibilities that it has taken upon itself.

"Granting supranational corporations the same prerogatives as national polities would serve to maximize the economic scope of this trade forum, and should present no particular difficulties, in light of the ultimately nominal distinction inherent to the consideration of the problem as put forward. Barring, of course, any philosophical objections.” The Conquestian’s eyes arched back to meet with Lórindel’s again, though free of ire. His expression was inquisitive, but not combative.

"I have no problems is letting international corporations to have the same rights as goverment or national tied economies. To grant them such rights would just recognize the potential they have to throw weight over every economic movement on a galactic scale. To deny that they have the enough economic power for that is just for idiots", said the elf as he nodded, knowing that, as far as he was concerned, he didn't care if others get rights as long as his own were not violated or diminished in any way.

Count Haralis again locked stares with the Conquest Incorporated's representative, this time with a more explicative and...pedagogic expression over his features. "Particular corporations, without national or govement ties, should have the same rights as any other economic entity participating in this treaty, in my humble opinion".

"We agree as well, those corporation that do not operate within the jurisdiction of a nation would be considered a de facto nation unto themselves and may participate at any level in the treaty."

Alicia smiled, satisfied with Hersch's response. Elwyn 137 had been right to send him up here, they would be having a continued discussion conluding the trade conference if things continued to go smoothly. He was a bit hostile, perhaps, but everyone had their rough edges and it was always nice to find a man who didn't mind showing his teeth. Even if they had been cleaned, waxed and had a buffer taken to them one too many times.

"Simber-Gentle, thank you. And I am quite comfortable with that conclusion." She watched the stand off change to its current tide and glanced at Issac. "I, personally, have no other questions regarding the document at this point in time."

It was like watching a bird try and eat a stink beetle. Fascinating.

A gentleman walked into the back of the conference taking a seat at a side table careful not to bother the other delegates in the ongoing debate. He was dressed in a long blue coat, blue and white trimmed tricorn hat, black pantaloons, and boots. He pulled quickly adjusting the lace on his sleeves, then smiled showing diamond and ruby chips in his teeth. His eyes sparkled slightly. He was Malthus Cruonis, NCEO of the Interspace and Undersea Salvage and Recycling Cooperative. Some had nicknamed him equal among equals, others had called him privateer, black heart, and fox.

Their little group having broken up for the treaty presentation, Marisa found herself at the table with an intentional randomness in placement.

The treaty itself seemed straight forward in it's application to the Dominion, but the vixen found herself disappointed to discover the apparent interpretation of 'free trade' found here was not that familiar to her - that to agree to such would seemingly open the nation to anything, regardless of local law.

Still, Fair Trade seemed amply acceptable - it wasn't like they'd have to restrict anything they didn't want to, nor did there seem any real down side - and she doubted there would be any problems with the ratification vote in Parliament.

Malthus Cruonis, smiled showing the gem chips in his teeth, he raised a hand and said, "Gentle beings and sentients, it has come to my attention that while this treaty contains a clause for cultural exchange, it does not contain any such clause for the exchange of patents, science, scientists and research, essential for the future progress of a nation. Would it be possible to include a clause in the treaty for the exchange of research and science. Our economy in many ways is an information based economy with abundant physical resources. This would benefit many member nations."

I don't see why we couldn't include an optional clause, similar to the one on Cultural Exchange for Technological Exchange and Co-Scientific Projects. Its not exactly something Pilon would be terribly interested in as we tend to approach things differently than most nations, but there may be others interested.

"Some parties in Pilon would not be terribly interested." Alicia injected. Issac Malisse had the bad habit of speaking for everyone when there were more opinions than his own on the line. "There are others who agree in the value of informational trade."

Issac noted the comment by Alicia and nodded. "Very Well."

An update was quickly made and transferred to the displays:

Solar Federation of Trade

Preamble
Recognizing that it is in the best interests of nations to seek out beneficial trade relationships with one another. Nations and other organizations based on trade are encouraged to come together and determine the relative wants and needs of their individual markets, so they may exchange goods and services with one another.

Recognizing that there are different forms of economies, ranging from Free Market Economies to Command Economies ran by the Government and different forms of international trade including Free Trade, Fair Trade, and Planned Trade. In pursuit of mutually beneficial relationships with our neighbors we recognize that it is these differences that make us strong.
It is in this environment of goodwill towards and interest in the many forms of trade various nations and institutions seek that we hereby assemble together in the pursuit of not just trade and profit, but also in the pursuit of closer bonds with one another through cooperation and the mutual knowledge naturally brought about by such. We seek to include all sellers, buyers, investors seeking good projects to put money into, and entrepreneurs seeking a place to hear their ideas and find those interested in making their dreams a reality.

Goal
The goal of this treaty is to establish a meeting place where nations can seek out others interested in trade relationships with them. It will also act as a place for nations to put forward proposals, find contractors and investors, and invite commentary and advince on their ideas. The treaty is for a flexible, open-end approach to trade that still provides some stability for the signatories and preventing infringements on Sovereignty.

Basic treaty requirements
To this end signatories of the treaty:
· Shall recognize each other’s borders and sovereignty insofar as these are internationally recognized.
· Shall establish diplomatic representation either in person or by some other interactive means that can act as a representative for their nation or institution in a meeting place set aside for all signatories.
· Shall make a commitment to resolve disputes with other signatory nations, economic or otherwise peacefully and in good conscience. If such a commitment cannot be kept, all parties involved will not use this forum as a means to further their disputes.


Levels of participation

Signatories to the treaty can choose to participate in trade at several levels

Planned trade
· Nations choosing to participate in the level of “planned trade” must choose individually who else they will trade with and in what amounts. No other signatories can abridge this right, as the needs of command economies do not generally accept external market forces. In consequence, however, it is not assumed that a planned trade signatory trades anything with any other signatory unless it specifically states who it trades with and what it trades in.

Fair trade
· Nations choosing to participate in the level of “fair trade” must declare what conditions are appropriate for it to consider trading with other signatories. Signatories that meet those conditions can then be assumed to trade with the fair trading nation, up to the reasonable limits imposed by the nation in question and excluding planned trade signatories (unless specifically noted by said planned trade signatories). The limitations a fair trade signatory can place may include but are not limited to tariffs, ecological impact, workforce wages, and social taboos.

Free trade
· Nations choosing to participate in the level of “free trade” are considered to trade freely and openly with all other signatories except for fair trade signatories (in the case that the nation does not meet the fair trade signatory’s requirements) or planned trade signatories (unless said planned trade signatory openly approves of trading with the nation). It will be assumed that no tariffs will be instituted between free trading signatories and all free trading signatories pen their entire markets to all products of all other free trading signatories, unless noted otherwise as below.

If desired, signatory nations can take protectionist measures such as instituting tariffs against signatories with a different level of participation to prevent unfair competition. (For example: import tariffs against a planned economy signatory subsidizing exports to a ‘free trade’ signatory nation.) Such measures are not enforced by this organization; national governments can make their own arrangements in this regard within treaty stipulations.

Corporate
· Corporations and other institutions based on trade that is not, by themselves, responsible for regulating things such sovereignty and tariffs can still participate in the treaty. The Corporation will abide by the rules and regulations of its governing nation, they are still free to sell whatever goods and services they can provide within national guidelines.

Optional: Cultural exchange, Cooperative Research and Student Exchange Programs
· Signatories at any level of participation can choose to participate in cultural exchange programs designed to foster a greater understanding between the peoples of signatory nations. Student exchanges can also open minds to other cultures; as well as spread knowledge of best practices amongst signatory nations. While not required, cultural exchange is highly encouraged as it helps to build closer bonds between signatories and strengthen understanding between nations that may have wildly different cultural practices and ideals. Signatories may also choose to participate in cooperative research or engage in technology swapping with one another however such is not a requirement.

Boycotts and sanctions
Economic boycotts between signatory nations are not recommended; the treaty calls for nations to attempt to resolve their differences diplomatically. However sometimes a political crisis can make purely diplomatic solutions impossible. In this case nations experiencing the political crisis are strongly advised to attempt to reach an agreement through other means themselves without calling on the trade organization as a whole.

Failing this, then exceptions may be requested by any signatory nation; such a request is to be judged by a neutral body of experts from other signatory nations. To prevent excessive use of economic sanctions as a policy tool, exceptions from the rule that a bilateral agreement has been reached may only be requested in severe cases for:
· a) a total trade embargo or
· b) a weapons embargo

A body of neutral experts from all nations may judge trade disputes. This body will consist of any nations not currently involved in the trade dispute who declare impartiality in the case and to whom all sides of the dispute agree as a mediator.

OOC clauses
· In the unfortunate case that signatory nations IGNORE other signatory nations, for all purposes they shall be deemed as non-existing so membership does not entail mandatory recognition of all signatories.
· For purposes of trade, economies shall be deemed “modular” despite differences that may exist in the precise tech level that is maintained: this is merely to ensure that economies of vastly different tech levels can exist next to each other in the multiverse without being out-competed instantly.

Amending the Treaty

Should the need arise for an amendment to the treaty. Any signatory may issue a proposed amendment. Every signatory will be allowed to speak out for or against the proposed amendment and, should a majority or the original signatory who issued the amendment deem it necessary, change the text of the proposed amendment until the time for a vote upon the amendment is called upon. At that point, every signatory will be allowed to vote either in Favor or Against the proposed amendment. A reasonable time frame must be given for other signatories to voice their opinions before a vote can be called. Any signatory that does not vote will not count in the total when determining a majority vote.

A two-thirds majority of votes in favor of the proposed amendment is required for it to become part of the overall treaty.

Ejection from Treaty

A vote can be called by any other signatory for immediate ejection from the treaty of any signatory of this treaty that violates the treaty’s basic requirements. If the vote passes with a two-thirds majority vote in the same fashion to a proposed amendment than the signatory’s name will be removed and the signatory must then gain a two-thirds majority vote from the signatories again to regain signatory status.




Issac turned to look at the attending members.
"Has everyone had an opportunity to speak, voice concerns and suggested amendments to the treaty? If there are no further comments to be made then I believe we will be free to Sign it if we so choose."

He waited for anyone to voice any additional concerns.

"I would also like to point out that following this we have another meeting for those interested, with one of our investors, a Gambling Tycoon from Pilon. He has a proposal for signatories."

Seeing no one voice anymore concerns Issac annotated his approval for the document and a Signature appeared.

"On behalf of all of the GPH of Pilon, let me be the first to sign my name to this treaty."

Issac Malisse, Speaker of the Council, Greater Peoples Hegemony of Pilon, Free Trade Participant.

"I would invite any of you, any other trade partners you have, and really anyone willing to operate under these terms to sign the treaty. Make sure to annotate at what level your organization is willing to participate in the treaty."

"Allanea will gladly sign."

Victoria Sheshet, Secretary of State of the United States of Allanea

"As Commonalitarianism representrative I will gladly sign"

Malthus Cruonis, NCEO, Interspace and Undersea Salvage and Recycling Cooperative, Commonalitarianism Trade Representative

Level: Corporate and Cooperative Research

Issac looked to both the representative from Allanea and Commonalitarianism.

"Your enthusiasm is appreciated however you did not specify at what level you are going to participate in the Solar Federation of Trade."

The Allanean blushes. "Oh , I am sorry. I thought I spoke on the issue before. Free trade. Free, of course."

On open communication networks throughout Sol, copies of the new Treaty were broadcast along with invitations to interested parties to transmit signatures if they desired to join or to send a delegate to participate in the current conference.

(ooc: for those of you who may oocly feel weird about jumping in feel free to do so here, or you can wait, I will be making another thread outlining the treaty and listing signatories for people to post Federation related issues and for new people to join in.)

Mira had remained silent through much of the conference, preferring to judge on the matters at hand before speaking or acting. When it came her turn to sign the treaty, she had decided on a plan that might have been more liberal than the Emperor will be supportive of. "I'll sign it next."

Mira Furlan, Chief diplomat on Mars, Abh Empire - Free Trade

Issac smiled.

"I am glad to see others who see the benefit in an organization like this."

He turned to the other representatives.

"By all means, feel free to sign your names. For those of you who have joined, this organization should not be limited merely to those who chose to form it at this conference, rather we intend it to be open to any who are interested in trade. Invite your trade partners to join, and other allies, we can watch this organization grow into a truly spectacular entity, and we will all benefit from the many voices and opportunities to trade with other members."

(ooc: I have made another thread where those outside of the conference can join the Federation, and anyone can post opportunities for the Federation at large. I would prefer RPs that spring off those opportunities to get their own thread however you can post the initial idea there to find interested people to RP with you. The URL is in my sig.)
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12092199

"I'll sign, on the planned trade level, as you might guessed", said the Count Lórindel, before placing an elaborate signature in the most traditional elven way.

Hersch flashed another smile around the room before leaning forward affixing his own extravagantly grandiose signature. Deed done, he rose to his feet, buttoning his jacket and retrieving his attaché case from its place under the table. "Conquest Incorporated will, of course, participate in free and amicable trade with all signatories. I am afraid that pressing matters prevent me from socializing now that our business is completed. Ladies, gentlemen, sentients--adieu."

Pivoting smartly about Hersch strode briskly out of the chamber.

One of the ubiquitous, ever-present, but occasionally silent S.H.O.D.A.N. diplomatic local avatars signs with a sweep of her finger.

"I think this will be a most profitable venture for the Queendom. Free trade."

"The treaty will naturally have to be debated and ratified in Parliament before going into effect," the vixen announced, "But I can't see anything particularly objectionable. 'Fair Trade' seems to be the best fit to my government's policies, tho I imagine any conditions set to be rather lax."


Marisa Zachary, Ambassador, Kanuckistani Diplomatic Corps, Fair Trade

“Recent events have caused us to rethink our foreign economic policy,” responded the Grummian after allowing others to speak ahead of him. “So in light of this, we will participate in this organization but with planned trade.”

Dean Reed, Ambassador of the Northrop-Grumman Corporation to Mars – Planned Trade