NationStates Jolt Archive

Mary Salm sat at her desk and quitely tapped out a General Order for the Klonor Space Corps. Nothing important, just one of the many minor commands that needs to be routinely issued. This one in particular had to do with the protocols governing the transfer of enlisted personnel between the various Associated Systems...that, or the new uniforms that were due to be issued next week. There was so much busywork now-a-days that it was hard to keep it all straight, even while still working on it.

Finished, she sent the commanded to the Admiralty for them to communicate to their subordinates. Those soldiers would then tell the people under their command, they would tell the people under theirs, and soon the many branches of the Space Corps would all have heard the message, and Mary silently prayed that she had not just told the millions of Corps personnel that their new uniforms had to be approved by two superior officers before they could be transferred between systems.

Sighing to herself, Mary leaned back in her chair and...well, it woud not be proper to say that the head of an inter-galactic nation "sulked," but one would be hard pressed to find a more applicable term. She enjoyed her job as Consul of Klonor, she truly did, but more and more her days were filled with this; pointless minutiae that could have been performed by an advanced monkey, and she knew for a fact that it actually was being performed by a monkey whenever she took a weekend off (His name was Charles, and he could be quite charming when he put his mind to it). She was not alone in feeling this way, either, she had noticed the same feelings in other members of the government; it was almost a boredom, and it was not necessarily unfounded. The fact was, things simply did not "happen" anymore. Months passed without any serious international incident, and she was grateful for the fact that Klonor had made no new enemies recently, but there was also no new contact with alien nations, no new technological discovery, no economic shift, no anything. For months, sometimes years on end, the entire nation seemed to be on hold, as if it was waiting for some higher being to prod it into motion, and though Mary was always happy for a little vacation time, when it ground on for long it became almost depressing.

With an audible sigh she rose from her desk, preparing to close her office for the day and head home, when she happened to glance at the calendar display which automatically appeared at the end of her work-cycle.

Neral 1? No, that can't be. That would mean...oh, bloody hell.

Neral 1 followed Winel 23 by exactly eight days, and that meant that Ascension Day had passed without her even aware that she had missed the anniversary of the commencement of the Modern Age. One of the biggest holidays in Klonor, revered almost as a religious event and usually the scene of a momentous celebration, and it had passed without so much as a cake or extra-hour Collostomizer. This as much as anything brought the realization home to Mary: She, and the entire nation, was simply "out of it."

Well, she might not be able to create a diplomatice crisis, but at least she could celebrate a holiday, especially when that holiday commemorated the beginning of Klonors Modern Age. Come what may, she would make sure that the coronation of the Grand Duke Solomon Klonor, who had lead Klonor off Old Earth and into the Stars, would be celebrated with all the pomp it deserved.

She quickly sat down, reactivating her computer system and contacting the diplomatic section of the Vicegral Palace, and began typing a message to those who might attend the gala. This was an event which normally attracted the upper echelon of the nations throughout the galaxy, but they would have to know about it, first.

Broad Beam Transmission
Transmission Origin: Mary Salm, Co-Consul of the Peoples Assembly, Deneb, the Associated Systems of Klonor

To whom it may concern:

You, or a designated representative, are hereby invited to visit the Vicegral Palace within the famed Deneb System to take part in the Ascension Day celebration, commemorating the coronation of the Grand Duke Solomon Klonor. There will be dinner, entertainment, and hopefully a chance for Klonor to re-aquaint itself with the many wonderful Brothers and Sisters we have amongst the Stars.

I will personally host the ball and hope to see as many of you there as I can. Please, respond as soon as you can. We eagerly away your arrival.

Transmission Closed

Mary tapped the Enter key and sent it to the communications room. Within seconds it would be zipping through space and landing right in the laps of every government withing a dozen Parsecs.

She grinned.

OOC:

Okay, pretty straightforward. I've been off NS for a while and want to get re-aquainted with the people I've missed and I thought "Hey, let's make an RP out of it!" I haven't had a war or anything else serious in quite a while, so I can't just pick something up where I left off, so I figure it would be best to host a ball where people I used to know, and new people, too, get a chance to reacquaint themselves with me and each other, hopefully laying the groundwork for future RP's.

If you'd like to be involved just send me a TG (Please don't post your request here, it makes these threads so messy) and we'll pop you on the guest roster.

The dispatch was brought in with the rest of the usual messages, those from parliment, the branches of goverment and military, special interest groups and corperation as well as the foreign messages deemed worthy of special attention. Riella smiled as she read of the ball, this would be helpful in solving one of the more recent problems of state. After penning a reply she sent one of her attendents to track down Ivan.

"So what would my favourite neice like today?" Ivan commented as he stepped inside, brushing hair out of his face. "And did you have to wake me, I was having such a nice dream. You were being nice and not ordering me around."

"How many times have I told you to knock it off with the neice cracks. You're younger than I am afterall. Anyways, I've decided you get to go to a nice party in Klonor."

"What, why?"

"You've been sulking and getting in the way. Now you'll go, have fun, not embarress us and maybe pull yourself out of your funk."

"Yes Riella."

"Oh, and if you misbehave I'll permenantly revoke your license, bar you from nightclubs and limit you to no more than an hour of computer time a day."

"Yes Riella, I'll behave."

An RSVP was sent to Klonor as Ivan got ready. He would be on his best behavior with his Queen's threat hanging over his head thought even his best wasn't that refined and polite.

"The Shogun and the Taiko both desire me to attend this Ascension Day Celebration?" Indigo Blue, Lady Noor (http://www.atddm.com/noor.jpg) enquired confusedly. Officially she was in disgrace, banished from Nova Nippon. Or so she was supposed to be.

"Yes My Lady Aiko, Beloved of the Kami... Aiiii!" Her duena got no further before the sudden appearance of a honor blade at her throat had her words becoming under a sudden cry of fear.

"I told you that unless we are in public, at only the most formal of occasions, I never want to hear that unnecessary, useless, unwanted" And that last was what mattered most to Indigo "babble of titles ever again. Did I not make myself clear?" Her normally soft voice was as cold and hard as any Novan Samurai's could ever hope to be.

"Yes, Lady Noor, yes" The Duena managed to get out without cutting her own throat.

Her trembling was so pronounced, that with a look of disgust, Indigo removed the ancient heirloom from the portly woman’s throat; and laying her lips upon the curved crystal blade, the traditional kiss that took the place of spilled blood, she then wiped it with a square of pristine white silk and sheathed it. It was only a few inches long but the crystal blade was so sharply edged that whomever it sliced would never feel the cut. It had been her mothers, passed down from her many times great grandmother, from the founding of Nova Nippon.

The prismatic flare of light off the blade as she sheathed it sent her down the hallways of memory…

While her honored-until-the-end-of-time Sire, whom she had seen only at a distance at formal occasions, might have been the Divine One, Born of the Kami and the Gods, Emperor of Nova Nippon, he was essentially powerless save in the often disconcerting world of religion, ethics, morals. It was his Divine presence that gave Nova Nippon’s culture and society it’s moral operating foundation.

Her mother, damn-her-for-all-times, had been the youngest daughter of the current Shogun, he who had all military power in the Imperia. If I had been born male I would not have had to leave the Empire! Indigo closed her eyes as rage swamped the supposedly serene hallows of memory for a moment.

No, her beautiful mother had had the terrible karma to be only Samurai in rank thus ever to only be a concubine. No, her stubborn mother had had the terrible karma to bear the Emperor only a single child. Her besotted by love mother had had the even more terrible karma for that single child to be only a daughter. In the Divine One’s Court another daughter was worse than useless. Since her mother was only Samurai, that meant Indigo was only half Divine and she could not be married off to a Samurai family to bind them closer to the Divine One’s Court. Not with her blood ties to the current Shogun. Nor could she be married of to one of the Taiko’s Court, none there had rank high enough, the disparity would bring to great a dishonor. Even suggesting such a union could set off a round of required by honor seppuku.

Her mothers father, some one she had only met in person once, had saved her life, done her the incredible honor of personally making the decision to exile her, and managing to coerce the Taiko to sign off on the writ. The why, he had not told Indigo during that one, relatively brief meeting, and she suspected that she never would know that why.

But he had and now she was free to try and make a life outside the Imperia. And she was determined to, no matter that it meant she could never go home again.

It had been frightening to leave, to set foot outside the Divine One’s Court, that sprawling enclave that covered nearly a thousand square miles. She had never even been outside the main compound though until some thirteen moths ago when Shoguate and Taiko approved tutors came and began teaching her what she would need to know to function out in the world. She had learned to drive a passenger vehicle, how to use a credit wand and keep up with her banking transactions, how to supervise servants, choose restraunts and tell good wine from indifferent. What fashions were like in the ever-changing universe, and much, much more.

She had spent her life being taught by a never-ending stream of efficient, and invariably stern, tutors that were part and parcel of the Emperor’s Court. No child of the Divine One escaped that, for learning was all they ever did. Sloth and indolence was frowned upon. The exams that were administered regularly rated her as having nearly sixty university level hours of credit in art and music.

“If they both wish me to, then I shall, and do my best to bring honor to Nova Nippon” Indigo declared as she set her memories aside. “But that means I must be properly dressed, and of course we must send the proper response to Lady Mary Salm, the Co-Consul of the Peoples Assembly. Make it so!” Indigo commanded with unusual vigor. She had seldom been allowed to command anything and the experience was most novel.

“That has already been done, Lady Noor, and the Battle Cruiser Mori Kaze stands by for your embarkation. We have already made reservations for you and your entourage at one of the finest hotels on Deneb, a penthouse suite. A Wraith and I will be accompanying you, as will several servants. They wish you to have a proper house hold.” The duena said complacently.

“Oh…” Indigo nodded, feeling somewhat chastened. It had been arranged for her to receive a quite sizeable monthly allowance from her mother’s estate. There were already funds awaiting her, immensity to most and meaning nothing at all to her. She hadn’t known what money was, what an economy was until the Taiko’s tutors had explained it all very carefully. The Shoguns tutors had concentrated on other subjects, ones Indigo found far more interesting.

“Then if they are waiting on me, we are being terribly impolite. Are we ready?”

“Yes Lady Noor, every thing is packed.”

http://www.faefolk.info/iblue.jpg