NationStates Jolt Archive

The building at the corner of Publius Blvd. and Isselmere Ave. in Woodstock, the capital of Sarzonia was lagging far behind schedule, but after months of backroom arguing and funding delays, the magnificent structure finally arched its way toward the sky with the ceremonial ribbon cutting ceremony on the way to becoming a reality at last.

Delegates from each member of the Woodstock Pact were expected to attend this extravaganza and help the alliance establish its position in global affairs. Senior Vice President for External Affairs Mark Lorber and President Mike Sarzo waited nervously along with First Partner Jay Tyler, who stood behind the President and laid his hand on his partner's back as a combined show of affection and support.

Sarzo looked at his watch.

"They should be here any minute."

[OOC: Basically, you don't have to RP your arrivals into the city, but you can RP arriving at the ceremony before it actually begins. Or we can say you're already here and the small talk's done. Whichever is your preference. I'd prefer to get into the ceremony sooner rather than later.]

"Remarkable. The blueprints and pictures didn't do it justice."

A large towncar, bearing The Voltarum flag and flanked by two motorcycles, approached the corner of Plubius and Isselmere as Ambassador Lieta Waterhouse stared out the back window at the magnificient structure coming into view. Across from her, laded in ceremonial robes, was The Voltarum's leader, Premier Xerco Longbottom. He sat calmly and relished in the excitement Lieta was exhibiting, adjusting his spectacles to take a look for himself. Though Lieta was nearly 40, Xerco could still not help feeling fatherly around her. He was saddened when she left the High Order, and had celebrated when she returned to government work as chief Voltaru Ambassador.

"Truly, it is a superb structure, worthy of housing the headquarter of our great pact," the Premier replied. "I would have to say this is the most impressive building I have seen outside of our borders, maybe even second to our Great Hall."

Lieta smiled and reminded herself that this was not saying too much. At nearly 70 years old, the Premier had not ventured out of the capital of Ohm for some time, and a trip outside of Antarctica had not been undertaken in almost 5 years. Lieta had reservations when Xerco had insisted on being here for the dedication, but she had known him long enough to know when she couldn't win an argument.

The car slowed, and Lieta could see the leadership of Sarzonia in the distance. It seemed like years since she had last been here, assisting in the start of this Pact, and she was eager to meet her contemporaries again.

"Premier, it appears we are the first to arrive. The cermony is set to begin in a few moments, but first we will be meeting the President of Sarzonia, Mike Sarzo, and his chief Vice President, Mark Lorber."

"Excellent. I have wanted to meet Mr. Sarzo fo quite some time."

Lieta smiled as the car stopped. The front passenger, a member of the elite Guard, a fraternal order sworn to keep the Premier safe, gently opened the door. Lieta emerged, followed by the thick ebony cane of the Premier. He stood, towering over the shorter Ambassador, and gazed up toward the building. Truly amazing. I wonder if they would mind if we copied the blueprints...

The Guardsman led the Premier toward the Sarzonian president. Lieta bowed, as she made her introduction:

"Mr. President, Mr. Vice President. As Ambassador of the Voltaru people to this Pact, it is my priviledge to introduce our esteemed leader, Premier Xerco Longbottom."

Xerco walked forward, extending his hand:

"Mr. President, on behalf of all of the Voltarum, I thank you for this opportunity and this remarkable building. It is truly an honor to stand on your soil and help you celebrate what we have established here..."

[OOC: Actually, Mark Lorber's title is Senior Vice President for External Affairs, but my Senior Vice President for Internal Affairs is next in line for the Presidency.]

"I thank you, your Eminence," Sarzo said, bowing slightly before shaking Longbottom's hand, and then Waterhouse's. "Allow me to introduce my First Partner, Mr. Jay Tyler." He motioned for Jay to shake Longbottom's hand and Tyler did so with a broad smile that showed his enthusiasm. As Tyler and Waterhouse shook hands, Lorber stepped forward.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," he said. "My name is Mark Lorber and I'm the Senior Vice President for External Affairs." He shook hands with both Voltaru. "We're glad you could come."

Sarzo noted the admiration for the building with a slight smile. Thank God we spared no expense and pushed everything through, he thought. Good things come to those who wait.

bump for Woodstock Pact members to begin posting

President Sam-O looked out of his window to see the magnificent building the Sarzonians had built. He was stunned. He motioned for Ambassador Red 13 to look out of his window. Instead Red 13 opened the sunroof and popped his head out. When he came down he said…::

Red 13: It looks like we’re second to arrive. The Voltarum are the only ones here.

Sam-O: That’s good…I hate being first.

Red 13: yea I know what you mean…I mean I walked into this par-

Sam-O: Don’t start.

::They both got out and walked towards President Mike Sarzo and Senior Vice President for External Affairs Mark Lorber. When they got close enough Sam-O put his arm out to shake with them both.::

"Ah, Sam-O. Good to see you," Sarzo said with his smile adding a noticeable texture to his voice. He extended his hand and shook Sam-O's and Red 13's hands.

"This is Senior Vice President for External Affairs Mark Lorber," Sarzo said, motioning to Lorber, who then shook their hands. "And this is my First Partner, Mr. Jay Tyler." Sarzo hung back for a second to watch Sam-O's reaction as Tyler stepped forward with his hand extended. He hadn't told Sam-O about Tyler, so introducing him now might be a bit of a shock to a good friend.

No time like the present, Sarzo thought.

TAG for later post to come here!

Her Royal Highness Commodore Princess Catherine emerged from the limousine in her dark winter dress uniform escorted by her aide de camp, Captain Horatio Ponsonby, and her lady-in-waiting, Baroness Augustine of Ortonmews. She hoped the smile she bore was not too strained, unlike the relations between the present administration and the Sarzonian government.

[I'll write more later...]

The car carrying Premier Robertson stopped in front of the new building and they got out. Noting the Samtopians and who Robertson guessed was the head of state for The Voltarum. He also took in the rather impressive building that would serve as the headquarters for the Pact, needless to say he liked the design. So he wandered over to the others, eager to observe the ceremonies.

Sam-O stood there blankly until Red 13 elbowed him to shake Jay's hand. Sam-O shook his hand and said...::

Sam-O: I'm sorry I must have missed that announcement.:: He looked at Red 13 and motioned for them to walk to the side.::

OOC: oh yeah i knew that... i was just um IC, you know, not to confuse the premier... heh ;-)

"It is our pleasure to come, Mr. Vice President. And a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Tyler," the Premier responded. "Now if you will excuse me, I would like to take a seat. I am afraid the long plane ride did awful things to these old legs of mine... "

The Premier started to turn, but stopped and motioned to his Guard. The Guard handed him something, covered in a black velvet bag.

"Likli Vineyards - from my home province, and an excellent year. It is customary in our nation to celebrate such happiness as this Pact with a drink, Mr. President... I hope to share some of this with you and the other delegates later. I hope I brought enough... that trunk in the car was awfully small."

The Premier smiled a wide grin and handed the bottle to one of Sarzo's men. He then turned and let Lieta introduce himself to the other arrivals before he found his seat.

Tag for later post.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and High overnor of all Yaforite Colonies, Aemon Chaliny, was the Yaforite delegate for the Conference. He was a young man, one who enjoyed having fun, a rare thing for a government official.

Looking around, he nodded his approval.

OOC:Bad post, yes I know, but allI can get in at the moment.

Agustinate of International Relations Vasiliou Bandanaris' plane touched down at Woodstock International Airport in Sarzonia's warm, beautiful capital. The post-Sarzo-capture austerity had disappeared, almost four months after Sarzonia's rightful leader had been captured and detained by the Restore Sarzonia Task Force in a lightning coup d'etat that lasted ten days. The police were gone, but the SAFD could be seen at random points around the city, keeping watch in groups of two or three soldiers. Bandanaris wondered when Ell or Venizelos would begin to pull the SAFD back from Sarzonia.

The entourage of two sleek, black Sarzonian-made SUVs and an equally sleek and black six-seater limousine turned right onto Isselmere Avenue, right into gridlock. Horns honked and blared all around the three-vehicle envoy as cars came in behind to stop up the flow of heavy traffic on this artery of inner Woodstock. Well, not quite. More and more cars came in behind, enough to block the intersection for other cars trying to continue on their way past Isselmere Avenue.

Bandanaris pressed the button on his right and the fibreglass divider between the cabin and the driver descended into its holder. The driver turned around.

"Anything the matter, sir?" he said.

"Just trying to look at this gridlock," Bandanaris said. "Meridosanti!* That is a lot of traffic! How long do you expect it to be?"

"Anywhere between ten and fifteen minutes, sir."

"We could walk there in five."

The driver's eyes widened. "Are you sure you want to risk that, sir? At least in here, you have bulletproof glass to protect you. Out there, all you have are Sarzonian agents - which, apart from risking their lives means that if one of them goes down, there's a vul--"

"Vasco," Bandanaris said, turning to his aide. "Call the two SUVs and tell them I'm walking the rest of the way." He turned back to the driver. "Sorry about this."

"Well, it's not a problem, but, it's just an unnecessary risk."

"I don't want to be late, though. You understand, don't you?"

"Of course. Good luck, sir."

"Thank you for the wonderful ride from the airport."

The driver nodded, turned back to the front and the fibreglass barrier ascended back to its normal position. Vasco nodded to Bandanaris and the two waited as a complement of eight agents appeared, four from each SUV. They opened the door and Vasco stepped out first, followed by Vasiliou. Briskly, the ten men walked in formation down the wide stone path, graced by large, delicate willow trees and cobblestone pathways leading up to the modern townhouses on the street.

In four minutes, not five, the walking envoy arrived at the grandiose building on the corner of the wide intersection of Publius and Isselmere. Here, the traffic was worse, though that was because the street had been reduced from six lanes (three each way) to two (one each way) to allow room for diplomatic parking in front of the building.

They should have just closed the street, Bandanaris thought. What a mess!

Bandanaris, Vasco and the eight S3A agents walked up to the amazing, modern structure that showed both Sarzonian ingenuity and hard work, and flavours of all the members of the pact.

President Mike Sarzo turned and immediately recognised Bandanaris, that characteristically warm grin dawning on his face. Bandanaris walked up and shook his hand firmly with a genuine smile in return. "Mike, it's always a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having us. The building... is spectacular."

(OOC: Meridosanti is Pacitalian for "holy crap", it's an idiomatic/colloquialism.)

OOC: I'll let the thing about the gridlock slide even though Woodstock Mayor Chip Moose would have closed the street down to all but diplomatic-related traffic. Because it's just too damn good. ;)


IC: "Well, it seems like most of the people who have RSVP'd are here," Sarzo said. "Should we get ready for the ceremony to begin?"

"Wait, Mike," Lorber said. "We haven't seen the delegation from Praetonia yet. Xeraph's and Inkana's representatives have already sent their regrets."

"Very well, we'll wait a few more minutes to get started then," Sarzo said. He sighed slightly as his thoughts wandered from the ceremony as he looked at Princess Catherine for a brief second. He grimaced when he thought of how relations with Sarzonia's closest allies had become strained by the mess surrounding the Credonian embargo. Now Credonia wanted peace talks that Sarzo was going to insist would take place in Woodstock.

He looked down at his watch and grimaced. We really need to get going soon. The folks from the governmental observers' network were on their way and they were on tight deadlines and Sarzo's background as an ex-journalist meant that he realised that deadlines were called deadlines for a damned good reason. But he was going to give the Praetonians a few extra minutes whether the folks at ZSPAN liked it or not.

A large, sleek plane descended loudly onto the tarmack of the Woodstock International Jetport. On board was Imperator Sarius Publius I (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v387/Praetonia/ImperatorSP.jpg) of Praetonia, a man who was much-loved in Sarzonia, and in return he reserved his greatest affections, aside from those for his homeland, for Sarzonia and her people. It was general practice for the Imperator to represent Praetonia on state occasions, but only those which did not require a diplomatic presence which he had no constitutional right to deliver. For that reason he had not visited Sarzonia since his coronation, and it was with intense satisfaction that he breathed Sarzonian air once again.

Stepping down the stair way, he waved politely to the press on the tarmack and, surrounded by guards in beautiful yet anachronistic armour (http://www.armsandarmour.co.uk/new%20adds%20title%20photo.JPG) and carrying long, thin spears, he made his way to the waiting car.

Pulling up on the street that was, presumably, named after him, he stepped out of the car and thanked the guard who held the door open for him. With his entourage behind him, he made his way towards the group of Sarzonian officials.

"President Sarzo, Senior Vice President, Mr Tyler," he greeted them politely, bowing his head slightly to each in turn, "It is a pleasure to see you all again."

Sarzo smiled broadly, shaking Publius's hand enthusiastically after a quick bow in deference to his status as Imperator of Praetonia.

"It's great to see you, Your Highness," Sarzo said. "Welcome back to Woodstock." He saw Lorber out of the corner of his eye angling for a chance to say hello and graciously stepped aside for Lorber.

"Your Highness, it's our pleasure to have you here," Lorber beamed. He then stepped aside with a flourish to let Tyler shake the hand of the Imperator. Tyler did so.

"It's nice to see you without my secret service uniform on," Tyler joked. "Thank you for coming. Mike has said a lot of nice things about you."

"Let's begin," Sarzo said, stepping toward the podium as the ZSPAN and SNN crews set up shop with cameras.

"My fellow Sarzonians, members of the Woodstock Pact and assorted friends, today is a glorious day for us in the history of the Woodstock Pact. Today, we open a new chapter in our history by inaugurating the building where the Pact's headquarters will take place.

"In honour of Sarzonia's two closest allies and friends, this building that we dedicate, consecrate, and hallow today is at the corner of Publius and Isselmere. We have secured an agreement that allows the building to have two mailing addresses that reflect both streets. Inside, you will find that to the left of the main lobby of this great building is a Hall of Leaders. This has officially commissioned portraits of the current leaders of Pact member nations. King Henry V of the United Kingdom of Isselmere-Nieland, Imperator Sarius Publius of the Democratic Imperium of Praetonia, Prime Minster Timothy Ell of Pacitalia, and all leaders are to be immortalised forevermore in this building.

Lorber handed Sarzo an enormous pair of scissors and he beckoned Publius and Tyler to join him. Publius stood to his left and Tyler stood to his right as he made a deliberate cut to officially open the building for business.

The Premier sat anxiously in his chair, waiting for the dedication to start. He stared up at Sarzo as he made his way to the stage, flanked by who he recognized as the leader of Praetonia. A good first impression, he thought to himself. A firm handshake tells a lot about a man.

Sarzo started his dedication, and the Premier listened intently.

"... and all leaders are to be immortalised forevermore in this building."

He turned to Lieta. "I am liking this Pact more and more every minute. But I do hope the artists here are as skilled as the ones we have back home. A face like mine is very hard to capture." He smiled and winked at the Ambassador, who smiled back and turned to watch as Sarzo cut the ceremonial ribbon. As it fell to the floor, both Lieta and Xerco stood and started the applause.

Sam-O applauded lightly. Red 13 also clapped but less enthusiastically. Sam-O turned to Red 13 and said…::

Sam-O: Why do you come to these things if you get bored easily?

Red 13: It’s not that I’m bored…I think I have ADD though.

Sam-O: I doubt it. How do you pay attention in meetings at home?

Red 13: I don’t. I look over Frogg’s report.

::Sam-O had given up on Red 13 for quiet awhile. He still, however, asked him questions every once in awhile. His mind drifted off. He was beginning to think about how he would act in the meeting. He wanted to stay quiet most of the time and let Red 13 handle most of it. Even though Red 13 was a bit off sometimes…He was still a respected man. When He finally came to his senses, He stood up and walked around waiting for the instructions on what to do next.::

Maayan Levi stepped off the plane and headed straight for a car, which took her to the building in question. She stepped out half an hour later. She was dressed in a knee length black skirt and a white shirt, with a black jacket. She walked around, introducing herself to the various people in attendance.

ooc: Just a short tag.

Describing the building was one thing. So was consulting with various contractors regarding its construction. But walking through the building with various Woodstock Pact dignitaries was still a surreal experience for Sarzo. Even as he made a pitch for a marble floor and insisted on the finest construction materials, the interminable delays in construction seemed to frustrate his efforts in getting the building completed or getting the alliance off the ground.

He directed the throng toward a room that was next to the Hall of Leaders. Inside was a bust of select former national leaders who were to be immoralised with busts of their likenesses. Casting a glance at both late Prime Minister Julianus of Praetonia and King Robert VI of Isselmere-Nieland was poignant for different reasons. Set to the side and ready for deployment in the event it was necessary was a portrait of former Isselmerian-Nielander Prime Minister Oliver Yardmouth, a man who was almost as deeply revered in Sarzonia as was Imperator and former Praetonian Prime Minister Sarius Publius.

"Here we have a separate room for the greats in the history of the Woodstock Pact. Over here is a bust of King Robert VI, the former royal soverign of Isselmere-Nieland and here," Sarzo said, pausing as he began to choke up slightly, "is the late Prime Minister Julianus of Praetonia. We spared no expense to ensure that our alliance receives the honours it is fully due."

He drew his breath slightly, then began again. "Now, let me show you the offices for each member of the Pact. After that, I'll take you to the conference centre. We'll have a quick meeting there and we can then get down to business with our official delegates establishing their presence here."

Sergyn Torshan stopped at the doors of the Woodstock Pact HQ and looked around. The building was magnificent, but he had other things on his mind. Where the hell was everyone? Then he noticed that the ribbon had been cut. He walked in, listening for signs of the other delegates. His uncomfortably formal shoes clicked loudly on the poished marble floor, and he hoped that he wasn't tracking mud in. Formality was a rare experience for him, as were business suits: normal dress for the Taldaan Parliament was black jeans and a t-shirt.

Then he heard voices. The assorted dignitaries from the other nations of the Woodstock Pact were there, although the delegates from Xeraph and Inkana were nowhere to be seen.

Recognising President Sarzo, he walked over, feeling a little nervous. He had never met any of these powerful men in person before, and suddenly he didn't feel quite so potent. Waiting for him to finish what he was saying, he walked up and shook his hand firmly.

"Hello. I'm Sergyn Torshan, President of Taldaan. Sorry I'm late, we hit some terrible turbulence over the Pacific."

Xerco's left knee was killing him - it seemed as they had been walking for days. (OCC: haha) He listened to Sarzo as he gazed at the busts of the former leaders. Greats of the Woodstock Pact. Lets hope I live long enough to see a Voltaru in here...

Just as they turned to walk toward the conference room, the Premier noticed another dignitary walk up to the crowd and eventually shake Sarzo's hand. The more the merrier, he thought. He turned to Lieta and noticed that she was reviewing some notes. He continued on with the crowd, hoping there would be a nice comfy seat at the end of this tour.