NationStates Jolt Archive

The seas reflected gold, more than a thousand years ago. It really was a precious material that shone from wavetops and then fell away on the approach of the ship's prow, not unlike the pot of gold at the end of somebody else's rainbow, and it drew on the Al Khalis, just a little further, the hull shall be caked in gold dust by the time we hit land!

Al Khalis belonged traditionally to their own Muslim sect and did not lose much sleep over the propriety of their earthly ambition or their pursuit of material wealth.

What a people were these, outnumbered by the residents of the Faroe Islands, that could see glory on seas into which they had been forcibly cast? Al Khalis! Al Khalis, who had captured all Malta one thousand one hundred and thirty six years ago, who had protected at least its second island against such historic enemies as the Normans, the Aragonese, the famous Order of Knights of the Hospital of St.John of Jerusalem, and the legendary little Corsican in need of no introduction. Al Khalis who had thought, until the C21st, sustained an outpost in total isolation in Africa against the ambitions of natives and white men alike. Al Khalis who survived accusations of heresy and all the fury that these brought in Syria until they made that most awful of mistakes, to side with the Turks.

Back then, back in the days of foundation, Għawdex was one of three big rocks at the middle of a sea that washed-up gold in the sand, and Zanzibar was not even known to the Al Khalis. Now, little Gozo was all that remained for a merchant empire older than united England and once connected by threads pinned to two continents, three Emirates dispersed across thousands of miles.

The ships today, four Omar Class light patrol frigates, half a dozen Goat Class minehunters, most of a dozen aptly-named Nomad Class coastal utility vessels, more Dimuqratiyah Class missile craft than could be counted at a glance, and two well-appointed yatchs, all were abandoning Tanzania, the last Al Khali Emirate created and most recently fallen, hoping to travel by a way that might have changed so much had it existed in ancient history.



The Suez Canal was a fantasy to surpass oceans of liquid gold in the heads of ancient Al Khalis, if only it could have been then and theirs. But it was all too late, Southern Africa was finally lost, and the canal had just one purpose for the Al Khalis.

Aboard one of the two yatchs -a modern affair with more luxury fittings than seemed proper for what was listed officially as a military training vessel (the other was a full rigged ship of sail, refitted with an engine and some further out-of-place modern elements)- Omar Qottar's displaced government continued to operate. This vessel sent the order for communication with Baghdad, alerting Elias to the fleet's approach and requesting that it be allowed through en route to the last surviving Al Khali Emirate, Għawdex.

At this moment, there was no overt indication of Qottar's intention to make Gozo his. The current Emir, widely viewed as a harmless inbred simpleton, certainly held no suspicions, and was actually keen to see the African Emirate's naval forces sailed into his command, failing absolutely to appreciate the ambition and militarism of the politicised secularist Qottar or to see this as a threat to his personal power. The Emir would even tell Baghdad of his pleasure at seeing the southern Al Khalis return to the last surviving Emirate.

Omar Qottar, deposed in a mess of military defeat to Lusaka and concurrent black socialist and Arab Islamist uprising, remained borderline sycophantic in his perfectly overt admiration of United Elias and the stability achieved in that mighty state. His luxury yatch was strewn with the paper evidence of his intent to get it right, this time... to do without the disunity brought by non-Arabs and the excessive influence of religious politics. In many respects, though he called himself President and not Emir, Omar Qottar was the archetype of the historic Al Khali. He ought to have been fatigued, he ought to be pained by defeat, but Omar's eyes saw what day came tomorrow. In Omar's eyes, all the gold waters ran through Egypt's canal. In Omar's eyes there lurked no desire for sleep.

The Imperial Roycelandian Navy have sent the Dreadnoughts IRNS James Bond, IRNS Ernst Blofeld, and IRNS Miles Messervy to formally see escort the Al Khalis through Roycelandian territorial waters, and a squadron of Sunderland Flying Boats, Spitfires, and Harrier Jump Jets along with the Carrier Airship IRAS Terrordactyl are providing overwatch.

"Damn shame to see the Lusakans get the Al Khalian Tanzania... you sure something couldn't have been worked out?", asked His Majesty over his morning coffee and croissant...

Shame indeed, but it was a long time coming. It was something of a wonder that the Al Khalis ever had a foothold on the African east coast, and the Zanzibari Emirate was remote and troubled from the start, though a long time quite rich.

Escort from the Roycelandians was an historical oddity, since the Al Khali decline started in part with Roycelandia's rise, their military empire surplanting the Al Khali merchant kingdom in most of eastern Tanzania. Since then, the southern portion of the African Emirate had struggled, painfully aware of its inferiority in the region and isolated from home until the laying of the Suez Canal, something for which the Al Khalis themselves would have positively loved to take responsibility.

The Emirate became an unhappy place, especially after the fall of the Middle Eastern homeland at the conclusion of the Great War, and sank into obscurity under the rule of self-interested dynasties and manipulative clerics. When Omar Qottar arrived just years ago and took charge, he was widely supported at first, but sank most of the nation's efforts into military industry.

Qottar saw the territory as a minor part of the Al Khali civilisation, and had dreams of liberating his own home and making Al Khalis once again masters in what had become Sabir. Taking Zanzibar was his only aim for the Tanzanian province, and he attacked Lusaka without much thought for being outnumbered by an enemy experienced in several serious wars while his people hadn't fought so much as a skirmish in living memory. But Qottar saw it as a desperate campaign to begin with, thinking it the only opportunity his people would ever have to save themselves, and he ordered the invasion in hopes of finding Lusakan Arabs supportive and restoring the Zanzibari Emirate in a new form.

But the Lusakan Arabs were apparently happier than the reputation of Al Khalis in a land long dominated by tyrants, who themselves were sick of religious domination and social control, and nobody rose up to help. Thinking the Lusakans nothing more than bush soldiers, Qottar even thought that his mobile forces would smash through towns on the way, and the whole adventure bogged-down when the enemy proved themselves adaptable to urban fighting.

Qottar's soldiers were disheartened by finding disinterest in restoration amongst their kin in the United African Republic, further depressed by military failure reinforcing their long-standing feelings of national inadequacy, and the Islamists began to organise after the self-made president replaced the old order. His Republic was finished, but the old Emirate too was exposed for all its discontent, especially next to the relatively content and free Lusakans.

Al Khals in Africa had died after a lingering illness of centuries.

Still, Qottar's fleet almost looked noble once escorted by the Roycelandians, and it took on a new disposition, sailing at a cruise and in pleasing formation rather than in the hasty retreat of its initial departure. Qottar could often be seen out on the deck of his yatch, smoking a fat Roycelandian cigar and waving to the over-flying aircraft. He now made it a point to always order Roycelandian smokes and to let it be known to the state and the companies involved that Omar Qottar bought Roycelandian.

It seemed like a simple way to create the idea that he was a good guy as well as an enemy of Lusaka (though he'd never really had a vendetta against them, he just wanted Zanzibar back, and would probably have attacked the Roycelandians if they hadn't retreated from Zanzibar years ago), leading to possible further attention that would show him as a secularist with an interest in his people's historical empire, and the sort of guy worthy of future support.

He was quite possibly going to need it.

Meanwhile, his fleet moved on towards the Suez, hoping now with Roycelandian backing to be well received by its masters.

To say that the Indian Commonwealth, formerly known as Hindustan, dislikes the Sabiri government would be an understatement. Sabir is widely regarded as the primary Middle Eastern oppressor (beating out United Elias!) and Mumbai would not pain to see its government toppled. But as is the case with most things outside the Indian Subcontinent, Mumbai doesn't have the slightest idea as to what is going on. It is widely hoped that, firstly, the Sabiris see it fit to stop treating the Kurds so terribly badly, but this is as unlikely as the Moroccans stopping their near-genocide (if not that) against the Saharawis.

Omar Qottar, however, flies completely below the figurative radar of the Indian Commonwealth Ministry of Military Intelligence, so for him to do anything is apt to constitute a major surprise. "Oh, who was he? Let's consult the records...ah, leader of the Tanzanian Al Khali emirate was he? Well, good for him!" might say an analyst after watching the BBC one night. Needless to say, the Al Khalis in Tanzania were not at all enjoyed by Mumbai, but they were hardly the worst.

The small contingent of HMDF ships hanging around the Bab El Mandeb on shipping patrol duty are somewhat surprised by the arrival of a flotilla of Al Khali navy ships. Even if the two Leander-class frigates are inclined to stop and search them (unlikely, given that two Leanders hardly constitutes a fearsome naval force under the best of conditions), the presence of an Elian escort convinces them otherwise and the crew contents itself with making photographic records of the event.

Even for the average Indian Commonwealther, educated far beyond what their humble appearance would suggest, the geographical location of the remaining Al Khali emirates is a challenge. For the completely uneducated North Pakistani, victim of a government which spends every penny on defense and even then relies on equipment that is outdated and in short supply, it is nothing short of impossible. Mustafa Shareef, North Pakistan's military dictator, is alone in his entheusiasm for the nation. With neither China nor Russia no longer willing to fund his military expeditions against Kashmir, and the government coffers draining rapidly, he sees improved international relations as the only way out of a rather tricky situation. Little does he know, Al Khals is not as rich as he makes it out to be...

His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste was quite pleased with the burgeoning monarchic Arab power, any state that made Hindustan writhe was a state worth befriending.

So the French Mission was dispatched to Damascus, led by Monsieur le Comte de Villecour. Having already established excellent relations with the close Bourbon ally Royce I, the Khali government was heralded as a 'bright new star' in the formerly dark and dismal eastern Med. The French would offer trade of all items, from corn to C-4. Some of the cheapest rice in the world was grown by forced labor in New Provence, and who could argue with the quality of French grape and grain?

At any rate, in Versailles, Louis-Auguste recieved the news very well, remarking 'why, this is simply fine!'

As of yet, Damascus remains in the control of a troubled and unpopular Sabiri authority, and all that has changed in the world of Al Khals is the fall to African socialists of a secularist authoritarian President in the Tanzanian land where his government had replaced one of two surviving Al Khali Emirates.

Today, Al Khals is Għawdex (Gozo), a more than thousand year Emirate of less than thirty thousand ocean-trading Arabs ruled by a fat inbred who preserved one branch of a royal line that was older than the controversial Islamic off-shoot religion it upheld. The small fleet en route from Africa is fleeing the collapse of the Tanzanian Republic, and being welcomed by the undeniably stupid Emir, though its commander, deposed president Omar Qottar, of course intends to make Għawdex his own.

Qottar himself is Sabiri-born, of the oppressed Al Khali people living along the coast but wealthy enough -thanks to little publicised descent from the Syrian Emirs- to have travelled to Africa and organised the take-over of the Tanzanian Emirate and launched it into self destructive war against the Lusakans. He now intends to do what recently seemed impossible, and restore the ostracised Al Khalis to power in Syria.

While Holy League support would be desirable, Qottar, naturally inclined to secularism, is also keen to court Baghdad, much closer and more directly influential over struggling Sabir. Still, though Omar may be frequently over ambitious, he is not without intelligence, and the secondary hope he holds for domination of the Lebanon may go more easily without the League's opposition.

The President might yet reactivate his hereditary claims along with those of his people, perhaps calling himself Shaikh instead of, or as well as President.

Of course, Baghdad could yet dedicde to block the unpredictable troublemaker's fleet in its attempt to secure passage through the Suez, and leave Qottar looking for vasselage under the thus-far helpful Roycelandian Emperor as his best way to power, so it was perhaps a little soon to speculate!

tag, will post later...

Among Baghdad's ruling elite the mention of the name Omar Qottar almost always illicited unreserved praise. As a tough but fair autocrat, a secularist and a capitalist, he is very much considered 'one of us.' Many still feel rather guilty over allowing the African part of Al Khals to be overun by the Lusakans, and the fact that Qottar had escaped and had not given up his cause, made him that much more respected.

It is no suprise therefore that as a soon as it is requested, Qottar is given persmission to transit the Suez, and also his safe passage to Għawdex is guranteed by a modest escort of a pair of Elias Navy frigates. The President also sends a personal message to Qottar saying that a face to face meeting should be arranged as soon as it was convenient. Specualtion is rife within the Foreign Affairs Ministry about what Qottar would do on his arrival at the Emirate. Whilst UE had nothing against the Emir, indeed relations had always been cordial, he quite clearly lacked the intelligence and the ambition to be of any significant use.

Meanwhile in Damascus, a political crisis emerges. President Fayiz Sabir who had also been a long time friend of Baghdad, is ailing. As his health worsens, his power and influence dwindle as government and military officials factionalise in anticipation of his death. With the President's son and only heir, Rashid Umar Sabir having been executed for treason under orders of his father, there would no doubt be a succession crisis that would likely tear apart the regime from within. The inevitability of the situation did not make it any easier to handle, and the thought of an Islamist or Socialist takeover was enough for many in UE to lose sleep. Many are now thinking that the return of Qottar to the Middle East is a massive stroke of good fortune and might just be the solution to this problem. Either way, Baghdad would not certainly be laissez-faire if its most significant neighbour erupted in revolution and unrest.

OCC: Very sorry, Al-Khals. Quite a hasty post. I suppose nobody writes well late at night, so I'll just edit it to conform with things more...better.

OOC: Don't worry, it took a long time to decide what I was doing.
1)Three Emirates in history (western Syria [big historic Syria], Malta, eastern Tanzania
2)one (Tanz.) reduced by the Roycelandians centuries ago, and another (Malta) reduced (to Gozo) by various Christians
3)the homeland in western Syria put under French control after picking the wrong side in WWI and made unpopular throughout Arabia for doing so
4)homeland, as a result of siding with Turks against Arabs, made a minor partner in the new Sabir after independence from France
5)reduced Tanzanian Emirate turned into 'Democratic' Republic by Qottar
6)Republic crushed by black socialists and Arab Islamists
7)Qottar heads back to Gozo, last surviving AK territory, currently an Emirate, with the intention of making it another secular autocracy and then restoring Syria to Al Khali rule.

Somewhere off the coast of the Al Khali Democratic Republic

The Roycelandian Submarine IRNS Silencer surface in the dead of night, giving the crew a welcome oppurtunity to catch a breath of fresh air and stretch their legs.

From the North-West came the unmistakeable sound of four heavy-duty Turboprop Engines, attached to a Maritime Air Service Sunderland Flying Boat. The Submarine flashed the recognition signal to the approaching plane, which replied in kind. Suddenly, the ocean was bathed in light from the plane and the submarine, allowing a safe landing on the relatively calm seas.

The Sunderland had mail and other sundries for the Submarine, but also 12 Foreign Legionnaires, who were to be inserted into the former Al Khali Democratic Republic as it imploded on itself.

Already, plans were being made to evacuate Al Khalis left behind in the hurried evacuation, with rumours of DC-3s, Sunderlands, and even the new CH-42 Bedouin transport/gunships being flown to the area to secure airports etc and evacuate as many people as possible.

In the meantime, the Foreign Legionnaires were going in to keep tabs on the situation and see what they could do to influence it...

Zanzibar

"Sunderland, confirmed." The important words in an exchange between operators of the island's Igovian Red Sky radar. Concerns that the Roiks may be hunting Lusakan submarines made sure that intercept was carried out in this tense time of conflict, where often the strained Lusakan defences may have simply watched for anything more immediately aggressive before bothering to react.

A Preston ASWAP aircraft armed with depth bombs and one light anti-submarine torpedo reacted first, followed by a Ka-32-BG Super Helix helicopter, and, moments later, two F-20L Tigershark interceptors and a pair of Mbu Class (former Drapoel Mogi) fast missile craft.

The Roycelandians were several hundred kilometres from their own border, and the supersonic Tigersharks were over-flying the submarine and seaplane on the surface within moments.

"Attention, Roycelandian vessel, this is the United African Republican Air Force, do not attempt to submerge or..." "...attempt to take-off or you will be fired upon." "Flash your compliance, and..." "...await escort."

Before long the two jets would be replaced over-head by the anti-submarine warfare plane and helicopter, and two machinegun-carrying boats were racing towards the Roycelandians.

The Captain of the IRNS Silencer[ knew when they'd been jumped, and also knew that it would take at least three minutes to accomplish an emergency dive at the moment, with several of the crew on the decks or otherwise unprepared as they unloaded goods from the Sunderland.

They were, of course, well outside the 12-mile limit on territorial waters, so shooting first would create a diplomatic incident, but nonetheless it was an option being seriously entertained.

"Attention UARL Aircraft, our GPS system indicates we are outside the 12-mile territorial limit on Lusakan Waters. As it is, we are being resupplied after running out of sundry supplies during our voyage. We have no quarrel with Lusaka, and any attempt to detain or otherwise molest us will have diplomatic and possibly military repercussions..."

The crew of the over-flying Preston continued to circle as two missile craft approached at forty knots, lamps indicating their arrival ahead of time.

"They're waving the law of the sea at us." Said an airborne communications officer to his captain. "They're in our exclusive economic zone." He replied. "Signal they're to be boarded, in exercise of the Republic's soverign rights to manage these waters, for inspection. If they need to know why, not that they've any particular right to, tell them it's bloody suspicious, them landing seaplanes and using submarines in the dead of night, and for all we know they're prospecting what's ours to explore, or even poaching what's ours to exploit." "Yis, Sir." Replied the communications officer, turning back to his equipment with one hand clasping the headphones to his ear against the noise of the aircraft's old piston engines.

The Roycelandians might by now be able to make-out the dual-mounted 12.7mm Utes machineguns afore each of the Mbu Class boats, and soon the Zanzibar Arab gunners partially shielded behind them.

Realising that discretion is the better part of Valour, anything that might be considered a non-personal weapon (ie,explosives) gets tossed over the side.

By the time the Lusakans arrive, what they'll see is a Flying Boat resupplying a Submarine. Admittedly, it's the middle of the night, but they are technically in International Waters, and it's not like the Lusakans have ever done anything dodgy before... all those "Fishing Boats" in Roycelandian Waters that were overlooked in the interests of expediency.

I should also mention that a Roycelandian submarine has a 40mm deck gun and at least two .50MGs on board, and whilst the Sunderland in question here is the Transport model, it too has a top-mounted turret with dual 20mm cannon in it, as well as a nose turret with quad .303MGs. In short, it's not like they're completely helpless.

The captain of the Silencer shrugs. "If they want to come aboard, let them. They're not going to find anything."

Omar Qottar was a man of ambition and some vision, reasonably intelligent with it, but not the world's finest tactician. In the Democratic Republic he and his brightest minons, notably Fariq Asim Abdelal and Amid Sani Amir, had devised a fiendishly complicated conspiracy by which to legitimately vanquish major democratic opposition created in a manner of speaking by Qottar when he headed the replacement of the Emir with a multi-party system. That was done in the first place in order to afford Qottar legitimacy and to avoid directly attacking traditionalists by an armed coup against the Emirate. Through their conspiracy, while destroying effective opposition in the new system, the Qottar-friendly Al Khals Kadira Republic Party had sought to win disproportionate international support and in such a way as to distract from political repression.

Now, though their part in it is not common knowledge, the cynical inventors of the God's Spear terror network that was blamed for bomb and rocket attacks and a wide range of criminal activity from Tanzania to Algeria and known in Roycelandian East Africa as the Spear of Allah, were rethinking their strategy. A conspiracy full of double agents, lies, stories, and manipulation had ultimately backfired when the pawns ran amok and ruined Qottar's strategy.

This time his mind was deliberately clear of any plan. He dediced that this straightforward approach would be taken-on in a trial of his more instinctive skills. Of course, his resources didn't afford him much choice, and this was much a do or die situation, politically speaking.

Gozo

The Tanzanian fleet passed Maltese waters and approached Għawdex at a casual pace before a launch made for shore from one of the assembly's four light frigates. Fariq Abdelaziz Mahamat, commander 1st Habob Division, Republican Guard, came ashore at Marselforn to a little fanfare put on by the Emir, who could be seen smiling away dressed in terribly old-fashioned Ottoman-influenced finery, though he hadn't bothered to stop stuffing his face with food.

The world's press was not on hand to see the meeting, but it would soon come to learn what happened next, as the Emir and his bodyguard were sent fleeing up the dusty road to Rabat under a barrage of naval gunfire from 76.2mm and 122mm weapons. The dictator had failed to accept, possibly even to fully understand the Lieutenant-General's declaration of Qottar's sovereignty, and now the Tanzanian Al Khalis were invading the Għawdex Emirate.

A land of twenty seven thousand residents locked in agrarian isolation under the religiously-influenced but erratic rule of the self-indulgent in-bred Emir, the little island protected by its feeble Emirati Guard was quite unprepared to fight. The defenders were fortunate that Qottar's fleet was unwilling to shell the town of Marselforn, and most escaped through it into the hills and back towards the capital just a few kilometres away, and fortunate that the attackers hadn't the support and technology to fire with any hope of hitting the desired targets at that range.

Still, the landing that followed was virtually uncontested, and Qottar had the small coastal town in his complete control without suffering a single casualty. A few captured guards were offered the opportunity to swear loyalty to the Arab Republic of Al Khals and the Al Khals Kadira Republic Party, and to follow Qottar's General to Rabat. All but two accepted, and they would likely be broken in time. Qottar's ships were by now forming a ring around the little island, their guns having the range to hit any point if only they received proper targetting information.

Three turncoat guards were given VZ58 assault rifles and joined fourteen Tanzanian infantry in moving on the capital. The Emir would regard this party as Qottar's best effort, an army, even smaller than his own, sent to defeat him in battle, and would order his regrouped Guard out to mass against them.

And, as more personnel came ashore, it seemed that Marselforn was rising cautiously in their support.

Rabat, Għawdex

The Republicans approached the Emire's palace with a hurridly calculated balance of haste and caution, hot on the heels of the retreating guards who would regroup there.

Defences were indeed being made ready, but there was not time enough to fully prepare before the seventeen arrived in sight of the palace, situated atop a gentle hill. The Emirate's guards were setting-up a Vickers machinegun obtained from the British in part of a deal that saw Għawdex denied to the Axis as a weapon against Malta and since little maintained except perhaps through a long forgotten contract with a Roycelandian firm to refurbish the old British weapons. Three riflemen armed with SMLE's opened fire from the wall above when the Republicans came into view, but the Emir's guard was as much ceremonial as effective, and the shooters were little trained.

Equally unprepared was the ground surrounding the palace, which was covered in vines tall enough to hide the Republicans as they approached.

Some gunfire was exchanged at range, most between the Emirate's guards and the three turned to the Republicans, and all to little effect. The Republicans, armed with AK-74 assault rifles, were attempting to harass the two men emplacing the Vickers but, due to the edge of the vineyard that gave cover, could not approach safely to make a clear shot.

A strange sight came, next. Eight horses, fine Arabian stallions, came clattering out from behind the palace walls, riders dressed like something out of the C15th and shrieking terribly. The Republicans were dumbstruck, their three turncoat locals apparently intimidated by the finest core of the Emir's guard. One stood up, visibly shaking, and tried to aim his Czech rifle at the first rider. A lance was thrown at him with skill greater than the aim of the local riflemen, striking the fearful convert to republicanism and knocking him off his feet. A second convert up and ran, exposing himself as he went through the vines. He was cut-down from behind by the sabre of another rider. One of the Republicans at this point had managed to fell a horseman with well placed rifle fire, and, with the others hidden amongst the vines, the remaining cavalry were forced into retreat, two more gunned-down as they went.

With just a few shots exchanged and the Republicans now pinned-down by the Emir's machinegun, which had opened-up as the cavalry withdrew, a loud crunch followed whistling, and shell fragments showered the palace compound. A second transmission from the Republican infantry and another shell, this one incendiary, landed on the palace roof.

With smoke rising, the Emir, in a panic, ordered many of his guards to the well, and sent a servant through the side gates to the town to gather civilians who might help fight the blaze.

Two dozen citizens came racing in some confusion up the road towards the compound, shouting and pointing, many stooping to avoid flying bullets. As they approached the front gate, the two guards crewing the Vickers, unaware of the full situation and buffeted by the heat and sound of flames behind and the crackle of gunfire all around, their own and Republican, saw the advancing crowd as a mob storming towards the palace gates. Since they were already fighting Al Khalis, they assumed the worst.

Dozens of rounds popped from the machinegun and cut into the shocked and confused party of citizens. The .303" bullets were launched by a propellant that was more fear and confusion than malice in composition, but they landed in the flesh of people who had come to help, some in their midsts bearing water, not weapons. The popular perception of the Emirate could not have been moving much faster into the negative pole even before this horror, but now it would go further. One of the three riflemen on the wall fell at this point, hit by a 5.45mm round.

"Those are the only Republic we have!" Shouted the officer commanding the Republican unit, indicating the falling civilians and in reference to the small population of Għawdex and the even smaller population of escaped Tanzanians. "Come on, brothers, at that gun!" And he rose, waving his arm forwards and starting a charge towards the distracted Vickers emplacement.

Fifteen riflemen now dashed forwards, hoping to disable the machinegun before it could be swung back against them, meanwhile taking fire from just two poorly trained riflemen with bolt-action weapons. The Tanzanians and their one remaining local convert charged so suddenly after seeming to be immobile, and attacked with such ferocity that the defenders were quite surprised. The attackers shouted, "God is Great!" and, "Long Live the Republic!" one or two skipping sideways as they shot bursts of automatic fire up at the riflemen on the walls, before the machinegun post exploded, hit by a 40mm grenade launched from an under-slung launcher on a Republican AK-74.

The Republicans were in, and the bulk of the Emirate's guard didn't even notice, busy as they were fighting fires. The last surviving defender on the walls now surrendered, and, disarmed and having sworn fealty to the Republic and the Party, was sent with one Republican, covered by the rest, to inform the Emir of a rout, and the breach of his defences.

A new flag was hoisted over the still burning palace compound, its colours revolutionary and stinking of independence and all the strength of the Kadira Republic Party.

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/al_khals.jpg

OOC: No point adding more just yet, so a bump.

The Elias diplomatic mission in Rabat is given instructions to contact the Emir and offer him political asylum in United Elias. Not necessarily because he was ever a particulaly great friend of Baghdad, but it is seen as the easiest way of quietly removing him without a lot of fuss or violence. He is informed that the substantial cash reserves his family hold in various international bank accounts could allow him to purchase an elegant residence somewhere warm and quiet such Sharm El-Sheikh, and lead a relaxing, secure life.

Baghdad also makes sure that it is the first to officially recognise the new Al Khali Republic. Whilst is noted that the new flag in colour was very similar to that of the Federal Dictatorship, some concerns exist over the 'Allahu Akkbar' writing. Being aware of faith was one thing, but it seemed that secularism was not part of Qottar's agenda.

OOC:I know I haven't actually posted but I'll send a note saying that I'm actively reading this thread and that, not only am I preparing a response, but I have an IC excuse too.

Not unsurprisingly, Mumbai does not recognize Omar Qottar's republic for some time, during which considerable debate takes place over just how to treat the Republican takeover. Clearly, is the consensus, whatever Qottar is doing now is better than what the Emir was doing earlier, and the firefight at the Emir's palace (recorded by a Balochi radio-journalist lucky enough to be in Rabat) does little to help Qottar's detractors. Eventually, a statement is approved by the local councils that, in an ambiguous and verbose fashion, appears to recognize Republican soveriegnty over the island, while at the same time condemning Al-Khali rule in Tanzania.

Several hours earlier, though, President Mustafa Shareef of North Pakistan announces his nation's support for Omar Qottar's Republic in no uncertain terms. While this is largely to curry even more favor with Baghdad, Shareef can identify with Omar Qottar through his own early rise to power, driving-out the Llewellyn-backed Sultan. As a gesture of support, Shareef decides to give Qottar's republic two An-2 transports, but is sure to ask Baghdad about it lest he lose Elian support.

The Emir, it was soon reported, had, wailing, taken a sword and killed himself upon hearing of the tragic killing by his guards of seven citizens of Rabat.

There would be future investigations and no doubt much mourning, but the Emir's mistakes were his own, and his death likewise by his own hand. Qottar set to distracting people as best he could with the foundation of republic, promising revised taxes, opening of the Emir's palace to mourners and then tourists, and with that prosperity in tourists' currency and new industries. No more farming hard just to pay for the elite's art collections. New opportunities, and the world opened up.

The Emir's bullet-riddled corpse was re-dressed in some of his finer robes, hiding the wounds, and he was made-up for a very brief laying in state, soon to be spirited away and burned.

Qottar even organised an election in following days, the Tanzanian KSU having settled in to tiny Għawdex without much difficulty. Some people claimed that they didn't even remember seeing the popular community figure, old Mr.Kanaan, running with a bucket on the day of the battle, when several locals were gunned-down in error by the Emir's machinegunners, but he was dead so perhaps, in all the confusion, they'd simply been mistaken.

In any event, Omar Qottar may as well have been running unopposed, now, and would be President inside a month. Thirty thousand subjects didn't exactly make the Arab Republic of Al Khals a super power, but Qottar had his foot back on the ladder.

A visit to United Elias would be his first official tour, he'd decided even before standing for election, but he also sent thanks to the President of North Pakistan.

Almost as if in reference to Baghdad's concerns, Qottar spent significantly from his little remaining fortune in outlining his manifesto before the election.

Għawdex under the Al Khali Republic would elect a President for Life and establish a parliament containing multiple parties, the victorious party in the Presidential election there after receiving by constitution (to be enacted if his campaign with the AKKR Party were successful) at least half of the available seats. Other parties could represent departments provided that they continue to achieve sufficient referenda-established support on a regular basis.

This all sounded very fair to a small, virtually pre-industrial society used to living under hereditary autocracy.

The Al Khals Kadira Republic Party would pursue reunification with the wider historic empire (in Syria and Tanzania), pursue market reforms (Qottar was not clear on the mode or extent of these reforms), attempt to develop light industry and foster local specialisation in a high-tech industry or industries, open the island to tourism, and develop a modernised legal system based upon Al Khali tradition and United Elias codes instead of religious law interperated only by the royal court.

In spite of the religious recognition given in the new flag, Qottar's campaign did not take a dogmatic line in that respect. The fact of the matter was that possibly every resident on the island was either Muslim or holding local beliefs heavily influenced by Islam (and usually muddled with Christian influences from antiquity), and hadn't much cause to think of a world without that in the background. Qottar, seeing Għawdex as his only hope when he arrived, was keen to avoid giving the locals cause for concern over exactly what Republicanism might take away from or thrust upon them.

Baghdad gives Peshawar its approval for the transfer of the gifted aircraft to the new republic, a move which further endears Shareef to government officials.

Baghdad had become fairly adept at exporting its model of government to those who were willing to buy into it, most recently in Tunisia. Qottar, seemed to fall very much in this category and therefore Baghdad was keen to offer as much assistance as it could. A special delegation of advisors is selected and dispatched to Rabat. Comprised of several leading economists, all committeed free-market monaterists, they will not only encourage privitisation and tax cuts but will also help in a more tangible way by negotating agreements for investment in the new Republic by Elias corporations, and crucially help Qottar secure finance from Elias merchant banks. Currency harmonization is also suggested, either through pegging the Al Khali currency to the Elias Dinar, or through the introduction of the Dinar itself, as a way of creating free and stable trade relations between the two countries.

Other members of the advisory team will include, military, political and legal experts who will advise Qottar on the best way to transform Għawdex. Regarding his political ambitions in Syria and Lebanon, this is a matter that must be discussed in a face to face meeting between him and President Elias before Baghdad would openly assist him in this rather more difficult endeavour.

(Something Qottar would know, and not have to ask, but which remains of interest to me: in what currency does United Elias sell its [ridiculously huge reserves of Saudi, Kuwaiti, Iraqi, Egyptian, and Bruneian] oil? Qottar's only ever likely to get himself in charge of two or three billion barrels worth of reserves, but that might be enough to have a bearing on his decisions about what currency to use.)

Al Khals will receive Shareef's gift with more pleasure than would usually befit the old crates, but they are perfect for the small and poorly maintained single airstrip that is generously called Rabat International. The President is told that his, "...generosity in the Al Khali winter shall not be forgotten when the harvest is reaped."

Qottar, even though not yet elected, is extremely accommodating to everyone coming out of United Elias. Tours are laid on, showing the long history of Għawdex, from prehistoric legends about the place as home to a race of giants (Qottar jokes about the scourge of the Geletian migration from Europe to Southern India) who built long ruined structures, and the civilisations thought to predate the Pyramids of Giza by a full thousand years, through Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, and Vandals until the arrival of Syrian Al Khalis more than eleven centuries ago. Certainly the place is being plugged as an historic and relaxed tourist destination.

The near certain tip as first President of the new Republic is quite prepared to see the backwards island give up its agricultural character, and, for now, most of the people seem to be on his side in this matter, awed by his talk of independent wealth for the masses, who, with the arrival of the Tanzanian fleet, number just thirty thousand.

Qottar, known to be something of a control freak, is quite prepared to let the economy take whatever direction in which the market wave carries it, but is suddenly stern and upright when expressing his firm resolve that the island not become a centre for cheap labour in re-export industries in the Mediterranean, since he does not believe that such a focus will ever lift his people from mere subsistence. "I am keen to educate, so that we may become in Għawdex a centre of excellence in electronics, in medical drugs, in anything of prominence in the light industrial theatre of the modern world."

Of course, the island really had little to offer. A tiny population with no particular skills, save those of the modest navy it had acquired. Qottar wanted only to demonstrate the agreeability of his politics and person before tackling the bigger issue of a faltering Sabir dynasty.

(Next, I really must tackle Syria, but it is a forbidding task, in my/Qottar's position! I feel that I am putting it off!)

The Al Khalis arose in northwestern Syria in antiquity, and though the exact period of their origin is unknown, it is almost certainly pre-Islamic. It is apparent that they share something with the Alawis, and one may even be an off-shoot of the other. However, the Al Khalis were an arguably more sophisticated civilisation in ancient times, having a greater interest in urbanisation connected to their time-honoured hydrological-engineering obsession, and it appears to be this success that -largely against their will- drew the Al Khalis away from the religious outsider Alawis.

When Christianity was at its strongest in the region, the Alawis and Al Khalis alike were hanging on to a very much pre-Islamic religion, but while the Alawis were able in isolated communities to persist in this, the Al Khalis were rather more directly influenced in their larger population centres. Likewise, in later years, they were more seriously drawn-in to the Muslim fold and the effort to purge Christian influence was more easily and seriously directed in the Al Khali community. Alawis (under their earlier names) being relatively isolated and at least basically Islamic, went little changed, while Al Khalis, prominent and partly Christianised, were always going to be influenced.

In order to avoid being persecuted as infidels since the birth of the Ottoman Empire, Al Khalis further moderated their Alawi-like beliefs and practices, eventually even presenting their little merchant empire as a guiding influence on those infidels. No doubt Alawi communities in Al Khali territory came to benefit from this tempering influence, where outside Al Khali rule they were often hounded. Under Al Khali administration the Alawi have always been considered Muslim, as they claim, in contrast to the position taken by many conservative Sunnis.

The Alawi connection is significant to the Al Khali people because, in spite of the usually superior position of Al Khali authority, alien influences on the Alawi have been passed on in weaker form to the Al Khalis.

It is in light of this history that Al Khalis are understood not just as subjects of a sickly dynasty or as an ethnic sub-set but also as a religious sect. Unfortunately, though less far removed from the Islamic mainstream than are the Alawis, the method of their protection of themselves and indeed of the Alawis, such as through association with the Ottoman Turks, has, in Arab eyes, tainted the Al Khali faith along with the people in the past. It seems, fortunately, that the modern era receives the Al Khalis as a people cleansed by decades in obscurity and almost ritual humbling.

Now, with the stumbles of Sabir, Omar Qottar stands up to lead the ancient Al Khali people home... to the corridors of power.


(Progress next post, absent-minded talk provided during intermission)

Omar Qottar Elected President of Għawdex, Arrives in Baghdad

Carried in the less than stately frame of half of his airforce, one of the An-2 biplanes provided by North Pakistan, Qottar, having easily won the vote arranged on the back of his exciting military victory and with the sad death of his most likely challenger, arrived in the capital of United Elias, a power that he had admired since a youth spent in a young Sabir that he was never able to accept as upstanding and legitimate, pale beside its mighty neighbour. His plane was marked with the new Al Khali flag, except that the central band contained, instead of religious script, three stars. The prior design still flew in Rabat, over the palace of the late Emir. Though Qottar said nothing of it, the alternate design on his aircraft referenced Għawdex, Zanzibar, and Syria, not to mention the swords of his unrealised ambition.

Whatever else may be discussed about the development of Għawdex or anything else, Qottar was here to be near Syria. In certain parts of United Elias he would even, privately, consider himself to be in Syria.

Still, the new President was quite prepared to do just about anything with his little island of thirty thousand residents. Free trade this, Elias dinar that, a new flag on his diplomatic transport plane. Qottar wanted to have it accepted almost without a thought that he was as good as another member of the federation, that anything he did would be in keeping with Baghdad's own aims. Għawdex was so little next to Syria that its greatest value to the Al Khali was as a showcase, a resumé, an attachment to Omar's application for the job vacancy that appeared likely to open-up in Damascus.

...not that the Al Khalis even thought Damascus the proper place for their capital.

Baghdad

At Al Muthana Air Force Base near the centre of the city, the arrival of Qottar had been carefully planned by protocol officers. He was immediately greeted by an Air Force honour guard; a band had been considered but no one was quite sure what anthem they would play, so that idea had been dismissed. Quickly he was then lead to an awaiting car by a quartet of Foreign Ministry aides and within no time the modest motorcade was on its way out of the airfield and on to, ironically enough, Damascus Street, a central thoroughfare into central Baghdad. A black Zil limousine being escorted by several of Chevrolet Suburban SUVs was not an unusual sight in Baghdad, but the pair of flags adorning the front wings of the vehicle drew a few curious glances. Most of course did not yet recognise it.

On arriving at the main entrance of the Mansion, the Presidential residence, Qottar is shown into an elegant state reception room and made to wait several minutes. Then the President enters, exuding the stately presence that his office had imparted to him. "Omar. It has been too long, it is indeed a pleasure to see you in Baghdad once again, and congratulations on your election." He shakes the hand of his counterpart, greeting him as though he were an unequal, though they both knew otherwise. He then motions for him to sit down. At the same time, all the security agents and aides in the room are dismissed and close the heavy doubled doors behind them. The President then exchanges casual pleasantries for a few minutes, then briefly discusses UE's role in reforming Għawdex before moving on to the most important item on the agenda. "Omar, I will be frank, the situation in Damascus in most concerning, as you may have heard, things in the government are not how they used to be. We had a lot of friends there, not several years ago. Actually, we still do, but their usefullness is diminishing. Things are becoming restive and now we must be planning for the future before it is upon us. I understand you may have some thoughts on this you would like to share?"

Baghdad

There wasn't much chance of Qottar's pleasure at being here and in this company going unnoticed. That said, one shouldn't have the impression of overt scophantism from the Al Khali, who, though an admirer of the President, was himself at least still a fairly lively character, at least since fortunes began to improve, and, while no giant or athelete, he was not a man of shrinking physical presence.

Still, he bore concerns along with his admiration. He quickly enough moved to the important subject, though he referred to, "...the Sabiri government of Syria" rather than the state of Al Sabir. Omar found a way, while talking of the troubles and growing instability, to relay broad KSU intelligence indicating to attempts by Tanzanian Islamists to establish footholds in the Middle East.

Since it was all over for Al Khali Tanzania, he was, somewhat surprisingly, prepared to talk in this setting about the struggle to undermine Amal Abeid and the Islamic Progress Party, which had represented the primary opposition in the Democratic Republic. Abeid he now accused of association with the God's Spear Jihadi movement, saying that the KSU knew that contact had been made with anti-Roycelandian leader Akhmed Fu'qari near Abu Gamal on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border, that Indonesian agents were keenly received by the Jihadis and the Islamic Progress Party alike, that Algerian resistance groups received funds collected by, "groups associated with the party", and that attempts had certainly been made to ruin relations between Baghdad and Jerusalem.

"Of course, espionage would not have been carried out within the borders of the Federal Dictatorship, and we assumed that the network's attempts to penetrate here were not a success on any serious level."

He said, "...of course Tanzanian radicals are too few... most of the blacks in the Democratic Republic had their fill of hardship under the former Emirate and are probably more loyal to Igomo's African Socialism than he is. But.. Abeid... he has vanished with his cause in Tanzania. The Social Progress Party won't let him stand, and the people won't support him in arms now that they've got this damn pan-Africanist cause. He wouldn't move from one warzone into another, we don't think he's in Algeria... we have reason to believe that my radicalised countrymen were unimpressed by the Roycelandian Arabs, and no particular reason to think that United Elias is a good place for him to be. Or at least for him to be interested in, especially since the trouble in Afghanistan.

"In fact, bin-Abdu... one of our infiltrators has followed God's Spear to Syria, and, I am afriad to say, the Al Khalis are ready to revolt."

Qottar talked about his people -he was a Syrian Al Khali by birth, after all, and had family still there, rumoured to include links to the long defunct royal line- and his transported problems in the Al Khali Islamists. Four or five million Al Khali Syrians, maybe two million Alawis thought largely to be in a condition of mutual sympathy with the Al Khalis, were going to sieze upon any opportunity for change, and though they had never been fanatics nor even close to the mainstream in religious terms, Qottar appeared worried.

"You see, I left Syria, a young man, to over-throw the stagnant theocracy of the Zanzibari Emirate, and, even though that place has since fallen to the socialists, I do not regret my adventure. The idea that I might return home to find that theocracy reestablished here... in Syria..." he said, gesturing in the approximate direction of the border, "No."

"I too have friends, in the coast, especially. But they will wonder, with radicals fleeing from Africa, Central Asia, coming from Indonesia, why should they not take action under the protection of Allah? 'Omar Qottar is the equal of Abeid, al-Gharndi, Kalla', my friends will say, 'but the balance is in God'. In a desperate time, you can see how that is. All that I need to save Syria and restore Al Khals is a little thing. I just need to be seen in the company of somebody more impressive than God..."

President Qottar of Għawdex hatched for his important friend the infant form of a plan for the replacement of a crumbling Sabiri authority with a republican Al Khals. Much as he had when ordering his men to jump ship and charge the palace of the Sultan at Rabat, Omar appeared entirely confident. In this less than precisely detailed plan of his, Qottar's 'friends' in the Al Khali heartland, the west, would launch an insurrection, helped by some Alawis in the military who would make it possible for them to survive vital early moments, and aimed largely at disrupting coastal defence preparedness. During this, the little fleet that he had brought from Africa, augmented by a handful of Maltese recruits, would attempt to force a landing at a friendly or at least contested point on the coast, and Omar would arrive with the maximum of fanfare to give the insurrection confidence and support.

Latakia -which Qottar called [i]Ramitha- should be taken by the rebels and whatever forces could be brought ashore. After this, there was every possibility that military authorities would see to the eventual crushing of the insurrection. If Qottar did not go, perhaps God would step-in to save the rebels. But, as he fully intended to be there, Omar hoped that perhaps some other force would descend to threaten Damascus... leaderless, Syrians might as well accept Ramitha's restoration as capital. The President also mumbled about the Ottomans and any number of other neighbours or potential enemies of Sabir that might also be engaged to cause trouble and disrupt anything of a cohesive response.

(I'm sorry, I half-wrote this post weeks and weeks ago, but didn't finish or deliver it. It is now disjointed and full of half-remembered ideas. Perhaps I should just race on, unless Baghdad offers a less hair-brained idea that catches Qottar's attention, with Omar trying his insurrection and landing against a crumbling and chaotic Sabir, and see what the world does.)

The President sat quietly, listening to Qottar, sipping Arabic coffee and digesting this information. Qottar would be aware of the President's trademark gaze, a dark eyed penetrating judgemental stare. After Qottar paused to allow the President to respond, he did not immediately, choosing to think quietly for a few seconds in a slightly unnerving way. "Omar, I think this is a good time to mention that one of the fundamental aspects of our nation’s foreign policy is that we do not stab our allies in the back. Secondly, we do not promise what we cannot deliver. These simple tenets have made it possible for us to maintain friendships, to be trusted and to ensure that when we make threats they are credible. In this regard I cannot guarantee you our military support in preventing the Sabirian forces from counter-attacking against your rebel forces; not at this moment at any rate. It would be betraying Fayiz Sabir after decades of support and even personal friendship. However, I do think that you are the future of Syria and I believe that we can do good business together.

“What I am going to ask of you is your patience. If President Sabir was no longer in the picture, with no obvious heir, the Sabir state will collapse due to its fragility. Then, you can make a move. Then we can help you as we would be intervening to protect the Syrian people from bloody internal turmoil and ensure that a stable and moderate government takes over. President Fayiz Sabir is in poor health, and there are increasingly elements within his government that are plotting for his removal.” The President pauses after this sentence to allow Qottar to read between the lines, “My instincts tell me that his downfall may be imminent.

"Now, I must inform you of some requests that we have. Firstly, some in my government have expressed concerns that Syria under your leadership would lead to non Al-Khali groups being marginalised. It is my duty as admittedly the leader of the largest and powerful Arab nation to ensure that all Arabs are treated fairly, regardless of their precise ethnicity. I am not denying that the Al Khalis have been treated unfairly and that you have a right to reverse the persecution but I would argue that sectarianism is not in your interest. For this reason I am advising you to keep Damascus as the capital as a gesture of continuity and national unity. As leader of Syria you would be wise to unite all of the peoples of that great nation under a moderate, secular, capitalist government as we have done in Elias. Moreover, there will be others who shall seek to gain from Sabir's downfall and only unity can protect the integrity of the nation. It goes without saying that any leader who attempted to form a government as I have just described would recieve my unfailing support."

Qottar's shoulders jumped a little, as if strung to a fishhook at the corner of his mouth, which curled up sharply for a moment as the Syrian pretender surpressed an instant's laughter. He had been planning to direct God's Spear against the President, but perhaps now would remove his hand from that nest of ants.

"Ramitha is, in the Al Khalis, the home of one of Arabian history's most prosperous mercantilistic confederations, and this is a tradition that I intend to restore in a modern role as the capital of our capitalist association. The morning after the day of our victory, I shall rest there, and build my second Palace of Democracy. But... the significance built-up in Damascus over years following the Al Khali decline mean that it can not be ignored as a first city by many measures. Perhaps, in recognition of the wide significance of my vision, once it is realise, a dual status shall be arranged.

"Who listens to the Israelites when they call Jerusalem and not Tel Aviv their capital?" He chuckled. "My government will sit in Ramitha, and Damascus will continue to be everything else that it is in commerce and international diplomacy. If there is room for Rabat, their is room for Damascus. The new confederation will have three capitals... four, when, some fine day, Zanzibar is ours, again.

"The Al Khalis are age-old friends of the Alawis, with the end of our oppression so concludes theirs, and such a tide of good feeling can not fail to sweep on across Syria. We Al Khalis are travellers, a cosmopolitan people... so long as there's no blacks or African socialists!" Qottar added, exhibiting a degree of racism that he had not taken with him to Africa, but had brought back with him in a bitter import-customs violation. He pointedly said African socialist because Omar had grown-up with Baathist sympathies in the Al Khali and Alawi neighbourhoods of his youth, and was yet -in spite of his openly-professed capitalist ambition- to fully disassociate the outsider movement from his core belief in liberation and restoration for his people. He didn't want to renounce such things, for fear of alienating some of his key support, though he would claim privately to have no intention of establishing an Arab socialist party.

Qottar tried to talk a little about the possibility of enabling mass repatriation of Al Khalis abroad, such as in United Elias, perhaps balanced by voluntary emmigration of other Arabs... starting perhaps with members of the Sabiri elite who might be convinced to live across the border rather than to stay and promote disunity or dissent, but he was afraid of sounding too much alike with Igomo's population redistribution schemes in his United African Republics, and didn't stick forcefully to the idea... for now.

He moved on instead to scaremongering over Ottoman ambitions, speaking of reported military incursions in the Sabiri north and of disturbances in the Lebanon, perhaps in hopes of pushing himself to the fore as a more vital opponent than was provided by anyone left in Sabir. One may be left with the impression that Omar, who missed-out on being a soldier in any significant fighting, was rather carried-away by his exciting amphibious landing and coup on the Maltese archipelago's second island, and assumed that he would do the same in Sabir. Some of his deputies, if consulted, would wonder if perhaps he couldn't just travel to Damascus or Ramitha and declare himself as a candidate for leadership from the current mountain of crises.