NationStates Jolt Archive

Toremal
Her Royal Highness the newly-crowned Grand Duchess Alexandra of Toremal & San Maritia was reading over her charity promises for the year when a 'Royal air Valet', or Air Hostess, in the green and gold uniform of her rank, timidly peeped around the door.
'If the ma'am will excuse me, the pilot says we're about to land?'
It was a surprise visit to The Eternal Necronytr of The Ctan - due to a direct royal coommand, stating that the Ma'am did not like to visit cities that smelled of fresh paint and specially added follies for a visit.
Strapping in her seatbelt, the elgant Grand duchess contemplated her eventflu last year - exile to the ctan, death of her sister, return home, coronation, and now this. Her first ever state visit on behalf of Toremal. A former Queen of San Maritia, the reluctant Royal was no stranger to the nicities - and boredom - of these events.

The Ctan
Wrapped up in layers of silk - animal products such as wool are not permitted - to protect her from the cold, Her Royal highness stepped out onto the steps, and surveyed what had once been her home. Smiling and nodding, she walked down, wondering what welcome the Ctan, caught by surprise,w ould put on. they had only been informed yesterday, once the flight plan had been filed...

The City of Isasrach, Straits of Vinyatírion, 07:39 AM

They’d gotten around the matter of lack of preparation by directing the Duchess’ landing to Isasrach, home of Veritas and of diplomatic representations to the necrontyr empire. As well as which, it was the very definition of showing off. Not so much a city as a town, in truth, Isasrach was accounted a city not because of its size, but because of its prestige. Indeed, it was more accurately termed a ship than a city, albeit a massive one, even mobile, to a degree. From the air, it wasn’t quite symmetrical, either normally or rotationally, but it was close. It had the appearance of a snowflake on the ocean, made of metals.

From its centre, rose a mass of towers, connected by perilous seeming walkways and sporting numerous balconies and windows. Elsewhere, on the spokes of the city-ship, other towers and domes rose, less decorated, and presumably reserved for other functions. Alexandra herself would probably know that some of the outlying areas held what was most certainly the best equipped hospital in the nation, and possibly the world, as well as extensive storage for relief and other supplies. Isasrach was an outlying – being mobile, of course it was – area, by any definition, and so was used as a staging point for many, if not all (warships had to have something to do, after all) relief missions.

The plane landed on one such spoke, they boasted long areas that were used as runways, as well as promenades and similar multi-purpose areas. The delegation waiting consisted of three persons of governmental significance, a gaggle of reporters, camerapersons and other press, a band of some size, as well as a crowd of onlookers both around the plane itself, and on the balconies of the high towers, from which fluttered banners and pennants, the arms of Isasrach itself, a symbol blending the city’s hexagonal shape with the icon of the necrontyr and the daggerstar of Menelmacar, as well as various Toremali flags and arms appropriate to both the nation and its ruler.

Of these three, the foremost in precedence was arguably the Officer of the Elenaran, a special emissary of great competence, normally used on missions of more clandestine nature. His name, at least the name that he gave was Doctor Edwin Provost. Of a tall build not exceptional among his people he was rakish and a touch anachronistically dressed, though the decorations of his lapel marked his status, a golden lapel pin of a symbol identical to that displayed by the nation’s flag. In theory, his powers to call upon and use the government’s resources were unlimited in scope, to the point of riding roughshod over laws national and otherwise, but this was not something that was publicised or ever done.

Despite this, foremost in position was Lady Senator Aiyana Tiercean, appearing as an early middle aged woman with auburn-copper hair, she was one of the members of the senatorial committee which served as the nation’s cabinet, and the emissary to the alliance based in Isasrach. The Foreign minister, essentially. She wore almost clerical robes of silvery, metallic thread that was perhaps truly spun of metals, with a high collar that plunged from its peak behind her neck to her throat, merging with her hair, ornately pinned back but down.

The third person in the delegation was taller than the others, his blonde appearance marking him out, potentially if not definitively, as a Vanyar of Menelmacar. The actual governor of Isasrach, his inclusion was more a matter of formality.

Watching the Grand Duchess descend the stairs, to the strains of (what was believed to be) the Toremali national anthem, Provost reviewed her itinerary within in his head. Today, she’d be treated to a tour of the diplomatic city in the morning, followed by lunch, and a move to a formal residence, either a state residence or, more likely, one of those prepared for such things. Most likely in Tephet-Sheta, the capital, though the matter was not yet decided, nor would he expect it to be with this impetuous timing. Then tours of national landmarks (in his mind, he had listed Isasrach, the museum-vessel Killing Time, the waterfront of Tephet-Sheta, the industrial city of Tebat-Neteru-Set in Velyshaa, he would have to see if she enjoyed the prospect of skiing, in which case a trip to the Icrak range might be in order… it was a long and infuriating list) were to be arranged while preparations were being made for banquets, and a visit to the senate tomorrow. Then there were meetings with the Elenaran himself, and presumably his wife. He was fervently hoping she didn’t want a military review.

Aiyana stepped forward, bowed and said something he didn’t quite catch, introducing herself, the governor, then him, at which point he perked up and listened.

“And it is with delight that we welcome you here to our city, and present you with the key to the city,” at this the governor stepped forwards and presented a device the looked more like a seal than a key, composed of gold and silver and about three inches around, with a lapis-lazuli version of the city’s seal on it. That said, unusually for such an award, it did actually have the functions of a key, circumventing many of the restrictions on access to parts of Isasrach. Aiyana continued, “And a gift from the Elenaran’s collection, by way of welcome and apology for his inability to receive you in person at this time,” This was of course Provost’s cue, and he took from his side a sceptre of gold – it had to be, to be as intact as it was, holding it horizontally. His turn now to speak;

“This sceptre is composed in part of fragments of the staff of Arnrana the Cruel, an ancient necrontyr king from early in the first era of our civilisation, broken into pieces by the heroic Icrirana the Just, who deposed him. The Elenaran expresses his desire that all who would oppose you with like intent suffer the same fate.” The jewels of sapphire on it were in fact, taken from the tomb of Icrirana, in a custom of the necrontyr of leaving certain jewels for the use of their descendants (of whom the Elenaran was one, dynastically, if not physically) often as wedding gifts, or as in this case, in pledges of friendship.

A little OOC note. I'm generally all future-techy and shiny, so if any references seem a bit odd, it's me not wishing to contradict what I've previously written.

"A rather good day, albeit a bit cold. that technology was very interesting, but what I'm worried about is whether it's 'green' or not," mused the Grand Duchess, her hands wrapped around a warm cup of tea - the Imperial tea was brought with her.
"Well, that man was rather nice, but as to green, I didn't notice," answered the young and rather curvy Countess Romaine-Dorothea.
"Our target here is not only to see the real Ctan, but to enhance relations. And yes, i'm sure you could enhance relations with the man, but thats not the way to do it. You should be honoured, at your age - indeed, at any age, to be here with me today. you are young, and this is the best way to learn-"
Oh , but ma'am, 2 exclaimed the dopey woman, " you are young too."
"don't be perfectley ridiculous," snapped back Alexandra " We all age, and I have. i have already ruled one country, albeit for six months. And you durst say I am young? Should I be perhaps haunting the ballroom? I think not1 I may be only just out of my twenties, but I have experienced what you never will. and am gald for it. So shake yourself up, get some sense from that brain, and go and ask where we're staying. and while you're doing it, ask if we could meet with whoever runs this country. I have yet to meet him or her. and inform the chamberlain that my brother, Hereditary Grand Duke Alexander, will be arriving shortly, with our nephew constantine on the RTSMS Maria. In three days, to be exact. Now run along girl."

Provost sat, talking into a headset about the details of the visit, the matter of arranging for the residence that was to be used for their visitors to be prepared for actual use, as opposed to being something of a museum of rare artworks. A bell chimed, and he looked at the shadow of the Toremali countess on the stained and frosted glass of the doors. He touched a button to open them, and watched as she entered, listening to her footsteps, and looking into her eyes. “Yes,” he said, as she recounted her message. “It seems likely that you’ll be staying in one of the residences in the capital, and yes, there will be a meeting with the Elenaran at some point. Three days you say? Interesting. I will ensure his arrival is taken into account.

The tour itself took into account the question of how ‘green’ the city was in its function. The power systems were one of the more impressive chambers, at least in their way. They were situated below the waterline, at the centre of the city. Three power cores behind shielding, controlled by a platform suspended from three bridges high above them, with a ring of controls around it. Most of the metals of which even these industrial parts of the city were composed were made of a white metal,that seemed to shine where the light caught it. These worked, it was said, on a principle akin to microwave power reception, where solar satellites

Elsewhere, the heatsinks that distributed the excess of power in the city, when it had one, were shown. Huge towers akin to sails, though rather thicker, they normally emitted such energies as neutrino radiation, a type of emission normally produced in nuclear reactions as a byproduct, and thus emitted by stars and other violent events. This said, they are immensely difficult to detect, and commonly pass through anything put in their way so easily that it would take a light year of solid lead to actually block them. Below the waterline, these also served to conduct heat to the hull, though this rarely happened, it could be used to prevent ice forming on the hull, and even melt the city through ice.

The Duchess was also shown the control spire, the rooms of which contained extensive administrative and communications staff. It wasn’t made explicit, but a good deal of the monitoring of global aircraft activity and near space movement by the C’tan was arranged from there, for both civilian and spying. What was mentioned was its role in predicting an analysing weather patterns, and seismic and tidal wave monitoring, both of which were partly done by precise laser measurements and sonar. It was relatively easy for the city to tell the status of the weather and the sea bed for hundreds of miles using cunning application of these techniques, even without its access to numerous satellites.

Besides this, the city’s hospital facilities were also shown, though they were almost entirely deserted at the time, it was a fairly quiet day, and Isasrach was used mostly, as mentioned above, for disaster relief operations, they had in the past, made a sizable contribution to the treatment of fallout and direct radiation from the infamous ‘Volarian Incident.’ The towers and areas reserved for the hospitals also included a sizeable portion of the C’tani state medical laboratories, where new diseases and viruses were analysed. One such tower was windowless, its walls meters thick, and entered only by an airlock, it wasn’t included except cursorily on the tour, for it was where most of the ‘business’ of this task happened.

Elsewhere, vast warehouses of supplies were shown, where gear for any conceivable task was stored. Isasrach was a fragment, a seed, one of many. Its computers contained the full mass of knowledge of the C’tan nation, from poetry to recipes to musical scores, to the instructions for terrifying weapons of mass destruction. Its equipment bays such as these contained the means to, if given sufficient time, create anything that could be created anywhere within the necrontyr empire.

When the tour was done, lunch was procured on one of the higher balconies overlooking the sea. Flocks of white gulls circled the towers hungrily, though didn’t land. And then, to the capital…

We await the capital in suspense...
We are delighted with the current tour, and hope that our brother will fell the sam when her arrives tommorrow.

The City of Tephet-Sheta was far from the largest in the world, but its inhabitants certainly felt it was one of the most beautiful. Though it helped to like water, and fish. A lot. The former was most important, indeed it had acquired the epithet ‘the city of waters.’ Constructed against a great eastern ocean, in a valley, the original ground had been a number of fair sized islands, these were linked with bridges and here and there raised land, elsewhere, canals and pools were dug. Indeed, there were few roads that did not contain such canals, though in many places, a crystalline translucent substance covered them over.

Waterfalls decorated many buildings and fountains competed with one another in grandeur, yet they were carefully placed so that more than two or so were ever visible at the same time from ground level except in the largest, widest boulevards.

The city was mostly low, with some glimmering sky-piercers that shot up through the clouds. Aside from the vast Imperial Palace, of course, which was contructed as a pyramid with several towers about it, and five, linked to each other rising from its peak. The palace was mostly museum.

Its grounds were elevated from the surroundings and only accessible by a flight of steps. But that said, it seemed no barrier to access. People wandered up and down those stairs, and the ornately designed paving showed scenes from the nation’s history in relief below a smooth but sufficiently tractable layer of a transparent material. Children and adults wandered about freely, though no one, well, almost no one, disturbed some of the more elaborate floral arrangements.

The museum itself was the kind of thing that would appeal to those interested in history, containing many rare and priceless – impossible to value – artefacts of many scattered cultures many, most of which remained only in these relics.

The Elenaran himself wasn’t there, of course, but instead, the Toremali delegation were shown to the Northern Residence. A much smaller building cut into a rocky outcrop in one of the hills overlooking the city, it was nevertheless ornate, and for a stone ‘building’ especially one underground, exceptionally comfortable, seeming in its opulent white and gold decoration to be similar to many palaces elsewhere...

Dressed in an elegant cream skirt-suit and hat combination, the stylish Grand Duchess wandered the city with a smile, the first since the death of her beloved, though difficult, sister Grand Duchess Maria.
"It's a lovely city, you know. I do prefer our architecture, but nonetheless, it's hardly a place for the likes of Cheeseland - which doesn't even exist, I think, anymore."
"Oh, absolutely, Madam Toremal," gushed the vapid Duchess. " All the happy pepople, so different from back home when the stupid - when our beloved late ruler exiled Your Highness."
"So, I think that my brother will be arriving son. In fact, right now. I wonder what reception he's getting as he steps off that plane. i do so hope he's wearing that nice uniform - it makes hime look so much more proffessional."
"Oh, Madam Toremal, I'm sure it'll be on tV."

OOC: I keep meaning to tell you - the adjective for Toremal is not Toremali, it's Tormalin