NationStates Jolt Archive

A cookie for those who spot the pop culture reference.

London, Great Britain

Australasia's Foreign Minister Christina Lloyd was tired. Flying from Australia to England was no mean feat, and she had spent over twenty-four hours in the air. When she finally arrived in London's Heathrow airport, she was met by a number of well dressed men and women who shuffled the Australasian diplomatic party Londonward in a rather posh car. She tried to avoid falling asleep during the drive, and nodded amicably at British Foreign Minister Alan Thunder-ten-Tronckh's tireless exposition.

"As, of course, you know," he said, "the French have sued for peace and pledged to return Gibraltar, as well as New Caledonia and various other possessions. They seem to want peace very badly indeed, and are willing to sacrifice much to achieve it. Your Australasia stands to gain a great deal as well, since all Pacific secessions are to be granted to the Free Colony..."

Christina fought the urge to punch him. She'd read the communiques from Paris, thank you very much, and had been as much a part in setting up these negotiations as Thunder-ten-Tronckh. She could only assume that he knew that, due to the number of times that they had telephoned. But if he wanted to treat her like an ill-educated yokel from the colonies, that was his lookout. The British Foreign Minister droned on for a bit as the car entered central London. Christina contented herself with watching the beautiful old buildings passing by, the absurd red buses and the little telephone boxes. A Police Public Call Box languished in the corner of Hyde Park, oddly out of place but seemingly ignored by the people around. Perhaps His Majesty's government simply hadn't done anything about it in the age of mobiles and little red phone booths. A youngish man in a beige trenchcoat stood beside it, looking delighted and somewhat confused, and a fetching blonde girl chatted on a mobile phone behind him. Possibly some tourists, Christina decided. The car drove on, leaving the man, the Public Call Box and the blonde girl behind.

"And since Louis-Auguste sent the message personally, we can only assume that-- Ah, here we are. Ms. Lloyd? After you." She actually had fallen asleep, it seemed, although Thunder-ten-Tronckh hadn't really noticed. Christina rubbed the sleep from her eyes, pulled her fedora down over her pink hair and looked out the tinted window. Ah, Buckingham Palace. Perhaps a bit politically charged-- Louis-Auguste would sign away various parts of his kingdom in the home of the British monarch-- but a bit of humility might do the French king some good.

Christina exited the car. She was escorted out by a pair of red-clad guardsmen, their garb eerily similar to the dress uniform of the Free Colonial Marine Corps. The aforementioned marines lined the steps, courtesy of the 1st Marine Regiment of Australasia. They wore white crossbelts, black shakoes and carried unloaded Enfield rifles courtesy of the Cuban King. Upon Christina's appearance, they sprang to attention with a crash of arms. Fitting, it might be said, for the Australasian representative to the conference.

Louis-Auguste's personal safety was guaranteed by Godfrey III's word of honour. However, suspecting that this might not satisfy the French king, the Holy League was permitted to provide an unarmed bodyguard not to exceed one hundred men, and an armed bodyguard not to exceed ten men. This armed bodyguard would be required to surrender weapons to the facilitators of the peace talks. Exactly who was to facilitate said talks had yet to be determined, but requests were outstanding with the United States, and, barring that, the Empire of Roycelandia. Both were trusted nations with ties to the two opposed parties, and were deemed acceptable as facilitators.

Christina was led up the marble steps by Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh and a pair of British Foot Guards. She was shown to a group of rooms made especially available to the Australasian contingent as housing and offices alike, even outfitted with Mac-compatible printers and other peripherals. The diplomats of various nations had complained about the Free Colony's predilection for Apple systems in the past, but the British would never do something so obviously rude.

The rooms were beautiful, everything that one could expect of a king. Godfrey III, in a dove grey suit and anachronistic tophat, was on hand to greet the Australasian delegation.

"Miss Lloyd, I presume?" He made a perfunctory sort of head nod that signalled recognition rather than deference, in response to which Christina removed her hat and made a half-bend at the waist.

"Your Majesty," she replied. A chorus of 'Your Majesty's issued from the Australasians, who still recognized Godfrey as their king, if only in name. The king smiled happily, as though pleased that some of his more distant subjects recognized him.

"Please, make yourselves at home. If you need anything, please inform the staff. Now, it seems that we await only word from the Quinntonians or Roycelandians and the French. Knowing Louis-Auguste, this could perhaps take some time." He paused, as if having gotten somewhat ahead of himself, and looked around guiltily for a moment. "Ha-hem. Yes, well. Please make yourselves at home, once again. The British Isles extend their welcome to you."

PM Vanessa Moerike had just come out of a series of tow days of marathon closed session meetings with the Council of Bishops, who were quickly losing confidence in her government. The Quinntonian people had gotten used to the late Jesse Obed’s style of foreign statesmanship, and PM Moerike looked by comparison to be vacillating, wishy-washy, or militant, not compromising compassionate and strong as her predecessor had. Her government was a minority, but she knew well the power of the Council, and that they had toppled governments that they had not agreed with before, but not for 50 years. People were protesting in the streets, at her foreign policies, at her lack of movement on anything meaningful on the home front, and now they were afraid and angry at the Soviets. It seemed like the world was descending into anarchy, and many felt that it was Quinntonia’s job to stand in the breach and stop that descent. Of course, even more than that was starting to think that they had no place in world affairs, and should just stay at home.

When she finally arrived at the Oval Office, she sat at her chair, kicked off her shoes, and leaned back. She was almost asleep for the first time in nearly 48 hours when her personal assistant walked in and explained the British offer. Without even consulting her staff, she said yes, and phoned Mainwaring, “Yes, I am willing to do it myself. No, I think you are right, the Quinntonian government is seen as a somewhat mediating force in all of this. It perhaps doesn’t hurt that the Soviets are seen as a much higher threat right now. No, I won’t be offended if I get there prior to Louise-August. Fine, see you then, cheerio!” AS she hung up the phone she cringed, and silently promised herself to never again make state calls on this little sleep, “Did I just say cheerio?”

Well, she then called her piloting staff and asked them to get Jesus-1 ready for inter-continental flight. She would just sleep for a few hours, and await the summons of the Council; hopefully by then she would know if the HL would accept her mediation. For now, she just leaned back…


WWJD
Amen.

((A bit scattered, but I have had to do so much war RP I’ve missed doing the little behind the scene things which make a monarchy absolute. I had catching up to do.))

Versailles

“May it please mesdames et messieurs, a minuet!” The King’s major-domo, Monsieur le Duc de Vandreuil, rapped his silver shod cane of office on the intricately decorated marble flooring of the grand ballroom in the Hall of Greater Pleasures. After several potent thuds, sublime violin music began, followed shortly thereafter by wind instruments. Like a fantastic movie scene the crème de la crème of the Royal Court elegantly swayed and executed the precise movements of the stately and court dance. The occasion was the birth of Their Majesties fourth child, le Duc de Anjou, second in line for the French throne after the now four year old Duc de Berry, the Dauphin.

Hundreds of candles lit the ballroom, illuminating too His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste, who sat with Queen Jillesepone on elaborate thrones under a canopy of purple and gold. They were watching the King’s younger brothers, the Princes of the Blood, perform the minuet first among the court, at Louis-Auguste’s pleasure. The eldest, le Comte d’Artois, danced with his wife Gertrude van Holst-Papan, a niece of the Tulgarian royal family. Then there was le Comte de Provence, second eldest, who danced with his wife Elise de Rohan, Elise being the heiress of the Kingdom of France’s wealthiest non-royal family, moreover the sister of the Grand Almoner, Prince-Cardinal Louis de Rohan. Together les comtes formed the nexus of Louis-Auguste’s inner circle, and were in the main responsible for dissimulating the absolute monarchs wishes to various ministers, as well as controlling the military and police apparatus. In the process, needless to say, they accumulated vast sums for themselves.

Then there was le Duc de Normandie, third eldest, who was no longer a simple Prince of the Blood but now a king in his own right. Only a month earlier Normandie, hero of the African war, was crowned Charles III, King of Sicily. He was the most heroic of the brothers, and the least intelligent, which perhaps explains why he got a throne while the more clever royals’ d’Artois and de Provence were kept closer to the Most Christian King’s radiance. He wore a coronet in the presence of the King’s crown to symbolize his status, and was in looks most like Louis-Auguste, both having a rather martial temperament. By far his wife was the most stunning beauty in that ballroom. She was the ravishing Monica Belucci, a Sicilian commoner, an actress, whom le Duc de Normandie had fallen in love with, making her his queen.

Last but not least was the youngest brother, le Duc de Aquitaine. Le Duc de Aquitaine had caused problems for the monarchy ever since the assassination of Louis XX. Youngest brother, only twenty two, and without question the most attractive of the French Bourbon brood (using his family connections he often had modeled himself in his younger years in French magazines) he lived a debauched lifestyle and had numerous lovers…of both sexes. This in itself was not a problem, what was however was the way in which Aquitaine reveled in his excesses by videotaping them. His last major escapade, the so called ‘Bagatelle manage-a-trios’ and the subsequent sex tape which made it to the public, had contributed to a brief but dangerous rebellion which racked the entirety of the Kingdom. Tiring of his youngest brothers antics, behind the scenes King Louis-Auguste had forcibly separated le Duc from his so called ‘companion’, the captain of the soccer squad Aquitaine played on. The ‘companion’, who having obtained the confidence of a Prince of the Blood was considered a very dangerous person, had been shuttled off to a secluded outpost in the deserts of Roycelandian South Algeria, and held there incommunicado. The firm hand in this was Her Serene Highness Queen Jillesepone. Knowing that Louis-Auguste was very close to his brothers and acted dotingly towards them as monarch she stepped in and with steel Groznyy nerves dealt with the issue. Le Duc de Aquitaine was put in a monastery in an undisclosed location in Brittany, his life consisting of ‘exercises to enhance his perception of a proper royal morality’, as the lettre-de-cachet read. After reforming himself to the King’s satisfaction, who could not bear to put any of his brothers under duress, Aquitaine was released (after being thoroughly searched for video equipment) to Versailles. He danced with the pleasantly plump sister of Caesar Maximus Jacomo Giuseppe del Piedmont, to whom he had been betrothed after his many objections. Louis-Auguste warned his brother on the night on the engagement: “Louis (all male Bourbons were named Louis), you will sire children with this fine lady. If you do not, you shall be whipped like an ass and so forced to ejaculate and produce children.” So the marriage went on planned, with more than a few Marechaussee armed agents guarding the dear ‘companion’ in the deserts of Roycelandian Southern Algeria lest he brake out.

Philip VI danced with Queen Marie-Antoinette, Louis-Auguste’s only sister and the youngest of the family. Little children, princes and princesses, danced about as well. And so is formed a depiction of the Bourbons, French and Spanish, one huge family. It was at this gathering, as Louis-Auguste and Jillesepone were clapping following the cessation of the minuet, that the major-domo again rapped his cane. The huge doors to the ballroom were thrown open, and in came Monsieur le Comte de Maurepas.

“May it please mesdames et messieurs, le Comte de Maurepas, Prime Minister to Our Most Christian King, is announced.” A few more heavy thunks for emphasis.

Le Comte de Maurepas strode in beaming. He bowed deeply in front of Their Majesties Thrones, expertly doffing his be-plumed tricorner hat to reveal an immaculate wig, and held forth a gilded document.

“Whatever is all this, Maurepas?” asked King Louis-Auguste, taking his Estenlandian wife’s hand in his. The way things were going no news would be preferable to anything else.

“Sa Majeste,” another deep bow, after which he stood erect and raised his voice to its full baritone. “Let is be said that you alone possess the sovereign power. Let it be said that invested with this power I, your most humble servant,” another bow “have endeavored long and with care to produce this, my dearest hope being that it shall please You, Sire.”

“Sa Majeste, here in my hand is peace.”

There was a good minute’s silence. Then, as it began to sink in, applause started. Louis-Auguste’s face was slack even into the applause, it was too good to be true. Then, gathering himself, he rose followed by the Queen. The room as one knelt.

“We decree a Te Deum to be given at once in thanks to God. Let there be one given in every parish in Our Realm. On our knees, in thanks to God!” At which point the King himself knelt with the Queen. Beside them were the Spanish Bourbons, Philip and Marie-Antoinette. The orchestra then struck up the Te Deum, a choir was promptly brought in to sing in.

Trumpets and kettle drums boomed as the choir sang Te Deum Laudamus…“O God, We Praise You!”

London

A French aircraft landed in London. It was not an attack fighter, nor a heavy bomber. It was an Airbus 3000, call name Monarch Two. A blue aircraft with a massive golden fleur-de-lys on either side of the fuselage it rolled to a stop at the terminal. The disembarkation was held in open ground, and no one needed to say that thousands of eager media correspondents buzzed on the open tarmac. The stairway was driven by a sort of truck contraption of the sort seen at airports around the globe.

The hatch opened. Out stepped le Comte d’Artois in full court dress, complete with a sword at his side and a cordon bleu across his chest. He is seen here, where his likeness was taken on the flight from Paris to London:

His Royal Highness le Comte d'Artois (http://www.diagnopsy.com/Revolution/images/0225.jpg)

He marched down the steps in a dignified manner, proud and strong, the most politically savvy of the French Royal Family and Louis-Auguste’s main confidant. Behind him Monsieur le Comte de Vergennes, Minister of State, who would deal with the details of the negotiation.

Arriving on the tarmac itself le Comte d’Artois made for the podium that had been set up there. Following a warm nod he tapped the microphone and began.

“The Most Christian King of France, the Catholic King of Spain, the Kings of Italy and Tulgary, have authorized me to come to this brave and valiant land, who has been our enemy when it ought to have been our friend, and seek terms to establish a lasting a meaningful peace.”

“We gratefully embrace the concept of a Christian Quinntonain mediation, and are grateful to Prime Minister Vanessa Moerike for shouldering this necessary burden. Truly, Quinntonia is now the force of the hour, and we embrace them and entreat their wisdom as fellow members of our great and holy Christian fold.”

“It is my hope, a hope shared by my brother King Louis-Auguste and all his brothers in the renewed Catholic continent, that we shall not only come to agreements about an immediate cease fire between our similar and innately peaceful lands, but in time forge a understanding which will prevent the need for any but the most harmonious relations in our future.”

“In that spirit I also apologize that my brother and fellow King’s of Europe cannot be here for the duration of these vital negotiations, they are greatly pressed with matters of state. Yet they shall come as soon as they may, so that all of us may sit and share together what the creator has granted us. God bless us all, and may he continue to lead us forward in Christ’s embrace. Thank you.”

He had no sooner finished than he was bombarded with questions. Will Gibraltar be returned to Great Walmington? If so, what conditions? What about ECOWAS? What exactly are Versailles and El Escorial offering in definite terms? Will there be reparation payments? Is New Caledonia going to be turned over to Australasia? What about the Portuguese Free State?

Le Comte d’Artois waved them all off. His only escort was four armed but plainclothes Gardes Suisses, and it was these men who hurriedly channeled the Prince of the Blood into a waiting limousine, driven by some British official. The limousine then sped off, in the direction of Buckingham Palace.

President Hu Jin Tao sends a communique to the French, enquiring about whether his presence would be welcome. It is the fitting conclusion to months of secret dialogue in which China approached the French for peace in both the European and Pacific theatres.

((Just did not want to leave China hanging. Gurg is gone for a while, so I don’t think too much can happen here until he returns.))

Versailles is ecstatic over Chinese interest in the conference. As His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste is still in France pending a departure to England, it is suggested that the Chinese ought to send a delegation to Versailles, after which the Franco-Sino teams may go together to London for what some believe to be the most important international conference since, well, ever.

The Kingdom of France is very interested in ‘shoring up’ relations with Beijing. After all, China is the world’s largest consumer of coal and natural resources, or if not now it soon shall be. And Versailles, as chance may have it, will soon be in a position to give China what it’s economy needs at very good rates. As a matter of fact, the Holy League represents perhaps the greatest trading bloc with interest in Chinese markets.

There is much to talk about, and King Louis-Auguste wastes no time in ordering that a full state reception be prepared for the Chinese first in Paris, and finally then in Versailles itself.

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I has indicated that he will, of course, be delighted to attend the conference in London.

His arrival would have come as a surprise to most people- His Majesty had lost at least 15 kgs in the past month- bringing his weight down to almost exactly in line with what would be healthy for someone of his height- and was looking surprisingly fit and well as he stepped from a Jaguar provided by the Roycelandian Embassy and lit an El Presidente cigar.

"Ah, I do love London. One of my favourite places in the world, it is. It's just a shame I have to spend most of my time here in high level talks and not out experiencing the country!"

Vanessa Moerike had flown with her extensive fighter and Stratotanker escort from D.C. on the Jesus-1, her personal plane. London was unexpected, but now that she was out and about, she began scheduling more stops all around the world. She would first stop and mediate this peace between the Anglo powers and the HL, and though neither her nation nor Roycelandia was directly involved in the war effort, she would be happy to see Royce again, he was such a breathe of fresh air at the Washington Summit during her abortive attempt to form the United Nations.

She was fresh to the leadership of her nation then, but now she had some experience, though right now her minority government was being threatened by the largest war that Quinntonia had seen in scale since the end of WW2 and massive dip in popularity. She was glad to get out of the country right now, and hoped that her actions here would boost her Party’s popularity enough to stop the government from collapse while she was away.

But any Quinntonian political analyst would quickly point out that her government’s success was based primarily on this trip, the state visits that she was doing after this with the Ottomans, the Syrians, and the Mesopotamians were the key to any lasting stability in the Middle East, and everyone was watching her. Of course, the trip to China after that could only help her, either way, as relations with China were so bad that her people thought that you could only go up from here.

As the plane taxied to the ground, with F/A-18s flying overhead, she waited for the red carpet to be put into place at the bottom of her ramp, and stepped out. Her Secret Service Agents looked in every direction, and she stepped down the stairs and smiled, while waving to the people who had come to greet her. Flashes of photographers went off, and cameras zoomed, as she quickly, but not too quickly, walked to the waiting limousine that the embassy had waiting for her.

OOC-Hey guys, I am going to RP this at the same time as I am going to RP the rest of her tour, the only reason is that Gurg doesn’t seem to be able to RP for awhile, and I don’t want to be stalled, is that OK?

WWJD
Amen.

In Drekcsler's office, he was looking over the reports from far and wide. A stack to his left was random, selected by him, and delivered by trusted men of Iron Fist. The stacks of papers in front of him were reports of battle from Hungary, delivered by the respected Trugen. To the right were matters of diplomacy that needed his signature or certain flair.

In the well lighted and recently renovated Ballhausplatz 2, he sat and looked over the lifeblood of his state: paperwork. He tackled, mentally more than physically, the pile of papers and manila folders on his left. Resisting the urge to sigh, he pulled the papers closer to him and took off the first folder. It was some measly reports on some factory in Vienna. He scanned them, added his telltale 'acceptable' mark and took the next one.

He continued that all through the stack, tonight was mostly about factories and supply lines in Austria. He had also picked some items about the recent companies being listed on FIA, the Mesopotamia ones. As he moved the next stack closer to him, he stifled another sigh. It was going to be a long night.

He looked through all the papers, glad that his venerable Reich had gotten so far so fast. He gave no thought to Maxen's achievements. Anthony considered him only slightly better than a coward and only marginally better then a traitor. Trugen, in is usual manner, and selected some of the most unusual topics for him, a way of him saying that he wasn't trying to hide anything. Drekcsler did not believe him, he knew Trugen played his cards close to his chest, Trugen could deny all he wanted but Drekcsler was sure Trugen still prayed for Maxen's release from [der] Iron Fist.

As he pushed the pile back, it tipped, throwing paper all over his desk, and pushing some of the domestic reports off their straight pile. Cursing softly, he got the stacks all straightened out. Except there was one stapled report laying halfway open. On it was some findings not mentioned in the brief summary on the front.

Disappointed, Drekcsler clicked his black pen and wrote, 'Contents which do not follow the indicated front index will not be accepted.' He also scribbled out his acceptable symbol on the front. Hopefully, that would teach any of those ambitious Iron Fist captains.

Still, a warning only went so far. reaching inside his jacket, he buttoned, the unzipped, and then reached into the pocket. Pulling out two keys, he unwound one from the key chain and fit one into a locked drawer, and the other in a keyhole underneath the table. Clicking both at once, a second drawer popped open. Quickly, Drekcsler opened the drawer and pulled out a simple notebook. Inside were black and red names, some of the red had black lines. On it, he crossed out Captain Alois Hiedler with black pen.

Stifling a yawn, he pulled the smallest but most imposing, it seemed, pile towards him. On the top was a big 'Dringend' in red letters. In it was the new reports, CNN was cited as a source many times, on the peace conferance. It seemed France was going for peace, well, he assumed he should show support for His Most Christian Majesty, the only other ruler he respected except for Franklin Roosevelt.

Back! Sorry for the crap post, it can be summarized as 'okay, everyone is now at the conference. Let's go'.

London, Great Britain

The task of organizing the peace talks and liasing with the Quinntonian hosts fell, of course, to Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh. That Australasian woman... Cassandra... something... was singularly unhelpful, appearing only to inquire about some technicality or complain about the seating arrangements. It was hardly the Baron's fault that the Australasian delegation was seated at the foot of the table, they were the smallest party! The Baron clucked to himself as he dispatched limousines and Rolls-Royce towncars to the airbase from which the delegates were to arrive. A limousine for the French, plus towncars for the overflow. Several limousines for the Quinntonians, one had to put all those staffers somewhere. And lastly an antique car of some sort for Royce, which would most likely fit his personality best.

The Baron was on hand to greet Prime Minister Moerike on the jetway, hiding his mild amusement that the name of her conveyance. Jesus One indeed. They had resisted the urge to paint crosses on the tail, which was probably a good thing all around. Nobody would respect someone who went around in an aircraft with crosses all over it. In any case, he managed to make small talk for the drive to Buckingham Palace, getting the Quinntonians acquainted with the major details of the event. Seating arrangements were to cater to the overdeveloped Gallic sense of honour, placing Louis-Auguste's Minister Plenipotentiary of Matters State, Vegetable and Mineral to the King's right. The ministers and attendees must always be addressed just so, please instruct your staff accordingly. The King's safety is to be ensured at all times. The French carry swords, so please keep at least a few of those frightful marines visible and armed. And so on, and so forth. A similarly glorified shuttle service was dispatched to greet the French officials, who were ensconced in predetermined rooms at the Palace. Appointed to run interference for the French was a young lady diplomat by the name of Mariella Pierce, whose pretty face hid an analytic, slightly twisted mind. If the French got out of order, Thunder-ten-Tronckh was sure, she would quickly put things right.

Royce was met with relative good cheer, the Mainwaring government being somewhat more willing to deal with his pretensions of Imperial Grandeur and General Britishness than those preceding it. His room had a rather large balcony, and he was requested to do his smoking outdoors. The bedlinens, normally antiques of fantastic value, were exchanged for replicas. The same was done in the Australasian rooms, out of fear that the Aussies would get dust or other Outback-inspired articles on the surfaces. What Royce would get on the surfaces was not specified, but he seemed to carry an air of disrepute, and disrepute was damaging to antique linens.

The conference was set to begin the next day, December 18th. The hope was that everyone would be home by Christmas, but nobody really expected such a thing. Despite the nice ring of The Christmas Accord, the Baron fully expected proceedings to drag out until February, March or April. Until then, a formal moratorium was placed on 'all actions offensive, actively defensive or otherwise aimed at causing disproportionate harm to the armed forces of a belligerent nation or collection thereof, without first being subjected to such an action without prior provocation in the form of bullets, missiles, shells, torpedoes, or other implements of destruction'. The hope was that such an accord was confusing enough that the conference would be finished before the lawyers had puzzled out the phrasing.

Further details were to be left to the Quinntonian Delegation. Hopefully, Moerike would have better luck with the Aussies. One of them had just asked where a nice beer might be found, and the Baron was well on his way to malice aforethought.

((OOC: I am a bit fuzzy on the timeline so if this is out of context please disregard it entirely))

Vaclav Klaus sends his regards to everyone at the peace talks and urges them to halt the continuing Austrian aggression.

Prime Minister Vanessa Moerike finally opened the meeting, she stood in her sui9t skirt, looking around at all of the delegates, and said, “Welcome and with the Blessings of the Lord Christ please come with open minds and open hearts. I know that a great deal is on the line here, and with the grace of God, we can all come to an amicable agreement. I think that the main player here, the delegations from Quinntonia’s esteemed allies, the United Kingdom and Australasia, and His Most Christian Majesty Louise-August should open as they both tell my staff that they have a tacit agreement and that it just needs to be fleshed out.” As she says the last bit she inadvertently glances at the 300 page document that was compiled by the law teams that had been meeting from the three nations for the last couple of weeks. How much more fleshed out do they need it to be?

WWJD
Amen.

His Majesty- who had procured a copy of the London Accords from someone in the Imperial Intelligence Service- was well known throughout the Empire for actually reading everything that crossed his desk- regardless of whether it was letters from citizens, the Port Royal Times, USQ Today, The Australasian, Le Monde, Hustler, or International Treaties the size of James Clavell novels, His Majesty read it and knew what was going on. Even if he didn't always manage to get the complete picture, of course.

OOC: Anyone able to give me the edited highlights?

BUMP for responses.
WWJD
Amen.

Had things changed since last year.

Things with NATO and SEATO were 'prickly' since the Suez flashpoint and the campaign in Indonesia had also sent Sino-Australasian relations to an all-time low, with Beijing and Raleigh almost on opposing ends of the barrel with regards to the recent arms deals to Sithin and further political conflict seemed likely with reports of Roycelandian and Australasian ships in SE Asian waters

In a surprise move, perhaps to show China's disapproval of NATO and Quintonnia's recent policy, President Hu agreed to stop in Versailles and travel to London as a Franco-Sino delegation.

OOC: We're mostly waiting on NG's return. La la la.

London, Kingdom of Great Walmington

His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste stepped off the modified Airbus 4000, codenamed Monarch One, dressed in a rather loose white leisure suit (complete with a simple pork pie hat) that concealed a massive injury to the King’s left ankle. The good King of France was in fact lucky not to have broken his neck as he came a cropper off his favorite stallion during his daily hunts through the perfectly symmetrical forest, complete with symmetrical tress and limpid canals (oft used for pleasure cruises by the Royals and their Court) that abutted the main palace complex of Versailles.

Although Louis-Auguste’s arrival in Walmington could hardly be concealed, the aerial armada that flew the King, Queen, several of the Princes of the Blood, and the majority of the Court en masse took up a full two score air liners, and created quite a bit of confusion at London’s Heathrow Airport. Only a few cameras and no audience, a precondition of the French King’s willingness to travel to England, caught glimpses of the Most Christian King hobble down the stairs into the terminal leaning obscurely on a cane and Her Serene Majesty Queen Jillesepone and into a waiting train of limousines. Surrounding them were the King’s Cent Suisse, a detachment of the Garde Suisse, that beyond superior group of a hundred crack Switzers which never left the Bourbon Monarch’s person. In plain clothes, having left the Court of Versailles, and dressed relatively simply in business suits with red berets and gold lining, they swarmed about Their Majesties as they entered the limos and sped away.

A brief statement was release upon the arrival:

We are here because we seek peace, moreover unity, with our Christian and Western brothers. Let this not be the end, but the beginning, of an age of amity and understanding, even agreement, between our great peoples.

His Royal Highness le Comte d’Artois, King Louis-Auguste’s eldest brother, was previously sent as a delegate to London to make sure ‘the coast was clear’ and that the conference was not just a trap. He had spoken to the British, Australasian, and of course Quinntonian authorities and made sure everything was legitimate, and so the Bourbons de Versailles arrived in due time. One of the major dilemmas facing the French was where exactly such a large party----dozens of Royals, hundreds of nobles, and perhaps even thousands of retainers---would lodge during the negotiations. The answer was typical French Restoration style: the entire Savoy Hotel, one of, if not the, finest hotels in London, would be rented out by the French Royal Family until the conference was over. The entire hotel, from the kittens to the penthouses, was taken over by the staff of Versailles. So, in time, the Limos arrived and Louis-Auguste (in a positively splendid move due to the prospects of peace) was taken to the penthouse to have his ankle re-casted by the Royal Surgeons and to take the rest he needed before joining the conference.

That night, when the French aristocrats had settled in, Emperor Royce, a good friend of Louis-Auguste and a close friend of the martyred Louis XX; with his entourage was entertained in royal style as the Roiks and Frenchmen, with both Kings sitting side by side and Queen Jillesepone making fine conversation, the crème de la crème of Versailles and Port Royal watched Gilbert & Sullivans The Mikado in the Savoy’s charming fin-de-siecle theatre. The musical was a known favorite of the French monarch, and all had it on good authority that Emperor Royce I was a fan of all things G&S. An important move, Louis-Auguste was eager to make up on any lapses of friendship that the public might have pondered due to the public lessening of contact between the two rulers. In fact, the lessening of chit-chat had less had less to do with amity (the two men were the best of friends) than intense programs and affairs that totally occupied each crown. Yet all doubts were banished as the King and Emperor laughed, clapped each other on the shoulders and mutually enjoyed fat Roycelandian cigars.

The next morning the French King, with Queen at his side, went by motorcade to Buckingham Palace, waiting to be presented and to begin the negotiations. As the Bourbon monarch and Groznyy monarchess received the salute of the Guard, the world waited for perhaps the most important and profound discussions in London for centuries…and the fate of Europe hung in the balance.

((Sorry mes amis, a bit scattered I know...I just wanted to get back in the game. Please bear with me, as I know you will. Thanks, and I must say, it is damn good to be playing again. Perish the thought I could have broken a hand as opposed to an ankle!))

OOC: Sorry, I have no time! I'll do my best to keep up with events, but for RP purposes can I state that the following has already happened?

-Gibraltar is ceded to the UK, reconstruction is ongoing.

-New Caledonia is ceded to Australasia, evacuation is to begin soon.

-The Azores are the territory of the Portuguese Free State and the seat of their Government in Exile, and are under the protection of the United Kingdom.

-Something about the Balearics? I don't really recall.

-War with Australasia and Great Britain will cease immediately.

-Does France admit to ICBM attacks and pay restitution for war damage? Something like that.

-France will not expand beyond the currently captured ECOWAS states? Maybe? NG, do you have the agreed-upon text somewhere?

OOC: Just to let you know, the Chinese aren't here to play nice. Beijing is officially here to keep the peace, but we do have an alternate agenda of ensuring Australasia doesn't dominate the whole of the South Pacific, if you get my hint ;)

Gurg, when did all this happen?

Buckingham Palace, London

And so the much anticipated conference began.

On one side of the vast hall were assembled the elaborate coats of arms and various royal symbols of the continental Holy League. There was erected the French Bourbon thousand gold fleur-de-lys on a solid white field, the Spanish Bourbon Pillars of Hercules, the lions rampant of Tulgary, the rising wolf and laurel of Rome, and dominant still among such splendor the harsh and glaring double eagle of the Gorznyy’s. Several monarchs were in attendance, and all powers were represented. There sat foremost among the glittering assembly His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste, inscrutable and in full regalia as befitted such an occasion. Beside him was his queen, the Tsar’s daughter, Her Serene Majesty Jillesepone. There was also His Catholic Majesty Philip VI, with his Queen Marie Antoinette, the youngest sister of the French king. The Crown Prince of Tulgary was in court too, in a dashing military uniform. Represented by the servants of God’s Lieutenants, rather than the holy men directly, were Rome and the Russian Empire. For the latter spoke Lars Porcena, a senator of high standing in the new ruling junta of Caesar Romulus. And for the dread Tsar spoke the irrepressible Prime Minister recently arrived from the winter palace, ‘Count’ ‘von’ Armand. After the planets were stars…thousands of nobles from the realms sat behind their monarchs, this conference proving too much to miss. The combined force of jewelry, grand clothing, style and overall finesse produced enough power to light foggy London for a week.

Opposing them, perhaps simply opposite them, were the major democratic powers of the west. In the former days their republican banners were the dominant factors in geopolitical realities, yet the arrival of the Holy League had necessarily altered the playing field. Recent events, sadly, had shown that the equation of power led the sons of the west to fight. So the mood was indeed cryptic. Nevertheless the stars and stripes of Quinntonia shone proudly, represented by the feminine Prime Minister Vanessa Moerike, and they shone absolutely pristine even against the gathered splendor of the Holy League. The shot heard round the world was an ever-fresh notion. There was the combined delegation of Great Walmington and Australasia, represented dually by and intertwined Union Jack and Commonwealth banner, dually by Prime Minister Mainwaring and Prime Minister Straitharn. Such was represented what was coming to be known as the ‘Anglo’ powers, although Quinntonia’s relationship with that burgeoning alliance was still in question.

In the middle of the hall, at either end, were the delegations of the Republic of China and the Empire of Roycelandia. The former was represented by no less a figure than Hu Jin Tao, President and a factor unto himself in real politic. And occupying a suitably grand position was Emperor Royce I. Among the powers of the earth, only one leader could have worn a ‘loud shirt’ to such a gathering and come away credible, let alone threatening. But Royce I conveyed both elements superbly, smoking stoically on a fine cigar as he scanned the audience. His mood looked none too pleased, and Port Royal was making no secrets about its plans the ‘reassert strategic authority’. Each power was an empire unto itself, but each was non-aligned in a way that allowed them to touch both sides of the hall, filling in any ideological gaps that filled the aisles, or, perhaps, completing them all.

So gathered in one place, at one time, at one instant, the largest single assemblage of kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, premiers, and emperors ever in the history of mankind.

It was an auspicious start.

A gorgeously attired British beef-eater guard, the Anglos too had a flair for the ancient solemnly called the meeting to order. A silence descended upon the hall where only a few seconds before there were veritable thunderstorms of chatter. All eyes turned to the Holy League delegations, and among the various envoys focused on the thousand gold fleur-de-lys of Versailles’s stallions. This was the hour when France, considered by so many the catalyst (or culprit, depending on your point of view) of recent events, was to offer terms among these gods upon the earth. His Most Christian Majesty shimmered in his own radiance, his face set and not moving, as retinas focused all about him. With a most elegant nod of his royal head, the Prime Minister to the Most Christian King Monsieur Jean-Fréderic Phélypeaux le Comte de Maurepas, rose to speak.

It was a brilliant move. By allowing his Prime Minister to speak, Louis-Auguste was promulgating the notion that he was waxing mayhap republican, allowing a statesmen to speak for the Kingdom of France rather than its supreme ruler. That was the desired intent of course. In reality, the Prime Minister had no more ‘official’ power than one of the Serene Queen’s toy poodles, though his unofficial patronage was widely sought and he was recognized as a power broken in les Salons de Versailles. The King was invisibly pulling le Comte’s every move as a puppet-master might, as a political master might. For the French King was far cannier than anyone heretofore suspected, except maybe for that tiny and closed off clique which was the Royal Family and its relatives. There were no visible strings attached as the Prime Minister slowly rose to the dais and the gavel cracked, but the light in the King’s eyes was fell, and it animated every step Jean-Fréderic took, gave nourishment and cadence to every word he spoke.

And speak he did, without the benefit of a script. When you addressed such an audience as this, it had got to be done subtly, ever better sublimely. Le Comte was clever, a statesman all his life. In that hour he summoned all his skill, all his craft, all his knowledge, all his abilities combined, and put them to work for the Most Christian King.

Relishing for a moment that, by the very Hand of God, the socialists and demons had been denied any voice at all, as if they simply did not exist, his golden voice filled the hall.

“Mesdames et Messieurs--- bon jour.”

”Est-ce donc une revolte? Non! Non, mes amis, c’est une revolution! Aujourd’hui…”

And then the translations kicked in for the various parties involved.

“…Today, today, my friends, we stand at what is, indeed, the most pivotal moment in the history of mankind. The circumstances likewise are indeed no revolt in regards to the prior trend of things, but a very revolution that will forever bring darkness to the world, or give to our world, for it is our world, a thousand years of light.”

“I see before me every true ideology, grown to its fullest and finest extent, that mankind has birthed: republic, monarchy, empire. I see before me a chance to forever find common cause, and disregard what differences are implicit in us. When I see the state of China sitting in a hall with the Empire of Roycelandia, side by side with the Bourbon Kingdoms’ and Theocratic Republic of Quinntonia, I see not a coincidence, but a chance for something great, a chance to seize and alter destiny itself!”

“Events have shown that if we do not find common cause, then militant cause will come to find us. The recent farce of brave Frenchmen fighting brave Englishmen and Australasians is proof enough, we must all settle our differences now, and come to agreements about, quite simply, the way things are. If we can progress together, a set of common causes from Beijing to Britain, from Washington D.C. to Versailles, from Port Royal to St. Petersburg, can we not all succeed together?”

“If we can not, it is plain enough to see what shall result: the forces of chaos and hell, incarnate in the wanton demons and totally illegal and bellicose governments of the inferior-continent, whose inhabitants can barley gutturally growl before they sack and rape and pillage, will consume us all. Maybe not all at once, maybe most likely over a long period of time, but as surely as Lucifer plotted to supplant the Throne of God do the sub-humans of our world plot to subvert us all! Damn them, my friends! Damn them all back to the pit of hell!”

He gathered himself for a moment, he had grown hot at the mentions of the sub-humans, but he was a gentleman, and he did not skip a relative beat as he pressed on.

“I will now announce the most important and hitherto undisclosed fact that very well may be spoken at this conference: the recent war in Africa undertaken by the government of His Most Christian Majesty, the dastardly ICBM attack on Buenos Aires, the crisis of the Suez Canal, and the chaos in Central Europe are a direct result of a communist conspiracy to undermine the Occident and allow the forces of hell to take over the world.”

“This is why the sons of France fight in Africa, if His Glorious Majesty Louis-Auguste had not acted when he had, in the very nick of time, the entire continent of Africa would be a strange and sinister colony of hell.”

“Sadly, actions taken to forestall the demons’ adventures resulted in that lack of common cause, and an act of militant cause wretchedly replete in Western Civilization engendered warfare between the Kingdom’s of France and Spain opposed by the Kingdom of Great Walmington and the Free Colony of Australasia. There can be no excuse for such warfare: for the bombing of Gibraltar, for the mutual exchange of destruction on the high seas, for the missile raid on Toulon, for the harrowing aeronautical combat which cost all of us so many fine young men, the flower of our youth, and hard earned treasure.”

“You have given me your ears, and I am grateful. Yet I know that I speak to fellow diplomats, so I shall now give you proper terms. Please, dear friends, as I wain and others come to speak, remember this: the common causes we forge today may create a thousand years of light, or allow a period of total and eternal darkness.”

“After a great duration of thought, a great period of introspection, and a sublime time of prayer to Almighty Christ, His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste offers these terms for peace!” He stopped for a beat before continuing, allowing the gravity of the statement to sink into the vast and splendid assemblage:

“Item 1: Gibraltar, and the Rock thereof, shall be ceded and recognized as the dominion of the Kingdom of Great Walmington, forever. Damages caused by the regrettable bombing of the domain shall be paid for over a period of ten years, all damages, by the Kingdom’s of France and Spain.”

“Item 2: Portugal shall be recognized to be in the direct sphere of influence of His Catholic Majesty Philip VI, and for a period of ten years recognized to be an administrative province of Spain known as the Portugal Free State, wherein sole authority and dispensations thereof shall lie with His Catholic Majesty. After a period of ten years the people of Portugal shall participate in a referendum, the result of which will allow that state to remain as a province of Spain or again become an independent nation.”

“Item 3: The Island-Fortress of New Caledonia, and Ft. St. Martin, shall be ceded and recognized as dominions of the Free Colony of Australasia. The Island-Fortress is offered to Australasia as a sign of fine and good intent on the part of His Most Christian Majesty towards the said Free Colony. It shall be turned over in full capacity.”

“Item 4: The former African states of: Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and the Guineas shall be recognized as the dominions of the Kingdom of France, henceforth to be known as: Cote d’Or (Benin, Togo, Ghana) and Cote d’Ivoire (Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, the Guineas). The former African state of Mali shall be recognized as the dominion of the Kingdom of Algeria, itself a vassal to His Most Christian Majesty. The former African state of Niger shall be recognized as a dominion of Tsarist Nigeria. The former African state of Senegal shall be recognized as a dominion of the Archduchy of Tulgary. The former African state of Mauritania shall be recognized as a dominion of the Kingdom of Spain.” And, a surprise tucked in for Beijing to ‘hop on board’: “The former African state of Liberia shall be recognized as a dominion of the Republic of China.”

“Item 5: Total and unified condemnation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a puppet state of the sub-human hordes, in its quest to propagate chaos and warfare in Central Europe. Agreement to apprehend Larionko Aidarov, aka Marshal Lav, and try him for illegal war crimes. Agreement to create a pan-conference panel to include: Rome, Australasia, Walmington, Quinntonia, and the Russian Empire whose purpose will be to study the situation in Central Europe and to recommend to the unified assembly a solution to the growing crisis. Agreement that the results of the ‘non-partisan’ panel will be adhered to by all conference powers.”

“Item 6: Agreement, and acts of support, that recognize the Suez Canal as an Egyptian entity whose welfare is inexplicably linked to the Roycelandian Empire. Therefore, considering the inexplicable nature of their relationship, this conference must agree to allow the sovereign state of Egypt to lie solely in the influence of the Roycelandian Empire for a period of no less than twelve years. After such time the conference powers shall come together and with the recommendations of Roycelandia re-consider the matter and provide for further courses of action.”

“Item 7: Total and unified condemnation of the rogue state of Libya, a puppet state of the sub-human hordes, in its use of nuclear weaponry against the Kingdom of France. Agreement to create a pan-conference panel to include: France, Rome, Spain, Australasia, Great Walmington, Quinntonia whose purpose will be to study the situation in Libya and to recommend to the conference a course of action to arrest Libyan dictator Muammar, to be tried for crimes against humanity, and to conclude a course of action that will prevent Libya ever again from deploying its nuclear arsenal (a gift from their inferior-continent masters).”

“Mesdames et Messieurs! Let us take this first step toward a thousand years of light together, from Beijing to Port Royal to Vladivostok. May God bless you all, and may God always defend and save our King! Vive le Roi!”

He then returned to his seat, no doubt to booming thunderstorms of conversation once again. Once more did he receive a gracious nod from the royal head of His Most Christian Majesty.

The conference had begun.

PM Moerike just sat in shocked silence. She could hardly believe what she had just heard. Here we were, centuries back, carving up the world again without asking any of the people whose lives we were affecting.

1. This was completely agreeable, and she hoped that all would agree.
2. This was just unacceptable; Spain would have to leave Portugal immediately after the conference.
3. This would be left up to Australia as to whether or not to accept such gifts, which it almost certainly would due to its need for major naval bases in that very area.
4. As for the African issues, it was widely understood that during the negotiations that created NATO, the USQ agreed to stay out of Africa with any of its ambitions, and would stay the course in that regard. They would wait for Royce to make his statement on this issue.
5. This was acceptable to PM Moerike, but she still felt that Austria would also have to be held accountable if that investigation were to take place. Though Yugoslavia turned a local small scale conflict and made into a major war.
6. Though she would stay out of Royce’s way in regards to Africa, it was understood that Royce did not desire Egypt to be his vassal, but rather that people just recognise the dominance of the company over the canal.
7. This was very acceptable to PM Moerike, and she was willing to be bound to whatever action proposed by such a committee.

However, she was here to mediate, not opinionate, and these subtle things would only be communicated via blackberry and whispers into the ears of her allies.


WWJD
Amen.

OOC: O RLY? Just a tag and getting Germany’s message out there. I wouldn’t hijack this thread and will be the background for the rest of the talks.

IC: Shultz responds to a Vanessa Moerike’s messages
As a few messages came in from the Quinntopian PM, a wary smile developed on Günter Shultz face as he listened to the ridiculous proclamations from France. He considered the French statement that they wanted to resist evil as highly suspect. They perpetuate false doctrine and inspire hatred against the Christian religion. They are evil and are no better than Soviets if not worse. Shultz told Moerike his thoughts and also made his governments position clear to Great Britain and Australasia

Caesar Romulus Magnus read the quickly typed message from Lars Porcena that had come through on blackberry. The more he read, the more he got onto the edge of his seat. It's about time, he thought, though he did not like the designation of Rome as a Bourbon Kingdom, but he could let that slide for now, it was irrelevant. Caesar Romulus put his entire support behind King Louis Auguste and told Porcena to support France, but to keep him apprised of dealings during the conference.

Hail Caesar!

Preparations for serious campaigning continue in India and southern Africa regardless of events in Europe. As France's regular forces are worn-down in West Africa and the king struggles to find rifles for his hastily-mobilized conscripts, Parliament keeps up its steady program of rearmament as highly-trained and experienced regular divisions receive new equipment and make themselves ready for trans-ocean deployment. Any agreement that leaves France or any Holy League country in control of part of Africa, save Nigeria and Algeria, will go unrecognized by India, no matter what other provisions back it up. France started the third world war and the Indians are ready to fight it from start to finish. And as the war drags on, the burden on the Bourbon throne, already crushing by any standard, will only become heavier.

Union diplomats in Great Walmington, not long ago a key ally in the global fight against feudalist oppression (for, regardless of French rhetoric, they cannot hide the fact that they kill and enslave as a matter of course, where the Soviets generally refrain from such things), make their presence known even if Indian powers did not receive an invite to the London conference. To a Walmingtonian population perhaps still smarting from unavenged Gibraltar or frustrated over the indecisive engagement off the Madeiras, they speak directly, harshly criticizing Strathairn's spinelessness and pointing out France's blatant disregard for the truth or even slight factual accuracy.

When news of the French "proposal" reachs Strathdonia it is predictably greeted with howls of derision. Not that the Strathdonian government had any issue with the mother country talking to the papist swine, as long as any such conversation took place after the ritual kicking had been admisistered to the powerful fench armies by everyone else's smaller forces.

The recent change in British attitude towars the French was causing the Strathdonian administration a fair few headaches but as it stood the nation was commited to aiding Indian efforts to restore freedom to it's fellow africans and thigns were goign it looked as though Strathdonia's alliegance was shfiting from britian to a much more firm stance alognside the Hindis, Soviets and "radical" Africans.

As the shells of Czech artillery and the sonic booms of the 21st century knights clashed around Vienna, Herr Drekcsler, the champion of Christendom in the Balkans, Blessed of God, sole ruler of the Divine Institution of Austria, and The Balkan’s Ligh read the recent report on NATO-Holy League talks. Always one for wheels within wheels, he admired how the French managed to appease everyone, in their own damnable way. It seemed their point for Austria was it is a Balkan benefactor of Christendom, not a Continental. Leave it to the French, he thought, to split the hairs of the Angel's.

The proposal seemed relatively agreeable, it seemed obvious to him that Australasia, Walmington, and Quintonnia should hardly give more lives, or any in Quinntonnia's case, for some backwards African nations; especially with new lands to be gained, or given back, by the French. Seemingly a win-win situation for NATO.

Unsurprisingly, Anthony Drekcsler was quite disappointed he wasn't thrown a bone, or four, but that was the way of things. Smilingly ruefully, he hard to remind himself he was 'only' getting Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The Abassamari Republic certainly has taken a great interest in the gathering in Britain, or at least in those gathered. A lot of well-connected people, thinks Aiyana, one of whose two primary obsessions at this moment is the search for a suitable wife amongst the world's recognised blue-bloods. After all, when his presidency ends with the Republic, Abassamara will need a young emperor to take his place.

For what little it matters on the international stage, Batambui's approval for French plans in West Africa is at least an open secret.

While all this was going on, a second Chinese delegation touches down in Paris - It was sponsored by the Chinese Nationalists as a research delegation and they were taking a huge interest in all things religious in France. Their questions were inquisitive and sometimes downright nosey.

"How does your monarch ensure the loyalty of the church towards him?"
"How did the Roman Catholic church manage to become so powerful?"
"Does the church contribute to issues of say, national security?"
"In your opinion, would something like this be possible in China at all?"

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

The constant reference to 'subhumans' made President Hu feel sick and somewhat nervous. It was a phrase that had featured heavily in Liu's speeches (especially the ones where he derided and purged communists like his ancestors), and he was now wondering whether he had made a mistake in choosing to visit Paris instead of greeting the Quintonnian delegation in Taipei. At one point in the speech, he was feeling so bad he tested his drinks, wondering if anyone was trying to poison him. Worse, his political rivals had sent a delegation to Paris as well. But he got his nerves together and continued to listen and when the time came, give Beijing's opinion.

“Item 1: Gibraltar, and the Rock thereof, shall be ceded and recognized as the dominion of the Kingdom of Great Walmington, forever. Damages caused by the regrettable bombing of the domain shall be paid for over a period of ten years, all damages, by the Kingdom’s of France and Spain.”

"We would endorse this as the best possible outcome for all nations involved."

Privately however, Hu did not expect the British to accept this - there was nothing there to satisfy their vengeance.

“Item 2: Portugal shall be recognized to be in the direct sphere of influence of His Catholic Majesty Philip VI, and for a period of ten years recognized to be an administrative province of Spain known as the Portugal Free State, wherein sole authority and dispensations thereof shall lie with His Catholic Majesty. After a period of ten years the people of Portugal shall participate in a referendum, the result of which will allow that state to remain as a province of Spain or again become an independent nation.”

The President's statement appeared to lean towards a Spanish presence in Portugal.

"We would expect that Spanish forces in Portugal will be a major factor in the reconstruction of the country and their removal now would be a disaster for Portugal's economy."

“Item 3: The Island-Fortress of New Caledonia, and Ft. St. Martin, shall be ceded and recognized as dominions of the Free Colony of Australasia. The Island-Fortress is offered to Australasia as a sign of fine and good intent on the part of His Most Christian Majesty towards the said Free Colony. It shall be turned over in full capacity.”

“Item 4: The former African states of: Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and the Guineas shall be recognized as the dominions of the Kingdom of France, henceforth to be known as: Cote d’Or (Benin, Togo, Ghana) and Cote d’Ivoire (Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, the Guineas). The former African state of Mali shall be recognized as the dominion of the Kingdom of Algeria, itself a vassal to His Most Christian Majesty. The former African state of Niger shall be recognized as a dominion of Tsarist Nigeria. The former African state of Senegal shall be recognized as a dominion of the Archduchy of Tulgary. The former African state of Mauritania shall be recognized as a dominion of the Kingdom of Spain.” And, a surprise tucked in for Beijing to ‘hop on board’: “The former African state of Liberia shall be recognized as a dominion of the Republic of China.”

This was a complex scenario as Hu was under the impression that Beijing would recieve at least a hand in the running of New Caledonia, but the strategic and economic value of Liberia surpassed that of the islands. There was the danger that Beijing would destroy the goodwill amongst her Strainist and Socialist friends by endorsing the proposal, but Hu believed other left-leaning nations would be pragmatic enough to understand that it would be better to have a small part of Africa under a more moderate system than to reject it for hope of victory in a war that was looking increasingly damaging.

“Item 5: Total and unified condemnation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a puppet state of the sub-human hordes, in its quest to propagate chaos and warfare in Central Europe. Agreement to apprehend Larionko Aidarov, aka Marshal Lav, and try him for illegal war crimes. Agreement to create a pan-conference panel to include: Rome, Australasia, Walmington, Quinntonia, and the Russian Empire whose purpose will be to study the situation in Central Europe and to recommend to the unified assembly a solution to the growing crisis. Agreement that the results of the ‘non-partisan’ panel will be adhered to by all conference powers.”

“Item 7: Total and unified condemnation of the rogue state of Libya, a puppet state of the sub-human hordes, in its use of nuclear weaponry against the Kingdom of France. Agreement to create a pan-conference panel to include: France, Rome, Spain, Australasia, Great Walmington, Quinntonia whose purpose will be to study the situation in Libya and to recommend to the conference a course of action to arrest Libyan dictator Muammar, to be tried for crimes against humanity, and to conclude a course of action that will prevent Libya ever again from deploying its nuclear arsenal (a gift from their inferior-continent masters).”[/quote]

"As per China's policy of disengagement from Europe, we will not enter an opinion on Yugoslavia."

"On the topic of Libya, I believe such action is not neccessary as the response by Quintonnia is enough to deter future use of WMDs."

“Item 6: Agreement, and acts of support, that recognize the Suez Canal as an Egyptian entity whose welfare is inexplicably linked to the Roycelandian Empire. Therefore, considering the inexplicable nature of their relationship, this conference must agree to allow the sovereign state of Egypt to lie solely in the influence of the Roycelandian Empire for a period of no less than twelve years. After such time the conference powers shall come together and with the recommendations of Roycelandia re-consider the matter and provide for further courses of action.”

"I don't care who is running the canal as long as traffic flows smoothly, they refrain from placing any military units near the canal, and the administrating party agrees to allow all shipping to pass regardless of nationality."

"I think the discussion on Egypt's future is at this point rather irrelevant."

It was indeed unusual to see most of the Major Powers gathered in one place. His Majesty, smoking a cigar and surveying the assembled personages, was rather happy with the draft of the proposals as they stood.

Egypt as a Vassal State had certain advantages, although admittedly it wasn't originally what His Majesty had in mind ("All the good stuff from Egypt is in the Imperial Museum anyway", His Majesty had joked at an an earlier press conference). Still, His Majesty re-iterates that if things in the Suez Canal will return to normal the microsecond the Soviets leave, and in the meantime, Wibble.

Indeed, though Unioners are as of yet unaware of the particulars of the secret negotiations in London and Paris, Chinese acceptance of Liberia as a colony would seriously damage relations with Mumbai. Already in China Indians point out that the war with France is not only possible to win but will probably end in a Holy League defeat, and Chinese assistance now will make the going far, far easier. What the Chinese are afraid of is beyond most Unioners. Certainly France is already stretching its manpower reserves to the absolute limit, while China's 800,000-strong standing army would seem to account for about eight thousandths of a percent of its total population. Now is not the time for pragmatism, Union diplomats will say, with the war only months old. And certainly Quinntonia's abandonment of Liberia contributes heavily to Union opinions on Washington.

Parliament soon releases a statement saying that it will not recognize any expansion on Roycelandia's part at the expense of presently-occupied West Africa. An agreement on Royce's part to take part of ECOWAS for himself will, says the statement, amount to a declaration of war against the Indian National Union. Of course, with French armies spread across an area easily the size of western Europe, few believe that any Holy League nation will be able to hold onto all of it for very long. Certainly the colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique, and Algeria will pale in comparison to the conflicts apt to erupt after the defeat or evacuation of ECOMOG regular forces.

Prime Minister Armand was quick to point out in subtle blackberry communiqués and side room discussions that the war in West Africa was far from reaching its limit, with France absolutely and fully committed, Spain was still moving to total commitment, and Rome was planning on starting to move troops into the area prior to the Central European conflict, and with a form of peace coming there, would most likely continue in that vein. The balance was then left to the Tsarists, who are very lightly committed from Nigeria alone, with their few hundred thousand troops seeing, relatively speaking, little resistance in Niger, and the ability to expand the war from Nigeria alone to troop levels surpassing the French and the benefit of home-ground advantage and close-by infrastructure. That, and with the advent of the tens of thousands of Lavragerian shock-troops that are slated to face the worst of the Soviet horde, along with the fact that the mainland Tsarist powers are as of yet uncommitted in this conflict should cast some doubts as to the “easy victory” that the Union is predicting. If the French stood alone, maybe that would be so, but the Holy League is more than an alliance, it is family. And blood is simply thicker than ideology.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

Versailles

The Chinese extra-delegates are given a reception with all the trimmings at Louis XX international airport in Paris, where they are hosted by Monseigneur le Comte de Provence, the King’s second youngest brother and regent while His Most Christian Majesty attended the talks in London. After being given a full review of the 2nd Korean Heavy Infantry Division of the Royal Army they are taken into the Grand Chateau in Versailles itself, having been driven their in full state in bright carriages, where they are lodged in a series of rooms known as salons of the Orient.

Over tea le Comte entertains their questions with good humor, it doesn’t take a genius to see how intently the Bourbons are courting the Chinese.

“His Most Christian Majesty ensures the loyalty of the Catholic Church by giving it power over, total power, the domains of education and medical care, by exempting it from taxes while compelling the realm to give it tithes, and by vigorous ideological co-ordination (in other words, la Marechaussee have been known to pick up some priests who became too left-leaning, and give them a healthy rehabilitation).”

“The Roman Catholic Church is the single most important organization in the Kingdoms of France, Spain, Rome, and Tulgary (the Russian’s were Orthodox, with Tsar Wingert…noted many Holy League nobles jealously… as the de facto Pope) in that it is the source of all our ideologies. Indeed, each monarch is by definition divine right, hence their titles as Lieutenants of God, and each monarch is technically ordained in the Priesthood itself.”

“The Church is national security incarnate. The single symbol of peace, prosperity and unity of purpose in the Kingdom of France.”

“Yes, yes it would. Mobilize a movement to deify your leader, or ennoble him as the representative of a deity. Not to put too fine a point of it, but you have a long history of emperors drawing on the ‘Mandate of Heaven’, to say nothing of the cult of Mao.”

“More tea?”

Savoy Hotel, London

That night after the first conference President Hu Jin Tao and Madame Jin Tao are invited to un petit souper at the Savoy Hotel, the luxury complex where the French Bourbons had set up camp for their stay in London. It is a radiant dinner, with full Court. President and Madame Hu are given a full review of the Cent Suisse before entering the mirrored dining hall.

Before dinner President Hu has received a full apology for ‘errant’ French actions in concessionary China, along with the apology receiving millions of dollars in classical Chinese art that the Republic had seized in those days. The art was reviewed before dinner. They sat down to a meal of expensive champagne, fine beef steaks, crisp vegetable salads, artichoke dishes with egg mayonnaise, fish and shellfish courses, liqueurs, caviar, specific Chinese delicacies (eaten with golden chop-sticks) all finished off with three dessert courses of soufflé, chocolate mousse, and finally a palate cleansing lemon sorbet. Espresso was served on a balcony with a sweeping view of London. The food itself took three hours to get through, and the fat the states’ leaders chewed on after would take even longer.

After dinner Her Serene Majesty Queen Jillesepone took Madame Hu to bathe in champagne followed by a series of delightful messages and soaking in luxuriant heat of the spa. This left His Most Christian Majesty alone with the inscrutable Chinese leader, becoming more important by the hour, this President Hu Jin Tao. Louis-Auguste had a cigarette, offered one to China’s leader. China’s declarations of intent at the conference had been most heartening. France had in effect been won over, and had become and Sinophile entity. His Most Christian Majesty would declare his great apology for the rough relations with China heretofore, citing them as caused by ‘communist and insurgent schemata’ and ‘sorrowful cultural misunderstandings’.

There was a bright future to be had, however. To President Hu King Louis-Auguste
told his plan to create La Compagnie Royale d'Afrique, perhaps the worlds largest single business corporation, which would have exclusive rights to everything in burgeoning French West Africa. The colonial administration was but a formality, the Most Christian King declared, “I have paid a good lot of treasure for this war, Monsieur Hu, and I intent to make a profit from it!” La Compagnie Royale d'Afrique would serve as a sharp tool to suck every possible resource from the fertile and rich West African theatre. Oil, rubber, coal, free labor, the potential profits were astronomical.

Up until this point, His Most Christian Majesty was planning La Compagnie Royale d'Afrique as a sole endeavor. Now, following China’s tacit and subtle acceptance of Liberia, President Hu was given a chance to invest at the ‘ground level’ of the Compagnie. In return for his investment it required no imagination to see that such vast raw materials at such relatively cheap rates would catapult China into another Industrial Revolution if so desired. Projections of the Academie Royale, the Kingdom of France’s can-do think-tank, projected profits of nearly a trillion dollars USQ per annum (never mind that factored into that figure was a Draconian plan of enforced French settlement in West Africa, using ‘less desirable’ subjects of the crown, mass levels of slave labor, fire-hose baptisms, flooding the entire West African market with cheap Nigerian labor, and the basic premise of not worrying about civilian infrastructure in favor of rapacious seizures of natural resources: in a word, Nouvelle Congo Belge).

If China would only throw in their support now, throw their support in with the Western Powers against the Progressives, then everyone would have a chance to make profits the like of which had never been seen.

It goes without saying that there was going to be few cameras in French West Africa.

No sooner had he proposed the idea than His Imperial Majesty Royce I appeared wearing a loud shirt and smoking a cigar. Louis-Auguste broke into a sheepish grin:

“Mon cher ami, Monsieur le President and I were just discussing how to make some shiny coins come out of black Africa. Now, last we left off, I think we were discussing the possibility of Roycelandian investment with guaranteed returns in regards to rail lines in Africa?”

“Do sit down.” A valet stepped silently forward and served the three state leaders another piping hot cup of espresso.

Buckingham Palace, London

At the next days conference, which waited in anticipation for what looked to be a lengthy Anglo response to the Gallic proposals, Monsieur le Comte de Maurepas, Prime Minister to His Most Christian Majesty, was wheeling and dealing like an acrobat. The conference became a series of small talks in anticipation to the coming British-Australasian address. Germany, recently asserting itself from a Quinntonian-proxy position, is greeted warmly but warily. It made the King’s skin crawl to even remember what pains Germans had caused the French over the 20th Century, so he was determined they be friends. Gunter Shultz is invited to state his position to the French, and the delegates from Versailles and Paris offered to answer any questions he might have.

When dusky ‘Hindoos’ arrived from the Communist Bloc to spitter-spatter the French aristocracy was delighted---they thought the Anglos were putting on a minstrel show with black face actors. Alas, no, no comedy came from the Unioners, only farce, so they were quickly ignored, except when they were mistaken for waiters and asked to produce refreshments. M. de Maurepas set about cutting off any reception they might get, floating a proposition to boot them out of the conference itself, on the grounds they were “terrorists who will blow us up…you should really take them to cool off in the Tower of London.” Strathdonia is likewise attempted to be ‘shut out’ of the conference, with M. de Maurepas floating a proposition that they have no official voice in the talks because they were simply not invited, and they kept ‘foul company’. Versailles was hardly worried about the anti-Papal swine, in time their bacon could be fried, and if they didn’t shut up quick-style perhaps they needed a charred city to remind them of their inferior place in the world.

Versailles quietly but vigorously encouraged Roycelandia to take a stronger stance in Egypt, make an official statement that showed its intent to maintain lease of the Suez Canal. The ego of Royce I himself was petted: go ahead, your so moderate anyway, just a little statement here and Egypt will fall into your lap. If push came to shove however the French noblesse would hush up swiftly and move on to a cheerier topic, say, Roycelandian investment and acknowledgement of French West Africa.

Quinntonia’s opposition to Item 2 of the ‘French plan’ was met with as much surprise as Chinas acceptance of it. Though unexpected Versailles signals this Item is far from decided upon, and there is still plenty of room to work things out. Meanwhile China is lauded by King Louis-Auguste, who states “the honorable President Hu of China indeed has made a real and true estimation of the Portuguese situation.” Otherwise Prime Minister Vanessa Moerike’s neutral and even supportive stance of the French position is jumped on like white on rice. Versailles trumpets its desire to allow a resurgence of ‘global recognition of Quinntonian prowess’ and in a downright obsequious voice seeks to find what will help bring Washington D.C. down as a signing partner of the treaty.

There is also widespread joy at the growing and firm consensus of Holy League powers. Tsarist Russia’s entrance in force into the war is greeted as Christ-like, and taken together with a growingly friendly China is heralded as the beginning of the end to this ‘confused and regrettable hostility’. Indeed Tsar Wingert was asserting himself far more than some suspected, and they would soon find to their chagrin maybe that the Bourbon’s African venture would pale in the face of what Grandpa Wingert had in store for the worlds filthy crawleys. Caesar Romulus is thanked via Senator Lars Porcina for his great show of support, and greeted on recent successes in Central Europe. And Herr Drekcsler of Austria is even something of a Patron Saint of the Holy League, who fought so bravely against such odds. Quietly but surely, the Austrian Delegation is ushered into the hall by the French at the same time as they try to get the Unioners and pseudo-Scots kicked out. Far more quietly the Abassamari delegation is allowed to move into the Savoy Hotel, where they are given a suite of rooms, with the hope of soon ushering them into the conference as well.

Versailles wheeled and dealt, seeking every solution possible to end this conflict and build a united consensus among the ‘legitimate’ powers of the world.

As for point 2, the USQ position was unmoving. They would not see Portugal come under foreign occupation. They were bound by their understanding with Roycelandia as to what was happening in Africa, but their indignation for that would be poured out on this issue. There was even talk of military action into Portugal should things not go their way.

But, as the evening wore on, a message came to HMCM from PM Moerike. Give up Portugal, and Quinntonia will promise to not place troops in Iberia. But some kind of military presence would have to stay for help in keeping order and reconstructing after the mess that Spain made out of the nation. PM Moerike offered the Germans. A force consisting of not more than 3 Army Groups plus civilian contractors that would stay in Portugal for a period of not less than 5 years to defend them and re-build the nation.

This was portrayed as the cost of staying out of Africa for both USQ, and Germany, who was not bound by "understandings".

WWJD
Amen.

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I had not been at the forefront of negotiations at this meeting- indeed, his laptop had been getting a lot of use e-mailing back and forth between himself and his advisors and Governor-Generals all over the world.

"Ladies and Gentlemen", he addressed the assembled leaders.

"As has repeatedly been explained, the Suez Canal Authority is a private, multinational company, awarded the contract to run the Suez Canal. However, the continued Soviet military presence in the area constitutes a direct threat to the security of the Canal. Accordingly, I must refer you all to the Belize Convention, signed between the Roycelandian Empire and The Federation of United Elias in 1984. The Convention forms the major text of the Alliance between Roycelandia and United Elias, And Their Heirs & Successors.

In short, the entire former United Elias is still allied to the Roycelandian Empire, and troop presences along the Suez Canal are absolutely in line with the Alliance. Now, the microsecond the Soviets et al withdraw, there will be no further military threat to the Canal and we will not be obligated to station troops there. Indeed, we should be delighted to withdraw the bulk of them, leaving only a nominal security force, as we have frequently offered to do, but each time the Soviets et al rebuff our offers. To reiterate: the Canal stays in our hands regardless, and the troops remain as long as there is a real and present threat posed by a non-Allied Government to the Canal."

President Hu chuckled slightly at the French economic projections. Beijing was interested in profits, just not so much the "rapid extraction of natural resources at the expense of the locals." Having spent the evening talking, he was more relaxed now and felt he had gained an understanding of the French mindset somewhat. Now he had to speak like them.

"Monsieur, with all due respect, your proposal...treats the locals somewhat unfairly. Surely the best way to form loyalties with the natives and get them to support and possibly fight for you is to share part of the profits with them. To do anything else would be to provide these 'communists' that you fear with voluntary soldiers and propaganda for the 'communists'."

Applause from the Holy League delegation en masse rose at the conclusion of Emperor Royce’s speech, even King Louis-Auguste broke protocol atrociously and joined in the applause. The Kingdom of France had been greatly worried by recent Roycelandian silences, worried that Royce I was perhaps going to be the last…well, whatever his houses name was…before the dissolution of the Empire itself. Coupled with his tacit condemnation of the communists, who had illegally been bothering him too, the French delegation, and their Holy League allies, were elated.

Although being called monsieur (only the Queen was technically allowed to use that style with His Most Christian Majesty) was perhaps being called worse than a son of a bitch in the eyes of the royal court Louis-Auguste had only smiled sweeter after the comments of the Chinese President, nodding in agreement.

“Oh, the natives will benefit hugely, my dear friend. Of course, these questions of economics,” he waved his hand dismissively in a vague manner “you know how they go, so, uh…complex. I dare say it wont take very live to make the natives happy as clams, so to speak. Yet these questions of economics…” he again made vague movements with his hands “everything gets so confused. You see, we have to first build the industry that will supply the region, isn’t that right? So yes, we will make the natives real Frenchmen, Monsieur le President…”

He spoke very seriously then “And bring them all civilization has to offer. You are absolutely right, we cannot abuse them or they would become de facto communists.”
The King was delighted with the direction of the conversation.

“I only hope, President Hu, that you can see the wisdom and profit that your moderate hand would receive by engaging in this matter of African commercialization. I intend to trade this corporation on the New York Stock Exchange itself. Let us take a step forward together!”

On the most secret level M. de Maurepas barely whispers to a Quinntonian diplomat “His Majesty is amenable to your proposals, but there must be a few more conditions:

“If this Portugal matter is resolved at great expense to Our Spanish Brothers, will you first agree to be a signatory of the Conference Accords? Secondly, if we amend to your desire, will you agree with the entirety of Item 4, to include the compensation of Tunisia for the donation of Portugal for the Kingdom of Spain? And most importantly: if the Holy League basically acquiesced to Quinntonian demands, for France would have to sell this to the rest of that righteous alliance, would Quinntonia agree to enforce the decision of the pan-conference panel regarding Libya. In other words, would Quinntonian jets be willing to remove all of Libya’s WMD capacity? With radioactive dust still over the Mediterranean the Kingdom of France wants nothing less than a multi-national panel which will remove the communist puppet in Libya by force, hopefully a multi-national strike team.”

M. de Maurepas councils united action of Item 7 may very well prove a crux of the conference’s negotiating points.

The Quinntonian aides were quick to point out the Quinntonian position on these matters. Quinntonia would come on a signatory, but as a conditional one. All points having to do with Africa would be deferred to the Roycelandian government, and USQ would support them. However, the idea of a council designed to hold the Colonel accountable to his many crimes over the years was delightful to the Quinntonian government. This did have the Quinntonians staring a moral quandary in the face, however, if such a council found fault with France, USQ and her allies would feel it necessary to form action against France as well.

It was wondered if taking Libya off the docket would be the best thing for all considered, seeing as it might actually work in the favour of the Communists. PM Moerike dreamed nightly of a sky made black with Raptors shooting down Progressive aircraft, but it was wondered if that would keep USQ from being neutral in Africa. It was a kind of all or nothing philosophy. Perhaps Roycelandia would be better poised to take part in the disarmament of Libya with UK?

WWJD
Amen.

Günter Shultz was asked by his Quinntopian allies about German involvement at the conference. He responded that Germany would not be attending any conference in which any Holy League members were present. This conference would be completely boycotted by Germany because Shultz wanted to prevent any sort of friendships developing that could hinder the development of German foreign policy. While not technically at war, a siege mentality began to develop in Germany and any friendly overture that Shultz made towards the French would penalize him at the next election.

Shultz made sure that all the participants at the Conference were aware of his threat to raise tariffs towards trade with the Holy League at twenty five percent. The German people were not happy with those who misuse the Lord name in every sentence and wanted to make sure the wicked knew of their displeasure. Shultz was aware that if the tariff was enacted it would likely create a worldwide depression. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Choson state media would have a field day as soon as the US positons on Africa and Europe become confirmed internationally. Damn the blacks, however many hundred milion of them, half of them are Muslims and animists anyway, but we're not about to let you dictate to ten million European Christians in Portugal!

Meanwhile the Abassamarans are kicking up a tremendous fuss in every anti-communist capital around the world. While talk goes on in Europe there are hundreds of thousands of Indian, Combine, Somali, and Eritrean troops pressing the Abassamari border... which is collapsing rapidly.

Choson state media would have a field day as soon as the US positons on Africa and Europe become confirmed internationally. Damn the blacks, however many hundred milion of them, half of them are Muslims and animists anyway, but we're not about to let you dictate to ten million European Christians in Portugal!

Meanwhile the Abassamarans are kicking up a tremendous fuss in every anti-communist capital around the world. While talk goes on in Europe there are hundreds of thousands of Indian, Combine, Somali, and Eritrean troops pressing the Abassamari border... which is collapsing rapidly.

OOC-Even as it is pointed out that the many millions of African allies that Quinntonia has are being quite well taken care of, and that most are aethiests, within the Roycelandian-held areas, PM Moerike is already on the phone to Gunter Schultz asking if he could somehow support the Ethiopian people, the only major Christian African nation, and the oldest Christian nation in the world. War bonds were badied about, as well as perhaps supplying them with German aid in any number of ways, up to and including direct aid. The mass invasion of Africa by the Soviets was seen as the most horrible calamity that PM Moerike had ever witnessed, and PM Schultz, who was unfettered by the constraints that USQ was, could use this as an opprotunity to turn this nation away from the HL.


WWJD
Amen.

OOC: Finally!

The bizarre French sermon took a few moments to penetrate the audience, and after a few minutes, Anglophone leaders could be seen staring with naked shock at the French Prime Minister. His policies and opinions, while no surprise, were impolitic in the extreme. As his undeniably soothing and cultured voice permeated the air, British and Australasian delegates quietly scribbled notes and formulated policy on yellow notepads and open laptop screens, before emailing them to both Anglo heads of state and the Quinntonian delegation's leaders.

Prime Ministers Strathairn and Mainwaring traded looks. Some Quinntonian fool of an organizer had placed them at the same table, and their staffs had been obliged to place themselves behind at hastily arranged desks. Accordingly, only one head of state was permitted to speak by the rules of the peace summit, and the two had reached a silent conundrum. Australasia, while the lesser state, was also the more grievously wounded by the war. Britain, on the other hand, had better claim to causus belli, and a British accent sounded far better on camera than an Australasian one. The two men looked at each other for three or four seconds before coming to a silent conclusion. The taller Strathairn inclined his head, and Mainwaring rose to his feet.

George Mainwaring was a small man with an ample waist that was contained behind a fine waistcoat and jacket. His cherubic face was a sort of cheerful pink, and his nose resembled an overripe strawberry. The figure that he cut was more that of a charming uncle than a powerful head of state, and he rather thought that by comparison to the finely dressed de Maurepas, Britain was making a poor showing indeed. Even so, Mainwaring cleared his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Kings, Emperors, Generals, Admirals, Gods, Comrades. I fear that I am unable to follow Prime Minister Maurepas' unparalleled display of oratory, nor can I bring a message quite so replete in theological references. I am unable to tell you that we stand arrayed against the forces of Hell, Communists or even Liberal Democrats. I cannot tell you fantastic stories of Oriental conspiracies against God, Church or Home. I cannot tell you this because I have not, as yet, completely taken leave of my senses." A ripple of laughter made its way through the Australasian and British delegations.

"I leave Minister Maurepas' words to your fine and reasoned judgment, friends. However, decency requires me to formally distance my government and that of Prime Minister Strathairn's Australasia from the shameful remarks made about our Asian and African brothers and sisters. Furthermore, should the French delegation see fit to submit its opinion of them to the world community, it may do so in a venue other than Buckingham Palace, so as to show proper respect to the building, those it houses and those that have come before us. Should the French delegation fail to retract its absurd claims, it may excuse itself from further deliberation and be represented by a proxy of its choice.

"Now, on to more important matters. Point One is approved, with thanks. Gibraltar has been a possession of this crown for nearly four centuries, and shall continue to be so in perpetuity. I promise to our Gibraltarian subjects on behalf of myself and my successors that you shall live beneath a Union flag so long as you continue to see fit.

"Point Two is unacceptable. Portugal has been an independent nation since the dawn of the age of Reason, and though that quality might be sadly lacking in the Bourbon courts, the longevity of the Portuguese nation is beyond dispute. Its people are proud and patriotic, and have ever been allies of Great Britain. We shall not abandon them now. Should Portugal not be returned full sovereignty, with all damages paid by the Kingdom of Spain over the next ten years, this war shall last until Spain is a vassal of Lisbon, rather than the reverse.

"Point Three is accepted, with thanks, by the Free Colony of Australasia. Further discussion may take place between the two involved powers at a later date.

"Point Four is a source of concern. We British have been recently on the receiving end of French attempts at 'pacifying the natives', and at least four people present today were on the Rock to see fire falling from the sky courtesy of the ODSE. Australasians survived an ICBM attack on their largest city, this time courtesy of a French base in South America. Stories from Accra have reached us regarding the deployment of UGC, a napalm derivative, VX Nerve agent and even Fuel Air Explosives. As of this time, satellite data suggests that Accra no longer exists as a city in any meaningful manner. All civilians present at the time of VX deployment are believed dead, some six to eleven thousand. A further two thousand military personnel are believed killed from FAE attacks, including some of the Algerian soldiers of France. As a result, my government requires significant evidence that France is worthy of governing Paris, let alone the ECOWAS states.

"Point Five is not within the purview of this peace summit, which regards the cessation of hostilities between Great Britain, Australasia and the Holy League. If France wants to dictate policy, it is invited to do so from Paris, rather than London.

"Point Six is also not within the purview of this peace summit. Please, Monsignor, do your homework.

"Point Seven is acceptable so long as the Indian National Union and the Armandian Combine are present on this board. We Europeans are not the only nations present in the world, and should Monsignor de Maurepas require a good geography textbook, any A-Level student would most likely be happy to oblige him.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen."

His Majesty- having lost a lot of weight in recent months- took another drag from his cigar.

"I would be more than amenable to assisting our British cousins with the disarmament if Libya, and would even go so far as to offer to hold the Colonel's trial within Roycelandian territory, in order to ensure its impartiality, fairness, and openness.

Furthermore, I must concur that Portugal at least be allowed autonomy within the Greater Spanish Empire- possibly as a Commonwealth, allied with the Spanish Crown.

I have also been in talks with some of the French Colonial Ministry's top people, and have suggested to them that French rule of their new Colonies might benefit from the Roycelandian "Overseas Territory" model, in which the citizens of the re-colonised countries attain citizenship of the Mother Country, have universal suffrage, and can benefit from the civilising influence of our French cousins. I am, of course, concerned about French... "over-enthusiasm" in the endeavours to bring civilisation back to West Africa, but I am more concerned about Soviet aggression and destablisation attempts in Africa. The French make excellent wines, brandies, cognacs, cheeses, movies, and cars. The Soviets do a good line in curry and self-promotion. The fact is, these conflicts aren't going to end any time soon unless we can all agree on some basic ground rules- Rules of War, if you will. I have people working on them as we speak, and shall submit them to this conference for discussion presently."

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I had not been at the forefront of negotiations at this meeting- indeed, his laptop had been getting a lot of use e-mailing back and forth between himself and his advisors and Governor-Generals all over the world.

"Ladies and Gentlemen", he addressed the assembled leaders.

"As has repeatedly been explained, the Suez Canal Authority is a private, multinational company, awarded the contract to run the Suez Canal. However, the continued Soviet military presence in the area constitutes a direct threat to the security of the Canal. Accordingly, I must refer you all to the Belize Convention, signed between the Roycelandian Empire and The Federation of United Elias in 1984. The Convention forms the major text of the Alliance between Roycelandia and United Elias, And Their Heirs & Successors.

In short, the entire former United Elias is still allied to the Roycelandian Empire, and troop presences along the Suez Canal are absolutely in line with the Alliance. Now, the microsecond the Soviets et al withdraw, there will be no further military threat to the Canal and we will not be obligated to station troops there. Indeed, we should be delighted to withdraw the bulk of them, leaving only a nominal security force, as we have frequently offered to do, but each time the Soviets et al rebuff our offers. To reiterate: the Canal stays in our hands regardless, and the troops remain as long as there is a real and present threat posed by a non-Allied Government to the Canal."

An aide had recently seen fit to interrupt General al-Rashid at an important meeting, and remind him of this specific phrasing of the Belize Convention. The General ordered a message to be sent to Roycelandia suggesting that thus Mesopotamia, as the only actively governed part of United Elias, was the Heir and Successor to that state, and would be able to replace Roik troops in ensuring the security of the Canal, meeting that part of the Convention obligations.
The General saw fit to attach the repeated statements in which he had supported the ownership of the canal by a foreign company, as long as it ran the canal according to internationally agreed standards, which Roycelandia had clearly stated it would.

The unfortunate aide was of course reprimanded for interrupting the General while he was conducting important business; but not too harshly, because this was equally important, if not vitally urgent.

A small blur streaked across the sky; a small splash of grey on a infinitely large canvas of black. It moved with incredible speed, rushing ever faster as friction's kiss grew ever hotter. The little grey blur took on a tinge of red as it punched through the lower layers of the atmosphere. By the time it began to near its destination, it was completely wrapped in flame---it'd be a wonder if it survived, whatever it was. Yet somehow, despite intense pressure and height, the marvelous little blob of gray was still intact as it began to slow down. The flames lessened as it entered the cold confines of space and as it slowed down, allowing the silhouette of a small, but sturdy looking satellite to emerge. The satellite's small rockets let forth a burst of orange flame, and propelled it leftward, until it reached a fellow space traveler of much greater size. An array of sophisticated computers intercepted the larger satellite's signals, decoded them, and replicated the same frequency but with greater amplification. This overrode the larger satellite's own signal, and in essence turned it into a transmitting device for the tiny satellite's message...

Soon the sky was full of small grey blurs, all on the same mission....

-London, Britain-
"...and in other news, the location of former Prime Minister John Bull is still unknown, although reports have surfaced about him being spotted in Andaman and Nico---"
-Port Royal, Roycelandia-
"...next on Crisis Action News, the growing and disturbing trend of teenage abstinence and how we can pre---"
-Washington D.C., Quinntonia-
"...for every five dollar donation to the 700 Club we offer a free Jesus T-shi---"
-Paris, France-
"...the King has been so gracious as to provide an expert who will explain exactly why none of the government's broadcast media has any resemblance whatsoever to realit---"
-Vienna, Austria-
"...we still have television? How the f---"
-Moscow, Russia-
"...come on down to Crazy Ivan's Used Car Lot, free car with every bottle of whiskey---"

All of the world's major news broadcasters were suddenly cut short, their images replaced by the remarkably beautiful image of a youthful Asian woman with eyes as dark and piercing as her hair and perfectly tailored suit. The emerald green dress shirt that lay underneath the suit hinted at, and the ultra modern black office space behind her confirmed the broadcast's Combine origins. Her hands, perfectly manicured yet still bearing a hint, just a hint, of the blood and sweat her job entailed, rose up, palms open.

"Stop. We realize that you're likely going to turn to another channel---but, in the words of a late night Quinntonian infomercial, don't touch that dial. This is the only way we could reach all of you, because we desperately need to talk. The West and the Left have long been at odds---we've clashed ever since the Paris Commune raised up its red banner above the barricades and stared each other down through the era you call the Cold War. Let's face it, we're never going to agree on points of ideology."

Her tone suddenly shifted, the casual friendliness giving way to a more solemn and angry mode undercurrent.
"There is something we can agree on, however; all men, no matter how far away from the Combine or God, if you prefer, carry within them a conscience. It's a burden and a blessing that all men must bear, and though some may ignore it, it is still there."

The room's lights suddenly cut off, just as a single beam of light blasted onto the Energy Minister's lovely visage. Three screens slowly lit up behind her, the images of a wartorn Africa vividly coming to life. A starving mother clutching her dead child, a blood stained village, and a flame strewn church all flashed behind the Minister, as a small ember lit up in her eyes.

"These are the images that pour out daily from Africa, these are the bloodstained tears that stream down her face. Millions of innocents have already been brutally slaughtered by a regime that cares for nothing more than power. Whether you pray to Allah or Jesus or whether you pray not at all, listen to your conscience! Millions of innocents cry out in pain, in suffering; can you, Quinntonia, honestly claim to uphold Christ's teachings while smugly proclaiming neutrality? Can you, Roycelandia, honestly pretend that your colonialist endeavors benefit your newly minted subjects while you watch your allies burn them to a crisp? Can you, Anglos, honestly tell us that you will not stand for the tiny nation of Portugal to be oppressed but care little if hundreds of millions of Africans lie in chains? This isn't about ideology, ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps your leaders can't see past abstract concepts of Left and Right, of neat little spheres of power carved out on polished globes, but we know that you can. People of the West, your leaders are about to make peace with a demon---do not let them. Put aside your thirst for power and open your heart; let foreign policy be, for once, what it was meant to be: a moral battle. The international community is a neat word for the figureheads that dominate the global landscape; we do not speak to them, but the international people, the everyday men and women in whose hands and hearts we place our trust."

As she spoke, images taken from webcams strewn all across the West appeared behind her; Times Square was accompanied by the Raleigh Opera House and Port Royal's bars. Some of those watching the Armandian broadcast would experience the odd spectacle of...watching themselves.

"The French crusade is not at all just, and furthermore, it doesn't even make much sense. Let us make it clear that the French King cares not at all for anyone, much less his people. He claims his crusade is humanitarian; we didn't realize VX gas was a humanitarian measure. He claims it will develop France's economy; we didn't know that the cost of rebuilding an entire country so that it's infrastructure could be at the very bare minimum required for economic activity was so minimal. He claims to be fighting a Communist crusade; we didn't realize that ECOWAS, an organization that promoted free trade and capitalism, was secretly a leftist front."

"Let's face the facts, ladies and gentlemen---the French invasion of Africa benefits no one, much less France. It has cost France the treasure of its people and the blood of its sons, and it will bring only a bitterly contested warzone that their grandchildren will struggle with. It doesn't weaken the Left---in fact, it does the opposite! With every innocent African you butcher, ten potential capitalists turn revolutionary. People of France, you have fought against your newly enthroned monarchy twice before---once in the days of Louis XX, and once more in the era of his son, Auguste. We understand that it is hard to break free of the emotional and spiritual bonds that you have been raised with---but you must do so, for the sake of the world and for the sake of your own country. We too, had to overthrow our Higher One, who still resides in Tulgary today, and we too, had to shatter an ancient bond that most said was unbreakable. But we did it, and so can you; the King leads your proud nation into madness, and he must be stopped."

"Alright, we've told the people of the West what they must do today; now, we'll show our part of the bargain. After a joint liberation of Bihar, one of the old style Communist hard line states the West fought against during the Cold War, our forces, numbering over 250,000 men, have withdrawn. The contrast between Bihar and West Africa could not be more stark; while we liberate Bihar, minimize casualties, hand over a dictator for trial, and then leave an independent democratic government behind as we withdraw, Louis Auguste does the exact opposite in Africa. These forces now fly towards Eritrea, as part of a massive joint Indian strike force in order to eliminate the Abassamari dictator, General Aiyana."

Footage of Armandian soldiers pulling out of Bihar appeared on the screens, with natives throwing flowers at their liberators (after all, the Combine's invasion had lasted little more than a few weeks and had been largely painless) as they withdrew. The black clad soldiers traced long, shadowy trails across the verdant green fields of Bihar. Over 250,000 men flowed out of that tiny statelet, along with their gleaming modern tanks and airplanes; the Armandian Combine had effectively launched one of the largest invasions in recent history and withdrawn it in the span of only a few weeks. The withdrawal's chronological achievements were even more impressive than the invasion's; a quarter million man force, along with all the equipment such a force entailed, had been removed without a trace in the matter of days.

Well, there was some trace.

Images of Bihar's former dictator being handed over to a Bihari tribunal rolled alongside the burning green flash of an explosion as viewed by a night camera. The detonation eliminated the rogue Defense Secretary who'd taken up Patel's mantle, and served as a warning to any aspiring Bihari dictators.

Well, thought the Minister with a slight smirk, perhaps not only Bihari dictators...

"Abassamara's Night of a Thousand Cuts joins the ranks of such noble events as the Holocaust and the gassing of Libya; for that crime, and for countless others, the puppet known as Aiyana will fall."

Bihar soon faded from behind the Minister, only to be replaced by Eritrea. Huge swathes of red and black revealed themselves to be, upon closer inspection, hundreds of thousands of Soviet, Unioner, and Combine soldiers. United by mission if not ideology, these soldiers of the revolution roared passionately into battle; visions of liberation burned in their heads as their tanks rolled into battle. A constant flow of planes and trucks, laden with men and supplies, descended upon Eritrea like a swarm of insects, darkening the sky; Eritreans gazed into the sky, confused about what was apparently an unexpected eclipse.

"He is not the only puppet we face; the strings of Morroco will be cut soon as well. For long the Western Saharan people have been ground under the heels of the Sultan; it's time for the Desert People to rise up. Several billion dollars of military aid have already been dispatched to the Saharans, but that has clearly not been enough. Our proud fleet steams to their aid, laden with over five hundred thousand fighting men and women. As you'll likely guess, this seems too much for a backwards and impoverished dictatorship---and you'll guess correctly. It's not enough to destroy the puppets---we aim to slit the puppetmaster's throat. The League will die, ladies and gentlemen; the puppetmaster who has toyed with the strings of Europe and the world for so long will perish once and for all."

The Minister paused, her hair now soaked with sweat. She breathed heavily, tired by the sheer passion of her delivery and the stress that such an individual act created for the Combiner. The studio's lights burned brightly onto her gleaming skin and even more glistening hair, and for a moment it seemed as if she could go no further.

[/i]But I'm the Minister, dammit![/i] she cried out mentally, gathering strength with a heretical note of individualism.

"We are not without mercy---if the League immediately withdraws from all of Africa and Portugal, our forces will not clash. Let it not be said that the Armandian Combine was quick to war---we have waited patiently, taking every diplomatic course imaginable, and are left with no choice but to lay down this ultimatum. Always remember, however, that although we hate war, despise its brutal toll of lives shattered and dreams destroyed, we are no novices in its art. Our people are smart, dedicated, and ready for a noble struggle; we will fight for a righteous cause, and we will win. For we are what Yamamoto once dubbed "a sleeping giant"---and you, my puppetmasters of Europe, have wakened him to your despair."

With that, hundreds of Combine satellites near the League satellites detonated, while the ones nearby the West's simply remained dormant---a potential threat, but not an imminent one. Bright plumes lit the night sky as the League's satellites came under assault. Dark smudges smeared an Armandian surveillance shot as hundreds of thousands of Combine troops began to mass at the Russian border.

The sleeping giant had awoken; was the world ready?

Buckingham Palace

His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste rose first without any emotion following the communist address and Anglo slander, and His court followed second. Following their King they walked out of Buckingham Palace and the peace negotiations. The Spanish went too. The Savoy Hotel en masse was vacated.

Within the hour they had returned to Versailles and Madrid respectively, and the Prime Minister of France M. le Comte de Maurepas left the following letter to be read by anyone who cared to, the last member of the delegation to leave, himself no longer caring to speak at a Conference which slandered a registered member-state and gave party to overt Communist threats. The letter read:

The state of France has not come to a delegation of supposedly peaceful accord to first be mocked and second intimidated by Communist trickery. Perhaps you think we will fail, rest assured we shall fight to the last French man, to the last French woman, in defense of our King and our righteous faith. We seek harmony with Germany, and peace in the face of their growing aggression, yet rest assured if they invade the sovereign soil of France nuclear weapons shall immediately be deployed. We shall not retreat one centimeter in Africa, and shall at our leisure now, since peace is apparently a joke to the secular West, engage any opponents we wish with whatever measures we choose, and no Communist threats will deter us, on the contrary, they inspire us.

We offered peace to the West, and they spat on us. We offered Portugal in return for peace, it has been mocked. We offered Gibraltar in return for peace, that has been mocked. We offered New Caledonia in peace, that has been taken like a pig would eat offal, still in that we were mocked. Every single millimeter of French soil will be fought for in rivers of blood…and any extreme measures to take them quickly will be responded to in vengeance a hundred fold. Secure in our righteous quest in the name of Christ we will respond in martial vigor until the end. Alone or with allies, it does not matter. God, Christ and Their Voices on earth can never be silenced, and all the people of France are united.

When you have peace in mind, send for us, but never shall we come before you in good faith to be mocked like this again. If France fails, God has given us the ability to scorch the earth in recompense. And the state of France forever thanks its King and God that we may die together on out feet in glory, rather than living on our knees in shame. And if we must make an end of it, if the story of our land ends now, it shall be such an end that men shall sing of it thousands of years from now. Vive le Roi! Vivat Rex in Aeternum!.

(OOC: Any reaction from your people, out of curiosity? And what about the satellites I detonated next to?)

As Armandian troops joined Soviet-INU forces in direct combat in Abassamara, and a strategic bomber force of 10 modernized Tu-122Ms (flanked by 20 Combine "Lucy" Su-27 variants) raced towards Lion King's capital, the Energy Minister read over the French communique.

How eloquent, she sniped as the smooth warmth of chai tea slid across her tongue.

France had rejected the offer of peace, but perhaps Russia would take the bait? After all, they did have a nation of almost 300 million men ready to rush across its border---and that wasn't counting the likely Spyrian contribution. The Tsar's frigid heart might not have been warmed by the images of suffering in Africa, but the image of Moscow in flames and Siberian oil fields under Communist rule once more might do more to thaw it.

As for France, well, the three Carrier fleets continued their march as swiftly as the Spanish...

A great panic had been sweeping across the Commonwealth -mostly through the People's Cosmonautical Co-operative- as Combine satellites were observed moving close to capitalist and League equivalents, and this only intensified with the detonations. Possibly, it seemed, Combine anti-satellite technology lagged behind Soviet, and even so it was the Armandians -slower to battle than the Soviets- who had chosen to attack the League's orbital assets.

There was a reason for this, of course, and now the PCC was desperately trying to take measures to protect its own satellites from retribution. Many satellites were forced to reposition, damaging surveillance and mapping operations, communications, and other projects. Terrestrial missile batteries were activated and stood ready. Russian and Kazakh exiles in the PCC help to pre-judge possible action from Moscow and lend advice in countering it.

But Soviet forces make no moves against any remaining League assets in space, though a number of their satellites have long been afflicted with parasitic mines and electronic devices that could be detonated and activated as required.

Raipur hastens to quiz Constance about any particular defences that the Combine may hold against potential Russian anti-satellite attacks (the other League nations have never been known to demonstrate effective anti-satellite capability).

(OOC: Behind? Did anything I described make them seem backwards?)

IC:

In what was an unthinkable act only a few months earlier, the Combine disclosed several details about its anti-satellite defensive systems. The most crucial military satellites employed a set of decoys mimicking the radio and orbital signatures of the satellite, along with optical and RF jamming systems. Unused to the idea of sharing an alliance with the Bedgellens, the embarassed Armandians admit they should've forewarned the Soviets of the attack, but still maintain it was justified.

The Combine would, of course, discover that Roycelandia had Satellite Defence Systems built into their satellites as well, but that these had not been activated at the approach of Combine Satellites.

Of course, with the destruction of French Satellites, the Canal International channel was down, and the Roycelandian Broadcasting Corporation World Service French Language Programme happily stepped in to make sure the people of France had their fill of news, current affairs, and Royal watching...

There was no reaction from the Chinese government over the removal of Holy League satellites from space, but Chinese telcos were fuming over the dispersion of deadly space junk over heavily used orbit space.

In a secret message to Spyr, the Combine, and the Soviets, China's ambassador drops a bombshell. It was revealed that during the course of Sino-Russian diplomacy, Prime Minister Armand had threatened to hit Spyrian population centres with nuclear weapons if China and Russia ever went to war.

OOC: AC, I think it was just BG's characteristic blanket statement of superiority.

IC:

Quinntopians conveyed the content of the French letter. Gunter Shultz expressed surprise as Germany had not even hinted that it would invade France. Although if France were to launch a nuclear first strike against Germany, the forces of Quinntopia and Germany would act in Union and German planes would deliver nuclear payload to French cities. Germany would likely be silent in the recent conflict between Russian and the Combine although it was not stated that Germany would stay out of the conflict. If the Holy League started to collapse, German forces could occupy Holy League territory to ensure that the Soviet threat was checked.

The following German forces were mobilized:

1st Army Group- (Armoured Group)
3 Heavy Mechanised Divisions
2 Light Mechanised Divisions

4th Army Group- (Amphibious Group)
3 Marine Divisions
2 Light infantry Divisions

5th Army Group- (Airborne Group)
3 Elite Paratrooper Divisions
2 Light Infantry Divisions

6th Army Group- (Infantry Group)
2 Heavy Infantry Divisions
3 Light Infantry Divisions

7th Army Group- (Infantry Group)
2 Heavy Infantry Divisions
3 Light Infantry Divisions

8th Army Group- (Mixed Infantry Armoured Group)
1 Heavy Mechanised Division
1 Light Mechanised Division
1 Heavy Infantry Division
2 Light Infantry Divisions


Each Army Group has 50,000 troops.

Shultz issued a statement that the Army was practicing joint German Quinntopian exercises to check the menace from the East. The menace they referred to was not stated.

Caesar Romulus Magnus watched a DVD of the Armandian address, but never got through all of it before taking the disc and snapping it in two. The news of the assault on HL satellites made him snap the two halves again before throwing them into the trash. News of France's withdrawal from the peace talks made him want to take his aid's head off. Instead, he just found a cheap ornament on his desk and crushed it. This was not turning out to be a very good day. Unfortunately, several other knick knacks in the Caesar's office were destroyed, and those weren't readily available, Romulus took to crumpling and ripping up scrap pieces of paper, before he could calm down.

Caesar Magnus sent a message to Lars Porcena at the conference to be read, "To the delegations of the London Conference, the Holy Caesar Romulus Magnus, Lieutenant of God and Divine Ruler of the Roman People sends you greetings. I am very disappointed at the current state of the conference; however, I feel that the matters dealt here are too important for me to remove my delegation. All those who are present here share too much in common to begin holding mistrust against each other. We all share a common enemy in the Communist bloc and cannot defeat it unless we work together.

"Despite certain...friction among Rome and the German nation, I feel that we could work together in peace and harmony. However, if Germany should decide to engage any HL member, they will find Roman armies marching against them. I pray that this does not happen, but I will hesitate should Germany attack my brothers in arms.

"To my compatriot, the Lieutenant of God, Tsar Wingert the Great, I offer my services and the services of Rome should they come under attack from the Combine or Soviet forces.

"All the Senators greet you, may God be with you all. Amen."

Hail Caesar!

((Your ploy would have damaged some satellites, but certainly no where near the majority. I mean, it was clever, but don’t go God-mode.))

Versailles

In response to the Armandian threats, His Most Christian Majesty, following an emergency meeting of the Conseil de Guerre, issued the following ultimatum to the Combine. Convinced that the Kingdom of France would soon be assaulted unreasonably and in a dastardly manner by the Combine terrorists and Libyan maniacs, perhaps soon France would even loose the ability to respond to a dangerous and subversive ploy, the ultimatum was uncharacteristically short and terse:

Following the specter of evils communisms demonstration of worship and use of weapons of mass destruction, be in known the following. As of 1:00 a.m. of this day, the Kingdom of France has placed the nuclear option on the table. If the Combine fleet rounds the tip of South Africa, Libya shall be assaulted with a full nuclear attack, on all its domains and cities. If the Combine fleet enters the Atlantic, all Combine lands, cities, and domains shall likewise be attacked with a full nuclear assault. If one more act of attempted terrorism is perpetrated by the Combine against the Kingdom of France, His Most Christian Majesty shall attack whatever communist targets pleases him.

And if any nuclear attack is launched pre-emptivley against the Kingdom of France or its lands and domains, rest assured, our arsenal already has targets locked. We may not be able to damage the subcontinent, nor lands across the seas, but the Combine shall no longer exist, and if the West in betrayal strikes us, neither will Britain or Germany. Vive le Roi, Vivat rex in Aeternum!

(OCC: Oh no.

Eh, this following post really depends on whether we choose to ICly acknowledge AC's anti-satellite move there.)

IC:

Unioners are of course not displeased by what appears to them as France's withdrawal from negotiations with the Anglophone powers. Parliament can only, at this stage, hope that it isn't a false alarm. At the same time there is something of an uproar over the method of the Combine's entry into the Third World War. Troops massing on the Russian border? That is all well and good. But knocking-down Holy League satellites? Not so sure about that one, say Unioners. The INU itself doesn't have any space-based weaponry, its first domestic rocket design amounting to a full-blown reproduction of the Black Arrow, and still on the drawing board at that, and has no plans to acquire any, so Armandian actions are viewed by most as unsporting at best and highly provocative at worst. This war, they say, is bad enough on the ground, enough people have died there already. It isn't, they think, a good idea at all to shatter the relative peace that exists in orbit, and to open satellites from all nations, not just the belligerents, to destruction.

This is of course to say nothing of the rings of debris now apt to be in orbit, with the destruction of so many satellites. Hindustani astronomers get right to work trying to track the larger pieces of wreckage, and rapidly publicize their findings so that other space agencies don't see their orbital vehicles destroyed in collisions. Even relatively small pieces of metal, traveling at orbital speeds, can heavily damage large spacecraft.

So while the Combine's entrance into the war is viewed in a good light, its space offensive is not, especially since the only reasonable course of action for the Leaguers at this stage is to retaliate with their own ASAT weaponry. And although the Soviets made off with the bulk of the USSR's research in that area, Wingert is apt to still have some of Russia's old capabilities. Space warfare, it seems, has come on the scene in a big way, and, on the same billing, Kessler Syndrome. A bad situation, to be sure.

Had Soviet India decided to initiate a space war it would have done so without sacrificing its own major satellites as the Combine appears to have done, but would have used mini-orbiters rather than the apparently multi-role satellites used in suicide-attacks by the Armandians. Likely it would even have used electronic parasites to disable League satellites without destroying them, and, later, sent Buran vehicles to retrieve the foreign orbiters for study (and ridicule!).

In this regard the Commonwealth is evidently a world leader, and now feels that it could certainly win any war in space. However, the trouble remains that Russia may well retain some anti-satellite capabilities, and may attempt land-based missile launches against Combine or other anti-League bodies in space. It can only be hoped that the Tsar's space capabilities have been sufficiently reduced by years of Putin's neglect and by the Soviet take-over of so much, particularly the entire useful contents of the Cosmodrome.

Raipur will only act in the, 'war in space' if the Tsar is first seen to be preparing anti-satellite missiles, where upon all possible action will be taken in concert with allies to finish-off League orbital assets and to evade hostile efforts against friendly satellites.

Raipur also warns France against any nuclear offensive, reminding the world that the Soviets have begun dismantling their own strategic nuclear arsenal and reminding France in particular that it couldn't win a nuclear war with the communist world even if the communists weren't shooting back in kind. The Soviet Commonwealth confirms that nuclear action by France will simply be met by overwhelming conventional force, and states that in the event of such action all involved members of the French military and aristocracy will be, upon France's military defeat, gaoled until their naturally occurring deaths and there after interred in unconsecrated ground.

Better to leave the nuclear issue out of the conflict, wouldn't one think?

Oh crap, President Hu thought. He now absolutely believed that Beijing's decision to withdraw from the conflict in Europe and to shield China from the war was the correct one. Had any other nation's leadership made those nuclear threats, it would have been dismissed as a bluff. Although the Tsar had in effect made a nuclear threat, he implied it would only have been if Moscow was surrounded and he had nowhere to run.

The negotiations were a total flop politically for him he thought as he flew back to China. He had risked damaging China's relations with her progressive neighbours for what appeared to be little or no gain for Beijing, and had been completely outmanuevered by his parliamentary opposition who had sent a delegation to Paris - in short, Vice President Chang was going both ways on the issue and was reaping the political benefits, putting his party into a position that could eventually govern without the Social Democrats. The media was already going to have a field day on his failures and weakness as a President - being unable to broker a supposedly "in the bag" peace deal between two powers who had a common threat in the Progressives.

London

"Well, what did they expect?" Strathairn frowned and crammed a cigar back in his mouth. Presented with the rare opportunity to gather the world's leaders beside him, the Prime Minister of Australasia had called a meeting in a nearby drawing room.

"Quite right," Mainwaring replied frostily. "But we've now got to fight another war, and we're not in the best position to do so." He turned to the others in attendance, NATO and SEATO members all. "Emperor Royce, Prime Minister Moerike, Prime Minister Schultz? I think it's clear, at the moment, that we need to discuss your nations' positions on this matter. France has declared war on all of Asia and Africa, as well as the British and Australasians. Alone, they're easily dealt with, but the League as a whole..."

"We're asking for help," Strathairn cut in. "We can hold them off for a good while, probably even wipe them from the seas. But to retrieve Gibraltar and secure Africa, we'll need your help. I am formally requesting that the United States, the Federal Republic and the Empire assist us in engaging in ground operations in Gibraltar, Portugal and East Africa. In return, Mr. Mainwaring has agreed to join NATO as a full member at the close of this conflict. Further, he has agreed to allow Germany full participation in the Arsenal Ship project.

"The last issue is rather more momentous, but this seems as good a time as any to bring it up. As you all know, Australasia has been dealing with an economic recession triggered by the closing of the Suez Canal. That recession was exacerbated by the recent defence expenditures that I have been required to authorize, but the end result is that my nation is on the brink of economic collapse. To that end, at the close of this conflict Australasia will be de-federated, and its MPs will join those of Great Britain's at Parliament House. I will become the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Empire. I ask you all to assist us in the coming crises facing our two nations.

"Royce, I have one final request for you. The Grand Fleet will attack the League's combined fleet after the close of combat near Africa. I know that you have a large naval deployment in that area, and I ask you to assist me in this attack. If you cannot do so due to your alliance with France, please do not intervene on their behalf.

I'm aware that you and Louis-Auguste are friends. On the other hand, personal friendship may only go so far, and his government has committed atrocities beyond the scope of human imagination. I'm putting you in a difficult position, and I apologize for that. But please, help us."

OOC: Where is Quinntopia? This is moving pretty quickly because its exciting but maybe we should have some input from Wingertopia before going too crazy. Shultz is Chancellor not PM. I think that we should accept that most, if not all, of the HL satellites were destroyed because it was pretty surprising. I sure was shocked. I also don't think we should throw around the nuke possibility so much. If this turns into a huge war its going to be messy. Maybe later we should create a separate thread for East vs West so we could keep track of it all.

Also Shultz isn't in London as he is boycotting the Conference.

IC:

Chancellor Shultz was interested in Britain's offer but would have to confer with Quinntonia before making momentous decisions. Still he was pleased that recent radical moves by France had the potential to unite and consolidate a power bloc against the HL. Shultz was in favor of supporting British naval adventures although Germany was an opponent of imperialism and wanted to avoid any appearance of imperialism. It was not stated but he was concerned about the possibility of Britain becoming imperialistic and repeating tragedies on the African people. He did not want to support any kind of tyranny. He also wanted to avoid getting caught up in any messes in Africa.

Shultz suggested that if an outright on HL forces were to occur it should be against Europe. If Europe were to fall to NATO forces it would only be a matter of time before order returned to the African continent. However, Shultz was concerned that NATO forces attacking the HL would be assisting one evil over another. Just as Germany did not want to assist the Holy League against the Soviets he didn't want to support Soviets against the HL. It was a difficult situation that Germany faced. He would have to make a very difficult situation shortly.

((And dont anyone dare call God-mode, after almost *all* of my sats are supposedly destroyed, if you all can play with fire youre going to get burned. Ill take what I take, but dont try and call quits now. Also, please check out the link, its awesome.))

North Sea, one mile above the Dogger Banks

No one was taking France, cornered and betrayed by all, seriously. Any minute now massive operations against the Kingdom of France by what now most French people indeed saw as a conspiracy would commence.

It was time to change that.

Twenty-four hours after France declared that unless the West and Communists halted their illegal operations the nuclear option would be engaged; and with the Anglos and the Progressive Bloc in lock step, the dwellers of England’s East Coast and the citizens of Germany’s North would not be able to ignore the sun of a hundred kiloton thermonuclear weapon go supernova in their very backyards a few thousand feet above the Dogger Banks. The Cod population would not do very well after the fallout, as one a.m. for the West became a horrifying morning.

The weapon would bring, for the first time, a glowing and radioactive mushroom cloud to the territory of Europe.

After the electromagnetic pulse which the weapon emitted ceased, Versailles once again issued its declaration of ultimatum:

England and Germany, as demonstrated, are now well within the range of God’s Furious Angels. The Combine is too, and so is Libya. Threats against us are useless, we are content with our service to God and history: if the West so much as prepares for any military operations naval, amphibious, or aerial against the Kingdom of France, no matter how trivial, the states of Walmington, Germany and Australasia (New Caledonia being in range to bake Darwin), regardless whether Germany participates in Anglo offensives, will reach a million degrees in a few seconds. We may, at this point, deliver a nuclear weapon, which we have recently shown ourselves eminently capable of deploying, against Libya regardless of what occurs. The same goes for the Combine. Unless this gross pan-belligerence against the Most Christian King is halted at once all this shall be so. And once again, if we are attacked in swift nuclear fashion to halt this, we shall have at least the satisfaction of bringing the Anglos, Germans, and Combine-communists (and Libyans) down to hell as we ascend. Vive le Roi, Vivat Rex in Aeternum!

To show that France was serious, a few minutes after the first nuclear weapons evaporated north of the Dogger Banks, a second weapon of equal caliber was detonated off the coast of Tripoli, well outside any actual catastrophic range, but surely close enough to light up Tripoli early in the morning.

Get into the nuclear groove, babey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mdPoumMwGE)

"Sir, reports are coming in of French detonation of nuclear warheads. One in the English Channel, the other above the Libyan coast."
"At last I am convinced; Louis-Auguste has gone mad. Has he no thought to his own people being turned into radioactive slag? Well, no matter. The question is this: how do we respond?"
"We could ignore it. Let the European powers duke it out."
"They threatened the Combine as well. If the Combine is glowing at night, we're in severe trouble, even if we ourselves are not hit at all."
"Well sir, as I'm sure you will have guessed, the Elian plans for this eventuality are non-existent, and our own SAG study is far from complete. We have little raw data and no real strategic assessments of this situation."
"And they say they might hit the Combine regardless of any response!?"
"Yessir."
"I assume we DO have assessments of the damage from a heavy nuclear assault on the Combine?"
"In terms of economic damage, cancer rates, whatever you care to name. It was considered in the Elian-Combine war."
"Get it here, let's have some firm data to work with."

###-a few minutes later

"No, it's too much. Quite apart from the implications on the world scene of allowing France to get away with this posturing, if they destroy the Combine, for all that it seems to benefit us, the damage carrying across the border is quite unacceptable. We might as well have our eastern territories hit, as long as it was outside the cities."
"Well...we do have one opportunity for direct action. We could send a cruise missile calling on France; or, at least, the Mediterranean near France. Nice small 20-kiloton or so."
"Are you really suggesting that we deploy nuclear weaponry in a crisis we're not specifically implicated in?"
"It is direct, decisive action, which may give Louis pause. It is action from a somewhat unexpected quarter - same point. Hopefully it might ram some backbone into the NATO powers, make them realise they cannot afford to back down, no matter the cost. They have already given France far too much slack."
"I'll call an O-Group, shall I?"
"Go ahead."

###

"So gentlemen, do you approve of the plan?"
"General, I am not convinced of the merits. How does this benefit us?"
"Well, on the assumption that it doesn't turn into a full-blown nuclear exchange, that means the French will have backed down under pressure from their allies."
"It still is highly risky; we chance our own destruction."
"I accept that, gentlement, I move that it is in a worthy cause. Will you accept my reasoning, and the pledge that I do this for Mesopotamia, or will you remove me from office now?"
There were shocked murmurs at that, followed by a slow chorus of "Act."

A single Tu-95 took off from a base near Kirkuk. Flying alone, and well within her maximum combat range, she launched a cruise missile in the Western Mediterranean. This nuclear-tipped weapon flew off under its own steam, and detonated somewhere north of Corsica.

In concert with this, General al-Rashid appeared on state television.
"My people. We are in dark days indeed. The French King has caused two nuclear weapons to be detonated, in order to threaten and intimidate the world community into permitting him to continue with his crimes against all humanity."

Staring into the camera, the tension clear in his eyes, he continued.

"As a direct result, I ordered a Tu-95 of the Mesopotamian Air Force to fly into the Mediterranean Sea, and there to detonate one nuclear warhead from our extensive arsenal of such weapons."
"I took this decision with a heavy heart; it is risky, and it brings our great nation closer into the fire. However I believe that we must stand up to tyrants; Louis-Auguste is unquestionably that. He has threatened to destroy Libya and the Combine regardless of the response to his demands, and to destroy Australasia, Britain and Germany if they make shift to act against him."
"So, to Louis-Auguste, and all his minions - Mesopotamia stands. We can only trust that others will stand with us, but in the best traditions of our people, we will do what is right, regardless the cost.
To the rest of the Holy League, we implore you to speak to your friend, bring him down from this madness.
To NATO and the so-called 'Anglo' powers - we beg of you to stand firm, and do not allow this brinkmanship to succeed."

"People of Mesopotamia, remain strong in this hour, and make your peace with Allah. He will not see his people destroyed short of Judgement Day."

(OCC: Don't screw around with that, NG. Really.)

((*OOC* First of all, Terra Cotta, two points. First I accept your move completely, just had wished you actually put an iota of effort into writing such an extensive move. Second point, finally good to see you write at all at a relatively mature level, kudos! Baghdad is a hop, skip, and jump from the Combine (you’ll be the first to go, with some pleasure I might add), so it will be relatively easily to wipe Mesopotamia away too. Boy, I am sure Germany and England are thanking you right now.

LRR, please don’t be angry with me here. This was the result of a graded increase of hostility in response to what amounts as numerous attacks against the Kingdom’s infrastructure, which, if allowed to continue on such a level, would spell my defeat anyway. It was not random, several dire warnings were issued and promptly ignored, and all things considered this would be the outcome of one nuclear armed nation standing alone against, well, the world. Neither is it unreasonable, I cannot hit the subcontinent or anything like that at all, but the previously listed, now including Mesopotamia, are sure to be destroyed. I also know that the Kingdom of France will not survive in any capacity, however neither will: Walmington, Australasia, Mesopotamia, Germany, Libya and the Combine. With an arsenal of 400+ nukes, from Wikipedia, this is well within my range. Still, all said and done, you and BG will be the clear victors. I am playing this realistically.))

Tripoli

Heavily-accented Arabic spat awkwardly from the mouths of Indians and Geletians at the national air defence command centre, compelling Libyan staff to engage in a frantic display of dashing about and pressing things. The French missile launch had been detected and CS-400, Red Sky defence system, necessary since France's recent aggressions, was shaken into life.

A million-dollar interceptor hurtled through the Mediterranean sky and was soon followed by a second, responding to a different command frequency. The latter wouldn't be needed as missile number one exploded within fifteen metres of the incoming ballistic attacker, knocking its petty remains into the sea. The second missile received a self-destruct command.

Raipur

"...further attempts by Versailles to engage in acts of mutually assured destruction will be met in the same manner. Funding increases to the continued development of CS-500 Arawan are now to be voted upon in the Final Soviet. Allies shall be furnished with more CS-400 Red Sky batteries, a third being prepared for delivery to the Indian National Union this week, while Constance is invited to join the Arawan anti-ballistic missile programme.

"Rest assured, people of the world, where you live in nations threatened by the mad king of France you shall be protected over head by the infinite folds of the red flag. Where you live in nations allied by their sick governments to Versailles know that no matter the vile provocations of the powdered usurper of free France, Soviet India at least shall not stoop to the same brutal levels in response.

"We shall fight until the Kingdoms of the Holy League are no more, and we shall not ever allow the extinguishing of an entire people, no matter how weak their own defences nor how wicked their governments."

Graeme concluded his address with an apparently somewhat arthritic left-fisted salute.

Port Vila, Vanuatu

"Come on people, look sharp now! On the double, we haven't got all night!"

The Sunderland Flying Boat was bobbing up and down at its moorings in Port Vila Airharbour as the soldiers boarded, waddling through the hatch with parachutes, weapons, and sundry equipment.

The plane was soon fully laden, the hatch closed, and the flying boat cast off.

For all intents and purposes, this was a regular training exercise. Being conducted at 2am in the morning.

Airborne a few minutes later, the Captain turned to address the Imperial Guardsmen and women seated along either side of the Sunderland's interior.

"I suppose you're all wondering why we're here. The short answer, ladies and gents, is that we believe King Louis-Auguste may have snapped under the pressure of the current global conflict and the threat of a home turf match. We are further concerned that Louis-Auguste has invoked the nuclear option and may decide to go for the Hydra-Nuke approach, throwing A-bombs around like confetti and reducing his enemies to radioactive debris.

The problem is, of course, that this will kill rather a lot of people and fuck up the environment for decades to come, and so, in order to prevent this from happening in Oceania, Commander Edmund Blackadder has ordered us to land on New Caledonia and, I quote, "Secure or disable all strategic military and communications facilites". Our objective is the Armee de l'Air airbase. Other companies are jumping or making seaborne landings to take the naval base, airport, telecommunication facilities. The entire operation has been codenamed Musketeer, and is being backed up by the Imperial Navy, the Maritime Air Service"- he tapped the fuselage of the Sundeland- "and the Imperial Air Force. One final thing: Your orders are to aim to incapacitate, not kill, and you have been issued with gel bullets to this end. Good luck."

OOC: :eek: posting while drunk and now see what I've gone and done. Knew I shouldn't be allowed to turn my computer on after going to the pub...

Now edited.

((*OOC* Clever, well done BG! However, I think it will be different, no matter how many counter-weapons you deploy, when dozens of ICBM's with multiple warheads come roaring in, exploding at different altitudes and such. Anyway, I really dont want a nuclear war. I support my last moves, as for the reason I said that it was simply realistic, and once again I want it known I am not trying to Mode hear, simply respond to the massive array against me. In that vein, also, please be aware that as things stand more nuclear deployments are clearly and option. Just a caveat, caveat from a mad King really. All that said however I will, as always, accept comments and criticisms from my AMW surrogate family. No heated feelings, and dont worry, I am not going to do anything stupid. Now, off for a walk along the beach, then getting as drunk as BG could ever desire. Bon jour!

And TI, superb change to your post. Superb. Much obliged, didnt want to seem mean, but we needed more than a paragraph, eh?))

Had Soviet India decided to initiate a space war it would have done so without sacrificing its own major satellites as the Combine appears to have done, but would have used mini-orbiters rather than the apparently multi-role satellites used in suicide-attacks by the Armandians. Likely it would even have used electronic parasites to disable League satellites without destroying them, and, later, sent Buran vehicles to retrieve the foreign orbiters for study (and ridicule!).



OOC: I didn't sacrifice my multirole satellites...I launched a series of minisatellites with only two capabilities; signal hijacking and self detonation. My multirole satellite capability is still intact.

(OOC: Well, with them doing two different tasks you can see where I'd get confused and apply the prefix multi, eh? =) )

While in Libya and no doubt a great number of places concern about French WMD use remains high, comrade Sopworth Igo -biggest WMD developer in Indian history- assures his comrades that France has not even the capability to completely wipe-out Soviet, Union, and Combine India, let alone their allies, even if its entire nuclear stockpile is expended. Most of France's weapons aren't ridiculously huge themonuclear this and thats, most of its missiles will struggle to find India's range, its targetting systems can more easily be struck by the communists than theirs can be by the French, and communist defences are clearly far in advance of Europe's.

Certainly nuclear war has the potential to kill millions of socialists and cause billions of dollars of damage, but at its end there is no reason to expect that the Soviet Commonwealth, Armandian Combine, and Indian National Union should not continue to exist and function, all be it in a wounded capacity.

Says Sopworth: "The French king wishes that we should fear his resolve and destructive capacity, but in truth his generals -those who are not the result of a succession of inter-familial unions- know that even a nuclear war can not be won by France... and that far from being a case of mutually-assured-destruction they know that their capacities do not allow for the complete destruction of commuist power and liberty. It would take the bulk of France's arsenal simply to destroy Combine strength in the mountains of Armand, or Soviet strength in our various highlands, let alone to destroy both and all that lies between.

"Versailles can not take us all down with it. Stay the course, comrades, and be not bent at the nuclear whip of a weak arm."

OOC-I just want it to be said that I am still quite busy, but plan to get to all of this as soon as I can. (This week) I do have a major concern. This proliferation of satellite attacks, I am not sure that I even believe that the Soviets have what is not in existence in RL, and they have been trying to RP it for awhile, if the Combine has it with no other mention, then so do I. Both nations. In spades.

I think we need to have a very serious attack as to whether those attacks should be allowed. I am thinking no right now.

France, please don’t immediately threaten nuclear war every time things don’t go your way.

USQ has not made a formal announcement on this.

Wingert doesn’t want to, but will die trying to raze The Combine should it come to it.

WWJD
Amen.

((Maybe we should set up an OOC page here? Ug, at work, so sorry I didnt do a huge response, but here is what my thoughts are:

Quinn, please, dont give me that 'every time things don't go your way'. The whole point of AMW is realistic RP, realistic, not conformist to what is best for you or one in particular. Restoration France, a rogue state to begin with, is now being moved against by the world en masse. Rather than witness others destroy their creation destroyed by the Communists, the Restorationists (with nuclear ability as Hitler did not have, you have to understand they are 'in the bunker' now, due to France basically being thrown out of the peace talks) will happily ignite themselves and their Anglo arch-enemies, which by the collapse of the peace talks they have once again revealed themselves to be, and their German allies too. I should mention that the Royal Family will survive in a fairy-tale perpetual bunker, so they dont care and have all the codes. I gave several dire warnings before even demonstrating France's ability, they were ingored. Thats a key point, dont miss it. The Combines terrorism is also key: any military in the world will deign to respond in whatever force they have when it becomes clear their ability to respond will soon be compromised. Fin.

BG, you miss my point. With 400+ nukes, my only targets will be: the UK, Australasia, Germany, Libya, the Combine, and most likely Mesopotamia. None will be coming toward the Subcontinent at all, nor anywhere outside my listed targets. Ergo, I have enough to totally vape the listed nations. Germany, Australasia and the UK will be annhiliated to nearly 100% infrastructure I should think, to say nothing of the deadly radiation for thousands of years. Libya too, as it has a radically centralized infrastructure to begin with. The Combine will porbably have something left over, but I shall use at least 200 nukes on them to compensate. So you are right about the Subcontinent factoring into said figures, but I have no intention of wasting my precious nukes on you. As for the people of France, they shall go immediatley to heaven, as the Royal Family and their entourage has already gone deep into the bunker. Also...a assault on new Caledonia at this point would be a disaster, as it would engender an immediate launch against Darwin and Australasias major cities, fully nuclear, which would most likely set off the remainder of launches.

All that said, France would still like to be invited back to the talks, but jingoism on the Anglos part and terrorism on the Combines almost surely guarantees a nuclear strike. It is 100% realistic.

((OOC: Terrorism...? Not a single person died as a result of my attack...While hundreds of thousands have died in your chemical attacks. Honestly, a strike on satellites and a puffed up nationalist speech aren't enough to trigger a nuke strike.

BG, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. ^_^ What I meant was that satellites are specially designed for those two purposes, and aren't a part of my traditional satellite fleet.

Just a note: the Combine does not have any nuclear capability. We've got extensive biological capabilities, as I outlined in my factbook long ago, but foreswore the nuclear option.))

OOC: I've raised some objections to the suicidal satellites thing on the Invisionboards.

I kinda agree with France here, nuclear threats are also part of RPing and the other heads of state need to take that into account. And for all we know, King Louis may merely be bluffing to try and coax concessions out of everyone else.

OOC: NG, I've TGed you. Here's the deal, though. France will not be invited back to talks without a formal written apology and retraction on the part of Monseigneur de Maurepas for his speech, which was excessive, racist and insane. That was what I said, and that is what the policy of the British Empire will be. Just so you know, Dogger Bank didn't really help your case.

On the other hand, peace talks will resume if France and the Bourbon courts wish it to.

London

"Mister Prime Minister," a harried aide shoved his way through the doorway of the meeting room, surprising Strathairn mid-sentence. The assembled world leaders stared at him irritatedly, resenting the sudden intrusion into privileged conversation. The aide stopped to catch his breath before continuing, heedless of the glares.

"I've just received word from one of our radar stations. France has launched a nuclear warhead that appears to be targetting the East Anglia region or a target in the North Sea." His words were greeted with momentary silence.

"I, ah. Yes, well, full alert and such." Mainwaring fumbled about ineffectually, caught off-guard by the sudden attack. "Ready the, ah, missile defences that we have, and notify the Air Force that we'll be responding and such. Yes, and find me Air Marshall Pertwee, we have things to discuss and such. Yes." Strathairn fulminated beside him, and began tapping on his blackberry. His message was rather more brief.

To: Cobar Jangala [c.jangala@australasia.au]
CC: Christina Lloyd [c.lloyd@australasia.au], William Creighton [w.creighton@australasia.au]
Subject: Case Blue

Prepare all nuclear strike wings for immediate deployment. Notify emergency services to prepare for nuclear attack.

God Speed,
Strathairn

((OOC---sorry, tired, will do IC tommorrow. TG's returned. Dont worry people, regardless of the IC situation, I am not going to rush this. And AC, you must have been expecting an extreme response for your extreme actions, you got it. It was Terrorism, when you attack a nations ability to survive, i.e. Sat Tech, deals are off. Anyway, sorry, exhausted, tommorrow.))

The Combine grew increasingly alarmed over French belligerence---armed with no nuclear capability of its own, it frantically initiates a search for a nuclear backer. Adiatorix, the proud Bedgellen warrior, was granted thunderous applause as he addressed the National Symposium, and was met with a desperate plea.

"The mad King Louis Auguste has threatened us with outright annihilation. Although we realize that we'd likely survive such an assault, the loss of millions and the crippling of our economy are not matters we look forward to. It is in that vein that we request coverage from the Bedgellen nuclear defense shield, and that the Fourth Commonwealth be willing to respond to a French nuclear assault on the Combine as if it was an assault on the Commonwealth itself."

The Energy Minister continued, her words marked by an increasing passion.

"We've long been at odds, our revolutionary brothers and sisters; our earliest meetings were marked by bloodshed and hostility, and these shadowy relations have continued for long---too long, we say. In this desperate hour we turn to you and bury our hatchet. Faced with an insane bloodlust, we must put aside our suspicions and join together. You've offered us peace before, and we took it, albeit hesitantly---now we ask you to offer us war, war in our defense."

She looked straight towards the towering Geletian. He was truly a Bedgellen, with flaming red hair that outgrew hers and a mustache that would make a walrus envious. Bulging veins traced lines upon his even more bulging muscles, and a flowing cape nipped his ankles. Sword hanging at his side, he cut an imposing figure in the middle of the vast, circular chamber. A splotch of bright red in an otherwise entirely green and black chamber, he brought a singular focus rarely seen in such a conformist society. The entire assemblage, and especially the Energy Minister, was secretly rather entranced by the powerful young orator. In fact, the Minister, who, as she often forgot amidst her barrage of stately duties, was still a young, attractive woman found herself quite attracted to him---although she'd never admit it.

She quickly brushed off the nagging doubts, however, and continued to speak.

"It is time, to forge a grand coalition to once and for all banish the Feudal remnants to what Marx dubbed 'the great ash heap of history.' Let us join hands, not just across India but across the sea as well. Our diplomats have engaged the NATO and SEATO powers across the board, including Quinntonia, Roycelandia, Britain, and Australasia in order to forge an alliance to break the Monarchist back. In fact, it is on this very day..."

The Minister paused for dramatic effect.

"...that we have request full membership of SEATO and nuclear protection from the NATO powers."

OOC: Alright, enough rhetoric; in the upcoming days I plan to flesh out my military, including any and all unorthodox tricks in my arsenal.

((OOC---sorry, tired, will do IC tommorrow. TG's returned. Dont worry people, regardless of the IC situation, I am not going to rush this. And AC, you must have been expecting an extreme response for your extreme actions, you got it. It was Terrorism, when you attack a nations ability to survive, i.e. Sat Tech, deals are off. Anyway, sorry, exhausted, tommorrow.))


[OOC: Sat tech isn't that vital to survival, really...Especially since you can rely on Roik satellites. But I guess it's perfectly in character for the French Monarchy to react as such, so I'll hush. Nuclear war...oh boy.]

The Combine's latest announcement was controversial indeed, but not really to Beijing. While Depkazia courted the Holy League and the Soviets faced off with Roycelandians, the announcement was bound to stir up Tsarist Russia and agitate the Europeans even more. It was the scenario that his predeccessor welcomed but President Hu feared, a large war in Central Asia.

Nevertheless Beijing discreetly offers the Combine the use of underground shelters in Tibet should their leadership be imperiled.

The Combine replies that it has no leadership---the National Symposium is routinely rotated amongst delegates from various Cooperative Units, with a few notable exceptions that the Armandians officially refuse to acknowledge. But great thanks are still extended to China, and hints of lucrative Siberian oil contracts are passed on...

His Majesty was frantically tapping away on his laptop, trying to countermand the activation of Operation Musketeer. Seeing as he had established that the French Royal Family had NOT been compromised. Certainly, they were acting from desperation, but at this stage there was no operational requirement to seize French military assets in the interests of international security. His cigar was smoking quite noticeably as he scanned the torrent of E-mails coming into his Inbox, and the replies as they flew forth from the Outbox.

Somewhere off the coast of Vanuatu

"Firing Pan, This is Trigger. Do you copy?"

"Roger, Trigger, this is Firing Pan, go ahead."

"The Flint is Wet. I repeat, the Flint is Wet. Acknowledge."

"We acknowledge, Trigger. Flint is Wet. Understood, over and out."

The Sunderland turned sharply to starboard and began to head back to Port Vila.

"What the hell is going on?" asked one of the paratroopers.

"Nothing" replied the Captain. "This has just been an unscheduled preparedness flight to test our response times. Glad to see you all beat Bravo Company's record. Free drinks in the mess tonight, people!"

"Hurrah!"

Back at the Conference

With the Combine requesting admission to SEATO, along with NATO protection, His Majesty's sole reaction was a look of surprise, in which his cigar fell out of his mouth and landed on his lap, smouldering away for a few seconds before one of the Imperial Guard quickly scooped it up and placed it in the cigar holder/ashtray on the table next to His Majesty's laptop.

"I don't suppose Wiggles has made reservations for us at Milliways, has he?" asked His Majesty, wondering if Rod Serling wasn't about to step out from behind one of the decorative trees in the room and announce that everyone had entered The Twilight Zone...

The fact that the Russians have threatened Lyongese cities with nuclear destruction is not of particular concern to the Strainists... one does not play host to the Soviet Union's Pacific naval headquarters in the Cold War without coming to terms with the fact that your population will face a barrage of atomic weapons, particularly if you tended at the same time to lean towards China during times of Sino-Soviet tension. Nuclear risk is not desireable, but it is inevitable if one wishes to conduct military operations, and when facing the Russians their use of a first strike is undeniably logical: they have numerical advantage in strategic nuclear weapons, but it would be a matter of weeks for Spyr to convert civil nuclear infrastructure to military purposes, and so would risk losing that edge if they did not act immediately with force.

But, in addition to bunkers and drills practiced for decades in case of inbound warheads, the Lyongese are dismissive of Russian ability to make good on their threats. With OTH radar systems and an ever-expanding number of nuclear-tipped interceptors awaitying them, how do the Tsarists intend to get their ordnance through? The Revolutionary Army will certainly feel no compunction about nuclear defence against offence in kind, when such countermeasures form part of even conventional response doctrines.

The Lyongese response to more overt French nuclear threats is not particularly concerned, nor full of vitrol... even if the French ignore Lyong due more to range restrictions than intent, there seems no need to react with taunts and further provocations. Europe itself is outside of Lyong's sphere of interest, though that continent's tendency towards imperialism often brings it attention. Hope is expressed however, tongue-in-cheek, that France might provide the Party with a female of noble extraction, so that she might join French prisoners held since their involvement in Tord, ensuring a breeding pair of French aristocrats remain for study once the French kingdom and the lands that surround it have passed through the flames of apocalypse.
A more general statement expresses confidence that peace negotiations will be successful, once all parties 'meet in a spirit of harmony under Heaven, abandoning their ongoing imperial ambitions'.

Privately, and amongst friend-nations, the Lyongese see the nuclear threat from France, and from Russia as well, as an affirmation of its strength and that of its allies. Nuclear war is a refuge for the weak and the desperate, an indication that the League is faltering. The Progressive Bloc must be ready to press its advantage in the face of such last-ditch attempts to escape a defeat of world feudalism, and efforts are even made to try and convince Beijing to reverse its neutral trend and join with Progressive efforts to keep Wingert cowering beneath his throne as Africa is liberated (and its markets kept open to Asian goods). Annoyances in Central Asia too, faced with such a united effort, would doubtless remember to occupy their proper place in relation to their neighbours.

Combine choices... anti-satellite warfare and efforts to join with NATO... are viewed by their Strainist allies with some nervousness. Spyr has no desire to see its own orbital assets come under attack, and worries that debris will choke off low-earth orbits from further efforts at replacement or expansion.

A wave of energy flows through the National Symposium, generated by the big man as he laughs in a hearty manner while dismissing the value of NATO and especially of SEATO.

"NATO is bound up in restrictions and red-tape, SEATO is nothing when you consider who actually runs South East Asia. Sujava, Vietnam, Spyr, India, and then of course there is China, but are they going to fight those others? Of course not! These organisations are merely a Quinntonian attempt to maintain global supremacy... but they do not have it in the first place!

"No, the Quinntonians are impossible to work with. The worst kind of conservative imperialist. Oblivious, dogmatic, superstitious.

"Do not over react, my friends! Armand has done well in making new friends since the rise of the Combine. You have half a billion Soviet allies, and, yes, we will extend our defences to your domain. We have a third of a billion more Indian allies, and we have seen that it is certainly possible to work with the Chinese even when on the brink of war with Roycelandia and the United States. SEATO means nothing. Japan is a paper dragon. Nay, a paper carp! It can't even growl.

"I propose the immediate sale of CS-400 Red Sky batteries to the Combine, these will protect your northern and western regions against many ballistic missile attacks from Russia and Europe, but it will be necessary to implement the more costly and troubled CS-500 Arawan system to offer full coverage of Armand, much as is true of India. We should combine -if I may say it so- our resources to bring this missile defence to fruition. Hindustani radar technology may also be of use to us, so too Drapoel practical experience in the wars with Quinntonia, and decades of Strainist proceedure and preparation."

Adiatorix admitted that he had not lost all hope in Roycelandia. The civilisation was wrong, but it had some stumps that used to be visible morals. Like most Soviet citizens, he did not share the same opinion of Quinntonia, and thought Japan almost beneath notice.

"We are working hard to defeat the French and their allies in Africa. From there we shall be in a position to strike Europe with conventional force should they resort to atomic terrorism. The Commonwealth has already begun to dismantle its strategic nuclear arsenal, and does not intend to reverse the process simply because the reactionaries are throwing fits and the conservatives are unreliable."

Soviet India continues down a road at the end of which it perceives a world totally dominated by Soviet, Combine, Union, Strainist, Anarchan, Hotanite, Ujamaaist, Ba'athist, Gaddafist, Yugoslavist, and Chinese doctrines. The only question is whether nations such as Roycelandia and the African Commonwealth will be able to adapt or be swept aside. There is no room in Soviet planning for either reactionaries (the Holy League) or conservatives (the US-bloc).

((Please check out the link at bottom too, I am starting to accrue a nice level of Restoration French multi-media I think. At any rate I thought it fit the mood perfectly and was really cool! And just a caveat, please don't take it to mean by the following post I will not reply in massive force if directly attacked, its just, well, I would prefer not to.))

Versailles

As the clock proverbially struck 11:59, and the Kingdom of France prepared to martyr itself against the gates of hell with nuclear oblivion His Most Christian Majesty received an emergency offer from the British and Australasian delegations still in London, which desperately sought to avoid Armageddon. His Majesty’s government, needless to say, was about to reject the idea forthright and commence to blowing the enemies of France away.

King Louis-Auguste was in chamber with his ministers in the Mars Gallery, and he was about to issue the order to “nuke the Combine to glass, they go first” when an excited Garde Suisse ran into the ornate hall. At once he came to attention and gave a sharp salute.

“Sa Majeste, your subjects are coming to Versailles!”

And so they were. Hundreds of thousands of marchers had left Paris for Versailles. They were chanting and shouting slogans as they marched. But these were not leftists.

They were the heart of the Regime’s support, devout peasants and workers, those not seduced by the Trade Union underground with its Marxist connotations. The congregation, for so they were, carried crucifixes and icons of the Holy Mother. They were led by priests from low income neighborhoods. They were workers, begging their King to stop the war and care for his people. Many carried banners with the King’s portrait. They had come to beg for the war’s end from their still-dear King, the rationing was a year old now, and parents did not want their children to end in nuclear fire.

The Basque Brigade of the Royal Army, nine hundred doughty Basques from the mountain country, loyal beyond any question to Louis-Auguste alone, was mounted and called out. The cavalry rumbled as they organized their lines in front of the Versailles palace complex. Their shiny black uniforms glimmered in the evening air. They drew their sabers, which glittered to in the light of the street lamps. Still on the marchers came, praying and begging long life for the King and His House. They were about two kilometers out, but picked up speed as they came. The meeting would be gory indeed.

His Most Christian Majesty went to the grand balcony overlooking the Marble Court of le Grand Chateau, with a perfect view of what was transpiring. On the parade grounds below, drums pounded and Switzers by the thousands were forming their lines, taking positions around the huge and rambling series of palaces and parks that was Versailles. Her Serene Majesty Queen Jillesepone was even as this occurred packing the Dauphin and his little brother into a van, which would take them all, along with the Queen-Dowager Marie Therese to the Bunker du Roi. Le Comte d’Artois nudged his Royal brother:

“Ride them down now! End this and be about with your plans!” Le Comte de Provence said nothing, standing alongside the Royal quintet on the balcony of King, Artois, himself, Normandie and Aquitaine, but smoked furiously.

Normandie seemed to nod in agreement, but he might just have been having an attack of the vapors. And Aquitaine, the young dissolute Aquitaine, was draining a bottle of champagne as fast as he could. They were alone their on that ledge in Versailles, save for their Gardes Suisses and orderlies.

The King became very firm, and shook his head.

“No, we cannot rule only on force, the communists would come ere a decade, if we were so lucky. No, these people are our children, we shall love them and hold them. If we kill our popular support rifles and mercenaries will no longer provide guaranteed security. We shall follow the dictates of Christ, mes freres, and put our faith in the one that gave us our crown. We shall abide by his judgment alone. Let Our Kingdom now stand on love, O My God deliver us!”

He took a breath, it could have been an inhale which lasted two hundred years.

“Let them through.”

He was the supreme King of the realm, his brothers fell into line at his side, ready to stand by him no matter what occurred. A trumpet played, and the Basque Brigade troopers sheathed their sabers, and parted. Young maidens in the crowd decorated them with flowers. The masses came through, cheering now, calling on Christ and Louis-Auguste to hear them. State media set up cameras to record and transmit to the realm-at-large what was occurring. They faithful Frenchmen and women came on, hundreds of thousands, through the gates of Versailles, past the now dispersed Swiss, to stand under the balcony where the King stood. He addressed them:

“My children! You have come to your father, who does hear you. He hears your love and returns it. The Kingdom of France has acquitted itself gloriously in this struggle against evil, and Her sons have given dearly for Us. And though our brave people shall raise our nuclear fire upon those who threaten us, we brave sons of Gaul know when the Lord God calls his feast away from the clamor of combat. Therefore, seeing that for every thing there is a purpose, and for every purpose a time under heaven, We say that now is the time for peace…”

“As of this moment, I have ordered a halt in all offensive operations in Africa, and ordered all troops to maintain there positions, to engage in hostility only if themselves fire upon. The Kingdom of France will accept the offer of King Godfrey III for a comprehensive and lasting peace. The Kingdom of France declares…an armistice.” His Most Christian Majesty no longer had any energy left to speak.

But the crowd received his proclamation with joy. Shouts of “Vive le Roi” rebounded off le Grand Chateau. In that moment Louis-Auguste gained his surname from the French people, who shouted it as loudly as they could:

Louis-Auguste le Bien-Aime.

So Restoration France, beyond all apparent hope, proved that in fact it was not a tyranny. The Most Christian King held his Catholic children close to him, and gave them their desire for peace. Other states should not be fooled into thinking this a sign of France’s weakness, however, as one thing was now truer than ever: the people of France were firmly united under the Bourbon Monarchy. In turn, the monarchy displayed it was true to its Papal, Catholic, social, and nation allegiances.

But Versailles had halted its offensive in Africa, an armistice had been declared.

In view of the people’s sheer exuberance, the Royal State Media released the following music video, Douce France. An old patriotic song popular at the end of World War Two, it had been modernized to reflect the celebratory mood of the current French population. Performed by Les Enfants du Pays, a multi-cultural and ‘liberal’ musical group, it showed how the Autocracy was lightening up, and trying to present a friendly view of Versailles after so much chaos. Ironically amid a time of peace and celebration the group was basically forced at gunpoint to perform the song a few weeks earlier, their natural leftist inclinations not initially supportive of the Royal Edict. Mais, laissez-faire au natural, n’est-ce pas?

A smash hit, all of France celebrated, come what may, they would always love their Land and Crown.

Douce France on French State Media (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEz6ma65B8A)

To say that Godfrey III or his ministers had begged the French for peace was perhaps a bit self-congratulatory of the French king, but the gist of the message was imparted accurately to the French people. Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh had contacted Versailles with a request that they return to negotiations, coupled with a realistic assessment of French casualty rates in a global nuclear war. It was a message no doubt aided by the deployment of the Grand Fleet to Africa, and when the French were forced to confront the very real possibility that their entire navy would be destroyed, the Bourbon kingdom proved to be rather more willing to talk.

News of Versailles' characteristically dramatic response was received with quiet relief in London, and planners began drawing up preliminary details for renewed peace talks. Key points would include Portuguese sovereignty, cession of territory (notably Gibraltar and New Caledonia) to the Crown and the deployment of 'peacekeeping' forces to the new African colonies of France. The intent of these peacekeepers was clearly not to support the French regime there, but to rather curb French excesses via negotiation, dispute resolution and, if need be, limited police action. London was still firm in its condemnation of 'renewed global conquest', but stated that its focus was now 'the protection of and advocacy for African peoples in the French-occupied states of ECOWAS'. Versailles, meanwhile, was assured that the peacekeeping forces would not attempt to destabilize French administration, and would be subject to French oversight (although oversight was clearly meant in the literal sense-- a French officer's orders to British troops would be met with stares, derisive laughs or raised eyebrows).

Lastly, the British 'strongly urged' a reduction in French nuclear stockpiles, although this was not a binding point.

An armistice with the view to establish a framework leaving the Frenchmen in control of West Africa is, from the Indian point of view, no armistice at all. Though Europeans might cease to fight, India will, and this is made quite clear by Parliament, conduct its campaign in Africa just the same unless a French withdrawal from the ECOWAS states is guaranteed.

Britain or no Britain, India will work to defeat the hated Frenchmen and Russians so long as they continue their brutal, inhuman, and quite illegitimate occupation of West Africa. What is, Unioners wonder, London's idea of oversight? Has not France already killed, through indiscriminate bombing and outright massacre, perhaps hundreds of thousands of its would-be subjects? The idea of France being anything besides an oppressor to the people of West Africa is not only overwhelmingly likely a ridiculous one, but has indeed been proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be ridiculous. London may be prepared to legitimize the largest and most brutal invasion to have taken place since Hitler marched on Poland, but Mumbai, for one, is not.

Then again, Unioners don't entirely understand just how close the French actually came to loosing their nuclear arsenal on the English, and if they did they might approach the issue from a different point of view.

Nonetheless Union diplomats in London inform Mainwaring's government that the use of British troops in subduing West African guerrillas and independence fighters would be, as far as Mumbai is concerned, quite unacceptable, and could likely lead to clashes between INA and British Army soldiers should they aid the French militarily. There is no sense, after all, sending peacekeepers when there aren't two sides to separate, but rather one side to legitimize while robbing the other side of its ability to fight. This is, of course, unless the French agree to halt their forces where they stand, and to not advance any further ever.

((*OOC* Sorry, not too much time now. Just an important point:

“As of this moment, I have ordered a halt in all offensive operations in Africa, and ordered all troops to maintain there positions, to engage in hostility only if themselves fire upon." Me.

"There is no sense, after all, sending peacekeepers when there aren't two sides to separate, but rather one side to legitimize while robbing the other side of its ability to fight. This is, of course, unless the French agree to halt their forces where they stand, and to not advance any further ever." LRR, aka Crooked Beat.

I thought I more or less stated clearly that the offensive is over, and it is quite implied that I am in no posistion, realistically, given the mood in France (I thought that was demonstrated quite nicely), to attempt to gain any land outside what French forces currently control.

For what it is worth, IC, Versailles praises The Empire's decision unceasingly. I must say, at the last minute, the French Monarchy I thought pulled off a peace rather well, and proved itself in the end quite rational. And likewise I do declare I found the Hitler analogy quite tasteless and honestly false. I mean, if I would compare the 'war' so far to anything, I think it would be the Crusades.))

OOC: Ah, let's not go calling each other psychotic racist murderers or psychotic Christian murderers, shall we?

IC:

Mumbai is informed, quite gently, that the British peacekeepers' sole duty would be to protect the human rights of Africans under French rule, rather than legitimize said French rule. Should any extranational forces (specifically, those of the Progressive Bloc) come within striking distance of them, the British would withdraw to safer positions and declare a state of armed neutrality. Once again, the peacekeeping force would exist only to ensure that further actions such as the firebombing of Accra or the various forced marches would cease. Such activities would be opposed diplomatically and, if necessary, with limited military force. Britain was not interested in fighting a war, but rather with securing a peace that would leave all parties alive and largely unoppressed, if not entirely independent.

Mumbai would be right in assuming that Britain's conciliatory stance, in this instance was partially due to the firing of nuclear missiles upon the Grand Banks. France's predilection for atomic weaponry is well known, and the British government rather enjoyed London as a city, rather than a smoking crater. Further launchings by France, of course, will not be tolerated. The next missile to leave a French silo under rocket power would be returned a hundredfold by the submarines that cruised in the Bay of Biscay, targeted to airburst over major cities for maximum damage potential. M. de Maurepas is informed of this via sealed letter, and is asked to pass such sentiments on to his King.

Since the Soviets have long ceased direct diplomatic contact with the Holy League there is little obvious reaction to France's climb-down. There is hope that the French may retreat from the naval battle before more Indian lives are lost, since the Soviets are far from comfortable fighting on the waves and would prefer to get their feet on to solid ground, a stable platform from which to kick somebody out of the feudal age.

In West Africa Soviet agents are only stepping-up their efforts, smuggling arms into the region through the African Commonwealth and Libya. Raipur has privately decided to continue fighting until West Africa is communist, ruled by its people, Nigerians included. The only possible exception to Soviet ambition in West Africa might be a Liberia under Chinese administration, many convinced that, even if improper, Chinese rule might not be a bad thing, relatively speaking, from a Liberian point of view.

Still, with only one mechanised regiment actually organised in Senegal it may be some time before the Indians are actually leading counter-League operations. For now agitators hand-out AKMs and communist ideals, working to promote the establishment of Soviets that will be able not only to resist the European presence but also undermine the control of surviving African national governments.

While westerners talk and Indians resist, France appears to have sparked the Igovians' much-hyped and long-awaited world revolution.

(OCC: Once again I must apologize. I didn't really analyze that statement to any great extent. I'll have to make a point to watch out and not rush to make such inflammatory statements in the future.)

IC:

Parliamentarians are quick to retract their earlier comments regarding the Franco-British cease-fire, it being in truth none of their business, and also issue an apology to their British counterparts. India will, doubtless, fight for as long as West Africa at least is under the French boot, this is to be sure, but none can reasonably criticize Britain for not jumping into the fight. Indians will, to be sure, take up the task with great enthusiasm and eagerness, and will use their own means to carry it through.

An apology too is issued, Parliamentarians, for the most part, being honorable and respectable if a bit prone to anger. At the same time London's involvement, and its commitment to putting an end to French abuses, is praised, since Indians hardly expect the average Frenchman on the ground to change his behavior. Generally more disciplined Englishmen (or so Unioners think) are apt to do a fine job of protecting the most basic rights of the peoples of West Africa, and, if the French go back to their old ways, there is always the prospect of those peacekeeping troops being turned against the Leaguers in alliance with ECOWAS regulars and guerrilla fighters.

There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea...

Windswept and lightningstruck, Research Facility 107-A certainly matched that description. Quite literally a grey spire jutting out of the sea, it could only be reached by helicopter. Its location was ideal for concealing a secret---several miles off the coast, it was perpetually battered by concealing storms and surrounded by unsurpassable rocks. Mounting an assault on the lonely facility was nearly impossible---and the notion of succeeding in such an assault merely removed the word "nearly".

With a rain slicked salute, Xiao Bi landed on the tower's helipad. He smiled with a hint of flamboyance not often found in the Combine, and strode forward into the facility. A fairly tall man, about 6'2", Bi found he had to duck a bit as he entered the doorway---the Armandians were, after all, a people quite unlike their towering Bedgellen neighbors. Xiao found himself in a long, pristinely white hallway, and flanked by an array of scientists and soldiers. Shaking bursts of water from his short, smooth hair, he addressed the labcoat donning men.

"You became the light on the dark side of me."
"Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill."
"...alright, why are we speaking in code? For Armand's sake, this is the Combine!"
"Procedure is procedure, brother. Besides, intelligence types tend to be..."
"Don't give us that. Just because the intelligence community is a bit more flamboyant..."
"Brother, are we not wearing bright blue sunglasses?"
Xiao glared with annoyance, and shot back at the scientist, "I fail to see our point."
"We digress. Come, the rose awaits."

Bi nodded, a solemn smirk---if such a thing is possible---plastered across his face.

"Very well then."
__________________________________________________

But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can be seen.

"Now we know why we brought sunglasses, eh?"

The room was awash in blinding light, to use an old cliche, because truly that's the only way it could be described. Pure, fantastically powerful white light poured out from every inch of the dwelling, shot out from every molecule and poured into every crevice. Nothing but radiance, nothing but glory, nothing but the sheer everything of the one light that encompasses all hues!

And then it was gone.

"Why the fuck did we do that? Now we can't see!"
"It's part of the testing environment, mostly in relation to the bioluminescent bacterium we're working with, such as Vibrio Fischeri and Vibrio Harveyi."
"Doesn't help the fact that we're fucking blind, now does it?"
"Relax, it should only take a few minutes to adjust with the medications we administered."
"...medications...?"
"In our drink."
"...bastards."
"If we'd care to move on..."

Despite the rather underhanded nature of their administration, the drugs worked quite quickly, and Xiao's vision adjusted within minutes when he should've been blind. With nothing injured but his pride, Bi quickly followed the scientist's brisk set of short, but rapid and numerous steps. Curious, he looked around at the various oddities and technological breakthroughs that surrounded him. The Roiks too had a top secret program for projects that were so strange and far out that they practically touched upon Science Fiction, he knew, but it was really anything quite like this. Royce's death rays and flying cars were, he thought with a hint of Combine contempt, merely extremely expensive toys to satisfy a nation of overgrown playboys. Admittedly, Armand's elite scientists were playing games of their own, but theirs were of a far more ambitious and horrifying nature.

The Combine wasn't content to merely control men; it wanted to make some of its own.
The Combine wasn't content to merely the play the games of men; it wanted to play God.

To the left lay a large sampling of the aforementioned biolumiscent bacteria, and right next to it, sealed in plastic homeostasis chamber, was a small child. That might be normal enough---alright, so perhaps a kid in the middle of a plastic chamber itself in the middle of a top secret research laboratory might not be that normal---except for one little thing.

The child and the bacteria shared one key trait: they both glowed.

The thin man shuddered, his red shirt rippling with a tinge of horror. He turned away towards a more comforting sight: a petri dish full of enhanced cellulase enzymes, or potential "treethanol" aids. "Treethanol" was really cellulose based ethanol, which could theoretically provide sixteen times the energy required to grow and process it. Xiao chuckled, knowing that the technology was likely mature enough to enter at least prototype stage, but was being withheld so as to maximize Armand's petroleum industry.

And they all think the Quinntonians are holding the clean car back, he thought with a chuckle.

Relaxed by the little dose of black humor, Xiao strode through a door and...

...right into a trap.

A tremendous pile of flesh lay before him; graying limbs and faded splatters of blood caked the floor. A massive room, the size of a football stadium, was literally stacked to the rafters with the oddly gray remains of men. A torn hand there, a shattered skull there, and the occasional brain tossed about painted quite the disturbing picture. The fleshy bits were quite distorted, as well; grossly muscled arms lay alongside blazing orange eye balls. Blood was everywhere, oozing around and seeping into every imaginable orifice. Some of the creations bore scant signs of humanity; Xiao thought he could make out a face in the bloated and scarred lump of tissue beside him. It stared hauntingly at him, as if wracked by incredible pain. Scattered amongst the mess were white coat clad Armandian scientists, meticulously studying and sampling their grotesque subjects.

"What the...?"
"This is our Higher One project; we aim to use genetic modification to create the perfect human being...Don't worry, they've all been thoroughly disinfected."

A monstrous, yet vaguely human, cry went out from somewhere in the pile. Xiao's thin frame trembled as the pained cry seeped into his bones. The Scientist exhaled an annoyed sigh, and pressed a button on the PDA he'd whipped out. Immediately, a flat steel disk rushed down from the ceiling, and, with a delightful squish flattened the poor abomination.

"Obviously, we need to conduct more research..."
"...we..."
"What? To borrow a phrase from the West, 'Cat got our tongue'?"
"More like 'freakish genetic mutant' got our tongue."
"Hahahaha..."

The Scientist found this incredibly hilarious, and laughed constantly as they walked through the piles of those who were never born...

Ooh,
The more I get of you,
Stranger it feels, yeah.

__________________________________________________

"More light?"
"The rose grows better in it."
"It's...pink."
"Mere coincidence."
"That must be it."

The intrepid pair stood alone in a small, circular, metallic chamber. In the center stood a podium, upon which lay a glass dome. A strong pink light emanated from within the dome, masking its contents. The scientist smiled, his dark glasses also masking something: a morbidly proud grin.

"Ahhh, the rose, our beautiful little flower..."
"And now that our rose is in bloom," replied Xiao, for once genuinely respectful.
"Yes, yes...Armies of man, machines of steel, explosions of the nucleus, none of them can match the simple might of a tiny, single celled organism...It'll be a light, a light that hits the gloom on the grey and breaks the back of the reactionaries for once and for all..." the lab coat clad man rambled, his smile growing larger and more deranged by the second.
"But what does it do, exactly?"
"Aha haha, there is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say..." he responded,his sanity slipping further away.
"Tell us," said the Intelligence Minister firmly. The cold steel behind his azure shades seemed to calm the Scientist, who quickly collected himself.
"It's the most powerful biological weapon the world has ever seen. Extremely contagious, it can spread through the air and can stay alive on a surface for weeks. It remains dormant in a patient for weeks as well, giving it time to spread. And most deliciously, once it triggers, it can kill a man within hours."
"Is there a cure?"
"Yes. And we're the only ones who have it."
"This could annihilate Europe."

You remain
My power, my pleasure, my pain.

The scientist handed the keys to the device to Xiao.

"Yes. It could. Releasing it would be incredibly dangerous, however...But that is no longer our concern," he said gesturing to himself, "but instead ours," he added while pointing at Xiao in order to clarify the odd whims of Armandian diction.

Bi's hands grasped the small pink vial that lay under the dome, and he stared at it for a moment.

Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey.
Ooh, the more I get of you
Stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the grey.
Yes I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you
Stranger it feels, yeah
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the grey.

He left the room, his footsteps echoing with the promise of death.

OOC: 1. I don't actually know what the agent itself will be, if there's not one in existance that matches my specifications I'll change 'em.
2. I don't intend to use these, just wanted to show that the Combine is just as capable of utter annihilation as France is.
3. I'll respond to the French offer soon.

OOC: AC. I respect you as an RPer tremendously. That said, I feel that I must take issue with some of your claims.

Biological menace: Exactly what is this biological menace? Can you find me something that might fit the bill, or at least explain in a vague sense how your scientists developed it? I'm not asking for a dissertation, just more than one post to provide backstory.

Glowing people: Why? And how? I'm no biologist, but even I can tell you that creating a human being with genes that make it glow is difficult, perhaps bordering on science-fictional.

Superhuman research: Not to be a pain, but this had best not produce anything soon. If it does, you'll be in clear violation of the 'no PMT or FT stuff in AMW'.

I realize, the Combine's strength is its technological superiority. However, please try to keep said technological superiority within the realm of existing or theoretically grounded technology, rather than fantasy tech or science fiction.

And so Asia is locked in an arms race that only the Combine knows about. The Depkazi Caliphate's control of the USSR's largest biological warfare facilities is widely known, and just recently Raipur admitted responsibility for the Malagasy Sleeping Sickness that crippled a Roycelandian Colonial Guard mission in 1989/90, the result of a virus long suspected to have received some primitive form of deliberate genetic manipulation. But, while nobody else knows of on-going Combine research it is fair to assume that the Armandians are the only ones running down a track that Depkazia and Soviet India have been dawdling along for decades.

India's openly declared cloned elephants and work towards simian cloning may spur Combine developments, but are unlikely to furnish the Commonwealth with its own curative or preventative technologies against such biological weaponry as Constance pursues.

The Roycelandian Government, meanwhile, has been experimenting with Laser Weapons. Nothing especially useful has been developed- certainly, nothing that might be considered "Portable", at least- but it's marvellous PR, with lots of men and women in white lab coats standing around in front of various impressive computers and research-type equipment (including the legally obligatory Tesla Coil, bench full of beakers, and the Massive Computer With Reels in the background), holding clip-boards, and generally looking like extras from an ad in National Geographic in c. 1952.

The Futurama Project was devoted to such futuristic things- Lasers, Lightsabres, Hovertanks, and all the cool stuff that appeared in Science Fiction movies from the 1930s up until the 1980s.

It was rumoured they were also working on Hologrammatic versions of people, Red Dwarf style, but based on current calculations, a Hologram would need a computer roughly the size of downtown Havana, with a per second power drain sufficient to power Port Royal for a year... which may explain some of the power outages and brownouts in the Imperial Capital of late...

Deep within a secret military complex in the bowels of the earth, a mad scientist chackled maniaciously. He threw back his head and laughed over and over. He reached for the tool beside him and took it in his hand. He pressed a button and sharp fluorescent glow erupted out of the tool. It illuminated the room with a glow. He was so taken with the glow that he said out loud, "Luminous beings are you, not crude matter." The man had shrunken features due to to the long duration of time indoors and a strangely unusual complexation due to a rare genetic condition. He chuckled hideiously to himself and walked into the assembly room where rows and rows of the tools were being produced. Several thousands were being created every second.

Picture here (http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/techchron/2006/04/03/yoda.jpg)

OOC: Okay maybe that didn't really happen

OOC: AC. I respect you as an RPer tremendously. That said, I feel that I must take issue with some of your claims.

Biological menace: Exactly what is this biological menace? Can you find me something that might fit the bill, or at least explain in a vague sense how your scientists developed it? I'm not asking for a dissertation, just more than one post to provide backstory.

Glowing people: Why? And how? I'm no biologist, but even I can tell you that creating a human being with genes that make it glow is difficult, perhaps bordering on science-fictional.

Superhuman research: Not to be a pain, but this had best not produce anything soon. If it does, you'll be in clear violation of the 'no PMT or FT stuff in AMW'.

I realize, the Combine's strength is its technological superiority. However, please try to keep said technological superiority within the realm of existing or theoretically grounded technology, rather than fantasy tech or science fiction.


OOC: Bio-menace: working on it, my friend.
Glowing: Hey, we've made glowing monkeys, why not glowing babies? The technique for injecting jellyfish genes is actually really simple, and as long as you're willing to tolerate the high body toll, not at all unfeasible with today's technology. And as for why...well, it's the easiest way to directly see if your gene therapy is working or not.

http://www.imagequest3d.com/pages/general/news/rhesusmonkey/monkey.htm
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/01_01/ANDi.shtml

Superman: No shit it won't actually become feasible. Hence the giant stack of horriblly disfigured rejects and the comment that a lot more research was required. No worries.

OOC: Some preliminary research of mine, if you're curious.

http://www.zkea.com/archives/archive05002.html

General al-Rashid was in the habit of having a regular CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) threat brief from his experts on the subject.

For obvious reasons this particular one had been dominated by an assessment of the nuclear strength and potential of the various powers around the world. However, as they finished at last discussing such things as the probability of the French launching their missiles at some stage, and the plausibility of the Indian claims of disarmament, Dr Ben Quoraishi, the General's chief adviser on this subject given his combination of a technical background and military experience, moved onto biology.
"And while our friends in the NIB have nothing firm to go on, as ever, we believe the Combine are still working hard on biological weapons."
"Should we be worried Ben?"
"Well, for one a truly effective biological weapon is even more dangerous to yourself than a nuclear strike; if it is spreading uncontrollably and killing many, it will hit you as well in time.
Even if you've come up with a cure, producing it in sufficient quantities to keep your own people safe is highly noticeable. We would be able to spot that activity; what is more it is much harder to keep vaccine production secure than disease production, as the quantities, workforces and such required are much larger."
"So you're saying we would have a chance to save ourselves, and everyone else, unless the Combine are prepared to kill their own?"
"Pretty much. There's also the usual infectiousness/virulence trade-off. It is very rare for any agent to both infect most of those who come into contact with it, and also kill more than 20%, even if you can only give palliative care. Look at the way 'flu spreads everywhere and kills few, while Ebola kills many, but only spreads so far before being brought under control.
A highly successful biological weapon might kill as many globally as the influenza pandemic after the First World War."
"And...what measures are we taking to prevent such attacks in any case?"
"Well, to protect our forces from infection, we have biological sensors. We currently have a detection capability for any division-size force or greater to save 98% from infection by warning them of an incoming threat and allowing them to suit-up. As to those who are infected, and the general population, we have teams working on vaccines for the most likely agents; improved anti-virals; and the like. None of those projects are complete, but some show great promise."
"Very well. Thank you Ben, I'll see you for the next briefing. I hope I don't have to call on you in the meantime."
"Quite so sir. Very well."

OOC: What I've written here reflects my knowledge of the current state of biological weapons, and the active or near-future defences against them.
Basically, AC, you might well have a fearsomely effective virus developed in one secret facility - the precise capabilities of it are arguable, though surviving for weeks outside a host is dubious. Equally for it to incubate for several weeks, it probably won't be transmissible til late in that period. Anyway, assume you have a virus; dissemination is still something of a problem. The real problem I have with your claim though, is that you have a cure. As stated in my post, to have a cure for either a viral or bacterial agent sufficient for your population is quite a challenge. It'll take months or years of low-level production and stockpiling, or a very visible production effort that will make people wonder what you're up to.

Has this thread suddenly become a place to talk about WMD's all our governments are producing, or are we still talking about negotiations between the HL, the US-bloc and China?

I'd hope that this remains a diplomatic thread *looks significantly at AC and Terrie.* To AC, understood. I'm interested to see where this goes, thanks for providing answers.

Has this thread suddenly become a place to talk about WMD's all our governments are producing, or are we still talking about negotiations between the HL, the US-bloc and China?

Good point

**OOC**

Major developments in France will most likely expedite the negotiations.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=457496&page=4

Wow, AMW dead lately or what?