Allanea
14-01-2008, 06:20
Hundreds of trucks moved into Liberty-City, one after another after another. Each truck carried twenty-five tons of Wagdian gold, and there were almost 2,000 trucks. Of them, 200 would become the property of a Wagdian citizen again, but that would not be the point. The very fact the Wagdian central bank sold the gold to the CCBC would serve, to the world, a proof of it's worth - and already, in Wagdog, clean-shaved Wagdian clerk were to work establishing the new bank. The initial M1 would be now thirty trillion Confederate Franks, available at every CCBC office in Wagdog at two USD per Frank. Stockpiles of old Wagdian currency would be replaced everywhere for only a half-percent fee.
And on the topmost level of Minas-Faerie, the Tower of Freedom, Alexander Kazansky was sitting a table, watching his own share of the trucks roll into the city in a long cavalcade, a full hundred miles from the front truck's headlights to the last one's rear license plate. It was dark,, and it was beginning to rain – and yet the boy smiled sadly as he looked.
He was sitting at the same table at which he greeted dozens of foreign heads of state, diplomats and corporate giants, senators and lobbyists. As usual, a variety of exotic, carefully-chosen food was on the table, as well as two bottles of atrociously expensive elfwine that was, quite likely, worth more than its weight in gold.
In front of him was sitting a Menelmacari journalist, employed with a major Menelmacari paper's Allanean office. The elf looked visibly uncomfortable – after all, quite a few people in Menelmacar thought the Allanean leader was a strange homicidal monster, a sort of libertarian Saddam Hussein with gravships.
“You understand,” - Kazansky said to the man sitting at the other side of the table - “I do not pretend to be blind to my own disadvantages, or the disadvantages of Allanea. There is a reason, you know, why a lot of people in this country choose to artificially stop their aging before puberty is even finally over. Someone smart once said that Allanea is a nation of teenagers that just outright refuse to grow up.”
On War:
“I vetoed two war bills this fiscal year. Why do people here want to go to war that much? Have you seen ' New Hope'? It's a very nice Twentieth Century film. It concludes with a hero flying a fighter into a key location on an impossibly huge enemy starship and blowing it up, thus winning the day. This, in effect, is the illusion of war if you're young and idealistic. People are given to believing that if they're good at inflicting violence on others, they can change the world. People hear the words “revolution” and they immediately think it's all about guillotines and barricades. That is... very simplistic at best.”
“Now, I am not perfect. I admit to you that I enjoy war in an emotional, visceral sense. I'm good at it, and if I have to do it, I'll not be shocked or depressed. I'll be entertained. But at the same time, I do not wish to inflict on any sapient violence for it's own sake. I am not the world's best, gentlest person, but I understand – on both an intellectual and an emotional level – that it is peace that is the best creator of prosperity. Look now.”
Kazansky points below, where the city is spread out, like an endless array of jewels, all the way to the horizon and beyond. “This is the biggest treasure there is. Not the gold. The city. A great man said once: 'In the midst of a great and terrifying darkness, any little fuzzy-edged pools of light and warmth and love and hope that happen to appear in this horror-filled universe are purely artificial, established where they are, usually at an unspeakable cost, by the minds and hands of individual beings.' And that's what that city is, down there below – millions of individual sapients, crafting, day by day, their individual version of Eden. I'm a soldier first and foremost. But I must remember – we, the Allaneans must remember – that these pool of light and warmth, and love and hope are products of peace and liberty. Note peace and liberty. “
The General-Secretary falls silent for a moment, looking below at the passing cavalcade, waiting for the reporter's next questions, and explaining his own positions.
On Elves:
“Our policy towards the elven countries, and especially Menelmacar, remains a difficult balancing act. A friend of mine who's worked there on a diplomatic mission likes to point out that the elves – all elves – are bound to see themselves as superior to us. The average Menelmacari public official is older than most civilisations – how's he going to look at a society of people who see the teenager as their ideal? You can't really even blame them, especially with the fact our society disturbs even people who are not of the Elder Races.”
“On the other hand, look at us. We like the elves. They've always been good to us. Personally, I'm very grateful to their royal family for what they've done for me time and time again. And I think we ought to be helping them. We ought to be giving them money. They're nice people. There's no question. But there is a certain catch involved.”
“If we outright prostrate ourselves before the elves, it will be seen both outside and inside the nation as a loss of dignity. That's bad. That'll cause a backlash. But if we try and be too proud - which is all too easy because Allaneans, too, think they're the best – then we'll offend the elves. That's bad too. So it's a balancing act.”
The elf looked at Kazansky inquisitively:
“Haven't you already prostrated yourselves for....well, decades? So why stop now?"
The Allanean shrugged: “Look at it this way. There always was a bit of discontent about this. It was dangerous, in my mind, to let it grow and fester. A lot of people became... incensed, there was even a bill, I believe, during the Goldwasser administration, to end all dealings with Menelmacar altogether. Happily it got vetoed. But I do think we were overdoing it. Too much of a good thing and all. Doesn't mean however, that we don't like the elves anymore. We like the elves, but I think it's the responsible, moderate choice to be... well, responsible and moderate about it. Yes, Menelmacari culture is very nice and in some ways superior to our own. But I think it's unhealthy to pretend our own culture is completely worthless.”
“For a while, it was thought Allaneans were completely incapable of cooperation and diplomacy. But that's not true, or if it was true, it changed. Look at the gold below. Look at all this stuff around us. There's two million foreign students in this city today. We trade with a hundred nations. That happened because we stopped trying to just yammer at the world and started listening to what our neighbors needed, what our friends needed, and yes, even what our enemies needed. A nation of complete barbarians whose place is only at the feet of their betters would have been capable of such improvements – look at any group of real barbarians you care to name.”
On the Pilonese:
“The Pilonese are like the Allaneans – if, that is, the Allaneans were utterly tasteless and had no concern whatsoever for even basic privacy. Nevermind how they tried to destroy our economy. I don't hold that against them. I think I can understand that some people don't like Allaneans. But they built that abominable kidney of theirs on in Liberty-City!” - Kazansky said, smirking. It was obvious he was joking. “I would like to yet again thank the Menelmacari Navy for burning every sample of Pilonese architecture in this city to the ground. They sure burned nice."
“The Necrons did that.” - the reporter corrected.
“Yes, you're correct, it's all coming back to me now. I remember one of my predecessors even awarded Ranisath the Presidential Medal of Freedom for it – making him only the second foreigner to receice this award. He deserved it for torching that godawful kidney thing alone.”
“But other than the kidney thing, and their strange tourist laws, I don't mind the Pilonese. If you don't like your genes scanned, don't travel there. I for one have no intention to. If people don't mind that and want to buy Pilonese goods after they've tried to destroy half the nation's savings, more power to them.”
On the Kajali:
When asked about the Kajali, the Boy-President smiles uncomfortably. “The Kajali. I will be upfront, the Allaneans never really handled these people right. I think a previous administration did that thing where they tried to approach them by sending a warship laden with chocolates as a gesture of goodwill, and it almost got mistaken for an attacking vessel. Highly unprofessional. Almost rude, even.”
“I don't think an Allanean has ever done a Kajali wrong, outside that incident. Regardless, as far as I heard, they refuse to negotiate or deal with us either way. Yes, I would like to have better relations with them. Naturally, since they don't want to have better relations with us, it's quite impossible.”
“Look, it's likely your paper is read in Kajal. As such, I would like to use the opportunity to apologize for that silly chocolate incident, both as a Freeman and as the leader of the United States of Allanea. If the Kajali want to open an embassy here, or deal with us on any other peaceful basis, our door is always open, and their friendship always welcome.”
On Zero-One:
“Now you're looking to cause some mayhem, aren't you? You want me to talk about wanting revenge against 'the machines' or something. Well, no. They beat us in ODW, and they beat us hard. We had no navy to fight with, and they were strong and had good commanders. I don't hold it against them.”
“After the war, I listened to their Queen's advice at least once, but wasn't able to follow up on it – and if she hears me, I hope she accepts my apologies. The mechanoids built the PAG and accepted our money for it, and they sold us key supplies for at least one major humanitarian mission – we were fixing up a nation, UNS Command by name, that was terribly torn up by war, and the Monocorporation provided all we needed to get the job done. What? You didn't hear Allaneans do humanitarian missions? Well, we do.”
“But yes. I think our relations have improved a bit since ODW. You don't see any combat over the city, do you? I am happy that we are trading peacefully with the Queendom, but of course I would like to have closer ties with them. Also, off the record, their guy at the Duma, Dripping Talons, I believe, has himself decorated with copper flames and all. He's one of the more awesome foreign dignitaries round, and if he wants to send that suit for a visit to Liberty-City, he's always welcome.”
On his Personal life:
"Many Menelmacari are particularly uncomfortable with some of your... tendencies. Polygamy comes to mind, public orgies, your continued tolerance of Shiunji Watanabe." - the reporter points out.
The boy blushes. - “Frankly, I understand. I did some freakishly disgusting things in my life, some of them I'm genuinely embarassed by having done. My life is not quite normal, you understand, in the emotional aspect. There's plenty of people who hate me and never met me, and there's apparently a lot of women who are also attracted to me – not because they know Alexander Kazansky, the person, but because they're attracted to me as a sort of mythical founder figure.”
“Physically, I can get all the sex I want. I had it, and then some. But... let us just say I cared – still do – about a certain person who likely doesn't want to have anything to do with me on a romantic level. I can't love anybody else. I tried, foolishly, to compensate for the lack of love with way too much sex, parties, public orgies. It didn't work. It never does.”
“These days, I toned down my habits a lot. I'm not a monk, but let's just say I lead a responsible life.”
“As for Shiunji... he has some really disturbing stuff in that head of his. Ever after the last time he went overseas, I keep watch that this stuff stays in his head and doesn't get put into really disturbing action. But, outside these... desires of his, he's a very talented man. I don't want to offend anybody by saying this, but I am trying to help him, and by help him I mean get him back to more... normal pursuits. I wouldn't want to divulge more detail at this stage because, outside his... issues he's a nice fellow and I'm trying to help him deal with these issues. I'm not letting him... roam out there and do his thing anymore. That's in the past.”
The elf ping-ponged yet another question at Kazansky.
"The Roanians are apparently working up some manner of war crimes tribunal which would feature you as defendant. What's your stance on this and would you attend?"
“Frankly, it's ridiculous. Even if we put aside the fact Allanea doesn't extradite its Freemen, ever, there is still the fact that their court failed to formulate any kind of concrete charges against me, much less present evidence. If Allanean courts used these procedures, I would simply mail such a summons to every single one of the ten billion people in Roania and invie them to 'face trial' in downtown Liberty-City. It would boost hotel business with all those Roanians coming in, if nothing else.”
"Well, generally charges are laid before evidence is presented. If they did so, would you attend?"
“Actually, it is international custom to at least provide a certain amount of evidence before requesting the extradition of foreign citizens. Regardless, no charges have been formulated, no evidence has been demonstrated, the whole thing is so completely, utterly insane I don't know where to start.”
"So is that a yes, or a no?"
“So far no Allanean has ever been extradited to face a foreign court, especially not one in a nation with no respect for normal legal procedure. I don't intend to start with myself.”
“Look, I realize some people see me as some form of monster. They're wrong. I'm just a fellow who happens to have a very tough job. But I realize I can't persuade everybody of that. That's okay. But I would like to request that people at least try to disengage their dislike of me from their dislike of Allanea. Really, it's still okay to visit this country, or buy our products, or be friends with our people even if you do hate me.”
“Also, for those who still mistrust me, several journalists will be employed from now on, upon contract with their respective papers, to report from the White House on a daily basis. My work activities will become as public as they've likely never been before. That is all.”
OOC: This is natrually not a full transcript, but rather what you would read in the relevant paper. Naturally, Kazansky does not give exlcusive interviews without verification. A full transcript would however also available – the only purpose of verification is to ensure he's not edited out of context. If you like, you can post reactions and whatnot.
P.S. Originally done on IRC with the help of the Menelmacari player.
And on the topmost level of Minas-Faerie, the Tower of Freedom, Alexander Kazansky was sitting a table, watching his own share of the trucks roll into the city in a long cavalcade, a full hundred miles from the front truck's headlights to the last one's rear license plate. It was dark,, and it was beginning to rain – and yet the boy smiled sadly as he looked.
He was sitting at the same table at which he greeted dozens of foreign heads of state, diplomats and corporate giants, senators and lobbyists. As usual, a variety of exotic, carefully-chosen food was on the table, as well as two bottles of atrociously expensive elfwine that was, quite likely, worth more than its weight in gold.
In front of him was sitting a Menelmacari journalist, employed with a major Menelmacari paper's Allanean office. The elf looked visibly uncomfortable – after all, quite a few people in Menelmacar thought the Allanean leader was a strange homicidal monster, a sort of libertarian Saddam Hussein with gravships.
“You understand,” - Kazansky said to the man sitting at the other side of the table - “I do not pretend to be blind to my own disadvantages, or the disadvantages of Allanea. There is a reason, you know, why a lot of people in this country choose to artificially stop their aging before puberty is even finally over. Someone smart once said that Allanea is a nation of teenagers that just outright refuse to grow up.”
On War:
“I vetoed two war bills this fiscal year. Why do people here want to go to war that much? Have you seen ' New Hope'? It's a very nice Twentieth Century film. It concludes with a hero flying a fighter into a key location on an impossibly huge enemy starship and blowing it up, thus winning the day. This, in effect, is the illusion of war if you're young and idealistic. People are given to believing that if they're good at inflicting violence on others, they can change the world. People hear the words “revolution” and they immediately think it's all about guillotines and barricades. That is... very simplistic at best.”
“Now, I am not perfect. I admit to you that I enjoy war in an emotional, visceral sense. I'm good at it, and if I have to do it, I'll not be shocked or depressed. I'll be entertained. But at the same time, I do not wish to inflict on any sapient violence for it's own sake. I am not the world's best, gentlest person, but I understand – on both an intellectual and an emotional level – that it is peace that is the best creator of prosperity. Look now.”
Kazansky points below, where the city is spread out, like an endless array of jewels, all the way to the horizon and beyond. “This is the biggest treasure there is. Not the gold. The city. A great man said once: 'In the midst of a great and terrifying darkness, any little fuzzy-edged pools of light and warmth and love and hope that happen to appear in this horror-filled universe are purely artificial, established where they are, usually at an unspeakable cost, by the minds and hands of individual beings.' And that's what that city is, down there below – millions of individual sapients, crafting, day by day, their individual version of Eden. I'm a soldier first and foremost. But I must remember – we, the Allaneans must remember – that these pool of light and warmth, and love and hope are products of peace and liberty. Note peace and liberty. “
The General-Secretary falls silent for a moment, looking below at the passing cavalcade, waiting for the reporter's next questions, and explaining his own positions.
On Elves:
“Our policy towards the elven countries, and especially Menelmacar, remains a difficult balancing act. A friend of mine who's worked there on a diplomatic mission likes to point out that the elves – all elves – are bound to see themselves as superior to us. The average Menelmacari public official is older than most civilisations – how's he going to look at a society of people who see the teenager as their ideal? You can't really even blame them, especially with the fact our society disturbs even people who are not of the Elder Races.”
“On the other hand, look at us. We like the elves. They've always been good to us. Personally, I'm very grateful to their royal family for what they've done for me time and time again. And I think we ought to be helping them. We ought to be giving them money. They're nice people. There's no question. But there is a certain catch involved.”
“If we outright prostrate ourselves before the elves, it will be seen both outside and inside the nation as a loss of dignity. That's bad. That'll cause a backlash. But if we try and be too proud - which is all too easy because Allaneans, too, think they're the best – then we'll offend the elves. That's bad too. So it's a balancing act.”
The elf looked at Kazansky inquisitively:
“Haven't you already prostrated yourselves for....well, decades? So why stop now?"
The Allanean shrugged: “Look at it this way. There always was a bit of discontent about this. It was dangerous, in my mind, to let it grow and fester. A lot of people became... incensed, there was even a bill, I believe, during the Goldwasser administration, to end all dealings with Menelmacar altogether. Happily it got vetoed. But I do think we were overdoing it. Too much of a good thing and all. Doesn't mean however, that we don't like the elves anymore. We like the elves, but I think it's the responsible, moderate choice to be... well, responsible and moderate about it. Yes, Menelmacari culture is very nice and in some ways superior to our own. But I think it's unhealthy to pretend our own culture is completely worthless.”
“For a while, it was thought Allaneans were completely incapable of cooperation and diplomacy. But that's not true, or if it was true, it changed. Look at the gold below. Look at all this stuff around us. There's two million foreign students in this city today. We trade with a hundred nations. That happened because we stopped trying to just yammer at the world and started listening to what our neighbors needed, what our friends needed, and yes, even what our enemies needed. A nation of complete barbarians whose place is only at the feet of their betters would have been capable of such improvements – look at any group of real barbarians you care to name.”
On the Pilonese:
“The Pilonese are like the Allaneans – if, that is, the Allaneans were utterly tasteless and had no concern whatsoever for even basic privacy. Nevermind how they tried to destroy our economy. I don't hold that against them. I think I can understand that some people don't like Allaneans. But they built that abominable kidney of theirs on in Liberty-City!” - Kazansky said, smirking. It was obvious he was joking. “I would like to yet again thank the Menelmacari Navy for burning every sample of Pilonese architecture in this city to the ground. They sure burned nice."
“The Necrons did that.” - the reporter corrected.
“Yes, you're correct, it's all coming back to me now. I remember one of my predecessors even awarded Ranisath the Presidential Medal of Freedom for it – making him only the second foreigner to receice this award. He deserved it for torching that godawful kidney thing alone.”
“But other than the kidney thing, and their strange tourist laws, I don't mind the Pilonese. If you don't like your genes scanned, don't travel there. I for one have no intention to. If people don't mind that and want to buy Pilonese goods after they've tried to destroy half the nation's savings, more power to them.”
On the Kajali:
When asked about the Kajali, the Boy-President smiles uncomfortably. “The Kajali. I will be upfront, the Allaneans never really handled these people right. I think a previous administration did that thing where they tried to approach them by sending a warship laden with chocolates as a gesture of goodwill, and it almost got mistaken for an attacking vessel. Highly unprofessional. Almost rude, even.”
“I don't think an Allanean has ever done a Kajali wrong, outside that incident. Regardless, as far as I heard, they refuse to negotiate or deal with us either way. Yes, I would like to have better relations with them. Naturally, since they don't want to have better relations with us, it's quite impossible.”
“Look, it's likely your paper is read in Kajal. As such, I would like to use the opportunity to apologize for that silly chocolate incident, both as a Freeman and as the leader of the United States of Allanea. If the Kajali want to open an embassy here, or deal with us on any other peaceful basis, our door is always open, and their friendship always welcome.”
On Zero-One:
“Now you're looking to cause some mayhem, aren't you? You want me to talk about wanting revenge against 'the machines' or something. Well, no. They beat us in ODW, and they beat us hard. We had no navy to fight with, and they were strong and had good commanders. I don't hold it against them.”
“After the war, I listened to their Queen's advice at least once, but wasn't able to follow up on it – and if she hears me, I hope she accepts my apologies. The mechanoids built the PAG and accepted our money for it, and they sold us key supplies for at least one major humanitarian mission – we were fixing up a nation, UNS Command by name, that was terribly torn up by war, and the Monocorporation provided all we needed to get the job done. What? You didn't hear Allaneans do humanitarian missions? Well, we do.”
“But yes. I think our relations have improved a bit since ODW. You don't see any combat over the city, do you? I am happy that we are trading peacefully with the Queendom, but of course I would like to have closer ties with them. Also, off the record, their guy at the Duma, Dripping Talons, I believe, has himself decorated with copper flames and all. He's one of the more awesome foreign dignitaries round, and if he wants to send that suit for a visit to Liberty-City, he's always welcome.”
On his Personal life:
"Many Menelmacari are particularly uncomfortable with some of your... tendencies. Polygamy comes to mind, public orgies, your continued tolerance of Shiunji Watanabe." - the reporter points out.
The boy blushes. - “Frankly, I understand. I did some freakishly disgusting things in my life, some of them I'm genuinely embarassed by having done. My life is not quite normal, you understand, in the emotional aspect. There's plenty of people who hate me and never met me, and there's apparently a lot of women who are also attracted to me – not because they know Alexander Kazansky, the person, but because they're attracted to me as a sort of mythical founder figure.”
“Physically, I can get all the sex I want. I had it, and then some. But... let us just say I cared – still do – about a certain person who likely doesn't want to have anything to do with me on a romantic level. I can't love anybody else. I tried, foolishly, to compensate for the lack of love with way too much sex, parties, public orgies. It didn't work. It never does.”
“These days, I toned down my habits a lot. I'm not a monk, but let's just say I lead a responsible life.”
“As for Shiunji... he has some really disturbing stuff in that head of his. Ever after the last time he went overseas, I keep watch that this stuff stays in his head and doesn't get put into really disturbing action. But, outside these... desires of his, he's a very talented man. I don't want to offend anybody by saying this, but I am trying to help him, and by help him I mean get him back to more... normal pursuits. I wouldn't want to divulge more detail at this stage because, outside his... issues he's a nice fellow and I'm trying to help him deal with these issues. I'm not letting him... roam out there and do his thing anymore. That's in the past.”
The elf ping-ponged yet another question at Kazansky.
"The Roanians are apparently working up some manner of war crimes tribunal which would feature you as defendant. What's your stance on this and would you attend?"
“Frankly, it's ridiculous. Even if we put aside the fact Allanea doesn't extradite its Freemen, ever, there is still the fact that their court failed to formulate any kind of concrete charges against me, much less present evidence. If Allanean courts used these procedures, I would simply mail such a summons to every single one of the ten billion people in Roania and invie them to 'face trial' in downtown Liberty-City. It would boost hotel business with all those Roanians coming in, if nothing else.”
"Well, generally charges are laid before evidence is presented. If they did so, would you attend?"
“Actually, it is international custom to at least provide a certain amount of evidence before requesting the extradition of foreign citizens. Regardless, no charges have been formulated, no evidence has been demonstrated, the whole thing is so completely, utterly insane I don't know where to start.”
"So is that a yes, or a no?"
“So far no Allanean has ever been extradited to face a foreign court, especially not one in a nation with no respect for normal legal procedure. I don't intend to start with myself.”
“Look, I realize some people see me as some form of monster. They're wrong. I'm just a fellow who happens to have a very tough job. But I realize I can't persuade everybody of that. That's okay. But I would like to request that people at least try to disengage their dislike of me from their dislike of Allanea. Really, it's still okay to visit this country, or buy our products, or be friends with our people even if you do hate me.”
“Also, for those who still mistrust me, several journalists will be employed from now on, upon contract with their respective papers, to report from the White House on a daily basis. My work activities will become as public as they've likely never been before. That is all.”
OOC: This is natrually not a full transcript, but rather what you would read in the relevant paper. Naturally, Kazansky does not give exlcusive interviews without verification. A full transcript would however also available – the only purpose of verification is to ensure he's not edited out of context. If you like, you can post reactions and whatnot.
P.S. Originally done on IRC with the help of the Menelmacari player.