To Revive the Broken Bonds (Closed, Attn Kirav)
ooc: here it is...enjoy :)
Port Royal, Zoingo (http://www.stuartsoriginals.com/images2/venice.jpg)
The Commonwealth of Zoingo's famous sunken city was alive and bustling with activity as the day progressed. It seemed that Port Royal was entering a rhythmical movement of trade and goods, while all the while having an identity of its own that was different from other cities. Here, is where Ships and water vehicles, not cars, honked their horns and blew whistles as they streamed through the canals of the city. Here people conversed and traded goods in the squares and plaza dotted amongst the crowed island city skyline and where basilicas chimed to signal midday.
But here is also where Zoingo holds a value that the country highly holds dear, colonialism. This is where the history of the nation started, from colonialists, as well as where all of the goods from Zoingo's colonies come from. And this is how two countries formed a friendship...
Zoingo and Kirav were countries that were alike, and shared values and beliefs that were in many ways similar. And from the first meeting, both countries started a bond that lead to joining alliances, founding co-sponsored colonies, and fighting wars together. But after intense isolationalism in which The Commonwealth had felt sorry for, but could not avoid, now wanted to revisit and revive the bond.
And that was what Mr. Dalons was hoping to do today in Port Royal. Martin knew that he was no Roland Massaquine, the man responsible for the increasing relation between Zoingo and Kirav. But he at least (briefly) meet the Emperor of Kirav and his delegation, and that gave him his own personal first contact with Kirav. So his goal was to strengthen the relation past pre-isolationalism levels.
"Sir, the Kiravian plane should be landing on the tarmac any minute..." spoke Natalie, Mr. Dalons secretary.
"Natalie, can you arrange a water taxi?" Martin asked. "I don't want to walk all the way across the city by bridge like the last time I came here..."
"Of course sir," she replied, and got to work calling up the service.
All that needed to arrive was the delegation.
Lord Blackfield, the Emperor-Regent, sat back in his seat on he small government plane.
Ironically enough, he was only here because the former Emperor, Seawind, had crashed in such a plane.
It had been a long time since the Empire and Zoingo had interacted. The CN was gone, the Hegemony had been abandoned, leaving little to tie the two nations together. Blackfield's goal was to change that.
Here comes the plane....this is it. Martin thought as the plane was decending towards the tarmac. Wont I be walking tall when I meet an Emperor in private. he joked in his head, but never the less, he got back to the job at hand. And walked out towards the plane.
OOC: Sorry for the shitty opening post. My comp got raped by adware, and now it's running slow and popping up websites eveythirty second, which is screwing with my typing. I'm liable to mess up with spelling as well, as it freezes my keyboard when an ad loads.
IC:
The plane touched down on the tarmac. Blackfield took one last glance at the colonial statistics that he needed to know, got up, straightened his tunic and cape (As is how Kiravians dress), and disembarked.
After touching Zoingan soil, he strode confidently over to Sèr Dalons and bowed respectfully.
"Sèr Dalons, I am Emperor-Regent Blackfield of the Kiravian Empire. It is an honour to be a guest in your great nation."
ooc: ah the adware, that stuff can be hard to get rid of...
"It is my pleasure to host here in our colonial trading hub." Martin said to Emperor Blackfield. "But anyway...welcome to Port Royal! And not a moment too soon apparently..." he said as the St. Fredrick Basilica Carillion chimed one.
It was followed by a rythmical tune.... (http://www.verdin.com/Uploads/File/chamber_carillon_sound/angels-sing.mp3)
ooc: ah the adware, that stuff can be hard to get rid of...
"It is my pleasure to host here in our colonial trading hub." Martin said to Emperor Blackfield. "But anyway...welcome to Port Royal! And not a moment too soon apparently..." he said as the St. Fredrick Basilica Carillion chimed one.
It was followed by a rythmical tune.... (http://www.verdin.com/Uploads/File/chamber_carillon_sound/angels-sing.mp3)
OOC: Aye. I shredded all the files, but there's still something making it work. Nice tune, by the way.
IC:
Blackfield laughed.
"Thank you. So, we have very much to discuss. Where should we start?"
ooc: thanks, I randomly found the site with the tunes a while back.
"Well, we should reach our accomidations in the middle of the city as soon as possible. But while we are at it, maybe we should both share information about what has happened to our nations in the recent past?" Martin suggested.
"Sir, the water taxi will be here in a few minutes." shouted Natalie a ways ahed of them, closer to the airport docking terminal.
ooc: thanks, I randomly found the site with the tunes a while back.
"Well, we should reach our accomidations in the middle of the city as soon as possible. But while we are at it, maybe we should both share information about what has happened to our nations in the recent past?" Martin suggested.
"Sir, the water taxi will be here in a few minutes." shouted Natalie a ways ahed of them, closer to the airport docking terminal.
"Aye. Since Zoingo wet into isolationism, we've lost two Emperors, namely Raincedar and Seawind. We've also experienced a lot of economic success, and started a few more colonies."
"That is good news....." Martin commented as the two walked over to the docking area. "Since isolation, the economy has been widely fluctuating....both though good and bad, one or two new colonies have been established, and the trading fleet has been greaty expanded. Other than that, Mr. Massaquine, the former Prime Minister, has recently died, I believe his funeral will be in a week."
"That is good news....." Martin commented as the two walked over to the docking area. "Since isolation, the economy has been widely fluctuating....both though good and bad, one or two new colonies have been established, and the trading fleet has been greaty expanded. Other than that, Mr. Massaquine, the former Prime Minister, has recently died, I believe his funeral will be in a week."
"It seems like progress on the whole. And my deepest condolences on the Prime Minister."
"Yes thank you, ah there is our water taxi" Martin pointed.
And it pulled up.... (http://www.venice-rentals.com/pics/general/listpic-taxi.jpg)
"Yes thank you, ah there is our water taxi" Martin pointed.
And it pulled up.... (http://www.venice-rentals.com/pics/general/listpic-taxi.jpg)
Emperor Blackfield was quite interested by the water taxi.
"What a wonderful creation!" he exclaimed, "We may just need to start importing these. God knows it would make getting around Valëka easier."
"Yes thank you! Im not shure if these are for sale, but I could check with the Port Authority and see if we can send shipments. Here in Port Royal, such methods of transportation are a nessesity since the city is on a set of islands floating on a lagoon. Now of course, Port Royal also has larger ones, like that one over there (http://www.airninja.com/pictures/venice/venice_taxi.jpg)."
"Yes thank you! Im not shure if these are for sale, but I could check with the Port Authority and see if we can send shipments. Here in Port Royal, such methods of transportation are a nessesity since the city is on a set of islands floating on a lagoon. Now of course, Port Royal also has larger ones, like that one over there (http://www.airninja.com/pictures/venice/venice_taxi.jpg)."
"I'm sure that Valëka Public Transport would pay a fortune for them. It's built on a set of close islands seperated by small rivers, so these might com in handy. Genius, I say."
"Thank you...innovation from our colonialism lead to the founding of this city, the challenges were tough, but Port Royal is our most vital trade link with our colonies." Martin said as he stepped into the taxi.
"That sounds like Saar-Silverda, our port on the Pelagic Ocean. It is the link between Great Kirav and the rest of the Empire, just as Port Royal seems to be for your Commonwealth."
Blackfield stepped in as he spoke.
"To Ulstur Palace please," Natalie asked the driver, he nodded, and started the engine of the taxi...
"Interesting, I did not know that...well....come to think of it, the only person who knew your country so well was Roland. Unfortunately our two countries seem to not know enough of each other, but it seems that we can make that up now, can't we?" Martin asked.
"To Ulstur Palace please," Natalie asked the driver, he nodded, and started the engine of the taxi...
"Interesting, I did not know that...well....come to think of it, the only person who knew your country so well was Roland. Unfortunately our two countries seem to not know enough of each other, but it seems that we can make that up now, can't we?" Martin asked.
"Aye. And that we should. Can you tell me a bit about Zoingo's history? I fear I am probably equally uninformed."
"Arn't we all" Martin replied as the taxi picked up speed.
"Well...where do I begin? Our nation was colonized around the 1500's by several countires and was origionaly called Yelsven, this of course, caused alot of cultural diversity and a wide arrange of dialects that we still see today. As the decades went on however, the people of the colony of Yelsven were increasingly worried that there wouldn't be enough room to support an increasing population. This caused a mass movement to irrigate and dyke areas that were under sea level, which is about....hmm...I would say....20 to 30 percent of the country? Anyway, in the progress of doing so, a few notable cities emerged, like Port Royal, that were thriving with costal shipping and trade. And in the 1670's, a mass revolution swept the country, this caused thousands to perish, and left our newly formed country in much debt and destruction. But at the time, the newly formed republic was thriving, and our trading value grew as we found several agriculture products that suited our climate, as well as producing a few manufactured goods.
But the republic of Yelsvn had a weak central authority over its provinces, which resulted in individual provences seceeding and forming their own governments in 1732. These new 'countries' fought for control of the country, where the province of "Zoingo", won, and established The Kingdom of Zoingo in 1754.
From the start, the king faced numerous problems with the declining economics, the agricultural sector lagging behind, and trying to keep all of the provinces in line....it was a mess, but he got through it by exploting the greats factor of Zoingo.....its numerous deep water ports. He sponsored shipbuilding compaines, merchants, as well as funding colonial expeditions. As our trading network expanded, we started a more 'market to market' system, where we buy goods that countries make and sell them to countries that need those goods, and inturn take those countries goods and sell them to others. This lead to our merchant fleet reaching over 10,000 ships by the 1850's going in and out of Canalive City, our then trading capital, in a week or 2.
The citizens, however, were a tinderbox that was set on fire that caused mass confusion in 1854, 1862, 1899, and 1946, which saw the rise of another republic, a dictatorship, a monarchy, and a democracy respectfully. The recent form, the United States of Zoingo, saw development of cities increase, as well as the pushing of citizens eastward into the country. During this time, Canalive City lost its major trade status to Port Royal, but Canalive remained a center of finance, trade, and manufacturing. Then of course, the captial, to promote growth inland, was moved to Juvlii, and launched a huge movement of governernment to Juvlii.
Then, we reach a few years ago, when Roland took office as President of Zoingo, and the citizens, for a unsure reason, wanted the constitutional monarchy that they felt was greatly wanted. It was approved by the Congress, and the government retook another look at the family that was to inherit the 'throne', which was the Ragnald family that currently has King Alan Ragnald IV sitting at his desk. A little while later, the country was shocked to find that the King was pressing for a movement of the government from Juvlii to Amsteldam, which was closer back west along the coast, but he had good reason, this was the capital of the 'Province of Zoingo' centuries ago. Then, again the country was shocked to find that this little canal filled city beat out Port Royal in terms of goods traded. If you look around Emperor Blackfield, we are on a city, that sits on islands in a lagoon, on an island that is miles from the coast. Amsteldam had one thing that Port Royal didn't have.....a railroad network. Even though Amsteldam has to use canals to bring ships into its port from a few miles away, became the hub of international goods and Port Royal became the hub of colonial goods.
And that is all I can think of at the moment, I know, it seems like alot to take in right now. Might I suggest a map to make this less confusing?"
ooc: I need to pull up one of my older maps, this might take awhile.
"Ah, here is one!" Martin exclaimed as he pulled the map out of his briefcase.
He handed the map to Emperor Blackfield (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zoingoav6.gif)
OOC: I made a post here, but Jolt ate it.
IC:
"Interesting,"said Blackfield ashe surveyed the map, noting the locations of the cities, and remembering that he'd seen an island during the landing.
"That sounds a fair deal like our history. Kirav as colonised by the Coscivian Empire, as a collection of different coonies. When the metropolitan provinces of the Coscivian Empire faced invasions and internal strife, Emperor Eórus IX decided to ease the strain on his exchequer by appointing a group of influential clans to govern the colonies and see to their defences. However, they ruled opressively. When the Empire succumbed, the Repblicans, a social group somewhat equivalent to the Western 'middle-class', led a rebellion and esntated Republics and elective monarchies that were eventually united into a Confederacy. The Confederacy eventually became an Empire ad began expanding overseas as itdoes today."
ooc: I hate Jolt and them eating posts....might I suggest a defense of copying and pasteing? (it is not a spelling or grammer day for me....)
"Wow, our countires have so many differences from each other....yet, we are alike in very many ways."
"Indeed. We ought to work on developing those similarities for mutual benefit."