NationStates Jolt Archive

Roxanne Wright Memorial International Airport Gate 28; Tailville DR, Wagdog

This lone gate had seen many fateful moments for Stewardess of the Revolution Christine Friedrich, truth being told. Some of pain, such as the day she’d had to kill her former security chief Elaine Williams, the very woman who’d headed the hardline-communist coup attempt against Christine’s husband and then-General Secretary Charles Lind. Some of pleasure, such as the day five years after that she’d greeted friends from Vetaka and Animarnia both and found one of the loves of her life in now-President of the Fortress State Molly DeLéan. And now, now that she was taking Ambassador to Vetaka Lady Uthiria Tóriel Lathíriel nós Farlond’s suggestion to accept a small and downplayed state visit from the Kingdom of the Tagorian Mountains.

The sun was shining; indeed it was a stunning day, fit for a picnic in any of the capital city’s massive parks or a horseback ride or a flight in Christine’s own personal FA-15E Cardinal even. Hmm… I may want to do that later, Christine smirked to herself. But first, matters of business; Tagoria had discreetly approached the Wagdian diplomatic establishment via Vetakan channels and not having had contact with the Commonwealth, either positive or negative as yet, there was no particular reason not to entertain the idea. Supposedly Lady Tóriel even said one of the visitors, a Princess Seka Tagor so the reports claimed. Descendant of a warlord who’d fought his way to the top in that kingdom’s birth; of course, most back then did per simple necessity lest they be outfoxed by those who would.

I can still relate to that though… Christine might rule with her people’s consent now, elected to a life-term absent the National People’s Congress deciding to vote for a recall election (in which event Christine could vie with the other parties’ chosen candidates across a hectic campaign season to keep her office); or else alternately deciding to impeach her over some grave misdeed endangering the safety of the Commonwealth and its’ people (in which case she obviously couldn’t run again whether or not any further civil prosecution for the cause of impeachment occurred afterward; rather, Vice-Steward Charles Lind would rule again provisionally until an election could be held involving him or the other parties’ challengers could be conducted). But in the beginning, she had been a revolutionary; and no matter how salutary the goal behind it revolution remained at heart the most authoritarian course of action an actual or prospective leader could take so most would say.

In any event, Seka Tagor’s plane would be touching down soon. Christine sat down again after returning from the window overlooking the tarmac before Gate 28 and smoothed the skirt of her one-piece dress blouse and skirt combination; also trying to smooth the tricolor sash in the pattern of the Wagdian flag but doing so was harder than for the skirt while sitting obviously. She would likely be at this nervously, fidgeting despite the dignity of her office which she normally carried well, until the plane landed if things kept up as they seemed they would once she started…

It had been her father who arranged her visit to Wagdog in the hopes of enlightening her about the other nations of the world but Princess Seka seemed quite ardent in her desire to visit this nation whose government had been so gracious to host her in their midst. She sat in what could only be described as an elegantly regal dress while her father spent his time studiously reading over newspapers from Tagoria with a calm expression, his eyes not bothering to look at the people around him, his daughter not seeming to care what he was doing where he was. She looked out the window and wondered about what Wagdog was really like - she knew that diplomatic channels could often embellish nations whenever it was desired - and she hoped she wouldn't end up hating this nation. In another seat was Karan, the Foreign Minister of Tagoria, who had been looking over the reports he gathered on Wagdog with a calm look upon his own face - his attention fixated upon the info he had found about Christine Friedrich.

Seka didn't care much for politics although she knew it would be her destiny to end up ruling over the millions of Tagorians who looked to the Crown for guidance and authority as they had done for centuries. She was more in tune with the cultural pursuits of local aristocrats than the politics her father dealt with. Much like her mother, the Queen, who could care less about politics unless the nation's stability was threatened. She noticed, after a few minutes, that her father was talking to the Foreign Minister in the compartment of the plane he claimed for his personal use - she overheard them talking about their desire to make this meeting go well and, as well, her father's desire to get Seka fully enlightened about the host nation. Seka sighed. Her father always considered diplomatic trips like this to be nothing more than educational ventures for the heir to his throne. Seka wrote down some words in her journal and then noticed the call to prepare for the landing in five minutes. Karan, walking out of the room, turned his head to smile at Seka before he walked away with the calm look still upon him. She thought she had overheard him back in Tagoria mentioning how he'd miss his Motokatan wife - Seka hadn't seen her much since the wedding but found her to be lovely and someone she could trust if the need had arisen.

The jet smoothly landed along the runway without any mechanical problems to the satisfaction of the occupants. Seka stashed away her journal and grabbed her luggage which included her personal sword which she had often used at the Academy where she trained hour after hour to be as good as she can in the art of the sword. She was one of the females who took up this art often taken up by male warriors of the past and was pretty damn good at it according to her tutor who, himself, was a proud descendant of those warriors. Seka walked out of the plane after her father had with Karan trailing behind and she noticed Christine in the distance. She seemed dignified, Seka thought, but she could sense that her host was nervous. Seka didn't seem too concerned with this for, as soon as they had walked out, she heard her father speak in the usual tone he reserved for these occassions.

"Stewardess, I am glad that you were generous enough to allow us the pleasure of a visit. As you must already know by now through the usual method we leaders trust, I am the King of Tagoria, Marek the Sixth, and this is my daughter Princess Seka who, as I am sure you know, is the heir to my throne - also accompanying me is Foreign Minister Karan. He'll be handling anything related to diplomacy during this visit."

The Foreign Minister smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Stewardess, and I am hopeful we may open full relations between our nations. There's an embassy lot with your name on it back in my nation and, if you've got an ambassador, we can have it filled right away without delay."

Seka smiled at Christine but didn't speak to her nor greet her, assuming that the smile served the purpose of acknowledging at the very least that Seka was quite glad to be here in Wagdog, and so she stood there, without a sound, listening to her father speak. "Stewardess, I'm hopeful that this visit will be quite productive - perhaps my daughter may be able to see the sights and sounds of your lovely nation? It would be nice for her to be educated on these things."

It had been her father who arranged her visit to Wagdog in the hopes of enlightening her about the other nations of the world but Princess Seka seemed quite ardent in her desire to visit this nation whose government had been so gracious to host her in their midst. She sat in what could only be described as an elegantly regal dress while her father spent his time studiously reading over newspapers from Tagoria with a calm expression, his eyes not bothering to look at the people around him, his daughter not seeming to care what he was doing where he was. She looked out the window and wondered about what Wagdog was really like - she knew that diplomatic channels could often embellish nations whenever it was desired - and she hoped she wouldn't end up hating this nation. In another seat was Karan, the Foreign Minister of Tagoria, who had been looking over the reports he gathered on Wagdog with a calm look upon his own face - his attention fixated upon the info he had found about Christine Friedrich.

Seka didn't care much for politics although she knew it would be her destiny to end up ruling over the millions of Tagorians who looked to the Crown for guidance and authority as they had done for centuries. She was more in tune with the cultural pursuits of local aristocrats than the politics her father dealt with. Much like her mother, the Queen, who could care less about politics unless the nation's stability was threatened. She noticed, after a few minutes, that her father was talking to the Foreign Minister in the compartment of the plane he claimed for his personal use - she overheard them talking about their desire to make this meeting go well and, as well, her father's desire to get Seka fully enlightened about the host nation. Seka sighed. Her father always considered diplomatic trips like this to be nothing more than educational ventures for the heir to his throne. Seka wrote down some words in her journal and then noticed the call to prepare for the landing in five minutes. Karan, walking out of the room, turned his head to smile at Seka before he walked away with the calm look still upon him. She thought she had overheard him back in Tagoria mentioning how he'd miss his Motokatan wife - Seka hadn't seen her much since the wedding but found her to be lovely and someone she could trust if the need had arisen.

The jet smoothly landed along the runway without any mechanical problems to the satisfaction of the occupants. Seka stashed away her journal and grabbed her luggage which included her personal sword which she had often used at the Academy where she trained hour after hour to be as good as she can in the art of the sword. She was one of the females who took up this art often taken up by male warriors of the past and was pretty damn good at it according to her tutor who, himself, was a proud descendant of those warriors. Seka walked out of the plane after her father had with Karan trailing behind and she noticed Christine in the distance. She seemed dignified, Seka thought, but she could sense that her host was nervous. Seka didn't seem too concerned with this for, as soon as they had walked out, she heard her father speak in the usual tone he reserved for these occassions.

"Stewardess, I am glad that you were generous enough to allow us the pleasure of a visit. As you must already know by now through the usual method we leaders trust, I am the King of Tagoria, Marek the Sixth, and this is my daughter Princess Seka who, as I am sure you know, is the heir to my throne - also accompanying me is Foreign Minister Karan. He'll be handling anything related to diplomacy during this visit."

"Your Majesty, you and yours do us a great honor simply by coming here." Curtsying as was proper, something still remembered even from her days back in Prestonia as a teenaged debutante seemingly a lifetime ago however young Christine's face might yet look, she rose and continued with the proprieties. "My government and people will no doubt love to hear of your land and its' achievements; doubly so, especially, if we surprise them as my instructions this be kept low-key until the concluding festivities at the Palace of the Revolution where you all are the guests of honor."

The Foreign Minister smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Stewardess, and I am hopeful we may open full relations between our nations. There's an embassy lot with your name on it back in my nation and, if you've got an ambassador, we can have it filled right away without delay."

Seka smiled at Christine but didn't speak to her nor greet her, assuming that the smile served the purpose of acknowledging at the very least that Seka was quite glad to be here in Wagdog, and so she stood there, without a sound, listening to her father speak. "Stewardess, I'm hopeful that this visit will be quite productive - perhaps my daughter may be able to see the sights and sounds of your lovely nation? It would be nice for her to be educated on these things."

Towards Minister Karan, Christine picked up without hesitation. "I've instructed the State Department to work on that promptly, but it shouldn't be an issue at all. An embassy plot on Aurora Avenue can be found surely, although given the Commonwealth's expanding relations over the years we are close to running out and construction of a dedicated high-rise district for smaller plots is set to begin this summer. You could certainly move or wait if you wanted; your choice, though the high-rise accommodations will have stricter rules than the mansion lots on Aurora Avenue would I can say for sure, seeing as those would operate their reservations on a floor-by-floor basis per building in the embassy district as currently planned." Christine led them towards baggage claim as she said all these things, not wanting to delay too long after all.

She hadn't been ignoring Seka, however; Christine acknowledged her with a girlish wink normally reserved only for friends like Santina Verona-Barron and then turned towards His Majesty again as she had begun to lead on. "That was what I had in mind, your Majesty; Tailville DR alone has quite the history and will be the bulk of what I can show you unless you'd prefer another flight." She guessed that would not be the case; besides, Wagdog's capital was like most in that its' role arguably led to it becoming a reflection of the nation in-miniature in time. "Should I start us where it all began then: The former 'Mad Doctor' Jean-Baptiste-Thierry Thoreau's stronghold; where our Chimera were born from his dabblings in both prototype genetics, eugenics and the dark arts of old?" Adopting a Halloweenish tone of voice may have been odd of Christine; but she was the host, and she thought Seka might approve at any rate. So she led on, hoping that the priority attached to this flight would translate into a swift baggage pickup and thence off to the sights of the city-island in short order.

"Your Majesty, you and yours do us a great honor simply by coming here." Curtsying as was proper, something still remembered even from her days back in Prestonia as a teenaged debutante seemingly a lifetime ago however young Christine's face might yet look, she rose and continued with the proprieties. "My government and people will no doubt love to hear of your land and its' achievements; doubly so, especially, if we surprise them as my instructions this be kept low-key until the concluding festivities at the Palace of the Revolution where you all are the guests of honor."

Marek smiled. "It would be a pleasurable honor to see the sights and sounds of your nation and, indeed, it wouldn't be a problem at all to tell you about the Tagorian realm. As for being guests of honor, that is only to be expected given the station myself and my companions are in."


Towards Minister Karan, Christine picked up without hesitation. "I've instructed the State Department to work on that promptly, but it shouldn't be an issue at all. An embassy plot on Aurora Avenue can be found surely, although given the Commonwealth's expanding relations over the years we are close to running out and construction of a dedicated high-rise district for smaller plots is set to begin this summer. You could certainly move or wait if you wanted; your choice, though the high-rise accommodations will have stricter rules than the mansion lots on Aurora Avenue would I can say for sure, seeing as those would operate their reservations on a floor-by-floor basis per building in the embassy district as currently planned." Christine led them towards baggage claim as she said all these things, not wanting to delay too long after all.

Karan adjusted his collar and smiled. "It is a really pleasurable thing to hear that your nation has planned everything out without even the slightest hesitation. We'll be sending an ambassador over to you swiftly once we've found one to be suitable enough for the position. I am sure that we'll acquire a well kept and lovely building for our ambassador to reside in. Likewise, you can send your ambassador to Tagoria at your leisure - we've already prepared a lot for you. The rules aren't that strict but they're plainly emphasized to the point you'd really can't be ignorant of them. Anywho, shall we proceed?"


She hadn't been ignoring Seka, however; Christine acknowledged her with a girlish wink normally reserved only for friends like Santina Verona-Barron and then turned towards His Majesty again as she had begun to lead on. "That was what I had in mind, your Majesty; Tailville DR alone has quite the history and will be the bulk of what I can show you unless you'd prefer another flight." She guessed that would not be the case; besides, Wagdog's capital was like most in that its' role arguably led to it becoming a reflection of the nation in-miniature in time. "Should I start us where it all began then: The former 'Mad Doctor' Jean-Baptiste-Thierry Thoreau's stronghold; where our Chimera were born from his dabblings in both prototype genetics, eugenics and the dark arts of old?" Adopting a Halloweenish tone of voice may have been odd of Christine; but she was the host, and she thought Seka might approve at any rate. So she led on, hoping that the priority attached to this flight would translate into a swift baggage pickup and thence off to the sights of the city-island in short order.

Marek nodded his head. "We would certainly love to hear of the history of Tailville DR and of the works of Thoreau's experimentation in genetics and eugenics. Many nations around our world have had men experimeting in such fields and, indeed, the Tagorian realm is no exception. Perhaps you can tell us, Christine, of the origin of your nation's name and give us glimpses of your nation's ancient and medieval history....I'm sure you, as the leader, would know much about those things."

Former Thoreau Residence, Tailville DR

Now known as the Chimera Memorial Museum, this brooding plantation at the city-island's southernmost peninsula had once been a place of terror for both man and animal alike native to the island. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Thierry Thoreau, a Franco-Etoilean fugitive who'd already become infamous in the then-United States of Etoile Arcture for a series of grisly mutilations and murders (to say nothing of still more disappearances) linked to his peculiar brand of 'science' as he'd grown increasingly obsessed with practicing as the 1970s had approached and then come, had taken up residence here at the start of that decade under the 'protection' of the rogue Atrean colonial governor for the parts of the Eastern Star Sea under their control even weak as it was becoming: Wudda Tis'ata. In return for this, Dr. Thoreau only had to supply a place for dissidents or those aware of Governor Tis'ata's shadier dealings to "disappear" appropriately; the man could do with them what he wished otherwise. And indeed he had done; as later became known, mad experiments not seen the like of since the Middle Ages in most respects for their aiming not just to "perfect Man and Beast both within the apex of Monstrosity" but even to "render all the sublime Secrets of the firmament within the ken and control of the Mind; that of myself foremost and Man more generally," to quote the man's own diaries where not a tear of regret for just what he had so blithely done to countless victims in the name of his 'understanding' was so much as shaded onto a page.

"You can see here, friends..." Christine walked past photographs of victorious Eastern Star Popular Front rebels and the ex-Atrean soldiers who'd defected to join them that heady November 16th of 1974 and days following; most of the latter still in the uniforms they had previously tried to kill their newfound fellows' in scarcely prior. Dual-tone red armbands were about all the identification that could separate the newcomers from the few among their number that hadn't smartened up and decided to make for the better side in that fight; sometimes, not even that considering the shortages war always occasioned. "Photos of the aftermath of the Battle of Urrang; there the Atrean Eastern Star Fleet, its' associated marines, and most of the Imperial garrisons across the entire portions of what is today the Revolutionary Commonwealth not under Yaforite Dynasty rule at the time all defected to our side, once Governor Tis'ata ordered the decimation of the local populace for daring to ask our help to settle a problem the Governor had not only ignored but in fact abetted." Christine recognized a certain hazel-eyed, honey-blonde haired, wiry young woman prominently featured in several of the photographs often blown up to wall-sized displays now; and equally so the shaggy-bearded, paunchy but equally hard, bookish man with his arm around the woman's waist in at least one of them. Both with assault rifles propped against the ground butt-down, sword-bayonets fixed even though the shots were taken while at ease; many decades later and both Charles David Lind or Christine Lind Friedrich were quite recognizable even now after having grown somewhat fattened on the fruits of relative safety in power.

"That problem being the criminal, pathological excuses for 'science' that Dr. Thoreau foisted onto the people." They'd finally come to free the island that was now the capital some five days after the tide of war had turned, and they'd already found Governor Tis'ata lynched by some of his personal guard once they decided it was no longer 'profitable' to keep covering him. Doctor Thoreau on the other hand, Christine had been able to have the privilege of dealing with herself; one of the corner pictures conveniently showed her leading a hodgepoge assault squad of some fifteen assorted rebel or ex-Atrean fighters after having blown the gates to the plantation under cover from mountain-howitzer fire suppressing the mad sorcerer-scientist's guards. "The governor had made a simple arrangement with the Etoilean fugitive; 'dispose of' those who objected to first Atrean but increasingly simply his own rule in these islands, by whatever means Thoreau saw fit so long as they were both permanent and secret, and in return the governor would give the 'good doctor' both this estate and all the support he'd need to conduct his research into not merely prototype genetics but such long-discredited pseudosciences as eugenics or alchemy." Of course that overlooked one particularly-disturbing fact about Dr. Thoreau: whatever the common repute of what he chose to make his calling, he had still been surpassingly good at it even despite the dubious ethics involved at the best of times; where he even bothered with ethics at all which had never been much to start with.

"As you can see here..." Christine began to choke up at even one of the less-graphic pictures depicting a dead Chimera, or man-animal hybrid fused both by mutilation disguised as surgery and (to seal the fusion) the dark arts; fortunately this was one that had not been remotely viable and died even before the mansion had been overrun despite Doctor Thoreau's own notes indicating the fusion was completed not a day prior. "Despite his pretenses to science, as often as not Doctor Thoreau simply engaged in what I have to believe was mere sadism of the sort you see in boys that pull wings off of insects just because they can; whether or not they move onto worse in later years." She spared a moment's silence before moving on.

"Fortunately, in a large-enough minority of cases, not only were the victims able to survive if allowed to; and we allowed where we could of course so long as the victim in question wished." Far too many had needed to be put down as humanely as possible under the circumstances due to clear signs their mutations were terminal, and often asked as much right away on being found by the rebels or else did so when told how grave their condition was; the creatures usually so near to expiring already as made no difference even where not aggravated by the effects of the fighting or the Doctor's neglectful excuses for "care". "They expressed varying degrees of a desire to cheat the man who tortured them; to defy him, by living on despite what he'd done. Those whom were able to breed, were the parents of those relatively-few surviving chimera citizens of ours you may have seen already in the crowds; the... events, after the true extent of his tinkering with nature came back to harm these lands yet again, thankfully transforming in their wake the vast majority of those involved into werepersons able to blend in with the average citizenry most of the time and thus spared the obstacles frequently suffered by simple-chimera." No people were perfect, not even here; the issue of chimera-rights was still a frequent ball the Wagdian National Party tried to put into play with the seductive fallacy claiming they didn't wish to take any away so much as simply "not grant any further" lest "normal" human citizens be disadvantaged truly. Right...

It was becoming too much at that thought. This room, even as little as Christine felt she could show Seka and not anger her father (if she'd avoided that at all already), simply held memories so bittersweet where not outright-painful that the Stewardess of the Revolution felt enough of the past had been dug up in this regard; except perhaps one question she'd see if Seka had noticed. "Any questions; concerns, statements? I don't ask that you approve of any of this if you cannot, merely understand the decision we took after no small degree of thought; attempt to understand as a matter of dealing ethically with those still arguably people, at least in part, why we decided as we did once deliberation was done." The Eastern Star Popular Front had succeeded largely by defending the rights of the native colonial population, indeed the Atrean colonists too even, better than the so-called 'legitimate' authorities had by the time the sun set on the Atrean Empire here; and even as ideological as they were then they naturally saw no benefit in seeming to turn from that policy so soon after their greatest victory to that time. It would've been so cynical, save perhaps for the fact that Christine was telling the truth in saying many of Doctor Jean-Baptiste Thierry Thoreau's victims couldn't part with the basic survival instinct even considering what he had done to them; perhaps it still was so cynical even if one were so inclined to think. Christine could only hope for the young woman's imagination to overcome the horrors this part of Wagdog's history had embodied.

The Emperor of Tagoria had always been the sort of man who'd dismiss the existence of chimeras as merely material to be used in horror fiction but when he looked upon the pictures and diagrams shown to him by his female counterpart - it was as if he had been shown something disturbingly appealing and he did not seem disgusted by the whole idea of chimera rights although he probably wouldn't have supported them, coming from a nation in which only humans lived. Seka uttered something about the chimeras being a cool species of being but then went back to her silent stoicism. As the heir to the throne of the Empire of Tagoria, Seka had always been the girl who never really seemed to get overly emotional unless someone had been quite annoying such as the sons of nobles she'd hang out with back in Tagoria, the sons of men who valued their closeness to her father - who believed that they could play their cards right for influence.

They had no questions except for statements on how nice it was to learn more about Wagdog even if some of the information wasn't so pleasant. Tagorians had known of wicked men in their own histories, the sort of people you would expect to see burning in the flames of Hell and so on, in that fashion. Seka didn't seem to be horrified by the chimeras and the story behind them. That was something about Seka. She seemed to have a knack for holding herself back from acting like a damsel in distress. It was Emperor Marek who spoke first. "Miss Friedrich, I believe we are ready to move on from here and see more of your beloved nation. Perhaps we could see the places in which Wagdog's politics are conducted? That'd be good for Seka, being the heir to my throne and all."

Seka sighed. Sometimes she got tired of having the whole you're-going-to-be-Empress-of-Tagoria-some-day rhetoric hammered into her skull and wanted nothing more than to get away from it, but once again her father was trying to hammer it in again, once again, hammering it right into her skull. Yet she offered no resistance other than the rolling of her eyes without her father looking. What she really didn't want to see was a bunch of bureaucrats. If she wanted ministers of government, she could just go back to the Imperial Court in Tagoria and talk with her father's ministers. Goddamn, she thought, why does he always do this to me? Emperor Marek was smiling at Christine while waving his hands around. He was always an energetic man, whether it was on the political field, hanging out with friends, or in the throes of passion with the woman he loved. "Miss Friedrich, perhaps we may treat ourselves to some local cuisine as well? I am somewhat peckish and perhaps Seka is, as well."