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Achaian-Median Relations; Achaian Peleponnese Makes a Friend.
Topic Started: Apr 3 2014, 11:58 PM (300 Views)
Medai
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Achaian Peleponnese
You have been invited to Medapolis, Medai, to discuss relations.

Jacob Freeland
President
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Mastropa
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Zinovios Mesolongias, Epistatis

Minister of the Exterior Peiraias considered the letter in his hands for a moment, before turning back to the map on the wall. "Medai," he murmured as he gazed at it. "What do we know about you?"

The answer to that was, sadly, not much. The Office of Observation and Communication had been working at all hours trying to catalogue the information coming in from the observers sent abroad, ever since Anax Kerameikos had ordered the founding of the office under the Exterior Ministry's purview. The world had changed since the victorious but traumatized Achaian people had withdrawn from the world's affairs, and the anax knew that his gamble to return Achaian Peloponnese to the world stage would only bring a profit if his government had accurate information. Unfortunately, a completely new office had been required to collect and organize that information, and at the moment the office in question was still trying to work out its own start-up issues while still fulfilling its mandate to the anax's satisfaction. The office's problems were only exacerbated when Peiraias considered how much of the office's attention had to fall solely and without cease on the territory between Verskana and the sea. Victorium was once, and might still have been, the center of the world, but as with all things, the edges pull apart, while the center cannot hold.

Peiraias had already ordered the Office of Observation and Communication to suggest suitable nations who might be willing to discuss relations with Achaian Peloponnese, if only to create a group of diplomatic allies that would be able to prevent the likely consequences of Victorium's current tension from expanding beyond Victorium's shores. Thus far, the office had been unable to supply any hard information on any of the initially-considered nations. As if in their place, however, a new invitation had come from an unexpected quarter: Medai.

Information on Medai was sparse at best. What few intercepted messages and announcements that the Office of Observation and Communication could provide suggested that Medai had friendly relations with practically every nation on the map; Peiraias had initially discounted Medai as a possible member of this hypothetical "group of diplomatic allies" mainly for that reason. But it also meant that Medai was likely to view Achaian Peloponnese in no less friendly a light than it had all of these other nations. Moreover, Peiraias considered how diplomatic Medai must be in order to avoid serious conflicts around the globe. Such a nation might look well upon a diplomatically-inclined organization with an aim of keeping chaos from spreading to the rest of the world.

Peiraias shrugged to himself. It was not as though he would refuse an invitation for talks about a general relationship, anyway; there was no reason to purposely upset Achaian Peloponnese's neighbors when the nation's greatest desire was to avoid impossible wars, especially when every war Peiraias could imagine in this world could be considered "impossible" from Achaian Peloponnese's point of view. Medai was far away, perhaps, but that did not make it any wiser to offend it, or ignore any offer of friendship or help.

With all of that in mind, Peiraias picked up his pen and dashed off some orders to be handed to his chosen ambassador, before reaching for a fresh sheet of stationery.

To President Freeland of Medai:
On behalf of Achaian Peloponnese and our anax, Kerameikos, I gratefully accept your invitation to discuss relations in Medapolis. Bearing this letter is Kifisia, Basileus of the Office of International Political Outreach; she speaks with my voice, as I speak for the anax. I personally vouch for her forthright nature.

We of the government of Achaian Peloponnese look forward to these upcoming discussions.

Minister Peiraias
Ministry of the Exterior
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Medai
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President Freeland was waiting at the airport for the plane when it landed. It was early in the morning, only 7:00 a.m. Nevertheless, he was wide awake: he couldn't afford to not be when it came to friendships. As the ambassador got off, President Freeland walked towards him/her.

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Mastropa
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Basileus Kifisia stepped out of the plane and onto the tarmac, looking around curiously at her surroundings. Medai, she decided, was a very nice place to visit; however, considering how warm it was already at 7:00 AM—to say nothing of the considerable humidity—the basileus was not entirely sure that she would want to live in this place all day, every day, especially as the year moved on toward summer. But then, Kifisia was used to a much drier climate, and she could only guess that those who had lived in this place all their lives would have no reason to complain about it. Considering the beauty of the country as she had seen it from the windows of her diplomatic jet, Kifisia could imagine much worse places to live than Medai.

The basileus smiled as she saw a man approach. “President Freeland?” she asked, holding out her hand. “I am Basileus Kifisia, from the Office of International Political Outreach. It is a pleasure to meet with you today.”
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Medai
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"I'm President Freeland," he said, shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet you too." He turned, then said, "Follow me." He walked through the building until he reached a room. The door was closed so he knocked.

"Yes?" came a reply, which sounded like that of the Foreign Affairs Secretary.

"Oh, are the negotiations being held in here?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, sorry," said the President. He went down to the next room and walked in. "Please be seated," he said to the woman.
Edited by Medai, Apr 9 2014, 01:05 PM.
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Mastropa
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Basileus Kifisia smiled at President Freeland as she took the nearest empty chair. “Thank you,” she said. “And thank you again for inviting me to represent Achaian Peloponnese in Medai.” She motioned with her head back to the hallway. “Considering how busy your negotiators appear to be at the moment, I certainly appreciate that you are going out of your way to meet with me today. I’m not interrupting anything important, am I?”

Kifisia also appreciated how the small exchange outside provided an insight into the importance that Medai’s government placed on first-contact negotiations. She was under no illusions about how unimportant Achaian Peloponnese must have appeared to the Medians: small, distant, and without anything important to offer. Meanwhile, Medai had a behemoth for a neighbor and was actively engaged with negotiations with other nations, any one of which likely surpassed Achaian Peloponnese in geopolitical importance from Medai’s standpoint. Nonetheless, not only was Medai’s invitation for negotiations signed by the president of Medai, but here was the man himself to welcome the Achaians’ first tentative ambassador. Kifisia was pleased that her nation was being taken so seriously; nonetheless, she had to wonder if this was a one-time-only situation, not to be repeated after President Freeland made an evaluation of Achaian Peloponnese’s usefulness. Hopefully the president’s answer to her ‘innocent’ query would give her a better sense of his motives, but Kifisia rather doubted that he would let any sensitive information slip out simply because she was being polite.

At the very least, she could now confidently corroborate the Office of Observation of Communication’s assertion that Medai’s diplomats had a lot of practice to fall back on. Kifisia could only hope that her own inexperience would not put her, and Achaian Peloponnese as a whole, at a complete disadvantage here.
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Medai
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The President replied, "As far as the business is concerned, it's because of Victorium's political drama, we decided to re-evaluate our diplomatic situation. So we're cramming in a bunch of diplomacy right now. And no, your not interrupting anything."

"Shall we start?"
Edited by Medai, Apr 12 2014, 10:57 PM.
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Mastropa
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‘Once again,’ Kifisia thought, ‘it all comes back to Victorium.’ Understandably vague or not, President Freeland’s answer had absolutely confirmed that Medai was not too distant from Victorium’s political troubles to ignore them. Kifisia knew now that any position she took on behalf of Achaian Peloponnese relating to Victorium would receive Medai’s attention, regardless of whether or not Medai actually agreed with that position.

It also meant, of course, that Medai was possibly vulnerable to the political upheaval going on overseas. Nonetheless, there was at least a chance that the Medians were negotiating in the hopes of escaping the mess completely before it dragged them under, and they might very well appreciate a neutral friend in the meantime. Kifisia considered her superiors’ position for a moment before mentally shrugging. She was not a subtle person, nor was Achaian Peloponnese a subtle nation, and the anax had no reason to make a secret about his desire to remain free of Victorium’s currently-unstable influence. There was no harm, Kifisia decided, in asking President Freeland if he felt the same way.

That was for later, however. Kifisia was the guest, after all. “Certainly,” she answered President Freeland. “I’m all ears.”
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Medai
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"I guess economics would be a place to start. I understand that economic prosperity is a priority in your nation?"

There then came a knock from the hallway.

"What is it?" said the President.

"I have something important to bother you with," said and unknown voice.

"Hang on," the President said to the ambassador. He then walked outside, and came back in a minute later. "Sorry about that."
Edited by Medai, Apr 12 2014, 11:30 PM.
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Mastropa
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Basileus Kifisia smiled warmly and kept her internal analysis off of her expression; clearly there were matters of importance afoot, but while she could guess all she wanted about this latest nationally-important matter, she had no intention of pressing her luck by asking outright. “No problem at all,” the basileus assured the president. “And you are absolutely right: Anax Kerameikos has made Achaian Peloponnese’s economic standing one of his foremost priorities. I am pleased to say that our economy has never been better, but there is a great deal of room for additional growth.”

‘Which is a nice way of saying that we have no foreign trading partners, the military is our primary employer, and all of our economic prosperity depends on mining bringing additional wealth into the system at no cost to ourselves,’ Kifisia thought to herself.

“In particular,” the basileus continued, “we are currently sitting on a surplus of several commodities that we would be more than happy to offer to any prospective trading partner. Achaian Peloponnese has been blessed with various natural resources, specifically mined resources: coal especially, but also precious stones and basic metals. Our products have served us well as the basis for strong energy and manufacturing sectors; our strong economy is a testament to their quality.” This was not strictly true in the case of the energy sector, as most of Achaian Peloponnese’s power system was fueled by hydropower rather than coal, but the various military facilities that used coal rather than hook up to the public power grid for reasons of secrecy never complained about the quality, nor had any Achaian steamship ever had a problem with Peloponnesian coal. Kifisia was confident that there was no quality issue there.
Edited by Mastropa, Apr 13 2014, 04:23 AM.
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"Unfortunately, we have not been blessed with such a variety of resources. Therefore, I'm sure our arms manufacturing sector would love access to your raw materials."
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Mastropa
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Basileus Kifisia nodded. “Achaian Peloponnese would be more than happy to oblige,” she assured the president. “Our own military has benefited greatly from our nation’s mined products. We take pride in not being completely reliant on other nations for our national defense.”

The basileus shrugged. “Of course, there are several things that we’re simply not capable of fashioning on our own, militarily or otherwise. Advances in technology have always been a sticking point, unfortunately. Achaian Peloponnese is full of bright minds, but without any impetus or inspiration to improve the world around them, these people often come to accept the status quo without questioning it. Only since rejoining the rest of the world have we come to realize the great leaps that Noverra has taken without us. We would be grateful for any assistance in technology or technical training that Medai can provide.”
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"I can't force my industries to do anything, but I think they'd like to work something out. They really like raw materials. Anyway, because I can't force them to do anything, it would probably be more of my companies meeting with your companies to work something out, as opposed to the governments of our nations." He pauses, then says, "That was a bunch of nonsense, but anyway..."

"I also understand that national security is something you are after?"
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Mastropa
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Kifisia nodded with a smile. “Achaian Peloponnese has been interested in national security since its founding,” she said. “Our approach to ensuring that security is, of course, changing, due to our new interest in international affairs. Nonetheless, we remain extremely interested in the protection of our citizens and our national stability. Anax Kerameikos firmly believes that this kind of protection will come most assuredly with increased international cooperation.”

The basileus motioned toward President Freeland. “As you know, the situation in Noverra is not exactly stable. This constant tension between rival ideologies, especially with the recent regime changes in Victorium, is literally frightening our military officials. Our citizens have been taught from a very young age to defend the homeland in every way should the need arise; however, our government does not seriously believe that our small citizenry will be any serious threat against any outside force that is determined to make the Achaians into their slaves. Our distance from Victorium, and the distractions posed by other nations”—‘such as your own,’ Kifisia thought to herself, ‘not to mention that rather large neighbor you have’—“will possibly save Achaian Peloponnese from any direct confrontation in the immediate outbreak of any war. But we cannot believe that we will simply be left alone if any such conflict lasts longer than an instant. And none of this even takes into account the possibility of infiltration from outside forces interested in effecting regime change from within…”

Kifisia’s expression became a touch more pleading; she really hoped at this point that she was not overdoing it. “Achaian Peloponnese would certainly appreciate the cooperation of Medai in this regard. I assure you,” she said quickly, “that our anax does not expect Medai to leap to our defense at the slightest provocation. Rather, we hope to find mutually beneficial means of cooperation in both the military and diplomatic spheres. More than anything else, Anax Kerameikos desires that Achaian Peloponnese will learn to survive these troubled times by the example of more-experienced nations such as your own. We would absolutely welcome any ideas you might have for cooperation in this regard, just as we hope that you will hear the proposals drawn up by our own government offices.”
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Medai
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"Yes, the political situation in Victorium is quite hectic," said the President. "We have found that the best way to handle it is not to get involved. However, should a war occur, it would be Communism versus Fascism. That would make it Dawinia, Austiana and Meluha versus Verskana, New Vasconia and Saros. Gilead would probably go in favor of Fascism, and Lengantus would probably fight everyone. The resulting war will basically result in a stalemate. As such, each side will start incorporating other nations into them in attempt to slowly out-flank the other.

"Because of this, we believe the best way to protect ourselves is to create an alliance that is so large and contains so many nations no one will attack it. What do you think?"
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