| Welcome to the Supreme Union. We hope you enjoy your visit. We're a NationStates community with a focus on vibrant role play, democratic governance and thoughtful discussion. You are currently viewing this forum as a guest. If you would like to get involved in our community, become a citizen here. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features! |
| The Wretched Refuse of Your Teeming Shore; "Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me..." | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 22 2015, 01:11 AM (48 Views) | |
| Mastropa | Nov 22 2015, 01:11 AM Post #1 |
|
Zinovios Mesolongias, Epistatis
![]()
|
Looking out over the gleaming new construction in the heart of Hargeysa, Despoina Lykovrysi considered how this new face to a much older city reflected her own situation perfectly. It was not the first time, after all, that the woman formerly known as Klytaimnistra had been made to restyle herself for the sake of her office. Her long-ago promotion to colonel had been attended by a notice from her superior officers and the representatives of the Megaron that the name ‘Dimitra’ would no longer suit an officer of her high station. Over the succeeding years, as she continued to climb the military ladder, she grew more comfortable with the name she had chosen for herself, and had eventually learned to love it: It was the fullest representation of her new identity, not as a grunt in the field, but as a superior Achaian officer, at the sharp end of the military hierarchy. When she had been told a few weeks before that she would have to give up her name again, she had initially balked. But she couldn’t ignore the sense of transformation as she received her new office, ‘Despoina,’ and recognized that an officer who wielded the authority of the anax abroad required a name with equal resonance to reflect that responsibility. After some thought, she grudgingly agreed with the order, and contented herself with the knowledge that she would eventually learn to love her new identity for the same reasons that she had come to love her last one. All that said, the newly-dubbed Lykovrysi highly doubted that the anax whose power she represented had ever been faced with the concurrent difficulties currently besetting her Despotate of Thraki. The despoina turned her attention away from the newly-reconstructed skyline, and instead looked toward the lines of people, mainly men, being disgorged from the ships currently in dock at Hargeysa. This was only a waypoint for these prisoners from the Slavic Union, but Lykovrysi wondered how much damage they were capable of causing to the newly-rebuilt city, the capital of the new despotate for as long as the despoina resided there, during their brief stay. She couldn’t even guarantee to herself that these Bruvalks could be moved on to their final destinations on schedule, given the possibility of construction delays, the requirement of guards (who would have to be drawn away from other serious threats, such as the camps where the remnants of the native population, likely all related to Haram Bo-Kay, were now laboring under Achaian supervision), and the health and behavior of the Bruvalks themselves. If Lykovrysi had had her way, these prisoners would never have arrived in Hargeysa in the first place; she would have much preferred to see them delivered directly to their work places in Baydhabo and points south, where there was much less progress to report, and thus less of an opportunity for the Bruvalks to sabotage the Achaian occupation. Here in Hargeysa, with the infrastructure and municipal services finally up and running again, any successful sabotage would destroy the one complete success that Lykovrysi could claim since the end of the conquest. It was for that reason that she had tasked her people to greet the Bruvalks getting off the ships with a single message: “Any trouble from you will result in decimation.” And in case the Bruvalks weren’t familiar with ancient Esperian practices, signs were helpfully scattered throughout the dockyard area defining ‘decimation’ in various Slavic languages as well as Achaian, Loegrian, Eslanish, Izalithian-Decapitan, and Kensoan (just in case). It was perhaps slightly ridiculous, and the despoina had no intention of seeking out accurate translators for so many languages again after this, but she wanted to make absolutely sure that these prisoners (who were, after all, political agitators) realized that attacking the anakate in either word or deed would result in serious consequences not just for the culprit, but for all of his people. However, the despoina had already informed the soldiers under her command in Thraki that such a punishment would only pertain to the men. She had no intention of thinning the already-small female population in the despotate, regardless of their actions, and those who caused trouble could just as easily be cowed through prison terms and childbearing. Like every other Achaian leader, increasing the population (Achaian or otherwise, as long as it was productive) was the second-most-pressing concern Lykovrysi had. The first such concern was security, and the despoina had already ensured that, regardless of the women’s guaranteed survival, they would be no more capable of causing trouble in Thraki than any of the men. There were plenty of punishments that had no effect on childbearing, after all, and Lykovrysi was prepared to implement any or all of them at need. The lines of Bruvalks plodded along, and the ships began to empty of their undesirable cargo. No doubt their captains and crew were happy to see the back of the foreign prisoners, no less than Lykovrysi was unhappy to see them arrive, but given that the Megaron seemed perfectly willing to collect the dregs of society from the Slavic Union (of all places, the Achaians’ explicit rival, if not enemy), there was no guarantee that prisoners elsewhere might not also be transferred into Achaian hands as soon as news of their arrest reached the Megaron. These former passenger liners, mainly vessels purchased from Atalanti Cruises after the success of the Rusalian evacuation, had been refitted to hold prisoners instead of refugees as soon as Kamatero had decided on the present course of action, or so Lykovrysi had been told; it was evident that the Slavic Union’s troubles had been convenient for Kamatero’s existing plans, rather than being to blame for sparking them. As such, there was no doubt that these ships, and their irked crews, would be put to use again. The despoina could only hope that she was able to move these annoyances out of Hargeysa and on to their final destinations in Baydhabo or the brand-new Achaian fortifications along the Thrakian coast, especially the newly-begun works at Platamona, before any additional prisoners arrived from abroad. If she was forced to make Thraki a prison state, so be it, but Makaria would see to it even if Lykovrysi could not that Hargeysa at least was free of these newcomers’ troubles. Either that, or Anax Kamatero would be asked to run this place himself. Edited by Mastropa, Nov 22 2015, 02:45 AM.
|
![]() MAKARIA to the Achaian People: Be as Many as the Stars | |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · National Incidents · Next Topic » |







7:50 AM Jul 11