The Commonwealth believe the War Criminals should be discussed as part of point 6.

Commonwealth's Delegation Shall be

King Piripi - Head of State
Taika Sevesi - Royal Envoy
Hori Pohatu Minister for Defence
Kuki Taumata Minister for Trade
Tungia Mita Minister of Justice

King Piripi has today confirmed that the ageing CNW Arawa will be replaced with a version of the East Moreland Drone Carrier. The ship is to be built in Hunter's Bay by shipwrights from the Waka Dockyards with a team of supervisers brought in from East Moreland. The deal will see a fee paid to East Moreland's designers for the vessel, and then should further copies be made for each new ship, as well as certain key pieces of equipment being purchased from the Morelanders. The nations Minister of Defence Loti Tarkawin explained, "The Arawa is I think the oldest aircraft carrier still in service in the world. Its a relic and we're struggling to keep the vessel and its air arm at sea. We believe we need the ability to keep an air prescence if needed and the Drone Carrier means we have that ability. Once we modernise some elements of our air force there is perhaps even a chance to operate fixed wing aircraft from the vessel." There have however been criticism of the move by some with Chief Wiremu Ngaio of the Ngāti Wai saying "Once upon a time our ancestors built the greatest canoes that Mundus has ever seen and sailed us to the northern shores of Ardia where we made our home. Today however we are giving the task of sorting out a boat to Morelanders one of the least navaly prolific nations on Mundus."

The King is due to go to the Dockyards tomorrow to oversee the ceremony of the "Laying of the Hull" a tradition undertaken whenever a Iwi construct a new canoe and a naval tradition brought in since the Commonwealth became independent. The King has also stated that he intends in the coming days to replace the air wing of the Arawa with a selection of "ultra-modern drones" and "fixed wing aircraft."

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Since the Commonwealth joined the CNN a larger number of foreigners have been moving to the nation for business and educational reasons and as such demand for permanent right to remain has increased. Currently to be able to claim Commonwealth citizenship a person must have at least one parent who is a member of a legally recognised Iwi or have resided in the Commonwealth for 3 years and be adopted into an Iwi. For many the hurdle of being adopted into an Iwi is highly difficult, especially for those of part Seleucid ancestory who remain part of a significant minority. The King today has announced that he will formally recognise an 11th Iwi which will have Crown Prince Kimo as its Chief. The 7 year old Prince however will not officially be able to take a seat at the Tribal Council until he reaches the age of 12 and until that time the King's cousin Tane Sevasi will act as Chieftan. The new Iwi shall be named Ngāti Tauhokohoko (Tribe of the Outsiders) and will automatically accept anyone who fulfils two criteria, the first being that they have resided legally in the nation for five years and the second that they pass an exam based on Maori Culture, Religion and Language. It is believed that this may create a pathway to citizenship for many in the Commonwealth denied so far,as a result of the new law several Seleucid descendents will now be eligable for claiming citizenship if they pass the exam.

The tribes Interim Chief, Tane Sevasi, believes the Iwi will remain very small. "I do not see many of the Seleucid descendents here either wishing to join or passing the exam. Should they then I am obliged to welcome them into my tribe with open arms and I shall treat them no different to any other member of an Iwi. I am proud to be the first to open the doors of the wharenui[1] of the Ngāti Tauhokohoko and will hold the reigns until Prince Kimo is old enough to do so himself.

1.	Meeting House of the Tribe, it's doors are traditionally shut on Matariki Eve and opened again on Matariki. They are never shut otherwise. When a tribe build a new one its a big occasion

It may have been a colder day in Northfort than back home in the Commonwealth but that wasn't about to step the monarch of the Unified Iwi and his wife from wearing their traditional attire. The giant King Piripi was wearing his military uniform, East Moreland were a nation that respected military traditions and the King suspected there would be a lot of them on display over the day and so didn't want to miss out. Unlike the others though it would be difficult to make out the various emblems and devices on the dark green jacket as he wore a traditional cloak wrapped tight around his shoulders the various feathers and furs creating a shape distorting fit. Queen Maata meanwhile was more in need of her own shorter cloak, she had opted to wear a green traditional dress that covered between knee and shoulders but with a reed skirt tied around her waist. She topped her outfit off with a red and black headband made from wooden beads. The Queen had got to known East Moreland rather well as of late having spent some time visiting various hospitals in East Moreland as part of her continuing involvement as a doctor back home in the Commonwealth and she'd spent six weeks working in Northfort Royal Infirmary patching up the Friday and Saturday night drunks. She'd found it at times rather incredible what they had to deal with as drinking back home wasn't that big of an issue as the Maori had no real history associated with booze. It did mean though she'd made several friends in East Moreland and some of them had asked if she could somehow get them into the ceremony and despite the Commonwealth being one short of the three seats permitted she hadn't offered the spare to anyone figuring it would seem rather impolite to bring a random health care professional to a royal wedding.

The pair saw quiet a crowd gathering on the steps of the Temple and so headed up to join them. Piripi extended a hand to Freya first as Maata greeted Rhiannon. The Queen knelt to be closer to Rhiannon's height. "I'm not sure if you are aware of our way of greeting each other in our country" Maata spoke softly, "We touch noses together and breath out, we believe it helps connect us together." Maata waited to see if Rhiannon would join her while Piripi and Freya touched foreheads. The King looked around to see who else was there already and seeing Finley crossed over and embraced him like a brother forehead to forehead. "Finley, its been far too long. We need to find a corner and see about this world cup, between us maybe see if we can hamstring a few Honeybadgers eh?" He chuckled before turning to Peter and shaking his hand while exhcanging what was known as the "Breath of Life."The Achkaerin nation had been adopted into an Iwi duirng a Matariki ceremony and so in the King's eyes that effectively made them family. He was about to hug Queen Klara then remembered her growing belly and so proceeded more gently. "I hope the little one is doing well" he asked her as he shook hands with Leopold. He mused for a moment considering how much simpler greetings were here than back home but also that a traditional Maori welcome was much more exciting.

Following the publication of East Moreland's review into its aircraft carrier use the Commonwealth of The Iwi is likely to follow suit by scrapping its single carrier. The CNW Arawa was constructed in the late 1940's by the Seleucid and was captured in 1982 by a group of Commonwealth Commandos during a raid on Matawahari Naval Base in the final few days of the occupation. The ship has since served in the Navy and has been used as part of several operations striking at the Seleucid in response to biological attacks. The government made the announcement through the King's military envoy Tama Roimata who said, "The Arawa is now close to 75 years old and is probably one of, if not the oldest aircraft carrier on Mundus. It's taken some hard hits during its life and is in need of some TLC.We'll talk with the Morelanders and the others in the CNN, after all we've heard Lodja talk about their own Navy in the past few days. Should we be able to find a viable alternative that helps our national security and our requirements then we shall proceed with removing it from service." Some have hinted that the King may ask for permission to licence the construction of a drone carrier utilised by the Morelanders while others believe that with East Moreland, Lodja and now the Iwi looking at changes of their navy then a joint CNN project could be undertaken.  Experts believe a drone carrier may be a preferred option as the Iwi navy remains relatively small and the flexibility of a ship that is part carrier, part destroyer and part amphibious warfare ship is appealing. Additionally the Navies aircraft carrier capable fighters are approaching 50 years old and are desperately in need of replacement and a automated option may be the best soloution. 

Queen Maata is to spend a month working in Royal Northfort Infirmary as part of a project to learn more about the work of the Global Childbirth Initiative. The Queen who still works two days a week in the Hunter's Bay Emergency Department has become concerned about the way in which death rates among rural Maori women have been increasing. The Queen hopes to spend her time working as a doctor in the hospitals emergency department as well as attending the clinics run by the Global Childbirth Initiative in the hospital. The Queen announced her decision saying, " One of the great things the liberation of the Commonwealth brought was an ability to go back to our traditions. Sadly some of those traditions have become dangerous. People are committed to having their children be born in traditional Maori lodges however these are often out in the countryside, in some cases hours away from medical centres. They rely on the traditional role of tribal elders managing the situation but often these women are untrained and lack any equipment."  The number of deaths in childbirth in the Commonwealth is around 70 per 100,000 as opposed to the 9 per 100,000 in East Moreland. The Queen said, "There is much we can clearly learn from Northfort and while some of the reasons for this disparity will be geographical or economical but we can still hopefully do some things to close this gap."

The Queen will be residing at Northfort Royal Palace during her visit and is expected to also meet with former Queen of East Moreland Matilda Osman. Miss Osman is the founder of the GCI and nearly died in childbirth herself.

The Commonwealth of the Unified Iwi are concerned that Ui Cenneslaig has seen fit to support a nation that has violated international law and attacked Maori vessels. While we appreciate that the Cenneg have treaty obligations to the Celtic Protectorate we have concerns about them providing intelligence to the Seleudic on our movements. We formally therefore request the CNN to place on the Cenneg an obligation to send no further support to the Seleucid.

Additionally as our nation are being targeted by OPEN for sanctions we wish the CNN to place sanctions upon Royal Seleucid.

Signed

King Piripi

OOC- Couldn't think of where else to put this but figured here is as good as any.

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OOC- Agreed with Dave

The Taha took off early in the morning, it headed first east across the Kyne towards Floodwater where it RV'd with a tanker aircraft. It next turned North utilising its drop tanks before overflying the Maori aircraft carrier Arawa where two fighters circled ready to donate fuel from their own tanks to fill up the Taha's drop tanks. It was then a final run in. With details of where the ship was parked being given out by the Seleucid themselves it had been very easy to get the ships co-ordinates. Some 550km outside Ipsus and staying low to the sea the crew knew they'd just about be beginning to show up on Seleucid radars, they imagined a Seleucid fighter scrambling to head their way but it would have little chance of catching them thanks to the Kh-59 carried slung under their aircraft. The co-pilot checked the co-ordinates and satisfied with his Triple check fired the missile. It would take around 30 minutes to reach its target and its sea skimming nature making it a nice surprise, hopefully the Seleucid would see this just as the Maori playing silly games, testing air defences until it was too late. King Piripi would rather lose a tanker and its cargo than give a single penny to the Seleucid. The pilot confirmed the missile was on course, pulled the nose south and hit the afterburners putting as much distance between them and any Seleucid fighter as possible, they retrace their journey, top up from the Arawa, then a tanker and home in time for tea and medals.

In Ipsus they didn't get thirty minutes notice, more like 5, counter measures fired from the a fighter sent up to try and distract the missile however the Kh-59 was more interested in a ship than anything in the air. With the heightened security of the Kyne becoming an issue most ships were out of dock so not even a nice burst of CWIS could stop it striking home and igniting the tanker into a huge fireball.

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A few days ago pirates from Royal Seleucid saw fit to steal a Commonwealth flagged gas tanker and hold it ransom. Like many nations across Mundus we do not negotiate with terrorists and as such have taken action to ensure that the pirate leader, Heydar Soter, does not profit from his ill gotten gains. As a result we have taken measures to ensure that the tanker is inoperable and as such have destroyed our own property.

The Maori approve the visa process but not the new addition of the use of the network for resolutions.

To:- Countess Melanie

I appreciate you contacting our nation regarding this matter. The Mokomokai represent a unique part of our nations heritage and culture and should never have left our soil. We are thrilled to welcome this objects home and would be honoured if we were permitted to retrieve the object for repatriation. If possible we would like to have an expert come ahead of any repatriation to view the Mokomokai to be able to identify the Iwi to which it is connected.

With deep thanks.

King Piripi

The King enjoyed flying over the Commonwealth, it was still largely an agricultural nation "Our land is still close to nature" he explained as the Empress commented on his nations beauty. "You see our faith teaches us Ranginui and Papatūānuku lay together as husband and wife sheltering their children. The children were keen to see what lay outside their parents embrace and so pushed the two apart. You see then we fly not over Mundus but over Papatūānuku who has given us everything we will ever need. Above us is Ranginui the Sky God keeping a watchful eye on us his children. As a result we perhaps have a kinship with the land very few nations will understand." Soon the green fields of the land gave way to the blue of the Kyne where thge Destroyer Okoki sat. "The Okoki was a around a thousnad years ago one of the canoes that carried Maori exploring Mundus. It was crewed by people of several Iwi's, one of the first failed attempts to try and unify all Maori into one nation."

As the aircraft circled the ship the it was clear the crew were all on deck, the metallic grey of the ship ringed with tiny white dots. As the aircraft began to touch down the flight deck was ringed with Marines in black dress uniforms minus their headwear.  As the wheels hit deck the door next to the King opened swiftly as the ships Captain greeted him. The pair exchanged a quick touch of noses before the King helped the Empress onto the deck as a Marine Sergeant did likewise for the Emperor and Minister. As the King motioned for people to follow, talking being kind of pointless, he began walking off the flight deck with the Marines parting to make a passage way. Each soldier had a stone club tucked into their belt where most other nations would have had a bayonet.

The King walked among his servicemen and stopped talking to a few people and touching noses as he made a turn into the ships structure. He waited for his guests and then turned immediately right into the Captains ward-room. It was small, capable of fitting maybe no more than eight people in around its wooden table designed for a life at sea with its deep cup holders. "Please be seated" the King motioned to his various seats around him. Once everyone was settled their was a knock and Kapono Ngatai the nations Foreign Minister entered followed by Tane Sevasi his trademark polished redwood cane in hand. Tane was the King's Royal Envoy and had visited a great many nations across Mundus making him perhaps the most travelled Maori in the government.

With everyone settled the King began, "Now your initial letter spoke of a wish to establish diplomatic, security and cultural relationships. I'd be interested in what you have in mind." He began not even bothering to formally introduced Tane or Kapono who were still opening notebooks and setting up their tablets as the King began to start the serious business.

It was almost with contempt that the young warrior swung the club in such a way as to tuck it under his armpit as he turned his back Emperor, a warrior only turned their back on the weak, women or children and the King closed his eyes half in disappointment and half to avoid the disparaging look of the warrior who made his way back. King Piripi could sense why the man had done what he had but the onlooking group would not view it that way. Already the crowd were beginning to disperse, after all showing your privates to someone in such a manner was a sign of contempt. Piripi walked over removing his cloak and placed it around the Emperor. "You need to stand up rather quickly. And for the love of Rangi keep the cloak wrapped around you." The King waited patiently for the man to get up before walking him not towards the terminal but towards his pants.

Once the Emperor had a chance to get dressed the King began heading further towards the airports outfield. "While your people may well see the gesture as noble you will find our citizens will view that as rather a mess. All is not lost though" Piripi said. "When we greet someone it is a challenge, a chance for them to display respect and strength. You showed one but not the other. Had this been a few hundred years back your Iwi would now forever be banned from our lands until such a time as the person giving the insult was dead. This presents me with a problem because all the witnesses will now have the impression of a naked man" he left out the fact the Emperor showing his privates would indicate contempt. His dealings with the CNN had shown him just how much his own nation was stuck in the past clinging to its culture and customs such as the greetings. Every minute piece of body language would be under scrutiny and even then every Iwi had their own way of reading the situation.

The fient buzz of a helicopter filled the air and soon it was touching down not far away from the King and Emperor. "You see we will have to not enter the village so to speak. In that regard we will be flying out to one of our Destroyers parked in Hunters Bay, I figure then I can fully say you never officially entered my Marae, or meeting hall. If that is acceptable." The King clambered into the helicopter his large frame making it that he had a lack of leg room, "Bring whoever you wish, we have three free seats" he gestured around the helicopter cabin.

The city of Hunters Bay is the capital of the Commonwealth and has an estimated population of around 1.5million people. It is built around a large natural bay as well as featuring several islands. The city is also home to the nations government and the royal families Palace. The city was occupied by the Seleucid up until 1994 and was the scene of rather heavy fighting up until 1997. As such the city doesn't feature the many high raise buildings you would associate with the various modern capitals of Mundus. The city does retain a rather green charm as being close to nature features significantly in Maori culture. The city today features two harbours both of which are used by both civilian and military traffic. West Harbour is the largest port in the nation and handles the majority of the nations merchant trade however it is expected the nations new super-port built just 10km East of the city.

The city sits in a region surrounded by extinct volcanoes which have created a variety of small lakes and craters. Many of these areas are now popular for hiking and camping and a handful have a religious significance to the Maori. The last eruption is thought to have taken place around 1,000 years ago.

The city is much like the rest of the Commonwealth in terms of its demographics in the sense that the city is very undiverse. 95% of the city are Maori, 3% of Seleucid descent and 2% from a variety of other places, largely in the Commonwealth as part of recent business dealings. In terms of religion around 80% of the population follow the traditional Maori faith, 10% are Christian, 3% Anahitaist and the rest follow a variety of other faiths. It is a sad reality that the Seleucid population face a high degree of racism and are among the poorest in society. Many of them are not full Selecuid and are in fact descendants of Seleucid soldiers who fratinised with the locals either forcibly or in some cases as a way of surviving the occupation in comfort. There are a large number of these Seleucid who are in fact orphans having had their father leave the nation and Mothers effectively abandoning the child because of its heritage. There is a higher than normal occurrence of birth defects in these Seleucid children thanks to the attempts by some mothers to terminate their pregnancy using herbal drugs which effectively poisoned the fetus.

The Iwi have no problem with this suggestion as we already have in place arrangements regarding visas as part of the CNN.

 Kauri Timoto lowered his tone to match Kurt. "The cloaks each person wears are a tale of their life, that of their Iwi and their own family. With the future King he will need to show all three and so the people he will one day lead give up part of themselves to form the cloak of the King, its a symbolic reminder that we support him and that he will literally have us behind him. Additionally it reminds him that he doesn't rule just for one Iwi but he rules for many. Probably by the end of the day his cloak will be rather heavier."

The scraps of the boat were now being gathered up by children and placed on fires that were burning under rocks foil wrapped chunks of meat, vegetables and potatoes were placed upon them and then earth pulled over the top. They'd spend the rest of the afternoon slowly cooking and steaming the food under the ground. If you looked carefully you could see whisps of white smoke against the green glass as a clue of the underground cooking that was being observed by those elder men and women of the tribe.

Kimo meanwhile just allowed people to get on with the business of adding things to his cloak as he spoke to various people until Sebastein approached. "There is no real allocated time for gifts" he began, "But thank you." he examined the fruit tree cutting, an interesting choice. "If it is OK with you I'll have it planted in one of the woodlands were the Ngāti Kahungunu dwell." He looked at his father nervously as though assessing whether the decision was correct, but his father stood rather stoic, after all a King made decisions, often it didn't matter what decision was made only that a direction was selected and the followers headed towards it.

"I'll put it somewhere safe" Queen Maata said as she carefully took the plant. "Thank you" she added as she took it inside the hut. It seemed that for now there was a pause in proceedings that was until a rather solid looking old Maori man appeared and spoke to Piripi. The King stood and without a word took his cloak off and handed it his wife. "Some formalities" Maata explained as Piripi lay down on his back on the veranda of the hut. The man who had appeared unwrapped the white linen bundle he was carrying and carefully placed it on the ground. "Our Tā moko (face tattoo) are important parts of our traditions" she explained. The man was merrily tapping away at a small ink tipped needle with a small wooden mallet, he odd grunt from Piripi as he did so. For an hour the guests had refreshments as people came to speak with Kimo who was forced to sit in the chair still having his cloak added too. At the end of the hour the tattooist wrapped up his equipment and helped the King up. His face had tiny trickles of blood down his chin and cheek where a series of swirling patterns now appeared. Maata handed him a piece of cloth to help dab at the blood.

"The pattern is one that represents a father of royalty." Piripi explained. "One day Kimo will have this to look forward to, if he has sons." The King had several of his friends come up and examine the work some teasing him playfully about the patterns or the grunting he'd made. The King seemed to take it in his stride and gave as good as he got. "Now I'm afraid its time for the actual coronation." He explained as a second chair was brought out and placed next to Kimo's. Piripi took a seat in it his wife stood next to him, people from the settlement came and sat on the grass but blankets were placed down for the visitors. Two crown bearers appeared and the first offered the crown to Piripi who placed it on his own head before standing. " The man to my left is my son Kimo. He is the rightful heir to the my land and titles, a line that goes unbroken all the way back to Rangi Umaga. In 1817 he did what many said could not be done and united all the Iwi's under one banner. It took us close to 200 years but eventually we won victory and now Kimo will become the first King of the Unified Iwi to be born a free-man." The crowd cheered, "Through my life I have had to fight to win our people's freedom but I pray my son never needs to fight, but he must know how to." Piripi removed from his hip the small stone club, the same one he'd used to execute the Seleucid war criminal. "A King must know how to defend his people." and Piripi handed the club to his son. "A King must also know how to provide for his people." Maata unveiled a thick spear about the height of a man but the shaft as thick as a mans wrist. "This hunting spear shall enable you to do that." Kimo sat with the club in his left hand and the spear his right. "Finally a King must have a symbol of his rank, so people may follow him." He picked the crown identical to his own up and placed it on his son's head, it nearly falling off because it was too big for the child. "I hereby name you King Kimo not of the Ngāpuhi but of the Iwi." Carefully Kimo stood the crown heavy on his head.

"I am King Kimo not of the Ngāpuhi but of the Iwi and I shall ensure the next King is also born a free-Maori." the crowd cheered the nervously said and heavily rehearsed line. And as he retook his seat people lined up to present gifts. Things broke formality very quickly as children rushed back to playing, men headed to uncover the cooking pits as women began dishing out thick waxy fern leaves as plates.

"Foods up" A voice yelled as some still waited for their moment with the new King. It seemed Tipene Tama had taken control of the food. "We have lamb, goat, chicken, fish, crab, prawn......for the weird ones we have vegetable fritters." He was holding up a lambs leg using a knife to carve off chunks of meat and place them down on the fern leaves. "Come on East Moreland Princesses." He yelled at Sophie and Lilian, "I hear you like BBQ, this is a real one." he waved towards himself with a knife. "Let our guests through, I'm not leaving them with the smallest fishes." Two of Tipene's men bustled through the crowd making a hole for them. "Come on before it gets cold. Children first" he eagerly called the Achakerin royal children forward.

King Piripi had drinks brought over, the Maori had no history of traditional alchoholic beverages and so everyone was passed one of a variety of fruit juices. As they sat outside the tattoo hut various other delegations arrived. First the Imperials of Neu Urburzis, the King was pleased that they'd remembered Kauri Timoti the youngest chief of any of the Iwi's. "Chief Kauri of the Ngāti Kahungunu will be along at some point" the King explained as he gave each of the new arrivals the traditional greeting and inviting them to come and take a seat. "It's tradition that each of the tribal chiefs declare their loyalty to the new King, they'll do it twice. First today when my son is crowned within my lifetime and the second time when he is crowned as the actual King."

"But that is many many years away" Maata squeezed her husbands arm.

"Hopefully" the King smiled as he spotted Lennox arriving. The two had never meet officially but he'd heard much of the man, a combat veteran like himself. He drew the man into the traditional nose rub and offered him a drink as he joined the rest of them. Seemingly with quiet a gathering already beginning the King allowed everyone to finish their drink before moving on. "We need to get you all dressed the part." The King said mysteriously as they stood and crossed to an open sided hut next to the main hut of the village. Under its low roof on the central table was a pile of fabrics, or at least thats what they resembled at first glance. Maata began picking them up and separating them. She quickly formed three neat piles. "The cloak symbolises status" Piripi began to explain, "We can't have you cloakless" he picked one up of the children's pile and held up against Sebastian judging the size of it. Unsatisfied he placed it back on the table and picked up the next one as with all the others it was two layers of material, the inner a corse brown twine woven material while the outer was decorative skins or feathers. One with a flash of green feathers among the black caught the King's eye and satisfied that it looked good he checked the size for Sebastian. Without much of a word he swung it around the boys shoulders and effortlessly tied the front together. The whole group were soon annointed with cloaks connected to their rank and once everything was in place headed for yet another hut, once inside the hall had been split down the middle with two ropes forming a walkway down the centre. Piripi lead the men to the left while Maata lead the women to the right.

"Your Majesty, we've a space here for our brothers" Kauri Timoti yelled above the throng of noise that was filling the hall. The King pointed the Neu Urburzis delegation towards the young chief who greeted those who were technically part of his Iwi and had some of his fellow members of the Ngāti Kahungunu shuffle around to make space on the reed matting they were all sat on. "Before we have any coronation there has to be a gathering of all the Iwi councils." Kauri motioned at everyone sat down, "Each Iwi has ten people here, their chief and anyone invited by the King from that Iwi." Each of the others had been sat with their own Iwi's and the little groups shared out snacks of dried smoked meat, fresh fruit and flatbreads as Piripi and Maata took their place on thrones at the end of the room. Each person was sat in their own cloak and while some tribes took the time to discuss their own business others joked and teased neighbours about such trivial matters as rugby results or recent marriages while each Iwi with a foreign guest explained the process.

The Achkaerin Emperor found himself sat on the opposite side of the room to the  Ngāti Paoa Chief, Maata Mere the 22 year old woman sat next to Serenity and called across to the Emperor. "I'm sorry I couldn't greet you personally" she had to partly yell above the echoing sound, "For Tepu (spiritual) reasons when in council the males and females sit seperatley." she explained. She turned to Serenity, "We'll each be expected to make a report on our tribe, just a quick formality, then the Prince should be ready for his crown."

Down the way with the Ngāti Rongomaiwahine had a similar problem as its Chief was sat on the opposite side of the hall to Sophie and Lilian but left it to his daughter Serak to explain to the Morelanders what was happening. As the groups chatted a conch shell was blown and the room fell silent and Piripi stood. "Welcome to the latest gathering of the tribal council. I am Piripi not of the Ngāpuhi but of the Iwi and I bring greetings of the ferns. Our Iwi stands at some 6million people and its Chief is in good health, his heir is Prince Kimo." With that the King sat down and the Chief of the next Iwi stood.

"I am Tama of the Ngāti Porou and I bring greetings from the Whales. Our Iwi stands at some 5million people and its Chief is in superb health" The tall muscular chief seemed to flex his muscles and pose slightly as he said it causing a ripple of laughter through the group. "His hier is Olana." He sat down and one by one all the Commonwealth's Iwi's gave their report, it was then Princess Lilian was given a nod by the Ngāti Rongomaiwahine members and stood (OOC- Dave allowed me to write this so its clear how things are done).

"I am Lilian of the Morelanders and the Ngāti Rongomaiwahine. I bring greetings of the Honey Badgers. Our Iwi stands at some 100million people and our Chief is in fine health, his heir is Princess Rhiannon." she breathed a sigh of relief and retook her seat. Soon the others gave their reports and then Piripi stood.

"I am delighted the Iwi's have gathered and that our guests are here. With the Commonwealth and its friends accounted for I believe now is the time to appoint our new King." The King stood along with the Chiefs who motioned for their guests to follow them and the group headed outside. Each person was handed a small stone carved axe and then the group proceeded towards the hut in which Kimo was preparing.

Piripi was joined by Tama of the  Ngāti Porou and Kauri Timot.

"Ko wai hei rangatira!" Piripi yelled towards the hut his axe levelled. "Ko wai hei rangatira" he repeated. He waited and a third time yelled "Ko wai hei rangatira" A small nervous looking figure in a cloak much to big for him appeared on the porch of the house. In perfect harmony the three men, Piripi, Tama and Kauri began to yell in unison.

"Ko wai hei rangatira
Kaore ia e oma
Ko tenei whenua
a ko ia te whenua

whakaputaina tana waka
kua oti tana haere
ka mate te whenua
kaore ia e mawhiti

Kua karangatia koe
arahina te tangata maori
te rongo i raro i te kapua
kua mutu te waa[1]
As soon as the song was over a group of around twenty men carried out a canoe and placed it between the Prince and his father. Piripi looked at the boat and at his son, "Canoe or crown?" he posed the question.

"Crown" Kimo said nervously.

Piripi turned to the Chiefs and the foreign guests all holding their stone axes. "Destroy" he said with a smile and as a cheer went up he, Kauri and Tama rushed to the canoe and began hacking at it with the axes. The others rushed forward and joined them dragging the guests with them urging them to set about the canoe. As they hacked and slashed at the boat a roar of high pitching screaming came from around them as children, including Princesses Astrid, Aeolia and Lamia surged forward grabbing up bundles of the chopped wood and scurrying back towards freshly dug pits about thirty meters away. As they dropped one batch the group sprinted back still screaming and cheering. Piripi was enjoying himself as he destroyed the beautifully made boat, "The children scream to frighten the evil spirits so we have an auspicious day" he laughed, "They terrify me yet alone the spirits" those around him laughed and they hacked off more of the boat and threw it behind them. Soon the boat was reduced to kindling and by the time they'd finished smoke was raising from the pits as the wood had been ignited. Now stones were being put on top and soon leaf wrapped food would be placed on the hot stones and buried ready for the evenings feast. Slightly out of breath Piripi had one of his men collect the axes and then grabbed his son walking with an arm around him towards the large central hut. "Soon we shall crown him, but first I think we need to get our breath back and have a drink" As they reached the doorway people began taking pot mugs of water and juice as they milled around. Many came up to Kimo exchanging the breath of life with him before adding to his cloak a single thread in different colours soon he would be crowned but for the last few minutes he was free to enjoy the day.

1.	Who shall be chief He shall not run He is the land and the land is him Bring forth his canoe He shall not leave Should this land die He will not escape You have been called lead the Maori the days under the cloud this time shall be over.