Finley and Heydar Get Together

[KrisNord]

To His Majesty King Heydar of Royal Seleucid

It has become clear over the last few months that despite your best efforts to secure the approval of a leading member of the Cult of Helus in regards to the Celtic Protectorate. We have however seen a change in the situation there which has been witnessed by several outside observers. With that in mind I believe it is neccessary for us to discuss the situation face to face and consider the route we take towards the 2026 deadline.

I hope you will accept my invitation for you or one of your representatives to come to Claith and meet face to face so that we may resolve these issues in a equitable manner.

Best Regards

King Finley of Ui Cenneslaig.

[DaveIronside]

To: King Finley

It would be an honour to visit your city of Claith. I believe this would mark the first occasion a King of Royal Seleucid has formally visited Ui Cenneslaig and I look forward to our talks and seeing your nation. I believe steps need to be taken now, despite the seemingly lengthy time frame for the ending of the Protectorate agreed upon by my father it is my hope that we can find a way to make this end smoothly or in a more prompt manner.

With Thanks

King Heydar of Royal Seleucid.

[KrisNord]

King Finley would normally have set up a meeting at one of his countryside estates however that was when he was confident that the other Head of State was someone he would enjoy the company of. With Heydar he wasn't sure if this was the case and so it would take place at the Palace in Claith. That didn't mean there wouldn't be the usual ceremonial welcome after all Heydar was a King of a sovereign nation and with that in place he would be welcomed like one. That meant that King Finley was stood chatting with the giant bearded Drum-Major who was waiting with his group of pipers to welcome the Seleucid trio. Finley was a little bemused that Heydar would be bringing both his wives but he wasn't one to judge people's religion so long as it didn't hurt anyone else. Having not waited too long the vision of a Seleucid aircraft came into view the band began warming up knowing they had a few minutes, bagpipes were inflated and drums given a quick tap or two. Everything was in order just in time for the aircrafts doors to open and with a downward wave of his arm the Drum-Major set the Cenneg band playing the national anthem of their guest. Finley waited for the King to reach him, extended a hand and introduced himself, "King Heydar, its good to welcome you to Ui Cenneslaig" he said rather formally, he next turned to Chryssa the first wife and bowed slightly before doing the same to Haniyah.

[DaveIronside]

A welcome from men wearing skirts, the thought made him laugh a little however he was aware this was some kind of development of centuries of tradition and so perhaps that should be respected. He knew Finley had a distinguished military career and had only given up the service to become King and so that was at least one thing that the two of them would have in common, although Heydar nearly laughed again as he suspected Finley hadn't murdered his own sibling to become the King but Hadi was weak and had to go. The unfamiliar sound of the bagpipes playing the national anthem was an interesting touch and Heydar was keen to get things underway. He gladly accepted the handshake from the King, "It's a beautiful welcome" Heydar said gratefully. "And may I present my two wonderful wives, Chryssa, and Haniyah. I fear they had a desire to explore your capital a little and do some shopping. A boost to your nations economy while they bankrupt me." He chuckled. "Since your most welcome approach I've had a few thoughts of things I would like to discuss once our main business has been got out of the way, as long as you have the time. One is a cultural idea I could do with your advice with and hopefully support. The other is a discussion about something your space agency discussed with Mundus a while back. I understand I have sprung these on you but if you are willing to discuss them, or can point me in the direction of your people who could I would be most grateful." The King requested hopefully.

[KrisNord]

Finley was rather surprised because he was certain that the Celtic Protectorate was all Heydar had wished to discuss. "I'm sure we can find some time once we finalise the talks that brought you here. As for your wives I'm sure my staff can find someone to accompany them so that they find everything they need." He motioned for his security staff to take care of the two women while he and Heydar headed towards a separate vehicle. Once inside they moved off exchanging chat chat about their nations while they headed through the hilly city of Claith, its old castle perched on top of the crags that overlooked the settlement. The Palace itself was more modern, built in the 18th Century close to what was then the city centre of Claith. Finley had seen the Palaces in Royal Seleucid and they were more flamboient that the squat grey stone that made up the Cliath Palace. Today it was surrounded by the HQ's of major Cenneg businesses and agencies however it did have a sterile entrance through which the King and his guest entered. Once inside Finley headed into the lounge he'd selected for the meeting and waited for the guest to make himself comfortable.

"We may as well get down to business." Finley began, " In regards to the Protectorate it is our opinion the conditions for the early withdrawal of the Protectorate have not been meet. You have been unable to get a representative of the Cultist community to say future genocide is unlikely. However it is evident that you have made great strides towards achieving that. As we stand I think it would be highly improper for us to move the 2026 deadline. What I would be interested in doing however is perhaps revisiting some of the conditions. For example at present we are the only ones allowed to patrol the Protectorate in terms of law and order. If we can reach some kind of agreement I would consider such measures as perhaps in certain areas permitting the Seleucid to begin their own policing. I suppose then with me saying that a withdrawal is at this point off the table the question remains do you wish to explore changes I suggested or would you prefer us looking at ways to perhaps get a Cultist onboard?"

[DaveIronside]

Heydar was slightly disappointed that it seemed that Finley had removed the prospect of freeing the Protectorate from Cenneg influence was off the table, he had hoped that perhaps Finley would have put froward some approach to get the Cultists on their side. "It was my hope that perhaps you would be able to suggest a Cult of Helus representative who would be willing to undertake a vist. I am extremely confident that given an oppurtunity to impress we could prove to you, and the world that the mistakes from the past have been dealt with and are something we should not have to worry about again." He believed that this would be something in the interest of Finley to say he couldn't do for various reasons and so Heydar would need to turn his attention to getting a better deal.

"We ourselves believe that at present the daily prescence of a foreign military upon our land is a difficult sight for us to cope with and actually I think long term will make our nation seem weaker. As such I am going to ask that you reduce your military prescence. I understand the need for boots on the ground as your men and women are undertaking police style activities there, however we have a naval fleet also in the region. There are currently 11 vessels there, I would like to see this reduced to 4 additionally you currently have 24 combat aircraft there. I would like to move this to be 24 aircraft of any kind. I would also like to reduce your soldiers from 8,000 to 6,000 with us appointing 2,000 new police-men to the province. How does this sound as a show of faith in what we have done so far?"

[KrisNord]

"The public image of the Seleucid nation is not our primary concern." Finley explained, "Many would argue the fact your military took to killing unarmed civilians makes them look rather weak, at least in terms of moral character. I'm willing to look at reducing our naval assets based in the Protectorate, a carrier, two destroyers, two frigates,two subs should be sufficent as a carrier task force if the need ever arises, I am willing to have them spend more time at sea though. This will give those looking at the ships in the area the impression that there are less vessels in the Protectorate. In terms of home port we would then need two coastal vessals, that would mean we'd have a total of nine ships. As for combat aircraft keeping a squadron is vital. Should problems arise it is these kind of aircraft that allow vital first response. I am however willing to permit a Seleucid Police Force in the area, let us start off by saying your may recruit 500 officers for this Protectorate Police Force and once they are trained the Cenneg Military Police in the region will conduct an assessment of them. Any deemed to have passed may patrol with Cenneg patrols. If that works then in 2021 we will look at a 2nd group of 500 and based on a positive appraisal of the first 500 would be permitted to patrol without Cenneg observation."

[DaveIronside]

Heydar was a little disappointed but this had been expected. "There is of course the issue with policing that we are seeing that your military patrols are not enforcing day to day Seleucid laws. That is of course something that should be happening. You have been entrusted with enforcing our laws so far as they do not discriminate against groups such as the Cultists. Things such as checking market stall licences, use of stoves in public bazaars and the like may not seem a big deal to a Cenneg Marine for example, but to the Seleucid people they are laws passed by their King for their well being. There should be one set of laws across Seleucid, not the majority following the King's laws while some are permitted to get away with things. If we are to have this joint police force then they must have the ultimate authority to conduct arrests. I can not have a Seleucid police officer in Seleucid attempting to enforce the King's law being halted by a foreign soldier."

[KrisNord]

"Well as far as I am concerned our soldiers have been doing a fantastic job of keeping law and order. Now if that means some of your less well known commercial laws are being missed I can only apologise. This is why we need perhaps a Police prescence where things are equal. This way we can ensure that nothing is missed. It would not be becoming to see one group over-ruling another. In terms of these commercial laws I suggest though that rather than having the Police force dealing with the problem we have a seperate task force, a Commercial Enforcement Agency, I'd be willing to allow it to be headed by a member of the Royal Seleucid government and it to be staffed largely with Seleucid staff. I would however insist on a Cenneg officer being involved in any prosecutions that come about through this. I want this because it allows us to see if any bias is being included in the prosecutions. This way you achieve two things, first you ensure that your laws that are giving you concerns are enforced and then second of all you get a visible prescence in the Protectorate while we maintain the agreement that was initially put in place. I believe this is a fair compromise."

[DaveIronside]

"Excellent so we shall establish a new Commercial Enforcement Agency who shall take a lead on enforcing laws relating to commerce and trade. Additionally our new police recruits will work alongside your military on an equal footing. I'm glad we've made some compromise." Heydar smiled, "Perhaps then we can discuss another issue. Meybad has a large airport which is used for international flights alongside Ipsus. Naturally you will have heard that we are intending to run for the hosts of the Mundus games alongside Tamora. That airport will then become very important. There has also been a well publicised failing in the security there where the former Prince of East Moreland, James Ironside, flew into the city and spent time there. I think with the games hopefully being on the horizon and the fact that even when quiet your military failed to stop this visit that we should have our own people checking those arriving. What is your view on this? I also hope that we can rely on your support for our bid, your Cenneg soldiers can perhaps be character witnesses for us, they could tell Mundus of how welcome they have been made to feel perhaps." Heydar chuckled as he asked the question.

[KrisNord]

"The whole James fiasco is a tough one. You know as well as I do that the occasional person will sneak through national border security. Especially one that has well established contacts with those on the wrong side of the law. The key is that during this time no security incidents have taken place and we've kept your border pretty well checked. Now if you want to have Seleucid officials checking passports and issuing visas then I can agree to that. However airports will still be under the control of Cenneg security forces. Our soldiers will patrol them, our air force will man the air traffic control and the various other issues that relate to security on a day to day basis will remain under our control."

As talks turned to the Mundus games this caused a slight problem for Finley. "We support the Morelander approach to slavery. We will not support games taking place in Tamora. We would however support them taking place in Royal Seleucid. I think you would therefore stand a much better chance in getting the games if you were to run for them alone but at the end of the day that's your decision to make. Should you put a good games bid together alone then I think I'd be inclined to vote in favour unless the rival bids are out of this world. With a joint Tamoran bid then I think we'd struggle to be able to vote in your favour. As for Cenneg soldiers being character witnesses I am their commander in chief in military matters. I don't tell them how to think, I don't give them their opinions. I expect them to follow orders and I will not order them to support your bid. If you find someone willing to then they may as a private citizen. I hope this is a suitable answer. Now unless you wish to discuss my views on why Hurling should be a Mundus Games events I'm not sure if there is anything else you wish to discuss."