There had been a significant stirring in the international community by the prospect of this meeting, especially from the Rosari faith. It amused Imam Mansur Karimi that someone like a Grand Maester would even suggest that it was possible for a faith like Islam, rather conservative in its outlook, to be able to be worshiped while also worshipping the vast number of deities that faith had as false idols. The most recent interview where they had seen this conference as a threat in some manner did confuse him. No one had threatened the Rosari, or any other faith, merely pointing out that there were differences in opinions on many key issues, something even a blind man could see.

The Emir had handled the logistics of the day. The Mosque of the Emirs had been selected for the venue initially as it had ample room for setting up and hosting conferences. That had however brought its only complexities, what if one of those attending did not wish to enter a mosque, or worse would enter but would not follow the rituals of doing so. To avoid that the Emir had selected the plaza of the mosque, a large sideless tent had been erected and for today worshippers would be arriving via the North entrance only, not the majestic southern one with the marble plaza.

Prince Talaat Muhsin, the Emir's younger brother had been dispatched to help guide the various dignitaries the short distance from the airfield to the mosque and several of the Emir's fleet of vehicles had been assigned the duty of ferrying them to the Mosque. Emir Sulaiman waited patiently dressed in white robes topped with a red keffiyeh. If it hadn't been for the exotic wrist watch and gold pin holding the Keffiyeh's tie together you would have been hard pressed to pick him out from other worshippers. "As-Salaam-Alaikum" he greeted each delegate with a two handed shake and a slight bow. "We are so grateful that you have come to join us today. Please let me introduce my friend and my esteemed guide in our faith,  Imam Mansur Karimi."

Mansur was a rather young man to be such a respected Imam, at just 38 years of age his style of at times bombastic messaging had appealed to many young people across the nation and his willingness to mobilise his listeners into social action earned him respect. Older Muslims found his defence of conservative values reassuring and so Mansur had found himself becoming a leading member of the nations clergy. "I am just blessed to have people willing to listen to Allah within earshot of me." He too greeted everyone.

"Now if we can all take a seat." The Emir waited for everyone to get settled before addressing everyone, not from the head of a long rectangular table, he'd purposely put no one at the ends, but by wandering around the edges, he always found himself more at ease speaking while on the move. "I called this conference because I have several concerns. So many nations of the more established world order put faith in international agreements as "International Law", however none of us around this table attended, nor did any of our nations. At least as far as I know. We therefore are often seeing a case of these agreements being utilised to put nations under economic pressure or trade restrictions or a host of other actions. Liberalisation of the world seems to be required to open some trade doors, but I don't see why. Look at the histories of our faiths, Jews, Christians, then Muslims, each of us have tales in our faiths connected to trade." The Emir stopped and looked at Patriarch Alexy, "Genesis of the bible states "Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.” it is clear then that it is possible to trade and hold our values given to us by God. Now the head of the Rosari faith would have us believe that it is possible to be Muslim while also serving their Goddess, that you can worship a God of Justice when we all know that it is God who is the arbiter of justice. Our own Quran states ""O People of the Book! Come to what is common between us and you: That we worship none but God, that we associate no partners with Him, that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords other than Allah. " It is clear Allah is not permitting a combination faith. We see the Rosari faith, and to some extent the Bene Gesserit attempting to guide our faithful to misinformation. I am though inclined to welcome the words of one not from within our faith, "A man who chases two rabbits catches neither" Miss Maddix is indeed correct. I myself will take no action against someone chasing the wrong rabbit, I will respect their attempts so long as they do not interefre with my own faith and that of others, nor use their faiths liberalisation to be vindictive against other peoples, there can and should be no compulsion in faith. It is clear though we must battle this misinformation the same way the Cult of Helus is and send a clear message that while we respect people's right to follow a faith they can not pick and choose as from a menu, it is all or nothing. This is enough though about differences, we are here to celebrate and build upon are similarities. Each of us here in some way gives respect to Abraham, we all recognise Adam and Eve as the originators of mankind. I am therefore happy to call you all my brothers and sisters for whether we attend Synagogue, Temple, Church or Mosque we all have the same ancestor. What I intend to do here today is two fold. One was my original plan. I believe that we should recognise as a group of connected faiths some fundemental rights our people's should have protected. These rights are given to us by God and not by some man made documents, while our faiths differ in some ways we can find common ground. The second is perhaps a better place to start following the recent issues with the Rosari faith. That of helping guide our faithful in nations they are a minority. With that in mind I wish to begin a newspaper. I will fund it for the first year as a trial. I'm thinking we should call it "The One Word" and allow contributions from journalists and scholars of faith in our nations. Naturally at times our journalists may differ on their views but this can be healthy as it shall promote debate about faith and this can help our people educate themselves. It can also be made digital so that for example a Jew living in Rokkenjima can see what a real Rabbi uncorrupted by a view that a Rosari-Jewish hybrid can exist. I though may have already spoken to much. I am here merely to ensure you have enough tea and cake." He stopped wandering and took a seat, interestingly behind the Imam and handed proceedings over to the scholar.

"Thank you Your Majesty." Mansur said as he leaned forward to begin speaking. "I believe before discussing matters so significant as these it best to seek spiritual guidance, I intend to offer a quick prayer and I hope you too will feel free to do so. O Allah, I seek Your counsel through Your knowledge and I seek Your assistance through Your might and I ask You from Your immense favour, for verily You alone decree our fate while I do not, and You know while I do not, and You alone possess all knowledge of the Unseen. O Allah, if You know this matter of working with our spiritual cousins to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life and livelihood and the end of my affairs, my present and future, then decree it for me and facilitate it for me, and then place blessing for me within it, and if You know this affair to be harmful for me concerning my religion, my life and livelihood and the end of my affairs, then remove it from me and remove me from it, and decree for me what is good, wherever it may be, and make me content with it." He opened his eyes as he finished, "I look forward to you praising God in your own way and your views on what the Emir has to say."

16 Shaʻban 1443 AH


Imam Mansur Karimi has responded to criticism of the Emir following a spat that began on Twitter about women's rights. "The leader of the Rosari faith is it seems a well read lady in terms of the Quran. She is correct that the book gives permission for many things but having permission does not mean that it is necessary or desired. In the Quran Allah is given 99 different names, one of the most commonly used epitaphs is the Most Merciful. As such when a crime such as say murder is committed against a family it is right that the death penalty is given as that is what the book says may happen. However Allah also desires us to be forgiving and a person who forgives someone who has harmed them or committed a crime against them or their family is among the most blessed, therefore in Rayyu I am pleased to say the death penalty is hardly ever used as families forgive the perpatrator and instead imprisonment takes place. What may happen is not what should happen. The same goes with the notion of striking your wife. It is the final option in a long scenario and even then the most blessed Prophet Muhammed set an example for us all by never striking any of his wives. It is the duty of us all to try and be as honourable as the Prophet and if we come half as close we have done a good job in life. To suggest that women in Rayyu are somehow mistreated is laughable. As a nation we have worked hard to ensure all families are well looked after and it is our women who take a lead in the guidance of the home. Equal does not mean identical. After all humanity is created by Allah and did he not create two identical beings in Adam and Hawā."

The Emir is soon to host a meeting of a significant number of religious leaders from the interconnected faiths descended from Ibrahim. The Emir was visiting the plaza of the  nations largest mosque today and spoke on the matter. "In all I do I try and ask myself what would most please Allah and then try and think what the Prophet would do. He famously once said that it would be immoral to embrace our wives with the hand that had struck her. This whole commentary coming from Rokkenjima is the reason why such a conference is needed. We have heard of sanctions being placed on Samantra by Rokkenjima. As such I am today urging you whenever possible to boycott the goods of Rokkenjima and if possible to buy alternatives from Samantra. While I do not understand the politics of Samantra their people have spoken."

Over the last few weeks I have been in deep consideration with my books, my family and my trusted friend Imam Mansur Karimi, one of our nations leading scholars. I am concerned that the apparent world powers that have long influenced Mundus modern history have attempted to drag the world towards what could be described as a secular liberal interpretation of the Judeo-Christian traditions that have been a cornerstone of much of our nations for generations since the time of the Prophet Abrahim. It is from his noble bloodline that all our peoples have originated and despite our often vast differences at the centre of our lives in the love of the creator and his works. Today's attacks on the faith of Samantra by the leaders of Rokkenjima further demonstrate the rifts between those of us who are People of the Book. It is becoming more and more important that those of us with views formed by our interconnected faiths stand together. We must therefore I believe come together and send a message to Mundus that those of us with respect and love for our faiths will stand by our holy books and texts and uphold the laws that the divine has given us.

I therefore would like to invite those Heads of State, Heads of Government, religious leaders and other officials to join me and my Iman in Rayyu to work together to formulate a future of respect for our traditions.

May Allah Bless You and Keep You Safe

Emir Sulaiman Samar El-Amin

Prince Talaat had dressed the part. Not only was he being expected to represent the Emir but he was also helping Diamond Farm Labs. The Emir wore a dark suit with cufflinks glistening with diamonds which matched the watch face he had on. He was excited to see a new nation but a little worried about messing up. Accompanying him was Qassim Rasoul the CEO of Diamond Farm Labs. He had with him a heavy duty briefcase handcuffed to himself and two burly security guards either side of him. They arrived on a private jet and hoped someone was around to meet them at the airport.

The Emir wasn't well versed in video games, his 8 year old daughter Rabi'a  had once taken him on a guided tour of her Minecraft Princess Tower but that was probably the only time he'd held a controller like this. It though didn't take long for him to get used to and in no time he was walking into and out of all the various parts that made up his potential new plane. "I like it" the Emir announced having done two ups and downs of the aircraft. "Let us try this Virtual Reality" he waited patiently for it to be set up before donning the headset, it was incredible it instantly felt like he was inside the aircraft. He was opening draws, moving chairs and could even see out the window of the aircraft. It seemed like they were flying over some high mountains topped with snow, he wondered if that was the Alps of East Moreland. Twenty minutes later having inspected every part of the plane he took the head set off. "Miss Katelyn I am impressed with your work. Now I know a little about the systems you mentioned but I do know a lot about EMAC's reputation. If you tell me you can make a system that does what Ironside One does without it being Ironside One then we can go ahead with that."

The Emir turned to Sir Alan "Sir I am impressed with this whole set up. I potentially have some friends back home who would be interested in smaller, less technical private jets made to these standards. I propose that for each one of these customers I get a 10% finders fee which means as a result I earn some money back on this rather large investment. With the skills of Miss Katelyn here I am sure you can upsell the interiors to cover my fee." The Emir wasn't done there, "I understand EMAC are also in the market for sports teams. We're not a huge sporting nation but we do enjoy the idea of sports. You have been until now buying existing teams and changing their names yes? We operate a franchise system in our league, no promotion, no relegation. The franchises come up in a few months and rumour has it one team, Al-Sharaw, will be out of the run for keeping theirs, the chemical company that supports them has not been doing so well and is looking at merging with another company and they already support a team. What I propose is that EMAC step in and offer to take a franchise. You could call the team what you want, locate it wherever in Rayyu you wanted, within reason and for the next ten years its yours. I would ensure you are given a favourable chance and we have the Bahla International Sports Complex nearing completion, for a fee of $2,000 a game we could make it your home. What do you think?"

Rayyu votes for Keepton

Following reflection and details brought to light about the creation of Setri Diamond Farm Labs withdraws its request to create an outlet in Setri at this time. As no arrangement had been reached we believe this is a prudent step. The Prophet said "'There are three categories of people against whom I shall myself be a plaintiff on the Day of Judgement. Of these three, one is he who enslaves a free man, then sells him and eats this money'. We therefore must follow his guidance and can not profit from the slavery of the innocent.

Qassim Rasoul
CEO Diamond Farm Labs

Diamond Farm Labs was established in 2017 and has made a reputation for itself based on innovation and excellence. Our company use a process called Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). This involves putting the seed in a sealed chamber filled with carbon-rich gas and heating to around 800C. Under these conditions the gases begin to “stick” to the seed, growing a diamond carbon atom by atom. A diamond can be "grown" in as little as five days and is undistinguishable from a mined diamond. We have for some time been considering the establishment of facilities across Mundus. We see ourselves as the future of the diamond industry. With this in mind we ask for permission to establish a lab in Setri. Originally this will require a staff recruited from Rayyu doing all lab work with locals recruited for administrative and janitorial work. Within two years we would intend the whole operation to be run by citizens from Clysperis. We would, as we are manufacturing high value assets, require confirmation that we will be able to freely export manufactured diamonds to any location we choose without restriction or payment. In addition owing to our niche business I would request that no other diamond growing business be permitted within Setri for the next 10 years as to make sure our investment is protected.

We look forward to your response.

Qassim Rasoul
CEO Diamond Farm Labs

Can the islands in the Gulf of Araxis (R90 and R89) be added as Kizad for an RP purpose that will eventually see them join with mainland Rayyu

Thanks

12 Jumada I 1443 AH


Following a week of disputes between a group of migrant workers and The Bahla International Sports Complex Ltd a potential strike has been avoided. The Sports Complex is currently under construction and is likely to become a centre piece of a new sports based section of the city. It is hoped that the stadium will house football, athletics and even have a Formula Mundus track surrounding it. Last week a group of 30 migrant workers helping construct the facilities threatened to down tools and go on strike unless they got more pay and better working conditions. After several days of back and forth the workers were issued orders to leave the site and the housing complex provided by Bahla International Sports Complex Ltd and a strike therefore avoided as an agency based in Abydos helped bring in new workers with the required skills.

The removed workers now have 10 days to find new employment within the Emirate or will be deported as they will be in violation of their work agreement visas.

Rabiʻ II 2, 1443 AH


The Rayyu Islamic Art Festival began today in the capital with the Emir and his wife officially opening the event. The festival will feature over 200 works of art from across the Islamic world and will last two weeks. It is expected that large numbers of tourists to the capital will be generated.  The Festival takes place at various venues across the city including open air installations. The Emir attended the National Gallery of Art and Sculpture to formally host the exhibition.

Today I am pleased to open this festival of art. A reflection of the beauty, majesty and glory of Allah, this festival will bring together those of us who appreciate the skill, dedication and craftsmanship of the finest artists in the worlds. I have been lucky to have a private viewing and I was amazed at the exhibits on display and know that those of you attending over the next 14 days will share my admiration.

Entry to the exhibitions is free with admission costs being meet by the Emir and his family.

Emir Sulaiman Samar El-Amin was the youngest of those here but was keen to have his voice heard around the world. "Thank you Emperor Malachi for this invite. I have always prayed to Allah that he gives me the ability to give my people better lives and it seems with the agreement we have made here today we have been granted the wisdom to recognise friendship in our sea makes us stronger. I know we have many differences between us but today we show Mundus that differences of faith, race, culture and heritage are nothing to stand in the way of co-operation. I thank my new found friends for their time and In sha'Allah this will be the first of many meetings between us as neighbours and friends."

The Emir took the pen from the Emperor with a warm handshake and went down the line neatly and carefully putting his signature on each document being careful to ensure as he did each he looked at the assembled cameras and smiled.

"We support the ideas with the Seleucid amendment."

The Emir was pleased with these proposals as they would feed nicely into the ideas the Emir had for the future of Rayyu. "We fully support the articles presented. I believe that is all of us."

"Should we perhaps also explore the way we handle materials and goods from other nations. For example should Rayyu import food from Lijiang in a way that Royal Seleucid and Waddan have then some of that shipment heads into Kodima should we have fees on that if a payment has already been made. So if the Lijiang exporter has paid to get into Rayyu should they then pay again to take it into Kodima. Maybe we have an extra article that states.

** Once a material or product has entered into the Gulf region and a tariff has been paid no further fees or tariffs for crossing a border shall be liable so long as the item remains in the same condition it entered the first Gulf nation. Should one Gulf nation have a "no tarrif" arrangement with the exporting nation then tariffs shall be liable at the first Gulf border it crosses after entry.**