Author Topic: A Cross Border Talk  (Read 1996 times)

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Offline Libby

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A Cross Border Talk
« on: August 19, 2021, 10:04:30 PM »

To:- His Majesty King Kārlis IV of Chistopol

Since the foundation of our Theocracy we have had a significant number of people from Chistopol heading to our nation. We also have had a significant number of tourists coming to visit our Holy sites. As such we believe that some arrangement between our two nations to support cross border movement would be beneficial. As such we would like to visit your nation with an official delegation to put in place better formal relations between us.

May Shai Halud Watch Over You

Reverend Mother Erin McGregor


Offline Chistopol

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2021, 08:40:55 PM »
The kindest thing you could say about Vastemõisa was that it was a short drive through it. The village was home to around 80 families and a lot of pear orchids. Many of the homes had plaster peeling off the walls and some still had bullet holes pox marking them despite the battles here being over at least fifty years ago. It did however have a rather nice old estate house that today served as a kind of administrative post for the military in the area. Since the establishment of the Theocracy the village had seen a huge increase in traffic as people ventured out towards the newest nation on Mundus. Even as King Kārlis had ventured here by helicopter he had ordered them to fly close to the border so he could see the crossing point and even today a few cars were sat waiting to cross over. In the King's mind he created a story of some Chistopolian born Bene Gesserit with a car packed with their belongings heading to what they saw as their ancestral homeland. The story made him happy that this family would be getting their dream fulfilled, but he was disappointed that they were vacating the nation he saw as home.

As the King's aircraft landed he was greeted by First Minister Darijus Laine. While the King was the figurehead it would be Laine who would have the ultimate responsibility to make an agreements with the Theocracy. The pair shared an uneasy respect. Laine knew that Kārlis was responsible for giving the nation its freedom and had given up a significant portion of royal power when he possibly hadn't needed to. What Laine struggled with was the rest of Kārlis' family, the future monarchy were not freedom fighters, they'd all been too young but retained a sense of entitlement about their station in life. Laine was already in his mind thinking how once Kārlis had died he would look to remove the monarchy all together. He offered the aging King a supporting arm but the bald headed King waved him away and was content to move forward on his single walking stick. They two exchanged pleasantries and entered the house. The Commanding Officer of the General Staff here had vacated his office and replaced his desk with a round table, he had thought that best for a diplomatic meeting. The Major saluted the King and ensured the two men had everything they'd need for the meeting and satisfied everything was in order retired to his duties checking rotas, moving supplies and organising patrols while the two politicans waited for the Bene Gesserit.

Offline Libby

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2021, 10:08:35 PM »
There had been arguements about exactly who should go on this meeting with Chistopol and the infighting the Reverend Mother had feared between the Four Holy Houses was already manifesting itself. Without thinking Erin had picked Nathanial Corrino to lead her security detail and that had caused the other three houses to demand someone from their family accompany her. Not wanting to favour one family over the others but recognising that Nathanial had more experience of this kind of close protection than anyone else in the Theocracy she had insisted that he would come however would not enter the room with the hosts. Instead as the Reverend Mother finished using a cut-throat razor to ensure her head was completely hairless she thought about who to take with her. Rebecca Debdale was a natural choice, she was a Truthsayer and had been part of the Cenneg diplomatic corps as a security adviser. She'd attended several key meetings and so was probably more used to this than Erin. The other person to attend was Olimpia Vico She was the Headmistress of the Chapterhouse in Aosta and was a respected scholar.

The trio of those on the diplomatic mission sat in armoured cars as they crossed the desert escorted by a team of Truthsayers, Erin was giving thought to how to handle the concept of a national army and the Truthsayers and thought that perhaps it would be roles such as her protection that would become the Truthsayers remit. It was a discussion she knew would come at one point but she would discuss with Nathanial and McNeill how to juggle it. As they reached the border her thoughts turned to the business at hand. She insisted they stop and seeing a couple of families crossing the border she stopped for a conversation. The desert was now the other side of the hills and ever so slowly wiry grass was giving way to more lush greenary. Erin pushed back her dark hood, the sun shining off her head as she approached the families. "Are you moving to the Theocracy?" She asked them as she approached, Nathanial a step behind.

The group recognised Erin and didn't know what to do, there was a few seconds of almost panic as the family tried to work out whether they should bow, salute, kneel or do something different before settling on kneeling before her. "No, don't be silly." Erin helped the families daughter who looked about six years old up. "What's your name sweetheart" Erin asked as she bent her knees to be a similar height.

"Jasmin..Miss..." the girl had been raised as a Bene Gesserit by her parents who since Erin had been named Reverend Mother had displayed a picture of her on their fire place. Jasmin wasn't sure exactly what a Reverend Mother was but knew she should probably respect it.

"Well welcome to your home. I hope you're going to be very happy." Erin said with a smile.

"She's hoping to become a Sister" the mother said proudly despite the fact Jasmin didn't really know what that was, just that it was apparently a good idea and something to be proud of.

"That's fantastic" Erin stood up. "Well Jasmin I hope that I'll see you in school soon. I'm so happy you're here." Erin hugged each of the group, much to the annoyance of Nathanial, before they crossed the border and made their way to the estate house. "Nathanial this is far as you go." She reminded the younger of the Corrino brothers. "Maybe go explore the village or something?"

"I'll stay close" Nathanial would go and find some of the local military and have a chat, see what he could pick up from them.

"Very well." Erin entered the building with her two advisers. Rebecca was dressed in a smart black suit with white shirt while Olimpia wore the blue and red piped Missionara Uniform. Upon being shown into the room where the King and First iMinister were located Erin bowed very slightly to the King before extending a warm hand. "It is a great pleasure" Erin was about to spit on the ground, something a sign of respect in the desert of Seitch but here probably something frowned upon. She wondered about the first formal state visit to the Theocracy and the customs of the Bene Gesserit there and how they would be percieved. "I have a small gift for you. Although no gift can ever repay the deed you did for us helping us gain our freedom." Erin produced from the pouch at her belt two wooden boxes each with the initials of the hosts. "It contains the spice melange, a central part of our faith. It helps me commune with God/Gods, although to the non-religious it apparently tastes of cinnamon." She shrugged. "To me its taste is beyond description." She introduced her advisers each in turn before they took their own seats. "On my journey here I passed several Chistopolians heading South to join the Theocracy. I want to ensure people who wish to join us can do so easily but I also don't wish to have any mass migration put a strain on either of us. Can I ask has the migration caused much issue?"

Offline Chistopol

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2021, 03:22:00 PM »
Laine had tried this spice before from when he'd visited a Bene Gesserit community near here in the past. It didn't taste of anything to him but he understood the gesture and so thanked the Reverend Mother. The King meanwhile licked his little finger and dabbed it into the spice sampling the smallest amount possible. "Very nice" The King commented politely, "Thank you for the gift." He sat and waited for Laine to begin the talks.

The Chistopolian military had been keeping an eye on the border ever since the conflict had started in Kaitaine. They had initially been worried about the war spilling over into their own nation but that had never happened. They had though been seeing more and more people heading towards this village in an attempt to cross. "Well the numbers are slowed, it was at its height about a thousand a day, now its maybe two or three cars worth of people but that's people clearly wishing to go and live there. We've also had several citizens try and go, see the sights I guess you could say, then head back. With no real border control on your side and no visa systems but a call to relocate from yourself its been more a case of us monitoring people crossing back into Chistopol." the First Minister began. "In total we suspect around 60,000 people have headed into your nation." It seemed odd calling the Theocracy a nation but it was in the eyes of Chistopol. " It has not caused much of an issue for us yet, I am however worried that what may happen is the Theocracy doesn't have the resources to deal with rapid expansion of population and these people come back and need our support to resettle. That though is a problem that we can deal with I believe. Now you want the process to be simple. What I would like to perhaps look at is your faiths extensive network being used to provide documentation that can be affixed into our nations passports. It would act as a kind of pre-approved visa allowing cross border transit. Is this something your Sisterhood and the Theocracy could handle?"

Offline Libby

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2021, 10:26:53 PM »
"14million" That was a number in Erin's mind, it was the rough number of Bene Gesserit living in Chistopol and it was the number she wanted to hear heading South. There were a range of numbers in her mind constantly, "2,800,000" was the number from Aosta, just over "1,000,000" in Achkaerin, "2,000,000" in Ui Cenneslaig and "800,000" in Cantabria, the number  "20.6million" sat in her mind, the number of people they knew of in their diaspora. To her these were people who over close to a thousand years had taken the words of the faithful across Mundus. In an ideal world she wanted them all back but that was both unrealitsic and at that point and also she wanted members of the faith to stay overseas or how else would she have the faith spread across Mundus.

"For us it would be at this point difficult to have a system where the Bene Gesserit are given a kind of passport for the faithful, it is though a path we would like to eventually head down. For now what I would like to suggest is that every student who has graduated from one of our Chapterhouses across Mundus is eligible for an ID card. We have hired a company to make biometric ID cards for them. I think these should be the starting point. Perhaps a case of allowing anyone with a valid passport for our major dispora nations and one of these ID cards to cross our frontier without visas would be possible. Naturally we are unlikely to be wishing to stop anyone, but you may wish to examine things more securly so we would ask whether this is an arrangement that would suit you."


Offline Chistopol

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2021, 02:25:49 PM »
First Minister Laine had not appreciated the bigger numbers of the wider diaspora. "Should just a quarter of your faithful head towards us we begin to see problems. In the meantime I think we could agree to the use of the ID cards you have mentioned but I would insist on limiting border crossings from Chistopol to the theocracy and back each day. As such I propose that a booking system would be needed. We would grant permission for anyone with one of your ID's to cross with just security checks on what they carry when they cross. We would limit the number of crossings per day to ensure our staff don't become overwhelmed. We would also need to consider the manner in which imports and exports cross this frontier, we are likely to be the only corridor of trade you have for sometime, we need to ensure our ports for example don't become clogged with your goods. I know at present you are not a large manufacturer so how is your economy focusing?"

Offline Libby

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2021, 09:03:17 PM »
Erin knew the matters of finance would be tricky. "We are fortunate that our Sisterhood was able to establish some major financial players across the globe, the Corrino family for example are among the wealthiest of the Cenneg, as such we've been able to ensure that they generously support their homeland. Historically our Truthsayers have got involved as private military contractors, we've also done a roaring trade in education. Now though we have a substaintial amount of sand and among that coal. We've no real large scale manufacturing however we aim to utilise our space and climate for production of a variety of materials and resources which we would gladly sell North given a chance. I imagine that we'll see lots of food imports coming south, as such I'd be happy for the next five years to offer all transfers into our nation tarrif free but what could we get in change?"

Offline Chistopol

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2021, 07:47:42 PM »
Laine couldn't help but smile, Kaitaine would allow Chistopol to export food south tariff free, as though it was doing Chistopol a massive favour, in truth he suspected that Kaitaine needed the food and thus the tariff free measures were simply a way of ensuring prices stayed as low as possible. That didn't matter though as it would certainly help the agricultural industry of Chistopol. He therefore wasn't going to make a comment on the irony. "I'd be grateful for the opportunity to have our farmers have a new open market, I'm sure you'll find the quality they produce excellent. As for your future industry perhaps with all that space and mineral oppurtunities you'd consider a partnership with some of our companies. We've an industry that would be easily transferable and I think you'd see the benefits."

Offline Libby

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2021, 09:23:59 PM »
Erin had to make something clear. "While we are rich in minerals like coal for example, and where coal is found so usually is gas, we're also a nation not entirely new to the extraction business. As you are no doubt aware the Corrino family have made rather a strong income from such practices in Ui Cenneslaig and Cantabria and of course that means we can rely on their input. It is highly likely that should such contracts come up for bidding that the Corrino family could put in bids easily comparible to yourself and if I'm being honest would probably have the edge in terms of knowing people on the ground. What I would however be willing to do is wave any taxes on purchases of those materials by companies in Chistopol and of course allow your nations businesses to put bids in for the contracts when they come up. This way they have a chance of getting involved in the ground floor of our development and as a result of not having to pay taxes on purchases of materials then they will have a source of resources at a decent price cutting their own costs. Is this a satisfactory arrangements?"

Offline Chistopol

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2021, 10:16:52 PM »
Laine was at least going to perhaps get some access to cheaper resources. "I am happy to hear we could soon be enjoying access to your retrieved minerals, however I perhaps see a problem for you. You're a nation that has no machinery for such a process and if the Corrino's are the ones to undertake the extraction then they will need to start from scratch and as such its got to come from somewhere. Naturally that somewhere should be Chistopol. Now while you remove things like taxes on our purchases of minerals and things like gas I can do likewise on heavy plant machinery. Any Theocracy business buying heavy plant machines from a business in Chistopol will be exempt from any sales tax. This should make our companies equipment an exciting proposition especially as it won't have to transfer as long a distance as say from Ui Cenneslaig to Chistopol, pay entrance taxes and then transit to you. I think we're making some good progress. Perhaps we should summarise where we have agreed so far and then consider our next moves.

Quote from: Summary
1. Any Bene Gesserit in possession of a biometric ID card issued by a Chapterhouse is permitted to cross the border between the Theocracy and Chistopol freely. This includes escorting members of her immediate family she can prove the identity of.

2. There shall be no permission given for someone to make more than one crossing of the border in either direction within 24 hours unless prior arrangement is made.

3. Anyone crossing the border in either direction is liable to security checks as either nation deems appropriate.

4. For the next five years no food products or agricultural products crossing from Chistopol into Kaitaine will be subject to tariffs.

5. No Chistopol company purchasing raw materials or fuels in Kaitaine shall be subject to local taxes so long as those purchases are removed to Chistopol

6. No Kaitaine company purchasing machinery in Chistopol shall be subject to local taxes so long as those purchases are removed to Kaitaine.


"So what would you see us add?"

Offline Libby

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Re: A Cross Border Talk
« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2021, 10:39:53 PM »
Erin and Olimpia conversed for a moment in Gaelic in a whispered tone as they looked over the things they had already agreed, at least verbally.

"I think this is an excellent starting point for discussions between us." Erin said warmly, "My friend Olimpia here though has been brought because we have a special request."

The Blue uniformed Missionara leaned forward. "First Minister Laine. You are probably highly aware already of our people's belief in education. What you are probably less aware of is that a large number of Bene Gesserit faithful in Chistopol have been doing their best to educate their children, particularly girls, in the way of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. That has relied on dedicated members of the Sisterhood making themselves avaliable via the wonders of the internet, through excursions to your land or various other discreet methods. We currently have about 7,000 girls on lists trying to get themselves into one of our four Chapterhouse schools who reside in your nation. What I would like to do is construct a fifth.." she noticed the scowl on Erin's face and found herself smiling, propaganda and semantics had always been a key part of the Missionara operations and the seasoned practioner couldn't believe she had just failed to follow through the practice of her leaders words. "Sorry, our sixth Chapterhouse school. Along with the ones in Aosta, Cantabria, Ui Cenneslaig and Achkaerin the original one in Kaitaine stand as the cornerstones of our people's faith. What I'd like is to serve the faithful of Chistopol by them having access to a school of their own. No doubt one would have been built long before now had you not had to live through your own Soviet horrors and then been in such close proximity. I am therefore formally asking to be permitted to build a bording school for around 800 students in Chistopol, ideally close to the border."