A Diplomatic Banquet

[Chaotilo]

Luka Newman checked the clipboard one more time, taking a deep breath. She'd been planning this banquet for months. Chaotilo was a younger country. The revolution and subsequent founding hadn't been more than forty years ago, and there hadn't been time to worry about anything but domestic affairs. But they were growing, and if she were to make a good first impression this night had to go off perfectly. Ideally she could even walk away with a few international trade deals, but she was mostly just worried about managing. The country of Chaotilo, and Luka herself, tended to be a bit extremist.

Well, no use in worrying. The invitations had been sent to other world leaders, and if they couldn't attend, their diplomats, so she could only wait. Luka checked her reflection in a nearby vase. At least she looked presentable. She undid a few buttons of her pressed black suit and brushed back a stray strand of hair. Time to make some good impressions. God, she hoped the invitees actually showed.

[DaveIronside]

It had been quiet the while since Henrietta Quinn, the Prime Minister and therefore royal representative of East Moreland had any diplomatic adventures, the King generally perfered to do such things himself however this was a delicate time of year, it was coming up to the anniversary of young Prince Caspian, his two year old sons, death and as such the King generally spent time at the family maselouem or with the Prince's twin sister Rhiannon. Henrietta was joined on this trip by the nations youngest Minister, it was a mere formality that Amelia Merriman had landed the job of Youth Minister as at 22 years of age she was the nations youngest Representative Councillor and therefore that ensured she had the job, at least until someone younger came along.

Amelia was rather pleased to be spending time in the company of Henrietta, the older woman was a political role model, a graduate of the same University and she'd been the co-author of the Cultural Exchange Treaty Organisation charter, the first global initiative East Moreland had drafted. It had been this that had lead East Moreland from its own old isolation. It was therefore fitting that this pair were being sent to represent the Kingdom.

The EMAC aircraft touched down and rolled to a stand still, Amelia checked her jacket as Henrietta strapped on her ceremonial sword, Amelia was yet to gain her own and had just six months left of reserve service in the Logistics Corps left before she could ask for permission for her own sword ceremony, she was rather looking forward to it. The pair made their way down the aircraft steps and made their way to the venue. "Hello, Prime Minister Quinn and Youth Minister Merrimen, we're from East Moreland and its a pleasure to meet you." the elder woman announced as they greeted their host. "His Majesty King David send's his apologise however matters of state keep him at home" she lied hoping their host wouldn't make the connection between time of year and the King's sadness.

[Chaotilo]

Luka hid her relief behind a confident smile. She'd been hoping a representative from East Moreland would make it. For one thing, the ceremonial sword thing was incredibly awesome. For another, opening up friendly discussion was the first step towards things like international trade or political alliances. Considering how much larger and more influential Moreland was, it was crucial that this went well. She just had to remember her advisers' tips and try and be as neutral and welcoming as possible.  "Thank you from coming Prime Minister, Mz. Merrimen. I'm Luka Newman, the National Administrator for Chaotilo."

She didn't notice anything unusual about the King staying away. Maybe she would have been more curious or taken note, but Luka was focused on making this banquet a success. These delegates seemed nice. Maybe keeping her temper in check wouldn't be as much of an issue as she'd feared. "I understand, I wouldn't want to take His Majesty away from his own important work," she said with a nod, fiddling with one of her suit buttons "Can I offer you anything? The banquet won't be for a little while longer, but would I either of you care for something to drink in the meantime?"

[The Young Pope]

As soon as news reached Pope Peter II's a.k.a The Young (Weasel) Pope's ears that a new nation has made it into the international spotlight, his holiness couldn't just miss this opportunity and thus decided to send the Cardinal Secretary of State, Adalberto Giancola, to represent the worldwide Celestian Catholic Church and the Ecclesiastical State; he acted as the De Jure Prime Minister although the de Facto role belonged to the Undersecretary of State. Usually the Pontiff would have conducted the state visit but due to pressing matters, a busy schedule as well not personally knowing this nation all too well...it was decided that Giancola would have to do everything in God's name. Along with his closest colleagues, he made his way into the unknown foreign territory, truth be told they didn't know much apart from this revolution...Were these Chaotilons Christian for instance?

The Papal plane came to a halt and the old Cardinal made his way to the venue, alongside a company of Guardians of St. Peter's Throne, reputed to be one of the foremost close protections in Mundus and were a popular aspects for tourists to see whenever they payed a visit to the Vatican due to their colorful uniforms. "Greetings and Salutations National Administrator Newman, I'm Cardinal Secretary of State Adalberto of Giancola...it's an honor and privilege to be here and among other international colleagues." He said while taking the opportunity to kiss the host's hand in the process, as well as nodding to the Morelanders Quinn and Merrimen, these two nations together were members of a certain international organisation in which the Church state recently got accepted and joined, on a probational basis, so it wasn't entirely a set of strangers bumping into each other. "The Holy Father would have naturally come along but y'know as a leader of one of Mundus' largest and most influential religions as well as a large country..." he ended with a bit of a depressing tone, although managed to cheer himself up again.

"I bring with me a plentiful of gifts from the Ecclesiastical State, a fine mix of exclusive delicacies and souvenirs..." he pointed behind him the baskets, "I hope it's to your satisfaction, your utmost excellency..."

[DaveIronside]

OOC- Hadn't realised Chaotilo was right next to Royal Seleucid which I also control.


King Akakois was only to happy to meet his neighbours from Chaotilo, he had been frustrated in the past that they had not attended the Jewel of the Desert festival but he suspected they had their reasons. He would have liked to have shown them his hospitality as after all if neighbours could not be hospitable towards one another what hope was there for the world.

The King knew his hosts had no relations with any other nation, let alone the Commonwealth of the Unified Iwi, and as such was confident that he would not be turned away. The legacy of the long Seleucid occupation of Maori land over 200 years until 1983, even then conflict continued until just 16 years ago, the two nations had shared no formal ties since and the King was nervous about the time when he and King Piripi of the Iwi would bump into each other. The geographic proximity between Seleucid and Chaotilo though reassured him the giant Maori monster was unlikely to arrive.

As the King's aide opened the venue's door to allow the King and his youngest wife, Queen Katerina to enter his heart sank, the Maori were not here but nearly as bad was the sight he saw. The Prime Minister of East Moreland, the so called protectors of the Cult of Helus, a faith that had been victims of a genocide in Seleucid rather too recently, the King had managed to convince the world, at least he hoped, that the genocide was the side effect of an attempted coup against him, but he suspected the Morelanders didn't accept that. His heart sank further when he saw the representative of the Pope, it was the first time he had seen someone from there since he had back tracked on their nations treaty after less than a week.

Akakois waited for Luka to be away from the two other nations representatives before approaching. "I am honoured to be in your nation finally. I feel it is a big thing for neighbours to be strangers in each others home." He stood aside and introduced his wife, she was 40 years younger than him, clearly the trophy of his three, soon to be four wives, "This is Queen Katerina" he barely allowed her to begin talking. "We should find some time to arrange some truly neighbourly matters, perhaps a day your nation can come and enjoy our hospitality in return for that you are showing us?"

[Achkaerin]

Peter Azurewind, the Emperor of Achkaerin was never really one to turn down the opportunity to get to know another nation, there had been exceptions in the past but this wasn't one of them and not knowing an awful lot about something intrigued him, plus with the other engagements concerning his family and members of the Achkaerinese Government it was a rare thing that the Emperor was the only person available, which did slightly irritate Peter because it meant that his wife Renee wasn't - she was presently locked in conferences over exam marking back home. However Peter had never been one for making trips alone if he could help it so for this trip out he'd decided to spend a little time catching up with his Goddaughter Kirsty Tsu, which also meant time with Kirsty's girlfriend Claire Callaghan. Much of the flight had been spent catching up with each other, Claire was now a lot more comfortable talking to the Emperor informally, whether that was a result of experience or that she'd gotten something from her sword ceremony, as evidenced by the sword that was strapped around her waist, wasn't clear but she was much more than she had been before.

Anyway this trip had seemed like a great reason to spend time with each other, they'd laughed on the flight there, Peter had predictably set off every metal detector he'd walked through thanks to his artificial arm - much to the amusement of the two girls. It had been going great right up to the moment they walked into the hall where everyone was assembling, the presence of King Akakois caused Claire to involuntarily stiffen up, Kirsty took her hand, the pair of them had been in Royal Seleucid on their first date when the Genocide had happened and been rescued by East Moreland's Red Legion. Peter's eyes meanwhile having registered the Seleucid King's presence had also noted the presence of East Moreland representatives but no King David, for reasons obvious enough to Peter when he thought about it, and then there was the Pope's representative.

Peter decided it was best to wait until King Akakois had finished conversing with their host, it was certainly best not to put Claire into that position. Once the Seleucid's had finished talking, or rather once Akakois had finished doing the talking, Peter approached their host.

"It's a great privilege to be here." Peter said "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Emperor Peter Azurewind of Achkaerin, may I introduce my Goddaughter Kirsty Tsu and her partner Claire Callaghan."

[The Young Pope]

If you thought that he wouldn't dare show up, then you're totally wrong ladies and gentlemen...an international banquet that President Marc-Antoine "The Sentinel" Lavaud of Bretonnia or the Bretonnian Republic couldn't just miss, an opportunity to get those vital trade negotiations done as well as other diplomatic goodies, over some food, drink and good company; naturally once he did sign a potential treaty he had to get it ratified by the senate, but considering his party always held the majority in both houses...this was going to be a piece of cake, hopefully.

He'd brought with him his wife Eloise Lavaud, who was quite handy to have around for having good conversations and the like. In any case, they were there to represent Bretonnia and if there was one thing this nation had with theirs was the struggle and eventual independence from opression; ever since Bretonnia managed to free itself from the red plague known as communism, it has prospered and regained its former glory, managing to attain the level of a 'First World' nation with the help of several nations who'd investment heavily taking advantage of the capitalist system as well as the overall good leadership and management of the National Democratic Party, of whom President Lavaud and his predecessors belonged to.

He too along with a complement of Secret Service Agents made their way to the venue, and while they more or less greeted everyone, the Presidential couple couldn't stop giggling a little bit over the fact that nations such as EM, RS and ES were all in the same room and considering the latest happenings that involved them together..."It seems we might have to grab some popcorn my dear, what a golden moment this is..." the President commented to his wife. They also finally said their hello to the host once everyone else backed off.

"National Administrator Luka Newman; President Marc-Antoine Lavaud of the Bretonnian Republic and this is my wife and First Lady Eloise...I have to say that both of us are already impressed, what a...how should I call it...gathered an array of interesting nations who have one thing or two with each other hahaha...Oh where are my manners my apologies...Like our Ecclesiastical counterpart, we couldn't resist bringing with us some tokens of gratitude for the willingness to host these banquet, hope it's to your liking."

[Major Jaws]

King Lapu would always follow his friend, the Young Pope or any of his officials, to a nation they would visit. This is one of those cases. The King traveled with a few of his contractual servants who would usually assist him when he would need some helping hand for meetings or when he's drunk. The latter would be the most likely case. Other than his small team of helpers, he traveled alone. He entered, wearing both a holy cross necklace and some of the jewelry he bought in Royal Seleucid. "Such a nice day we have here, Prime Minister Luka." Of course, not greeting the host would be considered offensive. He looked around, seeing King Akakios; his heart almost slipped a beat, not in worry, but in excitement. "I would also like to warn you with King Akakios and Cardinal Giancola. There's been a bit of diplomatic tension between them so if you can, try to separate them as much as possible." He whispered before handing out his hand for a shake.