Ever since relations were opened between the Theocracy of Kaitaine and Tamora there had been a slow but sustained progress in improving relations. That didn’t mean cooperation between the two governments, though it was hard to define the Theocracy’s government in the first place, but a growing interest among the Tamoran people about issues relating to the Bene Gesserit and especially their faith. The two nations were hardly similar and their religions even less so but perhaps what created an interest on the Tamoran side was that the Bene Gesserit were seen as outcasts, heavily criticized and even called terrorists by East Moreland and Rokkenjima and that always good recommendations for Tamorans. Also, there was the fact religion was a central part of Tamora’s society and once the Bene Gesserit came into the attention of the main stream people wanted to know more about them.

It was in this context that Musaevna Kadyrov decided to organize a job fair to attract Bene Gesserit graduates and alumni to Tamora. Unlike some Midaranye countries that relied heavily on oil and gas, Tamora was too large to support itself only from that and had a huge industrial base heavily protected from foreign competition by crippling import tariffs. That and many other factors meant that Tamora was lagging behind technologically and the gap was widening each year. The large businesses in Tamora were desperate to attract talent that would allow them to improve their R&D capabilities and it was no easy task with Tamora having a poor reputation aboard and also not being a rich country and thus not affording to pay huge wages. Musaevna Kadyrov thought that the Bene Gesserit and their craving of knowledge as well as their particular religion might somehow be used as a way to attract some of their brilliant minds to work in Tamora. It was a long shot and she knew but these were desperate times and they figure it was worth a try. So Musaevna Kadyrov gave the mammoth task of organizing a job fair in UC to her personal assistant Zara.




Zara immediately got to work and organized a team. She had her staff get in touch touch with the major Tamoran businesses in order to come together and see what benefits they could offer that might attract the Bene Gesserit. Of course they couldn’t attract talent for business like Musaevna’s that built weapons since that has a high risk sector and foreigners would not get access to such a sector but otherwise there were plenty of opportunities. Furthermore, just contracting the Tamoran businesses would not be enough since after all the school was placed in the largest national economy of Mundus which was roughly three times richer than Tamora. If there was a chance to get the attention and interest of the students and alumni there it wouldn’t be by outbidding the rich nations of Mundus, that much was clear. So Zara got in touch with the Church of Mani, local and kingdom level authorities in order to set up what she believed were interesting programs. Finally, she even reached aboard. Tamora did not have that many friends around Mundus but in Midranye things were different. When Zara was confident that they had what seemed like an interesting enough offer for the UC Chapterschool she got in touch with them and asked to be allowed to organize the job fair.

With that out of the way there was still a mountain of paperwork ahead of them. Zara would need to get all the required authorizations and visas from UC authorities. Not an easy task since UC was not exactly friendly to Tamora. Furthermore, in order to not further raise suspicions she made it so that before going the BG Chapterschool their fair would also go to a couple of regular UC universities. She couldn’t care less about them and their offer was hardly geared for regular UC students but it had to be done.

Ooc: This is a small RP event I had planned for quite a while but is proving too ambitious for just one post so I split it and will continue it when I have time.

The VP of OPEN Thanasis Polakis, with the full support of the Tamoran government, invited the members of OPEN to debate in the OPEN HQ in Ipsus (Royal Seleucid) what Thanasis Polakis and by extension Tamora viewed as a threat to the organization as well as the economy of the member states. Officially described to the press as a meeting about “The future and risks of the Oil and Gas Industry of Mundus”, behind closed doors the debate was described as addressing the anti-fossil fuel lobby and sentiment growing in Mundus.

The meeting to which all OPEN members were invited was publicly announced to the press but would be held behind close doors allowing the participants to speak freely and should they agree a press statement would be issue afterwards about the results of the talks.
 
Since the meeting was called by the Tamoran side, Mr. Thanasis Polakis opened the talks:

“Ladies and gentlemen, first allow me to thank you for attending this meeting. I have asked you to convene to discuss and hopefully propose a course of action regarding what Tamora sees as a growing threat in Mundus for OPEN: the anti-fossil fuel lobby and the hold it has on many governments all over Mundus. Just a few days ago we have seen the Odinic rite of Nya Aland start a campaign which aims to “get rid of fossil fuels by 2020”. Last year, we have seen the adoption of “The Environmental Treaty of Wellow” which aims and let me quote:

“4. Remove all fossil fuelled road vehicles by 2030
8. Nations with a GDP per capita of $40,000 or more to produce at least 70% of their electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2050. Nations with a GDP per capita lower than $40,000 to aim for 50% by 2060.”

All these initiatives and I just quoted only two examples: one purely national, another with international reach numbering among its signatories even a member of OPEN, the Empire of Quintelia, have several things in common: they aim to force consumers to choose something else than fossils fuels (whether it’s through quotas, extra taxes, subsidies) and heavily favor green alternatives by providing subsidies or outright banning other alternatives. The effect of those measures are a lower demand of oil and gas, lower prices for oil and gas, jobs losses in the oil and gas industry throughout OPEN member countries, lower tax revenues for our governments( depending on each member's method of taxation of course) and lower influence of the whole OPEN organization. I would also add that in many OPEN member countries the oil and gas industry is one of the few industries that keep our best minds in their countries and helps stop the brain drain. Should this industry suffer the brain drain phenomenon will only worsen and our nations would lose precious talent that will go aboard to work for other countries. Now I understand of course that protecting the environment is important, I also understand that it is the right of each country including member states of OPEN to set their own energy agendas. This meeting is not meant as an attack on the governments of the countries that pursue a “green agenda” but to discuss and see if there is something that can be done to also help the oil and gas industry, the hundreds of thousands of jobs it employs thought OPEN member countries, the billions of investments and the billions they produce for the government budgets.

With your permission I would like to propose for further discussion two measures. Of course, each member can also add their ideas for discussion.
 
1.   Establishing an international lobby group, funded by the governments of OPEN, that will seek to participate in debates regarding international initiatives such as The Environmental Treaty of Wellow and present the point of the view of the Oil and Gas industry. That would include presenting how much being “free of fossil fuel” would cost the economies not just in subsidies but also lost jobs. It would also lobby to governments and international organizations to let the consumers choose so it will argue against banning products: cars etc as being both undemocratic and against consumer choice.
2.   Provide help for our own Oil and Gas industries to innovate by providing tax breaks for them if they spend on R&D. Few industries in OPEN member economies spend so much of R&D as oil and gas so it would be a shame to not level the plain field by giving tax breaks to an industry that is hammered by taxes and restrictions in so many Mundus countries. 


So with your permission I would like to hear each member’s opinion on the matter, to see if there is agreement that there is indeed a threat to the organization. Also,I would greatly appreciate it if members could share their opinions on whether the proposals put forward by the Empire of Tamora are reasonable and would be supported, and any other comments or amendments you may wish to make.

Thank you."

Tamora did not see many visits by foreign HoS and fewer still of those visits where from countries that could be considered friends of Tamora, a visit from Clysperis one such rare occasion. Young Pharaoh Bektaten was visiting Tamora for the first time. Tamora and Clysperis had a long history together dating back hundreds of years a fact mentioned a lot by the Tamoran press. However, some analysts were quick to point out that perhaps the key ingredient to the excellent relation had been the fact that the two did not share a border and many speculated that if the situation were otherwise then Clysperis might have been annexed by Tamora or the two might not be on so friendly terms.

Speculations aside, the Tamoran press focused extensively on the very long history of Clysperis going back more than four and a half millennium dwarfing by comparison Tamora’s one thousand year history. In a country like Tamora where people cherished the morality of their ancestors, Clysperis immense history was seen with fascination. The press also drew the conclusion that it was this long history and tradition of Clysperis that was the reason why the Tamoran protectorate ended and the Forth kingdom was established, though historians, especially those from Clysperis would probably disagree.

Despite this, not all in Tamora were happy with the visit and the state visit from Clysperis had managed to divide the Manist community along the traditional lines: while the conservatives and liberals where happy with the visit and encouraged people to come and attend, the orthodox Manists on the other hand where far from happy. They did not care much about the good relations between Tamora and Clysperis and instead focused on the fact that the Pharaoh Bektaten was of a different faith, and not just a different faith but a foreign and polytheist one. To make matters worse, the Pharaoh Bektaten was also the head of the Clysperis religion and claimed to be either a living god or at the minimum more than human. All that irked the Orthodox Manists and they weren’t the only ones to be displeased; the Islamic community in Tamora was also not thrilled with the good relations Tamora had with Clysperis. They had a religious connection with Abydos, the first Islamic country in Mundus , where Mecca was situated and where the kingdom’s the traditional/ native faiths (the one that Clysperis had) were restricted. To have the Pharaoh of Clysperis in Djerb and be met with full honors as a friend was seen as a betrayal of the Islamic world and threatened the good relations Manists had with Mulisms, something that the Islamic community in Tamora was not afraid to publicly state.

The debate got even more heated as the date of arrival of the Pharaoh Bektaten got closer, a few days before her arrival the king of the federated kingdom of Altai (the Islamic kingdom) joined the debate and asked rhetorically “What about Abydos? When will we see Pharoah Enna Amenei come to Tamora? Shouldn’t we focus more on the Islamic Abydos rather than the non-Islamic Clysperis”? 

In order to calm things down, Emperor Abbas made an address to the nation, appealed to calm and asked the people to greet Pharaoh Bektaten as a friend of Tamora. While that didn’t necessary change people’s minds it did mean that the public debate subsided with the orthodox Manists being content to protest the coming of Pharaoh Bektaten by praying in public just as they did when the Catholic Pope came to Djerb the previous year. The press in order to avoid contentious issues stopped mentioning the religious role of the Pharaoh of Clysperis and instead focused more on the historical events that linked the two countries and well as the strong economic links that existed today with Clysperis using the Tamoran Dinar and also having indentured servitude, a lighter form of slavery as it was seen in Tamora.



The Tamoran welcoming delegation awaiting the arrival of Pharaoh Bektaten was huge in number: including but not limited to the ministers of the cabinet, the kings of Tamora and Emperor Abbas with his First Wife Alya. Once Pharaoh Bektaten had touched the tarmac, Emperor Abbas and Alya approached the Pharaoh and greeted her:

“Welcome to Tamora, Your Majesty. We are honored to have you here.”

Then Abbas proceeded to introduce Pharaoh Bektaten to the welcoming “committee” starting with his wife, the kings of Tamora and the most important cabinet members. After the formal presentations were done, a 21 gun salute was fired and them the national anthems where sang starting with Clysperis’ anthem as customary. After the anthems were sang, Emperor Abbas invited the Pharaoh to review the honor guard. Once that was done, the two delegations proceed to the next site on the agenda.





The road from the airport to Djerb was clear of traffic thanks to the local authorities that blocked all traffic. That allowed the convoy to reach the city in record time. It made its way to the center of Djerb to the Ancestors' Square, the main square in the city. The Square was packed full of people who came to greet the Imperial family and to see the Pharaoh, the sovereign of the most ancient land of Midaranye as the press called her. Abbas and Alya both waved at the people which waved back and threw flowers at the car. Throwing flowers was not something that Tamorans usually felt comfortable doing when greeting nobles but since Alya become more and popular and liked it became somewhat of a tradition wherever there was a delegation with her present. Some also threw flowers at the Pharaoh but to a much lesser extent though their curiosity was sky-high. 

Once the convoy reached the Cemetery of Martyrs, the oldest of the military cemeteries of Tamora, Abbas invited the Pharaoh to join him in leading a detachment of soldiers dressed in official military uniform that carried a wreath. At the end of the road they reached the main moment dedicated to the Tamoran Imperial soldiers that lost their lives in the conflict which lead to the establishment of the Protectorate of Tamora.
Abbas then proceeded to give a short speech:

“We have gathered here today, in the presence of HM Pharaoh Bektaten, the monarchs of Tamora, Ayatollahs of our Church and all the other honorable guests to pay our respects to those who committed the ultimate sacrifice to free Clysperis of the Soviet rule and ultimate reinstate the rightful rulers of Clysperis to the throne. The sacrifice of these men and the blood that they spilled is what binds our nations together.
I would like to read part of the letter that Private Namvar Jaamooji of the Imperial Army sent to his family while he fought in Clysperis in 1979:

“Never in my life have I seen such wonders as the Pyramids of Clysperis. I watched in awe of what their ancestors built and the heritage they have inherited. I understand little of what they say but I do understand is that they share their same respect of their ancestors and their customs as we do. They pray often as we do and seek to have their homeland return to their ancient rulers and return the old way of their ancestors."

The officer told us that the battle of tomorrow will be crucial and that many of us will not make it. Please pray for us.“

Private Namvar Jaamooji died the following day and is now buried in sector 8, row 9, position 25 of the cemetery. His letter explains best what the values that we share are. But it does more than that, it explains why we as monarchs have a duty to keep the traditions of our forefathers; not the traditions and customs that we would like to have, certainly not the traditions foreign powers want us to have but the ways of our ancestors. We do not bend when others pressure us and we do not need powers outside of Midaranye to solve our problems, we can manage on our own. We have more history and ancient traditions than anywhere else in Mundus.

Private Namvar Jaamooji is just one of the countless martyrs that are buried all around us. We commemorate their sacrifice, pray for their souls and most importantly we must in our daily lives keep true to our traditions so that their sacrifice would not have been in vain.

Thank you all, may God bless our two great nations. “

As he finished his speech, Abbas made way for Pharaoh Bektaten to give a short speech if she would like.

After waiting for the ceremony to finish, a much smaller convoy made its way to the Imperial Palace as most of the less important members of the Tamoran delegation returned to their duties.





The Tamoran Imperial Palace was also a symbol of the close connection the two countries had. When the soviets invaded Clysperis and established the Soviet republic there it was here that the ruling family of Clysperis first took refugee before a more appropriate accommodation could be found for them and the government in exile. Nine years later, when Tamora annexed Attica after a brief war, it was here that the Safavid emperor of that time and the Pharaoh in exile celebrated the victory. Now, more than sixty years after those events, Emperor Abbas Safavid and the young Pharaoh Bektaten were in the dining room surrounded by a small army of slave servants that were there to attend to their every need.

After the greetings were done, as the two HoS stayed at the table, Abbas addressed the pharaoh:

“I am glad you came to Tamora. Talking on the phone is one thing but seeing people in person and talking face to face is another. You can’t really have a high degree of trust between two people if they’ve never meet before in person.  Before we stray off to international politics as I have no doubt we will eventually, please tell me how is the kingdom of Clysperis nowadays. It’s been rather quiet. If there is one thing I have to thank the enemies of Tamora is that at least they put the Empire on the headlines of the international press so part of what goes on here gets out for the whole world to see but Clysperis has been rather quiet. “

 

Players who wish to trade on the MCE need to submit the below information. Each player will be given 10 million USD as a starting capital which will be used in a game based on rounds. At the beginning of each round the player will say what position they want to take on the market (buy or sell). After the round is complete I will use a site like random.org to generate a number. Depending on that number the player will either lose money or win. Depending on how luck or unlucky he is it can to up to 30% (loss/gain).

After the round is complete, I will write an IC text which I will post in the IC thread. Here I will update there the status of each player (the amount of capital they have). Depending on how this goes I might do some boost events like Ach did for the soccer cup.

In order to register into the game please submit the following info:

Country*:Empire of Tamora
Name of Company*: Polakis Trading
Name of the CEO/President of the company: Zal Saatin
How big is the company (small, average, large):Large
Specialized in trading (Oil, gas, agricultural products or minerals): Oil.
How many other companies from your country are present (trading) on the exchange (from zero to nine): 9

Anything not having an * means they are purely cosmetic and will help fleshing out the IC report after each round. It also gives players the chance to take part in the game even if they don’t like Royal Seleucid (where the exchange is based) by submitting a small company and saying that no other companies from their country trade on th exchange. Also, please note that it doesn’t mean the company will be selling commodities here but trading financial instruments (derivatives) so your nation might ban all exports of commodities (or not have any at all) and your company can still trade(sell) here since all it needs is money.
 
Rules:
1.       One registration per IC country.
2.       Rounds take between one RL week and one month depending on my spare time.
3.       You can join at any time by registering and then choosing SELL or BUY. (Ex you can join in round five and get the initial 10 million USD).
4.       If you lose more money than you have then you go bankrupt. Relax, RS does not allow slavery so you can just resubmit a new company and continue the game.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask here. I will give people some time to register their companies before I start round one. Remember you can always join/register even if the round started. 

Alaverdi, Kingdom Attica, Empire of Tamora.
Department of the Navy HQ


The last few days have been hectic for the Department. As was recently announced in the press, Djerb had decided that the shipbuilding capability of the empire was to be expanded. What did not reach the public was that Djerb wanted it done fast. Tamora was not a democracy, when the Emperor gave an order there was little room for discussion especially when it involved military affairs. Djerb’s decision surprised many in the Empire since the navy had been from the moment of its founding in 1968 a low priority. Before 1958 the Empire did not have access to the sea and it took another ten years before Djerb decided a navy was necessary and formed the Imperial Tamoran Navy.

However, it would seem that Tamora’s plan to expand its infrastructure did not go unnoticed by other Mundus powers. Shortly after TINS informed the public that Sarafian Shipyards would be expending thanks to a government contract, Quintelian sources contacted the Tamoran government to inquire about a potential collaboration on the matter. The normal response from Djerb to such an inquiry would be to inform the interested party of the Imperial law that explicitly states that foreign investments are not allowed in the Empire. However, this was Quintelia:  a member of OPEN and a country that not only did it not succumb to the pressure of sanctioning Tamora but actually provided assistance at the height of the tensions between Tamora and Slava Lavosk, and provided aid during the Royal Seleucid food crisis. Such actions earned the respect of many in the Imperial administration and the government agreed to a meeting to discuss the details of any future cooperation in this sector. 

Mekabiz Gilani, the Head of the Department of the Navy, was sitting at his desk waiting for the Quintelian delegate and his entourage to arrive. As soon as they entered the office, he got up and greeted them:

"As-salamu alaykum! My name is Mekabiz Gilani and I am the Head of the Department of the Navy. Please have a seat and tell me if there's any refreshments you might need. Ms. Bahrami here can bring them to you."

After waiting for the guests to take their seats, he did the same and resumed talking:

"First of all allow me to thank you in the name of the government for the help your nation has provided during the Seleucid food crisis. The Seleucid are friends of Tamora and the Tamoran people do not forget those who help our friends. " afterwards, he waited to see if the guests had any topics that wanted to approach first or preferred to get straight to business.

 

Addressed to Reverned Mother Erin McGregor, HoS of the Theocracy of Kaitaine:

   It is with great pleasure that I inform you that the Empire of Tamora has accepted Mr. Verspasian Atreides as ambassador. We would be honored if Mr. Atreides and his wife were to come to the Imperial Palace in Djerb to receive the papers of his confirmation and to talk about the future relationship between our two countries. Since the people of our two great nations have so much faith in Divinity, we believe there will be many avenues of cooperation to explore. Should Your Holiness agree, we would like to address the following issues while, of course, not necessary limiting to them:

-   The appointment of a Tamoran ambassador to the Theocracy of Kaitaine and potential security issues relating to that.
-   The location of your future embassy in Djerb and security issues relating to that.
-   The travel regime between our countries.
-   The possibility of allowing Tamoran goods to be exported to the Theocracy without any tariffs.
-   Potential investment opportunities.
-   Potential cooperation in the R&D field.

I would also like to assure Your Holiness that my staff will be prepared to address any other topic Your ambassador might wish to address. Furthermore, aside from me and my staff, Lady Musaevna Kadyrov will also be attending the meeting. She had had the pleasure of meeting you in the past and is a friend of the Theocracy.
I look forward to your reply.


Respectfully yours,
Alya Safavid
Head of Foreign Affairs
Empire of Tamora

The Tamoran central press covered the Papal visit to Attica with interest. The Ecclesiastical State was always seen in Tamora as a Christian theocracy and us such media treated the ES with fascination and with some measure of respect while at the same time saw the ES as a threat to Tamora especially considering the history with Attica when ES did all it could to stop the annexation. But unlike other foreign visits Tamora had so far, most of the attention was not directed at the ES, its economy, military or standard of living but on the Pope and the institution it represented for Christians in general and Catholics in particular.

TINS and its parent network focused on showing how the Pope was greeted by huge crowds in Attica, praising it as a sign of healthy religious expression and showed a lot of times how the Pope held the baby that was dressed as a pope. Tamorans liked public displays of religion and although they preferred more sober ones than the baby incident it was presented as a "Catholic" thing. At the same time the network took a mostly neutral tone towards the visit as the Pope was seen as a guest and as such tempered its criticism. Instead the station focused on presenting what the it considered common ground with Catholicism and showed Catholics from Tamora praying in their churches while dressed very conservative. In a farther attempt to show the common ground between the two religions, the Manist press presented various aspects that Catholicism considered or still considers halal: from usury to adultery and going to far as to show  various passages from the Scriptures that mentioned slavery with analysts painting the picture that Catholicism at its core shared the same values as Manism and that only recent developments in Catholicism have made them stray away from the path of their ancestors. 



The ultra conservatives and their news networks were less kind. They talked at large about the operation Encirclement, a very popular theory among the ultraconservatives though never confirmed or even commented on by the Tamoran government. The theory stated that the Pope aimed to invade Tamora and would first seek to encircle it. It suggested that the Pope tried to enter a treaty with the Royal Seleucid with that goal alone only to have been rejected by RS and break it. He then joined CNN to gain allies for his invasion. Once that was established, he coordinated with the Christians of Slava Lavosk to start the persecution of Tamorans in Slava Lavosk (the fact that the Pope never condemned the actions was considered as proof of his covert actions and support) and now he opened a bridge head in Attica by encouraging rebellious and separatist feelings there, going so far as even giving the Queen an armed escort.

According to the ultra conservatives, the Pope came to Djerb (the capital of Tamora) with the purpose to assess the faith of the people. It is for the reason that they encouraged the faithful to show up at temples and pray while the Pope visits Djerb so that we would see the strength of the faith in Tamora.




The welcoming delegation for the Pope was headed by Alya, the Fist Wife of the Emperor and the Mother of the Nation, a symbolic religious title given by the Manist Church. It was debated in Tamora's diplomatic circles who to send to greet the Pope. Since the Ecclesiastical State was a very powerful country and Tamorans respected that they were inclined to send the Emperor himself. However, that was not appropriate considering the rather cold relations the two countries shared. Having the Supreme Ayatollah greeting the Pope was out of the question and so Alya was chosen since she represented in a way both the Manist Church and the Tamoran government yet at the same time did not lead either of them. Furthermore, as her symbolic title had given her a lot of prestige and power to influence the affairs of the country, her leading the welcoming delegation was without a doubt not meat as an insult to the Pope.
 
Alya, was dressed in a black abaya and a hijab, the traditional garment of Tamoran women. It had discrete decorations that made it stand out. Furthermore, she also wear gloves. It was seen as deeply inappropriate for Tamorans of the opposite sex to touch in public even for simple gestures as shaking hands. She wore the gloves to be sure that should the Pope get too friendly and seek to shake hands, their skin wouldn't touch.
The whole Tamoran press was there waiting to see how she would greet the Pope. As he was about three feet away. She bowed respectfully at a 45 degree angle and addressed the Pope:
" Welcome to the Empire of Tamora, Your Holiness."

After giving the pope the chance to reply she politely invited him to walk to the convoy awaiting for him.
The press transmitted live the greeting of the two leaders with many watching being displeased that Alya bowed too much to the Pope. The press then focused on how the two leaders walked towards the car, according to Tamoran customs, women were expected to walk behind men but in this case Alya represented Tamora as a whole. So Tamoran viewers were pleased to see them walking side by side though keeping a safe distance between them. As the Alya and the Pope were walking towards the car, Alya waved discretely at the cameras. 
Alya invited the Pope to enter one of the cars so they can start the journey to the Imperial Palace. She would take a separate car. The convoy escorting them was huge and had over one hundred limousines each accompanied by two motorcyclists. The host did their best to provide the Pope with a convoy fit for the leader of one of the most powerful countries in Mundus.   




Extensive preparations were made for receiving the Pope. The Imperial intelligence service was on high alert for any possible "religious incidents". Passions ran high and as far as the authorities were concerned they didn't want any security incidents to disrupt the event. The Count of Djerb had asked for extra manpower from all the dukes in the Imperial Enclave so the city was full with law enforcement agents. 
Not many foreign leaders visited Tamora but the few that did were generally received with a military parade. No parade was organized for the Pope, instead the entire boulevard was kept closed to cars while the official convoy would pass.

Just as the authorities did their preparations so did the regular Tamorans. On one hand the Christians from the federated kingdoms of Vojvodina and Attica wanted to see the Pope once more and had come to Djerb in droves. Many parish priests encouraged the faithful to go to Djerb for a "one in a lifetime opportunity" to see the Pope but also as a show of solidarity to not leave him "alone" in Djerb. Many listened to the call of their priests as the Tamoran central press reported that at least two million people from the two federated kingdoms came to Djerb for the visit.
On the other hand, the ultra conservatives themselves mobilized the people. Imams urged business owners to close their businesses for the visit as to give employees the possibly to go to temples and pray. Also, the Imams from the rural areas and the small cities around Djerb encouraged people to go to Djerb and show the "Pope the strength of the faith in Tamora". At least two million people from the Imperial enclave alone came to Djerb for that purpose. Adding to those from all the federated kingdoms that came to Djerb out of curiosity or more.
This made the city almost paralyzed from the large influx of people coming in. The whole route where the official convoy would pass on its way to the Imperial palace saw sidewalks full of people curious to see the Pope, the leader of the Christian world as the Tamoran press had described him.   

But by far the largest crowds was waiting in the Ancestors's Square, the main square of Djeb. Around a million people made the square packed full. People of ages, some clearly Christian by the flag and rosary they had were waiving at the pope, others, most likely Manists, were looking curiously at the Holy leader while others were praying. Helicopters were flying above the square ready to intervene should any incidents take place. It was in moments like these that it was clear that the huge convoy escorting the Pope and Alya was also meant to give a sense of security to the foreign guests. Although, most likely they wouldn't need to fear the crowd since people didn't seem angry or violent. Alya discreetly waved from her car, something extremely unusual for a Tamoran nobleman but increasingly more common for Alya. In just six month she has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. But unlike other Tamorans personalities, the people also liked her, not just respected her. Though the crowd was certainly more interested in the Pope, still a very large number of people waved at her and threw flowers at her car. Something Tamorans didn't feel appropriate doing for any other nobleman.   





When the convoy reached the Imperial Palace, the Emperor was waiting to greet the guest. Soldiers from the Palace, dressed in uniform, opened the doors for the Pope and Alya. Abbas, greeted the Pope and invited him in the Palace.

As they entered the palace, they went through the hall of ancestors where the portraits of each Tamoran Emperor hanged on the wall. Over fifty portraits, all from the Safavid ruling dynasty. Just above the large doors that lead outside the hallway and into the main dining room, two large portraits reigned supreme, on the left a somewhat smaller portrait was Alya, "the mother of the nation" as she was called, and on the right, the larger portrait was that of the Prophet Mani, the central figure of the Manism religion and the founder of Tamora's system of governance.
It was the entire history of Tamora in one large hallway. Generations upon generation of Emperors and  their people that ruled and lived under the system devised by the Prophet Mani, about one thousand years before present day.

Once the Pope, Abbas and Alya were inside the dining room, Alya excused herself in order to allow the two HoS some privacy. Not that they were alone in the room. Two soldiers were standing in two corners of the room and another slave servant was in the room ready to provide the guest with any refreshment he might wish.
Abbas invited the Pope to take a seated and addressed him:

"Your Holiness, I trust the trip was uneventful. We usually opt for a military parade when such a prestigious head of state such as yourself visits the Empire. However, I believe Your Holiness has a power of a different kind and as such we opted for you to see the Tamoran people. And the Tamoran people themselves wanted to see you. That much is clear from the crowds you manage to draw.
I also noticed that Your Holiness enjoyed the hospitality of Tamora while in Attica.  You visited the ex detention center, the Lion memorial, met the "bishops" I never confirmed or agreed to. Did I forget anything? Ah, yes. You also managed to find the time to offer some guards to the Queen there. I am sure her security was lacking.

What is even more impressive is that you managed to do all that for a Families summit. I never knew that the definition of family could be so board or that Your Holiness' interest in our internal affairs and history could be so deep. You humble us with our attention. " Despite the irony in the last part of his speech, Abbas kept a neutral tone, keeping a formal atmosphere though perhaps not the friendliest possible.

The aim of this thread is to have a top of the richest public figures in Mundus. In order to submit a character you need to do fill out the following:

Name (if the person is married and you want the spouse to appear, please mention and write the full name of the spouse also): Morad and Musaevna (wife) Kadyrov
Net family assets (if within single digits please also add decimals like 1.2 bln instead of 1 bln):90bln USD
Age (if spouse appears add that too): 37/35
Source of wealth (IT&C, hotels, oil and gas, banking, agribusiness. If very diversified just say conglomerate): Arms manufacturer, satnav.
Link to character page: here.
Link to at least one RP (meeting, news, anything IC really) where the character appears: here and also here.
Has your country been added to Mundus economy thread? If not, please do not submit the application: Yes.
Special mentions - optional (how many kids they have, their religion, are they in prison or seriously ill, maybe they won an Olympic medal etc): Very well connected to the ruling family of Tamora and often act as informal representatives of the Tamoran government, Morad rarely appears in public, very religious (Manism), have three kids.


In order to limit the number of billionaires the following cap will be used: total worth of the billionaires from a country cannot be higher than 10% of GDP minus the total government revenue (what the government takes in):

Let's take the example of Tamora: 
 2,740 bln USD. 10% of that is 274 bln. The government takes 20%(all taxes combined) so the limit is 0.8* 274= 219 bln. That means all the wealth combined of Tamoran billionaires cannot exceed 219 bln.

FAQ: 1. Why do I need to make a character guide for my billionaire? I just want to add my billionaire.
So people don't span me with billionaires.

2. Why do I need to have at least one mention of my billionaire in an RP?
Welcome to TIO, I assume you're new. We RP here, that's what we do.

3. The limit cap formula makes no sense.
You only need to respect it, not accept it.

4. Does that mean communist countries don't get to have billionaires?
Naturally.

5. Well I will claim that I have X billionaires regardless of this thread.
No problem, this thread isn't a factbook. It's a top of public billionaires made by a Tamoran economic newspaper.

6. I have a very small country with a tiny GDP and I RP having many billionaires. This isn't fair.
Hello, Nova!
The system isn't perfect. One way around it is to have foreign billionaires as residents in your country (and have their wealth counted within the cap of their home country, like say you have a ES billionaire as resident in Heyra and his wealth is counted in the ES cap).
The other way is just to assume the billionaires in your country are not public figures and don't want their name published or something.

7. Tamora is a pariah state. Why would we have a Top made by a Tamoran newspaper?
That's a fair point. I plan on changing the name in the future depending on the outcome of a certain RP. Still there are some IC reasons for why this isn't totally unreasonable. Tamora has a somewhat of a fascination (respect) with wealth, people that have over a billion USD tend to be referred to as corporate nobles (though they have no noble blood) because of the high respect they have among the population, especially if this wealth was made by multiple generations and they do lots of charity donations (to temples, schools etc).   

We watched in horror when the government of Slava Lavosk has interned Slavans of Tamoran descent only because of their religion, and we were outraged when the same government had condemned a minor to death because of her faith. We have seen the governments of Paracambi and Lodja boycotting Tamora and bringing misery and poverty for reasons yet to be explained. When we thought it couldn't get worse, a hate group has emerged in East Moreland with the express purpose of slandering Tamorans and promoting hate. Sadly, after all that, it was no surprise that even in the religious and tolerant Ecclesiastical state, we have seen an immigrant Tamoran being slandered and crucified for daring to love a native man and defend her religion and cultural heritage.

We, laics and clergymen, men and women, have decided to band together in an effort to reject Manistophabia that is increasingly more common in Mundus.

We have prayed and we will continue to do so but that is not enough. Each of us has to step up to stop the hate. So with the help of God, and guided by the teachings of the Prophet Mani, we have decided to the following actions:

-offer legal counseling to any Tamoran whose rights have been infringed because of his religion, sex or national origin.
-identify hate groups across Mundus, label them accordingly, bring them into the public eye and petition governments to ban them.
-offer expert advice to foreign police forces (where a large number of Tamorans live) in order to promote cultural sensitivity.
-organize protests whenever foreign governments issue laws or measures promoting Manistophobia.
-correctly label sanctions against Tamora for what they are: economic terrorism fueled by Racism, Manistophobia and ignorance.
-educate the public, the clergymen of other faiths, the media and NGOs on the issue of Manitophobia. Manitophobia is just as reprehensible as Racism and anti-Semitism but it's far more dangerous because the public has not been educated to identify it and fight against it.


Who can join us?


Any adult from any country of Mundus regardless of sex, religion, race, age, sexual orientation, income etc. Manitophobia will only be stopped if we work TOGHETHER.


What can you do to help?

-Get involved: talk to those around you about this. Are you part of an interfaith group? Stand up for the Manist religion, demand that Manistophobia be condemned alongside Racism and Anti-Semitism.
- monitor the police: see them targeting Tamorans? Report the policemen for hate crime. Those Tamorans are alone in YOUR country: they have little knowledge of your laws and customs. They depend on YOU to help them.
- do not be silent when witnessing Manistophobia: see people criticizing the Manism or Tamora? Speak up! Explain to them that they are promoting hate!
- educate yourself: it never hurts to learn more about the Prophet Mani and Tamora. Did you know that Tamora is one of the most ethnic and religiously diverse countries in Mundus? Or that Tamora has a GDP/capita of a third the Mundus average?
- write to your representative or HoS, explain to them about the issue of Manistophobia and express your disagreement with any anti Tamoran laws currently in affect in your country.
- donate: there's always a Tamoran in need somewhere: whether in the dark prisons of Slava Lavosk or in the Ecclesiastical State being slander for her faith. Your help will make a difference! 


Watch list

Slava Lavosk: has put in detainment camped Slavans of Tamoran descent, the government is currently engaged in a brutal campaign of suppression of Manist religion and Tamoran heritage.
Lodja: engaged in economic terorism terrorism-> has imposed a boycott on all Tamoran goods causing unemployment and poverty. Lodja is twice as rich as Tamora.
Paracambi: engaged in economic terorism -> has imposed a boycott on all Tamoran goods causing unemployment and poverty. Paracambi is 60% richer than Tamora.
The Freestone Abolitionist Society - hate group, promotes economic terrorism against Tamora( a country five times poorer than East Moreland), encourages the idea that Tamorans are slavers, promotes harassment of  Tamorans though the courts.

Current campaigns:

Free Dilari: awareness campaign about the Tamoran sentenced to death in Slava Lavosk for her faith and ethnic heritage.

Stop poverty: raise awareness in Paracambi, Lodja and Rokkenjima of the damage their sanctions are doing to the Tamoran people.

Stop the hate: campaigned aimed at educating members of the Freestone Abolitionist Society on the effects of the policies they promote. We encourage Tamorans that have lost their jobs and now struggle in poverty to record their experiences and send them to Tim Carpenter, Melissa Lusk and other members of their organization. Explain to them that Tamorans did not have the privilege to be born in one of Mundus' wealthiest countries and as such have to work every day to feed their families and don't have time for politics. Remind them that Tamora doesn't have a public welfare state and that losing your job could mean ending up in slavery if you cannot afford to pay your bills (those include education and healthcare). 

What would Jesus do: campaigned aimed at Catholic clergy across Mundus.     

Please be polite when addressing them: we seek not retribution but a change of mind; we seek to inform, not to promote hate.



Iman Ali Montazeri
Founder of Manist International Alliance for Combating Hate and Discrimination

Ramin Rafsanjani was on his way to Zimalia for a hastily prepared visit. The wave of sanctions that various powers had imposed on Tamora had an unexpected effect behind the scenes. There was always a struggle between two factions in the Foreign Office. The dominant but increasingly weakening faction was that advocating for total isolationism from the affairs of Mundus, while the other favored a more nuanced approached: maintaining a very reserved stance yet look for opportunities to expand the influence of Tamora: both economically and religiously. The sanctions against Tamora had tilted the balance in favor of those advocating for Tamora to be active on the world stage since total isolationism clearly hadn't meant the other nations left Tamora alone.

   So it was for this reason that Ramin was headed to Zimalia. His task was simple yet not exactly easy to achieve. He would have to use this opportunity to open relations with Zimalia and set the groundwork a future friendship based on mutual need. Tamora needed a new market for investments and selling goods and Zimalia hopefully needed protection and investment in their economy. But Tamora was not all about economics like Heyra, Ramin would also need to secure the President's permission to send missionaries to Zimalia alongside aid workers. All that had to be done without arousing too much opposition from the regional powers which closely guarded their spheres of influence against any intrusion.

   Others might feel the pressure of such a task, but not Ramin. His strong faith and the childhood he spent in relative poverty made him an incurable optimist. It was his idea to assemble the current small aerial convoy. The fist plane, Sukhoi Superjet 100, would comprise of his delegation: diplomats, aid workers, medics and preachers while the second, much larger plane, Antonov An-124 Ruslan, would have building materials, food, medical supplies for his delegation to give to the local population. The plane also carried a couple of gifts for the President: one Porsche Cayenne, one Mercedes-Benz G-Class, one Ferrari California, one Rolls Royce and one Bugatti Veyron. The cars covered a wide range of tastes in the hope at least one of them would be pleasing to the President. The cars also had various luxury options added to them make them even more exclusive than they already were. Ramin couldn't help but smile when he thought the president's gifts were worth about the same as the aid he was bringing for his people.

   After the convoy reached the Zimalian airport and the two planes parked, Ramin waited for the airplane's door to open and went down the stairs smiling towards his hosts. 

"Nothing pleases us more than seeing the forces hostile to peace backing down. I have no doubt that your strong and confident leadership was the main reason for their withdrawal and we were happy to have played a small part in the process.

While the enemies of peace have no doubt lost a fight, they are planning to return better prepared and this is why they seek to divide us by asking for us to leave. The Empire of Tamora is willing to continue to defend Zimalia should your Excellency consider our presence necessary.

We also believe that crises such as these show who you can rely on in a time of need. Tamora sees Zimalia as a friend and would aslo like to cooperate on economic and humanitarian areas, not as a foreign power that seeks to impose its way on you but as friends that cooperate on equal terms.

I look forward to your reply regarding your decision about our squadron in your great country and about your availability for further developing our relationship.

Yours respectfully, 
Ayatollah Ramin Rafsanjani,
Head of Foreign Affairs
Empire of Tamora

     Hassan Malekmadani, was just about to board the flight to Mogebbe, Zimalia when the read the news that Rokkenjima was announcing their plans to implement a series of punitive measures against Zimalia. Things we heating up fast and that made his mission even more important. As the plane took off, Hassan couldn't help but ponder on the days when the applied to join Tamora's Intelligence Service. He was a distinguished soldier and since the Intelligence Service was technically part of the Armed forces, he has no problem being selected to undergo the special training the Intelligence Service. The physical training was not so hard, the problem was the constant religious training, praying 6 times a day, every day, week after week which had been nauseating to say the least. He was a Manist, a religion specific to Tamora, but so much religion was to too much for him and had the opposite effect, instead of bring him closer to God it had turned him into an agnostic. Not being able to take it anymore he informed his superior he was quitting because he couldn't stand the religious training. Much to his surprise, after the announcement his superior informed him that he had passed and that he will join the Foreign operations branch of the Intelligence Service and was to promoted to the rank of first lieutenant . That was almost 10 years ago, during this time he had been stuck doing mostly low level operations as part of Tamora's diplomatic staff at various embassies across Mundus. This was finally a "real" mission and he was really somewhat excited about it.

   He landed at the Mogebbe International Airpot. Looking at the place he began to realize just how lucky he was that he wasn't delegated to work in this country. Tamora had its underdeveloped parts where poverty reigned free but there was never this pervasive feeling of lawlessness that he experienced here.He took a cab to one of the motels in Mogebbe, the cab driver tried to scam him of course, asking 10 times more than what the trip should have cost, he pretended not to notice and paid anyway. He wasn't here to make a fuss, better if the driver doesn't remember him at all, he thought. Once he got out he didn't go to the nearest motel and instead walked for another half an hour to a more remote one. He booked a room, checked in and prepared for the evening meeting. 

   Once it became dark outside, he went out to the pub where he was supposed to meet his contact. He got a seat at an empty table and ordered a drink which a Zimali woman quickly brought. As most Tamorans, especially those of the Manist and Islamic faiths, he had shunned alcohol in the past. But after he gave up on religion during his training that quickly changed. In fact, before that he would have been uncomfortable in dealing with a woman like the waitress who didn't cover her hair and most of her body, and would have been outraged at the idea of ever entering a place like this. But not anymore, all this seemed almost natural to him now.
   He tried to keep a low profile while waiting for his contact.

One of Tamora's most guarded secrets was Project Overlord. The project had been under review for over 10 years, preliminary preparations have been made but it had never been allowed to proceed to step two. Today, the Tamoran Emperor, his Chief of staff and the Head of intelligence were having the yearly review:

"Your Imperial Majesty, as said in the previous reviews, your imperial armed forces are ready, both the air force and army are fully equipped, trained and ready. However, there's only so much preparation we can do until you give us the green light to proceed with step two. Waiting another year won't help at all." The Chief of staff was detached as he spoke. Every year they had the same conversion and every year the Emperor postponed the decision to move forward. He resigned himself with the idea that so long as Abbas was Emperor the project will linger in this stage.

"I will also advice we proceed, Your Imperial Majesty. It will take time to make preparations for my operations. We need to know if we can proceed. I believe there are opportunities we have missed so far and we continued to waste."The Head of intelligence shared the same opinion with the Chief of staff in the he had long abandoned the idea that the project will ever proceed further.

There was silence is the room, the two men were waiting for the Emperor to reply.

"The treasury also informed that reserves are at an all time high. We should have enough funds for the project". said the Emperor.

More silence in the room as the two men were waiting to hear  how he would postpone the project for another year.

" So gentlemen, we will proceed with step two of the project ".

The two men could hardly believe it.

" You Imperial Majesty? " asked the Chief of staff bewildered. Not wanting to appearer totally surprised he added: " Is the decision final? "

"Yes, you will receive the orders by the end of the day".

More silence in the room.

"Gentlemen, you know what you have to do. This meeting is adjourned. "