A Manist Mission

[Wadden]

To The Esteemed Emperor Abbas of Tamora

As you will be aware following his visit to your nation our Sultan has granted us permission to begin contact with the outside world. While he maintains the sole authority to speak on behalf of the Unified Tribes each is permitted to discuss matters concerning it. I represent the Humaydah tribe and like yourselves we maintain the practice of slavery. Traditionally we have utilised criminals from our neighbouring tribes however as our people have recently discovered a rich vein of Coltan in our lands we wish to exploit this resource and to do so require a larger number of slaves to work the mines. As such we would be interested in arranging a partnership for our tribe to acquire around 150 slaves to man this mine. Additionally we would be interested in setting up some kind of arrangement where the transfer of slaves between our two people's was possible with ease. As such if Your Imperial Majesty could spare me the time to visit and make such arrangements, either in person or through your representatives, I would be honoured.

May the Prophet Guide You
Chief Yasin Najm of the Humaydah Tribe
Shiekh of The East.

[Markus]

TO: His Royal Higness,  Chief Yasin Najm of the Humaydah Tribe, Shiekh of The East

I look forward to meeting you in person and discuss the issues you presented with another follower of the Prophet. Tamora will greet you appropriately and I would like to take the opportunity to invite Your Highness to attend religious service in the Great Temple of Djerb.

May the Prophet Guide You
Emperor Abbas Safavid
Emperor of Tamora

The general mood and how the press presented the visit

Djerb made serious preparations for the visit of the Shiekh of The East and treated it like an important state visit. While the Shiekh of The East was not a head of state he was still a leader of a tribe. That was seen in Tamora as a leader of one of the federated kingdoms of Tamora. But more important than that he was the leader of a tribe that followed the Prophet and in Tamora, where religion was very important in both society and government that meant a lot.

In the days preceding the Shiekh’s arrival the Tamoran press talked endlessly about the visit and about the Waddan tribes in general but especially about the Humaydah tribe and the two Islamic tribes, the Taym-Allat and Al Nahyan. The press wanted to know more about the size of those tribes, the areas they controlled, their specific practices and any particular religious customs that might set them aside from regular Manists or Muslims. Since the Waddan tribes had only recently emerged from isolation there was precious little information available and that lead to lots of speculation which the press constantly engaged in. They also tried to draw some parallels between Waddan and Vojvodina, the region of Tamora that had desert.  Same speculations were started about Shiekh of The East: how many wives and children did he have? How was he as a ruler of the tribe?

Djerb international airport – the day of the visit

Both emperor Abbas and his First Wife, Alya, were part of the welcoming delegation. It was a sign of courtesy reserved for friendly nations or those with close cultural and religious ties.
“Welcome to Tamora, Your Highness. We are honored to have you here” said Abbas greeting the Shiekh.
“This is my Frist Wife Alya” as he presented his wife Alya, which was addressed in the traditional abaya dress and hijab, she bowed respectfully to the Shiekh placing her right hand across her heart.

“It an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”

After the formal presentations were done the two countries’ national anthems where sang starting with Waddan’s anthem as customary. All this time the press were transmitting live every moment of the welcoming ceremony. 

After the formalities were done, the huge convoy of cars was prepared to take the Imperial couple and their guests to either the Great Temple of Djerb or to the Imperial Palace according to the prearranged schedule.(OOC: The Shiekh was informed beforehand in the reply what he would be invited to the Great Temple to attend religious service. If he declined the invitation then they would go directly to the palace since the hosts would not have that part in the agreed schedule).

[Wadden]

Yasin had probably the least regal like arrival for a state visit that Tamora had ever seen. The small prop driven plane had picked him up from a small tribal town and had actually used the dusty road as a runway. Prior to boarding the aircraft a representative of the Sultan had arrived to wish him well on his travels but also to take his horse, just as when the Sultan left the nation measures of tradition had to be taken, so when a Chief left he had to give something important to the Sultan to ensure his return and usually this was the horse a prized possession in Waddanite culture. Yasin was unique among the Chieftans for several reasons. The first was that he was a Manist but thankfully the difference in religion meant very little in Waddan, the second difference was his age. Unlike the other Chiefs who tended to be old men Yasin was in his late 20's his father having been blessed by the Prophet with eight children, but only one son and that coming very late in life. He was not travelling alone for while his father had not been blessed with sons Yasin was luckier and having been married at 14 he had two sons, there was Karam his eldest who was 14 years old and 10 year old Mahomet. It was Karam who sat opposite him in the plane, his face pressed up against the window. In his short life he had seen very little other than the desert and to watch the world whizz past below at such speed made him feel a little ill. His father was nervous too, he'd never left Waddan and he certainly hadn't ever flown for this long. He tried to pass the time reading some notes that he had made after speaking to his council before setting off, just numbers of what was needed and in what numbers.

As the aircraft landed at the international airport both Karam and his father hadn't seen aircraft so big as those around them leading Karam to get nervous. "Son, remember they may be bigger than us but the Addax can be eaten by the snake, and the snake is much smaller. Size matters little in many things." He placed a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder, checked his head-dress and then awkwardly made his way out the tiny aircraft. He approached the Empress and bowed deeply, "Your Imperial Majesty" he said while respectfully keeping his eyes lowered, a step behind him and to the right Karam did the same. "I have my son Karam with me. I believe as our nation changes the next generation of leaders must also change so I hope you do not mind Tamora in many ways being his classroom today."

"Thank you for meeting us Your Majesty" Karam said. He produced from inside his robes a necklace made of silver with a vile of water attached. "Our tribe pours water into a keepsake on the birth of  a child. We keep it all our life." He instinctly pressed his hand to his around his neck. "When we die our water returns to the desert and hopefully allows it to give new life to something else, if the Prophet wills it." he handed the necklace towards us, "The people of the Humaydah hope this is a birth of friendship so would like you to accept this." Yasin smiled, happy with how his son had done. His task complete the teenager returned to stand behind his father.

"Perhaps we can make our way to the Great Temple, I am very eager to see it. Back home our Temples are likely to be very small if we compare the size of our plane to yours.......and I would like to give thanks for that thing even getting me here." he chuckled as he followed the Empress towards the waiting cars.

[Markus]

When Abbas and Alya saw the Waddan “delegation” they were shocked to say the least. They did not expect the most lavish of delegations but in this case is was more than just austere. Abbas considered for a moment the possibility that the Tamoran lavish welcome might not be appropriate for the guests under these circumstances but he shrugged it off. Tamoran lavish welcomes represented Tamora in the first place so they were appropriate regardless of how guests presented themselves.
 
Abbas liked the fact that Yasin, as young as he was, already had a 14 year old boy. It was a relatively common practice in Tamora to marry young since marriages were generally arranged by the parents so he felt had something in common with Yasin.

“Thank you for the gift. It honors me. The Tamoran Empire would also like to extend friendship to the Humaydah people”.


The trip to the Great Temple of Djerb would take more than 30 minutes even with the traffic restrictions in place that allowed going through the city without any jams. That was in part because of in the center of the city the convoy slowed down considerably to allow the people gathered in the streets, that where there to see the Imperial couple but also the guests that the press talked so much about, to get a glimpse of the Imperial couple, Yasin and Karam.

From time to time fighter planes, mainly Su57, could be heard flying low so that people could see them. It was a tradition when hosting important foreign dignitaries to both have people in the streets but also to have the air force but on display their best fighters.  The entire visit was organized and orchestrated as a show aimed to display Tamoran might, to make guests feel important and also please the Tamoran people. 

The Great Temple of Djerb, one of the holiest sites of the Manist faith


The interior of the Great temple of Djerb

The convoy stopped near the entrance of the Great Temple of Djerb where the Imperial couple, the guests and other important members of the welcoming committee got off and went inside the Great Temple of Djerb. The Great Temple was already packed full except for the corridor in the center. The moment imperial couple and the two guests entered the Great temple, all attendees got up from their seats and remained standing as the Imperial couple escorted Yasin and his son through the corridor all the way to the first row where their seats we waiting for them. Once they got there they remained standing and soon the Supreme Ayatollah made his appearance signaling the start of the religious service.
 The Waddan guests, as Manists, would recognize the religious service though small differences would no doubt be present. 

The Supreme Aytollah pointing towards the place where Yasin and Karam were seated when he mentioned the “Humaydah Tribe”

During the sermon, the Supreme Ayatollah also made a statement referring to Waddan and the foreign guests:

“Today we see another sign of the greatness of our ancestors. As the tribes of Waddan have emerged from isolation, a thousand miles away from Tamora, we see among those tribes one that follows the Prophet. That is the result of the great missionary work of our ancestors no doubt and should inspire us to continue our work today all over Mundus so that generations from now they can reap the benefits of our work: a Mundus that does not reject the word of the Prophet but instead embraces it fully.

But dear brothers and sisters in faith, the people of the Humaydah Tribe, which share our faith, also tell teach us another important lesson: to keep our faith no matter what. They are testament to what we teach: that one is truly blessed not when he is showered with material wealth but when one has kept the faith of the Prophet and his teachings.

Let us now rise and pray for our brothers and sisters in faith in the kingdom of Clysperis that have made the ultimate sacrifice in defending their faith and defeating those that terrorized Clysperis and its people”. 

Afterwards, the religious service soon ended and the Imperial couple invited the Waddan guests to the Imperial palace.  During the short trip from the Great Temple to the Imperial palace, Abbas asked the two guests:

“How did you find the service ? “ referring to the one they had recently  attended. “Now that our two peoples are both looking to extend our friendship, I hope one day to be able to attend service in a temple of the Humaydah people. “

[Wadden]

Yasin and his son Karam were rather shocked by the site of the city of Djerb. It seemed to Karam at least like the whole population of Waddan could be housed here and the fact that a car, even when slowed, could drive for 30 minutes and still not reach its destination was a strange thing. In the city of Sabhā it was possible to walk across the entire city in almost the same amount of time as their drive. The overhead jets too were rather shocking, it wasn't that they'd never seen fighter jets it was just that they never flew in high numbers and the size of Waddan compared to the size of population meant that you were very unlikely to see them often. It made Yasin slightly worried, what if Tamora ever cast their eyes east, after all it was well known that Tamora had influence with Clysperis, what if these feats of military engineering took to the skies above Waddan? It was a thought Yasin pushed to the back of his mind with a smile, after all he shared the faith of these people and they had extended a hand of friendship so it was very very unlikely a fighter would appear above the sands of Waddan.

As they reached the Great Temple Karam's eyes widened, the building could engulf the Temple back home many times over, just one of the sections with the domes would have been about the size of the one in Sabhā. It made the pair of Waddanites only too aware of how few of the Manist faith resided in Waddan. The mark of respect from the faithful to the Emperor, Empress and themselves was something Yasin was more used to, as Shiekh of the East he was well respected and his tribe, as well as those from other tribes who recognised him, showed respect. "Your Majesty this Temple is a marvel." Yasin remarked as he stood in the front row his eyes taking in the view. "Back home our temple is much plainer, white walls and ceiling however with bright red calligraphy everywhere. Sadly the calligraphy of the Holy Book is rather pointless, very few of the tribe can actually read. We rely on our clergy to tell us the words of the Prophet and guide us. It marks them as some of the most important in our society, its a status I agree with but for the wrong reason. I would like to see the people able to read the words for themselves, however as I'm sure you can appreciate carrying a library of books with us as we travel is not exactly conclusive to our nomadic lifestyle." As the sermon took place Karam kept nudging Yasin to pay attention as his eyes kept gazing at some manner of the decoration that he had spotted, the last thing the Chief wanted was people to think his son was day dreaming as the Ayatollah spoke. As the Holy man spoke of Waddan, Karam placed his hand on his heart and gave the Ayatollah a respectful nod of thanks for the recognition.

As they sat in the car on the way back from the Temple Karam thought before answering the Emperor's question. "It was eye opening" he mused, "Back home it is rare to mention what I would refer to as Politics, the mentioning of other lands or current affairs. I think that may be for the reason that for the average member of our tribe we are out of the loop of global affairs for much of the year. I'm embarrassed to say but I suspect many Waddanites will not be aware of the civil war in Clysperis, thus our clergy speaking on that manner would be a waste of words in many respects, in fact it may be fair to say that for much of the year the clergy may not even be aware of the affairs beyond the tribes land. Our services are more about the stories from the Holy Book, from the history of the Prophet and advising us how we can apply that to our lifestyle. Son?" he turned to Yasin who seemed once more distracted by the city, "What did you think of the service?"

Yasin mumbled a little nervous about being addressed like an adult. His father scolded him gently to speak up, "Sorry father" the boy said respectfully. "I liked it." he began, " We are told about the greatness of our Prophet and his ideas, but when you are sat in our rather plain temple compared to yours it is perhaps hard to imagine that when it is viewed side by side with those places of worship of the folk faith back home. But then most of the time we pray outdoors or in a tent. At times I was too focused on the beauty of the Temple and not the words, I think perhaps we may have an advantage there as I don't get distracted by the building back home. I....."

"Thank you son." Karim cut the boy off before he gave anymore of his comparison for fear it may offend the host. "I agree with my son. Your Temple is stunningly beautiful but so are the words of the Ayatollah, I hope you will convey how honoured we were to him when next you can. As for visiting our Temple in Sabhā you would be most welcome as far as I am concerned, however Sabhā is a holding of all tribes and for me to host a foreign dignitary of your rank there without the Sultan's permission would be difficult, however I believe the Sultan would be glad to have you visit. Should you wish to come visit some of our tribal lands then I can extend that invite at any time you wish. However I suspect you would get rather a more dusty experience than we have had today." He chuckled, "Although our lands change every few days as well. Our nation has what I think would best be described as a rota system for who owns which land. Currently we are based about 100km outside Sabhā, in two days time we shall drop our tents, gather our livestock and follow a stream west for about 50km. The Nammir ibn Qasit tribe will take over the land we leave while we will take over the land the Al Maktoum will be leaving. It ensures a fair division of the grazing land and a fair division of any hardships. This year I will be leaving Yasin here as what we call our Caretaker, it will be his duty to ensure that the Nammir ibn Qasit tribe are satisfied we have left the land in condition for them. Should their be an disputes he will be required to reach a settlement with them. It's time he begins to learn to deal with the other tribes." Yasin seemed rather excited by the prospect. It would see him and five members of the militia make their own way to the next encampment following the tribe. "But if Your Imperial Majesty is keen to see then we can make our schedule available anytime you wish."

[Markus]

“So you believe that the great buildings we raised for the Prophet and his believers actually take our attention away from the Prophet and his message?” Abbas said to Yasin looking straight at him “You sound like our Orthodox (Manist) in Tamora” he said laughing and thus showing he did not take any offense “Well not exactly like them but they have their grievances. “

Abbas then returned to Yasin’s father:

“In some ways our people are similar with the difference being that our tribe is larger. Tamorans know about what is happening in Tamora and follow what happens in other MidAranye countries but outside our region there is not much that interests Tamorans. One of the great events in Mundus according to some, the wedding of the Morelanders and the Lodjans raised little interest here, most here probably don’t even know it happened and the list goes on.“

“I will come then, where people follow the Prophet I am interested in going.”

“There is something that I wanted to ask you” Abbas said looking at Karam:

“How big is your tribe?  People here have speculated a lot but nobody really knows. I am interested to know how big is your tribe compared to the rest.” He asked in genuine curiosity.

After Karam finished answering, the convoy reached its destination.

[Wadden]

"The exact number of any tribe is difficult to work out" Karam mused, "it is not like Tamora where we have such things as a Census or regular administration. We don't even have a registration of births like many nations do. I believe officially the nation has 12.5million people, except I believe that number to be closer to 14, but we will never know. Our tribe is also not always in one group, like many of the others we split into sub groups, we call these bands. Each band is lead day to day by someone I appoint known as a Marshall. At set times of the year we all come together at semi-permanent settlements, the birthday of the Prophet being such an occasion. Otherwise these Marshall's carry out my orders and follow my guidance between meetings. One day I shall pack Yasin off to be a Marshall. Currently I have 12 such Marshall's, so along with myself we have 13 bands, each band contains roughly 1,500 people. We then have maybe another 100 people living in the capital full time, I have emissaries with some of the other tribes too and altogether I suspect we have around 20,000 of us. We're one of the smaller tribes mainly because we are not part of the nations main faith so historically we have no enjoyed the position of Sultan. I think ourselves and the Banu Lakhm who follow the Anahitaism faith are the only ones to never have had someone elected to the position of Sultan and I think we never shall." Karam would have loved the thought of one day having his son or other descendent become Sultan but it was never going to happen, the tribes following the folk faiths always ensured one of them became Sultan. When they elected the current Sultan his grand-father had received just two votes and out of those who had been nominated had been the first to drop out the process. It was OK though as at least Sultan Yahya IV kept out of religion, he was an old man concerned about traditions of the desert, the tribal hierarchies and maintaining peace between the tribes and as far as Karam was concerned he was happy with that arrangement.

"The largest tribe are the Talafha, the Sultan's own tribe, it explains why that tribe have amassed the most number of Sultan's. They have enough influence through the smaller tribes by marriages, land shares, just the size of a militia they can put out in emergencies to ensure they will always get the most votes. I believe they have around a million members, in ancient times their raiders were like horde if they put a mind to attack another tribe. Thankfully such situations haven't come about for 200 years, long may that continue. It is this lack of war in a way that has brought me to your nation. In ages past it was a way of us gaining access to slaves, we'd buy from the Seleucid, we'd buy from other tribes who had taken prisoners in their skirmishes with neighbouring tribes. Now both those avenues don't exist and we are stuck with essentially buying our slaves from the small pool of criminals within the tribes. The changes we will see happen in the nation soon mean we need a larger workforce, my people will be unwilling to give up their livestock and their way, thankfully, so we are left with needing slaves and I understand you have an abundence." The Chief began steering the conversation towards one of the main reasons for his visit.

[Markus]

“What about the Taym-Allat and Al Nahyan? Did those two Mulim tribes ever get the position of Sultan?”

After Karam answered, the slave servants of the imperial palace proceeded to open the doors of the car.

The gardens of the Imperial Palace

Abbas and Alya invited their guests to explore together with them the gardens of the palace. Normally, they would go inside for talks but this time Abbas had something else in mind regarding the guests. 

When Karam mentioned Tamora’s abundance of slaves, Abbas replied:

“That is true, we have more than 37 million slaves in Tamora, probably even more now because of the recession. We can definitely sell you slaves . Tell me again how many do you need."

[Wadden]

"There has never been a Sultan that follows any faith other than the folk faith, it is not that way be exclusion or design. It just comes down to simple numbers, 16 or so tribes follow that faith, around four follow faiths different to the folkish one. When votes count it is very difficult for 4 to out vote 16. But this is the nature of leadership of Waddan." Chief Karam shrugged, naturally he would have loved it if he or his son could succeed the current Sultan or ever be Sultan but he knew that would be impossible. The Palace grounds were perhaps some of the greenest lands he'd ever seen and while his son Yasin was amazed at where all the water came from the Chief was more calculating in his head how many goats he could graze in the garden he suspected about 20 for a week.

Things turned to business as the Chief was wondering where he would have put his tent. "The number of slaves we need at the moment are rather low, you see the mine complex is not yet established so it would be more a case of perhaps 30 or 50 to help with that. We would then need more once the facility is running and naturally if and when we have any need to replace them, such as accidents or illness." They'd seen how hard the work of criminals in some of the small mines had been forced to work and naturally his sometimes lead to illness and death despite the tribe trying to ensure they were fed and clothed adequetly. "I would hope also that as the mine becomes successful we may open more, this would I hope lead to repeat custom. Perhaps we can become useful customers for your own nation."

[Markus]

“ I think that can change” Abbas said referring to the election of a non-folk sultan in Waddan. “That has been the way until now because Waddan was isolated. Now that Waddan opened to MidAranye and to the wider Mundus many new opportunities will come for you and your tribe. Our two people share the same faith, that already gives you powerful friends and can open many doors”.  As if anticipating objection Abbas added “I do not mean overnight. Let me better explain, we are now in Djerb which is almost in the geographical center between sea of Kyne and the Gulf of Safraen. Almost a thousand years ago when the Prophet walked Mundus nobody would have imagined our faith would grow so much or that indeed the struggling kingdom of Tamora would one day reach the sea. And yet in the 20th century Tamora expended to the sea of Kyne. Your tribe getting the position of Sultan might not need a thousand years like in our case but it will require careful planning for the long future. What I want you to take back home is the idea, the vision that your tribe is now set to achieve great things. It’s only up to you, your family and the Prophet on what that dream is and how to make it a reality.”

“Providing you with 50 men now will be no problem. And we can certainly supply you with more on a regular basis. One issue we might have is the price. The price is 75,000 dinars (usd) for a slave. I may be very wrong here but that might sound like a lot of money. If that is the case tell me and we can find some alternative agreement. ”

“About your mine you mentioned. I don’t know the rules of your Sultan so I am just going to ask you. I am interested in setting up an arrangement where we would buy your resources. Tamora and Royal Seleucid have a great need for them, some for our own industry others to resell them to other nations. What resources do you have at your mine and would you be interested in selling to us and us alone?”

[Wadden]

For the Manists to get elected Sultan of Waddan it would take a population explosions beyond anything Mundus had ever seen or some massive war and genocide. Neither were things that Karam believed would ever happen in Waddan. Family sizes were strictly controlled to ensure the tribe's resources were never outstripped, meanwhile risking fighting between the tribes was something you couldn't risk. The tribes were often so small that just losing a handful of prime men could put them in grave danger. He however wouldn't give his host a lesson in the finer matters of Waddanite politics, now was not the time or place.

It seemed that now they were getting down to the nitty gritty of business and Karam hoped that the rules here were very similar to those back home. The rules there were very simple, don't lie about what you were selling, don't offer what you couldn't deliver and remember that the price was never set in stone. "$75,000 is a lot for a slave indeed. However it sounds like you accept payment in things other than money. We at present shall be mining Coltan at the site as that is what we've discovered to be in abundance. We may get lucky and the more we dig the other things we may find. At the moment it is my understanding that the mineral is in rather short supply and costs around $200 per pound[1]. Now while at present we have few connections with the world we are certain that the Sultan will look to change that soon. Especially with his son now establishing a position exactly to do such things. We therefore do not wish to be selling to you, for you to sell onwards. If the global market is setting the price at $200, that means we would need to sell to you for say $130 for you to make profit when you sell for $200. I do however believe that a compromise may be meet. If you can find a way of finding us cheaper slaves. After all we do not need those selling for $75,000 as we require no skills, no training and the like. In return for you maybe being able to find us cheaper alternatives we would be able to put aside a certain amount of Coltan at a preferential rate of say a 15% reducation for the projects you say you and Royal Seleucid have in mind. I have heard talk of some battery factory? That will require lots of the rare metals found in Waddan. Naturally if we are to have to start paying a higher price for slaves, or even perhaps using paid workers then that means your manufacturing price for the batteries will increase, pushing up the prices you will have to charge and so on. Do you think therefore we can perhaps find a cheaper source of slaves?"

1.	If I read the commodities page right

[Markus]

Abbas wasn’t the man who enjoyed making trade deals and negotiating. As emperor of Tamora he was lucky in that regard since Tamora was not known for entering into many agreements. Still Abbas liked the fact that for the first time since dealing with a foreign dignitaries that wanted to buy slaves it was not to release them and thus imply some kind of moral superiority over him. Neither Yasin nor Karam had made any observations about how slavery was wrong and how they were looking to see the institution abolished, not that Abbas expected them to do so but it was still something that made Abbas confortable when dealing with them.

“It is true that you do not need slaves with skills but you do need healthy male slaves, in their prime of their life or you would need to buy other in less than a year. Also, slavery is different here than in Waddan, we have millions of slaves because most are born into slavery. The overwhelming majority of them are not people who broke the law and many of them have families of their own. You will perhaps understand while many masters would not easily break apart slave families to have slave fathers sold to a mine in a far way land where in less than a decade they will perish. And those that sell slaves without any moral qualms do it at a higher price.

Your luck is that the number of slaves you need is small, you said 50 slaves as a start. I can have my staff see to it that they find 50 slaves for you from among my holdings. Slaves that have committed crimes deserving of punishment and who are not old or cripple. I can sell them you for 25,000 dinars(usd) each on the condition that you pay me in coltan at a discount of 25%. The 25% discount would only apply to the value of the slaves, for the giga factory we would get the 15% discount you suggested and for anything else we buy we get a 10% discount.
We also agree not to resell the coltan without your permission. That way we would not use the 10% discount to undercut your potential business. In return, you must guarantee us that should you give anyone a discount higher than 15% then you must at least match that discount for coltan we buy for the giga factory. We would not want to support the extraction of the resource only to find someone else reaping the benefits. “

Before giving Yasin a chance to reply he continued:

“There is one more matter I want to address that is related to the deal. I understand that Waddan is different with its tribal structure and we respect your way of doing things. But there are some concerns about the mine that I want to share. I understand that tribes fighting each other in skirmishes is not uncommon in Waddan.[1] So naturally I have to wonder. If we make this deal and supply you with cheap slaves and you develop the mine into a prosperous business can you keep others from not taking it away from you? Now I may not understand the ways of Waddan but you told me that your tribe is not the most numerous one in Waddan and that there are no other tribes of your faith. So what would stop other from taking it away from you either by force or by pressure?   

I am asking because we have different customs than yours. Should another tribe take control over that mine where we subsidiesed the slave labor with slaves from the Imperial domains that will be seen by Tamora as a hostile act by Waddan as a whole and not just by one tribe. So I need to know, can you hold the mine once it becomes operational and begins bringing you lots of money to you and your tribe ?"

1.	I know the news was posted after the meeting started by I assume this is not the first incident in decades.

[Wadden]

OOC- Yeah, intertribal violence does happen but usually doesn't extend beyond a punch up. Fighting is extremely rare to end up with anything other than a black eye and maybe a broken nose.


"If I may deal first with the questions about land allow me to give Your Imperial Majesty a crash course in Waddan geopolotics." He removed a sheet of paper from his folder and drew a shape rougly similar in outline to Waddan. Outside of that he drew an outline parralel to the first, two shapes one inside the other. He then set about marking off particians between the two. The inside of the shape he split haphazardly into various shapes and sizes. "This is Waddan. These areas..." he began to shape the small blocks that sat between the two outlines of Waddan, "These are the Tribal Lands. What that means is they belong to each tribe, this is dependent on very old claims that date back in most cases around 400 years. These are recorded and are not able to change. So here....." he pointed to an area he shaded in about half way along the border with Abuqiya "is the land of our tribe, contained there is what we call our capital, a place called Assengrey, a mere village by the extent of Tamoran settlements but it provides a year round supply of water and with careful management enough feed for winter. Each of these outer squares represents a tribes own territory and that is essentially their own Kingdom in effect. No tribe would try and take away another tribes private lands for a simple reason, to oppose the law that has stood for centuries would mean they themselves would become fair game. 25 tribes living side by side only works if we all follow the rules, once one breaks it then they become targets too. While it is true we follow a faith different to the others it is also the case that even those within the Folk faiths have huge differences between their faiths. In much the same way that religious scholars will talk of the People of the Book being Islam, Christianity and Judaism because of the connection to the origins of their faith but today they are very distinctive the same could be said of the Folk faith. These factors therefore make me believe the mine will be entirely safe. I also think that you will find many tribes will also have rare metals on their tribal lands and that these will developed once they hopefully see the success of our own. What will be interesting is what will happen to the resources found on this." with that he tapped the lands in the middle.

"You see these lands belong only to the tribes for a set period of time each year. There is a document called the Map of Tribes held in the nations capital. It is a complex timetable for when each tribe owns each piece of land. It ensures fair division of the land of different qualities. The fights between tribes only occur when someone messes this system up. I firmly believe that soon the Sultan will try and develop mining in these areas and use the money for the nations good, when this happens I would like to have had our facility making us good money so I can lobby for us to be givena  significant role in its operation."

He hoped his quick lesson left the Emperor in a better position to understand the way Waddan worked, however he was sure it was a system that unless you grew up in it would take someone a very long time to get fully to grasp with. "Now as for the discussions on the price. If I understand this correctly are you saying that we would get our slaves but we would then pay you the $25,000 per slave in Coltan? If that is what you are suggesting I think we are in very close proximity to a deal." He leaned forward, " as we dig we may well find other metals of interest to you and this gigafactory.  I am told where you often find Coltan you may also find Lanthanum which while cheaper in value is also useful in batteries. What if we said that rather than paying you in Coltan we pay you, with the same discount applied, in any metals we find. Naturally should you determine that Lanthanum is of no use to you then you can refuse the trade. This way we pay off our debt quicker, you get access possibly to more metals than just Coltan?"

[Markus]

Abbas listed carefully as Yasin explained the workings of the Waddan tribes. To Abbas it seemed those tribes acted somewhat like sovereign states did in Mundus. They each had their borders and should conflict start, others will likely interfere. It wasn’t a perfect comparison but after all what was stopping Tamora from annexing the land of Vanora if not the inevitable problems it would cause for the Empire from other nations? So while the system seemed fragile on paper in practice it could work. As far Abbas was considered he believed Yasin was too optimistic about his position but he decided it was best to trust him. After all, he was the leader of tribe and risked the livelihood of all his people on this.

“Then by the Prophet I hope you are right” said Abbas “as for your suggestion of accepting other metals I think it works well for the both of us, so I agree. Do we have a deal?” he asked waiting to see if he can move to the topic of discussion the transportation of the slaves.

[Wadden]

"It would appear Your Majesty has just acquired access to a variety of different metals.....at least I hope so." Yasin was not sure of the way things were done here in Tamora but a handshake with witnesses was literally as good signing a contract. "In Waddan between tribes it is enough for us to have a witness each to the agreement" the Chief turned to his son "Karam, you've just witnessed the first trade deal between Waddan and another nation, this is something you'll tell your grand-children about" Yasin patted his son on the shoulder. "As our witness it will be your job boy to report to the Sultan honestly what has been done here. Do you understand?"

"Yes father." Karam nodded, "Congratulations to you and Your Majesty" the boy nodded respectfully to the two men.

"Naturally whatever must be done to conform with Tamoran law will need to be done and we are happy to do that." Yasin added.

[Markus]

“Excellent, may the Prophet bless our deal and bring us both prosperity “said Abbas as he shook hands with Yasin and then with Karam. He gave a quick nod of the head when Karem congratulated the two.

“It used to be that way here” said Abbas referring to deals done only by a handshake and a witness “but that’s no longer the case. Now I have a whole archive filled with documents and quite a few slave servants taking care of it. Most of those deals in fact predate my reign. I will have my servants make the necessary papers for us to sign before you leave. Alya will take care of it”.

“And give the Sultan my greetings when you see him, young prince” added Abbas.

“Now that the trade is concluded let me show you something” Abbas inviting the two guests to go with him and his wife to another part of the imperial palace gardens. As they approached a certain part of the garden a slave servant could be seen coming towards them on foot leading a white camel. As he got near the imperial couple and their guests, he bowed and motioned to give the reigns to Yasin.

“This is a small gift for you, Your Highness. It’s a camel bought from the Jewel Festival in Royal Seleucid. I hope you like it” said Abbas.  “ I know what you are thinking, Your Highness. Getting it back to Waddan will be challenge. We did not expect you to be arriving in such a light aircraft but we will find a way to get it to you, do not worry.”

The camel was easily worth 100,000 dinars/usd if not more and Abbas wanted to give the gift after the trade negotiations ended as to not make the chief feel pressure to give him a better deal. In Tamora that was no way to treat someone with whom you wanted to be friends with.   

“Since we are talking transportation, we also need to consider how the slaves will reach your country. I suggest we use a land route as to avoid unnecessary troubles from hostile foreign powers that have nothing better to do. A land route will imply using Abuqiya which I believe they will agree to help us since they are friends. Otherwise, we could choose an alternative route via Royal Seleucid. We can transfer the slaves to their port in Ipsus and from there by ship to Waddan.  There is also the option to transfer them by air but I believe you don’t have an airport in Waddan or have my people informed me wrong?

And this also leads us to our second issue I want to approach. As you probably know by now, we have no issues with trading in slaves just as our ancestors before us had none but, unfortunately, some foreigners who can’t seem to mind their own affairs do have issues with it. So it is up to you if you want to keep the deal discrete or make it public.  Some of those who made deals with us in the past made their transactions public and caused an international outcry. We generally like to do things in the open since there is nothing to be ashamed but if you prefer we keep this discrete that is also fine with us. “

After the guests had a chance to reply, the Abbas invited the guests inside the imperial palace to continue their talks there as he used to do with various others heads of state. 

[Wadden]

While the gift was indeed generous it was one that the chief would not make much us of beyond carrying his belongings as a stallion was a vehicle much more befitting a chief, perhaps though it was something he could have one of his daughters use. It did however show that he enjoyed some kind of favour from a foreign Emperor and that was something that made it far more valuable than any financial cost. Karam was handed the reigns by his father and he was used to handling animals and soon had the beast stood obiediently at his side. "Thank you Your Majesty" Yasin said with a bow, "I have heard many great things about this festival in Royal Seleucid, I had one person tell me they'd never seen so many tents in their life and as a Waddanite I think that is certainly something I must see to believe." he mused perhaps as relations opened up among the Midaranye nations he would take some interest there as if camels were being traded he could certainly make a bit of money himself.

As talk turned to travel the Chief laughed, "You think any travel is easy for a Waddanite, before you even put your shoes on in the morning you have to check for snakes and scorpions, and all the riding you need to have a backside made of granite. The journey here was relatively straight forward, no navigation of a flat desert, no need to keep a few hundred animals herded together, no worries about water or sandstorms. Frankly if all my travels were as straight forward as getting here I would probably have less grey hairs. You are of course right work needs to be done to ensure that we can move ourselves and our produce more simply. I for now will leave the method of delivery to yourselves, we are flexible enough to deal with it however you wish and which you think is safest for those from your nation involved.  In terms of airports there is a single strip that perhaps could be accessed but it is a military airfield and I believe not in the best of conditions. It is somewhere the Sultan is keen not to allow the various tribes to turn into a transport hub for fear of some believing it shows the nations military are favouring certain tribes however if you prefer the air route he may allow it."

The last point was about the slavery deal being made public. "A man only keeps secrets because he is ashamed to speak the truth." the Chief replied. "The shame can come because he knows in his heart that his actions offend his God, or his family or more often that he fears the consequences the truth could bring. We have done a deal, if I was ashamed of that deal in anyway I would not have shaken your hand and made my son witness it. We probably do not have the global reach of your media but I will be telling people of what we have done here, unless of course you wish us not to. Beside if the international community stop their trade with us I think it would be of little consequence to us as we are so small and rather self-sufficent in many regards only needing outsiders for the modern luxuries that are creeping into our society."

[Markus]

Once they were all comfortably inside the Imperial Palace, Abbas approached a new subject:

“ Your Highness, you and me are the only Mundus leaders that are of the Manist faith. Our religion has grown steadily not just in Midaranye but also in the rest of Mundus. Many gifted imams from Tamora go to countries like Zimalia to spread our faith. Their efforts are important for many reasons, they bring the news of our Prophet to those that had yet to hear of him, they are unofficial ambassadors of our culture and plant seeds that will grow in the next generations. Look as the Helusians, they have three Kings ( ooc: East Moreland, Bakkermaya and Seaforth) that are of their faith and that greatly helps in building trust between them and helps them become friends. You deal differently with people with whom you have something so important as faith in common, though of course it is no guarantee of good relations. This is why my government makes efforts to help our Church send missionaries aboard. I want for my son and his sons to rule in a Mundus that has more Manists leaders like you and me.

So I want to ask you if you would allow people of your tribe to go aboard and spread our faith. They could use the infrastructure we have in place for our missionaries and go with their brothers of faith from Tamora. Now you're told me that your tribe is not numerous and that the infrastructure in Waddan is so that traveling is not easy but also life lacks many of the luxuries we enjoy so I understand the constraints you have.

In fact those constraints brig me to the second point I would like to address. Tamora helps its friends and I would like for Tamora to help your tribe and if your tribe prospers then so does Waddan. From my experience nations or tribes each have their differences and each of their leaders have a vision, a path for their countries. What works in Clysperis and Zimalia does not work for the Humaydah Tribe because ultimately you want different things. So I what I want to ask you are what are the needs of your people and how might we perhaps help you? “

[Wadden]

"In Waddan there are many traditions regarding leaving the tribe, as long as these are fulfilled then a person can travel where they like. For example just to come here today I have had to leave my horse with the Sultan.  When the Sultan leaves the nation then we have to ensure one of our daughters, grand-daughters or even sisters go and live in the Palace during his excursion. Technically they are hostage but the only damage that ever befalls them is they return a little fatter from the genorous banquets thrown by the royal family. " Yasin chuckled before continuing, "Now should any member of our tribe wish to take up the call of life as a missionary of sorts we shall not stand in their way. It may take though some time before we have any willing to be missionaries but I suppose the best we can do is see what happens" he shrugged.

The Chief thought for a while on the second question, the one focusing on what needs his people had. "To now the people of any Waddan tribe needs are the same, a herd of animals, mounts of guard them, the grass to grow and the water to run. Now with the addition of the mine we will be changing these things slightly. The only other changes we are making is at our tribal capital where we are working to make devices known as Water Mines. They essentially extract water from the very air." Perhaps a more educated man could have explained how the process worked but as far as the Chief knew air came in, did something, and left behind moisture. Any ideas on how to increase our water reserves is always going to be welcome, however I do not think short of somehow persuading the almighty to give us rain you have much chance with that."

[Markus]

"Thank you for giving your permission for any members of your tribes that might wish to go in the future. They naturally would have to respect their obligations to their tribe as ours have to respect their obligations to our … tribe so to say."


 "Well I do not have any easy solutions to the water problem of Waddan or any solutions for that matter, I am afraid. I will get my people to look into it and see if we can come up with something to help. We will be keeping in touch and I will inform you if there's anything we come up with."


 "I would like to ask you for a favor. Will your Highness find me a slave that is more knowledgeable of the ways of your tribe and the Islamic tribes in particular and Waddan tribes in general? I am not looking for an expert scholar but I want my diplomatic staff to be more in touch with the basic way of the Waddan society. They clearly aren't,  during our talks here I learned more of your ways then from my diplomatic corps’ entire briefing. Of course, adequate compensation for the slave will be provided as well as any transportation costs involved. "



 Abbas had no more things on his agenda and waited on the Chief and his son to see if there was anything else they wanted before concluding the meeting and inviting them over to eat (ooc which would be the end of the meeting,  we would not be RPing the dinner table talk).