Prince Maximus Astralix looked over the table that was set up for the conference. It sat in the Baron's Chamber, a room that in truth had little to do with the nobility. It was simply a room in the Palace attached to the main throne room, which in truth was more of a large function space nowdays, that in days past someone waiting to be enobled could wait with their retinue. Some of those retinue's in the distant past were large and so the room would be more than sufficent for their needs. It had no windows as it sat in the middle of the Palace but a large domed skylight made it feel airy. The walls were made of white plaster with columns holding up the roof more for decoration than purpose. The room itself was perfectly square as was the table which had been set up, "No head of the table, no foot of the table" Romilius, the Palace's head of staff, informed him. "I believe it will be the best form of symbolism for what you are trying to achieve. Each delegation we've given three chairs at the table but they can fit up to five people if they want, the tiny Lodjain ladies maybe seven." He chuckled. "We've then given each delegation a table behind that has many more seats." He pointed to the electronic tablet in each delegations place. "We've sent word to their aides that the tablet will allow them to summon drinks, food and anything else we think they may need." He picked one up and tapping on the screen it was not to disimilar to the tablets used by the staff at various restaurants. "We've a nice Abertonian red, a local white, whiskey from the Cenneg and a host of the other good stuff."
"Very good Romilius" the Prince said as he returned the tablet to its place stepped back and not satisfied returned to the table and straightened it. "Who are the guard of the day?" He asked.
Without needing to consult his notes the ever efficient Romilius said "The Iron Guard Sir"
"Well its not as good as the Vostroyan but they look pretty enough" the Prince was ever prideful in his old unit and even though he believed they were better troops he had to admit the Iron Guards dark blue and yellow trimmed dress uniform was the nicest of the two uniforms. He walked through the Palace casting an eye over the staff who were hurriedly preparing final touches for the meeting. He made his way outside as he was told that his guests were beginning to arrive. The handful of tourists who had got up early enough to see the Palace this morning were moved out the way of the gate by members of the Navis Imperialis who were manning the outer guard today and thus not in dress uniform. The khaki clad naval men politely but sternly gave instructions to those slow to move and one old lady found her shopping bag picked up by a small naval rating who offered a supporting arm to help her cross the road. He tipped his hat to her as he rejoined his friends guarding the entrance with rifles easily held should any action begin.
The first of the mini-covoys entered the palace. It was a duo of black limo's with a green military patrol vehicle at the front and one at the back with motorbike outriders at the flank. Tanith was nothing if not overefficient at utilising its military. The next would arrive in two minutes and the Prince knew that would be almost to the second and so as the Iron Guard formed an honour tunnel to welcome the first guest Maximus moved into position. "Welcome to Tanith" He said warmly.
