FIRST ZARPTICA FIGHTER ARRIVES
The Imperial Aviation Wing (IAW) has today received the first of a 50 aircraft shipment to replace the
F-21 Qingniao fighter. The nation have agreed to but the fighter aircraft from the consortium made up of the Sovereign Union of Nations membership. With parts coming from Cassiopeia, Chistopol, Drenovia and Paracambi the pilots scheduled to fly them have been attending flight training in those nations. This marks the first new air force acquisition in what the Dragon-Emperor has described as "New Wings 2030" which will see a massive overhaul of the air forces capabilities. Currently the IAW inventory is made up of combat aircraft manufactured in the 1960's meaning that it is becoming increasingly costly to maintain and hard to find spare parts leading to many senior officers to believe that in the long run replacing these aging aircraft would save the nation money. Currently the IAW have two front line combat aircraft, the Qingniao which entered service in 1959 and fulfils a fighter/interceptor role, the second is the Sanzuwu which is used as a multi role fighter and entered service in 1961. The two aircraft will eventually both be replaced by the Zarptica, some of which will be designated as air superiority fighters. The Ministry of Defence have also announced that they have begun looking at replacements for the
Shangyeng advanced trainer with a spokesman saying, "If we are to invest in quality aircraft for our defence we also need quality pilots and this means our pilots will need to be more familiar with modern avionics systems and at the moment that is not possible. We are thankful to the S.U.N membership for allowing us to utilise their training for the time being but I think it is important that we eventually are capable of doing this for ourselves."
GOLDEN ENCLAVE TO UNDERGO "UPGRADE"
The Golden Enclave, the nations imperial complex, is to undergo extensive renevations. The Enclave is home to the Imperial Palace, the Concubines Lodge and the homes of many leading families of the Empire. It is also the area of the Empire where the Empress is the ultimate authority. For centuries it has been seen as a key symbol of the nations heritage and traditions. Currently the Enclave is home to around 800 people however during the day the numbers of people there swells as guests and civil servants enter on matters of national importance. The complex is also contains housing offered to ambassadors who hold noble ranks for example Sir Maxwell Hobbs of East Moreland has become a regular resident of the Enclave with his family. His 12 year old daughter, Darcy, is also attending some of the classes put on by scholars employed by the Imperial family. The Enclave will see upgrades to its educational facilities with six extra classrooms being constructed including a state of the art computing and digital media suite. The Enclave contains two traditional bath houses however one of them reports less than six visitors a week and as a result this is being replaced with a modern swimming pool. Each building in the complex is also being given access to top of the line fibre optic broadband. The work is expected to take almost a year to complete and by the end will see, according to an Imperial Spokesman, "the Enclave become a ultra modern area of the Empire. It will allow our diplomats, our civil servants and our guests from around the world to work more effectively and this can only be good news for the people of Lijiang."
The Enclave will also later this week take part in the "Procession of Life", a ceremony to welcome a new Imperial birth. Lady Jihai Huian, one of the Dragon-Emperors two concubines is due to give birth next month and the ceremony will help guide the spirit of a Dragon to the new child. The ceremony will involve a procession around the Enclave by Lady Jihai accompanied by the Dragon-Emperor and Empress. During this music will be played by drummers who and crowds will line the streets to throw good luck tokens at the processions feet. The belief is that those watching will throw items associated with their favoured Dragon and upon seeing its faithful supporting the new child that Dragon will send a spirit to help guide the child. In the case of this child if it is male it will be raised to be a future member of government, historically boys born between Dragon-Emperors and Concubines have become government Ministers, military leaders or scholars. Meanwhile females have often either entered the Priesthood or been used for political marriages. There has been significant pressure for the Dragon-Emperor to father more children as traditionally the size and success of the Imperial Family has been seen as a gauge for the prosperity of the nation. The former Dragon-Empero, Zhihao Guo had in 1899 a lack of children and died at the age of 22 plunging the Empire into 120 year mourning period that also saw flashes of warfare. This is a stark contrast to Dragon-Emperor Jingyi Tong who in 1720 had 62 children during his life. Currently Emperor Tielin has three children, Prince Chun (aged 19), Princess Wenjun (aged 16) and Prince Daoming (aged 9).
