The Grand Tour (to everyone interested)

[Cool101jr]

From the desk of the Minister of Affairs

To the nations of Mundus,

Greetings, with my new posting as Lord Minister of Affairs I have taken over the duties of International Affairs. As such, I would like to undertake a Grand Tour of sorts to all of the Nations of Mundus that will accept me in order to build new relationships and perhaps set up new trade deals and alliances. I plan on compiling all invitations into a file and ordering them in such a way that I will make a circle around Mundus, spending 2 days in each nation, and ending up back home in Revana. I am not setting myself a time limit on this venture, in order to assure I reach the maximum number of nations possible, however I will cancel should any emergencies happen that need my attention. I have a few nations I would like to visit in mind that I hope I will be able too just because of my own personal curiosity, including the nations of Lakhzovia, Ui Ceinnselaig, Lodja (though I feel this will be impossible with the current situation, a shame), and East Moreland, however I would really just like to visit the entire world if it wasn't such an impossible task. I do hope to be speaking in person with all of soon, and I look forward to your responses.

With Best Regards,
Serena Bartrove

Lord Minister of Affairs

[The Young Pope]

The Ecclesiastical State

On behalf of his holiness Pope Peter II, I Secretary of State and Cardinal Adalberto Giancola hereby invite thee, Lord Minister of Affairs Serena Bartrove, to the Earthly Kingdom of Heaven, the Ecclesiastical State, to discuss anything that involves and revolves our two proud nations' relations and how it can be built upon further. ES is 1,984 yrs old and counting, founded by this land's people and St. Pope Peter I, has always maintained its traditions and customs thus calling itself a Living Museum so to say...We can't await your response if Revana shall choose to visit our most humble and respectable nation.

Take Care and God Bless,

Secretary of State Adalberto Giancola & Pope Peter II

[Glitchy]

THE REPUBLIC OF SUTHERLAND

Dear Serena Bartrove,

Sutherland, since the time of the Great War, has looked on its neighbours and the rest of the world with conservative eyes. Now that I've settled in as the leader of Sutherland, we're looking to our neighbours with a more open point of view. So, understandably, I'd hereby like to invite you to Malboura for diplomatic discussion and the possible Suvvo BBQ. We hope to hear from you soon.

I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your trip.

Sincerely,
Malcum Truman
President of Sutherland

[Phonx]

Rzeczpospolita Solónya
Republic of Solonia

Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Republic of Solonia would be honored for you to visit us should the circumstances permit. We have a history stretching back many centuries and our people, our culture, and our faith in god have managed to survive despite the many tragedies that have befallen us as a nation. Our nation is looking to build it's relationships with the other nations on Mundus and we will take this opportunity that has been presented to us. I wish you good luck on your travels of Mundus and look forward to hopefully seeing you soon.

Yours Sincerely,
Więcesław Bilski
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[yasha]

To the Supreme Empire of Revana

Her Excellency, Lord Minister of Affairs Serena Bartrove

Revana and Himeyama being so close to one another geographically, we couldn't help but feel interested in pursuing relations with Revana.

Now that an opportunity has presented itself to do so, we humbly request that you come to visit Hidamariyama, Myōga so we may re-establish ties long left stagnant.

Hidamariyama is a small, old fashioned village in northern Myōga close to the Tsuyariko mountain range, and is quite beautiful during the fall season, we do hope that you consider taking up our offer.

Signed,

武蔵椎名
Shiina Musashi
Premier Executive Administrator of Himeyama

[KrisNord]

To:- Lord Minister Serena Bartrove

I am delighted that we are one of the nations that you highlighted of being of particular interest. I would therefore like to invite you to spend a weekend in Claith at your convenience. We look forward to welcoming you soon.

Best Regards

King Finley

[Lakhzovia]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Lakhzovia

Dear Serena Bartrove

The Republic of Lakhzovia would be delighted to host you during your world tour. We are particularly honoured to learn of your particular interest in visiting our country.

We believe that Lakhzovia has a lot to offer travellers, yet the unfortunate history of our land over the last century has sadly resulted in our country being little known and overlooked as a destination.

The President has decided to make room in his calendar in order to provide you with a personal tour of as many of the major sights as can be fit in to a two day visit.

May your days be blessed,

Tesan Cikniye
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Arda Tuluva]

ARDA TULUVAN EMPIRE


FIRST MINISTRY OF THE GRAND SECRETARIAT

Unto Her Ladyship, Serena Bartrove, Lord Minister of Affairs for the Supreme Empire of Revana; greetings and salutations,

It is with the greatest hope and sincerity that in our time peace and prosperity can truly be achieved with neighbors near and far. On behalf of Her Most Sublime & August Majesty, the Autárimë Empress, the Arda Tuluvan Imperial Government bids well wishes to Your Ladyship on this Grand Tour and prosperity to the Supreme Empire of Revana.

The Arda Tuluvan Empire is ever desirous to maintain and promote harmony in our world; to this end do we happily invite Your Ladyship to Imperial Capital of Imladris to treat with one another in the great hope that friendship and tranquility shall emerge and foster an age of peace and prosperity between our two glorious societies.


Honor and glory.


Sincerely,
Cormarë Vercatauronámë
First Minister of Arda Tuluva
Grand Chancellor of the Grand Secretariat

[Cool101jr]

OOC: (With us starting a major rail project at work that is causing me to be working from 6 am to 7 pm along with college, I am going to be waiting until Sunday to post anything on this as I will be off and we should be about done with the project at work. This should also give everyone who is interested in this plenty of time to make a post and plan. With the current nations that have posted, I am planning on starting the tour in Himeyama and making a clockwise circle around to each nation ending in Sutherland before heading back to Revana. It has surprised me how many have posted and can't wait to get started. Please do not hesitate to join so that our nations can build some relations together)

[Major Jaws]

OFFICIAL LETTER FROM THE PALACE OF QUINTELIA

Salutations,

Greetings, Serena Bartrove. The Empire of Quintelia would like to invite you and your delegates here. We believe that building relations with each other will ease the peace keeping in Mundus. We will be honored to have you as our guest.

Sincerely yours,

King Lapu

[Cool101jr]

From The Desk of the Minister of Affairs

To all nations that have volunteered to host me,

I am extremely honored that so many of you have offered me a stay in your nations and I look forward to meeting each and every one of you in person. Above I have attached my planned flight path for this journey, which is subject to change should more nations volunteer or should circumstances change. As I type this email, I am currently about to leave my plane in the nation of Himeyama, beginning the first leg of my journey. In two days I will depart to Lakhzovia.

With Best Regards,
Serena Bartrove

Lord Minister of Affairs


Serena closed her laptop and gathered her jacket, walking to the door as a staircase was brought to the jet. She stepped down the stairs, stepping into the nation of Himeyama for the first time, looking around for the people meeting her.

[yasha]

A low fog lazily sat above the ground in northern Myōga, and the isolated airstrip located in the Tsukkori valley was almost completely shrouded by the fog and leaves blowing between the hills; still the aircraft arriving from Revana managed to land without much trouble. Pop! Pop! The premier's signature red Brightlance let out a distinctive roar and loud bang as the car decelerated and pulled off to the side, just moments before a young woman emerged from the aircraft. Throwing a fur-lined jacket over her shoulder, Premier Musashi stepped out to go meet her guest.

Interrupting Serena's attempt to gauge who was important among the smartly-dressed young men and women going about their business on the airstrip, Premier Musashi presented herself with a casual bow. "Miss Bartrove, I'm thrilled you could make it." Leading her down the airstrip to where a single black sedan was waiting, Shiina and Serena took a moment to enjoy the scenery of Tsukkori, the little airport was surrounded by hills on all sides; gold, orange and white leaves blowing up into the air before disappearing into the trees.

"I figure most people will end up seeing Shidarekawa or Rokkō at some point anyways, so I figured we'd go visit something a bit more obscure." she said, following Serena into the back of the sedan. The car spent some time cruising along the quiet mountain roads that wound through Myōga province before a small cluster of darkly-coloured traditional buildings came into view. Pointing it out, Shiina began. "This is Hidamariyama, traditional style town hidden away in rural Myōga province, locals always love meeting visitors who seek the town out; one of the best momozake[1] distilleries on Mundus can be found here as well; if there's anything you're interested to see first, I'm open to suggestions." She finished with a smile, as the car pulled into a small parking space.

1.	A traditional Himeyan liquor, where peach wine is distilled into a sweet, slightly tart liquor that sometimes reaches 55% ABV.

[Cool101jr]

Serena watched the sites go by before looking over at the premier. "This is quite a beautiful region, It reminds me of Caspen in the Tal'Varden region back home. Very isolated and full of tradition." She said smiling, as she looked back outside. "I wouldn't mind trying some of that momozake while we start our discussions. I do hope I'm not coming off too formal, I'm not used to meeting foreign leaders yet."

[yasha]

"It's no trouble at all; I personally feel like I'm putting on a mask whenever I force myself to act really formal, so I just like to act natural where I can get away with it." the Premier said with a giggle. The two officials stuck close to the buildings as they proceeded down the narrow roads of Hidamariyama on foot, the occasional pedestrian waving at them as they passed. "This place is like the perfect getaway, even if the Premier of the country comes to visit, the people here don't make a big fuss." she explained, idly examining the old buildings as they passed by. Shiina led Serena down a narrow alleyway, bright red paper lanterns neatly lined up above their heads. "Here's the distillery I mentioned, some of the world's finest liquor sees its way out that door."

"Takumete." Shiina said, greeting the young chefs behind the counter. "Huh, guess we got lucky today; tourists come flocking to this place when it gets cold elsewhere." The Premier offered to take Serena's coat and placed it and her own on a rack near the entrance. "Hope you don't mind the seating here. Traditionally, we don't do chairs." she chuckled, leading Serena into a small side room. "Maybe if we ask nicely, they'll show us the distillery after we're finished. Now, I didn't expect you to bring a whole Himeyan dictionary with you, so if you wanna know what something is before you order it, I'll be glad to help."

The Premier slid a menu across the table to Serena, a mosaic of unusual-looking dishes with absolutely no indication of what they were to a non-Himeyan speaker lined the pages. "Now, in Himeyama, what people do is order things one at a time, so we'd both order a dish now and then have a look at the menu again once we're finished with that." Shiina explained, quickly scanning her own menu, which happened to be a block of wood with an essay's worth of text burned into it.

"Lucky for you, ordering drinks is a bit more user-friendly. Just point at a bottle on the wall and they'll fetch it for you."

Shiina stopped, slightly embarassed. "Erm, I've probably said a mouthful by now; is there anything you want to know?"

[Cool101jr]

Serena had been spending the entire ride listening to Shiina as they rode around the town towards the distillery, looking at all the sights as they went. The place not having chairs didn't really bother her since there were plenty of Asian restaurants in Revana that had the same concept, and Serena spent a lot of time at them since she loved that kind of food. However when she looked down at the menu she was lost. She recognized some of the picture of dishes, however as she didn't know the language, she had no idea what any of the dishes were, It all looked good and she didn't know what to get. Serena let out a small chuckle when the Premier said she had said a mouthful, she was right about that, she had been talking a lot, however Serena didn't mind since it meant she didn't have to do any talking until now. She shifted on the pillow she was sitting on and looked up from the menu.

"Umm, well there is one thing I would like to know, Premier Musashi. I have no idea what any of this is, is there anything you would recommend?" Serena said with another nervous chuckle, somewhat embarrassed.

[Cool101jr]

(Just a friendly bump)

[yasha]

OOC: Sorry for the wait

"Well, I could absolutely help you pick something out, but only if you're not a fussy eater." Shiina said with a devilish smirk, though the touristy types who managed to find Hidamariyama were rarely the kind disinterested in trying new things. "Tell you what, I'll explain to you a few of the choices, leave it to you to get adventurous, and we'll figure out what we're discussing tomorrow before we eat, I don't expect anyone wants to talk politics after a couple drinks; well, not coherently."

"See, here we have your typical Himeyan dishes, tofu in spicy sauce, hot pot, bit of barbecue eel. And then... here we have the more unusual stuff. You know, smoked saury over buckwheat noodles is a popular dish here in the fall, just uh, make sure you don't swallow a bone. I think the steamed tripe is the only thing I'll avoid though, the texture is just kinda..." Shiina said with a chuckle, looking over at the wall behind them, she often worried about a crowd of people following her around when out in public, there were always people with questions to ask; here she tried reminding herself to ease up a little bit, she was just another visitor to the people of Hidamariyama, something she wished she could get used to. "If you've had enough time to find something, I'll go let the kitchen know and come back with something to drink, otherwise just take your time." She fidgeted with a small notepad she kept tucked away in a pocket, hopefully get a few notes down so she knew what to discuss later.

[Cool101jr]

Serena looked at the items Shiina pointed out and thought for a second before making her mind up. Before she told her what she wanted, she noticed Shiina holding a notepad and knew what she was holding it for.

"On terms of what we should discuss, I was thinking of the main thing being a trade route, I was asked before I left to try and expand Revana's economy as much as possible by setting some up. We have many products to export, especially Uranium, we have a big stockpile of that. That's one thing we can discuss, and the other thing I was sent out to do was setting up a "Space Administration." I'm hoping on that front to get every nation I visit in on that, but I'm not holding my breath." She said shrugging. She really only left Revana to try and meet new people and learn more about Mundus, but Issac insisted she use it to build some political relationships, so her vacation turned into a Workcation, not that she was complaining, she was about to eat strange food in a strange land with a world leader, not something she thought she would do just 2 years ago. "As for food, I'll have some of that smoked saury, sounds delicious."