NationStates

Assuming Li had a need for said textiles, and called in the favor (marker) that the Captain owes him for overlooking the contraband.
Li, being familiar with the Captain, would probably prefer having the marker to call in later. Of course, his wife could be a seamstress or some such. Happy wife, happy family. Happy family, worth a marker.

Wordplay is our specialty. We don't lie. We just let you believe what you like.
Almost every Athaean is like that, all the time. Laconic we may be, but that tendency lends itself to reading between the lines.
In short, absolutely.

Comprehensive List of Banned Goods: (Let me know if you have any additional suggestions)

Cereal Grains (Products and Derivatives) | Textiles and Textile Products | Wood Products (esp. paper)
Domestically-Available Ores | Metalwork (Iron, Steel, and Silver) | Precision Machinery

I am assuming Li and Montana have been at this for a while, with Montana supplying anything that Li might want to get people to owe him 'markers' on his own or something like that. Probably going to say that Li's wife is seamstress or some such, so that the gift has the intended meaning.

Fair enough. If you have Li accept it for an unstated reason, I'll link it back in a later post. Make Li one of Dev's students, perhaps. Work it in so the cloth was for the school, or what-have-you.

Athaea, told Moka already but I'm planning to have a post in the thread. Perhaps a merchant captain who arrives in port only to find that the embargo has recently been enacted. This results in him sending a wire back home, which can get some wheels turning for later, but obviously it'll take awhile for that to really escalate giving plenty of time for the current story to get fleshed out.

Can I assume that a lot of the culture and people stuff from your factbooks on the nation page would be good source material?

Also, is there perhaps another port that I could use besides the one currently the setting for your and Moka's posts?

That sounds plausible. The timeline might be a bit odd though, since Moka has Montana smuggling clothing through the embargo and alludes to having done so for awhile. And don't worry too much about the kidnapping thing, I am good at weaving plot threads together. I just needed to establish some motivation for Dev to get involved, and make him seem more human.

That would be safe source material, yes. That, and a few previous posts on this thread where I clarified a few things for various people.
If you're looking for maps of Athaea, check the Factbook Index. It has links to dispatches with more information, since reference dispatches don't count toward the factbook entry limit.

You could use Kenai Canton in Devasan District, the port on the mouth of the southern river fork in Tanua Province. Or, if you were looking for something further west, Levantane Canton in Muiran District, the port on the mouth of the centre river fork in Lyra Province. There's a political map listed in the index, but you'll need to zoom in to make out the dots denoting cities. For reference, Varanasi is the city on the western shore of the bay in Ilia Province.

Athaea wrote:Comprehensive List of Banned Goods: (Let me know if you have any additional suggestions)

Cereal Grains (Products and Derivatives) | Textiles and Textile Products | Wood Products (esp. paper)
Domestically-Available Ores | Metalwork (Iron, Steel, and Silver) | Precision Machinery

Everything except the first thing would Unilisia trades in bulk (probably ores too depending on what YOU produce), so they would be annoyed indeed, and will want this embargo very gone

I'm not sure how to enter though, perhaps just some sort of official and an 'embassy' (old style, with like a small military contingent and a few ships loitering off coast) to talk to whoever is in charge of the port to send a message up the chain of command or something non-hostile unless demands are met.

Would be interesting for out pirates to be chilling in port and suddenly a fleet I'd off the coast making demands.

And while I'm assuming a history between Li and Montana, we could mix it up to be his first or second "illegal" shipment. Since we are closer we got word of the ban ahead of time and have started smuggling while a Gordonopian ship might just be making it to port.

Fudge the time line a bit for good story, or have a flashback to a week ago and have the ship go from there?

That could easily be tied in. I can always introduce other characters.

Second shipment, I think. The proximity case logic is sound. I have no problem fudging the timeline in the name of a good story.

I'll have a response post up within a day or two, Moka.

I'll have a post up today or tomorrow.

I should also point out that the embargo was instituted to protect domestic industry. All of the banned goods may be assumed to be major staples of the Athaean economy around this time (esp. ore, metalwork, and wood products). Silk, jade, firearms, and lacquerware may be considered additional Athaean exports (during this time period).

The ban on precision machinery is due to the expectation of expansion into that economic sector.

Put up a short post. Something set off the Triads.

I don't know what's going on! Is my ship under attack? Where is Montana? I need more guns!

I left it up for interpretation. You could make it a different ship than the Santa Theresa. You could make Morales mistaken, and the figure be someone other than Montana. And everyone always needs more guns.

It's only meant to be a minor skirmish, in any case.

If there is a fight in the harbor, I was about to start writing a post where my ambassador arrives in Varanasi (along with one small vessel in the harbor, the three cruisers will wait offshore a respectable distance).

How would this affect his arrival? What's the port authority up to?

Athaea wrote:I should also point out that the embargo was instituted to protect domestic industry. All of the banned goods may be assumed to be major staples of the Athaean economy around this time (esp. ore, metalwork, and wood products). Silk, jade, firearms, and lacquerware may be considered additional Athaean exports (during this time period).

The ban on precision machinery is due to the expectation of expansion into that economic sector.

Unilisia's simple demand is for free trade of all products, your countries traders and investors would gain access to Unilisian markets, so long as Unilisia could sell/invest in your country.

Will thwack people to force compliance

The skirmish is slated take all of maybe twenty minutes, ten of which consisted of Dev and his vets getting down to the quay. The only reason it seems like a warzone is because the Athaean reaction to violence is very specific: complete elimination of the opponent's capacity to be a threat. We are very thorough.

A warehouse could have caught fire. It isn't necessarily a pier, or the Santa Therese. The port authority would be doing their best to prevent other citizens from getting involved. And trying to get their man Li off the quay.

It would be very bad luck if an ambassadorial vessel happened to be coming into port while this was going on. I can wrap it up real quick, Moka can wrap it up in his post, or we can give the Athae a collective heart attack when a vessel flying ambassadorial pennants is sighted in the harbour during a firefight (and chalk it up to bad luck).

I do believe thwacking might be necessary, since the embargo's up.

Athaea wrote:The skirmish is slated take all of maybe twenty minutes, ten of which consisted of Dev and his vets getting down to the quay. The only reason it seems like a warzone is because the Athaean reaction to violence is very specific: complete elimination of the opponent's capacity to be a threat. We are very thorough.

A warehouse could have caught fire. It isn't necessarily a pier, or the Santa Therese. The port authority would be doing their best to prevent other citizens from getting involved. And trying to get their man Li off the quay.

It would be very bad luck if an ambassadorial vessel happened to be coming into port while this was going on. I can wrap it up real quick, Moka can wrap it up in his post, or we can give the Athae a collective heart attack when a vessel flying ambassadorial pennants is sighted in the harbour during a firefight (and chalk it up to bad luck).

I do believe thwacking might be necessary, since the embargo's up.

Well thwacking wouldn't happen immediately, but I assume my ambassador would be meeting Inspector Li if he's relatively in charge of the area. Any excuse not to end up killing him when negotiations sour?

Will be sending the ambassadorial ship into the fire.

Li's more of middle-management for the local custom-house. You'd be speaking with his supervisor, Prefect Zhu, who is, nominally, the appointed canton administrator. In reality, most things of importance go through Dev or Matias. Both of whom are influential, neither of whom hold a government position.

And nope, no real reasons not to kill the negotiator, beyond the obvious. A round of heart attacks, on the house. Ah, well. Life happens. *shrug*

I'm not sure what to do short of maybe occupying/blockading the port, giving the smugglers reason to fight with my Marines, maybe someone assassinates my ambassador at some point (since you probably won't wanna get rid of the embargo) unless you send some sort of negotiator from the central government to pay Unilisia off or something.

Well, the goal of negotiations would be for Athaea to institute free trade policies (thereby lifting the embargo). Prefect Zhu would have the power to determine trading rights within his domain; namely, Varanasi Canton. Depending on whether he is a hardliner or a little more malleable, he would politely hear out your (argumentative case/persuasive comments/veiled threats) and either refuse your policy request or try to modify the request to be to his benefit.

As for potential conflicts, any weapon drawn on any Athae will be interpreted by said Athae as a demonstration of lethal intent (ie, you draw it, we'll assume you mean to use it). And will be responded to in kind (rendering the armed individual incapable of wielding said weapon). Short version: draw a weapon on an Athae and they're coming at you. We're rather easy to provoke.

Athaea wrote:Well, the goal of negotiations would be for Athaea to institute free trade policies (thereby lifting the embargo). Prefect Zhu would have the power to determine trading rights within his domain; namely, Varanasi Canton. Depending on whether he is a hardliner or a little more malleable, he would politely hear out your (argumentative case/persuasive comments/veiled threats) and either refuse your policy request or try to modify the request to be to his benefit.

As for potential conflicts, any weapon drawn on any Athae will be interpreted by said Athae as a demonstration of lethal intent (ie, you draw it, we'll assume you mean to use it). And will be responded to in kind (rendering the armed individual incapable of wielding said weapon). Short version: draw a weapon on an Athae and they're coming at you. We're rather easy to provoke.

What would be bad is a firefight, because Unilisian's generally operate on those same principles. If you make an enemy, make him incapable of hurting you by any means necessary.

Now, how many troops would be too many? Thinking 1000 at most, with my government basically threatening to destroy towns and steal people if Athaea refuses to accept the terms (keep in mind, Unilisia doesn't want you to trade with EVERYONE, just Unilisia at least )

It would depend on circumstances, and what use the men were put to. There would be a different perception of the crew of three cruisers and a reasonably-sized diplomatic detail, than there would be of a 1000-man task force equipped for urban assault. The number itself is less important.

Just FYI, map of Mokastana at the time:

http://s241.photobucket.com/user/mokast ... 0.png.html

How do we want to run conversations? Hash it out OOC, and have the resulting dialogue for the IC scene in one post? Or just go back and forth in a sequence of smaller posts on the IC thread, without much OOC discussion?

I'm open to either, but how I format my next post depends on the consensus.