A Meeting of Kings (CLOSED/Skyheld Alliance only)

[Thama]

News came to the Engineer's desk. The Emperor of Kaldaran, Adan Valdas, has requested a meeting. And his Ambassador to called him an "Excellency". Engineer Tiberius smiled. No-one ever called him that. Titles like that were a bit old fashioned, to the point of being funny. Well. Since Emperor Adan himself asked for a meeting, he will have it. He ran a comb through his hair then through the fur on his face. It did absolutely nothing, exactly what he wanted.

"A Meeting of Kings" he said. "Except He's an Emperor, not a king, and I'm a Quantum Physicist and Engineer, pretending to be king."
He swiped his finger across his glass holographic keyboard, activating the intercom.
"Eira, ask that guy who sent the message where meeting shall be. I can't wait. I'm going to put on my best boots."
"Sir, You're not taking boots with ion thrusters to a meeting with the Emperor of a country, are you?"
"I am."
"I'll tell the guard to brign a fire extinguisher then."
"Well I'll tell the guard to use it on you."
"Sir, you wouldn't dare."
"No... I would not... Now get back to work and don't hurt me..."

[Kaldaran]

"Either nation would work." Malic said, "Kaldaran hasn't seen sun since the battle of Broken Skull. If his excellency wishes to see our father land, as well as the fruits of his investment in the rebuilding, then he should come to Kaldaran. If he doesn't wish to brave the rains, the Emperor would be happy to come and see this land of sun. The choice is his." (Look at the geography entry in my factbook. http://www.nationstates.net/nation=kaldaran/detail=factbook/id=45254)

[Thama]

"What are you saying? Nevreaux is broken? Aaw..." He put the phone away. "Alright, Eira, tell them we'll hold it in Thama. I'll visit Kaldaran another day."

"Tiberiu... ehem, The Engineer's car is broken. I'm afraid he'll be too busy fixing it to arrange a trip to Kaldaran. We hope Emperor Adan does not mind coming to Swifter Wharf?"

[Kaldaran]

"To Thama it is then." Adan stood looking out the palace window. "It will be nice to get away form this weather, wont it Andaya." The emperor looked to the sixteen year old girl sitting on the fine couch against the wall. "Yes father." "Why so quiet, aren't you excited?" "Yes father." Adan walked over to her, brushing her dark hair out of her face. He spoke in a gentle voice,"Come now, it will be a new land full of new and exciting things. New friends and new opportunities. Don't you want to see it?" "They are outsiders papa. The past tells us that outsiders are dangerous and not to be trusted." "Not all of them are bad, my child. One must learn to trust the words and deeds of others. You especially, seeing as you will be empress someday. The people of Thama have aided us in the past, and I have no reason to think that will change. Besides, don't you miss the sun?" "I do." Adan smiled, "Give the Thamans a chance. I think branching out into the world will aid us greatly." Adan stood, looking to the young woman standing at the door, "Luceia, make sure that everything is packed. I want to be in Thama this afternoon." "Yes my emperor." "And make sure something other than just royal suits are in my luggage. For what it costs to make them one would think they would bare a modicum of comfort." "Yes my Emperor," Luceia said with a smile. "See, Luceia's excited." sigh

[Thama]

"Duncan!"
"Yeah, dad?"
"Can you tell Eira to tell that other guy to tell Emperor Adan to bring something very light?"
"Dad, can you do it yourself, I'm trying to do something here."
"Are you drinking Arocactus again?"
"No..."
"Eurgh. You're no use."
Tiberius got up from under his car and walked out into the garden. His son was sitting on the side of the pool, drinking from a cup made from a small cut cactus and talking on the phone. 'Teenagers, pft. Useless' Tiberius thought. He picked up a small pebble and threw it up at the building. It hit a window. A black-haired woman opened it and leaned out.
"Yes, Engineer?"
"Abigail, tell Eira to tell the other guy to tell Emperor Adan to bring something very light and preferably white or light blue coloured. It's going to be 48-52 Celsius for the next few days. Also, I will be waiting for him at theWharf when he arrives."
"Yes sir. On it sir."

Satisfied, he went back into the garage, finishing the work on his car. It was fixed now so he went inside and threw on an azure blue shirt and some shorts. He ran outside into the gardens. He walked up to his son and hit him lightly across the head.
"Duncan, we're going to have guests over. Go put on a shirt or something and meet me at the lake."
"Fineeee..."
"Get a bottle of Arocactus juice while you're at it, of course if you haven't drank it all."

Duncan went into the building and came out after 10 minutes. Wearing a red shirt and white shorts and carrying a big plastic water bottle of Green liquid. He walked across the garden to the Lake, which was, in fact, a huge pool connected to the Cadm river. His father was waiting on a small black sports Yacht along with two tall wolves wearing black shirts, shorts and mirrored sunglasses.
"Aren't your gorillas a bit under dressed?"
"I'm not going to force them into suits with this weather. They're probably swimming in sweat from that fur anyway."

Duncan climbed onto the small yet spacious yacht and sat down under a parasol. The engine started and the yacht quickly cut the water of the Lake and went out into the Cadm river. They left the Xanad Park that housed the Engineer's palace, Blue Halls. Huge skyscrapers and bridges suddenly grew around them. They entered the city. After around two hour of sailing upstream they reached The Wharf. Swifter Wharf's huge space and airport and it's indirect namesake. It was here that the Cadm started. In the Wharf itself. A huge Marina was built around the source of the river and around the Marina 3 Airport terminals and 1 Spaceport terminal rose like huge domes. Tiberius and his son climbed out of the Yacht with one of the wolf bodyguards. Press had already gathered around the Marina and the entrance to Terminal A. Some journalists were about to approach Tiberius but when they saw the armed bodyguard they hesitated. One brave journalist came up to Tiberius and said:
"Íngynyer Tiberius, axt ahm un Empor Adan Valdas, uh ix dam razya?"
"Tek."
"Kdy bax arrov an Varf?"
"No idea what you said. Speak English, I'm not good in Arotinitee."
"When he arrive?" said the journalist with a heavy accent.
"In a few hours or so."
"Why you here so early then?"
"They have the best ice cream in the world at that stand over there."
"Oh..."

[Kaldaran]

I altered my previous post.

"Lucia, it seems as though we need to re-"
"Already taken care of my Emperor. All of our luggage is prepared."
"Then all our gifts are packed as well?"
"Already loaded on to the dropship and waiting. Honor guard are on standby."
"Tell them to go ahead and board. We will join them shortly."
"Father, are really going to wear that? You'll burn up."

Adan looked at himself in the mirror. A black double breasted overcoat with red trim and golden buttons, slacks and dress shoes to match. A long red cape flowing behind him. "Not comfortable," Adan thought "not in the slightest. And the heat upon arrival would be unthinkable... oh to hell with it."

"Perhaps it's time we returned to the colors of our fathers." Adan said, addressing the girl and the maid.
"What do you mean?"
"The white and blue of Destern."
Andaya looked at her father, raseing an eyebrow at his sudden change in topic.
"The Hundred Years War is over," he continued,"We are at times of peace, so why not discard the flag of war, and fly the flag of peace?"
"Father are you going to change?"
"Change what? My style of rule?"
"Your clothes."
"...Oh, right. Yes I will, and you both should too. As the Engineer suggested, something light. Make sure it's white with blue trim."
"Yes papa."

As the two girls turned to leave, Adan shouted to the maid, "Lucia, If we could get the new flag I had in mind on the dropship before we take off it would"
"They are repainting as we speak."
"Thank you!" He shouted back. "Psionics make things go so much quicker." He thought, "I had almost forgotten how easy it was to get information to who ever needs it when everyone it connected."

---

In less than an half hour, the three Kaldarans had gathered at the launch pad.
"Papa, your wearing the same thing as before, just with different colors."
"I'll wear what I like. Besides, the overcoat is coming off as soon as we start towards the Blue Halls."
A strong cool breeze blew in from the open hanger door, shifting the girl's white sundress and the maid's blue skirt.
"We should leave before the weather gets worse" said Lucia.

The group joined the Honor Guards on the dropship. The doors shut and the ship pressurized as it pulled out of the hanger. As soon as it cleared the hanger door, it's thrusters pushed it quickly into the air, propelling it forward and upward, rising quickly through the clouds. Soon they would be in Thama.

[Thama]

The dropship arrived in Swifter Wharf. As it landed at Terminal A, it gleamed in the intense sun. Tiberius and Duncan were already waiting outside the Terminal building, by the landing strip. Tiberius greeted Adan.
"Welcome to Thama! I am Engineer Tiberius Fenrís, this is my son, Duncan. It's nice to finally meet you. Here, have some Arocactus juice, you'll feel much less hot. And possibly might start seeing weird things, but that'll wear off after a few seconds."
With that, he took out a bottle of lime green liquid with Ice floating inside it. He poured it into four glasses that stood on a small tray beside him.
"So, Adan, How would you prefer to travel, by car or by boat? Also, there's journalists outside. When they start talking to you in any language other than English, just say 'Atpyer bax', otherwise just the normal 'Eff off' should do."

[Kaldaran]

Adan smiled shaking Tiberius's hand, "It it nice indeed, Engineer Tiberius. Too long has this meeting been put off. This is my daughter Andaya." he said motioning to the pretty girl in the sundress behind him, "And this my handmaiden Lucia."
The two women curtsied.
"We come bearing gifts of our gratitude for all you and your people have done for us. Malic has already arranged for their transport to the palace. As for us, boat sounds far more appealing to be honest. Marcus, my Royal Protector will be coming with us, if that is no problem to you."
The Kaldaran's pale skin stood out in the bright sun, drawing a sharp contrast to their black hair.
A group of ten Honor Guard wearing full power armor filed out of the dropship, moving to form a barrier between the Emperor and the crowd. An ornately armored one, presumably Marcus, stayed close to Adan as they made their way to the boat.
As soon as the boat pulled away form the docks leaveing the solders and journalists in the distance, Adan quickly loosened his cape and took off his overcoat with a great sigh of relief, revealing his silken undershirt and tattooed arms. The maid unbuttoned her outfit, showing off a sundress similar to Andaya's.
"Finally away form that damned palace!" Adan seemed deeply relieved to be anywhere else.

[Thama]

"I'm surprised you didn't collapse from the heat the second you walked outside of that dropship. Well, you'll be happy to know, we have a fog maker, it'll make you feel like at home. Hehehe, sorry, little joke. Now sit back, relax and look at my city around you. You want some whiskey? It's going to be around one and a half hours until we get to Blue Halls. It's in the very centre of the city, we're nearly at the very edge."
Tiberius picked up a bottle of greenish-black whiskey. He waved has hand at one of the wolves that served as his bodyguards which resulted in the wolf coming up to the back of the small yacht and taking the steer. Tiberius poured the whsikey into two glasses with half melted ice in them. He gave one to Adan and sat down, almsot crushing his tail.
"Ow! Stupid thing... Not you, this tail."

[Kaldaran]

Adan taking a seat across form Tiberius, "This is quite the city you have here. I've never seen any thing of this scale or size."
The maid takes a seat beside the emperor, cuddling up to him. "I should probbly mention now that Luceia is my wife. Unfortantely in Kaldaran titles are very important, and she has yet to be formally reconised as Empress. Hopefully we can take care of that soon. It's becoming hard to hide." Adan says, putting his arm around her.
As the two leader talked, Andaya gravitated twoards Duncan, "What are you, exactly? I have yet to meet anything like you."

[Thama]

"Er, me? I'm a, erm, felikind, somewhere half way between Panther and Leopard. Dad's a leopard felikind, Mom was a panther." Duncan answered her, stuttering slightly.

[Kaldaran]

"Are your kind common in this land? There are no felikind in the Broken Vale." She said, her head cocked slightly.

[Thama]

"A bit more than half of us are Anthropomorphs, most of Anthropomorphs are Felikind. Anyone can become one, we're just humans that look a bit like animals. My grandad was fully human, he got a Gene graft which turned him into a leopard. My Dad was born one. So was I." Duncan asnwered her.

MY SPELLCHECK BROKE! NOOOOOOO!

[Kaldaran]

"An intresting use of techonolgy. What sort of advantages dose it bring, other than being very soft." She said, carfully feeling the top of his head.

"So Tiberius, how are things here in Thama?" Adan asked over his glass.

SAME HERE!!! NATIONSTATES WHY YOU DO THAT???

[Thama]

"Well, I have the senses of a cat. The big difference is that I can taste sweet things." Duncan replied.

"Everything's going well. I recreated the Order of the Black Phoenix. It's like your honour guard. Except they have Phoenix suits so they can fly. There was also a failed terrorist attack on the Cloudpin Tower last week. Was there myself, burned the guy's face off with my own gauntlet. Look to your left, that big blue shard of glass is the Cloudpin Tower. How's the Phoenix battlesuit we gave you during that war? I'm sorry I wasn't there."

[Kaldaran]

"Taste sweet things. You mean you have a more diverse pallet. Can you see in the dark? If so, we have something in common." Andaya said with a smile.

"The suit worked just fine. I've been thinking of incorperating some of it's components into our powerarmor, with your permission of course. If you don't mind my asking, who are terrorist? Some other nation? A reble faction?"

Sorry for the short responces, I'm getting ready for work as we type, that way I can stay longer.

[Thama]

"I can, yes. My eyes go all shiny too."

"Just terrorists. Probably some neo-fascist remnant of the Great League of Aral. There was 20 of them, they were threatening to activate a nuclear weapon. Then Me and the Order of the Black Phoenix came. I just walked up to that guy, took the detonator, grabbed his face and fired the flamethrower."

"Dad, that does not sound like you, you'd porbably curl up in a ball in the corner and wait for it all to end."

"Duncan, you sleep with a lifesize cardboard cutout of Scarlett Johansson."

"DAD!"

[Kaldaran]

"Who is Scarlett Johansson, Duncan?" Andaya asked, catching the humor but not understadning the joke.
"Don't antagnise our host Andi."
"PAPA! I told you not to call me that! I'm not a baby!" She said, blushing slightly.

Andi looked back to Duncan, "I appologize, that was rude of me. So, when you say your eyes glow, what do you mean?"

Aden, pleased with himself returned to the conversation. "Neo-fascists, Great League of Aral. Who are they? Why do they fight you?"

[Thama]

"At night, they start glowing. Cats have this thing in the back of their eyes that reflects light. At night this is visible by glowing. It's pretty cool, I tend to scare my friends with it. Scarlett Johansson is an actress. And I don't sleep with a cutout of her."

"The Great League of Aral were a political group back in the 1920s. Like the fascist Nazi Party of Germany, they were racist, anti-multicultural, homophobic pigs. When a law was passed that made all discrimination based of race/sexual orinetation/culture illegal and punishable, they went on a killing spree, killing a quarter of the then population of the city of Balatan. It ended with them being captured and brutally tortured and executed by the public. The government back then was so slow, the whole league was being ripped to shreds and killed brutally before the government even heard what happened. Since then the league and all fascist groups are illegal. There has been like 12 terrorist attacks from people who share the ideas of the Great League. They usually end up in graveyards. I enjoy burning their faces off, they are scum who do not deserve human rights. We don't have a death sentence, but our law allows this because it allows law enforcement to kill if provoked. Well, if someone wants to blow up your city, it's a provocation, no?"

[Kaldaran]

Adan looked mildly disturbed. "Such a concept is alien to me. Why would someone desire to harm their fellow man? All are equal, all are important. Hatred only bring suffering on he who hates. They shall never find peace until they learn to love their brothers and sisters, despite all differences. These were lesions bloodily learned in Kaldaran. This is one of many reasons why crime is all but unheard of back home. Can you not seek out those of murderous intent and rehabilitate them?"

Andi ignored her father. "That makes sense, your feline DNA and all. My eyes glow as well, when ever I become focused. Would you like to see?"

[Thama]

Tiberius looked at him, smiling. "We rehabilitate our criminals, yes. But it's impossible to change the minds of these people. They only want to prove their point. And the only way they know how, by killing. They're not humans. They're not felikind. They're not Canikind. They're not beings that deserve to live. They are mentally unstable and disturbed. We can't detain them because the second we let them out, they'll start killing again. We can't rehabilitate them because it's impossible. The only thing we can do is burn the rules and put them out of their miserable life. I could technically pass a law that would allow me to capture them and execute them, but the public would quickly vote "no" on it. That's why we either wait until they provoke us, or provoke them to provoke us so we can kill them. It's the only thing we can do." He sighs. "See that golden pole on the bridge there? It's an ancient Arotinitee tradition to extinguish the fire on it and light your won every time you pass it." Tiberius picked up a golden gauntlet, similiar to the ones on Phoenix Battlesuits. It was connected to the floor of the boat via long cable. He put it on and aimed at the pole, which currently had no flame on it. He fired a stream of fire from the gauntlet, setting the pole on fire. The flames licked the pole but it wasn't actually burning. "No-one knows what's it's made of, but it seems that flames on it never go out, but it doesn't burn at all. We got smaples of it, but they didn't match any known element. The pole is hollow inside and even though it's only two metres long, it weighs Half a tonne."

"I'd love to see!" Duncan smiled. He was totally oblivious to what Adan and Tiberius were saying.

[Kaldaran]

"That's fascinating! You don't suppose our scientists could examine the specimens you scientists have already recovered? Not even for the harvesting of the material, but to simply have the chance to study it. My people have an innate love of learning, and I am no different. The chance to study something completely new is a rair thing, you know. Back to the terrorists, in Kaldaran if some one is found to bear hateful intent towards his fellow man, we simply enter their minds and pluck the hatred or intent and cast it aside. They no longer can feel hatred towards their fellow man. Perhaps you were right in changing the subject, tell me more about your land. You mentioned the Arotinitee, who are they?" Adan said curiously, still sipping on his first glass.

Andi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In a second, the air around her sharpened. When her eyes opened, they were solid green and glowing with a burning light. Duncan heard a her voice, her mouth didn't move. "Cool right? Now that I'm focused we can communicate by thinking. But you may want to conceal any thoughts you don't want me to see." She said, smiling and blushing slightly.

[Thama]

"We don't have many people with psionic powers here. Our most powerful psionic is currently in orbit, on the TSS Gregory. His name is Thornton, but I can't remember his surname. What we do have is elemental benders. You know, Fire, Rock, Air, Water. Firebenders are usually part of the Warbirds, it really saves on fuel when we don't have to fuel their flamethrowers. Now bout the Arotinitee. The Arotinitee, my friend, are an ancient tribe who came to the Unknown Desert in the year 308 BC. They lived as nomads for over a thousand years until 811, when Phoenix-chief Asáíy Feníysi came upon Feníys Tab and the rest of the Orsell mountain range in the dead centre of The Unknown Desert. He climbed Feníys Tab for 3 days and from the peak he looked upon the mountains and valleys in front of him. They were lush compared to the desert his tribe inhabited, with grass and lakes and rivers. He soon came back with his tribe and settled in the land. They soon found the Bison who lived in this huge oasis in the middle of the desert and named the country after them, Thama. They created an Empire, The Arotinitee Empire, and soon took over the whole gigantic mountain range. They built a city on the Ythaar Plateau, a huge table-top mountain, and named it "Varfa" which translates to "The Port" or "The Wharf". They built beautiful palaces and humongous ranches and farms. They herded the Bison as livestock, used them for meat and milk. Varfa's name changed with every next emperor/empress who wanted to name it after himself or herself. It varied from Varfa Tarimíy, Varfa Takáma, Omishíy Varfa, Asáíy Varfa and many others. The Last Arotinitee Emperor, Amataran Swifter wanted to move the capital of his Empire to a new spot, and named the new city Varfa Amataran, or, Amatarans Wharf. it didn't stick and he came back to the old capital which he renamed Varfa Swífter, Swifter Wharf. During his lifetime, two explorers came to his Empire and told him of other nations, of other technologies. They brought these new technologies with them and industrialized Thama. When Amataran died, he had no children or living relatives so he gave the Empire to the Explorers, Jay Orsell, Tiberius Dearney and the Arotinitee guide who helped them, my great great great great grandfather, Thamar Fenrís. He had a funny name, it meant 'Bisonman Wolfman'. And so, I jsut somehow managed to tell you the whole history of Thama."
He took a deep breath and a swig of his whiskey.

'You're a psionic? That's epic!' Duncan thought, 'Please don't look at anything in my head... It's too embarrasing...'

[Kaldaran]

"Everyone is a psion back home." Andi thought, "It is Destern's gift to us for our loyalty."

"Your people have quite the history." Adan said, finishing off hid glass.

[Thama]

"Yes. Yes we do. Tell me some of Kaldaran's history maybe? Also, who's this 'Destern' your daughter is thinking about?"