Urbo de Liberico Bilateral Meeting, 2014 (Closed, GO only)

[Tero Malstreciga]

Urbo de Liberico, Respubliko Tero Mastreciga, 2014

August 4th
"Prezidanto Joĉjo Fiera announced publicly today that after many conversations with Cabinet and armed forces advisors, Tero Malstreciga will finally bring to an end the more than two-decades long revitalization program of the national Submarine fleet. The functional vessels are likely to be sold off to foreign markets, and the rest will be scrapped entirely, save the historic RNV Blanka Fulmo which may be transformed into a floating museum of Tero Malstrecigoj naval history. The only question on anyone's mind now is, what are we replacing them with?"

August 17th
"Following discussions within the military, the government of Tero Malstreciga has announced itself open to bids for the project to replace the current Submarine fleet. The level of diversity and effectiveness required excludes most local companies, and eyes now turn to the international community. None of the major international naval production giants have expressed public interest, but privately there are reports that a handful are already entering discussions with the Isthmian nation to come to terms on a sale."

September 1st
"The State Secretary for War today confirmed that yes, the rumoured design partnership with Zanaro has been provisionally accepted by both sides. Both governments have made public their intent to arrange higher-ranked meetings, relations between the distant states have always been distant. While the details of the design partnership are expected to be front and center in negotiations, our political analysts believe much more might be on the plate. The economies, while distant, are very complimentary, and it is believed that Tero Malstreciga will push for some kind of FTA or tariff reduction agreement during their meeting."

[Tero Malstreciga]

September 2nd, 2014
Exterior Department Hub, Urbo de Liberico

State Secretary Antono Brava moved around in the mirror like some kind of curious bird as he made subtle changes to his hair and formal scarf, checking his teeth, brushing off any specs on his suit. He spoke quietly to himself under his breath. "Ero'to... Ero'Kai?" First impressions were everything, and being able to greet the ambassador in her own language would be a major plus. Of course, Brava had to consider the issue of contextual dialects, a concept completely alien to the Regulingvo-speaker. Brava stopped, and stared into space for a moment. "Johano!" He called out, and the door to the bathroom opened. "Zanarite. Dialects. Ambassador Mugiko. Is she one of their nobility?" Brava asked the question without ever taking his eyes off of himself. "I don't know, sir." Brava grunted. "Find out for me, please." The bathroom door closed.

This meeting was to be an important stepping stone. Of course the potential naval treaty was to be the main event, it was why this meeting was happening at all, but there was so much more to get done. Prezidanto Fiera wanted to get some kind of free trade deal out of them, the Zanarites knew their way around computer hardware, and their renewable energy was starting to get popular with the "moral" upper class in Tero Malstreciga. Conversely, Malstrecigoj companies saw a large new market for their products, pharmaceuticals, clothing, but most notably ship parts which could naturally slot into a gap in the Zanarite naval industry. Yes, free trade was certainly on the table. It wasn't, however, the real reason Brava was channelling so much energy into this. No, this meeting would be a stepping stone to saving the world.

The bathroom door opened.

---

Antono Brava stood in the Blue Room, a historic chamber of the Exterior Department Hub where many significant meetings had occurred throughout history. It was fairly small, fitting a small wooden table with two chairs either side of it. Apart from the back wall which was dominated by a large window, the room was decorated with official portraits of notable exterior secretaries and ambassadors, as well as gifts from foreign states. The walls were, of course, painted in a distinct light blue. Brava was flanked by his translator, who almost melded into the background. An aide opened the main doors and popped her head through, saying "Fifteen count." Brava nodded and the aide dipped back behind the door. One, two, three, four... Brava made sure to keep his posture perfect and his smile charming.

At fifteen, the door was opened and Ambassador Chizuki Mugiko was welcomed into the Blue Room. Brava smiled and extended his hand, saying "Chizuki-dono, Ero'Kai. Antono... State Secretary ga onegaide'kai."

[Zanaro]

September 2nd, 2014
Inside the Department Hub, Urbo de Liberico

Ambassador Chizuki Mugiko stood outside the door to the blue room, her dress a deep blue dress with silver and white highlights, the colors of House Fuyuka. On either side she was flanked by two aids, both were also members of the Chizuka family but further away from being the head of the family than herself. The door opened and Mugiko and her aids glided into the room keeping themselves exceptionally poised as she approached Antono Brava, the State Secretary of Tero Malstreciga.

"Chizuki-dono, Ero'Kai. Antono... State Secretary ga onegaide'kai." he spoke, his non-Zanarite accent fairly thick, but it was a worthy attempt at speaking the language.

"Brava-sama, Ero'hei. Chizuki Mugiko ga Zanaro no djyuzio'ko ga onegaide'to." She looked at his outstretched hand, shaking hands was seen as a faux-pas in Zanaro. The hatred for the tradition often attributed to the disdain for the Produze who had once invaded the nation. This was doubly so for House Fuyuka and the Chizuki family who had to endure a century of Produze rule. Instead of grasping the hand she gave a curt bow. Her aids prepared the notes, and files that would be needed at the discussion as the two government officials concluded their introductions.

"Brava-sama, I must say I was quite surprised that you spoke any Zanarite. Very rarely do I hear it from the lips of a nutiohin* (foreigner), and I greatly appreciate the gesture."

[Tero Malstreciga]

Antono smiled, the ambassador seemed genuinely and pleasantly surprised with his honest attempt at Zanarite, and responded politely in kind. The outstretched offer of his hand, however, was not quite so well taken. While no words were exchanged, the ever-so-slight reaction to his positioning was clear. He continued to smile, but bit his tongue and lowered his hand as the ambassador instead gave a more culturally sensitive bow. Antono cleared his throat and moved to indicate to the four chairs in the room. It was only then when the numbers collided in his head. One ambassador, two aides, his translator, and himself. Antono almost wanted to sigh, instead he motioned slightly to the translator who subtly slipped out of the room to fetch another chair, quickly.

Diplomacy was a performance, and the show must go on no matter the circumstance. Antono continued to smile in a friendly way, and made sure the ambassador and her aides were seated comfortably. The translator reentered the room with a chair from an exterior lounge, it would do. Antono sat at the small main table of the Blue Room. While Antono didn't expect Zanaro to be spending their best diplomats on such a small and distant nation, he felt an air of competence from Ambassador Mugiko, so he felt confident to conclude that the Ambassador's lack of comment was out of grace, not lack of notice.

"It is an honour to speak it, madam ambassador. Such delicate beauty composed into speech, the poets of your people are very lucky. Though I do not envy your schoolchildren." Antono laughed slightly, not entirely committed to the attempt at a joke. "I ah, I trust you've received a copy of the proposal our government has offered?" Antono produced a copy in Zanarite from his suit, and placed it on the table. "A joint venture between the Koto'Ara of Zanaro and a holding company established by our government and cooperating local corporations, to develop a new general purpose naval submarine design. We initially build..." Antono double-checked the numbers on the document, "12 for Zanaro and 8 for Tero Malstreciga. If the venture succeeds, we can think about further joint ventures, or jointly opening up the design to the export market..." Antono trailed off, then looked up at the Ambassador. "Did you have any revisions to this?"

[Zanaro]

Mugiko noted that there was a lacking chair, errors like this were not to uncommon when dealing with Zanaro's penchant for using multiple aids instead of the typical one that other nations often utilized. Part of it was due to the prestige the post of ambassador held, another part was to always seem to be in control even when they were negotiating with a foreign power. She decided to allow Antono to save face by not pointing out the lack of a chair, and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly he adapted. The man was quite competent, and knew how to play the game quite well.

"It is an honour to speak it, madam ambassador. Such delicate beauty composed into speech, the poets of your people are very lucky. Though I do not envy your schoolchildren." Antono laughed slightly, not entirely committed to the attempt at a joke. "I ah, I trust you've received a copy of the proposal our government has offered?" Antono produced a copy in Zanarite from his suit, and placed it on the table. "A joint venture between the Koto'Ara of Zanaro and a holding company established by our government and cooperating local corporations, to develop a new general purpose naval submarine design. We initially build..." Antono double-checked the numbers on the document, "12 for Zanaro and 8 for Tero Malstreciga. If the venture succeeds, we can think about further joint ventures, or jointly opening up the design to the export market..." Antono trailed off, then looked up at the Ambassador. "Did you have any revisions to this?"

"I believe that is our thoughts on the arrangement as well. We, however, would like for one of the noble companies of Zanaro to be closely involved in the development, Future Tech Industries. They're our largest developer of military hardware and software in the Koto'Ara." she motioned to the aid on her right. The girl seemed to be a mixture of Zanarite and another race, something from Lira from her complexion. The aid handed a red labeled file to Mugiko who opened it to verify the contents.

"Brava-sama here are a couple rough designs that FTI has issued to me to have you look over. The specifics aren't there, but you will find they are nuclear powered and designed for rapid strikes on enemy positions. It fits with many of our own military designs in that regard, strike hard and from the shadows." She then closed the file and handed it to her other aid who then stood up, walked directly next to Antoni Brava and offered the file with both hands while she bowed.

[Tero Malstreciga]

"Ah yes, very good." Brava had heard about Future Tech Industries during the background briefings for this meeting, there was a suspicion that the Zanarites were keen to involve their local noble corporations more directly. "We'd be very glad to have them on board, madam ambassador, I've heard many good things about the capacities of that particular noble company."

Antono listened politely and then accepted the red file from the aide, smiling and nodding to her as he clasped it in his hands. He carefully took out the documents and placed them on the table, observing carefully. He was, of course, no Naval Engineer, but through the background research he had picked up a few of the more notable terminologies and vital parts, and was happy to recognize such parts on the document. Brava's translator quietly peered over his shoulder at the documents.

As he read through them, Antono continued to keep up the conversation with the ambassador. This was an important lesson, do not let the discussion die even when reading vital documents. Do not let broken ice freeze back over. "I must say I am very honoured to have the opportunity to meet you, madam ambassador. As you know, we are a republic of the low peoples here, so to send such noble stock is of great grace on the part of you and your nation." The translator shuffled ever so slightly in his seat. Apparently unrelatedly, Antono looked back up from the documents, saying "Provisionally, these proposals look eminently satisfactory. The praise I have heard about FTI and Zanarite naval capabilities appears well placed. To the engineers with the specifics." Antono laughed.

"Now, I take it you received the itinerary for today's meeting." Antono placed a stack of paper on the table from his documents. "This is the treaty that will bind us in cooperation on this exciting naval project, and leave matters at a satisfactory end." A slight pause, for effect. "However, our government does also have several other items of interest it seeks to bring to your attention through this meeting. Most significantly, the matter of trade." Antono looked to the Ambassador, and gave her the opportunity to speak.

[Zanaro]

Mugiko looked to her aid who handed her a copy of the itinerary for the meeting, it covered the initial meetings, discussions of trade, breaking for lunch, further discussions regarding risks to free trade in the region, and the a formal dinner. The whole event was rather well put together and would fill the day up quite easily. She then continued to listen as Brave spoke.

"This is the treaty that will bind us in cooperation on this exciting naval project, and leave matters at a satisfactory end. However, our government does also have several other items of interest it seeks to bring to your attention through this meeting. Most significantly, the matter of trade."

After he paused the second time Mugiko very carefully chose her words, she felt this man was truly skilled as a negotiator and diplomat something that pleased her. She had not truly expected to meet an equal among the common folk of a foreign land, but perhaps Tero Malstreciga truly was something different from Zanaro.

"Brava-san," she paused. "I look forward to reviewing the official treaty, over lunch perhaps, for now though I am curious what regarding trade you wish to discuss." She motioned to one of her aids to begin taking notes.