3 October 2018 - 09:30hrs [UTC+3]
OAG Headquarters
Dar es Salaam, Freistaat Ostafrika
"So we are in agreement then?"
Präsident Friedrich Luxenberg looked around the conference table at the other members of the Aufsichtsrat, all of whom nodded their approval. The 'Supervisory Board' of the Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft (OAG) were half an hour into their weekly Wednesday meeting and their current point of discussion focused upon the Kingdom of Travancore, a client state of the OAG's crafted nation known as Freistaat Ostafrika. Situated on the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, Travancore had been a model client state for decades and had played an important role in the acquisition of the OAG's second client state, the Unified Arab Sultanate. Travancore's ruler, Maharajah Rama Varma VII, had personally intervened to convince Sultan Ibrahim al-Said of the benefits of becoming more closely aligned with Ostafrika; the UAS also made substantial use of migrant labour from Travancore so Rama Varma VII had been able to appeal to Ibrahim in economic terms as well as political terms. The Sultanate was now well into the process of integrating into the Ostafrikanische Freihandelszone, the free trade zone which existed purely as a method for the OAG to exert influence over their client states while gaining free access to goods and services that Ostafrika itself did not provide. As a result of this, the Aufsichtsrat believed that Rama Varma VII and the Kingdom of Travancore deserved some form of reward for their loyalty and assistance in securing the Sultanate.
"A unanimous decision then. Freistaat Ostafrika shall seize the Lakshadweep Islands and then hand them over to Travancore's administration. We shall also recognise Travancore's claim over the independent municipality of Mahé and support any military action that they take to reassert their authority. Next item on the agenda concerns our continuing negotiations with the Shoshanga Kingdom and King Manukosi III. We have sought control over that southern state for years and I understand that we may have hit yet another potential roadblock as of late. Bernhard, would you care to enlighten us?"
As the Aufsichtsrat member who oversaw both the Department of External Relations and the Department of Internal Relations, Bernhard Oberholzer received more detailed weekly reports than the brief overviews delivered to Präsident Luxenberg. He paused for a moment before addressing the question.
"Unfortunately that is correct, Herr Präsident. As you are all aware, one of our major natural gas operations is located off our southern coast, on the border region with the Shoshanga Kingdom. Our geologists have long suspected that the kingdom possesses natural gas reserves off their own coastline so we have included the possibility of developing their gas reserves for them as part of our negotiating strategy, basically that we can make them wealthy if they join us." Oberholzer let out a heavy sigh. "King Manukosi III's hesitation regarding our offer appears to have paid off for him. The Shoshanga Kingdom has received a rival offer to explore and develop potential gas reserves, and this offer does not involve becoming an autonomous region of a larger nation. According to the Department of External Relations, it looks very likely that he will take the rival offer."
Präsident Luxenberg's displeasure was clear to see. "Who is it?"
"The Margrave Oil Company."
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3 October 2018 - 20:00hrs [UTC+8]
Margravia Estate, Zhuhai
Guangdong Province, Nanfang Republic
A nation of just over nine hundred and eighty-eight million people, the Nanfang Republic was an economic powerhouse in Asia. The republic was founded in 1859 after the overthrow of the much-maligned Liu dynasty, who had led their Great Yue Kingdom into an ill-fated war and subsequently lost the island province of Hainan to the then-Republic of Layarteb. The subsequent Nanfang Republic became increasingly authoritarian after an attempted Liu Restoration in the 1880s and that style of government had continued to the modern day. According to the Nanfang constitution, a president was elected for a six year term with no limit on the number of terms that they could serve. The public elected delegates to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) which was charged with electing a president, but the requirements for candidacy were so stringent that only one candidate could ever be presented to the NEC for election. This single candidate was invariably the incumbent president, except in situations where the incumbent had died or was demonstrably unfit to remain in office. The office of President possessed sweeping powers which could allow the incumbent to suspend constitutional freedoms and rule by decree if necessary. This was often unnecessary as the office also had the power to appoint one-third of the members of the National Assembly, enabling an incumbent president to stack the National Assembly with supporters and and ensure a majority for their political party. This had resulted in the continued dominance of the Constitutional Democrat Party since 1909, to the point where the other political parties had become glorified puppets of the CDP. The current incumbent, President Yang Mingshu, was the first female to hold the office in the Republic's history and had come to power in the 2005 election at the age of forty-three. Now aged fifty-six and in her third term as President, Yang Mingshu had earned an excellent reputation due to her domestic economic policy and her desire to see the Nanfang Republic take a more active role on the global stage. Her more global outlook chimed particularly well with the ambitions of one of the Republic's most influential powers.
Originally from the Republic of Layarteb, the Margrave family had arrived in the Great Yue Kingdom in 1795, having departed from the Republic of Layarteb for reasons which were no longer discussed by the family. They established themselves in the then-capital of Guangzhou as tea merchants, demonstrating their genuine talent for commerce as well as an ability to discern exactly which officials to bribe and when to bribe them. In 1824 the Margraves married into the Liao merchant family who were based in the autonomous port city of Oumún (OOC: RL Macau), a trading port which was less respectable than Guangzhou and as a result they came into contact with all manner of criminals, slave traders, and gamblers. In 1840 the Oumún authorities legalised gambling within the city's territory and the subsequent licensing system saw over 200 gambling houses paying 'gambling rent' to the Oumún authorities, with several of these gambling houses having been acquired by the Margraves during various ventures. While the 'Tea War' with the Republic of Layarteb did cause some issues for the family as the monarchy began to promote anti-foreigner sentiments, the Margraves were able to weather the storm thanks to their ties to the Liao and the assistance of their less-than-reputable friends in Oumún and Hēunggóng (OOC: RL Hong Kong). After the kingdom's defeat in 1855 and the loss of Hainan, the demonstrated weakness of the monarchy led to breakdowns in civil order and the eventual revolution in 1859 which founded the Nanfang Republic. The Margraves and the Liao used the four years of instability to cement their influence and take over several other 'foreign-owned' businesses that could not call upon the sort of local protection that the Margraves possessed; the Margraves invariably married into the families who owned the companies that they were taking over, performing both a corporate and familial takeover. The Margrave marriage ties to the Liao and the growing family wealth assisted them in gaining Nanfang citizenship as the constitutional framework of the new republic took shape, and the family's influence continued to expand as they built upon their commercial enterprises. The movement of the nation's capital from Guangzhou to Nanjing in 1911 had inadvertantly strengthened the Margrave and Liao positions as the Liao had neatly stepped in to fill the newly-created position of Governor of Guangdong province.
The extended family was now a genuine force in both the economy and the political life of the Nanfang Republic. The Liao had become a political dynasty in Guangdong Province, Oumún and Hēunggóng, frequently holding governorships of all three territories while growing wealthy from the gambling industry of Oumún. The Liao owned the vast majority of the casinos and other gambling venues in Oumún, and their political clout allowed them to effectively block any foreign gaming companies who did not provide the customary kickbacks or share percentages. As gambling was illegal throughout the rest of the Republic, Oumún was popular with the wealthy as they could indulge in 'seedy activities' in the territory; the continued seedy reputation of Oumún actually played to the advantage of the Liao as it was almost expected that the territory might be corrupt to some degree. Meanwhile, the still-primarily Caucasian Margraves had become a corporate dynasty with few equals. Quick to innovate and with a defined killer instinct, the Margraves had forged a multinational conglomerate over the decades simply known as 'Margrave Holdings'. The umbrella of Margrave Holdings covered several major Nanfang corporations such as the Shenzhen Media Group, the telecoms giant Huawei, and the technology giant Tencent. The Margrave Tea Company continued to do a brisk business after diversifying into more general food and beverages, but the family's favourite corporate entity was the Margrave Oil Company. Founded in the 1950s, the MOC had now become the primary oil and gas extractor within the Republic's territory while expanding its talons into several nations along western Africa. The MOC were well-known for not discriminating about styles of government as they would do business with anyone willing to let them get on with it. While it was potentially interesting that certain elected governments in Africa had been overthrown after considering the nationalisation of their oil and gas reserves, the Nanfang public did not really care what was happening in a poorer nation thousands of miles away. The Nanfang government cared slightly more, but that was because they viewed MOC-supported governments as better potential partners in terms of trade. Yang Mingshu had adopted this particular viewpoint and saw the Margrave Oil Company as an unofficial ally in her foreign policy aims.
This evening saw a 'special family meeting' called for those Margraves who wielded the greatest influence, or were destined to do so, in the clan's corporate empire. The venue for this meeting was the family's primary southern residence, the 'Margravia' estate, although calling it an estate was rather understating matters. Located northwest of the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, the 1.4 square kilometre site featured a palace complex in the region's architectural style, adorned with statues of mythical dogs, dragons, and other creatures of regional significance. Surrounded by high walls while guarded by a state-of-the-art security system and a veritable battalion of highly trained and heavily armed security personnel, the Margravia estate was a location only accessed with explicit permission. While many members of the family resided in their own homes around the Nanfang Republic, the estate was the place where important family business was conducted. Milestone birthdays were celebrated here, weddings were conducted, and a memorial garden honoured every single member of the family who had passed away; if possible, the bodies of deceased Margraves were transported to the estate and given either a ceremonial family burial or cremation depending upon on their stated wishes.
Five stylish black limousines passed through the checkpoint at the main gate of the estate, every single driver providing identification and reporting which family members he was ferrying around. This was the manner of arrival for Thomas Margrave and his four younger brothers: Bentley, Crispin, Piers, and Spencer. While all five were married, tonight's meeting did not require the attendance of their wives. The arrival of a golden sports car roaring into the paved parking area confirmed the attendance of Lysander Margrave, Thomas's twenty-six year old eldest son and the future anointed heir to the empire, along with his husband Darui Liao-Margrave. Darui was twenty-seven years old and a fourth cousin to Lysander; the pair received invitations to all manner of high-profile celebrity events due to their considerable follower base on social media as well as their family name. Lysander was the future anointed heir due to being Thomas's eldest son, as Thomas himself was the current anointed heir due to being the eldest son of the family's current patriarch. Alexander Margrave was a seventy-two year old of patrician bearing who had overseen the family's expansion for the past three decades, demonstrating great skill in identifying markets and industries which could yield potential profit. He spent most of his days at the Margravia estate, receiving updates from the various tentacles of the corporate empire and plotting future investments. It was Alexander who had convened tonight's meeting, and none of those invited would dare refuse to attend. It spoke volumes about Alexander that all seven invitees were dressed in identical black business suits with white mandarin-collar shirts.
The seven Margrave males were escorted through the richly-decorated corridors of the main residential palace by an immaculately dressed servant who they all recognised as Hostewick, the family butler. The same age as Alexander, Hostewick had been a constant presence throughout the formative years of Thomas and his brothers, and they found it hard to consider what the family would be like without him. They eventually reached the intricately-carved wooden double doors of the palace's family conference room, at which point Hostewick pressed the intercom which was set on the wall next to the doors.
"They have arrived, sir."
The double doors began to open inwards as a button was pressed within the conference room, at which point Hostewick bowed slightly to the seven Margraves before excusing himself. Once the doors were fully open, they entered the room. The walls were decorated in colourful paintings and reliefs depicting regional landscapes while intricate designs were carved into the solid wood of the ceiling. The most dominant feature was the large black conference table with accompanying red and gold high-back armchairs, all carved from local woods in the style of regional royalty. At the head of the table sat Alexander, dressed in a black business suit with a black mandarin-collar shirt; a wry smile formed as he regarded his sons, grandson, and grandson-in-law.
"Don't just stand there, we have business to discuss."
The seven quickly made their way to the conference table and began to take seats. Thomas took the seat to his father's immediate right, but Bentley earned Alexander's harsh gaze when he took the seat to his immediate left.
"Not there. Sit next to Thomas, that seat is for Lysander this time."
Some shuffling of positions followed, resulting in Thomas and his brothers on one side of the table while Lysander and Darui sat at the opposite side. Once all seven were correctly seated, Alexander began.
"Who can tell me, what was the setback that we experienced four months ago?"
He cast his discerning eye over his relatives as he awaited a response, instantly turning to face Lysander as the young Margrave spoke. "The Unified Arab Sultanate?"
"Good." Alexander briefly pointed at Lysander before continuing. "The Unified Arab Sultanate was to be the Margrave Oil Company's first Middle East venture. We had been talking to members of their civil service about the potential for doing business with the UAS, then Sultan Taimur abdicated and Ibrahim took over. We then stopped being of interest because of the issues between the United Federation of Nations and Freistaat Ostafrika, and eventually Ibrahim threw in his lot with the Ostafrikans. The Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft strayed into our business. It is now time to dissuade them from doing so again."
Thomas cleared his throat. "So that's why we've moved up the timetable in the Shoshanga Kingdom."
"Exactly. The OAG stole the Sultanate from us, we shall steal Shoshanga from them. It is time for those upstart Teutonic barbarians to learn a valuable lesson." Alexander leaned forward in his chair as he continued. "If they fail to learn the lesson then we shall find a new lesson to teach them. They may have their own nation and their pet monarchies, but they are still a corporation. We do not lose to rival corporations."
