Ask Arkdunham (Q&A)

[Arkdunham]

Journalists, World Leaders, and Peoples of All Standings are invited to a Q&A session with the royal advisory council of Arkdunham. Any questions, ranging from foreign policy, to national culture, to trade agreements, to the councillors' personal opionions and lives, are allowed.

Arkdunham: A small kingdom on the continent of Shambhala, in the world of Etheralia. Since the 1950 revolution that overthrew the communist government and reinstated the king, Arkdunham has entered a period of isolationism, cutting off all contact with other nations. Now, for the first time, the mysterious and secretive kingdom has opened up to foreign relations. This is its first international press conference, where people from around NationStates can ask King Nyarlathotep's advisory council anything they wish.

King Dr. Nyarlathotep IV, Count of Dracule, Lord of Fortress Arkwich, Duke of Relyeh, Supreme Authority of the Church of Arkdunham, Beloved of all those on Heaven and Earth:
Sadly, the King could not be in attendance.

Adviser for Foreign Affairs: The Countess of Ecsed:
The Countess is responsible for creating and maintaining international relations. A cool, stern woman, she is nevertheless extremely well spoken and persuasive, schooled at Arkdunham's most prestigious academies. She is fluent in several languages and has written treatises on political science.
She has blond hair, extremely pale skin, and crimson nails and lips. She is considered very beautiful, but is highly feared. Reports of disappearances in her County have lead to numerous rumours about her personal life.

Adviser for Military Affairs: Captain General Darius Drake:
As chief of the army, Captain General Drake is responsible for overseeing the construction of vast military fortifications, and the procurement of new armaments, currently two main priorities for the nation as a whole. Drawn from an aristocratic background, Drake is not known to be highly intelligent, and leans heavily on his own set of advisers and under-generals. His appointment to the position is largely seen as an effort to maintain loyalty with certain influential families.
Drake is a man in his fifties with balding hair and a large moustache. He wears a full dress uniform from the Arkdunhamian military, covered in a patchwork of medals he has awarded himself.

Adviser for Intelligence: The Principal Director:
The Principal Director controls Arkdunham's secret police force. Nothing is known about the man, and little about the secret service (save that both are highly effective). It was at his behest that the entire county of Laogaoi was turned over to his department, and travel to this region banned. Many prisoners are sent to what is presumed to be a massive labour camp there, although such prisoners are never seen again.
The man sits behind a white curtain. There is a light-source behind him and his silhouette is visible against the curtain. He sits in profile, leaning back on a simple chair, one leg atop the other, one hand resting thoughtfully against his chin and the other at his side. He speaks in a toneless, vaguely aristocratic voice.

Adviser for Internal Affairs: Count Saint-Germain
The Count of Saint-Germain is responsible for all internal affairs. He has an incredible knowledge of history, and is an expert in numerous other feilds. He is highly charismatic. The Counts of Saint-Germain have resided in Arkdunham for generations, at the invitation of the second King Nyarlathotep, after they were expelled from their own country and had their lands stripped, and have often held positions close the the Arkdunhamian kings.
The current Count Saint-Germain is of indeterminate age, and wears highly aristocratic, if somewhat outdated clothing, matching his old-styled grey-curled wig.

Adviser for Religious Affairs: High Priest C'toolu
High Priest C'toolu was highly influential in the formulation of the Church of Arkdunham, and has remained on the King's council ever since. His background is as a Rhapsodist Monk (OOC Nelmezzoan Rhapsodism is comparable to IRl Catholicism in many ways, and is one of the major religions of Etherealia) in County Dunham, before being expelled from his monastery for unknown reasons. The monastery would later burn down.
C'toolu wears simple clothes, in comparison with his counterparts. He is tall, with pasty pale skin. He is extremely thin, and utterly bald. Every detail of his skull is clearly outlined by his baldness and paleness. He has high cheekbones and a stern expression.

Adviser for Scientific Affairs: Dr. J. Dee
Dr. J. Dee's interests lie in astronomy and chemistry, although he is often derided by the global scientific community for his strange beliefs and his (rumoured) abhorrent practices. He is passionate in his beliefs, when provoked.
He is the oldest person on the council, with a large, yet neat, grey beard.

The press conference is taking place in the Fortress Arkwich board room. A massive, obscenely ornate room in the ancient fortress in the heart of the nation's capital city of Relyeh. The walls are covered in elaborate wood panelling and gold inlay. The ceiling has a huge fresco depict the course of Arkdunham's history, with graphic displays of Arkdunhamians first ruling the continent under the Krean empire, then being treacherously attacked, followed by Arkdunhamians heroically fighting off first the Romairites, followed by the Fjordans, the Khanuans, the Weimarsteiners, the Bavarians, and finally the communists. The fresco ends with the Arkdunhamians once again ruling the continent, although ominous future is yet to be.
The council sit behind a large oak table (with the principle director behind them, covered on all sides by a white curtain). They are flanked by the Arkdunhamian security forces, men in suits, each with skin-toned eye-patches covering their left eyes, all utterly devoid of expression.
The other end of the room is packed with chairs for visiting attendees. Along one side, a number of interpreters sit at desks, to help translate questions into and from Arkdunhamian. More interpreters sit along the back with telephones, prepared to take calls from anywhere in the NationStates universe. On the other side of the chairs, there are tables, covered with white tablecloths and an assortment of refreshments

1,950CE - A monarchist coup instates King Nyarlathotep IV as the country's leader, although very little changes, with the country remaining an authoritarian police state.
1,951CE - Purportedly in an effort to reduce foreign influence, the Church of Arkdunham is founded in order to replace Nelmezzoan Rhapsodism (One of the most popular religions in Arkdunham).
1,952CE - At the behest of the Secret Police, access to the entire county of Laogaoi is prohibited except for official personnel.
1,959CE - Reports of the renewed oppression of the Romairite Peoples - travelling groups with a distinct culture who have faced centuries of oppression in the region - brings international condemnation to Arkdunham from the other nations of Etherealia.
1,979CE - A mysterious disaster in County Romero leaves travel to the county banned.
1,980CE - Present Day.

Exdended Timeline found here

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More Info:
Arkdunham Wiki Page
The Relyeh Inquisitor (This newspaper, while provides some flavour, is not necessarily canon anymore, due to its reference to Arkdunham's old region)
OOC Note: The current year for Arkdunham and Etherealia approximates 1980AD in Earth's timeline. While still allowed, references to technology and pop-culture from beyond this time-period and world may be confusing to the Arkdunhamians. They will still, however, endeavour to do their best.

[Kenmoria]

"What is the early history of Arkdunham?"

[Arkdunham]

"What is the early history of Arkdunham?"

"A truly fascinating subject," begins Count Saint-Germain - adviser to the king on matters of internal affairs, and a notable historian - his accent lightly textured with something resembling French, "Arkdunhamian society properly began with the foundation of the Krean Empire. A bronze age civilisation, the Kreans had an immense understanding of vastly complex and theoretical mathematics. Their architectural techniques are unparalleled, even in the modern world. They are known for the immensity of their structures, which, although built by hand with ancient techniques, seem to challenge everything we know about Euclidean Geometry.
Sadly, the Krean empire, although it grew to dominate almost and entire continent, collapsed rather suddenly, alongside many other bronze aged civilisations, for reasons still being debated by scholars to this day. Arkdunham would be founded from the ashes of this once great civilisation, however, all records kept by the mighty Kreans were treacherously destroyed by the superstitious, disgusting Romairites. Our good king, however, is of course a direct descendant of the original line of Krean Emperors."

[Faetiria]

"We wish to know about your national language."

[Arkdunham]

"We wish to know about your national language."

"Early Arkdunhamian is of mysterious origins, although of course it comes from the language of the Kreans. It relied heavily on pictograms and ideograms, although what little written Krean we have left is virtually undecipherable, so we must rely on secondary sources. Modern Arkdunhamian was shaped heavily by the [nation=noflag]Outer Khanua[/nation] expansion, although over the following eight-hundred years it was shaped by the influence of the western shambhalan nations, leaving it as something of an oddity in the region, synthesising the languages of the far east with the far west."

OOC: Arkdunhamian sounds like Hungarian, and is written like traditional Mongolian script)