open MLP Empires: Clash of Cultures - World Stage (Diplomacy,Trade & War)

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

The pegasus landed softly on the Dauntless. She was nervous about the ordeal and wanted to go back but her captain would seriously punish her for being a coward. She walked forwards cautiously her musket shaking around on her side and her sword nearly coming out of it's sheathe

 

 

"Good afternoon," Quick Breeze said, addressing the pegasus, "I am captain Quick Breeze, welcome aboard. I represent the Shetland Kingdom, an island nation far to the north of here, and I am here to establish diplomatic relations between our two nations."

 

Despite Quick Breeze's carefully prepared speech, the tension was palpable. The band had stopped playing when the pegasus had landed, and had picked up their weapons again. The crew were giving it and the other ships, a number of which were within firing range by now, nervous looks. It had been made clear that they were not to react should they encounter a pegasus or a unicorn, but there were expressions of revulsion and disgust all the same.

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

"Good afternoon," Quick Breeze said, addressing the pegasus, "I am captain Quick Breeze, welcome aboard. I represent the Shetland Kingdom, an island nation far to the north of here, and I am here to establish diplomatic relations between our two nations."

 

Despite Quick Breeze's carefully prepared speech, the tension was palpable. The band had stopped playing when the pegasus had landed, and had picked up their weapons again. The crew were giving it and the other ships, a number of which were within firing range by now, nervous looks. It had been made clear that they were not to react should they encounter a pegasus or a unicorn, but there were expressions of revulsion and disgust all the same.

"Umm... H...hello" The pegasus said nervously walking towards Captain Quick Breeze. "My... Well I am called by many... And by many I mean everyone... Grey feather. For obvious reasons." She didn't want to move any closer to the band in fear of their weapons. "But umm... You like could maybe... Call me feather... If you like want to..."

[Anneal 2,197]

@,

 

The city inside appeared rather calm, a different environment from their war-ridden land in the north. There were some small groups of soldiers patrolling around the roads at sunrise, holding various amounts of weapons; the Liao, unlike its previous dynasty, had abandoned military weapon standardization to control spending cost. Therefore, a good amount of the weapons the soldiers used were usually from their own homes.

 

Those weapons wee unusual. Each pony appeared to hold differently shaped spears, sickle-like swords, inward curved axes, and several more. One even held glaives stuck onto chains. Seeing those patrolling soldiers made Gaozhi's sword a lot more mundane than it actually was.

 

The architecture of the city stood out as well. Most of the buildings, from the rich-class courtyards to the commoner's house, usually faced south, and had centered doors; only the larger buildings had more than one door. All of the buildings were near symmetrical and had curved, gabled roofs - most of them used warm colors. The walls of the buildings used a mix of brick, stone, and wood, and the doorways were often decorated with red, poetic phrases. The ponies in this country had placed close attention to decorations; nothing was ever plain, and was in symmetrical order.

 

As Gaozhi and the others trotted down the stone roads, merchants were setting up their stalls against their residences. Most of the civilians wore casual robes and banded their mane in cloth. "Heh...if you think that way, I'm actually curious what your homelands look like. I mean, it's been a several decades since we met you. It's not that different, isn't it?"

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

"Umm... H...hello" The pegasus said nervously walking towards Captain Quick Breeze. "My... Well I am called by many... And by many I mean everyone... Grey feather. For obvious reasons." She didn't want to move any closer to the band in fear of their weapons. "But umm... You like could maybe... Call me feather... If you like want to..."

 

 "Pleased to meet you, Grey Feather," Quick Breeze said. He gestured to the marines to back down, then moved to shake Feather's hoof. "I'm only here to make formal introductions, but my hope is that our nations will be able to work together for mutual benefit. We have much that we can offer each other." 

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

As the nights drew in and the wind brought snow from the far north, King Archus II’s Privy Council met again at McGrath Castle. Most notably since their post-winter meeting eight months ago, the informal yet strict seating arrangement had shifted. Although the Counsellor for Military Affairs Audus Sharpe remained prominent, he had shifted slightly away from the king, with Judicial Affairs now sitting higher than him in the pecking order, and with the normally far distant Counsellor for Foreign Affairs dangerously close. Igneous Smith, Industrial Affairs, remained right by the king as always.

 

“Would the Right, Honourable and Learned Igneous Smith please present his findings to his majesty,” the Lord President intoned.

 

“With the various commitments we’ve made, although public industrial output rose by 18%, profits fell by 60% and we used a substantial amount of our material reserve. None the less, all targets were met on or under time without exhausting our cash reserves. The private sector had an excellent year, partially due to our increased spending and partially due to increased overseas trade. And I believe that the Right and Honourable Locus Hoof has some pertinent information to add here.” Igneous looked over at Locus, and gave him a brief smile. Audus remained expressionless.

 

“Thank you. Yes, our food imports are well above expected levels, and at a lower price than expected – our sanctioned goods have proven highly popular amongst the independent traders, and our deal with the pirates means that far more are willing to make the treacherous run from the south-east. On that note, there have been some minor violations on the pirate’s side – unsanctioned goods smuggling, the occasional ship clearly lost to piracy, that sort of thing, but they seem to have kept to their side of the bargain, and individual captains seem happy enough to receive sanctioned goods rather than more conventional payments. No weapons, I assure you, but there seems to be a shortage of high-strength corrosion-resistant alloys abroad, and technical trinkets seem immensely popular as prestige pieces. All in all, trade has been doing very well indeed. Not well enough to cover the expenses of our expedition, but much better than anticipated.”

 

King Archus held a hoof up, and Locus stopped quickly. “Moving on to the joint venture, how does that proceed?” He asked.

 

“The telegraph line is finished, your majesty, and we have been able to have several highly productive diplomatic exchanges. The Zenith venture is going according to plan on our side,” Locus paused and looked over at Audus, who nodded stiffly, “and the island is entirely under our control. There were a handful of independent traders and pirates who used to use it to resupply, and we have made it clear that they are no longer welcome. A few were arrested, the rest got the message. The navy reports that the temporary harbour is holding, and that a more permanent structure should be ready for when our next wave arrives in the spring.”

 

“And the wider plan? Their part of the deal?”

 

“Limited movement at the moment, but we do not believe that they posses the financial reserves that we do. Or rather, did. Their dedication to naval power should commit them to upholding it, though; as if they failed to do so then it would ultimately leave us in a far stronger position. We do not currently have the naval assets to exploit this, but we believe that we could posses a credible force within the next two years, and a comparable force within five – as long as the projections are met. I doubt they would take kindly to a symmetric rival, so we may need to adjust our ambitions.”

 

“Very good, now, about your other proposition…”