Of Green and Gold [OLD]

Urth
,
1

Cynebury, Tretrid
July 5, 2021

RING! RING!

Eoforwine Æthelstanson had grown almost desensitized to the sound of his own phone ringing after four years as Prime Minister. Though again, he had grown desensitized to a lot of things as Prime Minister.

Maybe he should think about retiring from politics.

He groaned slightly and picked up the phone. “Hello? This is the Prime Minister.”

“Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Prime Minister.” It was Sæwine, the Foreign Minister. “I suppose you’ve heard the news from the League of Novaris?”

“I believe it was that Mr. Æthelwine got reelected as Secretary-General. I was planning on sending my congratulations to him.”

“About that. Mr. Wulfricson, the Ambassador to the LN, sent me a dispatch this morning. It seems like he’s taking a stand against us.”

Did he hear that right?

“Let me get this straight,” Eoforwine said. “He’s taking a stand… against his own country?”

“He apparently called us a major obstacle to peace in Novaris.”

Eoforwine had to admit that it wasn’t that far from the truth. And it was all his fault, anyway.

“Well, thanks for telling me, Sæwine,” the Prime Minister said, trying not to let his shock show through. “I’ll… have to discuss this with him when I go call him. If he intends on treating Tretrid as a country to be opposed, well, this may be a bit of a problem.”

Eoforwine hung up, and then sighed. Would the tumult in West Novaris be what defined his career, despite everything he had done to improve Tretrid domestically? It seemed like foreign policy always loomed over him, threatening to erase all his accomplishments.

And not just his accomplishments, either.

It was times like these when he really wished he could be anywhere else.

2

“Anyway, since my tenure in office has been renewed, the most pressing priority for me right now is dealing with Cavellan. It’s the current major flashpoint between Volscina and Tretrid, and we’re going to need to deal with that if we’re going to ease the tensions. Now, while I personally would rather make sure that Cavellan stays neutral and doesn’t fall under Tretridian or Volscine influence, it is ultimately the responsibility of the people to decide. Am I clear here?”

Nods.

“Good. The Novaran Council has made it clear that Novaris still needs me, and by Odin I will make sure that their faith in me is well-placed. I’ll be seeing a lot of you soon. You all are dismissed.”

And, with that meeting with several high-ranking officials of the LN Secretariat concluded, His Excellency Æthelwine Heardson, Secretary-General of the League of Novaris, stood up and left the conference room.

As he walked the hallway back to his office, he had the future of Novaris in his mind.

His job at the helm of the League was to further the LN’s goals. And in doing so, the renewed cold war between Volscina and Tretrid was one of the most pressing issues he had to deal with.

Tretrid was going to be a problem, however. While he had spent the entire first part of his life in the country, and was quite attached to his homeland, Æthelwine knew Prime Minister Eoforwine well enough to know that he would do anything to further Tretrid’s interests, even to the detriment of the League as a whole.

Acquainted with the green flags of Tretrid as he might be, the gold flags of the League must fly on their own, not overshadowed by any one power. Novaris needed to keep itself out of the shadow of Tretrid and Volscina.

And, attached as Æthelwine might be, as LN Secretary-General, his duty was ultimately to Novaris as a whole, not Tretrid. While Tretrid was a very important member of the LN, Æthelwine fully intended on making sure that they played nice with their fellow Novaran nations.

If that meant that he had to turn his back on Tretrid, then so be it. He could still care about Tretrid as his country of origin, but he could still decry its foreign policy as the threat to peace it was. If there was anyone who needed to make that statement, it was him.

3

Æthelwine had only been in his office for a few minutes when his phone started ringing.

He quickly picked it up and answered it. “Hello? You’ve reached the Secretary-General.”

“Good afternoon, Æthelwine,” the caller said cooly.

He recognized that voice, of course.

“Ah, Eoforwine. I was wondering when you’d call.”

“No doubt you have. First of all, congratulations on your re-election. However, I couldn’t help but notice… your revised stance, let’s just say.”

Pffft. “It’s quite simple, Mr. Prime Minister. There are certain things that need to be done for the sake of mutual Novaran prosperity. It happens that Cynebury’s motives, or, should I say, your motives are not compatible with mine.”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“Listen here, Eoforwine,” Æthelwine said, “I know you well enough to know that you believe that you are carrying out the duties of your office to the fullest extent, for Tretrid’s benefit. And you know me well enough to know that I’m not too different from you. So I’m telling you now: my allegiance is to the League of Novaris, not to Tretrid.”

“Are you already treating your home country like an enemy?”

“Not an enemy, no. Tretrid is part of the League too. Novaran and Tretridian interests may align sometimes, and I would be willing to work with you in those cases. However, with everything you’ve done over the former Cavellan, well, I would be naïve to believe that Tretrid would act for the greater good in Novaris, and not its own interests.”

“You say this, and yet you haven’t said anything about Volscina.”

“I know Volscina is also a threat. They want to eventually cannibalize Varletia and Lamanwasser, for crying out loud! Yes, I know that. But what can they do right now? The current status quo in West Novaris is currently dominated by their enemies in the TA, which surrounds them! Eoforwine, to speak frankly, Volscina can’t do much. They have the disadvantage. They do not have much to lose in a negotiated settlements. You’re the one with the most to lose in that case, since Tretrid has the upper hand currently. That’s what I mean when I maintain that Cynebury’s actions jeopardizes peace in Novaris.”

“I’m not going to be able to change your mind on this, I presume. You aren’t the type to suddenly give up on your convictions.” Eoforwine said that with certainty.

“No, and you definitely aren’t that type either. I think we know each other well enough to know that neither of us are about to pivot. That’s why I ran for re-election, Eoforwine. I know how you tick better than most. I know how to deal with you. And I told myself that I was the only person who could prevent Tretrid from making Novaris its playground. I can’t let you play your dangerous geopolitical games any longer.”

“…so be it, then, if you so insist. If you believe that’s your duty to Novaris, well, I have my own duty to Tretrid to perform. Good day, Mr. Secretary-General.”

The line went dead.

While that could have gone better, Æthelwine would not have said anything differently. After all, what was one nation’s pride and power to the freedom, safety, and prosperity of the entire continent?

4

March 20, 2007
Cynebury, Tretrid

Foreign Minister Æthelwine Heardson stood at the doors of the office of the Prime Minister. He felt slightly apprehensive, since he knew this was probably meeting of some significant importance.

It had been an interesting last few days. The ruling party, the ADP, of which Æthelwine was part of, had recently formed a coalition government with the SDÞ. And that meant Social Democrats in cabinet. The Foreign Minister wasn’t going to pass judgement on the new cabinet ministers until he had gotten to know them, but he was pretty sure they would be interesting to work with, to say the least.

Though again, these were interesting times for Tretrid in general. No one knew where Tretrid would go next. The Novaran Cold War was over. It was up to Æthelwine to tell the nation where to head next.

He largely tried his best not to touch the hornet’s nest that was West Novaris. That would not end well. He instead was focused on emphasizing Tretridian soft power instead of hard power, which meant more peaceful endeavors like cultural exchanges and visa programs instead of the military exercises that were common when he was young.

Managing Tretridian policy in this directionless time was like steering a destinationless ship in dense fog. Not only was there no goal in sight, but they could be running aground and they wouldn’t know until it was too late.

Certainly an unenviable task. Which brought him to the present.

The Prime Minister, Osbeorn Cynricson, had summoned the Foreign Minister to his office. What for, Æthelwine wasn’t really sure.

The Foreign Minister knocked on the door.

“Enter,” the voice on the other side said.

Æthelwine obliged, opening the door and stepping into the office.

Prime Minister Osbeorn sat at his desk, leaning forward, hands steepled. Opposite him were two chairs.

Æthelwine sat down in one of them.

“Good morning, Mr. Heardson,” Osbeorn said. “How’s your day going so far?”

“It’s going fine.”

“Glad to hear that.” Osbeorn checked his watch. “You’re here a few minutes early, actually. We might have to wait.”

Æthelwine glanced at the other chair. “Who’s coming?”

“The new Finance Minister.”

“Ah. He’s the one who wanted Tretridian boots in Volscina during the civil war, right?”

Osbeorn nodded. “Quite a popular sentiment. He wasn’t the only one, but he was probably the most outspoken.”

“Right. How adamant were the Social Democrats that he be made Finance Minister?”

“He’s very prominent in their party, as you know, so they really wanted this.”

A knock on the door.

“Well, then,” the Prime Minister said. “Enter,” he spoke loudly.

The doorknob turned and clicked, and the Finance Minister walked through. He closed the door behind him and silently sat at the vacant seat.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Æthelstanson,” Osbeorn said.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Cynricson,” replied the new Finance Minister.
[hr]
“Mr. Æthelstanson, Mr. Heardson, I’ve brought you here for an initiative that I’ve been considering.”

“Do tell,” said Æthelwine.

“It’s a fairly risky proposition, I must say, but it sounds like a fairly rewarding one. It’s about West Novaris.”

Æthelwine’s heart sank. Of course the dumpster fire in the room had to be addressed.

The Prime Minister went on. “You both no doubt know that it’s been, well, a mess. The thing is, we have the resources to try making it a bit less of a mess.”

No one in the room was delusional enough to think that they could completely extinguish it.

“This mainly involves investing heavily in other countries. Aponivia is fine, and probably doesn’t need or want our help. But for the rest of West Novaris? Well, Seccera’s economy is stagnating, Nuovo Volscina isn’t having the best time… this would probably take a significant amount of our budget, though.”

“Have you considered withdrawing troops from Seccera?” Eoforwine asked.

Osbeorn sighed. “The timetable keeps getting pushed back. Military dragging their feet, you know how it is. And we have to build a new Secceran government there from scratch, too. Not the easiest task.”

Æthelwine sighed. Seccera was probably the largest mess in Tretridian foreign affairs in decades. There wasn’t much the three of them could do right now, though. The conditions were not right for a withdrawal. Well, unless he wanted to embarrass Tretrid on the world stage, but his job was specifically to not do such things.

He then asked one question that really needed asking. “Will we be sending money to Volscina?”

Osbeorn shrugged. “Not sure. Probably, though. They’re not in direct opposition to us anymore.”

The Prime Minister then took a deep breath. “Anyway, I’m going to largely delegate this idea to the two of you, see if it’s both productive for our foreign policy and won’t drain our finances too much.”

“I’ll see what I can do about this, then,” Æthelwine said. “Not sure if it will pan out, but I’ll try my best.”

“Likewise,” Eoforwine said. “If this is what you’re tasking us with, then I will make sure I will carry this out to the fullest extent possible.” He turned to Æthelwine. “I look forward to working with you on this.”

They shook hands.

5

April 14, 2007
Cynebury, Tretrid
 
Foreign Minister Æthelwine Heardson walked to his usual spot in the food court. A lot of governmental buildings were placed close to one another, and food courts like this one were a prime location to socialize with people from other ministries.
 
He ordered a sandwich from one of the vendors, and after receiving his food, he sat down at his usual table.
 
It was a particularly unusual day in that he was visited by another cabinet minister halfway through lunchtime.
 
Finance Minister Eoforwine Æthelstanson, having apparently finished his lunch earlier and still carrying a cup of ice water, had walked up to the table. “Mr. Heardson, can we talk for a moment? It’s about your latest report about the possible costs of an extended Volscine development program.”
 
“Is it so urgent that you didn’t have time to bring it up in the meeting in May?”
 
“Mr. Heardson, with all the recent importance that has been placed on Tretridian foreign aid, I think it is best that you be kept up-to-date on matters relating to the initiatives that have been proposed recently.”
 
“I see.”
 
Eoforwine nodded and took a seat. “I want to start off by saying that Mr. Cynricson sent me the report you gave him about the administration and estimated cost of a possible Volscine development program. I had the Finance Ministry run the numbers, and given the administrative overhead of the project, we believe that such a project would significantly be more expensive than your report indicated.”
 
“Mr. Æthelstanson, are you putting the work of the Foreign Ministry in question?” Æthelwine did not want to see the Finance Minister underestimating the staff of his ministry. In his (extremely biased) opinion, the Tretridian foreign ministry had some of the finest civil servants Tretrid had to offer.
 
“I didn’t mean it like that. The main reason why our estimated cost is higher than yours is because we believe a significant amount of work would be needed to maintain transparency in such a program. It’s no secret that there are many politicians in Volscina that would try to stir up populist sentiments over such a program. ‘Your rulers are selling you out to the Tretridians so they can get rich,’ that sort of thing. While, without any efforts made to improve the optics of such a program, such a program would fall very close to your estimated price, well, it might be a good idea to spend a bit more.”
 
“A Finance Minister is asking someone to spend more. Never thought I’d see the day.”
 
Eoforwine shrugged. “The hope is that the more money that is put into returning Volscina to its former economic status, the more Tretrid itself directly profits off of the resulting revitalization of the Novaran economy as a whole. You remember as well as I do that Novaris essentially slid into recession when they collapsed. Sure, Tretrid was left relatively well off, and we were too busy coasting off of our Cold War-era nationalistic pride to care that much, but we were affected as well. I remember receiving a bunch of calls from constituents worried that they would lose their job, especially those in industries that dealt heavily with international trade. I recall some of my fellow members of the Witan were even worse off, since their constituencies had major ports, and, well, with Volscina as a major source of trade for Tretrid whether we like it or not, a bunch of dock workers and the like got furloughed or even laid off due to the suddenly decreased demand at the ports.”
 
“Oh, if you think it was bad at Iegburh, Mr. Æthelstanson, imagine how it is to represent a constituency in Sigested and go through all of that.” Æthelwine laughed bitterly. “Personally, I don’t even have to imagine that. I distinctly recall wishing I had never left the diplomatic corps to run for office.”
 
Eoforwine winced at the thought. “Needless to say, a stimulus to Volscina’s economy should amount to a stimulus for Novaris’s economy as a whole, including ours. Hopefully this plan should start paying for itself in around five to seven years—that is, if it goes without a hitch. If Volscine politics force the program to an early end, well, you can sure kiss goodbye to all those pounds.”
 
“Hence why you want to spend more on ensuring it remains well-received.”
 
“Exactly.”
 
“While it’s not within your department, Mr. Æthelstanson, I expect you’ve also been thinking about the potential foreign policy implications. After all, it is the Foreign Ministry that is largely backing this effort. How would you consider this as someone who isn’t firmly embedded in the Foreign Ministry’s regular decision-making?”
 
“Well, I’d see it as tying Volscina’s fate to ours. It’d be foolish for them to bite the hand that’s feeding them.”
 
“I suppose that’s one way to put it. The realists within the ministry like to think in a way similar to that. How do some of the hardliners like to phrase it? ‘Like a carrot and stick.’ Give them money, and promise more if they do what Tretrid wants. Threaten to decrease the budget if they aren’t.” Æthelwine scoffed. “I can’t believe these people were alive during the Cold War. We and Volscina had been rivals since, well, I don’t know, the freaking Secceran Crown War, and these people think that they’d be willing to bend the knee to us carefully sending money?” Æthelwine’s voice had steadily increased in volume as he said that. He had to take a few deep breaths to calm down before continuing. “Volscina still has a sense of national pride left in them. They’d sooner go through another civil war than be essentially a Tretridian client state,” he said, forcing himself to be calm.
 
“They’re not entirely wrong, either,” Eoforwine pointed out.
 
“No, they aren’t. They grossly overestimate how effective it will be, but Volscina will certainly need to consider any potential economic repercussions to any expansionist moves they may want to take. It should, at the very least, delay them while those idiots in charge of the Secceran occupation eventually decide it’s the right time to pull out. I doubt Volscina can, in its current state, win a war with Tretrid, but a war would be a political disaster here in Cynebury.”
 
“I take it you don’t prioritize Nuovo Volscina as much as you do Seccera.”
 
“No, I do not. I understand the ideas behind the continued occupation of that territory, but it’s not only going to be a money sink for us, but if I did not consider gambling grossly unprofessional conduct, I’d be willing to bet a hundred pounds that Volscina wouldn’t be that inclined towards rapprochement while we still hold Seccera. Or back Nuovo Volscina for that matter.”
 
“A withdrawal from Seccera and Nuovo Volscina would require goodwill from Volscina itself to work.”
 
“Of course. I think the current reason why we haven’t withdrawn yet is because we want Cadrigrano in a receptive mood. Nuovo Volscina and Seccera would make excellent bargaining chips in talks, don’t you think?”
 
“That’s quite the carrot to dangle in front of them.”
 
“Of course. In practice, we’d probably pull out of at least one of them to demonstrate goodwill on our own part so that talks have a chance of being productive. Agree to bury the hatchet, and sign a non-aggression pact for good measure, and of course, we’d swiftly give the other up. And then we can finally be rid of both Nuovo Volscina and Seccera.”
 
“The ideologue in me wants to remind me that both ended up as not part of Volscina because the people or their elected representatives didn’t want to be part of it anymore.”
 
“I was a career diplomat before I became part of the Witan. A lot of us learn to suppress that internal ideologue. Though I do have to admit that people who subscribe to the liberal school of international relations theory are still needed in the Foreign Ministry simply to counterbalance the realists. I’d hate to think what the realists would do if they were held absolute dominance over the ministry’s thinking. But while this program is active, they should think twice about acting aggressively. That could make the difference between peace and war.”
 
“You’ve thought this through, haven’t you, Mr. Heardson?”
 
Æthelwine nodded. “My duty as the Foreign Minister is to serve Tretrid to the best of my ability. That goes above anything else. That requires due diligence to consider the consequences of my actions.”
 
“We’re much the same, I suppose, in that regard. Our offices are not something to be taken lightly, and we should make sure our actions always are to Tretrid’s benefit.”
 
Eoforwine glanced at his watch. “Oh, I have to leave soon. Meeting. Apologies. Do you mind if I drop by regularly? Mr. Cynricson did say that the idea would be left to the two of us to handle, and it’d be much better if we were able to coordinate this on a more immediate basis than weekly meetings.”
 
“That sounds good to me, Mr. Æthelstanson. Be seeing you.”