OOC: Kash, where are you headed?
OOC: My submarines are patrolling the waters around your colony hunting for ships. They’re acting as pirates though so they’ll try to sink any ship they can, even their own allies.
OOC: That’s a pretty solid way of demolishing our relationship. I don’t want a war. Maybe minor skirmishes and a ship or two, but no more than that.
OOC: They’re unmarked, it’s almost impossible to identify as well seeing that they’re deep underwater hidden from sonar. Even if they were forced to surface, you’d see a jolly roger symbolizing that they’re pirates. I don’t want a war either, but this expansion is getting a bit out of hand and it threatens Setznan national security and interests.
You could also read up on this to help understand why it’d be difficult to find my subs in the water. https://www.quora.com/Why-are-submarines-so-hard-to-find
OOC - First, I don’t wanna be losing no ships or people, so we have a problem. Second, I invited you to have discussions so we could resolve these peacefully, it was even a specific part of my embassy application, that we resolve disputes peacefully. You didn’t respond to my invitation when we asked that we talk about this before I ploughed ahead.
OOC - I actually did reply to it, I replied a bit late though and didn’t inform you which was a mistake on my part. I apologize for that and I should have informed you when I posted. Also my submarines won’t always go in for the kill, my captains know that is the worst path to take. They’ll usually try and ward off the incoming ships and use threats first. I should have included this in my first OOC reply to you to make things more clear so this post will do just that.
Link to reply: http://forum.theeastpacific.com/single/?p=10016151&t=7004903
Again, I apologize for not communicating well with you and making things a bit foggy.
OOC - It’s fine, Kash
[hr]
John Dew, the ambassador of the Oan Isles to Setzna, received a reply from the Setznan president to meet him at the Presidential Estate in Arcadia to discuss the recent expansion.
He received clear instructions from La Rochelle on what Oan aspirations were and how The Oan Isles planned to achieve them. The rest was instinct and luck. At least Setznans are civil, he thought to himself, we may yet survive.
He traveled to the Presidential Estate and waited patiently for the President to arrive.
OOC - The meetings with Wolfe Stien from Celannica and Rurik from Stratarin are happening at different times even though they are being RPed simultaneously
[hr]
Rurik, the Primary Minister of Stratarin, arrived in the Oan Isles at the Rock Air Force Base. He was met by a guard of honour and an escort, which transported him to a lovely guest house on the beech. He went to the Defender’s Official Residence and had dinner with Locklyn Le Roy and watched a cultural presentation before talks began.
— Begin quote from ____
"Our expansion into Gondwana is a strategic move above all other considerations. The Oan Isles is running out of space and resources. To maintain my people’s standard of living and protect our economy we needed contiguous land to allow that to happen. Secondly, we wished to join the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Gondwana to access Celan, Rijelv and Rybeck markets, obviously understanding that you would require access to ours.
— End quote
" We completely understand your struggles as a island country as we may soon face it ourselves with only less than half of our fatherland habitable, and we will allow you to pass the Fire Line to have access to our markets."
— Begin quote from ____
" Many of our strategic partners are part of the SEPC. We understand that the Fire Pact, which Celannica is the leader of, has a tense and sometimes violent relationship with the SEPC. With that in mind, we would like to sign an agreement with Celannica to maintain a 2,000 kilometer radius around Oan Gondwana in which no non-defensive military hardware may be installed or activities can take place".
— End quote
" My Empire will agree with this agreement, and we wish to recieve information regarding about something called “Renewable Energy” and in exchange, we will send you our plans on how to build your own Androids or the infamous Celan flying tanks. "
— Begin quote from ____
“The Oan Isles will additionally vow not to join the SEPC. No non Oan military ships or planes will be allowed to sail in Oan maritime territory or fly in Oan airspace respectively except in defensive, humanitarian or disaster relief roles”.
— End quote
" Due to the history between Celannica and the SEPC, we will be forever gratified by your vow and we will allow all Oan ships and planes to sail or fly, for whatever reasons, in both Oan’s maritime territory and airbase. As a further action to show our eternal gratitude, we will be honor bound to help you in whatever situation you are faced with, and since your only a part of the ACA, which is a continental alliance, my nation extends a invitation to join the FPA. After all, if SEPC members can be involved in the ACA, then why can’t the FPA do the same then?"
— Begin quote from ____
“Understand that Oan Gondwana will not act as a transit point for weapons, narcotics, people and so forth, whether or not they are legal”.
— End quote
" The Celan Empire will respect that Oan Gondwana will not act as a transit point and will continue to give respect even if your nation see’s fit to make Oan Gondwana a transit point."
— Begin quote from ____
" The Oan Isles also promises not to attempt to blockade the Strait of the Gulf of Gondwana or any Celan ports".
— End quote
" We will be further gratified by this promise and we will help your nation should you be facing blockade, which is an act of war that will be repay by being declared war upon by Celannica."
— Begin quote from ____
“We want a peaceful and prosperous relationship, and whatever qualms your nation has with the SEPC and by extension the ACA we will try to remain neutral. Understand this, the Oan Isles will defend her Auroran allies from attack. We will not use our position to attack Celannica, but we will not allow Celannica to attack Aurora. I hope that I am not ambiguous”.
— End quote
" You are not being ambiguous and my country will not attack Aurora for whatever reason as it will go against the FPA’s main objectives."
— Begin quote from ____
" On the point of the help that you offered. We appreciate it very much. We had planned to build a pipeline, highway and railway from the Gulf to the Pacific Ocean, but will explore the idea with our allies, before opening up investment from Celannica or any other country for that matter".
— End quote
" We shall patiently wait until you are finish, and if we can, we will invest in your pipeline’s, highway’s, and especially railway’s as my people mostly depend on public transportation. However, I am afraid that my nation’s leader’s may not support this should it be located near the Fire Line due to national security."
— Begin quote from ____
“Understand this Mr Stien, we wish that Celannica could be our ally as well and as long as there is peaceful coexistence, we shall be. The Oan Isles will not be dictated to, by any of our friends, whether they are in the FPA or the SEPC or the ACA. We acknowledge only international law, we respect and uphold the agreements and treaties we enter into and we will avoid conflicts of interests, but we will not be dictated to”.
— End quote
" As a former colony controlled by a faraway nation, we respect a country’s sovereignty, and Celannica will never force our will onto your people’s for whatever reason. All that we would want is for there to be communication and peace in Urth."
" The only requests that my nation would ask in return is to consider joining the Fire Pact Alliance, to join in sigining the http://forum.theeastpacific.com/topic/7005191/1/#new, and to give us information on “Renewable Energy.”
I am glad that we agree and the exchanges you have asked for in terms of us providing you with renewable energy techniques for example and you providing us with such things as flying tanks.
Unfortunately joining the FPA is out of the question. We will tentatively explore joining the Universal Healthcare Act.
I am not as well versed as others on renewable energy, but I am aware of a number of technologies that we use to gain energy. The use of renewable energy arose from a lack of natural resources. It varies from windows in buildings that collect the sun’s heat and use it to produce energy to using the heat generated from burning non recyclable trash, to collecting methane gas from landfills for fuel, to the extensive wind farms, hydroelectric dams, tidal turbines, nuclear power plants, solar farms to geothermal power plants. We are also exploring the mass use of cellulosic ethanol as a fuel. This is something that has been pioneered by Dragonia. Perhaps we can work together to cultivate it. It might be a good opportunity to bridge the ACA-FPA divide. We are still hoping to contact them.
Presidential Estate, Setzna.
A steward would answer the door, “Mr. Dew I presume? Please follow me, the President is waiting in the West Wing for you”
The steward helped the ambassador take off his coat and hanged it on a rack near the door for him. Then he lead the man to the President’s office.
John Dew gave a slight bow to the President of Setzna before he shook his hand. The President asked him to take a seat and so he did. The President offered him a drink. He decided to have a whiskey. It was a stern drink. It warmed the body and loosened the tongue without dulling the mind, unless of course you’ve had too many.
“Thank you so much for having me, Mr President”, John Dew said, “I hope that The Oan Isles and Setzna can have a long positive relationship. [I know that this is not the most pretty diplomatic language, but I wanted to get straight to the point]. My government has hoped to avoid any conflict with Setzna in the expansion of our territory”.
“Space and resources are becoming more scarce every day in the Oan Isles. We decided to expand our territory in order to maintain the standard of living and economy of our country, as I’m sure you would do with yours”.
“Now we understand that some of the islands we are taking over are close to Setzna and may obstruct the routes of Setznan trade. We wish to provide Setzna with a corridor in which your civilian and merchantile ships will pass freely and allow Setznan civilian aircraft to pass through our airspace en route to other countries”.
“We will not, however allow military ships and aircraft to pass through except in disaster relief and humanitarian roles. In the interest of peace and the security of our nations, we would like a 2,000 kilometre radius around our eastern most islands and Oan Gondwana in which no offensive or belligerent military capital may be deployed or bases may be built”.
“We do not want our islands to act as a corridor for illicit trade, under Oan and international law, to or from Setzna. While we would like to open up trade, we would like to have freedom not to allow certain goods or substances through our territory”.
“The Islands were not colonised thus the waters that surrounded them were international space. We understand that Setzna may have possibly had fishing there. We are willing to grant fishing licences to Setznan fishermen who can prove that they had been fishing for at least five years in those waters.In which case they will be subject to Oan laws and taxes, this will not be covered by any free trade agreement we may enter into and we reserve the right to expel them if they pose a national security risk or break our laws”.
"Beyond that any desire to drill for oil and so forth will be subject to Oan law and we reserve to right to grant or refuse licences or contracts to any prospective company under Oan law. The islands and the exclusive economic zone are Oan sovereign territory and we will assert that right.
“We understand that the SEPC has enmity toward The FPA. You must understand that countries in the FPA are our strategic partners. We will not allow The FPA to use us to attack any country in the SEPC, including yours. At the same time, we we will not allow the SEPC to use us to attack any country in the FPA. We wish to remain neutral in any war or conflict that may arise between you. We promise not to join the FPA, but we will not join the SEPC either”.
“We promise not to blockade Setznan ports, and in fact if your ports are illegally blockaded we will try to relieve you, but be expect the same courtesy.We want to put in place a free trade agreement to lower tarrifs on a set of goods or allow the free flow of capital and services between our nations. We would like to also ease VISA restrictions on Setznan citizens”.
“We must also demarcate our borders if an overlap of our EEZs occurs. We hope that Setzna can become our ally. We want to have a good relationship with Setzna”.
— Begin quote from ____
Rurik, one of the Primary Ministers of Stratarin, arrived in the Oan Isles at the Rock Air Force Base. He was met by a guard of honour and an escort, which transported him to a lovely guest house on the beech. He went to the Defender’s Official Residence and had dinner with Locklyn Le Roy and watched a cultural presentation before talks began.
— End quote
Rurik Lukin wasn’t as relaxed as he usually was in such diplomatic situations.
Perhaps it was that there were no Strataric guards. Granted, he had decided not to bring them as a sign of trust, but he missed the added level of security and comfort that they brought.
Or perhaps it was that Strataric evidence had somehow received word that the Oan Isles had been in contact with Celannica. In all likelihood, it was simply a meeting much like the one Rurik was attending, but one could never be sure of anything in the modern world.
The cultural presentation came as a breath of fresh air, allowing Rurik to enjoy himself and relieve some of his stress.
Settling in his chair in the Reception Room (OOC: I’m assuming this is where they would be), Rurik smiled with appreciation towards Le Roy.
“Thank you for the delicious dinner, Defender. And the presentation was wonderful. I wish I could see more of what the Oan Isles have to offer.” His face grew serious. “But unfortunately, I came for business, not pleasure.”
William Verlhan had a look of concern on his face.
Even the Setznan Marine clad in a freshly pressed dress uniform guarding the door to the outside hallway had a look of unease.
“Please excuse me, Mr. Dew… but a 2,000 kilometer radius around Oan Gondwana and the Islands? I find that hardly reasonable at all. I assume that you know how big 2,000 kilometers is, correct?!” William crossed his arms before continuing, "A good percentage of that 2000 kilometer demilitarized zone that you are proposing falls under the jurisdiction of the Setznan Maritime Self Defense Force as an active operations zone which also doubles as apart of our EEZ. I plead you to revise. We also have a permanent naval base stationed withing the proposed zone, i’m afraid that we will have to turn down your proposal for now. The defense of our allies is also one of our top priorities, I understand that The Oan Isles also has it’s own national security interests in mind but if the deployment of our military in defense of our allies is delayed due to the sole fact that our military is not allowed access through the corridor then i’m afraid that poses another issue as well.
William took a short break and let out a long sigh. He took a sip of his coffee which he just made a minute or two ago and set the mug back down on the desk.
“Basically, Mr. Dew, before Setzna accepts Oan’s proposal we’d like you to take into consideration our interests as well. If you come back to me with another proposal that only benefits The Isles, there will be consequences.” William gave off a slightly imposing look by clasping his hands together with his fingers crossed. This blocked the view of his chin and mouth, leaving only his face from the nose up visible. At the moment, not even the most elite could read the expression on the President’s face as there was none. Being a politician, William quickly learned to conceal his emotions when in an audience with other officials, keeping everyone in the dark until he made his next move. Concealing his emotions only added on to the imposing factor and would keep the Oan Ambassador guessing what the President would say next.
— Begin quote from ____
William Verlhan had a look of concern on his face.
Even the Setznan Marine clad in a freshly pressed dress uniform guarding the door to the outside hallway had a look of unease.
“Please excuse me, Mr. Dew… but a 2,000 kilometer radius around Oan Gondwana and the Islands? I find that hardly reasonable at all. I assume that you know how big 2,000 kilometers is, correct?!” William crossed his arms before continuing, "A good percentage of that 2000 kilometer demilitarized zone that you are proposing falls under the jurisdiction of the Setznan Maritime Self Defense Force as an active operations zone which also doubles as apart of our EEZ. I plead you to revise. We also have a permanent naval base stationed withing the proposed zone, i’m afraid that we will have to turn down your proposal for now. The defense of our allies is also one of our top priorities, I understand that The Oan Isles also has it’s own national security interests in mind but if the deployment of our military in defense of our allies is delayed due to the sole fact that our military is not allowed access through the corridor then i’m afraid that poses another issue as well.
William took a short break and let out a long sigh. He took a sip of his coffee which he just made a minute or two ago and set the mug back down on the desk.
“Basically, Mr. Dew, before Setzna accepts Oan’s proposal we’d like you to take into consideration our interests as well. If you come back to me with another proposal that only benefits The Isles, there will be consequences.” William gave off a slightly imposing look by clasping his hands together with his fingers crossed. This blocked the view of his chin and mouth, leaving only his face from the nose up visible. At the moment, not even the most elite could read the expression on the President’s face as there was none. Being a politician, William quickly learned to conceal his emotions when in an audience with other officials, keeping everyone in the dark until he made his next move. Concealing his emotions only added on to the imposing factor and would keep the Oan Ambassador guessing what the President would say next.
— End quote
John could not read the President’s mind, but knew that he had to plough on regardless.
John Dew said, “Mr President, you must understand that the Oan Isles will carry on its colonisation of its sovereign territory with or without your consent. We are trying to compromise because we are empathetic towards your country”.
We suggest that you relocate your base. We will shorten the demilitarised zone to 700 kilometres. You either accept our offer for a corridor or you go around.
Locklyn after some friendly conversation more or less said:
[ul]
[li] We really can’t see any situation in which our territories will overlap so this will be a more diplomacy strengthening kind of thing.
[li] We will allow Stratarin civilian ships and aircraft to dock at our ports and land at our airports respectively and we expect the same courtesy in terms of relevant laws and international conventions starting with direct flights from Coyden to La Rochelle and vice versa.
[li] We will ease VISA restrictions for Stratarin citizens and expect the same courtesy.
[li] We will allow Stratarin nationals to immigrate to the Oan Isles. No dual citizenship will be recognised.
[li] In the event that Stratarin is invaded or blockaded without provocation we will protect it and expect the same courtesy.
[li] We will reduce tariffs on Stratarin goods expect for sensitive goods such as food, drugs (medical and narcotic), weapons and others as we will determine pertinent to our laws and expect Stratarin to reciprocate accordingly.
[li] Stratarin military hardware and manpower may not enter our territory except in special situations.
[li] When a Stratarin citizen commits a crime in the Oan Isles, he or she will be deported as we expect you to do to ours as well and we will reserve the right to grant or refuse admissal of immigrants as we will accept you doing the same.
[li] Stratarin ships which wish to travel through the Oan Isles to other countries will be subject to our laws and taxes under international conventions and laws.
[li] Any questions, sira? [/li][/ul]
Rurik leaned back in his chair. “For one, what are the special situations in which Strataric military hardware, manpower, i tak daleye may enter your territory?”
William let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead before answering, “I recognize the fact that you are trying to make a compromise, but it is not working at the current moment. I’d like you to lower the size of the demilitarized zone to at least 200 kilometers. The Setznan Coast Guard should also have access to the demilitarized zone and reserve all rights to operate within it. The Coast Guard is an official Law Enforcement agency of congress. Being a ‘branch’ of the Maritime Self Defense Force is simply a title. Their true job is enforcing Setznan law overseas”
William took a short pause before continuing, “I’d also like to remind you that this is a demilitarized zone, meaning that the deployment of Oan military ships within the zone will be seen as a threat and an act of war.”
President William Verlhan then waited for his current adversary to make a rebuttal.
— Begin quote from ____
I am glad that we agree and the exchanges you have asked for in terms of us providing you with renewable energy techniques for example and you providing us with such things as flying tanks.
Unfortunately joining the FPA is out of the question. We will tentatively explore joining the Universal Healthcare Act.
I am not as well versed as others on renewable energy, but I am aware of a number of technologies that we use to gain energy. The use of renewable energy arose from a lack of natural resources. It varies from windows in buildings that collect the sun’s heat and use it to produce energy to using the heat generated from burning non recyclable trash, to collecting methane gas from landfills for fuel, to the extensive wind farms, hydroelectric dams, tidal turbines, nuclear power plants, solar farms to geothermal power plants. We are also exploring the mass use of cellulosic ethanol as a fuel. This is something that has been pioneered by Dragonia. Perhaps we can work together to cultivate it. It might be a good opportunity to bridge the ACA-FPA divide. We are still hoping to contact them.
— End quote
" Well, before we wrap up with our meeting, my nation would like to turn the maintained 2,000 kilometer radius in “which no non-defensive military hardware may be installed or activities can take place” and instead have it to be 700 kilometer radius as I noticed that the 2,000 kilometer radius would basically consume the majority of Celannica."
— Begin quote from ____
— Begin quote from ____
I am glad that we agree and the exchanges you have asked for in terms of us providing you with renewable energy techniques for example and you providing us with such things as flying tanks.
Unfortunately joining the FPA is out of the question. We will tentatively explore joining the Universal Healthcare Act.
I am not as well versed as others on renewable energy, but I am aware of a number of technologies that we use to gain energy. The use of renewable energy arose from a lack of natural resources. It varies from windows in buildings that collect the sun’s heat and use it to produce energy to using the heat generated from burning non recyclable trash, to collecting methane gas from landfills for fuel, to the extensive wind farms, hydroelectric dams, tidal turbines, nuclear power plants, solar farms to geothermal power plants. We are also exploring the mass use of cellulosic ethanol as a fuel. This is something that has been pioneered by Dragonia. Perhaps we can work together to cultivate it. It might be a good opportunity to bridge the ACA-FPA divide. We are still hoping to contact them.
— End quote
" Well, before we wrap up with our meeting, my nation would like to turn the maintained 2,000 kilometer radius in “which no non-defensive military hardware may be installed or activities can take place” and instead have it to be 700 kilometer radius as I noticed that the 2,000 kilometer radius would basically consume the majority of Celannica."
— End quote
We fully agree