Fwurg

[Serrah]

The veolian embassy was, as always, open and busy.

As her hovercar pulled up to the main entrance, the sundarian senator spotted numerous veolians of different noble houses going about their business, though they made sure to leave open a path between the sundarian hovercar and the door.

Near where the car would come to a halt, the red-skinned slave of the veolian senator was waiting for the sundarian delegation.

"Senator de Montrève, welcome to the Veolian embassy. If you will please follow me, my mistress is waiting for you."

She led the Sundarian delegation into the embassy, and up to the top floor, where a luxurious conference room was prepared for them.

[Nehket Aeka]

It seemed the veolian senator was indeed there, though she wasn't waiting.

Instead, she was standing behind in front of one the chairs, with her back towards the door. A young-sounding feminine voice came from the chair, saying something in a melodious language. Unfortunately, the view was blocked by the senator, but observant members of the veolian delegation would spot hints of a white dress and silver jewellery.

The veolian senator appeared unaware that the Sundarian delegation had already arrived, and replied in the same flowery language.

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"A pleasure as always, Miss Serrah,"

Peinaili said as she was welcomed by Senator Nehket Aeka's aide, she then followed her in through these buzzing halls of the embassy to the conferenceroom that had been prepared for this meeting. When she arrived just outside the room she heard the melodious sounds of one of the Veolian languages and considered for a moment whether she should wait a while as the Senator had not yet been aware of her arrival.

She however decided against it, but wouldn't barge in either because she wasn't sure whom the senator was talking to, so she opted to knock on the door to make her presence known to her host and her company.

[Nehket Aeka]

The knocking sound succeeded in drawing the veolian senator's attention.

"Welcome, lady de Montrève.", she said as she approached the delegation. "Please, do come in. I will have some refreshments brought in immediately."

As the senator now had moved out of the way, lady de Montrève could see that a teenage veolian girl was sitting in the chair where the senator was standing a moment ago. The girl wore an elegant white dress clearly intended for a warm climate, and her silver jewellery accentuated her developing curves without drawing immediate attention to them.


As the sundarian delegation sat down, the girl stood up and walked towards the senator. She said a few words in the same flowery language.

"Lady Rāja-Duta Nāhi bids you farewell, lady de Montrève, though she hopes to meet you at a later moment", the veolian senator translated. The girl bowed to the sundarian senator, and left the room.


The veolian senator sat down as well, with some of her aides and servants making sure that the necessary paperwork was present.

"Her father hopes to become the ambassador to the Sundarian Federation.", Nehket Aeka explained.

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"Thank you"

Peinaili said as the Veolian Senator explained the purpose of her guest's visit and Peinaili herself walked in and sat down in a comfortable chair after which the rest of small retinue follow suit.

"I'm sure that you'd be able to find a suitable candidate to fill the position, though it's not such a pressing matter at this time as there much that needs to be arranged before the Embassies can be opened. Not in the least of which would be to find a suitable location to house the Embassy.

Since you brought it up, has there been much interest in the position already? I can understand that some individuals within the Veolian Nobility might consider the position less then desirable, not only because of the distance to Veolia, but also because of a rather large difference in culture and political system, though there are some similarities."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Though there are indeed differences in culture, some noble houses like to take the long view. Current views on Sundarian-Veolian relations are positive, and predict a slow long-term change in culture. And with it an increase in economic entanglement. Of course, with this comes an increased importance of the ambassador to the Sundarian Federation. So while some houses do find the position less than desirable, other houses see the potential of the position."

"The emperor places a lot of weight on my opinion with regard to foreign relations, so a few houses have approached me to gain my favour. Seven houses have already approached me in the previous months. House Rāja-Duta is the eight, and probably not the last."

"Let's get to business. You remarked on the suitability of a location. Shall we start there? Of course, we will also have to discuss the matter of extraterritoriality later on."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"That is good to hear," Peinaili said as the Veolian senator detailed the current views of Veolian nobility on the Sundarian-Veolian relations a bit more, " And I am sure that the Emperor will eventually choose a suitable candidate that, as I am sure, will be able to fill the position nicely."

"Location does indeed seem to be good topic to start this negotiations with as I have been informed that the Conductive Polymers Corporation, which works in conjuction with both the Darya Vertical Farming and the Dryatech Corporation, is looking into possible options to move their headquarters to the Veolian System. The Sundarian Council would like to see this HQ incorporated, if possible, in the Sundarian Embassy in order provide a boost to the economical and political ties between our nations. Furthermore I feel it would be a good idea to provide a stable presence, diplomatically as well as economically, and save on costs and personnel by combining the two.

As for the desired location for the Veolian Embassy in our system, I am curious to hear what your preference might be."

[Nehket Aeka]

"With all due respect, I am afraid that incorporating the CPC headquarters and the Sundarian embassy is not possible. While we are certainly willing to negotiate with the CPC about the migration of their headquarters and secondary terms related to this, we are not willing to afford a mere corporation any level of extraterritoriality or others forms of exemption from Veolian law.

The transportation infrastructure on Mirda is excellent. I think that the Sundarian ambassador will find little obstacles in his way if he wishes to meet with personell of the CPC in person. Furthermore, the CPC could easily buy one or more dedicated secure communication hardlines on Mirda, if they wish for secured communication."

"Traditionally, veolian embassies are large estates near the court. However, as the Sundarian Federation is not governed by a single family, we are looking for a location close to the Sundarian Council buildings."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"I understand,"

Peinaili said as she listened to the reply of the Veolian Senator,

"I shall inform the board of the CPC that they should contact Veolian officials at their own accord."

She then continued about the Embassy, as much needed to be arranged

"Yes, I'm sure we can accommodate the Commonwealth with a suitable location for the Embassy near the Council buildings, this will however not be an estate since we aren't able to accommodate estates near the Council compound, as those are traditionally more inland and on the outskirts of the city. We could however provide for both an Estate on the outskirts of the city, which could serve as a residence, and a suitable office near the Council buildings if so desired.

As for our preference, we would adhere to your customs and would be more then happy to accept suitable accommodations, offered by the Emperor,as is offered to all of the Veolian noble houses and foreign dignitaries. We do not wish to cause offence to any of the noble houses or receive a preferable treatment.

Perhaps we should have some members of our staff look for suitable accommodations and make a final choice later?"

Peinaili suggested as she had said what she wanted to say on the matter at hand.

"Shall we continue our discission on the matter of legal representation, while this matter may seem small. I and my Government consider it very important that the legal status of the Embassies and their personnel are arranged and clear to all parties involved. We would not go as far a simply demanding extraterritoriality and diplomatic immunity on all matters, but we would like to reach an understanding so that both delegations can function and are not limited by the full burden of bureaucracy.

What is the position of the Commonwealth in this matter?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"In all honesty, lady de Montrève, we do think that full diplomatic immunity is in order. At the least for the head of mission and his household. Of course, for technical staff reservations could be discussed, but in principle we will negotiate for full diplomatic immunity for those assigned to the mission."

((OOC: I have a lot of extra information lying around on this, but I want to keep this discussion high-level :P))

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"Sounds like you have already given this subject some thought," Peinaili replied. She then consulted briefly with her staff and continued, " What exactly did you have in mind?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"I have had a first proposal drafted some time ago. I propose we adjourn the negotiations so you have the time to review the document."

One of the numerous servants presented a datapad containing a lengthy document to the sundarian senator. The datapad showed the 'Proposal: Convention on Diplomatic Relations', as its single content.

"I propose we reconvene in three days, lady de Montrève."

((OOC: The datapad text is based upon the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The following list describe the full extent of changes to the real-life text:

• Removed references to nuncios, internuncios and replaced Holy See with 'religious organisations': 14, 16(3)
• Removed outdated references to wireless transmitter: 27(1)
• Updated to in-setting terminology: preamble, 3(1)b, 5(3), 27(7), 41(3)
• Removed or rephrased administrative articles: preamble, 48-53

For more information, see Vienna Convention On Diplomatic Relations (wikipedia), Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (Introductory note).

I propose that we make a summarized version, and only use this proposal (which is totally ripped off from real life) as a guideline and inspiration only. That is nicer to everyone... FWURG players don't want to hire a lawyer to play the game.))

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"My staff and I will study these documents in detail Senator and I thank you beforehand for the effort you have made in this regard." Peinaili replied after, "Three days seems reasonable, until then."

----

Three days later Peinaili and Nehket Aeka reconvened to discuss the proposal in further detail.

"Senator, let me first say that in principle we find this proposal agreeable. I do however have a few questions and things I would like to see clarified before we formalize this agreement.

First let us address the issue pertaining the extend of the Diplomatic Immunity and Infallibility. Under the current Union law Unity Security Forces are still permitted to pursue threats to Unity Security even within the sovereign territory of an Embassy. From your earlier remarks however, I have come to understand that you wish that we make a different arrangement on this subject. What did you have in mind?"


((OOC: Fine by me, certainly given the fact that most of this will be addressed by (a retroactive) Union Law soon enough we would only need to work out the details surrounding slaves, extraterritoriality and the extend of Diplomatic Immunity and infallibility.))

[Nehket Aeka]

"The current facilities offered by the Union law with regard to embassies on Unity allows intrusions 'to pursue threats to Unity Security', but those threats have in no way been clearly defined.

We propose that the premises of the mission shall be inviolable, and that agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission. This clears up any uncertainty with regards to the justification of entry."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

" A reasonable request," Peinaili stated in response, " and one the Sundarian Government would agree to. We should strive to prevent different interpretations or other vagueness in order to ensure a clear understanding. This brings me to the second point I wanted to discuss, the position of slaves.

While technically slavery is not prohibited within the Sundarian Federation, there are those amongst our people that would question the morality of Veolian Commonwealth with respect to your factions views pertaining the ownership of people.
Which legal states would your faction wish to see afforded to slaves? At moment the Sundarain Government seems to consider them to be employees, and should thus receive the according diplomatic status and protection, what are your thought on the matter? "

[Nehket Aeka]

"We would require that slaves be afforded the same status as their owner. Since they are representing their owner, no distinction should be made between them with regards to their inviolability, and the inviolabilty of their transportation.

At most, we would be willing to agree to counting slaves as the immediate familiy of their owner."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"I see," Peinaili responded as she listed to Lady Nehket's explanation, "That might prove difficult to arrange. Even though I understand the cultural implications of slavery within the Commonwealth and I feel that the Sundarian Nobility could understand and share this reasoning, I fear that this will not boast well with the other parties in the council.

What I would recommend we'd do here is this: I will organise an informal gathering of several influential members of all political parties within the Council. This would then provide you or another representative of the Commonwealth to talk them and answer any questions they might have, before the matter is discussed within the council. This would improve the odds on the desired outcome considerably."

Peinaili paused a moment to offer the Veolian senator an opportunity to think and comment before she continued with another, related question.

"This matter does stir up another questions, what would be the position of our Ambassador's retinue? Are they to be awarded employee level immunities?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"I think that is an excellent idea."

"That fully depends on their position in relation to mister Pendra, and his appointment of staff. His wife will of course enjoy full diplomatic immunity as well. Service staff will receive employee level immunities of course.

I am unaware of any other positions in his retinue at this moment, might it be that I have been misinformed about traditions of the Sundarian diplomatic corps?"

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"No, it is not tradition to include a retinue to an ambassadorial posting, so your information in this matter is correct. In this case however the first Empress suggested that it might be beneficial to the position of our ambassador, if we did include a retinue this time. We are currently in the process of selecting suitable candidates.

Hence my question, as I would not qualify these retinue members as simple employees, it would not suit their station nor the significance of their position within the ambassadorial hierarchy."

[Nehket Aeka]

"I see. We distinguish between diplomatic agents, members of the administrative and technical staff, and service staff."

"In the commonwealth, it is tradition for high-ranked ambassadors to bring their retinue with them. Members of the retinue are usually appointed as high-ranked members of the administrative and technical staff. This effectively offers them the same immunities as the ambassador himself. Their immediate family will receive such immunities as well."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"I believe such an arrangement would offer sufficient guarantees. I'm sure both the Council and the members retinue, once they are selected, would accept it.

At the moment this was the last point I wished to discuss with regards to a diplomatic treaty, are there any points you wish to bring to the table?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"I think we should see until after I have met with members of the council. Right now, I am confident that if that little issue has been settled, the Veolian Commonwealth would gladly exchange embassies with the Sundarian Federation."