Fwurg

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

((OOC: This thread is private to the Socialist Republic of Niom, Veolian Commonwealth, Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi and the Sundarian Federation and takes place in a conference suite at the Sundarian Embassy on Unity))

After each delegations is properly welcomed and settled with everything they might require, Lady de Montrève starts:

" Senators, Friends,

We are pleased to see that you have all been willing to accept our offer to conduct a second round of negotiations, pertaining the production and transport of more information, using our respective corporations and Holonet Arrays. We have suggested this change of scenery to clear the air and leave behind any 'luggage' from our previous attempts to come to an agreement.

Before we can start I think it best that we first establish our separate goals, and thus have a clear image of what each party is willing of offer or is hoping to gain during this negotiation. Since Senator Zoreone Abaroa, representing Xi, was the instigator of the first round of negotiations, I would gladly invite her to start and set out the goals and gains Xi hopes to ascertain.

Senator.. "

The Lady de Montrève ended with a gesture, offering Senator Zoreone a chance to speak.

[Zoreone Abaroa]

Zoreone steps up with a kind nod to Lady de Montrève:

"Thank you,

Our goal here is twofold. The first goal is relatively simple: We would like to negotiate the exchange of zone rights for 2 guides zones for 2 SimTech zones with the Sundarian Federation. Our hopes are that this deal can come to fruition with little or no aid from the other parties present here. Our gain from this deal, however, is closely intermingled with the second goal.

The second goal will probably require more discussion: The exchange of 880 guides for 880 KnowDisk with the Republic of Niom. The problems we foresee will have mostly to do with transportation. Since Niom is the major other party in this deal, and more experienced in these dealings than we are, we propose that Niom provides the basis for this deal. The Veolian Commonwealth and the Sundarian Federation are then welcome, as providers of and based transportation, to expand on this deal and improve it.

We hope this exercise proves more fruitful than the previous attempts."

As Zoreone Abaroa settles back down, she gestures Ght'Twwf to continue speaking.

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

Senator Ght'Twwf stood and began speaking with his usual slow and monotone droning:

"First, let me start off this meeting, and in particular my statement, with a warm thank you to Lady Peinailli de Montreve of the Sundarian Federation, for the invitation to this meeting, to help resolve the issues of communication that arose earlier and for her hospitality in hosting this event in the Sundarian Federation Embassy on Unity. Additionally, allow me to thank Senator Zoreone Abaroa of the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi and Senator Nehket Aeka of the Veolian Commonwealth for joining us and making this meeting possible.

It is the goal of the Socialist Republic of Niom to promote the production and trading of specialised information, thereby boosting the total economic output of the Union. It is furthermore the goal of the Socialist Republic of Niom to do this by improving cooperation between various member worlds and to create a collective base on which future endeavours can be built.

The Socialist Republic of Niom is furthermore willing to subsidise trading partners to accomplish this goal with financial aid and the transfer of technological know-how. However, due to economic and political reasons internal to the Socialist Republic of Niom, we are not interesting in exchanging zones directly, but rather would do so by setting up systems of trades.

Given the motions by my esteemed colleagues, Lady Peinailli de Montreve of the Sundarian Federation to Senator Zoreone Abaroa of the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi and from Senator Zoreone Abaroa of the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi to myself as Senator for the Socialist Republic of Niom, I would like to continue the gesture and invite Senator Nehket Aeka of the Veolian Commonwealth to speak of the interest and goals of the Veolian Commonwealth."

He made the same gesture the other two had made to the Veolian senator.

[Nehket Aeka]

Senator Nehket Aeka stood up, and was swiftly followed by Lady Khaw Rohana, who also stood up.

"As my esteemed colleague, senator Ght'Twwf, I also wish to thank Lady Peinailli de Montreve of the Sundarian Federation, for the invitation to this meeting, and for their hospitality.

The interest of the Veolian Commonwealth is mainly in transportation of information-based goods, though we do have a sizeabl information production on Mirda.

Unfortunately, I am not able to attend the entirety of these negotiations due to pressing matters with regard to the immanent visit of her imperial majesty the empress. Lady Khaw Rohana", the veolian senator motioned towards the older veolian at her side, "will negotiate in my stead.

Lady Khaw is a trusted advisor, and though she is not authorized to ratify the resulting treaty, she can contact me within the hour, should my presence by required.

Again, my apologies for not being able to attend this negotiation in person."

With the last sentence, she stood up and left the room.

((OOC: @Mercury: Next time, please don't presume that I send my Senator. I have multiple characters, and had originally intended to sent someone else. I wanted to make a statement indicating the relative importance of this discussion to the Veolian Commonwealth; I have found a good work-around, and understand that such things are done with an eye toward expediency, but please check with me next time.

(Also: I do not required a reply to this OOC note, I am confident that you understand the point.)))

[Supreme Judge Khaw Rohana]

The two veolian assistants left with the veolian senator, leaving the old veolian woman alone at the negotiation table. Lady Khaw took a step forward, to physical step into the spot where the veolian senator had stood just a moment ago.

"As senator Nehket Aeka already said, the Veolian Commonwealth is mostly interested in information-based transport. To this end, we have laboured to create a backbone of holonet relay stations along the bozzy spine. Together with the Sundarian backbone, we have been able to connect sectors 10 -6 through 15 -5.

As I understand it the creation of such a backbone has also been a wish of the Socialist Republic of Niom, as they have already indicated to support the request for a subsidy for such an endeavour in previous negotiations on this matter.

Together with the renewed interest in transportation from the corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi, and our long-standing allies the Sundarian Federation, we look forward to a much improved climate for negotiation and the strengthening of the Union as a whole.

Lady de Montrève, in veolian culture, the host of a negotiation has the honour of determining the order of business during such a meeting. I see no reason to deviate from a proven concept."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

" Thank you and welcome Lady Khaw " the Lady de Montrève continued " I shall first conclude with the intended goals for the Sundarian Federation, which are in essence two-fold:

Firstly we hope to improve our Information production by corporating a second set of 3 Zones. This can be achieve by a relatively simple exchange of zone rights for 2 zones with the Xi and corporating the last one with our own SimTech corporation. Alternatively we could include Niom in this mix, should that be more desirable.

Secondly we are willing to discuss options for the use of our Holonet Array's, together with the Veolian Commonwealth, for Information based goods. We are currently also working to improve our -based production, boosting it to stable amount of 100 per within a few turns, which we can then deliver to interested parties.

With that said I think the each party now has sufficient information about the other parties intended goals and wishes so that we may continue. Let us continue, if there are no objections, with the issue of transportation since this matter involves all parties represented here, Senator Zoreone.. "

[Zoreone Abaroa]

Zoreone Abaroa stood up, nodding acknowledgement to Lady Peinaili de Montrève,

"I think the Lady de Montrève has indeed pinpointed the most critical part of these negotiations. As I have said before, the transportation problem concerns a total amount of 1760 to be transported between the Xi-Tra system and the Hepra system, in zones (11,-5) and (14,-7) respectively. We do not have the means to arrange any parts of this transportation ourselves within a reasonable amount of . I further think it is safe to assume all involved parties will prefer transport over transport.

Beyond this however, we have incomplete information about the infrastructure already present. We therefore would like to open the floor for ideas on how to best accomplish this."

Zoreone seats back down, looking expectantly at the other representatives present.

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

"It is our belief all parties have made clear their intentions and goals. Following the suggestion of Lady Khaw Rohana as representative of the Veolian Commonwealth, the Socialist Republic of Niom defers to Lady Peinailli de Montreve of the Sundarian Federation to further the negotiations. We do add however, that though the Socialist Republic of Niom is willing to negote on the seperate topic of transportation, our offers of technological and financial subsidies to Senator Zoreone Abaroa of the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi is dependent on reaching an all inclusive deal and any agreements made on this point are conditioned on reaching a full agreement on all points."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

" While i cannot speak for the Veolian Commonwealth, " the Lady de Montrève stated, with a nod of acknowledgement to Lady Khaw Rohanna, " I would stress that the Sundarian Federation prefer that the present infrastructure of both the Veolian Commonwealth and the Sundarian Federation Holonet stations be used, however that decision is up to the Socialists Republic of Niom and Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi.

Once they have decided on a manner and a route of transportation, we can then discuss the necessary infrastructural improvements and funding. Should the route over the Veolian and Sundarian station be chosen however, the Sundarian federation currently has sufficient capacity to offer transportation 650 goods with ease. I invite the Lady Khaw Rohanna to elaborate on the Veolian position and available capacity on their array stations.

After which I would invite both the Senator of Niom and the Senator of Xi to reach consensus upon the manner and route of transportation to be used. "

[Supreme Judge Khaw Rohana]

"I have read all communications on this subject that are available to me. And I think that the original proposal for use of the Sundarian-Veolian holonet backbone will serve as a good basis for further negotiation.

To outline the proposal: transport of -based goods was offered at the price of 0.05 per good per sector. This deal would have lasted for at least 50 in perpetuity, with a 15 delay on announcements to end the deal. The agreed upon amount was to be 880 -based goods.

Some details on the deal, such as the transfer of the Holonet Repeater technology, can be ignored, as I suspect the Republic of Niom has generously offered this technology to the Corporation for Intergalactic Exploration of Xi free of charge.

Though it might be advantageous to revisit the option of seeking subsidies for such an endeavour, the current political climate seems contrary to such developments, making it a hard sell. Because of this, I propose we do this on our own terms. Together we will lay the foundation for further cooperation in the future, and offer all at the table a significant leg-up in the information-market.

I propose that the aforementioned deal is extended to offer the same price of transport to Niom. Though the route would be 1 sector longer, this would skip difficult negotiations with the Highmonians and give more credit to our mutual dedication of a bozzy spine holonet backbone."

[Zoreone Abaroa]

((OOC: Zoreone has to address multiple parties again, the @XXX tags are here to indicate the identity of the second person (you)))

((OOC: @Ght'twwf))
"We appreciate, and agree, that a transportation deal can only make sense as a part of a larger trade agreement. And that, as such, agreements made at this point can only be conditional. However, in analyzing what went wrong in the previous round of negotiations it appeared to us that the matter of transportation is what made things go awry. Moreover, having a satisfactory solution to the transportation problem at hand is a requirement to us for agreeing with any deal involving transportation of bulk raw materials. With this in mind acquiring a transportation solution should be our first priority. Should you feel that negotiations are drifting in a direction that compromises subsidies, you are expressly invited to mention this as part of these negotiations.

((OOC: @Khaw))
As for the proposition at hand. We think that also catering the transport for the Socialist Republic of Niom this way would greatly improve your profits in this deal. Despite this we still consider this a satisfactory solution, provided Niom also agrees to this."

[Supreme Judge Khaw Rohana]

The veolian elder took a moment to think the statement of Zoreone Abaroa over.

"While it is true that an increase in transported goods would offer increased income to the commonwealth in the long run, I still think that our proposal is fair.", she replied.

"However, in the previous negotiation you did not mention the 880 -based goods that had to be shipped from Niom to Xi. Those will require significant additional up-front investments by both the Veolian Commonwealth and the Sundarian Federation."

Directing her attention toward senator Ght'Twwf, she asked: "Based on the fact that you did not contact the Veolian Commonwealth or the Sundarians, can I assume that the Socialist republic of Niom already has the necessary equipment in place for the transport of 1760 -based goods in sector 13 -6, or is Niom interested in the offered transportation deal as well?"

((OOC: Why do you insist on using those ugly OOC indicators when you can just add a few pieces of descriptive text to your post?

You are not prohibited from describing actions such as sighing, or standing up, or directing one's attention.

Personally, I think that the flow of the text is not helped by interspersing it with OOC remarks that could've easily been narrated into a nice flowing post; I'd rather not see the use of these attention-hints become commonplace, as it stops people from offering descriptive situations, and instead breaks down everything into a boring multi-user chat.))

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

((OOC: I don't mind the extra OOC notifiers, though I do agree that using descriptive text is more elegant.))

"The Socialist Republic of Niom is willing to take care of the transportation of information to and from the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi represented here by Senator Zoreone Abaroa and the Socialist Republic of Niom in sector 13 -6 and 14 -7, provided the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi take care of the transportation the rest of the way. The Socialist Republic of Niom already has means in place to take care of its part of this - we leave it to the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi to decide how they will fulfil their side of things and do not oppose an them making arrangements with the Veolian Commonwealth, represented here by Lady Khaw Rohana and the Sundarian Federation represented here by Lady Peinaili de Montreve."

[Zoreone Abaroa]

At the statement from Ght'Twwf, Zoreone turns her full attention to the lady Khaw.

"As the lady Peinaili already pointed out it is preferable to use infrastructure already in place. This means we will probably be going to rent bandwidth in zones (11,-6) and (12,-7) from you. But I will be going to have considerable troubles defending this to the more xenophobic or economically minded crystalkin: With the increased bulk of transportation it is barely less cost efficient, if at all, to construct our own separate stations. To ease this problem, I would like to ask you how the long term costs would decrease if we were to compensate you for the construction of the required capacity upgrades. We would also like a prediction on the amount of required to make said upgrades."

[Supreme Judge Khaw Rohana]

Lady Khaw levelled a look that could best be described as puzzled at senator Abaroa.

"If your populace is xenophobic, one might question the wisdom of joining the Union.

Regardless, if the cost of these holonet relay stations is compensated in full, we can easily reduce the required payments by a factor of five. That would mean we could offer a cost of 0.01 per used bandwidth per sector per turn, totalling 35 per for the requested 1750 bandwidth over 11 -6 and 12 -7. This would cut over a quarter of your maintenance costs.

We would have to deploy 4 holonet relay stations per sector, requiring a total investment of 4000 . This could be done in 8 , if we synchronize our demands with the supply of the Sundarian federation. As to the payment, I am sure that lady de Montrève will agree with me that part of the payment can be performed in or .

This would mean that the available capacity would grow by 500 every two turns which, I surmise, is fast enough to keep up with the industrial developments of Niom and Xi?"

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

" We are indeed not against such an arrangement concerning the payment for our , as far as we are concerned we see possibilities for partial payment to be done with at least a 1000 , which we can then use to finish construction on our Lagrange stations. Further more we can see ample opportunities for Xi provide us with an additional supply of and for the duration of the infrastructural improvements, which we can use to construct as well. "

The Lady de Montrève interjected, after Lady Khaw had finished her offer.

[Zoreone Abaroa]

"Thank you Lady Peinaili. While we expect you will be requested to supply the and we can certainly forward our recommendations, we do not wish to force a trading partner upon the veolian commonwealth. If you wish a supply of and/or a greater supply of , you are welcome to discuss this on another occasion.

That being said, we favor making this investment in exchange for a lower rent. I do not think we can keep up with the prospected growth rates. If you can pause upgrading your holonet relay station in one out of every three, we can cope better. In particular with upgrading our own holonet relay station.

I believe this concludes the matter of transportation. I believe the Lady de Montrève, as the host, has the honor of determining the order of business. If you will?"

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

" Very well then, " the Lady de Montrève continued " We shall limit us to the immediate proceedings of this agreement and discuss the seperate arrangement of an eventual additional / supply at a later moment.

By what I can surmise an agreement has been reach on a manner of transportation, which is acceptable to all parties. Would propose a formal treaty be drafted, Lady Khaw .. ? "

[Supreme Judge Khaw Rohana]

Lady Khaw studied the crystalkin, but could not determine whether the statement about forcing trade partners was said in ignorance of the commonwealth's alliance with the sundarian's, or if it was said as a hint that Xi would rather have the commonwealth buy their holonet relays somewhere else.

Deciding to ignore the matter she replied: "I concur, lady de Montrève."

"Senator Ght'Twwf, does this agreement on the issue of transportation meet with Niom's previously stipulated condition of reaching a full agreement on all points? If so, I call for a short recess while the treaty is drawn up."

((OOC: If Niom is in agreeance, I will take care of drawing up the treaty.))

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

"The Socialist Republic of Niom has no problems with how the transport is arranged in the sectors beyond the ones where we arrange the transportation and we have no problem if the Corporation for intergalactic exploration of Xi, the Sundarian Federation and the Veolian Commonwealth finalise their arrangements in this matter."

He nodded to all parties.

"It is however the belief of the Socialist Republic of Niom that other matters also had to be arranged? Once the finalization process is completed, we can discuss this."

[Nehket Aeka]

After a recess of an hour, the representatives reconvene; this time the veolian senator was present.

"We have drawn up the agreement, and present it for your inspection. If everything is to your satisfaction, we can sign and I shall have a copy of this agreement sent to the Ministry of Justice."

She sent everyone the proposed agreement.

Information Transport Agreement

Preamble

• This is an agreement between the following parties (understood to be the signatories):
  
  • the Corporation for Intergalactic Exploration of Xi (hereafter called Xi), represented by senator Zoreone Abaroa
  • the Veolian Commonwealth (hereafter called Veolia), represented by senator Nehket Aeka
• Futhermore, the signing of this agreement is witnessed by:
  
  • the Socialist Republic of Niom, represented by senator Ght'Twwf
  • the Sundarian Federation, represented by senator Peinaili de Montrève

• The start of this agreement will be 68 (inclusive), at which time construction is commenced
• This agreement lasts for at least 50 from the start, and is automatically renewed for another 50 in perpetuity
• Renewal is cancelled if, and only if, any of the signatory parties announces their withdrawal from this deal 15 or more turns in advance of the renewal
• Withdrawal by any signatory voids this agreement from the end of the non-renewed 50 period

• This agreement consists of two parts: the construction agreement, and the service agreement

Service Agreement

• Veolia provides up to 1760 holonet bandwidth over sectors 12 -7 and 11 -6 (hereafter called the route) for use by Xi
• Xi will compensate Veolia for use of this bandwidth with a payment of 1 per turn per 50 or part thereof actually used over the route

Construction Agreement

• The construction of necessary infrastructures will be done in 4 construction cycles, each 3 in duration (hereafter called a construction cycle)
• Veolia will increase the available bandwidth over the route with 500 every construction cycle
• Xi will compensate Veolia with 1000 every construction cycle, to be paid in two parts of 500 in the first 2 turns of every construction cycle
• During the construction cycles Veolia will make the cumulative bandwidth available to Xi in increases of 500 at the conclusion of each construction cycle

Miscellanea

• In case of a conflict, both parties will act according to the terms set out in this agreement, and seek mediation with the Ministry of Justice
• The terms of this agreement can be renegotiated upon request of either signatory, and can be amended if and only if both signatories consent to the amendment

Signed and witnessed,

Unity City, Embassy of the Sundarian Federation; Turn 65,

____________________ (Senator Nehket Aeka on behalf of the Veolian Commonwealth)

____________________ (Senator Zoreone Abaroa on behalf of the Corporation for Intergalactic Exploration of Xi)

[Zoreone Abaroa]

"I thank you for drawing up this agreement. However, I can not sign this before the other matters senator Ght'Twwf already mentioned are concluded to our satisfaction. At this moment I can sign a declaration of intent if you want something signed. But I think, for now, it is best to set aside the negotiations on transportation and continue with the other matters that should be discussed."

Zoreone carefully sets aside the agreement and waits eagerly for the lady de Montrève to announce the next topic for discussion.

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"I understand the desire to conclude the topic of transportation, since there is now a formal drafted contract, and there are declaration of intent to sign if other agreements can also be finalized. If this is acceptable to Senator Nehket Aeka I would propose we continue with the next topic of negotiation, the actual production of additional Information using our respective corporations."

The Lady de Montrève then laid out the position of the Sundarian Federation which involved a significant expansion of the Sundarian Information production.

" To meet our production demands in the future, we would to incorporate a further three zones to double there information production. In order to achieve this we propose to exchange zone rights, so that we may all benefit and reduce infrastructural needs for shipping.

During earlier talks a consensus was reached between the Sundarian Federation and the Corporation for Intergalactic Exploration of Xi to exchange zone rights 2 for 2 but this has yet to be formalized. While, if indeed formalized, this would be sufficient to suit our needs, we understand the Socialist Republic of Niom also has a renewed interest in acquiring more of our SimTech products to supplement their own information production.

We are therefore willing to negotiate conditions and terms for such an extended agreement, so that it may include the Socialist Republic of Niom, we do have a 4th zone available which can be incorporated."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Very well. I can understand your desire to negotiate these other concerns before signing. I would however ask that we will sign both agreements simultaneously, to prevent issues of renegotiation."

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

The senator from Niom nodded gratefully to the Sundarian Lady's suggestion, waiting patiently for the first proper proposals to be made.