A Letter to the Dominante [ATTN: MAIK]

In the dead of the night an Ironhull fishing ship docks at Oudínljá. A man runs out from below deck and buys a wagon to Kšetai Rakhát. Night passes and he reaches the capitol. He arrives at the capitol gates and requests to see The Dominante. A guard stops him, but he shows papers from the Ironhull Empire. The guard takes the letter and delivers it to his Holiness.
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Dominante Trévutó,

We have recently heard rumors of tensions growing amongst our neighbors on this earth. We of Ironhull offer our works of explosives and firearms for sale, for defensive measures that is. Our Courier will stay in Oudínljá for a duration of two weeks time so you may ponder over our offer. I extend my hand in friendship and industry.

His Highness,
The Grand Leader Durn Grushna III
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OoC: This letter is secret. No other nations know of this. Well, you know....but in Character.....you dont....capiche!

Couldn't help but notice the OOC comment at the bottom. Armos, if you ever make a "private" or "secret" post, put [SIC] by your title to denote as a "Secret In Character" post.

Hope I could help. =D

Upon reading carefully over the letter, the Dominante wasted no time in organising a swift response. "Togárdra Hikháró!"

Calling to the gate guard whom had brought the letter, the Dominante gives quick instruction.

On the road, within a mere few minutes of the messenger leaving the palace, eerily close behind the wagon, heavy yet relatively silent running is heard - The sound like something moving on all fours, not unlike a horse, but quieter and faster - Potentially dangerous. As the messenger turns to look for the source of the sound, the palace gate guard he spoke to earlier, running behind, comes alongside and calls up to the messenger. "Wait!"

As the wagon comes to a halt, the guard straightens, and standing on twos, hands a sealed envelope to the messenger. "The Dominante's response. Please deliver this to the Grand Leader."

* * *

Grand Leader Durn Grushna III,

Thank you for your kind offer. I would be most interested in forming closer ties between our two nations, regardless of the outcome of your offer of trade.

As it is, we do already have ready access to high grade explosives and firearms, but additional firearms rarely does harm, and it would be unwise to turn a blind eye to an offer of assistance when one appears.

If it is possible, I would like to see a demonstration of these firearms and explosives at work before I make a final decision. I do hope you understand.

Kind Regards,
Dominante Trévutó Dâutên Kšetai Rakhát.

The messenger climbed aboard his vessel yet again and set sail to Ironhull and Helmsburg. He reached a coastal town near Durnstad and bought a coach to Helmsburg. The letter was delivered and the Grand Leader was Impressed. He found his quill and parchment and began writing again.

My Dearest Dominante Trévutó Dâutên Kšetai Rakhát,

I understand your need for demonstration. It is for that reason i have sent over my Head of Military Affairs, Luka Olm with some of our finest arms and explosives. I have also taken the liberty to send over a cask of our finest whiskey as a tribute to his excellency. I hope you will be satisfied with the results of our demonstration.

His Highness,
The Grand Leader Durn Grushna III

Durn called in Luka and handed him the letter.

"Im sending you to our new neighbors in the west. Take 50 kegs of our finest explosives and about....50 of our new rifles. Bring extra munitions and 20 of our finest elite. I dont wholly trust these people yet."

Luka Nodded and grabbed the letter. Before he was about to leave, Durn stopped him.

"Bring five extra ships. one of each size from fishing...to uh.....a galleon..."
Sol, who was sitting in an armchair to the side pipped up
"But Your Excellency, We have so few ships as it is! This would only cripple our military might."

Durn turned to Sol.

"Sol, My Friend. If we can negotiate an arms deal with these people, we can buy all the lumber we need to build a grand navy. Now NEVER QUESTION ME AGAIN!"

His voice was stern and Sol sat down and finished his whiskey. Durn turned to Luka and straightened his demeanor.

"Now then. When you arrive, send a messenger with the letter to his Holiness. Request for him or a trusted associate to meet us at the dock for the demonstration........"

The rest was whispered and inaudible.
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The small fleet left Ironhull with the specification met. They sailed toward the Holy Empire, hoping for the best.

OOC: Already got my reply fully planned out, but due to the time it'll take for your ships to arrive and a bunch of other trivial things to deal with first due to chronological proximity, I'll hold out on my reply for a day or so. Should be up pretty soon though. I seriously doubt these things will have influence over my reply, but just in case.

OOC: Sorry about the delay, Armos. I meant to reply to this tonight but got caught up doing other stuff and ran out of time. I'll get my reply to this up by tomorrow. Your guys shouldn't be missing in action for too much longer.

The moon was high yet the sky was dark - Storm clouds brewed above. Just a few kilometers south of the far edge of Sudmaré where it met the Sea of Embers, the Ironhull trade delegation floated back and forth, physically holding together but completely blinded by the thicket of the night and thunderous rain.

They'd been missing out to sea for a significant, forgotten numbers of days, weeks - Caught in the midst of one of the notorious storms that frequented the area where the Sudmaré met the Sea of Embers.

As a whole, they'd survived, barely - But it had seemed as if almost everyone else had forgotten about them.

With Ironhull busy sending delegations all around the world, they had neither the time nor the resources to scour every last inch of the ocean searching out one that happened to go missing, and the Holy Empire, though expecting their arrival, with the business of war in Solaris, had seemingly all but forgotten about them - At least, they sat in the background of political mind, a low priority compared to the prospects of imminent war with Solaris.

However, time had passed, and having taken the West Coast and Luxuria Urbs, some small number of ships from the Imperial Second Fleet had began the journey back home, crossing the Barren Ocean, travelling down the Oudínljá straight, passing through Sudmaré on the way home - Taking the longer root as a means to conduct several errands along the way.

They wouldn't dare brave the storm, but alas, the storm had began to settle - The waters were now passable, safe for those ships of the second fleet to traverse, but alas, those ships of Ironhull, though remaining in tact and able, had long since lost their bearings, thus remained, ad interim, stationary.

The Ironhull delegation had all but lost their smaller fishing boats under the weight of the waves, but the remainder of their delegation remained wholly visible upon the horizon line as several medium sized ships of the Imperial Second Fleet approached. Of these several ships, two were clearly ships of traditional Holy Empire design, the third and largest, of Elvish design. The captain of the larger ships, upon seeing Ironhull's delegation through his spyglass - To him, an unknown and foreign design of ships - Motioned to approach closer, albeit, with caution.

As their ships came closer, barely within range to use standard international naval signals, the captain motioned to one of his men, whom, climbing up to the highest point of the mast, signaled out to Ironhull's delegation.

We are third sub-division of the Imperial Second Fleet of the Holy Empire, returning home. Do you require assistance?

There came a knock at the door to the Captain's Quarters. Ihrig grudgingly got out from behind his desk and opened the door to find a boy standing there. "What is it?" His voice was gruff and he had grown a slight beard while they were lost at sea.

The boy was bouncing off the walls for some reason and the words could not escape his mouth. Ihrig stood at the door for a minute before starting to close the door when the boy finally spoke up.

"WAIT SIR!...Pardon sir, but, We have spotted unknown ships and they have signaled to us. We translated it and it roughly seems to say, 'We are Imperial Second Fleet, Holy Empire returning home. Do you require assistance?'"

Ihrig was speechless. it had been weeks, or was it months, since they had seen land or ships. He closed the door and threw on his officers garb and then raced back on deck to his first mate. " Give them the signal that we are the Ironhull Traders of Imperial Ironhull. Assistance would be appreciated."
Ihrig waited for the unknowns to reply.

As the Ironhull delegation gave their return response, the captain of the largest of the three Toškhát ships watched carefully through his spyglass. At the completion of their response, over the distance, the Toškhát captain could be seen turning towards his first offer and giving a handful of quick orders, which in turn set the first officer to relaying these orders to the rest of the ship and other two ships in their party.

At that, the three of their ships turned and began moving slowly towards those of the Ironhull delegation. Canons remaining unseen and at bay, the approach, though not foreplanned, was genuinely friendly. As they began their approach, the Toškhát signalman atop the mast relayed their follow-up response.

We will approach as so that we may speak face to face. We have both food and medical supplies if necessary.

Within a number of minutes, the primary of the Toškhát ships and primary of the Irondull delegation's ships stood side by side to one another, and coming to a slow halt, synchronised their movements. Stepping to the side of his ship and looking towards the captain of the Ironhull delegration, with a social tone and friendly body language, Kommandra Iánse called out. "I am Kommandra Iánse, captain of the Elvintšaraiškipfe Véstebétšue II, third sub-division, second fleet of the Holy Empire navy."

Kommandra Iánse was a rather average looking male Toškhát without any particularly notable features, other than an overtly outgoing personality and social manner; On his persons he bore appropriate patch and rank for his claimed title, though wore a uniform more aptly suited for live combat than for captaincy, well maintained as it may have been, and atop his uniform he bore an unusual and unfamiliar metallic armour, dark in colour and not unlike obsidian in appearance. "We were just now on our way back to port. I have food and medical supplies ready if they're needed - What is your situation and how may we be of assistance?"

"Food would be appreciated and some medical help as well. We were on our way to the Holy Empire on a trade mission, that was, until we got off course and lost our smaller ships in a storm. We would also appreciate navigational help to the Holy Empire." Ihrig stopped there. He didnt want to come off as rude or overbearing. Being known as a mooch would significantly harm Ironhull's standings in the world.

Iánse nodded. "Aye, that shouldn't be a problem. We're on our way in anyhow."

Turning and giving a handful of orders in his native tongue, some crew members went about bringing a ramp up to port, and the ship gradually edged closer. "With your permission, we'll bridge decks and bring supplies on board. We're in no particular rush; Once you and you're crew are ready, we can set off together if you'd like - Just follow closely to our ships and we'll lead you straight to port. Sound alright?"

The ramp was brought on deck and ready within a moment or two as Iánse awaited Ihrig's response and permission to bridge their decks - He doubted Ihrig would have any objections, but at least that level of formality was important as simply not asking could cause enough trouble for paperwork and be seen as elitist or negative by their counterparts, which of course, he didn't want.

"You have permission to board sir! As long as we are in good company, you and your men are welcome on our ships! And dont worry, we'll stay close, both for defense and company haha."Ihrig stepped aside and allowed the foreigners to board. Perhaps this was a sign of good allies in the future.

When the supplies were handed out and the ramp was removed, Ihrig ordered the men to ready their stations. The anchor was raised and he shouted over to the other ship.

"We're ready when you are good sir!"

Iánse, with a grin, waved his men to station. "Aye, then we'll be off. All to ready, moving out!"

As they moved out, all ships in the area moved as one tight-knit fleet, and the journey progressed quickly and smoothly - The storms did not return that day, and by day's end, they'd arrived at the port of Oudínljá.

As the approached the docks, it could be clearly seen that security had been somewhat increased, with a number of armed guards by the docks - The signalman of the Elvintšaraiškipfe Véstebétšue II, climbing to mast, signaled their approach to the docks and made their intentions clear.

We are the third sub-division of the Imperial Second Fleet of the Holy Empire returning from West Landing and the Ironhull Traders of Imperial Ironhull, approaching to dock. No pirates found enroute; No Solaris ships found enroute; Large storm encountered, no longer active. Code Green; Code Green. Requesting clearance.

After a moment or two, a signalman positioned by the docks signaled back.

Bravo Zulu. Clearance granted. Code Green; Code Green.

Under fear of a full fledged attack by Solaris naval forces which ultimately never arrived, security at all major docks and cities in the Holy Empire had been beefed up significantly. The mood was calm and relaxed, as by that stage, their fears had all but disappeared, but alas, security remained.

With clearance, the headed in towards the docks and pulled anchor.

Looking over to the Ironhull delegation, towards Captain Ihrig, Captain Iánse called out. "This is port of Oudínljá - Welcome to the Holy Empire, friends!"

Quickly, a crew of Máténante from the docks made their way to each of the ships, bringing up ramps and preparing for their landing.

Ihrig nodded to the other captain. "Thank you friend, Ironhull is in your debt!" He pulled into the dock and the ships slowed down to a halt. They were docked and the anchors were dropped.

Ihrig and his guards disembarked the ship and were greeted by some rather authoritative looking guards. He saluted them and was given a piece of parchment from one of his guards. He then handed it to one of the dock authorities.

"These are our papers kind sir. We are here from the Ironhull Empire and have strict orders to demonstrate our wares to either your leader or someone appointed by your leader. There is a letter included with those papers written by his royal leader Durn Grushna III to your Imperial Leader."

The dock authorities instinctively saluted back upon Ihrig's salute. The duty officer in charge, taking the parchment from Ihrig's guard, took it swiftly and read through it quickly and carefully.

A second or two later, understanding the situation, the duty officer, with a side on glance to one of his subordinates, gave an order. "Wákhálen Génerále Kaeréna tére Ironhull mlóre (Go and contact Génerále Kaeréna about the Ironhull deal)."

The subordinate, saluting, hastily made his way out of the docks. Passing the parchment back to Ihrig, the officer motioned an invitation to walk. "Welcome to the Holy Empire, Captain Ihrig. The appropriate authority is being notified of your arrival and should be here in an hour or so - She's been expecting your arrival. Shall we walk? We've recently began construction of a new international trade center here in Oudínljá, and while completion of its construction is not expected for some time yet, we've completed construction of lounge and diplomatic quarters. I'm sure you and your delegation would be far more comfortable there than in the cold."

OOC: Would write more, but just looked over to my clock and realised the time - I'm due to start work in half an hour and haven't started getting ready yet, so I've got to run. Feel free to reply. I'll try to write a bit more for my next post.

OOC: Sorry for the delay. Usual story. Seeing as neither party at this stage would be aware of the recent major change of power in Ironhull, aware of Capua cancelling their deal with Ironhull or pretty much aware of anything going on at the moment aside from their own dealings, and maybe what's happening in Solaris, as a means to prevent this event from holding up everything else, I'm going to macro-post a bit. Hope you don't mind the liberties taken.

Ihrig and his crew followed closely behind as the docks duty officer and an armed contingent - more-so for the trading party's protection than for any other reason, led them passed the docks, through what appeared to be a large scale construction site and into a large, contained building, just beyond, a trip tallying about five minutes from their ships.

Entering into the building, they were ushered into a large contained room, which, contrary to what else they'd seen of the docks thus far, appeared well furnished and decorated, somewhat luxurious, with indoor heating, a table with cups and a large pot of sweet smelling hot teá (though of course, coffeá was still a relatively unknown luxury in the Holy Empire) and an appropriate arena of diplomacy. Once inside, the duty officer bowed slightly to Ihrig before turning around and, approximately half of the armed contingent in tow, making his way out of the room. "Génerále Kaeréna, representative of the Holy Empire as appointed by Dominante Trévutó to handle such negotiations, is on her way and will be here shortly. There's fresh teá on the table; Feel free to help yourselves."

Ten minutes later, once the delegation had settled in, the door to the room opened, and a tall, well-built but lithe female Toškhát entered the room, several subordinates following closely behind. By the way she walked and entered the room, and by the subtle body language exchanged between her and the other Toškhát in the room, it was immediately obvious that she was the dominant and highest ranked present. That aside, she wore the regalia of a Holy Empire General, the slightest hint of the Empire's newest Trialith Ore armour barely showing below her uniform where gaps in fabric permitted.

Looking to the delegation in an attempt to assess who was in charge, after a second or two, her gaze fell to Ihrig, and she approached. Friendly, diplomatic body language and expression in tow, with a gentle smile, she put her hand - or paw - forward to shake. "Captain Ihrig, I presume? I am Génerále Kaeréna. I hear that you've come to us representing Ironhull, correct?"

"That is correct, M'lady." He took her paw and shook it, but was surprised at the firmness of her handshake. He remained standing as his guards sat down in the back. He pulled out his papers again and handed it to Génerále Kaeréna.

"I am here by orders of His Majesty Durn Grushna III on an arms demonstration as requested by your Dominante. We have brought both rifles and explosive powder. Is there, by chance, an open area outside of town that may be used to demonstrate our wares? We wish not to frighten to people."

Génerále Kaeréna nodded. "There most certainly is."

Indicating to the door as she walked, she continued. "Come; I'll show you. There's an old, abandoned stone fort just west of town - Left to the elements towards the end of the civil war from nearly a century back. We've been meaning to tear it down for some time now, to make room for new construction, but other issues have taken priority, so it remains where it is. It's situated in the middle of fairly large, open space, and nobody will miss it."

Another five minutes of walking, and they were at the fort. Indeed, barely a handful of bushes stood within about a hundred meters of the old fort, the area providing a large, clear, open area. The fort itself, built from granite and sandstone, stood at nearly four stories high, possibly quite grandeur in its time, but clearly not maintained and since left to rot, with numerous breaches torn into the walls by the wind and rain. A few scraggly weeds grew around its footing, but mostly, only dust and rubble surrounded the fort, the lime in the sandstone likely preventing plants and trees from establishing roots in its footings.

Aside from Ihrig, his contingent, Génerále Kaeréna and her contingent, no one and no person could to be seen or heard. Looking to Ihrig, Kaeréna vaguely indicated to their surrounds. "This should be sufficient? If so, we can call your men here and begin the demonstration at any time."

"Yes, this will be sufficient." He bowed to Génerále Kaeréna and then turned to his men. He sent one down to the docks to grab the supplies and a few crew members. It was about twenty minutes later that the crew returned, crates in hand and rifles on their backs.

Ihrig had used the time to scout out the fortress and find reasonable locations to demonstrate. He ordered one man to leave a small package on some stone in a corner of the exterior wall. Another was left in a window on the third floor. Ihrig grabbed his rifle and walked up to Génerále Kaeréna.

M'lady, your Dominante has asked us to demonstrate our firearms and explosives so that someone may witness its power firsthand. Our first stop is the package at the exterior wall. Roughly 30 pounds of our own black powder resides in that bag there. Our Ironhull Rifle is fully loaded with these packs," He held up a short flintlock round, "And is effective up to 300 yards. To fully demonstrate, our first package shall be shot at 200, and our second at 300. Will everybody stand back?" With that the group moved backwards and Ihrig aimed at the bag.

He pulled the trigger and the round shot sped out of the barrel and into the bag which burst open in a large explosion. The debris flew away from the blast and the smoke cleared. The entire section of wall had ben blown away and the ground was scorched. The powder did it's job.

"That, Ma'am, was thirty pounds of powder. As you can notice, the entire corner and most of the surrounding fortification has been blown away. Now, up stairs we have placed a hundred pounds of powder in a barrel. Now, for this demonstration, i urge everyone to relocate as further away. Watch out for falling debris please." They did just that. Ihrig moved to approximately 300 yards away and took aim at the barrel in the window.

Once again he pulled the trigger and the round-shot flew out of the barrel and struck it's target. The top floors erupted in a fury of fire. Chunks of wall and other debris flew into the air and began to crash down in the surrounding area. As soon as the area was clear, Ihrig called the group back to survey the destructive force.

most of the third and fourth floor was missing The walls nearest the blast had been blasted out while few sections of the fourth wall remained. It was quite evident the power of the explosives and the usefulness of an Ironhull rifle. Ihrig closed up his demonstration with a few words.

"As you can see here, an Ironhull rifle is a powerful weapon. While arrows and bolts can travel distances, they do not necessarily kill a target in one strike. More often then not, it takes multiple arrows to claim a target's life. While im not going to say that it is a one shot kill each time you fire an Ironhull Rifle at someone, it is far more effective at doing it's job. As for our explosives, i believe their destructive power is evident through our two examples, but if you require more, we would have no trouble with helping to both demonstrate and speed up the demolition progress."

OOC: Rolling in advanced for future action. Won't take effect for a few posts yet, probably, either way, but, rolling now, because I've planned how this works out for a while now, but we need to fast track this. If war breaks out between Ironhull and Curaidach before this thread is concluded (which probably should've been concluded a long time ago), logic will start to break a bit I think. Action concerns high level sabotage of the initial shipment of an assumed successful trade agreement between Ironhull and Holy Empire by a third party based in Holy Empire territory. Will describe response to roll results in OOC in my next post.