A Reach of Hand [attn: Pelasgia]

[Qus]

To: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pelasgian Empire
From: The Sultan's Office, Isfana, Qus

To our beloved neighbours,

We would like to formally announce our willingness to deepen the co-operation between our two countries. Religious and cultural differences have made us culturally more further apart than we are by mere geographical distance, but I believe ultimately we share interests for economic prosperity and stability and peace in the northern Himyar region and the Kalahari Sea coast. We would thus like to extend to you an invitation for initiating negotiations for trade and cultural exchange. We are willing to accommodate you here in our capital of Isfana, or send a delegation to your Empire if you were to accept this offer of ours. Rergardless, I wish you and your Empire good health and prosperity for the ages to come.

Peace be upon you,
Gubaidolla I
Sultan of Qus, Emir of Isfana, Emir of Kattakurgan, Emir of Qutuz, the Protector of the Faith

 

[Pelasgia]

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Pelasgian Empire
Office of HIM, the Emperor of the Pelasgians
Private Dispatch
​

18th of July, 1956
To the attention of His Majesty, Sultan Gubaidolla, First of His Name, Sultan of Qus, Emir of Isfana, Emir of Kattakurgan, Emir of Qutuz, Protector of the Faith of Islam

Your Majesty,

It is with the greatest of pleasures that We have received Your invitation. Indeed, We too, find it quiet disheartening that our two mighty Empires have never had the luck and the priviledge of expanding and improving relations between themselves, through their Sovereigns or otherwise. We both bare the heritage of noble and ancient civilisations and we both seek to modernise ourselves, without loosing this heritage. We have great contributions to make to one another, as well as to humanity as a whole, worthy of, if not superior to, those we have already made.

To this end, we accept Your invitation. Since it was Your Majesty who, in good faith, took the initiative to contact Us, We find it only fitting that We dispatch a delegation to a location of Your choosing, so that we can discuss a warming of relations between our Nations and our Realms. We await Your response and wish the best of fortune to both You and Your humble subjects, who are fortunate to live under such an enlightened and just Sovereign.

Signed and Sealed,

Attalos Laskaris-Komnenos

Emperor of the Pelasgians, Hēlios, Sole Representative of the Triadic God on Earth, Autokratōr, Sevastos

ΕΝ ΤΟΥΤΩΙ ΝΙΚΑ
​

 

[Qus]

Your Excellency,

We are most delighted to hear you accept our offer. We will accommodate your delegation here in the Royal Capital of Isfana.

(OOC: What's the preferred standard for these things, should I put a separate thread up for this at the World Stage?)

 

[Pelasgia]

(OOC: I don't think that's necessary, we can just continue here, do you want me to RP my dudes arriving, or do you want to do it, since you know what your country would look like?)

 

[Qus]

Palace of Friendship, Isfana

The Palace of Friendship was located right in the centre of the modern centre of Isfana, not a long trip from the Royal Square. Its construction finished in 1941 and thus it's not a monument for the past glories of the Sultanate - the meeting could've taken place in plenty of historical palaces across the ancient city that would speak highly of its thousands of years of history, but it takes place here, rather a symbol of a nation that faces fowards and, politically, to the north-west, built foremost for the hosting of international guests. An architectonic feat, it merges traditional influences with art deco that were trendy in the early 1940s. Its insides were decorated with paintings depicting the peoples of the Sultanate and key moments, painted in a realist manner. The room itself where the meeting was to take place had several murals, one depicting fishermen at work and the key one depicting the coronation of the nation's first Sultan. The room was bustling with the service running around, carrying drinks and meze to the table and the security people doing last-minute drills. In the table itself sat calmly the Sultan itself with a few interpreters and key government officials, as the Grand Vizier himself was sent to the Sultan Baltabek International Airport to oversee the arrival ceremony and escort the Pelasgian delegation to the Palace. The Sultan was a tall man, who, were he standing up, would tower over most of even the security in the room. He was a graciously aging man in his late 50s with a clean-shaven face, and he was wearing a dark navy blue striped suit, and as he was indoors, he was not even wearing the royal fes which would have given his sense of dress a bit of local, traditional colour. Ministers of Defence, Culture and Foreign Trade were sat around him, all sporting the weirdly similar moustache typical of a Qus bureaucrat. Cigarette in one hand a cup of tea in other, the Sultan was telling some kind of a clumsy joke to an unfortunate member of the service staff, when he was suddenly saved by a burly, sunglassed member of the security team coming in to the room.

"Your Excellency, the Pelasgian delegation has arrived."

 

[Pelasgia]

Palace of Friendship, Isfana

The Imperial delegation was impressed by the sheer beauty of Isfana. The city itself was hotter than Propontis, a noteworthy feat in its own right. The unique, eastern style of the buildings, with the sprawling roads and markets, filled with people combining western clothing and traditional islamic attire, as an indication of their status, certainly grabbed the attention of the Pelasgians. As they entered the Palace of Friendship, the quentissance of this coexistance of cultures, the Pelasgian delegates admired the ornate mosaics of the fishers and the intricate paintings of the Sultans. As they walked into the Prime Minister, flanked by the Minister of Economics, Marshal Herakleios Artopoiopoulos and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and a translator, stopped walking, placed his hand on his heart and delivered a Tiburan salute to the Sultan, instead of bowing. His move was imitated by the rest of the delegation, followed by him speaking, through the translator.

"Long may you rejoice, Your Majesty. His Imperial Majesty is terribly saddened that He cannot attend, but He has to attend to Her Imperial Majesty's childbirth. His Imperial Majesty begs Your Majesty's pardon. We are most honoured to be here in His stead, as Your Majesty's guests."

 

[Qus]

"Welcome to Isfana", the Sultan greeted the delegation, in accented Pelasgian and responded to the salutations with a deep nod of the head. He then turned to the interpreter and continued, "I, too, regret that I did not have the chance to meet with His Imperial Majesty in person, but there could not be a better reason for absence. There is nothing more important than birth of a child, certainly not politics. I wish the child and the Empress good health." With the formalities done, the negotiating partners sit down to the long table, where a wide range of local delicacies were set up, from lamb sausages and stuffed vine leaves to bread, falafel and fresh fish of the Kalahari Sea as well as local fruit wine, raki and sparkling water. Next to the Sultan sat down the Grand Vizier Timurul, who was more of a short and stout stature and sported a full beard and thick-rimmed glasses. The Sultan waves away an approaching member of the service staff with a hand movement and pours himself a glass of sparkling water. "I don't know how negotiations traditionally work in Pelasgia, but in Qus no negotiation is complete without food, drinks and tobacco", he then comments. "There is a saying... bir yemek paylaşmadan önce bir adam güvenilir olamaz. A man cannot be trusted before sharing of a meal, and I hope our humble offerings could be a beginning of such a trust. It is not the work of awarded Germanian chefs, but it's the food of our people, both of the courts and of the little food stands of the peasants we passed on our way here."

After helping himself to some fruit wine and lighting up a cigarette, the Grand Vizier gets to the topic. "Anyways, if you don't mind, let us start from the lighter topics. There are a multitude of graver topics we wish to discuss with you, but let us not spoil the mood of this event by getting into business right away, unless you so desire. We would like to talk about cultural exchange. We are neighbours, but as such, we have always lacked a shared cultural background, a common language, or a common religion, so I guess it's been a natural course for our nations to always face into other directions than each other. We would like this to change, and I believe we have quite a lot to offer to you. We have long academic traditions and at least we would be most interested in exchange of research staff and students, our scholars on Islamic culture and politics of the Islamic cultural region are world class. We have a budding cinematic industry and a tradition of theater. And lastly, we would like to see opening of more venues for interfaith dialogue."

 

[Pelasgia]

The Pelasgian delegates, having enjoyed the delicacies of the Orient, were eager to begin discussing. The Sultan's words, even concerning the 'lighter' topics were not without incitation to thought. While the majority of Pelasgian academics were intrigued by the deep history and culture of the Islamic world, one could not ignore the fact that, at the same time, they did look down upon it as somewhat primitive and backwards. Then again, Pelasgians looked down on almost everyone else as barbaric, so, if anything, they probably valued the Islamic countries more than their crusader, heathen neighbours to the West. At least they had a history of dealing with the Islamic countries diplomatically, back in times when the now all-mighty 'West' was too busy burning witches. Indeed, a cooperation between the two countries' universities would grately benefit the Sultanate in modernising and while a modern Sultanate could be much stronger it could also be much easier to deal with diplomatically. After all, Pelasgian universities were not particulary advanced in the department of Islamic studies and there was also the advantage of a possible brain drain from Qus in Pelasgia's favour. One could not ignore the enormous contribution of sections of the Islamic world in preserving Classical texts and advancing astronomy and algebra. As far as theatre and film cooperations were concerned, both countries had a rich tradition in that sphere and they could certainly produce masterpieces if they worked together.

"Our nation would most certainly approve of such agreements. Both in the academic and artistic fields, such cooperation between us would greatly benefit both countries."

Dialogue between religions was a more complicated topic; both Orthodox Christianity and Islam were rather absolute in their worldviews and neither one exactly went along with the Pagan Pelasgian religion that most Pelasgians in the Empire's northwest still followed. But, if relations between the two realms were to improve, religious dialogue would have to take place: religion was important for the daily lives and politics of both parties.

"Pertaining to religious dialogue, we too find it necessary; if anything it should have taken place earlier. Orthodox Christianity and Islam are both Abrahamic religions, after all. Would Your Majesty also be interested in religious dialogue with the Pelasgian Polytheists?"

 

[Qus]

"We are most delighted to hear. I'm sure this arrangement will be of mutual benefit to our nations." However, upon the mention of Pelasgian Polytheists, a slight awkwardness could be read from the faces of the Qusi, especially the Sultan. As a skilled diplomat, the Grand Vizier however hid his, but he shared the sentiment. He was not a pious man and while for historical reasons and cultural similarities cooperation with other people of the book came naturally, his resentment towards Pagans was not of religious nature. Pagans for him were not really infidels per se, but rather hicks, a bit ridiculous creatures of the past. But in the lack of actual ideological opposition, he just smiled and nodded. "I'm sure that can be arranged, too. We are eagerly looking forwards to more multi-faith talks and as you might very well be aware, Qus is home to a relatively large and old Christian minority of its own, who have quite unfortunately been disconnected from their brethren in faith. We do not see them as a threat, as many do, but as an integral part of our society and aiding them is, in itself, in our national interest."

Very eager to steer the conversation to a different subject, the Sultan spoke up. "Not to undermine the importance of cultural co-operation, it is however not the reason we invited you to Qus. There is no path to a cordial co-existence like shared business interests, after all. We are a country rich in resources, but we lack the industrial capacity and capital that exists in your empire, and if left to our own devices, that is likely to change at an extremely slow pace. While we do produce a lot of textiles and some machine parts, our heavy industry is very undeveloped and our workforce mostly employed in the primary sector. We would welcome your investments in untapping this potential. We are rich in copper and iron ore and coal in our mountain provinces, but perhaps of most interest to you are our oil deposits, the extent of which we don't even fully know yet. Before I get to gritty details, would you be interested in an opportunity like this? We are confident in that we could get you a deal that would please both of us."

 

[Pelasgia]

"Your treatment of your Christian minority does you honour, it is much more than I can say for the treatment of Muslims by certain Christian bretheren of ours."

Culture was a notable topic, but the real importance of the meeting was the economic relations between the two nations; Pelasgia was a nation rich in both industry and resources, but not very big in overall size, compared to the Sultanate at least. Ores and oil could be found in Pelasgia, but the Pelasgians could never fuel their growing industry by their own resources alone. Such a problem had been predicted decades in advance and a deal with the Sultanate offered a deal that would suit both: the Pelasgians, due to their country's size could not produce certain goods on their own and had to import them; importing them from companies based on Pelasgian investments in Qus would be beneficial for both. Raw resources could be extracted from Qus and sold back to it, as products its own industry could not yet produce. Pelasgian workers could also be outsourced as contractors to help train the locals in industrial trades, as well as serving in more specialised tasks, that the locals would need decades before being able to do on their own. Qus had the size, the resources and the manpower to become an economic powerhouse. Such a trade partner would be very valuable to the Empire. After all, all good alliances start through trade.

"Indeed, such an economic would be a very big help to our economy, as to yours, as I can imagine. We could offer reduced tariffs for certain goods in exchange for reduced taxes in certain areas, to facilitate Pelasgian industrial investments in your nation. I am certain our mining and fuel companies would also be very interested in buildings facilities in your nation. Our shipping industry, the largest in the world, would also be very interested in helping to develop your ports and our heavy industry would be very interested in helping you construct railroads, electricity networks and other infrastructure since it would help us in getting our goods to and through your nation faster and it would also help in growing your economy and expanding your country's standard of living."