Free Cities League
Establishing Nation
ooc: not sure whether diplomatic conferences belong here. if not, please move the thread to the relevant sub-forum
Free, Founder and Capital City of Handelsburg, Free Cities League
Handeslburg was the Free Cities' crown jewel. An important commercial port since the Middle Ages, where it was the main door of exit of raw materials and furs from the deep North to the rest of Europe, it had become a world port in the Modern Age, with one of Europe's first stock exchanges and deeply rooted bourgeois culture in stark contrast with the rest of Europe at the time. With time, decline had made its way in the Contemporary Age, as a deep economic crisis struck the League and it lost its world relevance. Still an important exporter of raw materials and an important banking and financial center, the crisis forced the League to turn inwards, especially as its linguistic and ethnic conflicts got worse. But now, in the middle of the 20th century, the 700 year old merchant confederation wanted world relevance again. The President of the Council of Boroughmasters, institution charged with defining the general political direction of the confederation, had directed the General Administrative Council, the executive arm of the League's government, to begin engaging foreign nations to forge tighter commercial links. The first logical choice would be Ivernia, the democratic monarchy just across the strait, at least that was what Johann Buddenbrook, the President of the GAC, thought. Despite the traditional virulent anti-monarchical sentiment embedded in the League, Ivernia was a special case, as it was an elective monarchy and was undoubtely democratic. Buddenbrook was sure that the Kingdom of Celts and Germans that was Ivernia would be a valuable commercial, economical and even political partner of the League.
As the plane that transported Silvio Mac Brady, the Prime-Representative of Ivernia, arrived at the newly-built International Airport of Handelsburg, and was transported to the Bundeshaus, the House of the League, a massive medieval building constructed to serve as the central building of the League located in downtown Handelsburg, was preparing to host him. This was the first high-level diplomatic conference in Handelsburg in many years, and the GAC was ensuring that every detail was right. The Prime-Representative had been received by a military contigent and by William Billingham, the Director-General of Foreign Affairs. He was to be taken to the Bundeshaus to meet Buddenbrook, together with Billingham.
In a room decorated with tapestries from the Middle Ages, telling the tale of the liberation of Erding, the last holding of the tyrannic Margrave of Walmark, the last monarch in the German part of the League, with heroic burgers slaying mad royalists, Johann Buddenbrook waited. A relatively old man, he was the face of the German protestant establishment. Though of Flemish extraction, his family had moved to Lübeck, the second biggest German City-State, some centuries ago, becoming proeminent businessmen. He was the first to join politics, in a successful career in the conservative and dominating party of the Citizens' Alliance. As Mac Brady was taken to the meeting room with Billingham, a younger, more dynamic politician, from Warmstrand, the biggest of the English-speaking Norssexer City-States, Buddenbrook stood up, in his tight and neutral manner, welcoming the Ivernian:
"Welcome to the Free Cities' League, Mr. Mac Brady. I hope your trip went well and that Mr. Billingham was a good companion in the short trip from the Airport to the Bundeshaus. Can I get you something to drink? Schnaps, beer, wine?"@Ivernia
Free, Founder and Capital City of Handelsburg, Free Cities League
Handeslburg was the Free Cities' crown jewel. An important commercial port since the Middle Ages, where it was the main door of exit of raw materials and furs from the deep North to the rest of Europe, it had become a world port in the Modern Age, with one of Europe's first stock exchanges and deeply rooted bourgeois culture in stark contrast with the rest of Europe at the time. With time, decline had made its way in the Contemporary Age, as a deep economic crisis struck the League and it lost its world relevance. Still an important exporter of raw materials and an important banking and financial center, the crisis forced the League to turn inwards, especially as its linguistic and ethnic conflicts got worse. But now, in the middle of the 20th century, the 700 year old merchant confederation wanted world relevance again. The President of the Council of Boroughmasters, institution charged with defining the general political direction of the confederation, had directed the General Administrative Council, the executive arm of the League's government, to begin engaging foreign nations to forge tighter commercial links. The first logical choice would be Ivernia, the democratic monarchy just across the strait, at least that was what Johann Buddenbrook, the President of the GAC, thought. Despite the traditional virulent anti-monarchical sentiment embedded in the League, Ivernia was a special case, as it was an elective monarchy and was undoubtely democratic. Buddenbrook was sure that the Kingdom of Celts and Germans that was Ivernia would be a valuable commercial, economical and even political partner of the League.
As the plane that transported Silvio Mac Brady, the Prime-Representative of Ivernia, arrived at the newly-built International Airport of Handelsburg, and was transported to the Bundeshaus, the House of the League, a massive medieval building constructed to serve as the central building of the League located in downtown Handelsburg, was preparing to host him. This was the first high-level diplomatic conference in Handelsburg in many years, and the GAC was ensuring that every detail was right. The Prime-Representative had been received by a military contigent and by William Billingham, the Director-General of Foreign Affairs. He was to be taken to the Bundeshaus to meet Buddenbrook, together with Billingham.
In a room decorated with tapestries from the Middle Ages, telling the tale of the liberation of Erding, the last holding of the tyrannic Margrave of Walmark, the last monarch in the German part of the League, with heroic burgers slaying mad royalists, Johann Buddenbrook waited. A relatively old man, he was the face of the German protestant establishment. Though of Flemish extraction, his family had moved to Lübeck, the second biggest German City-State, some centuries ago, becoming proeminent businessmen. He was the first to join politics, in a successful career in the conservative and dominating party of the Citizens' Alliance. As Mac Brady was taken to the meeting room with Billingham, a younger, more dynamic politician, from Warmstrand, the biggest of the English-speaking Norssexer City-States, Buddenbrook stood up, in his tight and neutral manner, welcoming the Ivernian:
"Welcome to the Free Cities' League, Mr. Mac Brady. I hope your trip went well and that Mr. Billingham was a good companion in the short trip from the Airport to the Bundeshaus. Can I get you something to drink? Schnaps, beer, wine?"@Ivernia