Pelasgia
Established Nation
Camp Hill, Natal
Theodosios Margarites, 3rd Baron Margarites, was a man of slightly above average height and large build, and visibly though not atrociously overweight. Pale-skinned and blue-eyed, he hailed from the fertile inland farmlands of Drabescus in Old Pelasgia. His sharp nose and sharp chin had earned him the nickname "Baron Shark" among his colleagues; though such a name did not match his personality, his good manners and courtesy being well known, it certainly matched the modus operandi of the class to which he belonged. Margarites' family belonged to the New Peers, commoner bureaucrats and technocrats who had risen through the ranks of the Pelasgian State apparatus, especially the civil service and the security services. Formally made into Peers of the Emperor, these New Peers were used by the small group of military and security officers who truly ruled the Pelasgian State as a loyal bureaucracy to operate the state mechanism to the exclusion of the liberal bourgeoisie. Margarites was, for lack of a better word, a hawk, and a very competent one at that. Having served in state services and companies closely linked to HIM Own Secret Service (the Krypteia) before his entry into HIM Diplomatic Service, he could speak with full authority for the true powers that be in Propontis, not the symbolic Emperor or the even more powerless Chamber of Deputies.
Margarites was far from surprised to hear of his being summoned by the Natalian Government. The ODS and DDI had been growing closer by the day, and further and further from Kadikistan. Pelasgia and Natal had always had an awkward relationship, the same being true for Pelasgia and the ODS. As for the DDI, Pelasgia's relationship to it was clearly hostile, as the DDI constantly tried to encircle Pelasgia and encroach on its sphere of influence. Pelasgia judged that this would eventually end in regime change in Propontis and the separation of Philistaea, which the Empire's authorities had no desire whatsoever to facilitate. The alliance with Kadikistan, at first a last-minute agreement to avoid world war, had grown into a real relationship of trust as the two states, otherwise extremely hostile, found themselves mutually assailed by liberals and democrats on all sides, the said liberals and democrats viewing Pelasgian Absolutism and Kadikistani Communism alike as a heretical anathema that had to be eliminated from the face of Europe. Margarites held no grudge; Pelasgia would eliminate liberalism and democracy in a nanosecond, if it could. Natal's purpose, Margarites wagered in his report to the Empire's Foreign Ministry, would be to try to convince Pelasgia to recreate the Trier Concordat-Propontis-Bourgogne Axis against Kadikistan. Pelasgia, for its part, always saw that alliance as unstable and unruly, and finally abandoned it when the Trier Concordat aggressively provoked Ivar into war against Pelasgia's repeated warnings and despite three Pelasgian interventions to avoid a Germanian war.
For the moment, the return of such an alliance at the expense of the Status Quo Treaty seemed like a pipe dream. And yet, the Pelasgian delegation (and Propontis through them) were willing to hear Natal out, if for no other reason other than a sentiment of Himyari solidarity. Natal, however, would have to make one hell of a case to assure Pelasgia that the DDI and ODS would not one day come to bring universal suffrage and gay marriage to Propontis with the help of Sylvanian and Touzenite fleets in the Long Sea. Pelasgia had come to see Kadikistan as a good ally, especially since Kadikistan's intervention on the Pelasgian side against Justosia. To make matters more complicated, Pelasgia and Natal found themselves on opposite sides of the Nzadi conflict and the Pelasgian colonisation of the Far South. To Pelasgia, Nzadiland could never admit any regime but one endorsed by Propontis, to avoid opening the Empire's flanks to terrestrial invasion. Pelasgia would not back out of its defending its interests in Nzadiland, even if it took force, as recent weeks had made ever clearer. As for the Far South, Pelasgia saw the colony as firmly established and had no desire to back out of it, especially given the Far South's proximity to Serenierre, a long-time Pelasgian ally.
With all this in mind, Margarites stepped into the meeting room, bowing before the summoning Natalian leadership, in accordance with Pelasgian diplomatic tradition. "It has come to my attention that Your Excellencies have summoned me," he said.
@Natal
Theodosios Margarites, 3rd Baron Margarites, was a man of slightly above average height and large build, and visibly though not atrociously overweight. Pale-skinned and blue-eyed, he hailed from the fertile inland farmlands of Drabescus in Old Pelasgia. His sharp nose and sharp chin had earned him the nickname "Baron Shark" among his colleagues; though such a name did not match his personality, his good manners and courtesy being well known, it certainly matched the modus operandi of the class to which he belonged. Margarites' family belonged to the New Peers, commoner bureaucrats and technocrats who had risen through the ranks of the Pelasgian State apparatus, especially the civil service and the security services. Formally made into Peers of the Emperor, these New Peers were used by the small group of military and security officers who truly ruled the Pelasgian State as a loyal bureaucracy to operate the state mechanism to the exclusion of the liberal bourgeoisie. Margarites was, for lack of a better word, a hawk, and a very competent one at that. Having served in state services and companies closely linked to HIM Own Secret Service (the Krypteia) before his entry into HIM Diplomatic Service, he could speak with full authority for the true powers that be in Propontis, not the symbolic Emperor or the even more powerless Chamber of Deputies.
Margarites was far from surprised to hear of his being summoned by the Natalian Government. The ODS and DDI had been growing closer by the day, and further and further from Kadikistan. Pelasgia and Natal had always had an awkward relationship, the same being true for Pelasgia and the ODS. As for the DDI, Pelasgia's relationship to it was clearly hostile, as the DDI constantly tried to encircle Pelasgia and encroach on its sphere of influence. Pelasgia judged that this would eventually end in regime change in Propontis and the separation of Philistaea, which the Empire's authorities had no desire whatsoever to facilitate. The alliance with Kadikistan, at first a last-minute agreement to avoid world war, had grown into a real relationship of trust as the two states, otherwise extremely hostile, found themselves mutually assailed by liberals and democrats on all sides, the said liberals and democrats viewing Pelasgian Absolutism and Kadikistani Communism alike as a heretical anathema that had to be eliminated from the face of Europe. Margarites held no grudge; Pelasgia would eliminate liberalism and democracy in a nanosecond, if it could. Natal's purpose, Margarites wagered in his report to the Empire's Foreign Ministry, would be to try to convince Pelasgia to recreate the Trier Concordat-Propontis-Bourgogne Axis against Kadikistan. Pelasgia, for its part, always saw that alliance as unstable and unruly, and finally abandoned it when the Trier Concordat aggressively provoked Ivar into war against Pelasgia's repeated warnings and despite three Pelasgian interventions to avoid a Germanian war.
For the moment, the return of such an alliance at the expense of the Status Quo Treaty seemed like a pipe dream. And yet, the Pelasgian delegation (and Propontis through them) were willing to hear Natal out, if for no other reason other than a sentiment of Himyari solidarity. Natal, however, would have to make one hell of a case to assure Pelasgia that the DDI and ODS would not one day come to bring universal suffrage and gay marriage to Propontis with the help of Sylvanian and Touzenite fleets in the Long Sea. Pelasgia had come to see Kadikistan as a good ally, especially since Kadikistan's intervention on the Pelasgian side against Justosia. To make matters more complicated, Pelasgia and Natal found themselves on opposite sides of the Nzadi conflict and the Pelasgian colonisation of the Far South. To Pelasgia, Nzadiland could never admit any regime but one endorsed by Propontis, to avoid opening the Empire's flanks to terrestrial invasion. Pelasgia would not back out of its defending its interests in Nzadiland, even if it took force, as recent weeks had made ever clearer. As for the Far South, Pelasgia saw the colony as firmly established and had no desire to back out of it, especially given the Far South's proximity to Serenierre, a long-time Pelasgian ally.
With all this in mind, Margarites stepped into the meeting room, bowing before the summoning Natalian leadership, in accordance with Pelasgian diplomatic tradition. "It has come to my attention that Your Excellencies have summoned me," he said.
@Natal