The Caledonian Stag
Dumnonia House, Naoned
The enlarged state council, made of the Government, the King and the Representatives of the regional governments has assembled for the first time since the elections that took place a week ago. While many of its members were still the same as the PPU won the general elections and the ones in Cumbria, the Caledonian delegations seemed to bring some color to the familiar faces, many of them who worked together for as much as twelve years.
The room in which the council assembles is not big, but it was decorated with many hunting trophies, the majority was taken after the hunts organized by the current king’s grandfather, King Mael Coluim. The old king liked to hunt in the northern most extremities of Caledonia, especially in the peninsula and around Dun Garan. He didn’t like hunting in the savannas of Loago, that is why the trophies were all of arctic animals, from the musk ox to narwhal, going through arctic foxes, hares, ermines, wolves, polar bears, elks and moose. From the windows, one had a great view of the city, with the citadel on the left and the main boulevard of downtown, Princes Street, seen going right towards the seafront, which could be seen far away, on the right.
The meeting was already under way. It first started with the problem of Gouw Marken and Kadikistan’s influence in it. For the Cumbrian Government, it was important to keep Gouw Marken away from communist influence. The political analysts were saying that what is keeping the people of Gouw Marken away from any communist revolution was the country’s isolation, but now it seemed that the Prince-Bishop was taking the bull by its horn. Cumbria had to do something to be sure that Western Scania was communism free, as unfortunately not the same could be said about the Eastern part of the continent, with the Democratic Revolutionary Army wrecking Cumbria, communists attacking and killing anything in front of them, it seemed, in Cymru and an unending civil war in Milesia and Ivernia that seemed to end up in a stagnating attrition centered trench warfare. It was clear for many Cumbrians that the failure of maneuver warfare in the last year and now the fronts keeping themselves unchanged; it will last for another year. To keep Gouw Marken away from Kadiki influences, King Aodhan did something that no Mac Phearsain king did in the dynasty’s history: to sign his name directly on a governmental communique, to show that the letter comes directly from him. It was to show the Prince Bishop that the thing was serious and with such weight put in it, one could not respond to it in a simple mocking way: “We decline your offer”, without thinking about potential consequences of such an insult.
The members of the council from the Prometheist People’s Union were supporting this move, but the Caledonian delegation was fully against it. The main parties in Cumbria-Caledonia, the PPU and the Country Party had different views towards the monarchy. The Country Party was respecting it as an institution and did not want to see the King of Cumbria and Mormaer of Caledonia humble himself with such trickle, whereas the Prometheist Union had a more moderate approach towards the monarchy and it was more pragmatic, always ready to use the king for the country’s needs, not only to keep him there for the sake of a symbol. In the end, with the PPU having the power of the Lady Protector Sabrina Corre and the Benadur of Cumbria, Conan Meriadoc, had more weight than the Toisech of Caledonia, Sean Blacach, who was a member of the Country Party. King Aodhan V, who was very young, barely 21 years of age, also had a mentality closer to the PPU than to the CP and thus he himself asked a Gardai to bring him the communique and this he signed it.
The next point on the agenda that needed to be discussed was also the last one for the meeting of the State Council. It had to do with the Cymru-Cumbria relations. The last Lord Protector, Alan Tanet ordered the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andras Gordon to negotiate with the Cymru and have them accept Prometheism as an important ideology that defined they future politics and to accept Cumbrian forces on their soil, to help them defend themselves against communist terrorism and in exchange they will receive 5,000,000,000 Cumbric Bonns from the state treasury. At first, many in the Royal Assembly and from both Cumbric and Caledonian Regional Parliaments were supportive of the idea, but when the response from the Cymru Republic came, it fell like a shock for many, while others, especially the Country Party MPs were saying that it was a wakeup call for the Prometheists. The Cymraeg disagreed with Prometheism, thanked for the money and said that it might take time before they will reach a consensus on the Cumbrian volunteers. In exchange, they opened the borders for the import of Cumbrian goods. But when the same no import tariff deal was signed with Eiffelland, without paying a tax of 5 billion Bonns, the people started to be even more annoyed.
“You all should hear me on this. As long as I am Toisech of Caledonia, no Bonn coming from the Mormaerdom will ever go towards Cymru as part of this deal, if the Cymraeg do not respect all the points of the deal: soldiers, ideology and free trade.” The voice of Sean Blacach sounded powerful in the conference room. He was standing right under a head of a musk ox, one of the prized hunting trophies of King Mael Coluim.
“As much as I do not like to approve of him, the Toisech is right,” said Conan Meriadoc, the Benadur of Cumbria. “Paying this sum of money only to have our goods into their markets doesn’t seem right, especially when the majority of the members of the Made in CCL campaign are private enterprises. We must keep the line between the affairs of the state and private affairs.”
“We must not also forget, that compared to Cymru, Eiffelland is a more important market,” said Aindreas Moireasdan, the Minister of Economy and Commerce and also one of the main architects of the Made in CCL program. “We opened our way to a richer market that would bring us more benefits in the long turn without paying anything. I find it a bad investment to give so much money to Cymru, just for the markets. The zero tariff policies are new and the Made in CCL program is at the beginning, but I am positive that again, without paying a thing we can enter new, more prosperous and more stable markets just by looking towards Pelasgia and Bougogne. They are also on our line of sight for this. Let us also not forget of the Engellexic Republic.”
“Five billion Bonns could have many benefits if invested in Caledonia, to improve the infrastructure, or even in foreign countries. If that money would be added to the Gouw Marken fund, I wouldn’t have a problem about it, as the situation is completely different between Gouw Marken and Cymru,” said Blacach.
“Cymru is a target for the communists. They had many terrorist attacks in it and from what it looks like the country is ready to make a turn from liberalism to conservatorism. Gouw Marken on the other side is a chitin shell that I do not know what is inside it. From the fact that it is a theocratic state, I do not have the same points of view on what the people are thinking, than compared to Cymru, which is a democratic republic and we can see how the people is thinking and reacting to its government. In Gouw Marken we must try to intuit on what will happen and what the future will be based only on our intelligence system and on the actions of the Prince-Bishop. And from what it looks like, if they will not accept our offer, it might be the last one before they will fully be engulfed by Kadikistani influence and we might consider it a lost state. That is why it would be highly important to finance more into Gouw Marken than in Cymru,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andras Gordon.
“SILENCE!” the voice of the Lady Protector was the only feminine voice in the room but it was strong enough to cover the men’s voice and to end the squabbling. “Cymru is in a chaotic state. They had an attack on a village with a chemical agent… A CHEMICAL ATTACK! They had terrorists hijack the radio and the television while it was live recording. When I see all those things, I wonder… Where are the security forces in that country? How does a country even claim to be sovereign if it cannot protect its citizens?”
“If you ask them that, they will respond asking the same about us,” said Sean Blacach, the Toisech of Caledonia.
“No, it is not the same. The Gardai was there always. When the terror attacks started, they wanted to start a civil war by trying to take over Dun Glas, the Capital of Caledonia, I’m sure you remember, your excellency,” said Marshall Loic Seznec, the Minister of War and also the commander of the Cumbrian Host, the southern part of the Unitarian and Royal Army. “We were there to fight them and we defeated them. When they bombed Roazhon, we were there to quickly catch the culprits. No, there are great differences between Cumbria-Caledonia and Cymru in this fight.”
“The honorable Marshall is right. Today, the Gardai will also start a gigantic nation-wide campaign to arrest members of that so-called Democratic Revolutionary Army and of the Party of the Left. The Intelligence Services provided us with much information on their conspiratorial houses and apartments to start a series of raids. But we were talking about Cymru.” The Lady Protector made a pause in which she drank some water and then continued. “That money will not be given to them if all they can give us are zero import-export tariffs. It is not like they make us a favor by it. They also have something to win from it. It will help their people as prices will lower and thus encourage consumption, but they will also have a problem, especially if they like so much their protectionist system, as their companies will prove to be uncompetitive and antiquated compared to the flood of Cumbrian and Caledonian goods that will come in their market. But then again, that is their problem, not ours. If I want to use money to open borders for free trade I would prefer to give it to Bourgogne, Pelasgia or Engellex to enter their markets. But if Lord Protector Alan Tanet gave them the chance to receive security and floating and circulating capital, I will try to honor his offer. I will ask them again. I will offer them protection and capital in exchange for Prometheism. If they do not want it, I will not ask them anymore. To each, their own. And that is my final point.”
“This concludes our meeting. The council may meet again at the call of the Royal Assembly, His Royal Majesty or of one of the regional governments.” Conan Meriadoc ended the meeting.
Dumnonia House, Naoned
The enlarged state council, made of the Government, the King and the Representatives of the regional governments has assembled for the first time since the elections that took place a week ago. While many of its members were still the same as the PPU won the general elections and the ones in Cumbria, the Caledonian delegations seemed to bring some color to the familiar faces, many of them who worked together for as much as twelve years.
The room in which the council assembles is not big, but it was decorated with many hunting trophies, the majority was taken after the hunts organized by the current king’s grandfather, King Mael Coluim. The old king liked to hunt in the northern most extremities of Caledonia, especially in the peninsula and around Dun Garan. He didn’t like hunting in the savannas of Loago, that is why the trophies were all of arctic animals, from the musk ox to narwhal, going through arctic foxes, hares, ermines, wolves, polar bears, elks and moose. From the windows, one had a great view of the city, with the citadel on the left and the main boulevard of downtown, Princes Street, seen going right towards the seafront, which could be seen far away, on the right.
The meeting was already under way. It first started with the problem of Gouw Marken and Kadikistan’s influence in it. For the Cumbrian Government, it was important to keep Gouw Marken away from communist influence. The political analysts were saying that what is keeping the people of Gouw Marken away from any communist revolution was the country’s isolation, but now it seemed that the Prince-Bishop was taking the bull by its horn. Cumbria had to do something to be sure that Western Scania was communism free, as unfortunately not the same could be said about the Eastern part of the continent, with the Democratic Revolutionary Army wrecking Cumbria, communists attacking and killing anything in front of them, it seemed, in Cymru and an unending civil war in Milesia and Ivernia that seemed to end up in a stagnating attrition centered trench warfare. It was clear for many Cumbrians that the failure of maneuver warfare in the last year and now the fronts keeping themselves unchanged; it will last for another year. To keep Gouw Marken away from Kadiki influences, King Aodhan did something that no Mac Phearsain king did in the dynasty’s history: to sign his name directly on a governmental communique, to show that the letter comes directly from him. It was to show the Prince Bishop that the thing was serious and with such weight put in it, one could not respond to it in a simple mocking way: “We decline your offer”, without thinking about potential consequences of such an insult.
The members of the council from the Prometheist People’s Union were supporting this move, but the Caledonian delegation was fully against it. The main parties in Cumbria-Caledonia, the PPU and the Country Party had different views towards the monarchy. The Country Party was respecting it as an institution and did not want to see the King of Cumbria and Mormaer of Caledonia humble himself with such trickle, whereas the Prometheist Union had a more moderate approach towards the monarchy and it was more pragmatic, always ready to use the king for the country’s needs, not only to keep him there for the sake of a symbol. In the end, with the PPU having the power of the Lady Protector Sabrina Corre and the Benadur of Cumbria, Conan Meriadoc, had more weight than the Toisech of Caledonia, Sean Blacach, who was a member of the Country Party. King Aodhan V, who was very young, barely 21 years of age, also had a mentality closer to the PPU than to the CP and thus he himself asked a Gardai to bring him the communique and this he signed it.
The next point on the agenda that needed to be discussed was also the last one for the meeting of the State Council. It had to do with the Cymru-Cumbria relations. The last Lord Protector, Alan Tanet ordered the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andras Gordon to negotiate with the Cymru and have them accept Prometheism as an important ideology that defined they future politics and to accept Cumbrian forces on their soil, to help them defend themselves against communist terrorism and in exchange they will receive 5,000,000,000 Cumbric Bonns from the state treasury. At first, many in the Royal Assembly and from both Cumbric and Caledonian Regional Parliaments were supportive of the idea, but when the response from the Cymru Republic came, it fell like a shock for many, while others, especially the Country Party MPs were saying that it was a wakeup call for the Prometheists. The Cymraeg disagreed with Prometheism, thanked for the money and said that it might take time before they will reach a consensus on the Cumbrian volunteers. In exchange, they opened the borders for the import of Cumbrian goods. But when the same no import tariff deal was signed with Eiffelland, without paying a tax of 5 billion Bonns, the people started to be even more annoyed.
“You all should hear me on this. As long as I am Toisech of Caledonia, no Bonn coming from the Mormaerdom will ever go towards Cymru as part of this deal, if the Cymraeg do not respect all the points of the deal: soldiers, ideology and free trade.” The voice of Sean Blacach sounded powerful in the conference room. He was standing right under a head of a musk ox, one of the prized hunting trophies of King Mael Coluim.
“As much as I do not like to approve of him, the Toisech is right,” said Conan Meriadoc, the Benadur of Cumbria. “Paying this sum of money only to have our goods into their markets doesn’t seem right, especially when the majority of the members of the Made in CCL campaign are private enterprises. We must keep the line between the affairs of the state and private affairs.”
“We must not also forget, that compared to Cymru, Eiffelland is a more important market,” said Aindreas Moireasdan, the Minister of Economy and Commerce and also one of the main architects of the Made in CCL program. “We opened our way to a richer market that would bring us more benefits in the long turn without paying anything. I find it a bad investment to give so much money to Cymru, just for the markets. The zero tariff policies are new and the Made in CCL program is at the beginning, but I am positive that again, without paying a thing we can enter new, more prosperous and more stable markets just by looking towards Pelasgia and Bougogne. They are also on our line of sight for this. Let us also not forget of the Engellexic Republic.”
“Five billion Bonns could have many benefits if invested in Caledonia, to improve the infrastructure, or even in foreign countries. If that money would be added to the Gouw Marken fund, I wouldn’t have a problem about it, as the situation is completely different between Gouw Marken and Cymru,” said Blacach.
“Cymru is a target for the communists. They had many terrorist attacks in it and from what it looks like the country is ready to make a turn from liberalism to conservatorism. Gouw Marken on the other side is a chitin shell that I do not know what is inside it. From the fact that it is a theocratic state, I do not have the same points of view on what the people are thinking, than compared to Cymru, which is a democratic republic and we can see how the people is thinking and reacting to its government. In Gouw Marken we must try to intuit on what will happen and what the future will be based only on our intelligence system and on the actions of the Prince-Bishop. And from what it looks like, if they will not accept our offer, it might be the last one before they will fully be engulfed by Kadikistani influence and we might consider it a lost state. That is why it would be highly important to finance more into Gouw Marken than in Cymru,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andras Gordon.
“SILENCE!” the voice of the Lady Protector was the only feminine voice in the room but it was strong enough to cover the men’s voice and to end the squabbling. “Cymru is in a chaotic state. They had an attack on a village with a chemical agent… A CHEMICAL ATTACK! They had terrorists hijack the radio and the television while it was live recording. When I see all those things, I wonder… Where are the security forces in that country? How does a country even claim to be sovereign if it cannot protect its citizens?”
“If you ask them that, they will respond asking the same about us,” said Sean Blacach, the Toisech of Caledonia.
“No, it is not the same. The Gardai was there always. When the terror attacks started, they wanted to start a civil war by trying to take over Dun Glas, the Capital of Caledonia, I’m sure you remember, your excellency,” said Marshall Loic Seznec, the Minister of War and also the commander of the Cumbrian Host, the southern part of the Unitarian and Royal Army. “We were there to fight them and we defeated them. When they bombed Roazhon, we were there to quickly catch the culprits. No, there are great differences between Cumbria-Caledonia and Cymru in this fight.”
“The honorable Marshall is right. Today, the Gardai will also start a gigantic nation-wide campaign to arrest members of that so-called Democratic Revolutionary Army and of the Party of the Left. The Intelligence Services provided us with much information on their conspiratorial houses and apartments to start a series of raids. But we were talking about Cymru.” The Lady Protector made a pause in which she drank some water and then continued. “That money will not be given to them if all they can give us are zero import-export tariffs. It is not like they make us a favor by it. They also have something to win from it. It will help their people as prices will lower and thus encourage consumption, but they will also have a problem, especially if they like so much their protectionist system, as their companies will prove to be uncompetitive and antiquated compared to the flood of Cumbrian and Caledonian goods that will come in their market. But then again, that is their problem, not ours. If I want to use money to open borders for free trade I would prefer to give it to Bourgogne, Pelasgia or Engellex to enter their markets. But if Lord Protector Alan Tanet gave them the chance to receive security and floating and circulating capital, I will try to honor his offer. I will ask them again. I will offer them protection and capital in exchange for Prometheism. If they do not want it, I will not ask them anymore. To each, their own. And that is my final point.”
“This concludes our meeting. The council may meet again at the call of the Royal Assembly, His Royal Majesty or of one of the regional governments.” Conan Meriadoc ended the meeting.
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