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Post by Empress Isabel de Roque on Jan 9, 2022 0:20:39 GMT
While Isabel is having lunch with little Guilherme in the dining room, a secretary bursts through the doors. "Your Highness! Important news!" "Speak." She said, clearly put off by an interruption of her quality time with the young prince. "The Angeli have opened their borders!" "What?" She said, nearly spitting the sip of whine she had just taken. "How exactly did we find out?" "They have reopened their embassy! The Magalhães University notified us, when they received a reply from them." "Ah, well that is certainly important. Send an urgent message to the Divinans and Sheenish, they're the only ones I trust with being able to consistently make a good first impression. Also, get me a pen and good paper. I'm writing a telegram." She said, ordering the servants to clean the table. "Understood."
From the desk of Her Royal Majesty Magdala Isabel Afonses de Roque I
Penha Palace, Magalhães, United Kingdom of Magdalenum
To: The Priest King Quentin Yael
We have been notified of the opening of your borders. If it is possible, I would like to personally make a state visit. Let us rekindle the friendship we once had. I will depart as soon as I am able, and will be arriving by airship. We have also notified two others of your reopening: The Imperium Divinum and the Associated Cities of Sheen.
Signed,
Isabel Afonses de Roque I
Two days pass. In a private secluded airfield in the lands around the Palace, a large airship named DB-1 Audácia is being loaded with cargo and crew. The ship is to "set sail" to the Angelus Theocracy as soon as humanely possible. In it, Isabel, accompanied by little Guilherme, who is now nearly three years old, sit in the rooms of the ship dedicated to the Magdala. since this ship is dedicated exclusively for the transport of Magdali royalty, there is enough weight room available to fill it with plenty of amenities. Dedicated bedrooms, a small living room and dining room, a kitchen, several viewing balconies, even a small office. Final checks are done, and the ship sets off.
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Post by TheSpurgin on Jan 9, 2022 20:39:36 GMT
It was a matter of hours for the ornate zeppelin to reach the theocracy's territory, and the response was surprisingly muted. Another zeppelin of much more utilitarian make rose to intercept, then swung around, signalling them to follow them in.
Due to their approach from the SE, they'd only just arrived in the easternmost regions of the theocracy, and as their escort swung west, could see the towering mountains off the starboard side flickering with the lightning of a polar storm.
It was only an hour or two before they'd crossed the eastern reaches of the theocracy and turned south to the southern peninsula, where the sparser woodland gave way to lusher temperate rainforest before being split by the rising arms of the southern highlands, disappearing into the clouds.
After crossing the width of the eastern bay, they received the signal to descend towards what appeared to be a patch of flat grassland adjacent to one of the coastal ports. Surely they weren't expected to land here?
No, a second message by semaphore confirmed the field as their landing point. Well, at least a delegation did appear to be waiting for them at their destination.
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Post by Empress Isabel de Roque on Jan 10, 2022 14:23:43 GMT
The Audácia began its descent. It was the first time any Magdali set foot on Angeli land in over a hundred years. She hoped she would not disappoint. She gathered Guilherme, and the new Prime Minister Teodoro Rosa, who had spent the whole trip in the ship's bridge, talking with the Captain. After landing and docking procedures were finished, Isabel, her son and the PM walked off the passenger's entrance, on the back of the ship.
"Remember Your Highness, speak softly, and carry a big stick. You will go far."
The party of three moved towards the figures waiting for them on the ground. Guilherme strode leisurely ahead of the other two, playing with the PM's cane.
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Post by TheSpurgin on Jan 10, 2022 20:52:48 GMT
It was an eclectic bunch that strode out to meet the royal delegation, one of them a young lady in black wearing a halfmask, a tanned man in embroidered red finery, a heavyset man with a pipe and a monocle, and a strangely dressed man in blue with some kind of musical instrument made of pipes on his back, bearing what could only be an excessively large metal crucifix.... a religious figure, probably. The man in red stabbed his cane into the soil and stepped forward, sweeping into an elaborate gesture of respect that is imitated by the others. "Greetings! and Welcome to our modest settlement. I am Giulio Elan, current mayor of Ambercoast. With me are the lady Charis Palmer of the Palmer family and stormtouched attache to the Ambercoast, Dainard Grast of the regional Body, and Coal Armitage, the local pastor. We're a small community I'm afraid and only just received word of your diversion to our settlement. Apparently the crew of the Elevated- that's the zeppelin that was flying escort for you didn't want to risk an inexperienced crew in the highlands. It would have been a catastrophe for your vessel to collide with one of the tepuis in the fog, so they set you down here. They're rerouting a grand liner down from Monolith to get you the rest of the way to Sturmgarten. I imagine it should be here within an hour or two, and from there sturmgarten will only be a few more hours. You'll probably reach it before sunset, all things considered." |
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Post by Empress Isabel de Roque on Jan 10, 2022 21:57:19 GMT
"Good afternoon, your excellency." Said the PM, bowing as a show of respect. Seeing him do this, the prince crudely mimicked the gesture. Isabel let off a little smirk. "I am Prime Minister Teodoro Rosa, and I am accompanying Her Royal Majesty the Magdala in a visit to your nation. The little lad here is the Crown Prince, Guilherme Henriques de Roque."
"Greetings, your excellencies." Said Isabel, calling Guilherme to her side. "I apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you. Unless there are other plans already, I invite you all aboard the Audácia for a chalice of Port while we wait. Or a cup of tea. The Kitchen is stoked with amenities aplenty."
She then bowed to each of the dignitaries present, awaiting a response, though she was a bit confused. Sturmgarten? The records said the Capital of the nation was Beacon. No matter. She didn't expect treachery on their part, so she would take their word for it.
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Post by TheSpurgin on Jan 11, 2022 0:17:58 GMT
"Honored to make your acquaintances. It would be a pleasure to partake of your company until the train arrives."
"Likewise your highness." The Lady Palmer, agreed. "Some tea would be nice."
"We have days before the polar storm might reach us, there's time for a cup of tea I imagine" rumbled Mister Grast, while the pastor cocked his head and seemed to consider something for a moment, before his bearded lips curled into a genial smile.
"A chance to share the word of the lord with people of such vaunted stature? It is a blessing from the lord to be given such an opportunity!"
"Do try not to drown them in dialectic would you Coal? We all appreciate the enthusiasm of your sermons, but it would be in poor taste to give visiting nobility a lurid first impression of our faith when they have yet to even meet the king."
"Ahhhhhh you make a point Lady Palmer" the eccentric priest sighed "The king would doubtless be the better orator. Still, it would be nice to enjoy something mild."
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Post by Empress Isabel de Roque on Jan 11, 2022 1:56:19 GMT
"I won't have qualms with talking with a fellow scholar, Reverend Coal." She said, laughing. "Though I suspect I would not understand much. Theology is not my area of expertise."
Isabel lead the party back into the Audácia. A small stair climb and a corridor later, they were in the Dining Room. It was not anything as grand as opulent as he dining room back at the Palace, but it still displayed as much grandeur as the confines of the airship allowed. Isabel pushed a little rope and out from the kitchen came a man in what could only be a Navy uniform.
"A chalice of Verdelho for me. I'm sure the Prime Minister would like a coffee, and some orange juice for my little prince."
"May I take your orders?" The man said, turning to the Angeli, in his best, but admittedly quite lacking Latin.
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Post by TheSpurgin on Jan 11, 2022 20:54:53 GMT
"Just mulled wine for me sir" The priest replied with a smile, removing a number of his accoutrements, including the strange box with pipes that he'd had slung over his shoulder. "We haven't too long, and I have much to be done before sunset."
"Just tea for me" The lady intoned, while both the mayor and the heavyset man requested coffee. As they awaited for their beverages to arrive, Lady Palmer looked around with a discerning eye.
"Quite the zeppelin you have here" she commented, her face almost as placid as her mask "how long have you had such technology, if I may ask? We've had functional airships for nigh on a decade, but the concept has only just begun to be considered on a large scale since our best minds discovered a non-flameable alternative to hydrogen, as while hydrogen is certainly functional it is somewhat... explosive."
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Post by Empress Isabel de Roque on Jan 12, 2022 2:34:24 GMT
"It is a relatively new invention," The Prime Minister said, in between sips from the coffee. "The Navy began employing full use of dirigibles roughly two years ago. Once the designs were made as safe as possible, they were released to the public to encourage economic development. Her Majesty had the Audácia built for her to clear any potential fears the general populace might have had. Since then, we're even proud to house the world's first Commercial Airline." "If you may, go to the study and fetch me a copy of The Theogony" Isabel said, as the man came in with the last batch of requests. "As you can see, this dirigible is staffed by the Navy. Seeing as airships are, in truth, flying ships, it was the only logical step." While Isabel and the PM entertained their guests, Guilherme sneaked away to his room, and brought into the dining room a chessboard. The figures and the board were made of carved whale ivory and blackened wood. He brought it down on the table where the Mayor had sat down. "Mister, can we please play a game?" He said, with an eager smile on his face. |
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Post by TheSpurgin on Jan 13, 2022 19:33:10 GMT
A smile tugged at the corner of the raven-haired man's lips. "Certainly my boy! It has been too long since I've played."
Lady Palmer meanwhile seemed surprised. "Two years you say? I admit I'm surprised. We've had dirigible technology for most of a decade, but due environmental factors they were deemed unviable until an alternative buoyancy element could be isolated. All it would take is a single lightning strike to turn such an expensive vessel into a pyre for our hubris, and with the number of storms we undergo in a given month it simply wasn't an option. I suppose places with less inclement weather would not have such concerns, but it seems almost inviting disaster to me."
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