A hopeful Send (Diplomatic Visit to Sheen)

At the dock the Port Authority had already arranged for security at the docks, with First Councillor John Smith and Lord Mayor Garend Marston awaiting at the dock with them. They saw the gangplank lower and that at the top of it, two diplomats stood.

"Hopefully all goes well, we don't want any issues with Valanion" Smith said discreetly,
"We should be fine, nobody wants war besides the bloodthirsty, and nobody here is bloodthirsty for sure. And anyway, this should just follow the usual motions of a diplomatic visit." replied Marston, who then walked forwards as the two diploamts walked the down the plank.

"Ah gentlemen! I see you've both arrived in good health! Welcome to the City of Sheen, my name is Garend Marston, Lord Mayor of this City, and this is my dear friend John Smith, First Councillor of the Association."

"You Sheenish is fine, Mr Teville, as goes for yourself Mr Levon." John Smith replied, "Follow me, I think we can arrange at least a quick tour, we'll take my car for at least the first part."

Mr John Smith led the representatives to his car, a Henley Model 2, and asked his driver to take them to the Bankside via the scenic route. They passed by first the Guildhall, home of the Guilds from which the Mayors and Aldermen of the Association was elected from, as well as the source of regulation of all Sheenish Industries. What was highly noticeable to both of the visting dignitaries was the amount of traffic and chaos on the streets, and not long after passing the Guildhall John Smith had his driver stop and led them to a railway station, bought tickets and then went down a set of stairs which led to platforms just under the streets, with a steam train sitting at the platforms.

"Well, to get around the traffic, we've got several undeground railways which are by far the best way to get across the city, the train will take us right to the Bankside, and twice as fast as by car"

After little over half an hour, they had reached their stop, got out of the carriages and got back to the surface, and found themselves rather than in a centre of trade and merchants trying to pass off their goods to passersby to a far more commercial district, with rows upon rows of shops, theatres, arcades and hundreds of the finest cars in the world parked in front of them. Well dressed men and women walked along the roads to and from the shops. noticeable was also the pebble beach that lay between the embankment and the Ringsea further out. Mr Smith took the two dignitaries into one of the larger arcades, which was filled with an arrangement of fine shops of all sorts of forms. After a quick visit to the shops, Mr Smith took them to another station near to the one they had exited, paid a small fare for the 3 of them, and after taking an elevator lift, they reached platforms with what almost looked like miniature trains, with both platforms having trains ready to depart. They got on and not before long, they arrived at the next stop.

"This railway is a shuttle, so we are already here, I'll show you the City Hall"

Once back on the surface, a grand building, almost like a palace, stood before them, and was not alone in this manner, as the station they had just exited was a grand affair in it's own right. The building had a central tower with a clockface atop of a concave section of it's front facade:


"Here is where the City of Sheen's Council meets for it's meetings, all the functions owned by the city are run from this building, including all of the city's buses and most of it's trams, however we aren't to have our meeting in there, but instead in the Alliance Hall. Let's have a stroll through the Alliance Park to get there"

Walking through the Park was quiet and pleasant, with families enjoying picnics and wildlife lived as if they were in the country and not in the city. Smith explained that the Alliance Park used to be a fox hunting ground for the Aldermen of the Association, but that for the past 5 decades, it had been made available as a public space for all in the city, and that foxhunting had been moved further out in the Association, thanks to the railways and the massive build up in the City of Sheen making foxhunting less desirable to do in the City itself. passing through the gates out of the park though, they came face to face with the Association's grandest building, the Alliance Hall:



"And here, is where we shall hopefully conduct business"

"So Gentlemen, I know you wouldn't come all this way just for a tour, and tensions are getting far too high for any one nation to be in a comfortable spot, with the Slavery dispute over in Narunar, the Territorial despute in Lussia, and of course, Sadaler troops causing tension between us due to their wish to defend our ports, which unfortunately has lead to us getting closer to the very thing they were hoping to prevent, a second global war. I do not see this going well unless an actual move towards a peaceful resolution to these tensions are made, and as such I offer a potential solution that could make all involved more confident in peace. I can have the Sadaler move out from Glassensea, with only Sheenish personnel allowed within the territory, and in exchange we have an agreement that if a war was to break out, we keep the border between Glassensea and Berisal demilitarised, albeit closed due to hostilities, and maintain it as a port only to be used by the Sheenish Navy. If either side is to break this agreement I think it is only fair to consider this all to be null and void unless their is good reason for it. If you wish to add anything else, I am happy to discuss anything extra, though I believe this to be the most important topic to settle."