So Hansa af hizos Hriggsaiws - The Fellowship of the Ringsea

An delegation was sent to the meeting due to the King of heel being currently in the Kaskader Union.

Location: Alliance Hall, the City of Sheen

The letter arriving had started no small amount of agitation and worry in the minds of the diplomats present. They had been sent here as what had been assumed to be a courtesy. They were all junior members of government, had no experience working with outlanders, and were now being told to organise what could be one of the most important events of the year. Oh, they had a budget for parties and clothes, but who could they trust with the catering, the decorations, and the music?

At the very least, they were able to secure a nice enough place for the meeting. The first thing they had done, was ask their Sheenish counterparts for a place to hold the event. They had been more than happy enough to provide wonderful apartments and a nice hall for the parties coming, with nice stately decorations. The only thing missing of course were floral arrangements.

'All right, we are need to hustle people! I am sure the government will be sending someone more... Suited to making such an important deal, but we need to make sure all the groundwork is done before he arrives. As such, I want Normann Skulij and Mikkel Hitčkok to work on catering together. We need to find someone in this city who can cook a banquet suitable for nobility, within a budget of... A thousand Thaler, give or take. I would prefer we have money left over, as we might need to deal with other problems.' 'On it boss, we'll get our suits let out too!' The two named men started to pull on their coats and hats, they were going to hit every bakery, restaurant, and delicatessen in the greater metropolitan area to find the one with the tastiest food and best prices. They would start with a twenty round comparison of the various dips and sauces they had heard about.

'Next, we will need floral arches and bunting. Lots of it! I want all the walls to be decorated in a nice combination of all the national colours.' A hand shot up immediately. 'Yes, you, what is it?' 'I don't mean to be a bother, but that will take too long. The rooms are too big and the colours are all so... Different. I think I saw a storage room with bunting in white and red, some sort of trade guild's decorations.  We could appropriate those and say we are choosing the colours to be politically neutral.' 'Good thinking! We can use red and white roses for the flowers too, no need for anything too fancy... Two-hundred Thaler for the flowers and other decorations you find, you are in charge of that.' The man who spoke up did a quick pump of his arm and went off too.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly, with different tasks being assigned. In total, they were now budgeting for a total of three-thousand Thaler in expenses. Most of it went to catering, but a good chunk also went to hiring a good band and welcome gifts and attendance baskets too. They were going to need a couple of weeks, but they were confident they could get everything done on time.

Prince Ludwig and his accompanying Gedrihts watch as the Tholish Porcelain is carefully taken from the ship cargo along with barrels of Pict Whiskey. Ludwig and the senior diplomats began wondering about the wisdom of bringing so much strong alcohol to a meeting before the final barrel is removed and the Gedriht clad in their beaver pelt cloaks move to the outer perimeter and begin marching towards the meeting place.

The Heel delegation leaves its ship with loaded with Steel to go to the Talks with the Hansa and observe

Ludwig pondered the words of the representatives of Sadalen carefully, while the threat of the DOC taxing and controlling key areas for trade is a definite threat did it outweigh the risk of being pulled into conflicts abroad? The Diplomats accompanying him offered to help to this dilemma the talkativeness they displayed on the boat had ceased ever since arriving on land, a test by his uncle perhaps? If so failure would be disastrous. There seemed no other way out of this then trying to put on a brave face and getting the best deal possible, "How will tariffs be administered in this new system? Will it mandate a set decrease across the board or mandate specific rates on different goods?"

Panicked by someone actually asking about the tariffs and knowing for a fact that there had been no instructions on that, the representative thought on it for a bit and then replied without any flourishes or padding. 'It would be most likely done on a consultation basis, with consultations on the tariffs before hand so everyone can list objections and ask questions as need be. If there is nothing wrong with the tariff, then it goes through and people respond as they see fit, but if there is something terribly wrong with it, such as it being unfair to members and benefitting non-members too much, we might hold a vote where a three fourths majority can overrule it.'

Lost a bit in thinking how that might work, he quickly tacked on 'That said, we can discuss the details on how the organisation will be run and structured and adjust it to the needs of the governments present.'

Rising from his Ludwig continued emboldened by catching the foreign diplomat on the back foot, "this appears to be a bit more than a simple trade agreement and alliance, where would these votes be held and what would be within the jurisdiction of the council?" As Ludwig spoke a Gedriht approached and offered him a mug that Ludwig gladly accepted. As Ludwig lifted his mug to drink the strong scent of oak stopped him... Did he just give me a mug of Pict Whiskey during a meeting that could shape WTC's fate? If I put this away I'll look strange and the longer I dawdle the stranger I'll look. Ludwig took a small sip from the mug before return to his seat and motioning over a Gedriht and told him to get a different non-alcoholic drink. The Gedriht complied though not before downing the rest of mug, Bloody gedrihts.

Was his Hundisch that rusty? Clarke blinked once, then looked at the translator, and calmly told him that if his accent was particularly poor this day, it was only due to the dry air, and that his apologies were most sincere.... in Hundisch. He smiled though, and handed off a flask.
"Of course, my friend. Drink," he offered calmly "it is a tradition in Dunwik to give gifts - you will not find a Dunwikki diplomat without something to offer. I would like to ask though, what we are doing specifically to counter the threat of Communism, which I fear will destabilize us far more than even the D.O.C.. The former seek our outright deaths to usher in their system, while the latter do not."

After speaking his piece, he decided to wait for the others to ask questions as he went over the benefits and ramifications of joining in his head... but seeing the Tholish prince take only a sip of his alcoholic beverage and then put it down, Clarke wondered. His Tholish was only on the level of basic conversation, but he got the gist and he handed off another drink.

He didn't mind giving away these drinks. Any man here would hopefully associate Dunwik with pleasant, smooth beverages and friendly men in clean suits - and would thus be more interested in trade. He was here to make friends, first and foremost.

Dunwik, friend to all.

'If neither party is at fault for the issue and no compromise can be found, then they can fight it out. The important aspect here, is that neither party is found to be at fault. If the arbiter finds one side to be at fault, then naturally the defence pact would still apply should they attack the other. That said, it is nice to see that you think of us as the strongest.'