Olspherian Office of Foreign Affairs

[Olspher]

((*grumbles* sure, sure...))

[Olspher]

((You know, this is a thread set up for anyone to bother me at any time... i'm quite surpised only Saos has taken up the opportunity!))

[Jalorn]

A slow, deliberate knock is heard at the door to the office.

[Olspher]

Caris Benson looks up from the desk of Tarri with a slight bit of surprise. After a moments reflection, presumably wondering who might be at the door, she acknowledges the knocker.

[Jalorn]

The door swings gently open and Simon Loyale advances into the room, his long blue cloak rippling peacefully. His steps are light, but something in their pace seems heavy. A somber expression on his face, he brushes his cape aside in a salute and then flourishes it into a low bow.

For a moment he is silent, and then says in a tremulous voice, "Forgive me for the intrusion, Master Benson. I wish I were here with better tidings..." He seems lost in thought for a moment, "but a matter of grave international significance brings me before you."

[Olspher]

Caris is obviously surprised, but keeps her composure perfectly and seems to go through all the situations that could possibly be presented to her by this somber diplomat. She begins to speak, slowly sitting up and walking in front of Tarri's desk as she does so.


"Simon Loyale, we were not informed you would be coming to Olspher! We really do like to know things like this, a greeting would have been arranged. Knowing things like that is much more my job then dealing with whatever you are about to say... Of course that can't be helped, at the moment I'm just filling in for Lan as he is at a... meeting. He won't be back until later tonight. I wonder if this bad news you wish to share with me, for one learns when someone is about to share very bad news in my profession, might be shared from your mouth later tonight in addition to now. In fact if you will, I think you may be sharing whatever you are about to tell me a great deal over the next day or so.

The reason I ask this is because everyone in this government has gone crazy for the last few days or so, the reason of which I'm sure you might be aware of. If there is bad news they need to hear it from the source, and we need to deal with it united, I don't want the only real bad thing going on circulating as a rumor with all the imaginary ones! I will not have it!

*Caris takes a deep shaky breath and sits down once again with her hand resting on her small brow. It is surprising to see an expression of such age and expectation on a face so young, but profound and powerful. She waits.*

[Jalorn]

((Hey, that first paragraph's ending was very confusing, can you perhaps make it more clear?))

Simon relaxes slightly, and, for a brief moment, a kind smile breaks through his solemn appearance. His voice resounds with an eloquent power as he speaks, "Allow me to apologize. I am much used to dealing with Cerebrilians of late. They start getting upset if you haven't gotten to the point by the time they can open their mouths to reply. As for notice of my arrival, it was sent, I can assure you. Of course, strange things happen to post when it must travel across the wastes of Erhadir... though, judging by the current chaos of your city, which I observed while walking from its borders to its heart, the missive was most likely lost after arrival."

Simon turned toward the window and looked out at the day. He spoke slowly, "It's changing again... like the great seasons; Like the very day and night," he paused and watched a butterfly gently land on a sun-dappled flower nearby.

He whispered, "Terriya...," and paused again. "I never thought I would live to see it... and I know I shouldn't...," he shook his head, "It's not right. As if the spring were caught by its throat and brutally cast into winter, leaving behind the honest virtue of summer and the quiet wisdom of autumn..."

He turned back, stepping out of the illumination of day, his face once again adopting its shadow and heavy purpose. "I am ready to do my duty, as simple as it is, to tell you of what I know. The responsibility falls on you, and no simple one it is, to listen and act upon my message. Are you ready to do your part for this world?"

[Olspher]

Caris now takes her turn to smile, "you speak much like an Olspherian, Loyal, maybe speak with a slight more detachment and I would not be overly surprised to find you in Soulsar!" This thought, although pleasantly distracting, soon died in Caris's mind and she was forced to turn to darker matters.

"You are right when you say the season is changing, everyone in this government knows it, some are at peace... others are not, but I suppose that must always be that way." A slight and contemplative expression enters onto her face as if a thought was posed on her lips, but it quickly retreated back within her. After a long moment Caris looked up from her world of thought and straight into the eyes of Simon Loyal as it so often was with her character.

"As a diplomat and representative of my country await what you must say, as you say it is my duty, one I'm glad to fulfill! It is of course not my prime position, and dealing with such direct matters is not my expertise, however, it can not be helped and I will not let it be. The world that I inhabit at this moment is in flux enough, some things must remain solid! I still of course implore you to understand your importance of the messenger, and I wish for you to fulfill you symbolic duties as such by acting so on as many occasions as possible. So once again, I stand ready."

[Jalorn]

((DEAR LORD THIS TOOK AGES!))


Simon nods, and as he begins to speak, paces slowly around the room, as if drawing his knowledge from every object and small detail within.

“As you know, my home country of Elysium is comprised of many factions, who take it upon themselves to govern those who wish to be inducted into their order. All of these organizations adhere to the code of honor laid down by my brothers and sisters on the Master Council. For centuries these orders have strengthened our country with diversity of style and opinion, furthering our military and scientific goals. For all this time, our Master Council’s guiding hand has silently helped these sects, ruling from a distance.”

“Until recently, all of them have honored the superiority of the Masters. But now, a new Order has risen, opposing all others. They call themselves “The Pact”, and have sword twisted oaths to some false justice. They have claimed the right to induct all into their “superior philosophies.” They believe their wisdom is the only truth in the universe, and have made already mocked the morality of my nation as well as the positions of all foreign governments.”

“At first, my colleagues and I were only moderately concerned about this group, but now it has become evident that they are growing. Intelligence shows that they have influence in all the major governments in Terriya, but above all my home state is infected with their tainted ideology. The only organization other than the Masters themselves that has proved itself clean is the Order of White, one of the oldest and most respected organizations in my country. We also suspect that your Wisdom Council is likely free from their influence, but we cannot know.”

“What’s worse is that they have a sizeable military force, growing by the thousands every day in my country, and from what we understand, hundreds in other countries. They have kept themselves secret for a long time, but my associates and I have known about them for longer. We regret not coming forward earlier, but many on the Council were prideful and thought that we could handle this issue alone. Now we know better. Now we know no country can…”

“I have come here with a petition from my brothers and sisters to ask for your finest mind to help solve this crisis. We cannot be sure what soldiers are still loyal, what churches and temples are still pure, what universities still embrace free thought. So we can only trust the individual. We ask for a patriot of the old ways from every country, a paragon that embodies the ways of each nation. In your case, we need a great thinker, one so open-minded that he or she could not adopt a single idea for more than a few minutes at a time.

“That is how it must be: From Olspher: a thinker and scientist; from Elysium: a courageous leader and strategist; from Cerebril: a skilled soldier and a man of faith; from Saosidon: a priestly warrior of power and steel, forged in fanaticism and tempered by divine edict; from Talem: a specialist in mind and body, trained and cultured in the many regions of his nation. This is how it must be if we are to survive; if we are to be freed from corruption.

“I know, as an Olspherian, nothing is corrupt to you, and is merely a different idea; but I have to impress upon you that above all anything I know to be true, it is that freedom of ideas is the right way. We cannot live enslaved to any one idea, no matter what it may be. Even my own nation’s concept of Honor is not enforced, so that the people may see and choose for themselves.”

“This international team is the only thing that can take on the current threat. They will be the living embodiment of what needs to be. They will be Terriya.”

With this, Simon is seated and awaits a response.

[Olspher]

((An international dream team! I like it! Not quite realistic, but then again that's why RPs exist. Also, I assume that news of the dig site will reach the diplomats as they speak, I wonder if I might Role Play the information arriving and Carisis reaction, maybe have Lan present it? After I know this I will begin work on my response.

P.S. Also make sure to be careful with the whole infiltration thing, I know you know, but this is for new members to: You can say it, just ask anyone through RP before you specify on it in any way concerning any one country.))

[Z (Talem)]

( *slaps Jalorn* this is cheesy as hell, good job! (><)b )

[saosidon]

I got the longest description, and you just know that feels good.

[Olspher]

Caris looks on at Simon with somber eyes, during his speech a look of great disturbance had entered onto her face, but it had since passed. There is a long silence before she begins to form words, at first it almost looked as if she had lost her ability to speak, but soon words began to flow from her mouth in a fountain of sadness, growing in strength as time went on.

"The world so wills it, the world so wills it.... I have looked for an escape from the ideals and thoughts of my own country with quite contemplation these last few days. I first had to escape from my own nature to flee from the corruption that has now afflicted many others in this government within the past few days." Pausing for a second she adds slowly "corruption of thought that is".

"The irony is that despite this, the thoughts I attempted to escape are now made inexplicably true in my mind by this process of that very escape, whereas those who are now corrupted are gifted with the ignorance to claim otherwise. Olspher is changing; some may claim it has synchronized the great "Novonna Tanto"* with the rest of it's region, others that the simple unrest of the people will lead to slight fluctuations in it's current government: both are wrong". After this there is another pause as Caris looks at Simon with the intense thought and emotion burning behind her eyes, something she is famous for.

“This is something entirely new, something not heard off in Olspher before... If ever there were a time to start to draw a line between the two worlds of “right” and “wrong” that time is now! It is clearly seen that no transition will be taking place any time soon, it will be a fall, a fall into depths so low it will be a great while before we may climb up all the way up once more. No matter how much I prepare myself for this I’m certain I will not be fully ready, certainly now that I discover this fall will extend beyond Olspher. As for your suggestion, I don’t see any better way, and I agree... however it will take more then my own thoughts to fully accomplish what you wish to do. It may be many weeks before we can even hope to seek such a person, let alone find him... as fate would have it many people no longer fit the description you give me.”

At this Caris moves toward the door she says to Simon “let us see if we might find Tarri, I have open admission to Taltos’s office and I suspect-”. As if on que Lan Tarri, Minister of Foreign Affairs, stepped through his office door just as Caris reached it. Caris’s face flashed with slight suspire which intensified as she took in Lans expression. She had been working closely with Lan for a little under two years and had never quite seen an expression of such acute distress and... defeat. He had always seemed so acutely positive and confident, it was his nature and soothed the many foreign diplomats and dignitaries that he worked with in his job. To Caris it almost looked like a random stranger had fashioned a poorly made mask of Lan and walked into his office with it.

It seemed to take him a few moments to understand why Caris was in his office, and then, as if the right thought had been recovered from the archive of his brain he nodded at Caris and stumbled over to his seat and flopped down. It took him another minute or so of brooding, no doubt attempting to form what to say to Caris, before he noticed Simon. A change immediately came over his face, first surprise, then disgust, then as if shameful of the last one he looked down. When he once again looked up his face was one of serene calm.

“Loyal... I did not expect you to be paying a visit today, though a dare-say you picked a damned good day to get away from your country!” Again there is is alight expression of shame that flitted across Lans face, he attempted to continue, but could not. It was a full 5 minutes before Lan could speak again. When he did a great change came over him, as tends to happen when one shares with others news of great disbelief.

When he finally did release the dark news within his mind it sounded as if he was saying his final words while being crushed beneath an immense bolder.“I have... just been informed... that the dig site recently excavated in Elysium... has been attacked...” another pause, Caris looked as if she might explode with impatience, “263 dead, all of our scholars, every god damn one of them... every single one” his voice trailed off. Lan looked as if he might say more, but decided against it.

As Caris looked at her long time associate, an expression of pain flitted across he face, followed by dread, she knew what this meant just as well as Lan. Caris looked from Lan to Simon, and with deep conviction in her voice she said simply but powerfully “It has begun.”

((OK, if you could start a separate thread for the dream team, that would be greatly helpful, thanks. I will be joining it shortly, but not right away, and not the way that might be expected.))


* Shift in Olspherian government from age to age.

[Z (Talem)]

(Too loooong)

[Jalorn]

((It's of a perfectly respectable size. You need to pay it the credit it deserves and take the time to read it.))

[Z (Talem)]

(lol Jalorn I was just kidding you know though i have never fully read these long posts as i rarely have time, so first i feel like i should apologize for that secondly good job book though i believe you should of made her speech less... sophisticated as even the smartest of people speak in a simpler manner when distraught it made your character seem distressed then relaxed... By god now I'm starting to write more its infectious! )

[chendon]

OK, thanks for this nice opportunity.