Office of the Eluvataran Steward of State

[Eluvatar]

Facing a wide, deep canal with dozens of various ornate old drawbridges, the New Spring Palace is an eccentrically eclectic edifice. A marble-fronted neo-classical stone edifice appears to form the foundation of a building which reaches into the sky. Three high stories up, the marble pediment is surmounted by a mostly brick building with two towers to the side and a larger one in the center. Behind them looms a massive granite-clad skyscraper which towers dozens of stories into the air. Various marble statues dot the skyscraper's facade, and stone eagle sculptures lean out from the corners as the building narrows further and further. This immense edifice is topped by a great glass dome, which glitters in the sun.


What one of the drawbridges looks like.

This is the New Spring Palace. "Follow me, sir," says the Royal Page who led you here, you want the Royal Steward of State's office. Straight up the several steps he leads you, between the old marble columns being cleaned in front of you by a scowling old man, through the wide open double doors, past several guards of mixed race and species standing at attention, up the stairs, through a wide archway into a great atrium with dozens of impressive looking men and werewolves walking busily with briefcases, and under a gigantic clock which chimes melodically nine rising notes as you enter a large glass elevator. Your page is greeted by another liveried servant, who reminds you somehow of the scowling man outside. "The Steward of State's," your page says and the man nods. A strange humming is heard and the elevator jerks to life. "I'm given to understand that visitors like the view, sir," your page informs you and gestures behind you. As the elevator rises, you peer through window after window to see the sprawling metropolis that is Romenna, capital of the Royal Confederacy. Canals, nineteenth century luxury apartments, renovated early twentieth century tenements, skyscrapers of diverse styles, the meandering river Wolend, Churches of every century, all fall beneath your eye. Soon the horizon greets you with a hazy line of distant dunes and dikes, and then beyond them you can see a vast blueness. You notice that the elevator has halted.

"Through here, sir," the page waves and you enter a short corridor. "Right this way, sir," and you walk into a midsized office. Bookshelves, glass cases with strange and exotic curios, maps, and more vie for your attention. "The Steward of State, Miriel Numerasi, sir," says your page as he gestures to the small woman you hadn't noticed sitting behind a similarly busy desk, almost hidden behind trays stacked with paperwork, a small sculpture of an ostrich, and a sleeping kitten.

/* This is the thread for:

1. Embassy openings; you can RP your ambassador as simply the new ambassador from X rather than an envoy opening formal relations for the first time.

2. RP by your ambassador toward the Eluvataran government.

3. Other such things */

[Zimmerwald]

Max carried a metal briefcase in his right hand, and kept his left crossed in front of his stomach.   He’d ridden in lifts before, but this one was particularly fast.  Moreover, his armband had threatened to slip off more than once, and it would not do to be photographed with the Steward of State without it.  Max kept his face impassive as he looked out on Romenna, knowing the page could see his reflection in the glass.  The Palace had been built in the heart of the ancient city, and it showed in the panorama spread out below him.  How different from the four-storey Embassies in Chicago, or even the taller but wider, and courtyard-embracing Commission in Calumet.  And how different, too, from the compounds in which he’d heard other nations imprisoned their diplomats.  There was a message to behold here, one of heritage, longevity, resilience, and enduring and growing power.  Max hoped the architects responsible had been appropriately compensated.

After the page leads him to the Steward’s office, Max tips him what he hopes is a generous amount.  No doubt he wasn’t paid enough, and besides, he might gravitate toward Max in expectation of more, which Max could no doubt use.  He tapped his foot on the floor to get Miriel’s attention, and opened his briefcase as she looked up.

“Good evening, Steward.  I am Envoy Dr. Max Rubel, instructed to report to and maintain contact with you on behalf of CCC Presiding Commissioner Mark Laverne.  You can see my credentials here,” he gestures to the document, clipped to the inside of the briefcase’s lid, “and may keep this copy for your own records.”  He draws the copy from the same clip, where it had been under the original.”

[Khem]

 Librarian Mariette Lafontaine was a gorgeous woman by most societies views, though unquieting to many of the foreigners was her cleanly shaven head, with large grey eyes which always had the same look of serenity even when her mind was not quite so serene. Resplendent in her flowing yellowed robes, the young Librarian appears completely at ease. Rarely were women chosen for the task of representing the People and having just finished her twenty-five years of training she was most certainly uncomfortable in this new land. The air here was dingy like that of the Quarantine, nothing like her beautiful home in the Most Glorious Library. Still at least they had sent her with a small retinue of People so as to not be totally isolated in this strange land. With her interpreter and esclaves she would remain the stone she was trained to be.

 She bowed politely to the page even though he was obviously inferior even in this world of lesser blood. Communicating through her skilled interpreter they managed their way through the compound, the esclaves carrying a large chest between them. She wondered as they looked about the city how anyone even those of the lesser blood could live in such an ugly place, perhaps she was being bitter about the first time lack of home yet to her this alien landscape was as bad as the slums of the Quarantine where those of lesser blood persisted in breeding against all proper judgement.

 As they entered the room she bowed slightly to the Steward while her translator bowed lower and the esclaves set down their box and bowed nearly in half. Standing straight again she spoke with the voice of an angel, "Bien rencontré Steward. Le plus glorieux peuple sont heureux d'être à votre connaissance et de l'espoir pour cette à être une expérience d'apprentissage des plus bénéfiques. Nous apporter un cadeau pour le votre chef d'un ancien Jade de tortues, sculptés il y a plusieurs années par le premier Empire lumineux, de même que diverses bibelots de nos apporter pour être montré à propos de votre peuple, afin qu'ils peuvent nous aimer comme ils le devraient."

 The translator at the same time spoke for her to ease understanding, "Well met Steward. The Most Glorious People are glad to be in your acquaintance and hope for this to be a most beneficial learning experience. We bring a gift for your leader of an ancient Jade Turtle, carved many years ago by the first Shining Empire, along with various trinkets of our make to be shown about to your people so they may love us as they should."

 Again they all bowed as before.