Eslandola Colonial Council, 620, IN SESSION

[Capt Wolf]

Eslandola’s Colonial Council is where business of state is conducted in public, unless national security merits private deliberations.

 

Eslandola’s Admius Legistrad, the leader of the Colonial Council, is

  Willem Guilder, Eslandola Secretary of Trade, Governor of An Holli, and Director of the MCTC;

 

The delegations representing the colonial regions and the trade companies are made up of three representatives each.

 

The East Trade-Wind Company is represented by @Garmadon :

  Agent Gilles Guelds

  Lieutenant Horatio Hillsboroughbergmachier, retired of the ETWC Elites

  Willoughby

 

The Merchant’s Colonial Trading Company is represented by @Kai NRG :

  Captain Edward Argentum

  Esterhazy de Troir

  Chef Jalape

 

The MAESTRO Trade Company is represented by @Legostone:

  Jerome Monezterrell, Eslandola Secretary of the Navy, Governor of Isla de Victoria, and Mayor of Fuerto Unido;

  Captain Lamar Evercrees of the Santiago; and

  Farrucio Paraja, naval architect extraordinaire
 

The Independent traders of Eslandola are represented by @gedren_y:

  Commodore Hammish Grei

  Lady Valentia Cantoni

  Viscount Alexander Doblin

 

The Sea of Storms Region (An Toli, An Holli) is represented by @Capt Wolf:

  Willem Guilder, Eslandola Secretary of Trade, Governor of An Holli, and Director of the MCTC;

  Aaron van der Meede, attorney and chairman of the Weelond town council; and

  Pieter Reyngout, tavern owner and Weelong town council member.

 

The Sea of Thieves Region (Nelissa, Berreli, Ferro Azure, Torrach Bonn, Isla Philippe) is represented by @Umbra-Manis:

  Revon de Crocodil, mayor of Salida Este

  Captain Reginald Haddock, retired pirate hunter

  Councilor Hadelson, jewel merchant

 

The Prio Seas Region (Isla de la Victoria, Otoño, La Sombra) is represented by @Faladrin:

  Lady Condora, officer of the MAESTRO Green Messenger Agency

  Chief Apulo, of the Mehuãtajir people, and mayor of Mehit

  Doctor Ayuda of Fuerte Unido

 

The Colonial Council of Eslandola is in session.

 

--------------------

 

Willem Guilder returned to the council hall for the first time in months. The council secretary had sent word to all council members that there was business at hand, and members were slowly returning. Two letters had arrived that warranted the action of the council:

- The first letter had been forwarded by Eslandola's ambassador to Terraversa, and came from none other than Don Isaac Montoya, Consul of Corrington. In the letter, Montoya states that Corrington has uncovered evidence of a foreign power funding and arming rebels fighting against Terraversan independence, and he seeks Eslandola's help to ensure Terraversa does not fall into enemy hands and cut off the colonies from the continent.

 

- In the second letter, again from Consul Montoya, in response to Felipe de la Manzana's inquiry about the return of Eslandian ships captured from the pirate LeColeon, Corrington seeks Eslandian assurances of increased anti-piracy efforts in the Brick Seas.

 

Guilder sat at his desk and re-read the contents of the letters as he waited for the council members to return to the hall.

[gedren_y]

Viscount Alexander Doblin was the first of the Independents' delegation to arrive, with an aide pushing a small cart laden with inkwells of various colored inks. He instructed the aide to distribute green and gold colored inkwells to each desk, and additional pink and purple inkwells to the Independents' desk. From his satchel Viscount Doblin delivered six extra quills to each table save his own. When the aide finished his distribution, the Viscount instructed him to return to Commodore Grei's office.

Viscount Doblin set his open satchel on his delegation's desk, inside which could be seen more than two dozen additional quills. Before taking his seat he addressed the Admius Legistrad, "Commodore Grei and Lady Cantoni will be somewhat late, as they are still gathering material that should be relevant to the current agendas."

[Tezclatipoca]

Chief Apulo and The Doctor Ayuda arrived together.

Being in the same boat since they left Isla de Victoria they entered in the council quite at ease with the last news and were chatting about the Teraversa troubles with some coloured comparisons concerning a certain Nova Malto incident... 

The chief sat on his desk before the doctor reminded him to sat on the chair behind the desk... The chief apologized arguing that "it would be a while he didn't had to sit in this council; He'd probably forgot all the maners of the protocole"...

Dr Ayuda remarked Lady Condora was not arrived yet and hoped she hadn't been too much delayed...

[Kai NRG]

Esterhazy de Troir paused in the act of sitting to apologize.  "I'm afraid my fellow member, Commodore Argentum, might not be able to make it today.  His ship sank on our last pirate hunting expedition.  But Chef Jalape should be here very soon..."

"I'm here!" Chef Jalape exclaimed, crawling out from under the desk.

[Umbra-Manis]

Councilor Hadelson slowly made his way to desk, muttering something about his gout acting up. "I can't tell ye when the other two delegates will be here" he said, suddenly addressing the room, "But they don't have gout and I beat em here!" With that he went back fiddling with his cane.

[Capt Wolf]

Aaron van der Meede and Pieter Reyngout walked into the hall together, already in conversation. With their arrival, the full Sea of Storms delegation was in attendance. Guilder walked down and met them at the delegation's tables and engaged in quiet discussion before he return to his desk at the front of the hall.

"I see most of the delegations are here now," Guilder said to the assembled representatives.

"Viscount, welcome back. I trust Commodore Grei and Lady Cantoni will be along soon," he said, addressing the Independents delegation.

Turning to the tables for the Prio Seas representatives, Guilder greeted Chief Apulo and The Doctor Ayuda. "Chief, doctor, good to see both of you as well. Sorry to hear Lady Condora is delayed."

Next he turned to the lone attendant from the Sea of Thieves. "Councilor Hadelson, so sorry to hear you have the gout, but you have certainly represented well those of us who depend on walking sticks!" Guilder waved his own cane in the air with a hearty "Har-har!" "Until your compatriots arrive, feel to free to rest your leg on one of their chairs!"

Addressing the MCTC delegation with a concerned look, he asked "Is there any word on Commodore Argentum? I was quite dismayed when I heard of his disappearance at sea."

Guilder silently nodded at his Sea of Storms delegation, not feeling any need to add a public greeting after his early conversation.

"We have enough representatives here to begin the business at hand, but does anyone know the whereabouts of the ETWC ( @Garmadon ) and MAESTRO delegations? I believe Agent Guelds and his fellow ETWC delegates are around, but Monezterrell ( @Legostone ) and his fellow MAESTRO members have not been heard from in some time. Does anyone know if MAESTRO intends to send new delegates to the council?" ( @Maxim I )

"And I had hoped to see some public interest in our reconvening, but I see no one in the public gallery yet..."

[Kai NRG]

21 minutes ago, Capt Wolf said:

Addressing the MCTC delegation with a concerned look, he asked "Is there any word on Commodore Argentum? I was quite dismayed when I heard of his disappearance at sea."

Esterhazy smiled.  "We expect him to come floating in on an overloaded raft any day now!"

[Capt Wolf]

Just now, Kai NRG said:

Esterhazy smiled.  "We expect him to come floating in on an overloaded raft any day now!"

"Har-har!" laughed Guilder. "That would be so like him. I pray that Sol and Luna make it so!"

[Tezclatipoca]

2 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Esterhazy smiled.  "We expect him to come floating in on an overloaded raft any day now!"

"Ahaha" laughed Doctor Ayuda.

"Let's hope he'll not need my medical skills when he will reach port" He added smiling confident on the surviving skills of Argentum.

[Umbra-Manis]

3 hours ago, Capt Wolf said:

Next he turned to the lone attendant from the Sea of Thieves. "Councilor Hadelson, so sorry to hear you have the gout, but you have certainly represented well those of us who depend on walking sticks!" Guilder waved his own cane in the air with a hearty "Har-har!" "Until your compatriots arrive, feel to free to rest your leg on one of their chairs!"

"Well in that case, I hope only one of them shows up!" Hadelson replied, clearly in better spirits since he was off his feet.

[gedren_y]

In came Lady Cantoni, her arms laden with numerous copies of this quarter's Midori Almanac, each with a ribbon marking a specific page. She made her way carefully around the room, depositing a copy at each seat, saving the Admius Legistrad for last. As she handed him his copy Valentia told Guilder, "The marked page may have relevance when we discuss potential ship commitments."

When she took her seat, Lady Cantoni dipped a quill into the gold colored ink, and signed the cover of her copy of the Midori Almanac. She then handed the quill to Viscount Doblin, and he did the same with his copy.

[Capt Wolf]

Guilder looked over the ragtag assembly. "Well, we still have more members of the council yet to arrive, but we have enough to conduct business. Perhaps we should start with the simpler issue first." Guilder looked down at the letters he had on his desk. "Apparently Corrington wants assurances that we will continue our anti-piracy patrols as a condition to selling some ships back to Felipe de la Manzana, ships that the pirate LeColeon captured from us, but that Corrington recovered when they encountered the pirate's fleet near Terraversa." Guilder turned to the Prio Seas delegation. "Doctor Ayuda, is that a fair summary of the issue?"

[Garmadon]

Lieutenant Horatio Hillsboroughbergmachier, "retired of the ETWC Elites", and Willoughby walked into the council room together and sat down at their seats.  One of them had made them late... again... and the other was smacking him with his tail.

"Alright - my apologies, but whatever is up that is of such importance as to drag me out of my comfortable house here again?" inquired the lieutenant.  

Willoughby leaned over and whispered in his ear for a moment.

"Important?  Humph!" exclaimed the lieutenant, leaning his cane down against the side of the desk, from which it slid right down to the floor, and stayed there.  "Whatever."

Willoughby whispered animatedly for another minute.

"Fine, fine!"

There was an instant stir under the desk, as of someone knocking their head against it, and Agent Gilles Guelds emerged from beneath it where he had slipped down last time he'd fallen asleep about a year ago, rubbing his head, but suddenly wide awake.

"Fine, fine!?!  What, not again!!"

Willoughby and the lieutenant just stared at him for a minute until he calmed down and found out, to his immense relief, that they had not just been fined again for non-appearance.  And then Willoughby had another few minutes of whispering to do to let him know what was up.

Then there was a stir of subdued but heated conversation between the members of the ETWC delegation.

"Well!" exclaimed Agent Guelds, "I believe this is one of those times in which the case is very clear, and there can be nothing else to do.  This means war, and no doubt about it!"

"War, indeed!" ejaculated the lieutenant, rubbing his hands in delight; "but with whom??"

Willoughby looked back and forth between them in subdued fury, and quickly scrawled off a note and sent it to the ETWC headquarters by a swift, mounted courier of the company.

"Against Corrington of course, who else!?!" burst out Agent Guelds, rolling his eyes at the lieutenant.

"Oh right - that will do very well; most evident indeed, and just what I was going to say!" exclaimed the lieutenant, grinning, "Shall I move a vote?"

Willoughby pulled him down and whispered to them both again for a moment.

"What about the other letter?  Oh yes, we can send out a fleet against the pirates with them, that should be no problem," said Lieutenant H., waving it off with his hand.

"Sure, whatever," yawned Agent Guelds, pushing back in his seat.

Lieutenant H. went back to rubbing his hands.  "Now how about that war proposition?..."

Willoughby sat back with a sigh and glanced toward the door as if in expectation.

...

*to be continued*  

[Roadmonkeytj]

A courier entered the room and motioned to Guilder.  It was addressed to the general council.  

To whom it may concern - 

By order of Governor of Charlatan Bay. A reward of 150DBs for the capture and return of the private trade ship known as Rahab's Gambit has been issued along with an additional bounty of 200DBs for the capture and hanging of Independent Pirate known as The Dragon.  

Please note that Gustaf Vonbricktin has captured the former black pirate ship known as Odin's Scorn.  This warship will be leading a hunting party for the formentioned pirate The Dragon.  

Should you have any greivence with the former captain of Odin's Scorn he is being held in chains until he can be returned to Charlatan Bay or any nation that wishes to try him.

Anyone is encouraged to join the hunt for Independent Pirates.  Rewards will be paid out of the personal Treasury of Gustaf Vonbricktin.

Signed

Gustaf Vonbricktin

Governor Charlatan Bay

[gedren_y]

Lady Cantoni glanced up from taking notes on the session for Commodore Grei, noting the momentary pause in the goings on. She stood, and as soon as she had everyone's attention, began her prepared remarks, "I have provided for all of you a copy of this quarter's Midori Almanac, and if you open them to the marked page you will see a list of the known astronomical events for the month of June. Of import to this discussion are the Summer Solstice on June 20, an eclipse of the Sun the following day, and the comet known as Hades' Arrow on the 24th."

She waited a moment while those who were inclined looked through the booklet, "Many of our brave sailors mark such events with riotous celebrations. The Summer Solstice in particular, because it is the most widely known predictable event, and is celebrated by a number of faiths across the Brick Seas. Of particular concern to myself, and my fellow Indepentents' Delegates, is the current status of the Golden Grasshopper, who's crew are all but one Triuri Faithful. I know that some of you have at least witnessed one of their solstice celebrations . . .  I ask in all seriousness, do any of you here today have any early reports on the status of our fleet?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(OOC) The Summer Solstice and eclipse are real world astronomical events, but I invented for BOBS the Hades' Arrow because the speech needed a little something more.

[Tezclatipoca]

22 hours ago, Capt Wolf said:

Guilder looked over the ragtag assembly. "Well, we still have more members of the council yet to arrive, but we have enough to conduct business. Perhaps we should start with the simpler issue first." Guilder looked down at the letters he had on his desk. "Apparently Corrington wants assurances that we will continue our anti-piracy patrols as a condition to selling some ships back to Felipe de la Manzana, ships that the pirate LeColeon captured from us, but that Corrington recovered when they encountered the pirate's fleet near Terraversa." Guilder turned to the Prio Seas delegation. "Doctor Ayuda, is that a fair summary of the issue?"

"Well, sir, I think you have described correctly our our concerns. " Answered Dr Ayuda.

"Three of our Eslandola ships are in Corrington Harbor at the moment, 2 of them being Sir Felipe de la Manzana possessions. The Pirate Le Coleon took them by force around Terraversa after sunking our famous frigate the Brickwall !" Continued the Doctor louder to mark everyone with the brutallity of the facts.

"Actually there is no proof of our crew survival. And I am sure Lady Condora is late because she is investigating on this matter right at the moment."

The doctor paused to regain voice. He seemed really afflicted by the loss of the vessels...

[Capt Wolf]

"Thank you, doctor. I think we all agree the loss of those valiant crews is distressing, and the dirty secret of the life at sea."

Guilder turned to Lady Cantoni. "I have not received word on the fate of any of our convoys and patrols yet. Half of our navy was committed to anti-piracy patrols this month." Guilder looked over at Esterhazy de Troir with the MCTC delegation. "I hope that they do not suffer with the absence of Commodore Argentum." Returning his attention to the independents delegation, Guilder continued, "The Golden Grasshopper was assigned escort duty to our long-range trade fleet headed to Nova Terreli. But I am certain that ships will begin making port all over the Brick Seas shortly, and that we will soon know their fates."

[Kai NRG]

"All things considered," De Troir spoke up, "I think it can hardly be doubted that we should and will continue our anti-piracy endeavors in the Brick Seas.  I for one can't imagine why we shouldn't be willing to assure Corrington of our intentions in this regard."

[Capt Wolf]

"And I concur," replied Guilder. "I think our new course with more squadrons devoted to anti-piracy patrols is one we will continue for some time. We've built our navy to the point where we can send out patrols and still have enough ships to escort the convoys. I think once the ships currently at sea reach port and the KPA sends out its report that our commitment will be clear."

Guilder turned to Dr Ayuda. "We can draft a formal letter if you think that is necessary. Or will our public assurance in this council be enough for Corrington?"

[gedren_y]

Commodore Hammish Grei, having heard the last few remarks from the entryway, comes in with a stack of parchment held under his right arm. As he takes his seat, Lady Cantoni hands him her notes, and he passes three of his pages to Viscount Doblin.

After a moment of perusal, Hammish stands to address the assembly, "As I see it, Corrington is looking for some support in defense of their shipping lanes. First, I propose we publicly announce the names of ships we commit to anti-piracy missions. Alphabetically, so as not to give clue to their distribution. While this may seem like giving an advantage to pirates, a careful study of the Kings Port Advertiser could give anyone interested an idea of the size of our anti-piracy missions. To mitigate trouble in that area we could wait a full day, or more, after their sailing before publicizing a list. Even that level of transparency would garner us some good will on the Brick Seas."

"Secondly, the routes our ships patrol could be arranged so that they pass near to Corrington ports, or through areas Corrington merchanters sail. They in turn could do the same for our shipping. This may require a formal agreement for information sharing to maximize such an effort whilst maintaining security. In such a formal agreement both parties could be required to make captured ships available to their original owners at an agreed upon blood price."

[Tezclatipoca]

On 6/20/2020 at 6:37 AM, Capt Wolf said:

Guilder turned to Dr Ayuda. "We can draft a formal letter if you think that is necessary. Or will our public assurance in this council be enough for Corrington?"

"I think a formal letter will be necessary, Sir. Our country should clearly show to our Neighbours we can conduct an anti Piracy hunt in collaboration with Corrington and make it Official." Answered Dr Ayuda.

While saying that Chief Apulo rose from his seat and got back to the back entrance door...

[Capt Wolf]

Guilder nodded to Dr Ayuda. "And so a formal letter it will be."

Turning to Commodore Grei, Guilder continued. "But I don't think we need to announce our assignments to all of the Brick Seas, and, in re-reading the original letter for the Corries, I don't think they even require us to coordinate our efforts with them. From the letter:"

it shall be my pleasure to arrange return of your vessels at the normal prize fee, if in return your Colonial Assembly can offer suitable, lasting commitments to stand by your Corlander brethren against piracy with a force equivalent to or exceeding the three vessels in question

"So I think we need just to assure them in an official manner that we shall continue to send out dedicated anti-piracy patrols. I can do this in a personal letter to Consul Montoya."

Guilder paused and looked around the room. "Can we have a quick vote on this matter? All in favor of my writing a letter to Montoya assuring the Corries that we will continue to send anti-piracy patrols into the major sealanes, signify by saying 'Aye'!"

[gedren_y]

Commodore Grei gave a gruffy snort, but replied, "Aye."

Lady Cantoni patted Hammish on the back. To the motion she said, "Aye."

Viscount Doblin looked up from his perusal of the pages he was handed to give a perfunctory, "Aye."

Alexander then dipped a quill into his purple ink, wrote something on one of the pages, then passed it to Commodore Grei. He nodded, and passed the page to Lady Cantoni. She read the page, wrote something with the pink ink, and passed it back to the Commodore. Hammish nodded, signed the page with the gold ink, and carefully placed it into the Viscount's satchel.

[Garmadon]

Aye! from the three on the ETWC bench!  Willoughby was still glancing at the door in expectation, though...

[Kai NRG]

"Aye," "Aye," from Troir and Jalape.