(mini-event) THE COALITION OF REFUGEES

[natha]

THE COALITION     On the day of the council, there are markers tied with ribbons in the colors of both Olympia and Wyver that line the paths from the cities to the South Outpost, meant to guide anyone with an invitation to the first meeting of the Coalition of Refugees. While during the previous festivities of the gala the Great Hall was sharply divided between Olympians and Wyverns, the differences between the factions are not so apparent now. Inside, the hall is decorated with a more subdued mix of the white and gold of Olympia and the red and black of Wyver. Banners, pennants, and bunting drape from the ceiling and wind around wooden pillars. To one side of the hall, there are tables set up with drinks and finger foods — refreshments for the guests, for after the opening speech. A raised platform has been set up at one end of the room, flanked by contingents of both the Royal Guards and the Knightryders standing at attention side by side, differentiated only by the make of their armor and the colors they wear. Ashti, Shenya, and Heryn stand waiting for the arrival of their monarchs, pointedly ignoring each other; notably, Raysc, Shanrian's son and the leader of Mythi's Fangs, is conspicuously absent. Staff members cluster to the side of the stage, waiting for the speech to begin. A whisper drifts over from a woman in one of the Olympian groups: Do you really think the Empress will try to negotiate for Nithor's skull? The man she's speaking to shakes his head and scoffs, answering: Ha! Not a chance. She thinks it's too soon, who knows if this peace will last. Besides, there's no way she's willing to give up Ysevrai's heart. A horn sounds, and the staff members subside, glancing around to see if anyone's overheard. A moment later, and Simwe and Shanrian make their appearance, walking together to the stage for their speech. Aha… we have quite the gathering here, do we not? All of our heroes in one place… This may be an unprecedented meeting, but it seems as though it will be a productive one. Let us begin by thanking all of you for your contributions to our cities in recent times. Since your arrival, you have weathered the plague that swept through our cities and aided us in finding its cure; you have withstood the scorn of those who were meant to shelter you turning against you, and helped us quell riots in the very hearts of our homes; you have been taken right off the streets and endured hardships too terrible to tell, and have proven heroes in bringing our people safely home. You have done much for us, and shown yourselves loyal beyond many who were born within our walls. We will allow your voices to go unheard no longer! Today— Today, we will hear you. You have demonstrated both strength and valor in equal measures — it follows that you will be wise as well, and it is that wisdom that we wish to hear brought in council to our cities. You are gathered here to look beyond our history of violence and hostility, to see beyond the prejudices we hold. We hope that with your clearer sight, you'll keep in your hearts the betterment of both of our fair cities, rather than allow pettiness to hold sway and lift one over the other. Those gathered here are deemed worthy by action and by the trust of your brethren: a council. Amongst yourselves, decide what matters most to you about your lives within the cities. Discuss what changes you wish to see, and how those changes should come about. Reach an agreement, put your motions to us, and should they be feasible, we will see what sort of effect your ideas will have. The two proposals with the most support among your fellows will be those we implement, so argue your reasoning most convincingly! And remember, this is your chance to impress us. If your advice is sound, we will look to you again. At this, both rulers fall silent, and withdraw to a balcony to oversee the proceedings. This is not their meeting, after all — this is something that only the refugees can determine the outcome of. FINAL OOC NOTES     Welcome to your first chance to have a voice in the NPC governments, Players! Your task is, as a group, to decide the two most important IC issues you would like to see Olympia and Wyver address, and then put forward a plan of action for how to improve whatever those problems are, which will then be implemented in May. Since these are strictly Olympian and Wyvern issues, topics should still adhere to the Natha's policies of not revealing anything about the Storm or the Natha's existence, but beyond that, you're free to propose any topics you think should be addressed about your characters' way of life in the cities — after all, haven't the Orbiters sent you here to make a difference and improve life on El Nysa in their stead?

Comments

[willrevile]

Hey. [ A broad smile, recognition right away, and Jim shakes his hand happily. ] Likewise. It's great we have some Royal Guard representation here, I'm sure it helps legitimacy. The last thing I want us for any of us to end up making people nervous.

[ If only there was, like, anybody from Wyver so that it wasn't so one-sided. It's occurred to Jim he could just go try for a position with the Ryders but -- god no. ]

♥ there is no late

[willrevile]

"Ianto, hey!" Jim smiles when he sees the other man, and breaks away from discussing watch circuits to come over and clap him on the shoulder, friendly-like. "You look excellently outfitted for an evening of politics."

Tiniest bit of teasing. Jim himself is dressed like .. whatever Steve Trevor is dressed like (no ahead warning if Ianto runs into him, it's more fun that way). Hopefully something simple. From his jacket pocket he fishes out an only slightly dented, folded-up letter, and a heavy metal ring with a dark red stone in it. He holds them out.

"You don't have to lie and say you're me if they ask. Us being out here isn't a secret, I don't think there'll be much of a protest if you say you're my friend representing my interests, or whatever."

[baguablade]

Not a bad idea at all, Miss Yona!

[ Cain gives her a wave — and then holds out a little plate with some food from the tables on it. He's been lurking, the food a camouflage, and he has way more than he can eat himself. Might as well share.

And, well, he feels like he needs to look out for her, anyway. ]

All of this trouble has been because moving between the cities is so frowned upon, isn't it? They'll never trust each other if it's taboo in the first place.

+1

[baguablade]

[tricksune]

[ Awkward, yes, but being forced to accept new perspectives often was an uncomfortable process. She's right in that it's still worth trying. ]

Yes, and I think they'll find they have more to share than not. Their festivals and customs mirror each other in many ways.

[ There's a lot of common ground, if only they'd learn to share it. But all that good sentiment aside for a moment... There's a practical side to this to figure out, too. ]

How would you propose these travel routes be secured?

[sheriffing]

I'd hope working together could help ease some of the prejudices. I've had that happen more than once.

[ how many times had she and Regina had to unite over Henry before they could make something resembling a friendship? maybe the level of investment isn't exactly the same, but put a few people together who are interested in the good of all and the chance to do something meaningful, and she thinks maybe, just maybe, this could work.]

Even if they signed up to make sure their city was fairly represented, teambuilding could happen from there. And there are a lot of refugees who are looking to help people without picking a side.

[sheriffing]

[ if Lizzie wants a say in the government here, Emma was happy to invite her to come along.

in a lot of ways, it feels strange to be praised as a hero for her failures after being taken by the extremists. in the moment she had only made the situation worse, but the end result is a position where they can speak out and try to do better.]

There are refugees who could help mediate. It'd take some organization, but you're right, gathering somewhere out of the way to train and learn how to work together would be essential.

[assholic]

[Reinhardt was a blessing and she was fond of the old coot, which said a lot considering Jessica Jones didn't take to many people.]

So they have someone to point the finger at and blame? Fuck that.

[assholic]

They will or they won't. Not like I'm going to be handing out blueprints and spearheading the idea. That's up to the hoity-toity types.

[Mentioning it was one thing. Jessica had no problem running her mouth in any situation. Follow through, however, especially when it came to having to have people rely on her... that was a problem. Too much responsibility. Too much hope and too much potential for her to fuck it up. Better leave it to people better suited for it.]

[objectionattorney]

[... Ah.]

That's correct.

And with that, we can also start exposing countries to a more equally sided justice system. The first step to changing the way things are is by launching small steps in the right direction. And right now the main issue I've come to realize is that, with the way both countries are run, there is barely any justice at all. Everything is controlled and decided upon by the military system. You have the officers, those in charge of them, and then directly above that, the king and queen of each country. But because of this, what few laws are in place are hardly enforced, and when people are occasionally taken in the punishments are harsh, have little thought placed into them, and have a high probability of not even working properly.

I also worry about the statistics behind false accusation due to such immediate action after accusation. As well as how easy it would be for a corrupt person in power to simply manipulate the system to get what benefits them above all else.

But, once again, that would be quite a bit to fix and would also take a while to enforce.

I just want to work with something that can jump-start the process. So that it is easy for others to move forward with we initiate it and make it even better.

[Also...


WHAT THE HECK!?!?! MATT IS THAT REALLY YOU!?!?!!?!?!?]

[summertimeblues]

[He goes still for a moment, flummoxed. Then he bursts out laughing.]

Shit! Sorry, old habits dying hard here. You've never met the Irish, have you? Probably never will at this point, they didn't see fit to save many of them from the Storm now did they? [He holds out a hand to shake.] Rich Tozier. Please forgive the gaffe, it's always been a struggle to hold back a joke.

And you are?

[Obviously no one familiar with Earth and all its mighty nations. That much is certain. She doesn't look like an alien, but she could very well be some kind of sorceress, or an elf. Depends on how eager the cosmos is to test his patience for bullshit today. She looks like she belongs on a fantasy paperback, all got up in fourteenth century finery with silver hair to match that silver tongue.]

[impavid]

Maybe, or maybe they're hoping one display of niceties will be enough to make us trust them when they begin the next part of their war campaign. 'We gave you drinks and medals, we're clearly in the right'.

[ This cynicism is palpable. He scans the area again, feeling increasingly uneasy. ]

Being special has a lot of downsides.

[ He hates standing out, the whole refugee thing seems to mark them as standing out. ]

[notsolomon]

That's true and I do think we should take responsibility. I just worry that putting us in such positions might send the long message in the wrong term, by giving us more control than they want us to have.

[He frowns a moment, because how can one estimate all the factors here? There's never been any situation quite like this back home.]

But like you said, I imagine if we treat it as collaborative, there should be no problems. Though I definitely don't disagree that something needs to be done about those violent sorts.

[ukase]

Well, they are allowed all the free speech they want, but they are going to have to come up with legitimate suggestions on how to make their worlds better while not oppressing everyone else. I suspect they will say a neutral state like a refugee camp, which, in my experience, ends in misery and squaller for the refugees.

[He shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms loosely over his chest. He took this as a discussion rather than any attempt to poke holes in his suggestions.]

At some point, they are going to have to be made aware of what it's like to be a refugee so there's understanding. People fear what they don't understand. What would you suggest?

[ukase]

Well, it ain't the refugees' fault they have no where else to go, and I think that a neutral state beyond the cities will only make things temporarily better. Eventually, there seems a chance there will be more refugees than natives and if they are as insecure now without a separate city, they will be doubly so if they think there are enough of us to form an attack of our own.

[After all, a settlement meant that there was a real and obvious target to aim at. With them being intermingled, it was harder to target them all.]

Government and the general populous need to be more proactive about condemning the actions of the extremists.

[He did a suit well, but he certainly wasn't as combat ready. Hell, he'd still fight in this, but it'd be a waste.]

[assholic]

Except half the shit that seems to go down between the cities is old feuding crap, like the damn Hatfields and McCoys go medieval. A neutral place or city or... what the fuck ever might be out of the scope enough that it won't matter. Not that I don't agree. They keep sending more people and it's going to get noticed. But what, they just keep killing or trying to kill every new person that comes in? That sucks more.

[She sipped her beer, hating that she was having to be the logical one here.]

As long as there's a regime of any kind, there's going to be someone against it. Anti-government, anti-faction, anti-monarchy... it's always been a thing.

[vorrutyer]

I suppose we could.

[ Byerly looks a touch pained at the idea. (It's theatrical, more than anything.) ]

I do detest the outdoors, though. It's so full of...insects and bears and what-have-you.

[vorrutyer]

[ Well, well, if it isn't the handsome fellow who doesn't even know how handsome he is. ]

Not too much? Oh, come now, m'sieur advocat, you know what they say about moderation.

[vorrutyer]

[ By grins over at her, and executes a gorgeously (and flamboyantly) flourishing bow. ]

Your pleasure is my pleasure, dear madam. Shall we drink to my genius?

[vorrutyer]

Is that so?

[ By lifts an eyebrow rather wryly. ]

Seems as though that might make the work...a bit exhausting.

+1

[vorrutyer]

+1

[pebblestone]

+1

[pebblestone]

[pebblestone]

[ It's been some time since last he's seen her, and while the solemn look on her face isn't one he's overly familiar with, he can appreciate the gravity with which she's treating the whole situation. He hadn't been sure what to make of the council when Cam had first offered the invitation, but he's glad to have come.

Approaching Yona, Frederick gives a slight nod of his head. ]

I would be happy to volunteer to patrol the routes should you be looking for willing volunteers, Lady Yona.

[ The work reminds him of home, and the peace he'd worked so hard to maintain back there. It's the least he can do here, to help keep his friends safe. ]

[dawnblushed]

I'm sure we can make them talk!

[Yona will... bat her eyelashes at them and make them spill all their secrets. Or something. She's practicing the expressions she might use on them to get them to spill it and she feels not a single ounce of shame, because she knows Matt can't see her face.]

...not a whole lot from the servants. Mostly I've heard refugees like us talking about what they hope to get out of this.