Blotched Mediation Options

[gamer10]

Blotched Mediation

Chapter 1: From the Eyes of A Diplomat

When my boat docked at the port in Skywatch, the sun was low in the sky. I stepped off the boat with a sigh of relief. How good it felt to be on dry, solid ground again.

The waters had given us quite a time, and I was sick through much of the journey. Before another thought could pass through my head, a tall man stepped up to my and grabbed hold of my hand, shaking me back to the current time.

I shook his hand and introduced myself. "I am Tremin, representing the people of the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil."
"Hello, Tremin," he said with an obviously formal smile "I am Sakridin the represenative for the Monarch of Summerset Isle. Please, follow me."

I followed him off the pier and onto a small road, well paved and well taken care of. It led into a small camp, a permanent one by the looks of it. Several fully completed well constructed buildings stood high, while many tents littered the landscape within a short distance around it.

He led me into one of the larger buildings, that had two Altmer guards standing around. I noticed that they were not heavily armed, though protecting a diplomat of great importance to Summerset Isle. Maybe they focus on their skill in the Arcane arts to defend him.

Inside, the walls were draped with some sort of strange glittering cloth, it looked enchanted. It was much to bright for my liking so I looked downwards to the floor. Inside we were greeted by a tall man who took my bag carrying my clothing and such, he then proceded to carry it up a large staircase. Taking giant leaps at a time, and reaching the top in mere seconds.

I however, was led in to a small room on the bottom floor. Inside this room was a small table with a quill and paper, and two chairs seated on either end of the table.

Sakridin motioned for me to sit, so I did so and he took a seat on the other side of the table. Then he handed me some paper and a quill with ink to use for myself.

"Feel free to keep a record of our conversation, as I will as well. I hope we can come to some sort of agreement today that will lead to peace between our people."

He stood up and closed the door, making sure it was locked before taking a seat again.

I must say, the chairs were very comfortable and I felt completely relaxed sitting there talking. I was used to going on diplomatic missions outside of Cyrodiil so this was nothing knew to me. I had just never been to Summerset Isle before, and had very few encounters with Altmer in the past.

"Now if we could get down to business," I said rather curtly, attempting to sound as serious as possible "I hope to stay only a short while here."
"Now now Mr.Tremin, there is much to see here. It is full of wonderful sights to see, though I daresay the people aren't as friendly as you might expect. Exceptions His Majesty and me of course."

"I respect the fact that your country is beautiful Sakridin, but I did not come as a tourist, I came as a diplomat seeking a treaty with your people."

"If you must take to the matter of importance so quickly, then I will get down to business as well. I am warning you however, that you are currently in foreign territory, and any unfriendly actions from you, and you will be punished according to the laws of Summerset Isle."

Now that everything that needed to be stated before hand had been said, I started the diplomatic talks.

"Three days ago, a shipment carrying goods from Lilandril to Anvil was stopped by a vessel of the Navy of Summerset Isle. The men on board were taken and held for a night, until they finally payed the tax due on the items. Now this is all fine, you have the right to tax items that are exported from your Province. However, upon attempting to leave, they were stopped once again by the same naval boat. The commander of the boat went aboard their boat and demanded a tax for traveling along waters protected by them. Nowhere in the agreement between our two nations does it state such a tax law. I want to know how this came to be imposed."

Sakridin thought for a moment, then replied. "For the past many years, our nations have been trading in valuable goods. Often these merchant vessels traveling from Summerset Isle to Cyrodiil would come under attack by heavily armed pirates. The Navy of Summerset Isle would normally come to the aid of the merchants and capture or kill any of the attacking pirates. However during the fight with the pirates, our naval vessels would sink, our soldiers would die. So you see Mr. Tremin, we have imposed a tax to help us pay for repairs on such boats damaged during the defense of your trading vessels."

I listened intently to Sakridin, I saw his point but I was not here to understand. Such taxes would hurt the Imperial Empire heavily by causing Merchant trading companies to let some of their workers go. A high rate of unemplyment might engulf the Empire and cause a state of Anarchy.
"I cannot understand how Summerset Isle cannot pay for the damage themselves. You are a nation of great wealth. Besides, the taxes imposed would cause heavy losses to the Imperial Merchants trading with Summerset Isle."

"Tell me, would the Imperial Navy be willing to patrol these waters?" he responded.

"Don't be imprudent," I told him "Cyrodiil does not support a large navy, we are surrounded heavily by Countries who could attack us by land. Asking us to carry out such a task makes you sound insane."

"You cannot support hardly a navy at all, and we cannot support enough naval vessels to protect our nation as well as patrol." Sakridin said "We are surrounded by water, not land Mr. Tremin. We use the majority of our navy to protect the areas near our coast. The cost of building many extra vessels has put a strain on the economy here."

I shook my head "An even bigger strain would be put on the whole of Tamriels economy, Cyrodiil is a massive trading province. They would have to devote more to Summerset then to any other province, taking away from the others."

"I cannot change the fact that your vessels will be taxed. However, I can change the amount. Though it must be a reasonable sum."
I relpied as follows "I cannot change the fact that our vessels will resist the effort of Summerset Isle's attempt to tax them. I put forward an offer now, either withdraw the tax or we will end trade of goods with a value of more than 30 Septims per item between our two nations." This meant no weapons exports would reach Summerset Isle.

"Your offer is a dangerous one, I cannot accept it but I can present it to his Majesty for revision. If he agress then all is well. If he does not then we will sit down and have another little chat, but I am now out of time." Sakridin stood up and I did as well. We shook hands, and he opened the door.

"Furichi, take Mr. Tremin to his room." he turned to me next "your items are already located there. We might have to resume talks tomorrow so I must ask you to stay here."

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There are probably plenty of errors, but I didn't take any time at all to edit my story so it might be :eek: .
-Gamer10