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Post by Ciata on Oct 22, 2005 16:24:20 GMT -5
Later the next morning, long after Waldo had gotten up to go about his work, though Mara is still snoozing on the couch, occasionaly rolling around. Then there is the expected knock on the door, though later than expected which wakens Mara, and to it's opening there stands Reana, fur looking a bit ruffed up in places.
As Mara toders over to the door to leave she remarks, "Mommy, did you huwt yer neck? It looks like it's bweeding."
Reana's paw goes back to her neck where a small spot of fur has a slight red tint to it, "Oh, that dear, it's nothing. *she gives a tired smile* Me and daddy were playing around last night, y'know, like you do sometimes with Wally, poucing him, and daddy pounced me a little too hard once. *she looks at Waldo and grins*Are you ready to go and see daddy?" Mara just nods. "Okay, say thank you to Mr.Waldo" "Thanks you Mr.Waldo, bye." "Thanks Waldo, I'll see you later at whatever meeting we're bound to have, bye."
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Oct 22, 2005 17:45:55 GMT -5
"Yep, no problem," he answers trying to keep him self from chuckling. "See you later. And take good care of Wally Mara."
Once the mother and daughter are gone and the door closed, Waldo can't help but smile at the spectacle. "It has been a while so its not surprising," he mutters to himself. "But wow."
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Post by Ciata on Dec 3, 2005 1:47:37 GMT -5
The trip to bury Leo Maxus went about as well as could be expected. Their travel was kept secret through workings of the FF, and was short and to the point. Marcus and Bell took the body back to the small town where Maxus was born and raised, and first felt the hard life that drove him to climb and claw his way up the social ladder. An old, rustic town with family buildings that get passed down from generation to generation, made of old style bricks sides and clay shingles. Marcus had only been taken there once by his father, to show him just where he had come from, and what he had to do to get where he was. To make him appreciate the life he was born into.
The talk between Bell and Marcus was scant, and mainly dry, short bits about the few points of intrest that Marcus knew about the town. The small house his father was born in, the first place he worked at, and the family semitary plot, which contained at least 7 generations of less ambitious Leo's, who never left this small town, but now their one wayward link was returned to them, with a small marker like those of his sire, grandsire and wife beside him.
Bell at least came to a better understanding of the dreams and reasons behind the senior's goals, if not the means, wanting to ensure a good life for his son, when his father, grandfather, and him had been born and lived their lives in such a small place, that reminded her a bit of her own village in the way it seemed secluded. There were many, many moments of awkward silence between the two, and the presence of armed guards at all times hardly helped the mood. At last they returned to the Council Hall in their way back to Ciata, being switched over from one group to another.
"Well, I guess that's over with." Bell just looks at him, still with the half mad, half pity look that as beginning to really annoy Marcus. "Are you still not going to tell me what I did, because it's going to haunt me for the rest of my life if you don't and it just ends like this." There was another long pause with Marcus waiting for a responce, but this time he actualy got one instead of the usual cold shoulder. "Do you have any respect at all?" Marcus gets up quickly and stands in front of her, "What do you mean I don't have any respect, I just went and burried my father, and I stopped the whole damn war, what am I supposed to respect more?" "Your father and me." "What? I avenged his death, went about fixing his mistakes, and layed him to rest in his old home. How is that not respect, and what did I ever do to you?" She finaly turns to look at him, her eyes burning, "He dies and you just move on and treat it like a chance to have some fun...with me!" "What are you talking about?" "The whole, "we're about to die, I love you" thing, then you just go about your buisness after we don't. The way you treated our going to bury your father like a field trip we could play on. When your father dies you mourn for him!" Marcus gaufs at that, "What am I supposed to do when I've got all this mess to clean up after? He gets shot and the guy who did it is standing there with a gun. Am I supposed to start crying then? The bomb is about to nuke us all and I'm supposed to think about how he just died when we are all about to? People are fighting over me like I'm some prize of book of information and I get to have a vacation in the mountains after visiting my old country to lay my father to rest instead of being tortured somewhere and disapearing as some science test. I was pretty darn happy with that too. I don't just break down at every bad thing that comes along."
She continues to glare at him, "Then why didn't you cry at his funeral?" To this he gives no repsonce but just turns away and takes a few steps as if he was going to walk off at that but stops and replies without turning around to face her, "That's my own buisness. I wasn't raised like you, I didn't grow up in a place that was all nice and clean and perfect, where everyone loves each other and there's no fighting. I'm different Bell, I come from a different world, and there's always pain there, you either tune it out and ignore it, or you let it rot and destroy you." With that he walks off leaving Bell behind as she starts to cry again and his face remains cold.
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Post by Ciata on Dec 3, 2005 17:14:45 GMT -5
Reana Stormwake , now relieved in mind, body, and heart, she has gone back to her work, now able to focus on the monumental task of rebuilding her country, being one of the very few left of the old high government. She had been trying to keep in correspondance with Kohen Lucias and the Head Master of the Shuey-Baw Monastery to try to have a unified plan between the two groups.
The idea is to devide the country into 12 provinces and each province into a province into 12 counties and each county into 12 prefectures.
Each prefecture will have a Prefect of it, 1728, each country will have a Magistrate over all the prefects in it, 144, and each province will have a Provincial Governor, 12.
Below the Emperor of this new state would be three Grand Ministers, the Scholor, Preist, and Guardian, which would be largely honarary titles.
Below them would be three Chief Ministers, the Prime Minister, in charge of religious affairs, the Grand Marshal in charge of the military, and the Supreme Teacher, in charge of education and general public affairs.
Below them, and in more subtle roles, will be a board of advisors, made up of close friends, put on the board to have reason for special influence and privliges. There will also be a board of counselors, which would be made up of leaders in various fields of buisness and commerce, and a board of consultants, which would be made of up various respected elders.
The majority of political assignments will be merely a switching of titles for most of the local leaders, though how to elect of select a new leader with such power as is needed for this new state of the clans, no longer being of one mind or one people, remains a huge question.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 3, 2005 22:01:43 GMT -5
To: Reana Stormwake From: Waldo Frixmatagin Subject: Ciata's Structural Changes
Apologies for not approaching you in person today earlier today to share my thoughts on your work on reorganizing your government, but it seems we're both pretty tied down with work of late.
I don't have to say that the retention of a monarch in any form is not to my liking. And it also goes without saying that you probably won't bow to my opinion on this. But I am glad that you, Aristo Shaka, and Kohen Lucias are putting together a very strong system of local governance. Though my own nation's federal government is the one that's best known internationally, its really the state and local governments that makes Tinis what it is. Without the local controls over about 80% of government activity, I'm quite sure my home land would become corrupt and dangerous.
But beyond that, I have to agree with the various scholars and sociologists that without the local governments existing in Tinis that my home would of fallen again into civil war after the formation of the Union. There was much bad blood between the various factions by then that if they felt they were suddenly powerless under an omnipresent over government they would of easily despaired and split. But having friends and former house mates making the important day to day decisions let the defeated houses know they they were still in charge of their lands and themselves.
And that's important. I urge you to put protections in place to insure that the governors, magistrates, and prefects come from the lands and groups they are to represent. It might seem obvious that this is the best way to go from the get go and the Emperor may very well work the rules so that locals fill the local government, but after the system is in place and this protection is not present, the next Emperor may forget this and reopen old wounds by either appointing magistrates from distant parts of Ciata to a county or to fix an election of the same so that the one who gains the office is not representative of the people they are to represent in any way.
Rebuilding a nation is no easy task. I hope that I and my nation can be of assistance. If you need anything, let me know and I'll do what I can.
-Waldo
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"Taka-Ra," what a funny name says Donny. "Must be a very interesting person."
The other two furs in the car are silent.
Donny waits for them to speak for a full minute before continuing. "So which of us should go first?"
"Haven't you read the file?" asks the very thin cat, Nathanial.
"Of course. Doesn't mean I can't solicit opinions. Uzel, what do you think?"
Uzel, the largest of the three, being a five hundred pound bull, opens an eye, "Don't care."
Another long pause. Donny twitches his tail in excitement. Nathanial frowns.
"Don't you have somewhere better to be right now rather than bothering us?" asks the tabby.
"Nope."
Nathanial continues, "It is bad form to use your techniques on your fellow interrogators."
"I'm not using them on you. I'm just excited that's all. This Taka-Ra might be our first clue into cracking open the Shimandu assassination time line, finding those secret organizations, and overall making the world a better place. Sure was lucky that they managed to get this crazy panther to surrender. Would of loved it if all of them had been taken of course. Perhaps one day they could of reformed and become allies and such. But war is war and..."
"Shut up," Uzel almost moos.
Donney does, but the dragon's tail continues to flick about.
The train carrying the three interrogators slows down and comes to a halt in the city of Altzan near the council hall.
"Everyone ready?" asks Nathanial.
As Uzel nods, Donney blurts out, "Yeah!" The trio exists the train and makes their way to the hall. After showing their credentials to the guards they are quickly lead inside and are soon presented with instructions to go to the cities old jail house where Taka-Ra, the demon of the sky, is being held.
The old building has had little use since Tinis took control of this area, and even less so since the city became the seat of the federation. Crime is low here, and the cells plentiful. The three are brought to the buildings sole interrogation room, complete with two way mirror.
"Acceptable," says Nathanial to the guard who is showing them around. "I hope the prisoner is in good health. It makes this so much easier when they are. However, I think Uzel should go first."
"Awww," sighs Donney.
"Don't worry squirt, you'll get your chance after me. Guard, we shall start tomorrow. Please show us the way out. We'll be at the council hall if we are needed. But do let him know the first round of questioners have arrived. I'm sure he'll be thrilled. And do make sure to say questioners. Don't want him second guessing anything now do we?"
"Nate," grunts Uzel. "You really do try to hard."
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 4, 2005 1:47:34 GMT -5
There's only the one prisoner in the north wing. Around twenty guards most days, sometimes more. But the Tinisian policing officer in charge of keeping Taka-Ra in custody took Rowan's words to heart about the dangers of this individual. The guards were even given gas masks and instructed to fill his cell with sleeping gas in the event that he showed signs of seizures indicative of either impending medical trauma, or a ruse to make them believe he was near death.
Its early in the morning when the group of ten guards enters the hall way to escort Taka-Ra to the interrogation room. Moving in three groups, one ahead, one behind, and one with the prisoner, they take him, still bound, to the interrogation room.
Taka-Ra is surprised to find that the guards sit him down inside and all leave. The only remaining occupant in the room is a large male brown bovine with a rather vacant expression.
As the door shuts behind the prisoner, Uzel mentions in Taka-Ra's own language, "I hope you've noticed the two way mirror. There are two sharp shooters in there who won't hesitate to to sever your spine if they observe you taking aggressive action against me." He pauses for a moment, watching Taka-Ra's eyes. "There are of course guards outside and in the rooms above, below, and to all sides. We won't be disturbed unless you either do something stupid or I ask for you to be taken away."
Uzel sides a paper toward Taka-Ra. "I would like of course for you to understand that I am the first in line to interrogate you. This requires of me certain duties such as making sure your medical information is up to date and that what information we on you, as little as it might be, is indeed correct. Please read through it and state what, if anything is incorrect. And if you have a medical condition that we are unaware of, please mention so. We are being recorded, as you likely suspect, so any and all information that you express here will be preserved for future reference."
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Post by Ciata on Dec 4, 2005 21:14:52 GMT -5
Taka-Ra smirks at the sharp shooter comment, mumbling "Of course, they'd need special training and scopes to score a blind shot on me from ten feet."
Assuming a bored face and resting his head on his right paw, which is propped up on the table by his elbow, he paws through the medical records quickly, reviewing the info. "Well, I think I may have lost a few pounds eating the mess they dish out here. Do you know that they cook their meat? Takes all the flavor out of it, and I don't even pretend to know what the mush is that they give at almost every meal. You see, I like to be able to identify what I put into my body, much safer that way..." He starts to rub his forehead and clenches his eyes shut for a second before opening them with a wild look in his eyes. He sits up streight and stares at Uzel for a few seconds, as if sizing him up, then glances about the room before coming back to the folder before him. He looks at Uzel again and the folder and re-opens it a begins to go over it slowly, as if studying vitals on someone else. Finishing with them he snorts and slides them back over the table and tilts his head to the side and asks, "And what the hell do you want?" with a develish demeanor on his black face.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 5, 2005 1:11:56 GMT -5
The side of Uzel's lip curls up slightly during the critique of the food. "Let it be noted the prisoner doesn't like broiled non-sentient beef and Butin brand mashed potato's." The curl of his lip fades, and then reappears in the reverse position.
"What I want is for you to explain how you got here, in reverse. Going back out that door, back to your cell. How you got there from Ciata. How you got captured. The fight you were in. Etcetera etcetera. As I said, I have certain duties to perform. Among these is to insure that any information we have on you is correct. You of course will find it useful to lie at certain times no doubt, but in those instances you will mearly not be a secondary or trietary source for information we have. So please, explain in reverse order how you came to be here."
Uzel looks to be making himself slightly more comfortable, expecting a long haul.
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Post by Ciata on Dec 5, 2005 1:36:10 GMT -5
He snarls, "You should know better than me how I got here. I wake up and see your ugly mug infront of me after taking a nice nap back in the brick they call a bed here. I've been stuck in that damned cell for almost a week now..." (It has been infact over two weeks since he arrived there) "...though it's hard to judge the days in this place since there's not even a window I could contemplate my escape from. I wake up sleepwalking again in there after being at that crappy monastery where they I, I surrendered to them. I know I didn't surrender, the last thing I remembered from the battle was those damned gunships getting lucky and riddling Azazel nice a bunch of wusses from above. Waste of a perfectly good woman, she was a damn good lay." He grins for a moment before going back to his pissed off demeanor. "I think it was one of those cheap b#^$&*@s in the suits with a stun grenade or gas or something knocking me out, and then I wake up minus my favorite little genetic amplifiers, chained like a dog waiting to be shipped off to here." He leans back and throws back his head, moaning, "And before that it was the fight with the fight with the Raja-Borah in the damn snow up there."
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 5, 2005 1:40:27 GMT -5
"And how did you get into that fight?" is his immediate response. "How did you wind up in the middle of the snow fighting mechanized troops?"
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Post by Ciata on Dec 5, 2005 2:01:16 GMT -5
After being prompted by Aristo Shaka, Reana had begun to put together a plan for a military, one no longer relient upon an elite few controled by the leader, but one more spread out in a militia style format with limitations set in place for the various sections of the country, with the forces of the lower offices being in in-direct command of the higher ups, them having to go and ask the lower rulers for permission for the use of their men if needed. The idea of the military is for prevention of anarchy and as a deterent of crime and possibly invasion. Though it likely wouldn't do much in that area as the military, like the rest of the forces is restricted to no firearms.
The sizes of the area also depends largely on population and land type, so some prefect doesn't get stuck with a few square miles of sand or nothing but snow, and another doesn't have to deal with an entire city.
Prefects-No more than 4 soldiers under his command at any time, though if needed he can rally the support of those within his prefecture in case of emergency, or taking command of a fallen fellow leader's troops.
Magistrates-No more than 48 soldiers under his command at any time, unless conditions as those above are met.
Governer-No more than 1,152 soldiers under his command at any time, unless conditions as those above are met.
Grand Ministers-No more than 24 personal guards for the care of his security and that of his home and offices. They cannot take control of any other leader's forces unless that leader is either dead or unable to lead them and there is need to do so for the protection of the clans.
Chief Ministers-No more than 48 personal guards for the care of his secutiry and that of his home and offices. Any one of the three chief ministers can take control of a lower office's forces if there is a dire need, for better unification and co-ordination of forces.
Members of the boards of advisors, counselors, and consultants cannot have a personal guard of greater than 12 guards and they may not under and circumstances take charge of another leader's forces or guards.
The emperor cannot have general forces or army, only relying on that of the lower leaders, though he may have a personal elite guard of no more than 1,152 soldiers to keep guard and security over the castle and surrounding buildings and country side.
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Post by Ciata on Dec 5, 2005 2:10:23 GMT -5
Taka-Ra lowers his head to stare at the bovine again. After a few moments his eyes glaze over and he begins to shake his head from side to side before seemingly nodding off right there before jerking his head back up, looking around again, and then at Uzel again. After a few more seconds of silence he senses Uzel was waiting for a responce and he asks him to repeat the question. "What? Did I nod off or something, I swear you aren't THAT boring." rolling his eyes "What else did you want to know...oh, why I was fighting mechs in the snow. Well, put yourself in my place. Your a hard working, former double agent who's had both sides he worked for wiped out and some all powerfull being comes up to you and offers you increadible power and a top place in a new world order. Wouldn't you take him up on his offer?"
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 5, 2005 2:20:14 GMT -5
"You seem to be under the impression that annoying me will get you somewhere. I'm guessing then that this powerful being would be Sicarii?" He makes a concious attempt to remove the curvature in his lip, but it causes him to blink more often.
Behind the two way mirror Nathaniel watches intently, not just Taka-Ra, but also Uzel. The cat has a knowing smile but says nothing. Donney is not present, but there wouldn't be much room for him there with the guards, weapons ready filling up most of the space.
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Post by Ciata on Dec 5, 2005 2:28:22 GMT -5
"But of course, the late Sicarii, the head demon, future ruler, or destroyer of the world, depending on which side of the bed he woke up one. That's the guy."
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 5, 2005 2:30:47 GMT -5
"You make it sound as if he had some issues making up his mind as to his final plans. We were under the impression that his goal was some sort of hegamony over all furry. Are you saying this was not the case at times?"
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