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[b]Secure Dispatch[/b]

 

[b]To: The Government of the Principality of Tikal

From: The Administration of the Exterior for the Stormlands

 

Subj: Formalizing Relations[/b]

 

[i]To whom it may concern[/i]

 

As the closest neighbor to the Stormlands, Tikal presents itself as the potential to be one of its closest friends, and by doing so, strengthening regional ties whilst working cohesively. To this end, the High Council has seen fit to invite Tikal to send a delegation to Stormsend to discuss formalizing relations, a meeting that has been a long time coming, by our count.

 

The Lord Protector extends his apologies that these negotiations could not be secured during our celebration on Isla Margarita, but engaging in them now would be fruitful and beneficial to both our nations. We hope that these feelings are mutual, and look forward to your response to this short, but considerably important dispatch.

 

[i]With Highest Regards,

 

Taman Volcer[/i]

Executor of the Exterior

Esteemed Member of the High Council

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[Secure Reply]

To: The Administration of the Exterior for the Stormlands
From: Principality of Tikal; Directorate of Diplomacy

Subj: Re: Formalizing Relations


Honoured Executor Taman Volcer,

In the missive delivered by your diplomatic envoys, your nation expressed interest in realizing a meeting between your nation's sovereign rulership and our most exalted leaders.

After careful deliberation, the Ajaw and the Ix'ajaw, Prince and Princess of the Principality of Tikal, have decided to grace your request with their agreement.

Her Serene Highness, Ix'ajaw ichil Tikal, Cihuatlatoani Tlahtoloyan, Embodiment of Awilix, shall travel to the Stormlands in 5 days' time, arriving by means of a specially-built Concorde, the only means of long-distant air travel fit for Her Grand Highness. With her shall come six fully armed and armoured members of the Royal Guard, as well as 66 of Ix'ajaw Shana'Kin Yaxchel Ik'nal's most trusted servants.

Furthermore, your apology has been graciously accepted by Their Highnesses.

By the authority vested in me by the Embodied Divine on Earth
Director of Diplomacy,
Clemente Marroquín Rojas
Principality of Tikal

____________________


As announced, five days later a heavily modified Concorde would travel from Guatemala City to Stormsend, carrying with it the Princess and her entourage.
Having been at the Thunder Ball, she already knew Stormlands a little and so had managed to persuade the Prince that she ought to travel to the meeting.
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Upon crossing over into Stormlands airspace, the modified Concorde bearing the Princess would be joined by a duo of high-speed stealth fighters to provide escort into the Stormlands, the arrival of these aircraft that would form a loose escort pattern on either side of the aircraft would be announced over open radio channels before they approached.

 

Upon closing in on Stormsend, the Concorde would be given landing instructions and direction, with the aircraft being given a priority status by air traffic control, which basically cleared the skies over Stormsend's airport upon the arrival of the high-speed jetliner. Breaking off from their charge, the fighters that provided escort waggled their wings in a friendly fashion before peeling off to head back to base, whilst the jetliner made its approach at the airport. Once on the ground, the aircraft was directed towards the main terminal for docking with an air bridge which connected the terminal with the aircraft. This air bridge led to a special part of the terminal devoted specifically to the receiving of foreign dignitaries and special guests that the government had to the city, elaborately decorated with themes from around the world, with large flags of both Tikal and the Stormlands hanging side by side on the wall opposite the air bridge exit.

 

Waiting for the Princess and her entourage as she disembarked, would be both Rafael Sha'am, and Taman Volcer, wearing their typical outfits comprising a toga with a flag draped across the front and pinned together over their heart. An honor guard comprising soldiers from the High Guard of the Hall of Righteousness were present, dressed in elaborately decorated purple uniforms, with ceremonial swords strapped to their belts, and drill rifles held stiffly in front of them. A large gaggle of aides and staffers were also present behind both Rafael and Taman. Upon the Princess stepping off the air bridge, Rafael stepped forward, "Its a honor to see you again, Your Highness, I'm glad that you chose to join us once again."

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"Lord Protector, it is a great pleasure seeing you again. Executor, it is an honour meeting you." The Princess cupped her hands in greeting, placing the right in her left, and smiled at the two men. "I am very much looking forward to the meeting proper, and perhaps spending a day or two here in Stormsend. Speaking of the meeting, will we proceed there right away?"

The Princess was wearing her usual attire, being a dress made with the latest fabrics developed in Tikal, adorned with traditional patterns in tones of blue. Her servants were wearing more traditional, heavier fabrics in somewhat muted colours using many earthen and green tones. The six Guard, all-female, wore ceremonial armour and battle staves, as well as a sidearm each, faces showing the sort of complete stoicism reached only by years, if not decades of training.

Edited by Lynneth
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Both Rafael and Taman brought their fists up over their hearts and bowed slightly in respectful salute.

 

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance your highness," responded Taman, with a smile, his intense blue eyes and hawk-like features seemingly lightening when he spoke to her for the first time. "Our itinerary has us making a couple detours before having a light lunch and meeting at the Hall of Righteousness. If you or your entourage need anything, please, let me or one of my aides know, you are here as our honored guest, and we'd like to sustain our reputation of frank hospitality intact. I hope that not proceeding to the meeting right away is agreeable to you?"

 

Whilst they were talking, Rafael and Taman had begun to usher the Princess and her staff, along with their own entourage, to a set of escalators heading down into the lower bowels of the huge airport, at the bottom of the escalators, long corridors abounded, designed to handle the huge influx and outflow of travelers. These were the tunnels that led to the highly efficient monorail system that ran into Stormsend from the airport, which would be their main mode of transportation, instead of having to suffer through the use of large numbers of vehicles. Movement by the monorail was much faster than any jaunt out onto the highways that led into the Stormlands' capital. Despite being underground, the corridors were painted with bright colors with very elaborate designs, to provide more light within the hallways and seemingly detract from the darker nature of typical underground corridors. 

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"That is absolutely fine. However, I would appreciate if you could have my servants and four of the guards brought to the locale of the meeting. They have a thing or two to prepare, which they can do while we are underway. I'm eager so see more of your capital."

 

While they were walking to the monorail, the Princess let her eyes wander around occasionally, taking in the architecture and art all around her with a smile. There was so much to look at, an entire nation and culture to get to know.

And so little time for it all.

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"Of course, that is entirely acceptable," responded Taman, quickly turning to a few of his aides and conferring with them quickly in hushed tones, before the aides about-faced and headed back to the terminal. "The convoy that bore us to the airport shall bring your servants and your four guards to the Hall of Righteousness, they will be given any assistance needed to prepare whatever you need done."

 

"Stormsend was designed as a very 'green' city, Your Highness, the High Council has put a strong emphasis on what we like to call the 'circle economy'. We try to waste very little, Stormsend itself this year alone, has attained a five percent solid waste target. Everything else is recycled or reused elsewhere, the government takes great interest in ensuring whatever materials can be reused, are done so in the most effective way possible. Companies and corporations have been very eager to help us, as it cuts down on their procurement costs," explained Rafael, in a polite tone as they rounded a corner, where a high speed monorail train sat on the tracks.

 

"Obviously one of the hassles of air travel, as most people have found, is finding affordable parking that is close to the terminal, the monorail was put in to alleviate this and stop the usage of cars as a main mode of transit to and from the airport. Similar initiatives are in progress all over the country, and as long as you can get your luggage to a station entrance, their are transit assistants ready to help move luggage to a train," he continued, as the doors to the monorail slid open, the cars devoid of other passengers, as it was reserved for the dignitaries.

 

"We'll be stopping by a facility that helps us glimpse our goal of a society that has to procure little for itself in the way of raw materials, when it can recycle so much," noted Taman, as they stepped aboard.

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"Of course, that is entirely acceptable," responded Taman, quickly turning to a few of his aides and conferring with them quickly in hushed tones, before the aides about-faced and headed back to the terminal. "The convoy that bore us to the airport shall bring your servants and your four guards to the Hall of Righteousness, they will be given any assistance needed to prepare whatever you need done."

 
"Thank you. They won't need to prepare much, just a specialised computer that'll permit me to communicate with my husband through a strongly encrypted channel." She smiled, the 'specialised computer' being in fact a disguise for the smallest possible ansible that could be built with Tikal's current technology. Though it could also provide additional processing power for the small portable holocomputer that the Princess had on her left arm.
 
 
 

"Stormsend was designed as a very 'green' city, Your Highness, [...]

 
The Princess listened carefully providing her thoughts after Rafael finished briefly, "Attempting to recycle as much as possible is a commendable policy. I couldn't say just how well our initiatives work, but Tikal too has made great progress since its inception towards creating the potential for complete sustainability. In our case we have invested much into technologies that permit manipulation of material on a molecular level, including assembly and disassembly of complicated machinery. You could compare it to fancier 3D-printing, I suppose, though these technologies have stupendous power requirements. Our focus regarding that concerns mainly fusion power and whatever may come beyond it."
 
 
 

"Obviously one of the hassles of air travel, as most people have found, [...]

 
Again, she listened with care, nodding once or twice in agreement or understanding. While entering the monorail, she again spoke, "Tikal's transport system isn't quite as sophisticated, I believe. We do have monorails and other public transport, though electric cars still prevail on the streets of our cities and metropoles. With our clean energy generation facilities, the environmental impact of those vehicles is minimal, however. Regardless, the sheer dedication of your nation to clean energy, to recycling and so on is admirable. A pity that so many other nations dedicate themselves to more destructive pursuits instead."
 
 
 

"We'll be stopping by a facility that helps us glimpse our goal of a society that has to procure little for itself in the way of raw materials, when it can recycle so much," noted Taman, as they stepped aboard.

 
She smiled at Taman, nodding. "I am very much looking forward to seeing this facility." Edited by Lynneth
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"The Stormlands has numerous energy projects and studies that are ongoing, some of which involve fusion power which will hopefully bear fruit within the next year or so. We have slashed petrolchemical production rates by a considerable amount as we move towards becoming less dependent on it ourselves, whilst retaining our national reserves. The exports we still continue to do, provide plenty of funding to the government nonetheless, especially after a reorganization of the energy industry allows for profits to go to more useful investments, rather than corporate pockets," noted Rafael, taking hold of an overhead bar as the monorail began to lurch forward after all were aboard.

 

"Many automotive producing companies have begun moving towards providing smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles to the general public, and the government is trying to limit the sales of larger vehicles for obvious reasons. I daresay I believe the move has done much to reduce air pollution in several of our metropolises, and I hope that trend continues to move in such a direction," he continued.

 

"I daresay that the Stormlands was honored that you and the American Commonwealth gave us the opportunity to provide the observers on the Mexican Referendums, individuals within my administration, as well as the Administration of the Interior were quite proud to provide their services to work as election officials for those purposes," stated Taman, when Rafael was done responding to the Princess. "How fares the new additions to Tikal? How fares Tikal in general nowadays? I, of course, get my own reports of news from within nations from my staffers, but I believe it far better to hear these sorts of things from an individual involved in the day to day governing of a nation itself."

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"The Stormlands [...]

When Rafael took hold of an overhead bar, the Princess sat down instead, watching the others enter the train for a few moments. "Regarding the petrol industry, I confess that if anything, Tikal only boosted production rates, especially after two large oil fields were found off our coasts in Belize and east of Honduras. Most of the extracted oil is used for the medical and plastic industries, among others, with perhaps a third of the total being exported for financing things. We also developed technologies to lessen our reliance on actual oil fields, third-generation biofuels chief amongst those.

"But as I mentioned earlier, the majority of privately owned vehicles uses electric power. Still, Petroleum and Biofuels are slowly being phased out, and I expect that they'll be completely out of use in the vehicle industry within two decades. Without all these pollution-preventing measures, the air in Guatemala City would be so smoggy that one might need to carry a gas mask with them at all times. I'm glad that you are taking care to avoid pollution just as much."
 

"I daresay that [...]

The Princess smiled and nodded. No need telling the Stormlander that Tikal had briefly considered less friendly measures in regards to the Mexican protectorate.

 

"It's good to hear that your administrators and overseers think so positively of being given the opportunity to oversee the referendum. As for the newly added regions, they are slowly being integrated. There are, as always, some dissenting voices, but we're offering them generous incentives to either emigrate into the new Mexican state, or integrate themselves into the new system.

 

"Though I confess that for someone not used to how we handle things, generally, it may be difficult to adjust so suddenly, especially in the second two thirds of their lives. But their children and children's children will grow up in this new and better environment, so I believe it only a question of time until integration completes properly."

 

She took a few moments to continue watching the landscape rush by through the windows. "As for Tikal as a whole... Well, as you may have noticed, we're slowly opening ourselves up to the outside world, diplomatically. Our endeavours beyond Earth, in the aether are progressing quite nicely, though unless you've been watching actively, it might be that you don't know all that much about what we're doing up there. Later, I could elaborate a little on that, if you'd like.

 

"Otherwise, not much that could be considered major developments is going on, really. There's research, technological advances, laws being re-evaluated and so on, and so forth. Many small things. Then again, you might not be getting all that much information from your staffers - as far as I'm aware, our news aren't broadcast in other nations by our news agencies, and foreign agencies are not permitted to report on internal affairs at the time. But if you'd like to know anything specific, just ask. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge, if it doesn't concern state secrets. Then I'll say nothing, obviously." The Princess chuckled briefly, leaning back in her seat. It was a little uncomfortable to her, but what public transport wasn't?

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"We're hoping to see biofuels help with providing funding for the agricultural sector, its definitely not an ailing sector of our economy, but its one that needs some adjustment and work. There are lots of incentives for farmers and small agribusiness syndicates provided by the government to give more efficiency to crop output. The Administration of Progressive National Development has been working tirelessly with a pharmaceutical company to synthesize a much more safe pesticide that will be naturally-based, but not harmful to the environment, beyond killing insects that afflict the crops. This goes hand in hand with what I've heard are efforts to strengthen the Stormlands' honey bee populations to improve pollination rates and ultimately help with continued high productivity of crops," stated Rafael, as he held on tight to the railing above him.

 

The approach the monorail was taking into Stormsend provided them all with views of the outer districts of the capital, with large condominium rises that had large amounts of glass for their facades, to permit natural light. Large window boxes built into the building that could be tended to by the tenants had explosions of green that would leaf up and out over the edge of the boxes. These large condo towers were spaced relatively well apart from one another, and surrounded by large amounts of trees and shrubbery, with large paths to walk and recreate on, and space for all to run, play, and enjoy themselves. These were typical residences for workers in the city itself, and the condominiums were relatively large, able to comfortable host a small developing family.

 

Rafael would explain a few of these attributes and the requirements of the national urban building codes to the princess just to give her an idea of what she was looking at. These were essentially suburbs "rethought", without the large numbers of private homes and small plots of land that were hardly worth anything for anyone. These condos provided a new sense of community, and coed sports organizations and competitions between towers was relatively high, and this sense of fun, but competitive spirit was stoked by local municipal leaders.

 

Taman would listen to the princess attentively, and nod his head as he listened, keeping a fairly strong eye contact with her as she spoke, whilst Rafael seemed to go to and from keeping eye contact.

 

"Well, I'm quite glad that things are going smoothly, and I wish you well in integrating your new territory into the rest of your nation. Such matters are more a question of time rather than anything, people learn to accept new laws and sovereignty, patience by the new integrator is the best trait one can have, I believe," smiled Taman, a little knowingly. "There are a few internal issues of our own, including tackling some allegations of corruption in the southern reaches of the Southlands Commonwealth. This might be apt to cause some strife, but we're hoping to deal it a solid blow in the coming weeks," offered Taman, speaking on some recent news from the southern part of the Stormlands.

 

"Personally, I'd love to hear more about your progress in orbital research. The Stormlands has been very busy preparing space launch facilities, which have already begun to put up satellites into space. We're hoping to send up more than that, and we very much look forward it," stated Rafael, zeroing in on the topic of space research and progression.

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"We're hoping to see biofuels [...] the railing above him.

There wasn't much for the Princess to add to, other than voicing her agreement to protecting benevolent insects such as bees.
 

The approach the monorail was taking [...] stoked by local municipal leaders.

"Tikal's cities are somewhat more tightly built and more crowded, but I suppose that's simply the difference in philosophies our nations are following. Though we do try avoiding US-style suburbs. An unsightly, inefficient mess, those. To let citizens in larger cities experience greenery and nature, we instead have opted for a few large parks, similar to NYC's Central Park, as well as green skyscrapers. Buildings that house a few floors, filled with plants and sometimes even animals from various parts of the world. These green towers were a rather ambitious project, but today Guatemala City for example can boast a combined 150 square kilometres in park areas from green towers alone. If you're ever in Tikal, visiting one or two of these towers is practically a must." The Princess nodded to herself, already planning to do exactly that upon her return home.

"There's so much that I could tell you about these projects to make living in dense cities better and healthier, but simply talking about it doesn't truly communicate the feeling you get when you see the actual results with your own eyes." She sighed briefly, then chuckled. "Then again, there are some researchers who're working on specialised devices that may allow for such things, for these experiences to be shared with other people directly. Whether it'll be successful and not turn out to be nightmare fuel, that I don't yet know though."
 

Taman would listen [...] space research and progression.

After listening carefully to Taman elaborating on Stormlands' own experiences with internal issues, she rolled her eyes with a smile when Rafael came to speak of aether research. With a few motions, performed so often that they almost went too quickly and fluently to watch, a hologram sprang up from her arm-bound computer. It showed a miniature version of the solar system, only out to Saturn at the furthest, yet still filling much of the car's free space. The planets, some major moons and the asteroid belt were all shown in a soothing blue.
"Tikal has in the time since I and my husband came to power put many things into the aether. Around Terra herself, there are some minor stations in Medium and High orbit. We're avoiding GEO, as it's not quite suitable for our purposes." While she spoke, an orange circle lighted up around earth, showing the extent of MEO.

"Other than that, we have pushed towards some Lagrange Points in the Sol-Terra system, as well as the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Jupiter's Trojans and Greeks, and finally even Saturn and its Trojan and Greek equivalents," she continued, the appropriate locations lighting up as shimmering orange areas. "That's the major operations that I think would be relevant. Unfortunately, I cannot speak much of the details of these missions and journeys. I hope you understand, as they are all classified in one way or another.

 

"In short, Tikal has invested much into aether research and related technologies, and I believe us to be the foremost authorities in things relating to the aether beyond Luna's orbit, despite other nation's posing and militarising of the area around our homeworld."

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"Ah, well, Stormsend gets much more dense as we enter the inner city, these suburbs are a lot more evenly spaced, which does reduce a bit on the city's overall biospherical footprint," responded Rafael, with a gentle smile. "The government quarter is nothing but a mass of glass and concrete, with some parks interspersed within it, as well as some parks inside the buildings as well. The center of the Hall of Righteousness has a large park dominating it, where workers and our Councilors can walk whenever they feel like doing so. I much enjoy such walking in it when I have lots of thoughts that need to be sorted and sifted through."

 

"I'd gladly visit Guatemala City some time, just to have the experience of visiting such a structure, I've never had the pleasure of visiting there, and I daresay I enjoy making trips abroad or within the Stormlands whenever I can. My schedule does much to hinder that enjoyment, but I do fairly well, I must say," he continued, with a smile.

 

A number of individuals in the Stormlands delegation would be taken aback when the hologram seemed to set itself up in the car a miniature digital rendering of the solar system out to a certain point. Rafael and Taman looked at each other, seemingly fairly quite impressed with the display, the Lord Protector listening attentively to the Princess, as he looked at the detail of the model that had exploded into view. "It seems that Tikal is quite far ahead, going to the far reaches of Sol, when we are just trying to put together a research station in orbit, and we're still working on the design of said station. We're hoping to see progress in the putting of pieces of the station into orbit within the next calendar year. Perhaps we should collaborate with Tikal on this endeavor, and perhaps have your state help in making a dream realized."

 

As Rafael spoke, the monorail train had progressed from the greenery and spaced out towers into a more industrialized sector of Stormsend, on its journey into the city. The train was beginning to slow down near a relatively clean-looking facility that had a series of circles for a logo on the side of the building, and the name 'Metacycles' painted in big bold, professional lettering next to the emblem. "Ah, it appears we've hit our first stop."

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"Ah, well, Stormsend [...] with a smile.

"If you ever do visit Guatemala, or any of Tikal's major cities, I would gladly give you a guided tour. Though I understand the necessity to keep to the schedule quite well. It is not often that I can afford free time for more than an afternoon."
 

A number of individuals in the Stormlands delegation would be taken aback when the hologram seemed to set itself up in the car a miniature digital rendering of the solar system out to a certain point. Rafael and Taman looked at each other, seemingly fairly quite impressed with the display, the Lord Protector listening attentively to the Princess, as he looked at the detail of the model that had exploded into view. "It seems that Tikal is quite far ahead, going to the far reaches of Sol, when we are just trying to put together a research station in orbit, and we're still working on the design of said station. We're hoping to see progress in the putting of pieces of the station into orbit within the next calendar year. Perhaps we should collaborate with Tikal on this endeavor, and perhaps have your state help in making a dream realized."

"Tikal has had much time to pursue these endeavours, and not few resources were invested to make all this possible." A few adjustments later, the hologram 'focused', zooming in on the Earth-Lunar orbit and the things within. Thousands upon thousands of miniature dots were visible around the planet, their soft glow nearly obscuring the world beneath.
"We are also hoping to resume the duties of an entity that, once upon a time, busied itself with clearing up the debris orbiting our world, lessening the likelihood of Kessler syndrome in our modern world. But, that aside, I'm sure that Tikal and Stormlands could come to an agreement in working together to bring parts of your station into an orbit. We do not use rockets, for the record."

Again, the hologram shifted, this time showing only a part of the Earth, with Tikal as focus. The mountains dominating the nation's landscape were highlighted yellow. "Our method requires high mountains. Seeing as Stormlands' part of the american cordillera reaches higher than most of Tikal's peaks, you might even have an easier time using our methods. But that's all I can say about it for now. If you'd like to know more, please remind me after the meeting proper, yes?"

The hologram vanished with another gesture, and the Princess let the things she had said sink in, while waiting for the Stormlanders to speak again, or for the train to arrive at its destination.
 

As Rafael spoke, [...] our first stop."

She nodded, looking at the sign. "Metacycles, hmm? This ought to be interesting."
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"I will surely be glad to take the time to visit Guatemala City at some point, to take you up on that offer, Your Highness," nodded Rafael, with a smile. "I've often equated being Lord Protector, to being the father of a newborn clutch of quadruplets or some similar number to that. Although I do have a number of capable 'babysitters', so to speak, much cooperation within the High Council requires my presence at times."

 

Rafael and Taman continued to seem quite impressed by the hologram map that the Princess had produced, almost like little children discovering a new locale to play in, or exploring a newfound place that they had found themselves in. They both would look attentively back at the princess as she spoke, closely watching the graphics she was presenting. They could only surmise that the thousands of miniature dots represented satellites and other orbital platforms, which seemed to almost completely cover the Earth and shield it from their view. Taman, who was something of a flight and aerospace enthusiast, looked back at the Princess, "I've heard of the syndrome you speak, and if such an event were to occur, I daresay it'd be catastrophic for humanity as a race. I must say your desire to take responsibility for cleaning up debris is admirable, to say the very least; and I think the Stormlands would be happy to assist in such efforts if we could arrange our space program soon enough."

 

Rafael made a mental note to discuss the methods of launch used by Tikal, which seemed to be dependent on mountain ranges, of which the Stormlands possessed plenty to utilize.

 

The monorail would finally slow to a stop in the station that serviced the Metacycles plant, and the doors would open, a few scattered High Guards were already on the platform, looking wary but relatively relaxed, despite the presence of the dignitaries they had been assigned to protect. Rafael would take the lead as they stepped out, and would usher the rest of the individuals within the monorail car out onto the station platform, and spoke to the Princess gently, "Welcome to the Forge District of Stormsend, the primary industrialized sector of our capital, not very large to be honest. Stormsend is mainly a city committed to governance, and a strong commercial sector, much of the industrialized regions lie outside of the capital," he explained, as they started towards a set of escalators that would take them up to another platform deck that led to a skybridge towards the Metacycles facility. The large facility seemed to dominate more smaller workshops and industrial facilities in the visual area, having its own bridge from the monorail station to an entrance at the far end of the air bridge.

 

"Metacycles is the leading recycler of rare earth elements in the Stormlands, essentially the [I]only[/I] recycler of rare earths in our nation, as the process is relatively expensive, but still economically viable. Its a hard service industry to get a running start in, and Metacycles has taken awhile to build up investment to be able to do what it does now," he continued, as he proceeded to the escalator system. Despite being in an industrial sector, the station seemed impeccably clean and the air quite without any pollution to inhale unlike most industrial sectors within a metropole.

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The monorail would [...] sectors within a metropole.

Upon stepping out of the monorail, the Princess looked around for a few moments before setting her focus into the direction of the larger buildings that they were approaching, all the while listening carefully to Rafael. She nodded once or twice in understanding as he explained the workings of Stormsend a little more.

 

"Quite interesting what the company has built here, though I do wonder why only Metacycles decided to try and develop these recycling technologies. Surely there's some other large industrial companies that would like to get into this market, if it is indeed profitable?" She said this while looking down at one of the workshops below, taking the opportunity to let her eye adjust itself a little, permitting clearer vision amongst other things. "On another note, I presume there's quite strict guidelines on filtering and preventing pollution? The air appears surprisingly clean, and easy on the lungs." To underline the statement, she inhaled and exhaled audibly enough to be heard by the Stormlanders, smiling afterwards.

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"The problem isn't with recycling, its starting up the corporation, and they don't run at a huge profit margin. Most corporations are looking at heavier profits, Metacycles does well, but it isn't making the same kind of money that it could be in other industries. Many investors look for a high profit return, Metacycles isn't a high profit return company, its certainly lucrative, and it supplies almost all the industries of the Stormlands with recycled raw materials, but it has a relatively low return rate. Its a stable company, and one that has a growing market and sees profitable returns, but most companies prefer to just let Metacycles provide the materials to them, and not dabble in the process itself," explained Rafael, as they walked across the bridge towards the facility.

 

"You are quite correct, Your Highness," added Taman, as Rafael opened the door to the facility. "The Stormlands tries to enforce a very strict policy of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions to try to limit air pollution and keep it clean, especially in major cities. How fares your own nation in dealing with such things?"

 

As Rafael held the door for the rest of the individuals in tow to step inside, they would enter a long corridor that overlooked the facility, off to one side was a large entrance for employees only. The corridor overlooked the entire facility's interior, the place where they entered being in a portion of the factory where workers could be seen scuttling about on the floors below, sorting pieces of old computer units, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and other electronics. The corridor was lined with high definition screens that could be keyed for more information, there were also places to sit and watch the entire goings on below, essentially providing a any member of the public free access to glimpse of the operations being done below.

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"The problem isn't with recycling, [...] towards the facility.

"I see.." She nodded. "Thank you for elaborating on that."
 

"You are quite correct, [...] with such things?"

 "Tikal is very concerned with keeping pollution to a minimum, so there are laws and regulations in place. They might not be quite as thorough as yours however, so there's still work to do, new technologies to discover. It's getting better every year, but the pace is slower than I would prefer it to be." She shrugged. "Still, gradual change is better than none at all, or outright ignoring the problem."
 

As Rafael held [...] being done below.

The Princess took the opportunity and stepped towards one of the screens, taking a few minutes to read some of the provided information. Of course, there most likely wasn't time to read everything, so after a few short articles, she went back to the main menu, stepping into one of the observation areas afterwards to watch. She appeared quite interested in the proceedings below, briefly wondering what methods for recycling this company might be using that hadn't been discovered in Tikal.

Edited by Lynneth
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  • 2 weeks later...

"Reduction in air pollution can eliminate so many health problems, I could never imagine living in an industrial age London, I'd probably die on my first breath of arriving there. Its good that Tikal is working towards reducing their own air pollution. We're far from perfect, and there are a number of cities that still have issues with air pollution, Stormsend is probably one of the biggest exceptions, but its certainly progress," nodded Taman, recalling a few major industrial nexus cities still dealing with air pollution problems, especially in the northwest and north.

 

Rafael let the Princess look over brochures over processing and recycling methods, which included material breakdown using chemical synthesizers to return the material to its original composition. Much of it was utilizing non-harmful chemical breakdown methods through a variety of stages so that the recycled material could be reused in whatever manner the customer wanted.

 

"The biggest challenge for Metacycles is actually initial sorting process, because it is human labor intensive mainly, sorting out materials that come in, so they can be processed properly," stated Rafael, recalling his own tour of the facility.

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"So, if the sorting process could somehow be automated or otherwise made redundant, the efficiency of Metacycles' techniques would quite possibly soar?" Interesting to know. There probably were ways to do that with the appropriate technologies.

 

She stood, walking to look down at the lower floors. "Is there anything else that might be interesting to know? Or would that be the most important things concerning this facility and its functions?"

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