The Eternal City

[Pikachurin]

Though he had lived in Jubilife since his father's rise to the throne nearly two years ago, Max had always considered Eterna as his home away from home. There were several things to like about the city. Eterna, after all, was Disparu's own version of the Federated States' New York City. The city had barely changed that much since it switch from Canadian to Disparuean hands. The city, originally called Ferinh by the Canadians, was still one of the largest and most technological cities in the continent, and was also the largest and most populated city within Disparu. There were only some subtle differences - there were more open spaces, more trees and plants, and less Canadianism in the city. All changes had an explanation, though - all Disparuean cities were required to plant a certain amount of trees and reserve areas as open spaces based on the city's size, and the first federal Government of Disparu, which was led by his father, had tried its best to scrub the city of it's Canadianism lest it became a Rational Communist shrine. The Government's effort was futile, as residents fought to preserve their history, and the general aura of the city remained intact. There were also new buildings constructed by the Disparuean Government after the city came under their control.

Château Eterna was an example of a newer building built by the Government. Though it was designed to look like a château from the late 19th century, but it was actually built only four years ago under the direction of Disparu's first Monarch, Queen Caitlin. The château temporarily served as Max's home shortly after the late Queen's assassination and his father's coronation as King. The family eventually moved to the new capital, Jubilife, after the insistence of his father. His father, who was slightly eccentric, claimed that the Château was haunted by the former Queen's ghost, and convinced the Pikachurins to move to Jubilife and their new Château in the capital.

Max was sent by his father back to Eterna as soon as school ended on Friday. Apparently, his father wanted a report on Château Eterna's current status. Château Eterna recently returned to eminent domain, though the Government had always owned the Château even during it's time as the Monarchy's ceremonial official residence. His father wanted to check on what was happening to the Château (apparently, the Government was converting it to some sort of museum), but he had too much paperwork to do back in Jubilife. Max didn't complain that much when his father told him to fly to Eterna as soon as possible. Sure, he had better things to do like hanging out with his friends or working on his overdue project, but he always enjoyed visiting Eterna.

He was currently on a limousine and was headed towards the Château. Despite the fact that he had already seen Eterna's major landmarks several times in the past, he still felt a feeling of excitement every time he saw them. Both the Center Tower and the Nakheel Tower were still being used and still stood against the elements and the sky. Max saw the top of the SkyTower in the SkyCity, a nearby city adjacent to Eterna.

It wasn't only the buildings that attracted Max to Eterna. There was also Eterna's vibrant culture. It was one of the rare places in Disparu where remnants of the former regime still existed, mixed together with various other cultures, systems and beliefs. Max saw hundreds of people walking in different directions outside his limousine. Some were entering shops, some were drinking coffee in an outdoor café, and some were tourists who were also admiring the beauty of Eterna.

After a few more minutes of sightseeing, Max grabbed a bottle of iced tea from the limousine's cooler, laid back into the leather seat, turned on the television and began channel surfing.

Fifteen minutes later, the limousine finally reached the Château's entrance after going through countless security checkpoints. Max grabbed his coat and stepped into the stone street outside. Max was met with a blast of cold air and several members of the Royal Disparuean Guard saluting at him.

"Your Majesty, I would like to welcome you to Château Eterna. We are glad that you are visiting today." said one of the Royal Guards, saluting.

"Likewise. Oh, and, at ease." said Max, nodding at the Royal Guard who welcomed him. The Royal Guards went back to their normal positions.

"Dad sent me here to check on the Château." continued Max. "The Château's current caretaker and some government officials were supposed to meet me here."

"Oh, Mr. Darach and company has been waiting for you." replied the Royal Guard. "I shall go announce your arrival to them." the Guard continued. The Guard marched back into the Château.

Pereneus Darach was the Château's current caretaker and the widower of the former Queen. He insisted on becoming the Château's caretaker when the Pikachurins announced their intent to move to Jubilife, and had lived on Château Eterna ever since. He was quite surprised after the Monarchy announced that the status of royal official residence would be transferred from Château Eterna to Château Jubilife and thought that he would be kicked out of the Château, but fortunately the Government allowed him to stay.

A few seconds later, Pereneus Darach appeared outside the Château's door, followed by several other people he didn't recognized. He still looked the same since the last time he saw him, which was Christmas last year. He was a tall, thin man who wore glasses and had slick, black hair which was combed backed. He looked vibrant and lively when he saw Max.

"Hello, Max. I've been expecting you." said Pereneus, chuckling. "Welcome back to Eterna. Have you been keeping well?"

[Pikachurin]

"Thank you for visiting us, Master Pikachurin." said Pereneus as Max stepped out of the Château. "It is truly appreciated. If you need anything else here in Eterna, please let me know."

Max's tour of the Château had gone fairly well. The last of the former Queen's personal possessions have been moved out, and the new artifacts for the museum were beginning to arrive. The Château was being converted to a museum dedicated to scientific history, and as a result it was also undergoing a major aesthetic renovation. Banners and posters had been set up, walls were being repainted, and the Château's slightly outdated infrastructure was being upgraded.

Max was finally headed to his next destination - the SkyCity's SkyTower. Max used to stay in the Château during his visits to Eterna, but since the place no longer belonged to the House of Pikachurin, Max now had to stay with the Berlitzes, who owned an apartment atop the SkyTower. The Berlitzes was another reason why Max liked visiting Eterna. The Berlitzes were a young couple who were friends with the Pikachurins. Both of the Berlitzes held major positions within Disparu, one being the Mayor of Eterna and the other being the Legislative Triumvir of Disparu.

Unlike his parents, who were middle-aged, unsynchronized with modern trends and were usually busy with national affairs, the Berlitzes were young, friendly and trendy. They could discuss the latest trends, the most popular topics and other things Max was interested in. For example, they could talk about an artist's recently released album, or a scandal that rocked the sports world several months ago. But they were also mature enough to discuss deeper topics, such as religion, law and culture, something that Max's friends were generally unable to do.

As Max's limousine drove towards the SkyCity, which was approximately thirty minutes away from the Château and Eterna's Government Sector, he would pass by another major historical landmark in the city - the former ComIntern Headquarters. It became an extremely controversial location as soon as Disparu took over the city. The first federal Government attempted to demolish the building in an attempt to cleanse the city of its Canadian roots, however they were met by angry residents and protesters on the day of the demolition. The building sat derelict for a couple of months until it was acquired by the Communist Party of Disparu. The CPD restored the building to its former glory, and even added some extras to make it their own. The current façade of the building consisted of a large sign bearing the CPD's logo (a yellow hammer and sickle with a star above it, superimposed on a red maple leaf), several red banners similar to the ones used by the Rational Communist Canadian regime, and three flagpoles bearing the flags of Saboria, Rational Communist Canada, and Disparu. There were several anti-Communist protesters outside the building, as usual. The protest was kept at bay by officers from the Eterna Police.

[Sargun II]

OOC: I keep imagining all of your characters as pikachus with glasses and hats

[Jordosaur94]

OOC: Really? Lol That's funny! I have to admit, Eterna's a far cry from New Berlin, which I estimate to have 35,000 people in it.

[Pikachurin]

[quote name='Sargun' date='30 March 2010 - 09:20 PM' timestamp='1269998399' post='2241670']
OOC: I keep imagining all of your characters as pikachus with glasses and hats
[/quote]

OoC: So all of my characters look like this?

[IMG]http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii55/LT_imageserver/lolPikachu.png[/IMG]



[quote name='Jordosaur94' date='30 March 2010 - 09:43 PM' timestamp='1269999797' post='2241695']
OOC: Really? Lol That's funny! I have to admit, Eterna's a far cry from New Berlin, which I estimate to have 35,000 people in it.
[/quote]

OoC: The city was originally created by Lynneth when he RP'd as Saboria/Canada, and he probably had more infra and tech than me at that time so I automatically made it the largest and most populated city in Disparu.

IC:

"Oh, Max, it's nice to see ya again!" said Platina Berlitz, enthusiastically, as she hugged Max. "How's it going, buddy?" said Paul Berlitz as he ruffled Max's hair. "You've gotten taller since your last visit here."

"Hey, Platina. Hey, Paul." replied Max, smiling. "It's been a while, eh? What's up?"

The Berlitzes' enthusiasm and informality was one of the many reasons why Max always liked the Berlitzes. Both of them remained enthusiastic, carefree and informal despite being busy politicians (Platina was the Mayor of Eterna, Paul was the Legislative Triumvir of Disparu). They didn't really mind it if Max called them by their first names, unless if they were in the presence of Max's parents or if they were in formal events. Even then, they only insisted on calling them by their last names to make sure that Max wasn't falsely seen as a rude teenager by the entire nation.

"Have a seat, Max. Would you like anything to drink?" said Platina as she and Paul sat down on a couch. When Max said that he was fine, Platina continued. "So, anyways, life's been pretty busy, as usual. We've been filling out tons paperwork and hearing out complaints and grievances from local residents. But that's boring, and I'm sure you wouldn't want me to bore you on the details."

Paul shifted in his sear. "So...what's up back in Jubilife? Are your parents okay? How's school?"

"They're doing what they've been doing in the past few months." said Max. "Filing out paperwork, going to other nations, listening to MPs rant about subjects they probably don't care about, that kind of stuff. School's been getting harder as we're nearing exams, and all of our teachers seem to be bent on making our lives miserable by dumping tons of homework and projects on us."

Paul and Platina laughed lightheartedly. "Eh, they always do that, even when Platina and I were still studying." said Paul.

"Oh, Max, did you read the latest copy of [i]Le Poutine[/i]? Apparently Cynthia isn't too happy about it..." said Platina as she began to talk about [i]Le Poutine[/i]'s satirical article about a mysterious package found by a gardener outside the Jubilivian Chancellery, the official residence of Chancellor Celeste.

Their conversation eventually devolved into other subjects. A lot of things were discussed - from movies they've recently seen ("Oh, did you see [i]Avatar[/i]? It was epic!") to Disparu's adventurous exploits into space ("So they're now planning on sending a rover to Mars, eh?"). The conversation eventually reached a rather touchy subject - religion in the world and in Disparu.

"Hey, Paul, what do you think about the Roman Catholic Church's current state?" inquired Max as he leaned forward.

"Huh? The Catholic Church? Well..." said Paul as he leaned back into the couch. "It's pretty stable here in Disparu, with Létourneau leading it. A huge part of the population are a part of it, though there's also some non-believers out there, like us. I'm a bit unsure about how the Church is outside Disparu, though. It's strong in other North American nations like the Federated States and Tahoe, but unfortunately it seems to be regularly rocked with scandals and such." Paul paused for a bit before continuing. "Remember the time the Church was split into two sides, and each side was calling the other as illegitimate? It wasn't pretty, nor was it appropriate. After all, a lot of people follow the heads of religious groups as moral leaders."

Max sighed. "Speaking of religion, what's with this Dragon Cult that's apparently rising up around the world?"

Platina groaned. "Oh, Max, don't tell me that you're another convert that's gonna try and convert us. I had to deal with a couple of loony-heads a couple of weeks ago who apparently converted to the Cult after visiting their Web site."

"No, no, don't worry. I'm still Catholic, thank you very much." said Max. "What I mean is that, what exactly [i]is[/i] the Cult? I haven't heard much about it, since information about them seems to be rather limited around here. I figured that you probably know more about the subject, since you're both in the Government."

Platina laughed out loud. "Max, just 'cause we're Government officials doesn't mean we know everything that's going on behind the scenes. We're basically in the same boat, since I personally don't know that much about it either."

Paul sighed. "The lack of information about them is a bit easy to explain. You see, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Science and Tech have been doing some secret cover-ups of stuff about the Cult. It isn't anything like mysterious deaths or disappearances or anything like that, don't worry. They're just trying to keep the Cult low-profile due to several reasons."

"Like what?" asked Max as he leaned forward even more.

"First off, the Government apparently doesn't want to damage it's relations with the Federated States by allowing the Cult to grow. As you may have heard if you keep up to date on the news, the Federated States seem to be taking action against the Cult, and the Government has kinda been following along." Paul paused for a bit. "Secondly, the Government's paranoid about the Cult. They think it'll overthrow them or something."

Max laughed. "Heh, the Government's paranoia of everything isn't really a secret nowadays."

Paul smiled. "Yeah, I agree with ya. Anyways, despite the Government's actions, members of the Cult are still allowed to practice their beliefs as long as they don't go against the laws of Disparu. They're just like other religions, and their rights to worship and to believe are secured by the Disparuean Constitution." Paul leaned back. "There's a couple of followers here in Disparu, but there really isn't any formal structure to the cult in these parts, unlike that faux Canadian Empire."

Platina sighed. "They aren't really causing that much problems, Max, though there's an occasional radical that tries to convert people to the Cult through odd means. I won't elaborate, since they're a bit too weird for me to retell, but you can always go down to the Archives in City Hall if you're interested in knowing."

[Lynneth]

OOC:
<3

Love how you keep the Canuck heritage alive here, Pikachurin.

[Pikachurin]

[quote name='Lynneth' date='03 April 2010 - 05:49 PM' timestamp='1270331332' post='2246852']
OOC:
<3

Love how you keep the Canuck heritage alive here, Pikachurin.
[/quote]
OoC: Thanks!