Helping to Mend Relations

[Sarah Tintagyl]

One of the main desires of the Zelle Administration in France had been to befriend and interject French reason and pacifism into the war torn states of Europe, Therese realized that at the beginning of this, she had a lot of work. After the fall of Burgundy she was able to look at the states, Denmark and North Germany had been at each others throats, whilst the German states were barely ever able to come to terms, and things only got worse as you headed east, that is until you hit Slavorussia with was embroiled in a civil war. So, looking past the borders of France, even if this was the most peaceful Europe had been in a long time, it wasn't saying much. However one had to start somewhere and Therese who had good relations with North Germany and wanting to become friends with the Danes found it the best way to start relations, by repairing the faulty relations that already existed. Those between Denmark and North Germany. The least that could be done was to lay out the problems and maybe if those two came to terms with each other, it would spread throughout the rest of Europe.

As such two letters were sent to the Danish and North German Governments.

[quote]
[b]TO: The Leaders of North Germany and Denmark
From: The Desk of Therese Zelle, Prime Minister of France[/b]

[i]Your Excellencies,

I realize that this letter may come as a bit of a shock, but I have been approached by various underlying parties in the light that there could be an adjustment and improvement to your relations. Knowing that the history between North Germany and Denmark is a bit volatile I am hoping that the intervention by a third party, in this case the French will help both of your glorious nations come together for the sake of peace. What I would like to accomplish is to see the problems of your peoples laid out on the diplomatic table and take them down piecemeal, one at a time. From there perhaps both Denmark and North Germany can leave the table to reflect a new friendship on the whole of Europe and perhaps at that point, the dark cloud that I feel is gathering around our continent will be torn aside for at least a time, so that we can concentrate on healthier things. Please come to Bordeaux as soon as possible and the negotiations can start. I look forward from hearing from all of you.

Sincerely,

Therese Zelle[/i]
[/quote]

[Kaiser Martens]

Dierik was sitting at a small desk, overviewing a design as one of his science men explained him the need of modifying a blueprint. Ahead of them several tank chassis are seen, and farther away other people work in making a mock-up model to demonstrate this...Germany has been working very hard as of lately. Then the message arrives to him, he raises an eyebrow and nods.

The German stance on Denmark had been clear for a long time as well as unchanging. But maybe for once it'd be worthwhile to show the world that before declaring war, at least he may consider giving words a chance. But he felt disgusted by this in principle...the military men of Germany felt disgusted by politics.

"Alright...let the French know I'm on my way to Bordeaux. Meh. They're sincerely trying to help. At least for the sake of being nice to our friends we should give this a try, regarding of skepticism..."

An hour later, Dierik's plane takes off.

[Franz Ferdinand]

David Hasselhoff had been sitting at his desk looking over the affairs of Denmark. It appears that his predecessor, Vega, was quite the isolationist interventionist with his policies. Certain changes had to be made to better stabilise the situation of the state of Denmark. Top of the list was stabilising the list of friends and allies after the slow but steady decline of many of the former allies. The only ones which still stood were the South Germans and the Holy American Empire, both great friends and loyal to the end. Looking at some of the policies put in place by Vega carefully, the most outstanding was that of the North Germans. These people had been at odds with the previous rulers of Lübeck and then Denmark for quite some time. The wounds of the past take a long time to heal, yet it was definitely time to get them resolved as soon as possible. All of those who had betrayed Franz Ferdinand, founder of the great Lübeck/Danish people were either dead or destroyed.

Just then, a letter was delivered to David which allowed him to smile a little.

"So, the French have taken it upon themselves to potentially end this hazardous situation which has lasted for so long between us and our neighbours. Now, this could be worth attending, hopefully both sides can get out of it exactly what they wanted and potentially put to rest some, if not all of the ghosts from the past. From what I've heard, this Therese Zelle is a stunning woman and as I can't resist extremely attractive women, I must say that I have no option but to attend this meeting."

David called over to a clerk and said the following to him:

"You there, can you send a response to the Prime Minister of France stating I accept the invitation to come to Bordeaux and that I shall depart as soon as I can. Speaking of which, I should get changed, I really must look my best for this most beautiful of leaders."

With this in mind, David got himself ready, boarded his private jet and relaxed for his time in Bordeaux was sure to be an adventurous one.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

OOC: Set prior to the French Civil War

IC:

For the arriving ambassadors, they would be met by a contingent of the Knights of France, the French Special Forces that Therese had carried over from Aquitaine. They bowed low and walked both Martens and Hasselhoff towards their respected limousines and from there were driven from Bordeaux towards the Prime Minister's personal residence at Roquetaillade in the French countryside. When they arrived at the medieval residence, they were greeted outside by the smiling face of the French Prime Minister as she bowed low, her dress dragging lightly against the ground as she was surrounded by a contingent of her knights. "Monsieur Hasselhoff, Monsieur Martens, Dierik..." She smiled at both of them, her relationship was a bit better with Dierik as that she had met him once before, David was a complete stranger, but both seemed to be in good moods at the moment and so it made her job and her greeting ever easier.

"Welcome to the Chateau de Roquetaillade, my home, if you would both follow me inside, we can begin our business." She turned and walked them into the castle and then into a parlor where a map of Denmark and North Germany had been laid out as well as a few bottles of white wine and cookies. Therese was never one to leave out the possibility of eating. She gestured for them to sit on the couches and sat down herself and sighed. "Now that we're here, I would like to begin with a laying out of both of Your Excellencies distrust, problems, and what your country would like to see come from these negotiations and then we can meet in the middle. As all compromises do. But I am curious because I believe you are both reasonable men and we can come to a conclusion."

[Kaiser Martens]

He smiled widely. "It is nice to see you again! How is Adelheid doing? This country looks better than ever..."

Yes, he was in a good mood. It was such a far cry from the ever-grim Tambarskjelve...and too the Danish representative seemed to be many things, but unlike old Vega, did not seem to be outright a psycho. Things looked good. Martens shakes hands once with each. He speaks to Hasselhoff in Dutch, although with a bit of a Swedish accent to it, "Herr Hasselhoff. Finally both of our countries have reached a point in which discussion without outright insults is possible. It is a honor." Then, not to leave Therese out, he switched back to...whatever they were speaking before, either Nordlandic or German in Dierik's case, which were the most common tongues in their regions save for of course French, which he himself did not speak.

"Now I think that both countries may benefit from modifying their policies in order to achieve lasting peace in our Regions. Let's prove to the world that, for once, we can make things work without involving gunpowder."

[Franz Ferdinand]

David smiled and bowed to Therese. "Dearest Prime Minister, your country is truly amazing, and your home is just breathtaking. If only the Danish were able to construct such monuments, then there would be more beautiful things in the world."

David was clearly breath-taken by the absolute beauty of the French nation and the architecture. He had only seen such craftsmanship in his dreams, he really must learn more about the history of this nation at a later time. Needless to say, such thoughts were more appropriate for another time, as there were other matters at hand which had to be resolved first.

David accepted the handshake with great enthusiasm and responded to Dierik with the following, "My friend, it is a honour to meet such a living legend as yourself. It has been my dream to re-establish communication with your grand nation. As you might have noticed, I'm not like my predecessor, Vega, whose fanatical devotion to the founder of the former nation of Lybæk and current nation of Denmark, Franz Ferdinand, clouded his judgement in a few certain areas. The past is the past and most of the damage, as far as I am concerned, has been repaired. Therefore, the only thing which needs to be done is to normalise relations with your great state and restore stability between our borders. I hope that as a result of this intervention will result in the best potential outcome for all parties involved with the minimal amount of friction occurring on the end."

[Kaiser Martens]

"Yes. Allow me to explain the previous situation, in order for context to be understood, and then to propose a fix."

He takes out a map,

"Here is the situation previously to the Silver Revolution, in which Denmark existed separately from Germany." (RL borders)

"This is what happened afterwards. With the rise of Scandinavian Unity and the revolution, Denmark was divided. Ny Sverige took most islands, and Germany took the part of Denmark which can be roughly called a "Peninsula". This happened because of practical as well as political reasons."

"Ever since, for many decades, things remained that way. The only period in which there was trouble was a rebellion at Köbnhavn for a brief moment when owned by Germany. After that, the next thing we hear is Vega's exploits which we're all very aware of. Historically, one can say that Vega attempted and did take territory which had historically through one period in now ancient history belonged to Denmark. That has got to be the reasons for his claims."

"At the same time, our state has continued to consider our old territorial posessions in modern denmark to be core territories due to their relevance in our history as described before. This caused for Vega to have an extremely anti German stance, because, essentially, it simply meant that we waited for a chance to invade. What Tambaskjelve wanted is to have our land claims back and have the rest of Denmark to be annexed or merged into Scandinavia, restoring the post-revolution borders." - Now, a map of the current borders is shown.

"Because of the nature of European politics, any such battle is likely to become a continental war if not a world war. Even in the eventuality of a potential victory, this is unacceptable for reasons obvious to any man who appreciates their citizens' lives. Therefore, what we need, is to come, if possible, to a halfways solution."

"First, I will mention the things which are the easiest to agree on."

"One thing which we cannot absolutely do without is normalization of relations, or rather, constructing relations where there are none. Allowing passage of citizens and stepping down military presence at the borders, which do make us seem as if we'd be ready to go to war anytime. That is common sense. But we have also decided to add one more thing here to benefit Denmark. Creating an Autobahn specifically for Denmark's use for Southern Germany and Denmark to communicate, together with an aerial path. Which equals to a partial, restricted means of military access, to cause both allies to be effectively connected even in the usual German Neutrality. This would improve the war survivability of Denmark as well as Southern Germany's. We would handle this as a ticket of our good will, too. Oh and of course, we'd like to see our language and futhark not longer being banned."

"The other side of our situation, which is the most complicated, has to do with territorial situations. My advisors have come up with several options to explore. Keep in mind that, also, it must be noted that for us, Heligoland is, as the name shows, a holy territory, which we want to have and them turn into a DMZ."

He puts forth a small sheet describing each option:

A: Restitution of full German Claims to the Danish Mainland peninsula, being compensated with former Estonia to Denmark.

B: Restitution of Pre-Revolution (RL) borders between Germany and Denmark. Ceeding of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa to Denmark.

C: Plebiscites involving separately all of the main disputed territories: Jutland, Danish Slesvig, German Schleswig, Holstein. (Dividing the mainland part of Denmark in four to then let the people decide region por region what they would want. Ceeding of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa.

D: Ceeding all claims minus Jutland, the northern part of the peninsula. The two Estonian Islands go to Denmark, but in addition to that, a portion of coastal territory opposite of those islands is granted in the Baltic region to roughly match the exchange.

"So then, what we have is essentially the will to compensate roughly an equal amount of given territory in Denmark for territory in our far east. The amount of "Compensation" territory varies accordingly to the new territory for Germany. To prevent stepping on populations' toes, we look for the far east due to its less populated nature. Some of the "parts" of the land exchange may be suceptible to plebiscites, if so wished..."

"That's what they could come up with, anyway. Now what we need to know is what our neighbors may have to say about this all."

Edited May 12, 2010 by Kaiser Martens

[Franz Ferdinand]

"The restrictions which were imposed on North Germany by my predecessors, I am willing to remove entirely as they are quite detrimental to both of us, and this includes the lifting of the embargo for your nation in the Danish Straits and the unbanning of the Nordic language and the Odal rune.

The main issues with the scenarios that you pose are the unfairness in regards to the exchanges of land. For example, if we go back to the pre-revolution borders, we'd lose around 3-4 million citizens with a return of only 50,000. As you can see, that is quite a substantial amount of citizens we'd lose which would severely hit our industry. Unfortunately, Jylland and Nordslesvig have a overly strong Danish majority which we do not desire to abandon. Thus, that rules out option A and potentially D. We are willing to transfer Slesvig-Holstein and our lands within Hamborg to the North German nation in return for a more fair and balanced offer. For said lands to go to North Germany though, Denmark expects an equal or equivalent land offer in return because the land is quite important to us in regards to the manpower it provides us which will take some time to recover from."

David pondered for a moment and something quickly came into his head,

"Out of interest, are there going to be any other foreign observers arriving to make sure that what is laid out here today is reasonable and/or fair to all parties?"

OOC: Are the pre-selected observers (Baron Uberstein, Lynneth, etc.) allowed to post in this thread, or are they already here?

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Perhaps." Therese began after studying the maps. "Since the political problems between you both are solved and only territorial claims are a problem. North Germany would like to see their mainland regions restored and Denmark equal compensation for those claims. Now, since Germany seems to be willing to give up Estonia, however the populations are a bit awry. I would say this, Germany has much to gain from the aquisition of Hamburg and those areas surrounding it and of course the actual Danish homeland would not come into play at all. I would say, Germany could take those regions outside the Danish peninsula, which are I believe large population centers, in return, Denmark could gain all of Estonia, including Tallinn. I believe then the population loss and gain on both sides would be about right and with the open border agreements as well as perhaps at least the signing of economic pacts here could build a strong future between you both."

"Something perhaps such as this?" She said drawing her own map. "Would that be suitable?"

[img]http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7307/landtransfer.jpg[/img]

"As to the other diplomats, I had not been aware their presence had been requested. Though I can make some calls."

[Uberstein]

OOC: Forgot this was going on. Sorry.

IC:
The Finnish observer arrived quietly and sat in the corner of the room, watching the negotiations.

Edited May 13, 2010 by BaronUberstein

[Karl Martin]

OOC: Just made a map for everyone: http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1759/proposali.png

[Kaiser Martens]

"In our offer, we did not consider the matters of different amounts of population in the different areas. This is because, in the end, if we ceed you land in the East, you do not get new population: Our population does come with us. Likewise in South Denmark, by obtaining that, we get no population boost because those loyal to you will move to Denmark proper. We're willing to offer money to prevent disturbing peoples' lives in this case. Our populations will remain almost the same in any cases, which is why I had made those offers. I beg you to keep this in mind. That is why, if we're to exchange land, in most cases we believe it should be done on a "pixel to pixel" basis, with some leniency of course, and why giving all of Former Estonia for south slesvig and the rest of the areas would not, in our opinion, be completely fair."

"We have also invited a Southern German observer."

OOC: That is to reflect the fact that no matter what we do here, we won't have more or less population ingame, so land transfer should be for us ICly something that has nothing to do with the population, because OOC it isn't either...noone's pop or infra will decrease or increase, right? Also, Über and Lynneth's representatives sure can post.

[Lynneth]

A few hours late, Westerwelle would arrive.
"Terribly sorry that I'm late, but I was held up. I don't know how it happened, but it did."

He quickly went through the transcript of the session until now.
"Okay, well. Moving millions of people takes a lot of time, money and resources, you might or might now know that. In addition, Denmark does have an industrial base in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, which they would lose when giving the land away. Would North Germany be willing to help move the industry of the region into Denmark proper or the newly acquired regions of Denmark?"

[Kaiser Martens]

"We will gladly pay for that. In our previous land exchanges, this has been a standard procedure. We wish for Denmark to statistically remain exactly as it is, for otherwise, things would not be fair. We'll keep the industry at the newly-gained territories and use that industry, combined with our preexisting industry, to build new industrial centers for Denmark in the new territories. That is the honorable thing to do."

[Lynneth]

OOC: Bumping...

IC: "That sounds reasonable. What does Denmark say to this?"

[Franz Ferdinand]

"The problem, as I see it, is that Slesvig-Holstein and Hamborg hold more value to us than the two islands you propose in exchange ever would. You must remember that the lands you requested are the oldest existing possessions of Denmark, and as a result, their value towards us is unrivalled. Estland, or equivalent territory, in response to this, would be considered a decent exchange considering the ceremonial value. Other problems which need to be factored in is the issue regarding the transfer of National Treasures and our great monuments within the region(s). Slesvig-Holstein and Hamborg are quite profitable in their produce while the lands in the east are very limited in regards to what can be built or grown there. With this in mind, I agree with the proposal from the gracious French Prime Minister."

Edited May 19, 2010 by Franz Ferdinand

[Kaiser Martens]

He thought of his answer for a long time, narrowing his eyes, focusing, thinking very carefully.
After a short while he says,

"Islands plus 50% of Estland. You're underestimating the importance of that territory. Having that "division" in your land makes your overall country more defensible as there's somewhere to fall back on. Furthermore, we have detected oil by one of those islands which can be exploited by you then. As for the treasure transfers, if needed, we can use our army to help out if large scale movement is needed. Trucks, cranes, the works...what do you say? You get to pick which zones out of that 50%, too. You get new land to compensate the lost one, you get all your stuff transfered for free, you get new infrastructure built in your new zones, you get a spot to make a good oil platform. If I offer anything else, my Taxpayers will slaughter me!" He laughs.

[Lynneth]

"This sounds like a decent compromise. Herr Hasselhoff, what's your opinion on this?"

[Franz Ferdinand]

David thought carefully about this and looked at a map of the regions of Estland for quite some time with great focus. Finally, he was ready to speak,

"We believe that your offer is a most gracious one and in regards to the 50% of Estland, I wish to know what you have in mind in regards to splitting the region. That way, I, and the nation of Denmark will have a better idea what the exact offer on the table shall be."

[Kaiser Martens]

"Let's see...maybe something like this."

He grabs one of the maps and makes crude border re-drawing...

[img]http://i48.tinypic.com/ajkm6t.gif[/img]

"See, we'll even throw in a bit of the former Latvia just to be extra nice. All you would need to do now is mark the spot where you want us to build you your city-port with airport included."

He changes maps, checking what he'd be getting, "Let's see...ah, yeah. That." - Referring to the new border presented by france. "Reestablishment of the old Danish-German border then and the super tiny Heligoland. Hmm. Sounds about right to me. Plus the other terms that we've previously established and mentioned. I think we have us a deal. What do you say? Win-Win situation."

[Franz Ferdinand]

"The borders drawn up are acceptable to us. Pärnu shall be the designated capital of Baltikum, as we shall call the overall region, and thus, shall be where the city-port and airport shall be built."

David looks at the German map one more time,

"What shall be the status of Femern, just to clear that bit up as the gracious Therese marks it under Danish jurisdiction, yet I'm wondering what your opinion on that island is."

[Kaiser Martens]

"I wouldn't mind at all having it...but it is not something to make or break this deal at this point. I'll leave that Island up to you. I can't wait to give the citizens these news. We should hold a joint press conference to announce the changes, as well."

[Franz Ferdinand]

"We'd prefer Femern personally, and wouldn't mind continuing our control of it. Overall, I believe that should be everything covered, any other matters left to deal with, if not, then I believe all the goals of this meeting have been met."

[Kaiser Martens]

"That is fine, you can well have it. I guess it is a deal then." He extends his hand.

[Franz Ferdinand]

David receives the hand and returns the shake, "I do believe it is."