Eoni-Lusatian Diplomacy

[Moshel-Generał]

"Thank you for the offer, I think I will take you up on it. After all I've never been here before." She would shake the Deputy Minister's hand before heading out to meet the guide and go explore the Old City, after ensuring a letter was sent back home. A little while later when the Embassy Staff arrived the Deputy Minister would receive a gift of an Eoni Carpet, which was a new version of the old Luclistani Carpet.

[alxeu]

The Deputy Minister graciously accepted the Carpet, and referred the gift to the Foreign Minister, who chose to have it be placed in his office, partially to spite the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the embassy staff would be informed of the location of the embassy, and would be led over to the location of the embassy, and given contact details for local companies which could supply various goods to set up the embassy as the Eoni saw fit.

Meanwhile, the guide would escort Nori, making sure his official government worker's badge remained clearly visible on his chest. The police, while having been ordered to allow the demonstrations to proceed within the Old City, were on edge, and there was some concern any disruption to the demonstrations might cause them to get involved. Still, they arrived unimpeded to the Old City, where they soon discovered that further movement was impeded by a large crowd in front of the Old City's Farmer's Market. A large group of Eoni demonstrators were protesting that the Farmer's Market barred produce from Eoni-owned farms, and they were being forced to try and sell their produce in outer parts of the city, where less people lived.

[Moshel-Generał]

Nori would see the protest and pause, turning to the guide. "So is this common here? They seem to be very adamant about something."

[alxeu]

The aide responded, "Ah, you probably can't understand what they're talking about that well. They're complaining about the biased and segregationist policies of this farmer's market. Usually, the protests aren't as frequent or ubiquitous as they have been these last few weeks, but Reverend King whipped them into a passion, recently. The EONI has promised a sort of year-long protest, so to speak, and depending on how well it goes, they were talking about extending it until the government could ignore it no longer. This is their latest target, however. They alternate where they protest, partially because some of the protesters need to return to their daily lives, partially because they want to hurt the businesses economically, but they also don't want to drive them out of business, merely drive down their profits. It's worked to an extent. A few of the more popular eateries around here have changed their rules, just to avoid further bad press and economic losses. The farmer's market here has been a bit more resilient."

[Moshel-Generał]

"It is difficult, I only speak Eoch and Luclistani, and that not great anymore. We haven't spoken a language beside Eoch since the Revolution." She looked over the protests. "I suppose it would be a bad idea for me to go down there. Don't want to start an international incident."

[alxeu]

"It would probably be a bad idea to mingle into the crowd, yeah. We could probably try and talk to one of them individually, but if they got wind of you being from Eonivelt, no doubt the incident would wind up in the news, and there's no telling how the newspapers would spin it."

The aide looked around a bit.

"If you want to avoid this crowd, we can cut around some of the streets. There's a decent chance the crowds will clear out further into the Old City, where the recently desegregated cafés and restaurants are, and where the old castle is. A bit further along, and we can tour the university grounds, or cut across some of the backstreets and pop out in the downtown area, really up to you. At any rate, regardless of which direction we go, we're liable to run into something either monumental or historic, given how old this city is."

[Moshel-Generał]

"I've never been in the news before," Nori said thinking a moment. "Never did anything to get mentioned in the Vérité. But you have a point, I'm not hear to mess with your political affairs, so we should avoid the crowd. A tour of the university would be nice. Never been to one before."

[alxeu]

The aide would nod, and begin to lead Nori to the University.

"Since we're approaching from the southern side of the University, we'll probably come across the statue of Petyr III, known as 'the Conciliator,' who, along with the first Prime Minister of Lusatia, authored our nation's Constitution. He was a well-read nobleman, and believed in many of the ideals of the contemporaneous Enlightenment ideals. It was also him who ended our nation's long history of serfdom, and ensured that all citizens were to be guaranteed the most basic rights of all men: life, liberty, and property."

As they walked along, and approached the university. paved roads gave way to older, brick roads.

"They've wanted to keep the aesthetic of a revered. old-school university near the actual grounds of the university, so they've delayed on modernizing the roads here. Regardless, we're approaching the Colleges of Literature and History, right now. There's a guest lecturer here right now, actually, a man named Atonin Jankowski, who is discussing the conditions of both the Eoni and urban poor in Luclistan prior to the Eonivelt Revolution. It's open to all visitors, so if you want to hear how Lusatian scholars perceive Eonivelt, we can check that out. Otherwise, there's a relatively large tour of the campus grounds nearby, which should allow for an incognito tour of the entire campus."

[Moshel-Generał]

Nori would be a little impressed by the statue, however she didn't spend to long looking at it, preferring to look at the architecture around. "I would like to sit in on the lecture. It'll be interesting to see an outsiders view of the Revolution, especially since I lived through it. And perhaps after that a tour would be appropriate."

[alxeu]

The aide would guide Nori into the lecture hall, and they would sit near the back of the crowd there. Antonin Jankowski, the guest lecturer, was in the middle of displaying photography from the period immediately before the Revolution, taken by foreign journalists.

"As you can see, conditions in Luclistan were hardly better than they were almost a hundred years prior, and, in many ways, the situation was actively deteriorating due to the sheer size of the enslaved Eoni population. The expenses involved in maintaining such a labor force, that is, making sure they had just enough to eat so they wouldn't starve to death, and making sure they had enough shelter to not die from exposure, were immense, and so even some very basic needs were ignored in the days leading up to the Revolution. This sparked minor unrest among the Eoni population, but this only strengthened the resolve of the slave-drivers, who punished even the slightest hint of disobedience in the days right before the Revolution in Luclistan."

"Meanwhile, conditions in the cities weren't much better. Employment was hard to come by in post-Great War Luclistan, as even though a significant amount of the working age population died, the enslaved Eoni population was instead sent to work in the factories, which resulted in returning soldiers without a job, contributing to increasing poverty and restlessness in the general population. Attempts at job marches and protests were common in the late 1940s, though every attempt prior to the start of the Revolution was crushed severely."

"With this in mind, it is easy to see how the leadership of the Revolution was quick to lurch leftwards once the Shah was deposed. While a majority of the Luclistani Revolutionaries were liberals who merely sought an end to autocracy, there were also many socialists, whose ideas no doubt rang true with the recently freed Eoni population, and likely inspired many of the Eoni deputies to the temporary national assembly. They would even standby in the early days of the schism between the Luclistani Republicans and the Eoni Revolutionaries, and would only be fully removed from the Revolution when the Genocide began."

At this the aide paled, and turned to Nori, and apologizing, whispered:

"Apologies, Ambassador, but the prevailing academic view of the events in Eonivelt label the expulsion of the Luclistani humans (and the deaths that followed it) as a genocide. I hope this doesn't detract too much from your opinion of the University, otherwise."

[Moshel-Generał]

Nori would nod, not really reacting to the statement. "Don't worry. We understand that outsiders may not fully understand the situation as it happened. None of you lived through it after all." She would turn to the aide. "Please ask him how he would have recommended fixing the problems in Luclistan."

[alxeu]

The aide would raise his hand after this, and repeat the question to the lecturer when he got the chance.

The lecturer would think a bit, then respond.

"Good question. Without intimate knowledge on the actions of the Luclistani Shah and his government in the days leading up to the Revolution, it is hard to say for certain, but I honestly doubt that, outside of a sudden change of heart, the Shah would never have been removed without violence. He was an autocrat of the old guard, and if it weren't for his will for self-preservation, he might've chosen to die rather than surrender his crown, or his powers."

"I can't help but feel a similar situation occurred in the last days of the Luclistani Republic. No doubt the Eoni representatives saw a shrinking window of true political freedom where they would lose their voice in national affairs, and their leadership had to take action. Of course, once one side feels betrayed by the other within a Revolution, the dominoes quickly begin to fall, and each action taken from then on is out of obligation to prevent the repercussions from the previous decisions from catching up to them. In some sense, once the factions in the Luclistani Republic had a falling out, the road to the genocide was inevitable, and from the Eoni perspective, the alternative was probably unimaginable."

[Moshel-Generał]

Nori would listen to the rest of the lecture. Once it was over she would turn to the aide. "How open would you say everyone would be to me meeting with Mr. Jankowski?" She paused after saying his name, having struggled a little to pronounce it. "Nothing major, just speaking a little more about what your people know about what has occurred."

[alxeu]

"It should be no problem. The guest lecturers usually hang around for some time after speaking to answer one-on-one questions. We can wait for the room to clear out for a bit, then talk to him.'

[Moshel-Generał]

Nori would nod and so they would wait, and once it was clear enough she would approach Antonin, offering her hand for a shake. "Mr. Jankowski, I'm Nori. You lecture was very interesting. I was wondering where you got some of the images and information? It was very well put together."