Fwurg

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

Dana Lantria Asillion's office has been informed of the location of the meeting beforehand, and her private shuttle was swiftly guided to one of the landing pads of the space port of the ancestral palace of House Iaat in Sastragara, one of Mirda's megacities. Even though the city had more than a billion inhabitants, the area around the palace was clearly not meant for highrise buildings, and the ancient core of the city appears to have been preserved as far as the eye can see.

A private hovercar was waiting at the space port to take miss Asillion -- as the driver addressed her -- to the palace proper. There, she was lead through several unobtrusive yet clearly present security checkpoints before she finally arrived in an opulent room that could even be described as a meeting room.

The room itself featured a large wooden table with very comfortable chairs. There were several large windows, though they did not have any glass in them. The only seperation between the outside and the room were some sheer curtains that seemed to be more for decoration than for actually stopping the humid and hot air.

Three female servants stood at the ready should anyone need something, and a pitcher of cooled water was already present on a side table.

Only moments after Dana was led in her hostess arrived there.

"Miss Asillion, it is a pleasure to meet you in person.", the marquise said with a small bow.

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

Dana wasn't surprised that she was addressed as 'miss Asillion'. In fact most people addressed her like that. It caused her to relax just a small bit. Being relieved she wasn't addressed by her full name as some other worlds insisted on.

"Lady Iaat, thank you for agreeing to meet with me." Dana said, bowing enough to show the proper respect, but not to indicate subservience. She clearly had some familiarity with Veolian customs.

"I hope our efforts will be fruitful."

She ended her bow after those words. Allowing her hostess to start the negotiations or continue exchanging pleasantries, at her leisure.

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"As do I -- please, sit down", she said as she herself picks a chair facing the windows that also allowed her to keep an eye on the door.

"I look forward to hearing about your investment group's plans in the organics market. I am convinced that we will be able to determine if and how we can assist each other. But first, it would be nice to get to know the woman I will be negotiating with", the marquise continued.

"It isn't every day that her imperial majesty Saret Neferti becomes involved with someone.", she added with a tone of voice that spoke of respect for Dana's perceived achievement.

After gesturing one of the servants to server some water, she turns her attention back to Dana.

"Are you familiar with veolian customs with regards to informal introductions among women?"

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

Dana made a mental note of the fact the Marquise picked the highest ranking seat. But decided not to read into it to much.

She smiled at the compliment. "Why, thank you." Dana said as she sat down at the second highest seat, next to the Marquise.

"And yes, I am familiar with those customs. Please, why don't you start." She added politely.

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

((OOC: Oops... She did indeed take the best ranking seat, but I did not intend any insults (subtle or not) from the marquise ~_~

I'm guessing you see the cyborg remark as an insult? If so, what can I change to make it a genuine remark of respect for the achievement of being involved with the empress? I wanted to get of on a good start, not by insulting Dana T_T))

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

((OOC: Lol XD. I was originally planning to complement Veolian architecture in my first post, so I went looking for the proper way to make a complement in high society. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to make it specific enough, which is not good for the compliment. The page also said to avoid certain thing, because they could be seen as insults.

Since you have the whole high society thing, I made the assumption you knew these things. And the way it was done implied it was one of those high society tactics.

The "Especially if they are cyborg" implies Dana is a lesser person/peasant/unworthy (difficult to put into words) because she is a cyborg. Depending on if you want to call attention to the fact Dana is a cyborg or not, I suggest you say something along the lines of how it's impressive she's involved with the Empress or that the Empress doesn't get involved with just any cyborg.

Once you have edited your post, I'll edit mine to make it fitting.))

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

((OOC: Ah yes, I see how that can be misinterpreted. In veolian culture, being involved with an empress is an achievement of political manoeuvring, and the fact that you are a cyborg makes it even more of an achievement. The 'Especially' here was meant as a way of coupling the "I'd like to know you better" with "wow, that's an impressive achievement." ^_^

I'm actually winging a lot of the 'high society' interaction, though I might have more experience roleplaying high society characters than others. If you can link me to that page I would be very happy.))

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

((OOC: You made it worse by making it less subtle. T_T

Perhaps these three will aid you: http://www.debretts.com/british-etiquette/communication/face-face/compliments, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-mirza-grotts/giving-and-accepting-comp_b_2476316.html, http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-modern-etiquette-how-to-give-and-receive-compliments-1378450

I'd avoid comparisons. ;)))

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

((OOC: There. I changed it again. I actually want this character to be kind, and not place such subtle insults. That would be the job of a jealous veolian noblewoman, like Dewa Lanadi or Nehket Sajjana.

Though those articles are an interesting read, I think we shouldn't let ourselves be guided too much by how contemporary OOC 'high society' feels compliments should be given. Veolian and astrian culture is not exactly contemporary to start with. And some of the advice they give might not even work out very well, both IC due to cultural differences, and OOC because of the text format. Only complimenting specifics is very diffcult if you can only perceive generic things. Nor does the whole thing of 'keeping eye contact', tone of voice and other body language work if we simply forget to write that down while we envision the scene.

I suggest that we're simply honest with our descriptions of the intention and tone of a character such that a compliment is "heard" as a compliment, even if it might have been phrased better. Roleplay ahead! ^_^))

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

((OOC: And we can continue. Sorry for being a stickler, but the whole complements thing kept popping into my head when I read your previous attempts.))

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"My origins are humble. My father a farmer in the service of House Iaat, and my mother a servant working for a small house allied with house Iaat. My father was Kisan Muraka out of Kisan Puravan and Ritu Julaha, my mother Mahtsi Erina out of Mahtsi Baracha and Sahas Rajila. I was adopted by House Iaat about five hundred years ago, at the age of twenty-three."

A servant put down two glasses with water for the women.

"In my childhood I had a niece, a girl called Mahtsi Lillī, with whom I frequently played as our parents shared a house. We grew up together chasing mice, playing hide and seek in the fields, going to school together and eventually chasing boys together. As we grew up, our village was frequented by the local lord, Lord Maransi, and his son every few years as they toured their holdings. With my mother working for their family, they knew our name which was an honour for our family.

One of those times, during the monsoon season in the year I turned fifteen, the lord and his son visited our family twice in a year. I learned that Lillī was asked to come to court, and rumour quickly spread that she had caught the eye of the lord's son.

I took my second breath during the summer six years later, when I met Lillī again. I found her lying at the side of the road while driving home from work, severely beaten and left for dead. After getting her to a hospital, she told me what happened. She told me that she was raped by a nobleman of a rival of house Maransi, as a message to the lord that he should call of the arranged marriage of his daughter, or his daughter would be next. In my anger that someone would hurt Lillī like this, I felt a surge of power course through me as I envisioned what fate I would visit upon her attacker."

She took a gulp of water, as her friendly face showed hints of repressed anger at such abuse.

"In hindsight I am glad that lord Maransi's son found the attacker before I did. I fear I might not have been able to show proper restrained had I found him, and that would have meant the death of my family."

She looks at Dana.

"I'm sorry that I do not have a happier tale to tell, but I find that the truth is more valuable than the benefits of shrouding my culture's undesirable qualities in vagueness."

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

Dana looked at the Marquise sympathetically. Then her expression turned stone cold.

"I hope that bastard was properly executed for his crime." She said, before she remembered that not every culture had a tendency to executing rapists like the Astrians did.

Composing herself, Danas expression returned to normal.

"My apologies, I forgot myself for a moment. Thank you for your honesty. Please continue."

She knew the Marquise wasn't finished as she had yet to mention her hobbies.

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"No apologies are necessary, your anger is entirely understandable."

"Unfortunately he wasn't convicted. Lillī was a commoner, and he a nobleman, the case didn't even go to court because it was his words against hers. He said that they shared a leisurely afternoon together, after which she went home unescorted. Whatever Lillī said did happen had no impact on the ruling."

She took a sip of water.

"I currently work for several large charities, one of them seeking to abolish slavery in the commonwealth, and another to provide aid to and counselling to women that became pregnant against their wishes, regardless of the circumstances. I am also on the board of several smaller charities that strive for more local goals, such as the preservation of certain types of wildlife, and the improvement of the schooling system by offering free programming and cultural classes."

"Much of my free time is spent tending to my gardens. I keep my larger garden maintained as a traditional garden; a stream, a waterfal, several smaller areas for different species of tree, and a small meditation area. The other garden is more of an experiment, and I'm currently transitioning it from an assembly of northern daybloom species to the a selection of more aggressive eastern nightbloom species. But I must admit that I do not have enough time to actually investigate the best assembly of species to make the transition stand out.", the marquise's use of veolian gardening jargon showed her commitment to the pasttime but it did make actually understanding her more difficult.

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

Though she wasn't exactly given the go ahead, Dana assumed it was her turn to introduce herself.

"Thank you for sharing that. Before I joined the Bluethread Group, I was mostly unknown. My father is Gerald Odarian, the second son of William Odarian and Esmiralda Hermitage. My mother was Illiana Asillion, the daughter of Terian Karteros and Nathan Terios. She died in an accident over sixteen years ago."

She took a sip of water.

"About five years ago there was a rather unorthodox attempt on my life. I was heading to a site outside Triad City, for an inspection, right at the start of summer. Summer outside the city is dangerous on Stellaria. Arriving at the site I found nothing. To make matters worse, my vehicle broke down and my communications were being blocked. Lucky for me, the guy who masterminded the attempt didn't know much about Astrians. Otherwise he would have known Astrian children are taught summer survival in school.

I was quick to take my survival kit from the vehicle and abandon it. I found an ancient cave nearby. I got a nasty sunburn on my way to reach it and close the entrance, but at least I was safe from being fried. Inside the cave were a well, with plenty of water, and there grew more then enough Goddess Bread toadstools along the walls. My survival was pretty much guaranteed."

Dana had spoken with a rather nonchalant tone, but it now switched to one of awe.

"To my surprise, I also found cave paintings. Astrians stopped making cave paintings over 6000 years ago. I didn't know this at the time, but the excruciating detail these paintings had me completely mesmerised. It was practically a photograph, that's how detailed it was. I spent a lot of the three months I was in there studying the paintings. It gave me a new appreciation of my people and our history.

When the rainy season started, I started walking back to the city. After about a day walking my communicator started working again, I was picked up less then an hour later. After a long bath and a good nights sleep, I went back to work. The guy who made the attempt, a human business partner, looked like he saw a ghost when I walked into the office. He had thought he could gain some of my assets if I was gone. He went bankrupt a year later instead."

Dana smiled.

"But more importantly, I made sure the cave was added to the cultural site preservation list and became interested in history. It's a fond memory, even if it isn't exactly a happy one."

She took another sip of water.

"My hobbies are relaxing with one or several of my girlfriends and painting. Which I took up after living in that cave for three months."

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"I begin to see why her imperial majesty is involved with you", the marquise said with a smile and eyes sparkling with understanding.

Her face became more businesslike as she continued.

"So tell me, as chairwoman of the Bluethread Financial Group, what do you wish to discuss with regards to the industry?"

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

"With pleasure."

Dana reached inside the jacket of her business suit. Taking out a small holoprojector and put it on the table. Pushing a button on the side, it showed various graphs. These graphs showed things like stock values of several companies, the sorts of goods these companies produced, profit records and other financial data. What was unusual was that the most recent time periods in the graphs had barely increased compared to earlier periods which had more healthy growth rates.

She gave the Marquise a moment to examine the graphs before starting to speak.

"As you can see, the growth of several of our organics related holdings are stagnating. While these holdings still make a healthy profit, we are currently unable to invest in them because there are not enough materials to effectively increase their production lines. Specifically organics.

The Bluethread Group wishes to increase the production of and , however Stellaria is not an optimal location for producing . While Serina has a fair number of industrial farms, there is no room for expansion. Which is why we are looking outside the ACA. We approached House Iaat first because you are one of the largest producers of in the Union."

Dana spoke rapidly, but not hurried, and quickly came to the point.

"To come to the point, first and foremost we would like House Iaat to become our supplier for . Additionally we would like to purchase small amounts of and of kinds that are not available in the ACA or even unique to the Veolians. Such products would fetch a decent profit in the ACA, where most people are interested in limited and contrasting goods.

Would House Iaat be willing to provide this service to the Bluethread Financial Group? And what would you ask in return?"

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

Marquise Tijārata shows great interest in the graphs, and listens carefully to the initial information given to her by Dana.

"I see...", she takes some more time to inspect the graphs.

"I must say that this surprises me a little, our last projections show that Serina can support a much greater yield than it's current output. I suppose we might have missed some relevant piece of information on the economic developments in the novalia system."

"Before I can give a realistic estimate of prices, set up duration and other economic considerations, can you give me an estimate of the amount of you expect to buy from us per ? House Iaat has been preparing for a significant improvement of the industry in the commonwealth. I do not expect a problem with the amount, but such drastic shifts in an economy take time to execute."

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

"I take it you mean that the farms on Serina can be incorporated? Technically that's true. Unfortunately, the Astrian Farmers Cartel holds a monopoly position on in the Novalia system and incorporating those zones would lose them that position. Many of the organics based products sold in the ACA are expensive, because the AFC has kept prices artificially high. We import substantial quantities from the Hiocans to keep things affordable. But it's far from an ideal situation as these goods need to go through a series of health and safety regulations before the can be sold to the consumer."

Dana explained to the Marquise.

"Which is another reason I approached House Iaat. If the Bluethread Group can import , we will effectively have broken the AFCs strangle hold on the market."

She paused a moment to take another sip of water.

"As for amounts. We would like to start with 300 per . After a certain amount of time, we would like increase this amount. Considering that time could be between half a year to a whole year, I would suggest we discuss that when we reach that point.

Of course, we understand you can't deliver the immediately. Nor do we require that. We don't have the necessary production capacity yet anyway. We want to wait for the results of this negotiation before we start investing."

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

Marquise Iaat was at a loss. According to Dana's statement, the farms on Serina are part of the Astrian Farmers Cartel since they apparently hold a monopoly position, yet at the same time incorporating those farms apparently would lose them that monopoly. Not being able to make sense of this, she chalks it up to a lack of knowledge about the local legal situation and focusses on the deal at hand.

"As you know, are somewhat of a burden to grow and harvest on a scale that is large enough to take part in the galactic market. This is mostly due to the demands placed upon the worlds that can grow , and the commonwealth's commitment

Because of this, and the ever-growing demand of our domestic economy, we are currently experiencing somewhat of shortage ourselves. This situation is exacerbated by several factions within the commonwealth, with House Dewa and House Shebi being among them, aggressively lobbying for imperial support in their buying of based products to maintain their expansionist agenda."


The marquise told one of the servant's to show the prepared figures. As the room's built-in holoprojector comes to life, a second set of graphs springs into being next to Dana's projection. It shows historic figures on growth in the Union, and in the Commonwealth. The two historic graphs are remarkable the same, with the Commonwealth line lagging a bit behind the Union's total output, but not by much -- the Commonwealth seems to produce roughly half of the Union's .

"Our own production has scaled so slowly we have even tried to source from other systems, yet none seem capable of increasing their output. So, in response to the low production and high demand, we have made a long-term plan to improve our situation by acquiring several high-yield facilities on Mirda and converting them to specialised hydroponics complexes. As such, our production will eventually receive a big boost. But that is in the far future, a little less than half a year. In the near future we expect a smaller increase of about 400 ."

She took a gulp of water.

"We can discuss trading part of this amount. Our economic analysts have determined that this amount is worth about 143 on our domestic market. That is, if we can slightly increase our and . Part of this is already solved by producing off-world and processing them into on location before shipping them to Mirda. The part will most likely be accomodated by new industrial complexes on Kelwar, though developable real estate is getting scarce there as well."

"Then, there is the problem of transportation. House Iaat does not have an extra trade fleet available to set up a trade route to the ACA. So even if we can reach an agreement, there is a logistics puzzle to solve. I think we can set up additional trade fleets if these negotiations end on a positive note."

She took another sip of water.

"So, then the question is, is 300 to break the AFC's monopoly worth more than 107 to the Bluethread group? If so, we should discuss how much of the additional worth House Iaat is going to see, and in what form we will see it."

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

Dana studied the graphs intently. Then closed her eyes as she contemplated the matter and made some calculations.

"On the short term 300 could earn us 135 . So, technically speaking, it is worth more to us than 107 . Though not by a lot.

Can you give me a more precise time scale for your long term expansion plans? And a rough estimate of the change in price this would cause?"

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"I can not give you precise dates, but we are currently estimating about 5½ months before the new hydroponics complexes are operational. Then there will be a short delay before everything is in order in our domestic market and our new trade fleets are operational, so our current estimation is that we are ready to begin export in about half a year."

"The price change is difficult to estimate. We expect to have a significant surplus of about 1000 per . Based on our current expectations of Union-wide industrial growth, we expect the price to drop below the .35 per unit mark. This is, of course, dependent upon several other factors, and we are not able to account for sudden increases in demand brought on by external events."

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

Dana was less than satisfied with the Marquise's answer. Something which showed on her face, if only just. Never the less she still wanted to give these negotiations a good end.

"No, I'm afraid that isn't good enough. At most the Bluethread Group is willing to pay .25 per unit. While we are willing to wait for that half a year, we won't go above that price. Alternatively I am willing to agree to pay 125 for 300 on the short term if the price drops to .2 per unit after your larger expansion is completed.

Now, you can stop these negotiations because you deem the price the Bluethread Group is willing to pay to low. I can understand that.

However, we can also look for alternative ways to get what we both want. That being profit, of course, and a stable business relationship."

Her calm business demeanour had not left her for a moment. Despite her dissatisfaction. Dana waited for the Marquise's reply with the expectation she would continue the negotiations.

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"You realize, of course, that .25 is below the .35 mark.", the marquise replied.

"Forecasting the price course of commodities like , with limited production and uncertain consumption, in the galactic market is not a trivial task. We expect the price to drop below the .35 mark, but we can not with certainty say by how much. It is not a matter of you being willing to pay, but of us not having certainty about the price. Looking at the historical data there is a chance that it will not drop below the .25 mark, especially if demand holds and the growth rate of consumption remains at it's current level."

"Because of this uncertainty there is no way in which we can, in good conscience, enter into a deal with the Bluethread Group where we are expected to somehow influence the market enough to drop the price to .20 per unit. We simply can not guarantee that the price will actually drop to that level. If we agree to sell at .20, and the price remains at .27, we will be selling ourselves short 70 per . That is a lot of money just to accomodate the desires of the Bluethread Group."

"If you want us to drive down prices to the levels you are willing to pay, I'm afraid you'll have to do better than simply state that our estimations aren't good enough. What alternatives did you want to discuss?"

[Dana Lantria Asillion]

"Perhaps we are looking at this from a wrong perspective." Dana said.

"Once the AFC's monopoly is broken we will be able to press them to incorporate their assets. However, in order to create a healthy long-term relationship, I think we need to go further then that.

From what I have been able to make out from your information, we both have a need for more . Both immediate and long-term. Additionally, House Iaat has some difficulty to expand their operations in the Smi-Halek system. The Bluethread Group, on the other hand, has financial difficulty to expand because of other endeavours we are also a part of.

I believe we can solve each others problems. You see, incorporating the production will leave us with a surplus of of about 300. Depending on how willing you are to help the financing of this expansion I can offer this surplus to you at a very attractive price, probably below the .20 mark.

Additionally the Bluethread Group is currently looking into producing raw materials, including , in space. Our estimate of the amount we could produce is around 500 units. Though this is a much more long-term endeavour then the incorporation of facilities. At that point we will likely require our earlier surplus for our own expansion. We estimate this would take just under a year to attain."

Dana paused and took another sip of water.

"Of course, we can also just make a simple trade. Though I am unsure what kind of products or raw materials you would be interested in."

[Marquise Iaat Tijārata]

"I agree that we both have a need for more . Unfortunately, the offer to co-invest in the incorporation of zones in the Novalia system to get 300 at a reduced price is not very lucrative from where I stand.", the marquise's tone hinted at her disappointment with the current situation.

"Let's assume that we would invest 500 of the specialisation costs of your project. In the hypothetical situation that we can reach an agreement that we will 300 at the .15 mark for a duration of 50 , we would be spending 2750 to get an influx of 300 per for a year. If we end up paying .20 per , we would be spending a total of 3500 for a year's worth of 300 per .

At the .15 mark, we would be spending 0.18 per , and at the more realistic .20 mark, we would be spending 0.23 per . In both case I assume a deal with a duration of one year."

"Looking at alternative short-term options, House Iaat is better off buying the necessary real estate, worth roughly 3000 , on Mirda to refurbish a zone to at a cost of 500 . A single zone on Mirda yields 400 without specialisation, and 800 with specialisation.

Production on Mirda would, based on a single zone, means paying 0.15 per when taken over a year. Then there is the fact that a zone on Mirda will provide us with 400 for much longer than a year, and has the added benefit that, when specialised, it will generate an addition +400 , and +10 in dividends due to location."


"As for our long-term planning... In our current planning, we will aim to increase our output with 2400 in half a year. Of this amount, we expect about 1400 to be consumed by the domestic market, hence my earlier remark that we would have about 1000 surplus. To match this with off-world production through space habitats, we would have to construct two to five habitats with the associated surveying costs and costs for a military apparatus to protect these assets.

Even if we take into account the costs for buying Mirda real estate from other parties, and compensating them for moving their industry to Amird, we will end up paying only 0.11 per ."

"Based on these numbers I'm afraid that it is not economically feasible for us to co-invest in specialisation in the Novalia system if this will only generate about 300 for us, especially not if the price for this amount can not compete with out domestic projects."

Then, the marquise seems to remember something that gives her new hope that a cooperation is still possible.

"That said, we are very interested in your cost calculations with regard to off-world production. There might be factors in favour of the Bluethread Group with regards to military support and surveying that we have are not aware of."