Southern Cross

[Landshark]

Extract of personal letter from Sir Cahan ó Cuinn; Australian Ambassador to the Dominion of Argentina-Chile to Sir James Simonson; Prime Minister of the Dominion of Australia.

James,

I cannot begin to describe the sense of alienation we all feel here in Wellington. You know as well as I the breath of experience the staff at the new embassy have. We have men and women here who have served in diplomatic posts from the Empire of Kitai to the Haudenosaunee Confederation, from Antarctica to Axum, from countries as open and free as the Republic of Atlantis to ones as closed and regimented as the Tenochca Consortium and yet this Dominion of Argentina-Chile is the most foreign of foreign countries.

In the countries of our own world no matter how different they might be there were always familiarities, things which were the same the world over because of the influence of one culture on another or the import of whatever seemed a good idea overseas. Here there is none of this. These people have exactly as much history as we do and none of it is like ours. Their customs, their language, their architecture, even their way of thinking is the product of a world where their ancestors chose to take the left hand path of history where ours took the right hand.

I believe their language started as a combination of Lotharingian and Germanic, caused by the amalgamation of Britannia and Lotharingia centuries ago. Add into this the influence of the Iberian tongues which were dominant throughout the rest of their South Oceania, (or South America as they call it) and you get some idea of the gobbledegook we have to wade through in even the simplest conversations, and it is not only the sound of the language which is odd but the structure of it. The placement of pauses and the way words and syllables are stressed.

The similarities to our own world and culture are just as jarring, being as they are, placed amid a sea of differences. For example as Martika Laing and I were walking down one of Wellington’s main streets we saw….

[Landshark]

Office of the Home Secretary
The Praetorium
Avalon; DoA

“Fuck!”

The Home Secretary was not happy and the director of the Federal Security Service couldn’t blame him one little bit.

“God damn it to Hell! I’d have thought if there was one positive outcome to being transported to another world it would have been that we’d have heard the last of the Iron Legion!” Sir Phillip Sterling looked like he wanted to hit somebody repeatedly. Preferably one of the Legionaries currently languishing in the cells at Grafton Street gaol.

Sir Andras Breathnach was surprised, usually it took far more than this to get his immediate superior’s blood boiling. Sterling must really have thought the Legion would whither on the vine after the Event. It wasn’t the sort of wishful thinking he ordinarily gave in to.

Sir Andras cleared his throat, “You didn’t really expect these idiots to just fold up their tents and disappear into the night did you Phillip?”

Sterling sighed, “No, but I didn’t expect them to be so active so soon either.” He slouched in his chair looking glum.

Sir Andras spoke, “It is a worrying development. The combination of the recent convictions and last year’s rash of prematurely exploding bombs should have gutted the organisation for at least two years. Add to that that they’ve been cut off from their EA backers and they should have had more than enough problems to occupy them. It seems that the Event has actually injected new life into them though, they always did thrive in times of chaos and uncertainty.”

Sterling stared into the middle distance for a moment, “I don’t suppose you could slip them some more of that dodgy plastic explosive could you? No never mind, tell me about these three dacos who were meeting with the Pine Ridge ASU?”

“The bastards are tough I’ll give them that, we’ve been at them for two days now and they still haven’t given us a wet fart. I don‘t know what the daco security service gets up to when they get their hands on these people but it seems to be more than we‘d be comfortable with.”

Sterling’s mouth quirked briefly, “”Heightened Interrogation”? A Germanic trait in any universe apparently. So are they part of this Red Arm organisation? And if so what are they doing holding secret meetings with our local terrorists?”

“Oh they’re definitely part of this Red Arm lot, that’s part of the reason we picked up on this meeting. The dacos were so busy being paranoid about being followed by their own security services they stood out a mile to every local, provincial and federal who came near them. And they’re so used to how the southerners work they didn’t even notice us. What puzzles me though is what sort of mutual agenda they could have with the Legion. Admittedly they’re both a bunch of racist thugs but the Red Arm wants to expel all non Iberians from Argentina-Chile, while the Iron Legion wants to expel all non Britannians from Australia. You’d have thought it’d have been mutual loathing at first sight.”

Sterling thought for a long moment. “They’ve both the same problem as we do. They’re stranded on this world, non of their old friends or allies can help them, non of the old rules apply and they’re scrambling around looking for any advantage they can. I’ve no doubt that once both sides had gotten all they could out of this alliance they’d have turned on each other like rabid dogs.”

Sterling sat back and looked directly at Breathnach, “I’ll be speaking with the Prime Minister within the hour and then no doubt he’ll want us to hold a meeting with the southern language manglers. Whatever differences and difficulties we have with them we need to head this off before it starts.”

[G.Bone]

Cool story! I like the humor in it. Do I have permission in writing up a reply in your thread?

[Landshark]

Cool story! I like the humor in it. Do I have permission in writing up a reply in your thread?

Yeah, no problem.

[G.Bone]

Office of the Secretary of the Interior
O'Malley's Hume
Wellington, Dominion of Argentina Chile
(Translated from Creole)

"So what's this I hear 'bout the Brasilians getting some redarm?" queried Acting-Chancellor Mendez.

Secretary Onaface pulled out a drawer and took out some files.
"Well- it seems with the Norder Crisis that some Lf'ers had the bright idea of co-operating with their cousins up Vest" he said.

Several sheets of paper were passed to Acting-Chancellor Mendez. She quickly browsed them, only stopping where her interest was peaked. She stopped at one paper- a form listing a suspect's crimes and deeds- then looked up to Secretary Bill Onaface.

"Do you have the actual intel on what was said?" she asked, looking up at Secretary Onaface.

Secretary Onaface shook his head. "Nien. We were in the process of monitoring the Incans when they were snapped up by the Brasilian Authorities."

The crime sheet was quickly shuffled behind a map of Brasil. Several red marks were drawn along it's southern areas. Acting-Chancellor Mendez tapped the map.

"I see" she commented, reshuffling the papers back in order, and giving it back to Secretary Onaface.

"Your course Your Honour?" Secretary Onaface replied, putting the papers back into the file.

"Shore up our Western border. Concentrate the 8th and the 9th within those areas. I assume there are migrations-" Acting-Chancellor Mendez said.

Secretary Onaface nodded.

"Then stop them by your usual means. Make it quiet. We do not need another Sao Paul."

[Landshark]

To: All Parties involved in the heightened tensions between the Dominion of Chile-Argentina and the Incan Empire

I am glad to see that Yamania is among the few nations having good relations with both sides of this dispute. We would be willing to send along soldiers and equipment to patrol this neutral zone between both countries and have the Hawaiians assist us. In addition to our own equipment, we have recently received extra equipment from the Dominion of Australia. Ah, the one in Oceania that is. I also support this idea of a No Fly Zone. It is my sincere help that this neutral zone will not be a permanent feature of South America's political landscape and that the Chile-Argentineans and Incans can reach some sort of accomadation regarding their relations and/or these 'redarm' terrorists. I am sure that neither we nor the Hawaiians would like this to be an overly long-term commitment of our forces. To that end, I reccomend a summit meeting between the nations most involved in this terorrism, the Domion of Chile-Argentina, the Incan Empire and the Dominion of Australia... the South American one this time. I hope that between the three of you, a joint policy can be made that will sucessfully combat these terrorists.

Finally, we are a nation that has extensive diplomatic contacts with both South America and Oceania and we have, on more than one occasion, found the existence of two Dominions of Australia to be confusing. Is there a way in which these two nations can be made more distinct from one another?

Lyle Hannon
Prime Minister
Republic of Yamania

"The Dominion of Australia in Oceania?"

"Means one of the ones in Lemuria."

"The Dominion of Australia in South America?"

"Means us this time."

"Republic of Yamania?"

"Means the Dominion of Antartica."

"Did any of these people study geography in primary school?"

"How do you want to respond to this "problem" of telling one Dominion of Australia from the other?"

"Well we're a Great Power with a population of two hundred million plus, fourteen aircraft carriers and a fleet of nuclear powered submarines. I'd say that makes us pretty distict, wouldn't you?"

"Sending a carrier group with an amphibious element to show the flag in the Land of the Midnight Sun should get the point across as to who's first in line for being Australia around here."

[Landshark]

From: Vincent Grey, Director ECMA
To: Sir James Simonson, PM: DoA

Jimmy,

We've been picking up some rather strange radio traffic from the Oregon area of North Oceania. Up till now that area's been a black spot for radio and EM and must have been one of the blank areas with no human habitation. Now we think there's a new nation there, latecomers like Mozambeak and the Crimea.

The language is totally unknown to us however, there's nothing even remotely similar unlike even the Celtic nations.

One further oddity. All the communication we've heard so far is being done by women.

Vincent.