MISC: The Girl Who Saved The World Part 12

[Drew Perron]

On 11/30/2015 11:42 PM, George Phillies wrote:
> The astute reader will note that while this is the way certain sorts of
> diplomatic meetings are opened, I had the assistance of Infodump Lord
> himself in the writing, there being a *lot* of background here.

Heeheehee. Makes sense.

> “Speaking for the Emperor of All France, Napoleon the Sixth,  I am
> Imperial Marshall Bernard-Christian Davout.” Davout wore the polychrome
> uniform of a modern French Field Marshal.  It was possible that some
> color had been omitted from his ensemble, but if so it was by oversight.

Heeheehee.

> Napoleon might style himself Emperor, but local governments across the
> Empire, such as the Greek and Spanish Kingdoms and the Venetian
> Republic, had an independence that only Frenchmen and Americans found
> entirely reasonable.

Hm. A *lot* more empires seem to have succeeded in this world.

> “The Speaker for the First Speaker of the Mexica and the Inca.”  Lord
> Smoking Frog, Buncombe considered, never actually spoke his own name. In
> his home country, for him to speak his own name might have been an
> impolite way of reminding people that the Empire of the Mexica and the
> Inca was in fair part run by the Maya.

A lot more. o.o

> “Ambassador Fateh Singh of the Sikh Empire, Speaker for all South Asian
> states.” Singh’s cloth-of-gold coat appeared to Buncombe to be wasteful,
> not to mention cold. Similar criticisms might be made of most of the
> other foreigners, none of whom had adopted the simple, frugal, not to
> mention comfortable style affected by American diplomats.

Though they're also surprisingly balanced in power against each other, it seems.

> A large
> scarlet fire sigil sewn on each forearm of the robes indicated his
> performance on the Imperial Examinations, showing that he had finished
> in the highest rank.  The lower ranks test memorization, Buncombe
> reminded himself, but the highest ranks were based on puzzle solving.

And I wonder how much that's based on the presence of the Namestone.

Drew "fascinating, fascinating" Perron