STRANGE, WHERE WERE YOU WHEN WE STARTED THIS GIG?

[maskormods]

WHO: All diplomatic imPorts that have signed up HERE.
WHERE: The capitals of Mexico, South Korea, and France. UN-attending imPorts will be placed in Davos, Switzerland.
WHEN: January 26th.
WHAT: Democracy in motion as imPorts attempt to use their skills of persuasion to convince each government or organization to lend the imPorts - and America - their help. Players may also use this log to play out the long flight over, planning, and other associated activities.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; let us know if we should change this!



Depending on their assignment, all imPort diplomats will find themselves either in Seoul, South Korea; Mexico City, Mexico; Paris, France; or for UN attending imPorts, Davos in the Swiss Alps. They will be housed in the American Embassies and regardless of their Registration status, will be treated as American citizens. UN-attending imPorts will be housed in a hotel close by. Their accommodations will be that of an extremely luxurious hotel, and they will be provided with anything that they should require, be it books on the art of rhetoric, access to state of the art computers and laptops, food or drink. They will also be provided with boardrooms in which the teams may convene to assemble a strategy. Don't be distracted by the free drinks; this is a task that will require clear minds!

After one night of preparation, on January 26th, each team of imPorts will meet with either the government of their assigned nation or the UN. They will be placed at a podium in front of a room full of politicians and diplomats, and will be expected to state their argument. They will be allowed to have an opening speech before each assembly asks each group three questions.

When either the opening speech has been concluded OR the question has been answered to each player's satisfaction, please put QUESTION NEEDED in the subject title of your comment, and we will deliver the next question.

Just remember: an invasion is coming! Even if acquiring the alliance of these governments and organizations do not help with the imPorts' immediate predicament, it will impact the future of the game at large!

Get ready, our silver-tongued imPorts, and good luck!

Comments

[vorbarra]

I'd end up trading unskilled labor for food from some poor hillsman that took pity on me, probably.

I'm positively predisposed toward hillsmen. They sheltered me for a while when I was very young.

[rathercommon]

Really.

[ Her smile turns curious. ]

And here you don't even swear well. Or drink well. What were they sheltering you from?

[vorbarra]

I was four, Kitty. They didn't swear or drink around me. [ Plus they'd known he was the emperor. ]

It was the War of Vordarian's Pretendership to the throne. I'm distantly related to the Imperial family, so my foster-mother took me into hiding. They were kind to me.

[rathercommon]

[ Good lord. ]

The War of...What's that, someone trying to take over the government?

[vorbarra]

Right, the old Emperor died and his heir was very young, so Vordarian took it as an opportunity to swoop in and try to marry the deceased Crown Prince's widow as a claim to the throne.

Full on civil war, basically.

[rathercommon]

Ugh.

[ She wrinkles her nose. ]

That poor woman. Being treated like nothing more than a stepping-stool to power.

[vorbarra]

[ Gosh, Kitty, if he didn't like you already, picking out his mother from this cold oblique description as someone deserving sympathy would have done it. It nonetheless causes him to warm to her further.

There's no positive way to end this story, though. ] The unfortunate fate of many women on Barrayar. I'd always hoped to try to do something about that, before I left. [ As half altruistic campaign, half personal crusade in his mother's memory. ]

[rathercommon]

[ A grunt of acknowledgment. ]

It's too bad you didn't have the chance. I mean - I'm glad, obviously, that you're at liberty and all that. But it sounds like the women do need an advocate.

[vorbarra]

And a well-connected male one always helps, [ he says with maximum, self-aware dryness. ]

[rathercommon]

An ally always speeds things along. Without allies, things often have to turn a bit more...drastic.

[vorbarra]

Yes. I'd rather they didn't have to. It's a failure of society as a whole when that happens.

[ Gregor would be hard-pressed not to take it as a personal failing if any significant minority of Barrayarans felt ignored urgently enough to turn drastic. ]

[rathercommon]

Are there others? Who think similarly to you. Who'll stick up for them.

[vorbarra]

There's a few. I wasn't totally friendless. Mostly it's an issue of aging out the older generation-- you have to remember we only came out of the Time of Isolation a hundred years ago. They still try to push for body births, but there's a growing contingent of women that refuse to sign marriage contracts unless the man agrees to allow uterine replicator gestation.

It's still the wrong tone-- allowing-- but it's progress, because it means they have leverage. A place to stand on.

[rathercommon]

A uterine replicator. Is that quite what it sounds like?

[vorbarra]

It is. Miles was born from one. Quite standard on advanced planets.

[rathercommon]

Sorry, I'm just going to spend a moment stewing in envy. I can't even imagine how much that would do for women's rights - unhitching them from the process of pregnancy and birth.

[vorbarra]

Don't be too envious-- imagine how Barrayaran women feel, knowing it could've happened centuries ago if the wormhole weren't collapsed. No wonder they're chomping at the bit to get it written into marriage contracts.

[rathercommon]

Oh, God. Good point.

[ She wrinkles her nose. God, how awful would that be. ]

And I'm sure if they all had just had that technology, then they wouldn't be treated as second-class citizens now, would they. Reproductive freedom is so often tied to political and social rights for women.

[vorbarra]

Fast-forward a couple hundred years after the introduction of it, you mean? Yes, you're probably right. It does change the game.

[ In some future canon update he will tell you about Dono Vorrutyer, Kitty. ]

It's funny, because most of the men don't realize what's happening right under their noses. [ A little amused smile. ] The quiet female revolution. And all you need to conceive with a uterine replicator is a DNA sample, so that is going to have fallout, too.

[rathercommon]

[ A little grin. Well done, women. ]

And with DNA testing, they wouldn't be able to contest that these are their heirs. So no drumming their heels about chastity and legitimacy.

[vorbarra]

[ He thought she'd like that. And she's definitely not thinking about whatever murkiness in her past makes her unhappy about fathers.

That, and no one could be forced to have sex with their husband under the excuse of needing heirs. Gregor finds that viciously, personally satisfying. It's too close to the bone for him to point it out if she doesn't think of it, though. ]

Agreed. See, sometimes humanity isn't worthless after all.

[rathercommon]

And not every technological development is centered around how better to kill one another.

[ She nods firmly, satisfied. ]

That's about made my day, in spite of all this wretchedness.

[vorbarra]

Mission accomplished, then, [ he says lightly, which dismantles any attempt to be covert about his people-handling at play here. But Gregor thinks Kitty is the sort to appreciate it, rather than be insulted. ]

[rathercommon]

[ Oh. Her smile turns a little curious. ]

What - you were trying to distract me?

[vorbarra]

[ A small shrug. ]

You seemed morose. Only fair to leave you in a better mood.