AGELESS CAMPAIGN, Episode II, Part VI.

[Silver Moon]

As Fenris:

OOC: I had thought we would meet with both delegations together first then individually, but from the description of the room , there are only 5 chairs. No problem, I will roll with it. Also, FYI with Queenie's surgery this week, I won't be on as regularly.

OOC: Sorry, I must have misread Post #774. I'll be posting less frequently as well, as I head back to work later this week for faculty meetings, with class starting a week from tomorrow. I also need to put together my portfolio for my "1st Year Faculty Review", due in three weeks time.

 

[Silver Moon]

Now, gentlemen, please enlighten me as to your motivation for founding the AFRE and what it is you would seek now, and what it would take to get you to disband."

Ahmed Orabi says, "The AFRE was entirely my doing. I accept full responsibility for it and if the monarch wishes to have any members brought forward on charges of treason I ask that I be the one punished and not any who I convinced to join me.

My motivation was simple, undue Foreign influence. Over the last fifteen years my King had allowed British and French interests to dictate Egyptian policy, to the financial ruin of this nation. The British had pushed the issue of the building of canal linking the sea to the Indian Ocean, at Egypt's expense both figuratively and literally. Our King signed papers for a pair of agreements, one having Egypt fund the construction of the canal, the other requiring us to offer absurdly low fees for ships from those same countries to use the canal.

That put us between a rock-and-a-hard-place. The original loan was based upon the fee revenues to repay it, but the lowered fees would not allow it. Britain and France refused to renegotiate the loans, and Britain's banks took matters one step further, stealing Egypt's ownership interests in the canal when we could not fully meet the repayment terms.

Mr. Eastman, I tried for over a decade to convince the King that this was wrong, that our country was suffering, but he would not hear of it. He trusted his foreign friends, and they betrayed the trust. That was my motivation, to bring about a change-in-government so that the foreign interests would have no choice in needing to renegotiate.

And for this year up until last week my strategy was working. But General Garnet Wolseley's quick change in tactics, targeting this city that we now meet it, changed things. We were forced to shift quickly from an offensive to a defensive mode, which gave the French opportunists that had wormed their way into our midst an opportunity to strike. Their offer to be neutral observers and provide medical assistance should not have been accepted by me. I fell victim to the very thing that I had accused the King of.

So as I said before, I take full responsibility. I have failed my followers and am willing to accept punishment for my failure. I will turn myself over to the Royal Egyptian family, and my army will continue their cause without me. The original reasons for this conflict still exist, so disbanding is not an option at this time."

 

[Queenie]

Ahmed Orabi says, "The AFRE was entirely my doing. I accept full responsibility for it and if the monarch wishes to have any members brought forward on charges of treason I ask that I be the one punished and not any who I convinced to join me.

My motivation was simple, undue Foreign influence. Over the last fifteen years my King had allowed British and French interests to dictate Egyptian policy, to the financial ruin of this nation. The British had pushed the issue of the building of canal linking the sea to the Indian Ocean, at Egypt's expense both figuratively and literally. Our King signed papers for a pair of agreements, one having Egypt fund the construction of the canal, the other requiring us to offer absurdly low fees for ships from those same countries to use the canal.

That put us between a rock-and-a-hard-place. The original loan was based upon the fee revenues to repay it, but the lowered fees would not allow it. Britain and France refused to renegotiate the loans, and Britain's banks took matters one step further, stealing Egypt's ownership interests in the canal when we could not fully meet the repayment terms.

Mr. Eastman, I tried for over a decade to convince the King that this was wrong, that our country was suffering, but he would not hear of it. He trusted his foreign friends, and they betrayed the trust. That was my motivation, to bring about a change-in-government so that the foreign interests would have no choice in needing to renegotiate.

And from July until last week my strategy was working. But General Garnet Wolseley's quick change in tactics, targeting this city that we now meet it, changed things. We were forced to change from an offensive to a defensive mode, which gave the French opportunists that had wormed their way into our midst an opportunity to strike. Their offer to be neutral observers and provide medical assistance should not have been accepted by me. I fell victim to the very thing that I had accused the King of.

So as I said before, I take full responsibility. I have failed my followers and am willing to accept punishment for my failure. I will turn myself over to the Royal Egyptian family, and my army will continue their cause without me. The original reasons for this conflict still exist, so disbanding is not an option at this time."

"Allow me to disagree General Orabi.Disbanding is not only an option it is a requirement and you must order that. I do however understand your concern over the canal. I will disagree that the original reasons are still extant, the same King is not on the throne who was subject to the foreign influences. There is a different ruler with a different agenda. So things are not the same. Again though what would it take for disbanding? Restoration of full fees for all countries and vessels?"

 

[Silver Moon]

"Allow me to disagree General Orabi.Disbanding is not only an option it is a requirement and you must order that. I do however understand your concern over the canal. I will disagree that the original reasons are still extant, the same King is not on the throne who was subject to the foreign influences. There is a different ruler with a different agenda. So things are not the same. Again though what would it take for disbanding? Restoration of full fees for all countries and vessels?"

He says, "That would not help Egypt, as the banks now claim that they own the majority of the canal rather than us, so higher fees would only line the pockets of the thieves. The Army of the Free Republic of Egypt wishes a retroactive renegotiation of the agreements. We are willing to accept that our King approved the construction that occurred between 1860 and 1869, and that we need to repay the original principal of the loans as well as a reasonable interest rate.

But we do not accept the claimed seizure of the canal's ownership, started in 1875, for non-repayment of agreements which were designed by the foreign banks to bring about that very failure. Thieves should not be rewarded.

You are correct in that with the deaths of King Hakar and his Grand Vizer, the two individuals most responsible for those agreements, should change things. Those individuals are no longer present. But will the international banking community even care?"

 

[Queenie]

He says, "That would not help Egypt, as the banks now claim that they own the majority of the canal rather than us, so higher fees would only line the pockets of the thieves. The Army of the Free Republic of Egypt wishes a retroactive renegotiation of the agreements. We are willing to accept that our King approved the construction that occurred between 1860 and 1869, and that we need to repay the original principal of the loans as well as a reasonable interest rate.

But we do not accept the claimed seizure of the canal's ownership, started in 1875, for non-repayment of agreements which were designed by the foreign banks to bring about that very failure. Thieves should not be rewarded.

You are correct in that with the deaths of King Hakar and his Grand Vizer, the two individuals most responsible for those agreements, should change things. Those individuals are no longer present. But will the international banking community even care?"

"That was not my question general. But what you are saying is that the AFRE will not disband until the prior agreements are invalidated or renegotiated?"

 

[Silver Moon]

"That was not my question general. But what you are saying is that the AFRE will not disband until the prior agreements are invalidated or renegotiated?"

"Mr. Eastman. Considerable thought went into the naming of our forces, the Army of the Free Republic of Egypt. Our objective was just that, to create a Free Republic of Egypt. We may be willing to give up becoming a Republic, and accept some form of a Constitutional Monarchy, with all foreign agreements decided by a Prime Minister or Parliament." George notes the Princess tapping her right earring.

Orabi continues, "But first and foremost Egypt must be free, free of undue foreign influence. So the answer to your original question is yes, some modification needs to be made to the current financial documents regarding the canal."

 

[orchid blossom]

He smiles and points to the nearby stone and wood barn situated on the other side of the outer wall and says, "No more big surprises today, okay, we'll save the barn for tomorrow."

"It wouldn't be a big, scary surprise now, would it? I've been forewarned. Let's go see what's so special about your barn." She shook her head. Men always seemed to take what you said an move it one step further.

 

[Silver Moon]

"It wouldn't be a big, scary surprise now, would it? I've been forewarned. Let's go see what's so special about your barn." She shook her head. Men always seemed to take what you said an move it one step further.

As they move towards the rear gate in the wall, the gate comprised of wooden timbers interlaced with thick metal he asks "So Abigail, what is the intended purpose of a wall surrounding a 16th century castle?"

 

[Silver Moon]

OOC: I have completed transcribing CM Thread III of "Temple of the Cat Goddess", which we played from October 2011 until April 2012. These will be Story Hour chapters #76 to 89, and I will use them to calculate experience points. Prior AGELESS Campaign Experience points can be found in the Circvs Maximvs Out-of-Game Tread, with Episode I experience in Post #413 and experience for Episode II Threads 1+2 found in Post #747. I will now move on to CM Thread IV, played May to July 2012, which comprises all of the action that took place at the Pyramids at Gizah.

 

[Fenris]

"Mr. Eastman. Considerable thought went into the naming of our forces, the Army of the Free Republic of Egypt. Our objective was just that, to create a Free Republic of Egypt. We may be willing to give up becoming a Republic, and accept some form of a Constitutional Monarchy, with all foreign agreements decided by a Prime Minister or Parliament." George notes the Princess tapping her right earring.

Orabi continues, "But first and foremost Egypt must be free, free of undue foreign influence. So the answer to your original question is yes, some modification needs to be made to the current financial documents regarding the canal."

OOC: This is just a check as we had agreed on the left earring, but I wasn't sure if again there was a miscommunication of this is an intentional red herring or what I am going to assume earrings, left or right mean dishonesty, bracelets, either side, mean conference.

"At this point I make no promises of course, but the Queen seeks the same thing. Of course, the purpose of this conference is merely to negotiate the cessation of hostilities, but I personally and as representative for the Queen are working to limit as much foreign influence as we can. It is a herculean task though hopefully not a sisyphian one. It will not be possible if there is an armed faction hostile to the government. There must be a united front for other countries to deal with. If there is a separate armed force, foreign governments will continue to exploit the rift for their own purposes."