Kalistan

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Empress safely returns from Gaduridos
"We made an effort," said Her Imperial Majesty
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
May 16, 5719


Her Imperial Majesty is joined by the Chancellor of the Empire for Informal Audience

"Well, it could have been worse," said Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto, as she sat down with The Republic for an interview during an Informal Audience at the Imperial Seat in Kaliburg. The Empress and several members of her Government attended the Coronation of the new Gaduri King, Victor de Valorico in Ciudad Gaduri earlier this month where she was met with protests and controversy. The Audience with Her Imperial Majesty was attended by the Chancellor of the Empire, as per protocol. "We found the King to be exactly as Lady Alvarez-Navarro had said. He was honest and polite. It is a trait we can respect. But at least we were not attacked by the mob while we were there. That is the silver lining."

The Empress explained that the new Gaduri king welcomed her to the coronation, in spite of the relatively widespread protests that the Kalistani delegation witnessed throughout the nation. "We were not able to remain long," said the Empress. "We were informed shortly after the reception began following the coronation ceremony that there was a security issue, and it was suggested that it might be better if we begin making our way to the airport. We regret that we were not able to say Goodbye to the new King, or really to speak with him at length about anything. We had intended to meet with the Brethrenist Community in Vintalli. That visit will regrettably be postponed indefinitely."

The Empress said she could understand why people might be upset with her presence. "It was a humbling experience, to be completely honest," she said. "In Kalistan, we have not experienced that sort of disorder for a very long time. But Gaduridos remains committed to democracy despite the fact that they now have a king. And while we would be mortified if Kalistanis treated visitors of any rank in that fashion, we also understand that democracies expect, and even encourage exuberant shows of emotion from their citizens. It is practically required of them during elections, and it is stoked throughout the rest of the year by the sort of political entrepreneurs that simply do not exist in Kalistan. Plus, we have a long history, and went through a very bitter split, one which granted Gaduridos their complete independence, and they are apparently still very resentful about that independence. We were not able to stop and speak with any of the protestors, regrettably, to discover their grievances. It was not advised because our security felt attempting to speak with the crowd would simply inflame them to insensibility."

Asked if she plans to return to Gaduridos anytime soon, the Empress responded that it is unlikely. "We began our career wanting to travel the world, to meet different people, to learn new languages. We are nearly 46 years old now, and have learned that most of the things we want can be found here--We do not have to travel far and wide to find the happiness of home and hearth. Our husband and our children are here. Travelling to Gaduridos without the Consort was miserable even though we were only in country for a few hours for the official ceremony. No, a return trip to Gaduridos is not in the cards anytime soon for us."

We asked Her Imperial Majesty if she intended to name an ambassador to Gaduridos. "We are not there yet. We went to Gaduridos to introduce ourselves to our next door neighbor, as neighbors should. We believe our demonstration of good faith was acknowledged by the King, who is really the only person in Gaduridos whose opinion of us matters at this particular moment. But the King will likely be far too busy in the near future to return the visit--There were numerous heads of state at his coronation which all required his immediate attention, and he was surrounded by office seekers and people begging for his favor and attention. Kalistan will not compete with that. It is quite beneath us. If the King of Gaduridos wishes communication with Kalistan, he certainly knows where to find us and would be more than welcomed here. If we ever have the opportunity to sit down and speak with one another without distractions, we may come to a point where an exchange of ambassadors is possible. At the moment, we would be concerned that the Ambassador's residence in Ciudad Gaduri would be attacked by a mob."

Asked to summarize the visit, the Empress simply smiled. "We made an effort. We fear that we wasted our Foreign Minister and our Trade Minister's time in bringing them along, but we also feel that the people were perhaps most upset with ourself while our Ministers were not even acknowledged. Lady Marisol Paz was surprisingly warmly welcomed by a number of local elites around the King. She is Gaduri after all and knows most of them from her time as Viceroy. We were grateful that she was with us, and she was only called a traitor by a handful of commoners once. But over all, it was what we expected, not what we had hoped for."

Asked if Bentasur was discussed, the Empress simply responded, "There's nothing to discuss. Rioting democrats notwithstanding. But to answer your question, there was simply no time. We were regrettably in and out of Gaduridos far too quickly to have an intelligible conversation with anyone on any topic, let alone resolve anything substantial."

Before the end of our audience, we asked the Empress if the rumors of the appointment of a new Defense Minister were correct. "Yes. Last month, we accepted the request by our former Minister of Defense, the long serving Captain Jane Smith to retire. She wishes to return to Suldanor and become a coffee grower on a plot of land she has secured in Western Dana County. We wish her good luck in her agricultural endeavors. She will be replaced by Militia Lt. Colonel Calvin Velasco, who was previously the Head of Instruction for unconventional deployment, improvised munitions and anti-personnel tactics at Fort Harrison Regular Officer Academy. He also served as Operations Liaison between Regular Army Central and partisan units in Odufaray and Neveras. He is committed to rigorous and strenuous training regime and we look forward to his efforts to improve recruit training for the regulars to bring our regular forces more inline with the unconventional forces deployed throughout the Empire."

We also asked her about Luncasi. "The Naval Logistics Center in Luncasi will be transferred back to the Luncasi Free City's Government this September 30th, on schedule. As previously mentioned in the press, we have one company who remains on the base to finish up the transfer. At that point, the Kalistani Regular Navy will be just another paying customer there, like every other nation. The port will be in the hands of the Free City. Our commercial ties through the Civilian port will not be affected."

As we closed, we asked the Chancellor if she had anything to add to the Empress' recounting of the visit to Gaduridos. "No comment. Thank you for coming to this informal audience. The Seward will show you out when you are ready." The Empress, with a smile, thanked us for our interview and wished us well with the story, and then she and the Chancellor disappeared into the ante chamber.

@TheRepublic