Fragments from the Balkans (Part I)

The Royal Palace, the City of Sofia, the Grand Principality of Bulgaria, January 1889.

Grand Prince Alexander I of Bulgaria, worked through the piles of documents, reports and civil or governmental legislation before him steadily. Much of it was of an entirely routine nature, transcipts of important parlimentary debates, new legal decrees or ammendments to older laws or legislation, administrative or financial memorandum and special concerns raised by various ministers and officials and the like. Much of it required his personal review and/or his active involvement and signature. There were times, when Alexander wondered why the Bulgarian Grand National Assembly had invited and subsequently elected him the First Prince of Bulgaria back in 1878, and equally Alexander wondered what had possessed him - a member of the Princely House of Battenberg, a non-dynastic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt - to actually accept the nomination.

The work of being the monarch of the reconstitued autonomous nation of Bulgaria, and making the difficult transition from that of subjugated vassal state of the Ottoman Empire which it had been for some four hundred and eighty-one years, had been challenging for both him and his subjects. He and they had made mistakes, often honest ones through a total lack of experience or knowledge in statescraft and the real difficulties of nation building but on the whole Bulgaria was charting a geniunely progressive course forward. There was not always total agreement about either the pace or direction, Alexander ruefully admitted, that Bulgaria was taking. There was however general accord on the essentials that needed to be addresssed and what needed to be done within the nation and it's government and national institutions to achieve the desired results.

Many of his Bulgarian subjects had been bitterly resentful when the nation which had finally been recreated out of the trials and tribulations of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-78 and previous unsuccessful Bulgarian revolts against Ottoman authority was cheated of the material gains, the Treaty of San Stefano worked out between the Russians, the Austrians and the Ottomans that had ended the 1877-78 war had given them. These important gains especially in terms of expanded population, resources and territory had been subsequently taken away from them by the political and military interference of the other Great Powers of Europe, principally Great Britain and France which did not wholely desire a greatly diminished Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, except on terms that were ultimately advantageous to them alone, of course. Both countries had also aimed at an expanded territorial position for the Greek Kingdom of the Hellenes at both Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire's expense to further their own interests in the region.

Due to this, Bulgaria had lost the formily Ottoman provinces of Macedonia, Western and Northern Thrace and the island of Thasos which placed it's western and southern borders along the borders of the Ottoman province of Albania and as far south as the River Haliacmon in the Ottoman Hellenes, as well as granting commerically important access to the Aegean Sea and the wider Mediterranean Sea via the Thracian and Macedonian territory, and the great port of Salonika. Bulgaria had at least established workable and stable borders with Roumania and Austria and developed useful economic and political links to both countries as well as Russia due to the San Stefano Treaty. The formerly Ottoman province of the Dobrudja which had been unified with the Kingdom of Roumania (which gave the Roumanian provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia important and expanded access to the Black Sea) following the 1877-78 War had been a regretably contentious issue between the two governments as soon as the Russo-Ottoman War had ended as both Roumania and Bulgaria claimed it for what was to both countries important historic and economic reasons.

At Austrian and Russian urging, a viable compromise had been worked out with Bulgaria receiving the Southern half of the province, while Roumania recieved the northern half. Agreements defining the equally contentious Austrian and Bulgarian borders had been relatively amibly worked out, although the union of the Bulgar inhabited Vidin province (which had been part of the Austrian Empire since the remanant of the Tsardom of Vidin had been re-conquered from the Ottomans by the Holy Roman Empire and Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano during the Austro-Ottoman Wars) with the Grand principality of Bulgaria was for the immediate future refused by Austria. That being said however, the Austrians had not ruled out a permanent settlement of that issue at a later date if the matter could be settled in such a way as to be advantageous to both Austria and Bulgaria.

Alexander and his government had later managed with Austrian and Russian support to recoup at least some of those lost territorial gains with the unexpected Eastern Rumelian Revolution of September 5th, 1885. The broadly successful revolt resulted in the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia separting from the Ottoman Empire and unifying with Bulgaria much to everyone's surprise and consternation, it had to be said. The Great Powers of Europe had not been at all pleased by this unexpected development and had tried unsuccessfully in various ways to put a stop to it. It's most immediate consequence had been a mercifully short but bitter war with the Ottoman Empire, which Bulgaria had been more then fortunate to narrowly win, again with Austrian, Russian and Roumanian military, economic and diplomatic help.

In broad terms the 1877-78 and 1885 wars had reinforced Bulgarian unity at the national level, and strengthened Bulgarian civil and military institutions although at a staggering cost in blood and treasure, which would take years to mend. Diplomatic and military relations with Austria-Hungary, Russia and Roumania had also been reinforced and even improved to a great extent, and while their were still disagreements over a range of issues affecting the four nations, there was a real willingness to reach or workout compromises and accords on matters of common consern. The chief concern that confronted all four nations, being the Ottoman Empire, which despite considerable territorial losses in the Balkans starting from the begining of the 1800s until the present, was undergoing an astonishing rapid economic and military resurgence with regards the rest of it's considerable territorial empire. This was extremely worrying to Alexander and his cabinet, as much as it was to the governments of Tsar Alexander II, Kaiser Franz Josef I and King Carol I and a conference was planned for later in the year in Bucharest for serious discussions between the four nations to formulate effective plans for the future.

What cause particular apprehension in the cabinets, foreign officies and war ministries of Bulgaria, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Roumania was a developing twofold problem, the possiblility of another major war (which no one had any appetite for) breaking out in the Balkans which offered no immediate or easy solution for any of the four nations. The Ottoman Empire in all probability did not desire another war for some years as they were much too busy, reintrenching and redeveloping their positions, installations and institutions in North and East Africa, Asia Minor, the Orient and Western Asia.

The Ottoman Empire's economy fuelled by the extensive development and export of Petroleum products and tolls collected from Suez Canal was surging forward at a frightening rate, as far as the Four Nations were conerned with heavy investments in their civilian light, medium and heavy industries, reforms to their tax system and it's collection, which was raking in ever increasing revenues. Steady nvestment in a new system of improved road, railways, canals and harbours was also paying handsome economic dividends. This was having increased effect on the Ottoman government's military spending, which was no great surprise to anyone, who looked at the Ottoman Empire's current situation with an analytical eye.

The Kingdom of the Hellenes, had become increasingly expansionistic and belligerent particularly over the last decade. It's economic and military power steadily swelling, resulting in numerous border incidents and wars against the Ottoman Empire. Sometime Greece operated alone as in the 1820s, or alongside Bulgaria, Roumania, Russia and Austria in various Balkan Wars since Greece's liberation from Ottoman rule or in more recent co-ordination with other powers such as Great Britain, Italy and Portugal in the 1882 Anglo-Ottoman War. Hellenic power was being driven by steady programs of internal developments within Greece, fueled by the immense personal wealth of it's Wittelbach kings, sound economic planning and the increasing influx of capital and people from the worldwide Greek Dispora. There were probably many times more Greeks outside continental Greece then were in it, and a great many of them were steadily coming back to their ancestral home (or at least directing their own surplus of funds and resources into the hands of the Hellenic Kingdom, if they were not relocating back to Greece themselves) to swell the Kingdom of Hellenes population, it's workforce and its military formations bringing with them much needed industrial and professionsial skills of all sorts.

Greek war aims had consistently striven for new conquests or advances into the Ottoman Aegean or Eastern Mediterranean islands or into the Ottoman Balkans proper striving to reach the Adriatic Coast in the northwest, the Austrian crownland of Serbia in the north and the great port city of Salonika to the northeast. Salonika would set the stage for Greek conquests of the Thracian provinces and Asia Minor, and the Imperial City of Constantinople. Greek patriots also eyed the historic Greek lands of Pontus and Néa Ionía (located on the Ottoman Anatolian Penisula's Black Sea and Eastern Aegean coasts respectively) as prizes to be seized from the Ottoman Empire's grasp. Greek progress with regards to these ends had been agonizingly slow, counted as often as not in mustard grains, but they still keep trying when the opportunities presented themself, and that was all the more worrying.

Memories of Past Conventions 2024 - Continued

Lord Worthing and Lord Hood,paying a visit to an installation in the company of R2-D2 somewhere in Star Wars Galaxy, Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood in conference with the Mandalorian Mercs, Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood and professional cosplayer Bansheequeencosplay (Sylvanas Windrunner/World of Warcraft), Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood and Lord Worthing with professional cosplayer Snackmira/Miramancy (Psylocke/X-Men), Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood and our friend Stephen Thomson with professional cosplayer Strangecatcosplay (Nightcrawler/X-Men), Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood consulting with yet more Mandalorians, Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood (Steampunk/Victorian Era) in serious discussion with his alter ego, the Red Hood (Modern Era), Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood and Lord Worthing with professional cosplayer Cowbuttcrunchies, Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood with professional cosplayer Pretty_Nerdy_Crystal (The Joker/D.C. Comics), Toronto FanExpo.

Lord Hood contracting a Mandalorian for a particular assignment, Toronto FanExpo.

An Ending and A Beginning (Part III)

Artwork by Pelycosaur24

“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” ― Voltaire

The man, everyone on the great, empty plain that surrounded the colossal engine, called the Commandant, sat quietly in an improvised armchair as he always did, gazing up at the great engine, pondering it's workings and meaning. It glowed and seethed with strange and magnificent fluttering lights and titanic sparkling energies in the form of a gigantic halo, slowly and inexorably revolved like a gigantic, glacially turning water wheel. Surrounding the halo's lower edge was a sprawling city or what seemed like a city to those that gazed upon it from the plain. It consisted of vast walls, courtyards and towering structures which seemed to combine the aspects of vast towers, colossal cathedrals and gigantic castles.

These structures and the city as a whole seemed to have the express purpose of controlling, stabilizing and directing the titanic energies of the glowing halo. Although that was merely conjecture by the inhabitants of the plain, as no one who had entered the city ever returned to the plain.

The sole inhabitants of great engine, were almost as strange and fantastical as the sprawling city and the great slowly revolving halo itself. The inhabitants of the plain, all of whom were, as they had discovered from talking amoungst themselves, people who had died through the accidents and trauma of human warfare whether they were soldiers or civilians. To date, they had only observed four of the peoples who dwelt within the walls.

The first and most commonly seen were what many called the Maidens of Mercy, by the lost souls, came and when between the city and the camps that surrounded it, bringing food, medicine and building materials so that the souls living on the plain could be comfortable while they waited. They took the form of beautiful, angelic and cloak shrouded women. The second type was the towering metallic, completely armoured warriors, that the souls called for lack of a better term to describe them, the Knights, they seemed to be guardians and provosts of the city. They kept the horrific wraiths and other monstrous entities that inhabited the haunted forests and escarpment well away from the city and the vast sub city of camps that surrounded it, they also helped the maidens and those souls designated by the commandant, who was appointed by them and the heralds to over see a degree of order and organization amoungst the souls on the plain, who number easily in the millions if not the hundreds of millions.

The heralds the third of the peoples, interacted with the souls at certain times, and while they were solemn of manner and their appearance disturbing, they took the form of heavily robbed skull faced monks or priests, they were also polite and dignified and the souls generally felt reassured by their periodic presence. Generally, they explained the rules of conduct within the camps around the city, and explained what the souls were waiting for: which was a chance to step into the great halo and be reborn, reincarnated in a new life in another time and place then the life they had been originally been born into. The Heralds, explained, that all the souls gathered here, we people the celestial order had decided were deserving of another chance or people who had some unfinished business to resolve for themselves. They had already died, so they could not start anew, where they had been from but could make a completely fresh start some where and some when else.

Typically the Heralds would leave the city via one of the great gates set into the vast city's walls and call the names of one thousand individuals, who would be escorted by the heralds and some of the knights and maidens, who explained the mechanics of what was about to happen to them. These souls were never seen upon the plain again by it's inhabitants, and the halo would always seethe and flare brightly with titanic energies, as each soul departed to wherever and whenever they were going.

This involved the last observed of the inhabitants of the city, perhaps the strangest of the four, that the souls had seen in their time in this strange place, which they realized was a form of limbo, or waiting place rather then heaven or hell. Most of them agreed they had already been through a form of hell, by their lives and deaths in humanity's endless wars, and while naturally apprehensive about the challenges of being reincarnated and finding their footing in a new life, many were actually looking forward to it.

The fourth of the peoples, were referred to as choir or band masters by the other three denizens of the city and the halo. Their music could often be heard drifting from the top of the walls and towers, and ranged in also sorts of styles and instruments some of which the souls recognized and others they could not fathom. It was explained that this individuals, none of whom any of the souls had ever seen, assisted in the process of reincarnation, as they understood and could guide safely the souls to were and when they were destined to be going and give them helpful or necessary hints or advise on how best to proceed in their reincarnated lives.

Time had no relevance in this realm of eternal night so no one felt any sense of impatience or boredom in their wait which could have taken a few minutes or a few millennia for each soul for all they knew or cared. In any event, the Maidens and Heralds provided them with food and drink to their respective tastes and games and reading materials or education in any discipline of science or the arts, as struck the souls needs or interest.

Copious clouds of tobacco smoke drifted lazily around his head and face, as he puffed contemplatively on his long stemmed pipe. The bright moonlight that flooded the plain, caused the ice and snow that enshrouded his body and clothing to glitter and sparkle. One of his elbows rested on a barrel beside the armchair, which was further occupied by a couple of upended mugs and two bottles of red wine.

His heavily gloved hand reached for the one mug that was turned upright, which was more then half filled with dark red wine, then suddenly froze in mid motion. He swung round in the chair, his bicorn hat, shedding particles of ice and snowflakes, as his empty eye sockets and frozen skull swiveled towards the distant, haunted escarpment which all those who now dwelled upon the plain feared and dreaded. He sensed the calls of the forest patrols hunting horns, even before the sound of the horns could even reach the Great Engine so distant was the escarpment. Such however, were the powers granted to him by the great engine as they had been granted to each serving commandant of the plain, in their turn.

He stood abruptly, his skull faced visage visible to all around him as he discarded his still smoldering pipe. He rummaged in his frozen, bullet ridden overcoat for his telescope, quickly found it and snapped the collapsing sectioned tube out to it's full length as he brought it to his hollow eye socket and aimed it at the distant escarpment. The watch fires along the fortified lines that guarded the only safe way down the escarpment were glowing brightly as usual, and he could sense that the shadowy wraiths were gathering within the edges of the dismal, haunted forest in some strength, their maleficent hatred and terrifying hunger was all but palpable, even at this great distance.

The sound of various types of hunting and military horns, trumpets and pipes echoed through the haunted forest, snapping Marie Luise violently out of her shocked examination of her skeletal features. The Indian soldier drew a short stemmed, belled muzzled British style hunting horn from his satchel and sounded three ringing blasts upon it. This was shortly answered by similar blasts of sounds from various directions, some nearer and some farther away, it seemed to Marie Luise.

Suddenly a deep voiced musical instrument, that reminded her of the the great mountain horns, the Alphorn or Alpenhorn, popular in many mountainous lands such as Switzerland and parts of her native Styria, sounded. It spoke with a deep, thundering dirge like note, that echoed and re-echoed throughout the forest and reverberated through her whole being with an astonishing force that was as much physical as spiritual. Her companions stiffened when this sound reached them and hurried to leave the clearing, gesturing for her to join, them with some haste. Marie Luise realized as they began to run, that this was some sort of agreed note of recall or retreat.

Princess Hellfire Chronicles II

Canonical Time line Artworks of Marie Luise von Eggenberg by Pelycosaur24

This is just a follow up amendment to the previous notice concerning the now ongoing collabaration between myself and Austrian artist/writer Pelycosaur24.

The Princess Hellfire Chronicles now consist of some ten story arcs under various titles and covering various times in Marie Luise von Eggenberg's life (as it applies within my An Age of Steam, Steel and Iron background, with imput and editing support from Pelycosaur24 with reference to her original character Marie Luise von Eggenberg's historical fictional canon) on this blog and on my DeviantArt page. Her original artwork conserning a variety of historical subjects can be found on instagram and on DeviantArt under her name, Pelycosaur24.

There are currently in the Princess Hellfire Chronicles, as follows:

1) A Ghost Amid Ghosts
2) Storm Clouds 1866
3) A Time of Congresses and Reflections
4) The Interregnum
5) A Changing of the Guard
6) An Unexpected Visitor
7) All Is Fair in Love and War
8) A Lonely Traveler
9) A Visit to A Dying Emperor
10) An Ending and A Beginning

Fragments from East Asia (Part IV)

The Imperial City, the City of Peking, China, the Great Qing Empire, January 1889.

It made sense to the strategists and diplomats of the three countries, that the French would make their first effort against the lesser of their three possible foes and secure their flanks by either political or military means before taking on the greater of their enemies. With Laos firmly in their possession, the French would be free to menace Siam and force negotiations, and perhaps even a protectorate upon the Siamese as well, from a position of strength. The French however could not completely count on that very desireable result, as Siam had made clear that Laos falling under a French protectorate or outright conquest would mean war. The problem for Siam would of course be on which front to concentrate their own efforts, either assisting Laos directly or invading Cambodia and a possible drive on Saigon, the administrative and logisitical center of French rule in Indo-China.

The French had begun a slow, steady build up of their military and naval forces in Indo-China since 1886 both to protect what they had and to contain any possible future revolts or insurrections against their continued rule in Cambodia, Cochin-china, Annam, Tonkin and Hainan. They had raised numerous units of colonial tirailleurs, zouves and mountain artillery from the four provinces and the island, as well as shipped in still more regiments and battalions of Marine Infantry and Légion étrangère demi-brigades from elsewehere. The French had also shipped in considerable stocks of military equipement, armaments and munitions to ensure their forces in Indo-China were well supplied in all the particulars needed for extended campaigning.

The French had dealt similarly with their naval and colonial army controlled aeronautical forces, which was almost as worrying a development from a Chinese perspective. France was a world leader and trend setter in civil and military aeronautical developments, when all was said and done. The bulk of the Chinese Imperial air services were equiped with older though not necessarily obsolete equipments and much new construction and instruction with aircraft of German or Austrian origins was underway. Imperial Chinese air units could be expected to give a good account of themselves in any coming war, just on sheer numbers alone compared to the air forces the French had immediately at their disposal in Indo-China.

The biggest concern was the build up of French naval units in the region. So far, the French naval formations in Indo-China, had been largely confined to various existing squadrons of armoured, protected and light cruisers, gunvessels and gunboats and the like. Although they had considerably increased the number of torpedo cruisers, torpedo gunboats, destroyers and torpedoboats available for fleet, coastal and harbour defense, the French Admiralty had not deployed any of Marine Nationale's heavy capital ships to Saigon, which was puzzling to both the Imperial Qing government and the Imperial Admiralty. True, they had deployed a great number of ironclad rams and coastal defense battleships to Indo-China which enhanced the French Republic's ability to protect their most important Indo-chinese harbours. That said, these ships while powerful were not really that useful for operations in the wider South China Sea or the further north East China Sea and Yellow Sea regions except in a limited supporting role for coastal and some riverine operations.

It had been suggested that the French were leary of telegraphing their intentions in the region by sending their battleships in any sort of pre-war build up. The previous wars between France and China, had generally been conducted with forces already on site with reinforcements from France only coming after any conflict had already started. French constitutional strictures, which forbade any units of the French Metropolitian Army from being deployed overseas in peacetime, probably had a great deal to do with this, the young emperor reflected. Though, no such prohibition hindered the French Republican Navy or the Colonial Army both of which were controlled by the French Ministry of the Marine and the Colonies.

What did hinder them however, was the violitle political and civilian public opinion back home in France, which was not in favour of a war anywhere at the moment. The trials and costs of the previous Sino-French conflicts in 1882, 1883 and 1884-85, the Annam Revolt of 1886 and the horrors of the Franco-German War of 1881-82, were still fresh in the minds of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and French voters. Ongoing colonial and economic conflicts with the Tukulor and Wassalou Empires in West Africa also at present absorded much of the French government's attentions. Further the idea and fear that if France deployed it's most powerful naval forces so far from home, other great powers in Europe would see a chance to take advantage of France's distraction. Specifically, the worry being either Great Britain or the Triple Alliance of the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy would move to exploit any French political or military weakness. Which was not all that unreasonable a fear in the circumstances, given that the twin motors of French national paranoia at the moment was raving Anglophobia and Germanophobia.

Fragments from East Asia (Part III)

The Imperial City, the City of Peking, China, the Great Qing Empire, January 1889.

The young emperor took another long sip of his tea, then reached for another document before him. This concerned the security of the Paracel islands and the Pratas island, know to the Great Qing Empire as the Xisha islands and Tungsha island respectively. They were little more then collections of sand, coral and rock. In and of themselves, they were hardly very attractive or even valuable territory, unless one considered their relative positions in the South China Sea, then they became very important as outposts for both military and commercial purposes for whatever power possessed them.

The French had, in point of fact, made serious attempts to seize these islands during the Sino-French War of 1884-85, though they had been sufficiently fortified and garrisoned by both the Ming and Qing Dynasties over the last two centuries to fend off any attempt to take them short of a full scale invasion. The French Marine Nationale squadrons based in French Indo-China had not been able to attempt this given their considerable committments to operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, the invasion of the island of Hainan and their wide-ranging coastal or ariel bombardments of the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan. French naval deployments had been further constrained by their intensive efforts to contain or bring to action, the two southern most of the four seagoing Qing Imperial Fleets, the Fukien and Kwangtung Fleets and the Vampire Riverine Fleet which had acted in a supporting coastal defense role during the war.

That was not to say, that the French had not tried to take them, even with limited forces. Both islands had been heavily bombarded by air and by sea, several times during the war, to try rendering them unusable by Qing Naval forces. Two serious attempts to take the Xisha Islands had been mounted although both failed by the narrowest of margins. While at least one attempt had been made on Tungsha island, which had ended in complete disaster for the French.

When the next Sino-French War came, the French would make a much more practical effort to seize the Xisha and Tungsha islands to secure their naval flank against operations by the rebuilt Fukien and Kwangtung fleets (which had both been largely destroyed by the French during the 1884-85 war). This, it was felt by the Qing Imperial Admiralty and by both Qing military and diplomatic intelligence services, would be the French naval prelude to actually going to war. Whether the French military forces in Indo-China would then turn their main effort to invading Laos and Siam or against China, was hotly debated however.

Few believed that the French would be mad or arrogant enough to attempt offensive wars against both Siam, Laos and China at the same time. It was reasonable to assume that they would go on the offensive on a single front rather then three, while holding to the defensive on the others. Once, the offensive front had been decided satisfactorially, then and only then, would the French assume an offensive posture on the defensive fronts. The prevailing wisdom in both Siam and Laos and in the Qing Empire, was the French would strike on their western front first and concentrate it's initial effort on Laos (if the current French diplomatic efforts to force a protectorate upon Laos failed) and render the kingdom hors de combat as the French military expression went, as quickly as possible before China or Siam had time to intervene.

Fragments from East Asia (Part II)

The Winter Palace, the City of Peking, China, the Great Qing Empire, January 1889.

The foreign ministers, diplomats and other technical or governmental experts and officials intended to have a final meeting in Nagasaki in Febuary to finalize all the details and have the principal articles of the association treaty ready for signature by the eight governments. With the permanent chairman, already selected and the finances of the association partially settled, the main issue was the formation of the other association committees that were deemed necessary.

The Permanent Security Committee had been provisionally worked out with both China and Japan, as the senior co-chairs, with Siam as the Deputy Chair. While both the two empires had the largest air, naval and ground forces of the eight nations, Siam was a significant regional military power, in it's own right, in all three areas. Laos, was also significant as a land and air power but unlike all the other nations in the proposed association, it was completely land-locked and only had a small but useful riverine navy, rather then a seagoing one. Hawai'i, like Siam had a good mix of air, naval and land strength to add to the association's overall military power, while Tonga, Brunei and Samoa had decent sized air and naval power for their respective sizes and resources with adequate but not overly large land forces, which in fairness they had not needed before now.

The other committees deemed important enought to be formered were, the Directing Committee composed of the eight heads-of-states, their senior governmental ministers (or their designated representatives) which would decide the association's general policies; The Trade and Tariffs Committee, which would determine and regulate trade agreements between the eight states. The Legal and Legislative Committee, which would work out the legal or administrative frame works of policies set by the Directing Committee and the Trade and Tariffs Committee. The Intelligence Committee, which was to pool, evaluate and share civil and military intelligence and espionage or counter-espionage information between the eight states. The last committee deemed essential was, the Financial Committee, which would handle the association bank and work with existing financial cartels and banking institutions within each state with a view to collabrotive financial exchanges and projects.

The two emperors, the sultan, and the five kings were scheduled to meet in Nagasaki and sign the Treaty of Nagasaki into fact, in April, if the proposed association's political, administrative, economic and military details were tidied up and finished as quickly as was expected. He had to confess that he was actually looked forward to the trip, which would be his first outside the territorial boundaries of the Qing Empire. The meeting was to be an important but relatively low key affair, as the emphasis was on the treaty and effecting better relations between the eight states not on an excess of pomp and ceremony, which would only be a needless distraction. It would also only draw unwelcome and unwanted foreign attention especially from the various consulates in Nagasaki upon the event, which would undoubtablely ring violent alarm bells in all the governments and chancellories of the Great Powers, with the exception of Austria-Hungary.

The young emperor had to admit, that the likely aghast expressions of the governments and diplomatic corps of Great Britain, France and Russia especially amused him, when he considered the matter. Though he also soberly realized that the announcement of the Treaty of Nagasaki, would have serious political (and perhaps military) repercussions as well, which was not amusing to dwell upon. It was not to be doubted that the eight nations would recieve a barrage of diplomatic notes and questions, the moment the Great Powers heard about the treaty.

As far as any of the diplomatic or intelligence services of the eight nations had been able to determine, none of the Great Powers were in fact aware of the association discussions, save Austria-Hungary. The Austrians had been quietly sounded out about the idea, as they had a wealth of historical experience on dealing with various political, economic and administrative systems under the roof of one agency. The Austrians had been most helpful and played their involvement in the discussions close to their chest throughout, not even discussing the matter with their German or Italian allies. When the idea of an association bank had been raised with them, the Austrians had offered to find, very quietly, a suitable candidate to act as the bank's first director, they had felt a qualified person either in the Swiss or Austrian financial institutions could be found that would suit the future association's needs.

The post would require someone of high personal integrity, political neutrality, diplomatic finesse, administrative ability and a thorough knowledge of international banking systems and procedures. An alternative candidate from perhaps one of the more prominent New York financial institutions might also suffice as, the United States held (for the present anyway), a generally very neutral, business like attitude to most of the eight nations involved. The Samoans and Hawaiians however were unlikely to agree to this, later option, given the United States's previous involvement in their national affairs in the past, usually to the two kingdoms detriment and with a view to the Americans sole advantage.

As there were few currently amoung the finacial institutions of the eight nations, who had this kind of experience on the scale required for the Bank of the Association, it was felt that a qualified and capabable foreigner was essential to establish the bank's smooth internal operations and public creditablity. It would also head off arguments between the eight states if one of their own, was to hold the position, which would immediately cause problems and claims of one nation being favoured over the others when it came to bank services and loans. The Austrian legation minister to the Empire of Japan, had promised to locate, evaluate and bring any career and personal files conserning possible candidates to the next meeting in Nagasaki, so that the Association members could examine them and properly debate the merits of a final choice in the matter, which had been welcomed by all eight nations representatives.