[EVENT] Courtyard of Public Opinion

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: January 10th
Location: Central Keeliai - Courtyard of Public Opinion
Situation: A meeting has been called to determine the status of the Foreigners in the city, including the upcoming and highly anticipated Shangpar race. The major NPC players can be approached, and Foreigners have a chance to make a case for their treatment within the city.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The Courtyard of Public Opinion has been around since before Emperor Eshai's death, a relic of a time when all kedan would have preferred talking about their problems instead of fighting. Even now that the spell suppressing their true nature has been removed, none of the kedan want more trouble than Keeliai already has, especially where the Foreigners are concerned. Violence is frowned upon - though by no means forbidden - and while discussions can get heated, a disagreement will usually be taken outside the Courtyard before it comes to blows.

The Courtyard isn't any bigger than some of the open fountain areas in the Water Sector, and it isn't set up the way some of the Foreigners might imagine a political debate area to be set up. There’s no podium, no chairs apart from the stone benches too heavy to be moved, and no grand banners or archways. This is done deliberately; everyone is meant to have an equal voice in the Courtyard, so everyone is on level ground. Apart from the greenery, the stone paths, and the low stone walls surrounding the Courtyard, one could almost imagine it’s just another Market Day in an open square.

The kedan arrive early in large groups of eight or ten at a time, and they'll exhibit a wide variety of reactions to the Foreigners' arrival - everything from open disapproval and fear to a new and very cautious optimism.

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LINKS
Shangpar Races | Foreigner Status | Tu Yunxu - The Snakes | Zanru - The Metalworkers | Heojin - The Woodsmen | Milyn - Cherrywood Healer | Questions

OOC
There are six starters for various parts of the discussion, one specifically on the races, one on the Foreigners' overall status in Keeliai, and then one for each of the major NPCs. Characters are present for the entirety of the conversations listed below, and those who wish to input or engage on the first two topics should reply to them in the relevant comment, and the NPC comments are for directly speaking with that NPC or those in that group. The rest of the post is for Foreigners talking and organizing amongst themselves.

Comments

[pushtheboundaries]

Nice to know that the head of the local - did it even pass for a technological corporation? a collective, perhaps, but whatever such group was nothing like the one he knew from San Fransokyo.

"The tram-line," he called, leaning forwards slightly. "Will the 'Metalworkers' be taking care of all maintenance and upgrades, and will it be a public service or otherwise limited?"

Part of him wanted to ask if it was even going to require some sort of fee, but- if it wasn't, he didn't want to give them the idea.

[forgediron]

"My teams have got maintenance and upgrades," said Xuiyu, looking over to Callaghan and looking him up, and looking him down, and looking him up again, and lifting her eyebrows. "But if you're interested in private talks, I can arrange that somewhere."

"So much for questions being mine," Zanru muttered, and then addressed Callaghan more directly. "If there are people to contract to, we're willing to contract to them, and if that's what you're angling for, it can be arranged pending proof of your qualifications and a contract, and all those fun things. Whether that means you're on a team or leading a team depends on those fun things and my unsubtle cousin. Otherwise yes, the system is a public service which right now it only goes between Fire and Metal Sectors. We're hoping to expand that for all sectors, but we're having trouble negotiating for land rights. Price is a juulan for an all-day ticket."

tl;dr - "PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE NOT MUCKING UP YOUR OWN ENVIRONMENT IN THE NAME OF PROGRESS"

[pushtheboundaries]

He wasn't fitting in that badly, was he? Robert couldn't help but glance down at himself, briefly, then back up; the clothing seemed normal enough, but then again, these people weren't...well, maybe they saw something else.

As for the offer? It got a hand-tilt gesture in response. We'll see. It'd give him something to do, and a greater 'in', and he'd make note of hunting the women down later to begin discussion...

"I understand how bureaucracy can complicate things." All too well, in fact. "And I can't speak for how it is here, but I'm familiar with a system where the responsible group also takes care of any byproducts their ventures may or may not produce, with as little bureaucracy as possible. You already have this accounted for, as well...?"

[forgediron]

If Xuiyu had been eyeing Callaghan before, at that she harrumphed and crossed her arms. "That sounded an awful lot like 'Do you clean up after yourselves'. We may not be as advanced as whatever world you came from, but the turtle's back doesn't have enough resources to go around pissing in the parts we use."

"Any scrap we can re-use, we take back," said Zanru. "Any scrap we can't, we're still figuring out how to deal with long-term, but we put it somewhere it won't get in the way in the interim. The tram is designed to use the same biomechanical goo the consoles do, so there isn't much in the way of byproduct regarding its actual running."

[pushtheboundaries]

For that? That made Callaghan chuckle, though not unkindly, and raise a hand in a pacifying gesture. "That's what I needed to hear. I'm glad for the ethic, and I won't waste your time here asking for the details on all that."

Later, on the other hand...

[forgediron]

"It's practicality," Zanru corrected. "The turtle's back is doing better than it was in terms of agriculture, but as far as ore and industry are concerned we don't have much to work with except for what's already being circulated or already 'scrapped'. We just can't afford to treat it as if we do. Anything else?"