Ambassador to the Sarcophan Delves
Overview
The Ambassador to the Sarcophan Delves is an Imperial title. It is an Imperial position appointed by the Imperial Senate. The Sarcophan Embassy stands in the port-town of Cargo, in Redoubt, while the Imperial embassy to the Delves is located in the Buitenlandsewijk, an area of the Delves where foreign investment is welcomed and encouraged..
Political relations with the Delves have remained relatively untroubled for several decades. The Sarcophan passion is trade, the freer the better, and they have enthusiastically embraced opportunities to invest in the Empire wherever possible. They provide wains of white granite and weirwood, and import large amounts of medicial herbs for sale to Imperial apothecaries and physicks. They also maintain an independent enclave at the Alivetti estates in Sarvos, where they have established a bustling and prosperous centre for trade with Imperial citizens - although one that is no stranger to controversy.
Prior to the Winter Solstice 387YE, the Ambassador was able to purchase goods from merchants and those seeking favour. This was changed, along with the rest of the ambassadors, when the Senate voted to amend the embassies to end the practice, removing mercantile support and the upkeep costs at the same time.
Responsibilities
The ambassador is expected to represent the Empire in relations with the Sarcophan Delves. They have all the responsibilities common to an Imperial ambassador. As such they are responsible for representing the Empire to the Delves, and to a degree vice versa. They are presented as the primary contact for any official Imperial business relating to Sarcophan, so their letters carry much greater weight and importance than anyone bar the Throne. They are expected to conduct or oversee any treaty negotiations with that nation, and receive official delegations. The civil service will direct representatives and citizens of the foreign power to the ambassador wherever appropriate.
Powers
- Status: Foreigner
- Ports: Sarcophan, Betovering, and (temporarily) Jakhalsmarkt.
- Ambassador: Dino i Riqueza of the Brass Coast
- Counterpart: Bedelaar Huisbaas Annike
Imperial Ambassador
The title has all the common powers of an ambassador: they can receive a formal delegation, and may prepare a treaty.
Stipend
The Ambassador receives a stipend of four thrones each season.
Appointment
The Ambassador to the Sarcophan Delves is an Imperial position appointed by the Senate. Any Imperial citizen can hold this title, and the ambassador serves for a year as standard. They can be revoked by the General Assembly and by the Assembly of the Nine.
| Summit | Nation | Elected |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn Equinox 388YE | The Brass Coast | Dino i Riqueza |
| Autumn Equinox 387YE | The Brass Coast | Dino i Riqueza |
| Autumn Equinox 386YE | The Brass Coast | Dino i Riqueza |
| Winter Solstice 385YE | Wintermark | Thanmir Hrafnar |
| Autumn Equinox 385YE | Urizen | Thalia of Netherwatch |
| Autumn Equinox 384YE | Urizen | Thalia |
| Autumn Equinox 383YE | Wintermark | Thanmir Hrafnar |
| Autumn Equinox 382YE | Wintermark | Thanmir Hrafnar |
| Autumn Equinox 381YE | Wintermark | Thanmir Hrafnar |
| Autumn Equinox 380YE | Wintermark | Thanmir Hrafnar |
Recent Elections
This title is currently held by Dino i Riqueza; it will be reelected at Autumn Equinox 389YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.
Ambassadorial Lore
Sarcophan Embassy
The embassy to the merchants of the Sarcophan Delves was commissioned by the Senate during the Summer Solstice 380YE, and work began almost immediately in Urizen. Built in the port-town of Cargo, in Redoubt, it is composed of three squat towers connected by covered walkways surrounding a central garden. The garden in particular is notable for its riotous profusion of exotic herbs and the glass roof that covers it, allowing the often-delicate plants to prosper in the otherwise inhospitable climate of western Urizen.
Unlike other nations, there does not appear to be a single ambassador - instead representatives of five of the Bedelaar Huisbaas share the residence and the responsibilities of diplomacy with the Empire. Each of these ambassadors has brought their own staff, meaning the embassy is quite crowded. As a consequence, the embassy has spilled over into Moonfall Square, an open area previously used by musicians and artists, which is now increasingly dominated by an impromptu market as merchants from all over the Empire (and beyond) come to bargain with the traders from Sarcophan. Many of the buildings around the square have also been bought up by Sarcophan citizens leading to one Marcher wag dubbing it "Little Delving". The garrulous Sarcophan enthusiasm for trading and street-culture has already made some of the Urizen citizens in the area a little uneasy - an unease that can only grow thanks to the presence of the Vandersaar Dok and the DeBruin docks and the concomitant increase in the number of Sarcophan merchants coming to Cargo.
The Imperial embassy to the Sarcophan Delves is, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the city of Sarcophan itself. The civil servants assigned to the structure occupy a sprawling mess of interconnected buildings and towers in the Buitenlandsewijk, an area of the Delves where foreign investment is welcomed and encouraged.
Sarcophan Ambassador
The Sarcophan ambassador to the Empire is Bedelaar Huisbaas Annike, of the Tower of Crows. She reports to the beggar-landlords of Sarcophan, and is known to be a wily and subtle diplomat. No stranger to the murkier waters of espionage and intelligence-gathering, she constantly seeks opportunities to expand the influence of the Sarcophan mercantile Empire across the Known World. She has no particular loyalty to any one faction; her main concern appears to be the prosperity of the nation as a whole.
Ambassadorial Briefings
As discussed in the 388YE Autumn Equinox wind of fortune So little I wanted, so little I got, the civil service have recently reinstituted Ambassadorial briefings. At least in the short term, the civil service have resumed furnishing Imperial ambassadors who are supported by embassy staff with individual briefings where necessary and appropriate. To maintain transparency and preserve continuity, the briefings are made available to those who wish to review them after the summit where they are delivered, in a similar way to which historical research is made public. Only those elements of a briefing that are specifically personal to the ambassador may be removed, and only where they are clearly not of interest to the Empire. At the end of the year, this procedure will be reviewed again, to ensure that it is fit for purpose.
Sarcophan Further Reading
- Sarcophan Delves
- Ambassador to the Sarcophan Delves
- Sarcophan Delves ports
- Eternals of the sea - Discussion of Sarcophan attitudes to eternals
Winds of Fortune
- Those memories of you - 388YE Autumn wind of fortune discussing Sarcophan relations with the Empire
- Chain and anchor - 388YE Spring Winter wind of fortune revising Sarcophan relations with the Empire
- A wild night and a new road - 387YE Winter wind of fortune discussing Imperial/Sarcophan relations
- All the night-tide - 387YE Autumn wind of fortune discussing growing Sarcophan influence in the Bay of Catazar
- Can't give everything away - 387YE Summer wind of fortune introducing the Pax Sarcophan
- Waiting for the worms - 387YE Spring Wind of Fortune discussing Sarcophan diplomatic matters
- Theory of the crows - 386YE Winter Wind of Fortune discussing Sarcophan diplomatic matters
- Hyenas and herbs - 386YE Autumn Wind of Fortune discussing Sarcophan diplomatic matters
- Houses of Silence - 386YE Autumn Wind of Fortune relating to the Alivetti estates
- Towers and crows - 386YE Summer Wind of Fortune discussing Sarcophan diplomatic matters
- The mathematics of tears - 383YE Spring Wind of Fortune recounting the Sarcophan ending the slave trade in their nation
Sarcophan Associated Titles
- Kruidenkenner Trademaster
- High Herbalist of Sybella
- Master of the Root and Stem
- Master of the Clearing House
- Custodian of Ivarsgard Docks
- Custodian of the Concordium Dock
- Prime Factor of the deBruin Docks
- Bishop of the Navigators
Sarcophan History
Click Expand to see a summary of various pages related to the Sarcophan Delves.