“Councillor!” came a call echoing into his office; Marcus' ears quickly distinguished it as coming from from outside the hall and through his open door. The distinct noises of heavy breathing soon followed; the telltale sign of someone who’d been running for some distance and at great speed. “Councillor, I beg you pardon but there’s news from the Sofon Dominion. I apologise for barging in like this but you requested that we bring any news regarding it to you with no interruptions.”

Marcus looked back at one of his many clerks, this man was a particularly young member of his staff; only started work a few months ago and he carried all the vigor and exuberance of the youth. He was eager to impress and please his employer, probably in the aim for a promotion or pay increase. “Well what is it Dannis? What news has come through?”

“The Sofon Dominion has cut off negotiations with the Kingdom of Aznavor, apparently they offered wildly insufficient terms, so much so that they have opened the bidding process again.”

“My word what a group of fools, now we must send a reply as soon as we can; boy, fetch me a paper and quill; I shall write this letter myself”

“Yes Councillor” the boy replied, scurrying off before loudly asking anyone around where the nearest source of paper and quills would be. Marcus smirked slightly as he heard the commotion, there was a tinge of sorrow the case as he considered how he missed the energy and passion of his younger days. The world had jaded and corroded him; he’d been shaped and tainted by the vices of a harsh world and the extremes of a revolutionary war. 

Turning his mind back to the issue at hand he considered how he should go about securing the colonial port contract. He had to sell the benefits of his nation, tempt the Sofon Dominion with benefits yet still profit for his nation. His nation had a proud history of maritime trade yet he’d managed to fail to secure the contract the first time; they’d acted too slowly so now time was of the essence.

The boy soon returned with a long parchment of paper, quill and a black inkpot ready for his use. Whilst it could seem rather unusual that he didn’t possess such items in his office but Marcus preferred to use a scribe who carried all of his own materials. Unfortunately said scribe was at lunch and wouldn’t be coming back for a while; Marcus was loath to entrust such a task to another. “Ah good, thank you Dannis. Wait here while I write this letter than take it to the messengers hall with all haste and instruct them that it is a matter of extreme importance and to assign a guard detail to the messenger.” Dannis merely nodded in reply, carefully noting each task in his mind.

Marcus turned to the parchment in front of him and wrote: 
[i]
‘Your highness, King Edgard III
I write this letter in direct response to your request of a port to use for colonial expansion in return for a 30% stake in any colonial venture. I humbly present my nation along with a separate dockyard in Stendmark, the largest and finest port in all of Edorinas. Stendmark is in a prime position for a straight journey to the continent of Aventia and your colonial intentions will match our own; we have a planned colony on the continent and have set about the preparations to create a trade route between the continents. 

We are commencing a large construction project to provide a special purpose set of docks to be used solely for colonial ventures. In the long term, we can provide a dock for use only by the Sofon Dominion and their merchants, complete with storage and housing. Such a business relationship between our two nations would prove lucrative for both our present and future wealth and economic strength. 

To the technicalities of such an agreement:
-Free port use already exists as Stendmark is charted as a bureaucratic free port but we will endeavour to assure that relevant business in the docks provide their services at the best prices possible.
-All members of the Dominion who move to Stendmark to serve their nation will be provided price-reduced housing in order to facilitate an easy move for your agents. 
-We are willing to provide some older military vessels for an initial beginning venture along with contracts for our dockyards to construct new ships at again a cut-price fee. 
-We would like to propose a trade agreement between our two nations in order to co-operate and combine our trade influence in the world. Our combined trade power will prove a worthy asset when it comes to competing with the other traders of this world.
-All Sofon Dominion ships will be escorted at a same priority as those of our own.
-Our second proposal is to create a trading league with the view to invite other nations of Edorinas in order to trade together, merge powers and stand by other members in times of war should it be needed. We have a view of some ideal candidates for positions in this league and look forward to the opportunity to change the course of the history with this decision.

Such an agreement would be capable of bringing much of the world’s trade under our control; along with a heavily financially supported colonial endeavour of our own in order to construct a large trading port on Avernis that will ship directly to the free port of Stendmark. Co-operation is key for such a partnership and as such we would like to extend the offer for the Sofon Dominion to build an embassy in the council district in the city and employ an official ambassador. Should you follow this path, I offer to house him at the Councillor’s Manor while his embassy is being constructed and permit him the use of offices in the Council Hall for his staff.

We look forward to your response with anticipation about our future potential.

Councillor Marcus de Happself,
Leader of the Councilate of Arbasses.'
[/i]
“There, now have it sent boy”