The Nexerus — Roleplayer Guild

United Kingdom of Great Britain

10 Downing Street, London, England

	A crowd of journalists stood in the rain outside of the Prime Minister's residence, impatiently awaiting the Right Honourable Janet Bright's scheduled press conference. The cameras and microphones of the collected media were protected from the hearty downpour by an army of umbrellas, baring the corporate insignias of various news outlets: major and minor, domestic and foreign. A wooden podium was set up just outside the door, its face decorated with the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. A few of the press gathered were speaking into their cameras, preparing contextual messages and otherwise readying themselves for broadcast, testing their connections and so on. This background noise ceased immediately when the door to Number 10 swung open, and a tall, young woman of auburn hair stepped down from her home and office to approach the podium. A man in a black suit moved alongside her, carrying a Union Jack umbrella which he intended to protect her with as she spoke. Instead, the woman of her early thirties took the umbrella herself, gave a few quick words to the man, and then turned to smile at the gathered media as her guard stepped out of frame.

	Janet Bright was something of a compromise. She was a centrist in her party, made leader after a tight three way race between a more conservative opponent, the son of an American immigrant who (it was hoped) could steal support away from the Republic Alliance's base, and a more progressive opponent, a self-made businesswoman from Melbourne that was considered among the Conservatives' further left candidates. Janet, most prominent of the party's moderates and the retiring former Prime Minister's Chancellor of the Exchequer, was the sensible, pragmatic choice. Since her inauguration she had become a political figure of unusual popularity due to her charm and sensibility. Though from a relatively prominent and largely irreligious family, Mrs. Bright was technically self made and technically a religious minority. The Brights were of Quaker nomination, including (in de jure terms) Janet herself. Her family's relative wealth was a boon to her only up until she'd left her home in Lancashire at 18 and moved north, to Scotland. It was there, in the long dilapidated Abderdeen, that Janet would found the business that had now grown to become the United Kingdom's largest energy company twice over: Brightside. Taking advantage of new advances in weapons technology and deploying them to advanced oil recovery, Janet had bought out most of the North Sea's largely unprofitable oil-laden sea floor and used her innovations to practically single-handedly restart the British domestic oil industry. The funds earned from the last few drops of the North Sea's petroleum wealth were then invested by Bright into green technology—chiefly solar and wind. The profits of this industry, mostly deriving from government subsidies, were then turned right back around and put towards what would become Brightside's crowning achievement: the fusion generator. The name 'Bright' would forever by synonymous with fusion. Not just nuclear, though, but also political; Prime Minister Janet Bright's greatest accomplishment thus far in her office had been the formal annexation of Australia and New Zealand into direct British sovereignty. She, and her party compatriots, hoped the success would not end there. She had many years left, and retained massive popularity at home and abroad.

	Smiling sweetly in spite of the seriousness of the topic, Janet began, "It has been the popular desire of the British people, and therefore the formal desire of the British government, to avoid involvement in armed conflict whenever possible. This happy arrangement has made our country the stronger, and neither I nor any sensible man or woman in Westminster wishes for our splendid isolation to end. Notwithstanding the inexcusable past conduct of the government in Istanbul, there has simply been no cause for war, and the declarations made and laws broken by the belligerent states to the conflict now unwinding in the Middle East are flatly absurd." Janet's expression, posture and tone changed, becoming more authoritative as she continued. "No portion of the matter of international relations is an action to be undertaken in insobriety, least of all one which will end the lives of countless thousands and threaten the lives of countless millions. My heart is with those so many of those innocents who will now be made to suffer for their government's folly; it would be an equal folly, however, for me in my role as Prime Minister to involve Great Britain's brave protectors in foreign conflict, and in doing so force suffering upon the people of my own country. The United Kingdom of Great Britain shall play no military role in this war, and it is this nation's heartfelt sentiment that peace shall be achieved soon, and at minimal cost."

	As Janet ceased speaking and paused, a chorus of journalists raised their hands, begging numerous questions on Mrs. Bright's foreign policy, among other things. Janet again smiled, and gave a small wave. "That will be all. There is much to do on the diplomatic side for me to give action to my words, and I believe I have been utterly clear in what sentiments I hold and why. Thank you all for very much for suffering the rain to hear me. Have a lovely day." Moving much more quickly than she'd entered, Janet returned the umbrella to her guard and entered 10 Downing Street once more. She hadn't lied—there was indeed much to be done.

Caliph Mohammed Salah Ibn Al-Arabi,

It is an essential truth that uninhibited trade is foundational to peace. The inward facing nature of the Caliphate's economy results in massive negative consequences for your own people, and a much lower than possible business and personal link to western governments, London included. The economic strife that comes with war, for aggressor and aggressed, will intensify the consequences of the Caliphate's poor economic and financial environment, and bring suffering of enormous severity to your nation and its people. These consequences can be averted, and growth improved even beyond pre-conflict levels, by the opening of trade with this Earth's largest extant economy. The United Kingdom and her people can be the allies or enemies of any of the world's states. The identity of the relationship is determined largely, if not solely, by trade. I hope that you will make the decision that is best for your people, and I hope that peace and prosperity shall reign in the Caliphate.

Sincerely, the Right Honourable Janet Bright.

To the Economic, Monetary and Fiscal Policymakers of the Greater European Confederation,

It is with heightening regret that I must one again protest the severely restricted nature of the European Federation's economy. Crisis promotes candidness, and as both the European economy and the peaceful nature of international relations are currently in crisis, let me be perfectly candid: protectionism is an ideology that died in the 19th century. The continued attempts by Rostock to place greater and greater emphasis on misguidedly 'protecting' the European economy against foreign investors is childish. The only objects or principles being protected by current European economic policy are recession and misery. The success of all economies is directly proportional to their openness. The United Kingdom repealed the last of the Corn Laws in 1846: it is far past due for the sovereign nations of mainland Europe to follow suit.

Sincerely, the Right Honourable Janet Bright.
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