Episode 6: Policies and Politics:
Radiant Garden – Grand Hall:
August 6, 2015
"Good afternoon," Leon greeted as the other representatives of the Coalition's member worlds took their seats at the table in the Grand Hall of Hollow Bastion. Now that the celebrations of Xehanort's death had finally died down, they had gathered here on Radiant Garden to discuss the future of the fledgling alliance of worlds. "Thank you all for tearing yourselves away from the ongoing festivities for a few hours to come to this meeting," Leon went on. "While the alliance has proven extremely effective in times of conflict, it will ultimately be whether we can get along during times of piece that will ultimately decide whether the Daybreak Coalition will endure or fall apart."
"I think that this alliance needs to stick together," Maurice, the representative of Beast's Castle, suggested. "Xehanort may be gone, but Maleficent's allies still remain. Not to mention the Heartless. Not every world has the technology necessary to protect itself against such threats." Representatives from the less technologically developed worlds like Enchanted Dominion, Castle of Dreams, and Dwarf Woodlands nodded their heads in agreement. The old system of keeping all the worlds separate left them alone and defenseless against more powerful threats like Maleficent and the Heartless. As terrible as Xehanort's actions had been, they proved that the old world order could only work for so long.
"I agree the worlds need to stick together for defense," Aladdin commented. "But what kind of rules would we enforce when we're not locked in combat with the likes of Xehanort or Maleficent? Not every world as the exact same culture and customs. How will we deal with issues like jurisdiction when enforcing laws?" There were a few murmurs of agreement, pointing out that the prince of Agrabah raised a good point. With travel between worlds becoming more common, how would they address issues regarding the sovereignty of member worlds?
"I have an idea," Jack Skellington offered. "Since knowledge of other worlds is becoming more and more common, there should be a standard for certain things like education and medical care that all member worlds will have to uphold. Each world has jurisdiction over enforcing their own laws, while situations involving multiple worlds will fall under the jurisdiction of a combined alliance military and intelligence network." The ambassadors who agreed with Aladdin all blinked. Jack Skellington had developed a reputation for being a bit kooky in matters not related to Halloween celebrations, so his insight was surprising for many of them.
"That actually sounds like a great idea," Princess Anna of Arendelle replied. "We can have a certain set of rules regarding jurisdiction in interplanetary incidents so that everyone has a clear idea of what's expected of tourists as far as what not to do." After discussing and hammering out the details for a few more hours, the Coalition Council eventually managed to reach a unanimous decision to support the proposal. While under other circumstances, the debate wouldn't have been as civil or productive, the alliance had come together to work towards a common goal, and nobody in the room wanted to allow the effort they'd all put into protecting themselves against Xehanort and Maleficent collapse over disagreements that were ultimately petty in the grand scheme of things.
Once the first Charter of the Daybreak Coalition had been signed, discussion turned to more practical topics, like training programs for the combined armies, abandoned buildings that could be converted into bases for either the military or for Coalition Intelligence, and which world would serve as the alliance's capital. Eventually, they decided that rather than have the capital in a fixed location, the Coalition Council would convene on a different world each year, so that each member world was given an opportunity to host the council.
Because of its isolation from the city, Twilight Town's old mansion was to be converted into a base for the spy network Cassim was setting up at the behest of the council, along with the old Lair of the Forty Thieves and Elsa's now abandoned ice castle in the mountains of Arendelle. The Sand Swept Ruins outside of Agrabah would be restored and converted into a training facility for the Coalition military, along with two abandoned castles in Enchanted Dominion and Dwarf Woodlands. After a few more hours of discussion, the council adjourned for the night. As Leon walked through the corridors of the castle back to his house in the Borough, he ran into a familiar quartet in the Entrance Hall.
"I take it the meeting went well?" Even asked curiously. After the four surviving founders of Organization XIII had been reborn a little over six months ago, they immediately set out to atone for all the horrible things they'd done at Xehanort's instruction. They were all doing it in different ways. Dilan and Aeleus had immediately returned to their previous roles as castle guards, defending the city and its people. Meanwhile, Even had combined his scientific knowledge with Cid's technical skill and Merlin's magical power to help expedite reconstruction plans. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ienzo had hung up his lab coat in shame and reopened the old arcade down in the city.
"Swimmingly," Leon answered as he walked past them. "Anything new happening with the Restoration Committee?" While the city would never look the exact same way it did before The Fall, it was still a thriving town once again. The lake that once surrounded the city walls had partially filled back up again, even though it was slightly lower than before. Though the castle had been restored to its original condition, the outer gardens could never be rebuilt. Their world would always bear the scars of its destruction, and that was something they had all long since learned to accept.
"Not much," Dilan replied. "The Gardens are still re-growing, but other than that, reconstruction efforts are completely finished. Since there's going to be more traffic lately, the rest of the Committee is talking about building another layer to the city to avoid being overcrowded." Leon nodded his head. They'd probably need it. While he doubted people would be flocking to the city in droves, it was still a good idea to be prepared for when the housing available was no longer enough.
"Great idea," he commented as he headed out the door. "I'll see you guys later. Now that the party's finally winding down I'm going to go get some shut eye." It was great that Xehanort was dead, but the celebrations had been going on for almost a week now, and he hadn't gotten a good night sleep since before the Raid in Agrabah. He was looking forward to a nice, quiet evening so he could go to bed early and sleep in until noon.
Just to clarify, the named representatives for each world are as follows: Leon (Radiant Garden), Aladdin (Agrabah), Grimsby and Sebastian (Atlantica, each representing the land and sea kingdoms respectively), Rafiki (Pride Lands), Anna (Arendelle), Eugene (Kingdom of Corona), Pacha (Empire of the Sun), Jack Skellington (Halloween Town),Elinor (DunBroch) and Robin Hood (Sherwood Forest).
Yes, the two castles they're referring to are Maleficent's castle and the Evil Queen's castle. As for the state of Radiant Garden, I was originally going to have it looking identical to the way it was in BBS, but then I realized that with the way the city was being reconstructed in KH2, that was unlikely, so now Radiant Garden is basically a fusion of its BBS appearance and its KH2 appearance. The castle looks exactly the same as in BBS.
Coming Up Next: Roxas, Xion, and Lea finally go to the beach.