Uncaged Cat 4 - (Pre-RWBY, SI)
During the first year of my reign as Chieftain many important things happened.
Between personal achievements and over all the establishment of a clear line of succession, nothing could have prepared me for the opportunity that fell onto my lap.
It occurred around a time when the growing economy was allowing the newly-acquired land to blossom under our care. Legislation was passed to allow a safe and gradual introduction of proper representation within the Council within two years, providing the new islands with relief packages meant to provide the Faunus and the humans that now bowed their head to our flag a chance to be free of pursuing their happiness.
The administrators had to face some hurdles regarding the handling of taxation as a large influx of migrants coming from Mistral saw the population of those new territories evenly split between the Faunus and Humans.
Some friction was predictable, but the local law enforcement units were trained to take care of the situation as safely at possible. It wasn't a perfect circumstance, but all was done for the sake of keeping the radicalism of any remaining racism under control and mellow the traditional views of those coming from Mistral.
During this time, I also ended up greeting some visitors from a far land. From Solitas. They had originally used some flying ships provided by Atlas, but those had been damaged by bandits and they had switched to proper boats to cross the sea and reach Kuo Kuana.
The leading figure in charge of such expedition was none other than a young Nicholas Schnee. The young founder of the Schnee Dust Company was quite the charming fellow and, while Ice Queendom is deemed non-canon, its characterization with well with this younger version of the legendary figure.
"My most sincere apologies for the sudden, Chieftain. But the times in Mistral are most tumultuous."
"I do understand, Director. We will, however, not shy you away from staying for a time here in Menagerie to recuperate and plan out a safe return home."
We shook hands and... I think this is where we realized we were both 'Goblins'. What do I mean with that? Let's just say that the notion of 'Goblin' for people like us is about being a bunch of troublemakers given the opportunity. But not the kind of trouble that could put lives in peril - it was all about the adventure.
And as we chatted about minerary opportunities, the vast Grimm-dominated areas and the many opportunities to make a lot of money for the two of us, the seeds of pure chaos grew within us.
"We will take a walk around the edges of Kuo Kuana. We will come back for dinner."
That was the excuse I gave, but I do need to explain one thing: this all came to be through a little 'dare'. Nicholas boasted he had easily found ways to beat the Grimm hiding in the caves of Solitas, and I told him that we had done similar feats with some of the caves within the island.
While it is true that a large portion of Menagerie was desertified, the underground system was quite vast and less troubled by strong Grimm. Hence why our 'walk' was actually us both playing Minecraft and showing off our skills.
Out of all experiences I had of similar caliber, this was the finest exploration I had personally taken part to.
It was just me and 'Nick'. Me, Nick, and the Grimm. During the exploration, Nicholas was quick to notice I didn't have my Aura unlocked, and he offered to do it for me. It was a bit of a selfless act that further engraved our friendship for the many years to come.
And as I enjoyed the feeling of being superpowered to a lovable extent, the real delight came in the form of the few vast areas we found underneath Kuo Kuana. We mapped it all, making sure to slay any of the more worrisome Grimm around.
We were so taken by the experience that we may have overshot the expected return. We came back to the palace around midnight. Jaya was not too worried about the tardy return, but she made me sleep on the couch just 'because I had lied to her'.
It was such a flimsy excuse to punish me, but I did grasp that Nick and I had gone far about it. So, in the morning, he accepted doing a double apology towards my wife. It was quite the friendship milestone in less than 24 hours of knowing each other, but it was a defining point as we had discussed previous over the fact he too had a wife waiting a child at home so... he understood why it was important.
After that very first day, a proper effort to establish the SDC in Menagerie is started within a rather unique situation. The Company branch here in Menagerie would have half of its directory led by SDC-affiliated staff, and the rest would be handpicked by the local government.
The 'price' for this Frankenstein's Monster-like agreement was that the SDC would receive a reduction of more than 3/4 of the expected taxation, thus rendering expanding the income gained from this endeavor to a greater degree.
With this in mind, however, Nicholas' stay didn't extend beyond a solid month as the man had to depart back home to check on his family. Befriending Jaya, Nick was quick to remember he had a duty back home too as a husband and, leaving behind some of his staff to act as the provisional representatives of the SDC in Menagerie, he took for Vale and then for Atlas.
I got a letter from him as soon as he returned, and he proudly announced he was now the father of a beautiful little daughter, Willow. In his letter, which arrived about a week or so after Willow's birth, he laid out several details I couldn't ignore. Such as Atlas' growing interest to foster a relationship with Vale and a tentative interest towards Menagerie itself.
Still, the most intriguing bit was Nick's desire to have me and Jaya become Willow's godparents. His wife was a bit reluctant to allow this, but he admitted that it took him very little to convince her to ultimately do this since both didn't have people that could fit that role.
A few months later, I would send a similar letter mentioning the birth of little Ghira. Jaya was extremely stressed during the last phase of her pregnancy, and I had to take a few breaks from work to be around my own beloved wife.
Doctors had suggested she had been quite fragile during this time and that my constant presence helped ease her pain and allow for the delivery to go through without any complications. Ghira was born a big chubby baby, and I was looking forward to be in his life for as long as possible, same for Jaya.
As she recovered from her pregnancy and took care of most of the chores around our baby, I found my plate as Chieftain filled up by an unplanned crisis. It's been roughly two years since the First Menagerie-Mistralian War, and the Second one loomed over the so-called 'Taiyoyuri Crisis'.
Mistral had seen a most recent fall of their 'Defeatist Government' with what appeared to be a moderate cabinet taking over as they focused to inwardly repair the economy of the interior. Once again, the capital failed to take care of the many struggles suffered by the edges of its land, and while I had many annoyances in that regard, I had to admit that their plan to first strengthen their internal economy and then focus on other matters felt like a drastically-needed situation.
The issue stems more from a 'social' situation. The lack of help had gone for way longer than the latest Mistralian Government's life. People had grown first angry, then tired, and finally... 'quietly doing things'. And those 'things' was the proclamation of Taiyoyuri, the island just above Kageyuri, to secede from Mistral and petition Menagerie to unite with the rest of our lands.
This wasn't a sudden phenomenon, but one that was galvanized by two factors: a lack of 'care' from the central Mistralian government towards the most distant regions, and the proven fact that life within all lands owned by Menagerie was safe, good, and with a greater amount of rights and freedoms for its citizens.
With the allure proving too strong and the pains of austerity crippling Taiyoyuri as a whole, the island unilaterally split from Mistral.
The crisis itself did not trigger the war itself, but it created an opportunity for some rebellious elements of the military within Mistral to try and turn this situation in a chance to take over the government. Without a formal declaration of war, Mistralian boats and airships soon took to strike south, the passive patrols around our naval borders quickly spotting them and trying to warn them off.
When the first skirmish occurred, one of Menagerie's ships got destroyed. The FFN Safed was struck and sank after a rather intense confrontation with several lesser Mistralian ships.
Several lives were lost, and what appeared to be a clash that could be smoothed out through the diplomatic table soon became an open conflict. And one that I didn't intend to see ruining our economy. A full-on defensive strategy was agreed upon by the Council, even though some of the expansionists wished that we tried to acquire more land off of the conflict.
Once again, international diplomacy was kept in mind for what the war conduct would work around. Vale was once again shaken up, but they had finalized their political evolution and were thus more active to promote peace.
As a tighter military presence was established within the naval borders, land troops moved to support the militias in Taiyoyuri. A few more clashes ensued, but the government in Mistral worked hard to remove the cause of this situation: the revanchist officers that had caused this whole mess.
Vale and Atlas both worked to finalize a 'proper peace', and the requests that were provided from Menagerie were simple:
1. Taiyoyuri was to be recognized as part of Menagerie;
2. Mistral and Menagerie were to agree to a Non-Aggression Pact that would last for a total of five years and that could be extended by diplomatic request from both countries;
The second point was an important element that would further remove the chance of a long war with Mistral to unfold within this decade. With the Mistralian Military leashed and the Central Government swaying the people by approving the peace and proclaiming plans to help the needy areas within the Kingdom, the 'Second Mistralian War' or the 'War for Taiyoyuri' lasted roughly six months.
And I was glad to hear from Jaya that we were expecting a second child.
AN
Mistral doesn't experience the Ming-plosion (just yet), and Dasra makes a new boy-buddy. Das and Nick will soon become quite a fairy tale in Remnant as soon as these two meet again but... the next time will see a different front. There are some interesting faces among the newcomers from Mistrals. Some more familiar than others.