Yesteryear: Negotiation and Commitment Operations

[ari]

Yesteryear was designed to be partially self-sustaining, with fusion power (using easily available D-T fuel), nearly total recycling, and flexible industry based on producing small runs of diverse goods. It turns out, however, that it's not an easy task to take a city and make it dependent on nothing but seawater and iron ore while maintaining an existing standard of living. Some machinery is more easily produced by other nations, some chemicals more cheaply sourced from better established supply chains, etc.. Of course, the most valuable import to Yesteryear, as one should expect from their level of technological development, is culture: Music, films, books, games, etc..

Several companies have sprung up to manage general trade and diplomacy with the external world, and their agents tend to be the ones to first spot and be spotted by travelers in the vicinity of the city. Negotiation and Commitment Operations in particular maintains a ring of sensor balloons around the city, and dispatches a three-person contact team in a WEAV to any contacts. NACO teams employ one Yesteryearite and two "conventional" human members. In a first contact situation, their MO tends to be to feign ignorance a lot but have a generally friendly disposition. The city listens to both satellite feeds and local terrestrial radio sources, and is well aware aware of the world's events - but visitors don't necessarily know this.

Not everyone in the city agrees that contact with the outside world is currently (or ever) appropriate, and NACO is one of the companies that tends to try to keep visitors a few dozen kilometers away from the more visible operations. It has worked quite well for their business so far. They engage in trade mostly by starting with barter, then trying to move to two-way credit relationships, and eventually trading one neighbor's credit for another's. They buy their transportation capability from other companies in the city - mostly more WEAVs, or airships for heavier cargo.

[Emile]

Hey, I'm Vog of the Fire Jackals, and me and my riders here heard you were looking for a deal, and came over from the RedSand flats.

We have here a few things you might want to check out ... deadsnake root, chew on it and you'll see wild wild things and colors! Dried greythorn peppers, that will set your mouth on fire! Jeyjey roots, singing grass and dried chyles, with which a cook can turn a bland lizard stew into a dish fit for a Khan!

But we got more to offer ... ya see, my son Jon is riding with Karan and his Copper Lions, and Karan's son Zand rides here with me. Dag here is also the son of Rokar of the Burnt Dogs. That way, we know what each other is up to, and won't betray each other. Maybe you'll be willing to trade some of your sons with ours for a few years? Some of our lads want to to try new things - ya have some might fine gadgets here - and some of your lads may be tired of living hidden behind walls like sheep or women, and yearn for adventure and the open sky!

So, whaddaya think?

[Scheherazade]

A very large helicopter in green and white livery lands just outside the city of Yesteryear, and ten Loroi jump out: four wearing blue jumpsuits, three gold ones, a red one, a purple one looking all around her and writing in a notebook, and another redsuit, this one wearing a képi and aviators and just generally looking authoritative.