Blackhall Palace, Luthorian Foreign Office, 5 p.m. [Fort William Standard Time]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Empire, also called by other names such as Blackhall Palace to designate the building where the ministry is located, with others accompanying it within it, such as the Ministry of the Home Department and many others, or the Foreign Office, to designate its more Luthorian situation, Luthori being the only country to actively name the Ministry as a "Foreign Office." Today, many men were gathered around a single table, to discuss a problem close to the borders of Luthori, it is that of Ikradon, a nation which has just collapsed in a total civil war, with factions declaring secessions one after the other. In this table are several senior representatives of the Luthorian Government, such as Prime Minister Raymond Miller, Foreign Secretary Maximillian Bates, Director-General of the Imperial Security Service, Hermann Blackbunner and specialists within the Foreign Office in relation to Artania.
The discussions about Ikradon were quite difficult, because Luthori had just been robbed by an official faction seen as "unknown" by the media, of a fairly large sum of money after the explosion of the Central Bank of Ikradon, something which the Governor of the Bank of Luthori and that of the Foreign Investment and Development Bank were not really happy to hear. Rapid and concrete actions should be taken quickly, everyone in this chamber knew that, but which, the first thing was to avoid the contagion of the conflict to other regions of Luthori, the state of emergency and a evacuation of the border areas of Shipleyriding and Northriding, this area representing approximately 30 km wide on the entire border between Luthori and Ikradon, where the Imperial Luthorian Army would have all the powers while respecting the judicial institutions, all this was in the perspective of avoiding taking risks at the security level because of "raids" set up by certain dissident factions in Ikradon to gain resources by any means, a scenario feared by the Imperial Security Service, or to avoid the shipment of certain light or heavy weapons across this border by illegal groups working in contact with groups in Ikradon.
After this fairly easy decision, the Defense Secretary announced his point of view, quite similar to that of the Imperial General Staff, who recommended a "preventive attack towards Ikradon to stabilize the country under the leadership of a government legitimately elected by the citizens", Defense Secretary Alexander Timlington said that "it is Luthori's duty to take the lead in establishing a humanitarian zone to protect the many refugees heading towards Luthori", the idea of the Defense Staff and Defense Secretary was to put Operation Martlington into action, at least its first phase, as long as the situation did not deteriorate, an idea strongly opposed by the Foreign Secretary, who wanted, even if he is known as an ardent defender of Luthorian interests, To avoid sending Luthorian troops on the ground, he advocated, as stated in his speech, "sending material funds and weapons to our preferred faction, supporting them diplomatically if possible", but the Prime Minister was categorical in his decision to support the Defense Office, stating that "the very stability of the Empire is threatened by the conflict at Ikradon and we must intervene to uphold the rights of human beings in this fraticidal conflict"
Now, Maximillian Bates was in his office, thinking about what he could say to the Imperial Diet in his speech to the Imperial Diet and what he could say to the international community regarding intervention. to Ikradon, and to its press release which should be given by the Foreign Office to the Luthorian Press, certain stations could prove to be critical of the government decision, such as the Times, other supporters, such as the Independent Observer or the International Inquirer during review by newspaper editorialists. But, for now, he was going to have to make a few calls.