Rose Anne, Ceri, and everyone else had been anxious and nervous about the upcoming Conference, but I gave my soapbox speech assuring them the night before that everything would be okay. I knew everything would be okay since meeting with Cray Fenton two years ago to consolidate his Circle Project dymensional planes into respective chapters for my South Masonia Project. The agenda of the Conference was simple: meet with all the Chapter Leaders each of whom brought with them 100 of their members, so that the gathering was about 1000 people, and discuss building Stage II of the largest multi-faceted dymensional plane ever to exist in Remikra. Stage I had been around for about three years now, and consisted of a dymensional plane for Combria whose Chapter was located here in South Masonia, Chemko whose Chapter was located in Egdir, Ereautea whose Chapter was located in Hasphitat, Gymia whose Chapter was located in Ligam, Layda whose Chapter was located in Savel, Nintel whose Chapter was located in North Kempton, Pimdan whose Chapter was located in Pimdan proper and served as the only Chapter located abroad thus far, Zyrtin whose Chapter was located in Jo Reneed, Ancondria whose Chapter was located in Kronoston, and finally the Basin District Chapter. Stage II was planned after discussion to hopefully expand this network to include County Chapters for every county in every Retunian province and territory, and then a Chapter for each Circlarian Region including Canticula, Hobland, the Meredythian Isles, and the others.
There would, of course, be discrepancies between each Chapter existing now, which my colleagues rightfully have been dreading but I assured would be resolved through this Conference.
The first issue to overcome, obviously, would be differences in the size and scale of things like avatars, distances between cities, and the rest. I also strongly anticipated that there would be discrepancies between time periods conveyed in each Chapter. After all, the time period between the years 1200 and 1300 has been widely considered by Circlarians to be modern times. However, many political and technological changes have occurred from decade to decade. So there would eventually have to be discussion between the Chapters to come to a consensus on at least the decade in which to set the entire multi-plane.
However, I had devised a methodical schedule to iron out those things. The first day of the Conference, October 23, would be dedicated to having the Leader of each Chapter present his or her dymensional plane in front of the other 1000 attendants while I observed and made note of such discrepancies. I would then present the discrepancies to the audience and then discuss and vote on a schedule for the remaining days to work out and finalize resolutions to these issues. The first half of 24 October, the second day, would be dedicated to giving rounds of proposals and counter-arguments regarding common size and scale standards to use across the Chapters while the second half would be dedicated to multiple rounds of floor votes to finalize the determined resolutions. The third day, 1 November, would be dedicated to the same kind of schedule to rectify the time period discrepancies while the final day, 2 November, would be dedicated to discussion over building the new Chapters for Stage II as well as a final vote on all the aforementioned resolutions.
I conveyed this schedule to my colleagues, all the Chapter Leaders, and the other attending members. I thus assured everyone that this would go over smoothly and successfully.
So came 23 October. I, of course, went to the Conference, along with Rose Anne, Ceri, and Colin, to hear the presentations given by the Chapter Leaders, all of whom were distinguished university students between the ages of 19 and 22. I was beaming with excitement and pride in the beginning as I heard Chapter Leader Bella Klingan present the Nintel dymensional plane, Chapter Leader Zacharius Dran present Layda, and Michael Drinbor present Chemko, all of which were of fine quality and understandably received a warm applause.
Then came Chapter Leader Robert Tearney of the Ereautea plane, which featured the dymensional plane copy of Ereautea as well as all of Remikra, the remainder of the entire Circlarian Realm excluding Ancondria, and Planet Nephina. Societies for these regions, including a fictitious society on Nephina, were established simultaneously and were designed to follow a simple path of societal advancement. Robert justified this deviation by insisting that this was a "more creative approach intended to foster more development and incentive through an extra dynamic factor."
There was a warm applause to this as well, but that was when I began to notice the first of murmurs of confusion. I remember, in fact, turning to Ceri and Rose Anne mouthing that Robert would have to be talked to in order to bring him back in line.
Next came Chapter Leader Thomas Saltz presenting Gymia, Chapter Leader Maria Fresh presenting Pimdan, and Chapter Leader Paula Murpheson presenting Zyrtin. All three of these Leaders followed my instructions perfectly, giving me the false notion that Mr. Tearney of Ereautea was the only person of concern.
Then Chapter Leader Stephen Gatewell of the Combria plane ascended the podium. His product was of the province of Combria, but it was completely unrecognizable. According to Gatewell's setup, the entire world, the entire Universe, originated from the Combrian House of Masons; and his dymensional plane was set to the year 1087.
I was shocked. The bottom of my stomach dropped out from under me. The feeling was so intense that I subconsciously rose out of my chair and was about to object. But I held myself back, remembering that I was only a listener for this session. The audience murmur was very loud now. Everyone was confused. All I could do was look at Rose Anne, Ceri, and Colin. But I was at a total loss for words, or even thoughts.
Next came Chapter Leader Roxanne Keleter of the District of Retun dymensional plane. This dymensional plane almost copied that of Mr. Gatewell's Combria plane, except Keleter centered her version of the Universe around the Basin District, itself. And she even went so far as insisting that it was the same as Mr. Gatewell's except without Combrian nationalism. She literally said those words, "Combrian nationalism," and pointed a finger at Stephen as she said it.
As I would find out later that day, Roxanne and Stephen were an ex-romantic couple and had become rivals.
Gatewell immediately stood up in the audience and objected to Roxanne while she was presenting. "You are clearly overstepping your bounds, Roxy!" he said.
"No more than you, Steve!" Roxy shouted. "I assure you that there will be room for compromise, to fit your amazing Combria into the fold...as long as you do not continue to conspire with the Ereautea chapter and his cute little fetish over House Esary!"
Robert Tearney stood up from his seat and objected. "That is entirely false!" he said. "I have nothing to do with that elusive organization. I have nothing to do with Steve's Combria and would never conspire with either of you to deviate from Peter even if given the opportunity."
"You already have deviated, though, didn't you?" Roxanne sneered.
I remember Robert puffing out his chest in response when he said, "Very true. But at least I considered not going utterly radical."
I might have been the only one to hear him though, for he sat near me and the audience was overwhelmingly loud, having broken out into a mass argument. It took nearly all of the energy I had to finally raise my own voice loud enough to shout "Order! Order! SILENCE!" to get the other 1000 people to calm down. "We will address these obvious misunderstandings at a later time," I continued in my politician voice. "In the meantime, we have one more: Chapter Leader Tara Grom, who I know will give a very fine presentation of the dymensional plane of the Ancondria Territories."
Alas, the deviations presented by Ms. Keleter and Misters Tearney and Gatewell paled in comparison to the ones presented by Tara, who cast the dymensional plane version of Ancondria as that being on its own planet, with all things Circlarian happening in and around it but the Circlarian Realm itself not even in existence. The entire audience erupted into a literal riot as some members even rushed on stage to push Tara off.
I ordered the entire chamber cleared at the top of my voice. After everyone else finally cleared out, I convened with Rose Anne and Ceri, appointing them along with myself to a makeshift "Committee of Adjudicators" to hear Tara's presentation again and make note accordingly. Afterward, I sent an OCEA message to the 1000 Conference attendants announcing a two-hour recess and a later time to reconvene to discuss the discrepancies.
That was when Ceri Mains pulled me aside and yelled at me again.
"Did you meet with your Chapter Leaders before the Conference?" she asked.
"I communicated with them over OCEA," I told her. "I checked with them daily."
"No. I mean did you actually meet with any of them in person? Did you travel to any of the Chapter locations and actually see their work before now?"
"No but-"
"How could you be so stupid!? What else did you expect from a bunch of university students?"
And so Ceri Mains continued on, lecturing me on the importance of direct communication. I thought she was overreacting at the time, but I consider now that she perhaps had common sense. In the meantime, Colin Madrey calmly suggested that we cancel and re-schedule the Conference.
"I don't know if that would improve things," Rose Anne said. "...unless you were thinking to reschedule a year or two from now."
"Let's focus on the upcoming session now," I said. "I've made note of the fixes needing done, drastic as may be. I feel that perhaps they will all listen, now that what came to pass has passed indeed. I feel that these Leaders will at least have more incentive to compromise and go back to square one...I know the original schedule is hopeless to be followed at this point. But at least we will have a base today if we cooperate. We will be stronger and go nowhere but forward."
But when I proposed my list to the assembly two hours later, I was shouted down by the Chapter Leaders, primarily Roxanne and Stephen, whose biggest complaint was that all the hard work done on their part was being ignored.
What these college students failed to realize, though, was that hard work is of no value if it is not done according to instructions of the client. I reminded Stephen and Roxanne of this; and Tara, though well-intentioned I am sure, decided to reinforce my stance by telling Stephen that his disappointment here was well-deserved. I reminded Tara then and there that this was not a promise to favor her approach to "Planet Ancondria."
And then Bella Klingan, of all people, the Chapter Leader of North Kempton and a good friend to Cray Fenton by the way, told me that what she was seeing as a reason for her not to trust me. She threatened to have herself and her fellow Planecrafters walk out of the Conference.
"This is the very same misunderstanding that I am attempting to nullify!" I announced. "Hence, we need to implement this compromise and at least start over on strong footing!" But I got shouted down again, so I declared an additional recess, this time lasting only 15 minutes, after which we would meet for an actual vote.
After the break, all of the Chapter Leaders and other members in the assembly got together and unanimously rejected my list. So I made a call for someone else to come forward with an alternative proposal. When that was met with silence, I declared the session and first day to be concluded...three hours earlier than expected.
So that was October 23: the first day
Next came October 24: the second day.
I had barely any sleep that night, needless to say. And on the morning of 24 October, I was greeted with some very bad news. Apparently, that disease, now known as Benjamin Arnold Syndrome, had claimed more victims, leading the Finzi Administration to order lockdowns for three of South Masonia's eleven Cantons. The Combrian nationalists have been unhappy about this and have been accusing Finzi of oppression, and even blaming me for conspiring with him by using my Project as a distraction. Ceri and the others have been insisting that I leave by gyroplane because leaving by airship would make me an easy target. Apparently, the nationalists have been overtaking numerous pieces of public infrastructure over the past couple weeks.
I assured them that I would be fine on the airship and that I would leave as soon as the Conference was done. Despite previous day's misgivings, I was still needed in South Masonia.
The second day of the Conference, 24 October, began with Tara Grom of Ancondria and Robert Tearney of Ereautea joining forces and vowing to merge their ideas. Though a deviation from my original idea, I accepted it as a way to help smooth out the other conflicts having arose on the first day. Unfortunately, Stephen Gatewell of the Combria Chapter threatened to have himself and his Planecrafters leave the Conference if Tara and Robert had their way. Stephen was joined by Gymia Chapter Leader Thomas Saltz and Pimdan Chapter Leader Maria Fresh. Roxanne Keleter, Bella Klingan, and Zacharius Dran, the latter being the Chapter Leader of Layda, called for a motion to vote to expel Stephen, Thomas, and Maria if they continued to make such threats. Roxanne then said that she would negotiate with Ancondria and Ereautea at a later time.
The ensuing debates pushed our meeting times to well past the scheduled end. We originally were going to end at 6:00pm. But here passed 12:00am on November 1; and we were still here, with tensions escalating between the Chapters and things getting ever more chaotic.
In the end, Colin was again urging me to dismiss the gathering and re-schedule the whole Conference. It was 12:47am and things were only getting worse. But then Chapter Leaders Paula Murpheson of Zyrtin and Michael Drinbor of Chemko came forward to have me join them in forming an entirely separate dymensional plane organization and follow the plan I had proposed on the first day.
"Very well," Stephen Gatewell said. "The Peter Quora Project is therefore no longer in existence. So I hereby announce the Conference concluded." And with that, he and his Planecrafters exited the chamber. The Gymia and Pimdan Chapters followed suit, while Tara Grom blamed me for everything and had her own Chapter walk out.
Bella of the Nintel vowed to stay with us, at least.
Before long though, I began hearing a series of explosions and bangs happening outside. We all ran out to see what was happening and found that apparently Tara and Stephen had a beef with one another and began fighting. This turned into a street fight, during which Stephen pulled out a talisman and began shooting discharges. Numerous Planecrafters on both sides had talismans drawn and a virtual street battle ensued.
Local authorities arrived and de-escalated the situation. But then I learned that Stephen had fallen injured and that Tara was missing. According to Colin, Stephen's injuries seemed quite serious and were caused by blunt force from his opponent's spellfire discharges.
As much as I grew annoyed with him, I hope Stephen makes a full recovery. He is apparently well-loved as a Combrian; and these nationalists are starting to cast a bit of a scary impression on me.
Ever since the assassination attempt, we have relocated to a town-cottage in District III of South Masonia. Districts V, VI, and VIII are the ones currently in lockdown. So the nationalists believe that we are exempting ourselves from the apparent "oppression." In the meantime, I have taken Colin's advice to cancel the remainder of the Conference, and to meet with those Chapter Leaders still loyal to me on November 3 to discuss future plans.
For now, I am considering today as a personal day off.