Foreign affairs of The Hexarchy

The foreign affairs of The Hexarchy are, needless to say, complicated at the national level. Dealing with all three Realms and their constituent Dominions as a collective is generally seen as a waste of time for most diplomats, for most matters (be they specific or general in nature).

Overview

Frankly, most people are too confused with the nation as a whole to deal with them individually, so most diplomacy in this age goes through the government at Kobol, when diplomacy with the entire nation is strictly necessary. For such matters, most plenipotentiaries to the country itself wait patiently for those times that the Council holds a meeting in the massive, highly-developed city of Kobol, instead of nowhere in Pyrax or in the middle of some crowded building in Elam's sole major settlement at the island-city of Kanaloa (and environs). As for the rest of the country, general sentiment tends to agree with this reality of things. As such, most Council meetings in the easily accessible city of Kobol tend to revolve more around diplomatic and other external matters. Meanwhile, meetings in Azul'an and in the city-state of Elam tend to focus instead on best practices in assimilating the natives (particularly the Storish refugees the natives insist on bringing along with them) and on the country's urbanization projects, respectively.

Generally, the country as a whole enjoys a positive relationship with Adrestia, specifically. Most of the country's exports go to that country via the Bassarids, whose borders in turn are located very close to the Eventide Islands, which has the nation's GDP per capita, by far. Additionally, it was through the Adrestian government's efforts that allowed the country to establish itself on the wide open Keltian continent, where the free-roaming peoples of Pyrax and Elam could flourish without their perpetual wars with Ralgon zealots and sapient dragons on the island of Drag'os. Collective opinions tend to remain divided along geographical lines, and as such each of the constituent Realms is usually dealt with individually.

Pyrax

The Realm of Pyrax has an extremely strong and wide reputation for being a nation of savages that run the equivalent of an open-air zoo full of monsters in their entire country. For the uninitiated, the natives are paradoxically as friendly with their guests as they are fierce with just about anything outside their country's borders that they encounter that happens to have a pulse (mostly denizens from The Green). Daily life and culture in most of the country revolves around the nomadic natives' constant expeditions on the backs of their dragons onto the Keltian continent to hunt down other monsters for sport. Most disturbing to tourists and diplomats alike are the natives' well-known habit of indiscriminately asking visitors they take an immediate shine to -- almost all of whom with no knowledge of their unique methods of combat (never mind monster husbandry or handling) -- to join them on these extremely dangerous expeditions as if it were a mere stroll in the park.

For the people of Pyrax, familiarity rarely matters when making friends through the harsh crucible of combat; instead, the native merely has to like their prospective charge, have a dragon or other large monster capable of surviving the wilds, and the ability to travel on said monster from any of the Domains within Pyrax (or on their settlements near the Red River) to those wilds. Thus, their tourist population often consists solely of either thrill-seekers wanting the ultimate level of blood-pumping action and danger (to include the randomness of both the natives and their impending "adventure"), or merchants who brave the Red River's own dangerous megafauna to trade for valuable goods and exceptional craftsmanship the natives happen to possess.

Diplomats and Ambassadors Plenipotentiary to the Realm of Pyrax consist almost invariably of disgraced ambassadors who will inevitably be kill by falling off the back of a dragon or some other random tamed monster of theirs during an expedition, killed by an opposing monster, or else captured and subsequently suffer a most gruesome death at the hands of Keltian natives who are perpetually at war with these near-savages from the Red Islands. Reports also abound of the fate of disgraced merchants and diplomats also suffering at the hands of the natives' ruling clans when committing a terrible faux pas when in these capricious and often-arbitrary people's presence. With social norms being simultaneously complicated, ambiguous to outsiders, and extremely strict in random areas, state visits of any kind to Pyrax to any other city than the regional capital of Azul'an are essentially unheard of by any other than third parties, and even in the city they are rare enough as it is.

Country-Based Summary

This is a summary of those entities the Hexarchy has relations with. Note that additional visas are always required to work in the Hexarchy, and to visit the northern territories in Pyrax and sometimes Elam (due to dangers imposed by the local fauna). Transit through the country never requires a visa if the duration of stay is less than 24 hours and/or the passenger does not plan on leaving the train or aircraft. Travel by gas-powered motor vehicles of any kind is strictly forbidden, and passengers of personally owned vehicles always require a visa unless specified.

Country	Formal relations	Informal relations	Visa Free Travel (# of days)	Working Holiday Visa (# of months)	History
Adrestia	✓	✓	90 days	1 year	Positive relations with Adrestia. Free travel, easy access to work, and long-stay agreements already exist between the two nations. Tourist and working holiday visas are renewable, within restrictions.
Alduria	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Barbary	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Batavia	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Constancia	✓	✓	✖	✖	Formal diplomatic and trade relations extended 12.VIII.1694. Imperial Constancian ambassador dispatched and resident at Ashtaroth.
Craitland	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Elwynn	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Florian Republic	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Goëtia	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Guttuli Protectorate	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Imperial Trade Union	✓	✓	90 days	✖	Relations between the natives and the Bassarids are most unusually friendly, thanks to the Bassarids being an early supporter during the Hexarchy's colonial days. The natives also hold them in mildly positive regard, which makes trade with these eccentric people oddly easy.
Inner Benacia	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Iron Cult	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Jingdao	✓	✓	90 days	✖	A long and rich history of cooperation from colonials and natives alike with the Jing diaspora have made travel within the Hexarchy extraordinarily easy.
Kasterburg	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Krasnocoria	✖	✓	30 days	✖	Relations through the USSO's Policon.
Mercury	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Natopia	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Norrland	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Pacificonia	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Palesmenia	✖	✓	30 days	✖	Relations through the USSO's Policon.
Phinbella	✖	✓	30 days	✖	Relations through the USSO's Policon.
Graustark	✖	✓	30 days	✖	Relations through the USSO's Policon.
Ralgon	✖	✖	✖	✖	Unfavorable relations with Ralgon due to the violence that led to the Hexarchy's independence. However, there is a strict free and open travel policy, specifically for full citizens of Adrestia.
Réunion	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Senya	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact, but the large native population within the Hexarchy holds a generally favorable opinion due to their positive treatment of the River Warriors.
Sovereign Confederation	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Shireroth	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Srbozemska	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Stormark	✖	✖	✖	✖	No official contact before Stormark's demise. Refugees from the former Stormark are usually used as a lower (working) class within the Hexarchy.
Tellia	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Thracistan	✖	✓	30 days	✖	Relations through the USSO's Policon.
Unified Governorates	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Vi'Ix	✖	✖	✖	✖	No prior contact.
Wechua	✖	✖	✖	✖	Despite relatively close proximity, the Hexarchy has never encountered any of the Wechua peoples.