Kristoff and Harrison: Corporate Cloak and Dagger

Unbeknownst to the queen of Arendelle, one of her most formidable geopolitical adversaries was in Arendelle, in person.

He didn’t let anyone know, of course, and he wouldn’t be around for too long if he could help it. He’d dressed modestly in a bland, grey suit, and gotten off his clipper ship by the time the dawn’s rays had just started to brush the waters. Will Harrison, heir to Virginia’s most powerful (and slaveholding) First Family, was an unremarkable, modestly handsome young man, with blonde hair, striking brown eyes and a friendly smile. He didn’t stop to look around even the Plaza, which wasn’t too far away from the docks. Instead, he made his way several blocks down the harbourside, beyond the office building of The Arendelle Guardian, stopping at a three-storey, stately-looking building.

This was the headquarters of Skau-Krogh, the main rival to Kristoff’s company of Bjorgman House.

Continue reading →

Elsa’s Column: Revenge Served Cold

By Elsa, Queen Emerita of Arendelle

I have two memories of the Exalted, this secret society of the world’s most influential rulers. The first was during Christmas in 1840, while I was queen. His Imperial Highness of the Celestial Empire enjoys receiving letters from the monarchs of Arendelle. That year’s Winter Solstice, he asked me to write him a letter without my Chinese translator, so that he could teach himself Arendellian. Instead, I wrote him a letter all in Chinese characters. He couldn’t stop showing my writing off to his imperial harem (much to his concubines’ annoyance and my embarrassment). It’s a story our diplomats fondly recall from time to time.

The second memory is exactly one year later, after my allied armada of Vakretta, Zaria, and Chatho had repulsed the Russian fleet in the North Sea. I met the tsar in Saint Petersburg for negotiations, and he was rotten, ill-tempered, and bitter about everything the entire time. Despite being the aggressor that tried to divide and rule us smaller kingdoms, the tsar acted as if I had wronged him. I’ll never forget the lady by his side, several years younger than me, who glared at me with pure hatred for daring to resist her father.

Princess Katina Romanov.

Continue reading →

Diarchy, Schmiarchy: Anna and Elsa are nothing to us

Your Imperial Highness Yixin, Prince Regent of the Great Qing Empire,

I trust you’re in good health! In the past year I haven’t had the chance to sail to Canton, to visit the American factory there. Our tai-pans are very busy at this time of year, with many merchants moving to the ports that your emperor has opened. But I trust that global events, which we’ve always steered with confidence, will bring us back together soon enough.

I hope you visit Berkeley Plantation one day and let me host your stay in our beautiful Virginia. As heir to one of her First Families, what I say pretty much goes. You haven’t had apple pie before, have you?

Continue reading →