A warm breeze carried salt and anticipation across South Quay as delegates from twelve neighbouring realms disembarked sleek river-cutters. Banners of every colour snapped above the dockside conference hall; Navaleon's gear-and-falcon standard flew not above but alongside the others—symbol of partnership, not dominance.
Inside, rows of telegraph keys tapped simultaneously in seven languages, providing near-real-time transcripts. At the central rostrum, Sharath outlined the Mutual Advancement Compact (MAC), offering three pillars:
Open-source baseline technologies (clean water wells, basic hygiene, standard road gauges).
Tiered licensing for advanced systems conditioned on labour protections and education benchmarks.
Rotating joint-research ateliers pairing Navaleon scholars with foreign experts.
Prince Ilias of the Western Marches questioned clause two: "Conditional sharing seems paternal." Elina countered, "A rising tide lifts all, but only if the boats aren't leaking. Worker safety is no imperial whim; it's proven economics." She slid graphs showing productivity spikes following sanitation reforms; murmurs of surprise rippled among merchants tallying profit margins.
Over five intense days, committees hashed technical standards for telegraph voltages, quarantine protocols for livestock transport, and mutual recognition of engineering licences. Heated debate flared when Coastland envoys demanded unrestricted access to Aether-Gun schematics. The hall fell silent until Sharath replied, "We share ploughs before cannons. Security grows from prosperity, not fear."
The compromise: a Defensive Technology Council under multilateral supervision, research focused on containment rather than conquest. Even cautious kingdoms signed, recognising the futility of arms races against Navaleon's head start.
On departure, each delegate received a sealed case containing RBIP instruction manuals translated into their tongue—blueprints not of machines, but of systems for safe, inclusive innovation. Watching the sails vanish beyond the breakwater, Sharath felt the Compact's weight: peace purchased not with tribute, but with knowledge freely granted yet responsibly guided