[Slokais]

Mbaye woke up in pitch-black darkness, her eyes slowly adjusted to the low light of the room and eventually, her surroundings became clear. She was in a small room with plaster walls on each side and a metal door on one wall, letting in a tiny amount of light around the edges. Compared to the darkness, the light of the door might as well have been the sun. Mbaye also felt sick as if she had been drugged with something, her mount was also incredibly dry as if she had eaten sand. Eventually, after an unknown time, the door swung open.

After the initial adjustment to the brightness of the outside, she could see a man dressed in green robes with a white star pattern in its center, Mbaye noticed he was armed with a small pistol, not she had the strength to escape anyway.
“Wait..” Mbaye said as he struggled to find words.
“Don’t worry” the man said, this time surprisingly in unaccented English
“Where is my father” Mbaye said as the man dropped a plate of stewed cabbage and rice.
“Not here, you will meet him soon, if the goddess wills it,” the man said turning around
“Why me" Mbaye asked partly to her captor and partly to herself.
“You are part of the plan,” the man said as he closed the iron door, plunging the room back into darkness

The year was 2011, and the city of New Liverpool had just come out of a large storm as the students of Howard-Prince Gonalez Univeristy’s Pre-College Program entered its historic Presidential Hall. Built in 1918 as the first building of HPGU it was designed to model the Slokasian Capitol Building of the time, its large columns covering quite small doors. HPGU was Slokais's most prestigious public university and arguably the most prestigious overall if Kirkland and Saint Pius University didn't have something to say about it. Even getting into a Pre-College Program was a massive achievement, each student had been a top performer in their political science classes and many had received endorsements from MSLs or local political officials. Mbaye or as she went by at the time "Elizabeth" had struggled to just make it into the program. In the building’s vast lobby, signs directed students who had just dropped the bags in Georgio Best Residential Building to the commencement of the two-week program for talented high schoolers, not just from Slokais but from across the globe.

“First of all, welcome to Howard-Prince Gonalez University, all of you have been chosen because of your talent, and skills and each of you has shown how like our namesake you can create change. These next two weeks are designed to give a taste of what a full 4-year’s at HPGU could look like, both as a college experience and as a prime institution for political science”

“At other colleges, pre-college suggests admission, here that means nothing,” said a girl next to Elizabeth.
“I know right, my parents are just happy they don’t have to pay for this,” Elizabeth said
“What’s your name,” the girl asked
“Elizabeth, I’m in the Diplomacy major”
“Oh nice, I’m Julie. International Business”
“Why business, was the UNLCF, too easy?” Elizabeth joked
“Ha, no. The College of Finance is a bunch of business jocks”
“I notice you have an accent, where are you from?”
“Kolda, although I have dual citizenship and live in San Fernando”
“Oh, cool,” Elizabeth said

The Dean finished her introductory speech, and as the students exited to their first classes, Julie held Elizabeth up.
“Hey, let's meet up sometime”
“Sure, what’s your Talk username”

The meeting with the Brissican Immigration Minister was very one-sided. He gave his annual report to the whole group although he looked only at the small number of Brissican civil servants seated on one side of the table. Brissiac had been receiving high numbers of workers from Kolda, both legal and much to the note of the Immigration Minister, “undocumented, illegals”. After giving his report, Ousmane spoke up, a decision that saw instant glares from the Koldan delegation.
“Not to be rude, sir but this is a discussion not a report to your peers,” Ousmane said
“Brissiac, would be pleasured to include if you simply return what was taken,” the Minister said
At that moment, the Koldan Immigration Minister responded
“I apologize for my comrade's rudeness, we will continue to enforce our side of the border”
“No problem, just of note several Brissiacan companies have expiring resource contacts within your country” the Brissican Minister responded.
“Indeed and I believe those will be satisfied per my sources”

Fatou-Ba Gueye, the Koldan Immigration Minister was a deeply respected party man, he had come up with the generation of thinkers who had built Koldan identity during the 1970s. His politics were considered a little odd by party loyalists such as President Gano, and was thus left out of the inner circle during his multi-decade rule. During this time, Fatou-Ba joined a circle of insiders, all deeply interested in Koldan history and native folk religion. Through them, Fatou-Ba became deeply connected with Fen-Dawla, a man of humble background who saw visions of a new great nation. The ancient city of Kolda had been destroyed by colonialism, yet Fen-Dawla saw a vision of a new great city of innovation. However, he warned it wouldn’t be possible until the Spirits of Ancestors were claimed. Fen-Dawla was the voice of the goddess Dalwa, who spoke from the spiritual beyond. If people believed in her, she and her fellow sprits would return.

Fatou-Ba saw this as his new vision, his great purpose. When word began to spread of a plot against Gano, he established himself within the movement and helped promote a new figure to power. Although President Senghor was not enlightened yet, many in his cabinet were and they fulfilled the wishes of the ancestors. When Dawla required new citizens for its great city, the military brought in thousands from all classes to begin building the new city. Soon, the New Founders as they called themselves had built themselves into every institution, they may have been Brisssican or Koldan but they were ready. Now the final steps were coming, all that lay between a New Kolda and ruin was President Senghor.