Upon Vivian Androcles' return to ZODEAC, he was greeted with urgent and exciting news by an Oniru, nearly tripping over himself to reach him. [color="LightBlue"]"Triumvir Androcles, have you heard? The Regional Aphrikan Talks! They've been able to ratify an agreement in The Regional Aphrikan Talks!"
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It is not without reason that Vivian responded to this message with a great cheer for joy, his euphoria echoing in every corner of ZODEAC and indeed Aphrike (Africa). The Regional Aphrikan (African) Talks was a meeting between all the leaders and representatives of the peoples of Aphrike (Africa). Initiated and led by the nation of ZODEAC, these talks were focused on ending years of broken community within the Aphrikan (African) continent, and replacing the jig-saw puzzle of entities with a continuum of freedom without the threat of violence from within. Within one act of unity and agreement, the people of Aphrike (Africa) had voiced their desire to stand side by side in facing the future - and without shedding one drop of blood, Aphrike had become one tribe.
With the signing of the African Unity Accords, ZODEAC in name grew to contain the entirety of the continent of Aphrike and the island of Madagascar. In the celebration of the joyous union, the streets and rooftops filled with cheers and ideas and goods began to flow outward as ZODEAC and her neighbors shared in the cornucopia of their common harvest.
Soon after the ratification of the AUA, it was agreed upon that a major council hall would be constructed in Edean for the newly inaugurated Council of Tribes to meet and discuss matters of trans-Aphrikan importance. More importantly however, there were wide-scale cultural changes that resulted from the AUA.
Ninja Monkeys and their ZODEAC co-species would now be participating in an open society, with guaranteed freedom for all species involved. Tribal villages were incorporated into the national map, no longer placed as restricted regions and Ninja Monkey residents slowly began to explore openly the surrounding territories of ZODEAC as years of tension between these two evaporated before each others eyes. Working together with Oniru, an economic alliance was formed early on to develop a major shipping port at Zoopolis, over the ancient cities of Soyo and Muanda. Zoopolis would provide a major shipping lane down the Styx (Congo) to various cities and the major regional population center at Dryas (Kisangani).
Furthermore, the northern regions vastly bolstered the nations Hume and Slith Population. A regional trade capital, Angustica, naturally formed here at the Strait of Gibraltar over the previous city of Tanger. Similarly, a second regional trade center would be located at New Alexandria, forming alongside it's NHRE counterpart near the Suez Canal. The two were growing quickly do to the potential for local enhanced economic advantages. Thus, even though there was a kind of tension between the northern territories and the NHRE, there was also a lot of trading and good will being spread.
The new South Aphrike additions likewise added a large population of Nekojin and Vesari to the ZODEAC culture. With a regional population center located at Delphi (Pretoria), they quickly became ZODEACs new bread-basket, using their wealth of arable land to grow a variety of foods in the temperate climate. In fact, this was the most developed of the regions acquired from the deal, as the jungles of the Congo and it's rather nimble inhabitants made roads an impossible achievement, while the northern deserts with their chaotic years of conflicts between nomads resulted in little infrastructure. And while these conditions did not continue to the East into Madagascar, the islands still kept a similar population makeup of Vesari and Nekojin which lived fairly prosperous lives in various costal towns. Madagascar was interesting for other reasons though, as supposedly deep in the mountains, there lived a tribe of war-mongering Lemurs, created long ago. However, these Lemur stories would remain for now and the future, a mere myth with an occasional unconfirmed sighting. No physical evidence of the Lemurs were ever found.
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Meanwhile, Ragnarok Heavy Industries reported a pilot match for TEMMII; Lexya Valhalla, a young RFX-4 trainee with a very amicable personality. TEMMII immediately began to undergo pilot synchronization and short range chaos suppression missions. Most who watched Lexya perform these missions stared in amazement. Her skills as an RFX-4 pilot were above average, but once synced with MIKA (Military Intel Komputer AI), she seemed to transcend the physical limits of a biological pilot. Beyond incredible acrobatic capabilities in the air, Lexya commanded TEMMII to suppress several small chaos creatures around eastern Aphrike, while providing extensive combat commands to ground crews who quickly eliminated the threat.
Almost over-night she seemed to become the general of the army of ZODEAC, the greatest ace pilot in the nation and best set of "eyes" the world had ever seen - it was as though she had some kind of sixth, seventh and eighth senses at her disposal. After detachment however, she seemed to retain few of her previous capabilities. Dr. Bladeborne overlooked the project personally and according to the data he was collecting, he was positive that multiple sorties would soon be relegated to TEMMII to eradicate chaos from Aphrike once and for all. He did however, take special care to insure that Lexya was granted plenty of time off to spend with her friends and family, as he was well aware of just how important they were to supporting her endeavors and her soul. But he was confident enough in the project to declare that TEMMII would be fully ready for full combat operations against errant major chaos hotspots still remaining in Aphrike before the launch of the AESOP Surveillance Network.
