Brigade XO wrote:Many contries have Embassys in Washington DC or surrounding towns for the Ambassador (and much of the related foreign service and trade people attached to it.
Most countries who have UN representatives have embasy level locations in the New York City area....obviously (well not to some) the US doesn't have a diplomatic office like with Embasy status, the are still in the US and so will have offices and perhaps a local residence.
Then there are Consulates scattered around the US for various countries, same general level of diplomatic protection. I have seen consulates for various nations in Italy (from public transportation around Rome).
If you need or feel you need representation at that level of diplomatch exchange, they you put an Embassy there. Old Chicago is not exactly a small city. Chicago in the present is not a small city, just not a tall. Not just in square miles but also vertical habitation and probably a lot more than you would expect underground. There was the whole introduction of Hellen Zilwicki and Anton, miles and miles and level after level un undercity (wonderfull what you can do with Honververse tech for a city right on the shoreline of what is effectively an inland sea and an interesting water table level.) So Embassy and Consular locations for 2000+ systems could certainly be there.
This is where the League Assembly meets and where the Bureaucracy is headquartered as well as the offices of the Elected Officials who are the nominal leaders. RFC said Beowulf has an Embassy so they have an embassy- and that can reasonablely extended to most of the League Member worlds. That being the case, non-member worlds would still be interested in maintaining local offices/political and trade missions there for all the normal reasons. Access to lobby for things, regular conduits to business and clear up difficulties.
Manticore doesn't maintain a seperate embassy but is using the Beowulf Embassy for a point or residence or consular offices. That does make sense given the Beowulf-Manticore relationship with the Worm Hole Junction if nothing else.
Manticoreian Diplomats and Negotiators are not stangers to either Earth nore OFS and the League Bureaucracy. Whitness the number of times when we have been given backstory about Manticore standing up to the League in it's many incarnations like OFS to remedy problems- usually of Solly creation or OFS problems like Zunker. It's not just RMN officers doing this, there is a good sized Manticorian Diplomatic Corp and they work at keeping the hands of SL (and other) kleptrocracy off Manticore's citizens and merchant fleet.
So, yeah, there are Embassies and other diplomatic postings on Earth and in Old Chicago. Not so much the other way around. It would appear that local offices of OFS and various Bureaus of the League set of offices and, well, strut around making deals and enforcing SL regulations.
Note that there does not seem to be reciprocity. There has never been a mention of a Solarian Embassy on Manticore.
Actually, there is not much interest in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs because the Sollies just take over the planets they want.
That adds an extra twist to what's happening now. The Mandarins are inept in their dealings with the GA because they have no real experience in foreign relations. Note they went right to their usual tactic: conquer any nation in their way.