The Men and Women of the Royal Mail in Vekllei

✿ This article was part of Vekllei’s Mail Week in February 2021

There are not many postal services older than the Royal Vekllei Mail. It is so old that in the Vekllei language its title is simply ‘Mail’ — the ‘Royal’ and ‘Vekllei’ are implied by the use of its hieroglyph. Founded in 1422 as part of the military communications system between government and mercantile government holdings, it has survived various restructurings — and several wars — to remain a critical communications and cultural institution today.

As is the usual way with State Requisites (A.r.), the (Royal Vekllei) Mail maintains a state monopoly on all paper and electric mail in the country, serviced by a workforce of nearly fifty thousand people and two hundred thousand automen. Peculiarly, telephones, telegrams and videophones are structured under the Mail as the Mail Bureau Office of Telecommunications, which acts as an independent organ of the Mail A.r.

Vekllei people send nearly 12 million letters a day — that’s about one for every two people, and the Mail processes and delivers another 40 million mail pieces a day. It does this with a fleet of jets, automatic trucks, dedicated mail trains, intercity pneumatic systems, vehicle automen, and postmen, all wearing the red and gold colours of the organisation. It previously served the King of Vekllei, during the years of monarchy, and today serves the Royal (Land) Sovereign — the confusing name for the landscape of Vekllei and its potential for human use. It is de facto bound by the Petticoat constitution of the Floral Period.

Vekllei people love their Mail, as a patriotic analogy for the unity of the city-state. Red postboxes are visible on every street in city boroughs, and in the country Post Offices serve as critical contact points for communities isolated from urban business. The announcing of the Mail’s Postmaster General is a deeply ceremonial affair, second only to the ascension of new Prime Ministers. Vekllei was home to the world’s first Postmistress General, Mi Miou, in 2016 shortly after independence.

It is only appropriate that the Universal Postal Union, the U.N. body responsible for the worldwide mail treaty coordinating international postage, is headquartered in Vekllei’s Capital district, two blocks away from the Mail’s luxurious Newda head post office and administration complex. As one of the oldest of Vekllei’s ancient, evolving state institutions it perhaps best symbolises the age and service of the Vekllei state to its people.