The Cities have a near-full set of ambassadors resident, due to Christoté's pre-eminence in Teraf and its cordial relations with most other countries. Exceptions are:
Bedral, who prefers just to send large deputations of Dwarves at selected times (one descended in 1330, ostensibly to mark Chela Tatel's election victory, really to beg for help in the Noriscan war, though were sent away with a flea in their ear).
Labland, with whom full diplomatic relations have yet to be restored since the Ten Years War though this may soon be resolved (Nesal, banished for their part in the war, were readmitted in 1323). If the Labbish return they have some building work to do; their Kings Road embassy was pretty much wrecked by the mob during the invasion and a boarded up shell is currently an improvised homeless shelter.
Grail, which has yet to be recognised as a proper country i.e. anything other than a brigand's court by Huwdone House yet.
Moulin and Dell, two of the more microscopic Flaugian states, both of whom have had ambassadors die in the last five years and just haven't replaced them yet.
The ambassadors of the smaller or poorer countries tend to live in the ornate federal-owned houses of East Street and Tukas Avenue (Jalkin) and Kings Road (Yaleth). Extra officials making brief stays are often housed in or around the Huwdone House annex itself. The federal government also usually supplies any catering, servants, security (i.e. Huwdone Guardsmen) etc. Ambassadors of the larger counties, however, have long supplied their own needs, and their residencies and staff have become an integral part of the Cities. The Erish long ago grabbed a belting four-storey house on Lewis Avenue, next door to the Fortraine residence. Nicknamed the Mininom (after the Macronom, the King's citadel in Ansell) it is a splendid residence, both architecturally and in interior decor, testament to the Erish belief that having a bankrupt economy shouldn't stop you putting on the swank to impress the foreigners. As a sight the Mininom is only rivalled by the Komia Villa, the beautiful, secretive residence of the Elf Ambassador from Yelen, which stands just outside Yaleth. The Noriscans formerly had a house in Jalkin's Lewis Avenue quarter as well, standing on Caedon Road, but were eventually forced to leave after complaints about the drunken antics of their "colourful" unit of bodyguards, the Skuggers. The embassy moved to Lupine Lane, a backwater area even by Forgar's standards where the Skuggers keep less expensive families up at nights. (The bodyguards of the ambassadors are theoretically under the command of the Huwdone Guardsman Captain whilst they are in Christoté. Diplomacy means orders are rarely given, though Captain Frielich did lock the Skuggers into their embassy when the Dwarves visited). Kakranfé decks out on the corner of Parliament Square and Tukas Avenue, in an embassy quite recently redeveloped to reflect the growing power of the country; the new model is based around two tall, thin circular wings, linked by a paper-thin adjoining role. It is an impressive building but one with the nasty reputation of luring unwary travellers through its doors with offers of free food and then subjecting them to incomprehensible lectures on the value of commune government. Astmad has an official residence on Porters Road, of note only for the way the roof slopes up to a clock and bell-tower in the curious Astic fashion. Of the other embassies the only one of real note is the Hyath building which has long doubled as a reference library for Hyan books and scrolls, many of them ancient, in true our culture is still better than yours swank. The Cities has a cluster of Ellniss ambassadors as well, many on a semi-permanent basis, from a series of strange little countries no-one can remember the names of. Though traditionally residing in East Zabrial, the Ellniss ambassadors have been rather pointedly redirected to the Cities in recent years to remind them where the real government of Christoté is. There are also two embassies from powers which enjoy a special status. One is the Yelen representative, shut away in their enclosed villa (he and his staff are officially the only Elves residing in the Cities). Even more secretive and much more frightening are the jolly Academy of Magic representative wizards, behind very high walls in a compound known as the Baelan, which lies in the Fallows area of southern Yaleth.
Christoté is seen as a prime posting abroad, and the Cities generally gets its ambassadors pretty senior. Though the Confederacy is hardly a political danger zone, its importance to so many economies and its diplomatic clout mean that few governments want to risk jeopardising relationships. Generally the Cities gets sent some member of a country's ruling family; usually either an heir or second heir to the throne being trained to rule, or a cousin to the king who is distanced from the throne and puts in a lifetime of diplomatic service to compensate. Generally the area is spared having errant or rebellious royals foisted on it to get them out of the way of an angry king, partially for reasons stated, partially because a few years in the Cities makes delinquent royals even worst. The Asatan consul is a good example; held by Scanat Elizan, fourth younger brother of King Lucas, since 1313, a bland and colourless nobleman who briefly stepped aside to allow Relen, heir apparent, to brush up on his diplomatic skills in the 1320's (and to grab a diplomatic marriage with Marie Desonte which linked him with the Brightson/Greigson clans) and then stepped back into place when Relen returned home. The Erish Ambassador, a perennial local figure of fun, was also formerly a long server, an uncle by marriage to King Drako, but he was rather sensationally murdered in 1333, an unsolved crime still building to its full repercussions in Erenland. The murder is widely believed to have been arranged by one or more of the Musrich Territories lords, a suspicion enforced when the Territories pulled an outrageous flanker and installed one of their own, Heighan Dutosk, as ambassador while the crown delayed. Dutosk, the middle aged brother of the Lord of Lariskol, has so far confined himself to replacing the staff and advisors at the Minicom and has so far toed the crown line; how long he will do so, and how long he will last anyway, is unclear. Hyath, naturally enough, is the only one with the nous ever to send a female ambassador