NationStates Jolt Archive

Dread Lady,

I don't want to seem rude, but...
WHAT IN THE FRAGGIN' SMEG WERE YOU THINKING?

Sorry,

-Lord Martin Royen, Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei

---------
"Not very diplomatic, that."
"No, but it gets the point across."

OOC: What thread does this come from, and is this un ocupied land we are talking about?

Interesting you of all people would ask me what the hell I was thinking, Martin. I could very well ask you the same thing. As a Triumvirate nation, and knowing full well the mutually agreed on non-conflict status between the two alliances, what the hell were you thinking going to war with Melkor Unchained? You just couldn't wait to get in on the action? Everyone else was doing it? Seriously, I'm sure we'd all like to know.

Where was the diplomacy and tact? I saw a lot of hurled threats and insults flying around up there with all the missiles. Perhaps your ego will not allow a nation you view as an enemy to set foot on disputed soil? The last I checked, the Kinslayer region was just that - disputed. Melkor put in a claim, as did others. Is it your job to police that? Is there a solid reason, outside the 'but we don't like them' playschool attitude that they should not be allowed the opportunity to colonize as well? Certainly there are more implications than that, but it is no reason to outright go to war over. Melkor did arrive on the scene, and did indeed initiate the situation, but was not uncharacteristically aggressive. He did not fire first. The real crime, in the eyes of our NDA alliance, was the fact that nobody but he was serious about negotiating. Everyone wanted what they wanted, and they were not going to move from it. Rare exceptions apply, of course, but if people were truly serious about it things wouldn't have degenerated as badly as they did.

It was clear from the beginning that what he wanted was land. The vehemence with which he was greeted, I'll note, was inappropriate and completely out of line for Auman. That started it all. Of course Wazzu just had to get in on it, setting off a nuclear device in Melkor's own territory. The circumstances I know are unique, but the result was inexcuseable. In return, I'll note, that Melkor responded with surprising restraint. He did not go full out to war with you all. He backed down, even at the risk of his pride, and accepted terms and compromised. How many of the rest of you can honestly say, after a nuclear attack on your sovereign soil, that you would do the same, I ask you? But no, all that wasn't good enough for what seems to be a majority of you all. Everyone just had to keep on with the "OH dear GOD, it's MELKOR! We must cleanse the planet of this scourge!" Given our observations of the situation, and given that our pleas for peace seemed to fall on deaf ears, it is no surprise that we began to view Melkor's side in an increasingly favorable light.

When it seemed that my allies were going to be dragged in, I quietly talked with one, and began thinking of ways I could try and get around that. Of everyone up there, it could be said our nation was the most neutral. We have had past dealings with many of those involved, am a member in good standing of the Triumvirate, and via my NDA ties, have had favorable dealings with Melkor and Arda. I challenged actions taken, and in response was told "it's our policy - if you don't like it, too bad". Not a damn one of you took me seriously, Siri included. All the same, I knew I could use what I had to an advantage, and help my allies and the rest with a little 'sacrifice' on my part. Mars has been boiling for a while, and this whole mess just set it off like a string of firecrackers. It showed me the caliber of the leaders involved up there - and I was not impressed with what I saw. An environment like that is not good for business. Given how we had been treated thus far, it was clear we would get stepped on in a global conflict.

Seeing the options, seeing the inability of those older powers on Mars to get things under control and comport themselves in a more seemly manner, I worked with Sunset - he in trying to settle things down, and me in approaching Melkor, via my NDA contacts, and with my own solution that I did not at that time disclose.

I'll note here and now, that at that time, before the fighting began again, with Auman's idiocy I'll note, and Tor Yvresse jumping right on the bandwagon, that Melkor agreed to peace. Everything I asked of him, including an immediate ceas fire, and halt to any and all current expansion efforts. That he honor the agreement he had made with Wazzu on behalf of MIDAS for the Kinslayer lands. All this for a simple price - my land, that at this point, I was all too willing to unload. You see, I found myself in a unique position. Not only could I profit, but I could bring peace to an already delicate planet - both politically and environmentally, I'll note. It was a win-win situation all around, though I'll admit that it was a solution that not everyone would entirely like, nor was it perfect by any stretch. I felt then and I feel now that a bit of discomfort was more than worth the alternative that you are now faced with, which is the war machine of Melkor Unchained, with no holds to bar him other than what defenses you have, marching across Mars unchecked.

Can you honestly sit there and tell me that such a relatively small sacrifice would not have been worth it?

Well, all my hard work and negotiations were for naught. And why? Because you damnably hot-headed Mars nations can't seem to rein it in long enough to sit down and bloody talk things out. And yes, I am lumping you all in together. Rare are the nations who have maintained their efforts to end this peacefully. Most have been only too eager to be at another's throat, if only for the weak excuse of 'well, it's our policy to offload nukes at the slightest hint of things we don't like' and such. How many of you have just been waiting for an excuse to war, one must ask.

Being that at this point in the game, I had already made tentative arrangements, it only made sense that I continue, wanting to cut my losses, and knowing that if I evacuated, or sold to another nation, it would be another landgrab all over again - only this time, along the borders of three of my allies - Sunset, Eniqcir, and Menelmacar. That was a situation I would not allow. This was not an arbitrary action. I tried to think out all the angles, and do what I thought would in the end, benefit the most for the common good, and more importantly, though it might cause them discomfort, would keep my allies out of a costly and unneccessary war.

You all had ample opportunities to stop this. Auman, to begin with, was never slapped for starting the attacking. That was the first opportunity missed. Rather than attempt negotiation, threats and mobilizations were offered. Another missed opportunity. At every turn, you have been your own worst enemies. And now, you have lost the one nation that quite possibly had much influence and your best interests at heart all at once. Quite frankly, my dear, you've made your bed. Now sleep in it.

http://home.mchsi.com/~ketri/wsb/links/Nath7.jpg
--Nathicana D'Aquisto dal Lupo, Dread Lady of the Dominion

The Angelan-built cruiser Alcateron, orbiting Mars

Captain Samson put down the letter, before speaking into the AI.

"Tell the Archailect...tell It we believe the situation to have been calmed down. And send a message to the Lady Nathicana."

Please dictate the message, Captain.

"My Lady...Though we are guilty of...being involved in this situation, in that we supported Auman's motives, if not all their actions, we thank you for your quieting words. Many of us have acted poorly, and your statement will, hopefully, make us all realize that. Captain Samson of the Alcateron."

[Encrypted Transmission to Dread Lady Nathicana; From The Lady]

{"After reviewing the situation I have to say that I was most impressed with how you handled the situation despite the sheer chaos at the time. I give you my most sincere congratulations.}


http://www.reboot.com/reboot_4_cells/episode_2_inset.jpg
The Lady Daemon
There Is Only One, And The One Is Daemon
The Dominion of Synchronized

Thank you. That is all I wanted to know.

Perhaps now would be a good time to offer my own explanations. Though I'll be the first to admit that it's a thin excuse, neither Kasei or the Golden Empire itself have declared war- only stated that it is now a possibility. At this moment, negotiations are trying to get underway to end this mess before either of us lose any more equipment.

In the beginning, we were perfectly willing to allow Melkor the Kinslayer territory. Policing it was never on our agenda. While it was certainly a disconcerting situation, and Melkor's absence would've been preferred, Kasei made not one threatening move against the Kinslayer territory. Policing it was never on our agenda.

We tried to stay out of it for the most part. In the beginning, things looked like they would resolve themselves. Sunset presented a compromise, Melkor looked like he would accept it- but then the attacks began. Auman, while perhaps out-of-line, was not unpredictable. It occurs to me now that we should have seen it coming. Perhaps then we could've prevented Auman's attack. But that is past now, and cannot be changed. I, too, am impressed by Melkor's restraint regarding Wazzu, but in that case Arda did act first. It was made clear that landing additional Ardan troops before negotiations were complete would result in retaliation. Arda landed troops anyway, and Wazzu responded. While Wazzu's force was excessive, it was Arda that broke the negotiations then. But still, Kasei was not involved in that theatre.

Now then- what in the fraggin' smeg was I thinking? Or perhaps I should say, what in the fraggin' smeg were my Chief of Security, Military Advisor, and I thinking? Well, consider MIDAS/Vascillian relations- for as long as either organisation has existed, they have been in a virtual state of cold war. Finally, it seemed like things were warming up. But Melkor could not have come at a worse time. Knowing how, shall we say, zealous Vascillia is, we had only three options: remain neutral and be attacked by Vascillia, join Melkor and be attacked by Vascillia, or join Vascillia and face war with Melkor. In truth, a fourth option was open- remain neutral but make Vascillia think we were fighting with them- but that was turned down by Melkor. When we were finally forced to get directly involved, we tried diplomacy, and were rejected. Melkor, not Kasei, forced armed hostilities upon us. Even then, we did not attack directly until there was no other course left to us. Our actions until recently consisted of nothing more than medical assistance and border keeping. The proposal was made to MIDAS to make Vascillia a protectorate, and perhaps that will yet come to pass if our next set of interchanges with Melkor goes well, but the damage has been done.

Now that I know your reasons, I am sorry your sacrifice was in vain. It would have been a near perfect solution.

Elehín or whatever god it is you worship help us all if this escalates any further.

-Lord Martin Royen, Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei

Eniqcir made the mistake of not thoroughly describing this situation before racing off to war. Perhaps, too, it may have been a partial fault of ours: at the time we were unaware that Eniqcir's interest in the situation extended beyond their duties to terraform the planet. A "mock" engagement, particularly at that point in the conflict, made us rather uneasy. Since they shot the Nargothrond out of the sky, we've been more than a bit apprehensive with Yut members. I'm sure if the situation had been reversed, you would have declined such an offer as well.

These dealings of course complicate the present situation. Eniqcir demands nothing less than complete Imperial de-mobilization; a proposition that is at this point impossible. Since Eniqcir hadn't bothered to declare its intentions beforehand--and in fact seemed like they were trying to avoid war, so we were remiss in thinking that attacking Vascilia wouldn't piss you off this much.

Your logic for the conflict, as far as I can tell, boils down to simply "We're going to war because we were trying to establish better relations with Vascilia." If you want to throw your lives away for no reason better than this, so be it--but it's not the wisest reason to go to war, especially when in doing so, it may make you Lord Melkor's next target for conquest.

At any rate, you're missing the main point: the Imperium was attacked outright. We're doing nothing more than responding to this attack, an action which we let slide with Wazzu. We've shown at every turn that our quarrel is with Auman and Auman only. The conquest of Vascilia was deemed necessary because we figured that his alliance chums would race to his defense, which they have.

If Eniqcir is counting on Yut support to back its actions, we're rather certain you'll find yourself in a rather unexpected position. Look at the dissent, even in MIDAS!

We urge you to take us up on our offer for peace: at this point its the best option either of us could hope for. If, however, you think the Imperium is going to back down from Kasei and the Vascilians, you're a fool. You can stem the tide here, or let it wash over Vascilia at great cost. It's up to you.

Warlord Konrad Althalon
First Advisor for Imperial Armed forces, Acting Imperial Field Marshal
http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/current/caravaggio/sean.jpg

Before making threats of conquest, perhaps you should go over our lands with a magnetometer. I was not bluffing when I said you would find surprises waiting. But hopefully that will never become an issue.

Our logic extends deeper than simply establishing better relations with Vascillia. I shall do my best to put it into terms that an outsider could understand. Every country consists of two basic groups: the governors, and the populace. Too often in international relations, focus rests only on the governors. But consideration should also be given to the populace. The actions of the Vascillian government call for retaliation, but at what expense? Regardless of whether or not we wished to better our diplomatic ties to the Vascillian government, their citiznes needed protection from a zealous government, and the government needed to be protected from themselves. Hopefully, that made some sort of sense. As it is, the best way to accomplish that is by the methods we have been employing- doing our best to keep them from launching any more attacks, and repelling the attacks that others make against them.

Our only point of dispute preventing peace is whether or not you are allowed to claim Vascillian land which you have no need of, for no reason but retailiation as far as I can see. Now, if Auman agrees to cede a province to you, Althalon, so be it. We will not interfere. But if you insist on taking it by force, we will have to continue keeping the border. We look for no support from Yut or MIDAS. We are quite capable of carrying on by ourselves.

The idea was once brought forth to make Vascillia a MIDAS protectorate. I still feel that this a good idea. Surely denying them their right to dictate their own foriegn policy is quite punishment enough?

-Lord Martin Royen, Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei

[ooc: why do I get the feeling that this is something painfully obvious, but something i don't know about because I' don't know how to terraform planets? It seems to me like this "surprise" could be easily diverted by ripping whatever mechanisms you have out of the ground and destroying them? Such would be standard operating procedure, as far as I'm concerned.]

[ooc: why do I get the feeling that this is something painfully obvious, but something i don't know about because I' don't know how to terraform planets? It seems to me like this "surprise" could be easily diverted by ripping whatever mechanisms you have out of the ground and destroying them? Such would be standard operating procedure, as far as I'm concerned.]
OOC: I don't know, because it's not obvious. Quite nonstandard procedure, actually. Aelosia knows what it is, Wazzu might be able to figure it out, and anybody with good siesmometers would've noticed a series of marsquakes originating in these areas (http://timesurfer.linuxcowboy.net/InfernoSites.gif). Ripping the equipment out of the ground is actually one of the worst things you could do, coming in an extremely close second to blowing it up.

[ooc: why do I get the feeling that this is something painfully obvious, but something i don't know about because I' don't know how to terraform planets? It seems to me like this "surprise" could be easily diverted by ripping whatever mechanisms you have out of the ground and destroying them? Such would be standard operating procedure, as far as I'm concerned.]
OOC: I don't know, because it's not obvious. Quite nonstandard procedure, actually. Aelosia knows what it is, Wazzu might be able to figure it out, and anybody with good siesmometers would've noticed a series of marsquakes originating in these areas (http://timesurfer.linuxcowboy.net/InfernoSites.gif). Ripping the equipment out of the ground is actually one of the worst things you could do, coming in an extremely close second to blowing it up.

[ooc: this is part of the reason why I dont want to go to war. Youre going to do this "big nasty" or what have you, and I'm going to respond very violently. This is going to end up as an ignore fest, from where I sit. Since youre in Yut, this damn well may be a BF2k3P [almost 4!] situation.]

[ooc: this is part of the reason why I dont want to go to war. You're going to do this "big nasty" or what have you, and I'm going to respond very violently. This is going to end up as an ignore fest, from where I sit. Since youre in Yut, this damn well may be a BF2k3P [almost 4!] situation.]
OOC: Not likely. The 'big nasty' is the epitome of last resorts. The sort of thing that would make literally everybody hate me if it was actually pulled off. And I don't really want to get into a huge war either....

[ooc: this is part of the reason why I dont want to go to war. You're going to do this "big nasty" or what have you, and I'm going to respond very violently. This is going to end up as an ignore fest, from where I sit. Since youre in Yut, this damn well may be a BF2k3P [almost 4!] situation.]
OOC: Not likely. The 'big nasty' is the epitome of last resorts. The sort of thing that would make literally everybody hate me if it was actually pulled off. And I don't really want to get into a huge war either....

[ooc: meh. in taht case, I'll drum up some excuse to have it wrapped up by the 28th--I'm going out of town soon anyway, and I'm sure a lot of us dont really have the time to finish the RP.

Unless, of course, you want to pause it and srat it up again later 8) ]

OOC: Vell, vee doo haff to vate for Auman to get back

OOC: Vell, vee doo haff to vate for Auman to get back

OOC: Nobody told me we were meant to be talking in Transylvanian/German accents.

OOC:It appears as if this thread is going to revert into another conflict..