NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC thread: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=505139

Ok done.....heres my Points:

Elite line infantry..................7
Veteran Rifle infantry............5
Veteran light cavalry.............4
Veteran heavy cavalry..........5
Veteran horse artillary 9pdr....6
Heavy frigates.....................5
Semaphore towers...............3
Paved highways..................3
Ammunition factories............5
Basic ship yards..................3
Superior gunsmiths..............5
Some Silver.......................2
Abundant coal....................5
Abundant iron.....................5
Gunpowder........................3
Abundant water.................4
Abundant timber................3
Food levels small surplus......2
Small navy.....................-15

Total spent (I hope): 60

The standard Frozopian army is split into Regiments, each regiment consisting of a two thousand men, 2 Battalions and 20 companies. Each regiment had three-four companies of riflemen, the rest standard musketmen. The rifles wear green to distinguish themself from their musket bearing counterparts, who wear blue and white. Each regiment are fiercely proud of their history and achievements, and all have their own flags and badges.

On horseback they use the same way of dividing their troops up, but there is another split inbetween heavy and light cavalry. Light cavalry are used for scouting, for harrying the enemy and for screening. Their mounts have less to carry and last longer on the battlefield, but any charges have half the punch of their Heavy cavalry counter parts. All horsemen wear black.

The artillary compositions wear the same uniform as standard infantry.

(Ok that will do me for now :D)

Name: Kingdom of Frozopia
Ruler: King William
Capital: Londinium (london based in sure you can guess).

Frozopia is ruled by a monarchy that is 100's of years old. Thus many of its customs and beliefs are carried forward from medievil times, with any idea's of freedom and democracy viciously stamped upon. However King William, the current ruler of the country, is happy to keep his armed forces equipped with the best technology available. Other than this small pockets of technology open within the country freely, leading to advances in industry, agriculture and naval transport.

The Frozopian economy is neither week nor strong. It is wealthy in timber, iron and coal, its nation is well fed and watered. Other than that the country is comparitively basic, a small drawback for a people who could probably not decide whether they are happy or not, except for the wealthy who live luxurious lives off their silver investments.

Frozopia's land forces number 75,000 scattered across the country in various barracks. Many are concentrated upon its neighbours boarders, ready for action should their king decide it. Even the lowliest private is a incredibly well trained, regularly drilling with live ammunition so that in heat of battle he is cool enough to continue fighting. The infantry are the core of the army: supported by disciplined heavy and light cavalry as well as skirmishing riflemen.

The Royal navy is a small collection of heavy Frigates, its troops profesional but not spectacular. It is a force a king hopes to expand one day, and at the moment not to be thrown into open warfare.

The time was long past to discuss matters with Frozopia.
While there were no problems in relations with the southern neighbour, the view in Nescia was that these were times of uncertainty, and nothing was to be taken for granted.
Edward Symes led the delegation that sailed from Nescia straight for Londinium. The voyage would not take long, and they could sail directly home again afterwards.

A full moon hung in the air, its light piercing the mist of the cold night had lighting the dark old office of the king.

"So Terror incognitia are the first to walk within our midst?"
"Indeed your majesty."

The King sat infront of his small gathering of the political elite, watching their faces carefully so as not too lose any hidden meanings within their words. With tensions rising all across the lands of Britain it was important not to lose ones grasp on the situation.

The delegation of Edward Symes had been treated well. Given the best quarters available within the city and treated with the utmost curtesy, King William hoped they would be present at the royal ball the following day, a celebration of the Kings birthday that had been pushed forward a couple days once the Terror Incognitian delegation arrived. The palace would be full of Frozopia's socialites, and this mixed with the alchohol could be used to coax some information out of the men, so that the during the meeting the next day the Frozopian ambassadors would be well stocked for information.

Things were still unsure between the two countries. Both were economically well off and both could benefit off each other, but with conflict seemingly rising out of the horizons to the north, no one was quite sure how the delegation would act. The majority of gathering suspected a peaceful peace pact, a minority a military alliance pact. The king himself was unsure, but worse he was unsure how HE would react if they offered either......

"This ball is our opportunity. We need to work out what factions there are in the court, and how they stand; we need some sense of the king's mind; and there is much to be gained in how we play matters out."
"True. Knowing, of course, that they will be after all that they can learn from us."
"Indeed."
"So how much do we tell?"
"Well...be open. We have nothing to hide...there is no great division in the Consilium over Frozopia, there is nothing on the back burner, and all in all we have nothing to lose from telling them nearly whatever they wish to know.

In addition, it should shock the hell out of them."
Symes wore a wicked grin as he said that. Not usual diplomatic material, he was still a smooth, if unconventional, operator. He had been chosen to go to Frozopia because he was likelier than anyone to bring home a lasting agreement.

The ball would be true Frozopian style. A speach to precede a big meal followed by dancing, then the ladies would depart and the drinking would begin.

The kings speach was short, simply welcoming the foreigners to the table and talking of his 8 years on the throne before taking his seat at the end of the table. To his left sat the Terror incognitian delegation, to his right his very own selected group of ambassadors and advisors, many of whom who had gathered at the council the night before.

The first courses were brought in by the army of servants, courses that could probably be meals by themselves but were merely appertizers for the Frozopian political and social elites.

The Frozopians immediatly burst into loud conversation, enjoying the company of the evening and ignoring (or at least those who knew of it) the true purpose of the evening.

Immediatly the King found himself in conversasion with the Terror Incognitian ambassador, an unusual situation but exactly as he demanded it. The kings right hand man literally and politically listened carefully from the other side of the table, as the 2 men exchanged pleasantries before the king finally asked what he had been waiting 24 hours to say:

"So Edward, what brings you to Frozopia?"

Richard winced inwardly at the Kings bluntness, who in his impatience had merely called the ambassador by his first name.

Symes was far from shocked, as he had already picked up some information about the Frozopian sovereign.

"Well, your majesty. We live in uncertain times, and the Consilium wishes to clarify some of our relations with our neighbours, Frozopia in particular.

As far as the Consilium is concerned, we have much to gain, and much to offer, in trade with your fine nation, and since we have no border quarrel or some-such, that we have far more to gain in peaceful trade and co-operation than in war.
Assuming you are in agreement with this, my mission is to sign an agreement furthering these aims."

This said, he returned to appreciating the fine food, while awaiting the King's reply.

King William nodded,
"I see no problem with this, trade could benefit both nations greatly. Silver and timber is becoming more and more abundant in this nation and your nation is the perfect candidate to whom we can export it....." The two men became immersed in talks of trade, only stopping at naming numbers. As the night progressed on and the diners ate their fill, musicians and various entertainers filled onto the stage, as the ball guests digested their food.

OOC: Sorry I've taken so long...I once started replying to this, got distracted, then forgot I never posted the actual reply.

IC: Symes was impressed at the level of detail the king was aware of; perhaps even too much, indicating he micro-managed his ministers.
That was maybe a little harsh. Whatever the situation, it was clear that he could make a lot of progress with the agreement just over the meal.

He gently suggested "Timber we have plenty of, but we could perhaps trade some of our fine cloths for your silver; and we have other goods we could exchange for musket ammunition and the like."

The ladies of the room filed upstairs, as the last stage of the ball began. Everyone had danced, eaten and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Now was the time for the men to get drunk. The king would not belittle himself by getting involved, ever one to keep his followers at arms length and instead departed 10 minutes after the woman had left. The diplomats were invited to join in, but were warned of the council the next day. William and his followers had gathered what information he needed: anything else could be revealed the next day.

The diplomats stayed. Thus far they had been drinking slowly, accompanied with large quantities of food; they thus had capacity for more drinking.
A capacity honed by years of Incognitian politics, which had a well-founded tradition of making deals late in the night after large quantities of drinking. As men who had done well in such an environment, their ability to drink was astounding to ordinary mortals.
They would be up in the morning, shiny as ever...or nearly.

Fred, a Colonel in the Frozopian army and a lord of several estates including a silver mine, vomited viciously upon his bedroom floor as he rolled out of bed, disgusted but relieved. It would take away the bite of last night, or at least some of the bite.

Although his memory was blurry, he vaguely remember challenging one of the Terror Incognitian delegates to a foot race all across the city of Londinium. The race had lasted 27 seconds, with the Colonel unable to climb his horse instead falling off has he attempted to clamber up.

Several other Frozopians woke up in similiar states, and a few unfortunate ones were met by wooden faced Frozopian soldiers, ready to take the men to the Kings council. Among these numbered the Terror Incognitian delegation......

The Ambassador had, fortunately, stopped somewhat earlier than others. He looked reasonably fresh, and his mind was working at full speed.
The others of his party? Well...their states varied from the somewhat green and groaning having a quick tactical chunder to prevent embarrassment in front of the king to those feeling nearly as good as Symes.

For obvious reasons, they were crammed to the front as the delegation as a whole made their entrance.

"So I've asked you once, but perhaps now you can be less defensive." The King grinned. "What brings you to Frozopia?"

The King was careful to ignore the state of many present at the council, green faces and red eyes all around.

"Down to brass tacks, we see war coming and wish to be sure of where Frozopia stands.

That aside, we want trade, as much as we can get, with Frozopia the best place to get it, aside from maybe Caladonn...but with our relative naval strengths trading with them leaves us totally dependent on their goodwill."

"War you say?" There was a slight murmur in the room. The Kings eyes narrowed. "We've heard no suggestions of war. Yes perhaps Britain is not as stable as it once would be. But war!? With whom?"

"That is uncertain. The situation is volatile, and any knowledge I have is out of date.

However, relations between Incognitia and Caladonn are uncertain - we understand they are strangely wary of our navy. Relations between us and Angermanland are unpredictable, as ever with that nation. At least our relations with Osteia are cordial and stable; from what we hear, relations between Caladonn and Angermanland are non-existent, while Osteia and Angermanland don't get on.

There is not one fully stable friendship between any two countries in these islands. There are many greedy eyes cast at wealth and territory beyond their borders. Thus it is the opinion of the Consilar-General that war is a matter of when, not if. We do not wish for that to be across our Frozopian border; if we must be involved we would rather fight in northern wastelands, or a hopeless war at sea; not a war in the prosperous areas of our own nation or those of our closest trading partner."

"Neither do we. We are happy to grow fat and wealthy off trade. But it does worry me that one nation can strike me from any direction without prevention. The Caladonians are far too much in control of the sea's. One day this will need to be changed, it is unacceptable that I cannot protect my coasts from another nation. Whether through war or peace I will have to eliminate this danger."

"To the north? What do I care of Angermanland. He might as well be on the moon for all the threat he exists for Frozopia. But if he does threaten a friend of Frozopia, then he threatens Frozopia itself. However this friend must make any sort of alliance worth our while."

"Well, I am glad you do not want fighting across our mutual border.

Caladonn is too strong at sea for us to challenge them. Stability here would be needed to permit us to focus on naval development sufficiently to give them any difficulty, let alone stop them from doing what they please.

As to Angermanland, well, we have no aggression towards them...we merely want certain issues to be resolved satisfactorily.
However, if it were to come to war, we would of course be quite appreciative of any assistance offered by our friends in all quarters."

The King nodded.
"We are always ready to defend our friends." The king paused, "But we will not be there should you choose to break the peace that currently exists within Britain."

"Well sir, I have here a fairly basic pact of mutual defence" at which an assistant handed him a scroll of paper which he proffered to the king
"and also a proposal that we maintain a permanent representative or ambassador here, so that gradual progress can be made on any further agreements.
Of course, this pact would not oblige either party to assist in any way were the other party to be the aggressor. It does not rule out assistance, just places aggressive war beyond the scope of the pact."

"Sounds good." Quickly one of the Kings scribes read through the treaty twice, and then the king read it himself before signing it.
"I am glad that Frozopia can rely on your fine nation in the future. I know that you can rely on us."

After a brief exchange of farewells, the Terror Incognitians left the council, leaving the King to talk with his own faction privately.

The Ambassador turned for home, accompanied by his party.

"Success, gentlemen. That is as much as we had hoped, perhaps more."

"Indeed."

"We can only hope our colleagues elsewhere have done as well."

"Too true, too true."

Lord Sevron had been ,.... fortunate, after a fassion. within two days of his arival at the port city, a frozopian merchant vessal had put in. it left the next day, with the ambasidor and his aids abord. as it had stopped off at many ports, it had taken somewhat longer than would normaly be expected of a military or courier ship, or any other dedicated to the task at hand, but it was still much faster and mostly safer than traveling overland.

so it was that Sevron and his two aids, as well as a squad of grenadiers from the King's Own Greandiers providing escort, arrived in the Frozopian capital and set about finding their way to an audiance with the king or relivant official.

"Welcome Gentlemen." The King himself had took time out of his discussion with the various military leaders within Frozopia. Soon the army would be underway: it was busy times ahead. But for now he would make the diplomats feel welcome. The diplomats had been waiting in the comforts of one of the sitting rooms of the palace. A roaring fire flickered in the corner, while two guards stood to attention at the door, looking strangley unusual in their uniform compared to the old medievil armour pieces and weapons hung on the walls.

"I hope the journey has not been to arduous nor the wait too long: please feel free to take the rooms my Servants have allocated for you." The King smiled. "So! How is the far north? What brings you so far from home? I hope Angermanland is not so cold as I remember it!"

"in winter, it probibly is, your majesty. though in summer it is more than plesant in that reguard." Sevron bowed before he continued "as for what brings me here... well, a collection of things. damage control, among others. we were fortunate enough to have an emisary sent from Terra Incognitia some weeks ago. unfortunatly, the man was as arogant as you care to imagine, made grand assumptions about every statement, including ones that were not even implied, let alone said, and generaly made an arse of himself while insulting our king and nation before storming off in a huff, and making best speed for the border.

thus, his majesty King Zebadiah of Angermanland sent ambasidors and the like to every kingdom and republic save Terra Incognitia itself, to seccure friendship, or at least neutrality, should the Incognitians decide to do something foolish.

his majesty refused to sign treatys with no fixed purpose or defined time period. "a treaty to do nothing" i belive he said afterwards. certainly such a treaty is not in anyone's best interests. he then cited examples of things he would sign, starting with those involving invading others and the division of territory. the specific example used was Osteia, as both nations bordered it. he later informed his councle that he would have then gone on to 'mutual defence' and 'trade' type agreements, had the ambasidor not decided to be 'a prat of grand distinction', as he put it.

the incognitian ambasidors were also concerned with bandits along our border, and wished to be allowed to send soldiers accross it in the persuite of them. his majesty, of course, refused this, as it threatend the security of the kingdom. instead he proposed that the border lands be designated cross-juristictional, allowing watchmen and the like to cross freely in persute of criminals but requireing them to use soldiers belonging to the nation they were in if soldiers were required. it should also be pointed out that the bandit problem ran the whole way along our border, and involved Osteians as well, and their borders with both nations, at least in the north. the king suggested that they take a day or two to think on his proposal, as he had other things to do at that moment.

the Incognitian ambasidor on several occasions refused to belive Osteian involvement, or the fact that many of the bandits were his own citizens. in responce, he instead started ranting about needing to set up new agianceys, expence, and how if his majesty was obviously not willing to assist in the matter.

at one point he also insisted that the word of Angermanland and it's King were as worthless as those of a snake, and tried to claim his majesty had said as much himself. what his majesty had said was that treatys with no fixed goal were worth less than the paper they were writen on.

had it not been for their positions in Incognitia, his majesty may well have sent the emmisaries home in pieces, i think, given how angery he became.
i should note before you are told otherwise of this piece, that his majesty is generaly very good at hiding his anger, at least to a point.

reguardless, our borders are now being heavily re-enforced to pre-empt any adventurisem on the part of our neighbours.

and i, your majesty, am the Angerman ambasidor to you and your fine kingdom, for as long as relationships are such as to justify such a position.

"Hm...." The king paused to think. "The Terror Incognitians are acting unusual thats true. But they have always been good friends to Frozopia. Not only do they bring both of us extremely large amounts of wealth but they are our neighbour and a war between us would be.....painful. But.....I need to discuss something with you. In private." The king nodded at the delegation and his own guards.

"very well" the ambasidor made a subtle gesture, and his own followers left also.
"what is it that requires seccrecy? well, such secrecy as can be had in a place like this."

"Suppose.....suppose that no one knew what alliances took place in this room. And I mean no-one. Anyone else will know you visited Frozopia....but that will be the limits of their information."

The King paused, and looked into the fire.

"It hurts me to speak like this. Especially when officially Frozopia and Terror Incognitia are friends. Suppose should Terror Incognitia begin its war of conquest, and I began mobilising along his boarder. How would he react? Knowing that we met in secret."

The King stared at the ambassador, his eyes hard.

"i am not quite sure, it would depend how you went about it. their ruling body is much like our parliment, but even their ruler is bound by it's ebb and flow, unlike yourself and my own king. but assuming a single person makes the decision, as like as not some troops would be moved to your border. but only if they suspected you of trechery. if you give any excuse for it at all, they're quite likely to belive it at this point, i think. perhaps if you first took advantage of the chaos in Osteia to expand in that direction, it might worry them enough that they would begin to re-enforce their southern border, and the revolution takeing place there may well draw more of their forces east.

if you did that, perhaps you could give some excuse that would leave them worried enough to re-enfource their south, but not so much so as to stop trade or attack you.

bear in mind, as of when i left, his majesty had no intention of invading incognitia if it did not become nessicary to the security of his own lands.

"Neither do we, and should you ever consider that option, they would have the full force of the Frozopian army at their defence.

John Mcgrath holds power there. He is king in all but title and blood. He would not be slowed, and he could spread fear among their ranks.

And we are doing exactly as you said. I have seen it fit that royalty should rule our northern neigbours, A king will rule Osteia again, and in the process our armies will march along Terror Incognitia's boarder while we mobilise on his southern boarder. I am confident as long as this meeting remains a mystery, this plan will have its desired affect and Terror Incognitia will have to split his army, and this will give you plenty of opportunity to repel his attack,"

"it is well. however, hiding the meeting is going to be impossible, all things considered. hiding it's purpose, however, is a whole other story. perhaps we should hammer out something a little more... exposure safe... as a cover for it.

certainly, the issue of Osteia... we could help with that.

perhaps a formal treaty of alliance for the purpose of achiveing something there?"

A Caladonnian diplomat, Richard Trevethick, arrived on the northwestern coasts of Frozopia. He brought word from Caladonn that the Imperial Senate would like to develop cordial relations with their southern neighbor.

"No one is listening at the door. If anyone had tried, they would be dead. All you have to do is pass my message to your king. Assuming your trustworthy, no one else will know. As for an alliance? We cannot offer you protection. We would be grateful of assistance in Osteia but I would settle for the promise that you will remain out of the conflict. In return not only will Frozopia do its best to split Terror's forces, but we will stay out of any attack Terror Incognitia makes upon yourself, that is of course they ever do."

Elsewhere:
"We will send your greeting over Semaphore. For now we will provide you with fresh horses all the way to Londinium." The Captain of the Frozopian garrison at the old village, and the closest thing to authority met the diplomats.

"And of course you are welcome to stay the night here, although it is not as comfortable as it could be we have spare rooms in the barracks."

"that, i can easily sign off on.

in truth, i am not too worried about anyone listening to what is said... but the number of people who know we met is quite large, and those who know of this part of it is not exactly small. things leak. thus the need for a cover. a cover that is also real being, of course, the best kind. else someone might get suspicious.. the Incognitians perhaps deciding you had betrayed them, or planned to, for example. on the other side of the possibilities was the rebels in Osteia thinking Angermanland intended to aid you there and splitting their forces, which would be good, or attacking our borders, which would have been bad.

you see the purpose of such things? Your Majesty would be wise to remember such possibilitys in times such as these.

of course, it's possible that you did, and i missed something. insurance is always nice reguardless."

"Well if we keep the purpose of this meeting quiet, as I intend to, both Terror Incognitians will think I intend to help you in the case of war and the Ansurians will think your willing to help Frozopia. Both will be forced to split their forces, this and the promise that I will not assist an offensive war made by Terror Incognitia as you will not assist the Ansurians is the only promise we can offer."

"fair enough. i assume you don't wish this writen down, being all secret and such. humm. i shall return at once and deliver this in person, i think, leaving my aids to carry out regular diplomatic functions untill my return, unless you wish my entire party to leave?

reguardless, shall we call the various guards and retainers back in an discuss something somewhat more mundane? trade, for example. i'm sure there are things that could benifit us both in that reguard."

"We will send your greeting over Semaphore. For now we will provide you with fresh horses all the way to Londinium." The Captain of the Frozopian garrison at the old village, and the closest thing to authority met the diplomats.

"And of course you are welcome to stay the night here, although it is not as comfortable as it could be we have spare rooms in the barracks."
The Caladonnians thanked them, and the next day set off for Londinium. After a few weeks, they arrived, and requested an audience with the Frozopian ruler.

"Ah yes trade is something that can benefit a nation." The King walked up to the old wooden door and banged on it. Immediatly the Frozopian guards lead the remaining diplomats into the room.

"We understand trade is difficult with a nation like yourself: You are penned in a northern part of the country with few ways of trading oversea's. We could provide you with timber and some of our more skilled naval personnels to help you construct some semblence of a navy with which you can use to protect any trading routes you decide to create. It could mean alot more money flowing in and out of your country, all of which could be taxable. In return perhaps you could offer something to Frozopia?"

"we could probibly help you to greatly improve your foundrys, easily enough. more reliable cannon, and as a result slight improvments in accuracy and range as well. also allows for better sabers and other metal parts.

humm... perhaps we could supply you with rifles on the cheap as well? seeing as how you would be facilitating such a trade being able to happen at all. though your own weapons are probibly not much better or worse, they'll like as not be different. our designs were modified not long after they first came into use to make it more viable to arm regular units with them, rather than mearly light comapanys or battalions.

in truth, your own nation is far richer than ours, and lacks little we have. i'm not sure what else we could offer"