Approximately 48 hours ago, we sent a message to the Lords of the Crown
via the Grand Council of Ambassadors. We have not heard a response from
them, and so as a second step we are publicizing this proclamation to all
through this public list. We truly do not wish to seek out a war, but if
one is forced upon us, then those who become our enemies will find us to be
implacable foes.
The first letter is what the Lady Eowyn of the Council of Lords sent to
the GCA; the second is our response to her.
>Greetings to all Ambassadors,
>
>In a previous mail to Andrew we were talking about a joining from The Fence
>and The Lords of the Crown. This is a fact now, and they asked me, Lady
>Eowyn to represent them in the COA. I hope nobody has any objections
>against this, otherwise I will gladly reply.
>
>
>From the Lords Of The Crown concerning the Yellowleaf-area :
>
>We want to confirm the claim we made before (through The Ladies of
>Silverymoon and The Fence) concerning the Yellowleaf-area and we want to
>clearify why :
>
>The area is, technically, still Empire-territory and we made an agreement
>with The Empire to garrison the area and to re-install the New Empire to
>their formel borders. Therefor we claimed up to the initial borders set by
>the Empire and the IC at the 80/81 and part 82-lines.
>We noticed some garrisons way beyond the 80/81 line belonging to the IC, so
>we assume they have been garrisonning on someone elses territory. Not so
>long ago we had a similar dispute with Noire Immortalis on our western
>borders where Noire held on to their initial claimed area, so we are doing
>the same for this border.
>All garrisons from the IC in provinces beyond the 80/81 line are non-legal
>to us and will be handled as such.
>Concerning the future of the area :
>We have been joined by some new players recently and we want to help them
>get settled in that area, helping them built a stronghold and help them
>with some trade-routes.
>We are against some "buffer-zone" around Yellowleaf/Azrain for the simple
>reason that this is not necessary, it's not because there is a garrison
>that people can't gather resources ot whatever they want to do. Besides
>that, the reason this was asked has nothing to do with newbies (who can
>start wherever they want) or resource-gathering (which nobody ever opposed,
>I presume) but only the profits of some established trading-routes or a
>base of operation for the area.
>
>Our policy towards recruiting, gathering resources to built ships and
>others, buying/selling goods, etc. has been very tolerant in the past, the
>only thing we want to promote is communication in order to prevent mistakes
>that can mess up a whole turn (recruiting in a province where somebody else
>just recruited).
>
>We hope this is enough an explanation for our claim. We suppose there will
>be reactions allover and, like always, we will be glad to answer every
>question asap.
>
>Lady Eowyn (Lady of the Crown) & Sir Codric (Open Lord of the Crown)
>
>for The Lords of the Crown
The Illustrated Man is putting on his wig and the big suit with all the
buttons on it, and reading the following scroll:
LET THIS BE KNOWN BY ALL!
In the message above, the Lords of the Crown, allegedly on behalf of the
New Empire, has laid claim to some 30 provinces in columns 78, 79, and 80,
the majority of which have already been garrisoned by us. This territory
was at no time garrisoned by the New Empire, and it is our position that we
legitimately purchased the Empire's claim to it from PLATO, who inherited
it from the Empire by right of conquest. Our claim to this territory has
been publicly stated since our initial membership to the Grand Council of
Ambassadors.
We take the Lords' message as a statement of intent to invade our
sovereign land, and as tantamount to a declaration of war. Once again, for
purposes of the announcements below, the words "our territory" refer to the
area which includes
everything east of column 80, and
everything east of column 77 and north of row df.
1) Any attack on any of our garrisons will be considered an act of war
against the Inner Circle, and we will immediately mobilize our full forces
in retaliation against the aggressor.
2) Any stack containing five or more men-at-arms which enters our
territory will be considered an invader, and will be hunted down. To
protect the innocent, this policy will be announced on the public
list-serve and in the Turn 50 times, and will go into effect on turn 51.
3) For security reasons, all nobles in our territory will be asked to
contact us and let us know of any alliance affiliations, and any nobles who
belong to the Council of Lords or New Empire will be asked to leave. If
they refuse, they will be considered spies and will be dealt with as above.
To protect the innocent, this policy will be announced on the public
list-serve and in the Turn 50 times, and will go into effect on turn 51.
4) We call upon both the Council of Lords and the New Empire to retract
the above letter and formally recognize our right to all lands we currently
claim by February 1st. If they have not done so by that time, we will
consider them to have officially declared war against us, and will react
accordingly.
5) If our dispute cannot be resolved diplomatically, then in deference to
new players, we ask that the five provinces proposed by us as a safe zone
around Yellowleaf, be kept clear of troops of all kinds from both sides.
These include df77-dg78, as well as the war-ravaged city of Azrain. We
pledge not to move combat stacks into this area as long as you do not.
(At this point the Illustrated Man takes off his wig, and once more looks
normal, or as normal as a large mustached fellow covered head-to-foot in
tattoos can look.)
We have now satisfied part of the conditions for points 2 and 3. We
encourage anyone travelling in our territory to contact us, though we'll
try to get in touch with you if we don't hear from you first. We also call
particularly to the Lords of the Crown to reconsider the wisdom of
continuing to support the policy that Lady Eowyn has expressed.
The Illustrated Man