The cardinal sin in all of this was that you violated our trust when you
informed PLATO of our membership. I know for a fact that as a result PLATO
attempted to interfere in the Ussun War.
mike
At 09:58 PM 1/29/98 -0600, Bruce Glassco wrote:
>FROM THE ILLUSTRATED MAN
> Man, you have to have a lot of respect for Fox Blaser. Though he is long
>gone, his hamhanded diplomacy continues to ring down the ages, scattering
>causus belli left and right.
> To all, I would like to give our version of what happened all those months
>ago. Believe it or not, as you choose.
>
> In brief, our negotiations on a border with Fox of the New Empire were
>going terribly. He kept changing his mind, accepting and then rejecting
>our proposals, and alternating between pleas to us to join his Empire,
>boastings of his invincibility, and outright threats. Finally, it seemed
>as if negotiations were going to break down entirely, and we felt ourselves
>on the verge of a war which we did not expect to win. This wasn't a mere
>dispute over a border; his exact words were
>>It is your presence that I find most annoying.
> The only "out" that he offered us was that he would accept our existence
>if we joined this alliance of his. At the time, we thought he would in all
>likelihood be our neighbor forever, and wanting peace if at all possible,
>we agreed, and received "provisional" membership in the Eagle Alliance as
>defined in its charter.
> At the same time, we had also entered into a close working friendship with
>PLATO. Some of our members had known them from g1, and we found them
>helpful and cooperative, unlike Fox.
> However, Plato (reasonably) did not trust us enough to tell us of their
>plans for invasion. We first learned of it at the same time that the rest
>of the Eagle Alliance did. We wrote to our platonic friends, and
>discovered that, with the best of intentions, we had allied ourselves to
>two nations who were irrevocably at war. Clearly, we had to choose. Given
>the facts that
>a) we had joined the Eagles under duress
>b) PLATO seemed as if it would be a far more accomodating neighbor,
>c) Fox had been rubbing us the wrong way from day 1, and
>c) the New Empire seemed to be thoroughly trounced,
>our choice was easy. Perhaps not quite as automatic as it would have been
>if Fox had still been in power, but still, relatively easy.
> If we had been the scheming traitors that Cendage portrays us as, at this
>point we could easily have stayed as Eagle members for months after the
>initial invasion, concealing our association with PLATO, sounding out the
>Empire's military strategies, and passing everything we learned on to
>PLATO. However, this was not our way. Less than a week after PLATO's
>invasion, we sent in our letter of resignation to the Eagle Alliance.
> One other thing. If the Eagles save their messages, they might look back
>and note that there was a delay of almost two months (early August to late
>September) between when Fox told us they had voted us in, and when we
>finally wrote them to ask what was up, why hadn't we heard from them yet,
>and were we members or not. If we had actually been trying to spy on them,
>we would have been a lot more active trying to establish contact. As it
>was, I think we were only actual members for two or three weeks, and
>received no useful military or other intelligence of any kind (other than
>Mike Hughes' message of "Omigod what are all those troops doing in
>Trulion," which was useful in letting us know something was going on).
>Just something that they, at least, can check up on.
>
> For those who are still interested after all that longwindedness, our
>resignation letter from the Eagle Alliance is copied below. It contains
>the main details of our horrible relations with Fox. If the other Eagles
>had told us at the time that they felt our explanation of events was
>inadequate, we could have given further evidence of our version of things;
>now, of course, it would be a lot more difficult.
>
>The Exhausted Man
>
>From: The Inner Circle
>To: The Eagle Alliance
>
>Greetings
>
> Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to all of you, and Mike
>especially, regarding the invasion of his homeland. As you may have
>guessed by now, it was carried out by some long-standing friends of the
>Inner Circle. We didn't have much foreknowledge of their assault, so faced
>with the situation of our two main allies in the game engaged in a
>full-scale war, you can imagine that we had to do some quick soul-searching
>as to what position we would take. We did NOT wish to stay in the Eagle
>Alliance under false pretenses, if we decided that our sympathies were
>stronger with the enemies of the Empire. I am sorry to have to tell you
>that this is the conclusion we have reached.
>
> We wouldn't want you to think that we're bailing out just because the
>Empire seems to be getting creamed, however (we've at least gathered that
>its castle was taken). Accordingly, I thought I'd give you a bit of
>background about our past diplomacy with them. I said in an earlier letter
>that our relations with them had been uneven. Uneven was a euphemism for
>terrible.
> You should all realize that, as a diplomat, Fox might best be described as
>inept. As far as we can tell, he antagonized every neighboring non-member
>of his alliance with whom he came into contact. If he thought he had an
>advantage on you, he was a bully. For several months, every letter he sent
>us left us seething.
> Near the beginning of the game, we brought up the possibility to him of
>our settling in Elantir. His response was
>
>>I'd feel rather unhappy seeing as it would be in violation of our six
>>square perimeter. As such we intend to use it in the future. How does
>>[da82] Attewelle or [dc83] Nantasarn sound though? They're a good ten
>>squares out and looking good.
>
> Later, after we had settled in Nantasarn with, we assumed, his
>encouragement, one of his scouts ran into us. He sent us this response to
>our claim of the area:
>
>>That's very interesting. We had no idea you had decided to settle down
>>in this area. Might I remind you that Nantasarn is within the area
>>defined as Empire Lands in the statement issued in the Times several turns
>ago.
>>I believe that we are planning on expanding over the entirety of the area
>>surrounding Yellowleaf.
>
> The Times announcement claimed a six province radius. Note that Nantasarn
>is a full ten provinces from Azrain.
> Fox then proceeded to make threats:
>
>>I have no doubt that the Empire is rather a
>>lot larger, better organised and more powerful than the Inner Circle. So
>>far we are the single largest land holder in the game and have
>>successfully dealt with all problems within our chosen area. By claiming
>>the area as your own you have directly violated a decree which was made
>>very early in the game (Times issue six I believe).
>
> Well, after several weeks of this kind of posturing, he realized that he
>had been totally wrong about where Nantasarn was located. Doh! (This did
>not give us much confidence in his leadership when he asked us to join his
>alliance!) However, his embarassment over his mistake did not stop his
>bullying. After I drew up a treaty, we ran into another snag: he had
>forgotten that we were exploring the underworld. In his mind, this gave
>him another excuse to bully us:
>
>>There will be no treaty.
>>
>>I was not aware that the Inner Circle was part of the group which went
>>into SubWorld through the sewers in YellowLeaf. This being the case I
>>believe you were allowed a minimal presence on Provinia. A full base is
>>not acceptable. I am not overly impressed....Your request for an
>agreement >regarding the area defined is still denied.
>
> Throughout our entire communication with Fox, he has been dictatorial,
>threatening, and uncooperative. He was fond of making statements like this
>one:
>
>>It is your presence that I find most annoying.
>
>that would have led us to declare war with him on the spot if we had had
>the strength. Alas, we did not. The only alternative to war which he
>seemed to leave open to us was to join your alliance:
>
>>The easiest way around this is, of course, my original suggestion which
>>is to have an alliance between our two organisations.
>
> We truly felt that we were induced to join the Eagle Alliance under
>duress, and with the threat of war as the only other alternative he offered
>us. We were too weak at the time to win a war, so we took the only option
>he gave us.
> Now, however, circumstances have changed. Since we joined under duress,
>we feel no qualms about withdrawing our (provisional) membership with the
>Eagle Alliance at this time. From what we've heard you sound like a great
>bunch, and the new head of the Empire may well be a reasonable fellow. No
>doubt you didn't realize that Fox was using your alliance to straighten out
>the diplomatic tangles he created. Nevertheless, the association with a
>rotten bully like Fox has spoiled the rest of the barrel for us.
> We hold nothing against the Eagle Alliance as a whole, and should we run
>into you in other parts of the world we will endeavour to treat you fairly.
> If you ever decide to kick out what's left of the Empire from the Eagles,
>we would happily rejoin. But we've been itching to get at the Tyrant of
>Yellowleaf's throat for a long time now, and since our other friend has
>given us the opportunity, we will make use of it.
> Speaking for myself, the one thing I most regret about this entire affair
>is that my association with all the rest of you was so brief...
>
> I remain,
>
> The Illustrated Man of the Midnight Carnival and the Inner Circle
>
>
>
>
>
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