Over the past three days somebody has attempted to blackmail me, my personal
faction, and TIB. Using the oldest trick in the book to foil a blackmailer,
I'm going public with the information before the blackmailer can. In this
case it wasn't a hard decision because what I was being blackmailed about was
a stupid mistake caused by laziness on the blackmailer's part, but what the
heck...I'm going public anyway.
Peter Beerepoot [mordred@ibm.net] contacted me the other day because he
wanted my aid in helping him set the foundation for his new alliance "The
Greyfell Privateers". This new alliance was going to take over land
currently owned by the Nation of Ergoth after the Rimmon Musketeers had
beaten them. Peter asked me not to name names about who is involved in this
venture and I am, above all else, a man of my word. Fortnately for me I
never told him I wouldn't mention names, he just asked me not to :-) But
I'm not one to air dirtly laundry in public so I'll just say a big hello to
Lord Foul..... and give my friend Lord Maltar a tip to watch his back.
Anyway, Peter wanted me to help pave the way for this new alliance with TIB
and to help smooth things with Maltar. Unfortunately I'm not the TIB
Minister of Foreign Affairs anymore and I've never held any sway over Maltar
so I couldn't see what help I could be. So I would have simply explained
this to Peter except for the blackmail bit. You see, Peter started saying
things like "I know what you've done". And "do the other members of TIB
know? I bet they don't?" and "it would be bad for you and TIB if this
became public knowledge". Of course this got me pretty scared because
unbeknownst to most of Olympia I've been involved in some pretty scary smoke
filled room type deals. :-) If Peter actually had some dirt on me it could
be bad for TIB's image. But then I found out what the "dirt" was and I could
barely surpress a grin.
You see, the land that the Privateers plan to control is the area around
Greyfell mostly consisting of the lands of the Nation of Ergoth. The intel
that this motley crew conducted told them that NoE land extended from RM land
all the way west to the TIB and Syr-Antin Borders. This included a little
out of the way castle in br45 named "Farnham's Freehold". They suspected the
Freehold to be a NoE castle and pencilled that land into their growing (but
at this point unreal) empire. The problem is that the Freehold isn't and NoE
castle. It's my castle. The castle of Eric the Seehawk. Once they got over
their shock they realized that the Freehold sat in former Lord Bane lands.
"Ah-Ha!" they thought, "Now we've got TIB and Seehawk right were we want
them!!". Remember back during the Bane war? We (TIB) made a big deal about
how we weren't going to profit from Bane's demise. And now here it is, proof
that we did. That we took over a Bane Castle and held it for ourselves...all
the while keeping it private. Oh boy, them privateers struck the blackmail
motherlode! They had us by the balls alright! Problem is, they're totally
wrong.
First and foremost, the castle Farnham's Freehold [7091] in province br45 is
not a former Bane castle. It was not built by Bane, nor ever controlled by
Bane. Lord Bane owned two castles: Lord Bane's Place [8891] in province
bx48, and Castle Hohenstein [9770] in province bv47. Castle 7091 is located
approx 4 provinces north of Bane's former holdings. It was discovered,
abandoned and overrun by savages, by an advance TIB force that was moving
into position to attack Bane. When we discovered the castle we went back
through old turn reports to see who previously owned it. When we discovered
that information we attempted to contact that player 3 times over 2 weeks to
see if he was still active. Recieving no reply we took the castle and used
it as a staging area for our war with Bane. We also promised oursleves that
if the rightful owner ever showed up, we would gladly return the land.
Anyway, after the war with Bane most TIB troops returned home, but we thought
it wise to leave a force behind to "mop up" and keep an eye on the Greyfell
region. So, I volunteered to leave a force behind at the Freehold.
Over the following turns or so I slowly relocated most of my faction to the
Freehold and settled into life. After approx 20 turns I undertook a small
garrisoning task to increase the Freehold's holdings. I garrisoned approx 5
bordering provinces that had been vacant since my arrival in the area. And,
I must admit, a few of these were once garrisoned by Bane. During this time
I never hid the fact that I owned the castle, and that I was a member of TIB.
Anyone who is curious can contact my neighbors to the east, the Syr-Antin,
or my neighbors to the southeast the Nation of Ergoth. Both were informed
that I owned the Freehold, and that I was a member of TIB, but that the
Freehold was NOT TIB territory (more on this in a minute). I also had
regular contact with several neutrals in the area including Finn E.
Theodorsen [theodor@inet.uni2.dk] who was doing some harvesting of rare
foliage for me (Finn was posting public turns, so this can be confirmed on
the Oly site). What's more, during the short lived "Journals of Eric the
Seehawk" printed on our web site I often referred to the Freehold by name,
and the nobles within it, as my nobles. My ownership of the Freehold was
never a secret, it just wasn't advertised. And more importantly, it wasn't a
violation of our Bane War declaration because the castle and land was not
former Bane land (admittedly with the exception of approx 5 provinces added
20 turns after the war).
As for the land being TIB Territory, it never was. I have mentioned several
times, and I believe it's also covered in our charter, that TIB members may
own castles outside TIB territory and that such land is not covered by or
protected by the charter. It should also be noted that Freehold land was not
pledged to TIB President and was not part of the TIB garrison chain. It was
not part of TIB. It's not even connected to TIB lands (a strip of Syr-Antin
land seperates the Freehold from TIB) Again, I think the Syr-Antin, NoE and
the neutrals I dealt with will confirm that I told them that the Freehold was
not TIB territory and not covered by their laws, although I did my best to
extend these laws and protections for the betterment of all involved.
In the end, my ownership of the Freehold was fair and legal and broke no
charter or declaration. And as a source of blackmail is silly and baseless.
Which brings us back to Peter and his tactics. I'm not sure how much of what
Peter's been telling me is true and how much is false, and frankly at this
point I don't care. If he had simply come to me and said "Some of us are
going to form a new alliance in the void left by NoE's demise, would you care
to help?" I may have. Although I probably would have stayed out of it
because both the NoE and RM have been good and trustworthy neighbors and I
would never want to do anything to interfere with their lives. But the fact
remains that Peter and the Privateers (hello again Lord Foul) tried to
blackmail me into either helping, or at least, not hindering. This I do not
like. So in conclusion let me say this, I considering what Peter did to be
deceitful and wrong and I won't stand for it. I consider Peter an enemy to
my faction, and I consider any faction that knowingly aids or allies with
Peter to also be my enemy. I will do all within my power to see that Peter
and his "privateers" will never take over Freehold land. I no longer speak
for, or represent TIB, so these statements are for my faction only, not for
TIB as an alliance.
So know that call Peter Beerepoot a friend is to call Eric the Seehawk an
enemy. To aid him is to hinder me. To ally with him is to declare agression
on me.
This is not a declaration of an open "shooting war" with Peter and his
allies. As of this writing he has never attacked any of my holdings, and I
am not one to fire the first shot. I merely respond in kind. Peter has
chosen a diplomatic and political war with me. He has chosen to blackmail me
and attempt to gain my capitulation and my land through subterfuge. In that
arena he has fired the first shot. I welcome the challenge and will return
it in kind.
Eric the Seehawk
Speaking for the Freehold