Gathering Storm - correspondence & foreign affairs

[Tiberius]

You have a point, Radek. I hope they will go as far as assuming that Vox gave us Feud to hurt GS's finances and not to help us. Besides, who cares what they think?

[Kloreep]

We should send an official offer to GS. Self-copying no-Sistine + 150 gold (negotiable to 100 gold if it's necessary to get this no-Sistine; with potential GLs on the way, we want this sealed) + NDA?

[vondrack]

Agreed with offering Theo for 150g + 20t NDA + no-Sistine. And I agree to negotiate down to 100g, if necessary.

[Kloreep]

*bump* Can we make this offer soon? With redstar gone, it should probably be either Nimitz or ZargonX who sends it.

[ZargonX]

Hey all! My RL stuff is taken care of, so I'm back. As for this deal, as you said Kloreep, Redstar is gone, so I will send it myself ASAP.

[redstar1]

Was I supposed to do something......?

[vondrack]

ZargonX, if you haven't sent anything to GS (and even if you did), I am having an idea here. I think it is worth considering, maybe even worth giving a try... What about sending a message like this to GS:

Honourable People of Gathering Storm,

In the light of the latest public announcement of Vox Controli and considering the current situation in the world, Legoland feels this war should better be over. We do not wish, nor dare to judge your deeds and/or demands as moral or immoral, legal or illegal, justified or unjustified... we simply wish this war was over, humbled Vox Controli left with whatever little land North of Elipolis they ask for.

In order to express our genuine determination to stop this war and, at the same time, to acknowledge whatever deals we may have prediscussed in the past, Legoland offers to provide GS with Theology FREE OF CHARGE once the peace with Vox is signed, asking for two simple conditions only: that GS agrees to not attempt building the Sistine's Chapel and that GS does not trade Theology to any other team unless that team agrees to waive Sistine's Chapel as well.

Let the peace rule over Estonia,

...

This way:

1) we would show a very strong support for the Voxian cause

2) we would offer a generous, though difficult to accept deal

3) in case they accept, great! we would have our no Sistine clause, which is what we really are after (the Sistine's Chapel would save us much more gold that we could get from GS for Theology now) - and would most probably allow us to build Bach's first... as I am pretty sure we would be able to get no Sistine from ND & RP then (even if we had to give Theo for free...)

4) in case they reject, good, too! that would force THEM to counter with a proposal of their own - and as they can counter with gold only, the sum they'd have to offer could indirectly be considered "their price of the peace with Vox Controli" (raises the price a bit, I believe).

5) and if they do not counter, stalling, fine again... that would further delay them from getting Theology (and GS not having Theology is as good as GS agreeing to the no Sistine clause - they COULD research it themselves, but that would throw them further back compared to the rest of the world, which would be getting Theo from us; good for us, again)

Either way - we would get the ball into the other half of the court, we would show the support in a very tangible way, and we would max our chances of striking a deal with GS involving the no Sistine clause.

[Tiberius]

I like it. Should they not accept it we could make our proposal public and GS would look even worse and we even better.

Hmm, how about making the proposal publishing it directly in Vox's peace thread, and sending it in the meantime to GS? Like an "open letter to GS" ? This would put even more pressure on GS to accept peace.

[vondrack]

I would be careful about posting this proposal in public - there are still two more teams needing Theology from us. Letting ND & RPers know we are basically giving it away for free might put an unnecessary pressure on us... I would wait at least until we hear back from ND.

[Tiberius]

Why would this put pressure on us?
We are giving Theology for something in exchange: peace. Could they offer peace or Vox's survival? Then give us money.
Anyway, from Vox's point of view it would be much much better if we made this public.

[vondrack]

Good point.

Though we would still either have to scrap the part about "acknowledging prediscussed deals" (as that is seriously weakening the weight of the "offer" in public - everybody would be asking "and how much of it is for the peace and how much of it for..."), or make it public only partially, which would be a bit unfair to GS.

Let's wait how that Vox public announcement thread develops. So far, nobody seems to be rushing to show their support. I posted there, showing support in a bit "reserved" way, prompting GS to present their PoV. I believe it would be better to wait for them commenting (or at least "missing their chance to comment") before showing full support for the Vox cause.

Though we can still send that offer through our private ambassadorial channels later today, exerting pressure on GS.

[vondrack]

Judging from how the public announcement thread develops, I believe we will have a golden chance to present this idea. GS apparently plans to notify other teams through PMs, making no public announcements. It will be only natural to counter with a message like the one I suggested above.

[Tiberius]

Yes, it seems that everybody is waiting for GS's response. They are also waiting for what have others to say, probably. A typical "cat and mouse" game

I'm still unsure what would be better: posting our proposal now, or wait ...

Maybe we should send the message through the official channels, with a post scriptum that we reserve the right to make it public to help the cause of peace

[redstar1]

Or send a private message along with a public one stating our wish for peace and our willingness to 'reward' those who follow the path of peace

[vondrack]

Considering the progress of our negotiations with ND and the fact that we posted our support for the Voxian Peace in Our Times, I believe it is now the right moment to push on and PM GS with our "Theology for peace & no Sistine" proposal.

What do you think?