Beyond the Pit [Pitboss Diplomacy Game] [Story Thread] . PART 5 (December 2008)

[Pitboss Greece]

Later that day Archelaus called a messenger on the ship, one of the best swimmers aboard and ordered him: "Tell the Japanese that we will only settle the desert, they can settle west of Alcetas. But if they want to they can settle the desert, then we will settle west of Alcetas."

The swimmer jumped from the ship into the sea and started to swim the long journey to Japan as fast as he could! Man, how fast could he swim! Archelaus was impressed.

[Pitboss Rome]

"The king of the West ... the king of the West" the rumours spread like wild-fire jumping from city to city, town to town from the mountains of the east to the deserts of the west, across the Roman lands.

[Pitboss Japan]

If the old Oldonians were around they could attest to the fact that Japan was one of the First nations to gain the tech to sail the seas. They could also tell you that even before the Spartan empire know what was in the north the Japanese had already claimed the land bridge. So this false word of the Spartans saying it is theirs is just a lie. And to call Japan hostile when clearly it is the Spartans who threatens Japan with war only shows how dishonorable they are. Japan wishes no war but we will not simply allow the Spartans to steal our lands from us. They will not be allowed to settle any lands desert or not. To do so will be considered an act of war and will be punishable by the burning of any city settled on our lands.

We do not wish war but apparently this nation who has been taken hostage by this dishonorable king who killed his own brother and cousin wants to turn on Japan as well. We have been nothing but friends but now because of this crazed bloodthirsty king we are now in danger. This is why we now call all nations who are friends of the real Sparta to stand up and help Japan rid this great nation of a leader who cannot be trusted and is dishonoring the honorable names for the kings of old. Japan will not declare war but we will not stand by as this mad man is allowed to rule.

[Pitboss Greece]

Ieyasu,

Don't be crazy.
You cannot 'claim' lands far away from your capital and expect others to recognize your claim.
My people did not need sailing technology to reach the land bridge because it is right there, next to our territory.

It is not Japanese. Japan wasn't even able to defend it against the barbarians. You lost your city to the barbarians. Then Sparta was kind enough to settle a new city and give it to you. (for nothing!)

But you were not able to defend it yourself again.
You received one phalanx unit from Sparta to defend the city, but there were too many barbarians. Then Sparta sent two more phalanx units to defend your city.

We slaughtered 5 barbarians so far.
Your city would've been razed if not the Spartan soldiers would have defended it.

The land bridge is not yours for you cannot claim something you can't even keep without help from us.
We are happy to help you and send our soldiers to defend your cities.

But we receive nothing in return.
For millennia the land bridge directly next to Sparta has been unsettled. We have given you the opportunity to settle it for a long time.
But you gave it up and vowed to never settle it again.
Then we took it back.

Then Korea was kind enough to give you their portion of the land bridge, and Sparta agreed with that and settled your city there! We defended it till today.
But then we made our plans clear to settle some more parts of the land bridge, then you immediately closed your borders with Sparta and expelled our soldiers from your city! The soldiers that had fought for the defence of your city! You dropped them miles away in the desert.

Is that your way to thank foreign soldiers?
Soldiers who have lost friends in battle to save your children?

And there is no sight of any new Japanese settlements on the land bridge. We doubt that you are capable to settle it.
But we don't want other nations to settle it.
We can't let it lay empty there. Or even worse, give it to the barbarians.

Therefore Sparta will not settle it.
It is Spartan. It is not Japanese.

But Sparta has always been good towards Japan.
We have even offered you to help you settle the new continent. But you answer our goodness with evilness.

And now you even insult me by claiming that I murdered my own brother and my cousin!
How dare you to insult the king of a friendly nation like that!

I never had the intention to war on Japan.
I just had the intention to settle the barren waste of the land bridge. I even notified you in advance.

But I will be good to you once again and make one more proposal to you! A proposal that once again shows Spartas friendliness to Japan.
If you accept it, I will forget your insults about me being a murderer. If you once again reject it, then we will have a war.

The proposal:
- Sparta will settle a new city on the old spot of Osaka and give it to Japan
- Sparta will settle the desert north of Alcetas with two cities
- Sparta will help Japan to settle the continent west of Japan by moving Japan's settlers to it.

This proposal once again includes Sparta giving a city to Japan for nothing!

If you reject it once again then Sparta sees no other option then removing this cancer named Japan from it's land bridge.

We will simply not allow a nation to be that close to Sparta that is that unreliable and that returns dirt for all our gifts.

Archelaus

[Pitboss Japan]

Well your offer though tempting is not in the best interest of Japan. The desert lands have many hills that would increase Japan’s production ability to rival that of your own and this is why I think you fear me. You say I gave up my claims to the land but where is the proof? Both I and my father have stated publicly our intention to resettle the land bridge for a long time but at the same time our production rate is not like yours. It takes us longer to build settlers then it does you. Never the less you still wish to expand to MY territories. As for the city you gifted us, we never asked for it you gave it to us because you felt ashamed for failing to live up to your word to protect Osaka, which resulted in the death of our emperor.

We have also clearly stated we want nothing more then what is rightfully ours. We do not want to settle this far off continent we only want to settle what is ours. But I guess the truth is revealed now. You lied when you said you did not wish to expand, you lied when you said you would not attack a nation weaker then you, you have proved yourself to be nothing exactly like the Romans but you are making one big mistake. I am not the Russians. I will not become a vassal, I have never attacked you so this attack from you is completely unprovoked, and to exterminate the cancer you will have to send your army to Japan herself and kill us all because like I said before I as long as a Japanese city stands we will never stop coming after you.

This is my final answer.
I will not allow you to settle my lands
You can keep your continent
Japan will fight to the end
If you declare war it will only end when you the king of Sparta is dead and an honorable leader takes your place or Japan becomes nothing but a memory.

[Pitboss Japan]

Sparta I have sent you a message. I suggest you read it before you say or do something you will regret.

[Pitboss Greece]

Ieyasu,

I will make a new proposal.
But first let it be clear, Sparta will not invade Japan, unless Japan harms Sparta.
If you continue to be stubborn then we will break through your closed borders with our settlers. You can decide if you want to attack our defenceless settlers or not.

This is the new deal that I offer you:
- Sparta will build a city in the north of the land-bridge, between the copper and the clams and the hills. We will give (!) this city to Japan. You can mine the hills and the copper and fish the clam. We will do this in less then 10 periods!
- Sparta will build a new city on the old site of Osaka
- Sparta will build a new city just north of Alcetas near the seas.
- Japan can have all the rest of the hills etc.

We have no desires for the hills. We have enough production capacity.

We will live up to this deal, whether you accept it or not.
We will settle near the copper and give it to Japan. We will defend it against barbarians till Japan is able to do it themselves.

I will break through your closed borders with our settlers.
If you attack our settlers we will see that as a declaration of war. If you attack our defenceless women and children, then don't expect us to sit idle and do nothing.

Now about the city of Alcetas, yes, it was Japan who asked Sparta for help settling a new city and Sparta responded.
Yes, we responded because we felt like we had a debt to pay. But that takes nothing away from Japan's failure to settle and defend the land bridge themselves.

I have no desires to remove Japan from it's islands.
We like the Japanese people. It's just the Japanese emperors who have too much pride to even accept fair deals offered by their best friends.
You may be lucky that Sparta is your neighbour and not Rome. Rome would have destroyed Alcetas and Osaka long ago and never accepted even 1 single Japanese settlement on the land bridge.
Do you think that Rome would've felt like they had a debt to pay only because they didn't defend your city? Or that Rome would offer you two free cities?

You can chose the path of stubbornness but Sparta offers a fair deal to you. We even offer to settle a city for you and give it to you.

Accept the deal and open your borders for our settlers.
If you decline, then our settlers will walk through your lands undefended. If you attack these weak women and children then our wrath will pour over you.

I hope you will be wise and lead your people in wisdom.

Archelaus

[Pitboss Japan]

I have sent a counter proposal and I wish to continue this in privet. No one else need know what we will speak of.

[Pitboss Japan]

Ieyasu was please to hear that the Spartans had agreed to his counter proposal. And now that peace was restored justice now had to take place. The Spartan king violated many Japanese laws including and not limited to dishonoring the Crow Emperor of Japan, Threatening to attack a Japanese city containing mostly woman and children without provocation, and murder of a good friend to Japan. These crimes must be answered to and heard by the Japanese Court of Law.

The Spartan king has been asked to turn himself in willingly and has 2 days to reply. After words Japan will send in whatever forces necessary to escort the king back to Japan dead or alive. Japanese laws are clear and the charges serious. This hearing will be made public and any nation who wishes to send ambassadors to view the proceedings are welcome to do so.

[Pitboss Greece]

The Chief Scribe read the letter from Japan and laughed a bit.
Then he left his office and went looking for some more people: "Scribes, come over here, this is really funny!"

About 7 scribes entered the office of the chief Scribe.
They read the message from Japan and started to laugh. "That actually is really funny!"

"What do we do?" one of them asked.
"Let's play along!" a scribe with one leg said.
"Sure, they can't be serious anyway" the scribe with the scar laughed.

"I'm afraid that they are serious" the chief said.
"NOOooooooo" the scarred scribed screamed, "stop it, I can't stop laughing". He crawled over the floor laughing.

"Seriously...." the chief tried again
But the scarred scribe was shaking on the ground "can't breath can't breath" he said while continuing to image those small Japanese lawyers trying to judge the big and tall Archelaus.

"They are serious! I am not kidding" the chief said.
"sto....sto...... can't br..... can....."the scarred scribe whispered while laughing. Then suddenly his laughter ended. There he laid, a dead body on the palace floor.

"Is he dead?" the red haired scribe asked.
"Think so" the one legged scribe said while kneeling down next to him.

"Maybe we should send his body to Japan and say that it's king Archelaus! They've never seen him anyway." the funny scribe said.
"This is not a time to make jokes" the chief said. "Look, scarface is dead!"

"I am serious....." the funny scribe said!
"You want to send the body of scar to them?" the chief was shocked.
"Well, no.... but maybe we can send the body of some beggar or thief."

"Do you think that Archelaus would agree?" the chief asked a bit nervous.
"Who cares?" the red scribe said. "Archelaus is in Rome, maybe he'll never return anyway!"

"Ok, let's do it" the chief said. "But we won't send a dead body, just pick a beggar from the street, deafen him, remove his eyes and his tongue. Then we'll send him to Sparta, dressed in some clothes of Archelaus"

A beggar was quickly found. Not just a beggar, a thief and a murderer, from the prison in Athens.

"Send this letter along with him" the chief said:

Dear Ieyasu,

We are really sorry about the rudeness of our king!
We have immediately brought him for justice and found him guilty of insulting friendly states and making treats of war to our allies.

Therefore he has been punished by the removal of his eyes, his ears and his tongue.
We have kept him alive for you so you can trial him as well, as you requested.
Here he is. Have your way with him.

We sincerely apologize and hope that his successor will not make the same mistakes as he did!

The Chief Scribe of Sparta

"I wish I was there when they receive this 'archelaus'" the funny scribe said.
"You're absolutely positive that no Japanese man ever saw Archelaus?" the chief asked.
"100% sure! Nobody has ever seen him. We haven't had any foreign visitors in Sparta the few weeks that Archelaus was in Sparta after the dead of Tyrimmas. And during this time he never made a public appearance to the people of Sparta either. Nobody knows what he looks like! Don't worry!" the funny scribe answered.

[ooc]no BS Japan, you don't know that this is not Archelaus! There's no in-character excuse for you to claim that you know :P

[Pitboss Japan]

[ooc]no BS Japan, you don't know that this is not Archelaus! There's no in-character excuse for you to claim that you know :P

[ooc] Yes there is.

[Pitboss Greece]

The swimming messenger sat in his prison in Japan.
"I must obey the honour of Sparta" he said.
Then he spotted a sharp rock in the wall of his prison.
He laid his arm on it, and used it to cut his artery completeoy through in it's length.

Blood was everywhere.
The messenger died within a few seconds.
He was dead as a bone fish.
Totally dead.

[ooc]Japan: he's DEAD!
[ooc]Look:

suddenly even his head was separated from his body.

[ooc]ok, he's dead!

his heart jumped from his chest and broke apart in 4 pieces. All pieces rolled to another corner of the prison.

[ooc]you see: he's seriously dead.

[Pitboss Japan]

A body from Sparta came to Japan. They had claimed it was the body of King Archelaus. Ieyasu had never seen the man himself but fortunately he had spies in the cities of Athens and Sparta who had seen the king. He sent for one of them to return home to identify the body.

Two days had passed and the spy entered the room where the body laid. “This is not the body of the king,” said the spy. This did not make Ieyasu happy.

“Do these Spartan scribes think we are fools! Send out my elite ninja and bring be the head of the scribe who sent this letter! And you go with general Tanzo to the north and find where the real Spartan king is. This disrespect has to stop here and now even if we have to kill every last scribe of Sparta along with their king who would have got off easy where he to have just turned himself in,” said the enraged Ieyasu.

“What of the body,” said one of the guards? “ Odds are good this man was just an innocent citizen arrested for no good reason. Burn his body and send his ashes to his family,” said Ieyasu as he walked out the room still furious that the Spartans would continue to disrespect him.

[Pitboss Japan]

[ooc. death is not what I want it is justice!!!!!!!

[Pitboss Greece]

Sparta declares war on Japan.

We have two terms for peace:
1. the city of Alcetas must be returned to Sparta, including it's unit of Phalanxes that defended it for many years.

2. Ieyasu must be brought to Sparta where he will be executed for:

a. insulting the Spartan king Archelaus

Ieyasu: We do not wish war but apparently this nation who has been taken hostage by this dishonorable king who killed his own brother and cousin wants to turn on Japan as well. We have been nothing but friends but now because of this crazed bloodthirsty king we are now in danger.

b. breaking the just signed treaty between Sparta and Japan

c. Showing no interest in peace with Sparta and trying to break relations with Sparta in any possible way, most blatantly demonstrated by the request to trial King Archelaus.