Domination of Barbarians [Diplo Game] [Story Thread 2 - May 2012]

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Nation of Fire, Nation of Water reject all French Demands and we will work powerful the magics to expel the French. This unprovoke attck on peaceful Nation of Fire, Nation of Water will not be forgotten, and will not go unanswer! This time French have gone too far!

Trotseer

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Trotseer thought careful on the demand the French were making. Now they claim that they have powerful friend to help them invade and destroy Nation of Fire, Nation of Water.

"It is surely to be the Germ-Manes", thinks Trotseer. "They put all their spies against us. That is how those French always know what move we makes before we make it! Damn them!" He slaps hard on the earth with his fist as if he wants to slaps the French Earth mother.

"Brave one, what will we do? The French are in the hills near river village. They chase any who leave the village back into the village."

"Well we cant attack them on that wooded hill, and they knows it. As long as they stay there we are crippled. We cant leave the city, we cant do nothing. And wost of all that hill is where the seers say the Caw-Purr stone from the dreams will be found."

Trotseer tells the Brave "Say what these French want and I will see if we can appease them so they will leave us in peace"

"Brave one, the say 1) The tyrant Trotseer is to be publicly stoned to death for his plans to enslave his fellow tribesmen."

Trotseer says "Well this is nonsense of course, but I must do what is best to save my people. Tell the French, that I will go into exile in the Purple Mountains if they will leave the innocent people in peace. My braves will stay to protect the river village."

"They say 2) A Dutch Rebel leader friendly to the French is to claim the leadership of the Netherlands"

Trotseer says "Tell them that I will appoint a Dutch who has good relations with his French relatives as my successor"

"They say 3) Slavery is to be permanently foresworn by the Netherlands."

"Well I don't know what this "slavery" is, nor does I know this "foresworn" means, nor can I say what will happen permanent. If I am leaving into exile, how can I make any promise what Nation of Fire, Nation of Water will do 1000 years from now?"

"They say 4) All espionage by the Netherlands against the French tribe is to be immediately stopped"

"This I will order done as my last act as Chieftain" says Trotseer.

"Last thing they say is 5) The Netherlands forests south of Amsterdam are to act as a buffer zone between the two tribes remaining free of all Nether warriors and workers at all times (no building roads or cutting down the forests)."

Trotseer thinks for a moment, "By this last thing what they means to do is cripple us forever. No doubts their seers have seen the Caw-Purr stone and also the I-run stone that the Norsemen are crazy for. I don't know why makes men crazy for these silly shiny rocks, but it matters not. Nation of Fire, Nation of Water has only a few measly blades of grass for our poeple to make their homes. The forest is our only source of any materials, we need the woods to cut for our fishing boats. They try to forbid us to use the measly few acres we have while more and more of our lands lost to these Stonhenge fanatics every day. If we agree to this we will be crippled forever, with only 2 plots of grass to use, so we can not accept.

So now we have agree to make 3 out of 5 of their demands. More than half. Tell them that in exchange we ask only for a peace treaty, and for their warriors to leave our lands, and not to send their Germ-Manes puppets or others against us.

[France (DoB)]

The Dutch rebel messenger enters Amsterdam with the rebel response to Trotseer's peace proposal.

"The Dutch rebel force has heard the villain Trotseer's pleas for mercy. The Dutch rebellion is about saving the lives of our fellow tribe members therefore we will agree to some more merciful terms.

1) The death of the tyrant Trotseer, known as the coward in France, is non-negotiable as he may return some day to reclaim his despotism however Trotseer can prove his claim to be Brave by accepting an honorable death by being sacrificed on a pyre to the Fire Father instead of being stoned to death. The warrior's known as Trotseer's Braves are not to be harmed as long as they accept the new Dutch despot.

2) We are agreed on the Dutch Rebel leader friendly to the French claiming the leadership of the Netherlands.

3) We will withdraw the slavery prohibition but in exchange the next ruler of the Netherlands must agree to never adopt the Islam religion as a state religion for as long as he rules.

4) We are agreed on the terms that the Netherlands will stop all espionage against the French tribe. Any such espionage efforts by the Netherlands will be considered an act of war by the French.

5) We will withdraw the prohibition against workers, forest clearing and road building in the forests south of Amsterdam however the next ruler of the Netherlands must agree to not place any military units in those southern lands and doing so will be considered an act of war. France will not attack the Netherlands workers however it is up to the Netherlands to negotiate safety of those workers with other tribes."

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Trotseer think faithfully on the word of messenger sent by France.

"My messengers, come here to me. This is my final acts as Chieftain."

To the first messanger he says aloud "Go to the French and tell them 1)I accept their challenges to sacrifice my spirit to Mountain Father! I will consume in the fire to save my people!. 2)Tell them that I appoint Hanz, as my successor to watch over the river village. Hanz is Dutch, being only one grandparent Nether descended, and the rest French. He will see to it that relation with France be more frindly in future. 3) Tell them that I order the Nether to stay true to the love of Ocean Mother and never to turn to these 'religions' they are called, we have never heard of this Islam, but if it is not from Ocean mother we will not makse it our 'state religion' whatever that means. 4) I am ordering as my last act that espionage against France will stop as soon as the Peace treaty with France is made. I am also making them know that if they ever start again the espionage to France, France will be free to consider its act of War"

To the second messanger he says "Tell France that I say I am laying down my blood to satisfy their hatread against my people. I cant do no more. If my death is not enough for them, let them say so. I can not ask Hanz to send out our people to the wood unprotected, and I cant ask the Braves to allow our workers to go into the forest alone. They would not listen to such nonsense even if I said it, especially after I am gone. We can not trust the safety of our worker to the mercy of France who attacked us and makes war on us, this is nonsense. We cant trust their safety to the Germ-Manes neither as they are the French puppet."

To the third messanger he whispers "Go and tell them I said Good friends are worth more than shiny rocks"

With that, Trotseer pours oil over himself and jumps on the flaming pyre he has prepared. There is a flash, and and explosion, and a balls of fire erupts from the pyre. When the flames die down, all that is left is chared brunt remains. The people cheer and weep at the final act of selfless sacrifice and legendary bravery.



After Trotseers consume in fire, all hell break loose in the village. Inspired by his sacrifice, a new cult spring up in the river village called the Slaves of Fire. They love Mountain Father more than Ocean Mother, but most of all they love Trotseer, who they now call "The Braveest Martyr." These fire mystics believe in sacrifice above all else, even sacrifice their lives for the good of the river village. They follow the path of Trotseer, and pledge to die if needed to help the river village.

Hanz first act as the new Cheiftain is send a messenger to France saying "My brothers, war is not the conduct between friends! Let us make peace and live in harmony. I am telling all our spies to leave France, to begin a new path as trust and friendship. I humbly ask that France agree to stop their spying on us too as now we are friends."

[France (DoB)]

The French messenger appears before Hanz with a relaxed smile to deliver the joyous news, "Chief Benoit sends his warmest regards to Hanz the new Chieftain of the Netherlands. The tribes of France rejoice that the Dutch tribe have managed to overthrow the tyrant Trotseer who oppressed his people and maintained such a hostile state of relations between our tribes that it threatened everyone's peace of mind. The tribes of France look forward to a new era of peaceful relations with our Dutch brothers.

The success of your rebellion in overthrowing the tyrant with no blood loss except for the death of the tyrant himself bodes well for your future leadership. The French tribe is happy that the little bit of support we provided could contribute to such a joyous outcome.

We have received your request and of course we accept the terms offered for a peace treaty. France will also remove our espionage forces from the Dutch tribe however to be clear we are not abrogating our right as part of this treaty to use such espionage forces in the future should it be deemed necessary."

[France (DoB)]

A French messenger is dispatched to all known tribes with the following message, "French policy on foreign espionage has been relayed to most of the tribes for hundreds of winters however in case some tribe was missed or in case a tribe has forgotten the policy it is being relayed to everyone again.

France does not spy on its friends, beyond an initial cursory effort to learn the local language and customs. France expects the same in return from tribes that wish friendly relations with our tribe. France eventually intends to have an open border policy with friendly tribes to facilitate trade and exploration. France thanks the majority of tribes that have respected our wishes in this matter and refrained from spying on France. We trust that the benefits from being a friend of France will more then outweigh the inconvenience of not being able to satisfy idle curiousity about France.

Those tribes that focus sufficient espionage against France to learn its demographics are not considered friendly and will not receive the benefits of an open border with France.

Those tribes that go beyond the level of espionage to learn French demographics are considered to be actively engaged in hostile actions against France and will be dealt with accordingly. France considers all options to be on the table to deal with this level of espionage threat from enemy tribes, including war and regime change if required.

All tribes are hereby considered to have been given fair warning as to the consequences of their actions against France."

[France (DoB)]

The Elder Mystic councils popularity continues to burn bright around the campfires of France, after their successful support of the Dutch rebellion. With many subsequent bountiful fall wine harvests and associated festivals, the tribe of France is in good spirits.

To add to the tribe's many celebrations, The Quest of the 18 Tribes is nearly complete as the Great Valley Seekers have made contact with the most remote tribe of Japan. Only the Celts remain to be contacted, although English agents continue to thwart attempts to pass messages on to the Celts to arrange contact.

Le Gaulois and The Great Valley Seekers have been given a new quest, Chasse Aux Barbares, to locate the Children of Barbarous and prove the prophesy of the coming invasion of barbarians. Based upon the number of animal attacks, believed to be caused by barbarian magic, on the Great Valley Seekers in the lands north of China that is believed to be the center of the barbarian tribes territory.

Meanwhile those Dutch rebels who decided to stay in France rather than return to the Netherlands after the successful coup against Trotseer have formed a new band of warriors calling themselves the Dutch Defenders.

With peace on the Netherlands border, Chief Benoit has ordered the Mystic Council to deal with the ongoing Roman espionage attack. The French have sent several messengers to Rome over the last couple hundred winters but none of those messengers have ever returned. It is believed that the despot Baron Von has had the French messengers slain for his amusement.

Little is known about Baron Von other than the fact that he is highly negligent of his people and quite probably completely insane. French agents have watched in horror as the despot Baron Von starved over 20,000 Romans to death for no apparent reason. Roman workers and fishing fleets have sat idle for hundreds of winters in a row doing nothing while Roman researchers have similarly sat idle for several generations researching nothing. Roman warriors have been ordered to randomly walk around without purpose for hundreds of winters as well.

The Garcons de Paris and the Dutch Defenders have been sent into Rome to help the Roman tribesmen overthrow their insane immortal despot. Some Roman refugees have thrown flowers on the ground, welcoming the French forces as their saviors.

The French demands are simple.

1) Regime Change including the death by starvation of the despot Baron Von for slaying French messengers and for starving his Roman citizens.

2) The installation of a new Roman chieftain friendly towards France.

3) The new Roman chieftain shall order an immediate cessation of all Roman espionage towards France. Any future Roman espionage against France will be seen as a violation of this treaty and an act of war.

4) The new Roman chieftain will also swear to never accept the religion of Islam as the tribe's formal religion. Adopting Islam as a tribal religion will be seen as a violation of this treaty and an act of war.

[Rome (DoB)]

The Roman tribe had suffered greatly for years under the yoke of the tyrant Baron Von. Baron Von had spent his time feasting together with his loyal gang of bullies and slavedrivers. The people of Rome had been sent in hundreds out in the country to do menial tasks to ensure that Baron Von and his people was well fed, while the other people of Rome starved - thousands of people in the city of Rome had even starved to death!

The people had finally had enough, and rebelled after the French successfully assisted some of the slaves in the lands around Rome. Baron Von had been beheaded, and thrown into the sea, and the few survivors of his gang had escaped into the southern countryside hopefully never to be heard of again.

The leader of the slave rebellion, Marcus, chosen as the new leader of Rome, greeted the French messengers to Rome when they arrived. He told the French that he was grateful for their assistance, and that he did not know anything about the previous messengers that had been sent to Baron Von. Most likely they had been killed, or used for some entertainment purposes by his gang - and Marcus apologized for this, and hoped the French understood that such an atrocity would not happen under the new government of Rome. Marcus told the messengers that while he did appreciate the help of France in this highly needed rebellion, he felt the need for demands was unneeded. All France had to do was to ask if they had an issue, and he promised he would listen, as Marcus did not wish conflict with the other people around Rome. Marcus did however take the demands into consideration, as a gesture of goodwill to apologize for how Baron Von had treated the French people in the past. Here is his official response to France, delivered by Roman messengers who accompanied the French back to Paris as a gesture of trust and goodwill:

1. The tyrant Baron Von has been beheaded, and replaced. Starving a dead person is a troublesome process according to the mystics, and should be avoided at all costs if possible. Additionally, his body has been thrown into the sea, and this means that we are unable to comply with this request. We hope the French can accept that this is a demand we simply cannot accomodate in any way.

2. Marcus is friendly not only towards France, but towards all the neighbours of Rome. We need to work together and avoid senseless conflict over trifles.

3. Marcus does not understand how the French mean Rome is spying on them. Our people are now free, and if France wishes to cooperate with us, we do not see how this can happen without our people seeing the lands of France in their travels - unless of course the French mean to set up strict border patrols and let our people meet on this border to talk, and that is it? Marcus asks France to kindly explain what exactly this request entails.

4. The Roman people do not know what a religion is, and we have never heard about anything named Isl-aam. We are concerned with the survival of our people, not with Isl-aam or religion - whatever that is.

Marcus also asked me to tell the French people that we would highly appreciate the return of the Roman refugees to us, as their expertise at working with the land would help our nation back up on our feet. Rome understands if these refugees does not want to return, but we pledge that if they do not feel comfortable in the lands of Rome they may return to France at any time if they so wish. We are only asking them to give the new Rome a chance, and we would consider it a true gesture of friendship from the French if they allowed these refugees to return to us!

And finally, French messengers are welcome to Rome, and will be treated with respect and dignity. If you wish, Marcus asked us to stay here in Paris and travel back to Rome together with the messengers that shall carry the response back to Marcus and his council.

Marcus now had to focus on the rebuilding of his nation. They had ample supplies of food now, equally shared with the people, and the future of Rome hopefully was a prosperous one!

[Spain (DoB)]

"Aaah, the water is great, Esmeralda.."

"Yes, nothing like it, on a warm day, Himilce".."




"Have you heard about this Marcus guy, from Rome?"

"Is he good looking ?"

"He must be mighty brave and just, judging from his actions.."

"Perhaps we could invite him to meet with us? There is a lot what needs to be discussed.."

[Arabia (DoB)]

Islam is the true path. The true faith! Arabia condemns France in the strongest terms possible for their slander and heinous lies against Islam. Arabia further condemns France for attempting to extort and bully the whole world against the pure righteousness of peaceful and holy Islam. Woe be unto any who heed the will of France, lest you forever be her slaves. Once you accept the yoke of the most Evil tribe in the world, their Evil influence will forever enslave your people, mind body and spirit. Reject France and their warmongering, bloodthirsty savagery. Accept the path of Islam and peace into your hearts.

[England (DoB)]

An open letter in response to the haughty French demands France condemns each nation's innate drive to learn more about the world around us and our surrounding neighbors. France speaks of wanting peace with its neighbors but at the same time demands all efforts to learn about French culture and mannerism be terminated as a perquisite for peace. With its attacks on Rome and threats to the Nether, France has shown it will attack and kill those who do meet its every demand. England no doubt would face the same fate were it not for a barrier of sea between our lands. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// OCC wtf why can't I make paragraph breaks!! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// But France's demands go against our true nature and will inevitably encourage war rather than peace. No nation truly has the capability to halt this so called espionage, only the power to redirect the curiosity of its people away from one foreign land and instead turn their attention to another. If every nation were to follow France's demands true peace between all the tribes of the world would never be attained. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// OCC: Guess i still need to learn writing /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// England would like to make a counter proposal that may serve as an alternative to French demands. We encourage the nations of the world to learn about ours and each others lands in moderation. Knowledge that leads to a basic understanding of things like military power, economic strength, and food production are not secrets to be hidden - but information that underpins a trusting and mutually respectful relationship of peers. Without such knowledge, the potential for betrayal and deceit will color all relationships with fear and mistrust. France is correct though in its view that espionage can be taken too far and damage relations. While we invite without prejudice all tribes to learn about the fundamental traits of English society - England will perceive a disproportionate allocation of espionage as an act of aggression. Seeking to look into our very cities or meddle with our internal affairs is an unacceptable action for nations that seek to have England's friendship and trust. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// England implores France to agree to these terms. Of any nation England would have the easiest time agreeing to French demands as, due to our sheer proximity, we can already see most French activity. But as a matter of principle we will not accept French terms due to the precedent it will set for other peace loving nations. We also are compelled to say that of the tribes England has met thus far, France appears to be the only one to have diverted resources to the active, rather than passive, production of espionage - further belying the irony of their apparent outrage at this natural and innate quest for knowledge that no doubt also inspired the storied quests of France's very own great valley seekers.

[Rome (DoB)]

The Roman people has sent messengers to all the people living around Rome, bearing the following message for them all from Marcus:

Honourable neighbours!


Marcus, the new leader of Rome, wishes you good health and prosperous lives!


We have been told that in the past several foreign people was seen arriving in Rome, and that they were never seen again. We suspect that these people were messengers from your people. For this I, Marcus, leader of Rome, apologize profoundly on the behalf of the people of Rome. We extend our hand in friendship to everyone who wishes to take it, and invite you to send new messengers to our nation so that we can start anew. The new government of Rome is a friendly and open one, and we will do our best to cooperate with anyone who wishes mutual benefit and prosperity.


A word of advise though - the people of Rome is not interested in this .. religion .. we hear so much about. We ask you to not drag us into any conflicts based on this ridiculousness, as we do not intend to take any side in the conflicts we hear about based on this. If you wish to offend one another, and make war over such nonsense, then by all means do so - but know that our people are concerned about survival and rebuilding after the horrible things we had to live through under Baron Von. As such, we claim neutrality in any conflict based on this .. religion. We will leave your people to believe whatever you wish, and we will respect you for it, and in return for that we expect the same respect for our claim of neutrality in these matters. Anyone will be welcome to Rome, whatever they believe or think, as long as they do not attempt to convince us that what we think is wrong.

[Vikings (DoB)]

The Norse people see the aggressive French politics in the south with sorrow. We do not condone threats or violence as answer to mere curiosity. We wholeheartly embrace the English proposal and invite all people to learn about our culture. We will not punish mere curiosity with threats and war, as long as we don't suffer from malevolent espionage missions. We will however react to real violence and threats with mistrust, even though they at the moment don't concern our own nation.

[England (DoB)]

A great celebration is held in London for the Celtic voyagers who accepted the English invitation to travel through their lands. may our island peoples always live in harmony and peace.

[France (DoB)]

The Elder Mystic council room was bustling with reports coming in from every tribe. The diplomatic scene had taken off so much that it was nearly impossible to deal with all the messengers coming in.

...

The Quest of 18 Tribes had been successfully completed, as an unarmed Celt fishing boat had broken the English blockade against them by declaring war on the English. The Celts have style! Definitely a true warrior tribe that have made a positive first impression with the French tribe. Messengers have been dispatched to the Celts to make initial greetings, negotiate an espionage agreement and find out more about possible synergies between French and Celt objectives.

...

Peace with the Romans had been agreed to however the first messenger with the peace treaty had been ignored and the war is technically still on. Perhaps the messenger's response, which had been brief due to time constraints, was not formal enough for Marcus. Another messenger has been sent with a longer more formal response, a gift and an escort by the Dutch Defenders. If this peace treaty is not promptly accepted then the Dutch Defenders are to secure France's borders by razing the road leading from Rome to France. Not a particularly desirable course of action as France is seeking to develop a trade route with Rome however the safety of French children from a warring tribe is much more important then roads which could be rebuilt.

...

The mystics listen to the English messenger and then the mystics burst out in bemused laughter. The English proposal is not significantly different then the official French position. The English are not promising to open their borders to everyone in the future regardless of espionage efforts. The main difference is that instead of the French threshold for espionage aggression which has been publicly stated as attempts to learn French research, the English have stated that their threshold is the more difficult attempts to investigate English cities however the English have claimed the extremely low, and highly subjective, threshold of espionage allocation to be grounds for aggressive counter-measures!

The English are making a colossal geostrategic blunder in pissing off the French on the false impression that being on the other side of the French channel will somehow save them from French counter-measures. A military war is only one of many tools in the French arsenal to achieve it's objectives and with peace finally secured on France's other borders, the Council can focus on the English threat as they try to learn France's research secrets.

...

The immortal ancestor of the Vikings, Odin, must be greatly dissapointed in the recent Viking message decrying violence and leaving themselves wide open to espionage exploitation. That is unfortunate since the Vikings seemed to have such potential initially to be a strong military ally.