The Foreign Affairs Thread

[Beta]

Well - I am still going to write up the intro letter - but in the meantime - we have our first FA decison to make. Read the following I received from Nuclear Winter. Question is - do we want to do this - particularly given the discussion in the moves thread about getting off the island,

Then again - Spain will be one of the first to map making - and if they contact us first on the map - we will have iron working to trade. Here is his note:

Hello Betahound, minister of foreign affairs of the Vox Controli
We Spaniards would like to make an early contact, so if you could provide us with some kind of guidelines as to were in the world you are...(on the top of the earth, on the down of the earth, your wise men provably have already mentioned something as such...) we would be glad to provide guidelines on were does the Mighty kingdom of Spain lies...
If there is anything you want to discuss, just Pm or mail me... It is a plesure to make contact with your people... Also, don´t forget to contact me about anything you want to be discussed in the roleplay forum... think of me as your pal in the roleplay team...
Hope we make contact soon, so then we can make good trade...

Nuclearis Winterius the II

[Dis]

This is getting good. Of course we don't know if they even will go for map making first. Such decisions

It's a risk that they won't give us their location, but I doubt they would screw us over so early. And given the position we are in I think it is worth the risk. There is a possiblility they may use this information to come over and attack us. Depending on where they are in the world this may not be possible with tiremes, and either way would be difficult and resource draining at this point in the game.

I say we exchange this info. We should probably get a majority who agrees.

Also I noticed in the save game thread someone wanting to discuss something before sending the save. I'm figuring 2 civs have already made actual contact on the map. Not sure how this will affect us yet. They could combine research efforts and jump to a lead though.

[Wittlich]

Concerning telling them "generally" where we are located should be fine (ie, north-eastern sector). Plus it will indicate our "good nature" towards them...for now. So I agree with Dissident - exchange the information.

[Beta]

(Ok - here is my proposed intro letter. Please let me know if you think it hits the right note - or if there is anything else we want to say. I may customize it a bit for each civ I'm talking to.)

Esteemed representative of the fine people of ......... I, BetaHound, have been chosen to speak to you on behalf of the Controller and the citizens of Vox Controli. In this correspondence, I am not only introducing myself, but more importantly, the nation of the One Voice - Vox Controli.

As a form of introduction, and to allow you a better insight into our civilization, I have chosen to read to you today, selected readings from The One Book, and more specifically, Jon's letter to the Controllians.

"Controllians 6, Verses 1 to 5.

1. In the beginning, there were many voices. And it was chaos. And it was not good.

2. And 'The Voice' called to jon miller, and he went onto the great mountain, the One Peak. And there 'The Voice' spoke to jon.

3. He spent 18 days and 15 nights on the One Peak (ed Scholars are still debating to this day what jon did for the other 3 nights) and returned with the law of our people on one stone, drawn up as the One Commandment:

4. Thou shalt speak with One Voice.

5. And then there was one controller, chosen by the people, and there was One Voice, and One Voice only. And there was order. And it was good."

This should help to clarify who we are. We are not a fascist state. We are not a dictatorship. We are a small, but well ordered civilization. We are democratic. But we acknowledge, and accept as is our law, the need to speak with One Voice.

We look forward to cordial and productive relations with you, your leaders, and your people. We approach you in friendship, but stand ready to defend our rights, our citizens, and our land.

We speak forthrightly, and expect the same of you. We have long memories.

I know we share the same goal of improving our respective and cherished homelands. Together, we can achieve more. I look forward to further discussions with you.

So, once again, our salutations to you, our honored guest, and to your nation.

Till next we meet, I remain, sincerely yours,

BetaHound
Voice of Foreign Affairs (VFA)
Vox Controli

(woof)

[Dis]

looks good so far

[Eli]

Sounds great.

[Jon Miller]

good

Jon Miller

[Beta]

OK - next question. Where/How should I contact the other civs. It would seem the choices are:

1.PM to their FA person

2. Post it on the their team threads on the open PTW forum

3. Post it on our both their team threads and our open FA thread.

4. Start a new thread on the open forum - something along the lines of - Greetings from Vox Controli, or Selected Readings from the One Book. Could be fun to see the responses. And I could post other selected readins from the one book there as well.

I say - 1 and 4.

What say yee?

[Eli]

Definetely 1&2. The rest, you should do the way you see fit.

[Beta]

Yes - that makes sense. I think I will still start a general Vox Controli thread in the open forum for selected readings from the One Book. Just to let my creative wanderings have a good run.

[Jon Miller]

you are our voice

and it is up to you as to how you present us

Jon Miller

[Beta]

OK. Thanks jon.

I will be communicating with the other teams today, using the script above.


(unleash the hounds .....)

[Dis]

yeah creating a thread explaining us might be useful too. Or we can just use the existing one. It's up to you.

[Beta]

We are starting to get responses back to my initial correspondence. I will post them here as they come in.

Greetings from Gathering Storm
Greetings Ambasador Betahound. I, ManicStarSeed want to extend good wishes from Gathering Storm. Feel free to contact me via PM regarding anything you wish to discuss. If you have any questions you want me to direct to the team, please do not hesitate to ask. I expect to be able to respond (at least with a confirmation of receipt) with in 24 hours. If you do not here from me within 24 hours RL has taken over and Meshelic, our Foreign Minister should be able to help you.

Now for business..
I do have a question for you.

Can I post (verbatum) the contents of your PMs to me back to the Gathering Storm private forum? It will make our internal discussion run more smoothly. I would gladly extend the same courtisy (sp)

Again Greetings and good gaming

ManicStarSeed (Mss)

(i told them to please, by all means, post my message in their forum - ignorance breeds fear - knowledge breeds understanding and friendship.) (must be that Christmas spirit coming out)

[Beta]

And from Neu Demogyptica:

Your Letter to Neu Demogyptica
Dear Betahound of Vox Controli,

i am writing to you in the name of the people of Neu Demogyptica. We read your letter with great interest and we felt quite impressed by the given piece of history of your democratic civilization, which appears to be honourable and thrustworthy.

To allow friendship to grow between our great civilizations, i would like to introduce the people of Neu Demogyptica to you.

We are an expansionist and religious civilization under the leadership of Fritz Demogypt. We are democratic and peaceful, but we are also sovereign and do not accept any kind of extortion, nor do we fear to fight for our freedom and sovereignty. We respect our neighbours and seek friendship and peace, as long as they do not threaten our god-given right to develop our great culture.

We are looking forward to meet the people of Vox Controli in the world and we feel that our both civilizations will benefit from good relations and friendship to each other, which will hopefully pass the test of time.

Sincerly yours,
Picahulu, Foreign Affairs of Neu Demogyptica

(I will send back a 'glad to hear from you' note. )