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And the more extensive reply:
Hi Ruff,
Aidun is currently unavailable due to illness so I'm currently overseeing his duties as our diplomatic liaison. There are a few points that need to be addressed:
First off, you've no doubt noticed one of our Quechuas (Squire Herc) is moving very close to your borders. We're doing this because we need to cross to the opposite side of your road but want to avoid moving him directly next to your Worker further south -- we imagine you might perceive that to be a hostile move (certainly more so than moving closer to your border) and want to stress that our intentions are peaceful. The unit in question will move on to a less threatening position to the east as quickly as possible.
As Aidun noted before, our military units are there for sentinel duties in defensive positions, which we deem necessary in the absence of any formal treaties between our teams and with your team having established your outpost so close to our capital. You asked why Quechuas rather than Scouts: on a continent this small and for a civ that doesn't start with Hunting, Scouts are of very limited value; for the Inca specifically Quechuas make for very good scouting units as well, so we haven't bothered building any Scouts. We hope to be able to withdraw these units in due time, but as you said yourself, more trust and understanding needs to be built between our teams first.
Secondly, we noticed your Scout Tracy was attacked and has suffered damage. If there is a way we can provide cover again for that unit, we'd be happy to do so. Let us know if you need assistance there.
Thirdly, since you pledged not to expand further in the contested region between our borders, we pledge to do the same for now. As you already surmised in an earlier message, we shall found our next city to our NE -- a Settler is currently en-route there -- and future expansions shall for the time being be further east to, as you say, give the border agreement a chance of success. But I think we can all agree that we need to work out a more permanent arrangement before it stifles either of our growth.
We've seen your repeated posts in the public forum to try and get in touch with Imperio. Have you had any luck in this regard? We've heard very little from them as well, but we agree with you that working together with Imperio to establish a tri-lateral border treaty is important. In fact, we feel that it's in the interest of all three of us to work together as much as possible.
Democracy Games are rarely won by a team acting on its own, it's usually an alliance that ends up deciding the outcome of the game. A lasting alliance between the three teams on our island with all of us working together on research would give us a very good chance of getting to the New World before the teams on the other island, which would of course give us a significant leg-up on them and increase the chances of all three of us to win the game. Our cooperation could extend to the New World itself as well and make sure we all get a fair share of it -- the longer we work together, the better we believe it will be for all three of us.
That's long-term thinking though, the first hurdle to cross to get there will be to get in touch with Imperio and figure out a fair division of our lands between the three of us. We will be making a renewed effort to contact them very shortly (also depending on Aidun's availability) and keep you apprised of our progress.
Wouter
Interim Diplomatic Liaison of the Knights Templar
Aidun is currently unavailable due to illness so I'm currently overseeing his duties as our diplomatic liaison. There are a few points that need to be addressed:
First off, you've no doubt noticed one of our Quechuas (Squire Herc) is moving very close to your borders. We're doing this because we need to cross to the opposite side of your road but want to avoid moving him directly next to your Worker further south -- we imagine you might perceive that to be a hostile move (certainly more so than moving closer to your border) and want to stress that our intentions are peaceful. The unit in question will move on to a less threatening position to the east as quickly as possible.
As Aidun noted before, our military units are there for sentinel duties in defensive positions, which we deem necessary in the absence of any formal treaties between our teams and with your team having established your outpost so close to our capital. You asked why Quechuas rather than Scouts: on a continent this small and for a civ that doesn't start with Hunting, Scouts are of very limited value; for the Inca specifically Quechuas make for very good scouting units as well, so we haven't bothered building any Scouts. We hope to be able to withdraw these units in due time, but as you said yourself, more trust and understanding needs to be built between our teams first.
Secondly, we noticed your Scout Tracy was attacked and has suffered damage. If there is a way we can provide cover again for that unit, we'd be happy to do so. Let us know if you need assistance there.
Thirdly, since you pledged not to expand further in the contested region between our borders, we pledge to do the same for now. As you already surmised in an earlier message, we shall found our next city to our NE -- a Settler is currently en-route there -- and future expansions shall for the time being be further east to, as you say, give the border agreement a chance of success. But I think we can all agree that we need to work out a more permanent arrangement before it stifles either of our growth.
We've seen your repeated posts in the public forum to try and get in touch with Imperio. Have you had any luck in this regard? We've heard very little from them as well, but we agree with you that working together with Imperio to establish a tri-lateral border treaty is important. In fact, we feel that it's in the interest of all three of us to work together as much as possible.
Democracy Games are rarely won by a team acting on its own, it's usually an alliance that ends up deciding the outcome of the game. A lasting alliance between the three teams on our island with all of us working together on research would give us a very good chance of getting to the New World before the teams on the other island, which would of course give us a significant leg-up on them and increase the chances of all three of us to win the game. Our cooperation could extend to the New World itself as well and make sure we all get a fair share of it -- the longer we work together, the better we believe it will be for all three of us.
That's long-term thinking though, the first hurdle to cross to get there will be to get in touch with Imperio and figure out a fair division of our lands between the three of us. We will be making a renewed effort to contact them very shortly (also depending on Aidun's availability) and keep you apprised of our progress.
Wouter
Interim Diplomatic Liaison of the Knights Templar
Their belief that all three civs on our island can work together in peaceful harmony seems to fall somewhere between "idealistic" and "crack-smokin' nonsense" to me. 
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