Dear Azzaman and all FREE people:
You latest letter (attached below) has caused much grumbling in The Chamber of The Council. We don't really understand why you're accusing us of shady dealings and such.
We researched Construction 4 turns ago, and since you didn't ask for it to be sent over, we didn't. Had you asked, either in game or out of game, we would have immediately sent it, as per our Treaty.
Likewise, every trade with a nation outside of our Treaty has been approved by you - there have been no trades that you were not aware of. We just finished HBR last turn, and popped Currency the same turn. Because Currency was popped, the potential trade with SABER is off the table, and we have already told them that.
It is understandable that, from the point of view of FREE, it may appear that we have been trading outside of our alliance. But we have not. A full accounting of the chronology of our research (and only hut pop) can be prepared for your accountants, if need be. We really don't want you to falsely think we've been up to something!
We are not a little dismayed at your reluctance to be open with us about any foreign contact you have made. After all, we were very forthcoming with you right from the start, holding nothing back. Deciding to be so transparent with your nation so eraly in our relations roused great debates among the advisers, but we felt it was the wisest decision. But, as they say, rational people can disagree
Since, as mentioned, we popped Currency from a hut this last turn, we both need to decide how to proceed with the MAAP. We have now finished our part of the joint research programme, and are waiting for you to research Mysticism and Polytheism.
We think it would be beneficial if The Council researches Mysticism. We can start next turn (turn 87) and finish 4 turns later, so please let us know before our next turn what you would like - we would hate to do double research effort! We will of course send Mysticism to you right away, and then you can start on Polytheism.
As compensation for this shift in research effort, you can either pay us half the beaker cost in gold (that's 60 gold), or we simply regard this as a research credit for The Council in some Middle Age tech deal that we'll hammer out later. The Council would prefer the latter option, but in any case, this doesn't need to be decided right away.
And please - if you'd like any of the techs on our side of the trade screen, just grab them, and we'll accept
We hope to have cleared up any doubts some of you may have had about our intentions or our actions. It would be best if you looked over the MAAP Treaty before deciding how we both should proceed to the Middle Ages, so that we can open discussions about the Era change and our futures
The Council