Brokering Peace - The Kleptocracy - Continuum Cold War Poll - Turn 93

[Sommerswerd]

To encourage peace between Quatronia and CDZ, are we willing to switch tech to the Drama--> Music path?

1. Yes

2. No

I will add more meat to this soon, but the general gist is that we take over teching Music so that neither of the Cold War opponents has to worry about being culture bombed... Since this would require a change in tech, we have to vote on it according to the AMAZON Constitution.

EDIT: Here are the main points of the proposal... I will put everything in a draft letter and post it it this thread soon:

1. CDZ and Quatronia agree to stop building cities on the land between them for now until a settlement agreement is reached. The AMAZON will settle near Stone next (city 8) and gift it to the one who does not have Stone, so they can stop fighting over it.

2. CDZ and Quatronia agree not to tech towards Music any more, The AMAZON will take over teching Music, so that neither has to worry about the other using a culture bomb against them.

3. CDZ, Quatronia and The AMAZON agree to declare war on Mavericks and Merlot, cancel all prior agreements with them, and to stop all communication with them for the rest of the game.

4. The AMAZON will serve as the binding arbitrator in the settlement agreement between CDZ and Quatronia. CDZ and Quatronia agree to accept the judgment of the AMAZON on the peaceful division of their shared landmass.

I am putting this poll up so that we have at least 24 hours to vote on it, but a decision needs to be made soon, so I am putting up the poll before I write up my full proposal. Try to take a look at the full proposal (I am writing it now) before voting in the poll.

This is pretty important, so PM other members of the team to show up and vote, if you get a chance.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Here is the situation... CDZ and Quatronia are involved in a Cold War with each other over the settlement of their shared landmass. Both have sent letters to us blaming the other team for the conflict. Additionally, both are trying to be the first to reach Music, in an attempt to get the free Great Artist, presumably to culture bomb the shared landmass and crowd the other out.

This will obviously start a war, between them, and collapse the ETTT. We need to act to help resolve this. Here is a draft of the letter I would like to send to the alliance. Another issue I attempt to address is the contested stone, which is apparently what started this whole fiasco.

Honored ETTT Allies,

We are all aware of the volatile situation faced by our enlightened alliance, so this letter will not engage in a re-hashing of the issue, but instead will propose a possible solution.

We all should see by now the the following four factors are obvious:

1. CDZ and Quatronia are each unhappy with the settlement arrangement on their shared landmass, one issue being, that both parties wish to possess Stone.

2. CDZ and Quatronia each find the other obtaining the Great Artist an untenable escalation of this 'Cold War.'

3. CDZ and Quatronia could each gain advantage over the other by enlisting the assistance of the M&M alliance, however, the entire ETTT is damaged by any co-operation with the M&M enemies.

4. CDZ and Quatronia would not trust each other to come up with a fair solution to this situation.

We Zenobians wish for peace and accord within our ETTT family, and accordingly, we humbly offer these solutions to the above problems.

1. In order to end this 'Cold War' and temporarily preserve the status quo, CDZ and Quatronia agree to stop building cities on the land between them for now until a settlement agreement is reached. In the meantime, we can all instead re-focus our efforts towards destroying the M&M enemies. In order to resolve the issue of the Stone, the AMAZON will immediately rush-settle near the Stone on Marthaton, and obtain the Stone in order to gift it to the party without Stone. This way both parties are assured a source of Stone, elimminating the need to conflict with each other over it.

2. CDZ and Quatronia agree not to tech towards Music any more, The AMAZON will take over teching Music, so that neither has to worry about the other using a culture bomb against them. By now it must be obvious to both of you that neither of you would trust the other with a culture bomb. We implore you both to re-direct you technological efforts, and we will tech Music for the alliance. We will use the Great Artist against the Merlot enemies, ensuring that neither of your cities are threatened by a culture bomb. This would require a tech switch for us, which we are currently voting on, but should the measure pass, we would switch tech immediately upon the Kleptocracy and the Continuum accepting this proposal.

3. CDZ, Quatronia and The AMAZON agree to declare war on Mavericks and Merlot, cancel all prior agreements with them, and to stop all communication with them for the rest of the game. It must be clear to all of us that M&M have no hope whatsoever against the ETTT, so long as we remain focused, and remain united in opposition to them. Any one of the ETTT members co-operating with M&M will inevitably bring M&M into technological parity with the rest of us and squander the advantage we have all worked so hard to build.

It must be equally clear that CDZ and Quatronia will not trust each other to refrain from seeking to gain advantage through co-operating with M&M so long as this 'Cold War' lasts. It is therefore imperative that we all declare war on M&M, so that there can be no doubt where we all stand, and there can be no alliance erroding, trust-undermining suspicion between us.

All of us know that the M&Ms are using their candy-coated sweetness to trick and lure us away from each other. They are attempting to play the alliance for fools, attempting to break us up by pitting us against each other. Friends, we implore you, do not be taken in by their silver-tongued deceptions. The ETTT has nothing to gain by breaking up. On the other hand the M&Ms have everything to gain by breaking us up. They also have nothing to lose, and can make too-good-to-be-true, pie-in-the-sky offers to any member willing to defect, because if one of us does not defect, they will lose, it is inevitable. Both of you must see this.

4. The AMAZON will serve as the binding arbitrator in the settlement agreement between CDZ and Quatronia. CDZ and Quatronia agree to accept the judgment of the AMAZON on the peaceful division of their shared landmass. As we have already stated, we will adjust our settlement plans and war efforts in order to quickly provide you with Stone. The other details of the settlement agreement can be discussed and agreed to once each of you has had an opportunity to present your needs, desires, concerns, and grievances to us. This process will be made easier by both parties halting all settlement of the shared landmass, and instead focusing on crowding out M&M. If we place the same effort on crowding out our enemies that have place on crowding out each other, we will defeat M&M quickly and easily.

Please friends, do not let the provacative designs of the wiley mapmaker fool you. The penninsulas are not intended to be shared evenly or equally. They are intended to cause conflict. They can only be shared through co-operation and trust. If you allow our friendship to unravel over this, if you continue racing to the culture bomb, you will have let the mapmaker defeat you, and defeat the ETTT. Do not allow this to happen.

Please accept our proposal without delay, so that our alliance may continue to move forward.

In eternal friendship,

The AMAZON

 

[Sommerswerd]

I sent this PM to CDZ and Quatronia asking them to wait a little to hear from us:

Please give us until the end of the current turn to respond. We are voting on a proposal to assist you in resolving this situation.

Also we ask each of you to put your tech at 0% until you have at least seen our proposal... Again, it will be coming at the end of the current turn, or right at the begining of the next turn.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Sent this PM to Sirius to keep them abreast of what is going on, and ask for their support in keeping the ETTT together:

Sirian Friends,

In case you were unaware, CDZ and Quatronia are at odds with each other over the settlement of their shared landmass. The ETTT is in danger of unraveling over this. Apparently, they are racing to Music to get a Great Artist so that they can culture bomb each other off the landmass.

Obviously this will precipitate war between them, which will cause one of them to break away from the ETTT and join the M&Ms. We have evidence that Mavericks and Merlot are pretending to take sides in this conflict, which is clearly a thinly veiled gambit to break the ETTT up.

We have already drafted a proposal to settle this issue but it is being voted upon. The vote will conclude right around the time that this turn ends, and the proposal will then either be sent, or (if the proposal is voted down) we will inform CDZ and Q that we are not getting involved.

The reason are contacting you (besides just generally keeping you informed as per the SAP) is to request that you give your full-throated support of our proposal. The proposal, as currently written, does not require any action or commitment on the part of the Sirians, however, your support will lend great moral credibility to the measure and increase its probability of success.

Please agree to support us in this attempt to hold the ETTT together,

Sommerswerd, of the Matriarchal Alliance on behalf of
nabaxo, Special Envoy to the Sirians

 

[2metraninja]

I have few more things to say: Maybe the clause with them letting us have the artist is not very good and they will object it, but as I dont have better idea, this is maybe the best solution. Most probably they will refuse to give up their artist, but we must at least try and we cant just ignore him.

Lets hope they put aside their pride and ego and let us be the judge. For this to happen it is good that you wrote to Sirius to approve and we must include that we are speaking on behalf of the whole alliance.

And a bit pessimistically - hoping for the best, we must be also ready for the worst.


edit: Ah, and one more thing I forgot I was thinking - it seems that CDZ members take really serious their honor and if disputed, they overreact. Just have this in mind, Sommers.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Thanks 2metra for that reminder. You are certainly right about CDZ.

OK, so with so much support already voted for the proposal and no opposing votes, I will go ahead and send the letter. If the tide turns against switching tech, then we can just withdraw our offer to do that part of it, and still offer to do the rest (ie., arbitrate a settlement between them), hopefully these measures will be enough.

M&M must be laughing their @$$es off at us. The ETTT is on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

This is what was sent:

Spoiler :

Honored ETTT Allies,

We are all aware of the volatile situation faced by our enlightened alliance, so this letter will not engage in a re-hashing of the issue, but instead will propose a possible solution.

We all should see by now the the following four factors are obvious:

1. CDZ and Quatronia are each unhappy with the settlement arrangement on their shared landmass, one issue being, that both parties wish to possess Stone.

2. CDZ and Quatronia each find the other obtaining the Great Artist an untenable escalation of this 'Cold War.'

3. CDZ and Quatronia could each gain advantage over the other by enlisting the assistance of the M&M alliance, however, the entire ETTT is damaged by any co-operation with the M&M enemies.

4. CDZ and Quatronia would not trust each other to come up with a fair solution to this situation.

We Zenobians wish for peace and accord within our ETTT family, and accordingly, we humbly offer these solutions to the above problems.

1. In order to end this 'Cold War' and temporarily preserve the status quo, CDZ and Quatronia agree to stop building cities on the land between them for now until a settlement agreement is reached. In the meantime, we can all instead re-focus our efforts towards destroying the M&M enemies. In order to resolve the issue of the Stone, the AMAZON will immediately rush-settle near the Stone on Marthaton, and obtain the Stone in order to gift it to the party without Stone. This way both parties are assured a source of Stone, elimminating the need to conflict with each other over it.

2. CDZ and Quatronia agree not to tech towards Music any more, The AMAZON will take over teching Music, so that neither has to worry about the other using a culture bomb against them. By now it must be obvious to both of you that neither of you would trust the other with a culture bomb. We implore you both to re-direct you technological efforts, and we will tech Music for the alliance. We will use the Great Artist against the Merlot enemies, ensuring that neither of your cities are threatened by a culture bomb. This would require a tech switch for us, which we are currently voting on, but should the measure pass, we would switch tech immediately upon the Kleptocracy and the Continuum accepting this proposal.

3. CDZ, Quatronia and The AMAZON agree to declare war on Mavericks and Merlot, cancel all prior agreements with them, and to stop all communication with them for the rest of the game. It must be clear to all of us that M&M have no hope whatsoever against the ETTT, so long as we remain focused, and remain united in opposition to them. Any one of the ETTT members co-operating with M&M will inevitably bring M&M into technological parity with the rest of us and squander the advantage we have all worked so hard to build.

It must be equally clear that CDZ and Quatronia will not trust each other to refrain from seeking to gain advantage through co-operating with M&M so long as this 'Cold War' lasts. It is therefore imperative that we all declare war on M&M, so that there can be no doubt where we all stand, and there can be no alliance erroding, trust-undermining suspicion between us.

All of us know that the M&Ms are using their candy-coated sweetness to trick and lure us away from each other. They are attempting to play the alliance for fools, attempting to break us up by pitting us against each other. Friends, we implore you, do not be taken in by their silver-tongued deceptions. The ETTT has nothing to gain by breaking up. On the other hand the M&Ms have everything to gain by breaking us up. They also have nothing to lose, and can make too-good-to-be-true, pie-in-the-sky offers to any member willing to defect, because if one of us does not defect, they will lose, it is inevitable. Both of you must see this.

4. The AMAZON will serve as the binding arbitrator in the settlement agreement between CDZ and Quatronia. CDZ and Quatronia agree to accept the judgment of the AMAZON on the peaceful division of their shared landmass. As we have already stated, we will adjust our settlement plans and war efforts in order to quickly provide you with Stone. The other details of the settlement agreement can be discussed and agreed to once each of you has had an opportunity to present your needs, desires, concerns, and grievances to us. This process will be made easier by both parties halting all settlement of the shared landmass, and instead focusing on crowding out M&M. If we place the same effort on crowding out our enemies that have place on crowding out each other, we will defeat M&M quickly and easily.

Please friends, do not let the provacative designs of the wiley mapmaker fool you. The penninsulas are not intended to be shared evenly or equally. They are intended to cause conflict. They can only be shared through co-operation and trust. If you allow our friendship to unravel over this, if you continue racing to the culture bomb, you will have let the mapmaker defeat you, and defeat the ETTT. Do not allow this to happen.

Please accept our proposal without delay, so that our alliance may continue to move forward.

In eternal friendship,

The AMAZON

 

[Link]

WHat are we currently teching?

 

[2metraninja]

Feudalism

 

[Loev]

Voted yes. We need this alliance!

 

[damnrunner]

I would reword how we will use the GA. Saying we will use it against Merlot may be perceived as a threat by CDZ. We could say we will use the GA for a future golden age. Or that we will just sit on it until some later date. Or we could make its use dependent on approval from ETTT members. Just some suggestions.

We also may want to recommend that the teams demilitarize the peninsulan and allow scouts or warriors to serve as lookouts for incoming settlers. This would prevent either side from cheating. If both teams agreed to only send warriors/archers to the peninsula it would help keep the peace.

 

[damnrunner]

Back up Plans

We need to start thinking about how things work out if the ETTT does break up. I think we can assume continued good relations with Sirius. This is a great asset as the biggest fault line in the game is going to be with neighboring teams. With Sirius we can offer alliances to either CDZ or Q. M&M are going to have a hard time remaining in an alliance with either of the other teams as they will share borders which will lead to conflict. If the ETTT does break out our goal should be for a 3:2:1 breakdown.

If the ETTT is falling apart swift movement vs. Merlot is key. We need to push for negotiations, but should see these as serving two goals long term peace AND delaying a break up. If we can delay the alliance from splitting for 10 more turns or so we can ensure that we will dominate the Merlot shared landmass.

 

[2metraninja]

Any news from the sides involved?

 

[Sommerswerd]

No response yet, but BCLG100 did at least PM me just to confirm that they recieved our proposal and are talking about it.

I wrote another letter, just to CDZ, attempting to sweet talk them a little. I would like someone to take a look at it before I send it... Its in the CDZ embassy thread

 

[damnrunner]

We could also offer to get the GA and give it to whichever party does not break the ETTT 1st.

 

[damnrunner]

We should ask each team what they want stone for. I assume it is for wonders, and if both are going for the same wonder that is a point of conflict that gifting stone will not be able to fix.

Allowing one team to get a wonder and the other to claim more land may be a workable compromise. But will need to get a better sense of what each team wants.

 

[damnrunner]

My read is that CDZ is the team that is threatening to leave. Do we have any evidence that Q is also considering this?

If this is the case, Q probably going to have to make relatively more concessions to keep CDZ from defecting. We may want to send a 2nd message (perhaps a joint one with Sirius) to Q acknowledging this reality and asking what would make concession more palatable on their end. It also would make sense to point out that if CDZ leaves the ETTT, Q will face a 2 front war and will likely be one of the 1st teams to get knocked out.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Q are not going anywhere. Merlot is courting CDZ, and so CDZ is the team that is considering leaving. CDZ is hoping to take us with them and start a new alliance, possibly with us them and Merlot.

Sirius (as per their last letter) wants to let CDZ and Q tear each other apart.

 

[damnrunner]

In light of recent messages in other threads, do we really think CDZ is making up all this stuff about Q talking to M&M - or do we think there is some possible truth behind it.

I say we agree to the Klepto-Mazon treaty and see how that is reacted to by CDZ. We also may want to point out that, we sympathize with settlement issues - but only way to resolve this is by dealing with issues as they are. Not by looking back at intentions in the past.

Some thoughts on resolving the gridlock. As it is, all the the cities are actually fairly viable. None are great, but none are horrible. As long as neither side does a culture war, they will remain viable. So some type of cultural agreement will probably be needed.

Trading a few cities though could simplify things though. I think the Cygrus city should be ceded by Q to CDZ, and CDZ should be willing to gift stone to Q in order to allay culture war fears. CDZ hinted they have little need for stone - and Q seems to want it. There is probably room for one more city further south. I think that should go to CDZ and once it is founded CDZ should cede "ereh rO" to Q. I think that would keep things fairly balanced. If cities have more prebuilt infrastructure - a gift of a worker or two or some units could even things out.

Not perfect but I think is probably the best that can be brokered.

 

[Sommerswerd]

CDZ sent this to us and Quatronia:

To the members of the ETTT,

As everyone is aware a problem has developed on the peninsula between Quatronia and CDZ. The Amazon nation has graciously taken time to propose some solutions and we at the CDZ welcome their efforts to bring about a resolution to the current situation. However, we must stress that, barring divine intervention, any and all decisions regarding the welfare of the CDZ Kleptocracy will be made by its citizens. Thus any form, other than said divine intervention, of binding judgement by a third party will not be acceptable.

While the CDZ accept the general direction of Amazon’s proposal is a positive one we feel that the history of the matter is important to consider, as only when the situation is viewed in context will we find a long lasting solution that acceptable to everyone.

The facts of the matter are we settled two cities on the peninsula in question, Spamville and Or here before Quatronia has any cities. Both of these are on the half of the peninsula closest to our island. We had planned a third city between the two and then to move on to the other peninsula.

However Quatronia decided to aggressively settle next to Spamville with the cities of Resonance and Asymptote. The usefulness of either of these cities apart from culturally crowding Spamville is marginal at best. Quatronia specifically ignored settling better land that was closer to them, clearly instigating the current situation between two teams that should be behaving as allies, by settling extremely agressively towards one of our cities.

Now it is important to note that up to this point at no time had Quatronia sought to discuss the settlement of our common peninsula, nor did they ever express disappointment at not having the stone. They never asked if we would be willing to come to any arrangements with regards to trading the stone to them. All of these actions which one would expect from an ally were never explored by them. So in response to their aggressive settling against Spamville we settled ereh rO, Quatronia then settled Pulsar Plateau.

It was only sometime after this that they came to us and ridiculously demanded we exchanged ereh rO for a settler they would gift us in return, because ereh Or was "in their sphere of influence", whilst grossly overlooking the fact that the first city they settled on the peninsula was "in CDZ's sphere of influence". This we found inadequate compensation for our city so they went ahead and settled Cygous. And now there is the further matter of researching Music, which Quatronia decided to research after we announced we are doing it.

When looking back through the event from the beginning we believe it is clear that it was never Quatronia’s intention to negotiate or find some agreement, their intention was to take whatever they could, however they could. Overall this can only be viewed as appalling behaviour towards a nation that is its ally. If a solution is to be found then it must take into account Quatronia’s role in instigating and the exacerbating the problem we have on our hands today.


After the conclusion of this unfortunate, Quattronia-instigated incident, we hope to continue our positive contribution to the ETTT, and collectively work towards a positive conclusion of the pacification of all non-ETTT civilizations in the world.

Best regards,
The Citizens of the CDZ Kleptocracy

The message did not appear to be sent to Sirius, but we need to verify whether this went to Sirius or not, because it seems to be addressed to the entire ETTT. If it did go to Sirius, then we can let CDZ know we are sending our proposal to Sirius as well, now that they are involved. That way Sirius can throw their support behind our offer to moderate, and our decision on the matter.

Since CDZ is balking at "binding" arbitration, we can simply suggest that we perform non-binding arbitration... That is to say that we would analyze the situation, and tell them what we think is fair, and let them decide whether to accept it or not.

At least CDZ is seemingly backing off of the position that they will leave the ETTT.

We need a swift reply to this letter, and CDZ's accompanying letter to us only (posted in the CDZ Embassy).

 

[Sommerswerd]

This is Quatronia's response, sent to the whole alliance, including Sirius. So it is now OK for us to openly include Sirius in on our proposal.

Greeting to our allies, the members of the ETTT,

Quatronia would like to thank Amazon for their efforts to solve the problems our alliance is facing, will work together with our allies to ensure our efforts remain united against our enemies. However, it appears that the integrity of the Continuum has come under question. Quatronia feels the need to clarify a number of misrepresentations in CDZ's letter, so that we can move forward.

However Quatronia decided to aggressively settle next to Spamville with the cities of Resonance and Asymptote. The usefulness of either of these cities apart from culturally crowding Spamville is marginal at best. Quatronia specifically ignored settling better land that was closer to them, clearly instigating the current situation between two teams that should be behaving as allies, by settling extremely aggressively towards one of our cities.

The Continuum disagrees with CDZ's assessment of our cities, Resonance & Asymptote. They are not aggressive settlements nor are they 'marginally useful' and only serve to crowd Spamville. Asymptote was originally known as 'Cape City' to the Continuum. It's settlement has been planned for centuries. It grants our empire with two resources within its borders. Resonance's was originally planned further south, but due to production priorities we were unable to settle it prior to Spamville and had to move it north, though it is still a fine city spot. In fact it has the highest population on the peninsula. The Continuum can provide records of these plans dating back to 1920BC (Turn 52). This is all prior to CDZ settling Spamville in 1560BC (Turn 61). We apologize if you saw these moves as aggressive, it is unfortunate that you did not send us any messages to inform us of that.

Now it is important to note that up to this point at no time had Quatronia sought to discuss the settlement of our common peninsula... So in response to their aggressive settling against Spamville we settled ereh rO, Quatronia then settled Pulsar Plateau.

Admittedly, The Continuum had not yet discussed these matters with CDZ, however we were in the process of writing a message regarding splitting the petal. It was at this point CDZ settled ereh rO. Quatronia remains shocked at this move. As you put it yourselves, ereh rO is a 'response', a retaliation to Quatronia's expansion. It's a clear encroachment on our territory as it is quite a distance from the CDZ capital. I would imagine that the citizens of ereh rO have asked at least once to join the The Continuum because when they look across the sea, they see our capital, Continuum! We believe CDZ would be similarly confused should Quatronia have settled "Or here" first. A cheap, productive city in your first-ring location, snatched up by a greedy ally? Of course this would be cause for strife.

...nor did they ever express disappointment at not having the stone. They never asked if we would be willing to come to any arrangements with regards to trading the stone to them. All of these actions which one would expect from an ally were never explored by them.

On this point The Continuum feels there is some agreement. We never once mentioned stone, nor does The Continuum require it. We aren't sure why this was included in the original- hopefully it wasn't outside speculation added in. Quatronia does not need the stone, though we would be open to perhaps borrowing it one day for Moai in a fair exchange.

It was only sometime after this that they came to us and ridiculously demanded we exchanged ereh rO for a settler they would gift us in return...

Quatronia rejects the accusation that we 'Demanded' an exchange. We offered to trade a city for a city- ereh rO for a settler. The Continuum felt it would be a fair way to resolve the situation. Surely if this was ridiculous, we would get a counteroffer? CDZ's reply was hardly friendly, more a dismissal, nor did it contain any hint of a counteroffer.

...because ereh Or was "in their sphere of influence", whilst grossly overlooking the fact that the first city they settled on the peninsula was "in CDZ's sphere of influence". This we found inadequate compensation for our city so they went ahead and settled Cygous.

Clearly our definition of 'sphere of influence' differs. Both Resonance and Asymptote are not in CDZ's sphere of influence. Cygnus clearly is, but neither our first nor our second cities.

And now there is the further matter of researching Music, which Quatronia decided to research after we announced we are doing it.

Quatronia does not agree with your judgement. We sent a message to the ETTT announcing we were researching music. Only then did CDZ come forth and state they were doing the same. The previous official message regarding research had CDZ researching Feudalism. The Continuum doesn't recall when the secrets of Feudalism were discovered.

When looking back through the event from the beginning we believe it is clear that it was never Quatronia’s intention to negotiate or find some agreement, their intention was to take whatever they could, however they could. Overall this can only be viewed as appalling behaviour towards a nation that is its ally. If a solution is to be found then it must take into account Quatronia’s role in instigating and the exacerbating the problem we have on our hands today.

Quatronia wants to find agreement and compromise. It is CDZ who decided to disregard an ally's territory and settle. It is CDZ who never announced their tech path, and only mentioned music after we did. CDZ accuses Quatronia of "crimes" that only CDZ itself has committed.

We have attached several screenshots showing the finances of all the teams over the last few turns. Could CDZ please explain the reason for their sudden (mid-turn) gold increase, and Merlot's decrease in gold?

Now that we have cleared up any misconceptions, let us get back on the path to cooperation and M&M devouring. Since actions speak louder than words, Quatronia will use the Great Artist to bulb, which will benefit the whole ETTT, and make up for lost beakers. As for the Mavericks, we will declare war on them when our non-aggression pact ends, in a couple turns. If CDZ comes under threat from them, before or after that time, we will not hesitate to come to your defense, so please let us know if you have any Maverick problems. We know they have amassed an army, we're just not sure where it is- so Amazon be on the lookout too, with your central city.

The Continuum wishes to clarify to our allies that we value the mutual agreements enshrined in the ETTT. Quatronia will always act in the best interests of her people. Let us move beyond this finger pointing and get the ETTT back on track. Let us focus on the common goal; to rid the world of both the Mavericks and Merlot. Glory to CDZ. Glory to the Amazons, Glory to Sirius.

Glory to the ETTT!

-The Continuum

Quatronia included some screenshots which they claim prove that CDZ recieved money from Merlot. The shots were labled, turn 92, 93, and 94. Between turn 93 and 94, CDZ's gold increases by 60 and Merlot's gold decreases by 62. This is what they are referring to AFAICT. Not sure what this proves though... It could just mean that one team was teching, and the other was running at 0% to build gold.