ITNES I - An Epoch of Change

[Lord_Iggy]

Nice story Sheep.

 

[Insane_Panda]

The Emperor has arrived.

"OMG ALL IS DOOMED"

*deliberate*

"Let us fight!"

"let us mention secret plans and preparations ominously"

"yes, lets."

"Let us go announce to the people!"

Carthage is great.

 

[Insane_Panda]

TO: The Dacio-Illyrian Empire
FROM: The Empire of Gaul

We agree to increased trade ties.

(OOC: These types of agremeents always struck me as redundant and unrealistic. Trade, to a large degree are not state-directed initiatives. Trade is a natural economic happening. Governments do not have real power to turn trade on and off, rather, they have powers over tarriffs, taxation, and other such measures to regulate trade. Asking someone to trade with you, and then having them agree, and then getting bonuses for it is rather unrealistic, IMHO. There requires more depth than that.)

 

[Kal'thzar]

TO: The Dacio-Illyrian Empire
FROM: The Empire of Gaul

Uhh panda you missed something here....

 

[Sheep]

Panda, do you see me commenting on your stories in adverse ways? I do believe that you have overstepped the line and I ask for you to remove what I find a unspirited comment that holds no place in any civil way.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Kalthzar, yes, Indeed I did. Fixed.

@Sheep: I removed the part where I actively declared dislike for the story, but the satire will remain. I do not believe this is "unspirited" in any way. However, this might just be a defect of my character

EDIT: Oh, and those who live in glass houses should not be so apt to throw stones. You have certaintly leveled "unspirited" comments towards me and I am merely playing the game by your rules

 

[silver 2039]

From: Northern Berber Tribes
To: Ouagadougou

We are already prosperous and powerful, and our warriors fight on their own just fine. Do you have anything else to offer us in return for our allegiance?

From: Mande tribes to the northwest and on the eastern border
To: Ouagadougou

We shall join as long as our tribal traditions and self-rule are respected.

From Ouagadougou
To Northern Berber Tribes

Whaty do you desire? There is little that we do not have. If you ask we can give it.

To Mande Tribes
From Ouagadougou Empire

Your self rule and traditions shall be respected.

To Carthage
From Ouagadougou Empire

We have an intreasting proposition to discuss.

 

[Sheep]

Silver I am on MSN

 

[silver 2039]

Silver I am on MSN

And I'm at school so that doesn't treally work out. Will you be online in 1 hr and 30 min.

 

[Finmaster]

Panda clean your PM box! Or get on AIM!

 

[Symphony D.]

TO: Dacoillyrian Empire
FROM: Khmer Empire
We await your response. Business is war, and the Mediterranean Trade League is an expression of economic warfare. If we join, we are going to war, and whatever the form of war, one must always know what one is fighting for. We do not find our requests unreasonable.

 

[Disenfrancised]

TO: Dacoillyrian Empire
FROM: Khmer Empire
Your economic theory as presented is poor. You are assuming that the potentiality of the limited number of members of the League will be as great as the sum of the entire Mediterranean. This is clearly impossible as the League is smaller than the Mediterranean, if only fractionally. In short, the number of markets will be smaller, and thus so will trade. It is a smaller order system. Furthermore, we might note, by cutting off “rogue nations,” (which is useless nomenclature as the League is clearly designed to cripple Carthage, as none of Carthage's "allies" (Nortugal only) are even in the Mediterranean) all you are doing is enabling anyone who does trade with them to possess a monopoly on that trade; a highly lucrative position. Carthage is not some backwater that will miraculously lose goods to trade if it is simply isolated.

Your attempts at portraying this as altruism are likewise poor. This League only makes sense on two conditions: one, that the League will actively move to prevent trade with these so-called "rogue nations," and two, that the League's ultimate objective is the destruction of Carthage precisely to remove a threat to its powerbase (which it is attempting to isolate with the creation of this League in order to limit its ability to resist ongoing military action). Lastly, the notion of spreading economic prosperity is ridiculous. Trade is at its very core an expression of competition, not cooperation. To propose spreading wealth equally is either foolishness or propaganda. This is simply a form of economic warfare designed to destroy an opponent, and to function as economic protectionism designed to put the economically weak nations of the Mediterranean in a superior position to foreign commercial powers in their own markets.

We are not children, and we did not arrive at our position as the greatest mercantile power in the world by believing blindly in promises and good intentions. If you want our support for this measure you will deal with us frankly and honestly, or not at all. As part of such a truthful policy, we demand to know exactly what it is we are signing on to, and as such we require an explanation as to the precise intentions of Dacoillyria and its allies regarding the restoration of the lands of Carthage to the international trade network following its defeat. Limitation of trade is abhorrent to us and we wish to know what is to be done to restore the areas of that nation and their resources to circulation with minimum possible disruption so we may adjust our investiture accordingly (OOC: in short, the postwar settlement). We will also require assurances of equality in trade rights and protection under the law for our merchantry vis-à-vis the local merchantry of League nations; we will be dealt with as equals in any and all trade agreements and in all commercial markets.

Should these two conditions be met we will consider support for this League rather more seriously.

To the Dacoillyrian empire
From Dukunnugeya

We echo the wise sentiments of the Khmerian government, and add our support, humble though it may be, to their requests. We do disagree on one point however - trade natural spreads wealth, as products and services are moved to where they are valued more, to the benefit of the trading partners both (but not equally in most cases ), the world economy is not a single pot of stew in that someone receiving a larger portion requires another to have less, but a orchard where a skillful grower may cause his tree to bear more fruit without having to steal apples form his neighbour.

 

[Sheep]

To Khmeria and Dukunnugeya
From The Punic Empire

We remind you that at no time has the Punic Empire ever tried to restrict trade and we see this Dacian ploy as nothing but a grab for power in the region. To do so will destabilise the region further and eventually allow Dacia to rise ascendant. This we cannot allow. We ask for you to stand foresquare against these meassures and offer any assistance against the invasion committed by the Dacians and Lucans that you may be able to provide.

 

[Disenfrancised]

To Khmeria and Dukunnugeya
From The Punic Empire

We remind you that at no time has the Punic Empire ever tried to restrict trade and we see this Dacian ploy as nothing but a grab for power in the region. To do so will destabilise the region further and eventually allow Dacia to rise ascendant. This we cannot allow. We ask for you to stand foresquare against these meassures and offer any assistance against the invasion committed by the Dacians and Lucans that you may be able to provide.

Ummm why? We wish you no ill will, but the conflict is thousands of miles away, any intervention on our parts would be immensly costly for little gain. We are merely trying to discover Dacia's future intentions in order to guage how we should react to the formation of the league policy wise, because our area of interest is the eastern mediterrean, which Dacoillyria dominates anyway irrespective of how the 6th TP war turns out.

 

[Israelite9191]

Kingdom of the Dawn Land​

The people of the Dawn Land, that land which sees the Lord Sun before any others, have long lived warring and killing. However, not too long ago, merely a few generations, lived the great prophet Membertou. Preaching the faith of Trinitarianism, that of the three Great Mothers, he united Passamaquoddy, Abenakis, Mi'qmaqs, Penobscot, and Maliseet among others into the Kingdom of the Dawn Land. The Dawnlanders, also known by the Abenaki term "Wabanaki," see it as their heaven-given duty to spread Trinitarianism to the surrounding peoples and to bring all of the Dawn Land into union through faith.

The government of the Dawn Land is rather simple. Each province, or "tribe" as they are often reffered to, has a Low King. The Low King has limited powers and answers to the Great King, but the Low King still has ceremonial power as well as membership to the Council of Powers. The Council of Powers, besides advising the Great King, has the main duty of electing from among the Low Kings a new Great King upon the former Great King's death or abdication. In addition, the High Priest is chosen from among the Great Priests by the Council of Powers (with affirmation by the Great King). Besides the Low Kings, the Great Priest of each of member of the Holy Trinity is a member of the Council. The Great King is the supreme leader of the nation as well as, at least officially, the head of Trinitarianism.

Ruler: Great King Assacumbuit
Government: Theocratic Councilar Monarchy
Centralization: Mainly centralized into the one priest-monarch, but the Low Kings have some regional power, the priests also have influence
Capital: Sebayik
Starting Location: Northern New England/Souther Canadian Maritimes, the capital is on the Maine side of the Main-New Brunswick border on the coast. Do note that the very closely related peoples I have mentioned as the founders of this kingdom live all over the region with their southern borders being around Massachusetts' northern border
Religion: Trinitarianism

OOC: Feels good to be back. Sorry I didn't get this yesterday or the day before das, been a bit busy what with all the shopping and cooking for Thanksgiving and all. Stories on Trinitarianism coming

IC:

To the Nortuguese
From the Kingdom of the Dawn Land

The Wabanaki people greet you. Though your denial of all that is holy causes us some distress, we will not focus on it. For does not Grandmother Woodchuck teach us to live peacefully? We wish to expand trade with you and to help you survive in the Dawn Land. In addition, we hope that you will aid us in other ways. May the Holy Trinity bless you and keep you, may the sacrifical blood of Mother Moon bathe you that you may be blessed.

To the Algonquian Confederation
From the Kingdom of the Dawn Land

Southern brethren, we wish to increase our trade with you. Though you have not accepted the faith of the Holy Trinity, we value friendship. Trade between our great nations, who love Mother Earth in a way that the Whites have never understood, will be most beneficial. We invite you to establish embasssy in Sebayik and hope that you will allow is to do the same in Mohegan. May the light of Lord Sun forever shine upon you and may the Three Sisters thrive in your fields for all eternity.

OOC: Erez and whoever-is-playing-the-Algonquian-Confederation, please contact me on AIM at stignatiusjew or, if absolutley necessary, on MSN at Israelite9191@hotmail.com

 

[Israelite9191]

The Gospel of Membertou: the Holy Birth​

The air was filled with screams, screams of pain that seemed unnatural in their pitch and power. Above was the deep, dark black sky of a starless night with the horribly gruesome red of the blood men. Surrounded by a wall of evergreens, with nothing but sky to serve as a roof was a woman crying in pain. Her body was racked in torture, her gasps yearned for breath. Her muscles heaved at the effort to continue their work and not succumb to the pain. Malsumis’ prescience grew ever more announced, the breath of death creeping closer.

"Raaaaaaaagh!" screeched the woman, the sound piercing through the air, an obsidian knife slicing through salmon flesh. The surrounding women could see Malumis drawing ever closer, his teeth bared and his hands just waiting to wrap themselves around his victim’s neck. "Aaaaaaaagh!" she screamed again, arrows of sharp stone piercing through the soft cotton cloaks and supple skin of a young girl. Sweat the shade of blood was pouring out of her skin along with tears a gory, gruesome blood red pouring out of her eyes. "Gaaaaaaaagh!" she screamed again, her body heaving forward. Malumis’ hands began to settle on her neck, his eyes gleaming in anticipation. His hands were but millimeter away, his mouth salivating with a fury, and his whole being filled with lust for his new gruesome meal when another shriek rang through the air, and then, it was over.

A smile broke across the woman face as the blood red tears and sweat dried up and her body relaxed back into place, and in between her legs was the miracle for which she had suffered so. The midwife wiped the baby boy clean, and handed him to his grandmother. It was then that the smile that had only so briefly crossed the face of the woman vanished as she cried out in desperation, "My baby! My son is cursed! His skin is red as the devils! Oh my son, he is cursed!" She began to cry; only this time her tears were pure as the mountain stream.

"My daughter," began the midwife ever so gently, in tones normally reserved for the quieting of a young child, "what has happened here is not what you think. Look above you, to the moon that lit your delivery." So the woman, tears still making their way down her face, even as they began to dry up, saw that the once blood red moon had now returned to its normal, pale color. "My daughter, your son is not cursed; he does not bear the skin of a devil. No, he is blessed! Your son’s skin is died the red of the Moon’s blood. She sacrificed her blood that she might save you and your son. Your son has been soaked in the blood of a g-ddess, I can tell you now that he is destined for great things."

 

[The Farow]

From Wenedia
To Cernorusian Empire

What was the reason for this attack? We ask that we work out a peace so we can return to pre-war borders. Your invasion failed now it is time for us to work out a peace so both our nations are not weakened in a fruitless war.

 

[Israelite9191]

Treaty of Oromocto​

By the concluding of this treaty the Kingdom of the Dawn Land and the Kingdom of Nortugal enter into a pact of friendship. It is the prayer of the Wabanaki that the blood of Mother Moon bless this union from now until the day that Lord Sun refuses to rise and Grandmother Woodchuck turns her back.

Article One

The Kingdom of the Dawn Land and the Kingdom of Nortugal enter into a trade agreement by which the pledge to continue and ensure the exchange of goods between the two nations.

Article Two

The Kingdom of Nortugal pledges that it shall expend all necessary efforts to bring the Wabanaki people to the same level of enlightenment that those peoples of the Lands Beyond the Dawning Sea enjoy. In exchange, the Kingdom of the Dawn Land shall send one thousand beaver pelts and one thousand deer skins to Nortugal.*

Article Three

The Kingdom of the Dawn Land and the Kingdom of Nortugal agree to an exchange of embassies that their ties be firmly established. The embassadors and embassies shall enjoy all the customary rights and priveleges as tradition establishes.

Signed, Sealed, and Confirmed Great King Assacumbuit of the Dawn Land,
Progenitor of the Crown of Membertou and Protector of the Holy Trinitarian Faith

Signed, Sealed, and Confirmed King Erezius I of Nortugal​

*One eco point

 

[Finmaster]

From Dacoillyria
To Khmer and Dukunnugeya:
The answers for the questions you asked. If there is more you want to ask, feel free to do so.

TO: Dacoillyrian Empire
FROM: Khmer Empire
Your economic theory as presented is poor. You are assuming that the potentiality of the limited number of members of the League will be as great as the sum of the entire Mediterranean. This is clearly impossible as the League is smaller than the Mediterranean, if only fractionally. In short, the number of markets will be smaller, and thus so will trade. It is a smaller order system.

You have to remember that many of the nations haven't been trading on an organized level before. Most people who have had trade agreements have had one either with DIE or with Carthage, now we are trying to establish a full Mediterranean-wide trade system for the first time in history.

Furthermore, we might note, by cutting off “rogue nations,” (which is useless nomenclature as the League is clearly designed to cripple Carthage, as none of Carthage's "allies" (Nortugal only) are even in the Mediterranean)

We know that there aren't many allies of Carthage doing trade in Mediterranean (Nortugal is one), but this is also a great way to make sure that there won't be nations as such in the future either. I won't deny that this League wouldn't be directed as some sort of a trade embargo against Carthage. I once again emphasize that this League of ours will not hurt anyone who is not closely tied with Carthage.

all you are doing is enabling anyone who does trade with them to possess a monopoly on that trade; a highly lucrative position.

I think that losing one's reputation and respect as well as membership and chance to trade with the rest of the Mediterranean will be a deterrent enough.

Carthage is not some backwater that will miraculously lose goods to trade if it is simply isolated.

We think it is, especially now that our navies have divided it. And will likely become more so in the future. But we shall see.

Your attempts at portraying this as altruism are likewise poor. This League only makes sense on two conditions: one, that the League will actively move to prevent trade with these so-called "rogue nations,"

We will first see how many rogue nations there will be after the creation of this, and then see what we can do to prevent this trading. Hopefully peaceful actions (such as closing our ports from their ships) will be enough.

and two, that the League's ultimate objective is the destruction of Carthage precisely to remove a threat to its powerbase (which it is attempting to isolate with the creation of this League in order to limit its ability to resist ongoing military action).

Notice that some members of the League are neutral in the war against Carthage.

Well it says clearly in the Charter that Carthage is banned from the League, so I won't deny that . But the goals of this League are purely economical, nothing more. When it comes down to the complete destruction of Carthage, we have a separate organization for that - our military alliance.

Lastly, the notion of spreading economic prosperity is ridiculous. Trade is at its very core an expression of competition, not cooperation.

I tend to disagree. In cooperation, the amount of trade excercised will grow rapidly, increasing the total economic flow in the area where it is excercised. By this all sides can benefit. That is of course a matter of opinion - or, more precisely, a matter of which economic theory one finds most belieavable. See what Dis said, which I also quoted at the end of this post.

To propose spreading wealth equally is either foolishness or propaganda. This is simply a form of economic warfare designed to destroy an opponent, and to function as economic protectionism designed to put the economically weak nations of the Mediterranean in a superior position to foreign commercial powers in their own markets.

Well it can hardly get any less equal than Carthage ripping everyone else off. I won't deny that we wouldn't use this League to block Carthage from trading in the Mediterranean, I have admitted that directly in the Charter itself, so I don't understand what the misunderstanding is. What comes down to rising the economic status of nations around the Mediterranean, why would we create a League as this if we didn't want that? It does not, however, have to happen at the expense of foreign powers (see the answer to previous question), simple increase of trade in the now-so-stagnant Mediterranean should do the trick, or so our economists estimate.

We are not children, and we did not arrive at our position as the greatest mercantile power in the world by believing blindly in promises and good intentions. If you want our support for this measure you will deal with us frankly and honestly, or not at all.

I will be as frank as I can.

As part of such a truthful policy, we demand to know exactly what it is we are signing on to, and as such we require an explanation as to the precise intentions of Dacoillyria and its allies regarding the restoration of the lands of Carthage to the international trade network following its defeat.

Carthagian trade routes will end up at the hands of the League, to ensure that it's collapse will not devastate the trading in the area.

Limitation of trade is abhorrent to us and we wish to know what is to be done to restore the areas of that nation and their resources to circulation with minimum possible disruption so we may adjust our investiture accordingly (OOC: in short, the postwar settlement).

The plan at the moment is: all nations in the alliance will get their share of the trade network that formerly belonged to Carthage, and all League nations will be joined in that trade network to create a network far larger than the one Carthage ever had at the Mediterranean.

We will also require assurances of equality in trade rights and protection under the law for our merchantry vis-à-vis the local merchantry of League nations; we will be dealt with as equals in any and all trade agreements and in all commercial markets.

Nothing will change for you regarding your Mediterranean trading, except maybe that from now on you can reach the entire Mediterranean easier than before, as the networks will be increased and made more effective.

About your equal rights: the League Charter, as you can see, does not require member nations to oppress you in trading in any way. The favouritism-rule mentioned will not include foreign nations wanting to trade in the Mediterranean, as all trading happening in Mediterranean is good for its developement. If you want further assurance from member nations, you will need to demand it from them separately, because I - as the spokesman of our league - don't have the authority to speak for them in this issue as the answer to the question has nothing to do with the League charter. As a spokesman of the Dacoillyrian Empire, however, I can assure you that DIE will not oppress any nation trading in the Mediterranean.

Should these two conditions be met we will consider support for this League rather more seriously.

You do that.

the world economy is not a single pot of stew in that someone receiving a larger portion requires another to have less, but a orchard where a skillful grower may cause his tree to bear more fruit without having to steal apples form his neighbour.

Well said, dis

 

[Insane_Panda]

PM box is cleared.