The Council

[CommandoBob]

This thread will deal with our dealings with The Council. Treaties and communications and discussion of those treaties and communications and such belong here.

 

[CommandoBob]

We meet The Council when their curragh comes into view on Turn 55 (April 5, 2007). They know Philosophy. They do not know Iron Working and Ceremonial Burial.

 

[CommandoBob]

On April 7, 2007, during Turn 57.

Hail Team Free!

We send you warmest greetings from tranquil halls of The Council. Our
sailors have spotted one of your intrepid curraghs, and we are very
pleased to have made their acquaintance.

Rumors have drifted to us from across the seas of many strange and
terrible civilizations… Fearsome Gallic Warriors, Hordes of Iroquois
Mounted Warriors, and thundering Ottoman Sipahi. However, amidst the
dark tales of savage warriors, we have also heard tell of a peaceful
and science loving people much like ourselves – so you can imagine our
joy at meeting you!

We hope the tales are true? Do you share our kindred desire to live in peace?

This world is a scary place – and the Council is most eager to have
you as a friend and partner in peace.
If you'll forgive our boldness at this early stage in our meetings, we
can't help but ponder the power of an Alliance of the two teams most
likely to profit from peace. We could coordinate research, share in
our bonus technologies, and both grow stronger and safer together.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves – let us ask you: what
are your intentions for this world, and can we work together?

We eagerly await word back from you.

Sincerely Yours,
Speaking with the voice of the Council, General_W

 

[CommandoBob]

Reply from Kuningas, April 8, 2007, Turn 58 or 59.

We apologize for late reply. It seems our Foreign Minister has gone absent. We remaining people wish best to you, and hope we would have close relations between our peace loving nations. Our intentions are to protect and teach higher knowledge to fellow citizens of FREE.

Enkidu Warriors solely mission is to protect. We have heard those rumors about savage civilizations also. We are not one of them. And to our understanding you are the other exception. We call you to work for the common good. Is this cooperation accepted by your citizens?

We welcome you to share technological advantage between us. One FREE citizen reported Mausoleum of Mausollos being build in your city. If that is true we have to assume you know secrets of Philosophy. Is it possible to share this technology with us? In exchange we give exact same cost tech Iron working. We wait respond from you.

Voice of FREE
Yours faithfully, Kuningas

 

[CommandoBob]

From The Council, April 11, 2007, Turn 62.

Dear Kuningas and all FREE people,

Your words were received with great gladness in the halls of The Council.
We most heartily agree to your trade of Iron Working for Philosophy…
as you know, we sent Philosophy to you last turn, and we look forward
to accepting the deal this turn.

We have 2 Matters we wish to discuss with you.

#1 – Mutually Assured Advancement
Perhaps now we can begin coordinating our research to advance
both our peoples more rapidly?
We'll start by informing you that we just learned the secrets of
Literature, and have our wisepeople peering into the secrets of
something called Masonry. Where are your current research plans taking
you? We're happy to adjust our plans to mutual benefit.

For example, we could strike a deal to rapidly get us both Republic
(a government with more freedom as befits your name) and all the other
Ancient Age techs. One team could race to Republic while the other
gives Map Making and Currency in exchange. In association with this,
we'd both obviously want the deal to include the perquisites for
Republic and Currency as well as all the other techs!

If you agree to this in principle, we can write up a more formal
treaty, dealing with all the particulars and carrying both our peoples
all the way through the ancient age, into sharing our free techs, and
beyond!

#2 – Playing Well with Others
As we get agreement on how/what our cooperation is going to
look like, we'll both want to address how to handle the savage
foreigners.

Have you met anyone else yet? We're pleased to say that you are the
first humans we've met who have risen above mindless attempts to raid
our cities and that are capable of exploring, learning and
communicating.

I'm sure we can work out a coordinated strategy in dealing with the
Foreign Fearsome Hordes… where if one of us prospers, both prosper.
We'd like to see this as a part of any grand alliance/technology deal.
What do you think?

Obviously, the first priority is to nail down what techs we're
researching, so please respond as soon as possible with your research
plans so we can make sure we're not duplicating our efforts as we
hammer out the rest of these details.

Speaking with the voice of the Council, General_W

 

[CommandoBob]

Greetings from CommandoBob, April 11, 2007, Turn 62 (mainly a stall while we got our act together, since our elected Foreign Minister was missing and I was filling in).

Hail General_W and all The Council!

Allow me to introduce myself. I am CommandoBob, Acting Foreign Minister of Team FREE.

When we mentioned to our learned ones about the possibility of learning this new thing called Republic, they began to cheer and dance; so that seems like a good thing to learn.

We of FREE have big plans. Our greatest dream is to visit the stars and see Trantor, Pern, Hoth, Ceti Alpha V and Iota Geminorum IV. Such a dream will take many years of hard work and effort to become a reality. But we are ready to do so. We are currently trying to learn all about numbers and we soon know how to add and subtract.

We also know how to work with stone and how to have fancy funerals.

We of FREE hope that you wish to visit the stars also (The Council of the FREE, such a great name for a star vessel). But that path is long, and the end is uncertain. We plan to journey to the little spots of lights in the nighttime sky, yet the unknown peoples of this world may seek our destruction upon our first meetings with them. Like yourselves, we have met only the rabble that wear white, and have seen no evidence of the other fearsome sounding peoples.

Having met as friends and seeing the willingness we have to help each other, we of FREE would be glad to be participate in Mutually Assured Advancement and in the planning of how to deal with the great unwashed masses we both have yet to meet.


CommandoBob
FREE Foreign Minister (Acting)
Let FREEdom Ring
Let the white dove sing...

 

[CommandoBob]

From The Council, April 11, 2007, Turn 62.

Dear Kunnigas and all FREEs,

We know we sent you a lot to digest in the last letter, but we're
going to be making our next technology choice here soon, and we'd hate
to duplicate efforts.

Any chance you can let us know what you're working on/direction you're
headed so that we can start planning for maximum benefit for both our
peoples?

Also – Our Curragh, Chamsuri, is approaching your borders and we'd
like your blessing to sail through. If this is a problem, please let
us know right away, and we'll adjust course.

All the Best,
General_W, member of The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

Email by Kuningas, April 11, 2007, Turn 62.

CommandoBob is working on a formal treaty. He will be back to you when his work is done.

We begin to research CoL. After that we ahead to the Republic. Also we can trade Mathematics and Ceremonial
Burial to you.We would like to send Maths/CB to you for Literature. That would open religional bottom path and Construction/Currency
for you. We have plenty of time to work details of further trades as the Republic is going to take many turns.

Chamsuri is allowed to enter our cultural borders.

Kind regards,
Kuningas

 

[CommandoBob]

From The Council, April 14, 2007, Turn ??.

Dear FREE-ers,

Your wisemen bringing the knowledge of Ceremonial Burial and Mathematics have safely arrived. Thank you!

Best regards,
zyxy
on behalf of The Council

 

[CommandoBob]

From The Council, April 14, 2007, Turn 64.

Dear FREE peoples,

Our team has been very busy discussing plans for long term cooperation
and the mutual advancement of our peoples. We are excited to present
the following treaty to you…

In the meantime we would like to accept your proposal to trade
Literature for CB and Maths. We have already put Lit on our side of
the table.

I. Peace
FREE and The Council agree to take no hostile action, of any
kind, towards the other.
This peace treaty will last indefinitely, and can only be
cancelled by fifteen turns of written notice.
Notice of intent to cancel the peace can NOT be given before the
start of the Middle Ages.

II. Mutually Assured Advancement tech Plan (MAAP)
FREE and The Council agree to cooperate on gaining knowledge
to get Republic asap, and quickly advance into the Middle Ages.
Both teams agree to not execute a "slow burn" in getting any
technologies in favor of stockpiling gold, unless explicitly approved
by the other team. Essentially, both teams agree to do their level
best to proceed in tech at a rapid pace and not look for ways benefit
at the expense of the other team.
Both teams agree to stick to the following tech plan as close as possible.
(For ease of reference, all tech beaker values are the base costs,
according to CAII)
Note: This chart assumes average beaker rate of 50bpt… we're
sure this won't be accurate over the life of the AA, but we're aiming
more to show progression rather than "actual" turns… operating under
the assumption that both teams will progress in beaker counts at about
the same pace, making the relative dates of discovery about equal to
what's shown. Again, this depends on mutual good-faith.

(image of the turn/tech chart goes here)

The MAAP can only be canceled or modified based on joint agreement
of both teams.
The MAAP naturally expires after the exchange of our respective
Bonus era advancement techs, but The Council and FREE both hereby
express their desire to negotiate a new MAAP agreement for the Middle
Ages at that point.

III. US vs. THEM
Both teams agree to not conduct any trades with foreign
powers unless the deal is explicitly approved by the other team and
factored into how it will affect the MAAP.
If either team meets a foreign power, they will immediately notify
the other of the contact. Whether or not the in-game contact is shared
will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for maximum mutual benefit
(in making techs cheaper for us and not for our foes).
This agreement of coordinated diplomacy will last indefinitely. It
may only be cancelled by mutual agreement, or by five turns of written
notice.
The coordinated diplomacy part of this treaty may be cancelled
independently of the Peace Treaty, but not independent of the MAAP.

To a bright and glorious future for both our peoples!

Speaking with the voice of The Council, General_W

 

[CommandoBob]

From CommandoBob, April 17, 2007, Turn 67.

Hail and Greetings to General_W and The Council!

We are still reviewing your proposed treaty. Some changes have been proposed and we are discussing those changes now.

I also wanted to inform The Council of my new email address, TheCommandoBob@gmail.com. (Some unwashed heathen has already claimed CommandoBob AT gmail, the rascal.)

Sincerely yours,

Art Parry
(aka CommandoBob)

 

[CommandoBob]

Revision to Treaty (not yet sent), April 17, 2007, Turn ??.

Hail and Greetings to General_W and The Council!

We of FREE rejoiced at much of your proposal. Unending peace is quite welcome and the Mutually Assured Advancement tech Plan (MAAP) is evenly balanced and very fair. We have no items of dispute with either one. And once we are both through these Ancient Days we welcome the chance to reexamine the world and move boldly together into the Middle Ages.

In light of this, we would feel far more comfortable with the third part of the treaty to have the same cut-off date as the MAAP. We are not naturally suspicious and read no hidden messages into the third part of the treaty. It is merely that an indefinite coordination of diplomacy so early in the lives of our peoples is more than we can freely give.

We are not opposed to the idea of indefinte coordinated diplomacy. We are just not ready to commit to indefinite coordinated diplomacy.

We would like to suggest this revision to Points 3 and 4 of the third part of the proposed agreement:

From:

• This agreement of coordinated diplomacy will last indefinitely. It
  may only be cancelled by mutual agreement, or by five turns of written
  notice.
• The coordinated diplomacy part of this treaty may be cancelled
  independently of the Peace Treaty, but not independent of the MAAP.

To:

• This agreement of coordinated diplomacy will last as long as the MAAP.

Would such a change be acceptable to The Council?

CommandoBob
FREE Foreign Minister (Acting)
Let FREEdom Ring
Let the white dove sing...

 

[CommandoBob]

Both Kuningas and aluka favor the changes.

Anyone else?

Like? Dislike? Concerned about a part?

 

[azzaman333]

It's better than what they originally proposed, i guess...

 

[Empiremaker]

Sounds fine.

 

[vikingruler]

i agree with the revision CB.

 

[CommandoBob]

I just sent the proposed revision to The Council.

 

[Kuningas]

Respond quickly to this message.

Dear Brothers of FREE,

We salute you as our brothers and have declared a holiday in your honor!

We accept your revision, and are excited to be entering into this
treaty with you.
We have prepared a formal version of the treaty for a more formal
signature, if that's acceptable to you? The seal of The Council has
already been stamped upon it, and we look forward to having it
returned with your seal as well.

However, we already have our first challenge to this deal! The Council
has just made contact with team Saber! This new discovery has not
caused any wavering in our commitment to the alliance with you, but it
does present an opportunity. In their initial communication, Saber
expressed a desire to trade with us to obtain Iron Working and
Ceremonial Burial in exchange for Warrior Code, the Wheel, and
probably some gold.

While the deal we're on the verge of signing with you already covers
those techs – we still think it would be a good move for us to do this
deal with Saber. We'd be happy to give you both of the techs from
Saber for free… as that saves us each one tech on our respective sides
of the MAAP.
Also, since the tech we'd be saving is a bit more expensive, we'd even
be willing to give you 60% of any gold we manage to negotiate out of
Saber (it's not likely to be very much).

We think this would be win-win that's very positive for our alliance,
and even though we haven't officially signed documents with you -
we've decided to wait on starting serious negotiations with Saber to
see if you'll agree to it.
(Saber also wants a deal to get to Republic apparently, but on the
surface, we don't see how that would be helpful for our alliance – so
we'll probably just stall for now, and likely decline later... unless
you have other thoughts?)

Please respond quickly with how you'd like to proceed on the tech deal
with Saber, and with your official seal on the alliance deal.

To Peace and Glory Together,
- Speaking with the voice of The Council, General_W

 

[Empiremaker]

Can we get some map info from the council so we can meet SABER?

 

[CommandoBob]

Suggested Treaty Signature:



(Took our image and reduce it by 50%. Don't have the tools at work to make it a circle.)