Vermino wrote:
invictusa wrote:
Apologies if I am missing the bigger point here. If you agree (and especially if you initiate the challenge), to a duel, and after each opponent takes ten steps, turns, and fires; you lose much more face by claiming that the duel was unfair in the first place than if you just accept your losses, learn from your mistakes, and move on.
I think any moral high ground you before had was lost to any consequences of this conflict you agreed to enter with Tigre, unless there was some agreed upon rules of engagement. Tigre could be asking a lot more from you I think, and would be his/her right.
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Apologies accepted. The biggest point is not the duel or Tigre razing my cities, which he will do. The two main points are:
- Tigre initiated the conflict taking by force what was mine and had never been his. His demeanor since the beginning of the situation has been despicable. Nobody moves 4.5 squares from another town without expecting a conflict. I even let him stay, fool me, but he wanted everything.
- Most importantly, I was accepting his unreasonable conditions (since he started all this and I shouldn't pay reparations at all on top of losing the sov.) but when he learned I could afford more, he tried to milk me after setting up his own conditions which I was accepting.
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Vermino, I would like to come at this again with the hopes that everyone has cooled down somewhat. I am trying to be measured and diplomatic, here, but there's not much for me to work with while your only professed intention is to finance the downfall of our entire alliance.
First off, let me say that there is no plan to raze all of your cities, nor was there ever such a plan. I don't know why you keep claiming such things. Personally, I had hoped this situation would be resolved before the current siege could cause much damage, but with all this commotion, that has proven difficult.
Second, let me reiterate a point I have already made, and that was put more succinctly by invictusa: for reasons good or bad, you
agreed to the duel, so you
must accept the consequences. That is just the way the world works.
Finally, let me address the other elephant in the room here, namely your indignation that tigre settled so close to you to begin with. Two things need to be said:
(a) I would be upset too if someone settled that close to me without asking first. In particular, tigre should have asked first. So let me offer you my personal apology for that infraction.
(b) The situation would have been a lot easier to deal with if mediation had been attempted WAY back when tigre first arrived on the scene. Instead, the first time anyone in BSH heard any of these complaints from you was months after the fact, and worse, in the midst of your sending waves of diplo attacks at our member. You met tigre's lack of consideration with hotheadedness, and predictably, the result is a mess.
Now, in light of the fact that you agreed to the duel, I still stand by my earlier proposal that you and tigre revert to the original agreement, and you pay him 50M in gold or equivalent resources. It's not nothing, but it's not backbreaking either, especially for you.
As a
separate issue, I am willing to discuss with you, privately, your problem with tigre's nearby city. These kinds of discussion are relatively commonplace in Illy. We can negotiate as if none of this fighting ever happened---as if you just sent me a mail yesterday saying, "Hey, I just realized this guy tigre settled too close to me. I know it's been a couple of months but I'm really upset by this." You have my word that I will negotiate with you as I would anyone else who came to me with an analogous grievance. Of course, if you accept my offer only to find that I have sneakily double-crossed you, you can always return to the public forum to reveal me for a liar.
I assure you, however, that I am no liar.