I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. As has been stated, the deadline could have been 1 day or 100 days, it would not matter, since none of the characters would willingly kill themselves to satisfy Malus. They weren't expected to either. It was merely a way to have a casus belli, the actual decision to go to war was made long beforehand.
I cannot state for sure how any of the other characters would have done anything but my character would have died to protect his realm from war if given a reasonable chance to do so, just as I believe IC another one of the characters had already stated something very similar in private channels. (My character sent letters with this intention included if it was proven necessary)
The issue in my opinion is not that the consequences are that the ruler be to go to war, but that the character is manipulating an OOC timeline to create IC reasons for going to war. As you clearly stated, and everyone is aware (on an OOC basis, and some IC) that Malus always intended to go to war anyway. But by creating a timeline which is impossible to fulfill on an OOC basis, in order to have IC justification for an action, is ludicrous.
If Malus had simply declared war without a wait, then he would have far less allies than he does now(and have made many enemies). If Malus declared war with a 3 day wait (thus giving the other side time to actually log on and respond), he would have far less allies than he does now. However, by placing a deadline which made it impossible to respond to from an OOC point of view due to players having a real life, he has established a justification for war, which as players we know is completely bogus, but our characters can consider legitimate (because a demand wasn't met, etc...) Thus, Malus has established a war with plenty of support on his side when IC wise this support could never have been found through legitimate IC action.
As far as a response to Indirik's comments, I understand I don't get to play this game on my own and that my stories are not the only ones around. I don't care about playing a game where I am the only one determining the story. That is even the reason why this storyline even began because I was interested in putting my character at risk in order to liven up the fun of the game for me and the other players. I have no disdain for harm coming to my character, but I do have disdain for players using what I would consider manipulative OOC action (even if sent in an IC message) to "win" battlemaster.
