Guys, I gain nothing by lying, it was never my intention to fight Xavax, if Xavax declared war on Perleone I would have declared war on Minas Nova, Xavax never did and I was not going to be the first one, after all Xavax were the ones with a lot of nobles and as has been shown they could deal with the rest of us alone while Alara could not, so the responsibility was entirely on Xavax, even more after rejecting my alliance offer
Now, Kuriga, answer this, why would I trust Xavax and attack Minas Nova when they rejected my alliance proposal? My back would be totally open for them, what guarantee I had they were not going to attack me? You were so keen to attack Minas Nova, you trusted Xavax fully, this lead to me realise, wrongfully or not, that you were in league with them. Before you leaving there were NEVER talks with Minas Nova, that only occured after you left and took Itor Boss with you, when the region wasnt returned after a month THEN talks started with Minas Nova, never before, and even so nothing really happened.
The situation was frustrating, we all wanted something to happen but I think Xavax should have been the one to start since they had more resources and nobles than Alara and Minas Nova combined. Why would I want to war Xavax, 24 nobles vs 15, if we combine Minas Nova and Alara, it was most likely an unwinnable fight, specially with those special forces recruitment centers, and again as shown it was not doable. In the end it is simply, if I trusted Xavax and they backstabbed me Alara was going to be finished, if Xavax trusted Alara and Alara backstabbed them they could deal with this, so again I think the responsability lied in their hands and not ours.
There are some assumptions here that are better directed at me, as Selenia's player, to address. And to do that, you need to understand a couple of things about Selenia that may impact your perception of events:
- Selenia left her Empire to come East in order to settle down, start a family, and retire. She even vacationed to Sirion before the Civil War broke out.
- She's always been fundamentally isolationist.
- Her prideful, dominant, alpha attitude means she doesn't back down from challenges and proactively engages threats before they an become a problem the same way adventures hunt monsters before they can become hordes. Starting to see the pattern?
- And one thing you can trust about her is that if she tells you you are a friend, that's as sure a thing as when she tells you that you are an enemy. If you've heard neither, then you're in a dangerous grey area of opportunity.
So now you have some insight into Selenia as a character. Anyway. back to the history class...
She campaigned hard to become Duchess and was content to let someone else take the throne and all it's responsibilities (She backed someone other than Magnus and was surprised when he one by a swing vote). so when it came time to discuss alliances, she's against having many and was in fact dead set on Caligus. She wanted a strong ally, not a weak one. Magnus rather famously ignored her in favor of Fallangard. Worse, he ignored High Queen Teniel, who later confided to Selenia that the reason she signed an alliance with Alara was because Magnus ignored her. She almost allied with Minas Nova, but King Warchief snubbed her when he refused to meet with her in person, which was her one an only requirement. But I digress. Being isolationist, she neither knew nor cared about anything beyond the borders of her duchy...however, those borders were overcrowded. Expansion was a necessity at the time. And with Magnus removing Fallangard as a potential target, that left Perleone and Alara. Of the two, Perleone did the right thing by making no. sudden. moves. So now you know about Xavax and why it does or does not have alliances.Alara drew the short straw for a couple of reasons, but it started with Kuriga warning us of Robb's machinations. Robb's alliance-building made him a threat. And even if those alliances were defensive in nature, they could always be used as an offensive tool. In the opinion of Xavax, it was better to spring the trap before it could be built. Selenia underestimated Robb, however, and moved too slowly. Interestingly enough, the same steps that Selenia could have taken to avoid the wrath of Perdan, Robb could have used to avoid a war with Xavax: Be submissive. Robb could have made every effort to make Selenia happy: State visits, tributes, love poems, whatever. Instead, he asserted himself as her equal when he wasn't (I will admit here that Selenia did not make it easy for him to appeal to her) and poked her repeatedly...exactly the wrong thing to do to her. Selenia wanted a war to expand her overpopulated holdings. She NEEDED a war to unite her people under her rule after the Civil War. Robb, more than anything, is what made Alara the natural target. And his actions after the war started is why there is a burning hatred now. His attitude is as much responsible for why Xavax targeted Alara as Selenia's is for why Vix and Perdan targeted her.
