Toupellon: The next FEI superpower?

[Phellan]

Speaking as one of the driving forces of the anti-Soli coalition...Yeah, that never got out.  I had no idea it was anything other than Conan being stupid about...Razrpot?  One of those regions.  Went rogue, Zonasa moved to take it, Conan made stupid threats, and Zonasa called his bluff.

If there was anything else behind it, I don't think anyone outside of Zonasa ever heard about it.

Soliferum pulled the "Youll do what we tell you too" card. . and Zonasa resisted.

There was a lot of inter-realm work to get legit reasons to explain why we couldn't support them anymore.

Having said that, Phellan thinks the whole "attack Alanurs then declare peace" was the most chicken!@#$ thing ever.     Zonasa should have stuck in the war and fought it out - earned themselves some respect in doing so.   But no, somehow they went from were going to war!  to back to peace in two seconds flat.   

[Bedwyr]

Having said that, Phellan thinks the whole "attack Alanurs then declare peace" was the most chicken!@#$ thing ever.     Zonasa should have stuck in the war and fought it out - earned themselves some respect in doing so.   But no, somehow they went from were going to war!  to back to peace in two seconds flat.

Yes...It did not do Zonasa any favours.  That's one of the main reasons Jenred could get away with attacking over the insult to Edara without Cathay or Aenilia intervening.

[Velax]

Heh, well at least with Aenilia saying they wouldn't intervene. In practice they seemed to conveniently have troops spread throughout Zonasa so as to prevent conflict.

[BardicNerd]

Having said that, Phellan thinks the whole "attack Alanurs then declare peace" was the most chicken!@#$ thing ever.     Zonasa should have stuck in the war and fought it out - earned themselves some respect in doing so.   But no, somehow they went from were going to war!  to back to peace in two seconds flat.

Phellan is not the only one that thinks this.  There were plenty of arguments in council about it -- heck, I seem to recall that we only took Alanurs because David (general at the time) decided to completely ignore what Erandi wanted and fight Soliferium as he thought best . . . as I recall Erandi wanted to attack Masahakon and nothing else.  Unfortunately we were never able to get a force together that we thought could take it before politics happened -- there were strong reasons we did not want some specific groups to profit from the war, and we withdrew rather than do anything that might help them.

Ultimately, I think we were vindicated in our reasoning, but things were perhaps not well publicized.  If the politics had been slightly different, who knows how things would have turned out?  A lot of people really wanted to fight that war, but there was a feeling that the political deals other people were making in the endgame were to our disadvantage.  Which is not to say that just withdrawing was the best way to deal with that, but that's why things happened how they did.

[TDLR]

Having said that, Phellan thinks the whole "attack Alanurs then declare peace" was the most chicken!@#$ thing ever.     Zonasa should have stuck in the war and fought it out - earned themselves some respect in doing so.   But no, somehow they went from were going to war!  to back to peace in two seconds flat.   

Zonasa's goals for the conflict were accomplished pretty quickly. The idea was to reduce Soliferum back to its holdings on the peninsula, not completely destroy it. Masahakon was supposed to be Zonasan (so that Zonasa could help protect Soliferum's retreat, forcing the attacking armies to sail across the straight), with Alanurs staying with Soliferum. A new realm was supposed to be founded in Hatdhes with the support of Aenilia, Cathay, and Zonasa (to provide a buffer against King Thain in Azros). But Jenred kinda threw a whole wrench in the plan. Well, a wrench is an understatement... he blew it up. Combined with David marching on Alanurs, things went south quickly. He wasn't going to trade one foreign dictator for another (plus the added bit between Edara and Erandi is Razrpot). So Zonasa stepped out. Unfortunate.

[Bedwyr]

Zonasa's goals for the conflict were accomplished pretty quickly. The idea was to reduce Soliferum back to its holdings on the peninsula, not completely destroy it. Masahakon was supposed to be Zonasan (so that Zonasa could help protect Soliferum's retreat, forcing the attacking armies to sail across the straight), with Alanurs staying with Soliferum. A new realm was supposed to be founded in Hatdhes with the support of Aenilia, Cathay, and Zonasa (to provide a buffer against King Thain in Azros). But Jenred kinda threw a whole wrench in the plan. Well, a wrench is an understatement... he blew it up. Combined with David marching on Alanurs, things went south quickly. He wasn't going to trade one foreign dictator for another (plus the added bit between Edara and Erandi is Razrpot). So Zonasa stepped out. Unfortunate.

And Zonasa had nowhere near enough outside support for that plan.  The fact that anyone in Zonasa thought the coalition would have stood for that boggles my mind.  There is no way that anyone in Cathay or Aenilia was going to accept Zonasa stymieing the war any longer, most of the coalition wanted to attack Zonasa if we couldn't come up with some way to get them to let us through, and Zonasa wanting a duchy out of it outraged even more people.  Zonasa trying to just reduce Soliferum to the peninsula...Man, I wish I'd known that.  Cathay would have gone ballistic.

[TDLR]

And Zonasa had nowhere near enough outside support for that plan.  The fact that anyone in Zonasa thought the coalition would have stood for that boggles my mind.  There is no way that anyone in Cathay or Aenilia was going to accept Zonasa stymieing the war any longer, most of the coalition wanted to attack Zonasa if we couldn't come up with some way to get them to let us through, and Zonasa wanting a duchy out of it outraged even more people.  Zonasa trying to just reduce Soliferum to the peninsula...Man, I wish I'd known that.  Cathay would have gone ballistic.

Err, Tharion and James were consulted the whole time (although admittedly James said little). Tharion was pretty outspoken about it and Aenilia's role. But yea, Cathay knew about the whole thing and James gave his approval. Maybe it was just lip service to get Zonasa into the war. Ziode, who was Duke of Anacan at the time I believe, was put in touch with Ceolwyn about starting the new realm (in Hatdhes)... But of course, the whole thing blew up.

Zonasa really wasn't after Alanurs and really didn't want a duchy, persay. Zonasa's goals were really just to reduce Soliferum a bit and put a friendly realm in Hatdhes. That Alanurs fell to Zonasa was not planned in the slightest. If there was any expansion to be had, Zonasa was really after the strategic location of Masahakon (again, forcing the coalition across the straight and providing a strong defensive position from which to support the new realm in Hatdhes).

[BardicNerd]

Zonasa really wasn't after Alanurs and really didn't want a duchy, persay.

Heh . . . yeah, I seem to recall Erandi saying pretty strongly that Alanurs wasn't a target . . . David just decided "screw that, Alanurs is where we can hurt Soliferium most, I'm going to sack it while we build strength to attack Masahakon."  The fact that we got it in the long run was completely unplanned, even David hadn't planned to really do more than sack it . . . I figured it would go rogue shortly after us taking it, and didn't care (heck, I mostly just started a TO in order to lower the city's stats, I didn't even care or know if it would get TO'd).

I think I've taken other regions the same way, actually -- Haul comes to mind.


And it should be mentioned that it was really Erandi that wanted Soliferium to just be reduced in size . . . other people in Zonasa had different goals.  David wanted to burn Soliferium to the ground, and the fact that he wasn't given enough freedom to protect what he saw as Zonasa's interests led to him resigning as general.

[Bedwyr]

Err, Tharion and James were consulted the whole time (although admittedly James said little). Tharion was pretty outspoken about it and Aenilia's role. But yea, Cathay knew about the whole thing and James gave his approval. Maybe it was just lip service to get Zonasa into the war. Ziode, who was Duke of Anacan at the time I believe, was put in touch with Ceolwyn about starting the new realm (in Hatdhes)... But of course, the whole thing blew up.

Friendly realm in Hatdhes, yeah, I had to pull a lot of tricks to get that nuked.  Letting Soliferum live?  I really doubt Tharion was behind that.  Not when Soliferum refused to give up Viracocha.

[Anatole]

Our geography is really problematic. The thing is that IG, Anatole wishes to keep the capital in Colasan for sentimental reasons. I am having a roleplaying session scripted to gradually have him bending to the bulk of administration and moving the capital to Ozrat.

We really have unbalanced Far East for the moment, but unless we are careful, we're gonna split and split and split until amoebas' mitosis will be nothing compared to the streak of secessions taking part.

Anatole got more than he wagered. He counted Ozrat, Colasan and Anacan for sure, he nearly wagered Akanos but Taylin is scary bitch (sorry man, your character is really intimidating) so he could not know for sure. A realm of three duchies with James and Anatole leading it, along with Claude who's a newcomer to the circle of manipulating, scheming bastards that lurk behind the scenes of FEI's political scene, would be a realm who could define itself both culturally and politically.

But this... This borders madness... Taop and Ossaet joining... Man, this even I could not see coming. I've been approaching Vulpes for weeks  to no avail so when he did join me Anatole made up his mind that he had people in power seats that changed allegiance as the wind. This will be an interesting thorn on the side of the man who got a heavier crown that he wanted.

But I'll put a lot of effort to make it work, just to see something different going on. For the moment we aim for peace, but who knows what the future holds? People thirst for blood

[Phellan]

People thirst for blood

I'm thirsty. . . we need to go to Toupellon with Kindara and Zonasa. . . raid your kegs and breweries.

[TDLR]

Letting Soliferum live?  I really doubt Tharion was behind that.  Not when Soliferum refused to give up Viracocha.

Tharion was after Viracocha, who was in Alanurs, and the first target of Zonasa's assault (which is why Erandi didn't care too much that David moved the armies there, although he was a little perturbed). Alanurs got it bad right off as well because of the amazing 80/100/100 SF RC that was there too.

I think I've taken other regions the same way, actually -- Haul comes to mind.

Haha. True True. Haul was supposed to be gifted to Cathay along with the Duchy of Azros... ungrateful James and meddling Ziode torpedoed that... But I suppose Cathay had other problems than the inability to simply accept a couple of gift duchies from Zonasa.

All this just goes to show nothing Erandi ever plans for Zonasa ever really goes according to plan... But hey, at least he gets the ball rolling sometimes.

[TDLR]

People thirst for blood

In Erandi's little 'search for the truth', some things have come to light that aren't going to be resolved peacefully.

[Bedwyr]

Tharion was after Viracocha, who was in Alanurs, and the first target of Zonasa's assault (which is why Erandi didn't care too much that David moved the armies there, although he was a little perturbed). Alanurs got it bad right off as well because of the amazing 80/100/100 SF RC that was there too.

Yeah, but Soliferum wasn't going to give up Viracocha (or Tony, or Conan) which meant that the odds of any coalition member agreeing to let them live were pretty much zero.

[Lefanis]

Just looked at the map. Combined, Toupa, Arcaea and Kindara have a mammoth 54 regions 

Rest of the realms of the big Isle(do they even exist?!) have 22 regions. Somethings got to give!

P.S- Why does Toupa's icon look like a mushroom cloud?