Calm before the storm on FEI

[Bedwyr]

It shows the realm as deceitful and untrustworthy by those who it has made promises to and then reneged.  It does not matter who the head of state is, the actions one one carry over to the next.

Not in Arcaean history.  There's been precisely one change of Rulers that has had any degree of continuity, that of Dentara to Jenred.  Every single other change of Rulers has resulted in massive, systemic, and drastic change in the realm.  Dentara was elected as a rejection of Riar, and completely through over several of the things he had put into place, including a peace agreement he had reached with Sartania.  And even the Dentara -> Jenred move made it clear that Jenred was going to continue Dentara's policies because he believed in them (he had helped shape many of them, after all), but that he was the King.

And, frankly, in Battlemaster this happens all the time.  I personally think Jenred's Rulership would have weathered his decision to make peace with Arcachon if I hadn't paused and I had full time to devote to playing him properly, but it would certainly have been close and I doubt I would have pulled it off with the severely reduced activity I had at the time.  Velax was specifically elected to (among other things) overturn Jenred's decision.

Indeed, if anyone should be labeled as deceitful in this instance, it should be Jenred, for making a promise to Arcachon that he wasn't sure he could keep.

[Bedwyr]

Maybe those points won't amount to much and maybe Cathay doesn't even need them, but Galiard likes collecting favors. Ask Jenred.

If you did, Jenred would respond that favours always, always, always come in handy, and would happily credit Galiard (among a few others) for teaching him that.

[Sacha]

Mmm... favors are only as solid as the people owing them, IMO. Collecting favors 24/7 won't help you if the others can't or won't return them, as Amaury had to learn the hard way... In the end his major allies were either unable or unwanting to harbor him, so he did the only sensible thing left to do and hurled himself off a 300 foot cliff

[DoctorHarte]

I just wish the Southern realms had taken actions when they could. I rather don't care about OW getting beaten to shreds - I used our war to help the south reach out of their boredom and join a war, but I guess they like to wallow in their regions, twiddling their thumbs. Oh well, I just wanted to shake things up on FEI, didn't seem to work as well - didn't shake up the right realms haha

[Scarlett]

I used our war to help the south reach out of their boredom and join a war

Why would your character care at all about that?

[Morningstar]

It's been hard for the southern realms to know what to do on this. Caspius and Velax are crafting themselves into right proper villains but Me'hoe has pretty much shot himself in the foot at any chance he could get and that doesn't do much to want the south to partner with Ohnar. When the best reason you can give for alliance/aid is "I bet once we're dead, there's only you guys for them to come after" then you can't really blame them for sitting this one out.

[Velax]

"Right proper villains"? How do you figure that? From an Aenilian perspective, sure. You're always going to see the other side as the bad guy. But from an OOC perspective? Hardly.

[Indirik]

I'd like to know what Caspius is being vilified for. I thought he was doing good so far...

[Scarlett]

Probably because Caspius is a hard-nosed, narrow-minded upright noble that has more in common with actual medieval nobility than most characters in BM.

He's a villain by 21st century standards because he's not interested in things like diversity and compromise. By medieval standards he's pretty average.

[Broose]

He's enforcing his claim on a duchy. Me'hoe had plenty of chances to prevent this, and definitely knew it was coming if he didn't cooperate. Are we calling people villains over religious fervor now, or what?

[Anaris]

Are we calling people villains over religious fervor now, or what?

Heck, I'm going further than that in Zonasa; Baranion isn't just accusing Galen (may he rest without peace) of being a villainous religious zealot; he's accusing Galen's religion of being, itself, dangerous and a potential threat.

[Morningstar]

"Right proper villains"? How do you figure that? From an Aenilian perspective, sure. You're always going to see the other side as the bad guy. But from an OOC perspective? Hardly.

Understood. However, since I was addressing the idea of the southern realms and why they're not doing anything, I was coming from their perspective. Bigger realms ganging up on a single smaller realm can rarely be seen as the "good guys". Plus the way Velax throws his weight around it's hard to see him IC as anything but a bully.

OOC, not anything gained and a whole lot to be lost is really the reason to sit this one out. Does the south benefit by keeping Ohnar West around? Probably not, since it's fairly well established that Me'hoe was trying to play both sides for awhile to see who bit. Someone like that is not a good longterm investment. Turncoats rarely are.

[Velax]

Understood. However, since I was addressing the idea of the southern realms and why they're not doing anything, I was coming from their perspective. Bigger realms ganging up on a single smaller realm can rarely be seen as the "good guys". Plus the way Velax throws his weight around it's hard to see him IC as anything but a bully.

Honestly, what did Arella expect with Hupar? Whether or not she meant it as a provocation to Arcaea, that's the way it's come off to much of the island. Did you really think one of the smallest realms on the island could snatch a region claimed by the largest realm on the island and we'd just shrug and say, "Yeah, sure, go ahead and have it"?

Edited to fix typo.

[Morningstar]

Honestly, what did Arella expect with Hupar? Whether or not she meant it as a provocation to Arcaea, that's the way it's come off to much of the island. Did you really think one of the smallest realms on the island could snatch a region claimed by the largest realm on the island and we'd just shrug and say, "Yeah, sure, go ahead and have it"?

Edited to fix typo.

We've been over this quite extensively IC. There's absolutely no need to go over it OOC. The arguments would largely be the same. At least from you, as you have already proven. And it's not really going to help to explain OOC intentions from me because you don't have to deal with me, you have to deal with Arella.

Plus, I wasn't referencing Hupar in any way. This is just southern perspective on the OW situation alone.

[Arundel]

I'd like to know what Caspius is being vilified for. I thought he was doing good so far...

Probably because Caspius is a hard-nosed, narrow-minded upright noble that has more in common with actual medieval nobility than most characters in BM.

He's a villain by 21st century standards because he's not interested in things like diversity and compromise. By medieval standards he's pretty average.

I'm blushing. Thanks for the compliments .

Scarlett hit the bullseye on that one. If there's the option between "compromise" or "demand", Caspius will always go with demand. I believe the only situation where he truly compromised was during the secession from Toupellon. Selene suggested I "tolerate" the Aenils in order to keep numbers. Without them, our regions would have never recovered and the entire realm turned into a complete failure. However, this was mainly due to Selene suggesting it; Caspius would never betray her unless she began speaking heresy  .