Keeping in these circumstances, did you ever really expect them to accept what you might consider a reasonable treaty?
I'm not sure. I knew that there was a rather zealous contingent of Caerwyn that wouldn't. But the letter we got from Daenah painted a rather different picture of a Caerwyn that was down on hard times, and that the majority of the realm never wanted the war, etc., etc. and that they really wanted peace.
It's rare that one who has been a King, on the verge of losing his crown, will accept becoming back a simple Knight, with little to no chances of ever becoming King again. Fleeing and trying a new life elsewhere seems more probable.
The analogy means: If Caerwyn gives Golden Farrow, they will stop being the regional top dogs, and become even smaller than Asylon, practically vassals of the new Theocracy (led by their biggest enemy) and a third-rate realm regionally.
...which could then eventually grow larger, and challenge the oppressive theocracy that forced them to such hard times. As Peri pointed out earlier, this is
exactly what Perdan did.
Twice. We swallowed our pride and took our lumps. Then we came back and kicked some ass. Both times. The first time we took back even more than we had before. The second war is still going on, but things look very good for Perdan.
If you fight to the end, then you're going to get an ending. And you'll probably like that end even less. You can't live to get your revenge, unless you, you know, survive. And I really wish more realms would take that approach, and agree that they lost.
For now...Now I question: How did any of you expect someone in their right minds would accept their most hatred enemies are their suzerains, without real chances of coming back (you let it clear that you are cutting them that possibility)?
Well, of course we would start things off that way. But you will also note that we did
not cut off the possibility of Caerwyn expanding and gaining strength. We specifically did not hedge them into one small set of regions. We left plenty of room for expansion in that agreement. Counting the fact that Caerwyn was going to go to war with Itaulond, and that we would gladly help destroy Itaulond, we wrote in
13 regions that Caerwyn could have, including two townslands and two duchies, without ever having to go to war with Asylon, Terran, or the new theocracy. I don't know the status of regions such as Inklen, Faithill, Barrow Peaks, or Lavendrow, so those are not counted in the 13. That could go up if the Cearwyn/Terran agreement grants them to Caerwyn. Also, it's quite possible that Caerwyn may want to go to war with Asylon, allowing them to take Lower Via. That's a possible 18 regions without too much of a stretch of the imagination. Are those the best possible regions they could have? Of course not. But, then again... Hello!
You lost the war!