It all started by asking permission to go through. It was agreed no looting, no TOing, but Eponllyn did loot first which made Perdan to drop off its gloves.
No. Perdan looted Eponllyn first, in Perdan Mines. We didn't loot Perdan until a week an a half later when Perdan refuses to acknowledge their looting. Eponllyn did not loot Perdan first and never would have because looting has always been something very touchy within honour-obsessed Eponllyn, had Perdan kept to its word and honour like Eponllyn. But instead, it took advantage of Eponllyn's honour and mercy with its aggressive militarism.
When it started to look bad for Eponllyn, they surrendered, but refused to terms. They granted passage right to Perdan, but not Vix, which made the war continue. Then they declared hatred... And now they blame Perdan?
Eponllyn did ask nicely, because we really did want to fight a war instead of *constantly* having Perdan/Vix end our wars almost immediately, to continue the war with just Vix, thinking we'd have a better, more equal shot. Perdan/Vix said no, and we said 'okay, fine, theres nothing we can do to object'. And then you ignored us. And TOed Bescanon. And other regions until Perdan City, despite us going 'hey, we agreed to your terms'.
Nemo declaring hatred was a diplomatic mis-step, but really, after everything Perdan has done to Eponllyn since Eponllyn's very founding with the destruction of Ibladesh and creation of Eponllyn in-secession, is entirely understandable knee-jerk response. Perdan has behaved in Hatred of Eponllyn for three+ OOC years, over and over again, save for a small number of months with Fionna as Queen of Perdan. So while Eppy made the mistake of putting it to paper, Perdan already behaved in Hatred long before.
I agree that Perdan is highly militaristic and aggressive, but i dont see that as a game problem. Sucks to be neighbour of this kind of war machine, but as history has shown, they can be brought down and one day they will be again beaten.
I do not see militarism and aggressiveness as inherently a game/player problem, as an in-character problem. I see players who use militarism/aggressiveness as an excuse for Total War on Players in trying to Win the Island as a problem. When playing the bellicose and/or insulting types, one must consider what it would be like playing on the other side of it.
At least, when I was more actively playing Raziella, she was always an offensively arrogant jerk, but I tried (hopefully succeeding) to do it in such a way that the Player was amused more than insulted via their character (people get quite attached, I've noticed). Or with influencing Lurian policy, I consciously made the point to delay and avoid the destruction of realms (like Barca, Asylon) as long as possible to give them utmost chance to survive. And heck, even with Perdan/Eponllyn, my voice was one of those suggesting we *not* destroy Perdan like Perdan destroyed Ibladesh, because we are *better* than that, but offer redemption instead, and maybe we can bring Perdan to see a New Light of small realms and limited wars. Because our players had experienced what it was like to be on the receiving end of Perdan and we did not want to give them the same treatment. Well, that backfired beautifully on Eponllyn.
Just as Perdan's epic devastation of raping, slaughtering, and starving everyone between Ibladesh to Semall affected Eponllyn into a policy of never looting civil populations, using looting with utmost discretion in war, usually accompanied by many internal debates and fines, and only against military targets. So Perdan saying 'no looting at all' was perfectly acceptable to us. Until Perdan started looting us. If the Eponllyn-Perdan war proved anything, its the valuelessness of a Perdanite Agreement. Not only the initial war terms, but violating the treaty by taking back Perdan City, which Perdan had *willingly volunteered* having no more claim upon Perdan City for all eternity. Which was the same terms Perdan *forced* on Eponllyn with regard to Ibladesh and Al Arab in order to achieve the puppet state of Perleone (which later had a falling out with Perdan before reuniting more recently).
