Embassy of The West Pacific | April 2024 Western Post!

[RiderSyl]

Let this be a warning to those who choose BoM over the rest of the world.

This isn't your everyday othering. This is advanced othering.

[Wascoitan]

Yeah, but have you ever considered that maybe you shouldn't be?

Of course not. After all, this operation was the exact type of retaliatory, symbolic raid that Operation Sinking Ship was. If anything, Europeia has learned from Malice and embraced our style.

Curiously, in both cases it was the Brotherhood who first attempted to reach out and avoid further hostilities. Interesting how that's been working out, as if peace between our communities was ever the desire for those involved in this raid.

it's honestly pretty funny, in order to defeat BoM they resorted to the exact same tactics that they criticized BoM for using lol, gotta be some of the most blatant hypocrisy I've ever seen from the regions involved with this raid, and that's saying something cause I've seen some hypocrisy from these folk.

[RiderSyl]

Of course not. After all, this operation was the exact type of retaliatory, symbolic raid that Operation Sinking Ship was. If anything, Europeia has learned from Malice and embraced our style.

Curiously, in both cases it was the Brotherhood who first attempted to reach out and avoid further hostilities. Interesting how that's been working out, as if peace between our communities was ever the desire for those involved in this raid.

it's honestly pretty funny, in order to defeat BoM they resorted to the exact same tactics that they criticized BoM for using lol, gotta be some of the most blatant hypocrisy I've ever seen from the regions involved with this raid, and that's saying something cause I've seen some hypocrisy from these folk.

They don't care if they contradict themselves. The end goal is to defeat raiders as a faction, and the means are always justified.

[Varanius]

it's honestly pretty funny, in order to defeat BoM they resorted to the exact same tactics that they criticized BoM for using lol, gotta be some of the most blatant hypocrisy I've ever seen from the regions involved with this raid, and that's saying something cause I've seen some hypocrisy from these folk.

In what way? We criticized BoM for many things, but among them was not “raiding”. We criticized them for what they raided, and their BS justifications for doing so. This raid, on the other hand, was very justified provided BoM’s continued hostility towards multiple TWP treaty allies. TWP, until now, has never shown any hostility towards BoM allies.

They don't care if they contradict themselves. The end goal is to defeat raiders as a faction, and the means are always justified.

This is just absurd. For one, it seeks to equate all of raiderdom with BoM, something which is frankly insulting to the respectable raiders, who TWP has always done our best to maintain good relations with. We raided with TBH just a few majors ago, and have a treaty with LWU. Also, TWP is arguably the most griefing friendly independent region, because a lot of the big ones don’t even tolerate any sort of regional destruction. The argument that we’re trying to destroy raiderdom is just nonsensical.

Ahem now for the big one.

The West Pacific has always felt unreasonably threatened by our brotherhood,

You give yourself too much credit. No, in order to feel threatened by you, we would have to fear you.

The true wolves in sheep's clothing here are The West Pacific, its cowardly delegate Giovanniland,

This talking point of yours has always confused me Koth. The West Pacific has been thriving under Gio, while all you’ve done is gotten Warzone Asia raided, and your condemn repealed.

dutiful propagandists such as Varanius

Thanks I think?

This level of animosity might be expected from Europeia and the Land of Kings and Emperors, who do not hide behind a "defensive" pact and relationships with other raider organizations.

Hiding? How are we “hiding” behind anything? Just by having treaties with people? Is diplomacy really such a foreign concept for you that any sign of it is considered cowardly hiding?

A region who claims to need protection from the evil Brotherhood of Malice, and entertains talks of peace while holding crossed fingers behind their back.

Really Koth? You attempt to use those discussions against us, but we went into them with genuine good intentions in the hopes of hearing out what you had to say, and all we ended up with was an earful about how much you don’t like Gio. Really, if your peace talks consist of you insulting the delegate of one of the regions you’re trying to make peace with, and telling us we should assume you’re spying on us, then you probably wouldn’t recognize peace if it told you it could get your condemn back.

The Brotherhood has been nothing but lenient with TWP, avoiding hostilities with them at every corner despite their abhorrent treatment of our once-mutual allies

What? We tried to stand by Osiris until the very end. When we reached that end and Osiris point-blank told us we were being unreasonable for asking the bare minimum as an ally, we simply decided that that relationship would not work anymore. We have engaged in no antagonistic action towards the OFO since, and have no plans to do that moving forward.

and their repeated taunts and sabotages of our genuine attempts at peace, both with the URA and with TWP itself.

How did we sabotage anything? The fact that you didn’t get what you want does not mean anyone sabotaged your attempts.

We've stood by stoically while they jump against us on every liberation attempt, even while their own allies stand at our side.

If any actual allies of TWP have concerns with our conduct, they are more than free to reach out, and we will address them appropriately.

They continue this prolonged tantrum despite genuine attempts to move past every issue between our regions. Even when the peace talks did not result in a productive outcome, we still avoided stepping on their toes anyway.

Those peace talks didn’t work out well because, again, you repeatedly insulted our delegate, and told us we should assume you are spying on us. That is not the behavior of those seeking a peaceful resolution. That would involve genuine remorse for the continuously antagonistic behavior towards TWP and its allies.

It should be plainly obvious by now that the Pax Polaris Occidens is no defense pact, it is a shield for The West Pacific to hide behind while they march ever more confidently against our brand and those who dare to even engage with it as equals.

It actually is a defense pact if you read the treaty. We are defending each other and each other’s allies from attacks. TWP being part of a defensive treaty, while also taking individual action against BoM, isn’t mutually exclusive.

While I expected some poor reactions to this, I was ultimately not expecting this load of unconvincing drivel, and attempts to drive a wedge into the PPO. Such underwhelming spin attempts are unbecoming of individuals who…wait actually. No, it’s perfectly becoming of BoM.

[RiderSyl]

They don't care if they contradict themselves. The end goal is to defeat raiders as a faction, and the means are always justified.

This is just absurd. For one, it seeks to equate all of raiderdom with BoM, something which is frankly insulting to the respectable raiders

read: "to the raiders we're not scared of"

who TWP has always done our best to maintain good relations with. We raided with TBH just a few majors ago, and have a treaty with LWU.

That treaty with LWU is going to last a long time, I'm sure of it!

Also, TWP is arguably the most griefing friendly independent region, because a lot of the big ones don’t even tolerate any sort of regional destruction. The argument that we’re trying to destroy raiderdom is just nonsensical.

I mean, there's two possibilities here. TWP is either choosing to destroy raiderdom, or has been grifted into destroying raiderdom. Apparently you'd have me believe it's the latter.

[Maadi]

It is certainly a strange and twisting path that The West Pacific's government has chosen to wander as of late. Warzone Asia was a target with few stakes, a region with a community always prepared for a raid, no matter the rationale for it, but TWP's own allies (a greater commitment on its own part than any relationship it had with the Amyralty) continue diplomacy of far greater breath and of far more import with the Brotherhood than a mere non-aggression pact. Evidently, it holds them to entirely different standards than Warzone Asia, even as it declares absolutely that diplomacy with the Overseer's Hands is tantamount to rejecting the rest of the multiverse. Are these differing standards shaped purely of perceived short-term political utility to The West Pacific? I do not know, but I hope not, for that is rarely a relationship reciprocated by many for long, and which leads only misguided hearts into Ammit's waiting jaws. I wish such a self-destructive fate not even upon Osiris's former allies.

May you one day again find the Atum's favor, West Pacificans. The journey back to Ma'at grows only more difficult for you from the vantage point of Maadi's solemn ruins.

[Pallaith]

It is certainly a strange and twisting path that The West Pacific's government has chosen to wander as of late. Warzone Asia was a target with few stakes, a region with a community always prepared for a raid, no matter the rationale for it, but TWP's own allies (a greater commitment on its own part than any relationship it had with the Amyralty) continue diplomacy of far greater breath and of far more import with the Brotherhood than a mere non-aggression pact. Evidently, it holds them to entirely different standards than Warzone Asia, even as it declares absolutely that diplomacy with the Overseer's Hands is tantamount to rejecting the rest of the multiverse. Are these differing standards shaped purely of perceived short-term political utility to The West Pacific? I do not know, but I hope not, for that is rarely a relationship reciprocated by many for long, and which leads only misguided hearts into Ammit's waiting jaws. I wish such a self-destructive fate not even upon Osiris's former allies.

May you one day again find the Atum's favor, West Pacificans. The journey back to Ma'at grows only more difficult for you from the vantage point of Maadi's solemn ruins.

You're trying too hard.

[RiderSyl]

It is certainly a strange and twisting path that The West Pacific's government has chosen to wander as of late. Warzone Asia was a target with few stakes, a region with a community always prepared for a raid, no matter the rationale for it, but TWP's own allies (a greater commitment on its own part than any relationship it had with the Amyralty) continue diplomacy of far greater breath and of far more import with the Brotherhood than a mere non-aggression pact. Evidently, it holds them to entirely different standards than Warzone Asia, even as it declares absolutely that diplomacy with the Overseer's Hands is tantamount to rejecting the rest of the multiverse. Are these differing standards shaped purely of perceived short-term political utility to The West Pacific? I do not know, but I hope not, for that is rarely a relationship reciprocated by many for long, and which leads only misguided hearts into Ammit's waiting jaws. I wish such a self-destructive fate not even upon Osiris's former allies.

May you one day again find the Atum's favor, West Pacificans. The journey back to Ma'at grows only more difficult for you from the vantage point of Maadi's solemn ruins.

You're trying too hard.

You've got no taste

[Hulldom]

It is certainly a strange and twisting path that The West Pacific's government has chosen to wander as of late. Warzone Asia was a target with few stakes, a region with a community always prepared for a raid, no matter the rationale for it, but TWP's own allies (a greater commitment on its own part than any relationship it had with the Amyralty) continue diplomacy of far greater breath and of far more import with the Brotherhood than a mere non-aggression pact. Evidently, it holds them to entirely different standards than Warzone Asia, even as it declares absolutely that diplomacy with the Overseer's Hands is tantamount to rejecting the rest of the multiverse. Are these differing standards shaped purely of perceived short-term political utility to The West Pacific? I do not know, but I hope not, for that is rarely a relationship reciprocated by many for long, and which leads only misguided hearts into Ammit's waiting jaws. I wish such a self-destructive fate not even upon Osiris's former allies.

May you one day again find the Atum's favor, West Pacificans. The journey back to Ma'at grows only more difficult for you from the vantage point of Maadi's solemn ruins.

"Moving directly away from people who blithely antagonized them and their allies for months" is certainly "strange and twisting", yes. Nods.

[Maadi]

"Moving directly away from people who blithely antagonized them and their allies for months" is certainly "strange and twisting", yes. Nods.

The Foremost of the Maadi waits but a moment as the golems leave the embassy to attend to matters elsewhere.

“Directly away from the Brotherhood . . . yes, but a still peculiar reply. Not one that addresses what we have said. Yours is a reassuring perspective for the mutual allies of The West Pacific and the Brotherhood though, I am sure, but those are matters for others. Officials such as yourselves in places of secrecy, not us. We have only said what we wished to say.

Until next time, Ambassador.”

[Malicious Souls]

Let this be a warning to those who choose BoM over the rest of the world. You shall be struck down like Warzone Asia was.

Wow, yeah, the way that Asia approached BoM to seek a flat NAP really indicates how they decided to only have relationships with BoM. That's why Asia immediately ended relationships with The Leag- ah, ah wait, fuck,

We do not view a relationship with Warzone Asia as tenable in the aftermath of their formal agreement with BoM

-er.... aha! that's why Asia is not seeking any other, non-raider, alli-

Shit.

Annoucement of the Treaty of Milan

After weeks of negotiations and discussion between Warzone Europe and Warzone Asia, we are pleased to announce the Treaty of Milan, a treaty of friendship which provides for mutual recognition, increased cultural cooperation, and the basis for World Assembly Cooperation.

We hope that, with this treaty, it will be known that Warzone Europe is open for diplomacy, and will be open to all who wish to speak to us in good faith.

We also hope that this sends a strong message to all that we are sovereign, we are here, and that the days of staying on the sideline while the world passes by are coming to a close.

Er. Um. Hm. Maybe it's other people who are choosing "irrationally antagonizing BoM" over "conducting diplomacy with the rest of the world?"

---

Y'Know, "If you, as the natives, seek out the Brotherhood of Malice for even a simple NAP, and make no other notable diplomatic moves [aka "do what Asia did"], then we swear to raid your region and eject everyone from it [aka "and we do to you what we did to Asia"], sure sounds like you're threatening some other treaty allies of BoM who have done a lot more than Asia have, like actually work with BoM, and who have already been cut off diplomatic by several parties for doing so ["over the rest of the world"]. Especially the one where TWP said that "[the direction they have] chosen in regards to inter-regional affairs is not one which we can associate with" in direct response to their relationship with BoM, which sounds a lot like what TL just said to Asia, and also like TWP has already previously accused said region of "choos[ing] BoM over the rest of the world."

[Valtarre]

I apologize for the delay, Varanius. You wouldn't believe how many logistical problems crop up when you're occupying a realm entirely populated by horses. I do believe you are owed some retorts.

You give yourself too much credit. No, in order to feel threatened by you, we would have to fear you.

I am genuinely convinced that we do not strike fear into your heart, Vara. Unfortunately, you serve a cowardly lord, whose last two messages to me both revolved around the idea of threats posed by our Brotherhood, real or imagined. It is his earnestly held belief that our genuine attempt to forge a treaty with the United Regions Alliance was a form of threat against The West's allies, for instance. In reviewing these messages, I do find it topical that he had compared such threats to allies to what had previously happened between The West and The League. Yet, despite my efforts, one hatchet was buried and one was not. It makes one wonder what the real motivations of the regime are at this point.

This talking point of yours has always confused me Koth. The West Pacific has been thriving under Gio, while all you’ve done is gotten Warzone Asia raided, and your condemn repealed.

If potshots at my former condemnation were gold coins, I could retire comfortably. Yet here in reality, the wine has turned sour. If you want to kill a vampire, you'd do well to find a more effective weapon.

I would like to clarify though, since you seem to have gotten the wrong impression of my criticisms of your delegate, that I don't have anything negative to say about his domestic policies. I'm sure he is very popular and the region is happy to have him, but that does not mean his foreign policy is immune to criticism.

Oh, and do try to stay consistent. I did not get Warzone Asia raided, you did. Your report made it seem like you were very proud of that fact, don't let me take that away from you.

Hiding? How are we “hiding” behind anything? Just by having treaties with people? Is diplomacy really such a foreign concept for you that any sign of it is considered cowardly hiding?

Diplomacy is not a foreign concept to me at all, as is plainly obvious by the ever-expanding treaty network that you clearly worthy of your attention enough to threaten anyone who may find themselves inclined to join it. Perhaps I was a bit too vague in my explanation of how The West Pacific hides behind the PPO.

It actually is a defense pact if you read the treaty. We are defending each other and each other’s allies from attacks. TWP being part of a defensive treaty, while also taking individual action against BoM, isn’t mutually exclusive.

Simply put: the Brotherhood could not possibly retaliate against this insult in kind without the entire weight of the PPO being activated against us, by virtue of its legal framework. TWP knows this, and their pirates along with the North Pacific Army feel entirely comfortable opposing us at every turn. They join every (failed) liberation attempt against us, knowing that Legio Pacifica -- a force that when motivated can field orders of magnitude more troops than their allied forces -- is standing by waiting for the opportunity to deliver the military version of The NPO's Retort against us if we treated you the same way you treat us. There's no shame in being open about that; it's the entire reason the pact benefits your region. The reason I say that TWP hides behind the PPO is because it continues to fight us on an uneven playing field, where you punch us but legions will pour through the door if we punch back. Some "defensive" pact.

Really Koth? You attempt to use those discussions against us, but we went into them with genuine good intentions in the hopes of hearing out what you had to say, and all we ended up with was an earful about how much you don’t like Gio. Really, if your peace talks consist of you insulting the delegate of one of the regions you’re trying to make peace with, and telling us we should assume you’re spying on us, then you probably wouldn’t recognize peace if it told you it could get your condemn back.

How did we sabotage anything? The fact that you didn’t get what you want does not mean anyone sabotaged your attempts.

I believe you actually; I'm convinced that Dilber did indeed come into the discussion with genuine good intentions, and the talks revealed how woefully out of the loop Giovanniland kept his own FA minister. It would be highly inaccurate to pretend like all I did in those talks was insult Gio, but his bungling of our relations was extremely relevant to the conversation and it was important for me to emphasize how much of the rift between our regions was entirely not our fault. I'm sorry, but when you don't relay critical details of your diplomacy with a group to your FA minister and then send him into peace talks with that group, you're going to look ridiculous.

When you came into the conversation as Dilber's replacement, you began wasting my time with petty dogears that you knew we'd never be interested in, like WA agreements and the like. Frankly, looking back on our relations this year, everything started going sideways once the elder statesman had to let go of the wheel. Dilber's inexperienced successors have made great strides with defenders and have eroded relations with raiders, and there's only so much a diplomat can do when trying to negotiate with politicians who don't even want to speak our names in public. You know, in case you had forgotten how strange the PPO announcements sounded when they only vaguely alluded to the Brotherhood as the existential threat that you were forming against.

What? We tried to stand by Osiris until the very end. When we reached that end and Osiris point-blank told us we were being unreasonable for asking the bare minimum as an ally, we simply decided that that relationship would not work anymore. We have engaged in no antagonistic action towards the OFO since, and have no plans to do that moving forward.

You don't get to pull that card when The West Pacific alone decided what "the very end" was between the two regions, and you especially don't get to pretend like strong-arming the OFO into breaking their treaty with their oldest associates was the bare minimum response to a dead-in-the-water operation in a region that had nothing to do with Osiris. Above all else, you absolutely do not get to pretend like you have not antagonized Osiris or intend to do so. Perhaps I should quote you: "Let this be a warning to those who choose BoM over the rest of the world. You shall be struck down like Warzone Asia was."

You want to play the tough guy? Own it. I'm getting sick of looking between two faces of The West Pacific.

That would involve genuine remorse for the continuously antagonistic behavior towards TWP and its allies.

I believe I had sufficient explanation for every issue that Dilber presented us. Practically all antagonistic behavior stemmed from an individual that was expelled from our ranks, acting on their own personal grudge. Why was it that Dilber was surprised to learn that we had tasked that individual with making things right, and had offered a personal, heartfelt apology to Giovanniland, who proceeded to act like it never happened and neglected to communicate that to his FA minister? I hope you will understand if I do not let my thoughts linger too much longer on this individual, I just think it's important to make clear that it is entirely baseless to say that there was no genuine remorse expressed, or attempts to mend the divide.

While I expected some poor reactions to this, I was ultimately not expecting this load of unconvincing drivel, and attempts to drive a wedge into the PPO. Such underwhelming spin attempts are unbecoming of individuals who…wait actually. No, it’s perfectly becoming of BoM.

As far as your finishing zingers go, this one was mediocre. Granted, I now lack the energy to provide one of my own. I wonder if pony blood will do the trick...

EDIT: Minor spelling mistake.

[Malphe II]

What? We tried to stand by Osiris until the very end. When we reached that end and Osiris point-blank told us we were being unreasonable for asking the bare minimum as an ally, we simply decided that that relationship would not work anymore. We have engaged in no antagonistic action towards the OFO since, and have no plans to do that moving forward.

You don't get to pull that card when The West Pacific alone decided what "the very end" was between the two regions, and you especially don't get to pretend like strong-arming the OFO into breaking their treaty with their oldest associates was the bare minimum response to a dead-in-the-water operation in a region that had nothing to do with Osiris. Above all else, you absolutely do not get to pretend like you have not antagonized Osiris or intend to do so. Perhaps I should quote you: "Let this be a warning to those who choose BoM over the rest of the world. You shall be struck down like Warzone Asia was."

Quickly chiming in. While the implications of that statement do perturb me, TWP is essentially correct that they've not antagonized me or any of my government since the closure of relations and the communications we've had since have been cordial.

[Varanius]

Afternoon Souls (I say the day after )! I won’t be addressing the first part of your post, because getting into an argument regarding the specific verbiage used in an op report is silly. And I’m not sure about you, but I have better things to be doing with my time.

I will however be responding to the second half of your post, because it’s a point that’s been brought up numerous times, and it’s worth addressing.

Any respectable region is more than welcome to address their concerns regarding the operation report (if they have any at all). Frankly, all of TWP’s allies and military partners are strong, independent regions Souls. They can speak for themselves. If anyone worth a damn has any concerns regarding our wording, they are free to contact us. I am positive that none of the regions whose relationships you are trying to weaponize have any need for you forum agendaposting. You’re not convincing anyone with this, you just lost. Plain and simple.

It is his earnestly held belief that our genuine attempt to forge a treaty with the United Regions Alliance was a form of threat against The West's allies,

This is, yet again, an inaccurate depiction of the events that occurred. If you continue to insist on spinning our words to try and push your narrative, that is your choice. For those who are unaware, Koth approached Gio in May of this year, stating that if we did not begin working with BoM, they would remove URA regions from their do not raid list. Now however you may feel about whether or not this was justified, this was a threat. This is a statement which quite simply says if TWP does not do what they want, they would attack one of our treaty allies. And might I just say, Koth. You are not owed our diplomacy. The proper response when you are not given it is not to threaten us, it is to move on with life.

Yet, despite my efforts, one hatchet was buried and one was not.

I must have missed this. Were your efforts while you were insulting our delegate? Threatening to raid our treaty allies? Telling us we should assume you’re spying on us? If these are your best efforts, perhaps your orgs would be better off if you simply made no effort at all.

Simply put: the Brotherhood could not possibly retaliate against this insult in kind without the entire weight of the PPO being activated against us, by virtue of its legal framework. TWP knows this, and their pirates along with the North Pacific Army feel entirely comfortable opposing us at every turn. They join every (failed) liberation attempt against us, knowing that Legio Pacifica -- a force that when motivated can field orders of magnitude more troops than their allied forces -- is standing by waiting for the opportunity to deliver the military version of The NPO's Retort against us if we treated you the same way you treat us. There's no shame in being open about that; it's the entire reason the pact benefits your region. The reason I say that TWP hides behind the PPO is because it continues to fight us on an uneven playing field, where you punch us but legions will pour through the door if we punch back. Some "defensive" pact.

Yet another attempt at trying to portray the PPO as anything but an equally beneficial defensive treaty. The only thing the PPO does is protect us and our treaty allies. It’s literally what the treaty says. If you feel as though you’ve been stifled and are now unable to attack our treaty allies, then congratulations. That's the goal of a defensive treaty!

Also, to portray yourselves as innocent here is completely inaccurate. As has been laid out repeatedly now, BoM has done little but antagonize TWP. You’ve constantly insulted our delegate, threatened to raid our allies if we don’t work with you, told us we should assume you’re spying on us, and a few months ago even actually raided one of our treaty allies. This is not the story of innocent old BoM being unfairly gone after by forces they can’t respond to. This is the story of the bug, and the bug spray. The pesticide cares not whether the insect can fight back.

I believe you actually; I'm convinced that Dilber did indeed come into the discussion with genuine good intentions, and the talks revealed how woefully out of the loop Giovanniland kept his own FA minister. It would be highly inaccurate to pretend like all I did in those talks was insult Gio, but his bungling of our relations was extremely relevant to the conversation and it was important for me to emphasize how much of the rift between our regions was entirely not our fault. I'm sorry, but when you don't relay critical details of your diplomacy with a group to your FA minister and then send him into peace talks with that group, you're going to look ridiculous.

Seems your flair for the dramatic doesn’t end with your op reports. The minor communication oversight you are currently massively overblowing has absolutely nothing to do with the matter at hand. After all, Dilber, Gio, and myself were in contact throughout the entire talks, in agreement of our FA vision, unlike what you try to depict. If you’d like peace, you probably shouldn’t be insulting the people you’re trying to achieve peace with. Basic FA 101 Koth.

When you came into the conversation as Dilber's replacement, you began wasting my time with petty dogears that you knew we'd never be interested in, like WA agreements and the like. Frankly, looking back on our relations this year, everything started going sideways once the elder statesman had to let go of the wheel. Dilber's inexperienced successors have made great strides with defenders and have eroded relations with raiders, and there's only so much a diplomat can do when trying to negotiate with politicians who don't even want to speak our names in public.

Oh this is just silly. I’m sorry that you thought the suggestions I made weren’t agreeable to you, but someone interested in peace likely would’ve stated that and sought a different outcome as opposed to ghosting for a week and a half before we finally said something again. Also, TWP gets along wonderfully with most raiders. We work extensively with TBH, and have a literal treaty with LWU! Just like Syl, you fail to comprehend that raiderdom is a faction far more expansive and diverse than your little corner. Though perhaps the funniest aspect of this little section is the idea that TWP magically just fell off when Dilber stepped down. Dilber was one of the best delegates and MoFAs TWP has had in a long time, and I’m proud to have been mentored by him. We are not the same person, we don’t have the same people, and I don’t claim to be anywhere near half his legacy, but I was mentored by him.

I believe I had sufficient explanation for every issue that Dilber presented us. Practically all antagonistic behavior stemmed from an individual that was expelled from our ranks, acting on their own personal grudge. Why was it that Dilber was surprised to learn that we had tasked that individual with making things right, and had offered a personal, heartfelt apology to Giovanniland, who proceeded to act like it never happened and neglected to communicate that to his FA minister? I hope you will understand if I do not let my thoughts linger too much longer on this individual, I just think it's important to make clear that it is entirely baseless to say that there was no genuine remorse expressed, or attempts to mend the divide.

I understand your desire to not discuss that particular unfortunate individual any longer, but I feel the need to address this. She antagonized TWP and we appreciated the apology, but surely you didn’t expect that it would solve the rest of the laundry list of issues, right?

[Malicious Souls]

Afternoon Souls (I say the day after )! I won’t be addressing the first part of your post, because getting into an argument regarding the specific verbiage used in an op report is silly. And I’m not sure about you, but I have better things to be doing with my time.

I will however be responding to the second half of your post, because it’s a point that’s been brought up numerous times, and it’s worth addressing.

Any respectable region is more than welcome to address their concerns regarding the operation report (if they have any at all). Frankly, all of TWP’s allies and military partners are strong, independent regions Souls. They can speak for themselves. If anyone worth a damn has any concerns regarding our wording, they are free to contact us. I am positive that none of the regions whose relationships you are trying to weaponize have any need for you forum agendaposting. You’re not convincing anyone with this, you just lost. Plain and simple.

The "specific verbiage" is critical, actually - you accuse Wz. Asia of deserving to be "struck down" because they "choose BoM over the rest of the world," which is inherently the basis for you issuing your "warning" to all others.

Therefore it's centrally relevant that Wz. Asia merely sought a NAP with BoM, and made no choice "over others," in fact immediately announcing an additional treaty with their peer warzone - and that the only choice made to "pick BoM" in an isolator way was made by TL. Wz. Asia clearly, by their other announcement, remains open to other diplomacy. Wz. Asia did not break prior relations with enemies of BoM. Enemies of BoM decided that instead of remaining equally chosen by Asia, if they were not solely chosen, then they would in turn choose to kick Wz. Asia to the curb.

You can glibly dismiss this part of my post by calling it silly or not worth your time, but the problem is that it's inherently central to the second part. Your characterization of Wz. Asia's "choice," which was clearly changed away from Europeia's phrasing ["anyone who wishes to collaborate with the Brotherhood of Malice"] in style, may only be read the same way in substance: Simply put, the evidence is clear that Wz. Asia made no such "choice" as you accuse them of having made. Or phrased another way, you've hereby defined "reaching out for a simple recognition and NAP treaty, without any military collaboration, and without any other diplomatic change at the time of the raid," as "choosing BoM over the rest of the world." Which, effectively shares the same meaning as Euro's - which itself is partially nonsensical, because Wz. Asia has patently not agreed to collaborate with BoM at least militarily, only recognize it diplomatically and not attack it, and at most, consider cultural exchange.

That's where the logical extension comes in. BoM has stronger treaty allies, actual collaborators, at least one of which TWP has already far more actually accused of "picking BoM over the rest of the world" along side most of the rest of GP, and another of which most of TWP's friends have done the same to even if TWP has not yet. Clearly, these regions meet the standards of your threat far more than Wz. Asia did. It's utterly nonsensical of you to issue a threat that clearly applies to them, then try to pout a "of course not you" this month when shortly prior TWP said they couldn't even associate with them anymore.

Your threat is either so broad that it effectively could extend all the way to fucking TRR (by way of the Lost and Found Accordings being functionally identical to the The Alhambra-Assassin Accords, while official TWP stated policy is that Osiris is so inseparable from BoM that BoM's actions are cause to cut ties with Osiris), much less Osiris itself, or TCB - or it's completely nonsensical, in that you claim it fails to apply to regions with far tighter and more exclusive ties to BoM, while claiming it does apply to a region that negotiated a simple NAP and recognition treaty while at the time maintaining ties with TL, TEP, TP, Spiritus, Caer Sidi, TRR, Iwaku, The Warzone Federation/Europe, and a dozen others besides.

One must conclude that, in the utter absence of actual logic to your threat and who you claim it does and does not apply to, the difference lies more in the fact that admitting to threatening these other regions has more consequences, and actually running roughshod over them would take power you lack, while little Wz. Asia was perfectly sized to your boot heel.

BoM takes threats to our treaty allies seriously. You can hide behind your Pax while slinging shit at me, while claiming we "lost" (lost what? There's no clause to defend Wz. Asia. Wz. Asia considered this possibility going in, and is still our happy treaty ally. We're *certainly* not losing to your forces in Equestria!), but ultimately, the only loss here is the loss of your purported honor, as you blithely take up the same "gunboat diplomacy" or "diplomacy by threat" that you accuse Malice of so angrily - for it is now, quite publicly, you that sits there and says "have no relations at all with people we dislike, or we will threaten to destroy you."

I'm sure TNP and others will condemn that sort of diplomacy just as strongly now. /s

[Venico]

. For those who are unaware, Koth approached Gio in May of this year, stating that if we did not begin working with BoM, they would remove URA regions from their do not raid list. Now however you may feel about whether or not this was justified, this was a threat. This is a statement which quite simply says if TWP does not do what they want, they would attack one of our treaty allies. And might I just say, Koth. You are not owed our diplomacy.

I typically stay away from this stuff, I let my axe on the battlefield do most of my speaking. But as one of the few people who was affecting policy during this time, what you say is a dramatic shift from reality.

All regions are a potential target. That's the foundation for a raider. I'll say it again, all regions are a potential target. To begin with at least. There are a few ways to remove yourself off that list with Malice.

Raider Unity, Maintain a Founder, Sign a Treaty.

If you are a fellow raider, we're brothers in blood. If you do the bare minimum to protect your region such as passwording or maintaining security measures through founders and ROs, well you built your house of brick, congratulations. If you are somehow completely unable to do that, say due to game mechanics, if you're our friend we don't really raid people who have signed a contract with us. We're assassins, contracts are practically holy.

So with that context, when we hit a URA region and it stepped on TWP's toes we did something called a cease fire. A truce. Historically this is used to allow diplomacy to take place so that military actions aren't tanking diplomatic efforts.

Everyone following?

So we told our folks, "Hey cease fire on any URA regions while we try to work with TWP." After awhile when diplomatic talks go nowhere and TWP, or namely Gio here, doesn't talk and also doesn't say he'd like to end talks, after a certain period of time that cease fire has to end. Diplomatic talks don't grant permanent protection that our treaty allies get. So there was no threat, it was a heads up that a cease fire was ending, and if we'd like to reenter diplomatic talks we could arrange another one.

Since the formation of the PPO there has been a concerted effort to play nice with you depsite how low you treat us. Benefit of the doubt you're given and actually earned until this ill thought out operation. You force your treaty allies to deal with fires you're reigniting for pointedly no reason.

You've lost the benefit of the doubt.

[Malicious Souls]

So we told our folks, "Hey cease fire on any URA regions while we try to work with TWP." After awhile when diplomatic talks go nowhere

Tangentially, maybe TWP and a certain friend of theirs would like to chime in about why the parallel attempt to open relations directly between BoM and URA itself went nowhere. Yknow, since they're already publicly embracing the strategy of diplomacy by threat these days.

[Hulldom]

No comment on the above thing. Far be it from us to step into...whatever this is.

So we told our folks, "Hey cease fire on any URA regions while we try to work with TWP." After awhile when diplomatic talks go nowhere

Tangentially, maybe TWP and a certain friend of theirs would like to chime in about why the parallel attempt to open relations directly between BoM and URA itself went nowhere. Yknow, since they're already publicly embracing the strategy of diplomacy by threat these days.

Fun fact: I, nor Ghost, has talked to an official from the URA in about a month or so. Do wish they'd chat at us more, and hope they will soon. But when we do chat with them, we don't talk about their mutual defense. Though of course, if they asked for our input, I imagine we'd be inclined to proffer whatever advice we felt was appropriate to the situation.

Though to be clear: any conversations that might have happened between the URA and TNP on the matter of BoM were certainly not under I or Ghost's tenure in our current offices.

[Lycos]

Tangentially, maybe TWP and a certain friend of theirs would like to chime in about why the parallel attempt to open relations directly between BoM and URA itself went nowhere. Yknow, since they're already publicly embracing the strategy of diplomacy by threat these days.

By this "attempt" are you referring to the time where BoM raided a URA member, pretended it was an accident, and tried to negotiate a NAP in the aftermath, or something else entirely?

[Venico]

Tangentially, maybe TWP and a certain friend of theirs would like to chime in about why the parallel attempt to open relations directly between BoM and URA itself went nowhere. Yknow, since they're already publicly embracing the strategy of diplomacy by threat these days.

By this "attempt" are you referring to the time where BoM raided a URA member, pretended it was an accident, and tried to negotiate a NAP in the aftermath, or something else entirely?

Sometimes I'm genuinely baffled by how much people give us credit for being backroom shadowy manipulators.

So we hit the region, it was planned by Victoria who at this point in time has been expunged from our org, but anyways when it is brought up that it is URA, I literally asked what's the URA.

"Oh it is a WA voting block"

Neat, okay. Why is that relevant?

"TWP has a treaty with them."

Huh okay, well the treaty has no mutual defense clause or anything regarding regional security. Reel back the long term embassies to be nice.

"Well even though the treaty doesn't specify mutual defense, TWP basically sees it that way."

Weeeeell clearly they care a lot about this URA, it'd be nice if that was conveyed more openly but whatever. Tell our troops to avoid URA regions and we'll see if we can get a NAP signed or something. Sure it'll suck to lose a few juicy targets but TWP is worth it.

We made zero asks at the URA talks. We were willing to give blanket protection from our forces to very tempting targets with nothing in return. We didn't care about URA until then. Do you think we wanted to manipulate people into us getting a treaty where we got...nothing?

I made a singular ask and that was the ability for Malice to rescind from the treaty based on admittance of regions to the alliance. Since we were willing to give a NAP to all current members, we wanted to future proof if an undesirable region joined or it became a haven for regions to hide from us.

I assert that the treaty we envisioned, Malice never desired on its own. It was to our detriment. It just would have made our friends TWP happier in the long run.

[The West Pacific Master Dispatch]

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The Western Post - November 2022 Issue

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HEY KATSH THIS! throws a newspaper at your head You should really read this, I promise you won't regret it. This month's issue of The Western Post is out and kontains a speetsh from the Delegate, RP spotlights, Dark and Spooky Advent Kalendars, and, most importantly, an edukational segment on the krimes of the letter C!

Read and be saved!!!

Be sure to tshekk out the new issue here, and don't forget to upvote!

[Reventus Koth]

Oh shit, you accidentally activated one of my many tertiary nerd interests, phonology!

Many linguists hate the English letter "C", and a great number have tried and failed to campaign against its inclusion in the alphabet. The inherent problem with simply erasing C is in figuring out how exactly to replace it, of course. The problem becomes very obvious while reading this issue, right out of the gate even! For example, "March" is replaced with "Martsh", and I think it's fairly obvious that "tsh" is not an exact 1:1 replacement, it's a different phoneme entirely. This continues with words throughout the issue like "speetsh", "tshanges", etc.

The "ch" letter combo in English does a lot of phonetic heavily lifting, covering a wide selection of affricates that actually have entirely different letters in other languages! I became keenly aware of this while studying Croatian, which has the letters c, ć, and č. I'm not exactly a linguist, just someone with a passing interest in this sort of thing, but I at least wanted to throw that out there in case anyone else thought the same thing I did while reading this issue

[Zeorus]

Oh shit, you accidentally activated one of my many tertiary nerd interests, phonology!

Many linguists hate the English letter "C", and a great number have tried and failed to campaign against its inclusion in the alphabet. The inherent problem with simply erasing C is in figuring out how exactly to replace it, of course. The problem becomes very obvious while reading this issue, right out of the gate even! For example, "March" is replaced with "Martsh", and I think it's fairly obvious that "tsh" is not an exact 1:1 replacement, it's a different phoneme entirely. This continues with words throughout the issue like "speetsh", "tshanges", etc.

The "ch" letter combo in English does a lot of phonetic heavily lifting, covering a wide selection of affricates that actually have entirely different letters in other languages! I became keenly aware of this while studying Croatian, which has the letters c, ć, and č. I'm not exactly a linguist, just someone with a passing interest in this sort of thing, but I at least wanted to throw that out there in case anyone else thought the same thing I did while reading this issue

[Astarial loved that.]

[Fujai]

The "ch" letter combo in English does a lot of phonetic heavily lifting, covering a wide selection of affricates that actually have entirely different letters in other languages! I became keenly aware of this while studying Croatian, which has the letters c, ć, and č. I'm not exactly a linguist, just someone with a passing interest in this sort of thing, but I at least wanted to throw that out there in case anyone else thought the same thing I did while reading this issue

Insidentally, Zoran and I diskussed this subjekt in our spesial In The Mines episode! We toutshed on Norwegian using "tj" and "kj" for similar sounds, as well as Serbo-Kroatian and their diakritiks, as Teralyon is a native speaker! It's not at all a perfekt system, of kourse, but it's meant to be fun, not perfekt

[The North Polish Union]

The "ch" letter combo in English does a lot of phonetic heavily lifting, covering a wide selection of affricates that actually have entirely different letters in other languages! I became keenly aware of this while studying Croatian, which has the letters c, ć, and č. I'm not exactly a linguist, just someone with a passing interest in this sort of thing, but I at least wanted to throw that out there in case anyone else thought the same thing I did while reading this issue

Insidentally, Zoran and I diskussed this subjekt in our spesial In The Mines episode! We toutshed on Norwegian using "tj" and "kj" for similar sounds, as well as Serbo-Kroatian and their diakritiks, as Teralyon is a native speaker! It's not at all a perfekt system, of kourse, but it's meant to be fun, not perfekt

Ęglysz łód bi izijer if it juzd ej totali nu speliń sistem.