MTW2 Multiplayer Campaign Diplomacy thread.

[_Tristan_]

At last... Happened sooner than expected...


This game felt like


Goodbye

[Askthepizzaguy]

The Danish ambassador bursts back into the hall

I DEMAND TO KNOW WHY POLISH SPIES HAVE INFILTRATED MY CAPITAL!

As I have stated to all before this assembly, agents inside my homelands are considered an act of war, especially when they are KNOWN SPIES!

You were warned! Even after I pledged not to go to war with you for claiming Russia for yourself when I clearly had designs on conquering it. All of these actions, plus now your spies inside our lands, prove you to be a most untrustworthy ally.

It is only because of our former friendship that I do not declare war on you right now. But I expect you to offer us reparations for these acts of unkindness. Otherwise this alliance will dissolve, and I will not be the one responsible for it.

You may claim that your spy was only just inside my border, but it had no business being so far to the north and west anyway. Were you spying on the Holy Roman Empire too? No matter WHAT your reasons, you are clearly the aggressor here! Remove ALL AGENTS from Danish lands, or this alliance will dissolve.

All you had to do was just leave us alone and we would have disbanded our armies and declared neutrality and pacifism, as King Knud II had planned all along after Russia crumbled.

I also wish to DECLARE to the Holy Roman Empire that I do have an agent passing from Stettin to Arhus. There is no Danish territory in between, so unfortunately this is necessary. However, unlike our Polish friends, WE are up front and honest about why this agent has moved through Roman lands, and it will be completely through next turn. Also, we wish to offer you an alliance.

[Ramses II CP]

King Wladyslaw wishes to issue his most heartfelt apologies, Polish agents have been guarding German lands (And formerly guarded Danish lands as well) for many years now and evidently in the confusion of last year one of them strayed over the border south of Arhus. The man has been chastised harshly and is in the process of being recalled to Poland.

The Emperor of the Reich is, of course, well aware of the placement of my agents in his lands and indeed gets regular intelligence reports from them. They will be present only as long as he wishes, and will be withdrawn as quickly as possible on request.

Unfortunately there are no funds to pay any sort of reparations, nor will there be any in the near future. If this misunderstanding results in war, then so be it, but we assure you there isn't a single other Polish agent in Danish territory, nor has there been, since your previous King went to war with Scotland.

On a similar note, King Wladyslaw wishes to publically remind King Roger of Sicily that his merchants are no longer welcome in Polish lands, and the two near Edessa should be withdrawn. While you're doing that, withdraw the spy that was fomenting trouble in the city of Edessa as well; he now camps about three 'miles' west of the city. (As I'm sure you know there's a Polish assassin there, but using him would risk ending the alliance. If I end up taking the chance and assassinating anything I'll send you a pm.)

[Askthepizzaguy]

King Knud II accepts your apology, in spite of everything that has happened between us. However, I wish that everyone in the council please be advised our forces are on alert and mobilized. Any further transgressions, by anyone, will result in war to defend our borders.

I will not betray an alliance pact over something so trivial and declare war, but I would dissolve the alliance at the next transgression and declare neutrality with Poland.

I must admit I am quite nervous as my position is surrounded by Poland, preventing any movement in that direction, and a new leader of Scotland with whom I have no diplomatic contact, and the HRE who has been terrifyingly silent towards me.

[Csargo]

The Emperor feels no ill-will towards the Danish people and wishes only good relations between himself and the new King. Though the diplomatic offer you suggested was an insult. We did not accept, but made a counter-offer which seemed extremely generous given the circumstances.

As well we have made an offer to the Scottish King, and we eagerly await his reply on the offer.

[FactionHeir]

King Simon reminds King Wladylaw that King Roger has been buried 6 years ago. *pauses*

And those merchants are on their way to Baghdad, it just happens that the trade route runs through Edessa.

[Ramses II CP]

Baghdad also stands under my territorial claims, though for the moment the Turks are still holding the city. Can I presume that once I capture Baghdad the merchants will turn around?

[FactionHeir]

We have a trade agreement with the Turks to allow us trade at Baghdad. I would like to hope that in your wisdom you will not interfere with our trade there as you already have claim to Edessa and Nicaea, which are the richer lands.

[Ramses II CP]

(OOC: Frankly the Turks only still exist because I got skipped on the previous turn and had to keep a spy at Mosul this turn. I'll cap them off next year or the one after and we'll reopen the discussion. )

[Askthepizzaguy]

Knud II's emissary stands

It is with great joy that I have the pleasure of announcing my alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and Scotland, as well as my continued alliance with Poland.

I trust that I can count on my allies to assist me if I am attacked?

We are persuing a peaceful philosophy which will remain intact unless someone launches an offensive against us or violates our borders. Since we have kept our word to all nations, I hope they will do the same.

We also wish to announce the demilitarization of Arhus, so that our southern neighbor will not feel threatened by our armies. The Castle of Stettin is also similarly demilitarized. With these measures, I hope to see that peace will last forever between our great peoples.

I ask that other nations respect our territory and our territorial waters. Please make no provocative movements near or within our territory, or if passage is needed, please ask permission. Since territorial domination is no longer a viable option for us, we are seeking to be vassals of greater empires, and that we might find protection from them in exchange for monetary gifts.

Peace be with you, followers of Christ!

Also, once our royal treasury begins to grow, we wish to offer war loans to our allies if they should ever seek to expand their territory. Repayment and interest will be most reasonable. When the rumoured great hordes of the east come, we wish to join our fellow Catholics on a Holy Crusade, and we also wish to extend war loans for such an endeavor.

The great people of the North have attained the peace they have sought for so long.

[FactionHeir]

King Simon is most concerned that a Polish assassin would spill the blood of a fellow catholic ally. This act of violence will have consequences.

[Ramses II CP]

Which Polish assassin was this? What precisely do I stand accused of doing?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Which Polish assassin was this? What precisely do I stand accused of doing?

Oh don't play "innocent" with me! You know exactly what you've done and there WILL be consequences!



errr... I mean...

Yeah, factionheir, so like... whats the deal here? Which polish assassin?

[Ramses II CP]

Facing such a serious and quite absurd accusation from one of my allies, though it has yet to be backed up by anything meaningful, I have briefly reviewed last season's actions and I can confirm that a Sicilian merchant lost his business to one of my merchants. Small recompense (And luck; you were about to wipe him out anyway so I let him roll the dice) for the half dozen Polish merchants your men have taken over in recent years.

The assassin in that region, and there is a Polish assassin there, is solely present to track your own Sicilian spy, who, need I remind you, was kicked out of Edessa just a few years ago after attempting to foment rebellion. It would be inadvisible to threaten Poland and her allies further.

King Wladyslaw

OOC: As I have privately and publically informed everyone in the game, if I assassinate one of your agents I will send you a PM. Tristan and FH are the only people to have gotten those PMs, and FH only after he tacitly gave his blessing to the act about 8 turns ago near Nicaea.

[FactionHeir]

Ah ok. Usually you get a message when your merchants are acquired I thought. Maybe not in hotseat.

[Ramses II CP]

All OOC: Those messages definitely don't always show up. I've begun to suspect, after playing several different spots in the order in hotseats, that the earlier you are after the turn of the year the more likely you are to get a message. As Egypt in the GHC I don't think I've had a single one of them show up, not when my faction leader died, when I lost settlements, went to war, gained traits etc, etc. When I was testing for the BC hotseat the ERE seemed to get them all the time, and they were the first in order. In the actual BC hotseat we've had quite a lot of diplomatic offers not show up across turns.

I remember seeing some message scrolls when I had to load Tristan's save for this hotseat as well.

The ones about choosing which ally to side with don't even always work, as in this hotseat France, my ally, declared war on and eventually wiped out two of my AI allies early on and I never even had the option to break things off, but then when he went to war with Hungary I got the scroll to pick a side. There are some obvious guesses we could make about what breaks the system, but I don't know how reliably they could be tested.

[FactionHeir]

Any further attempts by Poland to sabotage Sicilian interests will be seen as a declaration of war.
We have endured your terror at Riga and in the Middle East long enough.

[Ramses II CP]

Remove your spies from my settlements and those of my allies before you threaten me over my paltry few at recently taken Riga. One of yours was just removed from Thessalonica, and I am aware of two more in Hungarian lands. An attack on Hungary is an attack on Poland, our two families have been linked by a marriage alliance for many long years.

As to merchants in Polish territory, they are subject to Polish justice. If you wish your men to be safe, remove them from my lands as I have repeatedly asked and, when ignored, demanded that you do and keep them from attempting to destroy my own merchants. Do not pretend this is a momentary conflict that I started, you have repeatedly and flagrantly ignored polite requests and have suffered the consequences. If you intend to act aggressively against me for returning the favors you, as my 'ally,' have inflicted first on me then I will be forced to defend myself, and call my allies to my defense as well.

[Askthepizzaguy]

The Danish King wishes to announce that he sides with Poland in this dispute.

The Sicilian King refuses to respect the lands of his allies. I consider the agreements we have signed with them to be worthless. I have seen his agents and his assassins repeatedly, and instead of openly challenging his foes, he is attempting to wipe us all out using his unseen forces.

Our friendship with Sicily is at an end. If any agents come NEAR our lands or those of the HRE, Scotland, or Poland, I will send my assassins to eliminate them. If their forces trespass onto any of my ally's lands, I will declare war.

[Csargo]

I have noticed a few of my merchants that have disappeared from MY territory and now have Sicilian merchants in their place. Also, I had one of your spies kicked out of one of my northern Italian cities not long ago. I would also like you to remove your troops that have been sitting in my territory near Vienna for quite a while.

[FactionHeir]

Remove your spies from my settlements and those of my allies before you threaten me over my paltry few at recently taken Riga. One of yours was just removed from Thessalonica, and I am aware of two more in Hungarian lands. An attack on Hungary is an attack on Poland, our two families have been linked by a marriage alliance for many long years.

As to merchants in Polish territory, they are subject to Polish justice. If you wish your men to be safe, remove them from my lands as I have repeatedly asked and, when ignored, demanded that you do and keep them from attempting to destroy my own merchants. Do not pretend this is a momentary conflict that I started, you have repeatedly and flagrantly ignored polite requests and have suffered the consequences. If you intend to act aggressively against me for returning the favors you, as my 'ally,' have inflicted first on me then I will be forced to defend myself, and call my allies to my defense as well.

I would remove my spies from your settlements if you would remove yours from my French holdings and island holdings. Do you truly believe I did not notice those?

And I do not know what you mean by spies in Hungarian lands. It is a fact that we do not have spies there.

Regarding merchants, mine have not attacked yours for many years and are only trading resources that you are not trading and yet you attack them wantonly. This is unacceptable to us.


And I would remind The Roman King that the spies in question have started moving to our French holdings rather than stay in your cities. Their direction of movement should be indicative of this. The last time our merchants bartered with yours was more than 10 years ago. As for the army near Vienna, maybe you should realize that those were your men who deserted and we have paid quite a sum to secure back their service and the safety of your lands. Maybe next time we should just leave thsoe rebels sitting on your lands instead?


Denmark, I have no business with you and nowhere is any agent or army of mine near your lands. So watch your tongue before you accuse us.

[Ramses II CP]

There have been no Polish spies in French settlements for about six years (Three turns). Spies were moved into those settlements to repay you for the disorder caused at Edessa by your own spy, who moved into that settlement undetected and unprovoked. Similarly your failure to remove your spy at Thessalonica has resulted in being paid back in kind. In fact my every act has been recompense for your underhanded acts, but that need not continue to be the case. I am content to seek peace and keep order in the known world.

I would also be happy to have one of our mutual allies verify any of my claims and anything else I say here.

Your spy at Corinth, which is Hungarian, was still there two years ago, but I did not go aside to verify his position this year. I'll check again soon and bring the data before this council.

It is also a fact, however, that you have an army west of the Hungarian capital, deep in German lands. It is of far less concern to me where it came from than where it is going.

It should also be pointed out that small rebel forces can be quite useful to have around, and there are at least three tolerated rebel armies inside Poland. If one of them should be bribed to raise a flag for some nation or the other I would see little reason to treat them differently than before they took up that flag.

[Csargo]

And I would remind The Roman King that the spies in question have started moving to our French holdings rather than stay in your cities. Their direction of movement should be indicative of this. The last time our merchants bartered with yours was more than 10 years ago. As for the army near Vienna, maybe you should realize that those were your men who deserted and we have paid quite a sum to secure back their service and the safety of your lands. Maybe next time we should just leave thsoe rebels sitting on your lands instead?

Why were they there in the first place? I don't remember giving you permission to station them in my cities. I don't care about them moving through my lands though, that is fine.

Well, they were my merchants sitting on resources in my lands. I don't see what gives you the right to seize their assets. I don't mind you sending merchants into my lands and them trading resources, but I will not tolerate them putting my merchants out of business.

I did not realize that was the case. I thank you for your kindness then.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Truly, I have not detected Sicilian agents IN my lands, but I've detected them in the lands of my allies.

If I were you I'd do more than watch my tongue, I would recall those agents before blood is spilt. You may not fear Danish arms, but we have wealth which we will gladly impart unto our formidible allies.

You speak as if you were a tyrant already in possession of our lands and we had pledged fealty to you. Continue this disrespect and we will see who pledges fealty to whom.

[Ramses II CP]

I have secured evidence to prove the King of Sicily's untruth regarding his spies being in Hungarian territory. It's particuarly amusing to note that the agent in question, at Corinth, is named Roger de Sicily. I will present that evidence momentarily, once the technical hurdles are overcome.

Anyone who wishes to verify the information for themselves can ask me how immediately of course and I'll reply as soon as possible.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I tire of Sicily's treachery. I will formally dissolve any and all ties with this nation as soon as possible.

My spies inform me of a particularly devastating stack of troops directly west of the core provinces of the Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor be warned.

[Ramses II CP]

The is the man in question (You will note the position of a Polish spy to the north, well within the borders of my province of Thessalonica):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OOC: On a much funnier note this is what my first family member to mature looks like:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Fortunately two daughters matured this year as well, so I can hope to marry them off to better fodder.

[FactionHeir]

OOC: To be honest I actually forgot I had had spy there I thought I had moved them all north by now, guess I missed one.

Btw, my initial King's son matured as well and is looking for a bride, but with the human tensions it doesn't exactly look likely huh?

[FactionHeir]

It is not without surprise that We announce that the Kingdom of Hungary has declared war on the Sicilian Empire.
As We speak, a large host lays siege to Durazzo, which has been Our holding since the beginning of Our glorious rise.

As We are gracious, We shall not attack the Hungarians unless they decide in their folly to storm the walls and take the city. In that event, the Sicilian Empire sees no other way than to erase the Hungarians from His face as We have done this year with the Egyptians.

For now, We seek passage through our allies' lands to ready Our men in event the unthinkable should occur, though We do not truly wish to spill blood, yet We shall if pressed.



Emissaries have been sent to Our neighbors regarding this matter and other.

[Ramses II CP]

I am horrified by this act of Hungarian aggression against a fellow Catholic. My family has been blood allied to the royal line of Hungary for decades and this is a shocking betrayal of the beliefs of Poland. Regrettably my agents in Hungary have noted with frustration the sudden and unexpected deaths of many Hungarian nobles of late, including two Kings. Perhaps the latest King is over rash, or perhaps he is lashing out against an enemy he cannot truly defeat in the field.

I have seen very reliably evidence of the truth of the Sicilian's claim to have withdrawn his agents from Hungary, so I will make absolutely no claims as to responsibility for these accidents, but I do wish to note their occurence in these chambers.

Let it be known that, marriage alliance or no, if the Hungarians cannot be made to see sense and withdraw their forces King Wladyslaw will disband all Polish treaties with them and fully support his ally the Sicilians. No matter what I suspect the nation of Sicily of with regard to the war of agents their people have ever officially been at peace with fellow Catholics and that is of great importance to Poland.



OOC: Good grief, I hate the AI. I wonder if he attacked me too?