[Spoilers] Peace and Purity - Einion Logos of the Elohim

[Mist]

S22

[Mist]

Well, well, well. Someone's gotten scared. That's the first communication from Heisenberg since how long? And so full of denials...

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Hi Mist,

I'm afraid I haven't had the opportunity to greet you earlier since you stepped in for WK. My apologies over the gameplay delays that I had caused over the past few days--I'm currently on a working trip overseas so my access to the game has been somewhat limited.

I am naturally distressed by your stack of units standing right next to my border this turn. I do recall having negotiated a NAP with WK some turns ago until t170. The diplomatic exchange below details what we had discussed.

I had heard from Nyktorion and Mardoc earlier, about accusations about the sinking of one of your ships by a Privateer, which WK had claimed to be mine. I am however, unaware of such an incident being perpetuated by one of my ships--my privateers are solely for self-defence purposes against Thoth's Cultists which had invaded my lands much earlier. Nyktorion and I had been updating each other with the locations of our privateers every time we moved them, and neither of us had seen lone privateers sinking ships (which Mardoc said should have been the case), our privateers moving in pairs outside our ports. If the sinking of a ship is the cause of war between us, then I would certainly like to have full details of the event--since what I've heard so far has been second-hand information from Nyktorion and Mardoc.

Naturally, as I have indicated to WK since I had taken over from Irgy, the Sheaim has no hostile intentions against the Elohim. WK had indicated in the diplomatic exchanges (to follow in the next email) within the "anti-Thoth alliance thread" that he would be working with the others against Thoth, to make a definite move once our respective NAPs end with Thoth.

Nyktorion is under attack by Thoth at the moment as we all know, and Mardoc's NAP with Thoth ends at t170, and yours has ended at t160. Can we understand from the position of your military troops that you do not intend to follow through on WK's commitment to war on Thoth? And if possible, could you indicate if you consider WK's current NAP with me to end at t170 binding?

Nyktorion, Mardoc and I would hope that you could clarify where the Elohim stands with respect to prior diplomatic agreements.

Attached are the diplomatic agreements we have had with WK for your reference. Perhaps Nyktorion and Mardoc would also like to forward their exchanges to Mist so he could have a complete picture of the diplomatic agreements WK has had with the 3 of us?

Best Regards,
Heisenberg[/COLOR]

Unfortunately for him ( or us, there is after all small chance he's innocent and we're wrong ) I figured out a way to identify the culprit without a shadow of doubt and any new scouting data from past saves.

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Hi Mardoc,

I figured out how to check who sunk our caravel without getting any
extra scouting info from past saves.

Our ship ended the turn 156 S-SE from Vargstad, *within the sight
range of your Caravel*. Turn order for people relevant to the problem
is

t156 Us ( caravel exists ) -> Heisenberg -> You -> Thoth -> t157 Us (
caravel sunk )

Therefore if Heisenberg is not guilty, you can load t156 again, and
you should see our ship happily afloat S-SE of Vargstad. I'd
appreciate a screenshot of said ship in this case. On receipt of said
screenshot I'll honour the NAP with Sheaim, turn the army around and
go after Thoth right now.

On the other hand, if you can't see our ship, it's pretty obvious who
sunk it. I'm declaring war starting t165 and commiting against Thoth
after Sheaim affair ends, though no later than start of t176. It
should also give both you and Nyktorion enough food for thought to
re-evaluate all existing deals with Heisenberg.

Mist[/COLOR]

This should be pretty conclusive, don't you think?

[WarriorKnight]

I see you've been doing a good job so far, especially diplomatically. Keep it up.

Valin popped the dungeon and got mutated. It made him Sentry 1, Blitz (!) and Fire Resistant. Not bad for a mutation.

Blitz Valin? Fire Resistance could be useful too. Maybe it's worth giving him Commando, if there's enough promotions available. (only needs 2 more I think?)

I'm thinking on how to promote Corindale. Not sure yet - Life 3 for resurrection? Entropy 3 for Wither? Metamagic 3 for Djin ? Mind 3 for Domination ? Or up the Combat line to raise cap of Snowfall?

I was thinking Metamagic since another Dispel user could be useful for node switching, plus the metamagic promo's give a boost to spell damage like Combat. Ressurection is useless on Corlindale (although might be useful on someone else), Wither is outclassed by Snowfall and Domination on a hero is probably too risky compared to Snowfall.

I have admit this is not exactly precise. According to WK as documented way earlier in the thread there was an agreement to share Ice mana in exchange for allowing Irgy to settle Letuum. Terms were never spelled out either here or to me privately later. It should be safe to assume though that unilateral cancellation of Ice mana trade with no word of explanation or warning goes against any such deal.

Hmmm, let me find the exact agreement.

...

OK, here's what when we first brought it up:

[COLOR="Purple"]The first I plan to settle in the vicinity of Letum Frigis (EEEN of it to be
precise). There are some flood plains and wheat over there which make a better
site than anywhere else currently available. And of course I'm obviously
interested in Letum itself. Rather than dispute the site between us, I have a
proposal that we simply share it. The ice mana provides no passive benefit,
and doesn't even support a tower, so just the occasional loan to train some
adepts will be sufficient for us to both reap its benefits.[/COLOR]

If your willing to share the ice mana, then I have no problems with you settling near Letum Frigus. The land between my capital and Letum Frigus is rather poor and the ice mana is the only reason I would want to settle the area. I'd like us to make a more specific agreement regarding the ice mana though. (probably via chat, it's a lot easier to sort out agreements there)

Glad to hear that, and happy to arrange something more formal and specific.

Unfortunately we never got around to making a specific agreement. And when informing Heisenburg:

As part of the border agreement, we have agreed to share the Ice mana inside Letum Frigus between the two of us, which you currently control. I will want to borrow it at some point before T160 though.

So while we never really got around to writing something specific, I'd agree with you that canceling the loan without word is not exactly sharing.

Also note the Nightwatch. Was Gibbon built yet? Or is it Mardoc's?

Nah, that's the free Nightwatch from Deception. Everyone else including Heiusenburg has Deception and so everyone else has a Nightwatch.

As far as he's (Thoth) concerned we have had a NAP to 210 and are about to hit someone else anyhow.

AFAIK The one I signed with Thoth lasts until EoT195, although you might have extended that. BTW nyktorion's lasts until T190.

Barbarians created a big monkey. Guess where.

If we got Animal Mastery and Subdue Beast we could capture it. Sadly Subdue beast has 4 pre-req promo's and probably isn't worth detouring for. Just another discraction then.

[Selrahc]

Gurid and Margalard are both animals, not beasts.

[WarriorKnight]

Gurid and Margalard are both animals, not beasts.

Nah, they're both beasts. If they were animals though, it would definitely be worth trying to promote a Ranger to Subdue animal to capture it.

[Selrahc]

Nah, they're both beasts. If they were animals though, it would definitely be worth trying to promote a Ranger to Subdue animal to capture it.

Oh. Sorry. Must have misremembered. Gurid is a really fun unit to command. Banana affinity is a fairly jokey sounding ability, but it can really make him very powerful on some maps. Beyond the base strength 22 monster he already is at any rate...

[Bobchillingworth]

Dominate him!

[WarriorKnight]

Dominate him!

I guess that's another way to do it. And it's actually feasible for us.

I think Corlindale will be busy down south in the near future though. Plus Margalard could go invade Thoth and get himself killed before we can get Corlindale up there. If that's not the case, then Dominate should be the next thing Corlindale promotes to.

[Ravus Sol]

If the monkey is running on Animal AI doesn't that mean he is stuck and can't enter anyone's culteral border?

[Mist]

Neither of the big monkeys are running Animal AI. Both are able and willing to enter borders and burn cities.

Anyhow, got a reply from Mardoc.

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I did eventually manage to check this, and I do not see your caravel
on T156. If it was where you say it was, then your conclusion may be
correct.

I still think that Thoth is the better target, first, anyway, so as to
prevent him from taking us each on individually. And, aside from a
bit more worry about the security of my NAP with Heisenberg, I don't
see how this changes my diplomatic obligations. I don't believe that
anything I signed was dependent on Heisenberg being innocent, merely
on him being in possession of Ice mana.

I will be more careful in what I sign in future, though. Assuming he
has a future, and assuming I have one too. Thoth may make all of this
irrelevant.

- Mardoc[/COLOR]

I believe this makes the Privateer affair crystal clear. NAP is void. We're going in.