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Dominae
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There is no way we wipe them out before they hook up Iron. Actually, there is no way we're not going to be fighting Immortals if a war breaks out. I would go so far as to say there is no way we're getting rid of Vox until the Middle ages. The map geography favors them that much.
Even with Writing, Vox would be silly to give us Comms to the other civ, no matter how sweet we make the deal.
We can defend our lands easily enough, let us concentrate on that for the time being (and cross our fingers for a peaceful settlement).
Dominae
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nbarclay
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Huntsville, Alabama
Dec 1999
time: 23:24
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In case ManicStarSeed doesn't show up in time, here's a message we might send to Vox with our trade proposal. I'm deliberately informing them of our conflict about what to do so they'll know that refusing to trade us Bronze Working and Iron Working is likely not to keep us from getting them in the near future; that could be taken out if the rest of the team disagrees with letting them know. I apologize for stepping on any ambassadorial toes, but I'm afraid of what could happen if no one gets around to writing the message.
quote:
Greetings People of Vox Controli,
ManicStarSeed is once again out of his office at an important time, so the task of drafting a diplomatic message once again falls to me. In any case, the matter before me today is most definitely an economic one.
It occurs to me that in the heat of our concern over the exploration situation, we failed to reciprocate regarding contact information. I apologize most humbly for that oversight. As of this time, we have not been as fortunate as you in our attempts to contact other nations, and yours are the only people we have had the fortune of meeting.
In the interest of mutual prosperity, we would like to propose an exchange of knowledge. We know that you have knowledge of the working of bronze, and assume that you have been working hard to gain knowledge of how to work iron as well. It will probably not surprise you to learn that the knowledge of wheels has been a major priority in our lands. We now face a dispute in which many of our people want to develop an alphabet in order to learn how to write, but others have a misguided fear that you might use your knowledge of bronze and iron in order to attack us and feel a need to gain the same knowledge so that we could better defend ourselves.
Wisdom dictates that the two of us should not waste time duplicating our research. There are almost certainly other peoples elsewhere in the world, and if they cooperate and we do not, the situation when we and they meet could be quite unpleasant. Rather than waste time on a duplication of effort, it occurs to us that if we could arrange to obtain the defensive knowledge we need from you, we could satisfy the paranoid among us without jeopardizing our efforts toward more peaceful pursuits.
Toward that end, we would like to propose a two-stage exchange of knowledge. In the first stage, we would exchange our knowledge of wheels for your knowledge of bronze. In the second, you would agree that once we finish developing our alphabet, you will exchange your knowledge of iron for our knowledge of it. (We assure you that the alphabet will be developed with your language in mind as much as ours.) When those two stages are put together, we feel that the research effort on each side will be equal. But as a sign of trust and friendship, we are offering the more difficult knowledge in the first phase, and are offering the agreement even knowing that you will likely be able to profit from selling or trading the knowledge to the other nation you have made contact with.
By the way, I might note that some underling held up our last messanger for a long while before allowing him in to see Ambassador BetaHound. We would really appreciate it if you would give instructions to allow our emissaries to deliver their messages more quickly. [In non-roleplay terms, it woud be useful if he'd turn automatic notification of new PMs on.] It is most frustrating for our messangers when they know that your ambassador is in his office but are not permitted to deliver an important message to him. Worse, there is a risk that an important opportunity may be lost simply because a message does not arrive in time.
Sincerely,
The People of Gathering Storm
Nathan Barclay, Chief Economist
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nbarclay
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Huntsville, Alabama
Dec 1999
time: 23:24
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Here's my proposed response:
quote:
Greetings BetaHound and Vox Controli,
I did not mean to cause offense in my earlier message (and please keep in mind that I am an economist and not a diplomat by profession) but rather to make sure you recognized the seriousness of our concerns. Imagine yourselves in our position. A nation just told you that they respected your right to explore, and hoped that you would respect theirs. Then, when your explorers actually attempted to explore their side of the continent, they found their path blocked by a unit fortified in such a way that no one could pass. Would not your first impression be that their claim to respect your right to explore was, or at least had the appearance of being, deceptive and hypocritical? And if they did not prove trustworthy when claiming to respect your right to explore, would that not cause you to question, at least a little, how trustworthy they were regarding other matters? Can you honestly say that your reaction would have been so very different from ours (except, perhaps, in how skilled your diplomats would have been in expressing your concerns)?
As we said in our earlier message, we hoped (as we still hope) that these concerns are unwarranted. But they do still exist. Search as we may, we can find no truly honorable basis for you to continue your explorations south toward us while blocking us from further exploration in your direction (although if you have an explanation that has somehow eluded us, we would love to hear it).
Nonetheless, as time passed, we decided that our desire for a peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship with your people outweighed those concerns. Hence, we set them aside in order to propose a trade that would benefit us both. That does not mean that tensions over the earlier issue have abated completely, but merely that more important matters are at stake. And we have chosen not to let an annoyance (especially one that we still hope can be resolved) get in the way of those weightier matters. Our desire is for mutual prosperity so that when our nations meet the more distant nations that legend says exist, we and not they will have the advantage.
Sincerely,
The People of Gathering Storm
Nathan Barclay, Chief Economist
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Edit: added a point about their unit's being fortified.
Last edited by nbarclay on 09-01-2003 at 01:05
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05-01-2003 23:59
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