Spheres of Influence: Alliance

Ovis suddenly plummets from above. He didn't not fell from the sky, but from a long jump which very likely started on the the other side of the room. He arrived smack dab in the middle of the restrained-ish clansmen.

"Olright! What is all this then? Why is there a fight, outside the Fight Room? Don't act like dingowls, diplomat friends!". His face is not as jovial as it is used to be. "Could someone explain to me what is going on?"

Geród tried to pull Malcolm back along with the aides. This was going exactly the wrong way it could have by literally everybody's reckoning. He tried to explain to captain Ovis but was constantly interrupted by trying to prevent the Scotsmen from killing eachother on alliance grounds.

"Lets herd them into the Fight Room, put some trainer punch mittens on them, perhaps..." yells Ovis, trying to restrain Duncan.

"Can we bloody well not!?" Geród said in response to Ovis.

Chief Secretary Capra, with the grace of a secret service member jumping in the path of a bullet aimed at the president, appeared on the scene, with various members of the security ranger team, told Ovis that this is not appropriate, while also furtively apologizing to Geród about Ovis's unshakeable Zmon-ian habits. His face is one of pure desperation.

Well. He'd try to be subtle about it, maybe this would help distract from the situation, maybe it'd make things worse, he didn't really care because he had his priorities to think about rather than their political machinations.

Exiro rapped his cane on the ground, just to make a sharper little noise over the yelling, and then spoke up his self, mostly to those not directly involved in this mess because no point talking to someone who isn't listening. "The alliance is under attack! The forces of the bugs are swarming at the Bronze Pass and Kor Vurneus calls upon the responsibilities of this Alliance to defend itself."

Durgana stopped what she was doing and looked to Exiro.

"Well, you're in luck!" Durgana shouted to him. "The Army of Reclamation, right now, is in the process of taking Khuln Vervulhra. Once it's done there, it'll rush to the Bronze Pass to aid you in the defense of the Alliance. The bugs won't know what hit them. Just need to write a letter to my husband."

She went off for a second to do just that, sending it off to Thedrin with great haste before returning.

"Alright ENOUGH!" Geród bellowed, now thoroughly standing between Malcolm and Duncan. "I apologise for my insults and threats, but thats only because I do not want to see further suffering among my neighbours! I neither wish to see Gundarth or any of my allies broken up further, but neither do I want to see Inis Lorel crushed and Gundarthian blood staining the waters of the Inner Sea. I would have you reconcile that Gundarth may be whole and at peace once more but I see that right now, that is too much to ask of either of you with tempers in the air and blood on the floor."

"But you have heard the Cregit, the bugs are attacking the Bronze Pass, the Alliance's purpose is called forth once more and there are none who doubt the dedication and voluntary bravery of Gundarthian clansmen who have always answered the call and regularly patrol and defend our borders. So I ask you this, will you both march forth with the rest of us to the Bronze pass? If it ease's both of you, I will order my navy to guard your waters so neither Inis Lorel nor the mainland of Gundarth will be in threat from the other while we are at war and I ask all the leaders here to neither interfere nor hamper in the matter until the bugs are dealt with." He calmed his voice as he took a breath. "I myself will march with Tiranóg's army to the pass, will you march with us and leave this matter to be settled afterwards or will we stay here and fight amongst ourselves while the end of the world hammers away at the doors to civilization?"

Malcolm didn't need much pulling from his men to get away from Duncan, as it seemed he wasn't trying to do more than defend himself from Duncan's attack. "If we have assurances that the rebels will not attempt to move while this is occurring, we will gladly call the clans and march to battle. Some of them, I suspect," he continued, glaring daggers at Duncan, "will not honour their oaths to the king, but hopefully they have enough shreds of honour left to fight anyway."

Duncan had only momentarily struggled against the people trying to restrain him. He had stopped long before Geród was done talking, only to be beaten to the reply by Malcolm. This only seemed to anger him further. "Oh no you don't!" he said. "You're just gonna send the highlanders, and they only call banners for the Alliance anyway! We aren't abandoning our defenses! You're just gonna sweep in while we're gone, no matter what the royal boyo there says!"

Malcolm ignored Duncan's jibes, turning to the Geród. "I trust that the Tiranóg navy will be more than willing to safeguard our province of Innis Lorel and prevent any underhanded tricks on the part of the rebels? We wouldn't want them sneaking onto the mainland aboard fishing boats and trade ships to stir up dissent and violence. Perhaps, if you would, it would be best to instate a full blockade on all shipping to and from the island? Just to be safe?"

Duncan continued to fume, and at this point decided to storm out of the CUBE. So much for his big diplomatic showing.

"I will do so." Geród said, looking sadly as Duncan left the Cube. "I'll have all ships going to and fro between the island and Gundarth sent back to their ports for the duration of the campaign at Bronze pass, but will not interdict trade from the rest of the alliance to either so no one is going to starve. I'll also ship grain to to both to make up for interrupted fishing spoils."

Ovis sighs. "Roight. I suppose today's session is over now. I do think we should conclude today's official pleasanterriers. The mood is sour, and not to mention, I am sure you all should write a mail home about this bug attack.

Tomorrow, we can hold the Council itself! We shall make history tomorrow!

If anyone is interested in some unofficial business, you are all welcome to the cook out organized by King Bos and the astounding Princess Mammuthus, where they will provide you with the finest grilled meats! And if anyone is interested, the fight room is still open... for friendly sparring of course, nothing else is permitted." he concludes, with an aside glance at certain figures.

Hopefully everybody was all right with the article! Durgana also let Ovis know that she had an announcement to make tomorrow after the vote, if that would be all right.

And so, when the time for voting came around, Durgana formally proposed her article to the Alliance.

Article 33 (1): Orbona shall be recognized as an Alliance member with 7 votes.
Article 33 (2): The votes of the now defunct Kingdom of Praterre shall be distributed to the Freed Bay Post and the Duchies of Ecrithur and Des-Accor. Praterre's Council Seat shall go to the Freed Bay Post, as they are the largest of the Pratois states. The Freed Bay Post shall receive 16 votes, Des-Accor 4 votes, and Ecrithur 3 votes.
Article 33 (3): The Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes shall be granted a Council seat in light of their increased strength and population.
Article 33 (4): In light of the proclamation of the High Kingdom of the Dwarves and the subsequent vassalage of Khuln Paztdin and Khuln Ahrkalde to the King of Khuln Kalduhr, the votes of the two states shall transfer to the control of Khuln Kalduhr.

Hopefully, the voting went well!

Captain Ovis voted AYE of course!

Geród voted Aye.

Cregit Exiro voted Aye on article 33.

He also proposed his own article, article 34.
(1) That the southern nation of Amakri be allowed to join the alliance and gain 4 votes.
(2) That the new state of Nhdit Nuskri be allowed to join the Alliance and reap the benefits thereof. After the current war, Kor Vurneus, and Amakri, were claiming large portions of the land into their own realms,  but the remaining new state of Nhdit Nuskri, would still be open to Alliance trade and have the threat of bugs to defend itself. He requested 2 votes on their behalf.

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Spoiler The current situation of the southern desert kingdoms after the war is this by the way.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/5...nknown.png

Durgana voted Nay on Article 34, as the status of Nhdit Nuskri's independence was rather questionable at the moment considering the recent and complete occupation of their country by Kor Vurneus. The precedent of giving votes to rump states and puppet states would be a bad one, as such could allow for one nation to achieve hegemony over the Alliance by accumulating puppet states via imperialism and colonialism.

Amakri joining was fine, but an article was a package deal and the precedent set by section 2 of Article 34 would be too dire to allow.

Antipode votes Aye on Article 33, and abstains from voting on Article 34.

Kor Vurneus would point out that, yes, he understood the worrying precedent, which was why Kor Vurneus had not requested an increase in votes to represent their increased military and economic power, and had moved to allow that Nhdit Nuskri be allowed official entry instead, since asking for both would have looked even more suspect.

Everyone here understand the reasoning behind it, there was no sneaky precedent being slipped through here, and he'd requested less votes than perhaps could ideally be deserved for Amakri and Nhdit Nuskri, at this time, as an understanding of this.

Durgana asked if Kor Vurneus would then agree to discount the recently-annexed Nuskri lands from future recalculations of Kor Vurneus's votes?

Cregit Exiro tapped at his desk for a bit. Tap, Tap, Tap.

Kor Vurneus had one way or another, brought a large increase in economic and military power into the Alliance, released captured Alliance prisoners, and freed a people from an isolationist, paranoid king, but, for the sake of showing good faith now, in the hopes that trust could grow in the future and this would be remedied, would add-
Article 34 (3) That Kor Vurneus would lose 2 votes due to a recent personal decrease in free military power and personal economic and bureaucratic costs to take care of, THAT couldn't be currently dedicated to the Alliance.

"Cregit friend, I can not vote yes on that in any form. I thought we were allying for defense, and while freeing prisoners is defensive enough, taking a chunk of their country in the name of liberation is not. Nay on 34."

Alyn steps forward.

"The Unity votes Aye on Article 33 and Nay on Article 34. We cannot condone wars of conquest, and especially not this sort of brazen attempt at increasing power within the Alliance. Even if we vote to decrease your votes now, it is only a matter of time before you claim the lands you have conquered to be well-integrated and demand more votes once more. It would set a precedent of shedding blood for power, and so long as the Unity remains within the Alliance, we shall not allow such things to pass into our law."

After a moment of thought, Cassiopeia clears her throat.

"Nova Kalla will be voting Aye on Article 33 and Nay on Article 34. I, and the Nova Kallan High Assembly by extension, are very well aware of Nova Kalla's participation in the conflict at Nhdit Nuskri, and thus this may seem like a strange choice. However, we are also well aware of what Nhdit Nuskri has done, in regards to forcefully cancelling Alliance trade and especially imprisoning Alliance citizens. As this... situation has happened extremely recently, I feel it would be remiss of us to push for this addition to the Alliance without letting Nhdit Nuskri restabilize itself so we can act accordingly. Nhdit Nuskri has shown a willingness to endanger Alliance citizens, and I do not wish such a power to be a part of this Alliance without first showing a ready and, more importantly, independent change."

Forgent, Bulwar and Elblet voted Aye on article 33 and Nay on article 34, the latter two echoing the Friends' sentiments on wars of conquest. Khuln Darihm, Khuln Kalderak and Khuln Garuhm followed suit, supporting Khuln Kalduhr's proposal and backing up their rejection of Kor Vurneus', as was expected. Prime Minister Malcolm of Gundarth voted aye on proposal 33, but did not yet cast a vote on proposal 34. It seemed he was waiting to see what Tiranóg did.

King Rykarth of Thorjron then spoke next. "I vote Nay to both proposals. Both create more large voting blocks in the Alliance, which will negatively impact the voting power of the smaller voters." After he spoke, Margunkyn and Themaran seconded his reasoning, and voted with him. It seemed they didn't specifically back up any larger blocs at this time.

Of course, there was no representative there from Praterre to cast votes on their behalf.

The tallies so far stood at;

Geród voted Nay, having little stake in the affair and being noticeably quiet during the deliberations over article 34.