To vfb: Heh. Wow. I...didn't know whether to scowl or grin when I first saw you attack Wick's Neck! I've finally decided to applaud your opportunism, and the fact that justice of a sort has been served without any intervention on my part is funny. ; ) Enjoy the province while you have it.
To Whollaborg:
Scorched earth, you scumbag. See option 1. I cannot stop your army. I made a number of mistakes this game--not least of them trying to deal honestly and fairly with a filthy, scheming thug like you. But still, I am a relative n00b to MP in general, and each lying manipulative prick I meet makes me wiser. Unfortunately, my No Indies mod keeps me from scorching as much earth as I would like to; still, anything and everything I can do to reduce your gains from your victory will be done. Anything at all.
To everyone else: all NAPs with T'ien Ch'i are hereby nullified. Do as you will, and do it before Man does. A warning though: do not trust Whollaborg, ever. He will use pretty words and promise anything he thinks you will swallow, to let him sneak around behind you. Then, when he judges the timing right, regardless of what he has said in the past or what agreements he has made with you, he will bend you over and ram it up. I won't belabour this point, as I don't want to take away from the other players' fun--just be very, very careful to remember what happened to me.
My advice, if anyone is interested, is to attack Man now (those who are able), while his armies are occupied conquering my provinces. He cannot afford to ignore me, because I intend to stay in the game for as long as I can do him the slightest harm, and if he eases off on me I will be all over him again with whatever I have left.
And may the best man win! (A safe toast, since that excludes Whollaborg.)
--IndyPendant.