[Omnirizon]

There is also a difference between outright treachery and acting on 'Blood in the Water'.

We can be honorable sharks in this game, but in the end we are all sharks. If someone is dying, you don't honorably stand by and let your future enemies feast on the remains.

Peace treaties and NAPs allow us to feel relatively secure with our neighbors, enough so that we can focus our energies else where. We all make them because it is strategically beneficial. If only one person was forging treaties with their neighbors, that person would win as everyone fought amongst themselves indiscriminately. Treaties also provide security on a border from other players, as you know the party you signed with is going to prevent another player from walking over and attacking you. But really the only thing holding any given treaty in place is the fact that your neighbor is roughly equal in strength to you, and both of you would suffer from war (aka: mutually assured destruction, MAD; it is how the real world works too).

When these elements have disappeared from the treaty, how much of a treaty really is it? Tien Chi is crumbling, weakened from war with Ulm, now Pythium moving in to take advantage of it. What happens to my treaty then? Is Pythium going to honor that? Do I just let them take over all the lands from this dying nation, and then forge a treaty with them as if nothing has changed?

Just being realistic