Your offer amounted to 10 gems, for 2 provinces. I was not going to accept that, as it amounted to 10 gems for 2 provinces AND a NAP. I gained nothing from refusing, but I did not so cheaply sell my honor as you wished to have purchased it.
Of course it's entirely possible anyone could win this game. However considering that it was related to me that TC and Vanheim were allies rather than NAPed neighbors, this tends to validate certain assumptions about the potential directions the game might take. In my eyes, this not only implies that TC has a poor shot at victory unless they negate their alliance - it also implies that Caelum is the next molestation victim. All this on turn 40, there are 2 superpowers, and 2 nations with rather gloomy outlooks (and 1 nation who is all but crushed already).
Perhaps you might think these are hasty conclusions to draw, however that would just be semantic differences. In my eyes an alliance is far more significant than a NAP, and it is a grave matter indeed if someone wishes to dissolve that alliance prior to the agreed time (typically when there are no other contenders), whereas a NAP is simply a gentleman's agreement to not rush off to war without a polite warning of imminent hostilities. I do not make a habit of breaking alliances, nor do I make a habit of asking people to break alliances. If the wording was a mistake on Wrana's part, that is unfortunate, as he is absent to clarify the point, and I hardly see it in your best interests to dispel the notion if I am wrong, as it leads directly to me trying to corrupt TC over to my cause - since you are clearly much more of a threat to their chance of victory than I am.
As far as complaining about the small size of the game, I was merely grumbling and expressing myself, it's not really a focal point of anything - I just prefer short games to be short, and long games to be long - rather than this sort of scenario that we find ourselves in now.
Anyway, sure, I shouldn't have taken those provinces at the start - it cost me a lot. But what you're overlooking, is how much you're going to end up paying for them. That is a cursed and wretched stretch of land in those swamps, and no good will come of claiming it, the future will show the truth in these words. How many huskarls are you hiding beneath that flock of crows? I wonder if they'll sound like popcorn. <3