Swarm 2.5 (Ryleh wins!)

[CUnknown]

Turn 48 up.

[IndyPendant]

Marignon's voracious appetite is insatiable. We had hoped that T'ien Ch'i's vast army would give them pause, but Marignon has rolled right over them like a juggernaut. Soon, T'ien Ch'i will be destroyed by those foolish, misguided fanatics.

This cannot be permitted.

We are an honourable people, and we will abide by the terms of our NAP with Marignon, though it may mean T'ien Ch'i's downfall. Hold if you can, valiant warriors! While we do not even have the NAP with T'ien Ch'i that we share with Pythium and Marignon, we cannot sit idly by and watch T'ien Ch'i fall. Soon your foe shall face another enemy.

Marignon must be stopped.

It is now Turn 58. On Turn 60, we will give the orders to our armies, and they will invade on Turn 61!

[CUnknown]

The High Inquisitor of Marignon will watch with glee as your pathetic 'god' is tortured until he recants his claim to the Divine Throne. We appreciate your honorable gesture, but breaking our NAP only hastens your downfall.

[CUnknown]

Foul magicks are in the air. The wisest old Inquisitors (the ones who are still alive, anyway) say that the vile alien presence under the sea is to blame. The Great Paladin of Marignon finds it odd that the aliens would hesitate to attack with force, out of 'honor', when they don't hesitate to corrupt time itself and thereby cause hardship and death among our peoples. He recommends immediate, unrelenting attack, despite the Pact of non-aggression.

Yet, other voices, most notably the most powerful Grand Master himself, urges caution, not wishing to overextend Marignon's armies.

As a compromise, the following message is delivered to the aliens: "The Empire of Marignon considers your unholy magics to be an act of war. Yet, Marignon is a most honorable nation and will abide by the Pact we have made. We wish to inform you that it is unnecessary to abide by the letter of the Pact, if you refuse to abide by the spirit. Let us keep the orders we have issued to our forces for this month, but next month, if you wish, we can both consider the Pact to be dissolved. Don't keep to the three-month rule for our benefit, for we wish to push your unholy race back into the sea as soon as possible.

Let us know your decision.

-Marignon"

[IndyPendant]

"Foul magicks" indeed. Leave it to unreasoning fanatics of a false religion to spout such obvious hypocrisy. Be careful Marignon, lest you condemn yourselves with your own words.

Or have you forgotten your own Great Hunt?

That spell has cost me two hard-won empowered bloodhunters, and forced me to abandon a forest laboratory. We can only imagine the harm it has done the other nations, with more forest provinces than R'lyeh has. We had simply assumed you did not consider it a hostile spell against R'lyeh--or at least, that you would publicly take that obviously self-serving position. There was just enough merit to it that we did not seek to pursue the matter with you.

However, if the Great Hunt is not to be considered "foul magicks", then neither can the Burden of Time. --Or is it only that the one was cast for you, and the other against you? Can even Marignon be that blatant in its hypocrisy? It is your nation that has not abided by the spirit of our pact; we have simply made use of the opening you provided for us.

We are also confused. It is currently Turn 59, and our orders have been given to our minions. We will be unable to change them before Turn 60 arrives--and that is the turn that our NAP ends and we can give the orders for our armies to attack, as I have stated clearly in my declaration of war above. Yet you seem to be 'offering a compromise' of ordering the attacks next turn. (Or does Marignon intend to attack us this turn? We would be extremely irate at such dishonourable tactics, and at the least if you tried that we would expect you to extend the current turn, and turn off quick-host, so that we could change our already-submitted orders.)

I suspect there is a misunderstanding here however; you do not strike me as the sort to resort to such tactics. ; ) If you are asking to *delay* our war so that orders to attack cannot be given until Turn 61...let us know. I cannot agree now, without checking the game again, but we would certainly consider it.

[CUnknown]

There must be a turn waiting for me at home.. if you've already taken it, then nevermind, let's just wait until the NAP expires normally. I must be a little confused as to the timing of the NAP -- I want it to end as soon as possible. I was giving you the option to end it early, or so I thought. We've been taking turns pretty quickly! Maybe I'm having trouble keeping track.

** Only the unrighteous need fear the Great Hunt! I'm sure your filthy blood hunters were targeted precisely for that reason. You should thank us for destroying them and bringing you closer to righteousness, if such a thing were possible with one of your kind. Your corruption of time with the foul magic of death is clearly a violation of our treaty, since it affects the righteous as well as the unrighteous! The Paladins and Inquisitors of Marignon are righteous by definition, of course. **

Maybe I forgot about the Great Hunt, hmm. But you have to admit Burden of Time is a little different! That's a much worse spell.. I may have killed a couple of yours, but all of mine are going to die. Ack. I was having old age issues as is..

[IndyPendant]

I'm afraid I cannot sympathize very much with that position. That's like complaining "You punched me back much harder than I punched you!" ; )

My sympathy lies with poor Pythium and T'ien Ch'i. They're the smaller players in this game (although T'ien Ch'i is almost gone) and they have to suffer the penalties of our globals as well.

Let us see what happens now, when our forces collide.