Goten Secession Conflict

The Goten Secession Conflict was a conflict between Mt. Augusta and Gensokyo, as well as their supporters, over the validity of the secession attempt of the Gensokyojin city of Goten, as outlined in the Declaration of Secession from Gensokyo and Cession of Land to Mount Augusta, and the followed attempt to annex it by Mt Augusta, as outlined in the Resolution to annex the city of Goten.

It was ended, on the brink of war, by the efforts of Bryn &amp; greenble10 to purchase the territory of Goten from Gensokyo for the sum of 5500 diamonds, as outlined in The Gensokyo-Bryn Treaty, to ensure that the Gotenites would be able to decide their own future without hindrance.

Background
Goten was a district of the city of New Detroit, part of the nation of Gensokyo. Goten was the center of production and agriculture of the city as it was the home of many farms, most notably a gold farm. Goten also attracted many new residents, and many argued that it was the most populated part of New Detroit.

As time went on, the downtown district of New Detroit seemed to be slowly declining in activity while Goten remained mostly active with around 5-6 permanent residents. This led to many residents of Goten supporting the rest of New Detroit through actions such as repairing factories and farming crops and XP materials.

Gotenites argued that they basically ran the city, but they got little in return. Other New Detroit residents said that as Gotenites are still citizens of New Detroit, it is their duty to help maintain the city. Disagreeing with this sentiment, Goten unanimously declared their independence from New Detroit and Gensokyo on August 3, 2015. Goten also requested that the city of Mt. Augusta annex the district.

Mt. Augusta
Mt. Augusta welcomed Goten with open arms. On the same day that Goten seceded from New Detroit, a bill was introduced that would annex Goten and make it a district of MA. Ideologically, citizens of MtA supported the secession and annexation of Goten under the belief that all peoples have the right to self-determination. Materially, the incumbent Lord Mayor Prof_TANSTAAFL and his affiliated faction, the Meme Brigade, saw this as a prime opportunity to reinforce the sovereignty of Mt. Augusta, as well as expand its industrial capacity. Over the previous summer, MtA had grown rapidly to a population of over 80 residents at the time. After the failure of the Meunier 4 Mayor campaign and the election of Prof, the city sought to expand it borders, stretching further southward over time. However, it was limited in every other direction by its neighbors, whose sovereignty was recognised by the previous Lord Mayor. Opponents of MA argued that by annexing a district of New Detroit, they would be violating the Gensokyo-Augusta Treaty of Friendship. In response, MA said that it did not violate the treaty since Goten declared independence beforehand, and was therefore not Gensokyo territory. When faced with Gensokyo's legal code-which stated that secession was illegal- MA deemed the document illegitimate.

Gensokyo, the HKE, and their allies
Gensokyo and her allies quickly declared that the secession was illegal, and they refused to recognize Goten as independent from New Detroit. However, as Goten was under the protection of many MA citizens, no force was used to try to stop Goten. Instead, a cold war ensued, as both sides argued back and forth in-game and on the subreddit about whether or not MA and Goten were in the right.

International Community
International opinion was mixed. Some argued that secession is inherently illegal, as the territory of the nation is ruled by the government. Others argued that people have every right to secede, and that they shouldn't have to have their property ruled by a government they don't like.

Ultimately, most nations decided to stay neutral unless they had direct ties to Gensokyo, MA, or their allies.

Annexation of Goten by Mt. Augusta
On August 5th, the Augustan bill to annex Goten was passed, and MA deemed Goten theirs. Tensions were heightened as many nations did not recognize this annexation as legitimate. Bridges and paths connecting Goten to the rest of New Detroit were dismantled as MA tried to enforce their jurisdiction over the district. Many people flocked to the region to see how Gensokyo was going to respond. This resulted in minor skirmishes between those for and against the annexation, but those were mostly settled out-of-court.

As there was no quick response by Gensokyo or her allies, many people wondered what would happen next.

The Coalition and the Ultimatum
On August 7th, a few days into the cold war, Gensokyo, her allies, and other groups that supported them formed The Coalition. The nations of Grundeswald, Prussia, Gensokyo, Hjaltland, and the FSR, along with Tigercrew, denounced MA and vowed to protect Gensokyo's sovereignty.

A day later, on August 8th, the Coalition issued an ultimatum to MA, demanding that they recognize Gensokyo rule over Goten and declare the annexation null and void. As MA was unwavering, war seemed inevitable.

The 8/8 Stand-off
The Coalition gave MA two hours to accept its ultimatum. In these two hours, Coalition members gathered in the heart of New Detroit, and soldiers from MA, ISIS, Nox, and various other nations gathered in Goten. A stand-off occurred, and both sides hurled insults and the occasional arrow at each other. While neither side specifically said they would attack the other, it seemed as though the stand-off couldn't result in anything but fighting.

When the two hours ended, fighting unexpectedly did not erupt. MA-sided forces decided to take action first by rushing into New Detroit. When they entered the city, they found that the Coalition forces had disappeared from the city. After the initial confusion, MA and her allies declared that they had defended MA sovereignty over Goten, and that they were victorious.

&quot;Invasion&quot; of Riverford
The only fighting MA-sided forces engaged in that day came from an event only somewhat related to the Goten conflict. On his way to check out the stand-off, New Danzilon citizen and neutral third-party TheTrackball passed through Mises, a market in the nether that he was banned from. When Track arrived in MA, the owner of the market and Nox member, MinecraftIsFTW, started attacking him. This small skirmish ended up turning into a huge fight as the entirety of the MA-sided forces followed MC and also attacked Track.

To get to safety, Track fled to Riverford, from where combatants were specifically banned. Ignoring the ban, Track and everyone attacking him trespassed into Riverford and ignored multiple warnings by Danzilonan citizens to leave the territory. This resulted in the combatants breaking into a Danzilonan citizen's house and accidentally pearling her. As the fighting stopped and the combatants left, Riverford was subsequently closed to all non-Danzilonan citizens.

Counter-ultimatum
As MA declared victory, Lord Mayor of Augusta, Prof_TANSTAAFL, issued an ultimatum to the Coalition, requesting that they recognize MA as a state once again. All Coalition members obliged, and hostilities between the two sides ceased.

Gensokyo-Bryn Treaty
To secure peace in the region, Bryn official greenble10 made a treaty with Gensokyo, stating that Bryn will pay Gensokyo 5,500 diamonds as long as Gensokyo recognizes that Goten is no longer a part of New Detroit. With this, the Goten conflict was finally brought to an end.

Propaganda
Images linked to /r/Civcraft or related subreddits

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 * Augusta thinks it's fine to break treaties and steal land - Does this seem like a peaceful place to you?
 * The &quot;Scrap of Paper&quot;
 * Brothers in Arms: The Coalition Together
 * ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS PACK IT UP
 * The Great Emancipator
 * by Screenname
 * by kovio (sararhodes1488)
 * by xpNc
 * by Wolfedevon
 * by Weishaar
 * August 6th
 * August 7th
 * August 8th
 * August 8th
 * August 9th
 * August 7th
 * August 8th
 * August 8th
 * August 9th

Context
Reddit posts

In order to help provide some sort of context to the incident, here follow albums of images of the posts made to /r/Civcraft, stretching back to the beginning of the event as first noticed on the subreddit:

Goten Conflict - Civcraft posts - 09-08-15 - 08-08-15

Goten Conflict - Civcraft posts - 08-08-15 - 03-08-15