Annexation of Kū

The Annexation of Kū refers to the annexation of the the Communion of Kū by Estalia prior to the former's forceful relocation to another location after prior escalating conflict.

Annexation of Kū
Eleven Estalians pose in, for most of them, full diamond armor during the Annexation
Date June 20th 2022 Location formerly Communion of Kū Result Communion of Kū annexed by Estalia
Belligerents
Estalia	Communion of Kū

Series of Events

Initial conflict

On June 18th, Black_Fusion, member of the Sacred Convention of the Communion of Kū, its main governing body, made a post to r/CivMC accusing of Estalia of kill Kū officials (himself) in their own claims, providing a detailed explanation of events connected to his pearling by Estalia. Per Black_Fusion, he discovered an unerground tunnel underneath the city of Kū-Lani white mining. After depositing what he had mined, he returned shortly after to document "this new development in the building tale of Estalian colonialist aggression against the Communion of Kū". After taking screenshots of exposed diamond ore on the walls of the tunnel and exploring the entire section of it that was located in Kū, Black_Fusion was pearled by 3 Estalians on horseback in protection armor, ZabeKabir, Watermashen, and ThePayman, thought he was released with apologies a few minutes later, with those who pearled him having thought he had previously been warned not to enter the tunnel. After being led in the wrong direction by the Estalians escorting him out, Black_Fusion was left alone and eventually tunneled to the surface. The post ends with Black_Fusion indicating that his nation, before the incident, did not want to escalate any tensions with Estalia as they are a stronger country, and with a wish for the respect of their borders and cordiality when dealing with the Communion, as well as an offer to relocate the tunnel around Kū's claims in a gesture of good-faith.

Prior to this incident, Estalia had claimed and built infrastructure on land that Black_Fusion say was "already marked by posts labeled "Communion of Kū", accusing Estalia of knowingly ignoring their nation's claims and building around any stone-reinforced areas on the island.

Demands and Annexation

In response to these accusations, Estalia made their own post, stating that Kū officials had been inconsistent on whether or not they could keep the tunnel, that Estalia had sent demands (including the stipulations "Ku will not cede sovereignty to any group[...]" and "Ku will not allow foreign parties to operate from the islands", "Kū" being misspelled) that had been refused, and that the nation of Kū had been annexed and its people relocated, with as many as 11 players sent to annex the territory.

Public Reaction

The annexation provoked a reaction of anger in the comments of the post (some such comments obtaining more upvotes than the original post by a wide margin), with large parts of the civ community feeling this was an unjust solution and imperialistic, as well as contrary to the image Estalia originally wanted to keep of themselves. The reaction through proper posts on the subreddit (as opposed to comments) also seemed to be largely anti-Estalian.