Varkonia: Difference between revisions
Updated history to Maintaining Neutrality of SPQR circa March 2019.
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(Updated history to Maintaining Neutrality of SPQR circa March 2019.) |
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# Civ-oriented players such as BritishWanderer, and other high-profile figures in Varkonia, such as Baron Van Batavanos (Flushmore), argued for neutrality. This argument was supported by the hassle of prior involvement in MTA and the relative unpreparedness of Varkonia at the time, as well as the daunting prospect of having to protect its far-flung allies against a sizeable opposing alliance bloc.
In one of the most difficult decisions faced by Varkonia, the Red Duke removed Senators with ties to Mir from the Varkonian Senate. The remaining Senators voted in favor of neutrality and passed measures forbidding involvement in the war, under penalty of losing Varkonian citizenship and having belongings seized by the state. This law, ''the Foreign Affairs Permission Act'', was furthermore retroactively enforced on the Vakronian-Mirian dual-citizens involved in the war. The Red Duke, after receiving multiple questions from nations around the region, made a public announcement of these measures and Varkonia's commitment to neutrality<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/am3exb/clearing_up_varkonias_position/</ref> on the first of February. The announcement was received positively by the UNC and NATO-aligned parties, and was received negatively by Mir.
In parting, S4NTA warned Varkonia that it was just pushing the problem down the road, and that it would be more difficult to deal with later. The Red Duke agreed that this was likely, but insisted that Varkonia was not prepared to go war on that scale at that moment.
==== Columbia Inquires about the Applicability of the Defense Pact ====
A day after the public declaration of Varkonian neutrality, Shadedoom, Chancellor of Columbia, reached out to the Mickale, the Red Duke of Varkonia, inquiring about the applicability of the Mutual Defense Pact signed in August of 2018 between Columbia and Varkonia. Columbia, a member of NATO, was obligated to mobilize in support of their allies in the war, and was questioning whether Varkonia would be obligated via its defensive pact to support Columbia.
''"Since this is a defensive war, where do you stand on the Columbia-Varkonia alliance being in effect"'' (Shadedoom, 2018)
The Red Duke considered this, and had earlier been discussing the possibility of the Defense Pact being invoked by Columbia with the Varkonian Senate. The Red Duke responded:
''"We are allied to each other, that does not mean we are allied with your allies. If this started by Mir attacking Columbia, then we would be on your side. Since Columbia joined a war between other parties, that doesn't obligate Varkonia to do anything"'' (Mickale, 2018)
Columbia being called into a larger scale war through their affiliation with NATO was no surprise to Varkonia, with the possibility of something like this happening being a major factor to the Defense Pact being bilateral in the first place. Still, there was a feeling of lament in Varkonia for their Columbian friends who seemed to be stuck on the losing side of a complicated war not of their own making. The Red Duke asked the Chancellor of Columbia what Columbia's goals were in the war. The Chancellor could not comment. The Red Duke remarked that if the objective was to break the Mir vault, that it would be almost impossible to achieve. It was the Red Duke's belief that the only possible outcomes for NATO were a negotiated surrender, stalemate, or total loss, with no path to victory seeming likely. [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/atmpa0/fall_of_pinkerton_12x9/ Pinkerton would fall to Mirian forces this same day]. Varkonia wished Columbia luck for its civilians to stay safe, but would offer no support.
Base on the relations between the involved parties, it would never have been possible for Varkonia to join Columbia against Mir in war. If something had happened that resulted in Mir specifically going to war with Columbia, the incident would likely have resulted in the nullification of the Columbia-Varkonia Defense Pact before the outbreak of war.
==== Vault Expansion and Militarization ====
The Varkonian military was put on high alert as the war began intensifying. All civilian building projects in the capital were put on hold indefinitely to divert labor towards the vault. The meager 4-ring vault was not nearly sufficient to protect Varkonia nor deter an attack. It was poorly stocked and disorganized. It thus was essential for Varkonia to maintain neutrality during this time due to how vulnerable it was at home. Urgent work was needed on the vault to fortify it into a reliable bastion of defense. Many players were brought back in a flurry of activity which saw the likes of ghalen, unknown122, Ceramic_Haze, Icer, and others all contributing towards expanding the vault. Gobblin set to work an army of bots to help drain the vault, which was the main obstacle to construction dur to the vault's position in the ocean. In a couple weeks the vault would grow from 4 to 8 rings, with Callum taking charge of construction efforts and using his wealth to supply bastions. Varkonia built its first armor factories and Callum also headed the effort to build up prot reserves. Bulk orders of prot, pearls, and pot ingredients were ordered by the Red Duke from Shapha and Meat. Snitching efforts were also undertaken, with large portions of the coastline of the ocean around Varkonia and Nevrast being snitched. Varkonia was steadily readying itself in case it needed to defend itself or its allies in an escalation of the conflict.
==== The February 2019 MTA Mayoral Election ====
With the adoption of neutrality in NATO-Mir war, Varkonia needed to reassess its defense arrangements and its position in world. The Senate was of the mindset that Varkonia should utilize its position as a major power and build support among other nations remaining neutral in the war. As part of this effort, the Senate mobilized several citizens to register to vote in MTA once more, this time to vote in favor of Citylion for Mayor. It was hoped that supporting Citylion would show that Varkonia had committed to change, and that diplomatic bridges could be repaired with Citylion and some factions in MTA after they were burned during the Court Case from Hell Debacle and the prior major effort to prevent Citylion from being elected in December 2018. "He seems like a nice guy now" was a popular phrase being circulated at the time, and his election was not heavily contested, with Godomasta voting in his favor as well. The Red Duke had hesitations about trusting Citylion, but viewed the possibility of repairing relations as worth the effort considering Varkonia would lose nothing by supporting him in the election.
The votes were counted and Citylion won handedly. Only a few Varkonians took the time to travel to MTA for this, some still having reservations about Citylion, while others wanted nothing more to do with MTA. The result was that the Varkonian effort was minimal and had no significant impact on the outcome of the election. The effort went largely unnoticed and did not achieve any of the desired outcomes as far as Varkonia's larger goals. Citylion would retain his anti-Varkonian sentiments later on.
==== Varkonian-led UNC Action in SPQR to Maintain Neutrality ====
[[File:Feb 2019 Alliance Map.png|thumb|Alliance map in late February 2019]]
As the NATO-Mir war escalated, Mir was increasingly on the offensive, and by the end of February had seized and disabled the Columbian vault. Mir then turned its attention to attacking Hallow, northwest of Columbia and directly north of SPQR, a member of the UNC. [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/awn39e/united_northern_congress_reaffirmation_of/ The UNC proclaimed alliance-wide neutrality in the ongoing NATO-Mir war] in an effort to protect everyone in the UNC from collateral damage, deterring an attack by leveraging the weight of the entirety of the UNC becoming involved. The attacks on Hallow began causing significant diplomatic tension between the UNC and NATO as Mirian forces were using a river along the border between SPQR and Hallow to gain access to Hallow proper. Furthermore, some tunnels and excavations had been constructed within SPQR lands by Mir without SPQR's permission. Hallow, in response, had begun snitching the SPQR borderlands, as well as making their own incursions into SPQR.
The situation became a crisis and had to be navigated carefully to avoid deteriorating relations further with either Mir or NATO. Hallow claimed Mir had a bunker within SPQR territory and was operating out of it to attack Hallow. Varkonia led the UNC response by fully snitching the entirety of the SPQR-Hallow border on a joint-UNC group. The snitches were placed such that they could not be tripped unless someone was on land inside SPQR's territory. An expedition was led by the Red Duke of Varkonia and Britishwanderer, Spokesperson of the UNC, to SPQR to search for the alleged illegal bunker. No bunker was found, and while a small excavation was discovered, the only illegal snitches found belonged to Hallow. Varkonia made the case to the UNC that both sides, Mir and NATO, should have their combatants prohibited from entering UNC territory in order to remain truly neutral. Varkonia reached out to both Mir and NATO to discuss this policy change, both of which were cooperative. The UNC member states agreed and unanimously signed off on a resolution to enact this change, receiving locations of foreign snitches in SPQR and removing foreign combat accounts. [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/aydgwu/unc_restores_peace_to_spqr/ The UNC posted an announcement of this to the subreddit on March 7th].
This effort was widely seen as a success for states remaining neutral in the conflict and for the pacifist civilians of SPQR. The resulting positive outlook on the UNC's capability resulted in several new member states seeking to apply, eventually including Corvus, Iria, and Imperial Truidence, all of which had Varkonia's approval. However, while initially a success, there were instances of violations, most commonly by Hallow, and relations with NATO steadily deteriorated as they were reminded to keep out. Mir, too, was not happy with the arrangement, as it made accessing Hallow more difficult, but had fewer violations than Hallow.
== Government ==
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