Varkonia: Difference between revisions
Updated history to include the 5,000 diamond event
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Up to April of 2019, Wubzy had been the leader of the Kaiserreich Protectorate, under Varkonia, and had been representing the Kaiserreich as voting member of the UNC. In mid-April, Wubzy decided to vote against the UNC Iceroad Proposal, which was planned to create a unified iceroad network between all UNC member states. His reasoning for voting against it was "We always approve stuff, I want some conflict here". He was the sole voting member to vote against the project. In the UNC, votes have to be passed unanimously; if even one voting member votes against it, the measure will fail. Wubzy's position as a voting member had been inherited and tolerated after Kaiserreich became a protectorate under Varkonia, however this stunt caused massive outrage among the entire UNC, especially within Varkonia, which had been embarrassed by it.
Wubzy had not actually been playing the game for months and his sole activity was participating in voting in the UNC. Other members of Kaiserreich, such as LazavPhenax, were increasingly becoming disgruntled with Wubzy's leadership in abstentia. The Red Duke of Varkonia reached out to LazavPhenax, and discussed how to improve the situation. Upon opening discussions, Lazav vented a great deal about Wubzy's incompetence and inactivity, and let the Red Duke know that in fact Lazav had ownership of all the groups, bastions, and snitches. Hearing this, the Red Duke suggested that Lazav should become the leader of Kaiserreich, since he was actually active, competent, and ready to lead. Lazav agreed, and the Senate voted in favor of this action on April 22. On April 24 LazavPhenax declared himself leader of Kaiserreich, deposing Wubzy<ref name=":0">https://www.reddit.com/r/Varkonia/comments/bgnpe6/formal_overthrow_of_lil_wubzy_and_zestysquidward/</ref>.<blockquote>''"Wub/wubzy hasnt logged into the server/contributed since September. Yet the reason I bring this all up is for the sole fact Wub still leads the country despite having no backing to his power, representing and voting on behalf of Kaiserreich on the global and alliance stage. When Valyria basically annexed our country under the assumption of complete inactivity, I was the one who brokered the transfer of our land back with the assistance of Mickale and the UNC beside us. The citizen had to step up on behalf of his nation because the leader kept flaking and saying he was going to get on to help, despite never doing so. As a result of that event, all reinforcements and bastion efforts were done under my name as he wasn't present. Can you believe that? A leader who can't place or destroy a single block in his own city, yet I am the one with all the actual power of said country. He isn't even a member of the Kaiserreich Discord server. Yet I am supposed to see him as my leader? I tolerated this for months because i was hardly in a place to complain.'' ''Now, as it is too destructive to our civilization to allow these ghosts to keep their grip on power, I formally remove lil-wubzy and ZestySquidward from their positions and make them provisional citizens for the time being."'' (LazaPhenax, 2019)<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>
Varkonia immediately recognized this change in leadership, and deployed security forces to the region to ensure stability. As part of this arrangement, Kaiserreich became a full province of Varkonia, with the unifying treaty being re-written to remove all references of Wubzy and formalize Kaiserreich's status within Varkonia. Several buildings were added to Kaiserkin's town square and Varkonian banners were erected throughout the town. Wubzy did not contest the change and the UNC supported Varkonia's actions. The UNC Icreoad Project would now go ahead without Wubzy's objections.
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In addition to expanding XP production, a new treaty was written with SPQR called the Sunfish Compact, which the Senate would pass unanimously. This was done due to SPQR being left without an alliance and in a precarious position on the border with NATO, which was unfriendly with it. SPQR would regularly supply Varkonia with a named salmon every month, such as the ''August 2019 Mola Mola,'' and the two nations would cooperate more closely. Sharing of supplies was one of the most important outcomes of this arrangement, as SPQR was actually extremely wealthy relative to its perceived presence on the server. It had many 'silent workhorses' who would not say much or take a stand on either side of political issues, but would generate large amounts of wealth.
==== The SPQR Rail Incident ====
On the evening of August 16, 2019, the Holy Jaded Empire (HJE) blocked off the SPQR-Commonwealth rail that was built and maintained by Langly, prominent citizen of SPQR<ref name=":1">https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/crstpo/hje_has_blockaded_sqprs_cw_rail_to_punish_for/</ref>. This was civilian infrastructure being used mainly by the people of SPQR and Commonwealth for trading purposes between the two distant and neutral nations. SPQR maintained its neutrality after the UNC dissolved, and the Commonwealth was also neutral to this point in the NATO-Mir war. Since it was a public rail, there was no strategic value in it either being operational or closed. Any military power would assume the rail to be snitched in part or in full, making it easily trapped and thus too dangerous to use in warfare. It was therefore surprising that HJE would shut down the rail without any dialogue, and furthermore that they would begin griefing it, especially considering that the real pre-dated HJE's claims to the land.<blockquote>''This was my project, built by me before anyone else even had claimed the land it is under. Now they've moved in over it, gotten themselves into a war, and are telling us to go around for refusing to take a side.'' (Langly, 2019)<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>The actions of the HJE were unfavorably viewed by neutral nations, and in particular was viewed negatively by Varkonia, as it showed HJE to be aggressive towards nations which had no active pvpers. NATO fully supported this action, with NATO-supporting players taking HJE's side in the matter.<blockquote>''How dare you stop us from entering your borders after we stopped you from entering ours'' (OrangeWizard, 2019)</blockquote>There was an important difference in this matter, which is that the UNC had barred combatants who were taking sides in the NATO-Mir war from entering their territory. The UNC never blocked passage of regular civilians, even those from NATO or Mir, from using public rails. HJE was effectively seizing neutral infrastructure and blocking neutral civilians from using it, most likely out of spite due to low opinions and mistrust of SPQR within NATO.
The King of Nox began gathering support for SPQR to see how the impasse over the rail could be resolved. Varkonia went to the Entente to seek support for SPQR, which had deep cultural ties to Varkonia. The Entente agreed to provide support to SPQR because it believed SPQR to be in the right on this matter. A joint Entente-SPQR operation was conducted to clear grief from the rail and re-open it for public use. The operation successfully cleared the tunnel with no resistance. Mark_Antony recounted the events in detail in his post on the CivClassics subreddit to inform the public, explaining how SPQR tried and failed to reach any compromise with HJE diplomatically on August 26, 2019<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/cvuyxb/hostile_intentions_111_the_rails/</ref>. Flush, the spokesperson for the Entente, explained the Entente's involvement<blockquote>''This comment will serve to give context to the Entente's mission on the CW-SPQR line. For those unaware: the Entente provided assistance to the Romans working on repairing the aforementioned (public) line. This assistance was in the form of protection and removing checkpoints installed by the HJE.''
''The Entente's involvement in this was voluntary. Only Varkonia was dutybound to assist their Roman allies, but we as a whole decided to assist our member in this matter. This is not in the least because we believe the SPQR to be in the right - especially in light of the NATO border incursion which took place yesterday (including NATO forces removing snitches well within Roman territory). Trying to bully the SPQR whilst they were literally in the middle of a meeting with ComradeNick to resolve this issue diplomatically is not something many of us were willing to stomach in face of a call for help. For those who tend to justify their every action in the form of whataboutisms: this is in stark contrast to the patient and highly compromising attitude the SPQR has had during negotiations and during the preceding border drama.''
''Going forward it is our hope that the unprovoked and unnecessary use of physical force, specifically against the SPQR, can be ended. Today's mission was harmless and extremely limited in scope. We have clearly signalled our intention to support the resolution of this issue through purely peaceful, diplomatic means and for the threat of coercion to be removed from talks. We have no desire for conflict arising out of this - to the contrary, we intend for today's mission to be preventative.'' (Flush, 2019)<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/cvuyxb/hostile_intentions_111_the_rails/ey70ifk/</ref></blockquote>This issue was highly contentious, resulting in some support for both sides. As issues like these occurred, it made remaining neutral in the NATO-Mir war more difficult. On the same day, August 26, 2019, NATO combatants, including HanTzu (on the account Destrudo) entered SPQR on the surface, presumably to make a point about enforcing travel restrictions<ref>https://i.imgur.com/PU5NUHW.png</ref>. NovaCeasar, leader of SPQR, requested Varkonia's help to remove them from SPQR lands<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/Varkonia/comments/cvjrwm/call_to_arms_invoking_the_treaty_of_westmore/</ref>. 16d bounties were placed on those illegally crossing over, including HanTzu, by Mark_Antony.
Varkonia discussed the best way to proceed on the matter with the Entente, and it was resolved that NATO was likely acting out due to frustration with the negative PR over the rail incident, but was not a serious threat. Varkonia would move accounts to SPQR but would not engage with NATO. Nobody in SPQR had come under attack and the action was perceived as bait to escalate the conflict further. It is unclear if anything was raided in this time. At the end of the day, NATO withdrew back to Hallow, and a very uneasy peace would continue. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Varkonia, and by extension, the Entente, to remain neutral in the NATO-Mir war, largely because of provocations such as this incident, as well as the perceived toxicity of the commentary by NATO-aligned parties on the subreddit. However, Varkonia would still remain neutral and would not seek war with NATO.
==== 5,000 Diamonds ====
[[File:5000.png|thumb|Excerpt from [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/d4jtq2/varkonia_after_demanding_5000_diamonds_to_release/ 5,000 diamond video]]]
Between July and September 2019, Thoths had been in contact with his friends in Mir, such as Magier and Walkers, and wanted to contribute to Mir. With Corvus being a mess due to the Evocator drama, Thoths was hoping to have fun in Mir and spend time with them. During this time period, there was growing pressure on Varkonia to free Thoths, as Thoths was in contact with his other friends as well, including Flush and Frensin of Hjaltland. The Red Duke and the King of Nox were adamantly opposed to freeing Thoths because he had not seen any evidence that Thoths had changed his ways for the better, knowing that Thoths and Evo were still close friends, and believing they were likely closer friends than the others who were vouching for Thoths' freedom. Additionally, the only history that existed between the Red Duke and Thoths prior to this was of Thoths betraying Volterra and being pearled. The only message history between Thoths and the Red Duke at this point was of Thoths asking to be freed during that time period on Devoted 3.0, however that history was deleted and only the Red Duke's side of the conversation remained when Thoths petitioned to be freed on CivClassic 2.0. The communications the Red Duke received from Thoths were not apologetic for alt raiding, but rather accusatory, under the line of thought that Thoths had been wrongfully imprisoned to begin with. The Red Duke viewed all this as signs of dishonesty, and would regularly explain his position on the matter to those petitioning him, but they were not satisfied. The bottom line was that Thoths was friends with powerful people and because of that friendship there was preference to give him leniency despite the evidence of wrongdoing.
Eventually, Lysika of Mir would approach the Red Duke on September 9, 2019, asking about the status of both Thoths and Evo. The Red Duke explained the plan was for neither to be freed until the end of the NATO-Mir war, as both were perceived to pose a significant threat to Varkonia should they enlist the support of NATO. That position then changed to potentially freeing Thoths sooner, although with much hesitation. Lysika informed the Red Duke that Frensin was hoping to trade the pearls of Thoths and Ahri. Ahri had been pearled by Mir as Ahri had originally been supporting NATO at the onset of the war, but had since left NATO and was playing in Gensokyo while exiled. This meant the Entente was very interested in his freedom, and from the perspective of Flush and Frensin, freeing Thoths and Ahri together would solve two problems at once. However, since it was Varkonia which held Thoths' pearl, Varkonia needed to be convinced to free Thoths, and Varkonia at the time viewed Ahri's pearling as legitimate and unrelated to Thoths.
The Red Duke asked the Speaker of the Senate and the King of Nox what it would take for it to be worth it to free Thoths, believing him to be untrustworthy and almost certainly a threat considering their history. The King of Nox decreed that Thoths could be freed for the sum of 5,000 diamonds. The Red Duke and the Speaker believed this amount to be excessive, but ultimately the Red Duke forwarded this total to Lysika. This was explained as essentially being insurance: should Thoths break his word and target Varkonia, at least Varkonia would have the sum of diamonds to compensate them. Mir was outraged by the amount set for Thoths' release. [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/d4jtq2/varkonia_after_demanding_5000_diamonds_to_release/ Lysika created a meme video over the matter, comparing the Red Duke to Sintralin.]
Eventually the Red Duke took the matter into his own hands. He was uncomfortable with the schism that had formed and was growing between himself and his friends in Mir. He disregarded the King of Nox's demand for 5,000 diamonds, and would not be negotiating on behalf of Ahri- that would fall to Flush to work out a separate arrangement with Mir. The Red Duke asked for two stacks of diamond blocks (1,152 diamonds) for Thoths freedom. Mir agreed, the amount was paid, and Thoths was freed.
Nobody was happy with this outcome. Mir felt betrayed by Varkonia, which had up to then been on relatively good terms due to their long histories together, despite earlier disagreements about the NATO-Mir war. The Entente felt undermined by Varkonia because Thoths' pearl was the only leverage the Entente had over Mir to get Ahri freed. The Entente would pay a separate fee to Mir for the release of Ahri. The King of Nox was not happy as Thoths was freed for less than 5,000 diamonds. The Senate was not even consulted on the matter.
Thoths was pearled by Mir less than a week later for betraying Mir and passing information to NATO. Lysika and the Red Duke would apologize to each other over the way the situation was handled, with the Red Duke being particularly apologetic about not articulating his rationale better and not having made more reasonable stipulations. With Thoths being pearled again so soon, everyone felt a little foolish, but moved on.
Thoth's exiled account was spotted heading towards Corvus on Nevrast snitches.
==== The Second Transition of Government between Varkonia and Nevrast ====
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