Entry posted by Sardonic
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Why start with NpO/NPO?
When we were beginning the process of coming back, a conscious decision was made to start at the perceived 'center' of the game. This approach was the right one for several reasons. The main practical reason was to form relationships with the most powerful and well connected, and use that as leverage. This prevented us from having to go around making peace with every alliance at war with the former GOONS. I do not know how it would have gone had gone with attempting peace with all, but I doubt it would have ended favorably. One of the more interesting bits of information I uncovered while negotiating with one of NPO's main allies for the return was that we were not the first group of Goons to attempt to reform GOONS, I believe they said there had been at least three prior attempts, they probably picked the wrong approach.
What actually happened?
The protectorate was originally only with NpO. As part of negotiations, NPO wanted in on the treaty too. After deliberation we decided to roll with it. Negotiations were slow at first, as there was a lot going on. We were sent by NpO/NPO to argue our case to a few choice allies, to make sure everything was in order. We then got the treaty approved by NpO and NPO in that order. We then posted it. (Which I can't find a link to, but you can imagine the mess that thread was)
Opinion on Both and Case
At its core the protectorate was more with NpO than NPO. The issue of joint custody came up because I believe both alliances wanted to use our power, to have us as allies. I don't really have a problem with that line of thinking. We certainly don't come into this expecting to be negotiating from a position of power, but we were treated fairly like equals while presenting our case. The case being, essentially, that we were not Those GOONS, and that those of the membership of the old GOONS (myself included) were betrayed by our government. Which was and is still true. This case went surprisingly well with the primary allies of NpO and NPO. I'm glad that everyone was reasonable, even one dissenting alliance could have stonewalled the entire reconciliation.
Opinion on NPO
NPO was a special case. A *lot* of Goons have a severely negative opinion of NPO, citing a belief that they either abandoned us or deliberately killed us. I personally do not subscribe to either conspiracy theory. My understanding of the incident is that the conflict between the old GOONS and NpO forced them neutral, until a conflict far enough from the core of the primary war combatants opened up (This is the logic we used to defend Umbrella in the short lived NpO/\m/&&PC War, rather than staying true neutral). This is reasonable, they had two allies fighting, this is a precedent set a long time ago to not interfere directly when allies fight.
With respect to the reformation however, the longest part of it, in-arguably, was waiting for Moo to get back to us. It took a solid month from the time the treaty was sent to get it signed. I realize that there was a lot going on at that time period (to say the least), but we genuinely felt we were getting stonewalled. However, it all worked out in the end. Part of me regrets that we had to sever the tie as part of NPO's surrender terms, I feel with a little more active diplomacy we probably could have worked things out.
Opinion on NpO
Again, NpO was integral to our entire reformation effort. I credit them directly (after salithus and I, ofc) for the reformation of the alliance. This is why I regard them so highly. Without them there would probably not be a GOONS, I cannot really overstate this enough. In the time of their second chance, they gave us one.
Interestingly enough, our friendship with NpO started very indirectly. On the moon, a lot of NpO members were in an alliance we were allied to for the vast majority of the game. While politics kept us seemingly never fighting directly for each other, ours was one of the strongest bonds in the game. I met my good friends DFD, Draz, and Swiper there. They also formed an alliance in Galava, KoS, and we did some fun stuff in the brief period we played it, or rather, made plans to. It was dynamite on paper, but that's something for a later entry.
Anyway the core diplomacy took place between salithus Grub and I. I honestly think that the Grub then is a different person from the Grub today. I still have respect for Grub, but still recognize the unanimous complaints from the other government about his posting about us. With Penguin taking over for Grub I look forward to building relations again, and hopefully someday reinstating our treaty, both governments permitting.
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