Yerushalayim

I think this is a pretty sensible way to govern people who want to RP large numbers of NPCs in contested areas.

As clarification: The GMs haven't said people can't ever RP NPCs. That's a strawman being slung up against us. We've shown (between Poland, the Hope Floats, and the Bulgaria situation) that we've got no issue with it, when done with sense. :P TBM's got a discussion going to codify a rule for how we handle RPing NPCs, which is most certainly not the same as going "neener neener neener you can't do it!"

Our job's to keep the RP flowing. If you get into a conflict RP with someone else, and then you decide not to collaborate (or they decide not to), it's our job to unstick the gears. This allows your forces to be redeployed at the end, resolves the conflict, and moves the storylines forward once more. As you all have been told, so long as you're moving the RP forward, we're not going to get involved except to smack down things that shouldn't be happening (e.g.: Rping a functional government in Alaska that's on your side, or RPing your rival's forces). But if you refuse to work together, and just argue with each other, and ask for retcons of the little RP that you do engage in, then something's going to be done to unstick it all.

One of the alternatives, within the rules, is for us to flip a coin and tell them who wins the war, followed by rolling percentiles and telling them how many of their forces they lose. I figured they'd prefer some RP instead of just "You lose, take x% casualties. You win, take y% casualties". But hey, who knows. Seems folks don't actually like the idea of RPing when there's risk. :P

I see no issue with GMs informing players to find a way to advance a RP, or the GMs will do it. It's pretty explicitly stated in the GM roles that part of the GM's job is to keep RP moving forward.

"Greece supports the Maltese motion. It is the duty of the League to protect the rights and life of all peoples when they face outside oppression. Clearly none of the involved parties have the well being of the Alaskan population in mind, and seek only to maneuver for political gain against one another."

I think that nukes fall under the stat saving rule. I don't see a reason why they wouldn't be considered a stat. They're just a number attached to your nation, after all.

Thea grinned and nodded, “We can certainly contract with Alvonian corporations, so long as their work is up to standards. We wish only for the prosperity of all our friends and neighbours.” Her smile vanished after the note arrived, and the man continued. “The situation in Bulgaria is not one I'm pleased about. Not one that any of us in Greece are pleased about. Our neighbour, a nation that assisted us in our revolution, and a nation that we fought beside, has invaded both of our northern neighbours. Oh, I know,” she spoke quickly, to forestall complaints, “Yugoslavia maintains it is not an invasion. But what else do you call an army of that size arriving, without invitation, and that seeks to occupy a land that does not belong to their own nation? Greece has sent a smaller force to secure the south of Bulgaria, to provide a safe zone for any Bulgarians who have fled the occupation. We maintain several refugee camps, and we do coordinate with local militias for defense of those camps, where we can. We also bring a good deal of food and medical supplies up to distribute to those in need.”

I'm late to the party, apparently, but needless to say I support a stat saving system. Wars come and go in CN, and I've never supported systems that result in a nation's ability to defend itself swinging wildly due to events that aren't within the scope of the RP itself. How many more people do we need to support this before we bring it to a vote?

A memo to the Northlands and Malta: Greece has dispatched a destroyer group of equal size to the fleet deployed by Malta. Destroyer Group Archimedes will arrive in Tristan da Cunha and begin coordination with allied forces. Additional fleet groups are on standby for operations in securing bases of operation in the suggested regions; a contingent of the Greek military engineers is available for any location agreed upon for a Pact base.

I'm down. Jerusalem, Hebron, and Acre. Kingdom of Judea.

“Well, we'd like to construct a special high speed rail line from Greece to the Northlands. Passing it through Alvonia makes the most sense, or else we'd have to swing through the unprotected territories of Italy. I think Alvonia can appreciate the significant benefits of having a commercial and cultural through way connecting Greece, Yugoslavia, Alvonia, and the Northlands.” She laughed softly at the question regarding the Yugoslavians and shook her head, “Of course not. Yugoslavia is our ally in the Eastern Mediterranean Union. Though we disagree with their invasion of Bulgaria, we won't break our pact with them, nor would we approach you in the hopes of getting you to betray your ally. No. A non aggression pact is a standard part of Greek foreign policy when we approach another nation for trade matters. It does us no good, after all, to negotiate for trade deals, or rail lines, when it remains possible that our nations could one day go to war. Better to sign a pact to help ensure that peace and prosperity reign, don't you think?”

Thea took a small cup of coffee and a piece of baklava, thanking the server before turning her attention back to the Alvonian Minister. “I wouldn't say it's causing much of one. Greece will raise the issue again when tempers have had time to cool. If things go well, the issue will be settled before the month is over.” She finished the baklava and set aside the small plate it had come on before continuing. “The reason I've come, though, is to negotiate a deal with Alvonia. Greece wishes to construct a rail line through your territory. Additionally, I believe we'd be interested in a formal non-aggression pact.”

I dig the flag. Congrats on the birthday.

Supercheese and Hereno.

July 10, Year 2 Vienna, Alvonia [Private] Thea Garis was loathe to travel so far from Greece during a time of conflict, but she understood the necessity of her actions. So it was that she found herself in Vienna, a city famed throughout history, and one which she did not have the time to enjoy. She marched to the Palace, where she was to meet her Alvonian counterpart, and gave the requisite courtesies to the staff and security there. It wasn't until she'd reached the meeting room that Thea relaxed. She extended her hand to the man facing her and inclined her head in greeting, “I'm Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thea Garis. It's my pleasure to meet you. I look forward to building a friendship between Greece and Alvonia.”

July 8, Year 2 Greek Command Base, Bulgaria White Zone [Private] “I know your feelings on the affair, but we cannot allow the Slavs to control our northern border.” General Kazilieris placed both hands, clenched into fists, on the map table. He leaned toward the Prime Minister and glowered at her. Arista held up her hand to forestall further outbursts, waited a moment for the General to relax his stance, then responded, “You clearly do not know my feelings. I agree, whole heartedly, that we cannot allow our northern border, and our land routes into Europe, to be controlled entirely by Yugoslavia. Furthermore, I'm unwilling to see them annex Bulgaria, or place a puppet regime in power. I thought we'd made our feelings clear to them, but it seems not. I would rather we deal with this peacefully,” she ignored the General's snort of disdain, “but I doubt that the Kralj will see reason. The man is an ideologue. Once he's set his mind on an objective, he can see no other course of action. He thinks Bulgaria needs his protection, thinks it's his duty to unite the Slavic peoples. He won't come around. So, General, you have my clearance. Give the order. Our war begins tonight.” Kazilieris considered her appraisingly, then gave a sharp nod of his head. “Perhaps you have the stomach to do what needs to be done, after all.” He turned to one of his aids, “Send out the order. The attack begins at the designated time.” He turned back to the Prime Minister, his face grim, “Our forces will be nowhere near the zones of combat. No evidence will link back to us. If all goes well, Yugoslavia will have its supply lines damaged, and we'll be able to report, truthfully, on the world stage that they're in conflict with the Bulgarian people. If we're truly lucky, they'll escalate the fight.” *** [Outside Slivnitsa] “Ready?” The voice echoed back into the van, grim and gruff. “Ready,” it was answered by the men and women who had volunteered for the assault. Their voices shook with nerves, as the prospective soldiers of the revolution stared toward their target. Their eyes found nothing but darkness, for the overpass was shrouded by the night, but all knew its location. “Right, let's go,” the driver spoke again, and the van lurched into motion. The ride was rough, as the vehicle ploughed over the farmlands that spread on either side of the target, its headlights out to maintain the cover of their approach for as long as possible. It was only when the van came distance to engage the target that the side doors slid open and the soldiers spilled out. They flicked on the night vision equipment provided by the Greeks, the serial numbers filed off, and took position. The attack commenced shortly thereafter, with the loud crack of gunfire and the roar of explosives deployed against the overpass of E80, where it intersected with the local rail line. [Outside Mezdra] The night lit with the muzzle flash of Bulgarian rifles, and the explosion of RPG rounds and explosives launched at the Mezdra overpass, where the highway intersected the rail line. “Go!” The scream was barely audible over the gunfire, “the Slavs will respond quickly. Go go go!” The Bulgarians emptied their clips and piled back into the truck they'd arrived in. The engine roared as the vehicle sped away into the night, leaving little behind but shell casings and those few volunteers who placed their explosive devices where the truck had parked, and sprinted for the tree line. [Kyustendil City] “Fear not!” The loudspeaker boomed in Kyustendil, a Bulgarian woman shouting into it from her position in the bed of a pickup truck, “We will defend you! Bulgaria will be free! Fear not!” She repeated her chant, while others spread through the southern city. Partisans marched through the streets, and citizens stared through their windows as the soldiers began creating barricades and defensive positions. The rallying cry of a free Bulgaria was raised across Kyustendil, even as its roads and rail lines were closed to traffic heading into Yugoslavian controlled territory. [Sofia City] “Is it time?” The voice was faint, the breath behind it panicked. “It is. Let's go,” the answer was just as fearful. The third squad of the Sofia Front climbed from their couches and pounded up the stairs to the roof of their building. The would be soldiers pulled their equipment out and set up the mortar they had been assigned, following the instructions to sight it at the nearby Sofia airport. They'd finished preparing when the first flashes of light and sound reached them. “!@#$, others are starting. Get firing!” Nervous hands loaded the first shell and fired it, and they were overjoyed to see the explosion within the target zone that marked a successful shot. “Yes!” The cry went up, and the crew quickly loaded another shot, adjusting their aim to bring destruction to as much of the runway as they could. [Iskar Dam] “Make it count, boys.” The commander slapped the side of one of the resistance's few Katyusha launchers. “Make the !@#$%^&* pay. Get out if you can.” He patted the vehicle again, saluted his men, and jogged off toward the woods. The Katyushas became a swarm of activity as the soldiers primed the rockets, finalized their aim, and then sent the rockets shrieking into the night. Within seconds the formation of six launchers had each emptied their compliment of rockets, and the crews prepared the vehicles for their retreat from Slavic held territory. [Burgas City] The soldier checked her watch and glanced over to the rest of her squad, crammed onto the small boat. “Let's move.” She spoke to the pilot, who grunted in response. The engine came to life, and the boat skipped over the water toward Burgas harbour, along with several other speedboats. She pulled out the flare gun that had been prepared for the occasion, took aim above her target, and fired the signal. Gunfire soon erupted on the docks, and the men and women in the boats shortly joined the battle for Burgas Harbour. Further north in the city, trucks and vans sped across the farmland around Burgas airport, and soldiers spilled out to attack. Mortars were prepared and fired, while men and women with RPGs targeted aircraft that could be found on the ground, and the control towers vital to the airport's operation. The crack of sniper rifles joined the crescendo of battle, as rebel marskmen targeted any officers they could discern in the response. [Varna City] “Keep your heads down, and keep firing, and you'll get through this. The Yugoslavs won't know what hit 'em. Do Bulgaria proud.” The commander ushered her men out into the night, then shouldered her own weapon. The troops under her command slunk through the sparse fields around the airport, until they were in range to attack. Three teams had remained within the tree line to prepare mortars, and the attack began with the first wave of mortar shells launched at the runway. The explosions were joined by the barking chatter of gunfire as the Liberation Troops hurled themselves forward, pushing to take the hangars, and destroy the control tower. [Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport] “We've got a soft target. Make us all proud.” The word went out, and the soldiers set up their mortars. Their positions were shielded by a line of trees, and a stream, between themselves and the target, but they'd spent time scouting its position in the days beforehand. When the time came, their mortars came to life, lobbing shells into the airport's premises. They launched several volleys before packing the mortars and fleeing into the surrounding area, fearful of a swift Yugoslavian retaliation. [Outside Ruse] Several Bulgarians were gathered a ways off the road between Ruse and its airport. They checked their weapons, gave each other brief nods, and slipped into the night. They came together again at the air strip, a small affair, but one that had been slated for attack nonetheless. The soldiers, retired special operations operatives, kept to the darkness where they could as they went about the grim business of taking control of the strip as silently as possible. Those they could take off guard would be silenced with the swipe of a knife; if luck was with them, the air strip would fall before a warning could be sounded. If not, they'd brought explosives to ensure that it was of no use to the enemy. [Balkan Mountains] “This'll do,” the Bulgarian Liberation Trooper muttered, staring around himself. “Yeah,” came the murmured reply. The soldiers of the revolution were quietly unpacking their equipment deep in the Balkan Mountains, far from the major roadways, or watching eyes, of the Yugoslavians. *** [Public News Excerpt] The military in Bulgaria has reported that fighting began last night between partisan forces and the Yugoslavian occupation. It's not clear, at this time, how many have died in the initial fighting. It appears that the partisans have a unified command structure, and an organization calling itself the Bulgarian Armed Revolutionary Front has taken credit for the offensive. The BARF has issued a statement vowing to fight the occupation at every step, and demand that Yugoslavian forces be removed from Bulgarian territory. The government has called up a division of the reserves in preparation for possible deployment to the Bulgarian front, should the conflict escalate. OOC: Attacks are coordinated, and launched in the dead of night. The squads are supported by snipers, whose orders are to target Yugoslav officers if possible, or regular soldiers if not. Other than the BM-21 Grad launchers at Iskar Dam, Bulgarian Liberation Troops (BLTs!) are utilizing small arms and infantry weapons only. Here's a map showing rough locations of each action (except the Balkan Mountain segment, which isn't an action). Each icon indicates a battle, except for the Burgas icon, which indicates two due to the dual attacks on the harbour and airport.

Several days had passed before the representative quietly informed his contact in the Legionworks: “Suez is open to you. Luck in your homeland.”

“I can have one faxed over, if you'll just give me the number.” She waited long enough for her counterpart to oblige, and transmitted the numbers to her superiors in the homeland. It didn't take long for a treaty draft to be faxed to the Russians for overview, along with a message indicating Greece's willingness to send its Foreign Minister to sign the treaty on behalf of the Hellenic Republic once the text was agreed upon.

“Hmn. That, unfortunately, I cannot speak to. I'll have to contact my associates, who will have to go through their own channels, before an answer on the issue of the Suez can be given. If it were up to me, I'd see no harm to it. Big wigs, on the other hand, might get a bit antsy. We'll see, eh?” He gave a dry chuckle and shrugged. “Soon as you're satisfied here, I'll start making the calls that need to be made.”

“Of course. We would never wish for Malta's image to become tarnished because of our business dealings. I think my associates will have no issue dealing with Mr. Saul. In fact, when we finish this meeting here, I can begin working with your esteemed associate at once.”

The Greek representative, though mildly surprised to be taken to the CEO's office, hid it well. He listened to the CEO, nodded once at the close, and spoke, “I understand the nature of experimental weaponry. The error rates you propose are well within our tolerance. As for an engraver, I think we can put such a tool to good use.”

The representative, who had settled into life as a businessman in Valleta, approached the Legionworks salesman once more. "My associates require a second shipment of equipment. Another shipment of small arms, in addition to to anti-vehicle mines, preferably plastics, and anti-armour and anti-air weapons suitable to be mounted on technical class vehicles. An order of MATADOR type weapons is needed. An order of MANPADS is requested as well. Ammunition for 60 days of fighting is preferable. To be delivered to the same drop point as last time. Should Legionworks find itself capable of this, we would be interested in procuring quadcopter type vehicles, armed with a combination of demolition explosives and anti-personnel mines for deployment in combat."

“Certainly we should cooperate to ensure that the Black Sea remains free of piracy and conflict. We would also be interested in a wider reaching agreement. Say, a non-aggression pact, with the option to provide for the other's defense if need be. Economically, Greece can lower tarrifs on Russian shipping through the Bosporus, and give Russia's merchant marine fleet greater access to the Mediterranean. We would also be open to cultural exchange between our peoples.”

"I would need to speak with the Prime Minister, and the rest of the government, before I could answer you. Though it seems the Slavs are not so willing to be cooperative."