Game 8

Jason, is your playing nation Muslim?

And should you then go after another Muslim nation for enslaving a Christian, would that not see you frowned upon by other Muslim countries?

Or given that there's all the different sects within Islam, can you get away with it on this occasion?

[forgive me if I'm wrong on the above - tbh, I'm just too lazy to bother looking who's who and whose done what.]

He is, but any number of legitimate arguments for making a fuss come to mind.

The man is an ambassador.

Seizing up men in an open port is damaging to trade and not cricket.

etc, etc.

Deacon has summed it up well...Persia is Muslim but an ambassador is someone worthy of respect, regardless of religion and within all major religions, the grabbing of nobles and enslaving them (regardless of religion) is not seen as good thing.

Slaves are a certain thing in society, if I allow the representative of another nation to be enslaved and do nothing, how can I object if someone enslaves my subjects.

Think of this as a Saladin moment, I can show my nobility, I treat those of other religions in the same way as those of my own.  You have abused a man who was coming to my court, that means you have abused one of mine...PERSIAN HOSTS MUSTER!!!!!

Wait til you see my next press statement in the next G8 turn, my G9 Lord Fong postings will be nothing by comparison

Fair enough.

I tend to look at things from a Rozwi perspective, nowadays.

"Was he somebody important and a Rozwi? No. Then I do not care. Why are you bothering me with this talk!"

Unless I've formally recognised the person as a guest of the Changamire, then I suppose I might deign to do something.

I think it's that difference. it goes back to the old idea, for example, of the offering of water. If you have a guest or prisoner, once you offer them water they are safe and under your protection-ambassadors are considered to have been offered the drink once they leave their home.

Think about the Glen Coe Massacre, it's not the massacre that is the issue, it is the fact the troops had been offered hospitality and then slaughtered the clan that is so shocking...ok Scottish history is full of similar abuses but the idea hold true, once someone as been offered your hospitality (however that is defined) they are under your protection (and act in certain ways)...if you say, send me an ambassador, they are your guest and under your protection...if someone abuses them...

Rozwi still wouldn't be fussed. Unless he'd arrived and been formally welcomed, recognised, offered sustenance and shelter, if he got himself kidnapped on the journey there it's his own damn look out.

Here's the official newspaper info', for those not playing:

MASSAWA
While arranging to board a ship
to take him to a Persian port the
Abyssinian diplomat Ato Abruk
is believed to have been snatched
by slavers and has thus lost his
liberty

For the sake of argument you've then got to ask a few questions. Where was the diplomat going? was Persia merely a point of arrival before travel over-land. Was he actually a credited ambassador? as there's no mention of him being assigned to a nation (unless I've missed it?) Who actually did take him - if he has, in fact, been taken at all? Where was the representative's water-carriers? His sleeping-mat carrier? His armed, bound by blood and clan, guard? Lots of questions need answering. I know an Englishman at Hull who might do it for a price!

Luckily the Emperor to whom the confines of the earth bow, will use this as an opportunity...travel in Africa, even for the handsome people of Abyssinia is fraught with risk.

The poor soul was heading towards Persia, the previous emissary was going to take four years to get there. So a more fleet of foot traveller was being sent...plenty more where he came from!

Make Persia pay some sort of blood price for the loss of the poor chap. After all, according to this thread Persia seems to like sob stories, so will probably provide a pension for the man's family. And if it hadn't had been for the Persian's existence, he'd still have been safe at home and tending his goats.

Does Isfahan have a branch of InjuryLawyers4U? Would kidnapping be covered under Third Party, Fire and Theft?

Haha! Now there's a thought!

I think if Jason can find and liberate the ambassador and make something of a stink about this, he's got free honour coming his way. That's exactly the sort of pointless grandstanding that your nobles adore!

Good news is that the current turn is being processed as I type (had an email from Richard clarifying what I intended by my reined-back payment options this turn - I've been spending crazy amounts boot-strapping France, but now reckon to have got somewhere where I can ease back on my real-world purse).

I do not like this time of year in game.

I think this letting the game master have a summer holiday thing is deeply suspect and will naturally lead to the end of divine right, and the natural order of things. The next thing you know the peasants will be insisting on the vote, Women will be speaking their minds, and and nobles won't be able to get away with murdering people in far away lands.

Deacon wrote:
I do not like this time of year in game.

"In game" or "real world"? It's my least favourite season in game because funds and recruits are beginning to run out and I'm having to come up with yet another extravagant way of celebrating Christmas. Real world - as you say, time sloowwwws down...

I wrote a piece concerning Hull's Bonfire Night celebrations, but whether it'll see publication in the newspaper - or just in my Swashbuckler's private info - is to be seen.

In-game last December, my Swashbuckler just stayed in his rented Inn room. Saved me having to write about Christmas. Bah Humbug!

I celebrated Christmas 1701 in G10 by marching a Army into Flanders in G10.

It may be a bit of an old hat but if you want to take a place by surprise I find attacking on the 25 December after a agent has bought loads of drinks seems to work.

I meant the real world time (late summer when Agema often takes holiday) implications to in game processing time. Wit/snark fail, I guess. Like everybody I love christmas in game, with all the shiny new currency and all its possiblities!

This turn's paper has some great bits.

I wish the Russians a great deal of luck in trying to crown the Russian patriarch as first among equals. In game 3, I spent game years talking to the Orthodox Patriarchs and They didn't move as much as an inch. They aren't likely to be much moved by Russian entreaties, but maybe Russia will have better luck than I did. Of course, in game 3, the Russians conquered Constantinople which made them the darlings of the Orthodox.

Further, I have to credit the Russians courage in roaring defiance while the Tsar is in chains. It may not end well, but plenty of style points!

The siege of Lahari Bandar isn't going well for the Maharatan and Moghul forces. Having done several blockades in game myself, I'm guessing the Moghul are learning how fast the SL rises on blockading ships. You tend to need a spare fleet or two to pull off an extended blockade as I learned when one of my fleets mutinied because I wasn't quick enough to replace them.

The ball in Hull seems to have gone off well despite my best efforts. I ordered my agents to spike the punch, and they wrote back that they thought the punch was pure brandy and there was nothing more they could do as it was having no apparent effect upon the English revelers. Drat the English and their unconquerable livers!

Apparently there is a lot of screaming going on in Hanover.

Good News! The King of Sweden is no longer insane! Bad News! Nobody knows how to tell the difference. They're swedes after all.

I leave the rest to your reading pleasure.

Spiking the punch might have helped my toilet humour joke be better appreciated. Some, apparently, appreciated it as much as a fart in a packed elevator.

Still, I did take precautions concerning intoxication:

(from my turn orders)
Throughout the event, Bartholomew made sure to not drink heavily - since he knew he would have to have his wit available for conversation and to lead the toast. Also, to keep himself from making any unfortunate, drunken challenges or boasts.

I just need to get the money raised safely back to London and hand it over to the Royal Society chaps ... Oh, and resign from their employment

Hope my Danish is up to scratch, in case I get jumped at some point in the future?  

"Det er jeg ked af. Vær venlig at slå mig ikke! Det var den drik, der fik mig til at gøre det ... Ern! Help me!"

"Det er jeg ked af. Vær venlig at slå mig ikke! Det var den drik, der fik mig til at gøre det ... Ern! Help me!"

I think I can roughly translate this one:-

"Get your Jacket off." We're venting at Slamming Dike! That was then Drink, dear Think me still at gorgeous....Ernie!" Help Me

Admit it may make more sense in the original

I believe it is more like:

"I am tired/sick of this. Please do not hit me. It was the drink that made me do it... Ern! Help Me"

Hope turn arrives soon. Been more than a month. No turn processed in October at all.

The Game 9 turn arrived yesterday so Game 8 can be expected sometime next week.

If so, that's a new record for slow, pushing out to 6 week turnaround. 50% slower than real life.

I think I will have to do my part and start trimming turns more. My two year plans have now slipped out to three years real time...

Maybe we should all fold our current positions in all games & start a new game 11 with all currently active players taking part, maybe we can get back to a two week turn around!

any takers?

Turnaround time have been at 32-36 days for the last 3 months at least, so no big changes so far.

Fair, but this is a fair bit longer still.

This year it has been (you can tell it's lunch and I'm bored, so I went and calculated with the help of an internet date calculator):

Turn processing days this year (jan-feb, feb to march, etc.): 36, 28, 35, 23, 33, 28, 35, 36, 36+?

Today is 36 days. If it is next week, as is probable from game 9 just shipping, that will put it into 40+ days.