Game 10

Don't worry Rev ... Papal envoys are carried by angels so the only danger of them being dropped in the sea is if they sneeze.

St.Paul was shipwrecked and it didn't stop him. Several other saints ended up captured by pirates only to convert their captors. It would be somewhat ironic if Stuart starts attacking Papal trading ships only to find that his Corsairs suddenly experience a religious awakening and defect en masse to join the Knights of Malta!

This is not Diplomacy but may be considered Corsair Propaganda as to why a young man may like a profitable and legal life sailing the Sea under the Lilly Banner.

Wound like to point out that the 250 score is not all Spanish liners recruited for King Philip under now suspended paper work........also includes liners from Genoa-Naples, Sweden and most of the Austrian fishing fleet taken under totally valid French letters of Marque after these powers declared war on France.  Also some rather rude and annoying war ships who decided to get in the way.  Current score here is Corsairs 14 rather annoying Warships 0.

As is already known in game his Most Christian Majesty is very busy, sometimes too busy to attend to small matters rather below his dignity.  To save himself having to act as a minor clerk he has delegated the task of issueing and recording Letters of Marque to the humble clerks of the Privateering Branch of the French Navy.  (Bet King William did not personally sign all his letters of Marque either).

No doubt if someone screws up badly with his most Christian Majesties delegated authority someone is going to end up in the Bastile (the nice corner cell with the view of the gardens, run by Jean Barts old mate now retired from life at sea while his wife does the cooking for Guests held at his Majesties pleasure.........French cells so much nicer than the cold, wet, rat infested ones in Savoy).

As is already known Sue du Grue attended the London Naval Conference and sent a full report to the French Govt along with the draft Naval Treaty.  Its still in his most Christian Majesties pending tray and he says he may get round to reading it when France is not being invaded etc so no its not been signed.

In the interim the Privateering Branch are however using it as general guidelines & declared the coastlines of Austria, Genoa-Naples and Sweden under blockade months ago and issued the correct statements to third party shipping to stay out of these hostile powers territorial waters and ports.  Readers of the Mercurius Politicus may re-call that a French Admiral (not from the privateering branch) got in all sorts of trouble and the French Government paid compensation when he jumped the gun and bombarded a hostile port before the warning to avoid Genoan Ports had been issued and time allowed for neatral shipping to get out of the way so its possible the Privateering branch is not alone in using the Godolphin guidelines.

For time being Papal States merchants would seem to be ok provided they stay out of the territorial waters and ports of Austria, Sweden, Genoa-Naples.......otherwise they sail at own risk in War Zones which may have effect on their Marine Insurance and result in their burning, capture and being turned into match wood.

Privateering Branch Clerks are still waiting for Louis XIV to decide if the Papal States are actually neatral since a Papal Vassel (The Lord F of Naples) has declared war on France.  As soon as Louis XIV loyal, hard working clerks get some instructions Letters of Marque will be correctly updated and given a nice shinny stamp which will stand up in any Court in France:D

Papa Clement wrote:Don't worry Rev ... Papal envoys are carried by angels so the only danger of them being dropped in the sea is if they sneeze.

St.Paul was shipwrecked and it didn't stop him.  Several other saints ended up captured by pirates only to convert their captors.  It would be somewhat ironic if Stuart starts attacking Papal trading ships only to find that his Corsairs suddenly experience a religious awakening and defect en masse to join the Knights of Malta!

If peace in Europe does break out as some people keep threatening may well sign up to the Maltese CORSA.

I believe at this time the French Lodge of the Knights of Malta was its largest and most important Lodge but the celabacy and Noble birth requirement may be a bit too much for most French Corsairs.

I think the term 'Corsair propaganda' is about right.

Must be a first in the history of the game for a player to claim the protection of a treaty he admits has not been signed and whose clauses do not in any way justify what he has done. Makes the Nessie defence much more believable.

There are so many other inconsistencies in Stuart's previous post that to detail them here would probably cross the line into diplomacy. No doubt Stuart will mount a robust (cough) defence of his stance in his reply to my in game letter. The way things are going there won't be many French courts actually under French administration within a year so any Corsair celebrations may be somewhat premature.

Stuart Bailey wrote:I believe at this time the French Lodge of the Knights of Malta was its largest and most important Lodge but the celibacy and Noble birth requirement may be a bit too much for most French Corsairs.

It was indeed, although the requirement to be Catholic and in obedience to the Holy See may prove almost as difficult.

Papa Clement wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:I believe at this time the French Lodge of the Knights of Malta was its largest and most important Lodge but the celibacy and Noble birth requirement may be a bit too much for most French Corsairs.

It was indeed, although the requirement to be Catholic and in obedience to the Holy See may prove almost as difficult.

Can manage the Catholic but the Celibacy, Noble Birth & in obedience to the Holy See...........that is a tough call!

But I thought you can sign up to the Corsa without being a Knight?

You may find it difficult to claim to be Catholic and not in obedience to the Holy See. There may not be quite so many requirements for lay members of the Order of Malta, but they are still required to promise obedience and to live an exemplary Catholic life.

Meanwhile, in Valletta

Prunesquallor wrote:Meanwhile, in Valletta

Leading merchant who helped finance this years CORSA wonder's how he is going to explain how x3 English, x2 Dutch , x4 Spanish, x3 French, x2 Austrian & x5 Papal ships were all in league with the Ottomans and deserved to have their ships and cargo seized and sold in Malta. And if he needs to employ a Scots lawyer

Pshaw. They were clearly all pirates and miscreants bearing false flags.

The quality of their forged papers was really quite excellent, but nobody believes that nonsense when the richness of their cargo clearly screams 'please take me now from these bad, bad men.' Always believe what the booty tells you. Would booty lie to you?

Quite right, Deacon. Further, if any explanation is owed, it is by those ships on their dealings with the Ottoman

The duck and the bunny were Warner Brothers... Not sure who has the rights to them now.

It might be wabbit season!

If he did this to Disney and G10.........the mind boggles at what the Rome game is going to inspire!

The poor Canton Clique could show up one day to find someone has "pimped" their Dragon Boat so it looks like the Imperial Barge from Anthony and Cleopatra.

Everybody in game 10 alright ? In fact , everybody whether in game 10 or not alright ? In real life , corona virus wise ? Bet the GM is going to super orders next turn as everybody is staying in .

All fine so far thanks Mike.
Second week of working from home which is nice but not sure I will think the same after 3 months!
Best wishes to everyone.

Phew , bit quiet there for a minute . . .

Mike wrote:Phew , bit quiet there for a minute . . .

All good here too Mike, just busy as my service's remit includes weddings and death management services so very busy at the moment. Working from home helps but not always able to do so.

Hope all are well and keeping safe.

Hi All,

A proof of life post. Ticking along in Singapore. Family OK & work full on.

Anyways, I hope all well!

Hmm - couple of days since I got my Game 10 reply, and no messages up here yet?! Well, just to say my own up-dated status is something of a disappointment, and anyone interacting with the Asante will please have to forgive absence of letters/relevant-actions. I emailed my orders in good time, but then got an email from Richard just before the deadline saying no orders had been received and giving me a last-minute chance. Off course I re-submitted, but it seems nothing got through in time. So essentially the Asante have stood still (which, though, might not necessarily be a bad thing, avoiding some potentially crossed-wires). Hopefully normal service will be resumed next time... (but it does make a slow rate of play even slower, sigh...)

Sorry to hear you missed the turn, Revenant, although there was something from Accra in the newspaper. I enjoyed the Inhambane bit, so there's still always something exciting coming out of Africa.

Must admit the first 10 pages of the newspaper didn't make any sense to me; it improved in the middle then after the Inhambane bit it deteriorated again. Oddly enough I found the same pattern in my daily newspaper - the middle pages are much more interesting!

Apart from wondering how much in real money 858 million Maravedis is, my turn is about ready to go back - took less than an hour since most of the orders are written well in advance. My G7 turn is far more involved so I can spend my time on that instead of reading self-righteous protestant drivel. The Catholic Church came out of the Reformation much stronger having gained millions of converts in the New World and renewed vigor, so if a few more rulers wish to cause trouble for themselves and throw tantrums because their attempts to threaten or bribe the church have failed, then that's much more their problem than mine. Nearly 500 years after the Reformation protestant sects are struggling while the Catholic Church has more members than ever. My Methodist next door neighbour told me she was seriously thinking about converting to Catholicism after objecting to the latest document her congregation are being asked to approve. I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime, but that's how it goes.

It is difficult for me to comment on the turn in detail, get involved in forum speculation or do a turn write-up because I split session 5 of the Council of Tivoli over 2 months and don't want to anticipate what I have written or spoil the surprise. But I'm sure someone will post something to keep you entertained.

The Revenant wrote:Hmm - couple of days since I got my Game 10 reply, and no messages up here yet?!  Well, just to say my own up-dated status is something of a disappointment, and anyone interacting with the Asante will please have to forgive absence of letters/relevant-actions.  I emailed my orders in good time, but then got an email from Richard just before the deadline saying no orders had been received and giving me a last-minute chance.  Off course I re-submitted, but it seems nothing got through in time.  So essentially the Asante have stood still (which, though, might not necessarily be a bad thing, avoiding some potentially crossed-wires).  Hopefully normal service will be resumed next time... (but it does make a slow rate of play even slower, sigh...)

Must admit G10 only hit my inbox last night so still reading through it But sorry to hear you had problems sending your turn in.

Very interesting turn, nice to see the Doge distancing himself from the previous comments aimed at the British states (though obviously the Doge, being a fine upstanding chap, clearly wasn't behind them). I do enjoy the Saxony sections too, not sure who is playing it but they are putting a lot of thought and effort into making their actions entertaining for the rest of us. Unfortunately does look like another bad month to be a mayor...

The Apollo bunch seem to be causing a lot of mischief though...but at least they aren't being nasty to mayors!

Was a bit confused by the entry in the paper concerning Phillip 'd Orleans in that he is nephew & son in law to King Louis. Does that mean son of one of one of King Louis Sisters, & also married to a sister of Same King?

Could this Apollo stuff be a Swashbuckler player having a lot of fun at our expense ? Seems they are prepared to have a go at all of us.

The Revenant wrote:Hmm - couple of days since I got my Game 10 reply, and no messages up here yet?!  Well, just to say my own up-dated status is something of a disappointment, and anyone interacting with the Asante will please have to forgive absence of letters/relevant-actions.  I emailed my orders in good time, but then got an email from Richard just before the deadline saying no orders had been received and giving me a last-minute chance.  Off course I re-submitted, but it seems nothing got through in time.  So essentially the Asante have stood still (which, though, might not necessarily be a bad thing, avoiding some potentially crossed-wires).  Hopefully normal service will be resumed next time... (but it does make a slow rate of play even slower, sigh...)

Sorry to hear you've not got your turn through Revenant, but glad you're ok.

Will do a G10 write up soon, just on tail end of recovering from the virus, my wife is taking longer to recover but past the worst.

Good to hear you're recovering, hope it wasn't too serious a bout of it Marshal!

Fairly mild bout thanks Jason. Wouldn't want anyone to get it.