Anuire civil war, something lik

[Gregoire Alexandre Segui]

>Anuire will fight against him and maybe they will unite under the greatest
lords, maybe
>if the Gorgon attack Anuire would birth again.
>
>What do you think ?
>

I think that if the Gorgon would attack Anuire now, the Gorgon may find
some greedy chaotic X aligned characters who will know that the Gorgon
cannot possibly rule over all of Anuire easely by himself. He will need
vassals. That is where greed comes in. I think that you would see the
biggest number of threatury and assassination in the history of Anuire and
the Gorgon would suddenly gain inland support before the invasion even
started.

Gregoire Alexandre Seguin.

Evil begets evil,
Money begets greed,
The excess of begets murder.

[EMagyar007@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-06-08 19:30:16 EDT, you write:

Dave said:

Small nations depend on support from stronger factions. Although they
may
> not like it, they will be crushed under a weaker faction, whereas more
> powerful nations can act as protectorate.

I'm talking more in real life political terms. By aligning with the weaker
power block a small nation guarantees itself more influence within the
alliance because they are not as dominated as they would be if they
had joined the more powerfull faction. There are of course exceptions. >>

Hi, I'm new to the list, so I guess I'll just stick my finger in here!
I believe in the real world that smaller nations tend to choose a middle
ground. Most nations in the world played the US and USSR against each other
for their benefit. In your example the small nation would try to remain
neutral and perhaps trade with both parties. Mercenaries could be hired from
the small nation, and goods could be traded between it and other realms.
Most african nations used this approach when dealing with the cold war.
Yougoslavia also used this strategy in the NATO/Warsaw Pact agreements.
They said no to both parties and neither side had the desire or resources to
force a decision one way or another. If a large group of nations wanted to
take over a small nation, then it would have to expend some of its precious
resources to do so, and would weaken it in the long run. So too would the
lesser faction. In fact the lesser faction might be totally opposed to
fighting to force a smaller nation to join it at all. The smart ruler of a
tiny nation would wait and hope to pick up the pieces after the big boys had
their time bashing each other.
Just a thought.
Thanks, M.

[TSRRich@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-06-09 03:48:20 EDT, you write:

>For a real life example look at Europe before the Second World War.
>The nations of Europe feared the (potentially) strongest power,
>Germany. To offset this Austria allied itself with Italy. Poland &
>Czechoslovakia both aligned with France. Relations with the Soviet
>Union were stabilized in the hopes of using the USSR as a balance
>against Germany. Finland eventually aligned with Germany against
>the USSR who it percieved as the greater threat (wonder why!).
>
>

An even better real-life example is Europe as it stood before the Great War.
Several reigning sovereigns--Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas, even Franz Joseph
of Austria still exercised a great deal of control over their nation's
foreign security arrangements. The actual course of events that led to WW I
is a study in how tripwire alliances can go wrong:

1. Austria declared war on Serbia, after Serbia "failed" to meet Austria's
intolerable demands brought about by the assassination of the Archduke
Ferdinand.

2. Russia declared war on Austria, since Austria had declared war on Russia's
ally Serbia.

3. Germany declared war on Russia, since Russia had declared war on Austria
for declaring war on Serbia (there's some really interesting and bizarre
correspondence between Nicholas and his cousin, the Kaiser, associated with
this.)

4. France declared war on Germany, since Germany had declared war on her ally
Russia for declaring war on Austria for declaring war on Serbia.

5. Britain declared war on Germany after Germany marched through Belgium to
get at France in the Schlieffen Plan maneuver, since Britain was pledged to
defend the territorial integrity and neutrality of Belgium. (Again, some
interesting correspondence, since Kaiser Wilhelm didn't think that Britain
would go to war on Belgium's behalf.)

There you have it--alliances going off like firecrackers! Think about the fun
you could add to your Birthright campaign by arranging a few tripwire
alliances and then tempting the PCs into trying their luck with a ruthless
invasion of Endier or Medoere.

Rich Baker
Birthright Designer

P.S. My apologies to any Europeans on the list if I mis-stated any of the
basics!

[Brian Stoner]

At 10:55 PM 6/9/97 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-06-09 03:48:20 EDT, you write:
>
>>For a real life example look at Europe before the Second World War.
>>The nations of Europe feared the (potentially) strongest power,
>>Germany. To offset this Austria allied itself with Italy. Poland &
>>Czechoslovakia both aligned with France. Relations with the Soviet
>>Union were stabilized in the hopes of using the USSR as a balance
>>against Germany. Finland eventually aligned with Germany against
>>the USSR who it percieved as the greater threat (wonder why!).
>>
>>
>
>An even better real-life example is Europe as it stood before the Great War.
>Several reigning sovereigns--Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas, even Franz Joseph
>of Austria still exercised a great deal of control over their nation's
>foreign security arrangements. The actual course of events that led to WW I
>is a study in how tripwire alliances can go wrong:
>
>1. Austria declared war on Serbia, after Serbia "failed" to meet Austria's
>intolerable demands brought about by the assassination of the Archduke
>Ferdinand.
>
>2. Russia declared war on Austria, since Austria had declared war on Russia's
>ally Serbia.
>
>3. Germany declared war on Russia, since Russia had declared war on Austria
>for declaring war on Serbia (there's some really interesting and bizarre
>correspondence between Nicholas and his cousin, the Kaiser, associated with
>this.)
>
>4. France declared war on Germany, since Germany had declared war on her ally
>Russia for declaring war on Austria for declaring war on Serbia.
>
>5. Britain declared war on Germany after Germany marched through Belgium to
>get at France in the Schlieffen Plan maneuver, since Britain was pledged to
>defend the territorial integrity and neutrality of Belgium. (Again, some
>interesting correspondence, since Kaiser Wilhelm didn't think that Britain
>would go to war on Belgium's behalf.)
>
>There you have it--alliances going off like firecrackers! Think about the fun
>you could add to your Birthright campaign by arranging a few tripwire
>alliances and then tempting the PCs into trying their luck with a ruthless
>invasion of Endier or Medoere.
>
>Rich Baker
>Birthright Designer
>
>P.S. My apologies to any Europeans on the list if I mis-stated any of the
>basics!

We should also keep in mind that ending a war is as important as beginning
one. WWII was more or less a resumption of WWI after a 20 year pause. If
characters do not take care in how they arrange the ending of a large war,
they may pay for it later when the war returns even bigger than the first time.

- -Brian