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A house divided...

Oneida

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Jurzidentia
Nauplio
When given permission, Commissar Palomo rose to the podium to deliver his comments on the proposed deal.

"The arrangement agreed upon by President Zorbas and the Duke is found to be agreeable by the Aurarine Government. The Aurarine Government shall act within the provisions provided by this deal. I applaud the efforts of all involved parties to reach this arrangement. It shall be stated here that upon the concurrence of the Eiffellandian Ambassador, the Aurarine Government shall begin the withdrawal of the 30,000 soldiers placed along the northern border. We will also heed the call of the Amarysian League and begin deploying the agreed upon 15,000 soldiers to Elena Island to fill the now vacant role of Eiffelland."
 

Rheinbund

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“I agree with moving the 15,000 Eiffellandian soldiers currently in the League to the Nauplio area within the Duchy of Oenotria,” Kästner said. "I also agree with letting 15,000 Aurarine soldiers into the League to replace the Eiffellandian troops."
 

Pelasgia

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The President and Duke looked into eachother's eyes, surprised. While none could be sure, they were almost certain they shared the same though. And they did; Did the Aurarines just accept the same proposal they rejected five minutes ago? Perhaps it was just because they knew that they could not stop the Duchy from welcoming the Eiffellanders to its side of Cyclopeia and rather than be stubborn and leave a gap in the League's defenses they preffered to pretend to have changed their minds or regard this offer as a new one. Perhaps after more detailed explanation they changed their minds. Commissar Palomo was far too intelligent a man to make an error in such improtant matters. Just like the other diplomats to him this was a chessboard and he was a damn good chess player. Probably with an Elo above 2500, to put it that way. Neither man could know why the Aurarines chose to agree with the Eiffellanders and Cyclopeians but they were very glad they did. Instead of risking changing the Commissar's mind they settled with smiling, signing some papers and moving on to the next big issue: Government. Zorbas raised his hand to speak and the Duke noded with his head, showing he approved of Zorbas' choice to be the one to walk into the minefield of a conversation first.

"With all military balance issues settled I believe we can finally move on to the more pressing issue: the lack of a united Cyclopeian state. I believe that we need not discuss if or why we should have one. Such matters are obvious and the recent events, which could have never happened in any other country on this side of the Long Sea, serve only to prove how much more we need to finally really unite ourselves."

The Duke replied, trying to continue the positive tone in which the President spoke.

"I most certainly agree. Though our dispute seems to lie in the form and function of the government and state and not the need for one. The Amarysian League would never accept a Crown and as we have heard so many times neither would its Comrades from Auraria and the Collectivist Union, the Duchy and its Eiffellander friends would never accept a Socialist Cyclopeia and every single delegate of every Polis, apart from having an opinion of their own, also concern themselves with how centralised said state would be. Any ideas on how to get over this stalemate would be more than welcome."
 

Rheinbund

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“Gentlemen, we have to face one fact. Cyclopeia has always been a country in which city-states and small regions had a lot of autonomy. Given that history, I think it would be wise not to centralise too much. There are matters that should be arranged on a central level, like foreign politics, defence, mutual recognition of school and university diplomas, the power grid and major infrastructure. Keep that central. It would also be wise to have one central bank issuing bank notes and coins, as well as financial controlling on a macro level. But there are lots of matters that don’t need to be controlled centrally or can even be controlled locally. Furthermore, I think it would be wise not to try to hammer out compromises about matters you have highly differring opinions on. The discussions on those matters will take long and cause irritations. And finally, keep in mind that, if we all agree on a way to govern Cyclopeia, in the future some elements of our agreement will turn out not to be working as expected. There must be a possibillity to change such elements,” Kästner said.
 

Pelasgia

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The President spoke first.
"That is a great idea, especially from a foreign observer who is foreign to this whole city state situation. However I believe that while such a structure would be great, we are more concerned with the central administration. We would all agree to a system where all City States would be able to choose between Monarchy, Socialism and Bourgeois Republics but the problem is what would the Central government be made up of?"

The Duke replied.
"Perhaps a Council with a delegate from each Polis, acting collectively as a Head of State. It would only be charged with the Defense, Diplomacy,International Trade and any other international or nation-wide issues. All other powers would be with each Polis to decide. Also a single Polis is far too smal la unit for this day and age. I propose we organize six Amphictionies, one for each Cyclopeian Tribe, made up of the Polis which are part of each tribe and region. This would compact our state more and allow us to balance ourselves and co-exist peacefully."

"Indeed. But both states are too close to having sole nation-wide power to give it up. Why would they? And would such a system not quickly not fall apart into a split again? Or even worse a political stalemate in this governing council. We are so ideologically oppose, I fear we would not accept even a part of our country being under eachother's rule." ---

"We both have to make sacrifices for the Fatherland to be united and strong." ---

"The problem is that we doubt that will happen as long as one of us governs even a piece of it. Let us allow anyone else who wants to make a statement to speak, to give us time to think on it." ---
 

Pelasgia

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After a short recess the two leaders decided to speak again. Zorbas spoke first. He looked at the large crowd, made up of delegates and ambassadors, surrounding him. The atmosphere managed to be heavy, despite the otherwise organized and civilized setting. The time for games and petty squabbles was over. Zorbas knew very well that his words would define the beginning of a new era for Cyclopeia. What that new era would include however was up to him and the Duke. Zorbas closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, though it seemed like an eternity. He felt the wooden podium with his hands and then took a sip of water. He took a deep breath, sighed and opened his eyes. It was time to speak.

"Honourable delegates of this sacred Assembly. After careful consideration I have reached a decision conerning the proposal put forth by His Grace, Duke Ericthonius. It is true that both sides control a large piece of the country, cutting through it in two. It is also true that both posess the power and the numbers as well as the foreign support for a prolonged stand-off, a split or even an all out war. Neither would the Monarchists dream of allowing the Workers and Farmers of Cyclopeia to take their own fate in their hands and rule this land completely. Yet neither would we trust in their so-called 'devine right' to guide our folk. It is for this reason that co-existence would seem not simply undesirable or improbable but harshly and coldly impossible."

He paused looking at the Delegates once more.

"But appearances are not always the truth and what seems to be is almost never what truly is. A compromise, a co-existence is possible. It is always possible. Such is the very idea of Socialism, of Democracy of Humanism and of any other reasonable set of ideals. Humans can and should live togetehr and not devided, only then can they be truly free. It is up to the powers that be and the people that support them, however, to decide whether they seek this co-existence, whether they seek to give up some of theirs, whetehr that be demands or obbjects, and take something in from someone else so as to make sure everyone lives better, together. And today we take neither the stance of 'standing our ground', nor that of 'being vanguards'. Today we make the brave decision to take the right stance. We shall compromise, we shall work together and we shall forge the Cyclopeian state anew, united and indivisible, so that the people that settled this beautiful land so many eons ago may live happily in peace and so that the Fatherland itself may prosper. Without further ado we accept the Duke's proposal to form a Union of peace, understanding and love and to reject a division of staborness, hatred and grief. History is to big for small men to define, so we should abandon the illusion of being great, mighty leaders who do not back down and instead seek to be great human beings, whose love passes down to their children, Only thus will we be remembered, and with good reason too. Long live the united Cyclopeia, indivisible and free!"


The President's speech was followed by applause from all Cyclopeian delegates, even those whose ideology opposed his. The Presiding Committee finally felt at ease, as did the whole of Cyclopeia.
 

Pelasgia

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ΤΕΛΟΣ ~ FIN
It has been a great ride with everyone, doing my first Role-Play. I would like to thank everyone for cooperating and participating even in the slightest. It has taught me a lot about how this forum and RP in general works and I hope that it has given something, even tiny, back to everyone individually and maybe even the forum as a whole. With that I am signing off... for now. ;)

Honourable mentions: [MENTION=18]Eiffelland[/MENTION] @ @ @ @ @
 
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