RBP3 [SPOILERS] National Pastime (Rapoleon_Hi of the Aztecs)

[Ruff_Hi]

Dear Ruff,

We have been told stories about the Aztec people who came traveling from the far east long ago, but the descriptions of your nation have been all put precise. It is good to finally meet you so that we may hear about the achievements of your people directly from the source. Or do you share the curse of silence that seem to have befallen other nations of the CAN?

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Team SsS,

That sounds like a snake? Does that actually mean anything or am I over reading the situation? The others in CAN don't talk. Don't worry - that is what I do best. No doubt you have heard of us from those aggressive Inca type. They swarmed into our peace loving land, pillaging our country side but doing little else of damage. I was prepared for them and, with the help of some trusted friends, was able to repel them. I would watch out for them! They seem to be erratic and may have designs on your land.

Would you be interested in a non aggression pact? After we have got to know each other a bit, maybe we can start to discuss some trade or other mutually beneficial arrangement?

Regards,

Ruff

[Ruff_Hi]

Dear Ruff,

We just so happen to have an uncanny obsession with the letter "S". And who could blame us, right? It is clearly the most superior letter of the alphabet!

We have indeed heard of Inca. The word is that they are our western neighbours, though we have yet to establish that for certainty with our own eyes. So far they have shown us nothing but friendship but we acknowledge that this may only be an act of convenience.

SsS are not very keen to sign on to NAP's, neither with friends nor enemies. We believe that a man should prove to be trustworthy by action rather than by being able to write his own signature. I can, however, assure you that we currently hold no desire to launch nor assist an attack upon your lands, and that we are very willing to discuss trade opportunities and other kinds of agreements with the Aztecs.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Team SsS,

I like S. I'm not sold on 'the most superior letter', but I do like it. Why? Because it comes between 'R' and 'T' ... both personal favorites of mine.

That is an interesting stance on NAPs. I too prefer trustworthy actions over hiding behind words and paper. Your forth right comments about your views on NAPs is obviously a plus in that you are actively speaking your minds. That said, I have to weight that against the flexibility that gives you for changing your minds. Don't get me wrong - nothing wrong with changing your minds but I would be foolish that you would mirror your comment to me about "currently hold(ing) no desire to launch nor assist an attack upon your lands" if that situation changed. I mean, if you changed your mind, would you really shoot me a message like this ...

"Ruff - things change ... we like the look of your lands and we are coming to claim them. Be there in 20 turns." ... lol

Anyway, this is just idle chit chat at the moment and I appreciate that you have shared your NAP thinking.

What are you involved with at the moment? The Village Green is currently reseeding its fields, washing our whites and thinking about the summer fun playing and watching The Best Game Ever ... Cricket. Feel free to drop on over if you want to play or watch - we will gladly share our cucumber sandwiches and tea.

Cheers,

Ruff

Dear Ruff,

I suppose taste is a personal thing, and will not hold it against you that you do not (yet) value the S as much as we do.

A change of mind can indeed be somewhat problematic. On our part we try to deal with that by simply not giving others reason to change their mind about us. While you probably agree with us that it is not bullet-proof, I'm sure you will also agree that neither is NAPs.

We are currently spending much of our attention following an ongoing war in our neighbourhood. I am sure the news of DJ's capturing a Tech city have reached your ears. We have been told peace talks have been initiated, and hope that Sumeria's new leader will make a better job attending his underling's needs than his predecessor did.

Cricket sounds interesting. While I think whoever created that game would have been better off naming it 'Scricket', or something along those lines, I might just come over and have a look someday. Tell me, how far would I have to travel to reach the land of Village Green?

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Friends SsS,

Don't worry - cricket makes lots of use of the letter 'S'. There are snicks, singles, slips, short leg, strike, seamer, stitching, slog and sledge just to name a few.

Your question regarding distance and your earlier comment about the war raise an interesting question. I have met the land of Tech but I have met them to my west. You are to my east so I am puzzled how you can know of their land ... yet you say that you are neighbours.

How is this possible? Arrrr - unless this land joins in a cylinder. My land is equi-distant from India and from Inca. Your land appears to be about the same distance from Inca (from what I can judge). How far is Tech Land from your land? About 12 tiles?

Cheers,

Ruff

PS: Where are you guys from - I note that you have the correct spelling of words like neighbours!

Dear Ruff,

It seems that the creator of cricket knew what he was doing after all. What a brilliant man he must have been!

We have established that the distance between our capital of Sandograd and the Sumerian capital of Techopolis is 14 tiles, and that Sumeria is located NE of us and NW of India. Directly south of Sumeria lies Cath Bruig (Portugal), but you probably knew that already since our understanding is that you two are close friends since some time now.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Myself I am from Finland though currently living in Sweden. The european in me try to stick to the brittish english as best as he can, but you will find that scooter has a completely different origin should you ever receive a message written by him.

Friend SsS,

Hmm - I am not sure that a man created cricket. Folk law has it that it was revealed to man by an alien being dressed in white.

Based on that information, I am going to estimate that the Inca capital is 14 tiles to your capital's west. It is my belief that this land is 64 tiles wide.

Cheers,

Ruff

PS: With a name like scooter - he must be American . I am Australian but I live in New York.

Ruff,

"PS: With a name like scooter - he must be American . I am Australian but I live in New York."

Guilty as charged . And I'm afraid both of you are... misguided. Why spell it "neighbour" when you can use less letters and spell it "neighbor"? And besides, right now Firefox's spell check is telling me "neighbour" is not a word and "neighbor" is, so it must be right! Alright I'm going to drop that and hit send before Sandover changes the email password on me .

Regards,
scooter - Team SsS

Guys,

If you are all for shortening things, then wat is rong with naybor? And don't hold firefox up as an authority (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:3). My theory re US spelling is that Benny Franklin decided to screw with the Brits during or just after the revolution war and killed the 'u's, changed the 'z' (and the pronuciation), swapped around the dates and generally changed every single word (trash / garbage, footpath / sidewalk, etc, etc).

Ruff

Ruff,

That... was just about the response I was expecting haha. I was kidding, I am not even going to TRY to defend all the ridiculousness that is American English, or just English in general.

On to more serious matters, we have something rather urgent to propose to you. We have very good reason to believe that several of your allies in CAN are about to attack us, and attack us hard. We don't believe your warrior on our borders is directly involved in that, but we have to strongly consider the possibility of you aiding your allies - which I hope you can understand. To be honest our gut reaction would be to kill your warrior to be safe, but we would like friendly relations with you.

Basically if you are willing to give us your word that your warrior will not declare war on us and enter our lands, we will believe you and let him live. We don't mean that to be a threat at all, so we would also be willing to promise you that in return we will never invade your land with Praetorians for the entirety of the game. Think of it as a "creative NAP"

I hope you'll understand our position and thought process, and understand we are not trying to threaten you, rather because of your relations with CAN members who are hostile to us, we have to assume hostile intentions on your part until you tell us otherwise.

Thank you,
scooter - Team SsS

Team SsS,

Poor little 'Deep Mid On' is just touring the country side looking for possible future cricket opponents ... or people that know how to make a good cricket bat. He has no desire to war against anyone ... ok, except maybe the Inca. As such, you will see him move, but in a general north east direction - is that direction clear of your land? In fact, if you can provide directions to any neighbours / neighbors out there, he would appropriate it.

I guess the upshot of all of this is that he will not be involved in any hostilities against Rome.

Does that answer your question?

Ruff

[Ruff_Hi]

well well well - after the strong building blocks of yesterday, I wake to this ...

Dear Ruff,

It has come to our attention that several nations are planning an attack on us. You are allied to each and every one of them, and for the time being we have to go by the assumption that you might be just as much of a lying bastard as Mukha of Cath Bruig is. Failure to immediately remove your unit from the vicinity of our borders will be considered an act of war. Your units will be welcome to visit us again should you decide to renounce your alligience to the CAN.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Team SsS,

And so a potential friendship smashes on the teeth of distrust. As I said to the Inca, I never lie in my correspondence. I am reminded of some words that I just read yesterday ...

We believe that a man should prove to be trustworthy by action rather than by being able to write his own signature.

I guess I should include 'threats of action' in that measure as well. Which movement direction for my warrior is acceptable to Rome? North? North West?

Finally, you should check who knows who in game. I don't know this Mukha of Cath Bruig that you speak of.

Rapoleon_Hi
Ruler of the Aztecs
Light of the World
Supreme Arbiter

"I haven't met a person that I cannot sacrifice."

[Ruff_Hi]

I sent the following to CAN ...

CAN!

I recently met Rome and decided to see if I could form some sort of friendship with them with the aim of opening a door. It was going pretty well until they got ainsy about my 1 warrior invading them. Then I woke this morning to this ...

It has come to our attention that several nations are planning an attack on us. You are allied to each and every one of them, and for the time being we have to go by the assumption that you might be just as much of a lying bastard as Mukha of Cath Bruig is. Failure to immediately remove your unit from the vicinity of our borders will be considered an act of war. Your units will be welcome to visit us again should you decide to renounce your alligience to the CAN.

Here is a screenshot of what I can see. They cannot be afraid of a warrior so they must be concerned about something else. In my mind, that 'something else' can only be map or unit information.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2610/rbpb30032.jpg
(he was on the red tile before I moved him as indicated)

Pass this on to anyone who might be interested in Rome.

Ruff

... and told Rome that I had:

Finally: I have communicated my involvement with Rome to other civilizations that I am on friendly terms with. My communication started with good things to say but (unfortunately) had to end on a sour note due to your recent demand.

Ruff

[Ruff_Hi]

further Rome chatter for your amusement ...

Dear Ruff,

I mentioned our understanding that your are allied to Cath Bruig in a previous message, and you did nothing to deny it. Neither are you attempting do deny membership with CAN, the organisation that are plotting to attack us. You are allied with Cath Bruig as a member of the CAN.

We do indeed believe that one should prove to be trustworthy by one's actions. You have acted by joining an alliance that has officially stated that it is its goal to bring destruction upon the rest of the world for its own benefit. That action makes you look untrustworthy to anyone who are not part of the CAN.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Team SsS,

I see that CAN weighs heavily on your mind. Sure, I am a member. You could even say that I am a founding member. Is it an exclusive bunch of 'joined at the hip' civs that you seem to imply - no, not at all. I am not sure who else you have been dealing with in CAN but your mention of our official goal is new to me. I will have to check my copy of the founding documents (we don't actually have one ) but I thought our goal was the sharing of technology. Remember, CAN stands for Cartel of Aligned Nations ... aligned!! not allied. We have common goal and that goal is the sharing of technology. BTW - It is open to any to apply for membership.

Do you want me to deny things that I know nothing of? How is that possible? As per the rules of the game, I have had no contact with Cath Bruig (is that Carthage?) so I don't see how I can be allied with them. As we are both members of CAN, I expect that we will have some technology to trade each other when we do finally met.

I didn't actively seek to mislead you re my CAN membership (do you want em to walk around yelling UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN?). You stated I was a member, I didn't deny it which I thought was agreement that you were correct (it could also mean that I overlooked your comment - done that plenty of times before) In this situation, I saw it and didn't think it was a big deal. To me, CAN is open to anyone. We even issued an invitation to the Inca (who you know I hate) during their invasion of my land.

Not denying it is not trying to deceive you ... lying about it and saying I am not a member when I am a member - that is lying and trying to deceive. Saying that you have no military interest in a civ and then threatening them with WAR seems like a much larger 'trust' (or, more accurately non-trust) indicator.

Now - that aside - you should know that I moved my warrior NW. I cannot remember accurately the civ vision distance but if you cannot see him, he will move northward and will aim to stay at least 1 tile away from your territory. Obviously, I don't know exactly where that territory in the fog is, but I will try to estimate where it is and stay away. Hopefully, I will not mis-estimate, step back next to your territory and test your attitude towards the Groundsman (another name for the Aztecs ).

Ruff

Dear Ruff,

Your description of the CAN does not match with what we have been told by Cath Bruig (Portugal) and DJCiv (India). We have much to talk about.

Cath Bruig and DJCiv claims that the CAN is a somewhat lose alliance which goal is to achieve a member count of 10 civs, who will then:
- Share all techs with each others.
- Refuse to trade with anyone outside of the alliance.
- Work together until the majority of the remaining 6 civs have been crushed under the CAN's superior might.

As you can see, there is a discrepancy here when comparing their statements with what you just recently told us. Bar from these two civs, who have made it a point to plot against their neighbours (DJCiv just recently attacked Sumeria and both of them are now preparing an attack on us) the members of CAN we have also met are Principality of DIM (HRE) and the Anglo-French (France). Both of them have ignored diplomatic contact with us almost since day one, clearly indicating that they do not which to have friendly relations with SsS. Also, DJCiv informed us quite some time ago that they, you, Cath Bruig and DIM have formed a smaller, closer alliance within CAN. Can you see why we find your presence at our border discomfortable under these circumstances?

Now, there is a lot of things that needs to be cleared up here. I will ask you some question, hoping that you will find the time to answer them all in an accurate manner.

- What is really the official purpose of the CAN?
- Will members that do not act according to this purpose be expelled?
- Is it acceptable that members of CAN outright lie to non-members?
- Are CAN looking to recruit everyone or is there an intended max size?
- Who is the leader of CAN?
- Who is lying to us? You, or DJCiv and Cath Bruig?
- Are you or are you not in a smaller alliance with DJCiv, Cath Bruig and DIM?
- Do you know who is the initiator behind the planned attack against us?
- Is CAN unhappy with one of its members, or did Mukha of Cath Bruig pull that one out of thin air?
- Who are the founders of CAN?

Also, I would like to add that if your warrior keeps going north from his current position he will be in the clear for a long walk towards Babylon. If you have not met Mali yet I expect you to meet them any time now, as I directed one of their units to your warrior.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

Team SsS,

Ohhh - a long email with lots of questions. Let me see if I can answer some of these. Apologies up front if I inadvertently skip one or two. I cannot talk at length regarding other civs attitudes but I can cast some light on them if it helps. Also, keep in mind that I haven't met (in-game) Cath Bruig who you state as Portugal. I thought it was Carthage - these civs that insist on going by a non-Civ4 name confuse me.

Firstly - thanks for the heads up about Mali and Babylon. Would you be interested in sharing a few screenshots of the area to your north to help him on his way. Feel free to blank out your internal lands if you are concerned about sharing that information. I would return the offer by sending you screenshots of the land that I have revealed.

Re the 3 goals. I acknowledge #1 (already stated) and #2 (by extension). I cannot remember being aware of #3 but guess it might be an outcome based on CAN being more technologically advanced.

DJCiv v Exploit is a hang over from prior games - look at the personalities in the game. Similar to Athlete wanting to capture my Holy City.

"DJCiv informed us quite some time ago that they, you, Cath Bruig and DIM have formed a smaller, closer alliance within CAN". This is not correct. An alliance has been formed within CAN but you have at least one of the civs incorrect. Let me just say that I have met all of the members of this smaller alliance in-game and leave it at that.

Now to your list of questions ...

- What is really the official purpose of the CAN?
For me, it is about technology sharing and not sharing with non-CAN civs. I didn't think that the non-sharing part was as strong as you have spelt out but I could be wrong here. I don't remember your #3 above but it has been a while since I looked at the initial discussion emails. As I said above, I thought it was more of an outcome rather than a stated goal.

- Will members that do not act according to this purpose be expelled?
No idea. I don't really think this will happen unless tech is involved (ie me trading something to you for IW).


- Is it acceptable that members of CAN outright lie to non-members?
As I said before, CAN is a Cartel of Aligned nations. Lying or not doesn't come into it. Neither does membership of CAN. I think that civs can lie to who ever they like, be they members (or not) of CAN as well as the civ they are talking to being members or not.

- Are CAN looking to recruit everyone or is there an intended max size?
Practically, I think there is a max size given the range of techs that can be researched at any one time. As such, I don't think that CAN is looking to recruit everyone. If everyone sent CAN an application form (I don't think there is one but just as an example), I would be lobbying hard to exclude Inca for obvious reasons (I hate them). That said, if I was to base my opinion on our conversations yesterday and forget today's correspondence, I would be talking Rome up within CAN.


- Who is the leader of CAN?
There is no single leader as far as I know.

- Who is lying to us? You, or DJCiv and Cath Bruig?
That is for you to judge. I haven't met Cath Bruig (assuming they are Portugal).

- Are you or are you not in a smaller alliance with DJCiv, Cath Bruig and DIM?
No but see above.

- Do you know who is the initiator behind the planned attack against us?
I know nothing of any planned attacks against you.

- Is CAN unhappy with one of its members, or did Mukha of Cath Bruig pull that one out of thin air?
I know nothing of any comments to this effect.

- Who are the founders of CAN?
As I said before, I consider myself a founder. I am not sure if others involved in setting it up would extend that title to me. Most of my focus in this game over the past two dozen turns has involved ejecting Inca incursions, not on the smooth running of CAN. I guess that I am saying that I am not willing to share this information with you for 3 reasons - how does it help you and I am not sure who considers themselves founders and, even if I did, I would have to clear it with them before sharing.

Not bad - I answered every question but 1.

Cheers,

Ruff

[Ruff_Hi]

Well met Azteca!

We took the liberty of requesting OBs and a trade of Archery as we don't think our southern neighbours the Inca will take too kindly to our switch of tech group.

Best Wishes

Emperor Capac

Greetings Emperor Capac,

I am not sure where you popped up from but it is good to see you - have you met my warrior near Rome? I understand from my contacts within CAN that you are a CAN member. As such, I will honour your archery request. Are there any technologies that you know that I am missing?

One of my unofficial jobs within CAN is cartography. If you can take some screenshots (see settings below), I will paste them together and send you a combined Mali map as well as a combined CAN map (or as many members have currently send me their maps).

Regards,

Rapoleon_Hi
Ruler of the Aztecs
Light of the World
Supreme Arbiter

"I haven't met a person that I cannot sacrifice."

[Ruff_Hi]

I also sent this to CAN

Hi All,

Can you forward this to members of CAN that I haven't met yet.

Tech
Can I get an update on where CAN is up to? It seems some techs are starting to round off and I wanted to set up the selection of the next set of techs. I have a goodly amount of coin saved and should be able to run deficit research for quite a while. The only question is which tech?

Contact
Lets see if we can coordinate ourselves to met the other members of CAN. I will follow up this email with exact locations of my units so that various people can help me met the others in CAN. For the moment ...

1 warrior over between Rome and Inca heading North ... apparently soon to meet Mali
1 barely alive warrior south of India playing chicken with barbs trying to meet Portugal
1 borrowed chariot further south of India taking a different route to Portugal

Ruff

and I am starting to get some replies ...

We have a warrior in the desert between Babylon and Byzantium, and he's heading west to try to meet the Aztec over that way. Monarchy will be done T80 +/- 1t.

[Ruff_Hi]

Finding CAN members update ...

Here is my plan for my 0.3 health warrior. He is currently running away from a Barb (guess I should tell India that I barb is following me) ...



And here is my plan to met Carthage, providing I get the go ahead from the Ottomans.



I knew those Cartel maps would come in handy.

[Ruff_Hi]

chat with HRE following my email to CAN about techs ...

• HRE: Ruff, I don't know if anyone answered your request for info a couple of days ago
  
• Ruff: re techs
  no - nothing
  
• HRE: ok
  Babylon - Currency
  
• Ruff: what are you currently teching?
  
• HRE: Mali - Calendar
  Maya - Metal Casting
  India - Aesthetics
  England - Monarchy
  Carthage - Construction
  HRE - Code of Laws
  Krill - unknown
  Ottomans - undecided
  did I get everyone there?
  
• Ruff: Aztec - Monarchy at 0%
  
• HRE: hehe
  
• Ruff: that is 10 civs
  so I think you have it all
  thx for the update
  
• HRE: np
  
• Ruff: next time I am in game, I will see if there are actually any techs that I can tech that aren't covered
  
• HRE: do you mind if we don't gift you HBR yet
  at least until T75
  
• Ruff: I have yet to met England, Portugal, Babylon and Carthage
  oh - did you mention Portugal?
  
• HRE: Portugal - broke
  
• Ruff: np re HBR ... I don't have any horses yet anyway
  
• HRE: good
  
• Ruff: so that makes 11 civs in CAN and 4 in CANT?
  
• HRE: this alliance is way too unwieldy
  yup
  
• Ruff: its going to break down soon
  
• HRE: yes
  
• Ruff: we (India, HRE, Aztec, Ottoman) should review how we think it will break down soon
  
• HRE: well I think the southern members will soonrop
  soon drop
  given I haven't even met either Maya or Babylon
  
• Ruff: yeah - me neither
  
• HRE: I think Inca gifted some units to Rome
  
• Ruff: oh yes
  I can check Inca power
  
• HRE: it dropped
  
• Ruff: ok - something to pass on to Portugal then
  
• HRE: they know about it
  
• Ruff: ok - thx for the info
  
• HRE: Mukha forwarded me an email he got forwarded by Maya, who got it from Rome
  
• Ruff: I saw that too
  from back on T68?
  
• HRE: yup
  
• Ruff: (it would also be good to get a CAN matrix of who knows who)
  yeah - that email was pretty funny ... war plans intercept
  
• HRE: indeed, although Rome building Praets and kicking the crap out of people wasn't exactly a secret..
  
• Ruff: but if Portugal can keep them off their iron ... that will be a major win
  
• HRE: yup
  too bad you had to sign such a long NAP with Inca
  
• Ruff: well - crushing them with knights instead of HAs and cats will be just as much fun
  but I take your point ... they can afford to gift units away and still feel save
  
• HRE: unless they join the Cartel as well, the way things have been going...
  
• Ruff: Inca in the Cartel?
  why would we let them in?
  
• HRE: never!
  well, there aren't a lot of teams left out of the Cartel
  we might as well build the UN and call the game a tie
  
• Ruff: true - starting to feel worried about my own position ... it is pretty weak at the moment
  
• HRE: whip anger still rough?
  
• Ruff: no - I have a high happy cap to handle that
  
• HRE: oh yeah, Charismatic
  
• Ruff: just feels like it is taking ages to recover
  have 2 workers per city at the moment so tile improvements are certainly in front of population
  
• HRE: well, you used a lot of chops in Archers you can't use anymore
  
• Ruff: they are out scouting
  
• HRE: hehe
  
• Ruff: and I have future city police ready to go
  
• HRE: true that
  
• Ruff: in the end, it was only 2 chops into archers but also 2 whips
  
• HRE: oh, I thought it was worse
  
• Ruff: no - I still have forests around to chop into settlers
  
• HRE: good
  so when are you going for city 3?
  
• Ruff: it will be #3 and #4 at the same time ... prob starting to chop settles in 2ish turns
  
• HRE: good
  

[Ruff_Hi]

this was the email mentioned in the above chat ... a copy of something that Rome sent out to people they thought were in CANT prior to someone swapping sides ...

Dear Heracles,

I know we, the SsS, have not made our voices heard a lot up until now. We have simply lacked the necessary contacts to send around messages without causing too much of a strain on the foreign departments of the free nation of Tech and the brave fighting nation of JANK. The time has now come, however, when we share with all of you the details of what we know and how we view the situation going forward.

First of all I would like to publicly announce what most if not all of you already know; that the SsS Empire will soon be gearing for war. Our researchers have been hard at work and Iron Working is now due to be discovered on turn 68. A settler, designated for Iron, will complete on the same turn. We have a Saxeman ready (yes, that's how it's spelled!) to act as escort and another one, that we had to delay slightly to time the settler properly, will be ready on turn 69. We currently do not have a Saxeman heading for Tech, as we believe hooking up Iron is of outmost importance to the cause of Heracles at this point and escorting the settler therefore takes priority. It should, however, only be a short matter of time before one is dispatched unless peace is obtained on that front.

In two turns SsS will enter into production mode. Our cities are prepared with granaries and barracks, whatever forests remain within our borders will be harvested and we are ready to apply the whip as needed. Soon SsS Spraetorians will be ready to fight the battle against the Hydra. A battle that will be brought upon the nation of Cath Bruig (Portugal), who will have to take the punishment for the abomination that they and their allies foolishly have created. I believe that peace with DJ (India) will only serve our cause as it lets the northern chariots and whatever offensive units Tech might produce to help SsS in our struggle, just as much as it leaves the door open for a Spraetorian detour into DJ territory.

We are currently hard at work trying to ensure a trade with JANK, where their spare units from the Aztec campaign is allowed to be recruited under the SsS banner. We envision an army so large and powerful that not even the aid of their allies will give Cath Bruig any hope of survival. An army, that once its initial mission is complete, is so sturdy that it can still devastate DJ and even the numbers while grinding one of the Hydra's ringleaders into the dust. But I am getting ahead of myself here, so lets move on to other matters.

If Cath Bruig did indeed whip a pair of chariots, they can cause some trouble over here as well, not just at the Tech border. With no current access to Spearmen we could be in some serious trouble getting hold of Iron in case they decide to harrass our escort with those chariots. Not to mention the risk of an invasion, though we can probably handle that without too much effort. I just wanted to make you all aware of that fact.

Lastly, I believe it makes sense to update you on SsS' diplomatic position. The Hydra have not given up on trying to recruit us, so we are playing along as best as we can now that Operation Tuesday 65 has been discontinued, though we are not sure to what degree they still view us as potentially neutral. France, HRE, and India have simply stopped talking to us without any prior statement, so we are only communicating with Cath Bruig at this time. I am as of recently trying to make the Hydra believe that SsS is preparing hard-on to get DJ killed so that they will be less prepared for an assault on Cath Bruig, but I can only guess whether I will be successful or not in that regard.

May the mighty S protect you all.

Regards,
Sandover
Team SsS

A couple of comments,

Dear Heracles,

To make amends for a crime, Heracles was compelled to perform a series of heroic tasks, or Labors. Amongst these were slaying the many-headed Hydra, retrieving the Golden Apples of the Hesperides and bringing the hellhound Cerberus up from the Underworld.

I would guess that they are calling themselves Heracles because of the reference to the many headed hydra instead of the other quests that he performed.

We are currently hard at work trying to ensure a trade with JANK, where their spare units from the Aztec campaign is allowed to be recruited under ...

It really should be the "the ill-fated Aztec campaign" .