Ashland

Approved. 6.3%? Hey, 6.2%?

From the Desk of the Foreign Ministry of The Brotherhood of the Clouds It is with great pleasure that I announce BoC's re-entry into The Covenant. Our re-entry, like our leaving, was not a decision easily made. We left because we believed it was time to strike out on our own. I defend that action to this day. BoC needed an opportunity to conduct its own affairs, conduct diplomacy independently. We started our own bloc, saw it end in disastrous failure, won our own war, made our own friends and enemies. This was incredibly important for us. It allowed us to grow into the alliance that we are today: Stronger, wiser, more capable. We agree to all the old conventions that we agreed to previously and are glad to rejoin our longtime friends, UPN and DEIC. BoC was the first alliance that I joined, roughly 6 months ago. Of those six months, I've spent all but 26 days in BoC. When BoC joined the Covenant it was a small alliance of upwards of 20 people run by a close knit group of real life friends. I was fortunate enough to join while it was still in this stage. I got to witness the alliance being born and shaped. And it really was like a baby in that it was relatively small, defenseless, not really good for much, and it shit everywhere. But it was mine. I got to see it be born. I got to see it take its first steps. And then one day it was all grown up and didn't need me or anyone else to hold its hand anymore. It was doing everything it needed to by itself, with or without me. And it was such a bitter sweet feeling to no longer be vital. What do you even do? What do you even say? I could think of nothing. Hard work, motivation, and sleepless nights saw us recruit new faces who would be in gov, get on IRC, and be active members of the community. Faces outside the small group of friends that founded BoC. They are what make BoC what it is and it has been my honor and my pleasure serving in gov with them. They have guided BoC to this point and have shaped its decision to rejoin the Covenant so I think it's only fair to acknowledge them. So this one goes out to all the unsung heroes of BoC, those who don't get enough recognition: Ivan: You are a relatively new member of gov. You keep pestering everyone to write in your newsletter. From day one, we admired your genial attitude and your desire to leave things better than you found them. You are everything that a good member is: Active, loyal, kind, and inquisitive. You ask questions that are pertinent and none that are not. You are a credit to your alliance and to your position. Thank you so much for being with us. We have enjoyed every minute. fistofdoom: You are perhaps the nicest person on Orbis and have been the official peacemaker of our gov for as long as I can remember. When there is a fight, you break it up any way you can. I've never seen you take anything to heart and you've always got something funny to show or tell us at hand at a moment's notice. Thank God for you, or we'd be at each other's throats by now. Goomy: You've filled several positions in gov, but you will always be fondly (maybe painfully) remembered for your service in the Finance department. Your reformative touch was incredibly important to BoC. We were too gung ho about our bank and we had the attitude of a second or third page alliance towards it despite being on the first page. Gov members would routinely put things in or take them out at leisure, nobody would keep track of it, and it was a mess. You brought order where there was chaos. Were we all really annoyed when we got our first PMs from you asking us about what we were doing taking 315k from the bank? Sure. We called them Goomygrams, by the way. But something was amiss and you corrected it. Part of the professionalism that BoC's Ministers now have with regard to financial matters is because of you. We can never thank you enough. McHenry: You're a member of the Old Guard. You've been here even longer than me. We can always count on you for reasonable discussion or at least someone to idle in our IRC channel and never, ever leave (literally nobody has ever seen you log off/quit). For the first month I was in BoC, I thought you were dead. <3 Conroy: God, what can I even say about you? You are an incredibly hard worker. You do not accept the merely adequate: Outstanding is your adequate. The word "no" is not even in your vocabulary. You think you are unimportant, but you are not. Do you have any idea how much our members respect you and look up to you? You are an excellent internal affairs minister, an excellent recruiter, an excellent educator, and an excellent role model for our members. Continue bringing your brand of excellence to our alliance. BrianHurlston: I had my doubts about you. You are foreign, after all. I was shown when someone interviewed you for gov. One of the things we often tell people is that when you're gov in BoC, it's not an empty title. You'll be expected to work. Even if that means recruiting, sending out welcome telegrams, or anything else that needs doing. Grunt work. You replied more or less along the lines that that's the way you'd have it, but with a lot more profanity. McLovin: You and I go back a ways before you joined BoC. You're incredibly loyal, competent, and an outspoken proponent of this alliance. We couldn't ask for anything more from a member. LoP: First of all, you're not funny. Okay, you actually are. You have a ton of admirable qualities. For starters, you're the first one into a conflict with a raider or a war, even if it's a conflict you opposed. You are always ready to pitch in, and you are vocal when defending us on IRC. Even when it's been you, alone with your back to the wall you have given us your all. Don't think nobody noticed that. Because we did. You've shown that we will always have your loyalty and you will always have our loyalty. Estelle: You're the newbie. You and I hit it off. You've done everything that needed doing and then asked for more work. I don't think I've ever seen a harder worker. You will always have a place in BoC's gov and as my friend. EDIT: Formatting was giving me SERIOUS issues, so I just abandoned my original format.

Yeah.

Watch out. Estelle is the golden boy now.

Which, to my recollection, paperless alliances are most, not least, guilty of in this game. TEst excluded.

Holy shit get rekt Pre.

I have said it before, I will say it again. In many ways, paperless alliances increase stagnation. There have been really interesting things that could have happened that did not happen because of the looming threat of Guardian sticking its nose in it. I like a lot of people in Guardian, but for an AA that pays lip service to making the game more interesting, they've stopped a lot of interesting things from happening. Some intentionally, some unintentionally.

And sent.

Approved. 6.5% sound good? And approved. 6.5% sound good to you as well?

That's all I'll say on the matter. I actually agreed with Pfeiffer on the reps issue. Reps should be given to nations, not alliances. An alliance being raided isn't an excuse for it to make out like a bandit.

I can do it. Fill out the app.

I'll get back to you in... probably five days?

Approved. 6.5% sound good?

I offered him a time sensitive refinancing option. *Ashland tentatively arms himself with his trusty broom*

Cynic paid eight mil as a settlement for his debt. Cirrus relinquishes the rest of his debts.

You need to put Guardian on here since they're protecting Alpha. Trollface.

5%?

How about 6.9%? To be clear the terms of the loan are that you don't need to make ANY payments for the first two periods, BUT interest will still compound. Do you accept this? 6.2% as before sound good?

Dispatched. Thank you for choosing Cirrus.

Can we expect a replacement program?

Yeah, and obviously we'd start with Justice.

Approved. How does 6.2% interest sound?

I'm pretty jealous of the double sarcasm displayed in this post. Teach me, Master.

Best of luck!

This idea needs to be refined but it is workable.