Sisyphus

Ah yes, who wants political intrigue anyway? Have we found ourselves on the flipside of Politics & War and traveled all the way to Politics & War now?

While there are some superficial similarities, a paperless agreement with a paperless alliance is not comparable to an entire coalition (between distinct blocs/spheres) that hinges on multiple paperless agreements, especially considering they were actively plotting to attack us aggressively. When their best rhetorical talking point is essentially "you shouldn't have preempted us for plotting against you because now we can call it defense" it isn't a good sign for their narrative.

@The God Emperor of Mankind I wrote this guide over 3 years ago. It saddens me that this is a lesson that still needs to be taught. At least Sphinx understands.

The Quack Heard 'Round the World

I am fooled.

They're all trying to get Rose's support before they agree to start posting again.

I regret everything I’ve ever done for you.

Just make sure you stay off the color when we get it back up to the top again.

Either Tyrion is completely out of the loop and his sphere has been maneuvering around him. OR He is attempting to get one over on everybody. Either way, I'd suggest he stop digging before the hole becomes too treacherously deep.

Why would SRD need support from Rose before agreeing to mutual defense?

I think I figured it out! Swamp is the ambitious, plotting one. HM is the opportunist and cynical one. And Rose is the paranoid fool. How'd I do?

Oh, I see how it is. I say it a hundred times and nobody listens. SRD says it once and all of a sudden people believe it's true. Feels bad, man.

Misnamed wars is a Community Tradition.

This is just more deliberately obtuse rambling.

I recommend you vote for my suggested war name:

This is just deliberately obtuse rambling.

I don't know how combining with an overwhelming force for a second time really counts as atonement but nice try though. At least you're relatively self-aware enough to know you need to atone, even if you have no idea how to effectively do it.

I am fooled.

Hegemony Who?

You're right. We've been better at recruiting and training as well. Thanks for pointing that out for us.

"You didn't let us pull off the massive offensive we were striving for, so we must be completely innocent. :p"

We "singled" you out by hitting you alongside a completely separate sphere? A sphere that implicated you as a paperless ally? We were directly threatened. There's no way it's inconceivable to you guys that actively plotting against us would end up causing hostility immediately. Are you suggesting that you were "singled" out because the other spheres currently at war with us are equally culpable for plotting against us? ( Because that's what I'm suggesting too )

“after” You have a right to have all the conversations and agreements you want to. Pretending it’s justified on the basis of a “hegemonic track record” that doesn’t exist and comparisons to IQ (who we disdain with a passion, to the point that we’ve actually tempered our approach so as to avoid comparisons) is unacceptable to us. Thank you for being straightforward at least, it’s refreshing, all of the moralistic posturing at the onset of this war really soured my pallet for good sportsmanship.

Oh I’m sorry. It was 3/4s of y’all colluding and 1/4 tentatively colluding and ultimately supporting. Riiiiight. Much better. So two parties are actively plotting, one is pledging unconditional support, and the other is bandwagoning in - and that’s the best case scenario. And we aren’t complaining about the dogpile in and of itself. It’s the blatant hypocrisy and abandonment of principles in the process of reaching that dogpile that we’re abhorring.

Look everyone, this man has drudged up public and common knowledge against me! What a jaw dropper! Hell, simply using that against us as a CB would’ve been better than this sham of excuses y’all have stitched together trying to cover your tracks postfacto. Further highlighting the fact that your entire coalition doubled down on shrewd politicking with no material basis for action. It’s fine if that’s the play, but I’ll reiterate again it’s quite ridiculous to claim anything else is a factor.