Lordship

I mean we can pull up statistics that demonstrate it is unipolar at this point, and with the increase of cancellations, isn’t an interesting, dynamic world not the very thing you tried to create? I’m a bit confused as to why you’d continue in the opposite direction of this. And uhh, you guys spent the whole year denouncing syndisphere after you guys left, and even still when alliances disbanded and went paperless, so I’m not sure that’s true

BK! You’re sounding a whole lot like the BK we were allied to. “Don’t make it easy for them” sounds like the syndisphere BK. But wasn’t the point to not be like syndisphere ? Interesting. What’s the type of change you’re looking for then? Specifically, so we know where to look.

However, I don't believe that makes them "virtuous" // Well what makes a person virtuous is quite debatable and I don't think it's just about improving one's economic situation as you mentioned above. When it comes to virtue I typically have a conservative interpretation of Aristotle's ethics (the idea of not having too much of one but rather constantly finding the balance in between and that being where the virtue lies) as well as stoic virtue primarily from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and ironically the Roman slave Epictetus. ^bit of a tangent on virtue there but it's quite interesting. As for complete libertarianism which is what you outlined above, that's the complete extreme. Though I do disagree with this premise: "Libertarianism would ultimately result in a feudal society powered by advertisements and poor healthcare." specifically when discussing the American economy. Ultimately libertarianism ends at the base role of government, not a complete total lack of government. The idea is that you and I can do and believe what we want so long as it's constitutionally legal and we don't have to care about each other's beliefs or activities. That government has no business in marriage, or church, or drugs, or any of the other things it likes to stretch its hands and touch because it simply doesn't fit into its role. "and some old white !@#$ who got a shit ton of money from his daddy would all somehow profit from your misery" -- well no, I disagree with the premise here as well because the only reason people are rich and continue to build wealth is through providing goods and services that make everyone's lives better. The fact of the matter is that we are living far better now than the people who lived 100 years ago because of the advancements in technology and industry and innovation which are considerably harder to create via government oversight and regulation. If it wasn't for government regulations, Deutsche Bank would own your house, you would be slaving your paychecks to a payday loan company called "Kwick Kash" that charges 300% interest, at least 2 of our family members would have died in car crashes (presumably taking the fast way out the front windshield) while driving to the hospital for lung cancer treatment, nobody would have car insurance to clean up after the mess, and some old white !@#$ who got a shit ton of money from his daddy would all somehow profit from your misery. // Well, there obviously needs to be some regulation, just not to the extent that it stifles business and encourages companies to offshore their profits rather than invest it into the American economy. You shouldn't be taxing small companies an individual income which big companies don't pay, etc.

We had an interesting debate and general discussion in the OWLs channel a couple of days ago on all sorts of political topics ranging from healthcare to taxes etc. I'm not sure if there's been a proper thread to discuss the differing philosophical viewpoints on these contested topics so figured I'd go ahead and make one. Political philosophy has become one of my chief interests as of late and there are many among this community that I hold in high esteem; should be fun to engage in the sharing of ideas with you guys To start it off, my basic worldview is that individuals - when left to their own devices - will tend to make better decisions for themselves and those around them in order to improve their lives and ultimately live as virtuous as possible. To that end, I believe the role of government should be limited to meeting the basic needs required of its office; to ensure the freedoms, safety, and liberties of its citizens. Any legislation outside of that principle is, I believe, unnecessary. Fiscally, taxes should be either flat or low, spending should be kept to a level sufficient to fulfill the basic role of government (police, military, etc). Socially, quite libertarian. I believe the government has no business in determining who can marry who, whether or not people should be allowed to consume certain drugs (unless they pose a credible threat to the rest of society) and certainly don't believe in judging people by the color of their skin or what minority they belong to, but rather by their character and ideals.

Kudos to Guardian as well, wouldn't have worked without them helping out.

Pantheon didn't request counters, I sent them in as soon as I saw what was happening. Just because they didn't send us their whole bank doesn't mean they don't trust us

I’d argue that you’ve disregarded the spirit of the poll and awards by intentionally funneling votes into parties that you have admitted have no business being in the running lol, I would agree with you normally but due to the blatant disregard for it, seems like there’s no point now

I mean if this is what’s going to happen then one option is to just scrap the awards and apologize to the people who put it together. If the voting is meaningless then why even create/participate in it

The Knights Radiant Coronation Ceremony Citizens of Orbis, From the day Infinite Citadel crowned me as the King of the Heralds and First Priest of Deus, I have enjoyed playing with each and everyone one of you, regardless of IC/OOC discourse. 2 years and 4 months ago, my predecessor founded my beloved alliance from the ashes of another, and breathed life into new halls and new people. Being involved in the development and maintenance of this community has been a blast and one that I will carry with me for many years to come. Unfortunately, the real-life monster comes for us all at some point, so I must now take a step back and give way to the next generation of leaders, who I have the utmost confidence in. And so it is with great honor and humility that I stand before you today to announce the Coronation of the Third King of the Heralds and First Priest of Deus, TheCreepyLurker. I have had the honor of mentoring him in this new role and take pride in his steadfast leadership, decisive attitude and unwavering loyalty. o7 King TheCreepyLurker o7 The Knights Radiant - Lordship, Second King of the Heralds and Son of Honor

That is just unbelievable

I know self votes don't count, but better than to leave it blank ALLIANCE CATEGORIES Alliance of the Year: Guardian Most Powerful Alliance: Guardian Best Military: Guardian Best Rookie Alliance: RUM Best Flag: Roz Wei Best War Flag: TKR Most Active Alliance: HW or CoS Most Honourable Alliance: TKR Most Improved Alliance: Rose Best Diplomatic Team: TKR Best Economic System: Pantheon Best Recruiting Staff: [none chosen ] Best Propaganda Staff: [none chosen ] Best Alliance Growth: TKR (70k score growth without a 16b economic injection) Best Forums: TKR Alliance Most Likely to Succeed in 2018: TKR Most Immoral Alliance: Arrgh! Most Controversial Alliance: [none chosen ] Best Alliance for New Players: TKR Most Missed Alliance for 2017: MensaHQ PLAYER CATEGORIES Player of the Year: Memph Most Powerful Player: Memph Best Alliance Leader: Memph Most Controversial Player: Dubayoo Best Player Sig: Smith Best Player Avatar: Micchan Best OOC Poster: Queen M Best IC Poster: Queen M Nicest Player: Yui Funniest Player: Sketchy hands down lmfao Most Active Player: Kosonome Player Most Likely to Achieve Greatness in 2018: TheCreepyLurker Best New Addition to the Community: Ripper!!! COMMUNITY CATEGORIES Best Wall of Text: (provide a link) [none chosen ] Best P&W Forum Topic: (provide a link) [none chosen ] Biggest Controversy: VE coup Funniest Event: Codonian's double agent post during the VE coup Most Entertaining Discord Channel(Please don't include Slack): I denounce your lack of slack Best Treaty Announcement: (provide a link) [none chosen ] Best Declaration of War: (provide a link) [none chosen ] Biggest Meme: " Playing on Easy Mode" Largest E-Peen: Partisan Best Villain: Roquentin Most Hated Poster: Dubayoo Most Missed Player (Player that has gone inactive/quit): Prefontaine WORST CATEGORIES Worst Alliance of the Year: Cornerstone Worst Military of the Year: Cornerstone Worst Diplomatic Move: [none chosen ] Most Inactive Large Alliance: NPO Alliance Most Likely to Fail in 2018: [none chosen ] Worst Player of the Year: [none chosen ] Worst Alliance Leader of the Year: Rache Worst Treaty of the Year: (provide a link) Rose-TKR owait Worst Forum Poster: [none chosen ] Worst Nation Setup: [none chosen ] Worst Fighters of the Year (must have fought in 2017): [none chosen ] Alliance Most Likely to get Rolled in 2018: Assassin Order

To be clear, we'd never sign a treaty that implied or consented that some of our allies would be valued over others, since that goes against our ideals. We'd also fight for our youngest ally as hard as we'd fight for our oldest. This is what I mean by what I said earlier heh, we're very much different in that sense.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. TKR values all of its allies equally, even while in OO, which was a contributing factor to it's decline. We're not in the same boat

Good luck guys, we'll be here every step of the way

Can confirm hades does not get pulled over and speeds like a mad man.

Again, no trust means there's really no point in discussing the issue considering we wouldn't trust anything you said. "2 months back, perhaps. Now? Iffy. Why did you not swing back then? Why did you wait for us to be tied up defending your ally?" We didn't know for sure back then, but everything was confirmed on the KT radio show as well as subsequent conversations. The fact that you were tied up defending Grumpy was pure coincidence, not something we "waited" on. "Thing is, that rather than ending my plots, you have taken a pacified snake, and turned him into a reinvigorated snake. Great decisionmaking there, bud." Thanks! "Let me put it out again: Grumpy told me you were concerned (which made no sense whatsoever) I told SRD that we were not gonna do jackshit except for defending GOB I then sent you the 3 hour thing for shits and giggles. You played along. Right after the hit, I sent you a message along the lines of "So what made you think we were gunning for you?" and engaged in discussion on the subject." Yeah, doesn't change the fact that it was menacing in nature, which is the core issue. This issue, in particular, is irrelevant to the cb by the way, which you seem to be trying to take attention away from "The notion that nothing was attempted there is dumb, and you stubbornly zeroing in on "OMG THREATENING VIDEO" is rather ... telling of your predisposition." A predisposition brought about by the way you operate in public channels "So why did you not hit back then then? Why wait until we are engaged defending GOB? Why not talk to me about it in the interim? Naturally you have no obligation to, but this all seems a little too ....convenient." Already answered, didn't have concrete proof, and the timing was completely incidental which I have said multiple times. Are we going to just repeat ourselves? Like you said, you are being cynical. My hand was, if you want to call it that, in the cookie jar a month ago. A more apt analogy would be a group of jocks who see a baller from another school who just got in a scrap and justifying a beatdown because of something that occurred a month earlier but the jocks didn't want to act on because they weren't sure if they'd take a bloody nose. I disagree with your premise because you're implying we'd be afraid to fight you if you hadn't just helped Grumpy fend off Sparta. But your hand was certainly in the cookie jar! That's really the only point being made here, and you are acknowledging it, so anything else is just fluff at this point. "Correct. But it does mean that one of the key points in your narrative - that I was gunning for your allies in particular - is factually invalid. That's a big distinction to make and I will keep hammering on it until you realize that." We figured that was the case because of your hostility towards our alliances in particular, but the point remains and it does not at all alter the justification. "Aha. When was this radio show?" It was this last Friday, the 13th. Spooky night heh "There is such a thing as mutual allies. You having an ally is not mutually exclusive with me having an ally " Sure but I'm not sure what the point is lol. Has nothing to do with the point I made earlier. "For someone who is "just stating empirical facts", you make an awful lot of assumptions throughout this thread. It's quite interesting." Not really. The fact remains that you had your hand in the cookie jar, and you don't deny it, so that's good at least. But your defense of "I was goona shoot you but don't be mad man, I was gonna shoot them too" doesn't hold up heh "You mean the same M.O. which persisted far before we became a "threat" to you and before our "plot"? I can see how that consistency feels menacing." Whether or not it is the same MO is pretty irrelevant here, considering we were directly implicated in your recent schemes. "1. It's not arrogance. It's statistical knowledge and the ability to piece together a hypothetical scenario. 2.Correct. You made it appear as if the garnering occurred over a longer period of time, rather than just the brief (few day) window during which the plot was developed. As long as you understand and remember that distinction, we're fine." 1. That is a very arrogant thing to say lol 2. Whether it was over 2 months or 3-4 days, doesn't really matter because the point remains that your hand was in the cookie jar. The semantics aren't relevant to the CB further than you were plotting, we confirmed, we responded.

"I've addressed this in my previous post: Yes. I speak to allies and friends about plans and yes, I plan for contingencies. Similar plans were made in case IQ countered. It *wasn't about you* and frankly, that is probably the only (or one of the only) reason that Apeman would not have said "!@#$ off" to me in general. If I had actively gunned for you, i'd imagine both parties (NK through you and KT through Pantheon) would have cooled relations with us. But maybe i'm old fashioned. r you're grasping. " Again with this "we were gonna do it to them too" rhetoric. And again I say, just because you would have done it to IQ as well doesn't mean our qualms with you are not valid. "So... cold and calculating in creating an "awakening" in the general game? What the hell does that even mean? Yes. My ambition has been to change the fabric of politics by pushing for realpolitik. I imagine that is what you are referring to, at least. This plays into that in the sense that it incentivizes alliances to make defacto realpolitik decisions. You again attempt to portray this as a horrible thing when really... it isn't." You say it incentivizes alliances when really it *forces* them into making realpolitik decisions. Which again, shows you infringing on alliances sovereignty by forcing them to play the way *you* want them to play. Which is definitely a horrible thing. "Them mention is very much relevant because it's clear you are piggybacking on what you view as a window of opportunity to take us out (in your eyes, probably pre-emptively?)." No. It gained momentum when we confirmed your plotting by the leaks on KT radio and subsequent conversations with select individuals. Not because you were somehow weakened by the Grumpy defense. Again, would do the same if you were fresh out of the shower. "Following Sparta's hit on GOB, we were not made aware that you were planning to defend GOB until the last moment and so we militarized and planned assuming we were GOB's only backup. We were informed of your coalition about 30 - 20 minutes prior to our estimated go-time, and added to your channel. By then, it was too late. Moreover, my "lack of communication" goes both ways: You could have messaged me, but didn't. Instead, I received query from GOB asking me if we were planning to hit TKR because you believed so. I gave GOB an assurance that I would not, and sent you a music video for shits and giggles because the entire idea was ludicrous." There was literally zero reason to trust anything you'd say considered we had very recently confirmed your plot, which put us way on edge. May be shits and giggles for you but when it fits the same MO that you have been operating under for quite a while, you can easily see how it would be menacing to a party that thought there was a chance you'd hit them. So why give up a potentially strategic advantage of having superior intel for the sake of listening to words we wouldn't trust either way? "As for plots to put allies at odds with eachother: Please. Anything I take an ally along for, I discuss with them first. If they are uncomfortable, I alter and/or drop. This was the case back when we were allied, and it is now. Stop pulling shit out of your ass." Not your allies, mine. Not pulling anything out of my ass, just stating empirical facts " 1. My initial plot included antagonizing *both* sides. if I wanted you dead you'd be a crater right now and IQ would reign supreme. 2. There was no garnering of support since that moment, as I was inactive with RL until this crisis popped up. You facts don't add up. 3. I'm still right where i've been at: In my AA. No running there. I did send my members off for the time being. I was told someone wanted to hunt whales. " 1. It's a good thing we found out about this plot then before you could "turn us into a crater". Your arrogance is astounding lol 2. You were garnering support as you developed the plot, when your support fell through it got scrapped. You were still plotting, and deserve to be treated as such. Again, the mens rea was there. 3. *Whale noises*

"Your first point is the easiest. You bring up the arrgh ghost screenshot as if it is some grand revelation that is supposed to incriminate me. It is not- I already covered this in my OP. I most certainly spoke to my allies about my plans, yes. That seems prudent to me." It's not a grand revelation nor was it intended to be so, but it certainly does implicate you and your scheming. "The only correction to this point i'd make is that you're making a few assumptions you probably shouldn't. The arrgh ghosts -as stated before and can be confirmed by arrgh- were intended to hit UPN. No others. That is not "hitting primarily your side", as that would imply an intended general hit on you and your allies, rather than a fringe party which was at the time playing the middle of the political stage." I am aware that they were intended to hit UPN, but it doesn't detract from the fact that they came out, swung at our side, and you continued to harbor them. This is an empirical fact which you cannot deny, and it adds to our suspicion of your questionable behavior. "Correct. I spoke to multiple alliances in my plan. My plot set up a situation with escalation potential. Contingency plans were made and discussed for both counter options: Be it an IQ counter, or a Rose/TKR counter. As stated before: The intent was to create an interesting situation." Interesting for you, difficult for us, which further increases the validity of the CB. "I'm glad we are getting to the core of this issue however: Your disdain for my (verbal) demeanor toward some within your sphere." See. When you claim that I am "gunning for rose by virtue of my plan to hit UPN, and my historical callouts" as you did just earlier, you neglect the fact that the plot which you present as your incriminating CB deliberately places emphasis on setting back both "sides' equally. You state it yourself in you paragraph: "You wanted to also roll SK or even Acadia". This is entirely correct- that was the consideration. We weren't particularly gunning for you. We were simply looking to create entertainment in a world which you have stifled. You however, decided to take it personally and here we are. While I do not blame you, it would be nice if we could stick to the facts." Even if you weren't particularly gunning for us, you were gunning for us to an extent, which increases the validity of the CB. We decided to take matters into our own hands and end your plotting, so yes, here we are. "My "judgement" of alliances I deem "worthless parasites" is not an infringement on sovereignty. Frankly, my so-called egregious behavior is overstated in your accusations: It boils down to a few sets of In-Characer shitposting and trolling on IRC. Behavior of a nature that, while some may dislike it, is hardly a "breach of sovereignty" as you put it. In terms of doing so "as if i'm a god who can do as I please": Please. That's a bit melodramatic ;). Yes, we will do what we please. It is most certainly an infringement of sovereignty when you would have used that to justify hitting them. No, no people were harmed in the process, but they would have been. You are still held accountable because mens rea was there. "You are simply lying through your teeth about oureach. Throughout the past months, your governments and I have been in contact ranging from daily to sporadically. These conversations often featured concerns, but also brainstorming sessions about the game. Concerns were brought up on both sides and discussed. One of these discussions for example occurred right around the sparta build up, when you believed we were gunning for you, rather than defending GOB." Concerns about us militarizing? Concerns about the Grumpy hit? The last time you and I spoke before you sent me a menacing "3 hours" PM was about the minisphere idea, having literally nothing to do with Grumpy or our build up or anything else. Why is it that you are lieing about this, Lordship? My point here is that yes, I plotted. No, it was not specifically directed at you, nor was it of the nature you are attempting to portray it as to provide foundation for your "waterproof" CB. You plotted, it was directed at us to an extent, which is more than enough to validate the CB. Just because you weren't planning to hit someone else as well does not mean we should be expected to ignore the fact that you were going to hit us as well. "What i'm seeing here is a desperate attempt at posthumously justifying a flailing CB through character assassination. Good luck with that. You'll need it." What you are actually seeing is a group of people staring straight at you while you have your hand in the cookie jar. Just because you had your hand in another cookie jar doesn't mean it wasn't in ours as well

Hey Partisan. For quite a while now you have been actively working to undermine us. From PR campaigns in the backchannels to plans to spark a global war. You plotted behind the scenes to attempt to spark a global war between the two sides by having NK, an ally of ours, along with you, Hogwarts, protect Arrgh. You know full well that we wouldn’t be able to retaliate against NK and that them protecting Arrgh along with you would drive a wedge between us and them. You specifically harbored Arrgh nations in your alliance while they were able to build up their military and then come out of Hogwarts to hit primarily our side. https://imgur.com/a/lsfQJ You tried to get other people involved (for example, KT) in your scheme. Your plot didn’t just involve rolling UPN, of course. Given that the result would be global war, you wanted to also roll SK or even Acadia for potentially defending UPN. It doesn’t surprise me at all that some alliances might be pissed and concerned at the fact that you are calling people out for being “worthless parasites”. If you’d be willing to infringe on their sovereignty because you judge them as if you are some sort of god and can do what you please, don’t be surprised when others start to worry about how you’d justify hitting them. You may try to exert your clout on the game and it’s politics but don’t be surprised when people see you for what you are and defend themselves accordingly. Every week it seemed there was a new rumor. A rumor mill you gleefully played your part in and helped create by posting “ominous” OWF posts and vague messages in multiple alliances channels. https://politicsandwar.com/forums/index.php?/topic/20973-a-hogwarts-courtesy-warning-you-know-who-you-are/&page=1 Is Hogwarts going to attack UPN? Are they going to attack us? Every week there was something new you were doing. Why are they sheltering Arrgh? Never once during any of this did you ever reach out to us. All we got were vaguely threatening messages and more Arrgh hits (They didn’t even all leave at once so you can’t argue that you were caught unaware). You can work to nitpick these points as you no doubt will try. But the reality is you spun your web, plotted to undermine us and got caught. Now here we are. To address your specific post “The designed plan would see us employ arrgh ghosts to strike UPN and dare any comers to fight us.” Here you fail to mention how you tried to get others on board, namely NK and KT, knowing full well it would put us in a very awkward position and either make it look like we are divided or that we are not respecting NK’s protection of Arrgh. Given that NK is a TKR ally it would also potentially drive a wedge between TKR and it’s other allies because we wouldn’t be able to help in a situation against NK. “The notion of the plan was indifferent in nature: It was a strike for the sake of fun. Entertainment for all. But also one where both sides were placed in a position where they had to think, and where rough decisions had to be made. We figured, that this would spur drama and political activity. “ Except it is actually not indifferent, and is rather cold and calculating in nature, despite your rhetoric that it is. You have been talking about creating an “awakening” in the politics and using this as a means to achieve that goal simply fits your MO. “Unfortunately, elements of the plan were leaked prematurely by select parties, and so we decided to shut the effort down. The window of opportunity had closed, and Hogwarts returned to its standard operations. The world continued spinning. Real life sprung on me and I delegated responsibilities to the alliance in my absence. “ That’s not how it works bud. You nearly set off an explosive. The mens rea was very much there and you cannot simply use suddenly getting busy in real life as an excuse to wipe yourself clean from wrongdoing. “This situation persisted until recently our ally, Sparta, decided to strike another ally (GOB) out of boredom. Though rough choice, we opted to honor our agreement and defend our ally, who happened to be an ally of TKR as well.” Yes, the very unfortunate situation presented itself to you and you were forced to choose between two shitty hands. I am not sure why you mention Grumpy being an ally of TKR in this sentence, seems very out of place considering you didn’t communicate with us throughout the entire process and even played into some misconceptions of a possible hit on TKR proper by sending me menacing messages and music videos. Again, fits your MO. "This brings us to now. Hogwarts has finished its war with Sparta but finds itself occupied with picking up the pieces in the aftermath of what defacto be called an intra-ally war. The Knights Radiant has evidently identified a state of vulnerability in what I can only imagine they view as a rival and/or threat, and has opted to move accordingly. Piggybacking on injuries sustained during a war fought to defend their own ally, they have engaged in the typical diplomatic offensive which precedes military action - action which has been confirmed at this point by various sources-." Well I think anybody would be threatened by your intentionally misleading behavior, considering all of the intel which was confirmed by Hidude and some other Arrgh guys right before and during the Grumpy-Sparta war. Why would TKR see you as a rival? Up until we received confirmation of your schemes, we had no real issues with you, certainly none to warrant an aggressive action or to build military. Don’t flatter yourself. We would fight you even if you were fresh out of the shower once we ran into the very incriminating intel. "Though their backroom movements have been quite visible due to leaks, they have thus far dodged and deflected requests for clarification while their member nations spiked their military. The Knights Radiant's interference for their own grudges and ambitions in what was supposed to be a secluded (and fun for all) affair presents a strong contrast with their preachings for isolated small scale wars and dynamic politics." Why on earth would I give you any info if we were planning to mount an offensive? I mean you’re just pulling things out of nowhere now. Exactly what grudge? Exactly what ambition? Is it so wrong to support one’s allies in their attempt to defend themselves from your plots to not only infringe upon their sovereignty but also attempt to put them at odds with not only each other but the other side of the web as well? That is very hypocritical of you to say, considering you literally planned for the scheme to go global. "The bottomline is simple: Hogwarts with its handful of nations does not posess the punching power to fight off a horde of 200/300/400 nations. Mathematically impossible, the situation presented is a papers please v2 with a flimsier CB, a more unfortunate timing and a smaller, historically less beligerent defendant." Of course you don’t, which is why you were trying to garner support for your schemes and ran off when we decided to put an end to it. Apples and Pears. The context is different and so is the CB. Which, I might add, is very much waterproof.

I actually spilled coffee that I was drinking when I read the "kastor’s Head is gonna be there like the lion king"

The old Emperor is dead, long live the Emperor! Congratulations on retirement Durmij and good luck to you Redarmy. Also, obligatory better dead than red.

?!?!?!?! Who is trying to control who? Nobody even mentioned you in this thread until you came in here taking shots! What am I reading?!?!?

BK doesn't get to determine what is or isn't credible. And you coming at us with all this hostility on a thread that doesn't even concern you isn't a good look.

What's your play? Why are you even posting in this thread? I don't think anyone mentioned BK or literally anything related to IQ and now you're in here taking shots at us?

Happy birthday my friends