321 - The utmost pains to be fair

To Artira Shae-Arano-e, eyes only.
Ardi, for the record, correspondence received and copies of my answers: - Che

To: Semanakraseye Yeoli
From: Segiddis of Hyerne, Most Fecund

Chevaga:

I have learned that you and your people are considering sinking the red sails completely.

I think my people and I would be well pleased to consider rescuing Kreyen from the Eagle’s Claws, and perhaps the port towns of Sikil. Let us negotiate. I have authorized my sweet and beloved Kelaepo to do so.

For this, you will of course need to keep not only Peyepallo and my Wild Ones, the best spear-women—or should I say spear-persons, we must be fair here—in the world at your back, but additional numbers, all expert in spear-throwing and the other arts of war. I am pleased to offer you seven-thousand footpersons, as well as, in return for your help on the sea, the services of twenty sea-slashers for naval actions that I propose we plan together.

Let us talk about a hypothetical dark-haired, curly all over, Imperator, shall we?

Please pass on to Niku my renewed appreciation for her taste in making you her husband.

By her own hand,
Segiddis

To Segiddis of Hyerne, Most Fecund
From Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e, semanakraseye na chakrachaseye d’Yeola-e

Dear Segiddis:

Your information is indeed correct. Assembly is debating it as I write and then it will go to a national vote. Please note that I can negotiate only hypothetically at this point and for some days yet, as the debate, being of such great importance, will be necessarily protracted. All else in this letter is premised on an eventual chalk result of our national vote and cannot apply if it goes charcoal.

I am deeply grateful for your offer of further warriors, and will take you up on it at such time that I am in need.

Kreyen is very much on the table but please be warned that Kranaj of Tor Ench has his eye on it too, and his contribution to the alliance complement so far has been several times larger than Hyerne’s, as you know. I am inclined to propose the island be divided along very carefully defined borders, allowing both you and him to establish naval bases there, with consideration both of your interest in Sikil and his in Nellas. I mention this strictly tentatively and hypothetically.

I note also that Sikil is heavily disputed with Arko, not only by its own natives but by the Srians, so that what we may agree upon today may no long apply, as Sikil may no longer be under Arkan control at all when the conquest of Arko (should it happen) is complete.

You may be sure that I will take the utmost pains to be fair to everyone in these dealings and consider all their arguments carefully, as well as the degree of their commitment to the alliance to date.

I have passed your appreciation on to Niku and she passes back same.

Regards in alliance,
Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e

From: Kranaj son of Enjaliansi, King of Tor Ench, Wearer of the Speaking Crown, Master of All Realms and Beloved of the Gods.

To: Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e, semanakraseye of Yeola-e.

This 23rd Day of Merjin by the Haian Calendar

My dear fellow ruler:

Continued good wishes for both your health and stability.

I hope Reknarja is not sweetening his reports about how the two of you are getting along. Jakanarja seems to think there has been some friction but, then, he tends to be a dramatic kind of boy.

I have been informed that Yeola-e is actually debating something unheard of in its history, namely, claiming compensation to the extent of the capital city of Arko itself, making Arko in effect Yeoli territory. As you know I have sent instruction to Reknarja to negotiate for the Crown.

Tor Ench long ago held both western Nellas ports and Kreyen. I would see it as a good-faith gesture if you would consider apportioning captured territory in that light. The Southern Nellas Islands are, of course, still in dispute and are just as valuable in the number of deep-water ports.

Since I have been able to withdraw troops from both the Lakan border and islands disputed with the Hyerne women both, I am pleased to offer a larger contingent toward your invasion of Arko, which you will surely need as the Arkans realize the severity of the threat they face. Would another ten thousand foot and three thousand horse be helpful, considering my request for the above-named territories?

I look forward to your reply.

Signed.
Kranaj, By his own hand.

From Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e, semanakraseye na chakrachaseye d’Yeola-e
To: Kranaj son of Enjaliansi, King of Tor Ench, etc [abbreviated without disregard]

Dear Kranaj:

I cannot know what Reknarja says in his reports nor Jakanarja in his correspondence, but I am happy to assure you that to my mind, Reknarja and I are getting along excellently—certainly better than I expected and perhaps even better than you did yourself.

Assembly is indeed debating taking the whole empire, and my people will take a national vote on it within a half-month, by my estimation. Please note that I can negotiate only hypothetically at this point. All else in this letter is premised on an eventual chalk result of our national vote and cannot apply if it goes charcoal.

I thank you deeply for the offer of an addition ten-thousand foot and three-thousand horse. I will let you know when I am at the point of needing them. They would be helpful, of course, but as of yet are not necessary.

I must tell you that you are not the only nation allied with Yeola-e that has offered to extend the alliance in return for extended payment in lands, and must mention that other nations have their eye on some of the same lands as you do—specifically Hyerne with respect to Kreyen. I suspect the only way that may be fair is to divide the island so that both nations can establish naval bases, but of course that will reflect other apportionments made elsewhere, including that which you are interested in in Nellas.

You may trust that I will be absolutely fair and will take the arguments of both sides totally into account, as well as the degree of their commitment to the alliance to date, in my negotiations with all.

My best wishes for your own continued health and stability also.

Regards in alliance,
Chevenga

Ardi, just between you and me, what I see in this and why I answered them as I did was that setting it up this way will ensure that the Hyerne and Enchians are fighting each other over Kreyen, as well as fighting the Srians over Sikil (unless we as Arko retain it) and the Nellans in Nellas, respectively, towards an eventual realization of the ultimate futility and worthlessness of war. Until then, they’ll have their hands too full to bother us. Love, Che

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Assembly of Yeola-e, by extraordinary military necessity convening in Thara-e, hyerasora 90, 1550; Artira Shae-Arano-e presiding as the semanakraseye requested and was granted permission to recuse himself from presiding during this entire debate, as he anticipates he will be required to speak to much of it.

Artira Shae-Arano-e: I recognize the Servant of Tinga-e-Pikola.

Miniya Shae-Sima: We have not one but two questions before us, which, for purposes of a national referendum, we must somehow shape into one. The first question is whether to attempt conquest; the second is what exactly we intend should we succeed. That is to say, we have captured and so control the City of Arko, captured or perhaps killed the Imperator… then what? Do we just turn the army around and march home? Do we declare Arko a province, or a number of provinces, of Yeola-e, and all Yeolis laws in force while all Arkan laws are null and void? I am going to propose we turn to Chevenga again, as he understands these things better than most if not any of us. Specifically, that we request that the semanakraseye enumerate and explain the choices open to us at that juncture, and what resulting effect they would have on us.

Ar: That Assembly request that the semanakraseye enumerate and explain the choices open to us once Arko is effectively conquered in the event that we are successful in doing so, and estimate what the resulting effect on Yeola-e of each one would be, all chalk, all charcoal, all abstentions: by my rough count I see about eleven charcoals, the rest being chalk and so the proposal is carried, thank you. Semanakraseye, you have heard the question, please answer it.

Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e: I will answer in two parts. First I will enumerate all choices that are open to us, every one that I can think of, and their inevitable or likely results, in my opinion; second, I will reiterate those choices that I think are plausibly open to us, by which I mean, those which in my opinion have a reasonable chance of Assembly ratification.

First, we can turn around and march home, releasing our allies as well, and leaving Arko to its own devices. The result of this, I think, would be one of two things: either the Empire would cease to exist as a whole, torn apart both by Arkan factions and independence movements of many parts of it, or one Arkan would seize power by gaining enough of the allegiance of what would be left of the solas, the warriors of Arko, thus maintaining, or mostly maintaining, the Empire’s integrity. The former result is more likely, and it would eliminate Arko as a danger to us for the foreseeable future. But it would not be certain, and the latter result would not eliminate Arko as a danger to us at all.

Second, we can adjoin Arko to Yeola-e as a group of provinces of Yeola-e, and instantly impose Yeoli law and governance methods on it, while extinguishing Arkan law and governance methods. The result of this, I think, would be a great deal of confusion, suffering and ultimately unrest on the part of Arkans. It is not just a matter of them being set in their ways; they simply do not understand ours.

As well, certain changes could cause genuine hardship, hard to envision for a Yeoli though that is. For instance, Yeoli law forbids slavery, meaning every slave in the Empire would be instantly, effectively, manumitted. That is well and good until you remember that much of what feeds and clothes and shelters the people of the empire is provided by the work of slaves. There are thousands of thousands of them. If they were all to suddenly quit doing the work they have been doing… you see the problem.

I ask that no one misconstrue my words to mean that I am in favour of slavery; I mean only that if we mean to impose such a massive change as manumitting millions of slaves, it cannot in good conscience be done other than gradually, and with a great deal of thought and planning. This is but one example. Their ways are fundamentally, drastically different from ours, and they are every bit as set in them as we are in ours.

Third, we can set up a government of Arko that contains as many elements of the existing government as can be contained while leaving us still in control, and resembles the existing government, then simply continue business as usual, ruling through the existing apparatus. It would have an Imperator—a Yeoli—with staff reporting to him; the more and higher of them are Arkan, the worse danger that he lose true control, but the more experience they have in their positions and so the more smoothly things will run.

From that we can do two things: leave matters as they are, or effect change towards a more Yeoli way of life. The result of leaving matters as they are is that we would enjoy the benefit of the wealth we could extract from the empire, but we also would become, as a nation, what we despise—a collective tyrant over a people—with the pain and damage to our conscience and spirit as a people that that would entail.

The result of effecting change toward a more Yeoli way of life is harder to predict; we could be at peace with our own consciences, but how the Arkans would take it is hard to know. It is natural for us to think that the moment they learn our ways, they’ll embrace them with delight, but I can tell you, from my knowledge of them, that is far from guaranteed. Things we abhor, they embrace; things we embrace, they abhor. And they are plenty set in their ways, and fearful of things new and strange. All would depend very much on how it was done.

Fourth, we could nominally leave Arko independent of us, but put a puppet Imperator, who has an agreement with us to report to us secretly, on the Crystal Throne. This way we could again enjoy the wealth we extracted from the Empire, but suffer the damage to our conscience, not only of tyranny but of deception. The other danger is the puppet Imperator, or a subsequent puppet Imperator, breaking his agreement and ties with us, and arranging to defeat whatever force we had left as a precaution to keep him in line, at which point Arko would become genuinely independent while still whole, posing a danger to us again.

Fifth, we can put to the sword enough Arkans of certain types to guarantee they cease to be a danger to us—all solas we capture, for instance, or all Aitzas—that’s the nobility—or both, or every Arkan within a certain distance of the Yeoli border, or some number or category decided upon by Assembly. Or we could even kill every Arkan. It would be a massive undertaking, but it is possible, and, even if partial, it would be so devastating to them as a people that they would pose no danger to us for the foreseeable future. It could have a bad result to us if it were done in such a way that those slated for death found out they were before we had them in hand, in which case they might fight us in ultimate desperation, and hence effectively. In terms of being at peace with our consciences, I think the result would be bad as well.

Sixth, some combination of the above which can be combined: a puppet Imperator along with massacres, for instance, or a Yeoli Imperator along with massacres, in which case I think you will see the above-named results admixed as a result.

So, those are all the choices available that I can think of, though there might be others I have not. Now I will, as I said, reiterate those which are plausible.

First, leaving Arko to its own devices. Most likely it would be divided and rendered weak by rival factions.

Second, setting up a government with as many elements of the existing one as would leave us in control, with a Yeoli Imperator. I think either choice within that one—leaving things as they are or attempting to effect change towards Yeoli ways—is plausible—though with the understanding that Arkans will continue to resent being ruled by foreigners unless they can be somehow made sufficiently happy to compensate for that resentment, and that is hard to attain.

Third, setting up a puppet Imperator. Many nations have succeeded in this tactic, though it depends on the deception not being discovered by sufficient Arkans to foment unrest.

Those are the choices I see as plausible. To address in advance the objections of those who would maintain that a massacre is plausible, I offer the following strictly as information, not recommendation or advocacy of any action, as that is forbidden to me as semanakraseye: were Assembly to mandate me to attempt to conquer Arko after having chalked massacre as our plan, or a portion of our plan, I would resign both my positions immediately.