In Brez, Surrounded

#1

The Ni Station of Brez was surrounded by Gangers of the vilest sorts. The only thing holding them back was a call for a meeting of leaders.
Now the four Brothers of the Fist, a Paladin of Dunesphere and the tribal leaders gathered to discuss the fate of the Ni Station in Brez.

The Hovertrain is missing and suspicion falls on all parties equally.

–[Only those who took part in the Brezan section of One Fist of Iron One Fist of Steel mission may be part of this diplomatic meeting. and all Brezan tribes}–

#2

Surgeon Lok’or looked around at those gathered. “Well, this is not good. All I wanted was to see this wonderous Train of the Earthers and now we’re stuck here with no train to see.”

#3

Auf Lalur’ab nods to the Brothers of the Fist, Paladin, and the other tribals present. He focuses and uses Translate leyas

The to the Brothers of the fist, he says "Greetings Brothers of the Fist. I’m Auf Lalur’ab of the Herd of Auf Lal’ al. I’m considered an Elder of my tribe, but I’m also a diplomat that handles disputes between tribes when allowed. I have asked the tribes of Brez to allow me to help negotiate between you and the tribes here. They have accepted.

I wish to settle one issue first. We Olgogs, are not ruled by one, or even one tribe. We are made up of tribes that maintain and protect their lands. We have trade between the tribes. I say this so you understand how you could have gogs protect you, and gogs attack. And still some waiting to see your intentions. Every race has an extreme element that doesn’t represent the wishes of all.

For you are building on the land the tribes of Brez hold without permission or asking. But those tribes around have come to negotiate first. And if you gain their support here in Brez, they can work to limit outside gogs from interfering or causing trouble.
"

#4

One of the Brothers stepped forward, he had arrived in the night when word of the missing train reached the VofV Comission. He was handsome and bowed low to all, “I am Sira of the 3 Rivers Monestary. Our people understand you are many different family units each with its own allegiances. Some are green, some are grey, and some brown and red. We have seen many natives with many temperments. I have fought alongside natives and I have fought alongside the Jinn who call themselves Children of the Falosini side by side. I seek peace for all and a return of the hovertrain. I have faced ancient evils, seen many dimensions and walked the many paths across and between the distant shores.
All flows in the great wheel. I see Buddha has already smiled upon this meeting by keeping the blades of the Church of One sheathed.
Well met Paladins, and peace be unto all in this gathering.”

Looking around at the many gangs that surrounded their position, Sira was reminded of a battle at the side of old friends. He pushed the thought away. There would be no living in the past, no living in the future, only the present.

Sira bowed low to Auf Lalur’ab and Surgeon Lok’or, “Greetings on behalf of Doyest Vesk and the Valley of Vegalia Comission, as a diplomat of the Heart I am well prepared to discuss how we can make this hovertrain project palatable to the natives who once again inhabit Brez.
I wish to address the Brezan locals directly if I may. But I am pleased to discuss with whomever they wish to assign to this task.”

#5

“Please be aware assembled Olgog leaders,” said Sira of the 3 Rivers, “That the EEF states it has claimed Brez in its last battle against the Nightmares who ruled it and it was under this contract that Chooru and Doyest Vesk began building this train route. No offense was intended to any local interests. We wish to negotiate fairly with you.”

#6

For Vektor, this was the first time an Earther had every approached them with anything even appearing to be respectful.

“Sira,” Vektor said in Earther, “You are the first Earther who has ever spoken to us and not been demeaning or disrespectful. The last time Earthers met with us, claiming to come in peace, they mocked us, called us murderers, and refused us basic civilities. For your kind introduction, we of the Gang of the Uf Mag’og thank you.” Vektor nodded his head as a gesture of acknowledgment, “I am Vektor, and I’ll make my point briefly. We do not trust Earthers and their intentions. Everytime an Earther makes a promise to us, it comes with terms that are disagreeable and threatening. This machinery you build will bring more Earthers here. More Earthers means more of them,” he gestured to the Church of One Paladins, “will come through Brez, attack our people, and cause more problems. That is unacceptable.”

#7

Paladin Gorth first bowed respectfully to Sira then smiled “It is true, we have asked for much in return. We offered peace, we asked for them to cease their invasion against our people, and not to support the undead. These were unacceptable terms for them. Sadly negotiations with the locals in their minds means they insult us and can invade us, but if we dare to speak of their own crimes, then we are out of line. It has been difficult to try seeking peace when one side doesn’t want it.”

To Sira “We have heard that you have had problem with the Church in the past, this is regrettable. Some of our members tend to be more…zealous then they should be. We are saddened if they dampened relations between our colonies, we understand a bad first impression can be hard to get over. I was sent here because I can maintain a level head, even around…creatures, that we find disagreeable. We fully support your construction and wish for you to be able to see it through. No matter your decision, we shall support it, Lord Grimaldus who rules the Church territory in the Goblin Lands wishes no hostilities with your people. Even though we are currently being invaded by Goblin armies, we shall do our best to accommodate our fellow colonies to the best of our abilities.”

#8

Auf Lalur’ab face flared red for just a second at the words of the paladin. he says "Peace, you offer peace and then air bomb the area. You have slaughtered more gogs in a month in your death camps than all gogs have attacked the church for a year. Your continued slaughter of Olgogs is the cause of any conflict between us. What is your major export out of our lands here. Our Hides and teeth. Do not talk of offering peace to us when you only treat us as cattle.

If you want peace, don’t send your troops into our lands. This brings up a good point. I ask you, have we attacked your troops in Tla’Loc’al yet? That force could have been treated as an invading force. We didn’t… yet. I do recommend they leave quickly though. We can only hold back the other tribes so long.
"

Auf Lalur’ab then takes a deep breath. “To all the rest. I apologize for my outburst. I had just gotten reports of the death camps this morning and they are still to fresh in my mind. And this is not helpful for the conversation here.”

#9

Paladin Gorth shrugged, "War is horrible, we offered peace, it was rejected, so we bombed the army that was on the move, we offered to allow the attacking army to keep the town it stole from us if they returned the citizens, they refused and spat in our faces so we bombed it. They besiege another town and sack a port so we execute prisoners. Every action in the last few months have been reactionary, we gave you a chance before every single action to prevent it. They were rejected, in the last few months we have not made a single offensive move, every single one has been defensive and in reaction to offensive actions by your kind. If you stopped your invasion these actions would stop as well, as to our methods. You yell foul at us using bombs when your people rip the ground out from under us, cause storms to freeze entire towns, beings of fire to steal our families, summon mythological monsters to eat our squires. If you want us to stop using the technology that we posses, then have your people stop using your magics. Saying that you can use these powers yet we cannot use what we have to defend ourselves makes you the hypocrites.

I am sure that Brother Sira would agree that if you are directly threatened by bullies you cannot just sit there and do nothing, as it will only encourage them. Does the Church sometimes overreact? Yes, I will admit that, however we welcome anyone to look deeper into the actions of the last few months and you will see that we are confident that they will see that the current conflict was not started by us, there is no Church army rampaging in Goblin lands, only a Goblin army rampaging in Church lands which I must point out has less people in it then this one city has. We control only a tiny portion of these Goblin Lands, most of it desert, they don’t want the land they simply want to attack us."

To Sira "I apologize for this sidetracking from the current dilemma, i will accept my own share of the blame for it, it is tough for me to be in the presence of those who we have told us that there can never be peace due to the actions of our ancestors to then be lecturing us about how we don’t want peace. This meeting is not about the Goblin war of aggression.

Today we do not want violence, we only came to help guard the charge station on this day. If a peaceful resolution can come out of this meeting I shall lead my forces back home in peace. If it remains under threat we shall offer our services to help defend it, if it is wanted we shall follow your rules as to how we can help, if not we shall return home in peace."

#10

Auf Lalur’ab says "Paladin Gorth, Some of the deeds I speak of happen today, not just the last 2000 years. And these death camps have existed longer than the just a battle ago. But lets not get into that part right now. My Tribe and Union would prefer peace to war. And we have not held meetings with the church before. So I offer this, if you really do wish peace, enter negotiations with my tribe at or nearby the station at Tla’loc’al. We can choose another location if desired as well. If we can come to an agreement of what can be done in the future and maybe we can stop this battles.

This is an open offer for now, so you do not have to answer this moment.

For the station at Tla’loc’al Paladin Gorth, you can leave there with the assurance that the Lur Union will guard the station. So please withdraw from there unless specifically involved in these talks I suggested. The presence of the Church of One so close to Tla’loc’al will only stir up more trouble than prevent.

Thank you Vektor and Sira for letting the paladin and I discuss this issue. I could not resist the chance to ask for talks, no matter the possibility of them occurring or succeeding.

For the station here, I turn it back over to Vektor and Sira.
"

(OOC if Lord Grimaldus wishes to talk, open a thread at Tla’loc’al )

#11

Vektor watched the back and forth, biting his tongue. When it was over, all he said was, “I’ve heard enough. It’s the same argument over and over. I left the meeting with the Inquisitor Barov making one demand: learn about our kind. Until you are willing to do so, without prejudice, there will be no further negotiations as you are incapable of even addressing us without first insulting us. In Simonsburg, we made a breakthrough. They accepted us, we accepted them, and we are learning about each other. Together we are building a new home…together. Standing together, falling together, and rebuilding together.”

Vektor let the statement hang, knowing full well that the Church of One had tried to destroy the town, even after promising to leave them in peace.

He looked over at the Eastern Earther named Sira, “So enough of that argument. They continue to call us liars, traitors, and aggressive savages. We, apparently, do the same. It doesn’t change our position: trust.”

#12

Paladin Gorth laughed bitterly “You speak of trust, that is laughable. How is there to be any trust when your armies continue to march on our lands, and take our towns? If you want any attempt at trust or peace you must actually stop attacking us. How could you possibly expect us to want to learn about you when your only actions are violence? So far the only thing we can trust is that you are unwilling to actually negotiate anything, it is your way or no way. You want us to bend over backwards while you continue to attack us, give me one good reason why we should actually trust you? What have you done to earn that trust? You demands seem to be Trust us or die.”

#13

Vektor looked at the Paladin, motioned to begin speaking to him, and as if to hold his point looked directly at Sira. “What do you think?”

#14

Auf Lalur’ab smirked just a bit and thought that Vektor was much better practiced at dealing with paladins than him and then he was sad to see Vektor was right as well. The paladin completely ignored the offer of talks and went into attack us again. At least he tried.

Auf Lalur’ab would wait for Vektor and Sira to finish their part.

#15

Sira listened carefully to all sides, however after facing Church of One paladins in actual combat he saw quickly how human diplomacy ignored the basic questions of suffering and compassion which made the great wheel roll.

“Paladin Gorth of Dunesphere, i am confused. Has Dunesphere changed its basic faith? Do you now allow Natives to live lives equal to those of Humans? Do Natives have free passage across your lands without being sent to death camps?
This is not to debate this is simply a question. Have these basic facts changed at all during the offers of peace you state your people have offered the natives? Do you and your faith think the natives are demonic goblin monsters or does your faith believe they are worthy souls equal to humans?”

There was no deviousness no malice in Siras words. He obviously just wanted to understand.

He then turned to the Olgogs and said "Auf Lalur’ab and Vektor, i see our fellow Earthers from the west have made you worry about all Earthers. They have caused suffering to you, that is clear.
My peoples have made the point of keeping the Natives and Earthers segregated so each may live in their own way.
We do not allow nonhumans into our lands either but we respectfully turn them away at our borders and we never kill the Natives or their Jinn allies unless we are attacked first.

Brez was presented to the VofVComission and the Brotherhood of the Fist as a halfway point. A city rescued from a Nightmare infestation within the last decade by the EEF. The planners thought this rail line would help Doyest Vesk and Chooru open up trade. It would allow natives who live in the Colony of Chooru to visit ancestral lands and bring the wealth they gained in the colonies back here to Brez.

Never would we expect so many hostile to such growth.

What do the people of Brez require that this train could provide to them?

May the great buddha provide us all insight and empathy, so we might see how the soul of a flower is no different from the soul of the insect that pollinated that flower."

#16

Lok’or started chuckling to himself. Loooking at Sira, he asked “Why should me and mine care about where your train runs? Most of us would never be allowed on it anyway. The youths who accompanied me in coming here might be allowed on, but for myself and the other Dead it would be pointless. Neither your people or the Colonies proper would allow us to ride this device anywhere, would tney?”

Looking over toward the paladins, “The forces of Dunesphere would never be satisfied letting us travel freely. We sent a trooper to those meetings he mentioned. At first, their envoy was polite enough, but then he started to insult our envoy just because he was dead. We are not here to make things worse, unlike a majority of the Dead. But we are not given even the smallest chance to prove our words. They see abominations and look no futher. Yet they ask the olgogs to look past the last thousand years of their tyranny and give them a chance. They call the olgog people hypocrits. I say at least they are well versed in the topic.”

Turning back to Sira, “I can speak for no other group or unit, but i can tell you that my unit has never set out to attack or act hostilely toward any civilian group. We admit that we have attacked the militant forces of the Church of One. But that has been the extent of our aggression. Defeating those who attack the innocent, is not a crime but an act of compassion.”

#17

Paladin Gorth nodded politely to Sira "The Church of One still considers the Goblins of these lands to be possessed by Demonic Taint, if they enter our lands they are arrested and sent to work camps where they may be purified of their taint through holy labor. Hopefully by the time they fall their souls can be salvaged. They are not considered equal, however the current leader of the Church holdings in these lands holds slightly more moderate views. He views these creatures to be victims of demonic influence rather then being consumed by it. He believes that perhaps one day they can be saved, so has convinced the Divinely Blessed Lords of Dunesphere to give him a chance to try. So far he has been unsuccessful, and is making his last few efforts to try to show that even these Goblins can be more then just violent brutes.

Now we still do not want any of them within our lands, even if there was some kind of truce it would take a long time before our people could actually interact together in any kind of meaningful way. Trust is not something that one just develops after so many generations of hate. However we are willing to take the first step, we are willing to try to stop raids and try to at least respect boarders if they are willing to withdraw from all Church lands. There are bigger concerns for both factions, as you saw there are Goblins who raid both sides and they are developing an army to try to take over all of our holdings, Earther and Goblin. Why fight each other when there are mutual threats? By festering old hatreds we condemn both sides to death and destruction.

So while we still do not like these Goblin Kings of Brez, we are not so foolish as keep fighting pointless wars while there are bigger concerns. Maybe Lord Grimaldus’s dream will never come true, but we will let him try."

Turning to Auf Lalur’ab "we have an ambassador already in these Goblin Lands, here http://dr-forum.whitestarhosting.net/showthread.php?105-An-unheard-of-opportunity you can send someone to speak to him. "

#18

The Dead unit seemed to deeply concern Sira who raised a single hand in blessing and waved it over Lok’or.

Then his face brightened, “When you spoke i at first did not believe you Dead One. This may surprise you but i once served alongside a Captain of your kind. He like you had found a way to break free of evil influences of the spirit.
The great buddha had led him to the south to free more of your kind from their masters.”

Lok’or would recognize the dead captain Sira spoke of as being the same dead captain who had freed many of the Dead Units before taking them away on a Nightmare Lord vessel to find freedom.

“As long as no violence is done i will personally vouch for this Dead One as being free of demonic influences.”

“Let us speak more of demonic influences. Paladin Gorth were I to prove to you that the Natives do not have demonic taint and do not suffer under demonic influences would you free those natives from your work camps? Or would their fur and nonhuman outer matter prevent this?”

Again Sira spoke passionately and without deception or judgement each word coming from the heart.

#19

Smiling at Sira Paladin Gorth replied "I of course have no authority over what the Church does, I am just a humble warrior fighting for what I believe is right. I have been given limited negotiation authority with the offer to aid this station. On the other hand, if you can prove that no local has any sort of demonic taint beyond any doubt, I believe the Church would listen and consider your evidence. I of course do not believe that you could. For example, even if I believe that this…undead is free of any kind of demonic corruption, how about others of his kind? One of our Paladins disappeared in the south, a Paladin Resugent. We found a group of his Squires killed along with the bodies of multiple undead similar to this one. So if we all went south to where it is rumored that these undead are coming from, will we not find demonic taint? How about the Red furred natives who serve the giant bull fire demons? These are malevolent influences.

I mean no disrespect but in addition, you just vouched that this particular undead is free of demonic influence, doesn’t that imply that upon seeing it that you believed it did, and wouldn’t that also imply that other undead like it in fact have demonic taint and thus some of the natives do indeed have demonic taint?

Can you please explain if you can, how you would prove your belief?"

#20

Sira smiled in a kind way, "Just because a single leaf is decayed one does not uproot the entire tree. Instead one trims the decaying leaf only and the rest of the tree thrives.
Such is the question you ask about the Dead Ones and the Red Fur natives.
Some Red Fur natives do and some do not follow the Quall Ndrone ,the beings who you called Fire demons. They are not demons. I have faces true demons in combat and survived because of the holy power granted to us mortal men of deepest and purest faith. The creature these red furs serve is a dangerous alien. A dangerous alien type the Quall which you are absolutely encouraged to drive from your lands by any means as they are a malevolent influence just not supernatural.

You are right that when i saw this Dead One i had great concern."

He stops and draws a symbol on the ground, "This noble Natives and Sir Gorth is the symbol of a true demonic influence. This symbol is called by the Jinn the symbol of the Caged Eyes. It represents the ancient evil known as the Warmonger.
While all Dead do not serve demons, this symbol is one which marks the Dead Ones who do. Unless a greater holy power sets them free.

I think were you to see the Dead Ones who killed your squires in the south you would see this symbol lovingly maintained and cared for as true blasphemers and devilworshippers would have.

I feel sadness for the suffering you must experience seeing every nonhuman living thing and many human living things as tainted by evil.
This suffering you feel is actually caused by the very demons you wish to drive out. But instead of having your glorious order arrayed against the Demon Princes, Lords of Hell and Greater fiends they have instead distracted you with the innocent natives. By innocent i mean innocent of demonic influence or demonic possession, i do not speak of crimes of vice.

If you wish me to prove to you this fact, then we will need to face a true demon in combat, then you will know.
I will not have to prove my belief for you will see it with your own eyes, know its truth in your own heart.
And you will slay a true demon which is deserving of a great glory.

Meditate upon this paladin. If you wish to face such a threat return to me after i have discussed the matter of this train station with the natives.

I am sorry local leaders for our divergence into matters of faith. But faith is of great importance to the hearts of humanity.

Vektor of Uf Magog what do the Brezan peoples want to gain from this railroad project? What are their needs?
And if we deliver it will the gangs prevent unnecessary loss of life?"