[X] Suggest in the interest of authority and further warding against tribal violence that outposts in the unclaimed section be fully shared structures, staffed by personnel from both nations. (-1 WP favorability, -1 PT Favorability. Improved road defenses and further mingling and cultural contact. Better response time to incursions against the road.)
This is definitely the right option to ensure smoother ES-WS relations in the middle term.
Imagine the situation: an unaligned Cloud Tribe raids one of the imperial fortresses on the road and successfully escapes deep into the unclaimed zone. Then the imperial guards blame the two WS post at either side for no reacting fast enough, some even claiming that the offending Cloud Tribe was actually a proxy of one of the WS-aligned tribes and that they were allowed to raid the imperial location.
A political mess all around, and a stress case for the judical system. Too many of those, and political relations will start a downward spiral of degradation.
It will also severly affect the prospects for future commerce routes. As it has been stated repeatedly, any serious trade is still a long way away, but the foundations are being set now.
If the main road connecting to the Embassy suffers heavy damages due to Cloud Tribe raids, that will make much less appealing to develop it further to allow significant commerce between the two nations. We need to consider the long term here.
Wanting to reserve favor for the cultural stretch of the Summit is a valid concern. But I do think the favor loss is an acceptable price to pay here.
First of all, the shared fortresses already improve the cultural mingling we are seeking. This would allow us more leeway once the cultural votes arrive. We wouldn't feel so pressured to choose the heavy cultural choices that may upset the MoI, WP and PT; because we would already have a feet in with this vote.
Letting go of this opportunity to increase cultual exchange because we want to increase cultural exchange is putting the cart before the horse.
We all now that the MoI is going to be the greatest problem on the cultural section of the debate, so it's worth highlighting that MoI's favor is
not affected with this vote (Yay for Cao Chun personal bond at -1!).
Regarding the WP, if we had lost their favor with the last vote I would agree that this new approach would be too costly and risky. But we didn't, so we now have the leeway to grasp for more. Think of it as going into the cultural section with the same favor as if Jaromilla had failed her diplo roll, but with more secure roads and some cultural mingling already secured.
We also now that we have a couple of ways to raise WP's favor, mainly adquiring intel on the Ith-ia and the Twelve Stars from the the WS. The same with the PT and the Observatory.
"We have collated the new tribes tales of the land beyond the gates, the maggot men of Nidallvar, and their human thralls," Dzintara replied. "But this is not the place for such academic discussions I think. The Twisted Pine is willing to offer this, later, however."
If we aren't willing to risk favor to improve the safety of our people, then when will we? The further cultural contact is an incidential benefit, more solid security around the roads is the true objective here.
