Sousa herself was surprised by the information. It's reasonable to say that the FDS did not inform Starfleet of information crucial to our sweeping mandate during a State of Emergency. I don't attribute it to conspiracy, but somewhere on a sliding scale between miscommunication and incompetence.
Frankly? either option is a possibility, I think the latter is more likely, but the former is not impossible. Thus, we need to work to rule the former out, while penciling plans in case it is
Sousa herself was surprised by the information. It's reasonable to say that the FDS did not inform Starfleet of information crucial to our sweeping mandate during a State of Emergency. I don't attribute it to conspiracy, but somewhere on a sliding scale between miscommunication and incompetence.
I assume they told us as soon as they finished discussing it internally and agreed their conclusion was correct.
Again, these are opinions not hard facts. The "the Emperor could totally make this deal if he wanted" faction in FDS had to finish arguing it out with the "the Emperor doesn't have the power to make this deal" faction and figure out which one of them was correct.
I am not sure how 'FDS either fucked up or were compromised because those are the details Sousa should have been briefed on before the ultimatum and Diplomacy, going by the name of FDS, is literally their job' can be interpreted as an insult to QM, so let's just say I never intended it as one.
just to give an idea where the plans and PRESIDENT votes stand right now
Vote Tally : Sci-Fi - To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) | Page 1681 | Sufficient Velocity ##### NetTally 1.7.10.1
[X] Plan Iron Lady
-[X] Retired Admiral Vitalia Yukiko Kahurangi - Personal Diplomatic Consultant (5pt cost for Starfleet, gain Special Asset)
-[X] Federalise Auxiliary Units from Tellar: Two Cargo Ships (4 Cost from Tellar)
-[X] Shorc Xurth Resource Combine - Heavy Industry (5 Cost to Tellar, gain Heavy Industry asset)
-[X] UESPA Deep Space Engineering - Engineering Team (10 Cost from United Earth, gain Engineering Team with 2 Engineering Ships, 3 Cargo Ships, 1 Freighter)
-[X] Vulcan Survey Corps - Recon team (3 cost for Vulcan, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships, gain 1 Civilian Research Cruiser)
-[X] Andorian Orbital Guard Runabouts (3 cost for Andorian Guard, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships) No. of Votes: 10
Plan: ◈Iron Lady Aeondrac Chaos Blade Crazy Tom Driven by Apathy Gnarker Jrin Mr Tebbs Night Simon_Jester UbeOne
[X] Plan Grey Lady
-[X] Retired Admiral Vitalia Yukiko Kahurangi - Personal Diplomatic Consultant (5pt cost for Starfleet, gain Special Asset)
-[X] Retired Vice Admiral Heidi Eriksson - Doctrine Specialist (5pt Cost to Starfleet, gain Doctrine Specialist)
-[X] Dhara Heavy Industry Park - Heavy Industry (5 Cost to Andoria, gain Heavy Industry asset)
-[X] UESPA Deep Space Engineering - Engineering Team (10 Cost from United Earth, gain Engineering Team with 2 Engineering Ships, 3 Cargo Ships, 1 Freighter)
-[X] Vulcan Survey Corps - Recon team (3 cost for Vulcan, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships, gain 1 Civilian Research Cruiser)
-[X] Federalise Fleet Units from <Vulcan> (5 cost for explorer, 2 cost for cruiser, 1 cost for frigate, paid against member world you are calling up fleet units from): Oberth (1 cost)
-[X] Federalise Fleet Units from <Rigel> (5 cost for explorer, 2 cost for cruiser, 1 cost for frigate, paid against member world you are calling up fleet units from): Oda-Gach (1 cost) No. of Votes: 9
Plan: ◈Grey Lady Ato Briefvoice ClawClawBite Glassware lbmaian MTB Nervos Belli pbluekan Random Member
[x] Plan 11th hour diplomacy
-[x] Generate Generic External Diplomacy Team from United Earth (10 Cost to Starfleet, 5 Cost to Member World, gain External Diplomacy Team)
-[x] Retired Admiral Vitalia Yukiko Kahurangi - Personal Diplomatic Consultant (5pt cost for Starfleet, gain Special Asset)
-[x] Dhara Heavy Industry Park - Heavy Industry (5 Cost to Andoria, gain Heavy Industry asset)
-[x] Retired Vice Admiral Heidi Eriksson - Doctrine Specialist (5pt Cost to Starfleet, gain Doctrine Specialist) No. of Votes: 5
Plan: ◈11th hour diplomacy AlphaDelta ctulhuslp Godwinson pheonix89 SynchronizedWritersBlock
-[X] Federalise Auxiliary Units from Tellar: One Cargo Ship (2 Cost from Tellar)
-[X] Federalise Fleet Units from Vulcan: 1 Oberth (1 cost from Vulcan)
-[X] Federalise Fleet Units from Rigel: 1 Oda-Gach (1 cost from Rigel)
-[X] Dhara Heavy Industry Park - Heavy Industry (5 Cost to Andoria, gain Heavy Industry asset)
-[X] UESPA Deep Space Engineering - Engineering Team (10 Cost from United Earth, gain Engineering Team with 2 Engineering Ships, 3 Cargo Ships, 1 Freighter)
-[X] Vulcan Survey Corps - Recon team (3 cost for Vulcan, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships, gain 1 Civilian Research Cruiser)
-[X] Andorian Orbital Guard Runabouts (3 cost for Andorian Guard, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships) No. of Votes: 5 Simon_Jester Chaos Blade Gnarker Night UbeOne
[X] Plan Diplomacy and Planning
-[X] Generate Generic Internal Diplomacy Team from Earth (10 Cost to Starfleet, 5 Cost to Member World, gain Internal Diplomacy Team)
-[X] Retired Vice Admiral Heidi Eriksson - Doctrine Specialist (5pt Cost to Starfleet, gain Doctrine Specialist)
-[X] Retired Admiral Vitalia Yukiko Kahurangi - Personal Diplomatic Consultant (5pt cost for Starfleet, gain Special Asset)
-[X] Vulcan Survey Corps - Recon team (3 cost for Vulcan, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships, gain 1 Civilian Research Cruiser)
-[X] Federalise Auxiliary Units from Tellar (3 cost for freighter, 2 cost for cargo ship, 3 cost for other auxiliary units) : 1 cargo ship No. of Votes: 1
Plan: ◈Diplomacy and Planning Nix
[X] Plan "Spread the Love" No. of Votes: 1
Plan: ◈"Spread the Love" Goat
[X] UESPA Deep Space Engineering - Engineering Team (10 Cost from United Earth, gain Engineering Team with 2 Engineering Ships, 3 Cargo Ships, 1 Freighter) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Shorc Xurth Resource Combine - Heavy Industry (5 Cost to Tellar, gain Heavy Industry asset) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Andorian Orbital Guard Runabouts (3 cost for Andorian Guard, gain +1 to outpost and starbase atttempts to detect incoming ships) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Retired Admiral Vitalia Yukiko Kahurangi - Personal Diplomatic Consultant (5pt cost for Starfleet, gain Special Asset) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Federalise Fleet Units from Vulcan - their Oberth (1 cost for frigate, paid against member world you are calling up fleet units from) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Federalise Auxiliary Units from Betazed - Freighter(3 cost for freighter) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Federalise Auxiliary Units from Rigil - Freighter(3 cost for freighter) No. of Votes: 1 Goat
[X] Plan "Smart, Not Hard"
[X][PRESIDENT] Addressing Council Division
[X][PRESIDENT] Insufficient Exit Strategy
[X][PRESIDENT] Chance for further diplomacy with all Licori Houses
[X] Retired Admiral Vitalia Yukiko Kahurangi - Personal Diplomatic Consultant (5pt cost for Starfleet, gain Special Asset)
[X] Retired Vice Admiral Heidi Eriksson - Doctrine Specialist (5pt Cost to Starfleet, gain Doctrine Specialist)
[X] Generate Generic Internal Diplomacy Team from Earth (10 Cost to Starfleet, 5 Cost to Member World, gain Internal Diplomacy Team)
[X] Generate Generic External Diplomacy Team from Earth (10 Cost to Starfleet, 5 Cost to Member World, gain External Diplomacy Team) No. of Votes: 0
Plan: ◈"Smart, Not Hard" Task: PRESIDENT
[X][PRESIDENT] Addressing Council Division No. of Votes: 23 Goat Aeondrac AlphaDelta Ato Briefvoice Chaos Blade Crazy Tom ctulhuslp Driven by Apathy Glassware Gnarker Godwinson Jrin Mr Tebbs MTB Nervos Belli Night pbluekan pheonix89 Random Member Simon_Jester SynchronizedWritersBlock UbeOne
[X][PRESIDENT] Seek Individual Diplomatic Contact with Major Licori Houses No. of Votes: 18 Briefvoice Aeondrac AlphaDelta Chaos Blade ClawClawBite ctulhuslp Glassware Gnarker Godwinson Jrin MTB Night pbluekan pheonix89 Random Member Simon_Jester SynchronizedWritersBlock UbeOne
[X][PRESIDENT] Need to focus on the Ked Paddah No. of Votes: 11 Driven by Apathy Aeondrac ClawClawBite Crazy Tom Gnarker Jrin Mr Tebbs Nervos Belli Night Simon_Jester UbeOne
[X][PRESIDENT] Insufficient Exit Strategy No. of Votes: 8 Goat Ato Briefvoice ClawClawBite Glassware MTB Nervos Belli Random Member
[X][PRESIDENT] Need to hold off and investigate further No. of Votes: 8 Ato AlphaDelta Chaos Blade ctulhuslp Godwinson pbluekan pheonix89 SynchronizedWritersBlock
[X][PRESIDENT] Request Diplomatic Summit with all Major Licori Houses No. of Votes: 3 Driven by Apathy Crazy Tom Mr Tebbs
[X][PRESIDENT] "Fire and replace the FDS top brass." No. of Votes: 1 Leila Hann
[X][PRESIDENT] Chance for further diplomacy No. of Votes: 1 Goat
-[X][PRESIDENT] Need to hold off and investigate further
-[X][PRESIDENT] Request Diplomatic Summit with all Major Licori Houses
-[X][PRESIDENT] Need to focus on the Ked Paddah No. of Votes: 1 Nix
Total No. of Voters: 27
I assume they told us as soon as they finished discussing it internally and agreed their conclusion was correct.
Again, these are opinions not hard facts. The "the Emperor could totally make this deal if he wanted" faction in FDS had to finish arguing it out with the "the Emperor doesn't have the power to make this deal" faction and figure out which one of them was correct.
"I certainly hope not," the Andorian man replies. Surprise makes you stumble, though you keep your feet. When you recover you, straighten up and give the man an uncomprehending look. The typically cloud of aides you both travel with hang back as you stop. "You have to understand, it's pointless. It's worse than dealing with the Yrillians - the necessary centralisation simply isn't there."
"They have an autocratic Emperor, how can there not be enough centralisation?" you ask as you begin to walk again.
"That's what we thought at first," says the Andorian with a nod. "But eventually we realised why the Ked Paddah really went to war."
As long as SWB's plan doesn't win, I think I could live with anything else. I really think he's putting off crucial shit out of misguided distrust in the Federation's institutions.
@SynchronizedWritersBlock , your tally is counting my votes for Iron Lady in a strange way. Do you know why that is? Is the problem that the tally system will automatically continue to count the first version of Plan Iron Lady as the 'true' version unless I 'neutralize' it by, say, taking the X's out of the brackets? I don't want that to be a problem in the final version...
Assuming I don't switch over and endorse Grey Lady. Still thinking that one over.
===========================
Hmm...
I'm very close to switching over to Grey Lady, not because I think the freighter is unnecessary, but because I think we could use a dedicated doctrine researcher and it looks like Eriksson's the one on offer. She's, like, this crisis's version of the Tiger Team, only with less glorious dorkiness and more people getting to finish their lunches.
SWB's PRESIDENT votes have me thinking of switching to parallel his:
[][PRESIDENT] Addressing Council Division
[][PRESIDENT] Need to hold off and investigate further
[][PRESIDENT] Seek Individual Diplomatic Contact with Major Licori Houses
But that is WITH the understanding that as soon as possible we will task our current External Diplomacy team to liaising with the Ked Paddah soon, because that is in large part a "military to military" dialogue that is totally our responsibility.
I'd still like to hear more commentary on that; I'm not having time to focus on this as much as I did earlier.
I do not believe that making contact with individual Licori houses is something we can assign an external diplomatic team to do at this point. I don't know where this idea that the FDS is not on board is coming from. Seems weird. In any case, I'm not sure talking to the Licori houses will be productive until after there's been some violence.
It would be very, VERY helpful to talk to the Houses and figure out where they stand before the war. Among other things, that gives us a clue where to point our violence, should violence become necessary. It'd be a great pity if we wind up trashing the holdings of the House most inclined to compromise with us. Because even if they are still inclined to compromise after we trash them, we've just greatly weakened the position of our own prospective supporters within Licori society at large.
Basically, my point of view is that after getting the Gaeni on board the only crucial external diplomatic task is talking to the Ked Peddah, and that can be begun four turns from now.
...Um. It's going to take four more turns to get the Gaeni on board? I don't remember that being the case, not that I'm surprised to learn it.
I knew there was a reason to talk to the Ked Paddah first. A lot can happen in four months, and if we're going to pursue a strategy like this, I'd much rather have us in touch with the Ked Paddah than trying to go 'full integration' on the Gaeni. The Gaeni may be a wild card in some ways, but on the whole their reactions are a "known unknown," and they've been at war for a short enough time that we can reasonably hope to restrain them even if they disagree with some of our choices. The Ked Paddah seem less inclined to listen to us.
Or more succinctly... I don't believe avoiding war is possible, so I'd rather prepare to make it a success rather than spend actions in a doomed attempt to stave it off.
I'd like to continue the preparations required to maintain our security, while giving the Licori hope that they can avoid war. Because while they are still trying to avoid war they are more likely to tell their mentats "and for the Orange Space Catholic Bible's sake, DON'T GO NEAR FEDERATION SPACE!"
For this reason I'm nervous about paying for the external diplomatic team... but I still like SWB's PRESIDENT votes. Though not for quite exactly the same reasons he does...
The head of the FDS is supporting regime change. The Councillors who went in to talk to Sousa said as much...
In other words, the reason we're jumping straight to war is that Director th'Chanik says that we can't talk to them until we change the structure of their government. Which is why we have people in this thread calling for his head.
I should also point out that even Stesk is grudgingly admitting that th'Chanik seems to have a point about this. And I imagine Stesk has his own sources within the FDS, who are probably not capable of misleading him this badly.
Unless we go to truly bonkers levels of paranoia here and starts suspecting that, say, half the FDS leadership and most of the Pacifist leadership including Stesk have been replaced by Lecarre or something... it does genuinely seem reasonable to conclude that the FDS is saying "diplomacy with the Arcadian Empire is not going to achieve the desired effect" because having already tried that, they believe it. Not because they specifically desire war or even regime change; they're simply informing us that the method they've been instructed to use in order to get the result we want... cannot give us the result we want.
I mean what, are they supposed to keep insisting that a negotiated arrangement with the Emperor is right around the corner for week after week, even though the Emperor has neither the inclination nor the authority to sign such an arrangement and if he did he'd be deposed before the month was out?
And if you're going to be directing us to war, then I'm going to be a PAAP obstructionist and oppose you at every turn, because we've seen in the very last update that we're headed to war for all the wrong reasons and with the wrong information and with the wrong preparation.
I should also point out that even Stesk is grudgingly admitting that th'Chanik seems to have a point about this. And I imagine Stesk has his own sources within the FDS, who are probably not capable of misleading him this badly.
Unless we go to truly bonkers levels of paranoia here and starts suspecting that, say, half the FDS leadership and most of the Pacifist leadership including Stesk have been replaced by Lecarre or something... it does genuinely seem reasonable to conclude that the FDS is saying "diplomacy with the Arcadian Empire is not going to achieve the desired effect" because having already tried that, they believe it. Not because they specifically desire war or even regime change; they're simply informing us that the method they've been instructed to use in order to get the result we want... cannot give us the result we want.
I mean what, are they supposed to keep insisting that a negotiated arrangement with the Emperor is right around the corner for week after week, even though the Emperor has neither the inclination nor the authority to sign such an arrangement and if he did he'd be deposed before the month was out?
But let's say we try it and it fails. In the process, we learn which houses are amenable to implement mentat controls and which aren't, and we learn which houses are willing to support the Emperor and to what degree, and which can be persuaded to our side in the case of a war. That is crucial information, even more crucial than getting the Ked Paddah into a unified command, because it pertains both to the execution of the war and to our Exit Strategy. You yourself already make this argument earlier in the post.
...Um. It's going to take four more turns to get the Gaeni on board? I don't remember that being the case, not that I'm surprised to learn it.
I knew there was a reason to talk to the Ked Paddah first. A lot can happen in four months, and if we're going to pursue a strategy like this, I'd much rather have us in touch with the Ked Paddah than trying to go 'full integration' on the Gaeni. The Gaeni may be a wild card in some ways, but on the whole their reactions are a "known unknown," and they've been at war for a short enough time that we can reasonably hope to restrain them even if they disagree with some of our choices. The Ked Paddah seem less inclined to listen to us.
Isn't that a great reason to obtain a second External Diplomacy team, then? Even if we can't talk to the houses and it falls under the FDS to do so, we still perform a crucial function with our team, one that we need more than we need engineers or ships, because it will take time.
@SynchronizedWritersBlock , your tally is counting my votes for Iron Lady in a strange way. Do you know why that is? Is the problem that the tally system will automatically continue to count the first version of Plan Iron Lady as the 'true' version unless I 'neutralize' it by, say, taking the X's out of the brackets? I don't want that to be a problem in the final version...
Assuming I don't switch over and endorse Grey Lady. Still thinking that one over.
...Um. It's going to take four more turns to get the Gaeni on board? I don't remember that being the case, not that I'm surprised to learn it.
I knew there was a reason to talk to the Ked Paddah first. A lot can happen in four months, and if we're going to pursue a strategy like this, I'd much rather have us in touch with the Ked Paddah than trying to go 'full integration' on the Gaeni. The Gaeni may be a wild card in some ways, but on the whole their reactions are a "known unknown," and they've been at war for a short enough time that we can reasonably hope to restrain them even if they disagree with some of our choices. The Ked Paddah seem less inclined to listen to us.
We get two turns a month, with the final designation as "F" for "fortnight" (two weeks).
We are currently in 2314.Q4.M2.F1. The External Diplomatic team will have finished negotiations with the Licori in 2315.Q1.M1.F1. So two months from now, or four turns.
As I keep repeating, it's not as simple as you make it sound. There's no "House Embassy" to go to, and sending a starship to a major colony world broadcasting, "We are attempting to bypass the Emperor and talk to you directly," is not likely to go over well from any quarter. You can either try backchannels, which takes a very long time when operating in alien territory where the Emperor is trying to maintain control of our diplomatic contacts, or do it openly, which likely wrecks any chance of talking to the Emperor.
I can't blame the FDS for not doing that, if they even have the capability.
As I keep repeating, it's not as simple as you make it sound. There's no "House Embassy" to go to, and sending a starship to a major colony world broadcasting, "We are attempting to bypass the Emperor and talk to you directly," is not likely to go over well from any quarter. You can either try backchannels, which takes a very long time when operating in alien territory where the Emperor is trying to maintain control of our diplomatic contacts, or do it openly, which likely wrecks any chance of talking to the Emperor.
I can't blame the FDS for not doing that, if they even have the capability.
We've done it before, and we can do it again. The Explorer Corps successfully managed to back-channel their way to the Sydraxians before Celos shut that push down. The Explorer Corps and FDS working together managed to talk to the Dawiar. The Gaen were even negotiating with individual houses before their ultimatum, so the channels are out there to contact those houses individually. So there's no need to pretend that the obstructions are insurmountable. We owe it to the people of the Federation to make the attempt, and Stesk was in our office telling us this too.
If the FDS didn't want to try negotiations with the houses alone, they can do it with our backing and our support, both political and especially material.
The problem with what you're saying, Briefvoice, is that it's obviously wrong. Either we believe the FDS that the Arcadian Emperor is not able to set a unified foreign policy in which case we are absolutely within our rights to directly approach the Houses, or we believe the FDS is lying/wrong on this in which case we have to send the Explorer Corps in to establish what's actually going on with the Houses.
Either way, showing up and saying "We wish to speak directly to your House leader" is our next course of action.
[X][PRESIDENT] Seek Individual Diplomatic Contact with Major Licori Houses
[X][PRESIDENT] Need to hold off and investigate further
[X][PRESIDENT] Addressing Council Division
The problem with what you're saying, Briefvoice, is that it's obviously wrong. Either we believe the FDS that the Arcadian Emperor is not able to set a unified foreign policy in which case we are absolutely within our rights to directly approach the Houses, or we believe the FDS is lying/wrong on this in which case we have to send the Explorer Corps in to establish what's actually going on with the Houses.
Either way, showing up and saying "We wish to speak directly to your House leader" is our next course of action.
Can't we say "Take us to your (house) leader?" and land in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere?
More to the point, I think this situation is complex by design, Oneiros has thrown us a few curve balls and now we need to determine what is going on and, from there, try and craft a new plan
9 Freighters, 20 Cargo Ships assigned to networks
-5 Freighters, -8 Cargo Ships free for other tasks
Currently having to federalize a large number of cargo vessels
Total for Trunk Network -
Homeworld + 3 Major Worlds = 40s 20b
Route Penalty = 1 (Min)
Per Bi-Monthly = 7s 4b
2 Cargo Ships Assigned
Total for Industry Network -
230br 190sr = 38s 46b
Route Penalty = 1 (Min)
Per Bi-Monthly = 7s 8b
1 Freighter, 1 Cargo Ship Assigned
Fleet Support -
3 Capital - 6s
5 Cruiser - 5s
12 Frigate - 6s
13 Auxiliary - 13s
Total = 30s
4 Cargo Ships Assigned
1 Super Freighter, 4 Freighter, 10 Cargo Ships assigned to networks
3 Super Freighter, 7 Freighter, 4 Cargo Ships free for other tasks
Above 50% capacity - some strain
The problem with what you're saying, Briefvoice, is that it's obviously wrong. Either we believe the FDS that the Arcadian Emperor is not able to set a unified foreign policy in which case we are absolutely within our rights to directly approach the Houses, or we believe the FDS is lying/wrong on this in which case we have to send the Explorer Corps in to establish what's actually going on with the Houses.
Either way, showing up and saying "We wish to speak directly to your House leader" is our next course of action.
I think the Arcadian Empire has a united foreign policy. They all seem to be fine following the Emperor's lead when it comes to war and such. Mentats regulations on the other hand are set by the individual houses and so the Emperor couldn't force them to comply even if he wanted to. Basically if my read on the Licori is right then they are a perfect storm of united against external threats but divided internally which handicaps any reform effort. So we can try to negotiate with the houses, but I don't expect them to cut a separate deal with us.
And affect their neighbors, becoming an aspect of their foreign policy by default. Anything governmental which affects your neighbors is foreign policy. Most of it is apparently beyond the Arcadian Emperor's control beyond "summon the fleet, I need to bitchslap someone".
I think the Arcadian Empire has a united foreign policy. They all seem to be fine following the Emperor's lead when it comes to war and such. Mentats regulations on the other hand are set by the individual houses and so the Emperor couldn't force them to comply even if he wanted to. Basically if my read on the Licori is right then they are a perfect storm of united against external threats but divided internally which handicaps any reform effort. So we can try to negotiate with the houses, but I don't expect them to cut a separate deal with us.
The head of the FDS is telling us that contact with individual houses is our only chance of success without overturning their entire society. It's easy to give up on the attempt just because it's difficult, but we aren't in the business of starting wars because they're convenient. We have a duty to make the attempt.
The problem with what you're saying, Briefvoice, is that it's obviously wrong. Either we believe the FDS that the Arcadian Emperor is not able to set a unified foreign policy in which case we are absolutely within our rights to directly approach the Houses, or we believe the FDS is lying/wrong on this in which case we have to send the Explorer Corps in to establish what's actually going on with the Houses.
I see where you're making the mistake. They can set a unified foreign policy just fine. The trouble is that this particular foreign policy deal requires heavy intervention in the domestic policy of mentat production.
That's the essential conundrum here. If we were talking about setting borders or dividing up colony sites or something like that, the Emperor could negotiate just fine. It's this particular case, where aliens want to intervene in a domestic resources, that has them so screwed up. The mentats aren't even a government program, after all.
Yes. And despite us having been increasing our relations with the Licori for over a year, and us having an embassy on Morshadd, and us begging the FDS to please, please find a way to talk reason into these people, the FDS failed to realize that opening diplomatic talks directly with the great houses was a thing we could do. We're only finding out about it now, literally one hour before war is declared.
When I say that I want the FDS' leadership fired, I mean I want them in fucking jail.
The head of the FDS is telling us that contact with individual houses is our only chance of success without overturning their entire society. It's easy to give up on the attempt just because it's difficult, but we aren't in the business of starting wars because they're convenient. We have a duty to make the attempt.
Why would the individual houses be willing to negotiate individually with a hostile alien power? Sticking together is the only advantage they have. Making separate deals is a treacherous action undertaken that would undermine their entire society and render it forever vulnerable to foreign domination.
And affect their neighbors, becoming an aspect of their foreign policy by default. Anything governmental which affects your neighbors is foreign policy. Most of it is apparently beyond the Arcadian Emperor's control beyond "summon the fleet, I need to bitchslap someone".
Foreign policy is whatever the Licori think falls under the purview of foreign policy. It does not seem like they consider mentat regulations part of foreign policy, so as they define it it isn't part of foreign policy.
