So, am back and will now dissect the Maretonian Civil War and its Dramatis Personae:
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House Whitestar (holding the eastern coast and parts of the southern border):
Thanks to being predominantly Unicorns that were the main instigators of the Maretonian-MinoReps trade, House White Star has its strengths in magical aptitude and economic power. Unfortunately, as some others already said, thanks to us cracking down on Libertalias schemes and explaining things to the Minotaurs, that House is living on borrowed time - doubly so since most of their armed forces are hired guns who are liable to jump ships once Whitestars coffers are starting to run dry. All this means that in the long run, if nothing else happens to even the odds, they will probably lose this war.
House Storm (holding the western border and central heartlands):
These guys count much of the Maretonian army among their numbers, because the western reaches are mainly rural areas conquered from "barbarian tribes", meaning that House Storm is very strong in terms of raw military power and supplying their numbers with food. So to me they are the favorite in this wars. That being said, their territories being mostly areas might indicate a lack in infrastructure and advancements. Plus, since they are directly bordering Canterbury (which we know have a rather negative past with Maretonia on account of the latter having raided their outlying settlements in the past), I expect many of the "conquered barbarians" to have ties to Queen Chevalines people in one way or the other, so I expect lots of potential for civil unrest in that regard.
The Royal Guard Remnants (holding the capital of Roam and some surrounding lands):
They aren´t an active particapant in this war for the most part, but they do hold Roam and therefore potentially have a lot of political weight the other factions would like to have on their side. This means that whoever gains their support will have a far easier time in pressing their claims for the throne - meaning that regardless of what our ultimate designs for Maretonia are, we´d be well-advised to somehow in their good graces in order to have less problems in the future.
The Abolotionists (holding the Northern Provinnces and some ex-/enclaves scattered around Maretonia):
Little more than a ragtag militia of escaped slaves and some sympathetic nobles like Lady Ambrosia, those guys are mainly only still around thanks to us keeping them afloat with equipment and safe escape routes. Especially the latter is important, because their holdings at the northern-most tip of Whitestar lands have any chance at longe-time survival on account of being only a short sea trip away from Gryphonian waters, which should discourage at least some military actions against this holdout. Aside from that, I am not seeing any of the other Abolotionist camps dotted around Maretonia holding out should either Storm or Whitestar tire of their presence. Regardless of all that though, we want them to win this war ultimately for reasons both humanitarian and self-serving.
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After this brief overview, how do we respond now? That honestly depnds on what we want for Maretonias future, of which their are four main models:
- Reformation into a slaveless and less assholish, but otherwise autonomous polity
- Reformation into a Gryphonian protectorate akin to the Crystal ponies
- Complete annexation by Gryphus
- Break-up of Maretonia among the polities most wronged by them (primarly Gryphus, Canterbury and maybe Neighpon)
I´ll be frank and advise against the fourth option with all urgency, because that´s something imperialist aggressors are doing that don´t give a single shit about bad blood with the crushed nation and its populace. Breaking up Maretonia in any kind will paint us as foreign invaders hellbent on stamping out the Maretonians as a people, which will only make things worse than they are already.
Annexing them is little better if at all politically, plus just gobbling up a nation that size will put a huge strain on our infrastructure and ressources given the distances and disparity in development. So I am not seeing this as a viable option either.
The two reformation options (either a better but still autonomous nation or a Gryphonian protectorate) are more or less equal, although if we are going for Protectorate, we might wanna look first how the Crystal Ponies are doing on their end. Tbh, I´d advise that we should hold a referendum about the current infrastructural and soccial integration of the Crystallines and how they want to proceed.
Honestly, atm I could totally see the CP voting for complete annexion into Gryphus, since they already identify a lot with us and our culture and seem very eager to emulate us as much as they can (We are really popular there, you know?)
Going back to the Maretonian situation, I´d say that we should first hold this referendum and plan accordingly:
- If the Crystallines want to either become autonomous (pretty unlikely imho) or remain a protectorate (very likely), we proceed to try reforming Maretonia into a better autonomous nation than before
- If the Crystallines instead want to become a proper part of the Greater Gryphonian Empire (pretty likely as well and honestly the outcome I would like the most since again, they are essentially already part of our nation from a social and cultural standpoint) , we proceed to try swaying the Maretonians into becoming our protectorate
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That being said, no matter which path we take in the end, we should definitely focus our machinations on humanitarian aid through the Abolotionists and polishing our image for reasons both self-serving (less political hubhub in the future) and altruistic (let´s face it: Maretonia blowing up like that is largely the fault of our intrigues and destabilizations - we really should atone for that).
So we should do the following:
- support the Abolotionists as much as we can
- project the best outward appearance to the Maretionian civilians caught in the crossfire
- try to ascertain, who killed Mareia
Yes, you read right, because no matter who it was, that knowledge is dynamite for this already unstable situation, meaning that if we find out the culprit, we proceed to sit on that info until we really need it. Better us having that info and at least trying to responsible with it that someone who would pour even more gasoline into the fire.
That being said, depending on the culprit, we should prepare things slightly different:
- if it was someone from the Abolotionists, we´ll be having some pointed words with Lady Ambrosia about her conduct.
- if it was someone from either Whitestar, Storm or the Royal Guard, we keep that info as either a final bargaining chip at the war´s close or historical trivia for once things calmed down enough again.
- if it was some random unaffiliated shmuck, we funnel the info towards Roam to have the Guard enact at least some justice
- if it was a foreign power, we need to get to know what their plans are (especially if it were the Changelings, whose natural talents make the excell at sowing chaos and suffering)
So, based on this, what we really should do is turn to our son and say: "You wanna be Emperor, kid? Go and be a Primarch first."
So long as he doesn't pick Lorgar Aurelian as a role model and
actually become the head of the Imperial Cult, he should do just fine.
Honestly, I´d say that Gawains big project to try earning his own spurs away from his dad should be him overseeing and managing our side of the humanitarian aid.
Just think about it: He´d have opportunity to do some good and lowkey ruling in one. Additionally, the Heir Apparent of our empire spearheading humanitarian efforts for the Maretonians will be a huge boost for both his reputation and Gryphus´ as a whole for anyone involved.
To go with the Primarch-comparison: Gawain would be an awesome fusion of Vulkan and Roboute Gulliman, which is huge for sure
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This is my opinion on what needs to be done regarding the Maretonian situation. Now for something else:
We barely understand the Heart to even begin to reverse engineer it. The brightest minds of our Empire and those imported from outside it basically call it a divine object. It's construction is impossible my mortal talons/hooves/claws what with microscopic runes all over its surface, being in a state of 'there but not'... oh and the fact that it's semi-sentient.
That's not say it can't be helpful. I'm more interested in the question of what the heart is made out of. It's called the Crystal Heart for a reason, so it stands to reason that whatever it's made out of might conduct/store magic.
It still can give us a point to start understanding how to store magical energy. From there we can add the knowledge how to enchant things from Neighpon and others...boom! Magitek just became a whole lot more feasibl.
