2nd Forum Only Diplomacy

[Devildog]

TY-SA The boy king was playing with his toy soldiers when his advisers brought in the messages. They figured the time to show him was when he was in a good mood. "Good news, your majesty," one said. The holy men have agreed to let you have your favorite city."
"Oh, boy!" he said. "Can we build a big castle there? Can we fly lots of flags and stuff from the towers? I want a new flag, I don't like our flag very much. I want one that has blue and purple in it!"
"Your majesty, we can fly whatever flag you please. But the holy men want to make sure that you agree that you won't attack them for at least 18 months."
"Oh, I don't think I'll ever attack them, but for sure I won't for that long! What about the short ones?"
"Um, your majesty, they were not so responsive. They said that we were asking for part of their kingdom."
"THEIR kingdom? Do they own all those towns and villages in that area? You told me that most of them were controlled by humans!"
"They are, your highness."
"Well, then it's not THEIR kingdom, is it? And if I land on them first, they are going to be part of MY kingdom. And if they try to take them from me, hey, these toys soldiers are supposed to be what they have, right?"
"Yes, your highness."
The little king giggled. "I got more soldiers than they do!"

(GN)
As usual, the Gnome King Rusty was puzzled by the Tyrant response.
"Messages from children are not entirely clear but this message seems to imply that the tyrant intends to take whatever neutral population centers that he can find in our fair land," was the opinion of the senior advisor Duke Firefoot.
However within a month's time General Vaga reports that the Tyrants attacked Gnome peacekeepers and a village openly flying the Gnome banner.

The Gnome king wonders if this can be assumed by all kingdoms to be the quality of the Tyrant's assurances. How will this play out in the mind of the Sacred Order king? Who relinquished one of his great cities in the hope that the Tyrant would leave him alone until the boy king finished off his first victim. At which point the Tyrant would of course have a substantial foothold in Amberland. And what of the sorcerer king? The Sorcerer expressed at least a token support for gnomish rights to their ancestral homeland. What will be his actions in the days to come? Does he worry that a strong Tyrant presence in Runnemede will be a threat to Torvale? How will other kingdoms react to this warlike aggressor? Will they remain cowed?

And most of all, how will the Rangers of Arcania react? Surely they must realize that the Tyrant intended Arcania to be his first victim. The wise Ranger king no doubt saw that the Tyrants tried to make deals in Runnemede and Amberland to get large portions of land but conspicuously left the Rangers out of negotiations? You would think that he would have demanded one of the 2 cities present in Arcania. Unless of course he intended to take both?

If the Tyrant is left unchecked in Runnemede he will surely head to one of those 3 areas next.