One of the original members of the loose coalition of land claiming alliances to challenge Stomps in its quest to end BL land claims has made what appears to be white peace in the war. After announcing the retraction of its own land claim in Almenly a few days ago, House Stark purportedly entered peace discussions with Stomps.
Early Saturday morning, server time, Stomps’ Bimoda made the peace agreement announcement on the Illyriad forums:
Stomp has accepted Stark’s request for peace.
Stark’s change in their stance to a Declaration of Homeland where they will not force other players from settling in their declared area, and their statement to us that they do not agree with the practice of land claim alliances forcibly removing cities from their claims, is evidence to us that there no longer a need for war between our two alliances.
Stomp supports their policy for a DoH and recognizes this as a preferable alternative to the closing off of large sections of the map to other players.
House Stark leader PhoenixFire did not comment in the Illyriad forums, but did leave comments on the Times, stating: “There is no reason for us to stay in a war over land claims when we no longer have one.” He went on to explain how Bimoda led Stark to take down their claim:
We changed the policy after I was persuaded by bimoda on how the land claims are being abused. So we changed it to saying we are going to live here please stay x number of squares away which is all we wanted from the get go, we wanted space to grow in our little part of the BL.
It was unclear if Stark had consulted with the remaining land claim alliances currently at war with Stomps in their peace negotiations.
Unlike several of the claimers who declared war but have remained out of the fray, House Stark and PhoenixFire made significant headlines in the Stomps/Claimers war, with PF first breaking one of Bimoda’s sieges in Elgea, and subsequently losing a city to her, which she captured.
Tension With Han
News of Stark’s abrupt reversal on land claims and their participation in the Stomp/Claimers war appears to have influenced growing tensions between Stark’s land claiming neighbors in Almenly, Shu-Han [Han]. In comments to the Times, Shu-Han leadership suggested that AJ may in fact have been the architect of Stark’s dropping of land claims, based on their recent dealings with him: “Aj had approached Shu-Han weeks earlier on the subject of DoHs. It may be that they were encouraged by Stomps, or other anti LC groups to drop the claim and instate a DoH instead.”
Han also characterized Stark’s white peace with Stomp as a surrender, based on PF’s loss of troops and a city: “After all, House Stark has sustained significant losses in the War of Northern Aggression. Now lacking the military capacity that they had prior in enforcing their claim this DoH may be an answer to that.”
Shu-Han appeared ready to use the dropping of Stark’s land claim and retreat from the war as an opportunity to possibly expand its Almenly footprint, adding: “Glad to see expansion east is available, cant wait to be neighbors.”
The tension between Stark and Han appears to have been brewing for some time prior to these new developments. In exchanges between PF, Han and other commenters in the Times comments section, Shu-Han leadership eluded to protracted, failed merger talks between the two alliances, as well as insults:
Their leader PhoenixFire was approached on a number of occasions with offers to join Shu-Han. The offers ranged from outright merger w/ PF sharing leadership, to House Stark becoming a servant alliance to Shu-Han. It was not uncommon for PF to insult Shu-Han’s diplomats, creating an increasingly hostile environment in Almenly.
Of course, regional, territorial conflict in the BL as a result of land claims is one of the intended consequences of the policies, with military alliances such as SIN and TVM heralding such conflicts. Should Stark and Han touch off a conflict in the wake of Stark making peace with Stomp over the land claim issue, it remains to be seen how such a war would be interpretend in the context of the contentious land claim issue.
For the claimers, regardless of Stark’s level of contribution to the war effort, the loss of the Stark land claim from the map is a setback for their coalition and a moral victory for Stomps, who is in dire need of quick wins to sustain their campaign.
The Illyriad Times 
It is clear that Stark folded to the threat and coercion of Stomps. While it may not directly represent the threat it would like to, Stomps is clearly an extention of other, less bold alliances in Elgea that would like to end claims but are afraid to commit the resources needed to completely defeat the two alliances carrying the claim banner. I’m guessing those alliances, SIN & TVM will not back away as easily, or surrender when the going gets tough, as has been shown by their actions in the past. The Elgean alliances know this and are treading carefully. This defeat of Stark (and it is just that) goes along with the surrender of RE and T-SC to show that the 2 claimer alliances in Broken Lands are virtually on their own.
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As far as I am aware RE and T-SC have not abandoned their land claims. That makes it hard to characterise their peace with Stomps as a surrender. Indeed, I believe that this war began with Stomps declaring war on T-SC, which rather makes it look as though Stomps surrendered in that part of the war.
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I agree with zebraphile. It does look as if STOMPS “surrendered.” But I would more characterize it as a strategic withdrawal since it wasn’t RE and T-SC whom were providing the real defense, but another, much larger alliance. If that alliance refrained form providing defense we would be telling a different story. Smart generals recognize a tenuous situation and, unless they have a larger strategic picture in mind, are wise to choose their battles and withdraw if the situation isn’t tenable.
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While the above comment seems to be declaring that Stark “surrendered,” the fact is they made a calculated decision that ran like this: A Declaration of Homeland (DoH), gives every alliance what they said was the purpose of the original declaration — an area on the map generally recognized as their homeland (or at least by most players) where they intend to settle…thus meeting their strategic needs– and it enhances their reputation by showing that they do consider the desires of a good deal of other players as important. With a DoH almost no player, unless he or she is aligned with the declaring alliance, is going to settle in that area exactly because they know future growth will be difficult. Thus, the declaration itself would be sufficient in almost every case to reserve the homeland. So why threaten when there is no need?
In addition, I’m not sure, but winning 90% of what is disputed seems to me be be a VICTORY, not a defeat. And doing it without further destruction is obviously even better.
Of course you can, as the previous commenter has decided to do, look at it as a victory for one side alone, but in reality to me it appears to be a VICTORY for all of Illy. My hat’s off to STARK for taking a brave stance.
Finally, in my opinion it is silly to think an alliance committed to it’s land claim would fold after losing 1 city. That laughable. HIGH is committed to no land claims in their current form and we’ve lost 1 city. We aren’t folding anytime soon,and to say that STARK has less courage than us is an insult to them. It takes courage to break with your party but when you have found a better way, you do it. I applaud STARK for their courage.
AJ
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So much betrayel. I get it though. Why fight when we can let others do it for us. The notion Stark could not stay in the war is hilarious. Death is still in the war. B!B is small and fighting two wars included you know who ^^^
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“Stark won’t be making peace until everyone else has.”- PhoenixFire
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People that are against land claims may see this as a victory but its not. It’s but only a tiny delay to the endless cycle of war.
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LOL@ Shu-Han. Great find! Hypocrisy rules the day in ILLY!
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The key thing about PF is that he holds no loyalty to either group. He will swear loyalty to whichever he determines is currently stronger, but as soon as the tide turns he will run back to the other group.
“we will think about reinstating our original claim once we have fully settled our homeland. Once that has been done no one will be able to challenge our claim by settling”- Phoenix Fire
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Yes I have said both of those. The first was said when we actually had a part in the war, and the second was said when i thought we would still have to fight Stomps in order to keep our DoH. When we realized the DoH was doing its job of helping us avoid conflict we realized it is doing what we wanted the land claim to.
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You fought Stomps when you had a LC, not a DoH. Remember your past dealings with Shu-Han PF. You sought Shu-Han out months ago to try and bar our settlement in Almenly. Your attempts to bar settlement and your poor manner of diplomacy (yes, insulting the alliance you are trying to discourage to settle is not good diplomacy). You expressed every intention and desire to claim land in Almenly for your own alliance’s growth.
You gave Shu-Han all sorts of **** for not entering in this war. You prided yourself on entering unprepared, what was that you called yourself? A ‘true’ military alliance? A real military alliance wouldn’t have declared when most of their population is spread out and next to the enemy. Now after you sustained losses, you started panicking.
Now we see your DoH, except its not really a DoH. We see you making comments elsewhere with the intention to reinstate the LC when no one can challenge you. You, are a fair-weather ally. You like talking a lot, you like pushing around people you think are lower than you. You throw around your weight and pretend you’re contributing something really notable to the war, but then you run and hide and appease your former enemies.
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DING DING DING, SHAME! DING DING DING, SHAME!
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Shu-Han, the resistance applauds you. I could give a damn about land claims myself. I am against the hypocrisy that has become a “norm” in this game. PF will be losing what little alliance he has left soon I suspect.
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So you are against people changing their mind on an issue over the course of weeks? You must be against everyone then, because if you haven’t noticed a lot of people change their minds on issues almost daily and most views on said issues are situational.
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You sir turned your back on the other alliances that were preserving your right to a land claim. Have you no shame? I would love to see your explanations to SIN and TVM. I suspect you never gave one though. If you are a member of Stark and are reading this I would urge you to leave the alliance. I have a feeling that PF’s betrayal will cause you real harm in the near future.It is not your fault that your leadership has caused this but staying in the alliance will signal your “consent”. PF embodies what is wrong with this game.
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If you haven’t noticed we don’t have a claim. A DoH is a statement of where we are going to settle and not much more.
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Death will remain in the war. We will not bow to “larger” players. until we are gone.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
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Well PF you can spin it any way you want. I think Han is about to take your DoH as they should. Leading an alliance is more than you can handle. i think you might handle being a bunch of farms for Han better. Get some cows ordered up Han needs saddles.
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You changed your mind because you were beaten down PhoenixFire. You caved in.
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