Peace treaty signed by the King! 11 August 1012
Sirion’s continued bullying has finally paid off and King Jor has put his signature on a peace treaty with the elves. The treaty is both a good thing and a bad thing for Westmoor as I will explain in the following article. The peace treaty still needs to be signed by Sirion before it will take affect.
The Kingdom of Westmoor and the Republic of Sirion have agreed to cease hostilities with one another and enter into a state of peaceful relations.
It is hereby decreed that the conditions for peace are outlined below:
I. Westmoor acknowledges the claims and governance of the provinces controlled by Sirion. Westmoor acknowledges they have no right or claim to the provinces of Sirion.
II. Sirion acknowledges the claims and governance of the provinces controlled by Westmoor. Sirion acknowledges they have no right or claim to the provinces of Westmoor.
III. It is agreed that Westmoor and Sirion will respect each others right to govern their provinces as they see fit. As such, no nobles are permitted to travel through the provinces of the other, unless prior consent has been given for passage. Until otherwise stated, Sirion and Westmoor shall enact and observe a closed borders agreement as part of the peace treaty.
IV. Westmoor forfeits all claims to the provinces of the former Democracy of Fontan.
V. Westmoor will refrain itself from expanding towards the former Democracy of Fontan.
This peace treaty will remain in effect until otherwise decided by either or both parties involved. If either party violates this treaty, peaceful relations will cease and the terms of this treaty will be void.
First off the generous thing about this article is that Sirion hasn’t asked for reparations of any kind which as the victor in this dispute they would have a reasonable footing to demand. Territories is not within Sirion’s power to claim as thankfully to Westmoor’s credit both Caligus and Perdan don’t want Westmoor in any way removed from the map and after the Ibladesh war nobody wants to take on Perdan and Caligus combined.
Part of the reason Sirion has likely been generous with these terms is due to the bad press their war received both at home and abroad. It is a well-known fact that the war with Westmoor started purely to stop Westmoor expanding into Fontanese territories caused large scale dissent amongst Sirion nobles. Had we done something to deserve it then the situation would be different as it is Sirion wants to end the war as much as Westmoor needs to. The fact that we got off the hook reasonably cleanly is a good thing.
However let’s look at what isn’t so good about the treaty as well. The treaty is a little rushed and doesn’t really guarantee anything except what Sirion demanded at the start of the war. Westmoor is not allowed by order of Sirion to expand into any of the former Fontanese lands. For those who don’t remember what Fontan looked like (before it was reduced to a small pile of ash) it was that snakelike shape going from the region of Oberndorf down through Krimml all the way to Negev. The treaty is very simple and in basic terms means peace will continue until either realm decides they don't want to have peace anymore. This is a good thing as it has no binding clauses backed up by other realms placed on Westmoor. This is a bad thing because the same applies to Sirion and there would be nothing to stop Sirion from starting another war with Westmoor anytime they like for a reason just as idiotic as the first one.
One very good thing that has come out of this war is that the quality of nobles inside Westmoor has drastically improved. A lot of the nobles who really were not helping the realm were removed during the war with Fontan including some Saxons who funnily enough got themselves thrown out of Nivemus. Fighting the superior Saxon odds in Fontan followed by the massive armies of Sirion has altered the military structure of Westmoor's army making it a more capable machine than it ever was before. That we managed to hold to so many regions during the war with Sirion who failed to do any lasting damage is a credit to the new strength the kingdom has maintained through dedicated nobles for instance the recent takeover of Greatbridge the lord General points out only took two and a half days. It is funny to note in hindsight that the Saxon-Fontan army was larger than Sirion's and caused much more damage to Westmoor - such is the power of the evil witchcraft that they used.
Whether Westmoor will be able to continue to keep up it's efficient military strength is a question for the coming months. We'll have to wait and see if the newer nobles want to stick around when the sleepiness of Peace sets in - but by the divine we need a rest it's been a non stop fight for survival since March.
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