Dwilight University/History/Astromancy at War!/Further Insights on the Treaty of Stratford

This is a detailed and factual letter on the Treaty of Stratford by Lord Polemarch Bustoarsenzio Peristaltico. It has been edited for the usual spelling checks and for any sensitive material.

Letter from Bustoarsenzio Peristaltico

Dean Bowie,

Libero decision comes after an interesting session of diplomatic talks. I won't speak however for the rulers that made it so, you will need to ask them about details.

Their move was rather unexpected for me, but it is very important. I could state that "we won" but even if I'm happy as if we had, that is not yet completely true. While for sure how the military situation evolved helped it, this turn of events is mainly influenced, from what I can understand, from the poor relations the "allies" had.

I can guess the three realms agreed on making this war mainly because each of them wanted to grab some land but, above all, wanted to weaken Xinhai, feeling it as an easy task being 3v1 and from different fronts. They were however poorly coordinated and more interested in personal gainings rather than overall victory, for instance they chosen their targets out of a single-realm planned strategy, or so it seemed me, rather than an overall and shared one. As soon as it became clear that Xinhai was not so easy to deprive of its land and, with the help of Astrum, that was more than able to retaliate, the allies started to think even more as three single identities rather than an unique one, and the whole alliance broke down.

In particular, given how Xinhai led the war, the Raivans needed help from the Liberonians, and that was not only clearly the kind of war the latter empire would have hoped not to do, but it appeared to me as if they were unable to agree on how to do it, since we spotted the Libero Army going around pointlessly more than once. From an easy pick of land it became a defensive war, and Libero risked to lose its own regions as when the treaty has been firstly proposed we were taking over Stratford. If you add to this the fact that Libero wasn't in need of land as direly as the Raivan empire was, the fact that relations between Xinhai and Libero have never been really hateful (we were together in Morek) and the fact that the twin empires armies appeared not to be coordinated at all, it's not surprising that Liberonians decided not to continue the war, confident that Xinhai would have taken the opportunity to leave them alone and continuing the war against their former allies.

Surely in Xinhai someone pointed out that it is a pity to let Libero go without a punishment for having attacked us, but our leadership believes that we have enough realms to retaliate upon, and that good relations with Libero are inevitable for a peaceful coexistence in the north eastern corner of Dwilight.

To be honest, I somewhat hoped the alliance would have broken down, and worked towards this goal, as it was the only real way to end this war in a reasonable amount of time without turning it into a wearing long term conflict. It was however an idealized objective, and I was not hoping such kind of treaty to be proposed so early. After all, the war has been ongoing for such little time. It appears someone understood the mistake they made, and I am proud of Xinhai believing we made them realize it through sheer military superiority, putting the alliance in a critical position that eventually broke. While some boasting might be in order, I am however convinced that this bitter end took place more because of bad planning and wrong assumptions from the Allies more than because of Xinhai ability, while it is however true that they would have never gone into a crisis without us defeating them.

To conclude, it's a complicated political/military matter. What I can safely state is that Xinhai is very angry with Aquilegia for what happened, especially because of their behavior during the war. (edited out). I am not yet sure what will happen but I hardly think Aquilegia will be forgiven.

(edited out)

With respect,

Sir Bustoarsenzio Peristaltico

Lord Polemarch of Xinhai, Marshal of the Order of the Maddening Star

Summer of 9 YD (or the 23rd of December, 2009)