Chocxal News

Chocxal News
Price: None... why do we want your money?	News from the desert!** Please shake any sand out AWAY from people's faces.	Issue Number: ???
Chief Editor:Torsaan the Great Resident Overzealous Lunatic:Xanio the Great Want to contribute? Add your name, and a spiffy title!

Exclusive Interview with Marquis Crashem de Struct of Belegmon, High Marshal of Falasan!

1. How are you today? I am a bit busy today and apologize for cutting our direct interview a bit short. My presence is needed at the front as BoM has reentered the Eston-Falasan War which came as a surprise to me given that we recently made an agreement to limit our conflict to just Eston and Falasan. 2. How are your feelings towards the conflict of this war? Like most nobles in Falasan, I did not welcome this war. Falasan has ceded 3 regions to Tara and had 3 other regions significantly damaged because of this conflict. Previous to the war, Falasan, in my opinion, was a bit fat and happy. Our nobles concentrated on such leisurely tasks practicing their swordsmanship and jousting. The only good that has come out of this war is that we have been brought back to reality that Atamara can be a dangerous place and as a result our nobles have responded superbly. While we are smaller today than before, the true mettle of our nobles was revealed and Falasan is stronger for it. Although I do wish we hadn't needed a war to find our true strength. 3. What may the future hold with this conflict, now that Amdor has been captured? As High Marshal, I believe my role is the executor of policy and, as such, I can only comment on the military implications. Assuming the conflict continues, the capture of Amdor primarily means the conflict will likely take place on Eston soil for the foreseeable future. Militarily, Falasan is fairly strong at the moment and having clear passage to Eston soil affords us many options, as our recent capture of Dondor indicates. To be clear, Falasan has had a military policy of NOT fully taking advantage of our situation. Given our current military strength, we could have taken several other Eston regions by now. Our primary military goal currently is to show Eston the price of war, as up to this point, Falasan has been the damaged party. But, we have held back in the name of future peace. 4. Has Falasan offered peace to Eston? Yes. Falasan has talked peace from even before this conflict became a shooting war. Eston was the aggressor. I think early in the conflict, Eston, as seen from their public announcements, thought they would quickly take Barad Falas. Luckily, for us, this was not true. Today's situation is completely different. While I can not comment on our current proposed terms, I have noticed that Eston's leadership seems to be a bit out of touch with the military reality of the war. Even after we had breached the defenses of Amdor and Eston had no hope of stopping us from taking the region, Eston's proposed peace terms included the demand of a region from us. 5. Do you think that this war can be brought to an end anytime soon? Haahaa. Depends on what you consider soon. Personally, I am not interested in creating a temporary peace, but solve the underlying problems. We do not want a hostile Eston in our north who only talks peace today for fear of our current military strength. We are also not interested in leaving a disintegrated Eston in our north as it creates a highly unstable northern border. I know there is fear among several realms, including your realm Xanio, that Eston may fall apart. Personally, I am not sure other realms running to Eston's aid will cause the conflict to end sooner. The opposite may happen as Eston may feel they have the strength to continue the conflict. If Eston's allies were to tell Eston of their disapproval of their conduct and threaten to abandon them or even fight them, I believe peace would be found faster. Eston was the realm which desired this conflict. Until that desire is removed, no true peace can be found. Eston must acknowledge that their desires to gain at their neighbor's expense was a mistake by admitting to losing this war and pay the appropriate price. Otherwise, how can be sure they are not just biding their time? This war started with many lies that Falasan swallowed to our detriment. 6. Some are stating that Falasan has had an unfair advantage, using many allies while Eston has fought with only a little Darkan support. What say you to this? Sometimes I wonder how these lies get spread. I can guarantee that Eston has received more outside help by any measure (number of troops/length of time/number of realms/etc.). The realms that have provided significant aid are ASI, BoM, and Darka. Darka/BoM has sent more troops and have had more troops on the battlefront longer than ASI. It is just a function of supply lines. ASI has much further to travel and can stay in Falasan for less time. Our paper has posted many of our battle reports and you can see the difference in aid received. You will find many of a battle where the vast majority of troops were from Darka, but you will not find such battles where ASI is providing the vast bulk of military troops. The important thing to note is that most of Falasan's gains were made after an agreement was made to reduce our conflict to a 1 vs 1. What is disgusting to me is that within a month of making a 1 vs 1 agreement, Eston has violated the spirit of this agreement by calling in aid. Currently, ASI and Darka have agreed to continue to stay out of the conflict, but Eston has called in help from both BoM and Tara. Tara has agreed to keep its help limited to defensive actions and honor their treaty with Falasan. BoM has provided signficant military aid. So Falasan is currently fighting 3 realms. 7. And on a slightly different note, how do you feel about the going-ons in the south? RedSpan nearly finished, Abington with a different government... What is your, and Falasan's take on these events? Falasan had friends and enemies on both sides of that war so our feelings are mixed. Personally, I am amazed at the turn of events. The speed in which your realm among others were able to dismantle Redspan was simply dumbfounding. As for Abington, it seems they suffered under a crazed monarch who single handedly destroyed a kingdom. It looks like they have solved that issue. When Abington fully recovers from their current issues, I would probably be worried about what form their revenge might take. Abington was arguably the most powerful realm in Atamara and I can speak personally about Abington's resolve having fought them in the past. My opinion is that they will remain a significant power in Atamara unless more drastic changes occur. 23 Es 20 October 2007 - Xanio the fairly Great

Troubles in Abington and the Pounding of RedSpan

There's been a secession in Abington. Why? Because "King" Gauihu wanted Duke Spiritmonger to step down. Gauihu has given 10 reasons... but the real reason is because Spiritmonger is a Pantheist and was using some of his wealth to fund his faith. On a side note, we're still stomping the RedSpanards. Hard. 24 Ta Tor 20 August 2007 - Xanio the very Great

To RedSpan we will go...

Back in RedSpan... a bit more looting. Very fun. But smelly. Thankfully the Tarans have been washing those goat people. In other news, a large sand dune got bigger... is this the start of something? 20 Ta Kar 19 July 2007 - Xanio the really really incredibly Great

Invasion Foiled

Hmmm. An invasion of Abington. Seemed easy enough, eh? We had a nice army of ca. 2000 troops. They had an army of nearly 3000 troops. See the problem? Yes, we lost. That is fine, they had the bigger army. But, how did they know we're coming? Either they have infils operating throughout the continent (pah!), they were somehow tipped off, or they have SPIES. I wonder. 14 Xan-i 15 May 2007 - Xanio the Great

It just got loud

Wow. Phenomenal. Words don't describe what's happening. Abington has declared they are going to attack Minas Ithil for revenge; and so it begins. Their army is marching. CE is marching. ASI is fighting RedSpan (I think) and the war in the north still rages. I'm not going to say what Talerium is doing for obvious reasons. But we must look beyond the yelling and clang, to Tara. They are in strife. Duke Thor of Foda has commited suicide as a rebellion against the leader, Johnathon. I myself was once of Tara. Their General Lister is a great military mind, but he and Johnathon are being accused of ruling the realm to their desires, and not giving equal opportunity. Thor called for an uprising. What of this? This is a Tyranical Aristocracy. It is expected. But, I feel for Thor. It was the stresses of not being recognized for anything that drove me away from Tara. Tara may turn into something very different very soon. We should keep watch. 4 Ya-Kar 5 April 2007 - Torsaan the Great

It's quiet... too quiet

What is going on? The Falasan-Eston war is in full swing, while the MI-BoM-Norland war is scarily quiet. Which is where I'm going. What's happening? Are the Viking hoards... scared? For all that if good and nice in this world, I'd hope not. Next thing, we'll invent something by the name of Oatmass Blue. The badgers have also been quiet. I'm watching though. - Xanio the Great

Capashinia!

A new realm has seceeded from Falasan. Tucha declared independance under the name of Capashinia (or so sources say). Picnu and Cori has followed Tucha. Interesting happenings... why did Torin seceed? Many questions are left unanswered, and may stay that way. -- Torsaan the Great

Peace! On one front

Yes, we probably will negotiate a peace treaty with the goats. So it seems there is peace. But! There is still the undead problem. There have been no incursions into Talerium for a few weeks, but all around there are monsters and undead, 6.5K CS of them in Lakota alone. Is it an invasion? We have no idea. All one can do is pray to whoever one believes in, and hide in a corner. -- Torsaan the Great

Goat Curry anyone?

Those goats have been pulverized, but I will give them something. They are resilient. Unfortunately, everyone knows they are planing a colony. Where? Who knows. But, all I know is their sacred animal does taste good after a nice game of soccer. - Xanio the Great

Talerium Newspaper surfaces!

There was much applause today as the Chocxal News rolled of the presses. It is heard that the illiterate peasants were particularly pleased. -- Torsaan the Great

**These are all the opinions of a priest who hasn't seen war in months, a lunatic who loves his realm too much, and (insert title here!)