A Discourse on Diplomacy

[Lomiei 1488]

A DISCOURSE 

ON THE STATE OF DIPLOMACY, PACTS, AND TREATIES BETWEEN NATIONS WITHIN LOTC

 

Introduction:

A fair number of people in lotc are big fans of diplomacy; many who are experienced, and many who are not. But as I am sure all of our kind have noticed, there is a real lack of things to do around our field of work. So far in my year or so of experience, I have only been able to notice a fairly boring process of joining the diplomatic sector which manifests the following general method:

• An aspiring diplomat (from now referred to as ‘Aspirant’) approaches the Diplomatic councilor (from now referred to as ‘Councilor’) of a Sovereign.

• Aspirant is given a quick or lengthy interview, after which if passing, they are assigned some sort of small task or mission.

• Aspirant now completes the introductory mission and becomes a newly made Diplomat, and then waits for further instruction.

 

The Issue Explained:
After this 3rd step, it very often happens that no further instruction is given, and little to no contact is had between the new Diplomat and their Councilor. I dont believe this arises from a neglect of either the Sovereign or their Councilor, but from the truly little amount of available tasks that there are to send these new Diplomats onto. 

Occasionally, there will be some event or diplomatic occurrence which makes a need for the Councilor/Sovereign to send the Diplomat to a specific nation to speak with some person of interest, then bring back a report of the gathering. Else wise, Diplomats will be sporadically sent to an allied polity’s court in order to keep their own liege updated on the happenings of the public. These things, while nice, are few and far between within most diplomatic offices. And while still not being too rare as to never expect at least a few within that Diplomat’s lifetime, it is not enough to supplement the many months and years that character will spend with little else to do. Further, these characters and players who have a great love and interest for the art of diplomacy, have to supplement their energy with positions of other industries, like soldiers, and artisans. Those latter positions are beneficial in their own right, but there are many people to encounter who have had to make other trades their primary profession, which is truly a shame.

 

 

Word Bank

Spoiler

Throughout this entire piece, the reader might come across some words which may be used differently in other places or which are unfamiliar. As a remedy, I will list the words of interest and explain exactly what I mean when they are used.

 

Polity - Otherwise called ‘political entity’, they are organized communities of people who live near each other, follow a government system, and collectively defend. Examples are Settlements, Nations, and Empires.

Sovereign - Singular person who has full authority over a polity. Usually the final correspondent in any diplomatic activity done on behalf of that polity.

Councilor - Person who accompanies the Sovereign’s inner council, specifically the one who oversees the diplomacy of the polity.

Diplomat - An employee of the Sovereign’s diplomatic office. (Other names are Envoy, Emissary, Ambassador, etc.) 

Aspirant - A person who wishes to become a Diplomat

Agreement - a cooperative action/promise between 2 otherwise solitary polities

Alliance - a binding action that encourages a high level of interaction in a certain area

 

 

Disclaimer:

Spoiler

I am not saying that good and consistent diplomacy does not exist anywhere on the server. It likely does, in some small area of the map. I just have not been able to find and interact with it (sorry to whoever that is). My experience may also be biased, since of course I have only been in lotc for a Year and some portion, but in the course of my 4 primary characters, 3 have been Diplomats, and none of those 3 got to experience a bustling or widely active diplomatic sector in any of the civilizations they served. (These civilizations being Rozania, Sutica, Savoy, and Haense). 

 

Additional Note

Spoiler

I am fully and sadly aware that the low-level Diplomat is not exactly qualified for high security discussions that happen between Sovereigns. Very often important discussions about war, for example, happen irply in a locked guarded room with only the Sovereigns and their trusted Councilors. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I will try not to refer to it in this piece, and will state that my intention is to offer a wide set of opportunities in which low-level starting Diplomats can practice their passion while proving themselves useful ambassadors, and also to comment on how some parts of the diplomatic office ought to be managed.

 

The proposed solutions:
Below I will offer to everyone a few Ideas that may give actors within diplomatic sectors (that being; Diplomats, Sovereigns, and Councilors), and many other people, a chance to experience the effects of diplomacy. And for the Diplomats themselves, to have a diverse set of things to both offer and consider when dealing with other nations on behalf of their own. Things that will specifically increase the prosperous interactions of peoples between 2 nations, which is the overall goal of alliances and cooperation.

 

I propose, that if these following ideas would be adopted either in part or in whole, and used diligently by Sovereigns and their Diplomats, the scope and frequency of diplomatic activities will expand so that anyone who wishes to practice diplomacy can do so, and that those who do, find ample opportunities to influence good rp in their nation. In implementing such ideas, let us consider what the path for a new aspiring Diplomat would look like;

• An Aspriant approaches the Diplomatic Councilor of a Sovereign.

• The Aspirant is given a quick or lengthy interview, after which (if passing), they are given some sort of small task or assigned mission.

  • These usually take the form of simple ‘come with me to this meeting and take notes’ or ‘travel here and talk to this person’ missions. There are some interesting ones here and there like ‘befriend someone new and have them write a letter to me’, but these are few and far between, as mentioned above. 

  • If you would like a brief story of my favorite introductory mission, I will relay the first truly amazing diplomatic mission I was assigned to, this being a task given by the Sovereign himself at the time. Since the leadership administration had been only newly formed, not all of the vassals from the previous rulers had sworn fealty to the new Sovereign, effectively declaring themselves independent. While the Sovereign discussed raising the levies of the polity with the marshal, my task was to find out exactly where the troublesome vassal was fortified, and ask their leadership why no oath of fealty had been sworn for such a length of time. I will avoid going further into the fantastic story, I hope I will content the readers by stating that this was one of the ‘introductory meetings’ that can ignite a wonderful passion for the practice of diplomacy in any curious mind. If only more opportunities allowed for this to be experienced by more people coming into the office.

  • I will mention in another place some ideas for introductory missions for incoming Diplomats.

• New Diplomat now completes the introductory mission and waits for further instruction.

• The Diplomatic Councilor sends for a meeting with the new Diplomat, where they speak about a long-term task to assign, or a list of short-term ones.

• The Diplomat begins work on these agreed upon tasks:

  • These may take the form of assigning a specific mission, for instance;  ‘Find out what this settlement near us is interested in, and give a report about its intentions… see if we can help them, etc. etc.’ Or, in another idea; ‘Go find out how strong the relations of these 2 western nations are, and try to locate any public treaties between them.’

  • Something we should also lean into is having Diplomats share their ideas and predictions more with the Councilors. Their job isnt just to deliver messages and information, it should also be to give the Sovereign and their Councilor a well educated and personal perspective on a place with which their nation is obliged to make important decisions.

• The Diplomat finishes the task assigned, and writes a report or prepares a vocal message to give to the Councilor and Sovereign.

• The Diplomat is thanked by the Councilor and Sovereign, and then given another task of interest.

• In the downtime between diplomatic Missions, Diplomats might take time to consider how they might train the young and aspiring generation of Diplomats. Or assisting his peers with their work.

 

Potential Introductory Missions:

The following are simple ideas for things an aspirant can be sent on as a trial/introductory task given by the Sovereign or Councilor. 

 

• The Dossier is a classic first step. Sending the aspirant to a polity and having them compose what they know of that selected nation’s civil and martial practices, usually has sections for important families or specific descriptions of certain government positions.

• As mentioned above, there is strong potential in sending an aspirant to gain friendships in another selected nation. It provides benefit to both the aspirant, as he gains experience and travels the world… and also to the council chamber, who gain knowledge of the societal functions of the selected nation. And civilizations that appreciate each other's culture and practices tend to have few issues, and many alliances.

• A little-practiced but highly useful aspect of diplomatic offices is the communication shared between the Diplomats themselves. I will not need to elaborate on the inherent benefit that relaying important information between envoys of multiple polities has on a nation to make the most informed decisions. So this mission is simple; have the aspirant collect update reports from all other active Diplomats, and give that work to the Sovereign, preferably summarized and highlighted. 

• A very good way to test the researching skill of an aspirant is to have them research every active treaty which that nation holds. Make them include the Articles, signing Sovereign (indicating if the current Sovereign is different or not), and expiration date of each one. Through this method, the aspirant is instantly informed of the current polities with which his own shares diplomacy, and for the Sovereign, it quickly details all of his current obligations and public political standings.

 

I estimate that the essential aspect of a good Introductory mission is research: A starting task must have enough readily available information so that the aspirant can easily gather and collate whatever facts are needed for the task to be complete. This is the best time for the aspirant to prove their diligence, as lesser skilled recruits will only address the surface level answers in a short answer format, while the more promising ones might answer with more information, examples, quotes, and references to others’ work. Though for this merit to be shown, the assigned task must have enough research able to be done so that all of these things can be included. Tasks which have only a few conceivable steps and only answer a few questions are not sufficient for an aspiring Diplomat to prove their skill in the field of diplomacy. In summary, tasks that contain equal parts of curiosity, and ease of information gathering, will produce the best effect in the aspirants, while always producing a benefit for the Sovereign of a state.

 

Diplomatic Councilor Interactions:

Diplomatic teams can sometimes feel empty or dead whenever there is not a vocal active leader. And this feeling is extended by the scarce interaction which Councilors often share with their subordinate Diplomats. This is something which, if fixed, can highly improve the enthusiasm and respect with which a Diplomat conducts their job.

 

• To ensure that every Diplomat is effectively performing their job, and to keep morale high in the office, the Councilor should regularly arrange large-table meetings so that his Diplomats can all share the important messages from other nations, and so that the Councilor can easily give and check up on any diplomatic missions or tasks. This further enforces the practice of communication all throughout the diplomatic office, whose significance is mentioned above.

• Councilors too are sometimes given tasks to complete by their Sovereign. Occasionally, if a particular individual or set of Diplomats have been performing very well above the others in the office, the Councilor can elect (with the Sovereign’s permission) to allow a certain Diplomat to help the Councilor complete the task assigned to them. This should be done, both to test the most capable Diplomats for potential successors, and to reward enthusiastic and highly skilled service in the diplomatic realm.

 

I estimate that the essential aspects of a Diplomat’s interaction with their Councilor are variety, and presence. Addressing the second; When much conversation is shared between the Diplomat and the Councilor, the Diplomat can complete their assigned tasks with quicker timing, higher quality, and more enthusiasm. When less communication is had between these 2 parties, the Diplomat takes longer, produces lower quality, and does so with lacking energy. Regarding the first aspect; A Councilor that practices a wider array of activities with their Diplomats (in the forms of meetings, personal discussions, attending diplomatic occurrences, exchanging notes, etc.) will see a well developed team ready to get important work done. On the other hand, a Councilor that only sparingly interacts with their subordinates does not know what tools he has at his use, nor can he therefore find the best solutions to diplomatic problems that arise.

 

Deputy Diplomats / Diplomat Assistants:

Deputies and assistants are some of the most under-appreciated jobs in the field. That however is both justified and understandable, as there is almost nothing to do in these positions for a great many people. Sadly, I cannot even imagine a full outline of what a Deputy Diplomat system would look like. I have been in some, surely, but there were very few actual tasks and programs that deputy Diplomats got to partake in. Sometimes, a deputy might get lucky when the primary Diplomat gets sidetracked and missed work gets passed down… but so little work is given to Diplomats themselves, such that an effective deputy Diplomat program could never be properly cultivated, as there is such a lack of need for them.

This issue, in order to be solved to the best extent, has to be re-argued in some future time, when diplomatic offices can cater to a higher number of sub-positions, giving everyone sufficient work and practice opportunities. Either from a rise of mass interest, or an initiative by the Sovereign’s council, I believe this time is not too far away.

 

Treaties & Alliances:

Some of the most fulfilling work as a Diplomat, after so many different talks and or meetings, is the signing of a treaty. Only the most trusted or longest serving Diplomats are allowed to observe personally, and even then, only the Sovereigns’ chosen will be allowed to add their own signatures to the documents.

There is an issue though, in the way that the common method of signing treaties in lotc is boring. Ive seen a lot of them in my life, but only a few treaties ive seen have been pleasantly substantive, and far fewer have actually meant something tangible was going to be able to be enjoyed for the signatories. While the treaties do indeed have nice aesthetics on the forums, things that are so important to the story and development of a nation ought to read longer than 20 seconds, while not being too long as to have readers lose interest.
As far as alliances, Diplomats will usually not be in positions to change the balance of favor from one nation to another or in a positive to a negative. However, being a part of the process of maintaining an alliance feels very fulfilling to people who love history and the study of political affairs. I will avoid discussion about making  them, for the reasons said above. But regarding the ‘upholding’ of alliances, I intend to provide avenues of showing just how cooperative nations can be with one another.  By no means do individual Diplomats have authority to discuss nor agree to the below listed agreements on their own behalf. But they make fantastic topics of conversation between Sovereigns, Councilors, and Diplomats, such that the decision making processes of what to engage with and avoid with certain nations may be much heavier in effect, and have potential to bring a cornucopia of benefits and dangers with each. Finally, the practice of any of these to their highest potential, affected by a certain Diplomat, may bring such a character just as much due respect as a soldier who has performed valiant deeds in the military.

 

Ideas: Here are some articles listed under specific types of agreements. Some of the practices can be listed under different sections, but the ones in which they are presented are in (imho) the most relevant section. Within each idea I will attach a brief summary of what it entails, and how it may be beneficial. (Some ideas listed here which are quite common, I included to explain their systems of operation or why they are beneficial, wherever applicable).

 

Military Agreements

These articles regard the strength of a nation by its ability to defend itself and its allies through battle, and also regard the ability to freely attack its enemies in the same way. This is usually the most highly respected form of alliance, if a full or partial alliance is signed. This is because of it being a sign of high trust and respect between 2 Sovereigns and the mutual admiration of their subjects.

 

• Consent of Auxiliaries

  • This means that both sides freely approve of their own troops providing aid to another nation without express authorization from and leadership by the Sovereign or Military Councilor of the polity, making for fast and numerous responses to calls for aid from an allied polity.

• Joint Trainings of Troops

  • This article states that the signatory polities will occasionally offer their troops to train with the other’s. These trainings are fun, and informative, but an organized system for keeping track of them is lacking due to a variety of factors. I will not suggest here an organized system for such a simple article, but at another time I may.

  • For a general guideline, lets consider this article unfulfilled if the signatory polities have not had at least (3) joint-military training from the signing of the agreement until it’s nullification.

• Non-Agression

  • The most often used article in the basket of articles. This simply states that no aggression in any form will be used by either polity toward the other, and opportunities to interact with aggressors to one another will be limited.

  • This article is known to help in a number of tangible ways, but a sure issue arises when each polity’s intention is to secure promises of peace with each other polity. The issue happens that despite the surface agreements not to aggress against one polity or another is not sufficient to prevent the more war-focused Sovereigns from declaring war and nullifying their pacts and treaties on grounds of ‘subtle aggression by the other’, or by using some cultural popularity for war to justify pre-emptive action against a previous friend.

  • How I interpret this, is that pacts of non-agression should not be entered into wantonly, and Sovereigns must have patience in researching how their promise will affect their new cooperative. If it is too likely that a party will break promises in order to enter war, then a wise Sovereign will avoid them.

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Diplomatic Agreements

These articles regard the interaction of governments with other governments to various levels of intensity. Little respect is given to this set of agreements, but they are the pillars upon which all other diplomatic agreements occur; as failures in foundational respect often lead to misunderstandings which escalate into hostile actions.

 

• Sovereignty

  • This article simply states that both signatories acknowledge the legitimacy of both polities to exist, and operate their governments however they deem fit.

• Authorization of Embassies

  • If it so happens that a Diplomat spends a lot of time conducting business in another polity, the Sovereigns ought to set apart a building or room in which that Diplomat can host envoys and keep papers.

  • This ‘embassy’ is a good place for them to keep an official posting within that place, for the purpose of holding meetings, keeping work documents organized, and providing a place for the government of that polity to easily contact that Diplomat.

  • While this idea is something that has been tried in the past (to a surface level without any deep exploration), it only produces interesting roleplay when the Diplomats are actually followed up with, and when the Councilors and Sovereigns can give them enough to do.

• Extradition

  • Often, if a criminal from a polity travels to another polity and commits a crime, the polity from which he is from will usually prefer to have him back for the purposes of trial and punishment.

  • This article promises to return criminals of such polity to them, if they are captured within the borders of the other signatory.

• Denunciation

  • This article is used when one or more polities wants to publicly acknowledge the ill actions of another entity. Whether preemptively based on an offense to the honor of a Councilor or citizen of that polity, or perhaps after a more egregious action done by a foreign government.

  • The greatest benefit that this article has, is that it allows Sovereigns to display (to whatever degree they wish), the polities with which their opinions are high and low. Issuing denouncements on polities which other allied Sovereigns have, might even increase good will in between both, or, the same effect might be achieved by jointly-denouncing a polity as an article in a wider treaty, pact, or alliance.

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Economic Agreements

These articles regard cooperation in expanding the monetary activity of each signatory, in hopes to jointly secure the prosperity and reach of both Sovereigns’ commercial interests. Alliances of this sort are usually only practiced by polities of small and medium size, because of their difficulty of maintenance. However when enthusiastically upheld, economic agreements individually are very useful to each Sovereign and his subjects in many ways.

 

• Taxless Stalls (a.k.a. ‘Free Trade’)

  • This article sets apart one of the shop stalls of the capital city aside for the untaxed goods of the other signatory.

  • These are mutually helpful because of the profit which each side draws from the stall itself, the sharing of their culture with the other, and the ability to provide a job to whoever in the economic sector wishes to help the crown manage the stall.

• Mutual Construction Funding

  • By this agreement, the signatory polities may, if they choose, generously provide a small amount of mina to offset the costs of infrastructures (any kind of new buildings/improvements) which are to be pasted by the other. This can also include materials, if improvements are not attained by pastes but instead by manual labor.

  • For larger-scale polities, or those which are particularly wealthy, this agreement does not provide great usefulness aside from a small fraction of savings on pastes. For smaller-scale or less economically active polities on the other hand, it obviously encourages a boost of improvements for the physical city/civilization, bringing its own diversity of benefits. Some of these can be seen in the form of the attraction of artisans and decorators, fresh lively events held in celebration of the developments, and expansion of certain districts that lend to the growth of the community, to name a few.

• Economic Sanction on Polity (or private company)

  • As simple as it sounds, this agreement entails the total refusal from the signatories to entertain trade with a specific selected person or place. By this, it also agrees to look unfavorably upon the entities which maintain their trade with the target polity/company. The causes for this agreement are wide and varied, but its effects (if decided to be practiced) are sure to be great to experience and observe. 

  • Among the many other benefits, these precautions might keep the higher economic entities of the world honest and fair, as to not spawn the wrath of all other entities, and bankrupt themselves by insolent actions.

• Union of Currency

  • This is more of a thought experiment but may be a useful thing to try out if colonies and client-kingdoms were ever tried; This agreement would essentially allow the currency of all signatories to be usable interchangeably with the polity’s own currency. For instance, the Krawns of the Haeseni and the Kar of the Urguani would be equally acknowledged in the tax offices of both. Or if Aaun’s government decided to found a colony in an empty part of the map, any currencies old or new, formed by their new colony could be respected between only those signatory bodies in the forms of taxes, treasury donations, and payments for services within the polity.

  • By this, some polities will delay the often-encountered problem of their national tax or payment tokens being lost, stashed forever, or mechanically destroyed; these accidents often leading to the need for currencies to be completely turned in and replaced. This agreement will never solve the problem entirely, but the aspect surely makes it appealing to some, including myself. Other benefits of this practice may show themselves in the future, but presently I can only consider a few.

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Objective Agreements

These articles combine the attention of both signatories onto a single interest or goal, with the effect of subverting a common threat, or bringing about a largely positive change. It is not exactly possible to make an alliance of this specific type, due to its highly specific nature and little space for vague ideas to expand.

 

• Target of Common Enemy

  • This is not a targeting in the military sense per se, as in, this agreement is intended to publicly affirm the signatories intention to work together to eliminate a threat which is posed to both or more civilizations, as opposed to enemy civilizations themselves. They are exemplified by the agreement between Krugmar and Celian’or to eliminate darkspawn populations, and the Haeseni-Aaunic treaty which announced their intention to slay the dragon Cloudbreaker. Further, if more examples are needed, the Northern alliance between Norland, Fenn, and some other nations was a great help in taming the attacks felt on all of those polities by the attacking beligerants of the Svarling war.

  • It would be redundant to fully explain why this practice is helpful, but I include this piece with the intention of encouraging its wider adoption of use.

• Exchange of Information on [topic]

  • This article publicly acknowledges the signatories’ wishes to get more research on a specific topic (this can be any topic with examples relating to military, politics, or even extraterrestrial developments). The effect is promising that either polity, if futher knowledge is gained, will provide such information with the other signatories.

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Cultural Agreements

These articles involve mostly the subjects of the signatory Sovereigns interacting with each other. The options within this sector are vast, and more importantly, give many different portions of communities the opportunity to participate in fulfilling activities that they never usually would have. Alliances of this type are rarely seen, but whichever polities have the bravery to try it out, will surely see great benefit.

 

• Festivity Cooperation

  • If it happens that 2 or more nations are publicly in high relations with eachother, it does both them and the citizenry of both quite well to enjoy open communication and cultural exchange with eachother. This takes the form of grand feasts, festivals, and hosted tournaments which other signatory nations are explicitly encouraged to visit or aid in the preparation for.

  • From fashions, to food, to news of developing interests, cross-national revelry provides infinite benefit with few harms to any person or place.

• Court Envoys

  • This provides for a better system of courtly presence from one’s allies. Each signatory agrees to send a dedicated number of Diplomats to keep track of the scheduling and attendance of the other’s court. Once sent, they may communicate well wishes, present gifts, provide updates on important developments, or any other number of things set by the Sovereign.

  • Not only does this system prevent the need to individually track the times of each court and task the Diplomats one by one with attending, but it also gives the participating Diplomats a chance to strengthen the bonds with the governments of the selected nation, whose positivities are mentioned previously. These among many other benefits which are too numerous to name.

• Commission of Tradesmen

  • Sometimes it occurs that some polity, no matter how secure or wealthy, is in need of a specific trade or employ who can produce something of interest for the administration. Examples take the form of a king lacking a court smith, or a Sovereign duke lacking a court mage.
    This agreement authorizes signatory Sovereigns to appeal to the tradesmen and specialty industries of the other signatory to commission goods or services at better-than-market prices. For which the guilds or groups may receive special recommendation by both Sovereigns, or some other benefit like tax breaks, or higher societal privileges of whatever kind.

    • I would example this by instancing an imaginary agreement between, for pure example, the Nation of Urguan and Celianor. While Urguani culture is famous for their forgery, Elven culture often lends itself to easier practice of arcane creations. So, if these 2 nations had interest in the exports of the other (that being, Urguan needing alchemy or enchantments, and Celianor needing high quality forged weapons), they could include in document this authorization to seek out the masters of industry that are within their polities.

• Declaration of Friendship

  • This article is fairly self-explanitory, however the reason I include it is to highlight its most important purpose, which is, to differentiate pacts and agreements which they give to certain as in high faith and amicability, while other agreements are purely entered into with intent to carry out a minor goal, and in most respects, not to be continually concerned with.

  • If we would like to consider a situation in which including this article might be crucial, it is in the intensifying environments which are the leadups to war. Seeing this article listed or not listed among the web of treaties shared between a complex balance of factions will definitely inform the reader of the potential outcomes of ongoing political shifts.

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In the attatched link, ive created an example of what a full treaty would look like under the essence of this new system. By no means would the average agreement contain this many articles, but I wanted to highlight how many short or long lists of different agreements could be included, and how some of them across different themes sometimes supplement each other.

(Google Doc) Example Treaty Between The Kingdom of Coramir and The Republic of Felfor

 

 

Conclusion:

If youve managed to survive the many words above, I hope you have come to a pronounced idea of what the effects of diplomacy can look like for a community, and especially for individual diplomats looking to partake in their interest. Sovereigns and Councilors too, can gain some idea of how to improve their diplomatic offices, but I encourage any and all who have a similar interest in diplomacy to take these ideas further; make more of them, and actually bring them to effect in the server.

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Lomiei,

January 11, 2023

 

[TeawithFrisket 2634]

Spoiler

+1 Finally a good post on diplomacy issues and fixes. And a summary on diplomat construction. God bless you you crazy SOAB. 

 

[Lomiei 1488]

8 minutes ago, ScarletFrisket said:

  Hide contents

+1 Finally a good post on diplomacy issues and fixes. And a summary on diplomat construction. God bless you you crazy SOAB. 

Tysm for real, Im glad that the development of some of these ideas have inspired at least 1 person. If we can get 2, ill die a happy man.

 

[kipps 714]

You wrote all this without realizing that the reason diplomats have nothing to do is because they are just plain useless. Politics happen on discord between the privy councils of both parties most of the time. Don’t think turning your PRO into an npc quest giver wld help

[Lomiei 1488]

6 hours ago, kipps said:

You wrote all this without realizing that the reason diplomats have nothing to do is because they are just plain useless. Politics happen on discord between the privy councils of both parties most of the time. Don’t think turning your PRO into an npc quest giver wld help

If the PRO of a place refuses to provide such a crucial aspect to running a *good* society, then that place will often become defunct and mass interest usually fades (best examples are Sutica and Savoy, which among many other problems, died in part because they didnt encourage people to interact with them).

For sure youre right that they dont have a use under the isolationist system, but if NLs want to improve the way they run their government and interact with other governments, they can choose to implement more diplomatic practices. If theyd prefer to let the occasional N.A.P. be their only diplomatic activity, then they can just die like all the other places that make the same mistake.

[_RoyalCrafter_ 3242]

Fantastic work. I'll start using this to make my own diplomat RP better. +100

[Lirinya 2647]

@MarquisAlex politics