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BackStoryStatement, Questions, and Comments - List of Locations - Cast of Characters - Introduction - Back Story - Battle Plan - Campaigns - Endings Back Story-The Tyrrhan Continent-Tyrrha resembles Central-Southeastern Asia or North America of our own world. It stretches from dense artic forests in the north, through a vast chain of mountains, to an expansive system of riverways which pass through arid plains in the southwest and lush valleys to the east. The continent is home to a wide variety of cultures, with eight different languages and many dialects alive within its borders. -March 14th, 2007: The Lisburn Treaty Ratified-The Second Pan-Tyrrhan War occurred February 19th, 2003-March 14th, 2007 and invloved two powerful alliances of nations, states, and resistance movements. A list of the parties invloved which also play a key role in Boson follows:
The two sides clashed over what amounted to an ancestoral claim, made by a man named Auschrat, to land in the northeastern portion of the continent. Ellora, one of the countries situated within Auschrat's claim, led the resistance to preserve their homeland. The two sides quickly gathered support from other nations. These nations either found their own dark motive for entering the war, or legitimately stood by Ellora or Auschrat. In the end Ellora was preserved. But the fighting, which after years of combat many considered senseless and baseless, spurned the creation of the Tyrrhan Confederation (TC). Headed by a governing counsel, the TC was formed to avoid future conflicts by providing a venue for its members' greivances and desires. The TC established fundamental economic guidelines and human rights, while maintaining the Tyrrhan Confederate Army (TCA) to perform international police actions and disaster relief. Forged on March 14th, 2007 with the signing of the Lisburn Treaty, the TC formally ended the Second Pan-Tyrrhan War. But the political climate remained tense. Ratification of the Lisburn Treaty also created the independent state of Scarborough and regulated conditions and exchanges for each country. Isparta, one of the victors of the Second Pan-Tyrrhan War and champion of the Lisburn Treaty, promised members of the resistence movement within Aberdeen their own sovereign nation at the close of the war. Upon their defeat, Aberdeen was broken on its western side, its internal border to the rest of the continent. Vast riverway trade routes and extensive oil deposits were given to the leaders of the resistence, land they named Scarborough. The resistance formed under Aberdeen's martial law and merely wanted to secure the right to live as they wished. The post-war environment was one of sympathy for the survivors of the resistance, but many realized that Isparta was taking advantage of the Scarborn. As a condition of the Lisburn Treaty, Isparta was awarded oil and other raw materials and duty-free access to all riverways within Scarborough. Long before the Second War, Isparta and Aberdeen traded liberally, but Isparta's industry demanded more. When the Ispartan government proposed a revised trade agreement Aberdeen refused it. Relations between the two grew sour and Auschrat's claim escalated these sentiments. The Lisburn awards nearly doubled the amounts agreed upon between the Ispartan and Aberdonian governments in their original trade agreement. In exchange for these awards, Isparta provided weapons, training, and an unconditional alliance of preservation to the Scarborn government. Other conditions and exchanges of the Lisburn Treaty relevent to Boson, as well as those detailed above, are reviewed here:
The Lisburn Treaty was harsh on losing nations. It appeared as though Aberdeen faired worse than others. As listed in the table above, Aberdeen paid a hefty war debt, returned all Prisoners of War without the right to claim their own, and handed over all infastructure and state to the TC. Supporters of the Lisburn Treaty argued that Aberdeen was one of few losing nations who could pay a war debt and see its economy survive, and that Aberdeen's involvement with Auschrat was an indication that they were unstable politically and irratic diplomatically. Supporters argued that because of this inherent instability, Aberdeen required special attention, that they needed to be ushered into the new world the TC was to forge. The TC had complete control of Aberdonian trade, development and production, and foreign affairs. The specifics regarding Aberdonian foreign affairs stated that they were forbidden to raise and/or train an army, to research, develop or share the research and/or development of weapons, and to intervene in world military affairs or secure war-time alliances without consent of the TC. Most experimental research and development halted, or was taken over by TC officials. Imposed trade agreements and levies crippled Aberdeen domestically, as many nations took the opportunity to secure some advantage with the TC or from within the TC. -March 14th, 2012: Skillen's Progress-Aberdonian poverty escalated for five years following the end of the Second War and many in the TC feared a revolt or a strike as the anniversary of the Lisburn Treaty neared. An Aberdonian scholar named Skillen magnified civil unrest by writing and publishing pamphlets and holding rallies. He pointed out the hypocrisy of the Lisburn Treaty: how "the victors fought to preserve Ellora but were willing to break Aberdeen in order to secure the claim of ex-Aberdonian subversives. We believed that Auschrat's claim was no different. But now they have confused us, at once convincing us of our wrongs and taking those wrongs as their right." Skillen showed his fellow Aberdonians how stable they were and how unified. He said that violence of any kind would only bring a heavier hammer down on them. And that if they could only maintain their unity, they would "achieve the only victory: peaceful self-governance." In response, the TC held a series of heated debates on the issue of Aberdonian self-governance and weighed the possibilites of an uprising. Some harkened back to their involvement in the Second War and considered any loosening of control ludacris. Others maintained that the Tyrrhan Confederation's Aberdonian policy was contadictory to its directive to protect weaker nations and it was their self-appointed task to do right. The first group thought such concessions agreed with Skillen's rhetoric and would be a sign of weakness to the rest of the world. The second considered TC endorsement of pervasive non-sustainable economic conditions within Aberdeen an atrocity, plain and simple, and that they must be amended. After weeks of deliberation, the moderate opinion prevailed. The TC announced their decision on the morning of March 14th, 2012, the five year anniversary of the Lisburn Treaty and the end of the Second Pan-Tyrrhan War. The New Lisburn Directive declared that Aberdonian trade, development, and foreign affairs would remain under TC control, but that domestic production and distribution of agricultural and architectural goods was now a matter of Aberdonian self-rule. In response to these new liberties, Skillen and his contemporaries published countless intellectual papers, stressing enlightenment and progress at all levels of society. Aberdonians embraced their calls for the recreation of society and a total cultural revolution occurred, from public welfare reform to their education system, transport reform for both imports and exports to developments in agriculture and energy. A number of Skillen's pamphlets detailed a complete revision of the nation's military, and were withheld from publication. These measures could not be acted upon due to the TC limitations still in place and the Aberdonian intellegencia were cautious of TC retribution if the details of their modern army found their way into the wrong hands. They were willing to bide their time until the remaining limitations were lifted. -November 9th, 2013: The Scarborn Civil War-During the Second Pan-Tyrrhan War, Isparta worked alongside a number of militant resistance movements within Aberdeen. The sovereignty of Scarborough was the resistance leaders' reward for aiding the Elloran Preservation Alliance. But, as the Aberdonian cultural revolution soared many Scarborn citizens sought similar reforms. They were met with opposition at each level of the Scarborn government. The Scarborn government wanted to place the leaders of the reform movement under arrest. Word of this spread and on November 9th, 2013 violence broke-out between elements of the reform movement and the Scarborn National Army. Within hours the TC called for a cease-fire between the two parties, threatening occupation should the in-fighting escalate. A cease-fire was declared seven days later on November 16th, 2013, effectively ending the Scarborn Civil War. Delegates from both sides met with TC officials and deliberated for nearly two months, but in the end the reformists negotiated their autonomy, signing the Alcott Accord. A number of conditions guaranteed Attleborough's sovereignty, many dealing with re-ratification of post-Second War Lisburn trade agreements. The reformists named their state Attleborough and the TC welcomed the Attleborn as the Confederation's newest member. -January 23rd, 2013: The Great Migration-The Great Migration followed the TC's official announcement regarding the creation of the Attleborough. Citizens moved north or south depending on their political leanings. The lack of violence on both sides surprised many, even as peaceful rallies and celebrations littered the countryside. The Attleborn settled in quickly to their new way of life and the peace of the Alcott Accord lasted for years. -January 1st, 2017: Aberdonian Autonomy-Nearly ten years after the Lisburn Treaty was inacted, and almost five years after the New Lisburn Directive, the TC declared that Aberdeen was fit to self-govern once again. In addition to becoming a full member of the confederation voting council, the Aberdonians gained control of trade, research, and development, and earned the right to raise an army. Dependence upon TC vote before any Aberdonian war-effort remained the sole stipulation on their independence. This condition bothered the Aberdonians little. Wasting no time, they implemented Skillen's remaining proposals, developing a smaller more sophisticated army, revised weapontry, modular deployment capabilities, and a space-age system of integration at a total cost reduction in terms of funding and resources. Trade regulations instated by the Lisburn Treaty and those upheld by the New Lisburn Directive no longer bound the Aberdonian government. New trade agreements did not favor the victors of the Second War, but were accepted, if begrudgingly, as a sign of prudence between nations. Surprisingly, a growing minority voice in the Aberdonian govenment sought to maintain the Lisburn trade rules in order to guarantee a strong economy, but they were overshadowed by the majority opinion which pushed for a balanced strength across all of society. -April 5th, 2017: Assassination-Returning from a summit meeting in Attleborough, the Aberdonian President and Vice President's caravan came under attack. President Burgess was assassinated, but Vice President Thayer survived. In the last moments of the fighting, an encrypted transmission was sent by the assailants across open airwaves. Without the decrypt information, the nature and content of this transmission would remain a mystery. And although it was intercepted by many governments, as it was sent on open airwaves, another mystery remained: who was the intended recipient of the message? Elements of the Aberdonian National Army, a Counter-Terrorist Unit on-hand to guard the caravan, protected the VP and detained four of the assailants, preventing them from killing themselves in a last effort to prevent being taken prisoner. The next day, Aberdonian officials formally brought news of the assassination to the TC. The Aberdonian govenment did not question the detained assassins, though they were jailed, and requested that the TC governing council take over the investigation. The TC agrees, accepting custody of the detained soldiers and the duty of questioning them. The TC ordered the Aberdonian government to deliver the detained assassins under guard to the governing council's chambers in three days time. A number of suicide attempts were made by the priosoners while they stayed in jail, but each proved unsuccessful. -April 8th, 2017: Home On Your Shield, Not With It-A para-military group attempted to assassinate the detained members of the first strike team as they were being delivered to the TC. Their attempt was not entirely successful. Although they were able to kill one of the four detainees and severely wound another, the other two remained in good health. Members of this second strike team which were not killed in the squrmish with ANA Counter-Terrorism forces injected themselves with Sodium Penithol rather than being taken captive like those in the first strike team. TC representatives, members of the investigative team, performed clean-up at this second assassination site, taking the detainee survivors and the slain into custody. Their interrogations lasted days. The TC investigative team learned little from the detained assassins in the end, but they were able to ID them from old TC military records. Each of the assassins had been honorably discharged from the TCA over the previous months leading up to the strike on the Aberdonian presidential cabinet. No clear reason was given for their honorable discharges, but their national origin was the same in every case: every assassin from either team hailed from Scarborough. This curiousity led the TC investigative team to inform the Scarborn Ambassador to the Tyrrhan Confederation, Ambassador Kirkland, and the Scarborn President, Hildebrand, that they required full disclosure of all information regarding the Scarborn assassins. They were welcomed into the country by President Hildebrand himself. He escorted the team to the capital city of Sorbonne. Once there a courier informed the President that the Secretary of War had gone missing, without a word or a trace. Shocked and concerned, President Hildebrand addressed the world regarding the missing Secretary of War. During the press conference he called for international unity, that they might clarify and rectify the dark business of the mounting assassinations. He formally put out a missing persons notice for all nations to be on the look-out for the Scarborn Secretary of War. For the next two weeks, the TC investigative team poured over the assassins' files and histories and the hundreds of files and communications which remained in the Scarborn Secretary of War's abandoned offices. -May 23rd, 2017: Attleborn Neutrality & Continental Unrest-The Attleborn government declared formal neutrality, shocking the world. The official document of neutrality was submitted to the TC along with a proposal to revise the Alcott Accord and the trade agreements it contained. Having seen the vast progress made by the Aberdonian government and people, the Attleborn sought to approximate these gains themselves. They thought any accomodation to what they referred to as "the old world," which included supplying non-renewable forms of energy to other nations, contradicted their national identity. The revised trade agreements detailed new exports and production schedules, as well as what goods and/or services they would consider in return. One of the proposals, which reversed a measure contained in the Lisburn Treaty, called for Ispartan military supplies to be cut-off completely and much of the current Attleborn stores of Ispartan war technology to be returned to the Ispartan government. Isparta and a number of other TC nations struck down the Attleborn motion to reconsider the Alcott Accord; calling it a brash attempt to undo a legal document for purely selfish reasons. These nations stressed that Attleborn "progress" could very well cripple the economies of nations dependent upon their resources, that there was no guarantee that the proposed revisions could meet the needs of other world powers. The Ispartan delegate to the TC, Ambassador Murdoch, pointed-out that the economies and infastructure of nations must not be dictated by others' ideals, stressing that the Ispartan government would be disabled without the oil and other resources the current trade agreement guaranteed. He added that to allow Attleborough to turn their backs on other nations would invite other nations to do the same; that by "simple precedent anarchy would dictate international negotiations, that nothing would prevent even the Attleborn from turning around and demanding another revision upon the revision they demand now." Other nations were ambivalent, maintaining focus on the on-going investigations and the missing Scarborn Secretary of War. Even with such heated dissent, TC Minority Chancellor Rampersad said that the proposals must be considered as any other proposal would. This fueled the exacerbated nations even more and, although the case on either side made reasonable claims based-on economic survival and international gain, tensions rose. Ambassador Murdoch declared that the TC was unfit to regulate continental policy, taking his seat, ending the altercation. The TC governing council accepted the Attleborn proposal and handed it over to the Notary Committee for review and possible intercession. Other matters of the day began to be discussed. Just minutes before the TC was to adjourn for the day, they received a communication from the team investigating the Scarborn Secretary of War. The report stated that most of his documents had been erased or destroyed. There were, however, a few which survived erasure and destruction which suggested that a Coup d'Etat would befall a nation soon. Specific information could not be found; which nation or the date or dates of the indicated take-over for example. This news left many in the TC chambers silent with fright. Which nation? When? Was the take-over independently funded or supported by other nations? If the latter, than which of the ambassadors present were involved? No one knew how to procede. How could a governing body guard against such impending aggression? How could any of them discuss the matter; realizing that without their knowing it, elements of their government could be funding the Coup or involved in some other way, that the Coup may befall their nation? As these and other questions raced through the minds of each Ambassador present, the council chambers erupted with a hundred seperate deliberations. -May 28th, 2017: The Rogue Secretary Of War Found, Isparta Reconsiders-Five days after the news of an impending Coup d'Etat shocked the world, the Ispartan government announced that they captured the rogue Scarborn Secretary of War and have him in custody. Ambassador Murdoch addressed the TC on the issue of assessment and revision of the Alcott Accord and stated that the Ispartan government reviewed the materials submitted by the Scarborn authorities and have reconsidered the Scarborn request. Murdoch added that Ispartan officials were able to ratify the New Scarborn Trade Agreement at the convienence of the Scarborn government. Members of both governments agreed to meet in three days time in Attleborough City. Isparta ordered that the rogue Scarborn Secretary of War be handed over to TC officials within 24 hours. -May 29th, 2017: Surprise, Surprise-Scarborn's ex-Secretary of War is assassinated by unidentified forces. Footage taken at the scene suggests that the murder was committed by elements of the Aberdonian military, a counter-terrorism unit similar to those which guarded the Aberdonian President and VP and the assailants involved in that attack. Statement, Questions, and Comments - List of Locations - Cast of Characters - Introduction - Back Story - Battle Plan - Campaigns - Endings |
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