Really, Auphilia... I'm not blaming you any more than I am blaming everyone in the Shogunate, including me. Which is not much blame at all. No one likes/liked strategus, so no one wanted to play or lead it. There's nothing wrong with not playing a game you do not like.
The armies on the rest of the members are irrelevant because they do not have enough gold to support the added upkeep nor equipment. I said that I have no interest in leading Strategus, so I asked Vaynes if he wanted to. He did. Then he vanished for a few days and quit due to real life issues. This is completely fine and understandable. Once again. Don't play it, if you don't enjoy it. I will not lead this faction to a new beginning. The only thing I ever promised to you was to lead it to its end. And then I will quit aswell. This is why I will not organize new trading routes, nor will I take the fiefs from Remnants in the desert, and that is why I had to decline the 8 guys who wanted to join(they added me on steam). They can form their own faction. If they are truly 8 active guys, then they already have more than we had the last weeks. Thursday and Friday night I stayed up 'til 6 AM just to make this happen, because that's EU timezones for you. I also have been working with Braeden to synchronize our assaults. Your negotiations for you safe passage back to Halmar almost failed in PhantomZero's absense. Count Berenger on their forums told the LLJK to fight you anyway, regardless of your agreement with Phantom(I do not know why), so I had to quickly convince Berenger aswell to let you pass. While doing that I also negotiated Nomins safe return to Peshmi. The same evening I posted my announcement I finished the Remnant deal with Noodles and Sauce, and told them that they will receive their fiefs even if they have to attack those owned by the inactive members. In exchange for the inconevenience they could keep their fiefs that were meant to us. I had originally planned to give them to Chevaliers, but their support of the Hosp invasion made me scrap that idea and just leave the fiefs to Remnants who were our greatest friends.
I do not mean to demean your contributions. But do not mistake me of being completely idle after you left. Just because I didn't tell you everything, doesn't mean I didn't do anything. I simply didn't want to bother you with strategus stuff more than I had to, since you made it clear you did not want to do it anymore.
Any battles caused by members will be meaningless. There will be no one signing up to fight them. If they wish to fight they must create a new faction to get battles, then they are free to do so. However, they will not do this in the name of Josho Shogunate.
My actions against Hosps are completely reasonable. You were convinced that every major faction was against you(except Hosps). You hated the idea of other factions ganging up on us. Well. So do I. I never hid my attitude toward these huge alliances and I would have resisted a TKoV invasion or an FCC invasion on Hero Party just as much as I resist a Hosp invasion. Why? Because it's the right thing to do. Because it causes an even conflict. Because it creates better battles. And that's what Strat is to me. I don't want to see one faction beat another just because they have more members. I want to see them win due to organization, strategy, skill, etc. I merely evened out a conflict that was in the larger factions favour. As I will always do. I dedicated the last action of the Shogunate to oppose such actions from larger clans. If the war had been merely between Chevaliers and Hero Party, I would not have gotten myself involved in it and I would have done something else with the army. Perhaps even invade LLJK to get a final battle at their walls.
Strategus must never become personal to anyone leading it. And I know how much time one can spend on and how it can make you hate certain factions. But you have to remember that all factions are simply playing the game. Hating someone for playing it is just meaningless. This is why I appealed to our former enemies to help me in my last action. I never hated them. They were a cause to battle. And now, they may help me to create a few more battles.
If any active members wish to continue participating in strategus, then they will have to do it from the ground up. Just like you did. Maybe then they will understand what it takes.
As always Auphilia, I thank you for creating an excellent strategus experience, however short it was. Same with Nomin. If Nomin would not have stepped up, I would probably have either assisted you or become a true leader and by now I would have failed my university courses. This past week I've worked my ass off to do all the assignments and study for all my tests. The reason why the Shogunate ended with you and Nomin leaving is because you were the only ones with enough time or will to lead. All of those in your list had by all intents and purposes quit before you quit. I was hanging around and kept frequent contact and ideas, but I did not fulfill my role either. When Nomin seemed to want to do it, I was thrilled to let him do it. And felt guilty when he could not cope with it.
To Count Berenger: Auphilia created the Red Lotus clan.
To SteelFalcon: Any of you RL guys can keep the clan going. The Ninja clan does not suffer from the dismantling of the Shogunate. In the contrary, most of us are relieved to go back to what our lives where before this strat started. Even though strat requires organization, a clan does not. Without Vaynes, you guys should still be friends and enjoy playing together. That is what Ninjas are. A group of people who enjoy playing together, not a group of people forced by an officer to play together. Keep RL going, if you guys still want to The large part of the armies in shogunate is marching to its end. If anyone wishes to begin anew, you guys have some forces and gold between your members. Simply create a new faction and try and make it happen if you have the will to do it. It will take a large chunk of your time.
