Can't quote from a locked page, but in this thread:
http://forum.melee.org/diplomacy/legionaries-declare-eternal-war-on-acre-and-their-vassels/105/ Jona clarified the true meaning of vassal and ally in strat to Tristan. And he wrote:,
"Quote from: Dr_Device on March 22, 2015, 08:23:07 pm
The issue was more we aren't Acre vassals, so we had no idea Legionaires intended to attack us until it had already happened.
The misunderstanding could have largely been avoided if they'd have just specified who the apparently only Acre vassal they thought existed was in their war declaration. We would have been annoyed with the mistake still, but at least we would have known we were going to war."
So Jona said:
Right, that's understandable. Some people forget that this is you guys' first strat. The term "vassal" has kind of a different meaning here in crpg-land. It was flung around a whole lot during strat 4 (maybe even before, but I wasn't paying attention). Its crpg definition is more or less "a faction who associates in any way/shape/form with a larger faction than themselves." Basically, in strat 4 the FCC had many "allies" which were only a small fraction of its own size, and while they might have viewed them as allies who had as much power in the alliance the FCC did, I don't know since I wasn't involved in their politics. However, from the outside you have to wonder how a faction of 100+ people could have equal standing as a 10 man faction. So, the term vassal would apply to these "allies" in this case, since they were a tiny faction allied to a much, much larger one. Arguably this is a similar case with you guys and Acre, although the member numbers are far closer than the typical case in strat 4. Yet, the crpg definition of the word is still used today, it seems."
And that is why Jona called TheZeus stupid. Which I thought was a little mean.