Chapter XLVIII: Peace at last?

The City of Lillehammer, October to November 1112 VTE

As delegates, and the leaders from the Imperial and Allied factions gathered in Lillehammer starting on October 4th, the whole world watched with anticipation as to if peace would finally be secured. It had been a bloody two years for all sides, with up to 250,000 men becoming casualties of some sort, whether killed in action, wounded, missing or dying from disease. Many civilians were also affected, with it being estimated that 100,000 had died thus far, largely from disease coming from the war. Heading into negotiations, both sides had goals of their own that they hoped to achieve as a result of negotiations

Imperial Goals

The Imperial's had achieved great success this year in reversing the tide of war. Great victories in the north that resulted in the elimination and flipping of the Prince of Salzwedel to the Imperial side, along with the defection of many Pomeranian nobles had put Pomerlane in a perfect situation. To the south, Syrenia was not doing so well, but the checking of Magnus's offensive towards Laodice seems to have stabilized the front. Pomerlane himself believed that victory was within his grasp in the north and had it not been down to bad weather and reorganization, he would have knocked out Pomerania itself from the war. However, his wife took a different position and a more grounded one.

She knew that Magnus planned to march his main army to join his son in Drachinland and when his army was combined with the Royal Army, an easy victory was out of reach. Furthermore, she feared what would happen to Diamond City, and her spies knew the plans the Duke of Pomura had for it. Losing the city would be a massive blow to Imperial Morale. It certainly didn't help that an equally important symbolic city, Aquileia, was under siege and it falling would have similar effects, perhaps more since Neapolis had just fell just before the ceasefire. If nothing else, her subjects needed some time to recover from the blows and she also feared the death of many innocent civilians from a food shortage in Drakenland. Though Magnus was her enemy, Emylia as Empress saw the Dragoons as one of her subject people and did not want to see them starve.

The Albingian League and the defected Pomeranian nobles had their own goals in this, namingly the breakup the Triumvirate and the restoration of Pomerlane to his rightful throne in Greifswald. Amnesty for them was another obvious goal, but that would be assumed if any peace was to be made on their behalf.

When the Imperial Goals were drawn up, the appears as this:

Pomerlane shall be restored as the Prince of Greifswald and an indemnity will be paid by the Duke of Pomura on his behalf for the crime he committed against him. Furthermore, the actions of the previous Duke of Pomura will be resolved in under a court of law that may damn the name of him.
All territories shall be returned to their original owners.
Amnesty must be given towards any citizen who defected towards the Imperial Side and the same shall be true for the Allied side.
War indemnities for the destruction of property shall by paid by Drakenland, Pomerania, and Pomura to the Imperial Powers.
Pomerlane will be recognized as the rightful ruler of Syrenia and that his children with the Empress will be allowed to succeed them as the future Emperors.
All prisoners shall be returned home immediately.
The Kingdom of Pomerania will hold a diet where the King and his subjects will resolve any disputes and complaints that have been raised over the years. The Prince of Greifswald is invited
The betrothal of the first son of Pomerlane to the granddaughter of the King of Pomerania and the grandson of the King of Drakenland to the daughter of Pomerlane shall be arranged to seal this peace with honor.
Secret clause: The power of the triumvirate in regard to their influence over court politics in Pomerania will be ended and other factions will be allowed in if nothing else.

Most of these terms were rather lenient and were a result of Emylia, knowing the Magnus was straightforward himself, would be likely to accept such terms. Some of the more interesting demands such as the trial of the previous Duke of Pomura, and the diet were brainchilds of Pomerlane and the Albingian League respectively. The attachment of the potential secret clause furthermore was also the League's attempt to finally break the power of the hegemons in Pomerania.

Allied Goals

Magnus himself was not particularly interested in many demands of his own at this point. He firmly believed that his side was destined to lose should the war continue, and that Status Quo ante Bellum was the best option for him personally. That being said, Magnus was a hard negotiator and would at least bring demands that he would drop in order to reach his ideal position. He was willing to pay indemnities so long as the Imperial's did the same and at this point, he couldn't care about what happened in Pomerania. His allies were on their own for figuring out that mess. His duty was to his people, first and foremost and if he could somehow manage to take some land from Syrenia through his bargaining power, he would and that was a point he would start with.

Pomeralius how, despite being in a rough situation himself firmly believed that he could turn the tide given the levies raised and Dragoonian Support arriving. He had been outraged that Magnus wanted a separate peace and had felt betrayed by him. As things stood however and after he had come to some reason about things, he was willing to restore Pomerlane to his birthright, so long as those who betrayed him would face punishment. This would be a problem during the upcoming negotiations and one of the major reasons things would get dragged out as the stubborn King could not bring himself to accept an agreement that would let these traitors of the hook and furthermore, empower them through the demands for a diet and the secret clause.

The Duke of Pomura, in spite of being the clear junior to anyone in this negotiation, was even less willing to negotiate anything. He was so close to taking Diamond City when Magnus's ultimatum came to him. When he arrived before the King of Pomerania, finding that Magnus had lied to him, he was utterly outraged and challenged Magnus to a duel, which Magnus declined stating "It is not right for a King to participate in a duel, as a King's honor is above such things." Grumbling, Pomeranus agreed but the reality was he had no interested in these negotiations and was hatching a plot the whole time to end them dramatically. He had recently found and executed the Elirians spies, so not even Emylia knew this during the negotiations.

The Allied goals were these

The Kingdom of Drakenland shall annex border regions of Syrenia in the Trinitas region.
War indemnities for the destruction of property shall by paid by the Imperial Faction for their destruction of property within Allied domains
Defectors and traitors to Pomerania will be brought to trial for their treason.
All prisoners shall be returned home immediately.
Pomerlane shall be recognized as the Grand Prince of Syrenia formally by all powers and that his offspring are eligable to succeed their mother in Eliria as the Archduke and the Emperor of Ninisani.
Royal marriages will be made between the respective parties
Secret clause: Pomerlane will be restored to his birthright regardless of what the Duke of Pomura thinks

Magnus was the one who presented these goals and he deliberately made them harsher than they should be as he was willing to be talked down, in particular on points One and Three. However, the disunity of the Allied factor is shown by the fact that the secret clause directly would betray the Duke of Pomura behind his back and that while Magnus was willing to negotiate on 3, neither the Duke or King were willing at all beyond lowering the sentence. This would have an impact on the course of negotiations

Opening Month of Negotiations

As both sides met, the first major debate that occurred was regarding Pomerlane's birthright to Greifswald. Magnus agreed outright to the demand on a compromised position that the Duke of Pomura would not be held responsible for what had happened so many years ago. He argued that a peace with honor must truly be honorable and that if the Imperial's insisted on this, then he would insist on the demand from his faction regarding the defectors and traitors to Pomerania.

This debate lasted for 2 weeks and not much ground was made until Emylia met with Magnus behind the scenes and asked him if a real compromise could be reached where the men who defected from Pomerania would be if nothing more, just have to pay some sort of fine for their actions considering the circumstances. Magnus agreed, and brought it before the others. This made progress, at least, as those who defected to Pomerlane made the point they would agree to such an arrangement should the same be applied to Pomura and that furthermore the Diet would be agreed on. The King, however, was not willing to agree to this. Negotiations were close to breaking down by the time November came about and Emylia asked the others if they would be willing to push this to the side while other things were agreed upon to establish that a peace could be worked out. In agreement, the peace treaty moved on to other issues.

Second Month of Negotiations

The common agreements about the Royal Marriages, the recognition of Pomerlane and his children as rightful rulers, and the prisoner exchange were agreed upon immediately by all parties, as there was little to be disputed among them. But, once again, an impass was reached at this point regarding border annexation.

Magnus, while not committed totally to border annexation, pushed hard for it considering how important it would be in the future to have some of the fertile lands of Syrenia under his control. The Duke of Pomura also wanted some border adjustments with Eliria that would see his own duchy expand. Pomerlane was having none of it, and went as far to say if this was the case, then Eliria would gain possession of Pomeranian lands, as it was only fit. The King of Pomerania was extremely upset and refused to negotiate for several days.

While he was gone however, Magnus managed to pull a diplomatic coup with Pomerlane where he would support any proposal for Pomerlane's restoration to Greifswald, that he would support the issue over the diet and traitors fully on the Imperial side and that furthermore he would agree to the Imperial demand regarding the Duke of Pomura, in exchange for lands in the Vesta River valley, including the annexation of Luna. Magnus had little to no respect for either of his allies at this point, whom he felt didn't actually want a reasonable peace with anyone. The Duke of Pomura in particulary was pissing him off given how he seemingly was doing it on purpose for whatever reason. He told Pomerlane this, and made the offer. Pomerlane didn't agree intially but 2 days later he agreed to the proposal.

When the King returned and Magnus made his proposal, the King once more threatened to leave until he was pulled aside from Emylia and was "dressed down" in a humiliating fashion by the young, small woman that evening. When the meeting was called the next day on November 15th, the humiliated King agreed to the terms, much to the disgust of the Duke of Pomura.

The Duke had enough at this point and pulled out of the negotiations immediately under the condition that he would not start fighting again. With him gone, all parties which were exhausted at his point took a month's recess and agree to meet back up in Mid-December, to finally agree confirm what had been discussed.

Heading into December

With the negotiations adjurned while all sides prepared their final proposals and took a break, things were looking up for a negotiated peace. Emylia personally however was rather concerned about what the Duke of Pomura was up to. She knew that he still coveted Diamond City but because of the terms of the armistace, she could not do anything about it but try to warn the city's command and her husband. The city's commander never received her message, as it was intercepted by the Pomurans, who sent a fake letter back telling her that the city was more than ready for whatever came it's way. The reality was that it wasn't at all naturally.

Pomerlane, however, understood this well but he personally made the mistake of brushing off this as "Too foolish" for the Pomurans to do given the circumstances. He said if it truly did happen, he had no doubt that Magnus would be involved in this somehow; which the Empress chided him on as ridiculous given it would be out of character for him to do such a thing. But Pomerlane remembered how Magnus planned to backstab him and Emylia herself years ago and he wasn't one to forget.

When all parties met on December 5th to reopen the negotiations and get a treaty done within the next week, they did not know that the Duke of Pomura was planning something that would shock the world and change the course of the whole war for good.