Austria
I won’t make my decision about who to support until after the Winter builds. I suggest making moves and builds that leave the possibility of us cooperating open.
[ITALY]
Turkey:
We are willing to participate in a Grand Southern Alliance, if our three nations can conclude satisfactory terms. A lot could be gained through our cooperation for a number of years.
Austria:
We would take a cancellation of your intended move against Venice as evidence of your willingness to sign on to this proposed triple alliance. That army would be more useful to the Alliance in Budapest.
[France]
England-
Then let us put the past behind us, while I move my fleet out of the Channel and into Belgium. Together we can destory the German with ease.
Once I have secured Belgium, do you have restrictions on my builds, as you offered to Germany? I am clearly more of a land based force, of course.
Germany-
Your effrontery and bald faced aggressive behavior and talk can not be tolerated. I will meet you in Berlin, where we can discuss it in more depth.
Italy-
We face an interesting time, my friend. While I cannot do much in aid to you, rest assured that the German will probably offer you assistance in exchange for aggression against me. I can only hope that the folly of that is clear. I look forward to working with you together, hand in hand, in the future, when we can both benefit.
[/France]
Austria
I’m not going to leave Tri open, and moving it to Ven doesn’t affect you at all except for making a stab against me ineffective.
I have no problem allying with anyone provided that I get something out of it. I’m with Omniscient here. I don’t see the need to waste time with meaningless platitudes. I’m taking Greece, you’re taking Tunis, and Turkey is going to do his best to give Russia the business. The future will depend on what people build, and how successful Turkey is. As for me, I am taking Greece and then building two armies no matter what happens.
Do not forget: 24 hrs left until all moves must be in.
Several of you have yet to submit your moves and this time I will not be waiting around.
Here in lies the disconnect. A traditional English opening, de rigeur if you will, simply by the fact that it’s common does not make it non-aggressive. Your moves are common, however they can be seen as quite threatening.
Our agreement regarding Belgium became null and void the second you moved into Burgundy. This should be patently obvious.
Apologies to both for the delay in my reply, I have not been online for most of the day today. I have taken a moment and considered your responses and the choice is pretty clear. England has been up front and conciliatory with regards to our previous tensions and France has acted indignant and put upon.
So, Noble England I gladly accept your proposal in principle. It is too soon to make commitments beyond this year but I will acquiesce to your demand that I build no fleets this turn. I will also ask that we solidify our commitment to demilitarize the Skaggerak and Helgoland Bight. I trust Holland remains mine as you proposed and I agree that Belgium best remain neutral. Ideally the French stay out of Belgium as well, however this might be a difficult task to accomplish with us both needing to defend home centers.
I will ask that you make moves quickly to outflank the British and claim the Iberian Peninsula. When you build a fleet that it be built in Liverpool to leverage the Channel and move to MAO. My Denmark Fleet will hold and not impact your actions in the North Sea.
Are these plans to your liking? In what way can we conspire to complicate matters for the French in Belgium?
Note: I’m going to see an early screening of Harry Potter this evening so I will be offline until 10PM Central tonight. I will respond to all replies then and we’ll have all day tomorrow to iron out contingencies.
[France]
@England And now my friend, we come to the rub. Germany claims that I have voided any agreement we had by moving into Bur, which of course is just one of the many ways one can actually move into Bel.
If you are to join with me, I will gladly accept your support for my fleet Eng to move into Bel, and next movement I will support your moves into Hol. I expect to be putting pressure on German SC’s quite soon, making his efforts to defend those recently gained lands difficult at best.
If, however, you are to side with Germany, I do hope you will let me know, that I may prepare as a gentleman does for the inevitable defeat, as I cannot stand alone against you both.
/[France]
Yes-no fleets built in Brest for the next two years, subject to renewal (Marseilles is okay, depending on what Italy thinks of course), no armies built in London by me (no fleet in the Channel as already discussed). If this is acceptable then it’s a deal.
Done! Glad we could come to an agreement.
I’m sorry, but he got back to me first (I can’t control your Internet access during the day alas), so I’ve decided to throw in my lot with him. You’ve accused me of aggressions which did not necessarily exist in reality, but despite that up 'til this morning I likely would have accepted your offer. Que sera sera.
It will be an interesting turn. Your motives are curious to say the least.
I hope my Russian and Italian friends are paying close attention.
Deadline very soon.
It will be an interesting year, to say the least.
And it looks like we have a full set of orders.
Processing…
(reticulating splines)
WAR IN EUROPE. STOP.
CLASHES IN LOW COUNTRIES. STOP.
GOVERNMENTS TAKE HIGH GROUND. STOP.
So here, we are Autumn 1901.
Final Orders List:
Austria
F Alb-Gre - OK
A Serb [S] F Alb-Gre - OK
A Tri-Ven - BOUNCE
England
A Yorkshire-London - OK
F North Sea-Holland - BOUNCE, DISPLACE to HEL
F Norwegian Sea-Norway - OK
France
Fleet Eng- Bel - OK
Army Bur- Mun - BOUNCE
Army Spa holds - OK
Germany
A Kie - Hol - BOUNCE
A Ruh - Mun - BOUNCE
F Den - NTH - OK
Italy
A Ven to Tyr - OK
A Tus to Ven - BOUNCE
F Ion to Tun - OK
Russia
F Gulf of Bothnia to Sweden - OK
A St. Petersburg to Moscow - OK
A Ukraine support F Rumania to Sevastopol - OK
F Rumania to Sevastopol - OK
Turkey
A Armenia - Rumania - OK
A Bulgaria S Armenia - Rumania - OK
F Black Sea C Armenia - Rumania - OK
Builds:
Austria: 2
England: 1
France: 2
Germany: 0
Italy: 1
Russia: 1
Turkey: 2
Please can everyone check to make sure it looks ok, and then please tell me in which home SCs you would like your new armies/fleets.
Autumn 1901 looks like this.
**Deadline for builds is Thursday 15th July at 20:00 GMT **
Fleet North Sea should have NOT been dislodged-there was only a 1-1 there, nor should said fleet have “autoretreated” to another space without a retreat phase where I would decide the retreat path (which, since there’s no retreat in the first place, won’t happen anyway).
Thunder in the area so I’ll comment in depth after I get back from work. Tristan and Wevets, glad to see that you are able to live up to your agreements. 
Wait. Why was Eng F Nth displaced? Those were all equal strength moves. He was bounced in Holland and should remain in Nth and the Denmark fleet bounces and stays in Den.
[Russia]
Turkey
O Magnificent and Munificent Sultan of the Ottomans, I see that the glorious gaze of your eagle eye is as perceptive as the Prophet upon the mountain. Might I inquire as to how it could be possible that the Sublime Porte’s memory has, perhaps, sublimated into vapours? A mere seven hours (a truly auspicious holy number indeed) prior to your delicate expression of bewilderment you did not say
It may be as likely as a souk merchant to regale a buyer with tales of the delectability of his wares as it is that the sheer torrent and weight of verbiage excreted through the Bosporous upon the diplomats of Europe has addled thy mind beyond the capacity to retain the ins and outs of thine own prevarications, needless to say that the trustworthiness of such blatter is akin to the docility of the desert camel to a rider who has not yet asserted his dominance.
And as to the charge of incompetence, I need only point to the workplace safety sign that graces the Tsar’s wall:
Austria
As could be predicted, the Turk is now at the gates of Budapest without so much as a by-your-leave. I believe a satisfactory conclusion could be attained through awarding Rumania to Austria, and Russian forces would be glad to support the Archduke’s armies in this endeavor. Concomitantly, perhaps neutral passage for a Russian army through Galacia could be permitted? It would obviously be suicide for Russia to stab Austria in addition to fighting Turkey. You will, after all, have armies in both Vienna and Budapest at the beginning of 1902.
England
Our fleets, I presume, face each other in amity across the border? I see that there has been a reduction in the sheer amount of military hardware in the region on both sides as the safety of our homelands is far more important.
[/Russia]
Yeah - I’m puzzled by that too.