The Clans of Arra (3/4)
Treaty of Arkin and Rehkin:
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Party A: General Haalfrin and any visitors from the Death Realm that he summons
Party B: Your matriarch, every successor after her, and the entirety of your clan
Party C: All other Clans that Party A has signed an Alliance Contract with, their Matriarchs, and their successors
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Contract Terms:
Term 1: The land within 10 miles of the fortress called "The Hall of Valor" shall be given to Party A permanently. No one may dig under Party A's territory, and no one can fly over it. All rights to mining, farming, and building on this territory will belong to Party A alone.
Party A may not expand his territory beyond the perimeters of this Contract.
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Term 2: Party B may not enter Party A's territory without written permission from Party A. Failure to comply with this will result in the trespassers being apprehended by Party A. They shall be held in prison for a maximum of 30 days.
If, during those 30 days, they are proven to be here with malicious purposes, their imprisonment will be indefinite. They shall only be released when Party B's Matriarch negotiates for their freedom.
Otherwise, after 30 days, the tresspassors shall be escorted out of Party A's territory with their equipment and lives intact.
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Term 3: Party B may call on Party A to defend Party B's territory from invading Clans. Party A's assistance is unconditional.
Once the invaders to Party B are repelled, then Party A's armies must leave Party B's territory when given the order by Party B's Matriarch. If Party B has no invaders, but fear an imminent attack, they may demand a post of up to 5,000 Arkin guards. This post may last up to a year before Party A is allowed to withdraw his troops.
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Term 4: When Party A is fighting a war for Party B, party A may not cross the borders out of Party B's lands. They may only stay home to defend Party B's territory.
Any attempt by Party B to coerce or convince Party A to invade other clans will result in harsh punishment – up to and including expulsion from the alliance.
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Term 5: Party A will be given free access to travel through Party B's territory without being accosted or restricted. Any border taxes on goods coming to or from Party A will not exceed 10%.
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Term 6: If Party A ever accosts Party B in Party B's territory – through killing Party B's citizens, stealing from them, or trespassing into their citizen's homes, then Party B is free to capture or kill Party A's offenders to the full extent of Party B's laws.
Any individual soldiers from Party A who are found to be guilty of accosting Party B will henceforth be banished from the Mortal Realm – never to be summoned again.
If Party A's leader (Haalfrin) is found to be the culprit, then any votes to absolve the Alliance in the Inter-Clan Alliance meeting will only require a 1/4 vote instead of a 2/3's.
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Term 7: Once every 10 years, Party A, Party B, and Party C will send a representative to Party A's territory to hold a meeting. Only there may amendments to the Contract be made. All amendments must be agreed on by all parties with no less than a 1/2 vote.
This meeting shall be called the "Inter-Clan" Alliance meeting.
A meeting may be called sooner than 10 years if 1/4 of the Clans in Party B and Party C call for it. Otherwise, the meetings will proceed as scheduled.
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Conditions for Contract Termination:
1. Party A's leader – General Haalfrin – dies.
2. Party A, Party B, and Party C all agree to absolve the Contract in an Alliance meeting. No less than a 2/3's vote may absolve the Alliance Contract.
As mentioned above in Term 5, the termination vote will only require a 1/4 vote, should Party A ever be found responsible for murdering, invading, or stealing from Party B or Party C.
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After reading over the contract, the Ak'Veri princess puts the scroll down with a puzzled look. "This is… quite thorough."
Rehkin tend to make their alliances based on the whimsy winds of their emotions. When they help each other out, they tend to act a lot more like teenagers duped up on hormones than sly businessmen.
Frankly, despite Rehkin being the inventors of the arcane Contract that Haalfrin is using, they never actually used that thing very often.
"What do you think?" Haalfrin asks.
All the other scouts from the other clans lean in. They're not of royal blood, so none of them dare open up their own scrolls. This only makes them more interested in the Lioness's reaction.
"It's…," the Ak'Veri princess's voice trails off. "Are you planning on giving this exact proposal to the other clans?"
Haalfrin nods.
"All right," the Lioness says while tracing her finger near the top of the scroll. "Terms 1, 2, and 5 have to do with your territory around this castle, as well as how you need to respect our territory. This much makes sense."
Her finger moves further down the page. "But Terms 3 and 4? Why? What's the point of helping out in our wars? Merely having the right to travel through our lands is hardly compensation for that."
Haalfrin shrugs, "All of my soldiers are visitors from the Death Realm. They have no need to be afraid of getting killed in your wars."
He then points to some of the Arkin, who are standing watch near the exit. "Plus, the dead are very… single-minded. Just lounging around with nothing to guard and nothing to do would drive them crazy."
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This is only a half-truth. In reality, the Arkin would be perfectly content guarding the World Gate, since they know that the Time-locked wall blocking off the Gate WILL wear down one day. When that happens, conflicts between humans and Rehkin may start again.
However, Haalfrin eagerly asked his generals and soldiers if they also wanted to help keep the peace between the clans. In reality, it's Haalfrin himself who'd go crazy if he had nothing to do – nobody to fight.
The idea of sitting around and wasting away makes him want to puke.
Of course, Haalfrin's idea to keep the peace between the clans was supported by their Rehkin comrades. Those dead Ancestors quite liked the idea of them all continuing to protect their descendants…
And so, "Terms 3 and 4" wound their way into the Alliance proposal that they drafted up…
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"Really?" the princess asks incredulously. "I don't believe that your people would be very eager to interfere with our wars. Don't they want to rest in the Death Realm?"
Haalfrin frowns at the princess. "You don't know of what you speak. The dead DO. NOT. CHANGE. Once a soldier, always a soldier. Fighting is what they know."
Seeing that this answer hasn't deterred her, Haalfrin adds, "Plus, our Rehkin friends in the Death Realm are keen on the idea of keeping the peace among their descendants. We all figured that the best way to prevent their clans from suffering another war is if we put in Terms 3 and 4."
The Lioness looks down again at the Contract with conflict in her eyes. After all, if she signs the Alliance Contract, then all of her enemies may not want to invade her lands, for fear of stubbing their toes against an army of immortal monsters.
… but she and her clan would, in turn, be tying themselves to an even more dangerous, yet unknown entity.
However, no matter how much she doesn't like it, she starts to realize that she has no choice but to sign it.
After all, if the other clans in Arra sign the proposal, then they'll be essentially safe from invasions, yet they'll be free to dedicate all of their forces to invading others.
Why post defenders at home when the immortal Arkin are defending their lands?
With this huge advantage, every Clan that doesn't sign the Alliance Contract will be at a heavy disadvantage. They'll become everyone's punching bag – unable to even retaliate against the other clans without being wiped out by the Arkin.
This is basically threatening her into signing it.
'On the plus side,' the princess thinks carefully, 'if EVERY clan is going to join this alliance, then nobody will be able to invade each other without these Arkin jumping in and slaughtering the invading armies – ending the clan war."
Without even having to say it, all Clans who agree to this alliance won't be able to attack each other, though they'll be free to attack anyone outside the alliance.
This sounds great on paper, but there are countless blood feuds between the various Clans. 'What about the Hyena Clan?' she thinks with a frown. 'If they sign this contract too, then will we just have to forget about all the suffering they've caused?'
The princess's own sister was the victim of a Hyena Clan attack. Those b#stards broke into the Ak'Veri palace for the sole purpose of venting their anger and slaughtering the new, baby princess.
Their attack was so swift and silent that by the time the princess and her mother, the Matriarch, managed to get to her sister's room, the only thing they could recover was a toddler's bloody, severed hand, as well as half of her face. The other half looked like it had been chewed off.
Just thinking of this horrible memory, the Ak'Veri princess realizes that many of her people have similarly horrific memories of those cackling freaks. Even more, their ancestors have hundreds of generations of hatred for that clan.
Sure, agreeing to this alliance would mean that her people would be safe from invaders…
... but at the same time, if the Ak'Veri signs the agreement, then the Hyenas will rush to sign it as well. They don't want to be one-sidedly invaded by the vengeful Ak'Veri, after all.
The Lion Clan princess closes her eyes, and her heart calms down. With her mind made up now, she says aloud, "I'll bring the contract with me back to my clan and review it with my mother and her advisors."
In reality, the princess has no issue signing the Contract. However, she wants to be sure that those Hyena b#stards don't sign it first. If those cackling demons stay out of the alliance, then there's no reason to avoid joining up.
The princess knows that if she makes the first move to join the alliance on behalf of her clan, then other, nearby clans will join along – sweeping up the Hyena's along with them.
She'd hate to scare the Hyena's into joining the alliance.
Seeing that the Lion Clan princess didn't immediately sign the proposal, Haalfrin sighs in disappointment. "Is there anything else?" he says to the Rehkin from the other clans.
There is silence.
"All right, then," he says, "I don't care if more clans come to sniff their noses around here, or if you people continue to poke around. However, once 30 days pass, I'll throw outsiders out of my castle, and I'll drive everyone out of my territory. No exceptions. You have until then to get enough information to satisfy your Matriarchs."
Haalfrin stands up and leaves them all behind. "Don't go anywhere in the castle without being accompanied by my soldiers."
He waves them all goodbye and makes his exit.