ROLEPLAY

Honored Salazar,

this debate with you troubles my mind, for I have to think deeply about what you have said. That which you said is true. As someone who likes to roam the four countries free at will I have not paid attention enough to the treaty. While I do believe my ethics coincide with the spirit of it, I strongly oppose being represented by whoever organization deems itself worthy to represent the stateless. What will the Trytonists say if the Rangers claim full representative authority? Not that I like them - the Trytonists. *sigh*

This dispute has opened my eyes as to that I yet have to find my place in the order of things.
It is good that you bring the topic of the discussion back to the topic at hand, namely the discussion of the treaty. I will ponder about your educative explanations and retreat to meditate.

Here is a crude translation I made of the Déclaration des Droits de l'Homin" inspired by Still Wyler that some of you might also not know about:

The Universal Declaration of Homin Rights is a major step in recognizing homins as a single entity and therefore in recognition of the homin species. This text was inspired by a text Still Wyler presented to the government of Fair Haven in 2507 to fight slavery. The final text was amended and ratified by representatives of the four peoples in 2518 under the leadership of Wyler, here are the contents:

Article 1
Hominkind is not divisible. Each of the four nations is an equivalent quarter of hominkind. All Homins are equal members of the homin species.

Article 2
Homins are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Article 3
No Person shall be held in slavery or servitude. Slavery and slave trading shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 4
A homin is neither an animal nor a machine nor an object. A Homin differs from the animal kingdom, objects or machines through their ability to predict and plan a series of actions, which indicates the presence of a soul. As a result, Homin can not be reduced to the set of organs that allow the body to function.

Article 5
All Homins, regardless of race, age, nationality or religion, have the right to choose their appearance and the way they dress.

Article 6
All Homins have the right to exercise a profession in all free states homins within the laws of the nation concerned.

Article 7
Everyone has the right to have equal access to technology, magic, medicine and education to enhance their personal development.

Article 8
Knowledge and higher training should be accessible to everyone equally on the basis of personal merit.

Article 9
Nobody is allowed to unlawfully assault others.

Article 10
Regardless of race or color, a homin must rescue all injured and promptly treat them for their recovery. Failure to comply with this section constitutes a violation of fundamental rights of Homins.

http://fr.ryzomnomnom.com/wiki/Déclaration_des_Droits_de_l'H omin

Dear Homins,

At the last Assembly in Zora the honored Awakened Fey-Lin Liang mentioned another line of some important treaty of the four peoples, allegedly stating that transport of homins and goods/wares must not be restricted by any Nation. So it seems there exists even another Treaty that we still do not know of, even after collecting all kinds of treaties here on this notice board.

How could any homin keep up their loyalities and wits if they are suddenly told that there are more and more treaties in existance that they have to obey, allegedly placing them under an obligation to do or not do this or that or whatever? This leaves a lot of room and chances to misinform and manipulate others. I will not take it.

As a representative of the Zorai I am obliged to follow the principles of my people first of all anyway. My values are Wisdom (and teaching/knowledge), Spiritual accomplishment, Respect of Nature / Ecology, Harmony of body and soul, Meditation / prayer; and of course unquestioned Respect for the Theocracy of my Nation. Anything else has to come second.

So on a personal note I want to declare here and now that I will not feel bound by any treaties that have not been made known to me before becoming a representative of the Circles of the Zorai. Which means I will stay loyal and true to the one treaty I know: http://app.ryzom.com/app_forum/index.php?page=post/view/112832 (German version of the Treaty that was signed on Leanon.)

I might or might not decide to respect any other allegedly existing treaties solely based on my personal decisions for each case seperately. However if anybody except my political superiors should try to make me follow any obscure alleged treaty that I have never heard about I might perhaps answer to that using the words of some wise Tryker my dear friend Sari Sarisa has told me about; I believe this Tryker's name was Go'Etzvon Ber'Lichingen.

Thanks Zhoi, for that translation. Awakened Feylin informed me about that version found under http://app.ryzom.com/app_forum/index.php?page=topic/view/10933/3# 1. I only did not find the time to translate. At time I shall check the archives Filira Nemra opened to the public for the version of the declaration in the dialect of Dyron, Hoi-Cho, and Windermeer, there should exist one.

The declaration falsifies Filira Salazar's allegation that Marauders have ever been not regarded as homins. Even the peoples not regarding enslavement as a crime before (what Fyros and Trykers always did) never asserted something of that kind. Only, marauders showed up as constant residents of the New Lands only lately, therefore no necessity arose to define their legal status. My own stance always was to consider them as fellow homins, listen to them, communicate with them, and live with them as long as they do not try to destroy the way of life, livelihood and freedom of religions and conscience practised by the free peoples. And I want to emphasize that few homins have reasons like Diwu and me to hold a grudge against marauders.

Concerning the question of the representation of stateless homins, I want to stress that the accusations and suspicions raised by Filira Salazar are close to an outrage. During the history of the New Lands, stateless neutrals have always been fighting alongside with citizens when the nations were in danger. Only when foolish nationalists decided to slay one another, they stepped back and tried to restore peace and unity of the free peoples. The risks they took acting that way were in no way lower than those of patriots on the battlefield.

Further on, Filira Salazar judges on pacts he is poorly informed of and obviously does not fully understand. The "tenants" in the historical document refers to homins holding equal very high reputation to all nations and creeds. That alone is a high requirement which is not easy to employ and maintain, probably ways harder than high loyalty towards a single nation, and coming with much lesser rewards. Therefore his accusations are injust and void. Neutral homins in that definition carry a considerable burden of disadvantages for their chosen loyalty to all homins of Atys. The life of a national with a creed is clearly easier and burdened with less duties.

Having risked our health and lives during decades under the slogan of the Atys Rangers "For all of Atys", I confess to be somewhat offended therefrom. Anyway, what we are demanding, and organizing whatever others may think about, is a fair representation for the group of stateless but loyal homins. It is obvious that none of the nations will grant such.

Surely I can only speak for me and Diwu who is reading what I write and agreeing to, We have always fought alongside with the nations, in cases of emergency as well as on the battlefield, unless they decided to wage war upon one another. That is not our business and won't be, and we don't think that any of the four people will gain from.

But, to say it again, we deny any duty of allegiance to any nation we never belonged to, only based on our ancestry and outer appearance. Therefore we declare the paragraph of historic treaties claiming such as void and anachronistic.

I have also found some old and worn-out parchment named "Le Traité des Quatre Peuples (ou Édit de Still Wyler)" (French version of the old Treaty of Four Peoples signed by Still Wyler) at the Library here: http://atys.ryzom.com/projects/3/wiki/L_Traité_des_Quatre_Peuples I put together a quick and crude translation. It resembles the Treaty of Four Peoples that most of us know with little differences:

The Treaty of Four Peoples (or the Edict of Still Wyler)

We, the representatives of the governments of the four nations gathered on this day, Prima of Germinally in the fourth Cycle of AtysianYear 2532 at the Workshop of Canyon of Winds, now declare that:

I.
1. all Homins regardless of race and religious beliefs that were instilled in them are free to choose to have faith in one of the Powers.
2. Two faiths are recognized:
Faith in the Kamis, with Ma-Duk as the Great Kami.
Faith in the Karavan with Jena as Goddess.
3. Faith can in no way serve as a reason for not complying with the other articles of the treaty.

II.
4. The loyalty of homins is founded by their nation, determined by their citizenship.
5. the loyalty of stateless homins is to the nation of their birth race. Four Nations are recognized:
The Nation of Fyros, led by the Emperor.
The Nation of Matis, led by the Crown.
The Nation of Trykers, led by the Governor.
The Nation of Zoraï, led by the Great Sage.
6. Homins must behave just and in accordance with their nation and its leader at any time.
7. Homins must obey the laws of their nation without question.
8. Homins must defend the territory of their nation during war or local conflicts.
9. Homins residing or passing through a nation that is not theirs have to obey the laws of that nation without question. However, they are not required to defend this country in case of war or local conflicts.
10. In case of war between Nations homins must obey the rules of their nation only on the place of conflict, until the cessation of hostilities.

III.
11. We recognize the benefits of outposts held by the different houses, tribes, families and guilds of Homins in this period of growth and development, but the powers are not responsible for maintaining peace in the conflicts for the possession of outposts.
12. No government will intervene in any way in conflicts or fighting for possession of outposts, unless this should be a threat to national security or stability of the political system.

IV.
13. When a nation is threatened by Kitins the leader of the nation or their representatives acting on their behalf may ask for support by the other nations.
14. In this case, all homins have to help the attacked Nations as if it were their own.
15. Other threats such as Goo, the Marauders or unknown foes, can also give reason for the same procedure if should they put a Nation of Homins at risk.
16. If a nation demands support when not needed, this may be considered as a rupture of the treaty.

V.
17. This treaty takes precedence over the edicts and agreements between the peoples written in the past if two articles contradict each other.

Signatures:
On behalf of the Nation Trykers: Governor Still Wyler
On behalf of the Fyros Nation: Emperor Dexton
On behalf of the Nation Matis: His Majesty Yrkanis
On behalf of the Nation Zoraï: Great Sage Mabreka

I thank you, Daomei, for clearing up who the Tenants supposedly are; indeed, I never heard about them before, certainly not in all the years I was a stateless as well as restless homin, for I only became a citizen of Matia when the Ally of the Four tried to take over the Matis economy by force, and it then still took a further few years - although not that long as my life as a wanderer before - until Jena enlightened me. It is interesting to note, though, that Infidel had neither heard of them, which sort of makes them appear like a secret organisation even among the stateless, doesn't it? Yet they are known to the Rangers, who sign in their behalf; the Rangers who also approve or refuse the elected representative of the stateless homins. I confess, I do wonder a bit.

I also do wonder about the paragraph in which you say my conclusions would be outraging, for then you are stating exactly what I said, just playing a different melody with it. You did hit a false tune however when you wrote "Only when foolish nationalists decided to slay one another, they (the stateless neutrals) stepped back ". It obviously means every kind of war between the nations. I am saddened to see Still Wyler, supported by Yrkanis and fighting Jinovitch in the Lagoons of Loria, is now called a "foolish nationalist", as that is, regarding the examples I gave and repeated so often that by now they put every reader fast asleep, exactly what you said; that a homin defending his country against invading other homins is foolish and a nationalist. I hear that with great sadness, Daomei. It doesn't outrage me; it simply makes me sad.

You say that Marauders showed up as constant residents of the New Lands only lately. Yet most of us are familiar with Aen, with Pei-Ziao, with Sirgio and others for a long time; they are residents of sorts for longer than most homins now walking the Bark. Yet, as Irfidel said, you fight them - you *still* fight them - with great regularity. The treaty you strive for says: "The Commission oversees the military coordinators of each nation to fight effectively against the Marauders. The hunt for a criminal Marauder is the only occasion where a military of a nation can cross the borders of neighboring Nations without prior authorization." It does not refer to that the Marauders have to attack first. But yet it does give a sort of hunting licence, while the original Treaty of the Four Nations only put them on a map as enemies of all homins "if they put a Nation of Homins at risk" - which had been the case from time to time, as we all know, and which was suspected when we fought them in Hidden Source, but quite obviously most of them are not a constant threat to the nations.

So why don't you address the fact that by all means life will obviously becomes harder for Marauders if the T.E.N.A.N.T. Treaty would take place of the Treaty of the Four Nations, which not necessarily is a bad thing, but a contradiction to your expression of respect for Marauders as "fellow homins". If you see the Treaty of Four Nations as void and anachronistic, as it indeed burdens homins with responsibilities that limits a carefree life of decision between the will to help in cases one wants to help, and to be lazy if one doesn't want to help at all, I wonder what would be the right description for a document which stays unclear, if not mysterious to a large amount of people, and which puts in the expressed possibility to hang a Marauder's head over the fireplace in every homin's house.

Salazar, taking Aen, Sirgio and similar as an argument for permanent residency is somewhat unfair. We all will be in agreement that neither of them ever tried to step into any of our assemblies and claim to have a say in favor of the clans of the marauders. Despite my continuous fights against them I would have stood up for granting them safe escort and immunity in such case. But so far they have only shown up as foreign invaders and , in your words, "warlords and colonialists". Contrary to what you suspected, I shall always be in combat with those.

And it is obvious, too, that the situation changed with the permanent settlement of the clans. We should never forget that we all, marauders and homins of the free peoples alike, stem from the Ancient Lands. Since the First Great Swarming, the stream of refugees from there never ceased, new homins arriving in the refugee camp of Silan (btw. led by the Atys Rangers) every day. They have not only fled the threat of the Kitins there (which some of them do not even know and learn first when exploring the Lands to Explore) but frequently from the tyranny and barbaric customs of the clans which they do not accept, sticking to their allegiance to one of the four nations and/or to one of the two recognized creeds.

The long period of peace (obviously shorter in some parts of the world as documents like the T.E.N.A.N.T treaty reveal) has brought us not only wealth, but also a generation of homins among which some doubt the values of the four nations and the two religions alike, seeking personal freedom, strength, and adventure in the nomadic life of the clans. We may condemn such behavior, yet those homins remain our people, we must not stop (and I shall never do) to maintain communication, even to protect them and cooperate with them as long as they do not act directly against our values and laws.

I do not see a way to give those homins a say in the political life of our realms, but if there were a way to do so, I would support it. And, blame me, if there were a way to listen to and learn from the Kitins, whom I do not regard animals, but an adverse and alien civilization, I would strongly advocate to give them a say too. That would not make me attempt to cuddle Gerder or Dai-Den.

The Awakened Fey-Lin Liang mentioned the "Free Trade Agreement" that was signed by King Yrkanis, Emperor Dexton, the Great Sage Mabreka Cho and Governor Still Wyler in 2516 in Hoi-Cho. Sadly no exact phrasing that I would know of has been made public, but the Dynastic Circle of the Zorai might find a copy in the Great Library of Zora; so I have written a letter to ask them. Hopefully they will read it this time and not just ask me about my reasons to know about it at every Assembly from now on and postpone their answer until the Third Great Swarming...

This Free Trade Agreement was made to establish free movement of merchants in all homin territories. http://atys.ryzom.com/projects/puben/wiki/L_ZoraiNewBegin In the dialect of Jen-Lai it is specified that this Agreement shall "allow the free movement of goods through territories". (Sommet d'Hoï-Cho, quatre grands homins (Yrkanis, Dexton, Mabreka et Wyler) signent un Accord de Libre-échange pour permettre la libre circulation des marchandises sur tous les territoires homins.)

However the newer Treaties of Four People and even the TENANT Treaty all state "Homins residing or passing through a nation that is not theirs have to obey the laws of that nation". And they all declare: "This treaty supersedes previous treaties in regard to the above articles" in each dialect.

I have to point out that the Zorai Nation wants to establish a law against the handling, import, export and transportation of Goo and Goo-polluted items in, out and through the Witherings (like ammunition to prevent another horrible murder like that of the much loved Governor Still Wyler or Goo-drugs produced by tribes of the Witherings).

The Theocracy might also want to forbid the import, export and transport of other wares and creatures into, out of and through the Witherings like Goo-altered living animals (for instance by Marauders or their helpers like Muang Hoi-Gi / Marung Horongi) or living termites in every state of growth that have been fed with or altered by magic potions and the like in the future.

For this law all existing Treaties and former laws have to be considered wisely, which might get a bit difficult. For the moment the new law will declare that Goo and especially Goo-contaminated items are not to be seen as "wares" or even "goods", but as a disease and an abomination, and as such will not be allowed to be transported border-crossing except by authorized officials and scholars...