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Arjah smiled with satisfaction. It had been expensive to have the papers sent out via AAMS, to all the guilds of standing in both the Horde and the Alliance, but she wanted everyone to have a chance to consider the offer. And if they considered it and rejected it, or didn't bother to look at all...

Well. The Homeland had dealt with truculent public opinion before, and so had Arjah in her days before the Homeland if it came to that. Besides. She was sure people would see reason. They always did, in the end.

--

A PUBLIC OFFER to the GUILDS of the HORDE and ALLIANCE,
proposing a treaty to mutually acknowledge and defend the sovereign territories of member races, inviolable to ousiders regardless of political association.


To the Citizens of the Horde and the Alliance:


The Homeland was founded with a simple premise: the idea that all people, regardless of race or creed, deserved a family and a home. I like to think that we have done our small part to offer that to the Horde.


Now that conflict has turned back from the Outland and Northern campaigns that defined our earlier days, and now that a great cataclysm has reduced our world's resources and territories even further, more homes will be threatened than ever before.


The Homeland wishes to propose a treaty, voluntarily signed and mutually enforced by guilds of both the Horde and the Alliance, which would set aside small "Home Territories" for each race of both faction.


These territories -- and these territories alone -- would be considered inviolable to signatory organizations, and incursions into them by hostile forces would require military response from signatories.


Exact borders of these "Home Territories" could be debated. I am less concerned with the particulars of rivers and valleys than I am with the notion that all our races deserve their own safe places in the ravaged world. A rough outline might look somewhat like these:

* Durotar in its entirety to be named the Orcish Home Territory, including the seas up to one mile offshore.
* Stranglethorn Vale, including what can be claimed of the ancient capitol Zul'Gurub, to the Darkspear and any trolls willing to ally with them.
* Mulgore, without exception, to be exclusively the Tauren Home Territory, with sufferance for peaceful visitors to the Darkmoon Faire.
* Tirisfal Glades and the Plaguelands as far east as Andorhal, including that city, to be Forsaken lands, with the lands beyond (including the Caer Darrow Renewal Project) remaining neutral.
* The Eversong Woods south to the Ghostlands to be inviolate Blood Elf Territory, including the reclaimed sections of the Isle of Quel'Danis
* Bilgewater Harbor and Azshara to be protected Home Territory for goblins affiliated with the Horde or the Bilgewater Cartel.
* Dun Morogh west from Ironforge to fall exclusively under Gnomeregan's soverignty, including all underground development and resources.
* Dun Morogh east of and including Ironforge to fall under the Council of Ironforge or any other regent of that city, with likewise rights to the underground.
* The island of Teldrassil and Darkshore as far south as The Master's Glaive to belong to the kal'dorei.
* Elwynn Forest, including the city of Stormwind, to be protected Human Home Territory, with sufferance for peaceful visitors to the Darkmoon Faire.
* All islands surrounding the Exodar, and that ship itself, to be protected Draenei Home Territory.
* All of Gilneas behind the Greymane Wall to remain the sovereign territory of Gileans, both worgen and human.

These are simply rough outlines, and obviously open to negotiation. I am perfectly happy to host as many discussions or summits as needed, with the help of the AAMS.


For the time being I simply ask response, from the guilds and from individuals -- can we agree to leave at least this much of a home for one another?


If not, the Homeland and our allies are prepared to defend the Horde's claims to home territories without regard for the Alliance's interests. But I would not have it said that we resorted to violence without offering a fair and balanced treaty first.


I eagerly await the response of all correspondents, supporting or opposed to this idea.


Ever Yours,


Arjah
Greatmother of the Homeland

A short and terse letter is sent in response to this outline of "home territories"...

Try convincing the Forsaken to give up our lands. But you can't, can you? You Horde types value the rotters too much.

How about you mind your own damn business. Lordaeron and Gilneas will belong to decent people again, once every last one of these filthy abominations is dead.

Yours,
Eidan Zherron

Another letter is sent, in somewhat of the same vein, but a lot more polite:

Greatmother,

I applaud your efforts to try and find common ground in this age of chaos; I myself have friends who belong to the Horde, dating back from my service in Northrend under Highlords Fordring and Mograine. But while I sympathize with your desire to settle borders and name "homelands" for our people, there are some who believe that some of those lands - specifically, those held by the Forsaken - should be wrested from them. The Forsaken have a right to exist, I will not dispute that. They control Tirisfal and Silverpine, and to a lesser degree Hillsbrad - that, I do look on somewhat hesitantly, being that I hail from the Brill area...but what is, is.

The problem is largely with the leadership of both the Alliance and the Horde, especially our supreme commanders. Garrosh has made no secret of desiring our destruction, and King Varian has made no secret of desiring yours. There are plenty on both sides who follow this lead in their own way: The Gilneans, of course, seek to eradicate the Forsaken entirely, while Sylvanas has become particularly bloodthirsty since the death of the Lich King. The invasions of Gilneas and Andorhal should be enough evidence of this.

There are plenty of humans from Lordaeron who seek the revitalization of their homeland, and I admit that I am among them. Stormwind has sheltered us, but it is not our true home. How, then, are we to call a place our home when it is held by those who seek our subversion or death? The same is true of Gilneas - while the hold the Forsaken have on it is tenuous at best, it is there, with their armed camps in Silverpine and the horrific atrocities they committed against the Gilneans, worgen and human alike.

I hope that there can indeed be a peaceful solution, but bitter experience has taught me that this dream is forlorn at best. Maybe I'm just a man resigned to endless war, as many are - the dead and the living alike - and have become cynical. I pray that I am in the minority, or we may well do what the Legion, the Lich King, the Twilight's Hammer, and Light-knows-who-else could not...wipe ourselves out.

Sincerely,
Baron Artimus Devaneaux

The response from the sons of Rukh arrives in an unmarked, plain envelope. There are two letters inside: one of them lengthy and scribbled in an almost illegible chicken-scratch. The second is short, to the point, and stained with what looks like...Moonberry Juice?

Greatmother Arjah,

Throm'ka. Your name is known and honored among the sons of Rukh, and on a recent visit to the Northern Barrens my father made me aware of your request. I have spoken with him and our kin on this matter. We agree that it is in the best interests of the Horde, of our clan, and of our honor that this treaty be signed.

This will come as a surprise to some. The sons of Rukh are warriors, and our clan has delivered thousands of Alliance dogs to the gates of the Nether. I know and cherish, myself, the shearing sound of my painsaw on human flesh, the smell of demolisher rounds in the morning (it smells like Lok'Tar!), and the feeling of gnome on my boot at the issuing of a punt. I fear, however, that bloodlust and vengeance (while fine in moderation) risk taking from us what we value most.

The sons of Rukh place great value on honor. The scalps we have brought before the Warchief are those of soldiers, honorably taken. What honor is there in attacking the above homelands? What honor is there to be gained in culling the Alliance's old and sick? What honor can be gained in the deaths of civilians, women, and children?

Our clan will have no place in the slaughter of those unable to defend themselves, and so we will not participate in attacks of the above civilian-populated areas. If honor is to be gained, let it be in the contested places of the world, where the rules of engagement are known and where sides are evenly matched. Here, through the strength of our arms, the sharpness of our axes, and the fire in our hearts, the Horde will prevail. Songs will be sung. We shall know victory, and they will know fear.

I will sign your treaty. I will speak to friends in Homeland about this matter as well. Tell those motherless Alliance sons of ogres that I will meet them to sign this treaty on a battlefield of your choosing with weapon - pen, pen, I meant pen - in hand. The sons of Rukh will respect the borders of their homes - but we will make trophies of any without the honor to respect ours.

Aka'Magosh and Lok'Tar, Greatmother.

Drakehide, son of Mok'Rukh

The second, Moonberry-Juice-stained letter falls from the envelope, short and to the point.

Greatmother Arjah,

Splendid! But will there be cake?

Mok'Rukh, son of Rukh

Greathmother Arjah,

I do applaud yer words. Perhaps yer heart is in the right place, however, I cannot acknowledge any peaceful accord with the Horde in any way.
My family, my friends, my entire village and the life I knew were all forever silenced and destroyed by a band of trolls who sought to claim THEIR lands. This was many moons ago in the distant snowy peaks of the mountains I once held dear.
I slaughtered everyone of the band who were responsible and swore to the mountain that I wouldn't rest until I had driven the horde from the Eastern Kingdoms.
Leave our lands and forget any claim you hold to our soil, only then will I sheath my blades.
I WAS a simple farmer, the Horde saw fit to change my path, go back across the seas, or I will hunt you to the last!

Cheers,
Trommarik

Yet another reply arrives, this in an ink mixed from troll blood.

The boundaries of Silvermoon and its policies of national interest, which may for the greater good take agents beyond those borders, have never and will never be dictated by trolls or the 'Homeland' organization.

That you should appoint yourself, a troll, to bear any such message as delineates elvish lands or implies to the world that Silvermoon needs you for its protection is an affront to the pride of Silvermoon. Whether this was deliberate or a simple blunder on your behalf is now beside the point as you have compounded the error by making your announcement publicly to the entire world.

To erase the stain of your insult, I invite you to die by my hand in the gurubashi arena in Stranglethorn at a time of your choosing.

Kiloaeda

Dear Horde,

By Care Of: Greatmother

Until the horde unconditionally surrenders to the Alliance you will gain no more ground then the holes you all reside in. Your desire to unite the races will fail everytime there is global conflict. To cite the most recent account during our campaign in the firelands; I have watched numerous Alliance soldiers fall to your trickery of trying to pick fights in neutral territories only to laugh as true heroes die.

The troll race has failed to claim any new territory in centuries. Diplomacy is not going to help your cause. I have seen the orcs defile and entire planet because of their own savagry. The forsaken are abominations that need to be cleansed and enter the light in peace.

While I have pity for what happened to the Elves and their homeland at the hands of Arthas, they are now the enemy. Being an ally of the Horde carries a deathsentence.

THERE WILL BE NO PIECE BETWEEN US SO LONG AS THERE IS A PLANET TO LIVE ON. REMEMBER THIS WHEN MY MACE COMES CRASHING DOWN ON YOUR FACE!

-Azmodiar

To erase the stain of your insult, I invite you to die by my hand in the gurubashi arena in Stranglethorn at a time of your choosing.

Kiloaeda

I dont reccomend that. You cannot afford to die by many more hands.

Dearest Darlin Arjah...

Much respect to ya hon, but this sorta thing, well, I laud the idear, ain't so sure 'of the practice.

Does mah heart good ta see it tried though. So, how long after ya sends this out ya reckon we gonna hafter bust some heads?

Yer Pal
Plainswander

What ho! What have we here?

A base insult, vile calumny! Some trollish wanton thinks to propose PEACE?!?!? BAH! As if those savages could ever be trusted. Any who ally themselves with the sickening abominations of The Forsaken can NEVER be trusted to do aught but betray and cheat.

Laughable really.

"Dreejin, sweetie? Pick up some more paper from de stationer's on ya way back from collectin' hearts taday, will ya?"

Arjah dipped her pen with great satisfaction. She paused, thought a moment, and added just before the door slammed: "In a separate bag from de hearts, please!"

--

To Eldan Zherron:

Gilneas beyond the wall I think reasonable to cede. The Fosaken offensive seems largely stalled, and I misbout there shall be further support for it from the rest of the Horde. If the worgen prefer an alternative home territory to represent their new diaspora, I should be interested to discuss possible locations.

Lordaeron I see less possibility for discussing. The Forsaken have held it for close to a generation now (at least to my short-lived people!), and if we grant their right to live we must needs grant their right to a home as well. While I recognize that it was once human land, its current state seems better suited to Forsaken inhabitance, and it must be considered that nearly ALL lands the Alliance is situated on were once part of the troll empires.

Ancestral claims may be honored in part -- but not in whole. Our world has become too small for any of us to claim the sum totality of all lands our ancestors ever occupied.

I thank you for your reply, and hope that we may offer some arrangement that suits you.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

--

To Baron Artimus Devaneaux:

My thanks for your timely reply.

As I have stated to others, I do not think the position of the Forsaken Undercity is negotiable. Tirisfal is wholly theirs in all practical regards, and frankly best suited to their peculiar condition environmentally as well.

I assure you that a jungle troll is wholly sympathetic to the plight of the exile. However, it is simply not practical for any of us to claim all lands ever inhabited by our ancestors as exclusive homelands. That said, the treaty as proposed leaves a great deal of the northlands unclaimed, and I am not adverse to discussing alternative boundaries.

I thank you for your interest and hope that we can reach some agreement on the matter.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

--

To the Sons of Rukh:

I am glad to have your support. It would be rather awkward to have dissent in the Homeland itself on the matter (particularly as the treaty has been available for us to peruse for some weeks now).

I believe cake can indeed be arranged.

Fondly yours,

Greatmother Arjah

--

To Trommarik:

I believe that families and homesteads such as your own would find more peace in a lasting agreement that protected home territories from open war, rather than from the more tenuous hope of military superiority. Between the dwarven and gnomish claims, as currently outlined in the treaty, the entirety of Dun Morogh would be protected form precisely such attacks as you yourself reference.

There will of course always be extremists, and I can hardly claim that the whole of the Horde will respect these boundaries, but it would lessen the defensive burden considerably, while simultaneously obliging far more Alliance defenders to aid the homesteaders in the event of Horde attack.

Still, if you feel that a single dwarf's weapons turned against the Horde is more useful than a treaty compelling some hundreds or thousands of Horde to leave Dun Morogh inviolate, that is of course your right, and I hope that it does not bring you to grief.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

--

To Kiloaeda:

The sovereignty of Silvermoon is its own affair. I would not presume to dictate it.

This treaty does not outline the territory of any specific govern or nation. Rather, it sets aside specific lands which Alliance signatories would agree to leave inviolate in the course of military action. That is their choice in signing, and in no particular way related to the interests or claims of Silvermoon.

In regard to your challenge, I think it very poor form to claim great insult that I, a troll, have taken an interest in your elven lands, and then immediately claim an honorable right to use MY race's most ancient arena. Setting aside the impracticality of the challenge, it seems rather inconsistent with your own views.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

--

To Azmodair:

Your willingness to stand up for your right to attack shopkeepers and boot-makers does you credit, sir. This is not a peace treaty; it is an agreement to leave some small civilian settlements and traditional homelands unmolested.

We would be happy to have your input in negotiations should you take an interest in the particulars of the treaty. General statements of distaste for the Horde (I assure you that I am no great lover of the Alliance itself) have little bearing on the matter.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

My Dear Plainswander:

I would hope the Ishnu Por Ah, at least, would not find the notion that all races deserve a small, peaceful homeland too radical. It seems a rather minor thing, really.

The treaty does, after all, leave a great deal of the world in which to slaughter one another merrily, which I will no doubt take advantage of myself. I simply thought we could all use a small space of respite from time to time.

Still, we will see what we will see. I suppose if the Alliance guilds are entirely intractable it will eventually result in some little flare-up or other. But if my treaty had not sparked one something else surely would have soon...

Ever Your Friend,

Arjah

--

My Dear Chauncer:

I find myself correcting this misapprehension repeatedly, so perhaps the wording of my original draft is flawed:

This treaty does not propose peace. I am perfectly happy to let the Horde and the Alliance slaughter one another from now until the end of days, and will no doubt continue to make a comfortable living from the conflict myself.

I simply propose the mutual respecting of certain small, inviolable "home territories" where we can all take peaceful respite. I had not thought that would be too radical. The need for a home is, I have always felt, a universal one.

I should be sorry to think things had become so bad that even that was forgotten.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

Yet another reply arrives, this in an ink mixed from troll blood.

The boundaries of Silvermoon and its policies of national interest, which may for the greater good take agents beyond those borders, have never and will never be dictated by trolls or the 'Homeland' organization.

That you should appoint yourself, a troll, to bear any such message as delineates elvish lands or implies to the world that Silvermoon needs you for its protection is an affront to the pride of Silvermoon. Whether this was deliberate or a simple blunder on your behalf is now beside the point as you have compounded the error by making your announcement publicly to the entire world.

To erase the stain of your insult, I invite you to die by my hand in the gurubashi arena in Stranglethorn at a time of your choosing.

Kiloaeda

*Written in thick pink crayon, scrawled heavily on light parchment. Several strange crayon scratches on the parchment suggest that the troll broke his writing equipment in anger. Addressed to Kiloaeda.*


Arjah got nuttin' but you elfie's best interests at 'eart. In fact, she adopted one liddle elfie girl dat pro'ly would 'ave ended up bein' nuttin' more den one o' yer deformed magic-addicts. Arj be full o' kindness an' smarts, an' if ya weren' such a proud liddle elfie, den mebbe ya see dat.

I expec' ta be readin' an apology from ya directed to ma luv'ly Arjah very soon, or it be ME dat be meetin' ya in da Gurubashi Arena. An' if ya be a no show...well den mebbe me an' some o' ma troll buddies come find ya, an' we 'ave a liddle chat about politics on our own terms, eh.

Dree'jin


Post-script: Da ink ya wrote wit' tastes awful good. Dat be Amani blood? I 'ave ta 'member dat nex' time I'm in da nort'. Would make a great blood sausage.

Written on thick parchment, the Ocheliad eye present as a symbol on its top, Cyrus mails his reply to Arjah. It reads:

Arjah,

While you may not know me, I know much of you, Modas, Homeland, and the Horde in general. Even if we were to sign such a treaty, the Horde has long moved past its days of honor, having traded it in for mindless slaughter of enemy and civilian alike. While I'm the first to acknowledge that sometimes things need to get dirty to accomplish goals, I also know it means you'd gladly deceive any signers.

The Horde still continues to attack, and preparations for retaliatory strikes have begun. There is no place safe. No sanctuary on paper that you can create for them. All you can do is watch as what you have tried to create burns.

Fear is Failure,

Cyrus Sagewind, Captain of the Black Guard

There was a small crowd assembled at the Hero's Call board in Stormwind, and it was not the usual collection of ragged mercenaries and would-be heroes. Brother Athanion Merrill detoured toward it himself, curious, on his way to buy more herbs for his studies.

"Homeland, hmm?" he murmured to himself, then read the rest, lightning-quick, before resuming his shopping trip.

How singularly unexpected, he mused silently. And yet, how very typical, now that I think of it. After their continued aggression, they now propose that we may keep the little patches of land we have managed to hold onto--but only that.

But it seems some of them do not see why it is we have been fighting. It has not been because they have stormed our remaining cities, but because they violate every other boundary. They murder, pillage, and burn in Ashenvale. They murder, enslave, and destroy in Hillsbrad. They lay waste, reduce to ruin, and tear down every good thing they find--to replace it with crude skin tents and blood-soaked fields, all in the name of their warchief.

Then they offer to let us keep what they don't want or what is too hard for them to take--for today. But they will eventually want Teldrassil, because "Kalimdor belongs to the Horde". Never mind that the night elves have lived longer than any other race among the trees they so valiantly defend...The Horde want it, and that is enough to make it theirs.

"There can be no lasting peace with such people," he said aloud, ignoring the people who looked at him for a moment before returning to their own business.

He wished he could take seriously the offer. But the Horde had a bad habit of offering cooperation and then driving a knife into the Alliance's trusting back; the Broken Front had been the work of the current warchief, and that was just one example. Perhaps this Greatmother really meant it, but the shame of causing her to be doubted lay with those who had demonstrated that the wider Horde could not be trusted.

Athanion shrugged and examined a sprig of bruiseweed. The crops had been getting scarce lately, and of poorer quality...but then, there were so few to tend them now, now that the humans had been murdered for almost thirty years for the Horde.

Kiloaeda read the replies.

To Kiloaeda:

The sovereignty of Silvermoon is its own affair. I would not presume to dictate it.

This treaty does not outline the territory of any specific govern or nation. Rather, it sets aside specific lands which Alliance signatories would agree to leave inviolate in the course of military action. That is their choice in signing, and in no particular way related to the interests or claims of Silvermoon.

In regard to your challenge, I think it very poor form to claim great insult that I, a troll, have taken an interest in your elven lands, and then immediately claim an honorable right to use MY race's most ancient arena. Setting aside the impracticality of the challenge, it seems rather inconsistent with your own views.

Yours in Good Faith,

Greatmother Arjah

And wrote this back to Arjah

Troll,

You would not presume to dictate it, and yet you do. Silvermoon and the Ghostlands are named in your treaty. What you don't seem to understand is that the elves don't need your treaty for protection. It is the suggestion by you that your help is needed to secure the borders of these lands that is the offense.

As for the Gurubashi arena, it is one of the few places where your horde banner won't protect you, and a symbolic icon of the barbarity of your people. That you, presumably a Darkspear, should still feel offense at my use of this because it is your 'heritage' only underscores the point that you are no different from the rest of your kind and have no business claiming to defend our lands.

And to Dreejin

All this correspondence has given me need for more ink.

PS: Funny that you of all people should write of no-shows.

Arjah,

Single dwarf? No dearest, I won't be standing alone, the Alliance will stand against the Horde. Yer words have had their time and have met the eyes of many. Even the hordish mongrels agree that we should continue the fight.
While the horde may number as grains of sand, the Alliance numbers as the stars!

Cheers,
Trommarik

The response to Arjah's message to the sons of Rukh appears scrawled hurriedly, and the page is coated in what looks like ash.

Greatmother Arjah,

Apparently honor carries just as much weight in the Alliance as I suspected. My father and I were gladly reading the response you sent (and Mok'Rukh, by the way, looks forward gladly to the prospect of cake) when our home in the Northern Barrens started shaking under our feet. We ran outside, weapons in hand, expecting an attack on the family homestead.

All we could see to the south was the smoke from Thunder Bluff.

The Alliance makes a great show of being a noble, downtrodden, underdog band struggling against a cruel, superior, heartless, and vicious Horde. I would like to see the irony pointed out to them that they have made an unprovoked attack on a major settlement, largely populated by civilians, within less than twenty-four hours of your request for disarmament in home regions. They spit upon us.

I do not know who has done this, or why. I know that this is an honorless and hollow victory, for whoever has done this. I hope the blood on their hands is comfort when they are alone, in the quiet dark.

The Alliance sends us a message. Perhaps they think that we will respond in kind. I say we are better than these motherless dogs. I say we are better than this. The sons of Rukh have agreed to your treaty, Arjah, and we are willing to stand by it firmly.

Please contact me at your next possible convenience with instructions. I will begin spreading word on this treaty to those guilds that I have contact with. There will be disarmament, if not peace, if we have to shove it down Varian Wrynn's throat at axe-point.

The sons of Rukh now stand at your service.

Drakehide, son of Mok'Rukh

P.S. Mok'Rukh means it. He's looking forward to that cake.

((P.S. For reals, let me know if there's anything I can do to help - I think this treaty even just as an RP concept has huge potential. And if this keeps up I'm going to have a REAL good excuse to shoot for the "Ambassador" title. xD))

A simple envelope is delivered. The wax holding the envelope shut bears an archaic form of the Stormwind sigil. The parchment inside seems to have been burned mildly.

Dear Arjah,

I stood in Stormwind as the orcs destroyed everything I knew a district at a time. I watched whole families fall as defencless people ran for thier lives. I've seen what your precious Horde has done to Gilneas and Ashenvale. You have destroyed our homes and butchered our people. Now you propose this treaty in an attempt to stop the favor from being returned. If you want a safe place to live, have your goblins build a spacecraft and get off my planet.

Have a nice day.

Promethius Nukenson.