Conflict Resolution [DRAFT]

BREAKING NEWS: Ace / Alta Negotiations To Begin - End To War In Sight?

A source in the Galactic Cooperation Peacekeeping Force, speaking to The Reporter under condition of anonymity, has indicated that peace talks have been tentatively arranged between the Altarian Battleship Her Glorious Command and the ACE cartel. Negotiations are expected to begin aboard Cooperation Battleship Firebrand TE-3 in the coming days, seeking to bring an end to the conflict that has consumed the moon Keter 6a ‘Ace’s World’ for over a year.

Our source also claims that in addition to Altarian, ACE, and Firebrand representatives, the talks will also be attended by a delegation from the Mytenean Societal Corps, who have been working with the Firebrand to facilitate the talks. Elegy representatives are also expected; while their stake in the negotiations is unclear, rumours we reported last month suggested that Elegy Spectres were thought to be operating in the warzone.

More on this story as it develops.

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# Incoming Direct Message
# Source Identifier: Mytenean Societal Corps
Accept transmission? y/n
Y

# Message Begins

A pivotal moment for the Keter System is close at hand, but peace will slip through our fingers if we’re not careful. We fear neither Ace nor the Altarians are being completely forthcoming with us nor each other. There’s a risk that the talks will fail unless they open up.

While our negotiation team tries to solve this diplomatically, we would appreciate it greatly if you could visit both Ace’s World and Her Glorious Command and see if you can shed any light on their respective situations by more direct means.

If you are available and willing, please meet us aboard the Firebrand to discuss further.

# Message Ends

• gunnery_sergeant_desiring_peace - Phil
• heightened_serendipity - Tamsin

• Desiring Peace and Heightened Serendipity meet a negotiator from the Mytenean Societal Corps aboard Firebrand, where they are preparing for the peace talks that are due to begin soon. They are briefed that there is some concern about both sides of the negotiations, and they are being asked to go visit the key players and understand what's happening. In particular:
  • Ace's High seemed keen for the peace talks, and had been discussing openly with the MSC what she wanted and was willing to negotiate for, but has recently gone very quiet and is not even confirming whether she will definitely attend the talks.
  • Meanwhile, the discussions with the Altarians aboard Her Glorious Command have been…. confusing. The commander of the military forces, 16th Century Piercing Bough, has been the primary contact, and they have seemed reasonable in discussion - open to ending the war, certainly - but then they seem to change their mind, or walk back commitments they had previously made. There is concern whether the Altarians are taking these talks seriously.
• The party head first to Ace's World, where they find that Ace's High is not in her usual office, but appears to have gone to Fableland, so they head there. After dealing with the decaying corpse of a Fableland villager (and its other decay monster friends) en route, they arrive to find King Valiant and Blind Rising in deep discussion about the future of the village.
• It turns out that Fableland has had two offers for its future, one from the bandits under Wildcard Gilded and one from the ACE organisation:
  • The bandits think Fableland's citizens would be excellent at living in the Decay, being runners, outpost inhabitants, etc for the most organized 'rebel' towns. Blind Rising and the Adventurers' Guild are in favour of this option.
  • Ace's High has suggested that instead Fableland could become a tourist attraction under the ACE organisation, with its Tournament running year-round to attract outsiders. King Valiant is in favour of this solution.
  • As the party are leaving, a delegation from Wildcard Gilded arrives, and King Valiant turns down their offer in favour of the 'my tournament is the best thing ever' option. The bandits are, however, allowed to leave without violence, and are overheard to say they think some of the Adventurers' Guild might defect to them anyway rather than become nothing more than a tourist attraction.
• The party continue onwards, through the razormonkey-infested scrubland of Ace's World, until they find Ace's High holed up in a backwater casino in the backwater town of Royal Flush. The bouncers on the door initially refuse entry to Heightened Serendipity when she openly reveals that she is an Elegy operative, but she is able to slip in under cover of WARP when another patron arrives. Desiring Peace, meanwhile, has to deal with answering anti-Altarian riddles to be approved for entry by the bouncers.
• Ace's High is initially extremely concerned by an Elegy representative showing up in front of her, but the combination of Heightened Serendipity voluntarily putting down all their weapons, and Ace's High having worked with Desiring Peace before, gets them an audience with no violence kicking off. The party learn that Ace's High is still keen for the peace talks to go ahead, but has heard that there is an Elegy contract on her head, so she is being extremely careful about who knows where she is and where she will be. She confirms that she does intend to attend the peace talks, but doesn't want anyone to know that ahead of time, to reduce the risk that Spectres can out-manoeuvre her. She is keen to move on, since if the party have found her here then others can, and asks the party to let her leave before them, which they do.

• Bullet points of what characters did in the aftermath of the mission

• Breakdown of consequences for characters - rewards, effects, contacts.
• Also mention any wider consequences for the world

• Consequences

• Consequences

• Consequences

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