Natharctica Conference Delivers
An Impasse Passed and a Constitution Made

An impromptu conference held in Natharctica by President Aladdin of El-Hussaq, the President of Samchorage, the Manager of Miketon, the Imperatore of Pauldelphia, and the Prime Chancellor of Marcusburg initially spiralled towards disaster. The issue being debated was the Confederate cap.

President Aladdin, acting as prime negotiator for the Confederacy, insisted that there be no cap on a Confederate army, as specified in the Treaty of Riksholm. The Prime Chancellor, speaking on the behalf of the Nexus, felt that the difference in interpretation held by the Confederacy was a form of backstabbing, that is, bargaining in bad faith.

The Confederacy saw the absence of a Confederate cap as an opportunity. The Nexus saw it as a dangerous loophole. Following the Confederacy's example, the Prime Chancellor announced that the Nexus had found a "loophole" of its own. Under international law, any nation that has been occupied longer than a week wihout a formal peace treaty in place is automatically annexed. Therefore Kamograd is automatically a part of Lindsholm.

The Prime Chancellor then proposed that Lindsholm restore Kamograd province in return for a military cap on the Confederate army. Upon hearing the news, President Aladdin issued a counter-proposal of his own. The Nexus could keep Kamograd once it is burned down to the ground, while Lindsholm troops are still occupying it.

The news enraged the Prime Chancellor, who charged that Aladdin's proposal would be a declaration of war. An impasse was reached and tension built on both sides. The Prime Chancellor spoke of renewed war and invited Samchorage to join an allied control commission that would preside over El-Hussaq should renewed conflict break out. To everyone's surprise, the President of Samchorage accepted and stated that if war continued, he would pledge neutrality and withdraw from the Confederacy. This only solidifed the Confederacy's unwillingness to bargain. The talks then formally collapsed.

President Aladdin returned to El-Hussaq and telephoned the Ethnarch of Rattanjeetland, informing his Lourdness about the failed conference. The Ethnarch then sent a scathing telegram to the Prime Chancellor containing personal attacks.

However, after discussing the issue with the President of Samchorage, the Ethnarch apologized to the Prime Chancellor and cleared the way for peace talks. The Ethnarch agreed that a Confederate army will have a 40% cap, based on the population of the trailing Confederate nation. The Confederate army would include troops and conscripts from Confederate nations. The troops used in the Confederate army would be troops from the national armies, and would be counted as such in both level of cap - national and pan-Confederate. In return, Lindsholm would restore Kamograd.

The Ethnarch and the Prime Chancellor also agreed that they would try to improve relations between the Nexus and the Confederacy, which have deteriorated substantially since the Riksholm Treaty was signed. Capitals around the Mapp are hoping that the relations improve, for fear of the evolution of a bipolar world.