Iris: Difference between revisions

=== Secession from Montrose ===

When argetlam04 seceded from Montrose on November 11th, 2020, he had to ask [[Montrose|Montrosian]] Assembly to allow him to do so, as this constituted ceding land to another country (HUM). Montrosian Assembly voted on the following three terms:

While the Montrosian Assembly made it clear these were the only terms under which they would agree to allow argetlam04 to retain the home and the production facilities he had built, these stipulations were controversial with the inhabitants of Iris, as the Montrosian Assembly has not required perpetual restrictions of any estate that has opted to leave the Commonwealth before or since, such as [https://discord.com/channels/504795568313335809/565948782144127018/686308099551789097 Wohlstand], [[Saru]], and [[Windiya]], all of which went on to merge with other nations. Among other factors, these restrictions, and Assembly's repeated rejection of [[HUM|Hummite]] attempts to negotiate to resolve them, contributed to the formation of a significant diplomatic schism between the formerly-unified nations.

Montrose maintained that the circumstances of argetlam04's secession were fundamentally different from those of other Montrosian estates. Iris was the only one settled in previously-held, core Montrosian land. Wohlstand, Saru, Windiya, and a number of other estates formerly or currently in Montrose all existed as independent entities before their merging. These allegedly-unusual stipulations surrounding Iris were implemented to ensure that Iris's status was argetlam04's home, rather than an uninhabited exclave.

=== The Iris Question Answered ===

In April of 2023, HUM engaged in a renewed push for a diplomatic settlement, and were once again rebuked. Some Montrosians such as Chipt and Mania_Man voiced support for a resolution and sympathized with HUM's plight, but the majority of voices refused to consider any kind of land deal. HUM then revealed privately, in the embassy, documented evidence of untruths about their efforts that were spoken by Montrosian leadership to citizens in internals as well as in back channels of allegedly apolitical international organizations like the West Sea Confederation. These were dismissed as, at most, "perhaps exaggerations", and it was denied that there was any kind of "pattern of misinformation", after which Montrosian citizens sent gifs of babies crying and suggested burning down Iris to resolve the situation (later claimed to be "a joke to lighten the mood"). Any proposal to resolve the enclave or simply allow argetlam04 to own his home outright were dismissed out of hand.

At this point, HUM went to #mc-world-news with the evidence and called publicly for the behavior to be discontinued. The contents are displayed below, and condemn the behavior with screenshots of Montrosians' conduct in embassies, internal Montrosian channels, and private channels in the WSC.<gallery caption="The contents of the callout announcement HUM made in #mc-world-news following the diplomatic breakdown of their latest attempt at negotiations.">

File:Iris Callout Announcement.png

File:Iris Announcement Proof 1.png

File:Iris Announcement Proof 2.png

File:Iris Announcement Proof 3.png

File:Iris Announcement Proof 4.png

File:Iris Announcement Proof 5.png

</gallery>

[[File:Iris Apology.png|thumb|The public apology given by FlyingGMM in response.]]

Soon thereafter, the [[Shaxian Empire]] and [[Ozai]] posted messages in support of HUM's quest to resolve the Iris Question. Slightly more than half an hour later, Montrosian leader FlyingGMM posted an announcement admitting the pattern of wrongdoing and that the remarks were untrue.

After the public callout, Montrose apologized again privately, and returned to talks with a less hardline stance toward a solution. A number of deals were proposed at first which involved Montrose owning land in the south of Etel Metsia, and suggestions were made that HUM should give up more land than whatever they receive due to its value, which received a fervent rebuttal from GoatWhisperer going over the similarity of current offers to taunt offers made in the past, discussion of previous Montrosian definitions of "border gore", and HUM's historical lack of access to land. This rebuttal appeared to be a watershed moment for the negotiations, as the points made and their subsequent discussions appeared to break through to FlyingGMM and other Montrosians.<gallery caption="The rebuttal by GoatWhisperer and subsequent counteroffer by FlyingGMM which eventually led to the resolution of the Iris Question.">

File:Iris GW Rebuttal 1.png

File:Iris GW Rebuttal 2.png

File:Iris GW Rebuttal 3.png

File:Iris GW Rebuttal 3.png

File:Iris FlyingGMM Counteroffer.png

</gallery>The final sticking points came from two Montrosians who appeared opposed to the deal. The first was visiphon, who had weighed in extensively in the past, and now announced he had long-standing plans to develop caves and the ravines they fed into under the area into cities that he had not mentioned in the previous days of the debates. With this being the reason HUM could not seek to obtain the western portion of the patch of woods they sought, GoatWhisperer suggested surveying be conducted to find where these caves were. Days went by and visiphon did not complete the surveying, so GoatWhisperer went to the area to conduct it himself with the directions provided by visiphon. The surveying revealed that the entrance to the caves was actually in the Eastern portion of the land, that the caves ran south directly into existing Hummite land, and the ravines also existed substantially within HUM's land, meaning visiphon would have to have HUM's permission to develop them rather than the inverse.

With this issue settled, discussions lulled again for a few days before another Montrosian, Abstacious, who had so far not participated in discussions at all, raised an issue over items he had lent and were not returned "years ago" from argetlam04, stating "if we're gonna talk about a land deal, let's talk about an item deal." Having been unaware of this issue since it had not been mentioned in the years since, HUM affirmed that they would find these items and return them, and with that the Assembly of Montrose began voting. On May 3rd, 2023, the [[Iris Accords]] passed the Montrosian Assembly, having been previously ratified by the Hummite Ecclesia the Accords were now fully in force. The following land exchanges were made:<gallery>

File:Iris Accords 1 - Western Etel Metsia.png|Territory ceded to Montrose by HUM

File:Iris Accords 2 - Southern Uisce Forest.png|Territory ceded to HUM by Montrose

</gallery>The first full day of Iris's liberation, May 4, was voted by the Hummite Ecclesia to be a national holiday called Iris Day, a day "to remember the historic marginalization of our people and our resilience to overcome it." To celebrate this event, GoatWhisperer of HUM published a "ℍ 𝕌 𝕄 𝕎 𝔸 𝕍 𝔼" video showing the adversity faced by the Hummites in the years of their quest for this solution and their resilience to keep going regardless: https://youtu.be/cxw48rveD_o