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Yes, there is quite a difference. The problem is, Sharona doesn't know that. Shaylar told them that the force pinning her team deliberately chose to shoot their leader in the throat. Nothing she said indicated that it was a mistake by a junior officer because she didn't know that's what it was. She assumed it was the order. Chan Baskay and Arthag discuss it at one point and even though Skirvon is telling the truth as he knows it that the officer in charge tried to avoid the massacre, they conclude that Skirvon only believes that because the officer in question lied to his superiors.
With Thalmayr, those that were there saw that the officer on the spot chose to fire on a man holding a parley flag. They have no way to know whether or not it was in accordance with his orders or standing policy. And chan Tesh assumed at the time that Thalmayr's actions proved that the first massacre wasn't an accident. I doubt that the subtle nuances of "it was a junior officer that obviously wasn't a very fast thinker" Arthag knew made it back home. I also don't know what if anything Skirvon told them about what happened from Thalmayr's point of view, but since he wasn't trying to defuse things, I doubt it was anything that would make public opinion on Sharona happier with Arcana.
Then the Arcanans asked for negotiations and treacherously attacked in the middle of them. The Sharonians know nothing about Arcanan communication systems. They have a three week two-way communications loop and it's been two months. They would have no way to realize that word of the very first encounter hasn't even
reached Arcanan high command, so it's natural to assume that the attack was authorized by those on high.
In short, Sharona has no reason to believe those three incidents are anything other than standard Arcanan policy and thus they exemplify just how militant and untrustworthy Arcanans are. Just what they'll think if they ever learn Arcanan had a civil war over said encounters is probably worth pages and pages of debate on these boards.
Thorby wrote:brnicholas wrote:
The problem is that three times Sharona has tried to talk to Arcana. Three times Arcana has responded by attacking Sharona. Once could be explained away, twice maybe. Three times is policy! Facing an enemy who responds to negotiation with military force the only logical response for Sharona is to demand unconditional surrender. Negotiation isn't an option because Arcana will just use it as a cover to prepare to attack, for blowing trust to bits using Skirvon's honor guard in their attack is worse then torture. The Arcanan atrocities will only add emotional punch to the logical arguments for demanding unconditional surrender.
There are significant differences between these contacts. The first two were mistakes/errors due to a single, relatively junior individual. The third was a political decision by a senior officer with an agenda that was then promulgated by a series of senior officers at the cutting edge. This one will be much more difficult to explain or rationalize. It extends beyond the Mythalans and involves the Andarans as well. This could lead to a Civil War in Arcana because too many individuals will be tainted.
