the nature of the crows

ES2 wrote: KillerPoodle wrote: Are you Miley Cyrus in real life? When Miley Cyrus is naked and licks a hammer, it is "art" and "music". when I do it, I am "drunk" and have to "leave Home Depot".

Are you Miley Cyrus in real life?

On confederations in general and with no concern or relevance to Crows.
I do believe confederation is a political power bloc tool. I agree with the above notions that the offset effects of power blocs is only at the discretion of those few in high influence over such a power bloc. But as we have seen in RL coalition and power bloc building it does arise i.e personality cults where feedback to powerful elite influencors deminish over time in fear of the cost from fallout with these/ this person(s). This one of the most serious negative developments a confederation can have. Stalin is one example and his cult turned so acidy for feedback that there is a Hotel in Moscow built in two architectural styles because Stalin approved plans containing two seperate ideas without reading them...nobody deared to tell him of his mistake (Please do check this story and come back to me with confirmation or falsification. It is still a good story that I have heard and I find it worth sharing until I know better).

Clearly, Illyriad is not yet so acid in terms of influencive players and feedback/ social dynamics between layers of players throughout hierarchies. But this is no guarantee this same political dynamics can occur. There is a romour that a political scientist is writing an article about Illyriad politics, so attention may be given to this and other effects.

Both informal and formal confederations share the same dynamics. So I cannot in this strict theoretical framework see any difference between Illyriad domination by informal confederational structures or the declared formal ones. They are potentially equally dangerous, but it is also naive to think they should not arise at all. However, the mere fact they exist (informal or formal) is not a cause in itself to go to war or hostile actions against it.

Torden, you seem to have missed Angrim's original point. The Crow family is a true confederation. It is not a hierarchy. There are not any "federal policies" to administer to the whole, beyond some broadly shared guiding principles.

Seems to me that the Crows(of any feather) want their old role back as the in-between guys while others went gungho on eachother. They have so far done good job steering clear of the worst of the trouble. They would be able to continue doing so indefinitely if not for that single little difference that now they are in some aspects of the Illyriad world "the man".
If not by vitue of military strength then by any other measure of magnitude and influence as the CrowFed has grown quite comprehensive with more social interaction and conflicts to follow.
 
Whichever frustration, injustice or the like, directed at a crowfed alliance will cast the same reflection on the Crowfed Entity as a whole. Grievances are unavoidable on this scale.

Bottom line I think, the Crows should find a better way of administering their federal policies so that they avoid entangling themselves in trivial conflicts, or/and simply be more restrictive about the Crow Federation - i.e. reduce the maximum number of alliances within. This would facilitate communication with other alliances.

Id like to hear from ScottFitz on the matter.