PeterZ wrote:jmseeley wrote:The consensus strategy for Dohlar seems to be (in summary):
1 - Eliminate their ability to project power into Siddarmark. (Pretty much done)
2 - Eliminate their ability to threaten Alliance forces. (In progress but needs the KH VIIs to close the deal)
3 - Effectively isolate Dohlar to minimize Church influence. (Ditto)
4 - Use the fleet & army raids to put enough pressure on Dohlar to force a political decision to reach an accommodation with the Alliance.
It's comparable to what happened with Emerald and Tarot: Use enough force to drive the political process. Harder to do in this case, of course: a lot more blood has been spilled. But if it works then it leaves Alliance forces intact and free to deal with the main Church forces.
jms
The key difference for Dohlar compared to Corisande or even Emerald is the immediacy of the alternate threat the EoC faces. Dohlar is in trouble now and the GHoGatA (GH for short) might get completely shredded within 6 months. If Dohlar holds out hoping to avoid direct ICA attention and the GH walks into a meat grinder, Dohlar is SOL. Siddermark will spend the time to thoroughly restructure Dohlar so that they can't project force for a generation at least. The best deal Dohlar is likely to see will come from a prompt negotiated peace.
I agree. That's where part 3 of the strategy comes into play. I don't think it's realistic for Dohlar to negotiate until the lines of communication with the Church are cut. Until that's done they're between a rock and a hard place. I'm thinking about how careful the king of Tarot had to be, and he had the advantage of being on an island. I also think that pro-Church sentiment among the general population is a lot stronger in Dohlar, and it will take a fair bit of damage courtesy of the ICA and ICN to counter that. Until then, any real negotiation might trigger an uprising even without the Inquisition pushing the matter.
jms