Firstly I would like to point out that Home, is a Clan town...nothing to do with us (note the Clan guards). Harry/s is allowed space on planet as he runs the second largest company on this planet, and any military action against a legaly competing company I feel would result in the ICC clobbering Omni-Tek, so if he's legal, they leave him alone (he used to operate out of Athen but the Clans during the last war decided to burn his company to the ground as a thankyou for all the work he did supporting them in thier conflict with OT).Originally posted by Brad, STL/MO
The Tir Accord specifically limits the neutrals to Newland City (no smaller and less convenient box being available at the time). Legally, they have no business occupying abandoned mining towns (Borealis, Last Ditch), let alone building new ones (Hope, Home).
The Independent Republic of Free Peoples of Rubika (the neutrals) will no longer just be bullied into a corner...yes before you all ask we do not believe in military action as certain others do, and yes we would prefer this to be done via a political means. We just hope that the other parties involved in this will agree to meet our representatives (the Council) and come to an agreement over these matters...and hope they sign the Pact
Omni-Tek guards don't attack Neutrals (I can't say the same for Slayer Droids though). And they never used to open fire on to Clan members either until the Amnesty was broken. When that was broken the Clans were put back into there own little box up North...but the same goes for Omni personal being under fire from Clan guards.Originally posted by Brad, STL/MO
On the other hand, Omni-Pol guards aren't supposed to open fire on law-abiding neutrals or Clanners, either. Under the Tir Accord, if I'm walking around in Omni-Trade in civilian clothes and unarmed, the guards are supposed to say, "Have a nice day!" or at most, "Stay out of trouble, rebel scum." If they suspect me of a crime, they're supposed to arrest me - not send me to Reclaim. Tir Accord? What Tir Accord?
Both sides ratified the Tir Accord, and in it it stated they both recognised Newlands as Neutral territory, which is why OT has MMD and both of them spend 90% of the day slaughtering our guards by Newlands Lake. It's got us annoyed....very annoyed. The Clans have the CoT, the Intersteller Corporations has the ICC, the neutrals have...well up to now...nothing. But things are a changing. We're uniting behind a Council which will be able to give a single voice to OT and the Clans, and we'll also be asking for OT and the Clans to Ratify the Borealis Pact (which I think you'll be seeing in the next few days), but in brief it means you can both keep off the grass.
This is the whole thing, we don't mine notum...but we would like to, or not depending on how it best suits our interests. We would also like access to Miir clothing. We would like access to Superior Nanoformulas, we would like not to be chased down by Slayer Droids, and many would like peace and quiet to get on running the trade route from Borealis to 20k (as pointed out by OT some months ago for being very profitable for them).Originally posted by Brad, STL/MO
Similarly, the neutrals aren't supposed to be mining notum. The Clans are allowed to mine notum, but they're only allowed to sell it to Omni-Tek, at Omni-Tek wholesale prices. Now, I'm not saying I've got proof that they're doing otherwise. But I've sure seen plenty of mining tunnels in odd places, some of them thoroughly camouflaged against anyone farther than a dozen meters away. And gosh, the Clanners and the neuters sure seem to have more military hardware, and bigger construction budgets, than you'd expect under those circumstances, and gosh, there's a lot of talk about off-world smugglers, and gosh, there's a lot of illegal off-world hardware rattling around.
Oh the neuts have military hardware? urmm where are you coming from? we have nothing! see above, no superior nanoformulas, we arn't some bunch of wusses who need to run around collecting bounties for there leadership so we earn a poxy token board. No tokens, nothing but disadvantages....what we have is hard working citizens working for a better Rubi-ka and in a way which doesnt mean blowing up Omni-1 or Athen.
Are there smugglers amongst the neutral population? yes there is. But there is also numerous smugglers in the Clans and OT. Some of it comes through the neuts yes, but we get most of our stuff smuggled in from OT or the Clans....I can openly admit I once smuggled Nanoformulas and Clothing from Omni-Trade to Borealis...wow major crime commited, go lock me up for smuggling out that Miir suit (which I have to add was paid for fully to the Miir store).