The Old Ways

[KrisNord]

As was usual the courtyard that lead to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was packed with tourists and pilgrims all keen to go and see the place story tells Jesus was crucified as well as Jesus empty tomb. The tour groups stood listening to their guides in a variety of languages as the faithful Christians from across all of Mundus listened to the history they thought they knew so well. Theresa Odinsson and her brother Ragnar moved between the crowds occasionally listening to some of the explanations in languages they understood, they were both well educated from a rich family back in Åland and found the situation here amusing. They watched for people paying more attention to the talks than to their bags and slipped copies of the thin paperback into their bags. They'd elected for English language copies and each had around ten to sneak into bags.

They sat had their lunch sat against the wall in the shade watching those they'd given books to make their way into the Church. Once they'd finished their packed lunch they took some photos, placed their bags near the entrance to the Church and then walked away. They'd got around the corner when they heard the explosions from the hand-grenade they'd each lodged under the bag, once someone had moved it the grenades had gone off and each was strapped to a white phosperhous grenade. The pair walked away into the Vanoran Quarter of the old city as the crowded tiny streets wondered what had happened. Soon screams and the pair ran along with the panic strictcen crowd as the dead and wounded where counted.

Around 2000 years ago a messenger arrived in Albion bringing with him a tale. That tale told how the Son of God was born in a humble stable. Some thirty years later he was nailed to a piece of wood and executed only to raise from the dead days later. His miracles were not, if this messenger is to be believed, finished at this point. The man then ascended to heaven leaving behind teachings that became Christianity. This tale is built on nothing but a series of lies that have permeated through the centuries. This faith waged wars to spread their faith at the expense of any faith that got in its way. People may look at us Odinists and our blood thirsty history, this is something we do not move away from but Odinism has never sought to impose its faith on anyone through the blade or gun. What was once a flourishing continent full of diverse religion has long been under attack by Christianity and Åland stands as the only home of the true faith. Our laws have been established as a way of protecting the faith and our culture and even then Christians have shown a lack of respect by repeatedly violating them. As such time for retribution has come. Now Yule, our festival stolen by Christians, has ended our warriors will write new sagas of how we drive Christians from our homeland once and for all. What better way of sending Christians to their hell then when they are closest to the place their son of a carpenter died. Today we destroyed 23 members of a faith as guilty of plagiarism as a stressed University student.

More shall come until the followers of the All Father have wiped all remnants of this false religion from our shores.

The Ever Watching Gungnir



OOC - Agreed with Dave that I could use Vanora (our Holy Land) and the views expressed on Christianity are not my own.

[KrisNord]

The tiny village of Leksand was a sleepy village in the foothills of the nations Fjords. It was famous for only one reason and that was being the location where legend had it the first Christians to bring their faith to the Norse built the first Church in what was today Nya Åland. Today however the tiny settlement was about to become famous once more.

As was typical every weekday the children of the village where herded out of the houses and waved off towards the village bus stop waiting for the school bus to come and take them. Today however as the mothers watched their dear children round the corner a scream pierced the air and the Mum's went running to see what was happening, they added their screams to their children.

There on the hill that overlooked the main road was a giant wooden cross, it stood perfectly upright looming its shadow over the terrified fold below. On that cross was a figure his naked body covered in blood. The village dragged their petrified children back home while they called the police but because of the remoteness of the village it took a good long hour for them to arrive.

As they looked at the long deceased victim a sign was hung around its neck.

Tomas Næss

Guilty of being a Christian and by association for the suffering of millions around the world.

The Gungnir shall not rest until this sick faith is driven from our lands.

He died as his Carpenter did.

During the day a further eleven crosses were discovered across the nation, each with a Christian nailed to them and deceased, there were in total five men, six women, a child of eight years of age.

[hobbes]

State Ministry of Cascadia

To say the state ministry strongly condemns these attacks would be a understatement. They constitute a brutal and inconceivable act of villainy and terrorism the likes of which have not been seen for some time. The lack of response from the government of Nya Åland, whom publicly does not acknowledge the right of its own people to practice any religion than the state sanctioned one, is also deeply concerning.

It is therefor the following measures are to be enacted:

• All Cascadian citizens are to evacuate Nya Åland, effective at immediate convenience.
• Four ships, frigates RCS Columbia, Victoria and Monongahela, as well as tender Courageous are to depart at once for international waters near Nya Åland. They shall oversea any evacuation measures needed should civil aviation degrade.
• The government of Nya Åland is immediately called upon to, at the least, end the violence. If the government of Nya Åland is unable to protect a Christian population it denounces, then the international community shall be more than willing to take them in.

Sincerely,
Charles Morris
Minister for State

[The Young Pope]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Krimeonite government is greatly appalled by and strongly condemn these terrorist attacks which were purpetrated in the Holy Land and within Nya Åland, where the suspected terrorists more than likely stem from; these attacks are nothing more than displays of dishonorable means to show intolerance at the highest level. It's as well greatly concerning that the government of Nya Åland has not taken further action by condemning these attacks openly, other than opening up an 'investigation' to look into this matter and place these terrorists under the care of justice.

It's as well not coming as a total surprise, as the country doesn't permit other than the state religion to be practiced openly, and one might then draw the horrifying conclusion that the government support these actions or at least sympathise with them, which is to say the least hypocritical on all levels when the nation itself excels admirably on the scientific front when it comes to innovation and discovery. Making Mundus a better place to thrive in whilst making it worse for some is hardly logical and sane.

Due to the failure of Nya Åland to clarify their stances explicitly and expressing great concern for religious minorities currently residing in said country, the following measures to be enacted, until further notice:

- The NÅ Ambassador to Krimeon is immediately called upon to meet with His Highness, Prince Rodrigo Gough.
- The Principality shall open its harbours to the Cascadian vessels if need be for ship & crew maintenance and refueling.
- Krimeonite Citizens residing there shall evacuate together with the Cascadian Citizens, without any exception.
- Due to the risk of civil aviation degrade, the Principality shall aid its Cascadian colleagues with evacuation matters by sending one
Amphibious Assault Ship and one Amphibious Transport Dock for international waters near Nya Åland.
- The government of Nya Åland is called upon to restore justice and order within its border, conduct a full and thorough investigation into these murders and guarantee the safety of its Christian as well as other religious minorities from direct harm. We agree with our Cascadian colleagues that the International Community would be more than obliged to give them sanctuary.

The government of Krimeon shall have its channel remain open if Nya Åland wishes to open up an dialogue, in which the Principality's more than willing to do. Failure for Nya Åland to take further measures in combatting religious extremism and terrorism might result in Nya Åland being labeled as 'hostile' and the status of multiple nationality shall be the following:

- Nationals of countries hostile to the Krimeonie Principality must renounce their old nationality prior to the acquisition of Krimeonite nationality.

- Krimeonite nationals who are employed at a foreign government organisation hostile to the Krimeonite principality and its interests, should they fail to sever their employment relationship with said employer, automatically lose their nationality at the command of the Minister of Justice. The order is irrevocable and such persons are banned from reapplying for Krimeonite nationality for 20 years. The decision may, however, be challenged before a court of law.

- Persons who have lost Krimeonite nationality due to high treason may never be naturalised as Krimeonite nationals again. Their offspring will require explicit permission from the Monarch of the Principality to lodge their naturalisation requests. Furthermore, they must renounce their old nationality before doing so.

- Pertaining all of the above: for nationals of countries that do not allow a renunciation of nationality and are hostile to the Krimeonite Principality Krimeonite citizenship is granted but all travel and communication (electronic or any other form thereof) to such countries will be prohibited for as long as relations between both countries remain as such

Sincerely,
Ulysses Fraser
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Beatrice]

Statement Of Support To Cascadia And Krimeon

The First Empire wholly condemns the acts of terrorism which we have seen unleashed and shares the concerns expressed by Cascadia regarding the lack of any meaningful response by Nya Åland. Violence perpetuated against the followers of any faith, be they Cultists, Christians or as in the past Rosari, are crimes against the whole of humanity, demanding a unified response of the international community to see such violence addressed swiftly and those at greatest risk removed from danger efficiently.

In light of these developments I have directed the Imperial Rokkenjiman Navy to make available to Cascadia two refueling and supply vessels, while also opening those Rokkenjiman facilities along their route should they meet a need for greater provisions beyond the capabilities of our vessels. Furthermore, the Blue Star Line has complied with a request from the Crown to make available the United States to assist with operations to evacuate Cascadian and, naturally, Rokkenjiman nationals from Nya Åland. United States will be available in her converted form, allowing for up to 15,000 souls to be transported should the need arise. Nations with nationals within Nya Åland who wish to utilize this space may inform the Imperial Diplomatic Corps who will then make the necessary arrangements.

In this pursuit the First Empire also offers its full and unconditional support to Krimeon as a party to these operations. In addition to resupply vessels the United States shall be escorted by the Mizuchi Class Destroyers Apalala and Kraken, as well as the Amphibious Assault Ship Tiger. These vessels shall coordinate fully with the Cascadian and Krimeon operations presently underway.

The First Empire joins the calls of Krimeon for Nya Åland to unequivocally disavow these wicked acts of violence, restore peace and order, and ensure the safety of all within her borders. If incapable of the later it is thus the responsibility of Nya Åland to ensure efforts to evacuate those peoples in jeopardy proceed unhindered.

Should either Cascadia or Krimeon wish to coordinate more personally these operations I believe both already have my contact information available to them.

Respectfully yours;


Empress of Rokkenjima
Princess of Littlebrook

[Achkaerin]

Official Statement on the Gungnir Situation

The Holy Empire of Achkaerin has a long standing policy of not negotiating with terrorists, we believe terrorism is abhorrent, cowardly and is something that must be stood against in much the same way as the school yard bully. My wife back before I met her was held hostage aboard Nordwind flight 520 which was hijacked by the Gungnir, she and two hundred and fifty four others were held to ransom by the Gungnir, for money and power now yes some nations and organisations did give in and finance the Gungnir but the overwhelming majority stood firm and responded clearly with "We do not negotiate with terrorists."

And this is where I find myself somewhat surprised at the three statements from Cascadia, Krimeon and Rokkenjima in response to what we've seen unfold in recent Gungnir activity. I'm sure they're the products of detailed thought process's, consultation with advisors and where required legislatures and are well reasoned but while I understand the desire to protect one's citizens from terrorism and to take a stand against the terrorists I do believe upon reading the statements from Cascadia, Krimeon and Rokkenjima that their proposed courses of action are in places disproportionate to the circumstances. We are concerned with two events firstly the attack by the Gungnir on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Vanora which killed twenty three people, secondly we are concerned with the subsequent twelve crucifixions of Christians inside Nya Aland. The attack in Jerusalem marks the biggest Gungnir attack since the Uppsalla Crisis, in which the Gungnir sought to take advantage of the state of Uppsalla and seize control of the city, and I will remind the world that the city at that point was held by the CTOURT in the form of a small number of Achkaerinese, Morelander and Dijeli forces in addition to what locals that had survived the initial event, they were to a large extent the underdogs in a fight with the Gungnir, that is a fight that was won thanks largely to the deployment of 25,000 Alander troops into the city, they didn't need to do that, they owed the people of Uppsalla no duty of care but they stood up and were counted. In the same crisis we saw the Gungnir launch missile attacks on ships assisting with civilian evacuations and suicide bombings within Grumwald which was the gathering point for evacuation by sea their objective clearly to cause as much damage as they could, to intimidate those delivering aid and ultimately to stop said aid effort. No orders to stop the aid effort were given, we refused to be intimidated by the school yard bully.

The Gungnir have made it quite clear following the Jerusalem attack that they seek to drive all Christians from Nya Aland, this I believe to be at the very least part of what they hope to achieve, I recall a few years ago when they issued certain demands my assessment then was that we were dealing with a xenophobic group, however that does not mean that I for a second believe that Nya Aland is xenophobic, the country itself complies to a large extent with the provisions of the Mundus Convention of Universal Rights, it has acted and continues to act as far as I can tell in the spirit of that Convention. Therefore it is arguable that the Gungnir's intent could extend beyond simply driving the Christian's from Nya Aland, it could be to create a fascist state centred around Odinism and only Odinism with no room for other faith's.

If that's the case then our duty as a community of nations is to come together and work with Nya Aland to combat these terrorists, we are a community of nations it's about time we started acting like it, in the past few weeks we've heard a lot of words bemoaning the fractured nature of the international community and unilateral actions and there may be something to that but there's also a lot of reasons to trust, the terrorists seek to make us afraid, to sow division between us, they want to throw us at each other and watch as we tear lumps out of each other, Well I say clearly no, I say meet their aspiration of our division with unity.

Consequently there will be no evacuation of Achkaerinese citizens presently in Nya Aland ordered, if they want to leave that is their decision but I won't give an order which in my estimation does the terrorist's job for them. Nor will I park naval vessels off the coast of a nation that is clearly secure and not in any state of disorder, I have every confidence in the capability of the Nya Aland government, it's police, intelligence services and military to combat the Gungnir at home and to ensure the safety of all those within its borders and even if they find themselves in need of help I have every confidence in their ability to seek such help out there is after all an East Moreland base right there, I'm sure they'd be open to lending assistance and I can state that Achkaerin's door is firmly open.

Subsequently the following actions shall be undertaken:

• The Achkaerinese ambassador presently stationed in Nya Aland shall request a meeting with appropriate members of the Nya Aland Government using established channels to look at cooperation in this matter.
• The Achkaerin Foreign Office shall be opening a dialogue with our friends and neighbours in Vanora to offer assistance to them in light of the Jerusalem attack.
• The Emperor of Achkaerin shall contact the Viceregent of Rokkenjima.
• Proposals for a globalized Inter Faith Forum, modelled on a pilot scheme within Achkaerinese territory shall be drawn up

Signed

Emperor Peter Azurewind

[The Young Pope]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Due to the intended purpose of adressing the severity of the Gungnir terrorist crisis and expressing Krimeonite capabilities, the Principality shall alter its measures in accordance with those laid forth by the Holy Empire of Achkaerin:

- The Krimeonite ambassador presently stationed in Nya Aland shall request a meeting with appropriate members of the Nya Aland Government using established channels to look at cooperation in this matter.

- The Krimeonite Foreign Ministry shall be opening a dialogue with our friends and neighbours in Vanora to offer assistance to them in light of the Jerusalem attack.

- The Prince of Krimeon shall contact the leaders with each involved party, directly or indirectly

- Supporting the Achkaerinese Proposals for a globalized Inter Faith Forum, modelled on a pilot scheme within Achkaerinese territory shall be drawn up

- Citizens of Krimeon are not forced to evacuate Nya Åland and may leave the country after their own free will

- The assigned vessels shall not be dispatched, however the ports of Krimeon shall remain open for Cascadian vessels and manpower, incl. refueling and resupplying

[KrisNord]

Over the last few days we have seen what can only be called a knee jerk reaction from many in the international community.

Over the years it has been evident that the government of Nya Åland in no way condones the actions of the Gungnir. In much the same way as no one would ask East Moreland to condemn the actions of the Borlanders why are we being asked to condemn a group we have fought against for so many years? We see nations with sizeable Christian populations rightfully concerned about the recent actions of the Gungnir yet rather than looking to oppose this group they give in to their demands.

Nya Åland is a theocracy for Odin, and if you visit you will see Churches, Synagogues, Temples of Helus and Mosques, these are not hidden and nor are their members targeted by our government. The government of Cascadia have in many ways shown their ignorance of our nation. The constitution states "8.2 - The only religion recognised by the state is Odinism. Other religions may practice but must do so in private at a private residence or authorised place of worship. No religious symbols other than those associated with Odinism may be visible in public. " Yet their leader claims we do not " acknowledge the right of its own people to practice any religion than the state sanctioned one" Åland is the home of the Odinist faith and while we are hospitable and welcome people from around the world. Just as you visit a friends house you respect their property, you do not muddy their carpet, you do not damage their property. This is much how we see religion, we ask our Christian and other faithful cousins to keep their religion in private and not erode the heritage and culture of our nation. No Christian is kept here against their will, we have regular flights to most nations and any Ålander is capable of using them. There is therefore no need for vast naval fleets to appear off our coast, especially military ones. If any non-Odinist Ålander wishes to leave our nation to take up residency in another I would be more than happy to make arrangements for their air-fare.

I would also remind those nations calling for us to do more that close to 1,000 Ålanders died when we marched into what was then the Union of Nordic People to stop the Gungnir executing people believed to be non-Odinists. We now ask those nations declaring an evacuation to halt their actions as they are now actively encouraging terrorists in achieving their aims.

Stein Ulfsson
Head Gothi.

[Markus]

To the Holy Duchy of Vanora:

The Empire of Tamora sends its condolences to the families of the victims of the terrorist attack and the people of the Empire will keep them in its prayers. While the majority of the people of the Empire do not follow Jesus Christ, Christianity can be found in significant numbers in two of our federated kingdoms. The Christians of the Empire have raised over 5 mil dinars (USD) indonations for the parish of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to help with its restoration following the attack. Every year millions of Tamorans visit the holy city of Jerusalem to pray, to contemplate on their beliefs or to better understand the Christin faith. The holy city of Jerusalem is part of Midaranye's unparalleled religious heritage. Following the terrorist attack we understandably have seen a large number of cancellations of reservations of Tamorans’ planned trips to the Holy city. Fear and self-preservation are basic human instincts. However, as the priests and bishops gathered the faithful to pray to God for the souls of the victims and their families, we have seen how many Christians of Tamora annulled their reservations and decided to proceed with the trip as initially planned. We believe that this best exemplifies the power of change that religion brings, to conquer fear and replace it with the strong belief in God and solidarity with one’s religious community.  As long as the faith of the community remains strong, all efforts of terrorists will remain futile. 

I would also take the opportunity to express our continuous support for a peaceful and prosperous cooperation between our two nations. Should the Holy Duchy of Vanora need assistance, the Empire of Tamora, as a neighbor, will do its best to provide it.

Yours respectfully, 
Alya Safavid,
Head of Foreign Affairs
Empire of Tamora