4/22/2004 10:27:00 AM

Rules of Empire

1. When one militarily invades a territory one either decimates it or owns it.
    Often one does both.
    There are no other options,
    save that not to invade,
    which, should this be distasteful,
    leaves one in the inevitably sticky spot
    of post-conflict Imperial management.
    If there is no adequate manner in which
    to self-fund such work the cost in domestic
    treasure exacted from the citizens of the
    Empire joins with war's coin already spent
    to breed discontent among the Empire's
    families whose resources and children are
    siphoned off, in ever more generous portions,
    to a land far away to execute a mandate
    that the local populous finds little in to laud.
    Domestic industries are not immune to such
    discontent as markets soften, production slows,
    trade is stilted and investment becomes a more
    tempered affair in those areas not directly
    contributing to or benefiting from the invasion.
    Beyond the terrible human tax that is levied for
    and the temporary economic cost of
    Imperial military action and post-conflict
    management is the unenumerated effects of
    lost trust, a negative influence index and the global
    opportunity costs that accompany both.


    When one militarily invades a territory one either decimates it or owns it.
    There are no other options,
    save that not to invade.