As of perhaps an hour ago, Yodabird19 was pearled within Cortesia Del Mar on the account Yodabird20 by a Columbian agent. He has since been transferred to the Columbian vault (The Crucible) and is being held there pending release. We would like to make it very clear that, although we recognize this is a somewhat aggressive-seeming action, this is not a declaration of war on the part of Columbia or any of its allies against Cortesia Del Mar or any of its allies in The DUMP. I would also like to make it doubly clear that this action was taken solely on the part of Columbia, and that the UDF/Icenia is uninvolved in the matter.

So, now that that little exposition is out of the way...

Why did Columbia pearl Yodabird19?

Yodabird19 was pearled by Columbia today for conspiring with Oko/Anya/Lizzy (the former leader of Eddy Murphy and of Anyakova/The Empire) to attempt a transfer of dropchested ex-NATO wealth between her defunct state to Cortesia Del Mar. First of all, I would like to make clear that Oko, as we will simply refer to her from this point onward, has been and still is a wanted person in Columbia. This is the result of her participation in a violation of our ally Nyasaland's vault to, ironically, attempt to free or levy the freedom of Yodabird19 a few months back. That was the reason we invaded and disabled the Kingdom of Cascadia, although Oko herself was never captured and has yet to serve any time for her crimes in that war. Anyway, tangent over. Recently Columbia and some associates caught wind of a plot behind the scenes between Oko and Yodabird to perpetuate the underground circulation of ex-NATO wealth to Cortesia Del Mar as can be seen here.

Not only did the pair discuss Oko giving CDM the wealth in itself, but at a slightly later point in the same conversation, as you can tell by the time tags, Yodabird19 emphasized that he intended on drastically increasing the militarization of Arsenio, the former capital of The Defunct Empire, presumably using the illicit trade of NATO resources. Columbia stepped in to stop this, not only because we firmly stand against the continued perpetuation of NATO resources from hostile entities such as Oko, but because within the borders of Arsenio is a small vault owned by Naglafer of Icenia, perhaps Columbia's closest ally. Now, I will again make it clear, Icenia did not ask us to take any action nor did we really have a discussion about events as they have unfolded, but nonetheless the militarization of a formerly-hostile city center around the perimeter of our ally's vault using resources garnered from an alliance of shitters we spent a year and a half fighting a war to rid the server of did not inspire confidence within Columbia as to Oko nor CDM's friendly disposition.

What furthered our inclination to step in, however, was actually a recent interaction between primarily Yodabird19 and Naglafer in which Yodabird19 claims to have an interest in Arsenio and in claiming it out of a desire to 'preserve' the city. The conversation continues, in short summary, to discuss a deal for joint-administration, whether Icenia will be claiming Arsenio officially or not (it has been the defacto property of a core Icenian for months), etc. While we are sure there is a strong element of truth to this claim of wanting to preserve the city of their defunct ally, it is very apparent to us that this desire to claim Arsenio and the revelation that there are dropchests of NATO resources somewhere in the region immediately surrounding is not a coincidence. Yodabird19 most certainly reached out to Naglafer about this situation with a degree of dishonesty about his and CDM's intentions, whether it be part of a complex plot or simply a lie by omission. Either way, the conversation itself inherently shows that Yodabird19 has begun to take actionable steps toward claiming the illicit NATO wealth Oko offered to CDM.

So, to briefly summarize our justification for pearling Yodabird19 earlier today, Columbia is and has been of the belief, based on the evidence we have acquired and been presented, that Oko and Yodabird19 were conspiring to perpetuate the underground trade of NATO wealth, and that CDM's interest in claiming/militarizing the region around Arsenio poses a security risk to our ally's infrastructure and claim there, a claim which The DUMP has been long dissatisfied with on the whole.

So, how do we and Yodabird19 move forward from this situation?

Well, the first thing I need to make absolutely clear is that Yodabird19 is not permanently pearled, not even close. In fact, we don't want him or anyone else in CDM or The DUMP to have to serve any time at all. Here is what Columbia would like to see happen:

1. We would like to see public recognition of Naglafer's ownership of the Arsenio region, and a written pledge not to militarize the area around his vault.

2. We would like for CDM and/or The DUMP to acknowledge that Eddy Murphy/Anyakova/The Empire (whatever they attempt to call themselves) is a defunct state which no longer exists and does not have the diplomatic ability to engage in decisions regarding Arsenio, resources present, nor the Papa Murphy's Vault Prometheus Vault.

3. We would like for Yodabird19 to make a written pledge that he will not attempt to garner nor perpetuate the trade of stores of NATO wealth again at any point, particularly the ones within Naglafer's claim over Arsenio.

And yeah, that's about it. We don't want pearl time, reparations, literally nothing other than a (written) promise to return to reality and good faith diplomacy. Columbia values what nations like Cortesia Del Mar and those in The DUMP bring to the server, we really do, and we hope that this does not cause a long-lasting divide between our two groups. However we will firmly stand up for what is right rather than allowing shitters to continue dishing out NATO resources across the server from the shadows, particularly to potentially jeopardize our position or the positions of our allies.

That's all folks, have a good evening.