Slavegate Convention

The Slavegate Convention was a ceasefire agreement negotiated between the Black Legions and the Kalgachi Defence Force to bring an end to the conflict for control of Inner Benacia pending a political settlement. The personnel and facilities of the Sxiro-Kalgachi Military Coordination Council in Slavegate was utilised to broker the agreement after a favourable Kalgachi response to overtures made by Benacia Command on 09.VII.1674. Accredited representatives of the Political Directorate were flown in by gravrig cruiser to Gravelbottom Airport from Łoïdhafen Sansabury at dawn the following day. At their arrival thereupon they were briskly transferred, blindfolded, onto whirdlebirbs and flown to Slavegate to commence negotiations with representatives of the KDF's Deep Command who, for reasons of their own, endeavoured to keep the professional diplomats at a distance during the initial stages of dialogue with their opposite numbers.

Text of Benacia Command's proposal (10.VII.1674)

The Slavegate Convention on a Cease-Fire and Separation of Forces in Inner Benacia

The accredited representatives of Benacia Command, on behalf of the Raspur Pact, and Deep Command on behalf of the Kalgachi Defence Force, having met at Slavegate at the premises of the Military Coordination Council under a flag of truce, on 10.VII.1674, confirm their assent to the following Convention which shall be considered to be binding upon both parties:

1. The parties shall scrupulously observe a cease-fire, commencing from this date, on the land, on the sea, in the air, amidst plasma, in exoplanetary vacuum or in such alternate dimensions as may be hypothesised and or encountered.
2. The Sovereign Confederation shall be invited to send third party military observers.
   1. The settlement of Stonetree and its environs shall be respected by both parties as a neutral territory so as to afford a base of operations for the invited third party military observers;
   2. The Ketek Corporation shall be permitted to operate in Stonetree to repair and make safe such infrastructure as remains and to prepare habitable conditions for the invited third party military observers. The Ketek Corporation may undertake such commercial activities, including trading with the parties, as shall be necessary to cover its costs.
3. The armed forces of the parties shall be separated in accordance with thefollowing principles:
   1. The line of control between the two parties shall be determined by the principle of territoral possession as was at midnight on 09.VII.1674;
   2. The area for a distance of 5 km on either side between the line of control shall constitute a security zone. There shall be no armed forces or heavy military equipment within this zone. The territory between 24 and 5km of the line of control shall constitute a restricted-weapons zone. There shall be no heavy military equipment within this zone. The local civil authorities shall function in the security zone and the restricted-weapons zone. The cudgellers and militia employed for this purpose may carry personal arms;
   3. Heavy military equipment includes:
      • All artillery and mortars of a calibre exceeding 20 mm;
      • All armoured fighting vehicles;
      • All armoured transport vehicles;
   4. The heavy military equipment to be withdrawn from the security zone and the restricted-weapons zone shall be stored in designated areas to be determined by the parties and shall be monitored by invited third party military observers;
   5. Withdrawn items of heavy military equipment may be transferred by possessing party to other fronts away from the line of control upon the notification of the invited third party military observers and the other party;
   6. The parties agree to exchange all captives, including deserters and civilian internees, and remains of the deceased in their possession, at Stonetree within one month of the signing of this convention;
   7. The parties agree that additional measures may be required in connection with the search for missing persons and the reburial of the dead after the expiry of the one month deadline. In this case the invited third party ovservers shall determine suitable arrangements and obtain the assent of both parties.
4. The parties agree to continue energetic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Inner Benacian question. The Parties will set up an appropriate committee, based at Slavegate, which will work on a standing basis with participation of representatives of the DTW and the Political Directorate of Benacia Command and with the involvement of international experts. A phased action programme will be worked out and proposals on the re-establishment of State and legal relations will be elaborated.

Kalgachi response (13.VII.1674)

"Gentlemen... in recognition of the effect of historical developments upon matters of operational efficiency and coordination with neutral third parties, the Kalgachi delegation proposes that the committee established by Item 4 be based at Stonetree wherein it shall formally inherit, absorb and supercede the moribund function of the Sxiro-Kalgachi Military Coordination Council. The remainder of the proposal is found to be acceptable."

—Colonel B. Probity, Principal Foreign Power Liaison to the General Staff, KDF Deep Command Rhizome FLORID - Summerise 23rd, 219 AL

Final agreed text (13.VII.1674)

Revised and presented for signature after a further bout of tiffin.

The Slavegate Convention on a Cease-Fire and Separation of Forces in Inner Benacia

The accredited representatives of Benacia Command, on behalf of the Raspur Pact, and Deep Command on behalf of the Kalgachi Defence Force, having met at Slavegate at the premises of the Military Coordination Council under a flag of truce, on 10.VII.1674, confirm their assent to the following Convention which shall be considered to be binding upon both parties:

1. The parties shall scrupulously observe a cease-fire, commencing from this date, on the land, on the sea, in the air, amidst plasma, in exoplanetary vacuum or in such alternate dimensions as may be hypothesised and or encountered.
2. The Sovereign Confederation shall be invited to send third party military observers.
   1. The settlement of Stonetree and its environs shall be respected by both parties as a neutral territory so as to afford a base of operations for the invited third party military observers;
   2. The Ketek Corporation shall be permitted to operate in Stonetree to repair and make safe such infrastructure as remains and to prepare habitable conditions for the invited third party military observers. The Ketek Corporation may undertake such commercial activities, including trading with the parties, as shall be necessary to cover its costs.
3. The armed forces of the parties shall be separated in accordance with thefollowing principles:
   1. The line of control between the two parties shall be determined by the principle of territoral possession as was at midnight on 09.VII.1674;
   2. The area for a distance of 5 km on either side between the line of control shall constitute a security zone. There shall be no armed forces or heavy military equipment within this zone. The territory between 24 and 5km of the line of control shall constitute a restricted-weapons zone. There shall be no heavy military equipment within this zone. The local civil authorities shall function in the security zone and the restricted-weapons zone. The cudgellers and militia employed for this purpose may carry personal arms;
   3. Heavy military equipment includes:
      • All artillery and mortars of a calibre exceeding 20 mm;
      • All armoured fighting vehicles;
      • All armoured transport vehicles;
   4. The heavy military equipment to be withdrawn from the security zone and the restricted-weapons zone shall be stored in designated areas to be determined by the parties and shall be monitored by invited third party military observers;
   5. Withdrawn items of heavy military equipment may be transferred by possessing party to other fronts away from the line of control upon the notification of the invited third party military observers and the other party;
   6. The parties agree to exchange all captives, including deserters and civilian internees, and remains of the deceased in their possession, at Stonetree within one month of the signing of this convention;
   7. The parties agree that additional measures may be required in connection with the search for missing persons and the reburial of the dead after the expiry of the one month deadline. In this case the invited third party ovservers shall determine suitable arrangements and obtain the assent of both parties.
4. Benacia Command, on behalf of the Raspur Pact, shall, with effect from the publication of this Convention, assume responsibility for the Military Coordination Council established under Article V of the Slavegate Treaty of Peace and Civility between the Garden of Kalgachia and the Imperial Republic of Shireroth:
   1. Each Party commits to establish, maintain and populate a Military Coordination Council composed of its senior military staff, for the purposes of coordination, deconfliction and if necessary cooperation in the military sphere with the Other Party. Each Party commits to establish, maintain and staff a Benacian Hot Line of telephone communication between its general staff and that of the Other Party, for the purposes of flash priority dialogue.
   2. For reasons of administrative convenience the present facilities of the Military Coordination Council in Slavegate shall be shuttered and returned to the care of the KDF.
   3. The new headquarters of the Military Coordination Council shall be established in Stonetree at premises to be made available for occupation within one month of the publication of this Convention.
5. The parties agree to continue energetic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Inner Benacian question. The Parties will set up an appropriate committee, based at Stonetree, which will work on a standing basis with participation of representatives of the DTW and the Political Directorate of Benacia Command and with the involvement of international experts. A phased action programme will be worked out and proposals on the re-establishment of State and legal relations will be elaborated.