Accord of Poignes
The Accord of Poignes (Savamese Accord de Poignes; Hártal Samkomulag Pögnu) is the diplomatic agreement which currently covers matters of military and political alliance between Helminthasse and Savam. It was developed in negotiations between the two countries during the early part of 1901, and was signed by the Savamese viceroy Valentin d'Hoste-Labarre and Helminthasse’s althein Hóst Greiðlund in Fabricad of that year in the Savamese city of Poignes.
Background
The recently-formed Savamese Empire had been one of the first states to grant formal recognition to the alliance of Siurskeyti’s rebel commonholds in the wake of their secession from the motherland during 1812; Siursk control over the Medius Sea had been a continuing concern to the Savamese, and the prospect of taking advantage of any ongoing Siursk weakness – as, indeed, Savam had already done in seizing Dórrey during the Summer War – was more than welcome. It fell in line with Savamese strategic concerns about breaking the encirclement it found itself both on land and at sea. The alliance was formalised in 1816 (although there had been a fair degree of informal cooperation before that date), and the new Helminthasse lent its backing to Savam during its conflict against Siurskeyti, the War of the Islands, between 1822 and 1824.
However, it can be argued that the alliance was in a state of minor neglect, largely eclipsed by the more important Savamo-Zepnish Alliance, leading up to the outbreak of the Embute War in 1889; and Savam’s declaration of war against Elland placed the Helmin in an impasse, bound by treaty as they were to render assistance if called upon by both of the combatants. The Helmin government resolved the issue simply – by refusing to honour either agreement. The diplomatic furore was both fierce and long-lasting; and the defeat of Savam – followed by the substantial surgery on the country’s body politic of the Treaty of Ráth – did nothing to ease the fury of Savamese politicians and diplomats at what they saw as Helmin perfidy. Under the newly-elevated d’Hoste-Labarre – one of the few Savamese military leaders to emerge from the war with his reputation more or less unscathed – Savam’s relationship with Helminthasse entered the chill of what has become known as the Great Winter (Savamese Grand hiver; Hártal Stórvetur).
Recovery
Even at the time, though, there were observers in both countries who maintained that this shunning could not last indefinitely; Helminthasse was too isolated diplomatically, and Savam’s need for allies, both in the Medius region and in the Arcedian Sea against Odannach naval firepower, would always trump short-term estrangements. So it was to prove here, although the process of rebuilding was aided by the genuinely good relationship between d’Hoste-Labarre and Greiðlund, another career soldier, who was appointed as althein in 1898, as well as assiduous efforts by the Helmin alráðherra Dýr Tarhull, also ex-military.
A slow thaw had probably already set into the relationship from the beginning of 1900, but accelerated during that year with plans to work on a formal re-establishment of the alliance from late in that year. The finally-agreed Accord was signed off by the countries’ respective leaders amid much fanfare in Poignes on 20 Fabricad 1901, with d’Hoste-Labarre and Greiðlund played up in the Savamese press, somewhat fancifully, as les poings de Poignes (“the fists of Poignes”). The revived alliance has also been referred to from time to time as les Mains de Fer (“the hands of iron”) – although perhaps more often in Helminthasse than in Savam, for whom the military aspect of the alliance is arguably of lesser importance compared to its ties with its great-power associate and sometime rival Zeppengeran.
Applications
While the Poignes protocols allow for each side to call upon the other for military aid at need, their actual implementation has been sparing over the years. Helminthasse took no part in the Gaste War against Odann in the mid-1950s, with Savam being backed by Zeppengeran and Elland – although Helminthasse’s immediate concerns at the time were more directed at Madaria, which threatened its Seranian territories and against which it maintained a more loosely-structured alliance with the Zepnish. For Savam, the alliance has been predominantly naval in character for much of its existence, with the Poignes agreement giving it access to Helmin port facilities in Lágskáli, as well as the smaller Seranian facilities in Nýfoss, in the Múskatsströnd, as well as allowing the Helmin navy use of the large Savamese base at L’Île des Jardins on Doreysne.
The revival of the land aspect of Poignes in more recent years caused a measure of controversy. The decision of Savam to call upon its allies to support its intervention in the then-ongoing Baseriote Insurrection caused fury in Helminthasse, although for Savam it fell more into the realm of political necessity given past public anger at the country’s previous intervention in the Rastovid Confederacy in the Rastovid War. Significant loss of Savamese lives for little apparent benefit caused outrage in parts of Savam and pushed military chiefs towards finding ways of sharing the burden. Despite Helmin concerns that they themselves had no logical interests in Transvechia – and pointed reminders that Savam’s own military capacity was more than adequate for such actions without assistance – the deployment continued, albeit on a more reduced level than in the past, with a phased withdrawal of Helmin forces beginning after the declared end of the Insurrection in 2018.