Thistle: What I meant was that a sandbox is only really good if you have defined ways of building sand castles
. Which at present you don't, or at least not really satisfying ways.
An hell, noone cares about the desert, but there are people living in it and around it, and they do care about what happens in it.
Maybe you should consider brainstorming for some common motives.
The most common motivation right now is that most of you have some assets - homes, allies and the like - which are possibly threatened by the developments, which is why it would be best to get to the bottom of things. That and common greed....