If you want to change the course of a galactic war overnight, what you
need is not pilots, ships, or isk, but a combination of sadistic
opportunism, luck, and outright bastardry.
Meet
target="_blank">Intrepid Crossing (IRC) and their
closest friends,
href="http://evemaps.dotlan.net/alliance/Ethereal_Dawn"
target="_blank">Ethereal Dawn (ED). Basing in
href="http://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Etherium_Reach"
target="_blank">Etherium Reach (or 7-K to vets)
this pair of US-timezone alliances have lived in a state of near-total
peace since the opening of the drone regions to the playerbase. The
combination of low risk and high profit resulted in accelerating
membership statistics for IRC/ED as well as a bevy of shiny
supercapitals. There was only one problem: the
ever-increasing number of pilots was creating intense pressure on the
leadership of both alliances to consider a war of territorial
expansion, and the only nearby target was nominally friendly to them.
That target was
href="http://evemaps.dotlan.net/alliance/Red_Alliance"
target="_blank">Red Alliance (RA), who live in
href="http://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Insmother" target="_blank">Insmother
just south of Etherium Reach.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/66373" target="_blank">
style="width: 200px; float: right;" src="/image/view/66373" />
If there is one rule in EVE politics which has yet to be disproved, it
is that attacking RA is a stupendously bad idea. Red Alliance's history
is replete with
href="http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=564"
target="_blank">examples of coming back from the
brink of extinction to overwhelm their foes with persistence and
ruthlessness. Yet IRC/ED were either unaware of the history of alliance
warfare in EVE - which is entirely possible, as they are both very
young entities - or felt so geographically constrained that they
believed an invasion to be their only option. In March 2009, IRC/ED
invaded Insmother and began to siege C-J6, the spiritual capital of Red
Alliance.
Unfortunately for Red Alliance, once the IRC/ED attack got underway,
the invasion didn't seem like such a bad idea on the face of it. RA had
been severely weakened over the years as its primary leaders
factionalized and splintered to form their own alliances. The first of
these was Against All Authorities (-A-), years in the past, led by Evil
Thug. Then, after the conclusion of the first Great War, came three
fractures in rapid succession: MACTEP formed Solar Fleet, Nync formed
Red.Overlord, and UAxDeath formed Legion of xXDeathXx (XIX). The
heritage of almost all of the
href="http://dl.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png"
target="_blank">Galactic East can be traced back
to Red Alliance, but that was of no use now. With each splinter the
mother alliance had weakened, and RA was in trouble.
Unbeknownst to the leaders of IRC and ED, they had just driven their
alliances at full speed into the midst of the most intense exchanges of
the Great War. Red Alliance had been aiding Legion of xXDeathXx in
Tenerifis against the combined forces of Atlas Alliance and Against All
Authorities. This was the 'eastern front' of the Great War, with the
'western front' being in Querious where -A-, KenZoku and their
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/67275" target="_blank">pets
fought Goonswarm, Morsus Mihi, RAZOR, KIA, ZAF, and Pandemic Legion.
Without RA's continued help, Legion of xXDeathXx would be overwhelmed
in Tenerifis by Against All Authorities, which would have disastrous
implications for the Swarm and its allies in Querious. Like the
butterfly of cliche flapping its wings and creating a hurricane on the
other side of the world (and then flying headfirst into a bug zapper)
IRC/ED had touched off a chain of events far beyond their control.
IRC/ED had to be stopped, not only to save Red Alliance, but to
preserve the Swarm's victories in the Great War. How was I going to
pull these guys off RA? There was no credible military threat I could
make, as Etherium Reach is literally on the opposite side of the galaxy
from our home region of Delve. If the Swarm tried to send ships against
ED/IRC, we'd be hamstrung in Querious. Because there could be no
military threat, diplomatic sabre-rattling was out of the question, as
it's nearly impossible to influence an alliance if you have no hold
over them. While Goonswarm once was a neighbor to ED/IRC
before we seized Delve, since then there was nothing left we could use
for influence. Espionage would have to come to the rescue.
First, steal everything not nailed down. A
long-term GIA agent named
Gobblock
href="http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1033938"
target="_blank">masterminded a theft of a
tremendous amount of assets held by the executor corporation of IRC. A
titan's worth of capital components, an entire capital fleet, scads of
blueprints and multiple jump freighters were looted, totalling hundreds
of billions of isk. Now we had some influence, a card I could play. I
sent word through Gobblock, our now-burned spy, to ask the IRC
leadership to contact me about working out a deal. If they pulled out
of Insmother and withdrew in good faith, I'd arrange to give them their
stolen assets back. If not, I'd have to get cranky. Almost immediately
after Gobblock passed my message along, I was contacted via email by
Dibrle, one of the two primary leaders of IRC.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/66374" target="_blank">
style="width: 200px; float: left;" src="/image/view/66374" />
Greetings from AWE & IRC.
I was advised by Gobbloc (see convo below) that you wished to speak
with me.
I understand you have access to some items that were ours until
yesterday and, perhaps, a proposal. We desire to hear your proposal.
<Please be advised that I will be out of the office much of
today and tomorrow so there might be a delay in responding. It will be
no reflection on negotiations other than lack of time.>
Dib
Oh, great, he's calling me 'Honorable'. This should be easy enough. I
dash off a reply, blunt but not too threatening.
hopes to have any of its assets back, you will immediately cease all
hostilities in the Insmother region and publicly pull out of your war
there. You'll need to announce your pullout on CAOD and back it up with
action. Yank all your towers down, get the [censored] out.
If your alliance does not inform me of its compliance within a
reasonable time, I'll have to make some sort of additional
demonstration of my displeasure. Surely though, GS is on the other side
of the galaxy and the GIA is a myth, so you'll be just fine.
Right?
~mittens~
He replies.
of Gobbloc because we understood you had a proposal. So far, you have
not presented one, so we will.
style="font-style: italic;" />
We are willing to
negotiate an end to the Insmother war, however, IRC (and ED) need more
space and all of our stuff back. The return of our ships, ammo, mods,
blueprints, etc. must come first. As for additional space, we need it
to be near us, not 40 jumps away. Space in Insmother, Kalevala,
Malpais, or any similar area would do.
style="font-style: italic;" />
IRC accorded GS due
respect, and we expect the same. We paid GS 95B for Etherium Reach. We
honored all our agreements. We await your response.
This is one of the biggest problems of
open diplomacy in EVE - no one
takes threats seriously, and with good reason. Much of the game is
populated with chestbeating e-bushido types who vomit forth an endless
supply of empty threats and smacktalk without any ability to follow
through. I realized that almost anything I said to Dibrle was going to
be treated as mere bloviating unless I turned the screws on him a
little. That's fine, though; I had a big screwdriver handy.
will immediately cease all hostilities in the Insmother region and
publicly pull out of your war there. You'll need to announce your
pullout on CAOD and back it up with action. Yank all your towers down,
get the [censored] out."
Despite this, you state
that I have not actually offered a proposal. I interpret this to mean
that you and Oldma are not taking this situation seriously. Your
counter-proposal - suggesting that we return your assets BEFORE you
retreat from Insmother - is not sensible, because your assets are the
best way to ensure compliance in the Insmother retreat. Plus, you make
a demand for more space.
Very well. Internet
spaceship games are full of people making idle threats. I understand
that you think that we in the GIA can do nothing more to IRC besides
seizing your assets. Once I make good on my threat, perhaps you'll
reevaluate the situation and we can have a more realistic discussion.
Until then, I remain a fuzzy, harmless mitten.
style="font-style: italic;" />
~mittens~
I begin to twist, calling in a few favors from some friends. Meanwhile,
Dibrle dashes off a reply before he's aware of what I'm up to. I don't
think he likes me anymore.
demand without a quid pro quo is not a proposal. We do not even know if
you have the ability to make a proposal.
At this point, we have no proof that you were behind the theft or even
that you know how the traitor accomplished it (we do). We also have no
proof that you have access, much less the power to deliver, any of the
stolen property.
As for trust, IRC has always acted honorably and lived up to its
agreements. When GS sold 2 constellations to us for 30BH on time, we
paid fully. When GS sold the rest of Etherium Reach to us for 60B, we
paid fully. When GS asked if GS could maintain JB in Etherium Reach, we
agreed and honored that agreement. There is no reason that GS would
need to “ensure compliance in the Insmother
retreat.”
Unfortunately, there have been numerous posts about GS scamming
“buyers” out of Outposts and systems. Also, GS took
credit for the BoB theft. Now, you are, apparently, claiming that you
have something to do with the theft of AWE assets. Under these
circumstances, it is not IRC’s credibility that is at issue.
However, IRC would be willing to make a simultaneous transfer. You
deliver everything at the same time we post the withdrawal order.
Simply threatening us will not further these negotiations.
We await your reply.
Dib
I don't bother to reply. Half an hour
later, he checks his email and
finds that, while he was bashing out that last angry message, the
entire Northern Coalition (NC), a grouping of 10+ alliances directly to
IRC/ED's west, have reset IRC/ED's standings to neutral, meaning that
hostilities were imminent. ED owned an outpost in the middle of NC
territory, and that outpost was now at serious risk of invasion and
capture by thousands of pilots who once were on IRC's side. Abruptly, I
receive a new email:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/66375" target="_blank">
style="width: 200px; float: right;" src="/image/view/66375" />
have heard the news and realize that you are powerful enough to command
virtually everyone to attack us, so we will immediately withdraw from
Insmother.
Any of your allies who wish to be BLUE need merely ask for reciprocity.
As long as we are Blue to them, we will set them Blue.
If we are to be able to assist at all in the Tenerifis area to help
fight –A– (who has always been RED), we will need
our stuff back. Can you assist in that?
You win.
Dib
Much better. Still, rather than feeling giddy, I thought that this
whole conversation was vulgar. I don't enjoy behaving like a
stereotypical 'Space Tyrant'. That kind of [censored]-waving,
self-aggrandizing back-and-forth is exactly the sort of exchange that
e-honor types relish. All the same, it got results: IRC conceded and
href="http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1035697"
target="_blank">announced an immediate withdrawal
from Insmother and retreated from RA space. This caused
tremendous disarray among the membership of IRC and ED due to the sheer
public humiliation and the shattered faith of the pilots in their
leadership. The following ham-handed 'official statement' by IRC/ED's
directorate only fanned the flames of member-level rage:
state right here and now that despite whatever you see on forums or
wherever,
the decision to withdraw from the war was done by IRC AND ED. Would we
have continued the fight,
then IRC would do so as well.
With that said lets start...
We have been buttf[censored]ed, [censored]raped, slapped silly, pushed
over,
steamrolled, pushed down,
humiliated and for [censored]sake every other synonym someone can
create for
this event
(feel free to reply with new ones, the most original reply gets 5M from
me)
Is there a single pilot in this alliance not pissed off?
Probably only the spies who now giggle silently.
I can assure you that we are very much pissed off!
The big question is: Why dont we continue to fight and show them all the
middlefinger? ..|.
It's because we like to live... as simple as that.
Even tho every cell in our bodies tells us to continue, we would loose
and
loose everything we worked for.
It was either that, or drop this war and live on.
HC honoustly believes its in the best interest for the alliance to live
on.
So, what the [censored] happened...?
As you all know IRC got robbed by an ex-HC member and Goons used this to
put pressure on them to stop them and us fighting RA.
When the fights continued, Goons arranged for all entities to set us
neutral.
With this they threatened to have all these entities
(incl. Xdeath and solar who confirmed the arrangement) attack us this
weekend.
The only way to prevent this from happening was by withdrawing from
Insmother entirely.
Hence we have.
last night we had a 5 hour meeting where we first adressed everyone,
then had a boardmeeting followed by an HC meeting.
During these meetings we reviewed the situation and discussed our
options.
What we expect is the following and i am going to be straight forward
here.
option 1:
The attack may happen even tho we complied to Goons demands.
If so, we will defend our homes untill we have nothing left to fight
with.
No, this does not mean we will suicide everything, but we will do
whatever
we can to live!
Thats a promise!
Option 2:
The attack will not happen and all of EVE will be neutral except perhaps
XdeathX/Solar.
I would expect some entities to attack us anyway.
Not with the numbers threatened with, but some may see us as a wounded
animal and will try to take advantage.
If this happens, then we do the same, FIGHT!
We are not hurt in strenght, we will just walk funny for a few days.
Option 3:
The attack will not happen and we are asked upon to fight alongside
Goons
again and we get blue standings with everyone again..
Yeah... right... dont like to think about this one.
So, here we are. Hurt in the [censored] and in our pride, but still well
alive and strong.
We will continue to become stronger as we have the past year.
We will continue to invest in our space and if someone thinks they can
take space from us,
then i wouldnt want to be in their shoes when you have the angry mob
waiting to blow some steam.
In the near future, HC will continue to review our options to grow and
become stronger.
As soon as we have information available, this will be shared with you
all.
This war has showed us where we need to improve and it has certainly
showed EVE that we ARE indeed a force to be recognized!
For now, we ask everyone to rebuild their losses and strenghten
defenses.
Prepare for the worst.
In the end, all of my fancy diplomatic maneuvering and bare-knuckled
theft was for naught. While IRC/ED did publicly surrender and withdraw
from Insmother, their invasion catalyzed a resurgence within the
moribund Red Alliance. RA waited a mere two days after the IRC/ED
announcement before counter-invading Etherium Reach. My hard-won peace
hadn't amounted to much, though now it was IRC/ED losing space instead
of Red Alliance.
But I couldn't complain. After all, Gobblock wasn't actually one of my
agents - he was just one of 6000 goons - and he hadn't stolen a red
cent from IRC, much less a titan, capital fleet and a pile of jump
freighters. Against IRC, I hadn't had a card in my hand, because the
real thieves had used Gobblock as a cover to shield their identities.
In return for financial compensation, the culprits had given Gob
doctored screenshots to help him pose as the guilty party, and after I
spoke with him, he agreed to play himself off as a 'GIA Agent', acting
as if 'his' heist was part of an alliance-level reprisal for the
Insmother invasion. To my delight, IRC had fallen for a bastard's bluff.
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