Part 2 of ATS Strategus History
A state of neutrality within a time of Conflict:
With the Northern Republic officially announcing its stand in the world of Caladria, many other Guilds were also paving their way. To fully understand the actions of the Republic, first you have to understand the situation they were presented with...
Strategus was still fairly new to crpg, but this Republic needed to figure out how exactly it was going to organize its leadership. Without leadership, a large mass of players is nothing more than a gun without bullets. It looks scary but all you can really do is hit people with it. It was decided that each guild within the republic would have one leader doing representation for its members. All decisions, whether diplomatic, or tactical would be cleared with all other leaders, unless under immediate threat.
The leaders would be Akmar of NK, Destin of Takeda, and Ecko (myself) of ATS.
I was the only leader of the three who played darkfall, a game much like strategus accept real-time and with magic. I witnessed firsthand the natural course of politics in a game that gave clans the opportunity to compete for land. With the so called rumored "wipe" to strategus coming, it was my feeling that the Republic should take a stance of neutrality, and not take sides in whatever the situation. The other leaders also agreed that it was within the best interest of the Republic to stay quiet and gather information about all other guilds within strategus. When the wipe came, we would enter the new blank map without any enemies, and potentially many friends open to trading.
I knew from darkfall, and the other leaders came to also realize that many of the guilds in strategus, who could not rightfully defend their land on their own, would soon sign up with other guilds to form alliances in the attempt to fend off aggressors. I was right.
In the early days, there was only a couple of large land owning clans. IRC to the south, Mercs in the middle, DRZ to the north, the Northern Republic to the North East, Fallen to the East, and Templars to the West. There were also a few smaller land territories owned by such clans as the 22nd, RCC, Legio, Remnants of Stratia, Dharan Legions, Shogunate, and Guard.
The first war of Caladria began with Growlz, the leader of Templars and his effort to crusade others.
With Templars being one of the first largest territory owners in the game, many who came into strategus agreed to pledge allegence. In doing so they also sealed their fate. Growlz lead the Templars and his allies to first wipe out the 22nd Battalion and he did it with ease and without mercy. Although a good field commander, I do not think he fully understood what was to come. Though he at the time had the largest alliance and territory under control, he began fighting with others more and more without ever gaining complete victory.
Templar wars broke out with guilds like the Fallen, and Mercs, often with the exchange of small victories.
Growlz was the type of leader who had ambitious goals, and to achieve them he amassed large numbers within Templars, with no requirement to join other than spelling the tag correctly. This would come back to haunt Templars later, as it does for any clans who do such things.
The crusade on the 22nd had left them without land, but they were not gone. They retreated to a friend, a friend that was also growing. DRZ, The Republic's neighbors grew quite numerous, and did not see eye to eye with the Templars, especially with the mentality of crusading smaller guilds for the sake of role play.
The threat was clear to most, and especially Growlz, who seemed to keep his cool and confidence of his allies. He was not declaring war on clans based on logic, he was declaring based on role play and to feed his power. It made him a variable to many who were not in his alliance. This particularly worried the Republic, if not many others.
Though confident in our numbers and players, the Northern Republic needed EU coverage. We did not see any feasible guilds at the time to bring into the Republic, so we did the next best thing. As said in part one, the Republic made a defensive mercenary pact with DRZ, meaning that if we were attacked in eu hours, DRZ was obligated to fight on our side, and same for us if they were attacked on NA time zones. This did not mean that we shared troops, or any sort of resources other than time.
This agreement was made to ensure our neutrality with the rest of the map, but at the same time to create a deterring force against anyone who had ambitions. It had the effect intended, however it did not stop the first Caladrian world War.
While Growlz continued to feuded with mainly Fallen and Mercs, DRZ began creating their own alliance. It was time for them to step in, and when they did, they fought like no one else had so far.
In an effort to delay the inevitable, DRZ paid the Mercs to attack RCC, an ally of Templars in an attempt to give land back to 22nd. The Mercenary contract was leaked and Templars found out who the ordered the hit.
CWW1 had begun.
DRZ used every advantage they could, not only did they have numbers, but they knew weak game mechanics. Small armies were used to hold the enemy's larger ones in place, so the larger armies could hit Templar weak points. Those weak points were not Templars themselves, but their allies.
In an attempt to gain assistance against a threat to all, The Northern Republic was approached in this time of need by Growlz to assist against this threat who clearly knew no shame. We did not know what was worse, DRZ who would use the game against players, or Growlz who would throw people under the buss like pawns. We maintained neutrality, and gathered more information while building forces.
Growlz, being the ambitious leader he was, would not risk Templar safety for his allies. It was a brilliant but also evil tactic used by DRZ, in which they went for the enemy's allies, forcing them to either abandon the Templar alliance, or submit to destruction. Only a few stood by Growlz, many fled in the hopes to keep something. But in the end, not even Growlz stayed.
Half way during the invasion of DRZ, and their new found alliance called UIF, Growlz disappeared. There have been rumored reasons to why, but it is my belief that he knew it was the end before it even had ended.
Templars and the remaining allies were wiped out. Many players in templars faded out of crpg, some remain to this day, not all in Templars of course. Those other guilds who survived either joined up with UIF, or left the game. Those who did remain however were not blind. DRZ's reputation was renowned for its aggressive behavior and ways of "abusing" mechanics.
DRZ and their alliance had now become a super power with all the land they took over from Templars. This threat divided Caladria. Though UIF shared a common enemy with the Mercs and Fallen, they themselves were not allied.
The Mercs like the republic also maintained a neutral policy; however they did sell themselves to the highest bidder.
Fallen started taking vassals, building their own version of an alliance.
In the end however, tensions grew as they always do, and the second Caladrian War was about to begin, this time between rivals of a past enemy.
While clearly there was action to be had in the world of Calardia...the lack of involvement by the Republic created a lull for players within. Though it went unnoticed by EU players, it did not for NA, particularly myself. ATS continued to get stronger and stronger, equipping large numbers of troops with gear that most of strategus had never seen in a battle. NK, and Takeda, though smaller, also equipped their troops; however they no longer actively played in crpg. It was a growing concern that in order to maintain a strong presence in strategus, you needed to stay active in crpg.
Conversations started to spread, and ideas of the republic fading out. With the destruction of the Templars and their alliance, there was also opportunity. Small remaining and some new guilds were looking territory in which they could safely recruit troops, without having to pay high taxes.
The Republic immediately pounced on the opportunity, particularly ATS. The idea of finding small guilds to tax brought comfort that perhaps the Republic did not have to depend on activity in crpg as a source of income. We were wrong. The amount of gold gained could not cover the costs of the equipment and troop upkeep needed.
Something needed to be done. Though Akmar of NK and Destin of Takeda were inactive waiting for strategus to be reset, it was starting to seem that the "wipe" would never come; therefore we could not afford to slow down.
They could not be convinced. Not trying to anger my fellow leaders, i maintained the basic idea that you cannot own land that you cannot defend. Though if attacked we could surely defend ourselves, how long could we go on? I began baiting the other leaders with talks of merger, each time receiving a no.
Fear of news spreading of the weakness of the Republic, it was time to start plans of take over. -
The operation was called Order FF. The plans of Order FF were created by myself, and a new Commander of ATS named Goretooth. It was determined that to successfully take over the Republic, we would have to take the territory from NK and Takeda as fast as possible, but we decided that giving it to ATS alone was a poor choice. It would make us a larger threat to the rest of the world, attention that we did not need. We needed another clan, if not two to take over the territory, and they needed to have the trust we came to rely on with NK and Takeda.
The NA community, as large as it was, was also limited to clans that could be trusted. We had history with the Remnants of Stratia, but they were one of the guilds who stuck with Templars to the end, and we did not need to give DRZ a reason to look at us. Though loyal, they were not a viable option.
There were also other guilds such as BRD, and others who were too small, and seemed to be more concerned with making themselves stronger, rather than a larger power. If the Republic was going to be replaced, it needed to be replaced by clans who would have 100% trust in each other, and commit fully into making the alliance stronger, not just themselves.
The first guild we found was Hospitaller, a small North American guild that made the mistake of trusting Growlz, but never held any land. They were a small ambitious group that bought troops from the Republic in the hopes to gain land for them down south, but were ambushed by Fallen.
Since they had nothing left, we decided to get to know their leadership; it would be unwise to declare some an ally without knowing their personality. Surprised, we found the mentality of their leadership was much like our own, giving them lots of potential to grow as a guild. With the assistance of Goretooth, the leader of Hospitaller, Peppovich, and his right hand man, Devilize, undertook steps to increase their strength. Before they were approached it was decided they would become one of the guilds to replace NK and Takeda.
Once Goretooth and I spoke to Hospitaller, and revealed Operation FF, we gained a new ally. Hospitaller grew rapidly, but not in ways like Templars. However, it was kept secret that Hospitaller was on such friendly terms, to prevent any suspicion if anyone was keeping a close eye.
It was determined that we were about a week away from implementing Order FF, and I still approached NK and Takeda in the hopes to get them to merge and have a peaceful transaction without war. Takeda seemed to be more accepting at this point, however NK was still a hold out.
War was imminent.
While this was happening, a new guild arrived into the spotlight. Eastern Tsardom, an NA guild who recently left Fallen Vassalage, and was shopping around. Though their guild did not have many active, after getting to know their leadership, it was determined that they too, had much potential. TS_Boyar_Josko and his co-leaders Timothy and Panderson were smart individuals, with different traits that could bring multiple views to the table, something not all guilds can do. Yet their loyalty and their understanding of what ATS wanted to do seemed to be unquestionable. They too, were chosen as one of the guilds to take over NK and Takeda.
With replacements found, it was decided that this new alliance, should have a new name. Being the only NA guilds that would have land, we needed a name that represented such, but also did not limit us to just North Americans. It was settled that the alliance would be called the Northern Empire, but have the same style of leadership as the old Republic, with no official emperor.
It was 24 hours before Order FF would begin, though my commander Goretooth could not be present to begin the attacks. In a moment of one last ditch try, I decided i owed my former allies, who were unaware, a warning of impending danger from myself.
Takeda took the news very well; they decided to merge into ATS giving over all troops, gear and gold. They understood the reasoning, and they only requested they be allowed to fight in battles while still being heard within the Empire. Their terms were gratefully accepted.
NK, took the news a little harder. It was foolish of me to present to them an ultimatum; the first hour was a mixture of silence and anger. However, they returned and agreed to also merge into ATS under the same conditions of Takeda. I don't think Ill ever be able to take back what I did, but I'll always be grateful that they handled the situation as they did.
Without any fighting, the Northern Republic was finally dead. Within one week Hospitaller and Eastern Tsardom had taken over the territory and now were one of the largest NA guilds.
The Northern Empire was able to amass an army worthy of Pub Crawl, yet it was never used.
Strategus was frozen, and all gold, troops, and territory were wiped from the game. It seemed the rumors Takeda and NK were waiting for happened after all, just not soon enough
Stay tuned for part 3...The Second World War of Caladria, and the Rise of the Northern Empire.
