After the great crusade resulting in the capture of the 22nd's homelands there was a time of peace for the Templars, we faced a few minor skirmishes with the fallen brigade during this time but major confrontation was not to be found. Peace, in calradia, existed to me.
A rumor grew however, the 22nd were regrouping, a few of there men were spotted passing close to our lands, armed but with small numbers, perhaps they were testing our defenses, perhaps scouting. From the village of Chide i reported this to the grandmaster but they had slipped away before we could capture them.
Then came the news. The leaking of the merc/22nd contract to capture the rcc lands and the conquest of the area. In these times many factions saw their chance to seize land and power. The mercs struck with deadly force, take the majority of the area with ease and transferring it to the 22nd. The Templars, allies of the rcc responded with armies that were gathered quickly and marched to the north. It was at this time that Growl departed, and the council was announced.
In the beginning there were 15+ council members, with no clear leader nor any policy or system of management in place.
Our campaigns in the north were ineffective, we faced armies 1/10th the size of ours consisting of great warriors and archers who although they would loose the battle, would inflict great losses. And so it was, with each skirmish our numbers grew less as the 22nds men multiplied. Theories circulated as to who supported them, if it was the fallen, or perhaps the mercs themselves with which Growl had so much confrontation.
Then the assaults on our lands began, a fief we would loose then retake. A day later it would be assaulted by a new army, which would then be reinforced at the final hour, doubling their numbers. We had no supreme command to coordinate our efforts, no matter how hard one of us may try, we could not gather the men.
Calling upon our allies to come to our aid the Dharan legion with Legio amassed an armies of over 10,000 men and marched for the north to liberate the rcc fiefs and the Templar villages. They faced however the same problem that had faltered the Templars, locked down at every possibility, facing an army who controlled the battlefield, utilizing all possible methods, wether they were intended by the almighty or not, to gain the advantage. Superior tactics and team work shone brightly those days.
Looking still to our allies we found that the Kingdom of regalis was deserted, a shadow of what it was. Empty and baron there was no help to be found there. And so it came to pass, the 22nd and their allies continued to push us back. As far as chide we fell and for some time the assault stopped. It was at this point that the sea raiders, den bitre and the grey order began to expand i believe. In the south there was peace still.
Dharan and legio returned to their homelands, disappointed at their lack of success and laying the blame on the Templars for not escorting their armies or covering them from the lock downs that they faced. Then Druzina struck, capturing Dharan lands without a fight and legio quickly surrendered following a brief siege of Yalen.
Under the promise of glory, protection and the return of their lands Legio and Dharan turned to the 22nd and their allies joining what is now known as the UIF. United Independent Factions
Our stratian allies remained true of heart and stood fast against the swelling numbers of enemies at their doorsteps.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation in the north Shogunate and Guards began to respond, Templars receiving reinforcements from the shogunate meant we were able to bolster the defense of Uxhal and Veluca.
During this time My self and Rubicon worked tirelessly to gather members. our roster was in disarray with member activity dropping by the day, the council itself had shrunk to around 4 members. Myself, Rubicon TomMyyY and Tybox were the only ones left.
Around this item also the Fallen seized Grunwalder Castle from the Templar Homelands. The noose was tightening around our necks.
Then the Pubcrawl began, Our allies in the south, Shogunate and the Caravan Guards, with whom we had been ever waiting formed this vast army with the IRC. they claimed they were tired of strategus and were finished, forming this as a way to gather XP and that was all. They went from Town of Town of our enemies destroying all they found until their numbers were gone. A bitter blow to the Templars who had hoped their allies may have come in their final hour.
And so the Final struggle began, through the use of many different factions the UIF were able to slip though our defenses, they used neutral players who they knew we would not attack to enter our lands and reinforce themselves. They attacked repeatedly and although we would recapture a village for a day they would return with greater numbers each time.
Finally the villages fell. We pulled all we could spare into Uxhal and made ready the defenses, Veluca fell following a long struggle but the Siege of Uxhal was a bloody one. The holy cities walls were soaked in blood.
Finally Viyncourd Castle, the chapter house and place of Residence of the Grandmasters fell to the UIF and the Templars went into exile.
From this day on a stopped keeping track of events, we settled with teh guards on the lower Steppes of Calradia, waiting till we had recruited enough to crusade again. A brief expedition against the Bandits ended in disaster when they received the support of our enemies, yet they fell to the Turks the next day without a fight as we had bled them during the night.
Searching for a home, we came across the Band of Brothers who were leaving Calradia and to us they left the village of Sekhtem that we now call home.
We had begun to establish ourselves once again, gathering our scattered members to the village, then the freeze struck.
It all started in Native Warband.
This is the story of the first North American Guilds to enter strategus.....
At the time of CRPG, when it was first created, the community consisted mostly of EU players with a few dedicated North Americans.
CRPG itself held little attention in the beginning until it was announced that a new form would be arriving, a strategus beta release would offer clans the chance to compete for land much like single player.
Immediately many of the old beta NA guilds made the conversion now that were was something to fight for. The first to enter the delayed strategus launch was NK, followed by ATS and Takeda...forming the majority of the North American Players in strategus. With no land, scattered players, and low level players with only one NA server to play on, we three major guilds from native started talking.
Almost everything was already claimed by EU clans, and we realized that there was no possible way for us to enter strategus at this point on a level playing field. The delayed invites allowed guilds to get territory with minimal competition. It was decided that the only way for us to achieve our goals was to first show to the rest of the eu clans at the time that we were not working together, thus creating no threat to those around us.
The next objective was to find territory that would be rather easy to take. Upon strategus beta release, there were two types of guilds. Ones who had land with the members to hold it, and ones who got land because they got there first. The land with the fewest members and the most surrounding, un-taken, land turned out to be CoCo and Ninja's to the north, territory now belonging to the Northern Empire and Drz.
The third objective was most important. At the time, the only way to get troops was to recruit 2 per person every hour 1 minute past, that is if you didn't already have land. Without troops, there was no way to gain land on strategus, you were useless without an army. The only advantage of the three NA guilds was that ATS had more active members than most, creating a surplus of farmed money in strategus. The important part however, was dividing a way to get troops from an EU guild without funding someone who would use it against us later. The largest EU guild on strategus at the time was Templars whose power seemed daunting to everyone. Their leader Growl was approached by myself where I introduced myself, fluffed some of my active member count, then proceeded to try and befriend him for troops.
An offer was presented instead, Growl would provide troops for an alliance, with that a warning was presented as well, those who did not ally with him might find themselves crusaded against later. His offer was refused and a sum of 55k(a lot of money at the time for templars) was paid for 1000 troops. The NA guilds had received the troops they so desperately needed.
In the meantime, while ATS was acquiring troops, the other two NA guilds were dividing by misinformation the territory they wanted. Takeda went and made a defensive alliance with CoCo and Ninja, convincing their new allies that NK and ATS were small and bothersome to Takeda as well.
NK convinced Ninja that they did not want territory that CoCo had, but rather wanted the land south of their border. What neither CoCo nor Ninja knew was that not only did these NA guilds have an army, it was well equiped, large, and organized.
With the 1000+ man army, it was time for some battles to begin. It was agreed upon that it would be best to take some territory untaken by ATS who had not yet been clearly known by ninja or CoCo. This would prevent conflict with those nearby for a longer period allowing more time if needed to acquire troops that might be lost. To our surprise though, with the help of the 3 NA guilds, and a few mercs including RS, within 24 hours ATS had taken 4 villages with less than 200 loses. Now that we had a source for troops, we gave 400 troops to NK to start their approach on CoCo, and 300 troops to Takeda.
Takeda wisely let a small un organized clan take a village in which they had only 14 troops remaining after the battle, and became an easy pickup for themselves later. They then reinforced NK as they started in on taking over the rest of the region.
This new North American power now had territory that rivaled most in strategus, and would have continued to grow had not a new Russian power arrived around the same time. DRZ also figured out that Ninja was a weak guild holding more land than they could really defend. Outnumbered and out matched, the ninja clan was wiped out on two fronts.
Grateful for the accidental help, DRZ offered a defensive merc battle pact with NK, it was still unknown that NK was in league with ATS and Takeda, so it was officially announced that these three guilds would become the Northern Republic. The defensive merc battle pact was shared over all within the republic, and DRZ became our first friendly neighbors.
This pretty much sums up the rise of the Northern Republic...we continued to solidify our lands by taking the rest of the neutral territory and beginning to fortify. Templars never made good on their threat, CoCo was never seen of again, and Ninja moved down south into shogunate territory. Rumors spread that a wipe would come to strategus, so it was agreed upon that rather than make enemies for no reason, we would maintain a neutral policy until then, gathering information on all other guilds who held land, and those who did not. Sadly, this lack of involvement in battle caused 2/3rds of the republic to go inactive....stay tuned for the fall of the Republic, and the Rise of the Empire.
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.
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