The Real Legion Story of GW3

[Electron Sponge]

A wonderful read; please do more, this brings back a lot of memories.

@AirMe; I miss the days when the NADC/NpO/NAAC all shared the Blue Senate. There was lots of dialogue in those days; Polaris was always a lot more friendly to the NADC than NAAC was. (I was in NADC foreign affairs at the time.)

Polar is where all the cool cats hung out. Plus we weren't stupid and wanted as many friends on the blue team as possible, to keep NAAC and their hangers-on diplomatically contained.

The Polar/NAAC rivalry was probably the most compelling one in the history of the game. There was some real animosity there that some players haven't gotten over to this day. The NAAC protectors generally had it pretty rough, with my weekly profanity-laced tirades toward them via query. I really, really disliked NAAC (still do) and wanted them wiped out by any means necessary. Five wars against them was enough, I was glad to see them go.

[Denial]

I really should one day tell the story of the founding of AEGIS, and how you ****ers wound up crashing my private channel for a good month or two. It could be a good time.

If you do, make sure not to capitalise Aegis. You would know it was never an acronym

[Lord Swampy]

I really, really disliked NAAC (still do) and wanted them wiped out by any means necessary. Five wars against them was enough, I was glad to see them go.

Please, tell us how you really feel.

[the damned]

Swampy, great story (I love reading the backstory of what was going on while I was but rising up in CN from my newbie state), but I'd like to correct one of the finer points, one in which I was very intimately involved with.

The impeachment was more because due process was not followed. In fact, the two of us who pushed hard for impeachment both wanted the MDP gone (Atlashill can attest to this fact) but also felt that people should've been more pissed that the proper processes weren't followed. Since then... I learned that charters which are limiting suck major $@! and also regret that mistake, for it was arguably the #1 reason why that MDP was never canceled (since VL didn't want to do a 3rd vote).

^^^This

I remember defending our right to uphold vote on the matter while voting to remove that god-awful treaty asap. We learned the hard way that democracy and cn do not go together.

Coming from someone who didnt hold any office at the time, id have to say that Valhalla leaving was the major reason for the Legions collapse. They took a large portion of dedicated and experienced characters away from the legion when it could have really needed them. With their support the rebuilding process would have been much better and the wounds sustained during GWIII would not have been as deep. That is why they are in a much better position than the legion now.

[Baden-Württemberg]

Yeah, I was leading one of those small alliances who got pwned. I never understood why we were outnumbered 3 vs 1 (ASC and /b/) and some of the actual Initiative alliances still had defensive slots open. Then NPO told us that Aegis strategy is exactly to force the small alliances to surrender. That's why we didn't

[AirMe]

Polar is where all the cool cats hung out. Plus we weren't stupid and wanted as many friends on the blue team as possible, to keep NAAC and their hangers-on diplomatically contained.

The Polar/NAAC rivalry was probably the most compelling one in the history of the game. There was some real animosity there that some players haven't gotten over to this day. The NAAC protectors generally had it pretty rough, with my weekly profanity-laced tirades toward them via query. I really, really disliked NAAC (still do) and wanted them wiped out by any means necessary. Five wars against them was enough, I was glad to see them go.

Hate to blow your facade but you were always quite sweet to me in query

[avernite]

I remember defending our right to uphold vote on the matter while voting to remove that god-awful treaty asap. We learned the hard way that democracy and cn do not go together.

The fun thing is, TOP democracy had no trouble at all after the first shot of GW2 was fired, thanks to the nice choice of declaration by GATO (in GW2) and Legion (in GW3). Evidently we also had less problems by virtue of winning

And yeah, I always liked how our lan became the exact war plan of Aegis. Only /b/'s entry really threw a wrench in everything (and, I'd say, indirectly led to the nasty death of VE).

[The Corporal]

Both Episode I and Episode II are great reads, Swampy. They bring back good memories of your Walls of Text that would appear so often on our forums. As someone who came into the game (and signed up with the Legion) just a few days after the end of GWIII, this really helps me understand what was going on back then, when I was but a noob. Sure as hell explains why so many Legion Hall of Famers aren't there anymore, though not why most went to OBR.

[Lincongrad]

Coming from someone who didnt hold any office at the time, id have to say that Valhalla leaving was the major reason for the Legions collapse. They took a large portion of dedicated and experienced characters away from the legion when it could have really needed them. With their support the rebuilding process would have been much better and the wounds sustained during GWIII would not have been as deep. That is why they are in a much better position than the legion now.

I disagree with this, actually. We only lost a few people and some of them came back. Although similar exoduses of experienced members happened relatively often, we still maintained enough intelligent experienced people and new recruits to keep us running. The problem was the rivalry that the bad blood over the leaving generated. And being the rival of an alliance which NPO has taken a great interest in is never safe.

EDIT: Oh, right, forgot to comment on the main article.

As someone who joined Legion just after GWI but was never really active till after GWII, I found both these articles extremely interesting. Whatever anyone's opinion of Swampy (I still likes him), all can agree that he is one of the best orators in CN.

Edited January 25, 2009 by Lincongrad

[JoshuaR]

Your memories are a perfect example of how ridiculously far people take this game waaay too seriously.

Are you kidding? Look at this and imagine how much fun it would be! Now look at what you do now, not taking the game seriously enough. Which is better? Looks clear to me.

As a member of an alliance which did enter GW3 'because the NPO and Initiative were evil and mean and bad and we would take the opportunity to throw off the yoke of WUT Oppression or whatever', this thread is interesting.

Taking information to the other side is never the right answer for an alliance which claims to be neutral, though.

Even with the correction of Independent, an alliance that "shares" information like this is lucky not to have been targeted for retribution not long after. Luckily they dropped independence soon enough. (Though considering the other side, they probably had nothing to worry about.)

Well that would be a relative use of the word good. I like to fight and GWIII game me my fill of fighting. But I also like to win and not be humiliated. Losing that war was very hard on me because of what it did to the Legion. Not in the loss of infrastructure but to it's reputation and how the victor's lust for vengeance wasn't satiated. The Legion was unfairly doomed to be a victim alliance from then until 2008.

But I did get to meet some guys from TOP and saw their character. Because of them I found a good home for me after my time in the Legion.

edit: Reading this makes me want to read Ref's memoirs. Does anyone know how to contact him?

Hmm.

Swampy, a great installment!

[Archon]

If you do, make sure not to capitalise Aegis. You would know it was never an acronym

Honestly, it's been so long since you came up with the name it's slipped my mind. I think it was the references to WAEgis that made me start thinking you should capitalize the whole damn thing. Same with the League, actually. I'd probably caps the hell out of CoaLUEtion if it wasn't for the LUE in the middle that reminds me not to >.>

[Magnum T. Gundraw]

Sir Galahad started Great War III with his bear hands. I will not accept your revisionist history.

[Simon De Montfort]

Sir Galahad started Great War III with his bear hands. I will not accept your revisionist history.

Yeah SG was a real piece of $%^&

[Virillus]

The NAAC protectors generally had it pretty rough, with my weekly profanity-laced tirades toward them via query.

This man does not lie.

Heh.

[RandomInterrupt]

This man does not lie.

Heh.

I wont lie, I "loled" exceptionally hard at this.

[Mandrivia_2]

Are you kidding? Look at this and imagine how much fun it would be! Now look at what you do now, not taking the game seriously enough. Which is better? Looks clear to me.

I wasn't talking about Swampy. I was mentioning others he put in his memoirs.

[Lord Swampy]

Yeah SG was a real piece of $%^&

If we're going to be seriously critical of Sir Galahad, I think the biggest problem was that he let his age define and limit him, and then use that as an excuse when he messed up. You don't have to be an adult to be good at CN. Hell, some quite terrific CNers of the Good Old Days were in their mid-teens.

[Sin]

These are great! I can't wait for the next one.

[voodoochild]

Legion was a real mess, but the beginning of GWIII was exciting. That night of all the declarations on the Initiative was a fun night.

Though, it seems people forgot about the hilarious thread Ivan Moldavi made reinstating the NPO-Legion MDP. That was funny.

[Venizelos]

interesting read, i've always felt that the wikis lack perspective.

it also shows the need for organization especially when in a joint effort with other alliances, something that our side seems to have and the other side seems to almost avoid.

i wasn't around when these old wars took place, but from what i've understood is that IRON never felt close to GATO or had any good reasons to. history, both in CN and in RL, shows that one tends to stress hints that support the most prefferable case and override and ignore those that point to a direction against his interests.

despite the fact that you have taken part in such events and should have learned from them, it seems that you unfortunately haven't, given that, from what i undestand, your affiliation with GPA contributed significantly to their downfall.

anyways, good luck and keep them coming

Edited January 26, 2009 by Venizelos

[Lord Swampy]

interesting read, i've always felt that the wikis lack perspective.

it also shows the need for organization especially when in a joint effort with other alliances, something that our side seems to have and the other side seems to almost avoid.

i wasn't around when these old wars took place, but from what i've understood is that IRON never felt close to GATO or had any good reasons to. history, both in CN and in RL, shows that one tends to stress hints that support the most prefferable case and override and ignore those that point to a direction against his interests.

despite the fact that you have taken part in such events and should have learned from them, it seems that you unfortunately haven't, given that, from what i undestand, your affiliation with GPA contributed significantly to their downfall.

anyways, good luck and keep them coming

I can't quite decipher what you mean. Care to rephrase?

[Venizelos]

I can't quite decipher what you mean. Care to rephrase?

perhaps my critisism was uncalled for, but the last time i remember hearing your name before this thread was when i was reading the wiki on the GPA-Q war...

[Bob Janova]

That CB was rather taken out of proportion; it's not Swampy's fault that GPA took more than 10ms to reject him

[Simon De Montfort]

If we're going to be seriously critical of Sir Galahad, I think the biggest problem was that he let his age define and limit him, and then use that as an excuse when he messed up. You don't have to be an adult to be good at CN. Hell, some quite terrific CNers of the Good Old Days were in their mid-teens.

SG was rude and abusive to Legionnaires that disagreed with him while he was a cabinet member.

SG's cronies encouraged and engaged in a similar behavior.

SG posted Xavier's logs which started GW III and nearly destroyed the Legion.

SG (as you mentioned) left the Legion during a war (that he started) while he was a member of the cabinet.

If SG was on fire I wouldn't pee on him to put out the flames.

edit: But I understand that you are a nicer person than me Swampy and try to see the best in people.

There were several great Legionnaires in their teens. SG was not only immature he was a person of low character.

Edited January 27, 2009 by Simon De Montfort

[man of la mancha]

Its great to see the old Legionnaires come out around Bob, and its crazy I remember anyone (special thanks to those who kept there same avatars like the Corporal, and Simon and boo at voodoo for changing his old awesome one).

I don't remember all of this stuff, but Swampy's WoTs are fondly remembered.

Also I remember being in the New Dominion, but not knowing what it meant or who else was in it because I never played "station mates" and had gotten in purely by being Swampy's cousin.