The Techraid War: An Overview (International Newsweek, 23rd-30th Jan)
Entry posted by Bob Janova
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As the week comes to a close, so does the core conflict that has shaped it. The war is not over, as it has spawned a new front, but the story seems clearer now than it has for many days. So what exactly is the story?
The incident that triggered the chain of events leading up to the war starts with an alliance-wide tech raid on the alliance FoA by Poison Clan, GOONS and \m/. This incident was brought into the public eye by Alterego. Very rapidly, before most of the commentators had even seen the incident, FoA were given a temporary (though not retroactive, i.e. no reparations were sought) protectorate from The Corporation, and the immediate conflict was over before it began.
However, there was significant moral outrage over the tech raiding of a large alliance, particularly its proximity to the very similar raid on the Knights of Ni by Athens only two months earlier. That incident resulted in strong diplomatic pressure on Athens, an apology and reparations (donations for Ni nations.
One man in particular whose moral outrage was important is AlmightyGrub, Emperor of the New Polar Order. He had the power to act upon his outrage, and proceeded to enter diplomatic talks with his allies, GOONS, to encourage them not to raid alliances in future – which they agreed to. The next stop was \m/, with the intent of pressuring them into accepting the same thing. What he met there was racist epithets, some directed at him directly, and an attitude (also visible in other public threads) of 'do something about it'.
On the update of 20th-21st, this resulted in Polaris declaring war on \m/ 'to preserve the standards of our community', referring both to the tech raiding of alliances and to the attitude shown by \m/ to him and others. Poison Clan counter-declared at the next update (21st-22nd) in accordance with their MDP.
The war expanded into a global affair with the entrance of FOK on the 24th. (The thread is on the 25th because these forums were down for most of the 24th.) After that, and the counter-declarations by Polar's allies NSO, many alliances jumped in on both sides. A complete breakdown of declarations and sides can be found on the public record; by and large the war was Superfriends and LEO against the Polar and ex-Hegemony power spheres, but many alliances had not yet engaged.
On the update of the 28th-29th, two very important events occurred. First, TOP declared war on C&G – followed shortly afterwards by IRON, DAWN and TORN, and countered by Sparta and others. C&G were at this point not directly involved in the war, although widely expected to be assigned as counter-attackers against the major powers, and this declaration opened up a whole new front. Half an hour later, the initial combatants declared peace, followed later on the 29th by the rest of the fronts, leaving an entirely new picture of the war: TOP, IRON and a few others against the massive might of C&G and their treaty partners.
Since then, many more alliances have piled onto TOP and IRON, including Härmlins (betraying TOP?). What was intended to be a part of a coalition war has turned into the war, and it's currently keeping GRL high.
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