Vanguard Edict

[Rafael Nadal]

[center][img]http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/3543/flagzu8.png[/img][/center]

Vanguard was formed early in 2007, in a world which saw NPO and their Initiative buddies (buddies at the time, at least through treaty; I guess some will disagree that they were all actually friendly and buddies with each other) with no formidable opposition in place; the major cogs of that opposition had been defeated and crushed in GW2, thanks to ODN and Legion leadership at that time, not that we would have won, but they should have realized the magnitude of that conflict. (As a side note, god was it gratifying to some of us when VL Empire made the post appealing to independents to support them once they were getting their @#$% kicked in GW3.) Alas, this post is not intended to be a history lesson of 2k6-2k9 CN politics. Getting to the point, LUE was not a welcome moniker in this era. Those with pasts as LUE were closely monitored and had to be careful with where they went, what they said, actions they took. MK was able to secure protection from GOONS, which provided a safe(r) haven for former LUE. Conversely, there was Vanguard.

Spawned by Denial, who iirc, was pzi by NPO, Vanguard was not privy to such protection from its members' pasts. Vanguard was founded by former LUE members, and one ONOS member, with nearly all of us needing to shed our former identities. We formed slowly, with a planned influx of members, to keep the public eye off us, as an alliance springing up made of 20 new nations would have drawn attention to us. We formed as a small, tight knit community of LUE refugees. However, beyond the attention it would draw us, we realized there was a flaw in LUE, in that as a mass member alliance of that theme, and while definitely fun, we had a lot of stupidity. We endeavored to be the good part of LUE.

We originally intended to low lay and stay out of politics, to avoid stupid wars and also to avoid the attention being part of politics would bring us. Vanguard grew well, with a few nations that had been able avoid the need to re-roll funding our new nations. We eventually secured a protectorate with Valhalla, but that fell apart after we failed to notify them of a treaty we intended to sign. We later had more run ins with Valhalla over a few issues, but that's besides the point, I just didn't want to leave out our Valhalla protectorate. Vanguard was one of the first and best alliances that practiced the small and elite structure. Even with this more prevalent today, going into this past war we were still among the top 10 in most per member numbers, and this was a source of pride for us. This might also explain why we held an MDP with TOP at one point in time, however, that clearly also fell apart (due to a defining moment in our alliance's history, which I'll be referencing shortly).

And on to that defining moment. When others were busy with NoCB, our closest friends, Universalis, got in a scuffle with Legion. I'm not going to go into the politics of that war, why it escalated into war, etc because it's not important to this announcement. However, by this time, we had a few treaties, though they were signed with other small alliances. Ragnarok was large, but that was when they were gobbling up alliances, they were small when we treatied them. On this tangent, we also treatied The Shadowhood, which merged with another alliance to form Echelon. We held treaties with TOP, ODN, and Universalis as well. To make a long story short about how I know Legion and Co were full of !@#$ about their claims against Uni, I know they were false and misguided because I was part of the planning of what they were vaguely and incorrectly referencing. We were unhappy with the bs of NoCB and contemplated entering to just nuke some people. I ended up being the only one in Vanguard who was going to do so, as the others did not want to do it unless Vanguard as a whole entity was going to do so, and Vanguard as an entity was not going to. I, with some from Univeralis and Uni's friends in PAIN, started planning who to blindside. However, we never got out of the planning stage. We were still gathering accurate info on how many nations and nukes we would have, and we were assessing which alliances we could actually make an impact against. Nobody was chosen, nor was there any decision imminent. So when Legion came to Uni (also, I know which alliance was the leak, MASH) with the accusations they did, I was armed with information they didn't know I had. The talks are history, and the long and short of it is that the Universalis-Legion Conflict was our coming out party and, in my mind, THE defining moment of Vanguard. Vanguard, built in it's elite, top-heavy, heavily focused military wonder nations structure, along with Uni and PAIN, though still heavily outnumbered, ripped through Legion's upper ranks. Peace eventually prevailed with us paying reps, but those were nothing to us, and we gained new friends in Nueva Vida, though we lost TOP. We also would have canceled on ODN (led by Walkerninja at the time, just for timeline's sake), but we never got around to doing it. Regardless, there is absolutely nothing I regret about this war, or the consequences of.

After that war, we continued building, though with more and more exposure. Skipping some periodic drama with Valhalla and others, I'll fast forward to our absorption of TDSM8 and introduction to CnG. Well, our absorption of TDSM8 was just that. They came to us, and were not doing so well under the reps that NPO levied them. It was truly a merge, though we carried it out as an absorption, as we considered it a safer avenue for us in politics. TDSM8's one true stipulation was not losing their friends in CnG. With this, we (re) introduced ourselves to CnG. I say (re) since many of us knew MK from LUE. This was also a momentous period in Vanguard's history, as it formed the basis for our FA since that time. It was also a tough proposition internally, as we had originally sought to avoid being entrenched in the treaty web and the stupid politics it can entail. Not too mention, many of us were not fond of MK nor Archon, since his formation of an alliance under those who destroyed us did not sit well with us; some might have called him a traitor. Much debate ensued, but we took on TDSM8 and joined CnG. I firmly believe we made a good decision, and I doubt any member of Vanguard feels differently.

Karma war happened. It was cool. NPO fell. Of course, GOONS had fallen earlier. !@#$ happened. This $%&@ed up war happened. It was cool.

We're really close to MK. We're over (mostly ) our grudge against them. Our combined talents is something we consider amazing. Vanguard has had an exceptional run. Vanguard is merging into Mushroom Kingdom.

What might I consider Vanguard's legacy? Well to me, as a founding member, Vanguard represents my best time in CN. Vanguard was one of the best, most respected alliances in CN, wielding power not just through our NS, but through our bonds, and through respect we earned through actions (such as standing by Uni). We were often-times mentioned as one of the most powerful alliances per NS by others throughout Planet Bob. If nothing more, it's validation that we did well. At the end of the day, I'm proud of what we accomplished at Vanguard, and I will never be shamed for anything Vanguard ever did.

Big, big, big, big shout out to Thaliak. Thaliak was our long time Hammer (Internal Affairs) and basically created our application interview process. Without Thaliak, I seriously doubt Vanguard would have survived as long, or reached nearly the heights it did. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. There is no other person who meant more to the success of Vanguard than he.

Shout out to Universalis, and those Uni guys still around CN; Sup Lemeard?

Shout out to our former protectorate, SLCB. SLPV 4eva

Shout out to Reyne for giving us :viper:

Shout out to myself, for being the longest tenured Vanguard gov't member, I believe.

Finally, shout out to every member, both current and former, of Vanguard, for making it such a great alliance.

[center][b][u]Grand Architects of Vanguard[/u][/b]
[b]The Sovereign[/b], Rafael Nadal
[b]The Vizier[/b], Thaliak
[b]The Consul[/b] Stumpy

[b][u]Architects of Vanguard[/u][/b]
[b]The Sword[/b], Negev
[b]The Shield[/b], Pocho
[b]The Hammer[/b], QuiteTheUserName
[b]The Treasurer[/b], Prometheus
[b]The Scholar[/b], Faramir Kenobi[/center]

PS: We never got rolled for tech dealing with Chickenzilla. Take that world.

Edited April 3, 2010 by Rafael Nadal

[Archon]

The Mushroom Kingdom hereby acknowledges the merger of Vanguard into her ranks. This is a great day for the Kingdom, and its impact will be felt for a long time afterwards. The Kingdom, in accordance with this agreement, hereby declares its protection of and domain over the Vanguard alliance affiliation. Nations who have not yet transferred over are to be considered nations of the Kingdom, and any actions taken against them will be responded to as such. Furthermore, as per the April 1st announcement, the Kingdom also claims protection of and dominion over the LUEnited Nations alliance affiliation. Nations who have not yet transferrred over the Mushroom Kingdom alliance afiliation are to be treated as nations of the Kingdom.

All obligations of and owed to Vanguard are hereby transferred upon the Mushroom Kingdom, with two exceptions that will follow below. These obligations include, but are not limited to, the treaties of Vanguard, any surrender terms they were enforcing, reparations owed, and alliances protected. The exceptions are as follows: The Vanguard-Stickman MDoAP "Watch Out For Low Lying Limbs" treaty will not be transferred over to the Mushroom Kingdom, and the reparations owed to Vanguard from the New Pacific Order will be handled solely by the former banking organization of Vanguard, and distributed at their discretion. Should any alliance that held an agreement with Vanguard wish to discuss or, as the case probably is, further discuss the status of their treaties and the relationship as it now stands, we invite and welcome these alliances to do so at their earliest convenience. Most of you have already been contacted, and all of you will be as befitting an ally of the Kingdom.

Regarding changes to the government, as far as the public needs to know, there is now a second Principality created within the Kingdom. rafael nadal shall henceforth be known as a Prince of the Mushroom Kingdom, with peerage equal to the current sitting Prince (SirWilliam). These changes, as well as other changes made over the last few months, shall be made public in a few days hence in the form of an updated Mandate. Any other issues not thoroughly addressed in this statement will more than likely be clarified in that one, which will hopefully coincide with the sanction likely to be bestowed upon the Kingdom in about ten days.

On behalf of the Kingdom,
[i]Archon[/i]
King of the Mushroom Kingdom

[James I]

A glorious day. Welcome to all.

[mhawk]

Mooseville is dead.

[Gobb]

What's happenin guys?

[Chief Savage Man]

Oh dear God, its going to consume us all.

[Lord Boris]

Congrats all. Twas a good run, Vanguard, and you couldn't have picked a better alliance to fold into.

[SpectreTehDestroyer]

This is marvelous.

o/ MK

A great day for the Kingdom indeed.

[USMC123]

I was hoping this announcement would come up soon.

And yes I knew

Anyway, congrats to both parties and congrats on the sanction MK!

[Affluenza]

I thought it was an April fools?

[ty345]

So this is, what? LUE 4.0 now?

Congratz on the merger.

[SiCkO]

LUE had a better ring to it

[Natan]

GGA is going to roll you now...

[Alekhine]

I'm glad to see this finally happen.

[SirWilliam]

/s/

Welcome aboard, brothers.

[Banksy]

While it's sad to see Vanguard go, it's good to see them in MK.

o/ Vanguard
o/ MK

EDIT: And with that sanction- welcome to the joys of ghostbusting.

Edited April 3, 2010 by Banksy

[Bernkastel]

Once you fellows rebuild and all that ... enjoy the sanction and the plentiful of fun it brings.

You will most certainly be missed, Vanguard. Enjoyed fighting under the Vanguard AA during the Karma War.

[Unsure]

Sitting here, with my friends~

Something begins, something else ends~

Two alliances, always there~

Come together, for the fair~

Welcome to the Kingdom, Vanguard. :viper:

[sethb]

Wow, I'm torn about this one. I'm Happy that Vanguard picked a great home to merge into, yet sad that one of my favorite alliances on Planet Bob is no more. I'll never forget the support you fine people showed a former alliance of mine around this time last year.

Well anyway, One last time.

o/ Vanguard

Edited April 3, 2010 by sethb

[Tautology]

Congrats on the merger, Vanguard.

o/ Mushroom Kingdom

[Seerow]

Took long enough for this to get posted.


edit: Apparently I need to change my sig as it is no longer 4/1. Bleh.

Edited April 3, 2010 by Seerow

[spearo]

Very interesting, o/ to Vanguard.

[Schattenmann]

[quote name='Rafael Nadal' date='02 April 2010 - 08:10 PM' timestamp='1270253439' post='2245884']

Shout out to Reyne for giving us :viper:

[/quote]
Shameless self-promotion though it may be, I must say that while Reyne said it, Schattenmann gave it to you.

[Tromp]

FOK congratulates MK and former Vanguardians with this merger.

May the Kingdom prosper.

[ddog241]

2 alliances i like very much

o/ Vanguard
o/ MK