¶ Behold the price of hubris:

¶ Interesting to note is that Brennan Mulwray’s Avatar was not listed on Fitz VonHeise’s list of known titans.

-Havo out.

The Pendulum

¶ In this CAOD Address, titled “The Pendulum”, BoB’s infamous pink hat wearing leader recapped the last two years of near-constant war that they had waged, referencing momentous events by way of linking to the threads that accompanied them in chronological order. He painted one hell of a picture and no matter what side of the GBC-RSF conflict you’re on (if you’re on a side at all), you can’t help but respect what BoB has accomplished and what they’ve survived.
¶ Molle ended his address with the cryptic comment: “Next, we will introduce you all.. to Max.” Of course, it didn’t take long for people to ask “Who/what is Max?” and, again of course, BoB was keeping their mouths shut about it. This tight-lipped stance led to much speculation, but the general consensus was that it was Band of Brothers’ way of announcing that they had built yet another titan. Then, out of nowhere, a gem of information fell into CAOD: SirMolle had been interviewed by the New York Times and a tidbit of information from BoB’s annual barbecue was aired openly for the first time:

At the barbecue Mr. Molen unveiled a new strategy called Max, for Maximum Damage. While most Eve campaigns center on taking and controlling regions of space, BOB’s new Maximum Damage doctrine focuses on simply pillaging and destroying the territories of others.

¶ Molle went on to explain:

“Our goal is to control all of Eve,” Mr. Molen said in an interview over an Internet voice chat program. “It’s totally impossible to claim all of Eve physically. But it’s possible to control the people. It’s possible to control the alliances, be it by economic means or fighting means or political means. That was the goal and that is the goal.”

¶ Now everyone knew exactly what Max was, but the secret of when, where and how it would begin remained an excellently guarded secret.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in New Eden…

¶ …while Band of Brothers prepared for battle, another conflict was raging far from BoB’s home in Delve. Insurgency had gotten themselves into a war with the entirety of the North except for Triumvirate who ended up teaming up with INSRG to try to help them hold onto their own space and hopefully remove the alliances of the so-called “Northern Coalition” from theirs.
¶ Ultimately this did not work out and both INSRG and TRI were destroyed. In an unrelated series of mistakes, the alliance known as Mercenary Coalition had also collapsed. From the ashes of these three broken alliances formed The Requiem. RQM tried its hand in Curse, Stain and finally in Fountain but found that flying with each other under a NAP in a mutually beneficial war was one thing but flying together as an alliance was an entirely different thing, and so the corporations that had come into RQM from the remains of Triumvirate went back and re-formed TRI. There is a hell of a lot more to it than that, but this isn’t really about Triumvirate (and it sure ain’t about The Requiem or how they lost a Ragnarok-class titan to Tau Ceti Federation) so I’m sort of giving a Cliff’s Notes version - I hope you don’t mind.
¶ So, here’s TRI v2.0, all dressed up with no place to go, hanging out on Venal and plotting their return to the world of 0.0 sov-holding alliance politics.

The Maximum Damage Campaign Begins

¶ At 20:23 on July 9th, 2008, Band of Brothers’ official MAX spokesman announced the mobilization of a massive capital fleet, made up of BoB and their allies. A photo was included, in which 2 titans can be clearly seen. All of New Eden watched that thread for updates of where it was headed, but due to Goons shitting it up no such updates were to be found there. For weeks leading up to this day, pilots all over the cluster had been in an increased state of alert. Tau Ceti Federation had even onlined cynojammers in its Free Trade Zone areas, which was previously unheard of. It wasn’t long, though, until MAX’s first target was revealed - EC-P8R, a 0.0 entry point held by Red Alliance.
¶ Everybody expected the MAX capital fleet to strike eastward, staying in the south to extract a pricey revenge on GoonSwarm, who had been the driving force behind all of the hardship BoB had survived in the last 12 months or more, but instead they thrust northward to tear numerous high-value moons away from their Russian enemy. The battle reports were daily and exciting. The chest beating was constant and thunderous. Forces from the Northern Coalition came to help RA, but it was too little, too late and in just a few short weeks, there wasn’t a single tower left in orbit that bore the <RED> ticker.
¶ RED had proven themselves time and time again as an alliance that was never to be counted out, even having been expelled from nullsec space altogether more than once. But despite their invincibility during the last couple of years, RED appeared to have overextended themselves. With nearly every potential threat set to positive standings out of fear, the Russians had towers on moons all over the cluster, hoarding the most valuable of the precious moon metals to feed their own coffers and fund their own capital and supercapital production lines.

¶ None of the people whose moons they were holding would do anything about it for fear of the entire RSF falling upon them with a fleet they could not hope to match nor defeat. And so it went. If you were a space-holding alliance and Red Alliance approached you for positive standings, you knew that you were either going to lose your dysprosium and promethium moons but keep your space, or you were going to lose your space AND your moons when you said ‘no.’
¶ Such is the nature of EVE.

¶ With the bulk of Red Alliance’s power being centralized in the east, it took too long for them to mount an effective defense in the west, especially against the sort of fleet Band of Brothers had deployed. It would’ve been another matter entirely had it been nothing more than some rabble thrown together by one of the NC alliances - RED wasn’t prepared for MAX at all. But Molle’s stated objective wasn’t to merely take space from old enemy Red Alliance; his stated objective was to cause as much damage as possible, to everyone.
¶ Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Knock, Knock…

¶ Without missing a beat, the Maximum Damage offensive continued rolling north, from Pure Blind through Fade and into Deklein. Fires were sparked from EC-P8R to CCP-US where it seemed the BoB war machine might be halted, Imperial Republic of the North (IRON) and friends camping the system only two jumps away from their outpost in VFK-IV with Tech 2 Large bubbles and carriers supporting their massive defensive blob. But BoB’s FCs were more than experienced with carriers, gate camps and blob warfare. After all, they had stood up to the combined weight of EVE in NOL-M9.
¶ They had fought and survived against a who’s who of EVE’s powerful alliances, not only holding onto their last stronghold but repelling the invaders and reclaiming a noteworthy piece of their former empire. Band of Brothers knows better than anybody what can and can’t be achieved by an invasion force and what can and can’t be withstood by a defending force. So as BoB’s sub-capital fleet seemingly suicided itself into the waiting camp in CCP-US over and over the north rejoiced and congratulated themselves on CAOD but BoB merely waited, the entirety of the GBC reappearing in minutes with new battleships and heavy assault cruisers, fully Tech 2 fitted despite being so far from their traditional homes in Delve, Querious and Period Basis. They knew that the north would falter. They would experience a lull in supplies, their rank and file would get tired of camping the gates, their POS gunners would take a day off and the CCP-US cyno jammer would fall.
¶ It didn’t take long.
¶ With CCP-US fallen MAX had its foot in Deklein’s door and VFK-IV was next. The GBC taunted the north, trying to bait them out of their citadel, but the NC wouldn’t budge. They had no less than three titans in VFK protecting that cyno jammer, one belonging to IRON, one belonging to Morsus Mihi and (I think) one belonging to RAZOR. With a cyno jammer and 23/7 titan support, VFK was considered impenetrable and the north knew how foolish it would be to leave the safety of their fortress to fight the battle on BoB’s terms. And so it went, for weeks it seemed, the MAX fleet had run into a wall.
¶ They proceeded to lay siege to control towers all over the region, conducting a scorched earth campaign in the skies, destroying everything that the Northern Coalition would not come out to defend until there was nothing left but the siege of VFK. Two, three, four times daily the Greater BoB Community would send fleets into VFK-IV, fighting past the permanently camped gates to assault the cynosural field jammer. They kept steady pressure on the defensive fleet, knowing that a mistake was inevitable, believing whole-heartedly their mantra of “We are better than you.”
¶ The NC, on the other hand, cautioned its people to be patient and continue defending the same way they had been - while it might not be the most exciting way to fight a war, BoB and their cohorts couldn’t take down the cyno jammer with the constant titan presence.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

¶ A few cyno jumps away, in Venal, the Triumvirate leadership was watching. The Northern Coalition had been responsible for their fall the first time and they had a hell of an axe to grind. However, they were not on any better terms with Band of Brothers. TRI are the sort of fighters who can’t stand the idea of being perceived as somebody’s pet, so they’re naturally not the type to throw themselves under the GBC umbrella. As such, though they might want nothing more than to participate in the destruction of the entire NC, they dared not throw themselves right in front of the power of MAX.
¶ So they turned their eyes away from the front line in Deklein (their former home) and looked for a weakness they could exploit. They found that weakness in Vale of the Silent in the form of EVE’s laughingstock HYDRA.
¶ HYDRA was the alliance responsible for a 3rd-party application called BACON, which monitored the logserver.exe output to warn a person if someone entered their solar system and if the newcomer was held in neutral or negative standings - it watched the Local channel for you to warn you of potential danger so that you didn’t need to be vigilant yourself. Before they released this application, HYRDA was known as being the worst combat force of all the NC alliances. During the reign of BACON, HYDRA’s efficiency improved in that they took much fewer losses. When BACON was disabled by CCP, their combat stats went right back into the gutter. Whenever a mercenary corporation needed to pad their stats, they went to HYDRA space for easy kills.
¶ It took Triumvirate less than a week to remove HYDRA from their TVN-FM outpost in Vale of the Silent. When HYDRA cried out for help, much of EVE thought their calls would go unanswered with their Northern Coalition occupied in Deklein - especially TRI. But they were wrong. The NC’s Fleet Commanders were so sure of their defensive strategy at VFK-IV that they decided to divert a large capital fleet to the Vale to make short work of Triumvirate’s power grab. Triumvirate isn’t the massive powerhouse that once held Deklein Pure Blind and Fade. Boasting less than 1000 pilots now, TRI is just a shadow of its former self. It is unclear if they expected to really hold TVN or not, but if they wanted a fight they certainly got it. The North fell on them like an anvil, expecting BoB to continue with the siege of VFK as they’re neutral to TRI and have no obvious motive to come help the rebuilt PvP alliance.
¶ The North was thinking in terms of a conventional war for territory, however. And SirMolle had stated that MAX’s objective wasn’t conquest, but destrution. As soon as the reports came in that the North was fielding their capital fleet at TVN to remove TRI’s control towers, the GBC’s Fleet Commanders shifted their cyno pilots and sent their sub-capital support burning at full speed across Tribute and Lonetrek to get in position to support the MAX fleet when it jumped into TVN. They arrived before the battle was over, catching three NC motherships (two Nyxes and an Aeon) and numerous dreads and assorted carriers. This picture, taken by a Triumvirate pilot, shows the MAX fleet (neutral) facing off against the NC’s assembled forces (red):

¶ The NC’s Fleet Commanders had made a terrible miscalculation. As one BoB pilot remarked afterward, “you wouldn’t come to us so we decided to visit you.” This mistake cost Morsus Mihi three mothership-class vessels - nearly adding up to a titan in ISK value!
¶ And it wasn’t over.

Back in VFK-IV…

¶ When the smoke cleared and BoB had looted the field, they returned to their staging points in Pure Blind and Deklein, not pausing for a moment in their siege of the IRON citadel system. Their battleship and HAC fleets maintaining near round-the-clock efforts against the VFK cyno jammer. At some point during the fighting, a GBC covert ops pilot had cracked the deep safe of IRON Avatar pilot lord 2evil of the Macabre Votum corporation and had several Heavy Interdictors waiting to lock the Amarr titan down as soon as lord 2evil appeared on grid.
¶ This had a two-fold purpose. The primary goal was to lock down the titan and draw the NC’s forces away from defending the cyno jammer in order to save the titan, thus allowing the MAX sub-capital fleet to destroy the jammer. The secondary goal, dependant upon the cyno jammer’s destruction, was to remove the Avatar from the field permanently if possible. But even with this creative plan set in motion, it would be difficult. It was just as likely that the Northern Coalition would manage to free their titan while the POS gunners at the cyno jammer and the remaining defenders managed to successfully defend it from what would by necessity be only a fraction of the MAX sub-capital fleet.
¶ I mentioned before that Band of Brothers knows better than anybody else what it takes to defend a cyno jammer and that it’s only a matter of time before someone makes a mistake.
¶ RAZOR titan pilot Intensity Green of Cutting Edge Incorporated was shifting his Erebus-class titan in and out of the POS shields as a preventative measure, careful not to get far enough away from the POS that he could be tackled if the cyno jammer did fall. It was Intensity Green who made the first mistake in the defense of VFK-IV. At approximately 07:55, on August 22nd, Intensity Green activated his doomsday device, but he was not entirely outside of the POS shield. His Aurora Ominae destroyed the POS gunners, removing a major part of the conventional defense from play. If not for this mistake on the part of the RZR titan pilot, Band of Brothers may not have been able to issue this battle report, celebrating the destruction of lord 2evil’s Avatar.
¶ In less than 24 hours, the Maximum Damage campaign claimed three motherships and a titan from the Northern Coalition.

Is Red Alliance Finished?

¶ A short time later, they released a presentation detailing the departure of Red Alliance’s most powerful corporation, Reunion (and with them their holding corporation), which left to join Against ALL Authorities. Apparently, they left RED displeased with the way the defense of Pure Blind had been handled - and they’re not the only corporation who left Red alliance to seek a new home, either. This, however, is a matter which hasn’t been openly discussed in anything resembling detail, and much of the information available is nothing more than cheap propaganda and unfounded conjecture, so I won’t bother trying to pick through all of that. I think it’s enough to say that MAX seems to have, for all intents and purposes, destroyed Red Alliance. Sure, some corporations will maintain the <RED> banner, but it doesn’t seem that they’ll ever be the same “RA” that got pushed back into a single system and fought their way into dominance of most of New Eden again.

-Havo out.

More Reasonable Than They Look
¶ My first point of contact was Carinelle Avriette, one of two listed diplomats for Electus Matari.

—————————————————————

Channel ID: 2134504400
Channel Name: Private Chat (Carinelle Avriette)
Listener: Havohej
Session started: 2008.08.06 09:05:03
—————————————————————

?[ 2008.08.06 09:05:19 ] Havohej > You are a diplomat for Electus Matari, is that correct?
?[ 2008.08.06 09:05:22 ] Carinelle Avriette > hello how can I help you?
?[ 2008.08.06 09:05:36 ] Carinelle Avriette > yes I am of the em diplomats
?[ 2008.08.06 09:06:01 ] Havohej > Seems we’ve run afoul of each other somewhere, as you have DFIAS set to -5.0 for allegations of piracy.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:08:07 ] Havohej > DFIAS is taking a sojourn from 0.0 alliance politics, much like Kinetic Vector, and has holed up in Molden Heath. Imagine our surprise to find ourselves blacklisted from what appears to be the most commonly used local intel loop against the pirates
?[ 2008.08.06 09:08:17 ] Havohej > such as BYDI, with whom we’ve tangled twice tonight…
?[ 2008.08.06 09:08:27 ] Carinelle Avriette > reading our database to look the reason
?[ 2008.08.06 09:08:56 ] Carinelle Avriette > seems like you have been sreen in MH pirating
?[ 2008.08.06 09:09:05 ] Carinelle Avriette > and you have NBSI politic?
?[ 2008.08.06 09:09:34 ] Havohej > In Molden Heath, as per our recently made agreement with KVEC, DFIAS operates NRDS in Molden Heath, NBSI everywhere else.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:10:08 ] Havohej > Living in 0.0, you learn that blues aren’t necessarily friends and neutrals almost always wish you ill… I’ve found it to be no different in empire.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:10:22 ] Carinelle Avriette > we require NBSI everywhere in the Republic are (MH, Metropolis, Heimatar)
?[ 2008.08.06 09:11:29 ] Havohej > Listen… I’m Minmatar myself, but the Republic never did anything for me that I couldn’t do for myself. I could personally care less about the crusade EM appears to be fighting… my sole concern is for DFIAS. We can either fend for ourselves
?[ 2008.08.06 09:11:52 ] Havohej > completely and withdraw from the NAPs we’ve made here thus far, or we can peacefully co-exist with those who don’t wish anyone harm and help fight the real pirates…
?[ 2008.08.06 09:12:30 ] Havohej > We assumed it would be more desirable to work with the anti-pirate element than against it, considering that we share enemies in this region.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:12:55 ] Carinelle Avriette > we operate on all of those areas so you will stay -5 to us, but since you are NRDS in MH I can take up that issue with the intel channel owners and see if you would be taken out that pirate list there
?[ 2008.08.06 09:13:43 ] Havohej > That would be acceptable to us, and I think it’s a compromise that anyone who dwells in Molden Heath would benefit from…
?[ 2008.08.06 09:14:03 ] Havohej > All night long, my people report reds in corpchat and on Ventrilo, but we’ve no means to relay that information to the rest of the region.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:14:40 ] Carinelle Avriette > I’ll take up the issue with my boss and see what they think
?[ 2008.08.06 09:14:43 ] Havohej > By reds, I mean anyone on this list, most of whom you’ll recognize as local (MH) pirates.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:14:44 ] Havohej > http://dfias.evekb.co.uk/?a=standings
?[ 2008.08.06 09:14:56 ] Havohej > Naturally, you were also set negative once we learned that you had us negative…
?[ 2008.08.06 09:16:15 ] Havohej > A slightly closer inspection will show that we’ve already begun fighting them… (tonight went poorly =s)
?[ 2008.08.06 09:16:41 ] Havohej > Anyway, thanks for your time… I trust you’ll send a message to let me know of the conclusion?
?[ 2008.08.06 09:17:27 ] Carinelle Avriette > if you mainly operate in the MH, wouldn’t it be much bother to you aply NRDS politic in the Heimatar and Metro too?
?[ 2008.08.06 09:17:56 ] Carinelle Avriette > yes taking things forwards always takes couple of days, Il’ll let you now what other thought about
?[ 2008.08.06 09:17:58 ] Havohej > Yes and no.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:18:19 ] Havohej > I mean, what does it benefit us to have neutrals that don’t know us shooting at us unexpectedly?
?[ 2008.08.06 09:18:37 ] Havohej > At least here, at home, we’re becoming ‘regular faces’ that most neutrals won’t bother…
?[ 2008.08.06 09:19:04 ] Havohej > In Heimatar, or Metropolis, we couldn’t expect the same safe passage from non-pirates… NBSI is a means of self-defense, not necessarily piracy.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:34:04 ] Carinelle Avriette > ok but you guys sound good’ish guys so I hope we can find some solution
?[ 2008.08.06 09:34:17 ] Havohej > /emote grumbles about being banned from Molden Intel for the second time and not even violencing anyone’s boats this time.
?[ 2008.08.06 09:34:55 ] Carinelle Avriette > I’ll get back to you later

¶ Carinelle was easy to speak with as you can see. She maintained the official position of -EM- while being understanding of DFIAS’ position and promised to move the issue up the ladder to find a resolution. Fair enough, can’t ask for more than that. It just so happened the next day that Evanda Char, -EM- Executrix, was in Hedaleolfarber on business with their Foundati0n and Kinetic Vector allies. Upon seeing me appear on the Local comm channel, she asked if I had time for a private conversation which I accepted with interest, not having expected to deal directly with her.

—————————————————————

Channel ID: 2134548763
Channel Name: Private Chat (Evanda Char)
Listener: Havohej
Session started: 2008.08.07 19:37:04
—————————————————————

?[ 2008.08.07 19:37:34 ] Evanda Char > Hi, I understand from Nelle that we have you flagged as pirates and you aren’t.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:38:06 ] Evanda Char > Nelle being our diplomat Carinelle
?[ 2008.08.07 19:38:46 ] Havohej > I’m not sure that would be entirely accurate from your perspective… rather say that while I don’t run the corporation with a pointedly criminal focus, I don’t much care if someone loses a ship - so long as they’re not blue, of course.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:39:19 ] Havohej > However, I’m a practical person and recognize the need for a secure home.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:39:27 ] Evanda Char > /emote nods.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:40:12 ] Evanda Char > With the way things have been round here, we’re being less rigid on what we define as a pirate and what we don’t; we’re more concerned about things like huge gatecamps that lock the area down
?[ 2008.08.07 19:41:05 ] Havohej > That sort of thing doesn’t do anybody any good. With my own relationship with CONCORD, it’s difficult enough to receive shipments from the more lively trading hubs…
?[ 2008.08.07 19:41:39 ] Evanda Char > /emote nods. I quite understand - I’m looking to make Hedal a bit more of a hub, myself.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:41:42 ] Havohej > So far, we have set the local pirate organizations, such as Beyond Divinity, to negative standings so as to see them coming that much earlier… last night, we had a couple of engagements with them.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:42:26 ] Havohej > The first went well, the second…. well, next time should be different. *smirks slightly*
?[ 2008.08.07 19:43:12 ] Evanda Char > May I ask, what if average joe from the area wanted to arrange blue with you to make sure he didn’t accidentally get shot? If he didn’t seem likely to be a threat or a spy, I mean. Would you be open to that or do you have a minimal blues or a charging
?[ 2008.08.07 19:43:15 ] Evanda Char > policy
?[ 2008.08.07 19:43:46 ] Evanda Char > And I hope you rip their intestines out and make them into sausages :)
?[ 2008.08.07 19:43:53 ] Evanda Char > BYDI, I mean
?[ 2008.08.07 19:44:26 ] Havohej > Our outlook is a simple one that we adopted during our time in the 0.0 political arena - that is, blues should be useful, everyone else is a threat. That said, we’ve no intentions to violate the terms of our non-aggression pact with KVEC and will
?[ 2008.08.07 19:44:53 ] Havohej > continue to follow the NRDS RoE in Molden Heath… we’ve gone blue with them because, from what we could tell, they actively fight the local pirates.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:45:31 ] Havohej > DFIAS was already on bad terms with most of the local criminals, so it only made sense… so far, we haven’t been able to collaborate on a combat op, but I hope to see that change as DFIAS gets more settled in…
?[ 2008.08.07 19:46:01 ] Evanda Char > They do indeed. Well, what I’d like to do is get you unredded as soon as possible, *classified - sensitive*
?[ 2008.08.07 19:46:11 ] Havohej > I’m sorry, I ramble. The simple answer to your question would be, we don’t charge for positive standings but we see no need to enter a formal agreement with someone who won’t be on the battlefield with us.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:47:07 ] Havohej > /emote nods. I felt that would be the most prudent choice for all involved, as well. How often are your forces in the region, if that information isn’t too sensitive…?
?[ 2008.08.07 19:47:57 ] Evanda Char > At the moment, it’s wildly variable - *classified - sensitive*
?[ 2008.08.07 19:49:11 ] Evanda Char > How would you feel about mutual neutral for now?
?[ 2008.08.07 19:49:48 ] Havohej > It’s probably the best course of action at this juncture… would that enable DFIAS to share in the local intel loop?
?[ 2008.08.07 19:50:09 ] Evanda Char > Yes, I’m taking you off the block list there now
?[ 2008.08.07 19:50:41 ] Evanda Char > I’m just going to invite you to the channel again - tell me if you bounce
?[ 2008.08.07 19:50:47 ] Havohej > /emote nods.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:51:30 ] Evanda Char > And that’s the red removed as well… let me update our paperwork
?[ 2008.08.07 19:52:25 ] Havohej > I’ve reset standings toward Electus Matari. Thank you, Miss Char. I’m glad that we were able to understand each other. Perhaps over time we might develop a mutually beneficial relationship… but I’m not sure that DFIAS is the sort of organization
?[ 2008.08.07 19:52:35 ] Havohej > you generally befriend.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:53:03 ] Evanda Char > /emote smiles. “I’m not sure where things will end up, but you’re certainly the kind of organisation I can respect.”
?[ 2008.08.07 19:53:27 ] Evanda Char > Please tender my apologies to your corporation for the redding and the misreports in Molden Intel
?[ 2008.08.07 19:53:41 ] Havohej > We understand - there’s nothing to apologize for.
?[ 2008.08.07 19:54:09 ] Havohej > By your charter, you had to do what you felt necessary to defend the Matari people… were I a more noble man, I might’ve done the same.

¶ The rest of the conversation went into discussions best not aired openly in this venue. Suffice it to say that DFIAS remains neutral to Electus Matari at this juncture but is open to the idea of working together from time to time for mutual gain. At the end of the conversation, DFIAS had access to the most commonly-used anti-pirate intel channel in the region and were off of -EM-’s Molden Heath target list - both sooner than expected. The future looked uncomplicated, and uncomplicated is good.
¶ But looks can be deceiving.

We’re Foundati0n, Bitch!
¶ Based in Great Wildlands, Foundati0n is a long-time ally of Electus Matari with an anti-pirate reputation. They have other reputations too, though, such as being extremely fond of hot-dropping capital ship fleets on smaller enemy forces. Word has it that every FDN ship has a cyno fitted and 500 liquid ozone in the hold. Another rumor is that frequently FDN pilots violate the alliance’s NRDS policy - this is generally called “going cowboy.” I’ve never encountered a rogue FDN combat pilot, but I did have an encounter with a rogue “diplomat.”
¶ The encounter was spurred by the following exchange on Molden Intel:

?[ 2008.08.09 19:27:29 ] Binner > 4 reds in oddelulf
?[ 2008.08.09 19:31:33 ] lashana darkmoon > 1 in half but he is a reformed pirate
?[ 2008.08.09 19:32:11 ] Havohej > There’s no such thing as a reformed… oh, wait.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:32:26 ] lashana darkmoon > lol

¶ In the interest of public relations, it’s good to get people used to seeing us around. If they see us reporting on the intel channel, and if they see us out fighting the local pirates, there will be less likelihood of someone making a mistake regarding who to shoot at (or not shoot at) when it really counts.
¶ Seeing my joke about reformed pirates, a pilot named Baske, CEO of Space-Bar, a Foundati0n member corporation, requested a conversation. Expecting it to be just another worthless empire corp who had us red ’cause we flipped their can once upon a time asking if it was safe to set us back to neutral, I accepted.

—————————————————————

Channel ID: 2134612522
Channel Name: Private Chat (Baske)
Listener: Havohej
Session started: 2008.08.09 19:50:25
—————————————————————

?[ 2008.08.09 19:50:37 ] Havohej > Bernie Mac died :(
?[ 2008.08.09 19:51:03 ] Baske > oh, sorry abotu that, tho I have no clue who he is hehe
?[ 2008.08.09 19:51:12 ] Havohej > I’m sure that wasn’t the greeting you were expecting. What can I do for you?
?[ 2008.08.09 19:51:33 ] Baske > i just looked at molden heath and saw your joke hehehe, reformed pirate…. :D
?[ 2008.08.09 19:51:55 ] Havohej > hehe
?[ 2008.08.09 19:52:14 ] Baske > anyway, would like to ask if you are serious about that NBSI anywhere but MH, cause you should really include GW in that NBSI thingy to open up your options in GW
?[ 2008.08.09 19:52:28 ] Havohej > For what?
?[ 2008.08.09 19:52:32 ] Baske > eh, opposite
?[ 2008.08.09 19:52:50 ] Baske > to be firends with fdn, who is a not so little player in the anti-piracy in MH
?[ 2008.08.09 19:53:11 ] Baske > if you came to GW, and we saw you bio, you would be open target immidiatly

¶ Was he serious? He was asking me to consider not shooting FDN and their pets in Great Wildlands and all he could offer was a threat? He must not know who we are, I thought. I chose my words carefully, intending to let him know that DFIAS wasn’t afraid of FDN by illustrating that I’ve hunted and killed in GW before. I also wanted to warn him that he was starting on a path that wouldn’t help FDN’s people in Hedaleolfarber.

?[ 2008.08.09 19:53:31 ] Havohej > As would you guys… I’ve been to Great Wildlands before.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:53:40 ] Havohej > If this is an attempt at diplomacy, you’re not doing very well.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:53:53 ] Baske > nah, im just talking
?[ 2008.08.09 19:54:15 ] Baske > and I dont need you to judge me, I dont need anyone to judge me hehe, i am who i am :)
?[ 2008.08.09 19:54:36 ] Baske > but, it is, tbh, just a friendly request

¶ Friendly request…? Who said we were friends? Foundati0n and DFIAS weren’t blue, and anyone who has been to 0.0 knows that even blues aren’t necessarily your friends.

?[ 2008.08.09 19:54:59 ] Havohej > Unless there’s something specific that benefits DFIAS in Great Wildlands, we prefer to have as few blues and as much freedom as possible…
?[ 2008.08.09 19:55:23 ] Baske > well, you would quickly become targets…..in MH as well
?[ 2008.08.09 19:55:35 ] Baske > im not threatening, im not in position to do that
?[ 2008.08.09 19:55:36 ] Havohej > Is that a threat…?
?[ 2008.08.09 19:55:40 ] Baske > im just saying it how it is

¶ “How it is.” I see, I thought. This guy, who isn’t even listed as a Foundati0n diplomat, thinks he’ll “help out” by using his alliance’s size to try and intimidate the independents into not messing with FDN. In one sentence, he says that DFIAS will become targets in Molden Heath, which implies that Electus Matari and Kinetic Vector would follow suit. The fact that he said he wasn’t threatening before I could even get the question out makes it very clear that he was trying to “muscle” me with poorly veiled threats… like a mobster who tells a shop owner, “You know, this is a very nice bakery you got here. It would be a shame if somethin’ happened to it. I’m not threatenin’ you, see, I just think it would be a good idea if you give me some ISK as a means of making sure nothing happens. It’s not a threat at all.” Some anti-pirate alliance Foundati0n is!
¶ Over the course of the rest of this little chat, I warn him repeatedly that he’s making his alliance a new enemy… but he just wasn’t getting it.

?[ 2008.08.09 19:55:43 ] Havohej > I’ve been leaving your people alone in this system all week.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:55:50 ] Havohej > You’re pushing toward hostilities…
?[ 2008.08.09 19:56:29 ] Baske > look, i havent said you would be shot down or anything, I am just saying you would become red sooner or later
?[ 2008.08.09 19:56:49 ] Baske > if thats how you take it, you are not very anti-pirate like
?[ 2008.08.09 19:56:52 ] Havohej > Wanna do it now?
?[ 2008.08.09 19:56:59 ] Havohej > I’m not appreciating your threats.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:57:06 ] Baske > its not threats dude
?[ 2008.08.09 19:57:08 ] Havohej > Are you an approved FDN diplomat?
?[ 2008.08.09 19:57:23 ] Baske > ok, forget im fdn, take me as a stranger who just knows how fdn works, okay
?[ 2008.08.09 19:57:45 ] Havohej > List for me FDN’s diplomats, please. You’ve created a situation.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:57:55 ] Baske > what I am doing, is trying to solve a problem before it arises, that is all, honestly
?[ 2008.08.09 19:58:09 ] Havohej > List for me FDN’s diplomats, please. You’ve created a situation.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:58:51 ] Baske > find them yourself, being this rude
?[ 2008.08.09 19:59:17 ] Baske > just trying to keep peace mate, and you accuse me of anything but
?[ 2008.08.09 19:59:24 ] Havohej > Alert them to the fact that DFIAS now sees F0undation at -5
?[ 2008.08.09 19:59:32 ] Havohej > If they would like to change this, they need to contact me.
?[ 2008.08.09 19:59:48 ] Havohej > Next time, leave diplomacy to your diplomats and don’t make veiled threats.

¶ In the interest of keeping our word, I sent a warning message to knightstarNC, Foundati0n’s first listed diplomat, as well as to the -EM- diplomat informing them of our decision to set Foundati0n to negative standings, citing unwarranted threats from Baske as the reason and offering to share the log of the conversation if there was any doubt as to the veracity of our grievance with FDN.
¶ I was contacted about a half an hour later by knightstarNC who happened to be online at the time.

—————————————————————

Channel ID: 2134613452
Channel Name: Private Chat (knightstarNC)
Listener: Havohej
Session started: 2008.08.09 20:19:53
—————————————————————

?[ 2008.08.09 20:20:04 ] knightstarNC > hi
?[ 2008.08.09 20:20:09 ] Havohej > Hello.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:20:22 ] knightstarNC > thank you for your eve mail
?[ 2008.08.09 20:20:52 ] Havohej > DFIAS has had quite a time convincing certain elements that we’re not pirating in Molden Heath… opening fire on you without letting you know would’ve been a setback.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:21:51 ] knightstarNC > yes i hear that, from what i can tell and as i tell everone that convo me with these issues i wasernt there
?[ 2008.08.09 20:22:10 ] knightstarNC > all i know is the charicter convoed me about that happened
?[ 2008.08.09 20:22:33 ] Havohej > I’ve got the chat log… I spent about 5 minutes listening to Baske issue veiled threats and tell me “I’m not threatening you, I’m just letting you know.”
?[ 2008.08.09 20:23:05 ] knightstarNC > yes i know
?[ 2008.08.09 20:23:15 ] Havohej > That’s not acceptable to us.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:23:32 ] knightstarNC > he said, and i understand
?[ 2008.08.09 20:23:34 ] Havohej > I’m not going to tolerate that any more than you would tolerate it from DFIAS.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:24:24 ] knightstarNC > for sure but i would talk to someone like a diplo before making a disigen of setting someone red
?[ 2008.08.09 20:24:38 ] knightstarNC > but that is gone
?[ 2008.08.09 20:24:41 ] Havohej > Baske was doing a good job of talking like a diplo.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:25:02 ] Havohej > I requested a diplo twice during the conversation.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:25:05 ] knightstarNC > not realy if you set us red
?[ 2008.08.09 20:25:10 ] Havohej > If you’d like to read it, I’d be happy to e-mail it to you.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:25:31 ] knightstarNC > can you eve mail them to me
?[ 2008.08.09 20:28:18 ] Havohej > Sent, over the course of four EVE-Mails.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:30:14 ] knightstarNC > rgr give me a few min reading it
?[ 2008.08.09 20:34:33 ] knightstarNC > ok read it
?[ 2008.08.09 20:35:03 ] knightstarNC > know that convo i can see it from both sides.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:35:38 ] Havohej > I’m sure you understand that I see it only from my side, and from my side I was told that if DFIAS doesn’t adopt NRDS in Great Wildlands, FDN will set us red.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:35:58 ] knightstarNC > yes i can
?[ 2008.08.09 20:37:04 ] knightstarNC > but i can also see it from baske side he was tring to advoyed a insident betwen out 2 groups
?[ 2008.08.09 20:37:31 ] Havohej > There’s been no reason as yet to expect one.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:38:00 ] knightstarNC > ok you know we fly NRDS yes
?[ 2008.08.09 20:38:26 ] Havohej > I hear tell you’ve been acting NBSI lately, but yes, I’m aware of FDN’s NRDS reputation.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:39:19 ] knightstarNC > yes and as you know with this game NO system is perfect
?[ 2008.08.09 20:39:28 ] Havohej > Heh.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:39:47 ] Havohej > In other words, sometimes somebody goes rogue for the sake of a little fun.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:40:22 ] knightstarNC > lets say peaple make merstakes
?[ 2008.08.09 20:40:37 ] Havohej > You mean like Baske?
?[ 2008.08.09 20:41:00 ] knightstarNC > i me like everone no one is perfect
?[ 2008.08.09 20:41:28 ] Havohej > You see, I got the impression that he felt powerful in the size of his alliance and expected that he could lean on me with a couple of veiled threats and I would cower and say “Yessir Massah, we gon go not red don’t shoot in GW too, Massah!”
?[ 2008.08.09 20:41:33 ] Havohej > But in fact, that didn’t happen.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:41:57 ] Havohej > Now I’m getting the impression that you’re not concerned with the CEO of one of your corporations making an ass of himself and creating this problem.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:42:13 ] Havohej > I get the impression that your attitude regarding the situation is “Oh well, shit happens.”
?[ 2008.08.09 20:42:42 ] knightstarNC > but then you might have looked at the messige and thought hes thretoning me
?[ 2008.08.09 20:42:56 ] Havohej > I did.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:43:05 ] Havohej > And he was - are you denying that?
?[ 2008.08.09 20:43:39 ] knightstarNC > my attitude to this stiuation is can we find some come ground
?[ 2008.08.09 20:43:55 ] Havohej > What do you have in mind?
?[ 2008.08.09 20:44:28 ] knightstarNC > first a queston for you
?[ 2008.08.09 20:44:37 ] knightstarNC > you follow nbsi right?
?[ 2008.08.09 20:44:49 ] Havohej > Everywhere other than Molden Heath.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:44:59 ] Havohej > Inside of Molden Heath, we don’t shoot neutrals.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:45:06 ] knightstarNC > kk
?[ 2008.08.09 20:45:16 ] knightstarNC > so do you live always in MH
?[ 2008.08.09 20:45:35 ] knightstarNC > or do you roam for fun sometimes
?[ 2008.08.09 20:45:35 ] Havohej > We live here, we roam elsewhere.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:45:52 ] Havohej > The phrase “don’t shit in your own back yard” comes to mind.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:46:06 ] knightstarNC > i have seen the kill board and have seen you have once come down to GW
?[ 2008.08.09 20:46:11 ] knightstarNC > and for sure
?[ 2008.08.09 20:46:31 ] Havohej > More than once, just didn’t fight FDN every time.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:46:52 ] knightstarNC > kk
?[ 2008.08.09 20:47:24 ] knightstarNC > then i could put this statment as a threat to FDN
?[ 2008.08.09 20:47:34 ] knightstarNC > [ 2008.08.09 19:54:59 ] Havohej > Unless there’s something specific that benefits DFIAS in Great Wildlands, we prefer to have as few blues and as much freedom as possible…
?[ 2008.08.09 20:47:55 ] knightstarNC > i dont becouse thats the nature of this game
?[ 2008.08.09 20:48:06 ] Havohej > If you wish to take it that way, then that’s a threat to everybody in EVE outside of Molden Heath. I couldn’t be bothered to go threatening everyone ;)
?[ 2008.08.09 20:48:32 ] knightstarNC > we all play this game to pvp in one form or other
?[ 2008.08.09 20:48:37 ] Havohej > I spoke with Electus Matari and they didn’t feel it was a threat.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:48:45 ] knightstarNC > so i dont take it as a treat
?[ 2008.08.09 20:49:10 ] knightstarNC > threat i take it as you guys wanting some fun some times
?[ 2008.08.09 20:50:35 ] Havohej > Everybody does - at least, that I’ve flown with.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:50:42 ] knightstarNC > know the way i see it FDN has no intrest in making more reds
?[ 2008.08.09 20:50:45 ] Havohej > Lately our fun has been against the local pirates.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:50:58 ] Havohej > As well as some neutrals and pirates in Heimatar
?[ 2008.08.09 20:51:12 ] knightstarNC > and in MH we have comman enermys
?[ 2008.08.09 20:51:29 ] Havohej > We do.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:52:13 ] knightstarNC > now this is up to you and your corp from that i see how he came over was wrong,
?[ 2008.08.09 20:52:42 ] knightstarNC > i say what happens outside of GW is not my bisness
?[ 2008.08.09 20:53:00 ] knightstarNC > i have enough issue in GW to keep me bisy
?[ 2008.08.09 20:53:41 ] knightstarNC > you can keep us red if you wish if you wish
?[ 2008.08.09 20:54:05 ] Havohej > I’m willing to let the matter rest and set FDN back to neutral, provided Baske is willing to apoligize to me directly for overstepping his boundaries and admit to making veiled threats.
?[ 2008.08.09 20:56:33 ] knightstarNC > hold on m8
?[ 2008.08.09 21:07:27 ] knightstarNC > ok how about this he appolgise for the poor chose of words.
?[ 2008.08.09 21:07:41 ] Havohej > Not acceptable.
?[ 2008.08.09 21:08:06 ] Havohej > If that concludes our business…?
?[ 2008.08.09 21:08:19 ] knightstarNC > looks like it does
?[ 2008.08.09 21:08:31 ] Havohej > Speaks well for FDN.
?[ 2008.08.09 21:08:49 ] knightstarNC > i tryed
?[ 2008.08.09 21:08:56 ] Havohej > DFIAS’ members are all held responsible for their actions - had this been done by one of my people, he’d be out. You tolerate this sort of behaviour from CEOs of your member corporations…
?[ 2008.08.09 21:09:07 ] Havohej > Seems what they’re saying about you folks locally is true.
?[ 2008.08.09 21:09:09 ] knightstarNC > all that can be said for me
?[ 2008.08.09 21:09:12 ] Havohej > Good day.

¶ Having no further need to deal with his terrible English, I closed the conversation and informed my corporation that we would indeed be remaining hostile with Foundati0n.
¶ Personally, I can’t stand the large alliances. They all have this arrogance to them, their members thinking that just being a member of a corporation that happens to be in that alliance entitles them to liberties that ‘normal’ pilots wouldn’t have. A prime example would be EnginUr, the Interstellar Alcohol Conglomerate Hurricane pilot who thought he could rat and salvage in Eifer (lowsec Heimatar) unhindered because he was in a large 0.0 alliance - surely nobody would have the balls to bother him, right? Wrong. Baske here was the same thing, only without all the Republic Fleet EMP ammo being used. Baske thought that his being a CEO of a FDN corporation meant that I’d simply bow my head and extend our NRDS Rules of Engagement to Great Wildlands. Instead, we’ve begun roaming into 0.0 space more often, pointedly choosing Great Wildlands rather than Etherium Reach as hunting grounds. At the time of this entry, we haven’t seen Foundati0n, other than to not die on their 50-man gate camp in M-M, but we have killed a few of their pets…
¶ So congratulations, Baske, you went around your alliance diplomats and took it upon yourself to get another corporation that was previously leaving you alone to turn its attention toward hunting in your space on a regular basis. And congratulations, knightstarNC - you failed to convince Baske of his error and decided to tolerate his refusal to apologize, thus allowing his pride to create a new enemy - and oh, look! Electus Matari isn’t going to help you, they haven’t even kicked us off the intel channel. Go you.
¶ As much as I was looking forward to not having to deal with so much political maneuvering…

-Havo out.

¶ When Alor Avaran and I spoke at length with Wotsit, both in-game and on CODE’s Ventrilo, the state of the alliance was explained to us as a group that had been allied with BRUCE in Fountain and which had suffered greatly when BRUCE fell apart under the Pandemic Legion assault. Apparently, they’d lost member corporations and it was just an all-around bad time for them as an alliance. However, they had a new direction, new allies and a passable piece of space in NPC Sov 0.0 which they called their own. We could see for ourselves that there were 40 people on Ventrilo and a dozen or so in their public channel in-game (of course, not everyone will hang out in an extra chat window all day). They put themselves out to be an active alliance that had been in a better position and knew how to get back to where they had been before Pandemic Legion came to Fountain.
¶ We were given to believe that they held the Wield constellation in Outer Ring, which holds the NM-OEA outposts and the second-best mining systems in the entire region (the best being YVA and A2V, which have Arkonor and Mercoxit. We were given to believe that there was a non-aggression pact with Cosmic Anomalies in which they cooperatively defended against RZR’s roaming nano gangs from the north and other hostile entities from the south and east. We were given to believe that our Industrial Wing would have no problems. These things were not true. In reality, we found that CAN was merely tolerating them, that the terms of the NAP said that CODE could not rat or mine in ANY good systems in the region, making it impossible for the Industrial Wing to do anything at all while I worked on finding them a solution, and which made it impossible for anyone else to make any decent amount of ISK from ratting the terrible space that Cosmic Anomalies ‘allowed’ us to rat in.
¶ When I confronted Arbitos (CODE’s Executor) about this, he assured me there was no problem, everything was cool and that they’d talk to the CAN diplo and get the NAP re-worked. Okay, fair enough. Then the problem with DeaDSpace Coalition started.
¶ DeaDSpace Coalition is a GBC alliance - Greater BoB Community. DEAD was blue with CODE (might still be - don’t know, don’t care) but neutral/hostile with CAN. CAN was leaning on CODE to reset DEAD to act as leverage to force DEAD to get on CODE’s NAP-train. CODE’s position was that, since they’d been blue to DEAD longer, they wouldn’t reset them. Arbitos assured me that there was a plan to reset CAN and work with DEAD to push CAN out of Outer Ring. Now, I didn’t much like CAN anyway, so I was looking forward to this. I told my officers to be prepared and told the rest of my corp not to get too friendly with the CAN guys - as we all know after living in 0.0 for a while, blue does not mean ‘friendly,’ it just means ‘I won’t shoot you right now.’
¶ So, after being in CODE for a week, one night the levee breaks and CAN gets set red. DFIAS immediately gathers corpmates and alliance mates and goes hunting - tally ho! The first night goes well for CODE. Then, things got hairy… one of the CODE corporations, called Joint Ventures Limited (JVL) had a couple of towers get put into reinforced in CODE’s off-hours. One of the JVL directors started freaking out, no defense was organized by the leadership of the alliance… in fact, at this point, the leadership of the alliance was very difficult to contact. Wotsit was not logging on at all and Arbitos was on only for scant minutes at a time. The Ventrilo server that had 50-60 people, including 10-15 at any time from DFIAS, suddenly had only 20 people on it, 10-15 of which were DFIAS.
¶ And there was no support from DEAD. When I finally managed to corner Arbitos and ask him about it, I was informed that DEAD said they couldn’t help push CAN out of Outer Ring after all because they were all fighting the NC as part of BoB’s Maximum Damage campaign. CODE was alone. And more and more, DFIAS was alone. Our single corp fighting the whole of Cosmic Anomalies in a conflict started by an alliance leadership that had gone AWOL as soon as the shooting started.
So much for that idea.
¶ So, I decided that it was time for a change. DFIAS wasn’t a strong enough corporation to be accepted into one of the truly powerful alliances like RZR or IRON or U-NAT, so if we were to join another alliance, it would either be another pet/renter or another startup/groundfloor situation and that wouldn’t do. So, I held a corp meeting on the topic of what we should do next, giving my pilots a rare opportunity to voice their own individual desires in an effort to reconcile all of our personal needs with the needs of the corporation in order to determine the best possible course of action for DFIAS to take after this unexpected turn of events.
At length, it was decided that we would withdraw to empire, the Industry Wing would focus on Invention/T2 production and Capital production while the PvPers ran roaming gangs into various areas of 0.0 and, in lieu of ratting, would do exploration and L4 missions in empire. Being a 0.0 corporation, we decided that we know how to handle ourselves well enough to live in lowsec and benefit from the greater rewards from the higher quality L4 agents found there. Also, we have some outlaws in the corporation who would not be able to enter highsec space if we’d based there (including myself). We decided against joining Factional Warfare, as we still view ourselves as very much our own faction with our own needs and goals, and we don’t need a government sponsored wardec in order to feel safe PvPing.
¶ This is the point at which I had to take action as a CEO to ensure smooth operation - one of my pilots informed me that there was a respectably strong anti-pirate outfit living in what was to be our new home system - Kinetic Vector. Now DFIAS has never been, nor ever will be, an anti-pirate corporation. But it wouldn’t do to be constantly worried about the people living in the same station as you, so I approached the a KVEC director about our plans to move into Hedaleolfarber, explaining to them that we’re a 0.0 corporation pulling back to regroup and build up along a new series of goals before returning to the 0.0 political arena and that, while we are generally NBSI, for the sake of making our new lowsec home as safe for our members as 0.0 space, I was willing to offer the following compromise: DFIAS would operate NRDS rules of engagement within the confines of Molden Heath. When I explained that we also view the majority of the local pirates (BYDI, TWSTD, etc) as hostile due to their generally being douche bags, there was no further hesitation. So, we’ve formed the first Non-Aggression Pact as a corporation… there’s something comforting about controlling your own standings and not relying on an alliance diplomat to make friends or start fights that you youself aren’t signing off on.
¶ So, here we are. Where we once lived in Gelfiven in Molden Heath, we return to Hedaleolfarber in Molden Heath. From our Molden Heath home, we will stage roaming gangs into Etherium Reach, Great Wildlands and beyond. We will occassionally patrol our home region looking for known enemies who will be set red. We will sometimes go hunting in the neighboring regions of Metropolis, Heimatar and Derelik’s low-security space, but the bulk of our hunting will be done in 0.0 where there are no sentry guns to worry about. Living in 0.0 took our martial focus away from piracy per se, and more toward territorialism… but that doesn’t mean we won’t kill you for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even just to piss you off.
¶ Since we’ve adopted the NRDS rules in Molden Heath, our standings list will be published on our killboard so that there is no confusion. If you find yourself on this list and think you shouldn’t be there, contact me in-game and explain why DFIAS should not see you as an enemy… but if you’ve pissed us off enough to get on the list, don’t expect it to be easy to get off the list.

-Havo out.

A belief in hell and the knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton have never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumour.

Aldous Huxley, “Variations on a Baroque Tomb,” Themes and Variations.

¶ A series of events has taken place in the last month that has changed the way I look at things, and in doing so, has nearly completely changed the way The Defias Brotherhood is administered. I have thought deeply about why this is the case; DFIAS has experienced hardships in the past but I did not change and so DFIAS did not change. The simple answer is ambition.
¶ When DFIAS was created, it was with the intention of building a feared corporation of pirates and rogues. We wanted to be ‘big’ and to lock down entire regions of space, from empire, to low-sec, to 0.0. We fancied ourselves a corporation that would make ISK through empire piracy and wardecs, lowsec gate piracy and perhaps POS ransoms with a capital fleet, and we envisioned a method of supporting such goals with 0.0 industry. As we have progressed in the last six months, I’ve learned a great deal about how things really work in New Eden.
¶ In the last six months, I have seen people come and go from The Defias Brotherhood, including three of the founding pilots. Despite this, I have steadfastly held as closely to our original ambitions for the corporation but as my understanding of New Eden’s political and military landscape has evolved it was inevitable that my ambition evolved to suit this new, better understanding. I know now that you don’t really find real success if you’re spreading yourself between Empire and Free space. I know now that the real money - the real power - isn’t found in Empire but in 0.0.
¶ The money is found in the asteroid belts and below the surfaces of the moons. The money is found in hunting the elite pilots of outlaw factions like the Angel Cartel or Serpentis. The power is found in controlling access to the money-making resources. The power is found in being able to defend as well as attack; to hold as well as take. You might make a few hundred million on a lucky kill camping some low-sec Empire gate, but you’ll make billions if you play your cards right in 0.0 and you’ll be able to inspire even more fear.

Heaven and Hell

Here we may reign secure; and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell:
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

John Milton (1608–1674). “Paradise Lost”. Book i, Line 261.

¶ As it stands, the best parts of New Eden are divided between the mighty empires of Band of Brothers and the RedSwarm Federation made up of Red Alliance, GoonSwarm, Tau Ceti Federation and their friends. If you want access to any of the most financially productive space, you need to be on good terms with them, which usually means paying extortionist rents and accepting an imposed standings list, and sometimes even traversing vast tracts of space to fight in battles you personally have little to do with.
¶ Since the first time DFIAS set foot in 0.0, we’ve been members of one pet alliance or another. First VENOM Alliance, which was an RSF pet that had been given control of a profitable constellation for their efforts in helping GoonSwarm and their friends to run Band of Brothers and their pets out of the Omist region. The asteroid belts and moons in that constellation weren’t the best in the region, but they were reasonable and the RSF did not ask much of VENOM in return, other than sovereignty of one of the systems for their jump bridge network. This meant that VENOM would never have Level 4 Sovereignty in that constellation and thus would never be able to produce Supercapital ships. At least they didn’t have to pay rent.
¶ The next was Anthrax Death which began in a less valuable area of Omist and eventually made a deal with United Legion to acquire an even less valuable constellation in the Tenerifis region, with the only difference being that with it came control of an outpost. However, all of the things that make an outpost profitable to run were absent from this purchased space - in order for it to be profitable, there need to be people using it and its services (refinery, assembly lines, repair shop, etc). Everyone else in the region was much stronger than ANTX and possessed their own outposts, literally 10 or more jumps away, thus having no need to venture into ANTX’s humble constellation. And to make it worse, some of them were even hostile and couldn’t dock there if they wanted to. The space was terrible for making money, but DFIAS’ industrial wing is strong and we took full advantage of the limitations, often representing the only manufacturing trade in the alliance. Whenever a hostile gang would come through the constellation and kill ANTX ships, I would watch the corporate wallet jump as pilots replaced battleships, battlecruisers, Tech 2 modules and mining barges. We were literally the only game in town.
¶ But, just as with VENOM, ANTX (which had been formed primarily of former-VENOM corporations) began to show itself to be an environment that DFIAS could not reach its goals in. We would never be what we wanted to be in that alliance. They were an alliance with no real ambition, who seemed to feel that owning an outpost was some manner of ‘end-game’ and there was no betterment worth striving toward. And to top it all off, they were so wrapped up in their own perceived eliteness that they were just plain impossible to tolerate.
¶ In VENOM, I was befriended and aided by a pilot named ms kypp, who was the CEO of another corporation in the alliance. When SMRI formed ANTX, ms kypp’s corporation (INSU) was one of the first to go with them. Over the course of the following weeks, ms kypp confided in me, without any remarkable detail, that it would be in DFIAS’ best interest to move to ANTX and as I trusted her and could see with my own eyes the problems rapidly developing in VENOM I took her advice. When the same changes started happening in ANTX and INSU was expelled, I spoke to ms kypp at length about what she planned to do and when I learned that she would be founding an alliance, I wanted to know more. The things she told me were in line with what I had in mind for DFIAS and so instead of finding another alliance altogether removed from our original acquaintances, I ordered DFIAS to quietly dismantle its POSes and move its assets back to Omist to join the new alliance - DEFI4NT.
¶ And so we return to space abundant in Arkonor and Bistot, frequented by many of the Angel Cartel’s best pilots who are invariably not as good as our own and whose wrecks often yield valuable Domination-branded equipment. We have a tower mining Chromium - not nearly as valuable as Dysprosium or Promethium, but profitable nonetheless. It is the best space DFIAS has ever had access to for ISK generation. But it isn’t ours. DEFI4NT rents from Tau Ceti Federation. The prices aren’t unreasonable, and they don’t call on us to fight their battles for them, but they have imposed standings on us - we are blue to people with whom many of us would rather be red, or at least neutral. And despite being the only line of defense against roaming gangs in TCF’s constellation, we are looked upon with no greater esteem than their other pets and tenants. One might argue less, in fact.
¶ In my constant effort to improve the corporation, I have recruited some experienced pilots who came highly recommended by my Industrial Director, Binner, and by my Industrial Officer, Courtney Brown. I have taken in experienced pilots who come from fallen alliances like INSRG. These people know from whence they speak and Director Kiay Stryx and I value their insight in our decision making. One thing is for certain - for what I have in mind for DFIAS, the way ms kypp runs DEFI4NT isn’t going to work. Our ideas of leadership are too widely divergent and while she says she has the same goals that I do, we cannot reconcile our differences in opinion of how best one goes about reaching those goals, first of which is to not be anybody’s pet. This is causing quite a bit of bad blood and it’s best that DFIAS move on again.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

Thomas Jefferson

¶ So, Alor Avaran and I have been looking for days now for a new home, ruling out no option. I made it clear that I’m willing to move the corporation anywhere, even into NPC sov or the ghetto of the Drone Regions, provided my pilots would be able to support themselves and we would be no one’s pet. Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.
¶ With Av’s help, we’ve found a seemingly strong alliance that appears to be well-situated in a reasonable bit of space in an NPC region with workable ores, fair moons and easy access to targets for our PvPers to shoot at. Provided everything is as it’s been advertised, I couldn’t think of a better place for DFIAS to come into its own.

The Human Element

¶ But there really is a bit more to it than simply being in an alliance or having access to a certain area of space. There really is a human element to any successful entity in New Eden, as much as we might cling to the “It’s Just a Game” mentality to preserve our sanity and our sense of real self. For a corporation to achieve its goals, it has to be populated with pilots who want those goals as well; pilots willing to do what their corporation needs them to do in order for the corporation to succeed.
¶ I’ve said numerous times before that I see my responsibility as CEO of The Defias Brotherhood as making sure that the pilots who fly under our roster are able to enjoy the fun aspects of being a capsuleer without having to deal with the dirtier side of it. My PvPers should be able to PvP without worrying about whether their target is supposed to be friend or foe, without worrying about whether or not they’ll have a reasonably secure place to make money and support themselves, without having to fly around for hours on end and never find any targets day in and day out. My miners and industrialists should be able to mine and manufacture and research without having to worry about the under-the-table, smoky-room deals that determine who mines where, when and at what cost. I don’t think it’s really possible to list all of the little things that a CEO should be on top of. I also don’t think it’s really possible for a CEO to be on top of everything every time; some things will slip by, some things you just can’t control, and some things you let slip so that you can accomplish other things - you prioritize and compromise. But you try your best.
¶ With it being the way it is - dependent on compromise - you’re bound to make choices that not all of your people agree with. Something else I’ve often said is that being the leader means sometimes making the unpopular choice. You can’t make everybody happy every time, we all know that. But despite my knowing this, I tried to anyway. I ran anything but a tight ship. If the corporation needed something of its membership, I asked them to do it. It was always “it would be really cool if I could get some of you to help us out with this, hopefully on this day at this time, but whenever is good for you…,” instead of, “This is what the corporation needs to do. We’ll be doing it x day at x time.”
¶ This worked well for a while, but one day something happened that showed me it couldn’t continue to work well at all. The corporation had run into a glass ceiling financially. We would get a certain amount of ISK, buy materials that our miners alone weren’t bringing in, manufacture goods, sell them and get back to that same amount of ISK. Progress appeared to stop, and there was no logical explanation as to why other than the massive amount of ISK we were spending on Tritanium. I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that the basest mineral in New Eden should be the thing to stop further progress. For a corporation whose Industrial Wing had recently built its first capital ship, no less. So I told then-Industrial Director Cronos Deacon that, if a solution couldn’t be found, he would have to have our miners mining Veldspar. He resisted the idea, insisting that there were more efficient ways to get trit. I said repeatedly that while this may be the case, we haven’t been doing any of them so by all means, find a method we can use or mine the veld - I wasn’t satisfied with having any mineral that’s so easy to mine be the stumbling block that stops us from moving forward. Then he told me he will not mine Veldspar, period. Oh, really?
¶ I told him in no uncertain terms that he would, in fact, mine veld and that it wasn’t, in fact, a request - if no other method could be found within a few days, mining Veldspar would be necessary no matter how much he didn’t like it. He got so upset at being given an order that he decided to commit a corp theft, stealing quite a chunk of ISK worth of material assets in addition to almost a billion liquid ISK from the corporation. The bulk of the assets were recovered, but that’s really not why I bring this up.
¶ Cronos Deacon saw himself as larger than the corporation. I had never done anything to remind our members that the corporation is larger than the individual. I had never demanded a real sacrifice of anyone on behalf of the corporation - enough people had voluntarily done things to help the corporation that I felt it hadn’t been necessary. And so there was a multi-billion ISK demonstration of how wrong I had been. I made some drastic changes to my style of leadership and have made sure that all of my pilots understand those changes. This has caused some pilots to leave, including fluxkompensator and Slain Limbo who have been with us since before we ever entered 0.0 - since before VENOM Alliance. Those two, in fact, left to join ms kypp’s INSU with its much laxer style of ‘leadership’.
¶ ms kypp has spoken in a way that suggests that losing people is an indictment of my leadership ability. In reality, it is an indictment of those individuals who choose to leave now that I’ve adopted a more rigid leadership philosophy. They did not care enough about the progress and success of the corporation to accept that they would need to do things sometimes on behalf of the corporation that are not what they might otherwise do - for example, I recently called for all of my PvP pilots to get out of Empire and be on hand in Omist. Two of my people would rather be griefing miners in high-sec or ganking people on low-sec, but they came to Omist for their corporation. fluxkompensator, despite still being in the alliance, hasn’t been seen in Omist at all in the last couple of days. He chose to run around Empire and do his own thing rather than do what his corporation needed of him. Good riddance. The people who remain with DFIAS are the people who DFIAS will be able to count on when we really need them. The people who remain with DFIAS are the reason DFIAS is strong. They’re the reasons DFIAS will continue to grow stronger.
¶ Does it please me to lose long-time members? No. But I understand that it’s inevitable…

For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement.

Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Anne of Green Gables”

-Havo out.