Supreme Being
04-15-2008, 08:40 PM
Volume 1: Parts 1-10. From the beginning through to the start of GWIII.
Part 1: The Beginning
January 6th, 2006: Cybernations premiers with little fanfare and only a handful of nations joining over the next few days. After a week there were about 100 nations, who were mostly a friendly and tight-nit community. From the beginning, Alliances have been the cornerstone of the game. Though there were a sizeable number in the early days, the ones of significance were two: The Cross Atlantic Treaty Organization (CATO) founded by Depraved, and the Imperial Nations Coalition (INC) created by Ninja. After massive growth, CATO changed its name to the Global Alliance & Treaty Organization, or GATO, the name it is known by today.
Both alliances grew in numbers, yet the tension between them also grew. On the forums, members of both sides baited each other, GATO members pointing out the significant lack of organization in the INC, which was really a loose group of nations who followed the orders of Ninja, the group’s president. On the private GATO forums, some nations began discussing war with the INC.
They did not realize Ninja had a spy in GATO, and heard it all. When he heard about the murmurs of war, he panicked and declared war upon GATO, coining the name for this conflict, “World War I.” While World War I, or the GATO-INC War as it was later known, was a relatively small conflict in scale compared to later wars, it was the first true alliance v. alliance war. Nobody really won the conflict.
Eventually, the Vice-President and Co-Founder of the INC, Chris Miller, decided the conflict was pointless and negotiated peace with GATO. Significantly, after the war, GATO continued to boom while the INC slipped into steady decline. After the INC folded, GATO was left the Cyberverse’s sole hyper power, a monopoly of strength yet unmatched by any alliance. A variety of other alliances sprouted up, but in time they fell. The Greenland Republic, which would become better known by its later name the National Association for Arctic Countries (NAAC), would the first (and only) of these minor alliances to gain a foothold in the cyberverse.
There was going to be a boom in the number of nations, and the only question was when. This “when” came when the game was discovered by the community of NationStates, a far larger (but inferior) nation simulation game. Members of NS were fascinated by the new potential of Cybernations, and came in masses, opening the doors on new alliances. There was also the FCS Foreign Legion, later renamed the Legion. But there is one of these alliances more powerful than the rest. It is arguably the most powerful, controversial alliance in CN history: The New Pacific Order, the NPO.
Part 2: Rise of the Order
January 27, 2006: The NPO was founded by Karpathos on the Red Team as a buffer zone for those coming from the similarly named NPO of NationStates, and as such, grew rapidly, soon outdoing GATO in size and power. The idea of basing an alliance on one team was started by the NPO, and soon the alliances chose their footholds, the NAAC Blue, the Legion went Purple, and GATO went Brown. The NPO's public face was the controversial Emperor Ivan Moldavi, who would soon become one of the most powerful figures in CN. It quickly achieved a rosy relationship with GATO, signing the first Non-Aggression Pact (NAP), known as the Dove Doctrine, and the first Mutual Defense Pact (MDP), the Unity Covenant. But such friendly relationships were not shared with other organizations. Namely, the NAAC.
February 5, 2006: After insults were traded between the NPO and NAAC for a week, the NPO decided on war as an action. In a late night blitz, the NPO launched a stunning assault on the NAAC with an unprecedented show of cohesion, cooperation, and power, crippling the NAAC war machine in a matter of minutes. After a brief war, the NAAC surrendered, effectively becoming governed by Ivan Moldavi and the NPO until it was released from their control by imperial decree.
The next alliance to get on the wrong side of the NPO was the Orange Defense Network (ODN). Their conflict with the Order dated back to Nationstates, where the ODN was known as the ADN. The conflict came with them, and for a while, there was a bit of tension between Red and Orange. When an ex-ODN member Automagfreek provoked and was pounced upon by the NPO, the ODN government discussed war and was plotting an attack. But, a nuke launch by the ODN member KD, and the discovery of ODN espionage within the NPO’s ranks brought war to CN once again.
With their now trademark midnight blitz the NPO attacked the ODN, and drove them into the corner, from which the ODN fought a long guerilla war before surrendering to the NPO. Though granted sovereignty unlike the NAAC, the ODN was forced to sign a humiliating oath to the NPO, and all future members were forced to take the oath for months to come, which became a source of anti-NPO sentiment within the ranks of the Orange Defense Network.
February 14, 2006: As Cybernations continued to grow, more alliances were sprouting up. The Green Protection Agency (GPA) was founded on the Green Team, where it gained a reputation for complete neutrality, and the LUEnited Nations, founded by the (in)famous community Life, the Universe, and Everything, gaining a reputation as a flamboyant alliance with many low-tiered nations.
March 1, 2006: The Grand Global Alliance (GGA) was founded on the Green Team, where it became the largest Green alliance.
Although the NPO continued its meteoric rise to power, GATO still held a vicelike grip on the most powerful nations. That was changed when three nuclear rogues in the red team fired their payloads upon two Legion members and four GATO members in early April. This was the first truly coordinated rogue attack in Cybernations history, and caused an uproar amongst the community. It may have been the first, but is certainly not the last attack.
April 26, 2006: But, back to the NPO dealing with alliances that get on their bad side. The next one was the International Coalition of Socialist Nations (ICSN), an alliance pulling itself apart with petty party politics when it was discovered there was a spy in the NPO planted by the ICSN leadership. After the NPO declared war, the ICSN folded like a house of cards.
Entering May, Cybernations was thriving like never before. But May would prove to be a month CN would leave very different than the way it came in.
Part 3: WTF May
A series of incidents would change the face of politics in CN as the LUEnited Nations and the Orange Defense Network were discovering how similar they really were. This close relationship would culminate in United For Orange, an MDP between LUE and ODN later on in the month. It also resulted in the first Mutual Defense Alliance, the Independence Council. Largely founded to combat the growing power of the superpowers GATO, NPO, NAAC, and the Legion, it left these organizations scurrying to play catch-up with the ODN, LUE, GGA, and United Civilized States (UCS).
The Entente Cordiale was a proposed MDA between GATO, the Legion, and the NAAC, and had it gone through would have made a super alliance unchallengeable by any potential attackers. However, due to wording which meant that an alliance HAD to go to war if an ally in the EC was attacked, it was vetoed by GATO’s Assembly Chairman Jormungand who disapproved of the urgency in which it was presented and later deciding that an MDA would be more beneficial to GATO without the NPO and voted down by the Legion.
Uproar between GATO and the NPO broke out when Chris_Kaos, the GATO Minister of Defense, curtly informed the NPO in an IRC chat that it was not up for discussion and left the NPO fuming when he walked out of the conversation. The flames only gradually died down, and NPO would later join the Independence Council and destroy it from within.
Next was an embarrassing scandal for LUE. One of the leaders of LUE, bros, and a member of the same alliance, IForget2, decided to try and provoke a GATO-NPO War by exploiting bros’ admin powers to change IF’s username to Ivan Moldavi, where he posted as Ivan to make it look like the NPO was going to war with GATO. LUE Co-Leader Yaridovich expelled both members and made the scandal public. Since then, IF created his “Rogue Alliance,” and become the most notorious rogue in CN history, and intended to nuke high-level nations, though the successes of his master plans were a failure, as he was beaten to it in The Great War.
May 22, 2006: It is the third and most serious event of May that left CN very different. When a couple of NAAC members revealed to the NPO that one of the NAAC leaders, Arctic, had a spy in the NPO. When the response to this espionage from the NAAC was deemed unsatisfactory, the NPO declared war. The Second Polar War was on. With their trademark midnight blitz, the NPO devastated the NAAC. In their wake came GATO, who declared war after it was revealed that the NAAC had a spy in their ranks. The Legion came in at the request of the NPO as per the terms of the Imperial Accords, the Legion’s MDP with the NPO. After being triple-teamed, the NAAC had been whittled down to under 50 members, but refused to surrender. Eventually the trio that had teamed together to tackle the NAAC ended the conflict, but not before Ivan would make one of the most controversial decisions of his career as Emperor of the New Pacific Order.
Having decided to stabilize the Blue team after it had been derailed by the war, Ivan Moldavi announced the formation of a new alliance, the New Polar Order (NpO), as a haven for nations fleeing the war-torn NAAC. It was hailed by supporters as a return to stability for the Blue team, and decried by its opponents as nothing more than an imperialist power-grab. Many more powerful nations of the NAAC left for the NpO. Most notably, the new GATO assembly chairman Vercingetorix published a public statement condemning the new alliance and calling for its dissolution, causing a diplomatic rift between GATO and the NPO. The controversy began to die down, as tension replaced open argument. And so, Cybernations left WTF May with the NAAC crippled and the NpO the new masked alliance of the blue team, and past buddies NPO and GATO tensely opposed to each other.
Part 4: Turning up the heat
As May passed by, the chaos that pervaded in May was replaced by a deep tension in June. GATO began stepping up on the foreign scene, passing two new MDPs, the LUEnacy Covenant with LUE and the Free Love Accord with the ODN. LUE passed a (now infamous) MDP with the GGA called the Snakes on a Plane Treaty, which was well known for its briefness and simplicity, such as the famous clause “Don’t be an a**hat, I will cancel.”
The next scandal was an embarrassment for GATO when the Domestic Affairs Minister, Grenval, made a fatal mistake. Although he had been flamebaiting the NPO on CN forums for quite some time, he took it one step too far when he made a faux announcement of a “Global Alliance Red Organization” or GARO. Intending to parody the announcement of the New Polar Order, Grenval set off a firestorm of controversy, as the NPO took the announcement seriously. Grenval was forced to resign, and, as a result, Ivan Moldavi suspended the Unity Covenant. The NPO and GATO were both no longer allies.
There were many other scandals in June as well, including LUE suspending Snakes on a Plane over remarks the GGA’s emperor Prodigal Chieftain made to a new Green Alliance, the Coalition of Green S (initially comprised primarily of former GGA members). Also was the discovery that Lord Sam, an alliance councilor for the NpO had been spying for the infamous IForget2’s rogue alliance.
A few new alliances were coming to prominence, such as the Independent Republic of Orange Nations, or IRON, who had secretly grown to become a large alliance on the orange team, and would later receive a mask.
But, for the most part, June was relatively quiet. As June came to a close, and July came, many were beginning to become bored of the humdrum daily routine, and many wondered if something would shatter this peace. They weren’t going to wonder for long. July would prove to be a month filled with war.
Part 5: Cataclysm
July 7, 2006: The month started with a bang. Literally. The Legion found itself being attacked by a minor group called the Warpstorm Alliance. This war would be a footnote, were it not for the unprecedented amount of nukes launched in both directions. Although the Second Polar War saw the first widespread use of nuclear weapons, it was surpassed by the WSA War, and would remain on top until the Great War.
Also, LUE made an announcement with potentially devastating proportions on July 11th: According to a PM conversation between NPO Imperial Regent Vladimir and a spy in LUE, it appeared that the 2nd in command to Ivan Moldavi had accepted information about LUE. The announcement was accompanied with an announcement stating that LUE would cut ALL diplomatic ties with the NPO. Vladimir later explained that he was trying to see if the guy was serious or not, and had no intention of spying on LUE. Nonetheless, it took significant damage control to get the situation repaired and caused bad publicity for the organization.
Although Cybernations appeared to be peacefully growing and the alliances were getting along okay, in reality there was tension between the alliances, a sort of war of nerves that although did not exist on the battlefield, exist in the forums where both sides exchanged insults. Soon, this powder keg would explode, and it did so as a result of an ancient LUE tradition back on their home of GameFAQs, the LUEicide.
Back on GameFAQs, the Terms of Service were strictly upheld, and an offender could be quickly banned for violations. If a LUEser (LUE User) was tired of GameFAQs, he knew how to leave with a bang. In a LUEicide, a user tried to break as many stipulations in the Terms of Service as possible, so he would almost certainly be banned.
After LUE was cut off from new membership, LUEicides became less and less common. It seems that there was no longer an interest in this bizarre LUE tradition, and so it remained for quite some time. That is, until;
July 15, 2006: One of the Co-Leaders of LUE, Yaridovich, wanted to leave CN and do it with a bang. He decided to LUEicide.
What followed was a post of his containing a graphic set of stories, most notably of Pope Pius XIII raping Rysonia, the Empress of the International Green Coalition (IGC). Also, there was an inappropriate photo after the stories. The Moderators jumped on the topic, and quickly deleted it, but not before it was seen by much of the users online at the time.
The NPO went ballistic and demanded an apology from LUE, which it got, but was deemed unsatisfactory because a handful of LUEsers were laughing at the story in their IRC Channel. Later on, key members of GATO and the ODN met with an incensed NPO delegation. All three condemned the story, and GATO planned to suspend the LUEnacy Covenant, and ODN said its leadership would have to convene before it could make any promises. The ODN would later suspend their MDP with LUE.
Things might have gone down differently, were it not for a nuke. Tygaland, the emperor of the NpO, launched a nuke against LUE member Duffman04. Ivan Moldavi, deciding that this graphic story and the response he deemed lackluster was the straw breaking the camel’s back, declared war on LUE. The Leaders of LUE knew they were screwed without backup, and went to their allies GATO for help. As the LUEnacy Covenant had not yet been suspended, GATO was bound to it, and declared war upon the New Pacific Order. All bets were off. This was an all-out war.
Over the course of the next few days, an astonishing number of alliances came out of the woodwork to join the fight against the NPO. On one side was the self styled Coalition of Justice, the NPO and NpO, as well as the IGC, although the latter would leave the conflict after receiving an apology from LUE. Against them were the alliances LUE, GATO, CDS, SRI, Federation, ICSN, APA, DDA, AoAN, GGA, TAGA, OIN, NAAC, PrF, ODN, FIS, ONOS and LOSS, styling themselves the CoaLUEtion.
This of course, begs the question: Why did so many alliances join in? The first camp states that the NPO had so much power, and these alliances were jealous of its power, and wanted a piece of the pie. The other camp maintains that the NPO was an imperialist warmonger who inspired hate amongst the lower ranks treated with contempt by the NPO, and that these alliances rose up, releasing their hatred of the alliance in a frenzy. Others joined because they felt obligated as a result of MDPs.
Whatever the reason, the war was nothing short of devastating. Roughly three-hundred nukes were launched by both sides, and in the lower ranks nations were prone to gang up on other nations of the opposing force and ripping them apart. In the top ranks, it was an all-out war with nukes tossed between both sides in vicious cycles of destruction. The exact tally may never be known, but the damages incurred by the war must at least be in the billions.
July 21, 2006: Sei Pistole, one of the NPO’s Alliance Councilors, announced Alliance Councilor Nosedondekistan was being ousted as a traitor. What followed was the unraveling of a secret society called the Coven, a group akin to the Illuminati, which had high-ranking members in key alliances. There was Nosedonkistan in the Alliance Council, EvilCartyen, the Director of Intelligence for the Legion, and, perhaps most shocking of all, the Assembly Chairwoman of GATO, Yoda, was in on the scheme. In the aftermath of this revelation, both sides declared a ceasefire to sort things out, but unable to come to terms, and continued to fight.
However, at this point, the war was at a stalemate, both sides having fought each other to a standstill. There appeared to be no clear victor, and neither side was willing to budge. Then, in a move that left everybody stunned, the Legion declared war on the NPO, as a result of an IRC conversation in which key government figures in the NPO discussed getting back at the Legion for not coming to their aid.
The Legion involvement was brief. After about 2 days, a seperate peace deal was reached. After an apology by Ivan and Tyga, and the resignation of Tyga as emperor, the Legion would cease attacks. The NPO and NpO followed through, with Tyga resigning and appointing Electron Sponge as his successor.
Though the Legion would be in the fight for a brief time, it left the NPO seriously damaged, and the Legion the world's most powerful alliance. With NPO declining down the ranks quickly, they went to the peace table, and after much politicking with the CoaLUEtion, achieved peace and so the Great War ended. The NPO was devastated, and the Legion was (for now) the world superpower.
Part 6: Peace
With the war over, the next step was rebuilding, which each of the combatants did with a vigor. In a breathtakingly short amount of time, NPO has risen from the ashes of war, and with Pacifican funds flowing through alliance nations, the NPO quickly rebuilt and by the end of the month, the NPO had surpassed prewar strength.
Unlike before, however, they no longer had a giant gap in front of all competitors. GATO was hot on their heels, having also recovered spectatularly, and behind the top two was the Legion, once again in number three.
However, to claim that these alliances alone were of the only importance is fraud. Many other alliances were taking their places amongst the big wigs. The ODN was a slower growing but tight-knit organization of older members. The Independent Republic of Orange Nations (IRON) had joined the ranks of masked alliances, as had the NAAC and Coalition of Dark States, having changed their name and moved to the Black Team. The ICSN became part of the International Communist Party (ICP), creating the largest left-wing alliance since the ICSN hemorrhaged most of its membership after the NPO attacked.
There were also new alliances, such as the Green Viridian Entente (VE) and most notably the Goon Order of Neutral Shoving (GOONS). Hailing from the 80,000 member strong Something Awful community, they quickly commenced what has been described as an "OMGGOONRUSH" and quickly gained several hundred members, an astonishing feat.
New pacts were being made, with so many NAPs being signed they cannot all be listed here. Most notably, the Legion and ODN signed an MDP making them tight-knit allies. New lines were being drawn as old allies drifted apart and found new comrades.
With the end of August, outright war had become a thing of the past, replaced by peaceful competition between alliances. The NPO regained the top spot, but this time there was a close competitor. New alliances had joined the fray, and a new web of alliances was being spun. It was a time of prosperity after the war, rebuilding and growth.
Part 7: Shattering the Ice
As like August, the month of September was passing slowly and without much event. A few rogue nukings, a few treaties (Notably the solidification of an ODN-NAAC-GATO-Legion powerblock). While there was the notable founding of /b/, an alliance intending to destroy but deciding that the job was much more than they bargained for and decided to go legit. But overall, an uneventful month. Until the last weekend.
In a stunning turn of events, Ivan Moldavi of the New Pacific Order resigned from his post as Emperor on September 30th, appointing Dilber as his successor. The event left most CNers stunned. Moldavi had been a constant, running the NPO since its inception. Now, for the first time, he was no longer the Emperor and retired to the backrooms. It also resulted in some shuffling of the internal structure of the NPO.
In another shocking move Grand Global Alliance staged a coup which resulted in the removal of Prodigal Chieftain as Emperor and Empress Atherton leaving the alliance. The overthrow of power was due to continued greivances againts the GGA, such as disregard for the Charter and Government, as well as insulting the newly appointed Emperor of the NPO. The GGA became embroiled in an internal power struggle as Prodigal Chieftain did not go down gracefully.
Upon the depature of Prodigal Chieftain and Atherton, The New Pacific Order, who has always been hostile in diplomatic relations with the GGA, officially recognised the new government. As far as the New Pacific Order was concerned, PC was the only real problem they had with the Grand Global Alliance. Shortly after things settled down, an MDP between the GGA and the NPO was announced, the Roundtable Accords. This was an unprecedented move which sent the Cyberverse reeling, as within hours of PC's removal, former enemies were now allies. In addition, an MDP between the CDS and the GGA, The Brothers-to-Brothers Pact, was signed, a surprising move as the CDS had started out as ex-GGA members disgusted with their emperor.
As September drew to a close, a period of rapid politicking had left the Cyberverse struggling to comprehend the extent of what had happened. Perhaps only time will tell in that regard.
Part 8: COUPtober
By October, the lull that had persisted since the Great War continued, as the longest period of peace in the history of Cybernations worked into an unprecedented third month. However, by October, peace would be somewhat of a misnomer, as tensions would continue to rise between major alliances. The aftershock of OMG Weekend would continue to be felt, as a flurry of activity smashed the icy peace that had dominated September. The first was the signing of a full-fledged alliance between the New Pacific Order, New Polar Order, and the GOONS. This self-styled Axis of Awesome™ would be subject to divided opinion: those who thought it was a great diplomatic success for the newly crowned Emperor Dilber, and those who attacked it as a group cemented by hubris and jingoism.
Dilber clearly showed that he was not going to pursue the diplomatically isolated style of his predecessor. In addition to the alliance with GOONS, he signed a pact of Mutual Defense with the Green alliance Viridian Entente. As with the previous treaty, this pact had mixed reactions, with the cyberverse either congratulating the two alliances or attacking it. However, Egore, founder and leader of the VE, announced that they did not consider themselves a member of the Axis of Awesome™ and asserted their independence, in an attempt to end the criticism of their alliance.
With OMG Weekend to crack the ice, it seemed that the quiet of the previous month had been discarded by the side of the road. The next major event would concern the New Polar Order, and GATO. This controversy would arise due to none other than Grenval, the formerly disgraced Minister of Domestic Affairs. Since the GARO controversy, he had gradually rehabilitated his reputation within the Global Alliance to the point that he was able to make a successful run for Foreign Minister. His election provoked an incredulous response from the international community. One observer was seen to remark “You elected Grenval for Foreign Affairs!?” Nonetheless, GATO gave their confidence to him.
Things would not go well this time for Grenval either. For a while, it seemed he would have a promising term in office. However, things were about to be turned upside down. In the midst of a scandal which had already erupted, Grenval would inadvertently set off a firestorm once again.
Chado Kun was one of many people who set about attempting to infiltrate an alliance. In his case, he succeeded in gaining membership in NPO. While there, he found the jewel of any spy’s stash of information: the GOONS personal calculator, which could tell the user what trades to obtain, what to do with the money they would gain. In other words, it told the user how to maximize their nation to its fullest potential. Before Chado Kun would be able to obtain the veritable mass of information the likes of the Coven would collect, however, he was exposed by the administration for having two nations, and as a result, after having both nations deleted, Chado Kun posted the calculator and made it downloadable for the public. Although the moderation staff deleted the topic, it had already been downloaded by several people.
It was at this point that Grenval would make a post describing GATO’s thoughts on the fate of Chado Kun. Almost immediately, members of the NPO and NpO emperor Electron Sponge began belittling Grenval, calling him a "f***ing troll". In the course of the ensuing debate, Grenval claimed GATO had secretly harbored a policy of not recognizing the NpO. Though GATO officials denied the charges, the damage was done. A firestorm erupted which resulted in the resignations of Grenval and GATO’s Assembly Chairman Letum, the former for his remarks to the NpO, the latter for stating the Global Alliance recognized the NpO without the approval of the General Assembly. What followed was a confusing period where nobody was exactly sure of GATO’s policy. In the end, it would be announced GATO would discuss the issue among themselves and make their announcement when a consensus was reached. Rather than die down, however, the flames only got worse.
Electron Sponge, after about a week of waiting for a decision, became impatient and made an ultimatum. According to Sponge, GATO had 24 hours to make a decision or else. He had grown tired of conflicting and confusing statements from GATO leaders and it only took so much before his patience finally snapped. GATO resolved to ignore the ultimatum as an attempt to put them on trial before the Cyberverse, and let the deadline pass by. In response, ES announced a severing of diplomatic relations with GATO, annulling a GATO-NpO NAP which was part of the surrender terms after the Great War, , and revoking the recognition of GATO, instead considering them as a puppet of the LUEnited Nations. The NPO and GOONS would sever diplomatic ties with GATO, but did not revoke recognition. Electron Sponge’s announcement resulted in derision by members of the international community, particularly by LUE and GATO, the latter referring to themselves as “LuE” to mock the NpO. Later, Letum (who had regained his position of Chairman by this time) made an announcement in which GATO recognized the NpO as a sovereign political alliance, but not a military one. In other words, they would act independently of the NPO on political matters, but would tag along on military ones. Many viewed the announcement as a response to the going threat of a possible war, but GATO did not.
At this point, it seemed the issue would burn for a short time, and then die out to be replaced by high and mounting tension between the two sides. However, it was not to be. Events were about to take a more bizarre turn.
COUPtober was so-called because of the number of coups that seemed to take place. While there were many, including a joke LUE one (The RevoLUEtionaries v. Soviet LUEnion) it would be the GATO coup which would cement this name in CN history.
The catalyst was Depraved. Disgusted with the state of GATO, he returned to the alliance he founded, with the intent to sort things out. Most assumed he would run for a position in the up-coming Cabinet elections. None were prepared for the course of action he would take. After regaining administrative powers on the GATO forums, he took the offsite board offline. When they came back up, Depraved had removed all administrative powers other than his own, and had demasked all government officials. He made a post in the Assembly Lobby declaring that the old government deposed and that he would take control of GATO as a dictator until further notice. At first, the Letum government attempted to keep things quiet while Chris Kaos, who had returned to GATO during the NpO-GATO furor, tried to play double agent to stop Depraved’s coup. However, Depraved then made an announcement of his coup on the public forums, bringing the issue into the spotlight.
If Depraved thought his coup would gain the support of GATO, he was mistaken. Despite his fiery rhetoric asking for support in a reformed GATO, he found himself with virtually no support from the alliance. While some members of the international community (rather notably the Axis of Awesome™) supported the coup, others rejected it. condemned the attempted seizure of power. GATO’s allies for the most part continued to recognize the old government. GATO made a new board and, with the help of some foreigners, managed to inform the majority of members about the new forums. With little official support from the international community or GATO, and with a new board rapidly growing, and having been branded as a traitor by GATO's leadership, Depraved closed the old forums and joined GOONS.
It is important to note, however, that it was not the goals of Depraved's coup which effectively erased support within the alliance. Rather, it was widely agreed the Letum government had serious problems within it and something had to be done. However, the coup was viewed by many as being contrarian to the ideals of GATO, and as such the vast majority of the membership rejected his coup.
In the midst of this chaos, the Nationalistic Germanic alliances Volksleitung and the Prussian Federation merged to form a new alliance, the Nordreich, rapidly gaining over 150 members. After signing an MDP with the NpO, Nordreich became a proud member of the Axis of Awesome™.
As October drew to a close, tension was growing and the lull of the previous months was shattered. Whether or not they realized it, most alliances were digging their trenches.
Part 9: Tension of Opposites
November was a month of opposites. Planet Bob saw a clash of left and right during the maroon wars. Additionally, it saw the epitomes of rogue and anti-rogue. CNARF will live on in infamy as an example of controversial anti-rogue action. Likewise, Project Entropy will long be remembered for its daring plan to show Planet Bob the true power of nuclear rogues.
Jeebus provided the inspiration for the members of Project Entropy after leaving the game in a nuclear blaze. San Marco, PHD89, Lord Snow, x.lt, St. Patrick, wooster and Phoenix89 decided to follow his example. They planned to hit GATO and the LUEnited Nations with approximately 200 nukes on a historically significant day (the one year anniversary of CN‘s creation, Thanksgiving, November 5th etc). However, Project Entropy did not proceed as planned.
Security was incredibly lax at Entropy’s headquarters in the hope of attracting more nations to take part in the strike. While this provided the group with a few new accomplices (notably Smoked, who had 11 nukes) it lead to easy infiltration by spies. Soon, Project Entropy had become the laughing stock of nearly every alliance. Anti-Entropy action was planned, but poorly carried out. San Marco was attacked multiple hours before the other members of Project Entropy, allowing them a chance to ready their defenses. Adding to the confusion, multiple non-Entropy members were accidently attacked.
Estimates concerning the number of nuclear weapons launched vary widely - CNQ claims approximately 25 were launched, while San Marco firmly believes the number hovers around the 50 mark. Regardless, the Global Radiation Level was heavily impacted. Project Entropy nations soon disbanded, with most of them sending their technology to the Orders. Their choice was based on the Great War; members felt that the Orders had been just in their attacks.
While San Marco and Project Entropy wound down, a new conflict seized the attention of the Cyberverse. By November, the Green Team was no longer considered the Balkans of Cybernations. With the departure of Prodigal Chieftain, the Green Team had quickly improved relations with each other to the point that the flame fests of lore had become a thing of the past. VE, CIS and /b/ were becoming major green alliances and all five managed to co-exist peacefully. However, a new team came to the forefront; at first, with MDC, Nordreich, ONOS, TTK, and a variety of other alliances getting along, Maroon seemed to be peaceful.
When the admin team announced the new one sanctioned alliance per team policy, maroon jumped to secure their sanction. It was immediately suggested by Cheyenne that a treaty be written up to protect the maroon sanction from outsiders, and Ferrous, with the help of King IB, quickly wrote one up for ratification. The treaty signing was going rather slowly until ICP announced intentions to move to maroon.
Immediately the alliances saw the semi major alliance as a threat and signed the treaty rapidly, until almost every Maroon alliance had become a signatory of the Balkans Accords. They threatened to sanction any ICP member who made the switch to Maroon, which was considered an act of war by the ICP side. Next, Nordreich revealed a detail intelligence report which showed the hostile intents of the ICP, leading to the revelation there was a spy in the ICP. It looked for the moment as if war would break out with a fury. It did.
At the height of Maroon-ICP tension, a member of the ICP defected and minutes later nuked Kaiser Martens, emperor of Nordreich, who immediately responded by declaring war on the ICP, and was swiftly followed by their allies in the Balkans Accords. While the ICP had considerable numbers on their side, the Nordreich and their allies had the advantage of numbers from the beginning, even when ICP called in their MDP partners, SRI, EoS, S37 and ODS. With more communist alliances joining, AoA alliances GOONS and NpO joined their allies Nordreich and attacked the ICP. It looked like the ICP and company would face harsh terms of peace. Team Maroonica, as the maroon warriors had dubbed themselves, seemed to have full control of the war and could have imposed virtually any requirements for peace. But it was not so.
News of a full and unconditional peace from Team Maroonica came only two days after the NpO and GOONs joined the assault. Considering that Nordreich had previously demanded the dissolution of their enemies before the NpO and GOONS joined, this was a surprising move. At first nobody outside of the Maroon Alliances knew why, but the truth soon came out. NAAC and several other CoaLUEtion alliances had begun plans to defend the ICP, and Nordreich did not want a war with the CoaLUEtion, and as such offered peace to prevent a Second Great War.
It shortly came to light that NpO and GOONS were not at all happy wth the unconditional peace, and their relations with Nordreich deteriorated accordingly. However, other than in this regard, the episode ended happily. The ICP wisely chose to move to Pink, where they were welcomed by fellow pink alliance LUE, who signed an MDP with the ICP. Maroon continued to grow and unite, with the Northern Defense Front being signed between many Maroon alliances. Over the coming weeks, Nordreich and the ICP would put aside their differences and begin to work towards better diplomatic relations.
The third and final controversy of November surrounded the Cyber Nations Anti-Rogue force (CNARF), which was founded by prominent GATO member Walford (future Minister of Defense). The membership was open to any people of any alliance, and included many members from other CoaLUEtion alliances such as NAAC. The stated purpose of CNARF was to defend independent nations from rogues, and just like the debated definition of a rogue, many people were quick to criticize the actions that CNARF would undertake, and their possible selective process against rogues.
However, the most debated criticism of CNARF involved the inclusion of GATO into the organized attacks. After the Rogue was attacked, if the member of CNARF was attacked by the rogue, GATO would send military and financial aid to assist the CNARF member. Mainly members of the Goons and New Pacific Order criticized such actions, calling CNARF the militant wing of GATO, and another attempt at a “world police force.” (bucked from wikipedia) The given purpose was to deter their targets from gathering a group to counter-attack. Critics countered that participants should be denied protection from their alliances and that CNARF functions as an alliance.
The Peak of the CNARF controversy occurred when GGA Triumvir Bilrow and Elder Statesman Kevin the Great announced that GGA would begin a war games exercise against unaligned nations. The obvious purpose was to provoke CNARF, stating implicitly the issue that if CNARF attacked the GGA, it would escalate into a global conflict. However, the war games were cancelled when it was revealed that the remaining Triumvirs and Elder Statesmen had not consented to the war games, thereby stating that Bilrow and Kevin had acted unconstitutionally. Though they were forced to take a leave of absence, the damage was done.
The actions of the GGA drew a huge amount of criticism, mainly from their Allies in the CoaLUEtion side of the web. Ultimately, LUE and NAAC cancelled their Mutual Defense Pacts with the GGA, and due to NPO emperor Dilber’s statement defending GGA neutrality, the GGA was ultimately pushed toward the Axis of Awesome side of the MDP web.
And so with the peace of the preceeding months shattered, the cyberverse would edge ever closer to chaos in the eternal dance of fate, which wound its way into December.
Part 10: Beyond the Precipice
The months of December and January would see the Cyberverse driven to the brink, and then beyond it. By the end of December, war was inevitable. By the end of January it had passed. The turn of events that would come to Cybernations would permanently alter the political landscape, leaving behind a world once again transformed. These two months would usher in a new era, for better or for worse, for the Cyberverse.
The month of December on its own is of little significance. It was largely a series of near misses that came within inches of bringing chaos to Planet Bob. Perhaps most significantly, the month of December would give rise to the Cyberverse’s first true power blocs. Before, alliances had been held together by a tangled and confusing web of Mutual Defense Pacts which served mainly to befuddle those who attempted to understand it. This web was more or less replaced by four major power blocs. They were the Grand Union of Alliances for Rapport and Defense (GUARD), the Initiative , the Northern Defense Front (NDF), and the League.
GUARD was the first of these extended alliances, jointly founded by the North Atlantic Defense Coalition (NADC), the Organized Nations of Superiority (ONOS), and the Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations (CSN), as an alternative to the confusion of the MDP Web. They would later be joined by The Templar Knights (TTK), the Tri-Color Federation (TCF) and the United Sovereign Nations (USN). While the eldest of these blocs, it would be dwarfed by its successors.
The Initiative was the second of these major power blocs. It began as a four-way MADP between the alliances of FAN, GOONS, NPO, and NpO, but more alliances would be invited to join until it became the largest and most powerful of the power blocs. At its height, the Initiative consisted of the NPO, NpO, GOONS, FAN, \m/, VE, TOP, GGA, CIS, MDC, and NoR (who by now had made amends with their former allies.)
In the aftermath of the Maroon Wars in November, the Maroon sphere found itself more unified than ever. They would come to coalesce into a power bloc consisting of many, but mostly weaker alliances, known as the Northern Defense Front. After the collapse of relations between the Nordreich and the Orders, the NDF severed its ties to the Initiative and League and became a neutral alliance dedicated to the protection of its own members. Many Maroon alliances would join the ranks of the NDF. However, the sheer size of the NDF condemned the extended MADP to an early death, and the NDF quickly fragmented.
Months before any of the other power blocs had formed, in the offsite forums of ODN, the alliances of ODN, GATO, LUE, CDS, NAAC, and the Legion began discussing the possibilities of an extended Mutual Aggression Pact. This was in no small part intended to counter the increasing number of allies the NPO was bringing into its fold. This pact never came to fruition due to opposition from the ODN and Legion to the idea, fearing the Aggressive aspects of the pact, but it would serve a purpose. The Spectrum Defense Accord as it was known would lay the groundwork for The League, an extended MDP between LOSS, NAAC, GOLD, LUE, GATO, ICP, CDS, and ACID alliances.
Besides the cementation of the power blocs, it was a near miss that almost triggered a massive war that would stand as the major event of December.
In November, the LOSS member New Reverie began a mass-messaging campaign to earn himself a seat on the Red Senate. To the surprise of many, he succeeded, infuriating the New Pacific Order. In response, the NPO issued a decree that stated they more or less owned the Red Team and informed New Reverie and LOSS that he must leave or LOSS and New Reverie would face dire consequences. The incident seemed to be a minor one, as New Reverie was thrown off the Red Team Senate and the NPO toned down its harsh policy in the face of international criticisms.
In December, the controversy would again rise when Emperor Dilber of the NPO published several PMs from New Reverie which attempted to rile up the independent red voters against the NPO. Citing this and the previous incident, they demanded New Reverie leave the Red Team or face dire consequences. LOSS censured New Reverie but did not follow through with the NPO’s demands. Tensions neared the boiling point. The Legion, in opposition of the world’s climate, ordered most of its nations into peace mode in a gesture of protest to the growing threat of war.
It would not be grand gestures but the unpredictability of Planet Bob that prevented war. Just when it seemed hostilities would break out, the server crashed and burned, remaining down for a number of days. By the time Admin (Peace be upon him) had managed to restore the server, the threat had passed. But not for long.
This time, the world would go to war over the issue of the alliance Farkistan, who came to CN in early January. A long-standing feud between Something Awful and FARK, the home site of Farkistan and GOONS ensured Farkistan would be controversial from its very inception. When several posts by Farkers talking about attacking GOONS and a LUEser who said he would bankroll them found their way to the GOONS, they immediately attacked Farkistan. From there, things went downhill.
LUE, who felt it wrong for GOONS to attack another alliance over feuds which had nothing to do with CN, intervened by declaring war on the GOONS members attacking the Farkers (It should be noted at the time of the GOONS attack Fark had no treaties with any alliance). Over the following night, trickles of Initiative nations quietly began to attack LUE members who had attacked GOONS nations, but were quickly noticed. In response, the alliances of GATO and NAAC declared war on the Initiative. From there, the remaining alliances on both sides jumped aboard the bandwagon: the Second Great War had begun.
This time, it was the League, consisting of mostly CoaLUEtion nations, which fared worse. Having jumped in quickly, GATO in particular were ill prepared for the war, and were hit badly. The small but highly efficient, organized TOP wreaked havoc on the GATO upper ranks, while FAN blunted the NAAC assault. The Initiative quickly proved they were far more prepared for this war than the League. The war ended quickly after LUE left the League, recognizing they were bogging down their allies in the League by refusing to declare peace, and vowed to continue their war against the NPO. Many were surprised with how quickly the proceedings came to a conclusion.
Also, unlike the First Great War, it has been noted that with the exception of nuclear rogues, GWII was largely kept from going nuclear. The war officially ended on February 4th, when LUE accepted the surrender terms of the Initiative. However, the conflict that sparked the greater war in the first place, the Farkistan War between GOONS and FARK continued, eventually becoming the longest war in history, lasting from January 7 to June 10--a total of 155 days.
Controversy remains over the cause of war. The Initiative maintains that a war-hungry League, led by GATO and LUE, aggressively attacked them with no valid legal reason for doing so. The League disagrees, maintaining they involved themselves because GOONS had no right to dictate whether or not an alliance should exist. A third, more independent perspective places blame on both groups, suggesting both wanted war and were looking for an excuse for it.
By the time January had concluded, LUE was gone as a military power and all but done for as an alliance, the League was unraveling at the seams, and the nations of these alliances were crippled by the war. All the while, the Initiative quickly rebuilt itself and was prospering. The NPO had risen from its post-GWI nadir and had once again climbed to the top of the pile.
END VOLUME 1
CREDITS:
Parts 1 - 10
John Michaels, Cheyenne, KarlMarx, Jacksonians, Letum, Mary the Fantabulous, Medic, Squintus, and Sweetmofugginj
Part 1: The Beginning
January 6th, 2006: Cybernations premiers with little fanfare and only a handful of nations joining over the next few days. After a week there were about 100 nations, who were mostly a friendly and tight-nit community. From the beginning, Alliances have been the cornerstone of the game. Though there were a sizeable number in the early days, the ones of significance were two: The Cross Atlantic Treaty Organization (CATO) founded by Depraved, and the Imperial Nations Coalition (INC) created by Ninja. After massive growth, CATO changed its name to the Global Alliance & Treaty Organization, or GATO, the name it is known by today.
Both alliances grew in numbers, yet the tension between them also grew. On the forums, members of both sides baited each other, GATO members pointing out the significant lack of organization in the INC, which was really a loose group of nations who followed the orders of Ninja, the group’s president. On the private GATO forums, some nations began discussing war with the INC.
They did not realize Ninja had a spy in GATO, and heard it all. When he heard about the murmurs of war, he panicked and declared war upon GATO, coining the name for this conflict, “World War I.” While World War I, or the GATO-INC War as it was later known, was a relatively small conflict in scale compared to later wars, it was the first true alliance v. alliance war. Nobody really won the conflict.
Eventually, the Vice-President and Co-Founder of the INC, Chris Miller, decided the conflict was pointless and negotiated peace with GATO. Significantly, after the war, GATO continued to boom while the INC slipped into steady decline. After the INC folded, GATO was left the Cyberverse’s sole hyper power, a monopoly of strength yet unmatched by any alliance. A variety of other alliances sprouted up, but in time they fell. The Greenland Republic, which would become better known by its later name the National Association for Arctic Countries (NAAC), would the first (and only) of these minor alliances to gain a foothold in the cyberverse.
There was going to be a boom in the number of nations, and the only question was when. This “when” came when the game was discovered by the community of NationStates, a far larger (but inferior) nation simulation game. Members of NS were fascinated by the new potential of Cybernations, and came in masses, opening the doors on new alliances. There was also the FCS Foreign Legion, later renamed the Legion. But there is one of these alliances more powerful than the rest. It is arguably the most powerful, controversial alliance in CN history: The New Pacific Order, the NPO.
Part 2: Rise of the Order
January 27, 2006: The NPO was founded by Karpathos on the Red Team as a buffer zone for those coming from the similarly named NPO of NationStates, and as such, grew rapidly, soon outdoing GATO in size and power. The idea of basing an alliance on one team was started by the NPO, and soon the alliances chose their footholds, the NAAC Blue, the Legion went Purple, and GATO went Brown. The NPO's public face was the controversial Emperor Ivan Moldavi, who would soon become one of the most powerful figures in CN. It quickly achieved a rosy relationship with GATO, signing the first Non-Aggression Pact (NAP), known as the Dove Doctrine, and the first Mutual Defense Pact (MDP), the Unity Covenant. But such friendly relationships were not shared with other organizations. Namely, the NAAC.
February 5, 2006: After insults were traded between the NPO and NAAC for a week, the NPO decided on war as an action. In a late night blitz, the NPO launched a stunning assault on the NAAC with an unprecedented show of cohesion, cooperation, and power, crippling the NAAC war machine in a matter of minutes. After a brief war, the NAAC surrendered, effectively becoming governed by Ivan Moldavi and the NPO until it was released from their control by imperial decree.
The next alliance to get on the wrong side of the NPO was the Orange Defense Network (ODN). Their conflict with the Order dated back to Nationstates, where the ODN was known as the ADN. The conflict came with them, and for a while, there was a bit of tension between Red and Orange. When an ex-ODN member Automagfreek provoked and was pounced upon by the NPO, the ODN government discussed war and was plotting an attack. But, a nuke launch by the ODN member KD, and the discovery of ODN espionage within the NPO’s ranks brought war to CN once again.
With their now trademark midnight blitz the NPO attacked the ODN, and drove them into the corner, from which the ODN fought a long guerilla war before surrendering to the NPO. Though granted sovereignty unlike the NAAC, the ODN was forced to sign a humiliating oath to the NPO, and all future members were forced to take the oath for months to come, which became a source of anti-NPO sentiment within the ranks of the Orange Defense Network.
February 14, 2006: As Cybernations continued to grow, more alliances were sprouting up. The Green Protection Agency (GPA) was founded on the Green Team, where it gained a reputation for complete neutrality, and the LUEnited Nations, founded by the (in)famous community Life, the Universe, and Everything, gaining a reputation as a flamboyant alliance with many low-tiered nations.
March 1, 2006: The Grand Global Alliance (GGA) was founded on the Green Team, where it became the largest Green alliance.
Although the NPO continued its meteoric rise to power, GATO still held a vicelike grip on the most powerful nations. That was changed when three nuclear rogues in the red team fired their payloads upon two Legion members and four GATO members in early April. This was the first truly coordinated rogue attack in Cybernations history, and caused an uproar amongst the community. It may have been the first, but is certainly not the last attack.
April 26, 2006: But, back to the NPO dealing with alliances that get on their bad side. The next one was the International Coalition of Socialist Nations (ICSN), an alliance pulling itself apart with petty party politics when it was discovered there was a spy in the NPO planted by the ICSN leadership. After the NPO declared war, the ICSN folded like a house of cards.
Entering May, Cybernations was thriving like never before. But May would prove to be a month CN would leave very different than the way it came in.
Part 3: WTF May
A series of incidents would change the face of politics in CN as the LUEnited Nations and the Orange Defense Network were discovering how similar they really were. This close relationship would culminate in United For Orange, an MDP between LUE and ODN later on in the month. It also resulted in the first Mutual Defense Alliance, the Independence Council. Largely founded to combat the growing power of the superpowers GATO, NPO, NAAC, and the Legion, it left these organizations scurrying to play catch-up with the ODN, LUE, GGA, and United Civilized States (UCS).
The Entente Cordiale was a proposed MDA between GATO, the Legion, and the NAAC, and had it gone through would have made a super alliance unchallengeable by any potential attackers. However, due to wording which meant that an alliance HAD to go to war if an ally in the EC was attacked, it was vetoed by GATO’s Assembly Chairman Jormungand who disapproved of the urgency in which it was presented and later deciding that an MDA would be more beneficial to GATO without the NPO and voted down by the Legion.
Uproar between GATO and the NPO broke out when Chris_Kaos, the GATO Minister of Defense, curtly informed the NPO in an IRC chat that it was not up for discussion and left the NPO fuming when he walked out of the conversation. The flames only gradually died down, and NPO would later join the Independence Council and destroy it from within.
Next was an embarrassing scandal for LUE. One of the leaders of LUE, bros, and a member of the same alliance, IForget2, decided to try and provoke a GATO-NPO War by exploiting bros’ admin powers to change IF’s username to Ivan Moldavi, where he posted as Ivan to make it look like the NPO was going to war with GATO. LUE Co-Leader Yaridovich expelled both members and made the scandal public. Since then, IF created his “Rogue Alliance,” and become the most notorious rogue in CN history, and intended to nuke high-level nations, though the successes of his master plans were a failure, as he was beaten to it in The Great War.
May 22, 2006: It is the third and most serious event of May that left CN very different. When a couple of NAAC members revealed to the NPO that one of the NAAC leaders, Arctic, had a spy in the NPO. When the response to this espionage from the NAAC was deemed unsatisfactory, the NPO declared war. The Second Polar War was on. With their trademark midnight blitz, the NPO devastated the NAAC. In their wake came GATO, who declared war after it was revealed that the NAAC had a spy in their ranks. The Legion came in at the request of the NPO as per the terms of the Imperial Accords, the Legion’s MDP with the NPO. After being triple-teamed, the NAAC had been whittled down to under 50 members, but refused to surrender. Eventually the trio that had teamed together to tackle the NAAC ended the conflict, but not before Ivan would make one of the most controversial decisions of his career as Emperor of the New Pacific Order.
Having decided to stabilize the Blue team after it had been derailed by the war, Ivan Moldavi announced the formation of a new alliance, the New Polar Order (NpO), as a haven for nations fleeing the war-torn NAAC. It was hailed by supporters as a return to stability for the Blue team, and decried by its opponents as nothing more than an imperialist power-grab. Many more powerful nations of the NAAC left for the NpO. Most notably, the new GATO assembly chairman Vercingetorix published a public statement condemning the new alliance and calling for its dissolution, causing a diplomatic rift between GATO and the NPO. The controversy began to die down, as tension replaced open argument. And so, Cybernations left WTF May with the NAAC crippled and the NpO the new masked alliance of the blue team, and past buddies NPO and GATO tensely opposed to each other.
Part 4: Turning up the heat
As May passed by, the chaos that pervaded in May was replaced by a deep tension in June. GATO began stepping up on the foreign scene, passing two new MDPs, the LUEnacy Covenant with LUE and the Free Love Accord with the ODN. LUE passed a (now infamous) MDP with the GGA called the Snakes on a Plane Treaty, which was well known for its briefness and simplicity, such as the famous clause “Don’t be an a**hat, I will cancel.”
The next scandal was an embarrassment for GATO when the Domestic Affairs Minister, Grenval, made a fatal mistake. Although he had been flamebaiting the NPO on CN forums for quite some time, he took it one step too far when he made a faux announcement of a “Global Alliance Red Organization” or GARO. Intending to parody the announcement of the New Polar Order, Grenval set off a firestorm of controversy, as the NPO took the announcement seriously. Grenval was forced to resign, and, as a result, Ivan Moldavi suspended the Unity Covenant. The NPO and GATO were both no longer allies.
There were many other scandals in June as well, including LUE suspending Snakes on a Plane over remarks the GGA’s emperor Prodigal Chieftain made to a new Green Alliance, the Coalition of Green S (initially comprised primarily of former GGA members). Also was the discovery that Lord Sam, an alliance councilor for the NpO had been spying for the infamous IForget2’s rogue alliance.
A few new alliances were coming to prominence, such as the Independent Republic of Orange Nations, or IRON, who had secretly grown to become a large alliance on the orange team, and would later receive a mask.
But, for the most part, June was relatively quiet. As June came to a close, and July came, many were beginning to become bored of the humdrum daily routine, and many wondered if something would shatter this peace. They weren’t going to wonder for long. July would prove to be a month filled with war.
Part 5: Cataclysm
July 7, 2006: The month started with a bang. Literally. The Legion found itself being attacked by a minor group called the Warpstorm Alliance. This war would be a footnote, were it not for the unprecedented amount of nukes launched in both directions. Although the Second Polar War saw the first widespread use of nuclear weapons, it was surpassed by the WSA War, and would remain on top until the Great War.
Also, LUE made an announcement with potentially devastating proportions on July 11th: According to a PM conversation between NPO Imperial Regent Vladimir and a spy in LUE, it appeared that the 2nd in command to Ivan Moldavi had accepted information about LUE. The announcement was accompanied with an announcement stating that LUE would cut ALL diplomatic ties with the NPO. Vladimir later explained that he was trying to see if the guy was serious or not, and had no intention of spying on LUE. Nonetheless, it took significant damage control to get the situation repaired and caused bad publicity for the organization.
Although Cybernations appeared to be peacefully growing and the alliances were getting along okay, in reality there was tension between the alliances, a sort of war of nerves that although did not exist on the battlefield, exist in the forums where both sides exchanged insults. Soon, this powder keg would explode, and it did so as a result of an ancient LUE tradition back on their home of GameFAQs, the LUEicide.
Back on GameFAQs, the Terms of Service were strictly upheld, and an offender could be quickly banned for violations. If a LUEser (LUE User) was tired of GameFAQs, he knew how to leave with a bang. In a LUEicide, a user tried to break as many stipulations in the Terms of Service as possible, so he would almost certainly be banned.
After LUE was cut off from new membership, LUEicides became less and less common. It seems that there was no longer an interest in this bizarre LUE tradition, and so it remained for quite some time. That is, until;
July 15, 2006: One of the Co-Leaders of LUE, Yaridovich, wanted to leave CN and do it with a bang. He decided to LUEicide.
What followed was a post of his containing a graphic set of stories, most notably of Pope Pius XIII raping Rysonia, the Empress of the International Green Coalition (IGC). Also, there was an inappropriate photo after the stories. The Moderators jumped on the topic, and quickly deleted it, but not before it was seen by much of the users online at the time.
The NPO went ballistic and demanded an apology from LUE, which it got, but was deemed unsatisfactory because a handful of LUEsers were laughing at the story in their IRC Channel. Later on, key members of GATO and the ODN met with an incensed NPO delegation. All three condemned the story, and GATO planned to suspend the LUEnacy Covenant, and ODN said its leadership would have to convene before it could make any promises. The ODN would later suspend their MDP with LUE.
Things might have gone down differently, were it not for a nuke. Tygaland, the emperor of the NpO, launched a nuke against LUE member Duffman04. Ivan Moldavi, deciding that this graphic story and the response he deemed lackluster was the straw breaking the camel’s back, declared war on LUE. The Leaders of LUE knew they were screwed without backup, and went to their allies GATO for help. As the LUEnacy Covenant had not yet been suspended, GATO was bound to it, and declared war upon the New Pacific Order. All bets were off. This was an all-out war.
Over the course of the next few days, an astonishing number of alliances came out of the woodwork to join the fight against the NPO. On one side was the self styled Coalition of Justice, the NPO and NpO, as well as the IGC, although the latter would leave the conflict after receiving an apology from LUE. Against them were the alliances LUE, GATO, CDS, SRI, Federation, ICSN, APA, DDA, AoAN, GGA, TAGA, OIN, NAAC, PrF, ODN, FIS, ONOS and LOSS, styling themselves the CoaLUEtion.
This of course, begs the question: Why did so many alliances join in? The first camp states that the NPO had so much power, and these alliances were jealous of its power, and wanted a piece of the pie. The other camp maintains that the NPO was an imperialist warmonger who inspired hate amongst the lower ranks treated with contempt by the NPO, and that these alliances rose up, releasing their hatred of the alliance in a frenzy. Others joined because they felt obligated as a result of MDPs.
Whatever the reason, the war was nothing short of devastating. Roughly three-hundred nukes were launched by both sides, and in the lower ranks nations were prone to gang up on other nations of the opposing force and ripping them apart. In the top ranks, it was an all-out war with nukes tossed between both sides in vicious cycles of destruction. The exact tally may never be known, but the damages incurred by the war must at least be in the billions.
July 21, 2006: Sei Pistole, one of the NPO’s Alliance Councilors, announced Alliance Councilor Nosedondekistan was being ousted as a traitor. What followed was the unraveling of a secret society called the Coven, a group akin to the Illuminati, which had high-ranking members in key alliances. There was Nosedonkistan in the Alliance Council, EvilCartyen, the Director of Intelligence for the Legion, and, perhaps most shocking of all, the Assembly Chairwoman of GATO, Yoda, was in on the scheme. In the aftermath of this revelation, both sides declared a ceasefire to sort things out, but unable to come to terms, and continued to fight.
However, at this point, the war was at a stalemate, both sides having fought each other to a standstill. There appeared to be no clear victor, and neither side was willing to budge. Then, in a move that left everybody stunned, the Legion declared war on the NPO, as a result of an IRC conversation in which key government figures in the NPO discussed getting back at the Legion for not coming to their aid.
The Legion involvement was brief. After about 2 days, a seperate peace deal was reached. After an apology by Ivan and Tyga, and the resignation of Tyga as emperor, the Legion would cease attacks. The NPO and NpO followed through, with Tyga resigning and appointing Electron Sponge as his successor.
Though the Legion would be in the fight for a brief time, it left the NPO seriously damaged, and the Legion the world's most powerful alliance. With NPO declining down the ranks quickly, they went to the peace table, and after much politicking with the CoaLUEtion, achieved peace and so the Great War ended. The NPO was devastated, and the Legion was (for now) the world superpower.
Part 6: Peace
With the war over, the next step was rebuilding, which each of the combatants did with a vigor. In a breathtakingly short amount of time, NPO has risen from the ashes of war, and with Pacifican funds flowing through alliance nations, the NPO quickly rebuilt and by the end of the month, the NPO had surpassed prewar strength.
Unlike before, however, they no longer had a giant gap in front of all competitors. GATO was hot on their heels, having also recovered spectatularly, and behind the top two was the Legion, once again in number three.
However, to claim that these alliances alone were of the only importance is fraud. Many other alliances were taking their places amongst the big wigs. The ODN was a slower growing but tight-knit organization of older members. The Independent Republic of Orange Nations (IRON) had joined the ranks of masked alliances, as had the NAAC and Coalition of Dark States, having changed their name and moved to the Black Team. The ICSN became part of the International Communist Party (ICP), creating the largest left-wing alliance since the ICSN hemorrhaged most of its membership after the NPO attacked.
There were also new alliances, such as the Green Viridian Entente (VE) and most notably the Goon Order of Neutral Shoving (GOONS). Hailing from the 80,000 member strong Something Awful community, they quickly commenced what has been described as an "OMGGOONRUSH" and quickly gained several hundred members, an astonishing feat.
New pacts were being made, with so many NAPs being signed they cannot all be listed here. Most notably, the Legion and ODN signed an MDP making them tight-knit allies. New lines were being drawn as old allies drifted apart and found new comrades.
With the end of August, outright war had become a thing of the past, replaced by peaceful competition between alliances. The NPO regained the top spot, but this time there was a close competitor. New alliances had joined the fray, and a new web of alliances was being spun. It was a time of prosperity after the war, rebuilding and growth.
Part 7: Shattering the Ice
As like August, the month of September was passing slowly and without much event. A few rogue nukings, a few treaties (Notably the solidification of an ODN-NAAC-GATO-Legion powerblock). While there was the notable founding of /b/, an alliance intending to destroy but deciding that the job was much more than they bargained for and decided to go legit. But overall, an uneventful month. Until the last weekend.
In a stunning turn of events, Ivan Moldavi of the New Pacific Order resigned from his post as Emperor on September 30th, appointing Dilber as his successor. The event left most CNers stunned. Moldavi had been a constant, running the NPO since its inception. Now, for the first time, he was no longer the Emperor and retired to the backrooms. It also resulted in some shuffling of the internal structure of the NPO.
In another shocking move Grand Global Alliance staged a coup which resulted in the removal of Prodigal Chieftain as Emperor and Empress Atherton leaving the alliance. The overthrow of power was due to continued greivances againts the GGA, such as disregard for the Charter and Government, as well as insulting the newly appointed Emperor of the NPO. The GGA became embroiled in an internal power struggle as Prodigal Chieftain did not go down gracefully.
Upon the depature of Prodigal Chieftain and Atherton, The New Pacific Order, who has always been hostile in diplomatic relations with the GGA, officially recognised the new government. As far as the New Pacific Order was concerned, PC was the only real problem they had with the Grand Global Alliance. Shortly after things settled down, an MDP between the GGA and the NPO was announced, the Roundtable Accords. This was an unprecedented move which sent the Cyberverse reeling, as within hours of PC's removal, former enemies were now allies. In addition, an MDP between the CDS and the GGA, The Brothers-to-Brothers Pact, was signed, a surprising move as the CDS had started out as ex-GGA members disgusted with their emperor.
As September drew to a close, a period of rapid politicking had left the Cyberverse struggling to comprehend the extent of what had happened. Perhaps only time will tell in that regard.
Part 8: COUPtober
By October, the lull that had persisted since the Great War continued, as the longest period of peace in the history of Cybernations worked into an unprecedented third month. However, by October, peace would be somewhat of a misnomer, as tensions would continue to rise between major alliances. The aftershock of OMG Weekend would continue to be felt, as a flurry of activity smashed the icy peace that had dominated September. The first was the signing of a full-fledged alliance between the New Pacific Order, New Polar Order, and the GOONS. This self-styled Axis of Awesome™ would be subject to divided opinion: those who thought it was a great diplomatic success for the newly crowned Emperor Dilber, and those who attacked it as a group cemented by hubris and jingoism.
Dilber clearly showed that he was not going to pursue the diplomatically isolated style of his predecessor. In addition to the alliance with GOONS, he signed a pact of Mutual Defense with the Green alliance Viridian Entente. As with the previous treaty, this pact had mixed reactions, with the cyberverse either congratulating the two alliances or attacking it. However, Egore, founder and leader of the VE, announced that they did not consider themselves a member of the Axis of Awesome™ and asserted their independence, in an attempt to end the criticism of their alliance.
With OMG Weekend to crack the ice, it seemed that the quiet of the previous month had been discarded by the side of the road. The next major event would concern the New Polar Order, and GATO. This controversy would arise due to none other than Grenval, the formerly disgraced Minister of Domestic Affairs. Since the GARO controversy, he had gradually rehabilitated his reputation within the Global Alliance to the point that he was able to make a successful run for Foreign Minister. His election provoked an incredulous response from the international community. One observer was seen to remark “You elected Grenval for Foreign Affairs!?” Nonetheless, GATO gave their confidence to him.
Things would not go well this time for Grenval either. For a while, it seemed he would have a promising term in office. However, things were about to be turned upside down. In the midst of a scandal which had already erupted, Grenval would inadvertently set off a firestorm once again.
Chado Kun was one of many people who set about attempting to infiltrate an alliance. In his case, he succeeded in gaining membership in NPO. While there, he found the jewel of any spy’s stash of information: the GOONS personal calculator, which could tell the user what trades to obtain, what to do with the money they would gain. In other words, it told the user how to maximize their nation to its fullest potential. Before Chado Kun would be able to obtain the veritable mass of information the likes of the Coven would collect, however, he was exposed by the administration for having two nations, and as a result, after having both nations deleted, Chado Kun posted the calculator and made it downloadable for the public. Although the moderation staff deleted the topic, it had already been downloaded by several people.
It was at this point that Grenval would make a post describing GATO’s thoughts on the fate of Chado Kun. Almost immediately, members of the NPO and NpO emperor Electron Sponge began belittling Grenval, calling him a "f***ing troll". In the course of the ensuing debate, Grenval claimed GATO had secretly harbored a policy of not recognizing the NpO. Though GATO officials denied the charges, the damage was done. A firestorm erupted which resulted in the resignations of Grenval and GATO’s Assembly Chairman Letum, the former for his remarks to the NpO, the latter for stating the Global Alliance recognized the NpO without the approval of the General Assembly. What followed was a confusing period where nobody was exactly sure of GATO’s policy. In the end, it would be announced GATO would discuss the issue among themselves and make their announcement when a consensus was reached. Rather than die down, however, the flames only got worse.
Electron Sponge, after about a week of waiting for a decision, became impatient and made an ultimatum. According to Sponge, GATO had 24 hours to make a decision or else. He had grown tired of conflicting and confusing statements from GATO leaders and it only took so much before his patience finally snapped. GATO resolved to ignore the ultimatum as an attempt to put them on trial before the Cyberverse, and let the deadline pass by. In response, ES announced a severing of diplomatic relations with GATO, annulling a GATO-NpO NAP which was part of the surrender terms after the Great War, , and revoking the recognition of GATO, instead considering them as a puppet of the LUEnited Nations. The NPO and GOONS would sever diplomatic ties with GATO, but did not revoke recognition. Electron Sponge’s announcement resulted in derision by members of the international community, particularly by LUE and GATO, the latter referring to themselves as “LuE” to mock the NpO. Later, Letum (who had regained his position of Chairman by this time) made an announcement in which GATO recognized the NpO as a sovereign political alliance, but not a military one. In other words, they would act independently of the NPO on political matters, but would tag along on military ones. Many viewed the announcement as a response to the going threat of a possible war, but GATO did not.
At this point, it seemed the issue would burn for a short time, and then die out to be replaced by high and mounting tension between the two sides. However, it was not to be. Events were about to take a more bizarre turn.
COUPtober was so-called because of the number of coups that seemed to take place. While there were many, including a joke LUE one (The RevoLUEtionaries v. Soviet LUEnion) it would be the GATO coup which would cement this name in CN history.
The catalyst was Depraved. Disgusted with the state of GATO, he returned to the alliance he founded, with the intent to sort things out. Most assumed he would run for a position in the up-coming Cabinet elections. None were prepared for the course of action he would take. After regaining administrative powers on the GATO forums, he took the offsite board offline. When they came back up, Depraved had removed all administrative powers other than his own, and had demasked all government officials. He made a post in the Assembly Lobby declaring that the old government deposed and that he would take control of GATO as a dictator until further notice. At first, the Letum government attempted to keep things quiet while Chris Kaos, who had returned to GATO during the NpO-GATO furor, tried to play double agent to stop Depraved’s coup. However, Depraved then made an announcement of his coup on the public forums, bringing the issue into the spotlight.
If Depraved thought his coup would gain the support of GATO, he was mistaken. Despite his fiery rhetoric asking for support in a reformed GATO, he found himself with virtually no support from the alliance. While some members of the international community (rather notably the Axis of Awesome™) supported the coup, others rejected it. condemned the attempted seizure of power. GATO’s allies for the most part continued to recognize the old government. GATO made a new board and, with the help of some foreigners, managed to inform the majority of members about the new forums. With little official support from the international community or GATO, and with a new board rapidly growing, and having been branded as a traitor by GATO's leadership, Depraved closed the old forums and joined GOONS.
It is important to note, however, that it was not the goals of Depraved's coup which effectively erased support within the alliance. Rather, it was widely agreed the Letum government had serious problems within it and something had to be done. However, the coup was viewed by many as being contrarian to the ideals of GATO, and as such the vast majority of the membership rejected his coup.
In the midst of this chaos, the Nationalistic Germanic alliances Volksleitung and the Prussian Federation merged to form a new alliance, the Nordreich, rapidly gaining over 150 members. After signing an MDP with the NpO, Nordreich became a proud member of the Axis of Awesome™.
As October drew to a close, tension was growing and the lull of the previous months was shattered. Whether or not they realized it, most alliances were digging their trenches.
Part 9: Tension of Opposites
November was a month of opposites. Planet Bob saw a clash of left and right during the maroon wars. Additionally, it saw the epitomes of rogue and anti-rogue. CNARF will live on in infamy as an example of controversial anti-rogue action. Likewise, Project Entropy will long be remembered for its daring plan to show Planet Bob the true power of nuclear rogues.
Jeebus provided the inspiration for the members of Project Entropy after leaving the game in a nuclear blaze. San Marco, PHD89, Lord Snow, x.lt, St. Patrick, wooster and Phoenix89 decided to follow his example. They planned to hit GATO and the LUEnited Nations with approximately 200 nukes on a historically significant day (the one year anniversary of CN‘s creation, Thanksgiving, November 5th etc). However, Project Entropy did not proceed as planned.
Security was incredibly lax at Entropy’s headquarters in the hope of attracting more nations to take part in the strike. While this provided the group with a few new accomplices (notably Smoked, who had 11 nukes) it lead to easy infiltration by spies. Soon, Project Entropy had become the laughing stock of nearly every alliance. Anti-Entropy action was planned, but poorly carried out. San Marco was attacked multiple hours before the other members of Project Entropy, allowing them a chance to ready their defenses. Adding to the confusion, multiple non-Entropy members were accidently attacked.
Estimates concerning the number of nuclear weapons launched vary widely - CNQ claims approximately 25 were launched, while San Marco firmly believes the number hovers around the 50 mark. Regardless, the Global Radiation Level was heavily impacted. Project Entropy nations soon disbanded, with most of them sending their technology to the Orders. Their choice was based on the Great War; members felt that the Orders had been just in their attacks.
While San Marco and Project Entropy wound down, a new conflict seized the attention of the Cyberverse. By November, the Green Team was no longer considered the Balkans of Cybernations. With the departure of Prodigal Chieftain, the Green Team had quickly improved relations with each other to the point that the flame fests of lore had become a thing of the past. VE, CIS and /b/ were becoming major green alliances and all five managed to co-exist peacefully. However, a new team came to the forefront; at first, with MDC, Nordreich, ONOS, TTK, and a variety of other alliances getting along, Maroon seemed to be peaceful.
When the admin team announced the new one sanctioned alliance per team policy, maroon jumped to secure their sanction. It was immediately suggested by Cheyenne that a treaty be written up to protect the maroon sanction from outsiders, and Ferrous, with the help of King IB, quickly wrote one up for ratification. The treaty signing was going rather slowly until ICP announced intentions to move to maroon.
Immediately the alliances saw the semi major alliance as a threat and signed the treaty rapidly, until almost every Maroon alliance had become a signatory of the Balkans Accords. They threatened to sanction any ICP member who made the switch to Maroon, which was considered an act of war by the ICP side. Next, Nordreich revealed a detail intelligence report which showed the hostile intents of the ICP, leading to the revelation there was a spy in the ICP. It looked for the moment as if war would break out with a fury. It did.
At the height of Maroon-ICP tension, a member of the ICP defected and minutes later nuked Kaiser Martens, emperor of Nordreich, who immediately responded by declaring war on the ICP, and was swiftly followed by their allies in the Balkans Accords. While the ICP had considerable numbers on their side, the Nordreich and their allies had the advantage of numbers from the beginning, even when ICP called in their MDP partners, SRI, EoS, S37 and ODS. With more communist alliances joining, AoA alliances GOONS and NpO joined their allies Nordreich and attacked the ICP. It looked like the ICP and company would face harsh terms of peace. Team Maroonica, as the maroon warriors had dubbed themselves, seemed to have full control of the war and could have imposed virtually any requirements for peace. But it was not so.
News of a full and unconditional peace from Team Maroonica came only two days after the NpO and GOONs joined the assault. Considering that Nordreich had previously demanded the dissolution of their enemies before the NpO and GOONS joined, this was a surprising move. At first nobody outside of the Maroon Alliances knew why, but the truth soon came out. NAAC and several other CoaLUEtion alliances had begun plans to defend the ICP, and Nordreich did not want a war with the CoaLUEtion, and as such offered peace to prevent a Second Great War.
It shortly came to light that NpO and GOONS were not at all happy wth the unconditional peace, and their relations with Nordreich deteriorated accordingly. However, other than in this regard, the episode ended happily. The ICP wisely chose to move to Pink, where they were welcomed by fellow pink alliance LUE, who signed an MDP with the ICP. Maroon continued to grow and unite, with the Northern Defense Front being signed between many Maroon alliances. Over the coming weeks, Nordreich and the ICP would put aside their differences and begin to work towards better diplomatic relations.
The third and final controversy of November surrounded the Cyber Nations Anti-Rogue force (CNARF), which was founded by prominent GATO member Walford (future Minister of Defense). The membership was open to any people of any alliance, and included many members from other CoaLUEtion alliances such as NAAC. The stated purpose of CNARF was to defend independent nations from rogues, and just like the debated definition of a rogue, many people were quick to criticize the actions that CNARF would undertake, and their possible selective process against rogues.
However, the most debated criticism of CNARF involved the inclusion of GATO into the organized attacks. After the Rogue was attacked, if the member of CNARF was attacked by the rogue, GATO would send military and financial aid to assist the CNARF member. Mainly members of the Goons and New Pacific Order criticized such actions, calling CNARF the militant wing of GATO, and another attempt at a “world police force.” (bucked from wikipedia) The given purpose was to deter their targets from gathering a group to counter-attack. Critics countered that participants should be denied protection from their alliances and that CNARF functions as an alliance.
The Peak of the CNARF controversy occurred when GGA Triumvir Bilrow and Elder Statesman Kevin the Great announced that GGA would begin a war games exercise against unaligned nations. The obvious purpose was to provoke CNARF, stating implicitly the issue that if CNARF attacked the GGA, it would escalate into a global conflict. However, the war games were cancelled when it was revealed that the remaining Triumvirs and Elder Statesmen had not consented to the war games, thereby stating that Bilrow and Kevin had acted unconstitutionally. Though they were forced to take a leave of absence, the damage was done.
The actions of the GGA drew a huge amount of criticism, mainly from their Allies in the CoaLUEtion side of the web. Ultimately, LUE and NAAC cancelled their Mutual Defense Pacts with the GGA, and due to NPO emperor Dilber’s statement defending GGA neutrality, the GGA was ultimately pushed toward the Axis of Awesome side of the MDP web.
And so with the peace of the preceeding months shattered, the cyberverse would edge ever closer to chaos in the eternal dance of fate, which wound its way into December.
Part 10: Beyond the Precipice
The months of December and January would see the Cyberverse driven to the brink, and then beyond it. By the end of December, war was inevitable. By the end of January it had passed. The turn of events that would come to Cybernations would permanently alter the political landscape, leaving behind a world once again transformed. These two months would usher in a new era, for better or for worse, for the Cyberverse.
The month of December on its own is of little significance. It was largely a series of near misses that came within inches of bringing chaos to Planet Bob. Perhaps most significantly, the month of December would give rise to the Cyberverse’s first true power blocs. Before, alliances had been held together by a tangled and confusing web of Mutual Defense Pacts which served mainly to befuddle those who attempted to understand it. This web was more or less replaced by four major power blocs. They were the Grand Union of Alliances for Rapport and Defense (GUARD), the Initiative , the Northern Defense Front (NDF), and the League.
GUARD was the first of these extended alliances, jointly founded by the North Atlantic Defense Coalition (NADC), the Organized Nations of Superiority (ONOS), and the Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations (CSN), as an alternative to the confusion of the MDP Web. They would later be joined by The Templar Knights (TTK), the Tri-Color Federation (TCF) and the United Sovereign Nations (USN). While the eldest of these blocs, it would be dwarfed by its successors.
The Initiative was the second of these major power blocs. It began as a four-way MADP between the alliances of FAN, GOONS, NPO, and NpO, but more alliances would be invited to join until it became the largest and most powerful of the power blocs. At its height, the Initiative consisted of the NPO, NpO, GOONS, FAN, \m/, VE, TOP, GGA, CIS, MDC, and NoR (who by now had made amends with their former allies.)
In the aftermath of the Maroon Wars in November, the Maroon sphere found itself more unified than ever. They would come to coalesce into a power bloc consisting of many, but mostly weaker alliances, known as the Northern Defense Front. After the collapse of relations between the Nordreich and the Orders, the NDF severed its ties to the Initiative and League and became a neutral alliance dedicated to the protection of its own members. Many Maroon alliances would join the ranks of the NDF. However, the sheer size of the NDF condemned the extended MADP to an early death, and the NDF quickly fragmented.
Months before any of the other power blocs had formed, in the offsite forums of ODN, the alliances of ODN, GATO, LUE, CDS, NAAC, and the Legion began discussing the possibilities of an extended Mutual Aggression Pact. This was in no small part intended to counter the increasing number of allies the NPO was bringing into its fold. This pact never came to fruition due to opposition from the ODN and Legion to the idea, fearing the Aggressive aspects of the pact, but it would serve a purpose. The Spectrum Defense Accord as it was known would lay the groundwork for The League, an extended MDP between LOSS, NAAC, GOLD, LUE, GATO, ICP, CDS, and ACID alliances.
Besides the cementation of the power blocs, it was a near miss that almost triggered a massive war that would stand as the major event of December.
In November, the LOSS member New Reverie began a mass-messaging campaign to earn himself a seat on the Red Senate. To the surprise of many, he succeeded, infuriating the New Pacific Order. In response, the NPO issued a decree that stated they more or less owned the Red Team and informed New Reverie and LOSS that he must leave or LOSS and New Reverie would face dire consequences. The incident seemed to be a minor one, as New Reverie was thrown off the Red Team Senate and the NPO toned down its harsh policy in the face of international criticisms.
In December, the controversy would again rise when Emperor Dilber of the NPO published several PMs from New Reverie which attempted to rile up the independent red voters against the NPO. Citing this and the previous incident, they demanded New Reverie leave the Red Team or face dire consequences. LOSS censured New Reverie but did not follow through with the NPO’s demands. Tensions neared the boiling point. The Legion, in opposition of the world’s climate, ordered most of its nations into peace mode in a gesture of protest to the growing threat of war.
It would not be grand gestures but the unpredictability of Planet Bob that prevented war. Just when it seemed hostilities would break out, the server crashed and burned, remaining down for a number of days. By the time Admin (Peace be upon him) had managed to restore the server, the threat had passed. But not for long.
This time, the world would go to war over the issue of the alliance Farkistan, who came to CN in early January. A long-standing feud between Something Awful and FARK, the home site of Farkistan and GOONS ensured Farkistan would be controversial from its very inception. When several posts by Farkers talking about attacking GOONS and a LUEser who said he would bankroll them found their way to the GOONS, they immediately attacked Farkistan. From there, things went downhill.
LUE, who felt it wrong for GOONS to attack another alliance over feuds which had nothing to do with CN, intervened by declaring war on the GOONS members attacking the Farkers (It should be noted at the time of the GOONS attack Fark had no treaties with any alliance). Over the following night, trickles of Initiative nations quietly began to attack LUE members who had attacked GOONS nations, but were quickly noticed. In response, the alliances of GATO and NAAC declared war on the Initiative. From there, the remaining alliances on both sides jumped aboard the bandwagon: the Second Great War had begun.
This time, it was the League, consisting of mostly CoaLUEtion nations, which fared worse. Having jumped in quickly, GATO in particular were ill prepared for the war, and were hit badly. The small but highly efficient, organized TOP wreaked havoc on the GATO upper ranks, while FAN blunted the NAAC assault. The Initiative quickly proved they were far more prepared for this war than the League. The war ended quickly after LUE left the League, recognizing they were bogging down their allies in the League by refusing to declare peace, and vowed to continue their war against the NPO. Many were surprised with how quickly the proceedings came to a conclusion.
Also, unlike the First Great War, it has been noted that with the exception of nuclear rogues, GWII was largely kept from going nuclear. The war officially ended on February 4th, when LUE accepted the surrender terms of the Initiative. However, the conflict that sparked the greater war in the first place, the Farkistan War between GOONS and FARK continued, eventually becoming the longest war in history, lasting from January 7 to June 10--a total of 155 days.
Controversy remains over the cause of war. The Initiative maintains that a war-hungry League, led by GATO and LUE, aggressively attacked them with no valid legal reason for doing so. The League disagrees, maintaining they involved themselves because GOONS had no right to dictate whether or not an alliance should exist. A third, more independent perspective places blame on both groups, suggesting both wanted war and were looking for an excuse for it.
By the time January had concluded, LUE was gone as a military power and all but done for as an alliance, the League was unraveling at the seams, and the nations of these alliances were crippled by the war. All the while, the Initiative quickly rebuilt itself and was prospering. The NPO had risen from its post-GWI nadir and had once again climbed to the top of the pile.
END VOLUME 1
CREDITS:
Parts 1 - 10
John Michaels, Cheyenne, KarlMarx, Jacksonians, Letum, Mary the Fantabulous, Medic, Squintus, and Sweetmofugginj