[Iron Wolf]

Rise and Humbled: 2nd Polar War to Great War III

During that first early Summer of 2006, a debate began within The Legion on whether or not to continue to allow Wars of Aggression against un-aligned nations (what is nowadays called the “Tech Raid”) for those who wished to enjoy the thrills of battle.

The rules at the time were that they were allowed only on nations that had no alliance, and if a member nation “bit off more than they could chew” and was losing the fight, they could not call for assistance from the Legion. They would be on their own to get out of it and rebuild. That policy however made the recruiters’ jobs that much harder and awkward. After a small nation had been attacked by someone flying The Legion alliance, it was a tough sell to then try to get the nation to join The Legion. It was at times a heated debate, but in the end the raid style Wars of Aggression were banned. Some members left The Legion over this decision, but it sent a clear message to Planet Bob that The Legion was an honorable alliance and defensive in nature.

Upon The Legion’s entrance and exit from the Second Polar War, there was a growing perception on Planet Bob that The Legion was just “The NPO’s lapdog.” This didn’t sit well with the general membership or the leadership of The Legion. From these events began a growing unease then outright dislike for the NPO took hold; it soon spread through most of The Legion.

Before relations between NPO and The Legion could completely disintegrate, The Legion was attacked without warning or explanation by the WarpStorm Alliance. The WarpStorm Alliance (WSA) was a smallish alliance on the purple team. Their opening attacks were directed at The Legion’s strongest nations. The unannounced war was declared by the unleashing of nuclear weapons against The Legion on July 7, 2006.

The Legion quickly activated the Imperial Accords and brought the NPO into the fray. The NPO brought in the NpO from the Ordinance of Orders treaty, and then GATO also entered the WSA War on the side of The Legion by way of treaty. Planet Bob at large called this either the Purple Civil War or the WarpStorm War while The Legion called it either the WSA War or among themselves, When Stupidity Attacks War. At the time, this war had the largest number of nuclear weapons released ever. Many nations simply didn’t bother with conventional forces and went straight away to nuclear attacks and reprisals.

It was a very handily crafted smackdown of the WSA nations. The war lasted two days, with organized resistance ending on July 9, 2006. There were no surrenders in this war. The WSA nations were destroyed completely. The lesson was not lost on Planet Bob. The Legion has no sympathy and no remorse in destroying nations that launch nukes first and then say “Oh yeah, about that nuke… we’re at war.”

Uneasy peace settled on the world, and very short lived. About a week later, Planet Bob would become embroiled in the first Great War. The reasons the war started are many, and most if not all of the reasons contain at least a half truth to them. The most used reason is that a LUEnited Nations member, committed account suicide (AKA LUEicide) by posting graphic stories and pictures on the big boards in an attempt to get his account banned and deleted. This kind of behavior is considered to be “Out of Character” or OOC. Many within LUE did not support this action but the action failed to get officially condemned by LUE’s leadership. Behind their closed doors, however, there were many LUE members congratulating the LUEicide.

The NpO Emperor, Tygaland, took issue about the LUEicide with a LUE member, and for an unknown reason launched a nuclear missile at a LUEnited Nations member. LUE responded and war broke out between the two alliances on July 15, 2006. NPO then joined on the side of Polaris.

The lines were quickly drawn with most of the world siding with the CoaLUEtion (alliances on the side of LUE) or remaining neutral. Among the CoaLUEtion were LUE, GATO, NAAC, and ODN (others as well, the list is a long one). The Coalition of Justice was NPO, NpO, and International Green Coalition (since disbanded). There were also neutral alliances; most notable were Green Protection Agency (GPA), Independent Republic of Orange Nations (IRON), and The Order of the Paradox (TOP).

The NPO tried to bring The Legion into the war with the Imperial Accords, but The Legion felt that since it wasn’t a defensive war (the NPO attacked, it was not on the defensive) therefore the Imperial Accords did not apply. Needless to say, this did not go over well with the NPO. They felt stabbed in the back by The Legion. At the time, The Legion looked at Mutual Defense Pacts as just that: Mutual Defense. The Imperial Accords were an MDP, not an MDAP. There was no clause to activate the other alliance due to offensive action.

Without the additional might of The Legion, the Orders and the CoLUEtion were roughly evenly matched. IGC had declared a cease-fire after three days of fighting on July 18, and withdrew from the war on July 19. Both sides of the conflict wanted The Legion on their side to change the dynamics of the war to favor their side, but The Legion wouldn’t budge. This simply was not our fight. And then something changed.

A covert group calling itself “The Coven” had been formed, with members in positions of trust in many of the sanctioned alliances. One such member leaked an IRC log of a meeting between some of the NPO’s war council and their Emperor, Ivan Moldavi. The logs revealed the depth of the NPO’s displeasure with The Legion’s neutrality in the war and advocated attacking The Legion as soon as they had finished winning the Great War.

The Legion’s cabinet was stunned by the logs revealed by the recipient Coven member in The Legion, EvilCartyen, and the incredible breach of the Imperial Accords. The cabinet felt there was only one resort: The Legion declared war on the NPO a couple hours before game update on July 23, 2006 in a move that surprised virtually everyone on Planet Bob. The NPO has stated at the time that the logs had edited out Emperor Ivan Moldavi stating “absolutely not” to any Legion-NPO war. This claim was later substantiated, but the damage between Legion and NPO was fatal. Legion cabinet members did not feel all warm and fuzzy about an ally with a number of advisors clamoring for war, and only one person’s say-so averting that war.

The Legion’s attack just before the update and again immediately afterwards was just as textbook in execution as the NPO’s pioneering of the tactic. At least 50 nations in the NPO and NpO resigned. Many of the Orders’ membership had no stomach for fighting a recent ally in battle. Over the course of the 44 hours between The Legion’s declaration and cease fire, the NPO dropped from the number one spot in the alliance listings and was losing ground. While The Legion was technically not on the side of the CoeLUEtion, the effect was the same.

On July 24, 2006, The Legion, ODN, NPO, and NpO entered peace talks and on July 25 Legion and NPO nations were ordered to cease fire. The Legion-NPO War as it is formally called by the rest of the world and as The Barfight or Two Day War by The Legion was short but the damage to the Orders’ war fighting ability in the Great War and in Orders-Legion relations was irreversible. NPO and NpO lost momentum and ultimately, the Great War. The Four Party Peace Agreement stipulated that Tygaland step down as Imperator Emeritus of NpO and post an apology to ODN. Also, NPO’s Emperor Ivan Moldavi had to post an apology to ODN and to The Legion. The Great War itself ended on August 1, 2006 with the defeat of the Orders. The grudge held by the NPO would not be forgiven.

Even on Planet Bob, peace must come eventually and so it did. Nations and alliances great and small rebuild and make plans. Events occurred on a daily basis that all groups have to face and deal with that are just the everyday happenings in all alliances. The happiest moment for The Legion came on August 15, 2006 with the signing of the MDAP with ODN mentioned earlier. With several nuclear wars having raged in the previous months, there came to be a very clear dislike for the use of nuclear weapons on a first strike basis. Global radiation levels affected everyone’s environment horribly and to an extent the economy as well. Thus was born “For the Love of God, Think of the Children,” a no first nuclear strike treaty pushed heavily by The Legion. Months later in CN history, it is a tribute to our honor that our alliance was the last alliance to stand by the treaty and be the last signatories still bound by the treaty.

In The Legion, having been successful in all three major wars to date had built our confidence up. We were sure of ourselves, and our place in Planet Bob. As a community, there was a feeling of accomplishment and professionalism that was undeniable.

During this time of peace The Legion found itself reaching out to other alliances and establishing friendships. However, alliances that held important treaties with the two Orders were not greeting us with open arms or friendly handshakes.

There were two camps forming again and looking towards war. “The Initiative,” alliances bound by the “World Unity Treaty” with the major alliances being the NPO, NpO, FAN, TOP, GOONs, GGA, and many others were on one side of the fence. The other bloc being formed was called “The League,” made up from GATO, NAAC, GOLD, LUE, and others.

War was brewing up yet again as the world headed towards Christmas. With nation rulers making plans to be with their friends and families away from CN, the Cabinet headed by VL Empire announced to Planet Bob that The Legion was observing a Christmas Peace. The Legion was ordered into Peace Mode. This move helped to secure our alliance from an attack during the Christmas holiday in an uncertain time with hostilities forming between alliances again.

The looming war between The League and The Initiative finally erupted once the holidays had passed. Great War II broke out in early January 2007 and lasted about a week and a half, ending in the defeat of The League on January 15, 2007. LUE and Fark were in the center of that short-lived maelstrom with LUE surrendering February 4, 2007. Fark was left alone to fight on against The Initiative until it finally surrendered on June 10, 2007.

The Legion took a pass on that conflict, as it was really just not our business. We were not a member of The League, although we did have treaties with some of their member alliances. Our allies had not been attacked, they were doing the attacking. Some praised The Legion for staying peaceful while other nations felt we had abandoned them and cursed us, that our power would have been decisive in tipping the scales to a League victory. However, we stayed true to our word and treaties and did not enter the war because it was not defensive.

The aftermath of the war left The Legion in the role of a superpower and was now looking eyeball to eyeball with the NPO. The Legion was in a close second ranking just behind the New Pacific Order. During this period between wars, The Legion reached 10,000,000 total Nation Strength and over 1,500 member nations. This was a feat that has not been matched since.

During this time, there was some internal strife within The Legion. Members come and go all the time, but this time it was different. Prime Minister Zunea had stirred up some controversy. Most of the membership felt a censure was all that was required. But a small faction within The Legion had different ideas. They wanted much more serious consequences for PM Zunea and radical changes to the charter, which the majority simply did not want.

The most vocal person in this faction was a former Legionnaire named noWedge. He and this small faction left The Legion and on February 28, 2007 founded Valhalla in the purple sphere. Some viewed this as friends deciding to part ways and try something new while others felt betrayed. There ended up being hard feelings in both alliances, though none could guess at the depth of the problems this would grow to cause.

Old grudges continued to fester and politics continued with both League and Initiative forces gearing up for yet another major conflict. Everyone on Planet Bob new war must surely come soon. Both The League and The Initiative forces were stalking each other, attempting to goad the other into war. The carnage of Great War II had no equal in CyberNations history. However, compared to what was coming, Great War II was a brief skirmish.

Our cabinet was hard at work attempting to make ORRPLE into a bloc. In private discussions, IRON, the Green Protection Agency (GPA), and the Coalition of Defensive States (CDS) were being looked at as serious member alliances to ORRPLE. The hope was to move away from the warring politics of the past that mired The Legion to continual warfare between the NPO on one side and NAAC and its allies on the other.

Our cabinet informed NAAC and GATO of the intention to drop their MDP treaties, and in at least GATO’s case, get it downgraded to a PIAT. The Prime Minister of The Legion, VL Empire, came to the League of Nations and presented ample justification to end the MDPs with GATO and NAAC. However The Legion membership was unwilling to let the two alliances be left to be slaughtered by the NPO and allies and refused to end the treaties. Everyone in The Legion knew that on their own, those two alliances would never survive and voted with their strength of character and morals, refusing to do what was needed to avoid the coming war.

‘No-one expected what was to happen next. An NPO mass email saying that GATO would be blitzed at update was sent to a Legionnaire and The Cabinet kicked in to overdrive working out if it was authentic. It was confirmed as authentic and GATO was alerted and The Legion war machine was started up.’*
* (Quoted directly from Sinatra’s memoirs)
Hours were spent in negotiations at the highest levels with the NPO in trying to stave off what was looming ahead. But Emperor Ivan Moldavi would have none of it. The NPO wanted revenge for the Barfight and wanted The Legion to come to the aid of an MDP partner. With no choice in gaining additional diplomatic results, The Legion’s cabinet worked tirelessly in getting Aegis alliances and The Legion ready to fight.

Once the newest Great War broke out, it quickly erupted into a very violent confrontation. It could have been started by any number of events. The event that kicked it over the edge into open war according to the CN Wiki is GATO was accused of spying on the NPO’s forums and had leaked chatroom logs as proof.

The NPO declared war on GATO only minutes before update on March 19, 2007. Within minutes of the NPO’s Declaration of War, \m/, Maroon Defense Coalition (MDC), and Grand Global Alliance (GGA) all declared war on GATO, with the rest of the Initiative alliances declaring support for the war.

VL and another highly placed member of The Legion quickly worked out a battle plan. According to available information, the NPO was fighting hard against GATO. However, they expected The Legion to declare against them, and would send in FAN and TOP against us to nullify our war machine.

So, a controversial war strategy was planned. Rather than fighting defensively against the NPO’s flank guards, we would move with NAAC against FAN and TOP first and catch them by surprise. Once they were down, we would attack the NPO together with NAAC.

The next day, NPO’s Emperor Ivan Moldavi posted a statement both praising The Legion while insulting it at the same time, stating that since The Legion never cancelled the Imperial Accords, the NPO had never officially canceled them either and was so reactivating them. Since the cause of war was just, The Legion would not intervene. This left The Legion in an awkward position and made no comment.

Overall, Aegis alliances were slow to support, with the first activation of MDP treaties about 27 hours after the NPO declared war on GATO. The Legion declared war on March 21, 2007 against all Initiative alliances that were in a state of war against GATO or had declared material support for the war. Unfortunately, bad timing on the part of some Legionaries cause attacks to go off 10 minutes before the Declaration of War. The FAN and TOP alliances claimed surprise because they had not considered themselves in a state of war with GATO. That night, ODN was with The Legion, declaring war against their target, GOONs.

The war engulfed almost every major alliance and dozens of smaller alliances. Over 30,000,000 Nation Strength was marshaled by both sides with between 2,000 and 3,000 combatant nations. While there were few nuclear launches, there was carnage and devastation unparalleled in previous alliance wars.

The devastation brought quite a few nations within The Legion to “ZI”; Zero Infrastructure. The nations that didn’t give up hope at this point banded together under Macross the Mad. Macross used humor and determination to form this band into the Imperial Zombie Infantry, or “Izzies.” Membership was open to all Legion nations that had been brought to less than 11 Infrastructure. Upon regaining 11 or more Infrastructure, the member was “retired” but allowed to keep any title earned during their time with the Izzies. A member that actually achieved getting their Infrastructure reduced to zero was awarded the title “Knight of the Undead Legion.” This group of nations played havoc on The Initiative’s newer nations that didn’t expect there to still be any fight left to nations ravaged so badly.

In all, The Legion fought with ferocity and honor. In spite of the best plans that could be put together on short notice, The Legion’s war machine was outdated; it was unable to handle the stresses and strains of a multiple alliance war. Many nations were just simply geared for defense against rogue nations. Aid nations were overwhelmed and unable to get any meaningful amount of aid to where it needed to go. This problem wasn’t confined to just The Legion. Aegis alliances across the board were losing strength.

We had reason to be hopeful that IRON and GPA would enter the war on the side of Aegis, but the hope ultimately proved false. While there were private discussions about their entering the war on the side of Aegis, there was never a call to arms.

Some Legion nations broke under the strain and surrendered. Others showed their devotion to their fellows by fighting on until bill-locked or reduced to Zero Infrastructure or “ZI’d”. Once it was obvious that Aegis and The Legion had been outmatched and there was no hope for victory or even a stalemate, VL did his duty and contacted the NPO for surrender terms.

The Legion was given harsh surrender terms: $800,000,000 in reparations, disarmament to soldiers only, and destruction of all military improvements including factories. The worst part of all was in having to exile VL Empire and Great Britain from The Legion. Some nations voted against the terms and would have rather fought on. Many other nations only voted to pass the terms because VL had begged The Legion to accept the offer rather than see The Legion destroyed. With that, the measure had passed the League of Nations.

Great Britain and VL Empire showed that no matter who they are, no one person is the alliance and without hesitation gave themselves up to save the alliance that they loved so much. With their exile, The Legion formally surrendered to Initiative forces on April 10, 2007. Great War III finally came to an end four days later on April 14, 2007.

The Legion while horribly damaged still retained sanctioned status. While much was lost, other alliances had it worse. Some Aegis alliances lost their sanctioned status, while others including NAAC and LUE had been disbanded. The Legion’s survival after sustaining such harsh losses is testament to the strength of our community.

The Legion had kept its word and proved its honor, and very nearly had given up its life to defend our allies and our principles. While we had lost the war, there was no dishonor in having done our duty and given the task our best effort. After the war was over and the chips had fallen where they had, information surfaced to The Legion about its former allies, NAAC and GATO. As hard as the NPO had been pushing for a rematch, GATO and NAAC were both working just as hard at scheming for global war.