The Iron Covenant

[Romul Saxon]

Last week I initiated a vote for the Iron Covenant to go minor. I believe further clarification is warranted on why, as shortly after those events were immediately spun into a weird victory lap.

We in the Iron Covenant wanted to primarily be an antagonistic faction. Invade people, especially the two Sith factions on the board, and have some fun. Why? We like PVP. There is rich storytelling in its format, and what more, there has been a deep build-up of IC conflict over the years of board-written history that for people like me is impossible to ignore. Unfortunately, we ran into the brick wall of "we do not want to write with you, but if you invade us we will be compelled to respond" from two major factions (literal quotes), getting shut down on any attempts at collaborative storytelling. So we invaded, and the rest is salty history. There were epic moments, there were good exchanges, there was good writing, and there was salt. Nothing's black and white. I could get on a pedestal and claim we were the victims, but I'd rather be honest, so I'll say that we did make some mistakes along the way; my biggest was getting rage-baited by all the Kestran memes and calling someone's character stupid for believing it, etc.

Long story short, the salt was plentiful on both sides, so by the time fall rolled around, Iron Covenant staff pretty unanimously voted to cut off Discord comms and stick to the site in an effort to just chill out, both parties involved, and try to write conflict solely focused on the storytelling w/o the Discord drama. After a kerfuffle between us, Mahporeem and TSC over a junction narrative was mediated out pretty calmly via site DMs, we felt that it was a system working. Of course, we were moving to attack the Coruscant superhex, but TSC saw that and didn't want that, so they used their mandate to buy the hexes and take over the hex we were actively domming via the junction, to prevent us from hitting the superhex. On one hand, you can call it a dick move, but hey, you can't blame someone for doing it either. I personally don't blame it; no one wants their capital invaded much less when you've got Coruscant superhex itself. So we jumped via our mandate to a different side to try and continue with the invasion we had planned, launching the OOC the Friday before last. Then TSC bought more hexes, blocked us in, and switched their mandate to total war. They'd be able to wipe us out in one successful counter-invasion. We didn't know it at the time, but apparently this would be a counter-invasion simultaneous to our own. Essentially, we got outplayed and, genuinely, hats off, nothing about it was against the rules, and we got beat at our own game, fair and simple.

At this point, where I think everyone was at, COV and TSC both were realizing that the salt hadn't gone away, site staff included. Valiens gave us both the option to just walk everything back, and as Chaos is a hobby for me and pretty much everyone in our faction, I was just kind of ready to throw in the towel. The story we were trying to tell wasn't possible. Fast forward some very angry DMs, and we voted to go minor. De-escalation, end of story: the 'bad guys' are no longer on the map. But then, of course, the same problematic patterns that got us here in the first place reared their head.

The only reason I post the following is that, glancing over the discourse on new invasion rules, I see the same problem. It's not a mechanics problem; it's a people problem, and until it is genuinely addressed, it will persist.

The difference between actual transparency and carefully curated public relations is blurred so much that the line is no longer visible. When a public narrative is spun to paint a unilateral picture of grace, patience, and magnanimity, while entirely omitting the private ultimatums, character attacks, and leverage games used behind closed doors, it becomes necessary to introduce a bit of reality. I don't think anyone should be allowed to address other people on the board in the same manner as the following, because we are all human beings behind a screen, and I think this is very tilted. So we are on the same page. I will share an unedited sample of what was publicly characterized as 'generous offerings of goodwill' actually looked (full pm chain here) like, before it was repackaged for a public audience:

You are fundamentally dishonest, self-victimizing, and frankly selfish.

It has been a long time since I encountered a faction on the board who at every turn picks the most rude and underhanded way to approach a situation, but then when called out on it, acts as if they are the victim, the way you and your group do.
And yet, you are now getting an opportunity to walk back something that no other faction has ever received before. I do not think you realize just how lucky you are.

We do not want to interact with you. We find you exhausting and a waste of time. A feeling shared among the majority of this community, who have to deal with you in any IC antagonistic fashion, because you lack either the willingness or ability to approach these situations with self-awareness and an interest in mutual benefit.

The only reason this discussion is happening is because you tried to once again take a shot at us and got yourself boxed in. But this time your fuck up was so instrumental, you put your entire faction's existence at risk.
So I want it to be clear. This deal is not a favor to us, it is a favor to you and you alone. Because we have no issue gambling six hexes of ours. In the grand scheme of things, if we lose the Coruscant invasion and a potential counter-invasion, we will only lose a bunch of hexes. We think that is a reasonable risk and frankly we can even make a cool story out of it.

You agree to move your cloud away from us and the region we occupy on the map.
I do not want to see you anywhere near us, not now, not in the future and in fact, I would want you to show me in advance where you would want to pop up again, so I can mentally prepare myself for yet another Humbarine-Abregado-Coruscant chicanery if you decide to break yet another agreement with us because 'you changed your mind'.

This sort of dressing-down was an instance in a one-sided pattern that we received not only from this individual but from the staff of multiple factions, over disagreements about mechanics, about stories, about really frivolous things at the end of the day. I know people; I think it happens a lot more than we care ot admit that in corners tucked away from the public eye, we are willing to verbally abuse and belittle instead of trying to build bridges with those we disagree with. We all saw that same tribalism manifest itself during the fiasco where people were harassed over having opinions on invasion judgments in the series of discussion threads that went down like a month ago, and I hear about the same behavior continually.

I don't want to continually drag this on and repeat the same cycle of everyone being victims. So, I'll apologize. You aren't compelled to accept it. To those who have been genuinely hurt or offended by anything I have done: I am sorry. If you would like to talk in any way about why anything I have done, or via the faction, has hurt you in the past, and you would like me to listen to you, my DM's are always open on Discord and the site, and I am willing. I hope you all enjoy Chaos as much as you can and enjoy your lives in general.

- Kiff

 

[Fenn Stag]

Well at least we had fun.

 

[Novac Lyrikal]

Sad I only got to do I think two threads with the faction, if and fa thread and the invasion. Sad that not only this bs and that people had to deal with this,

But also for a personal reason that is a MUCH, MUCH, smaller reason, this was the only big mando faction where my mando fit, now yes the faction still might make threads of course. But like the other mando major faction, korar would never fit in there

Over all this is something that shouldn't have happened am I feel bad for everyone who had to deal with this

 

[Joy]

The person who spoke to you like this needs to be reprimanded. That should be unacceptable behaviour. Thank you for sharing this. I'm sorry that things didn't work out between us and this faction went minor.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Folks,

This is a delicate and fractious time, and clearly tempers are running high.

However, this is not the way to go about it. What has been posted here is one side of the story, a selection of quotes and two posts of a long DM chain concerning the recent debacle of the Coruscant invasion. Negativity and firestarting is not welcome here.

The IC and TSC have been at odds for quite some time. There is no doubt fault on both sides, and neither has taken the opportunities offered to disengage with common sense and logic would dictate it.

As Romul himself admits, IC tried a bold manoeuvre to strike at the Sith capital and hit the faction head on. With their mandate they were fully able to move themselves into the pocket.
TSC countered by purchasing hexes and then changing their mandate to Total War in order to strike back at IC.

I gave both sides an unprecedented, and frankly extraordinary offer to reverse their last few moves and disengage. IC rapidly took the deal. What is not mentioned enough above is that TSC took it too, as seen in a quote above.

However, rather than actually fighting the invasion or the counter invasion, or following through on the deal, IC chose to go minor.

Yes, Mercy's 'dressing down' was savage, but it speaks to a long frustration from actions on both sides.

The key point is though for anyone reading this is that it is time to move on. This sort of petty back-biting isn't helping anyone.

We all saw that same tribalism manifest itself during the fiasco where people were harassed over having opinions on invasion judgments in the series of discussion threads that went down like a month ago, and I hear about the same behavior continually.

This is one section I will call out directly. People were not harassed, they were corrected after making disingenuous assertions about staff 'rigging' invasions and being pro-Sith.
This is simply not correct. To look at just this case, I gave the Sith faction's enemy a unique opportunity to escape the trap they charged into.


The final conclusion to this piece before I lock this thread is...why did the IC go minor? I don't know, other than exhaustion from salt and drama, they did not take the offer I gave, nor fought back. It is not my desire to see them go, nor any of my staff.
What I want to see if a better and a less dramatic back quarter of the year. We'll see, I can wish....

PS: If anyone would like to see the full PM chain or would like to discuss this matter further, you are free to contact me via PM here or on Discord.