“One alliance leader betrayed the other and got money for it. This is the exact reason why two bears, living in the same place, stopped talking to each other. Completely.”
–BigMaman, former right hand of Mactep
IN THE SUMMER OF 2011, the Drone Region Federation was undisputed as the most powerful group in nullsec. It had crushed the old Northern Coalition and forced the ClusterFuck Coalition into a truce. It’s alliances controlled more than half the star cluster, but the peace was a testy one held together because everyone was making ISK. Once again, there was no existential threat to Russianness, and it was allowing the community to fray. It still wasn’t public knowledge that the Russian founders weren’t on speaking terms.
By January 2012, the Drone Region Federation will face a cascading sequence of disasters that tears the coalition apart. The ClusterFuck Coalition will annex its northernmost regions nearly unopposed, a group of enemies the Russians long thought defeated will invade and conquer RA Prime, Red Alliance will collapse, and Mactep will take the Drone Regions from Death by force.
Where to begin?
BROTHERS
Mactep and Death were the most famous Russian players in EVE history. The two had stood by each other at the famous Siege of C-J6MT in 2006, which arguably crystallized the entire Russian community and created an origin story for Russiandom in EVE.
“We were like brothers,” said Death about Mactep. “We were pretty much like brothers.”
Across the forums and IRC channels of the early Russian internet, this legend spread far and wide and turned Mactep and Death into the Arthur and Lancelot of Russian internet legend. Or perhaps more accurately the legendary bogatyrs (knights) of the steppe: Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich. Mactep was the fearsome fleet commander; Death was the cunning politician and industrialist. Legends ran wild on the Russian forums about the improbable victories Mactep achieved on the battlefield, and about his devout best friend Death who ran 89 accounts.
Together, in 2005, they brought the Russian homeland in Insmother back from occupation. Together they destroyed the Coalition of the South, which had been Insmother’s occupier. Together they led the Russians of EVE into a punitive war against that Coalition’s allies and helped destroy the hegemon of early EVE: Band of Brothers. Together they swept through the Drone Regions in 2009 and together they recaptured C-J6MT from Bobby Atlas and turned RA Prime into the capital of a dominion that spanned hundreds of star systems. It was a story of friendship that spanned five years, and surely involved some of the most treasured memories of their lives. Space fame and fortune were supposed to be their just reward, and yet just as in real life, fame and fortune can result in an altogether more depressing reality: loneliness and peerlessness.
People close to Mactep say his cosmic notoriety led him on a personal path to ego and authoritarianism as he hoarded power within EVE even as he drifted further from the game. It’s an effect many former EVE leaders have talked about: the experience of no longer being part of your community but above it. “It changes you,” one ex-alliance leader once said. Mactep’s ex-associate said that by 2012 Mactep was rarely around anymore, and sometimes when he was around he was too drunk to be of any help.
“Mactep got used to treating people like shit—he has been compared to the British Queen, so no surprise that no one wants to talk to him,” wrote Mactep’s ex-associate BigMaman on the Russian EVE forums. “Especially to listen to his threats and stomping fits about who to accept or not to accept into the alliance. He would always tell Solar members what a cool diplomat he is and how smooth is the line of his politics, but they would never find out the real truth behind it all.
“Thing is, if some coalition at the right moment knew the real state of Drone Regions, they would have destroyed Solar Fleet and [Legion of xXDEATHXx.] Death wouldn’t help Mactep and vice versa. But everyone believed in this best friends shit or were just frightened.
“One alliance leader betrayed the other and got money for it. This is the exact reason why two bears, living in the same place, stopped talking to each other. Completely.”
DEATH AND THE TYCOON
The first time I spoke with Death he told me he had been afraid for his life. On a half-scrambled Skype call with one measly bar of reception, I strained to listen as Death explained a controversy which had scandalized the Russian EVE community in 2009 at the peak of the Great War. An ultrawealthy player had joined the game and started throwing real-world money around to reshape the nullsec political field.
“Evil Thug and Mactep got paid by the Russian tycoon,” Death told me. “Evil Thug got $30,000 and Mactep got $15,000. Mactep got paid off, but the tycoon paid Mactep and Mactep promised him that I would stay away from the war too.
“But Mactep didn’t share any money with me. He just took the money and told me I [should stop fighting in the war.]”
He explained his theory that Mactep had accepted $15,000 from “the tycoon” to withdraw from the war against Band of Brothers, and never told Death about the transaction.
“The tycoon was not a shy guy on the Russian forums,” he said. “He did not hide that shit. He’s one of those guys you know, instead of spending all his money on girls and in the clubs he wanted to show off in his nerd community. He was playing one of those browser games, and he ended up paying close to half a million [dollars] in just random fucking pixel shit. He came to EVE, somebody brought him to EVE, and he wanted to play his grand strategy stuff. He ended up paying about, umm, he purchased some $300,000 in Titan characters. He paid Mactep plus this, plus that. He probably ended up somewhere half a mil. Plus or minus.”
Death refused to follow the tycoon’s commands because he never agreed to any deal and had no idea about the payment. This incensed the tycoon who thought he had been robbed.
“And I didn’t know at that time that he paid Mactep,” said Death. “Mactep only told me later on, being drunk, that he took the money, $15,000. But who knows how much he took in reality if that guy was so fucking mad. I assume he might’ve paid him much more, because he paid Evil Thug $30,000.”
The scandal reached an abrupt halt, however, as the mysterious tycoon was apparently banned, and their purchased armada confiscated by CCP.
“The tycoon got all his characters and Titans banned,” said Death. “So imagine, you’ve invested a half million into the game, and you lose all this shit in one day. So he thought that was my doing too. Because he thought, ‘who else is gonna report me except the guy who took my money and didn’t do what I told him.’”
The tycoon is a type of force in the EVE universe that is difficult to fully explain in this story. Not every powerful player actually chooses to make themselves known to the community. Some of them run banks, bot networks, or ISK casinos on 3rd party websites yet may not be well-known or tied to a single character name.
“[The tycoon] started to threaten me in real life,” he continued. “He did not know that Mactep didn’t give me any money. So he was very dirty mouthy. That kind of guy you don’t fuck with, because he has a lot of money to kill you, yknow? It costs nothing. Killers been ordered a lot of times from Russia to fly to New York same day and kill someone for like $5,000. It wouldn’t have been some sort of crazy from James Bond shit. It was very simple. So I filed a report with the FBI, and I explained the situation. Because I was scared. I’m telling you. I was scared.”
Death alleges that he knows who it was that leaked the information to CCP about the tycoon’s accounts: another high-ranking nullsec leader. But given that Death was worried for his life over these matters, it’s probably best not to publish that accusation.
“Could you imagine I could get killed for this shit?” said Death. “I was really scared. I still am. Because that guy’s got a lot of fucking money.”
Death’s full name in EVE Online is “UAxDEATH.” The UA stands for “Underworld Assassins,” his old Mechwarrior 3 clan from back in the day. It’s unavoidably ironic that someone who named themselves, “Underworld Assassins, Death” ended up contacting the FBI for fear of being killed by an underworld assassin.
It’s always difficult to know how much I can trust Death’s version of events. His stories often adhere to the known facts which increases his credibility. Still, one thing he said to me always sticks out in my memory. When I asked him what he learned during his and Mactep’s war to conquer the Drone Regions he said to me, “I learned how to manipulate people and what a great pleasure it is.” He claims that the Russian community calls him “the king of the hypnotoads,” explaining that hypnotoad is Russian EVE slang for a propaganda speech or essay that unifies members or twists a narrative, a reference to the classic meme. As with several of the alliance leaders I spoke to for this book, I occasionally have to wonder if it’s wise to look into the eyes of the King of the Hypnotoads and take his stories literally.
Whatever the truth, when word leaked out to the rest of the Russian community that a rumored backroom payment had influenced Mactep, there was some public discontent, and according to Death, Mactep began to isolate Solar Fleet itself from the rest of the community.
“After Mactep told me about the $15,000, he couldn’t shut the fuck up about it,” Death said. “So he gathered up his second-in-command, third-in-command, his fleet commander and he told them. They were fucking pissed. They were enraged. He was being completely drunk, and I guess he couldn’t hold his shit into him anymore. So he told that to his people and they quit. So people started to talk about him taking the money, and [Solar Fleet] kinda excluded themselves from the Russian community. Nobody excluded them, they just locked themselves out.”
All of this was happening at a time when it seems obvious that a great deal of real money was flowing through the EVE Online grey economy, and Death characterized it as a common component of everyday life in the high-level gameplay of nullsec. Everybody was doing it, he says. Even he and Mactep.
“Mactep was selling ISK a little bit on the side, but he was never a big seller in those days. Just a little bit for himself, not a big deal.”
Death noted that the ex-leader of Against ALL Authorities—Evil Thug, one of the most well-known characters in the Russian community—was infamous for making his living through EVE. Internet legend has it that former Goon leader Darius JOHNSON once accused Evil Thug of accepting money from the tycoon, and Evil Thug replied only, “New teeth, new flat, new life.”
“Evil Thug was selling ISK for money, and he had never been shy about it,” said Death. “He had never hid it from his members. People knew, he spends a lot of time in EVE and has to be compensated for it. Everyone was pretty solid about it, because he was honest about it. Everybody was doing it too. And it wasn’t just the Russians. We picked it up from the Americans! How the fuck else would we know what the fuck is ‘Ebay’?”
There was a culture of silence around the selling of in-game items or money, because it was considered bad for the in-game economy which harmed every player. It was also kept silent because it was a bannable offense that generally meant expulsion and ridicule.
“People would point at him and say ‘oh look at the evil Russians they’re doing it, they’re doing it.’ But meanwhile everybody else was doing it. Goons been doing the Ebay all the time. BoB was selling ISK. Everybody was selling it there was nothing wrong with it. If CCP was smarter they could have made huge amounts of money taxing it.”
The culture of silence around ISK-selling was also fostered because the people who were doing it understood that just about anybody with a decent PC could do what they were doing and make a lot of money if they 1) understood that it could be done and 2) Googled how to do it. Nobody wanted anybody else to know they were making money because they didn’t want competition driving down the market prices. Plus, the competition in the ISK-selling space was vicious. If an ISK-seller ever spoke publicly their competitors would certainly make sure that information made its way to CCP Games’ security team. People only talked about their business when they quit years later and had no reason to remain silent. As time goes on, more and more people are opening up about the money they were earning. At the time, however, people rarely admitted it—it was an open secret hidden behind the thinnest veneer of plausible deniability.
“We had one Russian guy,” Death told me. “His name was Loba. ‘Evil,’ in English. Or ‘Pure Evil.’ He had never been part of any group. It was just him and his brother. Very handy guys. He was making about $100,000 per month. This information came to me too late, because I would sell fucking ISK for real money too. I only created my alliance in late 2007-8 when a lot of money had been sold, and CCP cracked down real hard on people who were selling ISK. What I was doing was I was selling characters to Goons for real money. But that was nothing anywhere close to if I had started in those 2005-2006 times instead of being some stupid proud-of-himself idiot who was fighting non-stop and trying to be a fucking hero. I could’ve made a lot of fucking money. But with every year, every month a lot of people learned how to do it, and the profits went way down.”
Throughout the late-2000s and early 2010s, CCP Games was engaged in proactive monitoring of external ISK-sellers, and searched for currency abusers in the data of the virtual universe. The biggest of these was the Unholy Rage operation which tracked and banned more than 6200 accounts suspected of being used to further RMT operations.
“Based on our new strategy and methodological process, CCP was finally prepared for a major offensive against the Real Money Trading (RMT) element in EVE Online. Codenamed “Unholy Rage,” the operation was launched on June 22nd and is still ongoing.
In the weeks and months building up to June 22nd we monitored and analyzed activity of ISK sellers, and in particular, their supporting groups of macro-miners, ratters, mission farmers and other RMT related units. The information obtained by this research was then used to identify further RMT type accounts and to prepare lists to process in the action. The preparations also included identifying various items of interest that we wanted to monitor and measure, such as market activity, server performance […] and so on, as our intent was to examine the effects of the action in a scientific way and in as much detail as possible.
During scheduled downtime on June 22nd a little over 6200 paying accounts were banned in one go.”
Game Master “Grimmi”
It’s possible the Tycoon got swept up in one of these operations and the story kind of faded away. Until one day in the Summer of Rage, one of Mactep’s closest associates told the whole story.
THE BIGMAMAN HEIST
On July 22, 2011 a player named BigMaman—CEO of the executor corporation of Solar Fleet—defected. The turn came as a shock to much of EVE, who saw her as a loyal right hand of Mactep who was critical to the function of the alliance.
Her list of duties within the alliance was staggering. BigMaman once described her role in the alliance as “organizational and administrative work, management of the corporation, logistics, capital and supercapital building, espionage, [and starbase] management.”
However, morale within Solar Fleet was strained after all of the rumors about the tycoon’s $15,000, and according to BigMaman, Mactep wasn’t taking it well. According to an account of the events on EVEOnline.com, BigMaman voiced concerns about the state of the alliance on their internal forums, concerns that she believed were being deliberately censored by Mactep. Her posting rights were revoked, and she was ignored.
“He has decided to show me his power and specify me my place,” she told EVEOnline.com writer Svarthol.
BigMaman began planning to leave the alliance to get away from the deteriorating relationship with Mactep. However, she had joined the alliance in 2006, and had now given five years to her corporation. She believed fair compensation was in order. So on the way out the door BigMaman loaded up her wallet with 350 billion in raw ISK, and another 500-700 billion ISK in assorted goods, ships, and construction blueprints.
“I could do worse and clean [Solar Fleet’s] bank, but I play honestly and never violated the EULA so I took maximum of what was legal,” she wrote. “I could kick corps, disband both alliances and drop claims—but it will have impact on others, people that I know and have good relationships [with]. But [my] problem is personal—and it’s only about you. Besides you can easily forget to pay sov bills on your own.”
BigMaman wrote an in-depth tell-all on the Russian forums after her defection.
“Lets start with the main topic—what is the main reason for the conflict between Mactep and UAxDEATH. It didn’t start yesterday or before yesterday, it began 3 years ago. […] [Legion of xXDEATHXx] and SOLAR FLEET were a formidable force back then, and someone didn’t like that very much. The solution to this problem, to my surprise, was as old as our world: money. And the cost was reasonable for that man who already had invested large sums into EVE, $15,000. For the leader of the alliance, by the side of whose I have been for the past 5 years and considered him a friend, and whom I have supported, it was enough.
Considering that for the entire duration of our “friendship” he was unemployed—myself and a few other people turned a blind eye on everything. But in doing so, we didn’t see what would come next from this. […]
During the war against Lotka Volterra, The Five, Veritas Immortalis and others, Mactep’s presence boosted morale and won such battles that there are still legends circulating, but after those events, as if sensing the smell of money, Solar Fleet began to fail-cascade. […]
Since money has the tendency to end, and since the virginity was lost, new methods arose to fill up the pocket. All the finances were under control of one man, all the decisions were made by him and he didn’t have to report to anyone either. First, Rassatan’s stolen Titan was sold for $4k. […] Then prices on supers dropped, but there were now people who wanted to rent space with real life money. I won’t even bother talking about RMT. When the system works—who wants to give a chance for someone else to rule it? […]
I was never ambitious and doubt I ever will be—I was still in Solar Fleet, because there were people who pulled the alliance alongside me. And of course, I considered him [Mactep] my friend. I was always understanding of his problems of unemployment, and only because of that I turned a blind eye and quietly did my duties. Fact is, I could disband both alliances [Solar Fleet and Solar Wing,] but also take all of the savings plus all the stations. I won’t even mention banning all the shared accounts and those paid with bad credit card. I only took what I considered I had to. Yes, a few innocent bystanders got hurt, but couldn’t happen without it. And I did leave enough in alliance wallet to make sure they could compensate those losses. If I was indeed paid to do this, SOLAR FLEET wouldn’t exist for the past 6 months and Mactep would have died of alcoholism.
This is why I don’t want to sit still and listen to all the brainwashing about me leaving being the reason for the war, it’s just laughable.”
–BigMaman, CEO, Solar Dragons, Solar Fleet defector
July 23, 2011
With the vast riches of Solar Fleet in her pocket, BigMaman began to think about her future in EVE away from Mactep.
“When asked how she felt about the consequences for the corporation, she said ‘Everything that I’ve taken away—will be easily restored, within 7-8 months or faster. I think—I have given a good lesson to the person how to correctly behave with people.’
BigMaman also mentioned that there were many people who had contacted her to show their respect and admiration and that she already had received offers from other alliances that would be interested in her work.
Solar Dragons [executor corporation of Solar Fleet] CEO Mactep refused to comment, saying the situation was ‘banal’ and that there would be ‘no sense to speak about it.’”
–Svarthol, EVEOnline.com
July 27, 2011
The total value of the take for BigMaman was estimated at the time to be worth about 900 billion ISK, about as much as one of the devastating brawls between the Northern Coalition and Drone Region Federation at O2O-2X. The grey market value of that at the time was $42,000. It was one of the biggest heists in EVE Online history, and just a month later, BigMaman took the gains and was invited to join Legion of xXDEATHXx. Mactep and Death were already at each other’s throats, and it didn’t help matters that Death was now openly harboring one of the most high-profile defectors of all-time. All the fuel for a civil war was already there, it just needed a spark.
STAINWAGON
While this internal unrest was making waves in the Russian community, another problem developed for the Drone Region Federation.
The destruction of the Northern Coalition created a diaspora effect. The structure of the Northern Coalition had collapsed, but most of those corporations were still in EVE. Though it had defeated the Northern Coalition months ago, huge numbers of those Northern Coalition pilots and corporations were now trickling back to the game, having rebuilt their presence in EVE and found new allies. Many of those groups were assimilated into the Goonswarm-led ClusterFuck Coalition. But some remnants of Vuk Lau’s former alliance Morsus Mihi had been chased from the north and stonewalled when they attempted to challenge another group (Nulli Secunda) in the south. Morsus Mihi was on the brink of collapse, and decided to merge with Against ALL Authorities for the sake of the remaining pilots.
With AAA bolstered by an influx of several hundred experienced ex-Morsus Mihi pilots that shared a grudge with the DRF, the old alliance began to rumble back to life. Its famous leader Evil Thug had long since left the game, but a new alliance was being rebuilt under alliance leader Herculetz and fleet commander Makalu Zarya.
Following Morsus Mihi’s lead, former remnants of Rebellion Alliance (who stayed together after it was disbanded by Daroh) moved to the South as well, seeing this resurgent Against ALL Authorities as a new vector for getting revenge on the Drone Region Federation. They were joined by two reclusive roleplay groups.
“Stain Empire and C0VEN, ancient groups that lived in and around the region of Stain for nearly a decade, emerged from hibernation,” wrote Vik Reddy in his history of what would eventually become known as the Russian Civil War. “It was not the first time they lost their entire space. Because they retreated to the NPC region of Stain and lived in this corner of the galaxy since the game first began, they were incredibly resilient in the face of past invasions. Stain Empire and C0VEN were small in number and isolationist, steering clear of politics. They were elusive enough to be compared to the Ents from the Lord of the Rings series. However, it was an unusual time in the game’s history. They began to actively work with [Against ALL Authorities,] who they considered a friend, to combat the menacing DRF coalition.”
Together this ragtag, largely Russian and European group of grizzled veterans and masterful roleplayers called themselves Stainwagon or the nickname “RUS,” a nod to the Russian roots of its core alliance, Against ALL Authorities.
The coalition formed in order to oppose the massive and ever-growing influence of the Drone Region Federation, which now stretched across nearly half the territory in the game. Red Alliance in particular owned huge amounts of territory that used to belong to many members of the Stainwagon Coalition. Starting in November, the Stainwagon coalition went on a mission to take the south from Russian hands.
“This escalated the guerilla tactics to open up a second front that would focus on conquering Red Alliance’s space, widely considered RUS holy land,” wrote Vik Reddy. “The unexpected resurgence was dubbed the ‘new Southern Coalition.’”
Tension gripped the southern regions as the Drone Region Federation was tested for the first time since the Northern Coalition war, and by a credible coalition of powers the DRF long thought defeated. The two met first at the Battle of LQ-AHE in Omist, the one-time home of the ill-fated Atlas Alliance and Ascendant Frontier.
“It was [Against ALL Authorities’] first major engagement against Drone Region Federation after the downfall of Morsus Mihi, an exodus that brought in several hundred new pilots’ worth of firepower, including myself, under the command of Makalu Zarya,” wrote Vik Reddy. “We were limited to a Drake battlecruiser fleet, a cheap but effective fleet doctrine at the time. The goal was to maximize damage at the least expense of ISK. [Against ALL Authorities] was still recovering from a long defensive campaign against the DRF.”
However, it was the attack itself—rather than the result of the battle—which ended up being most important. Someone had finally tested the bonds of the DRF and the situation collapsed as they now took sides in a free-for-all for the South and the Drone Regions. Under considerable pressure, a spokesperson for Legion of xXDEATHXx announced that there would be a major diplomatic adjustment.
“There will be a standings reset between Legion of xXDEATHXx and Solar Fleet right after downtime. This tough decision came as a result of all diplomatic attempts, towards our old neighbor Solar Fleet, failed. Drone Regions are no longer the quiet corner of the universe—a war begins now. Not only the ingame war, but political and propaganda warfare. Alliance Legion of xXDEATHXx is now mobilizing forces to fend off the aggressors and to protect what Drone Regions stood for since the beginning.”
–Kupyc, Legion of xXDEATHXx
What caused the Russian Civil War of 2012? For years afterward people would debate what had actually triggered it, but like everything in EVE it was a complex interaction that had been brewing for years. And to complicate matters we don’t have all the facts.
The tycoon had created a rift between Solar Fleet and Legion of xXDEATHXx. BigMaman’s departure turned the rift into a chasm. It was able to be covered up for months because nobody dared test the legendary friendship of Mactep and Death. But now the bluff had been called, and the two were forced to confront their animosity.
THE RESET
On December 8, 2011, Legion of xXDEATHXx and Solar Fleet wiped relations with each other, and a Russian civil war began. The first battle between the two occurred later that same day in GA58-7 in Outer Passage.
The first few battles established little else beyond the fact that both Legion of xXDEATHXx and Solar Fleet were ill-prepared to start an all-out war. It was soon obvious, however, that Solar Fleet was the vastly superior military group. A series of drastic Legion of xXDEATHXx battlefield losses ensued.
In the south, meanwhile, the Stainwagon coalition moved on Red Alliance and began a quest to retake its ancestral home.
Hoping to get the situation in the south under control, Death did what he often did when he was in trouble. He messaged Shadoo of Pandemic Legion, and offered the mercenary group a contract to come to his defense. Pandemic Legion was joined by fleet contingents from NCdot and TEST Alliance, the swiftly-growing alliance of Redditors from the ClusterFuck Coalition. The three alliances had been growing close recently, wreaking general mayhem across nullsec wherever they chose to attack. They really didn’t give a shit who it was they were attacking or what risks they had to take. That’s why they called themselves, “The Honey Badger Coalition.” Did I mention it was 2012?
The ClusterFuck Coalition wasn’t exactly pleased that its member TEST was fleeting with its blood rivals NCdot and Pandemic Legion, who had relatively recently attempted to sack the Goon capital. But CFC leadership reportedly believed that allowing TEST to explore other frontiers might strengthen their bond over the long term.
“Northern Coalition. and TEST Alliance helped Pandemic Legion, establishing the Honey Badgers,” wrote Vik Reddy. “Its formation was meant to oppose [Against ALL Authorities’] efforts to gain a foothold into the heart of the Drone Regions. In their eyes, they were simply remnants of the old [Northern Coalition] who they were contracted to snuff out one last time.”
CFC ATTACKS WHITE NOISE
No sooner had the Russian Civil War begun between Legion of xXDEATHXx and Solar Fleet than The Mittani announced that his DRF-allied neighbors White Noise—who he had recently accused of rampant real money trading—were a dangerous threat and needed to be removed from the game for the good of EVE. On December 19, 2011 CFC fleets stormed the White Noise-held region of Branch under Fleet Commander DaBigRedBoat.
“In a Christmas Day meeting recorded on their TeamSpeak comms, White Noise compared the situation to Germany’s invasion of Russia in World War 2, citing similar mistakes due to lack of preparation and logistics issues,” wrote Vik Reddy.
However, that was proven to be wishful thinking, and Goon fleet commanders Mister Vee, Lake, Lazarus Telraven, and in particular DaBigRedBoat, achieved devastating levels of success. Without the rest of the Drone Region Federation to back it up—occupied as they were with attacks from the “New Southern Coalition” and the civil war—White Noise was obliterated by a swarm of Goons larger and more uniform than ever before. In the climactic battle for control of White Noise’s capital system, the Goon-led ClusterFuck Coalition fielded an awe-inspiring fleet of 1400 Maelstrom battleships that shocked the game.
White Noise was blindsided by the attack, because according to Death, The Mittani gave his word that it would never happen.
“The second that Solar Fleet went to war with me, Goons engaged my only trustworthy best friend White Noise,” said Death. “So [when war broke out with Solar Fleet] those people could not help me even if they wanted to because they got stuck up, they lost all their assets locked up in stations, they got bubbled up and it was impossible to do anything. PsixoZZ got very mad, and he was fighting. He got very mad at me. I vouched. I said ‘Mittani is never going to attack you, I’m giving you my word on it.’
“So Mittani gave me his word and he broke it,” he continued. “Since that day we’ve never been friends again. We’re political leaders. We talk, we chat, but we’re not friends anymore.”
However, much of the rest of the community saw it as a deft move, a seizing of an obvious opportunity to capitalize on the weakness of a geopolitical competitor. An EVE pundit named TheSpartan wrote at the time:
“In my opinion, the assault on (White Noise-held) Branch marks only the beginning of a campaign having as a main goal the establishing of the new sov dominant super-power in EVE. [Goonswarm Federation] correctly assessed the extreme weakness of their older opponent WN (White Noise). The supercapital nerf combined with White Noise’s lack of leadership led to a very quick steamrolling of Branch by GSF and allies. We have to observe here that Goonswarm Federation were never friends with WN anyway. Therefore their action is a well calculated political and military move that at the moment establishes Goonswarm Federation as the major sov holder on the map. Mittani correctly assessed the situation and acted accordingly.”
With the Drone Region Federation in utter turmoil, the future now looked increasingly like one that might be dominated by the ClusterFuck Coalition.
On January 9, 2012, The Mittani playfully mocked George W. Bush and announced “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” in the White Noise campaign just three weeks after it had begun.
With White Noise taken out of the war by Goonswarm, Death was left alone to fend off Mactep’s Solar Fleet. Pandemic Legion and its nascent Honey Badger Coalition were doing great work on the southern defense, but according to Death it was too little too late. Death credits the Honey Badger Coalition with working hard to protect his alliance, but says that his alliance was too weary after constant warring, and simple things became impossible. He took responsibility for the failure, and noted that any time Pandemic Legion needed any kind of administrative or logistical support to keep the war going, Legion of xXDEATHXx was having trouble making the simple stuff happen for them.
The Russian Civil War proceeded very poorly for Legion of xXDEATHXx even as Death continued to hire more and more mercenaries.
Death was looking to Red Alliance as his last ally. However, it was when Legion of xXDEATHXx needed its old friend most that the leader of Red Alliance—Silent Dodger, one of the most visible and well-known players in the Russian community—suddenly decided to leave EVE.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” said Death.
SILENT DODGER CONFESSES TO RMT
“Somehow [The Mittani] found a way that Dodger could be paid off,” Death alleged. “Dodger was doing eBay but he wasn’t hiding it from people, just like Evil Thug. So people knew about it. It was completely fine. But then Dodger got offered some solid numbers. I have no idea how much. I have no idea what he was offered, but he resigned as CEO like out of the fucking blue.”
Before he signed off from the community for good, Silent Dodger wanted to be honest with the corp-mates he had spent years flying with. He wanted them to know the real reason he was leaving. In an all-alliance TeamSpeak meeting, Silent Dodger told his story.
DODGER: The main point, and I think that’s what I’ll begin with, is that I’m resigning as CEO of Red Alliance, and now I’ll tell you why. […]
I joined Red Alliance when no one was really in power, just after Fireknight stopped logging in and leading fleets and Razdalbay wanted to sell Red Alliance. This was when the alliance had no leadership, and I already loved it back then. I felt part of it. […]
I then became the CEO, and in truth I became CEO because of Mactep. If you remember, we didn’t have any allies back then and the situation with UAxDEATH wasn’t clear. I then went to talk to Mactep, and he said, roughly speaking—”I won’t deal with Fireknight, so why don’t you become CEO”. […]
My vision for the alliance was the creation of an independent, influential and powerful alliance. […] That vision became a reality towards the end of 2010. That’s my personal opinion.
Ignoring all the drama, the rumours—some may have positive memories, some may have negative memories. What the alliance achieved in the political sphere, and the military sphere—I consider a respectable result. Looking back, I think I got the alliance to the level I wanted it to be at. […]
I’ll be honest—towards the end of the war against the Northern Coalition, I had absolutely nothing left to do in the game. When you become the CEO of your own alliance—your sense of self-importance goes through the roof. Whatever anyone says about that—it happens to everyone.
Eventually, PsixoZZ took all responsibilities onto himself. And when you give him your members, and declare that only one person will be in charge, and that is PsixoZZ—you lose all will to play, to command.
Red Alliance Member: Did you get upset?
DODGER: No, no, I didn’t get upset. Take my word literally, I didn’t get upset—I just lost all will to play, and began to stop logging in.
About the same time, my mother began to have health problems, and that is when I joined the ranks of RMT’ers—and sold my first Titan. It was the Ragnarok that you all remember.
Red Alliance Member: You do realize people are recording this?
DODGER: Yes, I know, I know. I don’t care. Guys, I told you I will tell you everything as it is. I just want you to understand what motivated me.
Towards summer—I told you all I was going on vacation and would come back in a few months—and that didn’t happen.
I went to work for the Samara local government. I lasted just 3 months. And that was when everything changed. It happened about the same time as the conflict with [Northern Coalition.]
Basically, real life finances became troubling due to debt—I bought a car on credit.
Obviously, I thought I would be making a lot of money—but when I went to work I understood that you have to work 20 years before you decide anything. It’s a system where you are considered shit—and all your skills and knowledge don’t matter. It’s a job where you just have to obey—which my personality didn’t allow me to do. This is why after 3 months I quit with my head held high.
But I was still in a lot of debt. This is when I luckily, well “luckily,” ran into a group of people who are professional [Real Money Traders.] They offered to work with me, and exchange ISK for real life cash. That’s how it all began.
Over the course of about 3 months, I began to take cash from the corp wallet, my wallet, from gifts—whoever knew helped as they could. What happened then was that the ISK exchange rate collapsed—meaning more ISK for less money. Eventually in January I took 60 billion ISK, and I think if I hadn’t done that things in the alliance would have been much better right now.
Concurrently, I began to notice that I couldn’t lead fleets anymore. I didn’t know what to do—what to tell people. My skill as a pilot fell to 0 because I hadn’t played since the war against Northern Coalition. And obviously I couldn’t demand anything of anyone.
Many of you remember my [Call to Arms] against SOLAR, when I welped (lost) a couple of fleets and stopped logging in. I was actually ill but after that I just didn’t want to come back. My exit now is because I still care about Red Alliance, but I understand that I’ve done bad and will do bad for the alliance. This is why I’m giving up my responsibilities, while things can still be fixed.
I won’t say that I didn’t have support—I had it difficult but no one knew.
I want the next CEO of Red Alliance, at least for now, to be Lenton, as I believe he’s a competent person. His personality is very different to mine—he’s much calmer and unemotional, but he’ll make a great leader. So before your questions, I just want to wish you luck. I don’t know what’ll happen to me, but I’ll leave my characters in the Alliance—if you let me.
I’ll now focus on sorting out my problems in real life, which is why I won’t be of any help to the alliance right now.
That’s it.”
–Silent Dodger, Red Alliance
February 8, 2012
The members of Red Alliance argued among themselves for a while after the speech about whether this was treason. One remarked: “Dodger I know who you are. I know how you led fleets. You got the alliance where you wanted, and respect to you for that my dear brother. But you’re leaving the alliance during a war, on the brink of failure. And that seems like betrayal to me, no?”
Death says he knows why it happened.
“The war is striked and Dodger resigns as CEO and [appoints] two fucking guys I’ve never heard of,” he said. “I can tell you their names. ‘Ghost’ and second guy is […] Lenton Lust. Well, they came from Against ALL Authorities a few months before. So what those two did is they removed Red Alliance from Insmother and it became Against ALL Authorities’ pet.”
An Against ALL Authorities diplomat released a statement: “Dodger left Red Alliance confirmed. He made the announcement today. He also confirmed that he RMTed the alliance wallet for a while and [sold] his Titan. Red Alliance will not collapse. Red Alliance new leadership are fine dudes. They will see the changes through.”
FINAL BATTLE FOR C-J6MT
At this point, Shadoo knew that the situation was likely irrecoverable, and he began preparing to give a grand send off to the war. He decided the final battle would be fought at C-J6MT, that most storied of server nodes. In the aftermath he filed a detailed report on the forums.
“I think everyone knows Red Alliance has decided to try a new start in EVE and relocate—we wish them well and personally I hope they do well because EVE would be a poorer place without them in-game. Having already [evacuated] their corporate, personal, and supercapital assets from their once busy home system of C-J6MT […] Red Alliance had no reason to defend the timer, and they had not asked for anyone else to do so either—nor had they called a [call-to-arms.]
So—we got together with Vince Draken (NCdot) to plan one FINAL HURRAH for this system so rich in EVE’s history. When I was but a noobie flying assault [frigates] in the illustrious [Knights of the South] alliance—I had assaulted C-J6MT with Lotka Volterra/Veritas Immortalis/Chimera Pact/Knights of the South/etc—and lost. So it didn’t go down well to leave the system [to] fall without an epic battle.
Luckily Vince agreed and we all decided tonight would be the unveiling of our new concept fleet—called Slowcats which Manfred Sideous himself had come up with. I was somewhat sceptical—I’m pretty sure so was Vince [Draken] but hey—fuck it, what’s the worst that could happen? Unfortunately, [Against ALL Authorities] had read our call for capitals and were planning to call our bluff—by sending a batsignal to every [Russian player] out there that TONIGHT would indeed be epic. Everyone was calling [for players to set their] alarm clocks and I expected 600-700 dudes to face our ~150.
So I caught up with [Goonswarm Fleet Commander, Mister] Vee and asked him if he wants to 3rd party in a brawl of the month. Vee eager not to pass up a firefight of course obliged and began gathering a Drake fleet to brawl madly with. Unfortunately I had not realized it was a RUS holiday week apparently and the Against ALL Authorities/Red Overlord staging system alone had by now 500 dudes. And they had not yet even began forming. So Mittens types up a [Call-to-Arms] for more dudes with their version of C-J6 history and the reason we should all honor it with a ~Good Fight~ and suddenly 450 angry Goons began making their way in towards C-J6MT.”
–Shadoo, Pandemic Legion
The Slowcat fleet was Pandemic Legion’s latest fleet engineering invention which essentially made a fleet of carriers impossible to kill while also fielding thousands of cheap attack drones.
The defending forces of Red Alliance, the ClusterFuck Coalition, the Honey Badger Coalition, and their mercenary allies Ev0ke combined for 940 pilots. Plus, under Manfred Sideous’ index finger were 2100 drones, enough to buckle any subcapital ship in an instant.
The attacking Stainwagon Coalition managed 1150 pilots in fleet for the symbolic final battle of the Russian Civil War.
“Solar Fleet greeted the 450-man Drake fleet at the YPW-M4 gate as they jumped in, brawling as the Drakes decloaked,” wrote Vik Reddy who was personally present for the battle. “Mister Vee bloodied the Maelstroms and managed to hold the field, forcing the battleships to warp off and re-position. But he took substantial losses, especially to his Scimitar wing (support cruisers that help larger ships track fast-moving targets.) Meanwhile, the attacking 400+ man Tengu fleet from Against ALL Authorities engaged the Slowcat carriers while [orbiting] Makalu Zarya off the station undock. Despite raining down an extreme level of DPS on Manfred Sideous’ Archon [carrier] we were unable to break his overheated tank as the rest of the carriers materialized and deployed remote repairs. Local [population] had hit over 1900.”
Making use of its spy network, one Pandemic Legion tactic was to use a spy to discover who Stainwagon planned to focus its primary firepower on next, and then have that ship dock inside a friendly carrier ship, thus removing it from the field and making it untargetable. It was sometimes effective, but managing to maneuver in this amount of lag and time dilation proved tricky.
Both sides exchanged volleys of fire and tried as best as they could to maneuver in the lag and time dilation. In the end, a devastating bombing run by Fleet Commander Traderjohn of Macabre Votum (a faction fighting on the side of Stainwagon) turned the tide as it took a heavy chunk out of Mister Vee’s Drake fleet. Eventually Mister Vee’s ship as well was able to be targeted down. Lacking any more ability to effectively coordinate, the defenders reorganized and ceded the system to Stainwagon.
Shadoo took the time to write an in-depth battle report about the symbolic gudfite in C-J6MT.
“And as such, the EPIC fight draws to a close with ~600 ships in total killed to ensure this historic system does not fall without explosions,” he wrote. “A BIG thank you for Team South, CFC, & all for keeping it interesting.” Once in a while the strategic objective is just for everybody’s pilots to have fun.
“Safe to say, now our problem is one fucking MASSIVELY SMUG [Manfred Sidious,]” he said, referring to the fact that despite losing the objective, the new Slowcat fleet concept worked perfectly.
CONCLUSION
“In 2012, Mactep took all of it,” said Death, summarizing the lasting effects of the Russian civil war. “As you can imagine we were very tired after all of those wars. We were losing people left and right just because of exhaustion. You have to imagine that we’ve been fighting on average 13-16 hours a day. Not that many people can take it.”
In March and April of 2012, Legion of xXDEATHXx was conquered by Solar Fleet, and Mactep obtained complete control over nearly all of the Drone Regions. Over the ensuing months, the Drone Regions were turned into a vast field sold by the constellation to renters on a weekly basis.
“[Legion of xXDEATHXx] retreated to low-sec, and they lost pretty much everything,” said ProGodLegend of Nulli Secunda.
Red Alliance collapsed as well, and its new leaders led it to safety under the wing of Against ALL Authorities. Herculetz saw this as a golden deal. Red Alliance was no longer the threat it once was, and if it could be brought to heel it would make for a powerful shield to protect the Russian time zone from Solar Fleet’s newly established empire in the Drone Regions. Herculetz offered Red Alliance the Delve region, so rich in history and income potential.
There was just one problem. Herculetz had already promised Delve to ProGodLegend of Nulli Secunda for helping them in the war against the DRF. Herculetz beseeched ProGodLegend to see the upside of this deal, but ProGod would have none of it.
With his hands tied, Herculetz offered a third option that nobody expected: Red Alliance and Nulli Secunda should fight for Delve. A sanctioned gudfite civil war.
DELVE 2012
What was conceived as a “friendly” civil war quickly turned into a frustrating mess as the wargame kept getting more and more serious between two coalitions who seemed to bring more and more pilots to every battle. When one side escalated, the other side had to counter-escalate, and a friendly shoving match turned into an all-out brawl.
That’s when Pandemic Legion showed up and began shooting both sides. Montolio of TEST Alliance looked at his southern border and saw two potential powers fighting to become his new neighbor and his ally Shadoo of Pandemic Legion wreaking havoc on both of them. He announced TEST would be moving south to aid Pandemic Legion and annex Delve to house TEST’s ever-growing membership. The young Nulli Secunda and its “N3” (Nulli Secunda, NCdot, and a smaller group called Nexus Fleet) coalition was largely overmatched by the massive number of TEST Alliance pilots, who piled ship after ship into Delve.
“One would do well to bear in mind that anything with any sort of substance or structure rising from Delve does not bode well for TEST. With RED ALLIANCE’s expulsion from the Drone Regions, they set about conquering Delve and Querious all for themselves.
Once RED ALLIANCE had set their eyes on Delve, Nulli Secunda and other Delve residents didn’t take too kindly to them barging their way into what appeared to be a very civil tea party that had been going on for months. This ‘tea party’ bore no true ill will or threat to TEST, but with the arrival of RED ALLIANCE on the scene, for TEST to ignore this omen would likely have been an error. With boiling red clouds on the horizon, TESTs silver lining likely arrived with the news that Pandemic Legion would be deploying to Delve to get involved in the action, and so they have.
Not long had The Legion landed on the southern shores when they set about descending from the rafters on NULLI and RED ALLIANCE fleets alike. PL have given literally no quarter and have taken no side in the wrestling match between Nulli Secunda and RED ALLIANCE for dominance over Delve, and to TEST the arrival of the Pandemic Legion killing machine is a chance to hit several birds with one stone.”
Ross Mcdermott, MMORPG.com
Nulli Secunda and the N3 Coalition could no longer hold off such a varied array of superpowers and pulled back from Delve to regroup.
In the aftermath, TEST led the ClusterFuck Coalition into conquered Delve and the resulting wave of enthusiasm propelled it into taking the nearby regions of Querious and Period Basis as well. As it did so, the CFC also stepped into the role of the dominant superpower in nullsec. The ClusterFuck’s alliances now controlled all of the most profitable regions, by far the largest supercapital fleet, and a dominant economic position thanks to their technetium cartel and the ICE Interdictions. The Russian Civil War had provided the ClusterFuck Coalition with the leverage it needed to expand both its northern and southern borders, and in doing so it grew its already vast kingdom into the single vastest in the history of EVE Online.
But even in victory, the seeds of dissent were sown. Some members of TEST believed they had won the war single-handed and that the CFC had barely even helped. Montolio said he sympathized with that viewpoint, and so even though they’d just won a war together the relationship became surprisingly cold.
One night, Montolio opened up to Vile Rat during a meeting with the Goon diplomat. He and Montolio had met to discuss a number of issues including the construction of a station the two alliances planned to build together in the conquered capital of the Querious region, 49-U6U (the site of the Doomsday demonstration that marked the end of the Great War.) When Goonswarm asked for control of the station the TEST membership became inflamed. Goonswarm insisted it was an outpost at the front line of TEST space they could use to keep TEST safe, but to the TEST membership it was evidence of “imperial ambitions.” In the following chatlog, Vile Rat’s political skill was on full display as he lent a sympathetic ear to a stressed Montolio but also drew a hard line.
Montolio: going to have a dreddit directors meeting tomorrow, might be stepping down
vile_rat: Well that was unexpected
Montolio: my abrasive diplomacy may not be what we need going forward
Montolio: […] probably the last two months of my dealings with you guys have been super rocky and im afraid thats my personal feelings getting in the way or something
vile_rat: What do you think is causing this rockiness
Montolio: I’m not entirely sure, cultural differences, difference perspectives, experience levels, goals etc. who knows but I feel like I’ve seriously damaged the relationship and one of our core values is our relationship with goons
[…]
vile_rat: I can tell you what test looks like from my eyes if you’d like. perhaps that will help with perspective
Montolio: sure
vile_rat: It is our perspective that you guys desperately want to be out from under our shadow both real and perceived
Montolio: we do, we don’t want to be under any shadow we are fiercely independent but also fiercely loyal
vile_rat: We don’t consider it a shadow and our efforts to be a friend to you are met with a perceived iciness and arms length We’ve never attempted to lord over test, we’ve never taken resources from you to keep for ourselves
Montolio: Right, you say “We are taking 49-[U6U] to protect you” But thats not what we hear
vile_rat: not to protect you per se but you asked the coalition to come down and help you take the region for really no benefit to the coalition at all fine. We’re not even fighting that. but you have displayed a need for the coalition, it was our intention to put the coalition at the front line to discourage people getting uppity in your space Your guys took it as imperial ambitions and a desire to control you, and you as leader did nothing to discourage this thinking. It’s become toxic and honestly it’s become the reality in the eyes of the common test grunt
Montolio: Which is one of the reasons I am talking to my directors Because I sympathize with the test grunt viewpoint
vile_rat: And I contend it’s based on a false premise and completely unfair to us and the work this entire coalition did to deliver you three regions on a platter with no expectation of any recompense
Montolio: Your motivations and goals are pure, but we’d rather be the ones attacked. If we can’t defend these regions ourselves then its somewhat pointless
vile_rat: if our motivations and goals are pure, why do you help stoke the fire against us
vile_rat: you could say “no, they are just being friends trying to make sure we’re safe in our new home
Montolio: I do say that
vile_rat: but you egg them on. encourage that kind of talk act like we’re assholes for even suggesting such an arrangement
Montolio: But we can defend it ourselves, at the very least we’d like to fail at defending it nobody has invaded us before […]
vile_rat: what happens if you start to lose it.
Montolio: You guys lost several times and you seem better for it tbh. If TEST can’t win in US [time zone] then we don’t deserve it
As the conversation progressed, Montolio became more and more resigned and Vile Rat became more and more incensed at the lack of appreciation for all the CFC had done to get TEST to this point. But, Montolio explained, the relationship was destined to fail at some point. Goons and TEST were just too much alike, and now that TEST was fully grown, that was likely to mean independence. The unity of the CFC was hanging by a thread.
For now, three-fifths of the game rested beneath the rule of a rickety ClusterFuck led by The Mittani. For him it was a twisting, winding path to power that had taken seven years to achieve. The Mittani wrote to his members in celebration:
“We have not gotten nearly enough suffering from the conquest of Branch. We must have our screams; they’ll just have to come from Empire. During the war, freelance Dread Pirates have continued to sow terror across Empire; the whispered implication of another Interdiction has kept the price of oxytopes at double their pre-Interdiction levels. We are not done with hi-sec, and our Finance Team (wizards of capital extraction, and clever as only sociopaths can be) have invented something that makes the ICE Interdiction look like amateur hour.
The Interdiction made the game shudder in horror. Our Victory Lap will make the Jita Riots look like a blip. […] EVE will learn that when Goonswarm wins a war, the celebration will be the suffering of absolutely everyone else.”
The Mittani, Goonswarm Federation, ClusterFuck Coalition
January 14, 2012
