Sack of New Syngrad

The Sack of New Syngrad was a conflict between the founder of the city of New Syngrad, Impulca, along his friends in The Meme Team and ISIS, and the nations within whose land claims he built his city, New Danzilona and Gensokyo on Civcraft 2.0. Originally founding Syngrad sometime in the summer of 2014, his first city was short-lived, as Impulca was forced out of the area after being confronted by the expanding city of Riverford in July 2014. Riverford absorbed Syngrad, prompting Impulca to plan the founding of New Syngrad elsewhere in a snow biome in August 2014. His plans fell through for a while until his eventual attempt to re-found New Syngrad barely 100 blocks north of Riverford in early February 2015. Now found within the undisputed land claims of Gensokyo and Riverford as decided upon following the Yurtstead War, Riverford's sovereign nation of New Danzilona briefly joined forces with Gensokyo to oust the New Syngrad settlers on February 18, 2015.

Background
The founder and leader of New Syngrad, Impulca, joined Civcraft 2.0 during the summer of 2014, and soon after he founded what is typically dubbed a "newfriend nation" he named Syngrad near Mt. Augusta. "Newfriend nations" were called so due to their propensity to be founded by people who were very new to the server and hadn't previously joined an already established nation, low populations, and short lifespans. This rang true for Syngrad, as shortly after it was founded, Impulca abandoned it following a conflict with the nearby city of Riverford and its founder, Seargent_Pepper. Also recently founded in the Mt Augusta area, Riverford quickly began expanding its borders in all directions as Pepper sought to become a true nation and found multiple settlements in multiple biomes. This led to him running into conflicts with multiple newfriend nations in the area, including Syngrad. As Pepper himself was secretly the alt of long-time player Gant2000, he used his superior knowledge of the server to sack their cities, pearl their founders, and diplomatically outmaneuver them. Since newfriends typically had no wealth to post bounties on those who oppose them nor international credentials to bring in foreign assistance, Pepper successfully annexed Syngrad unopposed. Impulca remained unpearled and sought to found New Syngrad elsewhere following his expulsion from the Mt. Augusta area. Though he found an area and set aside plots for planned buildings, he was quickly burnt out doing all of the work himself. He abandoned his plans for a time and instead decided to settle in Mt. Augusta sometime in September 2014.

Following the Yurtstead War, the area where the former settlement of Syngrad lay on was now on the newly established Riverford-Gensokyo border. Riverford still maintained the site, but soon after went inactive itself, leaving former Syngrad without any new development. Riverford was subsequently annexed as a territory of New Danzilona on January 1, 2015. Gensokyo's founder and autocrat, Screenname, attempted to take over Riverford on the same day, but failed and was pearled by the Danzilonan Security Force. Following her reluctant agreement to never attempt to forcefully take over Riverford land again and subsequent unpearling, relations between New Danzilona and Gensokyo remained peaceful but cold for the remainder of the server.

After settling in Mt. Augusta, Impulca became friends and aligned with The Meme Team, a faction of semi-legitimate nation-builders/raiders who collaborated with the HCF during the Titan War in late 2014 and early 2015. The group felt emboldened by their lack of consequences for opposing non-HCF forces during the war, leading them to grief, raid, and pearl civilians in a variety of different cities across the server, paying off their own bounties to avoid being pearled. No longer a newfriend and with tried-and-tested military force to back him up, Impulca revived plans to re-found New Syngrad in the former spot of the original Syngrad, doing so at the beginning of February 2015. He built a center of operations in the area to house building supplies and wealth before leaders from New Danzilona and Gensokyo caught onto his illegal squat.

February 18, 2015
While working on a building project in the area, Screenname was the first to notice the new activity by Impulca in New Syngrad. Impulca had erected signs demarcating the new "border" and threatened imprisonment for entering without permission. Some of the signs were planted within the recognized border of Gensokyo, outraging Screen for having her land claimed. Joined by another Gensokyojin, Screenname demanded Impulca leave the area or face consequences. Unwavering but unable to take on Gensokyo alone, Impulca called in the founder of ISIS and fellow Meme Team member, GTAIVIsBest, for reinforcements. ISIS officially recognized New Syngrad and committed to protecting its newfound sovereignty, leading to the rest of the Meme Team to join them. Now outnumbered, Screenname withdrew from the area and privately alerted her Danzilonan neighbors to the situation.

Since the Danzilonans maintained the actual site the settlement of New Syngrad itself lay on, the Danzilonan Security Force was dispatched to the area with the goal of monitoring the situation and securing the Riverford border. DSF members TheTrackball, JPEGz, Des23, and peakman2 met with Meme Team members Soccer37222, Thoths_Librarian, Impulca, and GTA, and a staredown ensued. The DSF did not engage the Meme Team militarily, but each side did continually take down each other's signs demarcating the border between Riverford and New Syngrad, with the Meme Team insisting that the border was actually well within the internationally recognized territory of Riverford.

Concerned by the nearby growing tensions, Mt. Augustan officials Siriann and ProgrammerDan entered the area to ensure that the recognized borders of the region were secured, prompting GTA to exit the conflict. Now numerically outnumbering the Meme Team, NDZ and Gensokyo hoped to force the Meme Team to stand down by continually denying them their claims.

February 19, 2015
During the ongoing border dispute with each side placing down their own demarcations and removing the other's, Impulca killed but did not pearl a Gensokyojin passerby, claiming trespassing was punishable by death. This event occurred within the recognized border of Gensokyo, adding to mounting tension.

February 20, 2015
The border conflict came to a screeching halt when Impulca attempted to legitimize himself by posting a map of the official New Syngrad claims. NDZ and Gensokyo leaders immediately realized, however, that Impulca had altered their nations' borders to appear much further south than they actually were, making it seem like New Syngrad was not actually within their claims. The forgery was most obvious specifically because of the Yurtstead War, leading to further scrutiny being given to that border than other parts of NDZ's and Gensokyo's borders. The Meme Team admitted to their forgery after being called out internationally on the MtAugusta subreddit and self-exiled themselves back to their previous home nations, demolishing their impromptu base in the process.

Aftermath
The conflict with New Syngrad had marked the first and only time that NDZ and Gensokyo were on the same side of a border conflict following the Yurtstead War. Over the next few months, Gensokyo negotiated the purchase of more of Riverford's land, most of which NDZ decided to grant. The former site of New Syngrad would end up within Gensokyo's borders by the end of 2.0, who let it fall into disrepair.

The conflict had essentially completely severed diplomatic ties between ISIS and New Danzilona, which had been established on the first day of the former's independence. GTA would come to work on securing closer ties to Orion, Etherium, and Fellowship to make up for the loss.

The Meme Team was subsequently banned from Riverford's territory until sometime in July 2015. Members of the Meme Team would butt heads with the DSF again during the Rumble in Mount Augusta at the opening stages of the Nox War, as well as doing so with Gensokyo again during the Goten Secession Conflict.

Meme Team member Prof_TANSTAAFL was elected Lord Mayor of Mt. Augusta on June 30, 2015, leading to a legitimization of their rule. They would continue to aid Nox with Augustan infrastructure until the end of their defensive alliance on October 3rd.