Butternut–SEC War
Butternut–SEC War | |||||||
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Combatants of the 2023 Butternut-SEC Conflict; SEC nations in blue and Butternut in yellow | |||||||
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Combatants at the end of the war | |||||||
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Gang Shi's remnants | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
15+ Fighters 25+ Support Personnel | 20+ Personnel | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
23 pearls remaining at end of war (as of 28 June 2023) | 9 pearled (later freed) 3 pearls remaining at end of war (as of 28 June 2023) |
The Butternut–SEC war, colloquially referred to as the Buttsecs War (/bʌt sɛks/ butt—sex),[1][2][3] was an international conflict that took place during June 2023 on CivMC, between the Security Enhancement Coalition and the forces of Butternut County (later augmented by remnants of Gang Shi). It was the largest conflict on the server since the Generic War, surpassing the devastation of military infrastructure and casualty counts of any prior war.
Background
The war began following the unbanning of the known raider, former Estalian, and Generic War combatant Ez2Clutch. Shortly after he was unbanned, the SEC began a manhunt in order to bring him to justice for his past raiding and participation in the Generic War prior to his ban. Soon thereafter, in order to obtain supplies, he began raiding Icenia in partnership with chosentwicelol, another raider infamous for menacing the government of Icenia and rumored to have had the backing of Estalia. The nation vehemently denied this, and this backing was assuredly non-existent at the time of this conflict. Instead, a new benefactor emerged for the two raiders: Butternut County. Butternut's bewsiej had previously been considered a hero to Icenia following his vital role in clearing the obbybombing of Icenia, but the relationship between the two soured as promises to erect a statue of bewsiej in Icenia were not honored due to the Icenian Senate's reluctance following an incident[vague] at Space Needle IV, Icenia City's skybunker.
Overworld War
Initial Combat in Icenia (4 June — 8 June)
The conflict sparked when SEC fighters Zolo17 and Jaimiemie were pearled by Ez2Clutch when the manhunt for him was interrupted by chosentwicelol. The pearls were then kited to Nuthole, the Butternut vault - signaling that the raiders now had the full support of Butternut County, and that this was no longer a simple raiding incident. Many fighters from across the server and log-on PvPers new to CivMC volunteered or were recruited to Butternut, significantly swelling their ranks.
Skirmishes began to break out within Icenia as SEC and Butternut fighters vied for pearls. With the city in danger, the Icenians engaged their automated defenses - a horde of withers was released inside the city, a means to keep Butternut forces at bay. By 6 June, Butternut secured 3 more pearls - that of Raeders, JuniorTide, and Yodabird19. On 7 June, a further 3 pearls were claimed by Butternut: Sapienfrfx, Mushroom_Cultist, and Spoonce. The tally was grim for the SEC: 8 pearls in Butternut captivity, with no enemy pearls to show for it. But on 8 June came a major SEC victory: Ez2Clutch was pearled by the Icenian Lagiacrus, after falling into a vault-bastioned sand trap and failing to escape. The SEC leadership then made the decision to extradite Ez2Clutch's pearl to Estalia, which held grievances against him for his betrayal in the Generic War.
Butternut Banwave (8 June)
On 8 June, a banwave swept across CivMC, with many Butternutters caught in it as a result of suspected association, a recently implemented rule intended to curb toxicity on the server - however, after a short period and pleas against the bans[4], a few of the bans were lifted. Whether or not this was as a result of the pleas, or the end of their sentences, is not known.
Freeing of Gang Shi Combatants (8 June)
Amid the fighting, the imprisoned and former Gang Shi Minister of Diplomacy fastestgrass was soon approaching the end of his sentence following his capture in the "That's Nuts!" War. Interested in an early release, fastestgrass sought to cut a deal with the SEC to be granted an earlier release with the condition that he retire to the nation of Mercutio. However, before negotiations were completed, fastestgrass and PhysicsGamer were illegally released by Cortesia Del Mar's Red_Steel - a move that was met with ire by Icenia, who had pearled PhysicsGamer following the Temporal Isles Coup. A bounty of 64 diamonds was immediately placed on PhysicsGamer's pearl by the state of Bloom[5], and Red_Steel was ejected from the SEC and had her Cortesian nationality revoked.[citation needed]
Invasion of Whole Foods (11 June)
With SEC blood in the water, former Gang Shi leaders and fighters returned, seeking retribution for their own grievances following the sack of Gang Shi in the The "That's Nuts!" War. Freed from the heavily griefed Black Mesa vault with the help of Jindosh of the Fempire Union, Gwua and Ch1pR, who had never been pearled following the war, returned to assist in the collapse of their enemies and began the construction of the "Trader Joe's" skybridge to Whole Foods, an Icenian skyvault and XP farming complex. The Gang Shi fighters successfully recruited their former citizen, fastestgrass, to renege on his plea deal and abandon Mercutio to assist in the bridging.
Immediately after the server restart on 11 June, Whole Foods was successfully bridged with no SEC resistance after Haxx0r sabotaged its curtain and bunkers. Two players freed from Whole Foods, Highroll and SlothInASuit, subsequently joined the Butternut war effort. During the disabling of Whole Foods, chosentwicelol secured the pearl of Complexii, who was trapped inside after logging in. Additionally, many other SEC fighters remained logboxed at the complex. Haxx0r also griefed the Icenia city bunker, pearling ChrisChrispie in the process.
Exile of Icenian Government (12 June — 29 June)
On 12 June, the newly formed Butternut-Gang Shi coalition announced the "liberation of Icenia", and detailed a plan to fully demilitarize the nation, outlining their grievances and new rules for the war-torn nation.[6] The coalition urged Icenians to turn themselves in for a reduced sentence, and assured that any peaceful citizens would not be harmed. Any individuals seen wearing enchanted diamond or netherite armor, however, would be swiftly pearled. Soon thereafter a new announcement was made, this time by SEC Forces, showing 6 fighters. The announcement read, "Icenia doesn't need liberating. We will persevere".[7] With Icenia under occupation, King Cupar of the Imperial Federation announced SECRA: the SEC Refugee Act, an initiative in partnership with the Blue Cross to provide refugee assistance to those fleeing the conflict.[8]
Skirmishes continued in Icenia as the coalition sought to snuff out the rest of the SEC Forces in Icenia and complete their demilitarization of the nation, when a new meta-incident occurred: using the newly implemented One-Time Teleport (OTT) mechanic, the Butternut fighter TkonicRabid successfully escaped a logbox, prompting the SEC to seek admin clarification.[citation needed] The admins stated that this was not an exploit but rather an oversight on their part. As such, using OTT to as an escape mechanism was valid for the time-being, at least until the next patch.[citation needed] Jumping on the opportunity, the SEC used this newly found trick to free at least 5 trapped fighters and refugees, a move that drew considerable complaints from Ez2Clutch and chosentwicelol.
On 13 June, Gwua stated that the war would not end with the fall of Icenia, and that it was "just the beginning of the campaign", with the rest of the Security Enhancement Coalition firmly within their crosshairs.[citation needed] SEC fighters pearled a naked Butternut login in a door tunnel at Whole Foods. The same day, Bloom issued a bounty of 128 diamond blocks and Diet_Cola’s spawnbook for the pearl of chosentwicelol.[9]
Attacks on Cane Corp and Loss of Gang Shi and Butternut combatants (14 June — 15 June)
On 14 June, Butternut (chosentwicelol) attacked Cane Corp, Icenia (defending: MechanicalRift, Shadno, Drekamor). It was a small skirmish with inconclusive results. The next day, Butternut County renewed their assault with an attack by TheRealJewy, bewsiej, IbisMan, and Gwua. SEC mounted a defense with MechanicalRift, Shadno, and auqust. The SEC achieved a surprise victory, pearling Gwua, after he fell into a fall trap and failed to escape with a pearl.
The same day, chosentwicelol and Ch1pR were banned for using illegal client modifications, utilizing an outdated y-level version of CombatRadar and logging in with a cheat client respectively.
Skybridging the Butternut Vault (16 June — 17 June)
After multiple skirmishes on 16 June, SEC forces began skybridging Nuthole, the Butternut vault. As the skybridge approached Nuthole on 17 June, the Icarians SOGGYHOBO and Dawsonisrainy both betrayed the SEC and defected to Butternut, assisting with their vault defense. SEC faced three losses due to the insiders in the skybridge: bewsiej pearled Awesome_Daniel and SeaRed; meanwhile JessieJinx was pearled by Dawsonisrainy. Later, Butternut faced 1 loss when auqust pearled Fur, who was blocked off at the skybridge due to Butternut forgetting to add him to their groups. A few hours after the beginning of intense resistance by Butternut defenders, SEC abandoned their bridge and attack bunker, which was disabled shortly afterwards.
Seizure of Cane Corp (17 June — 20 June)
On 17 June, Butternut restarted their attack on Cane Corp, in which both sides each suffered a loss, with asyhlshk pearling Highroll, and TheRealJewy pearling asyhlshk. Attacks persisted on 18 June, and after a series of short fights with the defense there (consisting solely of Drekamor), Slushhi joined the defense and pearled SlothInASuit in single combat . Continuing clashes resulted in Drekamor being pearled by TheRealJewy, and in turn TheRealJewy being pearled by auqust with assistance from Shadno. On 19 June, while defending the Cane Corp bunker alone, VilyanZ was pearled by SOGGYHOBO. Butternut County successfully captured Cane Corp on 20 June.
Attacks on the Bloom Vault (20 June — 21 June)
After Cane Corp fell on 20 June, Butternut and Gang Shi launched an offensive against the Bloom vault with a skybridge aimed at the skybunker. SEC forces defended with a counter skybridge, but failed to prevent Butternut and Gang Shi from advancing into the vault; combat ensued inside the vault.
At the start of the attack, 4 SEC fighters were pearled by Butternut forces. As the attack progressed, TNT minecarts blew up Shadno twice, along with Jaydon_ and auqust - however, these deaths did not count as pearls. Several Butternut fighters led by bewsiej then jumped into the skyvault to attack Xcios, Hg_80, and Shadno.
In the midst of this battle, a third party entered the fight: several EP members, two of which were thejkh and ShadySauce, initially there to spectate the fight, intervened due to their grievances with multiple fighters in Butternut, and their resulting desire to assist SEC in winning the war. In the confusion, EP war reporters including What777 also jumped into the fight following the other five, assuming the EP as a whole had suddenly decided to intervene in the war; it was later determined that thejkh, ShadySauce, and several other EP members were acting independently of their alliance. The two sides traded blows, with IbisMan pearling Xcios, and Shadno pearling 7joshh with EP assistance. The Butternut forces at the fight followed the EP members as they kited the pearl away from the fight, but were unsuccessful in recovery. Following this fight, S4NTA, thejkh, and ShadySauce departed from Estalia to create a private coalition known as D.U.C.K.S. to volunteer resources to select SEC and EP members, and Butternut announced they would no longer tolerate the presence of "war reporters" at future battles to prevent similar incidents.
A few hours later, the Butternut forces regrouped and returned to Bloom Vault, where bewsiej pearled Simpology (better known as NeoTide) from fall damage after jumping off the skybunker into the rings. Shortly after bewsiej pearled HG__80, also due to fall damage in the rings, after he teleported down into an unfinished lodestone trap at the top of the ground bunker. After these losses with Butternut gaining safe entry to the main ground bunker via the lodestones, the SEC abandoned Bloom Vault. Later, Butternut fighter Cqrs0n pearled SEC fighter Forged_TK on a field close to the vault.
With no remaining resistance, Butternut captured Bloom Vault and began disabling it on 21 June, although the SEC made unsuccessful attempts to retake the vault in the following days.
Combat in Icenia City (21 June — 29 June)
On 21 June, Butternut forces partially disabled Icenia's work-in-progress Quagmire vault, and entered Icenia City afterwards. At the city, Shadno, with the help of thejkh, S4NTA, and hugepoopie, pearled Cqrs0n and bewsiej (leader of Butternut County) - a major SEC win following a long series of Icenian defeats since the fall of Cane Corp and Bloom Vault.
On 27 June, the Butternut members XxTBxX3276 and chosentwicelol were unbanned, with both rejoining the war effort.
Insiding of AP’s Reluctance and Temporary Banwave (28 June)
On 28 June, the Arsenio Pact vault Reluctance, SEC's final complete vault, was insided by SEC members PolyBit, SQOpenSpellBook, _BaniShed and BillyBopBeans. Belonging to a nation forcibly annexed by the AP, they had recently been added to its groups in order to assist with an anticipated defense. All of the Butternut and Gang Shi pearls were freed besides Ez2Clutch, who was held at the Estalian Mushroom Bunker. Additionally, all bastions at the vault were removed.
Butternut forces used MTA as a center of operations to start an attack tunnel to begin to disable the vault, with sporadic SEC resistance. During this phase, admins banned most of the people involved on both sides of the war in order to “pause” it whilst investigating the suspected VPN user PolyBit, who had assisted in the insiding of the vault. Approximately an hour later, the admins determined that this player was not an alt and as such unbanned all players involved (with the exception of the 4 insiders and chosentwicelol, pending further investigation) and teleported them away from the vault, to prevent abuse of the incremental unbans to gain a tactical advantage by either side.
Kingstell escaped Reluctance with the pearls of PhysicsGamer and Cqrson, who were killed during the attack. After he jumped into Pavia's vault trench with the pearls and handed them over, BritishWanderer successfully negotiated an exchange for the pearls of Spoonce and Hg_80 (Pavian citizens who volunteered for the SEC) with Butternut.[10]
On 29 June, Butternut forces successfully captured and disabled Reluctance. This was widely considered the final deciding factor of the war, with all operational SEC pearl holding structures having been taken by Butternut-Gang Shi forces.
Nether War
Attacks on SEC Nether infrastructure (20 June — 29 June)
On 20 June, pearled Gang Shi players Antea2404 and ___TheBoss___ launched an offensive against SEC infrastructure in the Nether by disabling the farms and portal of Cortesia Del Mar. The same day, Antea2404, ___TheBoss___, and Ez2Clutch disabled the farms and portal of Yoahtl.
On 21 June, Antea2404, SlothInASuit, ___TheBoss___, and Ez2Clutch attacked the nether infrastructure of Icarus. They disabled the farms and portal, and looted storage in the vicinity.
By the end of the war, all SEC portals and nether infrastructure had been secured and looted by the Butternut nether forces.
SEC Attacks on Transport Union (26 June)
On 26 June, pearled SEC players[who?] obbybombed the infrastructure of the Transport Union, a neutral provider of tunnels, rails, and roads due to their usage by Butternut and Gang Shi forces to move around in the nether.
Aftermath
Dissolution of Icarus (28 June — 29 June)
On 28 June, much of mainland Icarus (and Khione) was transferred to Mercutio due to Icarian citizens wanting to keep the land out of the war[11]. On 29 June, SlothInASuit led a raiding party in an attempted attack on Mercutio's new claims, namely the inherited however nonfunctional Icarian vault. After breaking several bastions, he was told to leave the territory of Mercutio and eventually complied.
Dissolution of SEC and More Nations Seceding (28 June — 29 June)
The SEC has dissolved and many SEC inhabitants have moved to other countries. On 28 June, Tortugá has announced their independence as a nation, seceding from Icenia.[12] Also on the 28th of June, the EM secedes from the Arsenio Pact.[13] On 29 June, Aurellia announced they are seceding from Cortesia.[14]
Gang Shi aftermath (29 June)
Gang Shi and Temporal Isles' inhabitants are planning to move back to their respective lands and restart their nations, previously dismantled by the SEC.
Reactions
On a Reddit opinion poll asking the global community their opinions on the war (taken around its midpoint), 60% of respondents indicated support for the SEC, compared to Butternut's 40%.[15]
On June 13th, NovaCeasar, claiming to be the founder of Icenia on CivCraft 2.0, and a director of the Transport Union, denounced the current Icenian government and wished Butternut and Gang Shi luck in “the process of its removal.” [16]
On June 14th, former CivMC developer and designer CaptainKlutz posted a satirical essay expressing frustration over players seeing Civ as a game to be won, rather than a collaborative creative medium.[17]
External links
References
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/14c73ts/pls_drop_buttsecs_war_info_here/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/147j7eh/in_this_new_dark_age_there_is_only_war/jnxi1y5/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/14l77no/the_return_of_a_sorta_shitter/
- ↑ https://redd.it/144ffua
- ↑ https://reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/1444v5c/_/jne8v9j/?context=1
- ↑ https://redd.it/147vjbg
- ↑ https://redd.it/1484qqi
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/147j49w/secra_the_imperial_federation_and_blue_cross/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/148oxwz/bounty_128_diamond_blocks_diet_colas_spawnbook_on/
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/912074050086502470/960952809447100416/1123687674075689073
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/14lt0lp/an_update_on_mercutio_land_claims/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/14lrvjz/independence_post_on_behalf_of_tortugan_leadership/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/14lq5qn/long_overdue_em_update_post/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/14mh732/aurellia_secedes_from_cortesia_del_mar/
- ↑ https://redd.it/14783s9
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/1487y7x/denouncing_icenia_from_the_desk_of_its_founder/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/1498qg3/my_complete_thorough_researched_and_illustrated/