Butternut–SEC War: Difference between revisions

| caption = Combatants of the 2023 Butternut-SEC Conflict; SEC in blue and Butternut in yellow

* Widespread damage to SEC cities, particularly those of [[Icenia]]

| combatants_header = Combatants

| strength1 = 20+ Fighters <br/>

| strength2 = 15+ Fighters

| casualties2 = 11 Pearled, later freed, 2 pearls remained at end of war (as of 28 June 2023)

| {{combatant||Cqrs0n|yes}}

The war began following the unbanning of the known raider and former Estalian and [[Generic War]] combatant [[Ez2Clutch]]- he soon thereafter began raiding in partnership with [[Chosentwicelol]], a raider infamous for menacing the government of [[Icenia (CivMC)|Icenia]] and rumored to have had the backing of [[Estalia]], one which the nation vehemently denied. At the time of the kickoff of this conflict, however, this backing was assuredly no longer in effect. 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 [[Generic_War#Sack_of_Icenia|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 at Space Needle IV, Icenia City's skybunker.

The conflict sparked when [[Security Enhancement Coalition|SEC]] fighters [[Zolo17]] and [[Jaimiemie]] were pearled{{by whom}} when a manhunt for Ez2Clutch was interrupted by chosentwicelol. The pearls were then kited to the Butternut vault - signaling to the world that the raiders now had the full support of Butternut County and that this was no longer a simple raiding incident. Skirmishes began to break out within [[Icenia (CivMC)|Icenia]] as SEC fighters and the Butternut raiders 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 the raiders at bay. By 6 June, Butternut secured 2 more pearls - that of [[Raeders]], [[JuniorTide]], and [[Yodabird19]]. On June 7th, 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 nothing to show for it. But on June 8th came a major SEC victory: Ez2Clutch was pearled by the Icenian [[Lagiacrus]], after falling into a sand trap and failing to escape.

=== Butternut Banwave and Reversal (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 designed to curb toxicity on the server - however, after a short period and pleas against the bans<ref>https://redd.it/144ffua</ref>, the bans were lifted. Whether or not this was as a result of the pleas, or the end of their sentences, is not known.

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 [[The "That's Nuts!" War|"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 (CivMC)|Cortesia Del Mar]]'s [[Red_Steel]] - a move that was met with ire by [[Icenia (CivMC)|Icenia]], who had pearled PhysicsGamer following the Temporal Isles Coup. A bounty of 64d was immediately placed on PhysicsGamer's pearl by the state of [[Bloom]]<ref>https://reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/1444v5c/_/jne8v9j/?context=1</ref>, and Red_Steel was ejected from the SEC and had her Cortesian nationality revoked {{Citation needed}}.

With SEC blood in the water, however, 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|Ch1pR]], who had never been pearled following the war, returned to assist in the collapse of their enemies and began the construction of a skybridge to Whole Foods, Icenia's skyvault. The Gang Shi fighters successfully recruited their former citizen, Fastestgrass, to renege on his plea deal and abandon Mercutio to assist in the bridging.

In the early hours{{when}} of June 11th, Whole Foods was successfully bridged - and its pearls released. Later that day, Butternut's forces secured the pearl of [[ChrisChrispie]] and [[Complexii]] after [[Haxx0r]] betrayed and insided SEC forces in Whole Foods.

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 wartorn nation.<ref>https://redd.it/147vjbg</ref> 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 prot or netherite, 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".<ref>https://redd.it/1484qqi</ref> 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.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/147j49w/secra_the_imperial_federation_and_blue_cross/</ref>

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 Tkonic successfully escaped a logbox, prompting the SEC to seek admin clarification. {{Citation needed}} The admins stated that this was not an exploit, however it was a mistake 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.

The same day, [[chosentwicelol]] and [[Ch1pR]] were banned for using illegal client modifications.

=== Skybridging the Butternut Vault (16 June — 17th June) ===

After multiple skirmishes on June 16th, SEC forces began skybridging the Butternut vault. At some point during this phase of the conflict, the former Icarians [[SOGGYHOBO]] and [[Dawsonisrainy]] both betrayed the SEC and defected to Butternut, assisting with their vault defense.

On June 17th, in an attempt to get closer to the vault, SEC faced three losses due to insiders in the skybridge. Bewsiej pearled [[Awesome_Daniel]] and [[SeaRed]]; meanwhile [[JessieJinx]] was pearled by [[Dawsonisrainy]]. Meanwhile, Butternut faced 1 loss when [[auqust]] pearled [[Fur]], who was blocked off at the skybridge.

On June 17th, 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 June 18th, and after a series of short fights with the defense there (consisting solely of [[Drekamor]]), [[Slushhi]] joined the defense and pearled [[SlothInASuit]] in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RJaaZsnmEQ single combat] . Continuing clashes resulted in [[Drekamor]] being pearled by TheRealJewy, and in turn TheRealJewy being pearled by auqust with assistance from Shadno. On June 19th, while defending the Cane Corp bunker alone, [[VilyanZ]] was pearled by SOGGYHOBO. Butternut County successfully captured Cane Corp on June 20th.

=== Attacks on the Bloom Vault (20 June — June 21) ===

In the initial attacks, 4 SEC fighters were pearled by Butternut forces. In following attacks, TNT minecarts blew up Shadno twice - however, Butternut did not secure his pearl. 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: multiple [[Elysian Pact|EP]] members, [[JKH]], [[ShadySauce]], [[Creepi0n]], [[Cissonius]], and [[BritishWanderer]] (with the later addition of [[What777]]) joined the SEC defenses. The two sides traded blows, with IbisMan pearling Xcios, and Shadno pearling 7joshh. Butternut{{who}} forces followed the EP members as they kited the pearl away from the fight, but were unsuccessful in recovery.

A few hours later, the Butternut forces returned to Bloom Vault and 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 retreated out of the Bloom Vault. Afterwards, [[Cqrs0n]] also pearled Forged_TK on a field close to the vault.

On 21 June, Shadno, with the help of JKH, [[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 Canecorp and Bloom Vault.

=== Butternut Banwave Reversal (27 June) ===

On 27 June, several Butternut members were unbanned including chosentwicelol, a major leader of Butternut.

=== Insiding of AP’s Reluctance and Banwave (28 June) ===

On 28 June, the AP Vault Reluctance was insided by SEC members [[PolyBit]], [[SQOpenSpellBook]], [[_BaniShed]] and [[BillyBopBeans]], who had immunity to its snitches. All of the Butternut and Gang Shi pearls were freed besides Ez2Clutch, who was held at the Estalian Mushroom Bunker. Since the mass freeing event, Cqrs0n has been re-pearled by [[Shadno]] and [[Auqust]] has been pearled by [[Bewsiej]].

Soon after the insiding, admins banned most of the people involved in the war in order to “pause” it, whilst investigating suspected VPN alts that had insided the vault.

Later the same day, the admins found that these players were not alts and have such unbanned all players involved and teleported them away from the vault to prevent abuse of the banwave.

The admins at the same time decided to ban 5 players{{who}}, including [[Chosentwicelol]].<ref>https://discord.com/channels/912074050086502470/952312337065451530/1123634321648001145</ref> <ref>https://discord.com/channels/912074050086502470/960952809447100416/1123641159898628187</ref>

The pearls of [[PhysicsGamer]] and [[Cqrson]] were later moved to Pavia’s vault by [[Kingstell]]. A trade for the two pearls in exchange for the pearls of [[Spoonce]] and [[Hg 80]] by [[BritishWanderer]] has been completed.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/912074050086502470/960952809447100416/1123687674075689073</ref>

On 26 June, SEC forces{{who}} obbybombed 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.

The SEC has dissolved and many SEC inhabitants have moved to other countries.

Gang Shi and Temporal Isles inhabitants are moving back to their respective lands and restarting countries after Icenia had conquered them.

An opinion poll asking the global community their opinions on the war showed that support for SEC forces was 60%, compared to Butternut's 40%.<ref>https://redd.it/14783s9</ref>

On June 13th, [[NovaCeasar]], founder of Icenia on a previous iteration {{Citation needed}} and a director of the Transport Union, denounced current Icenia and wished Butternut and Gang Shi luck in “the process of its removal.” <ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/1487y7x/denouncing_icenia_from_the_desk_of_its_founder/</ref>

On June 14th, Civ server 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.<ref> https://www.reddit.com/r/CivMC/comments/1498qg3/my_complete_thorough_researched_and_illustrated/</ref>