CivcraftImport:Conflicts/valentinesmassacre
<WRAP center round info 60%> Needs some editing
credit goes to WildWeazel. </WRAP>
A full account of the recent battle dubbed the "Valentine Massacre" between Gondolin and Zombie Lenin's posse (for lack of a better term) has not yet been presented to the public. I would like to tell that story, as much as we are aware and as unbiased as I can be given the nature of the situation, so that you can all have an informed opinion of those involved. If I seem to go into unnecessary detail, it's because I'm addressing an argument that has been made against us. This is coming later than I had planned, in part because the fortuitous resolution made it less urgent. I've probably forgotten or muddled a few details, but at the same time more information that I had missed has come forward. And so, my full report:
If you're reading these sorts of threads, you're probably already aware of the tension between Yugoslavia and SPQR, and by extension Buenos Aires and Gondolin. Since we publicly backed SPQR as a territory and involved ourselves in the ceasefire talks the Twin Cities have bonded together in peace, much to the chagrin of Leningrad's hegemony. As soon as this situation settled down, we started hearing reports from Zombie Lenin of an Aristopolitan griefing Buenos Aires. The account in question has never been affiliated with us and we have no idea who it is. Again, hostilities were avoided.
tl;dr check-in: Prior but unrelated tensions between Leningrad and Gondolin.
Meanwhile, a few days ago, immelol4, babycham, and dethfly9 arrived in Aristopolis and requested residence in the city. A citizen, having been given permission from city leaders to do so, offered them a free plot of land, according to the council policy for new residents. The plot was an improved area in a neighborhood on the north side of town, on the main east-west highway within the clearly developed boundaries of Aristopolis. It had been cleared and leveled, and marked with cornerstones. The trio quickly constructed a wood and cobble castle, and plastered it with satirical signs referencing Gondolin, HCF, and the resistance, and claiming a state variously called Ondolin, Nondolin, and Fondlin.
The next day a citizen asked me and some councilors to see something, and led us inside the castle. There was a large throne, and above a series of small rooms each labeled with the name of a Gondolin leader. More signs referenced a Kingdom, a Queen, and other elements of an independent state. The councilors were concerned by this, but I asked them not to take action, reminding them that immelol & company were notorious trolls. At this point, while distasteful, nothing had been done that warranted legal response.
tl;dr check-in: New residents use their plot to mock us and other server memes. Nothing happens.
(edit: I had incorrectly placed this incident between visits. See Silianat's comment below for clarification.) On the day in question, the drama began as some Aristopolitans led by unitiveshadow headed out in the nether to rescue a pearled citizen. They found Theodius on the top nether near our city's portal. As could be seen on a minimap, he was spelling out the words "BERGE SUCKS HARD" in lava. Unitiveshadow repeatedly asked Theodius to leave, even going so far as to travel up there and hit him, but he would not go. After some time the crew decided to leave Theodius to his griefing, but then Zombie Lenin arrived with a group in tow so they returned through the portal to Aristopolis.
Unaware of any of this, I logged in amid a conversation between Silianat (another Gondolin leader) and Zombie Lenin, who was inside the portal room with some assorted escorts of bounty hunters and the "Trading Company". He asked to be let into the city for a diplomatic visit. Silianat refused, citing trespassing. I asked ZL about the nature of the visit, but his company returned through the portal.
Around this time Berge arrived and took charge of the conversation. Soon the entourage reappeared on the "Ondolin" lot, proclaiming it a sovereign nation recognized by Buenos Aires. (It was later found that they arrived through a portal inside the castle, having just built their own in the nether between Aristopolis and Snjorlendir.) This sparked simultaneous arguments in local chat and Mumble, which continued for the next hour or so. Berge repeatedly insisted that Zombie Lenin leave, and refused to acknowledge the existence of Ondolin as anything other than a private residence.
tl;dr check-in: ZL and friends show up for unannounced "diplomatic visit", bypass our portal onto private property and recognize it as a sovereign state.
While this was going on, Silianat was blocking up their makeshift portal until igotyou came back through and he fled, digging a hole to escape. When Zombie Lenin finally decided to leave with the rest of his escort, Dethfly (one of the residents) remained behind. Berge demanded that he too leave, and when he refused pearled him briefly to take him into the nether. Around the same time ZL somehow fell to his death in the nether near our portals, possibly into the hole that Silianat had dug while fleeing from igotyou. Gondolin escorts witnessed it, expressed their disbelief, and grabbed his dropped gear. They returned to Aristopolis and stowed the items, then addressed the matter now at hand: what to do about the property known as Ondolin.
During this part I was FIOSed for about 20 minutes. I came back to find that the decision was to reclaim the property and remove the structure. It was completely dismantled and returned to the state at which ownership was granted to the residents. During and following the operation arguments continued on Mumble, as some of ZL's entourage remained in our channel and insisted that "Ondolin" was a perfectly legitimate sovereign state by their "property is theft" ideology, and we had to honor that. Needless to say the conversation didn't get anywhere. During the exchange immelol showed up, apparently neither upset or very surprised that the castle had been removed. Berge sent him away too, and he left without argument.
tl;dr check-in: ZL falls to his death, we grab his gear. After "diplomats" leave, we reclaim the plot to the city and remove the offending structure. Trolls try to make us play by their rules on property claims.
Now Aristopolis was back to normal, but on Mumble strong words were exchanged. We had ZL's gear, which his friends demanded that we return, along with insisting on Ondolin's legitimacy. At first Berge refused on the grounds that ZL dropped the items on our land while tresspassing, but eventually he decided that we would give the gear back but make no other concessions. However, ZL returned with a larger, heavily armed group before it was settled.
This time, the group consisted of the following:
ZombieLenin Kempje NJPalms Theodius igotyou StarkBastard Konartist SerQwaez ividito Milzed pucker678 Makanla
tl;dr check-in: Things get heated; we are willing to return the lost gear but ZL returns and marches into the city with an assorted force to make demands of us.
The group made their way through the private portal into the north side of the city, slowly moving south together towards downtown. Little public dialog was exchanged at this point, but ZL was still demanding the return of gear and recognition of Ondolin. Berge hastily tried to arrange the handing over of gear, but it was becoming clear that violence was imminent. Some citizens reported the group breaking into houses on the way to Berge's tower. Aristopolitans, anticipating combat, either logged out or grouped up in the town square. Berge switched over to his alt to avoid giving the enemy an objective to rally around. I stood on the ramparts of the tower to observe, unable to engage in direct PvP due to my poor connection. After a few tense minutes, Theodius hit me with an arrow and open combat immediately broke out.
The battle raged on for quite a while, with both sides taking losses. At some point Fluffy showed up, and I'm not sure even he knew which side he was on. Ultimately several Gondolindrim were pearled before the rest logged out, admitting defeat. Those of our opponents who were pearled, including Zombie Lenin, were freed as our own fighters were killed before they could secure the pearls. Following the battle, our prisoners' pearls were placed in vaults, and we were told that they would be freed in exchange for Berge's own pearl. Berge and some of the prisoners themselves rejected this offer. Our people immediately began planning to free the pearls until, unexpectedly, they were all released the following day.
tl;dr check-in: After some posturing ZL's force initiates combat. The situation descends into chaos and many are killed/pearled. Prisoners are held for ransom of Berge's pearl.
I won't relate the fallout of this situation and its resolution here since it unfolded more publicly here on reddit. All of our people have been freed, Zombie Lenin has fled, and while certain hard feelings remain on both sides, Aristopolis and Buenos Aires both seem to be recovering well. I hope that my report cleared up and unanswered questions, and that this rather absurd conflict can be put behind us.
Editorialized TL;DR: Zombie Lenin has been itching for a fight for weeks and after a few failed attempts to incite our aggression, resorted to an outright invasion with an assorted team of Leningrad, rogue HCF, and others. The situation that was ultimately brought to armed conflict was a farcical secession claim of a city plot built in mockery of Gondolin. No combatants are currently being held as prisoners on either side.
Edit: I've incorporated a few changes based on Silianat's testimony of some events in the nether before and after the first visit.