Varkonia: Difference between revisions
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==== The Initial Varkonian Response to the NATO-Mir War ====
''Main Article: [[NATO-Mir War]]''
[[File:VarkoniaVault.png|thumb|The Varkonia Vault at the start of the
FRIENDS- and later NATO- affiliated players, such as Baes20, continued to cause trouble in MTA, inducing larger and larger responses from Mir throughout January 2019. While Varkonia had receded from involving itself in MTA, after influencing the mayoral election of December 2018, there was a high degree of overlap between the Varkonian and Mirian populations. S4NTA, Magier, Gregy165, and Ez2Clutch, for example, were all at one point or another appointed Senators in Varkonia, as well as prominent members of Mir. In January 2019, S4NTA and Magier were both sitting Senators in Varkonia, and as conflict escalated in MTA between NATO and Mir, so too did S4NTA's and Magier's involvement. S4NTA attempted to de-escalate and reprimand offending Mirians (theJKH and Gregy165), however nothing came of it. Eventually tensions boiled over later in January, and Mir effectively declared war on NATO<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/alixa4/let_the_hammer_fall/</ref>.
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==== Columbia Inquires about the Applicability of the Defense Pact ====
A day after the public declaration of Varkonian neutrality, Shadedoom, Chancellor of Columbia, reached out to the Mickale, the Red Duke of Varkonia, inquiring about the applicability of the Mutual Defense Pact signed in August of 2018 between Columbia and Varkonia. Columbia, a member of NATO, was obligated to mobilize in support of their allies in the war, and was questioning whether Varkonia would be obligated via its defensive pact to support Columbia.<blockquote>''"Since this is a defensive war, where do you stand on the Columbia-Varkonia alliance being in effect"'' (Shadedoom, 2018)</blockquote>The Red Duke considered this, and had earlier been discussing the possibility of the Defense Pact being invoked by Columbia with the Varkonian Senate. The Red Duke responded:<blockquote>''"We are allied to each other, that does not mean we are allied with your allies. If this started by Mir attacking Columbia, then we would be on your side. Since Columbia joined a war between other parties, that doesn't obligate Varkonia to do anything"'' (Mickale, 2018)</blockquote>Columbia being called into a larger scale war through their affiliation with NATO was no surprise to Varkonia, with the possibility of something like this happening being a major factor to the Defense Pact being bilateral in the first place. Still, there was a feeling of lament in Varkonia for their Columbian friends who seemed to be stuck on the losing side of a complicated war not of their own making. The Red Duke asked the Chancellor of Columbia what Columbia's goals were in the war. The Chancellor could not comment. The Red Duke remarked that if the objective was to break the Mir vault, that it would be almost impossible to achieve. It was the Red Duke's belief that the only possible outcomes for NATO were a negotiated surrender, stalemate, or total loss, with no path to victory seeming likely. [https://www.reddit.com/r/civclassics/comments/atmpa0/fall_of_pinkerton_12x9/ Pinkerton would fall to Mirian forces this same day]. Varkonia wished Columbia luck for its civilians to stay safe, but would offer no support.
Based on the relations between the involved parties, it would never have been possible for Varkonia to join Columbia against Mir in war. If something had happened that resulted in Mir specifically going to war with Columbia, the incident would likely have resulted in the nullification of the Columbia-Varkonia Defense Pact before the outbreak of war.
==== Vault Expansion and Militarization ====
[[File:VarkoniaVault8.png|thumb|The Varkonia Vault several months after the start of the
The Varkonian military was put on high alert as the war began intensifying. All civilian building projects in the capital were put on hold indefinitely to divert labor towards the vault. The meager 4-ring vault was not nearly sufficient to protect Varkonia nor deter an attack. It was poorly stocked and disorganized. It thus was essential for Varkonia to maintain neutrality during this time due to how vulnerable it was at home. Urgent work was needed on the vault to fortify it into a reliable bastion of defense. Many players were brought back in a flurry of activity which saw the likes of ghalen, unknown122, Ceramic_Haze, Icer, and others all contributing towards expanding the vault. Gobblin set to work an army of bots to help drain the vault, which was the main obstacle to construction due to the vault's position in the ocean. In a couple weeks the vault would grow from 4 to 8 rings, with Callum taking charge of construction efforts and using his wealth to supply bastions. Varkonia built its first armor factories and Callum also headed the effort to build up prot reserves. Bulk orders of prot, pearls, and pot ingredients were ordered by the Red Duke from Shapha and Meat. Snitching efforts were also undertaken, with large portions of the coastline of the ocean around Varkonia and Nevrast being snitched. Varkonia was steadily readying itself in case it needed to defend itself or its allies in an escalation of the conflict.
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This effort was widely seen as a success for states remaining neutral in the conflict and for the pacifist civilians of SPQR. The resulting positive outlook on the UNC's capability resulted in several new member states seeking to apply, eventually including Corvus, Iria, and Imperial Truidence, all of which had Varkonia's approval. However, while initially a success, there were instances of violations, most commonly by Hallow, and relations with NATO steadily deteriorated as they were reminded to keep out. Mir, too, was not happy with the arrangement, as it made accessing Hallow more difficult, but had fewer violations than Hallow.
==== The Return of Papa_Pound ====
[[Papa_Pound]], aka Papa or ibGod, returned to CivClassic in March of 2019. He originally spawned early on in the iteration, very close to Hjaltland, and was immediately pearled, after which he quit for over a year and missed the entirety of the Somber War. Papa was famous from his leadership role in the HCF invasions and raider crews in CivCraft 2.0, being in leadership of Eagle Crew, America, and to an extent, Nox. These groups of players were infamous for raiding, pearling players indiscriminately, cracking World Police vaults, and griefing. Varkanos, in addition to being a member of SPQR, had also been a key player in Nox in CivCraft 2.0, for which he sentenced to being pearled by MTA when Nox was eventually defeated. This is where Varkanos's title in Varkonia as King of Nox comes from, being the only high-ranking member of Nox leadership to not be pearled or retired. During CivCraft 2.0, Varkanos and Papa became friends and, fast-forwarding to CivClassic 2.0, Varkanos was happy to see his old friend return. To be clear, Papa returned as an exiled player, still being imprisoned by Hjaltland, who firmly believed Papa would do as he's always done: gather a group of raiders and wreak havoc. While many agreed, there was a popular movement in Papa's favor to try to get him released, an effort Varkonia initially supported due Papa's friendly nature and the length of time he had already been pearled. The main driving force behind getting Papa freed, however, was Evocator, and the upper leadership of Corvus. For the time being, his freedom was not on the table, but efforts would continue.
[[File:Papa.png|thumb|Papa logging dark oak in Varkonia, March 2019]]
Papa resided in Varkonia for several weeks, claiming a house in the central plaza. His main activities were logging dark oak for Varkonia and running around eating food. He created a 1-layer DRO 'vault' in his house, and inexplicably one day Baes20 ran over to Varkonia with the pearl of Squareblob, the mayor of MTA at the time. Papa received Baes in his abode and took the pearl, placing it in his 1-layer vault. Technically speaking, Papa had just vaulted the sitting mayor of MTA in Varkonia during rising global tensions due to the NATO-Mir war. Baes was a notable NATO-supporting fighter. The Red Duke was notified of weird happenings and came to the scene to investigate. A few moments later, MrLlamma, leader of Coventhia and also a fighter, one typically opposed to Baes, arrived and was requesting the pearl to be released. Both parties were preparing for a brawl. The Red Duke, equal part confused and amused, had access to Papa's vault, acquired the pearl, and gave it to MrLlamma. The mayor was soon released and all parties returned to their civs without further conflict.
==== The Kaiserreich Coup ====
Up to April of 2019, Wubzy had been the leader of the Kaiserreich Protectorate, under Varkonia, and had been representing the Kaiserreich as voting member of the UNC. In mid-April, Wubzy decided to vote against the UNC Iceroad Proposal, which was planned to create a unified iceroad network between all UNC member states. His reasoning for voting against it was "We always approve stuff, I want some conflict here". He was the sole voting member to vote against the project. In the UNC, votes have to be passed unanimously; if even one voting member votes against it, the measure will fail. Wubzy's position as a voting member had been inherited and tolerated after Kaiserreich became a protectorate under Varkonia, however this stunt caused massive outrage among the entire UNC, especially within Varkonia, which had been embarrassed by it.
Wubzy had not actually been playing the game for months and his sole activity was participating in voting in the UNC. Other members of Kaiserreich, such as LazavPhenax, were increasingly becoming disgruntled with Wubzy's leadership in abstentia. The Red Duke of Varkonia reached out to LazavPhenax, and discussed how to improve the situation. Upon opening discussions, Lazav vented a great deal about Wubzy's incompetence and inactivity, and let the Red Duke know that in fact Lazav had ownership of all the groups, bastions, and snitches. Hearing this, the Red Duke suggested that Lazav should become the leader of Kaiserreich, since he was actually active, competent, and ready to lead. Lazav agreed, and the Senate voted in favor of this action on April 22. On April 24 LazavPhenax declared himself leader of Kaiserreich, deposing Wubzy<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/Varkonia/comments/bgnpe6/formal_overthrow_of_lil_wubzy_and_zestysquidward/</ref>.<blockquote>''"Wub/wubzy hasnt logged into the server/contributed since september. Yet the reason I bring this all up is for the sole fact Wub still leads the country despite having no backing to his power, representing and voting on behalf of Kaiserreich on the global and alliance stage. When Valyria basically annexed our country under the assumption of complete inactivity, I was the one who brokered the transfer of our land back with the assistance of Mickale and the UNC beside us. The citizen had to step up on behalf of his nation because the leader kept flaking and saying he was going to get on to help, despite never doing so. As a result of that event, all reinforcements and bastion efforts were done under my name as he wasn't present. Can you believe that? A leader who can't place or destroy a single block in his own city, yet I am the one with all the actual power of said country. He isn't even a member of the Kaiserreich Discord server. Yet I am supposed to see him as my leader? I tolerated this for months because i was hardly in a place to complain.''
''Now, as it is too destructive to our civilization to allow these ghosts to keep their grip on power, I formally remove lil-wubzy and ZestySquidward from their positions and make them provisional citizens for the time being."'' (LazaPhenax, 2019)</blockquote>
[[File:KaiserkinTownSquare.png|thumb|Kaiserkin Town Square circa April 24, 2019]]
Varkonia immediately recognized this change in leadership, and deployed security forces to the region to ensure stability. As part of this arrangement, Kaiserreich became a full province of Varkonia, with the unifying treaty being re-written to remove all references of Wubzy and formalize Kaiserreich's status within Varkonia. Several buildings were added to Kaiserkin's town square and Varkonian banners were erected throughout the town. Wubzy did not contest the change and the UNC supported Varkonia's actions.
== Government ==
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