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Halloween Casus Belli: Anatomy of a War

February 12, 2014

The Halloween War (which many observers have noted has stretched well past its namesake holiday) has undoubtedly surpassed other previous wars in EVE in cost, enormity, complexity and length. Naturally, given the long and protracted nature of sovereignty wars (which at times culminates in excitement and a crescendo of violence, as illustrated by the recent Battle for B-R5RB and the Battle of HED-GP, it is not unreasonable that new players and casual observers often lose sight of the finer details and often end up on Twitch.tv asking “what are they fighting about?” To fill the void of knowledge that is the burden that new, casual and non-null players are often left carrying, this article is intended as an introductory and by-no-means comprehensive guide to the factors and perspectives in the conflict.

The Blocs

Stainwagon/DTF1

A coalition consisting of traditional occupants of the Catch & Stain regions, in addition to their nomadic friends Black Legion and SOLAR Alliance. Two major players in this bloc, namely Against All Authorities and Darkness of Despair, prior to the war were in the process of reclaiming sovereignty of Catch, a whole year after Against All Authorities had been expelled from the region in the aftermath of the 2012 Delve War by the Honeybadger Coalition (HBC, precursor to N3/PL) and the Clusterfuck Coalition (CFC).

Against All Authorities and Darkness of Despair claim that a broken agreement with Nulli Secunda2 left them no recourse but to ally with SOLAR Alliance and Black Legion (two alliances traditionally hostile to N3/PL), which incurred the wrath of N3/PL, leading to a pre-emptive strike on Against All Authorities’ previous staging system of GE-8JV, thus sparking the war.

Black Legion and SOLAR Alliance, two tight-knit and traditionally non-aligned factions appeared willing to provide their support to the Stainwagon bloc given their traditional hostility to the PL/N3 bloc. Black Legion’s ongoing blood feud with Pandemic Legion can be attributed to the high-stakes deathmatch being played for the title of being THE elite mercenary legion in EVE; this has led to major clashes, including various battles during the Drone Regions War in early 2013, an ambush on a PL supercap group in July 2013 and more recently during the Halloween War, a masterful PL trap laid in FR-B1H which resulted in a mass loss of Black Legion supercapitals. The Russian SOLAR Alliance’s enmity for N3/PL stems from the aftermath of the Drone Regions War in 2012 during which SOLAR was ejected forcibly from their ancestral homeland in the Drone Regions (namely the Cache, Insmother and Outer Passage regions), and, to add insult to injury, the then SOLAR staging system of R3P0-Z was deadzoned3 and SOLAR’s sovereignty holdings divided amongst members of the N3 bloc (notably including Legion of xXDEATHXx, the Russian archnemesis of SOLAR Alliance).

N3/PL4

One of the largest and well-resourced coalitions in EVE; N3/PL was formed following the collapse of the HBC in 2013 and is comprised of groups which have a notable history of opposing the CFC. The N3/PL bloc is led by Grath Telkin of Pandemic Legion (an elite PvP alliance with mercenary roots) along with their senior partners Northern Coalition. and Nulli Secunda.

N3/PL, excluding Mildly Intoxicated and Nulli Secunda pursued a policy of sovereignty neutrality5 towards the Stainwagon bloc prior to the inception of the greater DTF bloc. Following the alliance agreement between Stainwagon and Black Legion/SOLAR Alliance as a means to counter alleged interference by Nulli Secunda over the KW-I6T agreement, there was a sharp escalation into bloc warfare as N3/PL decided to pursue a pre-emptive strike on the Against All Authorities staging system of GE-8JV in order to deny and prevent overtly hostile entities (Black Legion & SOLAR Alliance) a foothold into N3/PL space. With the advent of the CFC as “honourable third parties”6in November 2013 and the formalisation of a temporary alliance agreement between CFC & DTF, N3/PL enlisted the support of Insidious Empire and TEST Alliance in November and December 2013 respectively to put pressure on the CFC on other fronts.

CFC7

The largest coalition in EVE, spanning literally half the universe and led by the renowned (or infamous, depending on one’s point of view) CEO of the Goonswarm Federation, The Mittani.

The CFC has long-standing hostilities with N3/PL and its precursor alliance, the HBC. Previous conflicts with N3/PL (or its precursors) include the Tribute War of 2012 and The Fountain War of 2013, which saw the largest battle in EVE history in the system of 6VDT-H. Following the hard-fought Fountain War which saw the decimation of TEST Alliance (previously the largest alliance in the game) and its ally Tribal Band, the CFC saw a newfound opportunity to settle scores with N3/PL which had sided with TEST and Tribal Band. The CFC initially entered the war as “Honourable Third Parties”8on behalf of Stainwagon/DTF, before a formal temporary alliance agreement between the two blocs was concluded in November 2013, leading to the creation of what detractors describe as a “big blue donut.”9

Provibloc10

Provibloc refers to the various allied NRDS (Not Red Don’t Shoot) alliances occupying the region known as Providence. Led by Curatores Veritatis Alliance (CVA), these alliances have traditionally pursued a path of neutrality and place utmost value on the security and territorial integrity of the Providence region. Other groups in space often hold the Provibloc in contempt, due to the traditional roleplay roots of CVA and the high concentration of new and PvE players (known derisively as carebears) in the Providence region. Provibloc remained largely neutral during the war, although relations between the Providence alliances and Against All Authorities have traditionally been strained as a result of territorial disputes and roaming gangs. Provibloc’s entry to the war was in late January 2013 following an incident involving a group of current and ex-members of Black Aces (an Against All Authorities corporation)11. This led to a retaliatory strike by CVA on HED-GP and the involvement of an elite CVA strike force during the Battle for HED-GP on behalf of N3/PL. Provibloc has since resumed its mantle of neutrality; observers have cited direct threats from the CFC as the cause of this.

The Future

Since its humble beginnings as a minor sovereignty dispute, the Halloween War has delivered two of the largest and most costly, if not most decisive battles that EVE Online has seen – the Battle for HED-GP and the Battle for B-R5RB. Both provided significant lesson for all parties involved, whether it be in terms of server limitations or sovereignty mechanics. After the deadlocks and standoffs which proved frustrating for all involved in the first few months of war, with the recent tactical withdrawal of N3/PL from the southern region of Immensea, it appears the war has shifted into a phase in which regions will rapidly shift hands. However, to call the war over is to ignore the reality that there will be conflict so long there are conflict drivers – the sparks of war are still well and alive, and it’s up to all parties involved to continue to demonstrate that they can still fan the flames.

1 Also known as RUSRUS. The Stainwagon/DTF bloc includes, but is not limited to:
Against All Authorities
Darkness of Despair
SOLAR Alliance
Black Legion
DARKNESS.
Legio Astartes Arcanum
C0VEN
Atrocitas (defunct)
Others (including Rookie Empire, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers)
 
2 This alleged agreement proposed non-intervention by Nulli Secunda whilst .-A-. reclaimed sovereignty over Catch from Mildly Intoxicated; in exchange, Nulli received sovereignty over KW-I6T. Against All Authorities alleges that this agreement was broken when Nulli Secunda forces aided Mildly Intoxicated during .-A-‘s attempt to recapture WLAR-J in Catch.
 
3 Deadzoning is the process in which access to a station is completely removed bar through a “third-party” holding corporation whose members have been instructed to bar all access to a station, thereby preventing access to assets for parties who previously occupied the station.
 
4 The N3/PL bloc includes, but is not limited to:
Pandemic Legion
Northern Coalition.
Nulli Secunda
The Kadeshi
Spaceship Samurai
Darkspawn. (disbanded)
The Unthinkables
Cult of War
WHY so Seri0Us
The East India Co.
Nexus Fleet
Fraternity
Pangu Coalition
Caladrius Alliance
Legion of xXDEATHXx
Others (including The Methodical Alliance, Moon Tribe, etc)
N3 Affiliated:
TEST Alliance
Insidious Empire (disbanding)
 
5 No contesting or assisting parties in defending sovereignty in a given region.
 
6 “Honourable Third Party” is an ironic reference to the stance which N3/PL pursued during the Fountain War in favour of TEST Alliance against the Goonswarm Federation.
 
7 Formal members of the CFC:
Goonswarm Federation
RAZOR Alliance
Get Off My Lawn
Tactical Narcotics Team
Fatal Ascension
Fidelas Constans
Spacemonkey’s Alliance
Li3 Federation
Circle-of-Two
Gentleman’s Agreement
Executive Outcomes
The Initiative
WALLTREIPERS ALLIANCE
CFC-affiliated (but not formal members):
Fweddit
Red Alliance
 
8 See 6.
 
9 “Big blue donut” refers to a hypothetical scenario in which the EVE universe map is dominated by entities allied (blue) to each other.
 
10 Provibloc includes, but is not limited to:
Curatores Veritatis Alliance
Volition Cult
Yulai Federation
Sev3rance
The Fourth District
TSOE Consortium
Apocalypse Now
Care Factor
 
11 The alleged incident involved several former and current members of Black Aces anchoring Sovereignty Blockade Units in Y-MPWL, Providence bloc’s only direct nullsec-highsec connection system. For more on Sovereignty Blockade Units and sovereignty mechanics, click here.