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Diplomatic Crisis in the Drone Regions

April 12, 2016

Disclaimer: Since the original mail is in Russian, a translation was commissioned. As to its accuracy, EN24 staff cannot attest to.

On the 10th of April at 18:00 EVE Standard Time, the Drone Regions Federation (DRF) headed by Legion of xXDEATHXx [X.I.X] reset standings with its member coalition, the Drone Walkers (DW), giving their leadership only a 30 minute warning. Following this both sides commenced hostilities, with DRF hitting DW moons and DW retaliating by reinforcing multiple systems.

According to a mail circulated by Legion of xXDEATHXx, the reason for the sudden change are recent actions taken by the DW, specifically Alternate Allegiance [ALTS] and InPanic [-INP-] alliances, and the attitude of their leadership. The mail goes on to claim the alliances had broken numerous agreements, such as defending the Drone regions from the incursion of Venal region based alliances, instead establishing working relationships with them, hiding information regarding renters and valuable moons from Legion of xXDEATHXx’s leadership and breaking the Non Invasion Pact (NIP) put in place between the Imperium and the DRF, especially after failing to report on the fact they were being paid to do so by outsiders.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The last few years we have given space in drone regions to young alliances looking to grow. This came with one condition – PVP. But as it has again shown, people do not know how to keep their word. People are greedy.

Of all the alliances who were given space, two alliances separate themselves from other, Alternate Allegiance and inPanic. They have recently formed the Drone Walkers coalitions, but that alone would not have been significant if not for their other actions.

inPanic CEO Bruce Ernaga: “xdeath has no control over us anymore. Inpanic, alts and kick dont have to listen to them anymore. We are free”. inPanic is the second coming to sovholders in Cobalt Edge. Formerly Spears of Destiny, they were given space and told to prevent invaders coming in from venal. Within a few months of receiving space, the alliance focused their efforts only on renters and diplomatic deals with invaders as opposed to defend

CEO Alternate Allegiance P Air: “im tired of being nice guy, thinking of changing tactics”.This alliance started as a renter of NC. We decided to give them a chance to grow and they got to 3300 pilots. However, after some investigation, it was found that they chose to hide information regarding money moons and other renters in the area. Seems like this was his idea of “being a good partner”.

These guys have been helpful before. They helped with local conflicts, which was part of our agreement with them. Now they have announced their disregard for agreements and continue in their destructive actions. Yes they were helpful in the Insmother wars and had a pivotal role in the fight for the C-J ihub. However, their actions then and now are not the same and they do not stand by agreements we have made with them.

A little while ago leaders of various Drone walkers alliances came forth saying they had to fight cfc to keep their pvpers happy and active. However, they failed to tell us that they were being paid to assault the CFC. Their actions are a direct transgression of our diplomatic ties and agreement with the CFC to not invade each others space

Started april 10th we have unblued the following entities:
* Alternate Allegance
* InPanic
* Phoenix Company Alliance
* Bloodline
* District85
* The Explicit Alliance
* Just a Game
* Requiem Eternal
* BlackNovaMercenary Alliance

All agreements with the aforementioned alliance are no longer in place and we now being attacks on their systems. If people are tired of being honorable dudes, that’s fine with me.

The original mail can be found here.

While this might seem sudden to some, according to Alternate Allegiance, the writing was on the wall for quite some time. Legion of xXDEATHXx has been increasing its presence near DW holdings for months, with its leadership acting more and more belligerent towards DW members.

The main reason for all of this being, as some members of DW believe, simply money. With DW members managing to grow and successfully defend their holdings, many pilots and corporations flocked to join their organization, leading to an increase in membership but a decrease in renters throughout the DRF itself, which meant in turn lower income from Legion of xXDEATHXx’s rental programs.

Whats more with Aegis sovereignty mechanics now fully explored and understood by Legion of xXDEATHXx, the need for local defenders has lessened. Removing the DW would serve to free more space to install renters in, as well as cause many of the pilots and corporations that had left in the first place to return, once again boosting revenue for Legion of xXDEATHXx.

In addition, DW members believe this turn of events is also linked to the conflict in the north of New Eden, in particular the Imperium’s leader, The Mittani, plea for help from Legion of xXDEATHXx’s leadership. It is no secret that The Mittani and UAxDEATH have maintained a friendly relationship in the past, reinforced by the existence of the NIP agreement in place between their two coalitions. According to some DW members, this betrayal as they see it, is UAxDEATH’s attempt to honor his agreements with The Mittani while maintaining neutrality with the rest of the allied forces in fear of retaliation.

A source close to Legion of xXDEATHXx’s leadership gives a different account of the conflict. According to it, Legion of xXDEATHXx’s leadership has been mostly absent in the last few months, only to return and find the current state of affairs, thus overreacting badly and causing untold diplomatic damage in the process.

As the source stated, the issues with InPanic are believed to mostly stem from personal animosity between Legion of xXDEATHXx’s leadership and InPanic’s executor following the leak of private conversations in which the latter used rather harsh words to describe Legion of xXDEATHXx’s stance on the war fought in the north. As for Alternate Allegiance, the source believe it did in fact commit a few transgressions, but most of them could have been handled diplomatically had Legion of xXDEATHXx been inclined to. The source also claimed that the current move is mainly for the DRF to save face and show it upholds its neutrality while exploiting the opportunity to also re-claim space for future renting usage.

While both sides seem to be prepared to fight, with hostilities breaking out in the last 24 hours across the Drone regions, the current state of affairs remains murky at best. A few DW alliances had since re-gained standings with the DRF after the initial announcement, and it seems more will be added to the Legion of xXDEATHXx’s blue standings list following what is perceived to be a mistake due to mass resetting. However, fights are already taking place between InPanic and Alternate Allegiance to Legion of xXDEATHXx, and there seems to be no chance of reconciliation of the two.

As to the impact of the current development over the DW’s campaign to claim the Tenal region, it is too soon to tell. DW members have said that they will have to adjust their plan accordingly, but with the region mostly deserted and the majority of it already fallen to the DW, it seems unlikely Imperium forces will be able to exploit the situation, especially with allied forces advancing through Branch and Pure Blind.

As for allied command, though no official statement was given, it seems Legion of xXDEATHXx was given assurances that so long as the conflict remains limited, allied forces will not interfere directly unless provoked, keeping their attention on the Imperium.

EVE News 24 will keep you updated as the situation unfolds.

Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden