The Fountain region has seen many conflicts over the years. HERO Coalition and Black Legion. [MEN.] are currently fighting in Fountain. Fountain Core, a collection of corporations and alliances who have called Fountain their home for many years, have sided with Black Legion. against HERO’s incursion. This conflict has seen numerous fights, ranging from small sub-capital engagements to capital escalations, with supers being dropped on two of those occasions. An interesting facet of this conflict is found in some of the differences between the various factions. Fountain Core has been in the area for many years, and has extensive experience fighting bloc after bloc that has attempted to claim the region. HERO Coalition has the larger number of pilots in the region, although, in the case of Brave Collective, a HERO Alliance, many of these players are relatively new to the game, which leads to interesting scenarios, such as week-old pilots participating in StratOps against Black Legion. that can escalate into capital engagements. Pretty intense for a newbro!
In order to understand this conflict, it is necessary to understand what brought these organizations to Fountain in the first place. Until recently, HERO Coalition controlled the Catch Region, and had lived there for about a year. Internal turmoil, in the form of a coup and counter-coup, combined with a crushing defeat at the hands of Pandemic Legion [-10.0], led HERO to consider leaving Catch. With the recent changes to force projection that came with Phoebe and the upcoming changes coming to Sovereignty warfare, many entities have begun reorganizing their holdings. One of these organizations was Imperium, formerly known as the CFC, who decided to vacate the Fountain region in order to consolidate their holdings in the North. An offer was made to HERO to occupy the region. In a recent interview, HERO FC W Rush had the following to say regarding the decision to move:
“We had many options we were discussing when the news came in that CFC were going to leave fountain. The decision on moving was a long one. In the end it came down to the fact that fountain had the best geography when it came to Fozzie Sov. An NPC region surrounded by some of the best sov null in the game.”
Upon entering Fountain, conflict immediately began between Fountain Core and HERO, as both now staged out of the central NPC space in the Phoenix constellation. The beginning of the conflict involved everything from small gang skirmishes to large fights for valuable moons, sometimes involving capitals. In the end, it was a losing battle for Fountain Core, who couldn’t keep up with the numbers HERO could bring to bear, especially once the central market in YZ-LQL fully matured.
It was at this time that the vanguard forces of Black Legion. entered Fountain. Black Legion. at this time was no stranger to Fountain. Prior to the Imperium vacating Fountain, Black Legion. had been staging out of Aridia, in support of Northern Coalition.’s [NC] failed invasion of Fountain. As NC deployed elsewhere, and the Imperium withdrew voluntarily, Black Legion. decided to move into Fountain to take those systems which HERO did not include as part of their Core holdings. Historically not sov holders, Black Legion. has decided to take sov in order to create the content with HERO which they knew this move would generate, taking recent Phoebe force-projection restrictions into account. In order to establish a foothold in the region, Black Legion. sent the corporations Higher Than Everest [P3AK], and their executor corporation, Origin. [0RIGN] to the system of MN5N-X. They began helping Fountain Core defend their holdings against HERO, and eventually brought the rest of their Alliance to the region, securing the systems which they intended. 6VDT-H was designated as their main staging system, providing a centralized location within the region that allows great jump ranges, with the added benefit of consolidating their holdings without splitting them on opposite sides of NPC space, as HERO had done. As word reached HERO that Black Legion. was moving to the region, excitement grew among their FCs, as they knew Black Legion. would bring them the content they needed to provide experience for many of their less-experienced FCs, which would prove instrumental in developing their new FC training program. Black Legion.’s deployment to Fountain provided HERO with the much-needed content to help them rebound from the recent thrashing they received in Catch.
The fighting has ranged from frigates to capitals, as skirmishes and fights for valuable moons came one after another. Black Legion. began taking systems and moons, and mustered to defend Fountain Core’s holdings, eventually taking nearly all of the systems they had designated, while careful to not escalate higher than necessary, which would simply negate the fights, which was the point of moving to Fountain in the first place. Much of the fighting has gone as expected for both sides, with some surprises. raknor bile, the head FC for Black Legion. said of the fighting:
“I am used to fighting people who outclass us, so we have had to be very careful, but the current conflict with HERO it is a lot easier for us to use caps. For example, we have been able to use caps/supers almost without opposition. Nothing in the fittings has surprised me except they seem extremely inflexible with fits, and some of the fits are very poor. The thing that has surprised me the most is the improvement in numbers. When we first started fighting in Fountain, they had very poor numbers. These are slowly increasing making our reliance on triage even more important.”
This conflict has been beneficial to both parties in the fighting. As Black Legion. adjusts to fighting a new enemy, HERO has the benefit of a fight that allows for an overall improvement in their organization, which is crucial for them after the recent events in Catch. Both sides are clearly glad to have a respectable opponent to fight against, leading to growth for both organizations. Dog0fWarr, of the Black Legion. corporation Origin., said recently that he was most surprised by HERO’s overall attitude towards the fighting, as many members will reship multiple times during a single fight, in order to continue fighting until it is over.
With Fozzie Sov upon us, both sides agree that the coming changes allow for more fights to take place. Neither side believes that stagnation in the conflict will take place, or that it would be desirable. Some have speculated over the decreased significance of capitals in the coming months, with POSs being eventually phased out. As Black Legion. places a strong emphasis on triage, HERO will continue to rely on their ability to drop dreadnoughts as a counter, with the ability to quickly replace them. Twice already, Black Legion. has brought supers to the field in response.
The future of Fountain holds many opportunities, even for those not directly involved in the conflict. Pilots from many other places in New Eden have already begun filtering in to Fountain, as Fountain holds one of the largest markets in the NPC station of YZ-LQL, where any pilot can dock, and content abounds. Some groups have come to Fountain seeking to third-party the fights taking place there already. We can see much of the future of Fountain in the fighting currently taking place, and it will definitely be interesting to see how the organizations and fights there evolve in a Fozzie Sov universe.
