The Phoebe Freeport Republic was formed over a year ago with the goal of taking sovereignty with the advent of the Phoebe patch, introducing new jump mechanics intended to nerf power projection across the galaxy. They have brought freeports, a station allowing any capsuleer regardless of alliance or corp affiliation to dock for free, to 6 regions across the galaxy. Currently they hold 24 systems in Scalding Pass and Wicked Creek including their capital system of 4-CM8I. PFR has battled Gorgon Empire capitals, fought off Ishtars and Rattlesnakes, and is constantly clashing with other small entities around the region.
The sun has not always shined on the Freeport Republic however, and they recently dropped 6 systems in Scalding Pass. These systems were not particularly valuable to the alliance, lacking stations or strategic location. Ex-CEO of Dutch East Querious Company and current Anti-Nub Incorporated member Marciniusz Solo wrote this letter to PFR about the current state of the alliance and how it has changed from their original purpose:
Open Letter to Phoebe Freeport Republic
From: Marciniusz Solo
Sent: 2016.01.02 23:32
To: Phoebe Freeport Republic,o/ Freeporters!
I would have never suspected the moment to write this letter will actually come, but things are going down and I just can’t hold it inside anymore.
I can say I’ve been with the alliance from the very beginning – the first post about Phoebe Freeport Republic on TheMittani.com made me literally rush quit my former alliance to join the Crusade the day after PFR took first systems. I was there for Uemon, I was there for WPV-JN, I was there for CT8K-something (don’t remember the full name, sorry), I was there for Skarkon, then I went on a little lowsec holiday (oh the glories of careless FW pvps) and I came back for the Second Crusade. It was the first fleet of over one hundred people that PFR formed, consisting of pure DPS torpedo bombers – it was the time of SBUs and endless bashing of numerous sov structures. The last thing I remember from that fleet was shooting an IHUB and dying to a bunch of RLML Caracals.
I was one of the first people to actually move into 4-CM8I, the second freeport. It was a calm time of clearing the system out of belt rats and neutral POSes. Together with Colga- Coelomate we found out that assisted fighters won’t follow you into a DED Complex. Together with Emma Kado we set the Wicked Creek, ruled by RANE, on fire. These were times of Freeport Scalding, where every station in region, owned by Gorgon Empire, was accesible to everyone. The firesales were poking up all over the place, huge isk was made by simply buying them, hauling to 4-CM8I and selling it there to freeporters.
My memory might fail me there, but after that came the times of me becoming the CEO of Dutch East Querious Company, our beloved Phoebe Freeport Corporation. I was semi-away-from-game at the time, turned out to be a really bad CEO and was eventually made to drop all that responsibility on Lograth’s head (thanks Lograth). TEST moved in, Wicked Creek started to become less and less fun.
After that some shit happened (I really don’t remember, there was summer, I was leaving for holidays a few times), in July I got myself a birthday Vargur that rocked, was a great dunking machine and was fun all around.
In September I went to Delve thanks to Yuuto to take part in the Delvian Freeport. It was fun, we got a station, couple of kills, my Abaddon survived a blap Phoenix and then we got evicted back to Scalding. Good times 10/10.
After the Delvian Freeport came in Operation Fort Ninya. I discovered my true love (Orthrus for life), dunked lots of nubs and in the end joined Anti-Nub Incorporated. Let’s be honest, this was the moment that everything might have started to fall apart. There were less known faces in alliance, friends started leaving, Advent of Fate invaded us and that was my first breakdown. During the reinforcement of 4-CM8I, I was never as ready to let it go as back then. Had all my assets packed up and ready to go, was looking for lowsec wormholes to start evaccing. I almost left the alliance.
It went a bit better once AoF left, but never actually went back up to the level from before. Shit was falling out of the alliance chat, with all the new, weird people (I won’t call any names). This leads directly to the present day – I’m getting tired of people being rude, dumb, bluefucking or whatever else. PFR is not as fun as it used to be anymore. I’m on the verge of freaking out. I feel like it’s either I leave the alliance and shoot people in my own home system, or I simply start AWOXing people that annoy me.
Phoebe Freeport Republic was the best that’s ever happened to me in my whole EVE career. But it’s turning into shit. Some people say “Die a hero, or see yourself becoming a villain”. In my opinion, PFR is already past that point. The two main rules the alliance was found on – “freeports” and “not being dicks” – I see them being broken by random alliance members on daily basis, and I must admit that sometimes I break them too.
Phoebe Freeport Republic isn’t anymore what it used to be. You can all call me a bittervet, nostalgic shitter or whatever else you want – that’s how I feel right now.
This was supposed to be an emergency goodbye letter I wrote in case of if I wanted to quit the alliance. But I love PFR. I can’t just leave. I am giving it another chance. So this just turned into an Open Letter to PFR, telling about how I, and possibly some other members of the alliance, feel about what’s happening right now. So you all can think about it and how you can make it better.
Thank you for your attention,
o7
Marciniusz “Marc” Solo
PFR’s Top Killer since Nov 2014
PFR’s Cancer Department Manager
PFR’s new top bittervetPS Sorry for any holes in PFR’s history or any mistakes – I just can’t be bothered to read the whole damn thing again after writing it.
We reached out to Marciniusz Solo for further comment:
EN24 > What has been PFR’s reaction to the letter?
Marciniusz Solo> Except for the alliance leader’s rude reply and one other person that disagreed with me, I have received a lot of positive feedback through mails and convos, with alliance members mostly saying “I’ve been feeling the same way lately”
EN24 > That alliance leader being Walter Cohen, CEO of PFR?
Marciniusz Solo> Yes
EN24 > What plans does PFR has for the future?
Marciniusz Solo> There might be plans about some more freeports – I really don’t know how much I can say about this, but as far as I can imagine the info about that probably already leaked.
EN24 > Could you give me more of a sense of how the alliance has changed as you mentioned in the open letter?
Marciniusz Solo> The alliance is naturally evolving – old members are leaving, new members are joining, while some of the basic PFR rules are forgotten, I’m mostly having in mind the overall idea of freeports and the rule of “not being dicks”
EN24 > Anything else you feel worth mentioning?
Marciniusz Solo > Don’t think except that maybe I have made it semi-unclear in the original mail to what my complaints are about. I wanted to make a fill-up reply to Walter but was stopped due to too much drama. Instead I wanted to talk about how the alliance is evolving like any other and things change.
PFR Ceo Walter Cohen responded to the open letter with the following. He was unable to be reached for comment at this time.
Re: Open Letter to Phoebe Freeport Republic
From: Walter Cohen
Sent: 2016.01.03 14:41
To: Phoebe Freeport Republic, Marciniusz Solo,Marciniusz
If you love it so much .. then maybe you should do something about it and quit whining ..Stand up and become the content.
Quit thinking what PFR can do for you and start thinking about what you can do for PFR.
Yes this is the typical Bitter Vet syndrome …
“Nobody does something for me, everybody is shit”
Sitting in 4-C and going solo roaming isn’t helping PFR and it isn’t helping you.
You want a community .. quit hiding in your corp channel. You want fleets .. make them. You want another Freeport .. spearhead the taking of it.
Any player community requires the people that makes it to put in work.
WalterPS: Keep that crap on the forums. That’s what they are here for.
Insights? Feedback? The comment section below is made for them.
UPDATE with a response from PFR CEO Walter Cohen
Re: Open Letter
From: Walter Cohen
To: Phoebe Freeport Republic [PFR], Hona Chaginai
ALLIANCERemove Label
Dear News WriterLet me get the whole alliance in on this one, so I don’t have to repeat it a few times.
One guy having a bad day isn’t a new story. Might want to get some real news … Marciniusz is and always will be a valued member of PFR. Now go away Mr. Paparazzi
Respectfully
Walter “The Beard” Cohen
