The Imperium Abandons the North

Last week the Mittani announced in the now closed fireside chat that the Imperium will be leaving their current home of Saranen. You can find a full recording of the announcement below:

The summary of the announcement was that despite some victories, the line members appetite to take and hold Sovereignty in the North, or more specifically Pure Blind is at an all time low. Additionally attempts to re-take the north at this time with a critical mass of the MBC in such close proximity would be a foolish venture.

So the big announcement was that the Imperium was to leave the North this weekend via an ‘under-goon railroad’ to another location. The Mittani was also confident that the MBC forces will not follow the Imperium as the MBC has been fortifying the north over the last few weeks including the anchoring of two keepstars. Speculation was rife as to possible destinations but early contenders were the south or south west regions of Fountain, Delve or Querious. The entirety of the MBC and nullsec held their breath to see where the Imperium would eventually call home and what sort of ramifications it would have for them.

It was eventually leaked on reddit the day of the move that the Imperium intended to make its way to Sakht in Aridia. It was also revealed the the under-goon railroad was also a string of citadels anchored under a corp called Pershing Cartography [HGWY]. The link was revealed after a [CONDI] citadel being anchored in Eha was named exactly the same as all of the [HGWY] citadels.

The anticipated route of the Imperium withdrawal from the north click image to go to Dotlan for more information

This places them on the doorstep of Delve and in a prime position to take space. The deployment was eventually confirmed via a ping from the Mittani last night:

DELVE 2016 MOTHERFUCKERS

NO ONE INVADES DELVE ON AN EVEN YEAR BUT NOW IT’S TIME TO BREAK THE CYCLE~

~~~ This was a broadcast from the_mittani to all at 2016-07-24 00:29:12.598232 EVE ~~~

Even with the majority of the MBC in the north watching, the Imperium managed to move a large chunk of it’s capital and sub capital fleets almost completely without incident. There were attempts to catch a number of stray super capitals which ultimately ended with only a few near misses. The only casualty of any note was an AFK dreadnought on a citadel falling victim to a Pandemic Horde Hurricane fleet.

What did come as a surprise to some commentators was the appearance of Lowsechnya Sholupen [-LSH-] in the Pureblind Area harassing MBC fleets. A popular rumour was that the Imperium has struck a deal with the legendary capital hunters to guarantee safe passage through the home of [-LSH-], Aridia.

Does this move signal the end of World War Bee? Will members of the MBC follow the Imperium to the south? These are questions yet to be answered, but there is one thing that is sure, the MBC has won in the North, but the Imperium isn’t dead yet.

Posted by Amok. on reddit