Clandestine Operations Part II – The Ordo Imperialis, “Frumentarii”

Stoled from the internets by Caine Constantine 2009.

My boots wandered from the freshly paved cement of New Kiev, Badnarik. I was now concerned  with the Frumentarii. The Intel Section of the Ordo Imperialis.

It was clear from the start that the Ordo did not welcome my queries and were going to stonewall me the whole way through this report;

Any mention of the Frumentarii and suddenly my screen was filled with logs about food from their men.

Daffee Vita: Is that a breakfast cerial?

Blameux Scribe: YOU EATED OUR BUTTER

Intus Infinity: We’ve recently released a new product, cereal with bite-sized bullets. We call it “Froolead”

Ethan Schuman: We have weekly philosophy meetings. The spy thing is just a cover.

The Imperator was quoting Battlestar Galactica to me, enough said.

The Ordo Imperialis were refuting whatever facts I had uncovered during my investigating but also putting me on the KOS list…interesting.

Aryte Vesperia: There’s nothing embarrassing to uncover! But you can play twenty question swith me if you’d like.

Vegna Fouroux: okay well when I’m getting stuff like this so I’m naturally curious ; “The Light Ops sort of look down their noses at the Ordo Intelligence, for a variety of reasons, but mostly because their operatives proudly display their tags above their heads.”

Aryte Vesperia: Because Light Ops doesn’t understand there are overt and covert Frumentarii.

Aryte Vesperia: Overt are Frumentarii officers and public information sources. They handle intelligence briefings, take reports, etc.

Vegna Fouroux: is it official policy to claim the group doesnt exist or is that just a joke?

Aryte Vesperia: It’s a joke.

Aryte Vesperia: The Frumentarii is noted as existing in our handbook.

Vegna Fouroux: but the frumentarii wouldn’t be a highly combative role?

Aryte Vesperia: No, Frumentarii are not combatants typically. Our intelligence branch is not a “special forces” unit. We have Terra alpha units for that.

Myself and Mr. Vesperia continued talking for a while. I had a lot of questions. I had heard from my sources that there were two Sub groups in the Frumentarii; Internus and Externus.

Internus looks after group affairs keeping an eye out for Externus members who might “go native” whilst on a foreign mission and that the current Commander or “Primus” of this group was Tiridates Mikadze.

Externus on the other hand WAS a different story; a foreign intelligence group that gathered all it could on enemy/allied groups or individuals. Having several ranks:

Agentes – Put alts in other militaries (friendly or allied), gather information (rank no long exists, externus was terminated)

Areani – Officers, Frumentarii armor and tag, based around Titan and sorts the information and attempts to get alts into officer positions of enemy armies (rank no longer exists, externus was terminated)

Validus – Sits on titan, watches and waits

Primus – the commander rank

However Aryte assured me that this second group; Externus never existed, though on a light note he very much wished it did.

Another source of mine was an ex-Frumentarii Areani and he maintained that Externus existed (unsure of its current status, perhaps the two sub groups have merged? ) and gave me this notecard (which the Ordo state is utterly fake) to prove it;

Ordo Imperialis Internal Document

<<<]——————————————————————————————————-[>>>

From the desk of:  Tiridates Mikadze, Primus Internus

=======================================================

Classification:  W                               Special: None

=======================================================

TOPIC: Scope, Purpose, and Powers allowed to and implied to the Frumentarii

=======================================================

Attached notecards:  None

=======================================================

=======================================================

PURPOSE OF THE FRUMENTARII ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

=======================================================

PURPOSE OF THE FRUMENTARII (Internal):

1)To investigate, report on, and classify any occurences of Treason(a), Sabotage,(b) or other Hostile Actions of Subterfuge(c) taking place within the Ordo Imperialis and it's subsidiary  groups.

(a) Treason is to be classified as any acts or intentions  that are intended to betray the Ordo Imperialis to it's enemies  or other hostile orgainzations ||| Betray's the trust of the Imperator or the Ordo Imperialis itself ||| Is intended to damage or destroy the trust of the Imperator or the Ordo Imperialis  in any individual, organization, or group that is not hostile or allied.

(b)Sabotage is to be classified as any acts or intentions that are intended by design to hinder, alter, or otherwise interfere with the functioning or plans of the Imperator or the Ordo Imperialis. This includes spreading of misinformation, creating drama or strife within the ranks,  hindering defensive or offensive military actions, or inciting anyone to do the same.

(c)Hostile Actions of Subterfuge are to encompass any unforseen or unspecified actions that have escaped current classification at this time, generally, those that lead up to the prior two classifications.

2)To investigate, report on, and classify any efforts, intentional or otherwise, at destabilizing, damaging, or slandering the Ordo Imperialis, it's subsidiary groups, and it's constituent members.

3)To provide Organizational assements and advice, as well as to monitor and promote the health and growth of the gestalt entity that is the Ordo Imperialis and it's subsidiary groups, and to foster an environement that is healthy and safe for the Members of the Ordo Imperialis.

4) To obey without question or hesitation all orders made by the Imperator.

=======================================================

PURPOSE OF THE FRUMENTARII, EXTERNAL ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

=======================================================

PURPOSE OF THE FRUMENTARII (External):

1)To investigate the activities, plans, and  structure  of external organizations, Hostile, Allied, or Neutral, and their subsidiary groups.

2)To investigate the activites, plans, and behavior of external individuals, Hostile, Allied, or Neutral, and their associates.

3)To hinder, damage, or destroy external organizations, by targeting their plans,  activities, structure, or individuals, for Hostile or Neutral groups, from within or without.

4) To obey without question or hesitation all orders made by the Imperator.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

My informant told me that in simple terms; The Praetorians are the Imperator''s shield and the Frumentarii his sword.

However he did say that "All praetorians are also frumentarii, but they have the choice not to participate in frumentarii affairs"

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Something that interested me in particular was the role of the alleged Externus sub-group. Why would their operatives bother inserting themselves into an allied group? Their motives don't seem to adhere to the Iron Symphony Doctrine at all. My gut told that perhaps Aryte was telling the truth and Externus simply does not exist [ Or it's only recently disbanded as a public announcement on the Ordo forums would suggest] but  the alternative had to be explored.

My informant tried to answer my questions on Externus as best he could, apparently the reason Externus use old, unused alts to get into friendly groups such as the Merczateers is simply to give their alt a backstory;

A frumentarii alt would log on and maybe head to New Jessie for example, here active recruiters from Mercz or MC such as Takkun Gray or Tuomy Boa would pick them up.

They would eventually try and gain a respectable rank in the Merczateers and move on into enemy groups from there, if any questions were asked about how the knew certain things, or why they hadn’t been seen before in the combat community; They had their history with the Merczateers or Militant Collective as a cover story. A big safegaurd against becoming detected basically. The Iron Symphony was according to my source, a tool out of which the frumentarii could benefit immensely. And the rest of the Iron Symphony also because hey, you get a great soldier for a while right?

Takkun Gray, a former light ops claims that the LO were wise to this operation and simply did not care as the Merczateer policy on alts is not strict.

So there I was; I trusted my informant and believed him when he said that Externus had existed but still the fact that Aryte denied it had to mean something also.

Why were the frumentarii so hard to get information on?

If you log onto the Ordo Imperialis website on one of the tabs on the list you might catch sight of a “Frumentarii” Tab. Don’t bother trying by the by. It’s their online forum and the only place frumentarii business is discussed. The only other frumentarii medium appear to be notecards.

The most your average enlisted in the ordo imperialis knows is this;

The Ordo Imperialis

Special Service Divisions in Brief

INTERNAL – NOT FOR VIEWING OUTSIDE OF THE ORDO IMPE RIALIS – INTERNAL

———————————-Extend to this length————————————->

o) The Frumentarii: the Ordo Imperialis’s intelligence and counter intelligence branch. By rule of thumb, a very select few of the Frumentarii are even publically known–the majority of the divisions are clandestine agents, working for the better of the group under cloak. Frumentarii are considered “rankless” in order to provide them the ability to operate secretly, without influence of other officers. The Frumentarii are not expected to utilize any command power during a day to day basis. Their leader, however, the Primus reserves status as a Council Member and may exercise command powers over the military. This provides the Frumentarii the ability to request assistance, or in some cases, demand assistance from the military during investigations or operations.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

From viewing all this one might think that the Frumentarii runs like a well oiled machine, efficiently striking down anything they deem as a threat whilst working as a team.

Again not so;

The minimum requirement to join their ranks is that you have been in the Ordo Imperialis for one year. After that has passed, you are unknowningly watched and monitored, showing any interest of joining automatically rules you out. If you are deemed suitable you log on one day with an IM for the/a Primus with your forum account and password and informing you that you are now a member.

As regards to the current Frumentarii I was passed this notecard:

PRIMUS

1 – Intus Infinity (Praetorian, 0-3 Externus)

2 – Tiridates Mikadze (O-3, Internus)

3 – Aelus Janus (ex-Praetorian, O-3 Externus)

4 – Agares Tretiak (Praetorian, O-3 Externus)

5 – Kytec Switchblade (Frumentarii Praefectus)

Notes:

Agares and Tiridates are twins, and share all information. Anything said to one will be known by the other as well as they are prone to logging on as eachother for some strange reason (Tiridates will make announcements using Agare’s account during meetings, for example.)

Intus and Aelus are twins aswell, and share a dorm room in college. Same rules apply as above. Treat as the same person.

*ALL PRAETORIANS ARE PART OF THE FRUMENTARII AS THEIR JOB IS TO BE THE EYES, EARS AND BLADE OF THE IMPERATOR.

All people listed in this notecard should be regarded as COMPLETELY UNTRUSTWORTHY as their job, rank, and loyalty to Aryte far surpasses their friendship to you. The frumentarii is based off betrayal, waiting for others to slip up and exposing them to improve your own status within the group.

VALIDUS

1. Lestat Umarov (Terra O-2, Internus)

2. Trinity Heckroth (Astra W-1, Internus)

3. Karlhockey Forte (Praetorian, Externus) – Resigned/Transfered to Internus (Trustworthy)

4. Nivanglus Aya (Astra W-1, Externus) – Resigned/Transfered to Internus (Questionable)

5. Kristian Kit (Astra O-2, Externus Areani, Internus Validus, Schola Headmaster)

6. Trevor Russell (Navis E-2, Internus Validus, Ex-Areani and second in command of Internus)

7. Cyphre Iredell (Terra O-2, Internus)

Resigned:

Dagger Exonar

Arch Graves

Eazy101

Console Mission

Note: In no way can this notecard be confirmed, it may be right or utterly incorrect. This reporter can however confirm that the operative known as Nivanglus Aya was disgraced at some period in her Ordo career Perhaps after shooting me and the rest of the Merczateer Checkpont force whilst in salamis on a friendly visit? And the fact that she would resign or be deemed questionable in this notecard makes sense.

At any rate this does pose an interesting question:

Trinity Heckroth? A former Alliance Navy Admiral in the Frumentarii?

I tried a direct approach, I knew my informant had told me Trinity was Frumentarii because she dumped

EVERYTHING she had on the Alliance Navy onto Ordo when she joined and was invited into the Frumentarii far earlier than usual. Now, whilst my source  might be unreliable according to Ordo he had more or less led me along the right path thusfar, so I dived right in;

Vegna Fouroux: you were inducted on your second day. you have a forum account. you are internus. You are validus.

Trinity Heckroth: haha I was not inducted my second day.

Vegna Fouroux: Third? 4th? it matters little.

Trinity Heckroth: Sorry, Frumentarii tells me to tell you that dagger/keira/surreal can hardly be called ‘reliable’ on frumentarii matters, and to cease communications after said message.

Vegna Fouroux: Was it easy giving ordo the goods on AN?

Trinity Heckroth: Goodbye, vegna.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

So what are the Frumentarii responsible for?

Well do you remember when Christoph stepped down for “real life reasons?” and Vanguard Armed Forces fell apart?

The one thing both Aryte and my informant didn’t differ on in information was this;

Aryte put the message out to the Frumentarii that he wanted Vanguard hurt. BADLY. This led to an Operation (known as Razor’s Edge) by the Frumentarii to get all of the VG command staff to leave in unison.

Sure enough Tangent and Zrazor and others were in the Ordo Imperialis soon after and today have thriving careers (oddly enough Zrazor was in Chaos Imperialis, a group banned in all ordo-related sims, and was KOS’d even before that after his “Operation Almost Too Easy”). Of course Christoph claimed the VG collapse had nothing to do with “Certain people leaving” but I think I’d trust even the Frumentarii over Christoph.

Operation Razor's Edge: Aryte meeting the Vanguard Command Staff on his island after their defection

Now whilst Aryte personally didn’t go into so much detail to me he did say that Ordo definetly had an action to dismantle Vanguard.

So the Frumentarii are responsible for the collapse of one of the most abhorrent forces on the Second Life Grid. Hereos or Villains?

Now I know it may sound like this article disapproves of the frumentarii, but here’s some information they once passed on in the spirit of good will to the Merczateers:

Supposed Spy

The Ordo Imperialis

03 November 2008

To: Lurdan Huszar, Anthony Lehane

CLASSIFIED

<——————————————————-[Extend to this length]———————————————————->

Greetings, I have some intel that may interest you. It’s valid, straight from one of ours. Please review.

QUOTE (“Classified Agent”)

“timbo Blachere” is spying on the Mercz(? He is a Mercz enlisted, but tipped off a impending MC attack) for the Spartans with the promise of a higher position within the enemy’s faction.

He went to Second Chance and reported to Ivy that there was an impending attack, I caught these bits in local.

(Local)

[14:37] timbo Blachere: but if they do come..

[14:37] Ivy Contepomi: If they come, Im ejecting your punk ass and making you reenter through the hub :)

[14:37] LordBob Boa: Spread out guys

[14:38] timbo Blachere: uh

[14:38] timbo Blachere: uh..

[14:38] timbo Blachere: I LOVE YOU BOB

(2142 group chat)

[14:39] LordBob Boa: prepare to defend Sparta, spy tipped us off.

[14:39] dave3 Howley: Yes sir.

Timbo then started panicking and trying to run to the spawn, as if worried that they’d start showing up and see him meeting with Lordbob and Ivy and surrounded by AN and 2142.

Screenshots:

http://www.ordoimperialis.com/img/01.png

http://www.ordoimperialis.com/img/02.png

URLs have been changed.

Sincerely,

∞

Intus Infinity [O-3 LEGATES]

The Ordo Imperialis

Office of the Frumentarii Primus Externus

<——————————————————-[Extend to this length]———————————————————->

End of document.
So perhaps the Frumentarii are not a sinister organisation, ready to swoop down and destroy all. Merely clandestine beings doing that they think is best, serving their military and their leaders in a loyal fashion enviable by all.

On the other hand, the group is also apparently, from what may be official sources based on a business of betrayal, espionage and subterfuge on allies, and even the destruction of other groups in the belief that serving one man is higher than any loyalty to friends.

So what is the group then truly about, and is it to be trusted or feared?

You decide.

- Vegna Fouroux

For Clandestine Operations Part III, the Journal will be investigating the Cleric Archministry of the Echelon Union. Stay tuned and keep it moist.

Swords of the skies [Part Three]

Part three of Duckky Darwin’s investigation into military aircraft.

Well here I am again and things have gone a lot smoother this time around. (yay for no catastrophic mishaps.) If you remember from the last episode of Masterpiece Thea…I mean this series – I had left Titan and Ruin Nefarious on my continued quest to bother people so I can drool over their stuff. After giving up and going to bed, waking up and puttering around for a while, I found myself checking up on an old friend in ‘Mountain’, home of Raven’s Raiders, of course after bumping into Raven Isan the leader, I had the bright idea of asking for an interview (cause I’m smart like that). After being ushered into the base and into the launch bay thingy, I was granted my (occasionally off topic) interview.

An F-35 in flight.

[6:35] Duckky Darwin: So V1n Diesel is the guy who made them right

[6:36] Raven Isan: Yes

[6:36] Raven Isan: The fighter jets you have seen are all made by V1n Diesel

[6:36] Raven Isan: V1n is one of the three RRAF Engineers

[6:37] Raven Isan: All three make aircraft for the RRAF amongst other things

[6:37] Duckky Darwin: i see

[6:37] Raven Isan: LIke weapons, Uniforms, gear, deployment vehicles

[6:39] Raven Isan: Brigadeir General Sanchez Delpiaz also made the F14 and most of the weapons, gear and most of the base building here.

[6:39] Duckky Darwin: i havent taken a good look yet but so far i like the latest base build

[6:40] Raven Isan: Also much credit goes to Brigadier General Blabla2 Eponym for building and co-authoring the NCR which is the Natural Combat Rules which we and three other armies follow atm.

[6:40] Duckky Darwin: who are the other 3?

[6:42] Raven Isan: YEs, CSL(Disbanded), the RR, a new army named DTK and the 10th.. ( the 10th has used the NCR but has erased all traces of Blabla2 Eponym and my authorship inside the document.

[6:43] Duckky Darwin: ahh i see

[6:44] Raven Isan: But they still call it the NCR… and as far as I care as long as armies are following natural combat rules it doesn’t really matter if I get credit for writing it.

[6:43] Duckky Darwin: getting back track (i was curious ^.^) what are the capabilities of the aircraft?

[6:45] Raven Isan: Let me refer you to V1n Diesel for the technical details regarding our fighters

[6:45] Duckky Darwin: oh ok

[6:46] Duckky Darwin: before that is there anything you would like the public to know about your air force or aricraft usage or things of that nature

[6:46] Raven Isan: Okay…

[6:47] Raven Isan: For one thing we do not attack ground forces with aircraft unless we are seriously out numbered or the invading forces are using heavy artillery , rockets and the sort.

[6:48] Duckky Darwin: understandable, thats a growing trend

[6:48] Raven Isan: We deploy support aircraft against this and of course against other attacking aircraft

[6:49] Raven Isan: We have 10 different types of working aircraft which include fighter jets, dropships and a large Frigate. [6:51] Raven Isan: Our original F 14 is too nasty to turn loose on our “Customers”

[6:51] Raven Isan: Customers is what we call our attackers

[6:51] Duckky Darwin nods [6:51] Raven Isan: And this reflects our attitude towards them

[6:52] Duckky Darwin: I’ve heard members of SCS use that term for attackers before as well

[6:52] Raven Isan: for respect, decent treatment and the hope that they will enjoy their combat here, spread the word and return with friends :)

[6:53] Raven Isan: In return we expect the same back, fair play and respect. My attention was then directed to V1n Diesel who up to that point had been content to play around with his guns chat commands, making his immeasurably harder to edit (seemed like a nice guy though lol )

[6:57] Duckky Darwin: well i just wanted to know what the capabilities are on the b-2 and f-35 and any other info you might want to share on their construction [6:57] V1n Diesel: they all have at this moment standard avionics ,

[6:58] V1n Diesel: 3 cannons , which multiple spread of fire for area effect,

[6:58] V1n Diesel: 2 bomb storages,

[7:00] V1n Diesel: 2 rocket storages ,

[7:00] V1n Diesel: and 2 missile storages

[6:59] Duckky Darwin: whats the blast radius? [7:00] V1n Diesel: each weapon has its own blast area,

[7:01] V1n Diesel: regarding the effect on the terrain , i keep it closed

[7:01] Duckky Darwin: are the missiles guided?

[7:01] V1n Diesel: but i can tell its can be between 5-25, depending on the combat field

[7:02] Raven Isan: May I also add none of our aircraft do not have damage degradable shields or cloaking like some of the aircraft and armored tanks we have encountered other armies using lately.

[7:02] V1n Diesel: the missiles are homing,

[7:02] V1n Diesel: but our planes have no shields what so ever

[7:02] V1n Diesel: we are strict on that matter

[7:03] Raven Isan: Shielding aircraft and armored vehicles seems to be a trend lately, but a shield is a shield I say.

[7:03] Duckky Darwin: mhmm

[7:03] V1n Diesel: right u are ,

[7:04] Raven Isan: Even if it is degradable damage

[7:04] Raven Isan: Like it can take 20 hits before killing the operator

[7:04] Raven Isan: or pilot

[7:04] Duckky Darwin: I don’t mind reasonable degradable damage on like say a big slow tank

[7:05] Duckky Darwin: but its silly on anything small

[7:05] Raven Isan: It makes more sense on a large tank because one bullet cannot take a tank out.

[7:06] V1n Diesel: any type of shielding makes the operator of the vehicle invincible for some time until it fades off,

[7:06] V1n Diesel: what makes that operator for that time during ,

[7:06] V1n Diesel: a really killer ,

[7:06] V1n Diesel: which he isn’t

[7:06] V1n Diesel: if it was without shields

[7:06] Raven Isan: And this might be over looked at the discretion of the CO in charge of the battle at that time… as long as the tank is not shooting shells that exceed a 10m blast radius

[7:07] Raven Isan: See there you have the other side of the shielded tank argument

[7:08] Raven Isan: I have to draw the line at no shields as the NCR dictates

[7:08] Duckky Darwin: 10m seems like the max reasonable radius for a multiple firing cannon

[7:08] frokos Baxton: Others have 32m

[7:08] frokos Baxton: Like the 39th I think.

[7:09] Raven Isan: Because one… it is hard to tell how much damage protection a tank actually has

[7:09] Raven Isan: lol… The 39th

[7:09] Raven Isan: YEs they do whatever they please

[7:10] Raven Isan: The 39th are not an army who gives a lot of respect to others.

[7:10] V1n Diesel: using superjump

[7:10] Duckky Darwin: again getting back on track lol, anything else you guys want the public to know about the planes?

[7:11] Raven Isan: We are constantly working on them to improve performance, agility and weapons

[7:11] Raven Isan: Look like we getting busy out there :)

[7:11] Duckky Darwin: seems that way

[7:12] Raven Isan: We try and make everything we can ourselves

[7:12] Duckky Darwin: well I think I have enough unless you want to add anything

[7:12] Raven Isan: Create from within

[7:12] Raven Isan: Please read my Mission statement

[7:12] Raven Isan: when you have time

[7:12] Duckky Darwin: I will

Raven, in his hangar.

The march of time continues a week or so and I find myself in Second Chance chasing down an entirely different story when I bump into Bruno whom I had been trying to get in touch with for a while. (I was beginning to wonder if we weren’t allowed to be on SL at the same time.) He seemed very eager to assist me and referred me to his top Air officer RoudyRaccoon Hand who was also very helpful.

Sparta’s basic fighter, the Chimera

[16:29] RoudyRaccoon Hand: Heya

[16:29] Duckky Darwin: never seen most of these

[16:29] RoudyRaccoon Hand: nope :D

[16:29] Duckky Darwin: none up close

[16:29] RoudyRaccoon Hand: the cerb is the old guy

[16:30] Duckky Darwin: whats the main fighter?

[16:30] RoudyRaccoon Hand: the basic fighter is the Chimera

[16:30] RoudyRaccoon Hand: this guy

[16:30] RoudyRaccoon Hand: still in her beta stages at the moment

[16:32] Duckky Darwin: who makes most of your aircraft?

[16:33] RoudyRaccoon Hand: It’s really a mix of 3 people who have made our aircraft

[16:33] RoudyRaccoon Hand: Bruno himself

[16:33] RoudyRaccoon Hand: Tig, a now ex-spartan

[16:33] RoudyRaccoon Hand: Razgriz Makarov is our current aircraft model developer

[16:34] Duckky Darwin: Do you know if there is any particular design philosophy behind them?

[16:35] RoudyRaccoon Hand: they’re supposed to be geared to a futuristic greek design

[16:38] Duckky Darwin: so what are thier capabilities?

[16:39] RoudyRaccoon Hand: the cerberus is the advanced fighter

[16:39] Duckky Darwin nods

[16:39] RoudyRaccoon Hand: capable of full flight dynamics, loops, rolls…etc

[16:40] RoudyRaccoon Hand: the basic fighter is limited to normal SL mouselook limits

[16:40] Duckky Darwin: i see

[16:40] Duckky Darwin stabs SecondLife™’s mouselook limits

[16:40] RoudyRaccoon Hand: lol

[16:40] Duckky Darwin: weaponry?

[16:41] RoudyRaccoon Hand: cerberus has the main cannon, dumbfire plasma rockets and high velocity air to ground plasma bombs

[16:42] RoudyRaccoon Hand: the basic fighter is just the main cannon and a proximity rocket for tight air to air situations

[16:43] Duckky Darwin: any consideratopn for MCAS or things of that nature?

[16:45] RoudyRaccoon Hand: The Cerberus was slightly based around it as for weapons specifications, as the MCAS came around when I was developing the new Cerberus guns

[16:45] RoudyRaccoon Hand: was also allowed by MCAS for flight capabilities

[16:46] Duckky Darwin: ahh i see

[16:47] Duckky Darwin: well a more personall question, who do you think the biggest challange in the air is?

[16:48] RoudyRaccoon Hand: thats a hard choice to make, I’ve always based hardness on the skill of the pilot mixing with the abilities of his/her aircraft

[16:49] RoudyRaccoon Hand: as for an accual answer…it would be the mercz uriel (attachment one)

[16:50] Duckky Darwin: (ive only seen the thing once and it looks sweet) [16:50] RoudyRaccoon Hand: it’s hard as hell to kill

[16:51] Duckky Darwin: reminds me ive still got to get in touch with them for these articles

[16:51] Duckky Darwin: anyways

[16:51] Duckky Darwin: anything else you want people to know about?

[16:51] RoudyRaccoon Hand: isn’t much more to tell

[16:52] Duckky Darwin: well thank you for your time then ^.^

[16:52] RoudyRaccoon Hand: np :D

[16:52] Duckky Darwin: look for the article in a few days

[16:52] RoudyRaccoon Hand: will do

RoudyRaccoon and the Cerberus

So here was this fairly long article. I hope you enjoyed it. Next up in part 4 is my first bit on a commercial fighter and an interview with *gasp* another military’s Air Commander.

Duckky Darwin

Militant Collective, Infantry Corp.

Jessie Journal Reporter

Clandestine Operations Part I – Merczateers’ ‘Light Ops’

This is the first of a two part series about clandestine intelligence networks within the Second Life military community, and our first installment will focus around the Light Ops within the Merczateer Tactical Forces.

My quest for answers on Light Operations and their agents was not going to be easy, because according to one former member:

“1000 LO POINTS IF YOU FIND ALL THE ACTIVE LO
MANY HAVE TRIED, YOU WILL FAIL”

Light Operations is today the elite intelligence section of the of the Merczateers. Some of their most notable actions in modern times include the sting operation conducted on the “Elite Armed Forces” group when they received word their leader was selling copybotted Operations goods. The E.A.F were subsequently booted from the Iron Symphony.

Light Operations was founded over 2 years ago and was according to Marshal Anthony Lehane:

“For essentially the best combatants in the Mercz, so I could organize them in one division and use them for specific purposes. Intel on a passive basis was unheard of considering no military really wanted to understand the other, they just wanted better ways to kill them. Light Ops found many uses while it was a combat division, for example in one raid on Dorien we sent four Light Ops who penetrated their base, and while the AN were trying to remove them from their base, we sent in a regular attack force from the hub, so we sandwiched them.”

The first Light Operatives were Bean Emoto, Dark Sleeper (now Svenska), Proteus Hand, Kristian Kit, Fat Pow and Firebazooka Hax under the command of Anthony Lehane who leads the Light Ops personally to this day. [It should be noted that all these Operative went on to fill high ranking roles within the Merczateers and play an important part in the community today].

According to Marshal Lehane the six initial trainees underwent specialist training. An extract from the first handbook reads:

—-Pocketbook to SL Stealth—-
Everything you need to know

By: Super Penguin and Anthony Lehane

Part One
———
Understanding SL stealth

Stealth can be easy, or hard, depending with WHO you are dealing with. Of course, there are those people who look at their radar every 5 seconds, and if they see a little green dot, they use ALT to check it out. Then there are those guys who just stand around spewing the info you need, without a care of who may be watching. Of course, you’ll want these guys but that’s not always the case, so that’s why we’ve written this book, the Pocketbook to SL Stealth.

The handbook goes on to describe how one should approach wall, doorways buildings, what to do if one’s cover is blown and so on. It sounds extremely basic but the reader should keep in mind that this was a time when Air Divisions/HUDs and the cool stuff so to speak that many militaries nowadays consider standard armory items were all but unheard of in the early days.

Our story splits into two arcs here:

The official statement given to me by Marshal Lehane is that sometime last spring, the Light Operations Division ceased its function primarily as a combat forced and diverged into different sub-sections; Foreign Ops or Intel Ops and the original Combat Ops.

Foreign Ops were responsible for a letter which was sent around to Sparta members last year which was aimed at disillusioned members within the group and encouraged them to defect and join with the Iron Symphony. The letter was somewhat a success, as 5 Spartans left a short time after its release, including this reporter:

“If you want further information on Bruno’s past issues you need look no further than Vegna Fouroux, Sera Otoro, Apone Moller, and others not mentioned here.”

And nowadays since the Iron Symphony are no longer in the business of trying to topple those they perceive to be tyrants, Foreign Ops is no longer functional and works primarily as an intel organisation which “pumps out more group notices daily than the main Merczateer group so yes, we are very busy.”

Our second arc to the Light Operations is in a very different light:

According to one former member the Light Operations ceased its combat function so long ago that it was: “PRE-REDSTAR”

Redstar – A name associated with a more turbulent time within the Merczateers. A time of revolution, of spies, of tribunals and executions. What was Red star? It was possibly the name given to an internal spy group set up by former general Ethan Schuman to root out undesirables within the ranks of the Merczateers.

Opinions differ to this day about Red Star, according to Marshal Lehane:

“Red Star was only a plan, Schuman never actually went through with it. However people are still paranoid of these “Red Stars” to this day. Mmmm.  Now the only thing you can find at our base relevant to that name are our energy drinks.”

However 2 former members of Light Operations who wish to remain anonymous claim that there was in fact a spy ring within the Merczateers. But remained silent as to their part in it. Except that “They had nothing to do with the destruction of “The Hand of Proteus.”

Hand Of Proteus?  More internal groups?

According to another semi-reliable source The Hand of Proteus was a support group for General Proteus Hand (and Light Operative) which propagated the injustices of General Ethan Schuman and his Red Star.

A notecard sent out by the former-General titled “The Last Transmission of Proteus Hand” speaks of Red Star;

“Ethan has established a clandestine organization, within the Merczateers, similar to Stalin’s KGB, and the Ordo Frumentaril, called “The Red Star”…. which will be used to spy not only on enemy organizations, but more exclusively, Merczateers. “

Some more helpful advice given to me on Red Star was:

“But hey, those Ordo guys they think they know A LOT about Red Star”

However in his interview Marshal Lehane continued to dismiss this:

“That’s entirely false. Light Ops was good enough at the time.”

“Uildiar Kuhn invited me and Lurdan to that group, and me and Lurdan laughed our asses off all night reading the notices that were speculating over possible Red Star members and activities.  Then Proteus got “executed” for conspiracy (They said they were going to execute him in another sim in the dropship, they actually just dropped him off, so if you want to be tacky, we never executed Proteus) and now he’s a  Mercz Officer, so.”

So either at some point the Light Operations sided with one general and Red Star sided with another. Or the latter never existed and it is simply a widely spread Merczateer myth. Again you decide but this reporter would have to take Anthony’s word for it.

“There are always things we need to be watching out for. Spies, copybotters, people slandering the group, information on enemy technologies, etc.  For example, I was in SCS’s sim the other day, and spotted a known copybotter hanging around outside their gate with a couple of his friends. So i’d sent a notice to make the LO aware that this specific person is sniffing around IS bases again and to keep an eye out. Of course I just estate banned the known copybotter on the spot but you can never be too careful, and communication is everything,” he said.

It is a bit of an in-joke within the Merczateers that whenever the subject of Light Operations is brought up everyone dismisses the notion with “Doesn’t Exist.” or whenever a great feat of combat prowess is performed it is common place to see veterans shouting;

” LO SON LO”

THINK YOU’RE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE A LIGHT OPERATIVE?

Marshall Lehane gives the journal some advice:

“At the moment we only have approximately five active Light Ops not including myself and Lurdan.
I personally invite people I see fit for duty in Light Ops. They need to be dedicated to the group and the values of the IS. (Most LO are 1+ year veterans) they need to be very aware of the political climate, as well as noteable people and groups in the community. You need to know what’s going on to figure out what’s going on”

As for the Light Operations dealings with other intel groups:

“When Ordo Frumentarii approach me I help them to the best of my ability, however when they approach other operatives its entirely up to that person whether or not they want to share the information or not.”

So there it is folks and remember:

“The Tooth Fairy isn’t real, but the Light Op spying on you right now is. “

Sources:

=2 Former Light Operatives

=Light Operative Command and Merczateer Marshall Anthony Lehane.

=Light Operative early Stealth Manual.

=Last Transmission of Proteus Hand

P.S. URGENT: The next part of this intel series will focus on the Ordo Frumentarii, and so far I have little or no information on them any notecards/IMs that you have on the group would be a massive help.  According to my sources in the group, the Ordo have instructed their members not to answer my questions.  Hopefully we can get more information from some in-depth discussions with the Frumentarii before publishing our piece with all of the information we have to-date.

-Vegna Fouroux

[Review] Carter ‘Cobalt’ Grenade HUD

Review by Annie Naidoo.

The Carter “Cobalt” Grenade Hud is a new simple and effective grenade deployment HUD that hit the market earlier today.  At only 350L$, the creators have really done a good job on adopting a fair price scheme, and boy it is worth every single linden! In total,  there are three types of grenade to choose from; flash, smoke and frag – each with unique features.  The timing and command channels are easily adjustable through menu and chat commands, which makes it uber-easy under the heat of battle to switch throwing power, explode time, and even reload time – with presets for STABLE and New Jessie recharge times.  As I have tested, the grenades and HUD even work well in high lag situations, due to the elegance of the scripting, and simplicity approach to not piling endless useless features inside.

Complete with adjustable throw power, this HUD turns me into a killing machine! I really enjoyed throwing the smoke grenades into the road on New Jessie for cover, then throwing a frag or two in the windows to hear them smash, or across rooftops.
Another great feature of the system is the optional warning HUD, that emits a loud tone when another Cobalt users grenade comes within 10m of your person. This can be evidently extremely useful in New Jessie – so I can dodge out of the way in time!
The minor downside of the system is the textures of the frag grenade – which are not particularly spectacular, however that is a minor downside to all the wonderful features this HUD comes with.

“Woah. Just woah. This HUD is great – purely because people in the combat community can actually use it! I’ve had lots of fun attacking bases with this – just great.” – Christopher Compton (Military Builder)

I really do recommend this product – if you’re looking for simplicity and effective deployment of grenades with super effects; be it smoke for cover, flash for distraction, or frag for the kills – the Carter Cobalt system has it all. For only 350L$!

You can pick up a copy at the Vendor in New Jessie, or at the main store, click the link below for the SLurl.

[Carter] Main Store

Click this link to view the product on XStreet SL.

Chthonic Syndicate open for assault.

Chthonic Syndicate, for those who’ve attempted to attack, closed Area 31 last week, to move to a new full 15,000 prim sim, that the the development team have been working on for the past week or two. Now, with the base only missing a few minor details, CS are back on track and are now open for attack at their new sim of N Crystal Springs.

The sim, to be aptly renamed to Thorium in the coming weeks, still retains the overtones of blue glow, that CS can never have too much of. While following the theme of mining for crystals, as Area 31 did, CS’s new base promises to be a different combat experience, with much more cover and terraforming, to create more routes into the base.

With a base objective being installed in the coming weeks, CS have really done a great job on the base. CS have also included lots of features put in just for fun, such as the Indiana Jones tune playing when the boulder rolls down the tunnel in the north-west!

We’ll post another story when the name is changed, but in the meantime, we can all enjoy mass CS assaults without the tremendous lag, which was a problem for many at the less than suitible Area 31.

With their base open, CS will be continuing the usual assaults on other factions, so watch out!

What do you think?

The goals of Chaos.

Submitted by Dark Svenska

———————————
Recording date unknown..
Region: Volsk…
Region Status: Tainted by warp energies..
Message received.
Transmitting..
———————————-

Greetings all of the weak minded individuals of the military community and the much talked about filth of the Iron Symphony. I am Dark Svenska, Dominus war host of Chaos. I have come today before you to offer a sermon of both lies and truths. Many of you have thought inside of your head exactly what my purpose and what the purpose of Chaos is.. Well allow me to clear some things up for your weak souls.

The lot of you all have come to think Chaos is just a group that trolls The Ordo Imperialis. But you are wrong. Chaos feels a burning hostility to all militarys who are not worthy to be apart of this community but most importantly, members of The Iron Symphony. They have turned our sweet community into a disney game your 5 year old little brother would play.. They have also opressed smaller militarys in their organization of their free will accuseing friends of friends of copybotting and harm to the group until they are ejected on false accusations. They know nothing of what comrade means and looking out for your fellow brother in arms. For example the incident of Dezno Parx,Dante, and other members of Echelon Union. The Dominatium have experianced these torments and acted just in time, fortunatly for them.

But let me get to the point my dear readers..

Chaos seeks out to eradicate the weak and the unworthy from the military community. Fair combat is no longer fair and a new doctrine must be implaced. A doctrine of fun for all in combat under reasonable rules. We have been gifted by the dark gods of the warp a gift of hatred and bloodlust. It sleeps in all militarys in every member and when it awakens they come to join the ranks of the damned in search of power. Some groups already fear for their hides because of the people defecting to Chaos. We will use our hatred to acheive victory above all, not even the unjust commanders who ban militarys with such stupidity cannot hide behind their walls. Because everywhere they go we will meet them on the battlefield and we will destroy them and when there is no one to combat. We will do organised RP assaults of RP supported SIMs with combat meters as long as there is blood to be spilled. Chaos is a community that supports fun,combat,aspects of RP and most of all we are not just a group. We are fammily. Not even spys will harm us, because we do not fear any accusation or threat. We laugh at death and we laugh at those who cannot provide us a proper fight.

Let the community know this message of woe and doom. The weak must be exterminated! Only the strong will survive and only the strong will be supported by our forces.

Though we may be loseing Volsk we will make use of the situation then corrupt a new home to raise our dark rituals.

Long live the dark gods and any who are deemed worthy of their alliegance!

————————
End Transmission..
Signal lost..
———————–

Well, what’s your response?!

CSL Dead?

Epic bodybuilder, seducer of many women, and rich French person JeanCyril Wise has decided to pull the plug on CSL, according to a log he has left in the comments section of a previous Journal article:

————————————————————————————

“Of Course this fake website is aware of nothing.

I hereby inform those who don’t know yet even reading this supposed SL Combat News Journal, aware of nothing on time;

That CSL, as you know it before, is disbanned.

Everybody knows it apart the jessie war journal, what a shame. Even Bruno Ziskey openned one eye and the information got straight to his brain.We are still expecting confirmation from Grennpeance .org that it understood the info fully.

It doesn’t mean that I will stop to bully your ass.

You desserve it so much that nobody could refuse such an invitation.

Cya Soon.”

————————————————————————————

Stopping by CSL’s sim of Meydstow to see if the base still existed, I was greeted with an empty sim for sale for around L$500,000 by the CSL Land Group.  I checked out Jean’s profile as well:

Say it ain't so!

So CSL now appears to be dead.  With this great pillar of combat in Second Life now apparently gone, how will we stagger on forward as a community?

Day by day…we just gotta do our best to get by day by day.

The Jessie War Journal will keep you up on the situation as it unfolds.  In the meantime, now that CSL is apparently dead, what are your fondest, angriest, or funniest memories of the former group?  Please leave your thoughts and comments on this brief obituary to this group and its leader.

-Caine Constantine

Sparta Hosting a Party for SL Combat

Combat has changed a lot in the last few months – take a couple hours off and enjoy the company of your allies and enemies alike.

The Spartan Military, located at Second Chance, is extending an invitation to the SL Combat community at large to visit, party, dance, and play at a get-together this Thursday, February 19th, from 2pm SLT to 5pm SLT.

Damage will be shut off, and we kindly ask you to remove any unneeded scripted objects or weaponry that could cause lag.

Hope to see you there ;)

IM Ivy Contepomi or RoudyRaccoon Hand with any questions.

The Iron Symphony – A Complete Doctrine

In this piece by Merczateer Marshals Anthony Lehane and Lurdan Huszar, the structure of what is essentially the only large alliance left in Second Life combat – the Iron Symphony – is fleshed out for the public to see.

The alliance – now essentially the only large one left in Second Life, aside from the smaller Commonwealth and a couple of others – once had competitors in the Ascendant Initiative and Sovereign Regime, but both of those groups have disappeared.

Here now is the word from the founders themselves.

————————————————————————————————————-

The Iron Symphony Doctrine
By Anthony Lehane & Lurdan Huszar

Contents:

A. Introduction
B. Fairness & Regulation
C. Consideration & Respect
D. Golden Rule & House Rules
E. Iron Symphony Guidelines & Notes
F.  Iron Symphony Oath
G. Members of the Iron Symphony & Contact Info

————————————————————————————————————-
A. Introduction

[Begin required recruit reading]

The Iron Symphony is a collection of Second Life military groups that share similar views as to how combat in Second Life should be conducted. Webster’s Dictionary defines fair as “free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice.” Unfortunately, in a community where literally anybody can buy a plot of land and make their mark on what we call “SL Military” – bias, dishonesty and injustice is rampant. That is why we have created the Iron Symphony. The Iron Symphony strives to unify this community, rid it from hate and disrespect, and maintain this in a fair environment.

Although also acting as a formal alliance, the Iron Symphony encourages members to organize skirmishes between each other in order to facilitate regular combat. In regards to rules and regulations, rather than relying on treaties to regulate technology and conduct, the members of the Iron Symphony rely on their higher morals and responsibility to ensure fair, enjoyable combat. This is called the Golden Rule and will be explained later in the document.

Do not take the following words lightly. The Iron Symphony is far from a mediocre collection of paramilitaries attempting to claim victory in a world where victory can never be fully achieved. We are striving to inspire and create more moral and considerate people. To create friends rather than enemies. To unify a torn community. As an Iron Symphony member, you are taking part in this change.

————————————————————————————————————-

B. Fairness & Regulation

Any military that is seeking to garner respect in Second Life will preach fairness. However, there are varying types of fairness and it is necessary to delve into these concepts before we can understand the type of fairness the Iron Symphony promotes.

There are two types of regulation, regulation for self-interest, and respectful regulation and fairness for community.

-Regulation for Self Interest

Most militaries will promote this type of fairness simply because they have not pondered the subject further, or are simply just looking out for themselves. Regulation for self interest is basically laying down rules for combat to ensure combat remains consistent, but nothing further. What this leaves room for is spite and banning.

Militaries that employ this type of “fairness” will often not reserve any consideration or respect for their adversaries. They can be ruthless with accusations and will only build up hate as rules come close to, or are broken. Some self interest groups will even consider banning positive, as it eliminates soldiers from the enemy force – and sadly, will watch intently for people breaking the rules so they can do so. Sound familiar? Well, let’s review the Iron Symphony approach.

-Respectful Regulation and Fairness for the Community

Any respectful military commander should consider themselves not just as a leader of their group, but a leader of a community. As a community leader, we do not want to create hate as a result of a member of the community breaking a sim rule.

Respectful fairness calls for understanding and patience. Most people who break sim rules are not doing it on purpose. They are either unaware of the rules, or performed the action – whatever it may be, by accident. We can never know if it was on purpose or not without communication – and we can never hope to correct the problem without communication either.

Simply removing someone from your sim will not inspire that individual to better themselves if the unfair conduct was committed on purpose. As we talk to people, we slowly build a more aware, fair community. Therefore, banning without any attempt at communication is selfish and detrimental to the community as well as the reputation of your own group.

————————————————————————————————————-
C. Consideration & Respect

Consideration is a key element to building a strong unified community. Without giving any consideration or respect to our enemies, our militaries would become hated by many. Nobody wants to be hated and it creates grief and drama. Some militaries brush consideration off, because they believe that it doesn’t matter what their enemies think of them. On the contrary, it’s very important. It’s the difference between enjoyable or bitter encounters.

Being considerate involves respecting your opponent. We should never judge by the tag over someone’s head. Instead, we should hold individuals accountable for their own actions, and never smear what one person does against their entire group.

Consideration also includes respecting members of your own alliance. We are all on the same side, and there are plenty of civil ways to deal with the problems and conflicts you may encounter with your comrades. The first step to a unified community is a unified alliance.

In short, whenever you argue with or insult an individual within the military community, you become detrimental to all that we have been striving for, and in the end that hurts the Iron Symphony to a degree that far surpasses poor field performance.

————————————————————————————————————-
D. Golden Rule & House Rules

The core belief of the Iron Symphony is that fundamentally, all military groups belong to a family of sorts. Of course we bicker between one another, yet it is vital that we remember that behind the monitors, we are all human beings who enjoy combat, and because of this common interest, we are all on the same side at the end of the day. Therefore, what is good for one group is good for all of us, and what harms one group, harms us all. It is because of this underlying camaraderie that we engage one another not with the intent to harm, humiliate, and destroy, but rather to respect our adversaries, and allow common sense, sportsmanship, and maturity to take their rightful place as the dominant methods of regulation. This does indeed lead to confusion sometimes as to what is legal and what is not. In times of these uncertainties, the Golden Rule is used as the primary point of reference.

Soldiers and commanders alike should constantly ask themselves, “How would I feel if my enemy did this to me?”. If there is still further doubt as to the validity of a strategy or tactic, Iron Symphony members are encouraged to converse with the leadership of opposing forces to inquire as to their particular feelings regarding the subject, especially in a proactive manner.

Time and time again it has been proven that strict treaties simply do not work. There are too many technologies, too much creativity, loopholes, and bluntly put – everybody has a different idea of what “fair” really is. This is why Iron Symphony militaries use the Golden Rule and House Rules system. The Golden Rule involves using common sense to dictate and judge what is fair and what is not to maintain a level field. The House Rules system that implies that an attacking military must abide by the individual military’s set rules and vice versa, which is common amongst militaries that are not in the Iron Symphony as well.

Let’s compare a treaty and the Golden Rule system. We will use the following example: An enemy soldier uses a plane to simply fly across the battlefield but delete his plane in mid-air, bailing behind enemy lines and avoiding the entire sim set-up in the process. Any treaty that has been in Second Life has never recognized removing yourself from your plane against the rules, so therefore, bailing would be treaty compliant and “fair”. However, in reality this is a horribly unfair tactic as it eliminates the point to building a base in the first place, and the perpetrator is exploiting what their plane was not intended to be used for. Using the Golden Rule we can dictate that this is not fair.

The first step to maintaining the Golden Rule and House Rules is good communication. How will your enemies respect your rules – what you perceive as fair, if they do not respect you, or hate you? To maintain an enjoyable battle, you must maintain your military’s reputation so that everybody can enjoy and appreciate what you have laid out for them.

[End required recruit reading]

————————————————————————————————————-
E. Iron Symphony Guidelines & Notes

-All Iron Symphony members must implement this doctrine into their basic training program.
-The Iron Symphony oath is to be said by all recruits/cadets when they graduate into a basic soldier in an Iron Symphony military.
-Iron Symphony members are urged to contact eachother as soon as possible if problems arise. The key to a strong, unified alliance is communication.
-If there are multiple members of the IS that feel one member is promoting or committing any type of action that is detrimental to the Iron Symphony’s values and expectations, a meeting should be called immediately.
-If a military outside of the IS would be interested in becoming one of the Iron Symphony militaries, they should be directed to Lurdan Huszar, who interviews and admits members into the Iron Symphony.
-All members of any Iron Symphony military are to be in the “Faces of the Iron Symphony” group.
-All Iron Symphony militaries must have an Iron Symphony homepoint spot in their hub and in their barracks. To acquire the homepoint zone object, contact Lurdan Huszar.

————————————————————————————————————-
F.  Iron Symphony Oath

I stand here today to proclaim that I, a soldier of the Iron Symphony do solemnly recognize the importance of a community unified in the understanding that fairness and consideration must maintain their rightful place as foremost principles of every soldier in Second Life, despite the fact that we as a community combat eachother.

I understand that these ideals are what keep the community functioning as it should – in a sportsmanlike manner in which every person can enjoy.

I understand that I am held accountable for the aforesaid; as a person of honor and integrity, I will uphold and account for my every action.

————————————————————————————————————-
G. Members of the Iron Symphony & Contact Info

Merczateers – Salamis, Badnarik, and Rostok – Anthony Lehane, Lurdan Huszar
Militant Collective – Nerva – Raideur Ng
Ordo Imperialis – Titan – Aryte Vesperia
Echelon Union – Vadoo Reef – Roo Tenk
Special Combat Service – Sinope – Stephen Holder, Balthazar Almendros

————————————————————————————————————-

What does the alliance mean for combat in Second Life, and does it prevent a real alternative to bitter combat and arms treaties?  Share your thoughts on the Iron Symphony in our comments section and let’s hear what you think.

Attrition Warfare

A discussion by Maks Vendetta

Economic hardship has rendered groups funded by exiguous, inconsistent budgets disabled. Alternating polarities and bettered communications have revolutionized relations. But one concept has endured inconsequential deviation, a lone remnant of status quo within the community: attrition warfare. Military conflict on damage enabled soil upholds an ancient, familiar purpose. Teleport that bastard home. The conventional military group supplies its personnel with the means to execute assaults on their behalf. The fashion of the combat is simplistic. Teleport directly into a hostile simulator, or to a proximate staging location near a enemy held parcel. Weapon in hand, collectively hike the enemy casualty count. Inevitably and eventual, you’ll be guided home. Reenter the fray, soldier on and brave the lag. It‘s a reprised effort to debilitate the opposition’s will. Enervate your adversary’s defense until they submit to near surrender. Equally probable, you may not debase the manpower behind your assailants’ fortifications, and gradually your drive will diminish into a retreat. The length of these barbaric offensives vary from skirmish to siege. The clash is progressively advanced by the introduction of combat arms vehicles and aerial support. Never the less, the core idea persists outliving the turbulent martial outfits that define it.

100 post milestone.

Dear Readers,

Thanks to your continuous support, the Jessie War Journal has now published it’s 100th post since its founding last year. This is truly wonderful milestone for us on the team, as we’ve worked hard and it’s paid off. We hope it is as symbolic for you, too. With over 955 comments too, we’re really quite chuffed.

We plan to post more stories daily, publish more from upcoming reporters, and we’ve set the comments option to approve automatically if you’ve had a comment approved before. This should mean comments are posted much quicker, so discussions can be held much easier. We also are in the process of updating the wiki with electronic references of all military documents, and we are in the process of researching each militaries history. We really do hope the wiki can become very useful in easily reading sim rules, group information and research for new-comers to the scene. You can see how it’s going, here.

In the future, we also hope to support new and existing businesses, by publishing reviews and investigations into commerical military weapons and gear.

Thank you for your support, and we hope the Journal can contiue to be a central point in the community for discussion, free speech, debate and news. Remember to keep visiting New Jessie Combat too, for continuous updates to the sim.

Regards,

The Jessie War Journal Team

Farlight – an investigation. (Part I)

While visiting many bases in my time, I’ve noticed that Fairlight, (the weapon company run by well-known perfectionist Julia Faulkland) markets weapons that are overlooked somewhat by this military community of rules and regulations. In general, from what I have seen, militaries ban every fairlight product, as it’s ‘unfair’, but hardly anybody on the scene seems to know just why they’re ‘unfair’, and which individual products are unfair. To rest this case for the community, I decided to investigate into this subject further in a two part report. The first (this one) showing the opinions and information, and the next detailing the facts. First, I visited the fairlight mainstore, in the sim of ‘Fairlight’. Upon arrival, the 15000 prim sim and immense architectual detail is a tribute to just how popular Fairlight gear is.

The Fairlight main store.

Before now, I’ve purchased Fairlights Vipers and their bomber plane, but with so much controversy over this and all the other products on sale, I’ve been steered away from these evidently popular armaments. To progress in my quest, I took a trip down to Salamis shipping port, to see if the Merczateers could shed some light on this blanket of mystery, if you will, covering the Fairlight brand. I was greeted with the ever cheery welcome of grunts focusing on my person down their Ironsights. Honza Noyes, a Senior Enlisted Merczateer, told me his view on Fairlights is that they ‘are really spammy and lasim performance, and I would say that they produce less lag that ordinary weaponry.(Perhaps just my settings or dillusion) Honza told me the Merczateers view on the use of Fairlight weaponry on their sims is evident in their sim rules.

As in the Mercz sim rules, they do not allow the use of the following:

- Use of the STG-14 Shotgun
- Use of Multiple Firearm Types
- Use of HD Bullets.
(ex: Dual Vipers with Dual MP5K, Or 1 viper and 1 MP5K)

To translate, Honza told me that ‘We do not allow the shotgun. However, MP5K and Viper are allowed. But not dualed.’ So, why do the Mercz not allow the shotgun? Well, I was told that the gun is ’spammy and laggy.’ ANd why no HD bullets? I was left clueless. With this in tow, I noted down that the Mercz didn’t allow the shotgun, and asked Merczateer Officer Ayatora Slade. Officer Slade had this to say:

“Well, most people say that Fairlight guns are spammy that creates tons of lags when you use it and I totally agree with that. So I’m not that big fan of use of Fairlight guns.”

With the Merczateers view summed up as only restricting the use of duel wielding, HD bullets and a strict and prominent no on the use of the shotgun – I moved on to Elshout, to see how AN, a neatral party of the Mercz, view the subject.

While comfortably standing in a crator on the spaced out terrain, I IMed Alliance Navy officer Avena Marshall. Marshall told me that she doesn’t think AN totally ban the use of Fairlights. When commenting on her own view on the weapons, she told me ‘They look very nice’, but she ‘hasn’t purchased any’. Marshall also told me that she knows Ordo use them on base sometimes, as the creator (Julia) is reported to regularly socialise around Titan. To close, Marshall told me ‘they are nicely primed out items, cant say much for the script as I haven’t experience with it’. Alliance Navy’s offical rules will be laid out in the next report.

With this information in hand, I set out to Titan, the home of Ordo Imperialis. My encouters with Ordo in the past have been somewhat…hostile, so I stayed in the hub, alt camming the tags of the avatars in the sim, in the hope I would come across a high ranked member. Before I started the conversation, I had a quick cam around base to see if any personnel had Fairlight equiptment attached.

An Ordo member hostering a FL XTR-6 and Vipers

Sure enough, one Ordo member had not one, but three Fairlight weapons attached on base. Two vipers and a launcher.

When attempting to speak to an Ordo, I was directed towards Aryte, Ordos first in command. With no avail in making contact with Aryte in two days, and wanting to get this report out as soon as possible, I had to move on. I did, however, speak with an anonymous Ordo who told me that due to Titan sales (more later), Ordo personnel are being encouraged not to use Fairlights on base or on assaults, although he is not sure if there are any strict rules on the use of such. I will include the official Ordo view in my next report.

Next, I went to 2142 to see their view. In brief, they welcome Fairlight competitors, and have no problem with the use of such on their sim. Jolly good.

When I took at trip down to Nerva, Militant Collectives shadow-bound sim, I met up with an MC member. His view on fairlights was one similar to many. His opinion is that Fairlights are really well build, but the scripts absorb too much server capacity.  He also mentioned that some of Julia’s weapons contain ‘illegal features’ such as minor auto-aim and evasive technologies. I was interested in this, and had a sudden urge to investigate further. He also told me that Julia even discontinued their new plane, because of technical issues with extreme legallity, not seen in Fairlight before. While the auto-aim feature is known to be at around 3-5%, he felt strongly about this, and doesnt think they should be in there, if Julia is to appeal to the combat community.

It’s worth pointing out here that Fairlight weapons were originally created for Role Play situations, so I am told. As such, treaties and LL combat rules wer’nt in the mind of the scripter when these weapons were produced.

Next, I spoke with a member of the community who wishes to remain anonymous for the sole reason of spammy questionable IMs. She elaborated on the MC members point regarding the FL plane being discontinued. She told me that the plane was discontinued due to it’s extreme unfairness, which boils down to the facts (so I am told) of 8 – 13 bullet rezzers and an auto-evade feature, so the plane can dodge incoming fire. While this is truly the height of technology, this is obviously extremely illegal. The anonymous individual, shall we call her Margret? Yes, Marget. Margret told me that she doesn’t purchase Fairlight weaponry anymore, purely because she doesn’t role play, and the guns can not be used in many places, legally, in the sims of SL military devotees. Margret added that she ‘wouldn’t feel fair using them’. Regarding Ordo, Margret explained to me how Titan’s sales, (The company funded and associated with Ordo), are dropping due to Ordo purchasing Fairlight weapons, as they can be worn on base (allegedly) as can Titan weapons.

Coming back to Militant Collective, I am told they allow the use of Fairlights shield bracer, the Aegis, in Nerva, only. This is because, strangely enough, they are ‘fun’ and destroyable, with acceptable recharge rates and concept. While not being a weapon of such that can kill, it’s worth mentioning.

Ultimately, Fairlights are seemingly a very debatable and controversial brand of weapons and RPing gear. On the whole, the negative feedback towards Fairlight seems to be down to the lag it creates when used. The color changing scripts, for example, create tremendous lag. The other main point for the decline in acceptance for Fairlight weapons on the modern, LL damage combat scene, are the alleged auto-aim features, that can line up the bullet to 3-5%, changing the bullets path. The plane FL released also had megaprim lasers with roughly 8 rezzers, alongside the autoevaade system. On the plus side, Fairlights have really detailed primwork (or sculpt work), and are a real treat if you’re into the role play scene on SL, with better scripts than I’ve seen in weapons created by big companies, in a very long time.

I’d love to compile a follow-up story to this report, and to include some comments made on this post – with solid fact, so everybody can be clear on which products are legal, and which are not.  So please, tell us what you think of Fairlights, and whether they should be accepted in the community. Perhaps you are aware of the difference in FL products, perhaps not all the weapons have auto-aim features? What are HD bullets? Are they the auto-tracking bullets mentioned? Tell us in your comments!

Metallicoe Keng

Jesssie War Journal Editor

(All reports without authors are posted by me. I’m beginning to put my name on things!)

[Special Comment] – In Defense of Small Militaries

One of the biggest criticisms that the Journal has faced in its time of operation is that we give too much coverage to newer, smaller combat groups who have not yet “proven themselves” or are not worth the attention.  I have to say that I find this sentiment puzzling, because every group on this platform started out as a small organization out to prove itself to the world.

Cutthroat Competition and its Effects

Small groups out there have always had it tough, no doubt.

The professionalism of the military community in terms of building, texturing and scripting makes the majority of the grid look hopelessly far behind by comparison, for the most part.  So joining this community means that the first thing most new armies do is look for recognition.  And the disrespect they get for not starting right out of the box as a gridwide great power means that they look for guns, armor, buildings, land, recruits and money wherever they can get it.

So in an attempt to keep up with the groups attacking them, often with years of experience and well-oiled R&D departments backing their front lines up with the best weaponry on the grid, small groups will often arm themselves with commonly leaked weapons and other objects, freebies, or whatever weaponry individuals might own of their accord with their own private finances.

That’s not to say of course that it’s a good ideato use this stuff forever, but it’s really not a cardinal sin to charge into battle with anything less than 2,000 prims of attachments and fancy custom weaponry.  Give them a break and some time – and if you’re really bothered by it, join a small group and give them some help.  You can make a great mark on a work in progress.

Every Group Starts Off Modestly

It can be plain laughable sometimes.  If anyone remembers the Task Force Marines in their early Prize Delta era, (Check out an old story of mine about them at the Second Life Herald at http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2008/06/battle-of-prize.html ) then you know they were a lot of fun.

Their base was built of freebies and large blocks formed into zigzag walls unenterable half the time by even their own soldiers.  It was guarded by soldiers who were mostly without uniforms and using free and leaked weapons.  During the attacks by the Merczateers and Ordo against them in the story above, one of them was shouting “SOM 1 GIVE ME A WAEPON PLZ,” to which I responded with a free AK-74.

But for all their “noobishness,” they were all having a good time – and so were their attackers.  The Ordo and company who invaded while masquerading as the British Army and using single shot rifles were having an especially jolly good time of it all.

A few months later, the Task Force Marines were split, with the leader and his officer corps splitting into two factions, one of which remains today as what those officers named the Chthonic Syndicate, led by Mayra Roffo.

Though they are still growing, I would say they’re on par with any military group out there.  Mayra and her soldiers have built themselves a fine base and can boast a lot of talent – and are now an independent group who is also free of the alliance system often criticized with slowing down combat on the grid.

The Chthonic Syndicate is a far cry from the old Task Force Marines they can trace their lineage from, and are a strong group now, tempered by innumerable swarms of invading soldiers who thought that three defenders were worth thirty invaders, and the slings and arrows of their own defunct Vanguard allies, who once helped defend their base at the cost of much of their sovereignty.  As one of their soldiers once told me, “They’re our allies but we try not to talk to the guys in black…they don’t have much of a sense of humor.”

And a long story short, the Chthonic Syndicate is now on par with most of the “established” groups on the grid, with their own sim and equipment, and a number of well-armed and motivated soldiers.

We’re All a Lot Alike

Small groups start off in incredibly similar ways.

The Task Force Marines  had one of those generic names that new groups often have.  The now fogotten Elite Armed Forces – as if anyone would fight for more than five minutes in the name of “Elite-ness” – are a good example of this.  And yet, not to rub anyone in the mud, but does anyone remember the United Tactical Forces, or the Alliance Navy II?  Were those names truly any more professional, or were they changed in the name of building a better group identity?  What about when the Alliance Navy “policed” the sandboxes of Second Life – which I once did on a “noob” alt of my own – was that up to par with today’s standards?  Everyone has to start somewhere.

The great powers of the grid all started out small too, with just a few interested guys eager to go on missions and shoot stuff.  And as these great powers prove, there is a lot to be said for what time, experience and talent can do.  Even New Jessie started out as about 1000 square meters of land in the original Jessie simulator, with nothing more than a bar, some freebie weapons and a belief in building a better combat zone.

Imagine Combat on the Grid Without Them

The fact is that these little groups are not just to be defended, but to be thanked.  In an era where alliances and declarations of neutrality – often serving the same purpose – restrict combat between the big militaries, these small groups give big players a place to fight.

Though they often rightly complain about the cheating that they do in battle, what would the three or four hundred Merczateers do without the Guerilla Rebels and other small groups they raid when their only real competition in terms of the numbers needed to take them on, Ordo Imperialis, is forever allied to them?  Can pre-scheduled interalliance skirmishing really ever replace authentic combat?

Boredom is the greatest enemy of all armed forces because it means less combat, less donations, less recruits, and eventually, the end of a group.  The smaller groups of Second Life combat provide a lot of combat to soldiers who would otherwise be stuck twiddling their thumbs or, more likely than not, either quit the game or go join the rest of Second Life in a grid full of crummy and habitually empty builds and continually full freebies shops and sex parlors.

In fact, the only out-of-the-box great power I know of that ever hit the grid was Vanguard, and they were – rightly or wrongly, as I am making no judgment here and only stating a fact – eventually despised by nearly everyone.

Small groups of all sizes deserve respect because big groups need them to survive in their present form.  Unless the large militaries of the grid plan to march to war against one another – and chances are, this will not happen for a long time if ever, especially with the end of Vanguard – these small groups are arguably just as important as the big groups to keeping combat going.

And so next time you look down your nose at the choice of name of the Super Dooper Cool Brigade, or mock their use of freebie scripts in renamed weapons, remember that they are important members of the combat community because without them, honestly, where would you go when the few “established” groups there are to fight are done?  And sure, lots of these groups are dead the month after they are established, but so what?  Everyone loves a new place to fight.

You can always come to New Jessie of course, and it’s a great place to meet members of the combat community great and small, but barring that, remember that everyone’s a “noob” sometime and that this goes for groups too.

And not to re-ignite drama, but to cover all angles, clearly groups like Dominatium have had their faults and blackened the reputation of all groups trying to make names for themselves, but they do not speak for all small groups either.  They’re one of a few bad apples in the bunch, and are trying to build themselves anew as we speak.

But on the whole, we should admire what large and longstanding groups have done with their time and their talent, while respecting that there are small groups out there who in the face of the odds in their way, nevertheless strike out on their own path and make the combat community a little bigger.

Please, have some respect, and frankly, some appreciation for the small groups that round out combat in Second Life.  I encourage you to share your thoughts on the subject with me in the comments section.

-Caine Constantine

Swords of the skies [Part Two]

Here’s a welcomed break from the drama of the IS war – part II of Duckky Darwins investigation into military aircraft. It’s been a while, but we’re sure it’s worth the wait! You can read part I, here.

Well after many difficulties I’m back with part two of my report. (better late than never I suppose) As everyone who remembers my last report (all 5 of you) will remember, my last reports interviews were conducted on New Year’s Eve (yes I have no life but I got 3 interviews so apparently I wasn’t the only one) and this first interview this article was the last one of that night. So we pick up where we left off with my arrival in Elshout.

The Talon, main fighter of the Alliance Navy

After a few minutes I was given a friendly welcome by Avena Marshall
[17:38]  Duckky Darwin: so my first question is Who made the Talon and its history
[17:38]  Avena Marshall: The talon came about when we were in need of a new fighter design.
[17:38]  Avena Marshall: obviously.
[17:38]  Avena Marshall: The main architect of the frame is myself, with contributions from a good number of people in both primshape and concepts
[17:39]  Avena Marshall: to name a few, Raideur Ng, Nanao Mahfouz being primary people
[17:40]  Duckky Darwin: What are It’s capabilities?
[17:40]  Avena Marshall: Currently, and it is probably going to be changed when we do some tweaking across the board of flight designs and systems..
[17:41]  Avena Marshall: The talon is the topline fighter, it has four weapons. A laser system, Cannons, Missiles (Which frankly I want to do away with for all groups, they are rather..eh in my book) and Grav Bombs.

[17:42]  Avena Marshall: I will note the sharkmouth isn’t standard
[17:42]  Avena Marshall: its just my personal lil decal
[17:43]  Avena Marshall: Call it a little perk of making the darn thing
[17:43]  Duckky Darwin: I figured although its a nice touch
[17:43]  Avena Marshall: indeed, I rather like it
[17:43]  Avena Marshall: Our Arrowhead fighter has it as standard

[17:44]  Duckky Darwin: So what do you think your biggest competition in the skies of SecondLife™ is?
[17:45]  Avena Marshall: hum
[17:45]  Avena Marshall: Honestly there hasn’t been much in the way of air combat these days. Normaly its the Mercz spaming out Uriels like confetti
[17:46]  Avena Marshall: to their credit they have some good pilots.
[17:46]  Avena Marshall: Same with the MC
[17:46]  Avena Marshall: But Sl is more tuned to ground combat
[17:46]  Duckky Darwin: With 300+ members they will get some gooduns
[17:46]  Avena Marshall: Its not the number of members
[17:47]  Avena Marshall: while numbers work for lagging a sim down and going, Ha ha we beat you..” when you stream in mass numbers, sure. But quality counts for something
[17:47]  Avena Marshall: when its aircraft..we are more of a..
[17:47]  Avena Marshall: one on one..situation
[17:47]  Avena Marshall: not just hide behind a bunker and shoot
[17:47]  Duckky Darwin nods

[17:48]  Duckky Darwin: So what do you think the biggest strength of the Talon is?
[17:48]  Avena Marshall: hmm
[17:49]  Avena Marshall: same strength all fighters have, mobility and weapons
[17:49]  Avena Marshall: nothing specific to say
[17:49]  Avena Marshall: if it was all about the plane, we wouldn’t need skilled pilots
[17:49]  Duckky Darwin: Very true
[17:49]  Avena Marshall: I’m just a fan of old ww2 mentality to fighter planes
[17:49]  Avena Marshall: thus my distaste of missiles.
[17:49]  Avena Marshall: where’s the skill in point and click..dead
[17:50]  Duckky Darwin: I agree with ya there
[17:50]  Avena Marshall: it may be “fun” for people, make them think they are all topgun
[17:50]  Avena Marshall: but frankly..it comes down flying
[17:51]  Duckky Darwin: Is there anything in particular you would like to say to the Readers?
[17:51]  Duckky Darwin: About the Talon or otherwise?
[17:52]  Avena Marshall: That this is, in the end, still a game..Its meant to be fun for all. and for all to have fun.
[17:52]  Duckky Darwin: ^.^
[17:53]  Duckky Darwin: Well i thank you for your time, enjoy the new years. :D
[17:53]  Avena Marshall: You too.

Avena standing with her custom Talon

Ok so flash forward a couple of weeks and I find myself in Titan ogling Ordo’s  new Toy the Nemesis.

The Nemesis
[19:30]  Duckky Darwin: well i suppose i should start by asking who built the Nemesis and what the goal was in its makeing
[19:31]  Ruin Nefarious: The Nemesis was recently introduced as the Praeda’s replacement, bringing the Ordo back into the modern age of aircraft. It was created and designed by Syl Kiranov.
[19:31]  Duckky Darwin: i take it the Prada was an ageing design then (has no idea)
[19:32]  Ruin Nefarious: It was incredibly old. And, the Praeda is essentially for sale under the title of the Ferox.
[19:32]  Ruin Nefarious: Most of the technology behind the Praeda has become commercial.
[19:32]  Duckky Darwin: ohh
[19:32]  Duckky Darwin: I didn’t know that
[19:34]  Ruin Nefarious: Recently, the Ordo has undertaken a huge movement to phase out leagues of old gear. The Nemesis was part of this project.
[19:35]  Duckky Darwin: What are its capabilities
[19:35]  Ruin Nefarious: The Nemesis is primarily an attachment based craft. A physical model is in production and will see light soon– until then, the Praeda is still fielded in situations where physical craft are required.

[19:36]  Ruin Nefarious: The Nemesis is extremely agile. The intention was to mirror our decoupled camera style of the Praeda, allowing for high speed maneuvering.
[19:37]  Ruin Nefarious: The primary weapon function is a restricted to a cannon. The only deviation is a variant with a small, slow reload missile payload.
[19:37]  Ruin Nefarious: The missile craft fire a small radius explosive, with an eight second reload between shots.
[19:38]  Duckky Darwin: that is a whole different version that lacks the cannon?
[19:38]  Ruin Nefarious: No, the cannon still exists on the missile version.
[19:38]  Duckky Darwin: ahh
[19:39]  Ruin Nefarious: Currently the Nemesis is only on version 0.5, so there’s still quite a lot of room to tweak. Our fundamental has always been to rely on cannons, not explosives. There are no plans to equip the Nemesis with anything beyond the small missile.
[19:39]  Duckky Darwin: more than that isn’t really needed if you ask me
[19:40]  Ruin Nefarious: Definitely.
[19:40]  Ruin Nefarious: Our Astra is primarily designed to air to air combat, so the ship meets that expectation.
[19:41]  Duckky Darwin: so not counting Ordo stuff what is your favorite fighter out there?
[19:42]  Ruin Nefarious: I’ve always been a big fan of the angular shapes of the Alliance Navy aircraft. Sharp edges (as obvious as this probably seems) are always favored here, haha.
[19:43]  Ruin Nefarious: If I had to pick one of the AN aircraft, the Mako.
[19:43]  Ruin Nefarious: Inverted wings are just classy
[19:43]  Ruin Nefarious: .
[19:43]  Duckky Darwin: im kinda partial to the talon myself
[19:45]  Duckky Darwin: anyways…was there anything else you would like our readers to know about the Nemesis?
[19:46]  Ruin Nefarious: Hm . . yes. Syl Kiranov is friggen epic. That is all.

[19:47]  Duckky Darwin: kay :D
[19:48]  Ruin Nefarious: Thank you for your time. :)
[19:48]  Duckky Darwin: Thank you

Ruin Nefarious aside his new toy

Fast forward another couple of weeks and here we are. My apologies to the people I interviewed and my loyal readers (all 5 of you) for the delay of this article. Look forward to Part 3 where I will excitedly pester even more people into interviews.
Duckky Darwin
Militant Collective, Infantry Corp.
Jessie  Journal Reporter

The Outlaws Declare War on the Merczateers!

Sitting in my bunk in Elshout, twiddling my thumbs,  I looked through my IM window and saw I had an offline message waiting…

Silverlight Yoshikawa: Hello Jim herbst ive declared war to Merczateers and mayby thats a nice topic for The Jessie War Journal?
Silverlight Yoshikawa: And Somthing about Outlaw?

Ready for my second article, I grabbed my helmet and hit the map page for a journey to a sim called Marquise dAlliez, where tucked in a corner of the sim were a pocket of what could potentially be long lost Mayan ruins which would go nice with the collection the Guerrilla Rebels have stocked up in Anamur.  By no means was the base completed, and was void of all life save for two people inside the only building on the property.  I moved in for the interview…

Dominatium declares war.

As shown in the press release below, today the Dominatium, once a member of the Iron Symphony, has declared war on the IS and most other major factions.

Dominatium Official Statement about “Silverstar”

In the name of our undoubted leader, the Tyrant, we hereby issue following statement on the 7th of February 2009 :

• The Dominatium has never been involved in any conspiracy against its allies or enemies. The true conspiracy was created by the Echelon Union in order to harm our reputation and remove us from the Iron Symphony. It is commonly known that they blockaded SCS, another military which they would like to see leaving the Iron Symphony.

• The Dominatium has taken following actions : All divisions have been abolished, the group has been cleaned after a background check of all members, our rank system was updated and war has been declared upon the Iron Symphony. This war starts not because we wanted it to start but because of the utmost disgraceful actions taken by the Echelon Union against us. We will now adopt a neutral stance with our former enemies.

• The Dominatium calls all those who fight against the Iron Symphony’s unfair terror regime to join our side and unite our forces against this corrupted system. Did you know that in the Iron Symphony you can not chose your allies ? Only the Merczateers decide upon who will join the alliance and who not. If any other member of the Iron Symphony is against it, they will just ignore them. How about rules ? Treaties ? There has never been an official list of rules for the Iron Symphony, of course Lurdan and Anthony will say that it is “In Progress” but it has been since last year.

• Our will is stronger than ever before, we will crush our enemies and all those who dare to stand in our way. We will not rest until the Iron Symphony kneels before us.

• Hereby the Dominatium declares war upon the factions of the Merczateers, Echelon Union, Militant Collective, Ordo Imperialis, Special Combat Service, Second Life Sky Navy, Chthonic Syndicate, Republic of Germany, Sparta, Guerilla Rebels and 2142.

This statement has been approved by the Tyrant and the Outer Intelligence Directive.
On behalf of the Tyrant,

Herbert Feldmann
Dominatium Corps General

Well then, watch out Merczateers, Echelon Union, Militant Collective, Ordo Imperialis, Special Combat Service, Second Life Sky Navy, Chthonic Syndicate, Republic of Germany, Sparta, Guerilla Rebels and 2142 – Dominatium’s coming!

Their new sim is expected to be open soon, but with this recent outbreak delays could be expected.  Herbert Feldmann said to the Journal that the sim is 70% complete.

[6:25]  Metallicoe Keng: Hey there Herbert.
[6:25]  Herbert Feldmann: Good afternoon.
[6:25]  Metallicoe Keng: So, Dominatium has left the IS?
[6:26]  Herbert Feldmann: As it seems. Yes.
[6:26]  Herbert Feldmann: Have you seen our official statement ?
[6:26]  Metallicoe Keng: I have.
[6:26]  Herbert Feldmann nods.
[6:26]  Metallicoe Keng: When is the sim due to be open?
[6:27]  Herbert Feldmann: Soon. We are lets say 70% done.
[6:27]  Metallicoe Keng: Okay
[6:29]  Herbert Feldmann: Anything else you wish to know ?
[6:29]  Metallicoe Keng: Will you be joining or forming another alliance in the future?
[6:31]  Herbert Feldmann: We will certainly not become an ally of any of these factions : Merczateers, Echelon Union, Militant Collective, Ordo Imperialis, Special Combat Service, Second Life Sky Navy, Chthonic Syndicate, Republic of Germany, Sparta, Guerilla Rebels or 2142.
[6:31]  Herbert Feldmann: That’s all i can tell you now.
[6:31]  Metallicoe Keng: And do you wish to release anymore information to the Journal?
[6:31]  Herbert Feldmann: Well, feel free to publish our statement if you wish.

[Rant] What’s the point of fleet?

A nauseating rant from Josh Kira
I’m fairly new to the combat community, I admit it: I could be considerd a noob – but what’s the deal with fleet divisions? What’s the point?

Are they not just lag bearing, prim wasting ships of boredom? I can vaguely understand the concept of minor ships, small ships carrying more than one person and gunners; but what about the big ships? The larger fleets that militaries like Alliance Navy ‘issue’, but never ‘use’ (seemingly). I’m talking about the ships that have corridors, rooms, stairs. Why? Does the ship not go phantom in flight, and your not exactly going to stop just to visit a room – are you? I could see the point of travelling up to a height, and TPing in comrades to drop down from the ship. But some can consider that ‘unrealistic’ or slightly ‘inconsiderete’.

This is a comment provoker, it was meant to be: I would like to see how the Journal readers react to this. Does anybody agree? Are fleet divisions becoming redundant? Should they not just merge with Air Division, and not have randomly organised floors and doors?

On a note of fleet being a whole division, I think militaries should embrace fleet with the regular AD division. I for one wouldn’t opt for being purly fleet, surely it must get a tad…repetitive?

Adieu, Dominatium? Presenting the evidence.

A report from our Echelon correspondent.

Copied below is the manifestation of Dominatium’s thwarted scheme to degrade and sabotage the Echelon Union. Their foiled plot to sap the EU command is upstaged by their cogitated espionage efforts, utilizing the local media to misrepresent the Union, and other notably creative means. On the contrary, their motives are only the short-fused climax of their unfortunate, yet humorous downfall. Operation Silverstar is in effect!

The Report

Issued by : Herbert Feldmann
Date : 10/01/2009
Subject : Echelon Union

>>>
Several OID reports have recently proven that the Echelon Union is currently going through a crisis phase. Its Chain of Command has been weakened and is about to be completly destroyed. This is why we would like to advise you to approve Operation Silverstar. My many agents within Echelon have proven that we could very easily get them to disband or at least leave the Iron Symphony. For too long they have been taking what used to belong to ourselves. We were the 3rd military in the IS but are now listed as the 4th on the charter. This is a shame. Their arrogance and stupidity has allready upset many people within the Dominatium. We must get rid of them. The Operation would consist in :

1. Spreading more rumors about Echelon’s weakness
2. Convince the press to write negative articles about Echelon, making it seem weaker than it is.
3. Getting rid of Roo Tenk and Leon Makarov.
4. Working towards destroying both, their reputation and their will.

We can and will wipe them out with your approval sir.
Regards,

Herbert Feldmann,
Outer Intelligence Directive Vice Director

The Setup: Putting the blame to Jason?

[5:46]  Herbert Feldmann: What is it Seriman ?
[5:47]  Jason Seriman: i wish to know if i may start an op to destroy EU
[5:47]  Herbert Feldmann: What ?
[5:47]  Herbert Feldmann: Why that ?
[5:47]  Jason Seriman: i received word that EU is going through a crisis phase
[5:48]  Herbert Feldmann: Echelon is our ally Jason.
[5:48]  Jason Seriman: its chain of command is weakened
[5:48]  Herbert Feldmann: But why would we want to get rid of an ally ?
[5:49]  Jason Seriman: many of my agents withing EU could esily get them to disband or atleast leave the IS
[5:49]  Jason Seriman: their arrogance and their stupidity has already upset many people with domin
[5:49]  Herbert Feldmann: Do you realize what you are saying ?
[5:51]  Jason Seriman: i relalize what i am saying but we must get rid of them
[5:51]  Jason Seriman: the op would consist of:
[5:51]  Jason Seriman: spreading more rumors about EU’s weakness
[5:52]  Herbert Feldmann: Do you know what Amory would say about that ?
[5:52]  Herbert Feldmann: he would be furious.
[5:52]  Jason Seriman: convince the press to write a negative articles about EU
[5:52]  Jason Seriman: we will keep it between me and you
[5:52]  Jason Seriman: no one will know
[5:53]  Jason Seriman: oh also we would have to get rid of Roo Tenk and Leon Makarov
[5:53]  Jason Seriman: working towards destroying both their reputation and their will
[5:54]  Jason Seriman: we can wipe then out with your approval
[5:54]  Jason Seriman: we could call it operation silverstar
[5:55]  Jason Seriman: so…
[5:55]  Jason Seriman: will you approve my request?
[5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: Forget it.
[5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: This is madness.
[5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: I can’t believe that you even dare to think about it.
[5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: I have many friends in Echelon you know ?
[5:56]  Herbert Feldmann: Give me a single reason why i should keep this secret
[5:56]  Jason Seriman: if we destroy them your friends can come here
[5:56]  Jason Seriman: and we will be rid of a pathetic army
[5:57]  Herbert Feldmann: No Jason
[5:57]  Herbert Feldmann: The Iron Symphony is based upon trust and friendship
[5:58]  Herbert Feldmann: Not upon betrayal and and treachery
[5:59]  Jason Seriman: then if i can not do it as a domin soldier i will make it my personal mission to destroy them
[5:59]  Herbert Feldmann: Jason, i will immediatly inform Amory and i dare you to try.
[6:00]  Jason Seriman: then that will be my resignation

[7:43]  Herbert Feldmann: No, now we have to cancel all our plans
[7:43]  Herbert Feldmann: Because you told Leon
[7:43]  Herbert Feldmann: And Leon told Roo
[7:43]  Herbert Feldmann: So
[7:43]  **********: Leon is trustworthy
[7:44]  **********: andhe is my friend
[7:45]  Herbert Feldmann: No
[7:45]  **********: I dont know what to do
[7:45]  Herbert Feldmann: He is not
[7:45]  Herbert Feldmann: How else did Roo hear about it ?
[7:45]  **********: How do I know you arent goingto throw me to the wolves like you did Jason
[7:46]  **********: Jason wanted to leave Domin for a long time….because no one is ever at base
[7:46]  **********: what if he left….and you sullied his name AFTER he left
[7:46]  **********: anyone can make a fake chat log
[7:47]  Herbert Feldmann: No
[7:47]  Herbert Feldmann: You can ask him
[7:48]  Herbert Feldmann: He did it
[7:50]  **********: I think this is your plan B
[7:50]  Herbert Feldmann: I think you told Leon too much and now

[7:54]  Herbert Feldmann: *********** have been ejected from ‘[Dominatium] – Land Management’ by Herbert Feldmann.

[7:50]  Herbert Feldmann: I think you told Leon too much and now we are about to be kicked out of the IS.
[7:50]  Herbert Feldmann: Ask Jason
[7:50]  Herbert Feldmann: He will tell you
[7:51]  Herbert Feldmann: Wha he hates Echelon
[7:51]  Herbert Feldmann: That much

Chat Log

[2009/01/24 5:19]  Herbert Feldmann: So
[2009/01/24 5:19]  Herbert Feldmann: What do you suggest
[2009/01/24 5:19]  Jason Seriman: telling the truth always works
[2009/01/24 5:20]  Herbert Feldmann: Are you mad ?
[2009/01/24 5:20]  Jason Seriman: maybe we can resolve this with EU the democratic way
[2009/01/24 5:20]  Jason Seriman: the maddest ideas always work best
[2009/01/24 5:20]  Herbert Feldmann: For Amory, Roo is a little piece of shit that isn’t even worth to live
[2009/01/24 5:21]  Herbert Feldmann: So i don’t imagine them both sitting somewhere and talking…
[2009/01/24 5:21]  Jason Seriman: well they would have to
[2009/01/24 5:22]  Jason Seriman: its the olny thing i can think of that would work
[2009/01/24 5:22]  Herbert Feldmann: It would make a big scandal
[2009/01/24 5:22]  Herbert Feldmann: Everybody would hear about it
[2009/01/24 5:22]  Herbert Feldmann: The SL Herald would make a drama fest
[2009/01/24 5:22]  Jason Seriman: thats why it will be kept between the 2 leaders only
[2009/01/24 5:22]  Jason Seriman: no one will know
[2009/01/24 5:24]  Jason Seriman: you should a better diplomat than me
[2009/01/24 5:24]  Jason Seriman: why cant you think of something
[2009/01/24 5:24]  Jason Seriman: after all you are OID
[2009/01/24 5:25]  Herbert Feldmann: Amory thinks that if he shows that to Roo
[2009/01/24 5:25]  Herbert Feldmann: And puts all the fault on me
[2009/01/24 5:25]  Herbert Feldmann: We can save the Dominatium
[2009/01/24 5:25]  Jason Seriman: it was my mission to carry out
[2009/01/24 5:26]  Jason Seriman: i was meant to destroy them
[2009/01/24 5:26]  Jason Seriman: i am as involved as you 2
[2009/01/24 5:26]  Herbert Feldmann: Jason we are all involved.
[2009/01/24 5:26]  Herbert Feldmann: Okay, listen
[2009/01/24 5:26]  Herbert Feldmann: Can you spread a rumor ?
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: We will anihilate Roo’s credibility before he can tell Lurdam
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: *Lurdan
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Jason Seriman: that will make things worse
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: No
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Jason Seriman: we need to talk to lurdan
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: Some things are true
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: No
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Jason Seriman: and roo
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: HELL NO
[2009/01/24 5:27]  Herbert Feldmann: LURDAN HATES US
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: Only Anthony is tolerant
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: Towards us
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: Anthony likes us
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: But not Lurdan
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Jason Seriman: if we keep trying to destroy parts of EU we will dig even a bigger hole for us
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: I always had problems with Lurdan
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: We nearly got kicked out 3 times
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Herbert Feldmann: With Lurdan
[2009/01/24 5:28]  Jason Seriman: then this needs to be settled with roo and roo only
[2009/01/24 5:29]  Jason Seriman: make some kind of agreement with him so he wont spread the word
[2009/01/24 5:29]  Herbert Feldmann: Like what ?
[2009/01/24 5:30]  Jason Seriman: im not sure yet
[2009/01/24 5:30]  Jason Seriman: will have to think on it
[2009/01/24 5:30]  Herbert Feldmann: We have only a couple of hours.
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Jason Seriman: only thing i could think of is set me up for all the blame
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Jason Seriman: make it seem like my idea
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Jason Seriman: im the expendable one of us
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Herbert Feldmann: Yeah but i said it
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Herbert Feldmann: Damn
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Jason Seriman: then make it my idea
[2009/01/24 5:31]  Herbert Feldmann: Monica is such a whore
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Jason Seriman: its your job as OID
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Herbert Feldmann: Yeah but then Jason you won’t be able to get into any other army ever again
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Jason Seriman: just set everything up on me
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Herbert Feldmann: :(
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Jason Seriman: i will creat a new account
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Jason Seriman: no one will know me
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Herbert Feldmann: Maybe if you have an Alt, you can come back ?
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Herbert Feldmann: Okay
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Jason Seriman: i have an alt
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Jason Seriman: yes
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Herbert Feldmann: So
[2009/01/24 5:32]  Herbert Feldmann: I need “proofs”
[2009/01/24 5:33]  Herbert Feldmann: For your crimes
[2009/01/24 5:33]  Jason Seriman: ok
[2009/01/24 5:33]  Jason Seriman: send me everything you ever said about EU
[2009/01/24 5:33]  Jason Seriman: then i will say it all
[2009/01/24 5:33]  Jason Seriman: you will quote it all
[2009/01/24 5:33]  Herbert Feldmann: Okay
[2009/01/24 5:34]  Jason Seriman: ill take the fall for domin
[2009/01/24 5:34]  Herbert Feldmann: But you will say it to who ?
[2009/01/24 5:34]  Herbert Feldmann: We need witnesses ?
[2009/01/24 5:34]  Jason Seriman: i will say it to yuo
[2009/01/24 5:34]  Jason Seriman: like a secret meeting
[2009/01/24 5:35]  Jason Seriman: ill ask for you to approve the op and you will say no
[2009/01/24 5:35]  Jason Seriman: make it look like i ent ahead by myself
[2009/01/24 5:42]  Herbert Feldmann: Okay
[2009/01/24 5:42]  Herbert Feldmann: Lets do that
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Herbert Feldmann: But a bit later
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Jason Seriman: yes
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Jason Seriman: i will destroy myself for domin
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Herbert Feldmann: You will be rewarded later
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Herbert Feldmann: When you come back
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Jason Seriman: yes
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Herbert Feldmann: Thank you Jason.
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Jason Seriman: its ok
[2009/01/24 5:43]  Jason Seriman: i do what is necessary to save domin
[2009/01/24 5:44]  Herbert Feldmann: Jason
[2009/01/24 5:44]  Herbert Feldmann: Lets go
[2009/01/24 5:44]  Herbert Feldmann: To the old base
[2009/01/24 5:44]  Jason Seriman: ok
[2009/01/24 5:45]  Jason Seriman: tp me
[2009/01/24 5:49]  Herbert Feldmann: Incoming
[2009/01/24 5:49]  Herbert Feldmann: Shush
[2009/01/24 5:51]  Jason Seriman: in IM
[2009/01/24 5:51]  Jason Seriman: i relalize what i am saying but we must get rid of them
[2009/01/24 5:51]  Jason Seriman: the op would consist of:
[2009/01/24 5:51]  Jason Seriman: spreading more rumors about EU’s weakness
[2009/01/24 5:52]  Herbert Feldmann: Do you know what Amory would say about that ?
[2009/01/24 5:52]  Herbert Feldmann: he would be furious.
[2009/01/24 5:52]  Jason Seriman: convince the press to write a negative articles about EU
[2009/01/24 5:52]  Jason Seriman: we will keep it between me and you
[2009/01/24 5:52]  Jason Seriman: no one will know
[2009/01/24 5:53]  Jason Seriman: oh also we would have to get rid of Roo Tenk and Leon Makarov
[2009/01/24 5:53]  Jason Seriman: working towards destroying both their reputation and their will
[2009/01/24 5:54]  Jason Seriman: we can wipe then out with your approval
[2009/01/24 5:54]  Jason Seriman: we could can it operation silverstar
[2009/01/24 5:55]  Jason Seriman: so…
[2009/01/24 5:55]  Jason Seriman: will you approve my request?
[2009/01/24 5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: Forget it.
[2009/01/24 5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: This is madness.
[2009/01/24 5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: I can’t believe that you even dare to think about it.
[2009/01/24 5:55]  Herbert Feldmann: I have many friends in Echelon you know ?
[2009/01/24 5:56]  Herbert Feldmann: Give me a single reason why i should keep this secret
[2009/01/24 5:56]  Jason Seriman: if we destroy them your friends can come here
[2009/01/24 5:56]  Jason Seriman: and we will be rid of a pathetic army
[2009/01/24 5:57]  Herbert Feldmann: No Jason
[2009/01/24 5:57]  Herbert Feldmann: The Iron Symphony is based upon trust and friendship
[2009/01/24 5:58]  Herbert Feldmann: Not upon betrayal and and treachery
[2009/01/24 5:59]  Jason Seriman: then if i can not do it as a domin soldier i will make it my personal mission to destroy them
[2009/01/24 5:59]  Herbert Feldmann: Jason, i will immediatly inform Amory and i dare you to try.
[2009/01/24 6:00]  Jason Seriman: then that will be my resignation
[2009/01/24 6:10]  Herbert Feldmann is Online
[2009/01/24 6:16]  Jason Seriman: name is Nathen Xaris
[2009/01/24 6:17]  Herbert Feldmann: Okay

—

[5:59]  Jason Seriman: then if i can not do it as a domin soldier i will make it my personal mission to destroy them
[5:59]  Herbert Feldmann: Jason, i will immediatly inform Amory and i dare you to try.

Keeping the members quiet? (^^)

[6:00]  Jason Seriman: then that will be my resignation

What do you think?  Comments are as always, very welcome.

39th Updates its Base – The New Ziost

The general rule of “If it aint broke dont fix it” cannot always be applied.  Ziost, home of the 39th Black Watch was an easy running pleasant town, overwatched  by Castle Munro, the Regimental Home of the 39th.

That has all changed.  SqueezeOne Pow and the High Command of Black Watch, decided to make some changes, and changes indeed have been made. The familiar “forest section” that used to be encountered has now been replaced by a fast flowing river ready to take away any careless soldier stupid enough to go too close. Spanning this is a single bridge, in the traditional style in keeping with the rest of the castle.

New trees have been planted and the geography and topography are no longer as easy for attacking armies.   There are now undulations and even a trench system for those attacking hordes.

If this has whetted your appetite, then come along, and try your luck. You will get a real picture of just how aesthetically pleasing and tactically challenging Ziost has become.

We look forward to seeing you.

-Lt Tabberer Constantine

39th Black Watch

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Also – don’t forget to check out “The Core,” 39th’s new destroyable objective.  It’s a cool way to put a means of defineable victory into combat.

- Caine Constantine

Salamis and Badnarik are Open for Business

On January 24th, 2009, the Merczateers reopened their sims, Salamis and Badnarik, with a brand spanking new headquarters.

A head-on view of the Merczateers new home.

It is by no means an original design at first glance – the Merczateers, among other groups, have made several previous bases situated in an urban environment.  But what sets this new incarnation of the home of the Merczateers apart is the attention to detail.  After just one trip, one can feel how much work was put into this sim by a team of builders including, but not limited to, Lurdan Huszar, Bean Emoto, Exterminatus Footman, and Uildiar Kuhn.

The attention to detail is at a level uncommon in Second Life, all manner of automated civilian vehicles roam the streets of Badnarik, produce and clothing stands line the garbage-strewn alleyways that criss-cross between the currently inaccessible edifices that reach towards the sky.  A lone grunt stands by a Tactikoffee restaurant holding a Red Star energy drink.

An elevated train will soon run through the town’s main skyscraper as well, and the skyscraper is itself still unfinished.  Work is still continuing on the sim build, and this is but the tip of the iceberg. Marshal Huszar intends to continue work on the two simulators until he is either satisfied or the sim is inevitably redesigned again. It truly is a great sim to be in, let alone fight in.

The city in Badnarik looks over the port of Salamis.

Anthony Lehane: “Well, it’s one of the sim builds where Lurdan took a lot of advice from me, which was cool – I built the vehicles that drive around, gave him the concept for the highway and the train and track that goes through the main building, so I really like it, it feels alive – most places in SL feel dead except for a few animated textures, but I really like this place.”

Those who intend to raise arms against the Merczateers should expect to wait longer in the hub to rez in than elsewhere. There are approximately 2,000 different textures used in Badnarik and Salamis, many of them custom-made and therefore not already on your cache from elsewhere.

And of course, another valuable note is that since it’s a Merczateers base, there will be a large amount of defenders, so plan your attacks accordingly.

- Jim Herbst and Caine Constantine

SLSN Dead!

Warning: This story is still developing and may be subsequent to correction and addition at any given time.

SLSN has recently descended into chaos – murmurs of corruption persist on various Command levels and their sim Phantomn District is now a blank field of green.  The Journal will endeavour to get to the bottom of what is the group’s 4th collapse.

Allegations have been made that Steve319 Cao was banned on his main account and forced to use his Steve319 Coba account, which did not have payment information and could not finance the sim – thus, setting off a chain of events which made the group implode.

Fox Mulgrave, long time friend of the Journal, and someone who has had a hand in SLSN’s previous failures had this to say:
Vegna Fouroux: Steve got banned?
Fox Mulgrave: He’s still here, is he not?
Vegna Fouroux: Well the sim is blank.
Vegna Fouroux: The SLSN appears to not exist anymore.
Fox Mulgrave: That is correct.
Vegna Fouroux: Why?
Fox Mulgrave: I’m not the person to ask.

Mr. Mulgrave has, it appears swiftly cut ties with the group and refounded Rathium a group he previously led.

The Jessie Journal Discussion group chat minutes on the matter are enclosed here:

Vegna Fouroux: Apparently SLSN has died can anyone confirm?
Swallow Rokocoko: while I can add nothing to the facts pool, allow me to add this opinion:
Swallow Rokocoko: hahahahahahahaha…
Vegna Fouroux: :D
Rolando Ember: circuit city is liquidating all their shit. im bout to go get some stuff.
Metallicoe Keng: Wait…what?
Rolando Ember: and also, go to youtube and watch nirvana “where did you sleep last night”, leadbelly cover. if you dont know who leadbelly is, dang. if you do, i love you.
Swallow Rokocoko: …I fail to see how such music connects to the mil community :P

And that is all the Journal can report on the matter for the time being. Stay in touch for updates.

Special thanks to Admiral Jason Backer for alerting the Journal to the news.

- Vegna Fouroux