There is a feeling among many in conventional combat on the grid that there is a combat community who shares common interests and should someday share common ideals in terms of how fair combat and fair treatment of others should be conducted.
This is the story of how, in zealous pursuit of this community of ideals, those ideals were completely forgotten, and then remembered once again.
-Caine Constantine
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The Chaos Factor
The tale begins with Dark Svenska, who could stand a lesson in public relations. He’s got a history of coming across as a real jerk, and I only say this in the utmost belief that he’d probably agree. He started a group called Chaos, with a history of its own involving the crucifixion of furries and other people Dark thought undesirable.
Takkun Gray: I thought Chaos was a military based on hate? -picks his teeth-
Dark Svenska: It is.
Dark was not, at least at first, particularly friendly towards the idea that behind every avatar, there’s a human being.
Dark Svenska: And dont butter me with that crap [about real people]. Chaos does not follow that crap about real people behind the screen. In a virtual world there are no laws of reality.
In other words, if someone gets in your way while you’re playing the game, why not just stomp them? If they’re really upset about it they are probably just taking things too seriously.
And in these pursuits, the first incarnation of Chaos was largely hated or ignored, depending on who you asked about the subject. The group disappeared for a while, as it had never quite got off the ground as an armed force and was without land. Trolling was probably it’s biggest activity, and it’s proudest homegrown creation probably the imfamous “Aryte crucifix.” There really was not much to show for it.
It made a resurgence a couple of months ago though, and it seemed to be a different beast entirely. Dark was still in charge, but had surrounded himself with a group of people who were, while as imperfect as anyone else, fairly promising. They were pretty good combatants, raiding sims regularly and doing a good job of holding on to New Jessie until a successful foray by the Merczateers forced them out.
They had even begun to try to reach out to other groups diplomatically, although Dark was not much of an ambassador. He probably knew this though and so he picked one of his more promising members, Tyenshinsi Takaaki, to serve the role as liason to the Iron Symphony, who could be fittingly described as a collection of the staunchest opponents of Chaos.
And for good reason. The new Chaos was still not particularly friendly. A head on a pike was still greeting anyone entering their temporary home in Volsk, and they were still engaging in cheap tricks or asymmetrical warfare, depending on your perspective. The new Chaos, probably banned from Ordo Imperialis sims for their previous antics, spent much of its time in small raids against the Merczateers.
They spent a lot of their time planning attacks that were aimed at creating trouble rather than simply engaging in combat. I recall that during my building of the New Jessie “Mega Drama Room” I could hear some of them on voice talking about how much fun it would be to sneak into Badnarik and blow up a classroom full of E-1’s, and apparently they tried at least a few times to do this.
Chaos had some fair luck in beating up on lower and middle-tier groups, but in probably the greatest off-combat success the group did have, it temporarily convinced five Merczateers to leave the group after claiming that the weapons and items used by the Merczateers were unfair and that the group was generally unresponsive to the needs of its people.
Clearly, Dark’s group was creating a problem for the Merczateers, and was of course still despised by their Ordo Imperialis allies. What would the fallout be?
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Patience Worn Thin
Combat on the grid has never been particularly gentlemanly.
Despite the attempts of people to clean it up and civilize it, it’s still as lawless an enterprise as it ever was. The difference of course, is that many groups have adopted voluntary standards of combat by which to honor, in the hopes of improving things for everyone.
The Iron Symphony alliance has been one of the most forward thinking in putting forth a set of guidelines to fight by, not in terms of weapon specifications, but in terms of ethical expectations. Naturally then, the response to the Chaos problem would follow these guidelines. After all, the I.S. had already had previous experience with a much larger and more threatening supposedly “deviant” group in the form of Christoph Naumova’s Vanguard Armed Forces and had ended the problem by simply blockading and ignoring the group. Why would they need to do anything particularly different to a group of perhaps 25 active members when a group ten times that size – Vanguard – had quietly faded away?
Chaos was not particularly strong militarily, either. After about a week or two of Chaos soldiers holding New Jessie on and off, a single massive Merczateers raid had so badly destroyed their position in the region that they were told through group notices to, for the most part, stay out of the area. Even now, their numbers have still not picked up in the sim.
For some reason though, Chaos was singled out for offensive action rather than simple isolation. What seemed to spark the event was Dark’s successful attempt to get five of the nearly 400 Merczateers to leave the group. Though they eventually rejoined, this – along with endless raids by unarmed Chaos who thought it was funny to attack after approaching Merczateers checkpoints unarmed – was apparently proof enough that Chaos was a threat that could not simply be ignored through massive blockades. The fact that Chaos soldiers were encouraged to hide their groups and tags probably made banning them even more difficult to boot.
Some Chaos had been very open-minded and were eager to improve their group’s reputation, however, with Tyenshinsi Takaaki foremost among them. But the problems still persisted.
I had been talking to Merczateer Marshal Anthony Lehane, a very patient leader, about the Chaos raids on their sims. He had been rather indifferent about it at first, but as Chaos continued to attack underhandedly, eventually the Merczateers – who had originally even refused to put KOS orders on known Chaos members – began to reverse course. Though very understandable in itself, it was nevertheless the first step to what became a very unfortunate string of events.
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Retribution
I.S. leaders had at some point decided that the actions of Chaos had to be stopped somehow. Though the groups rarely fought on the battlefield, Ordo had not lost interest in Chaos, and somehow they had convinced a high-ranking Chaos member to betray the group. Though the identity of the traitor is probably known to me, I could not find proof beyond a doubt and, seeing as how the turncoat’s identity is not particularly important to the story anyway, it will not be revealed.
What is known is the person the spy had been working for. Aryte Vesperia, Ordo Imperator, was invited into the Chaos land group, and in an appeal to the sense of “community” our story is focused on, he sent the members of the Chaos group the following message:
“The foundation of our collective is that of cooperation, respect, and the sentiments of mutuality. Chaos is, alas, simply a personification of Dark’s malice and a tool for his personal entertainment. These antics of hate are reminiscent to an era we’ve been fighting to be long rid of. A flawed mindset of uncaring, “for the lulz” quasi-griefing that plagued our community years ago. I implore you all: find a new group.”
Soon after receiving this message, however, group members soon received another:
You have been ejected from ‘The Chaos Decretum – Land Managment’ by Aryte Vesperia.
About 20 members were ejected from the group. As soon as I heard about the event, I asked Dark Svenska about what had just happened to his group.
Caine Constantine: Hey Dark?
Caine Constantine: I just heard Aryte got access into your land group and ejected everyone?
Dark Svenska: Yeah.
Dark Svenska: And Aryte said that I.S. was the fallback of it. Someone offered I.S. [an invite] and Aryte decided to do it amongs’t the leaders. Which I don’t think is true considering I think Aryte just used the I.S. as a poor excuse for his own actions.
Caine Constantine: The Merczateers would not have done that.
Dark Svenska: But would Mercz allow it?
Dark Svenska: It only proves the hypocrisy of IS and its groups.
Dark Svenska: But who cares, it was a land group.
Caine Constantine: But he destroyed a group, or tried to.
Dark Svenska: Aryte is once again being a hypocrite.
Caine Constantine: So he sends the message, and then he ejects you guys?
Dark Svenska: No, he ejected beforehand.
Caine Constantine: Oh that’s odd, why’d he send the message, if nobody was in the group?
Dark Svenska: He’s stupid? This is what Ordo is, Caine. And Mercz refuse to take any action.
Caine Constantine: Did you talk to them?
Dark Svenska: You know what keeps Ordo and Mercz together? The High Command. If the grunts revolted along with the S-enlisted and etc., things could change.
Dark Svenska: And no, I did not.
Dark Svenska: I refuse to talk to Is leaders because all I will get is opinions about me that I dont care about.
Dark Svenska: If all I am going to get is comparisons to Christoph, false copybotting accusations, and opinions about me that are old news, I don’t bother with it.
It was after Dark brought Christoph up that I realized something. What Aryte had done was a lighter version of essentially what Christoph had done to the Merczateers a few years back, when Christoph, an ex-Merczateer, had ejected dozens of Merczateers from the group in a final fit of fury as he left the group. It was his attempt to destroy the group. The difference of course is that Christoph would, quite admittedly no less, be very proud of destroying a group, while the I.S. purports to be past such things.
Caine Constantine: Funny…Aryte kind of did to you what Christoph did to the Merczateers.
Dark Svenska: Let me just say this Caine: The community has been taken over by the emo kids. And it has gotten out of hand. Whether it be Alliance Navy or any other group [who can stop it], it needs to be stopped.
But what did the Ordo Imperator who had actually done all of this think?
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“Wait a second, isn’t this a double standard?”
Soon after I had talked to Dark, Aryte contacted me once word had gotten out that I planned to write something up for the Journal about the whole incident.
Aryte Vesperia: Good evening Caine.
Caine Constantine: hey Aryte, how’s it going?
Aryte Vesperia: Goes all right! The same old, really. Juggling a billion things at once, haha. You?
Caine Constantine: Oh yeah I can imagine.
Caine Constantine: I am not too bad, just ignoring the billion things at once going down here.
Aryte Vesperia: Ha ha ha.
Aryte Vesperia: Good to hear.
Aryte Vesperia: I understand you’re writing an article?
Caine Constantine: Yeah I may be, need to get all the information first.
Caine Constantine: About your joining Chaos and sending a message and ejecting them and all.
Aryte Vesperia: Would you like my comments about it?
Caine Constantine: Definitely
Aryte Vesperia: Care if I ramble, or did you have questions?
Caine Constantine: Ramble away, haha.
Aryte Vesperia: I can do that! From the outside, as a third party, I have no doubt your prevailng question goes something along the lines of: wait a second, isn’t this a double standard? What gives the Iron Symphony the right to pull something like this?
To begin. This has nothing to do with possessing the right to do anything. There’s no “if, then” or “under these circumstances” involved.
Chaos Imperialis, Chaos Decretum– however you care to tag it, underlines a strong aversion to any progress or development in the military community. The very idea of “Chaos” began as a collection of Dark Svenska’s “buddies” setting up a plot across from the Titan Industries store. Upon which, my image was erected and crucified.
Chaos was and is nothing more than a gathering of malcontents, bent on malice and intolerance. By Dark Svenska’s own admission, he does not recognize humanity or the individual. It’s just “for the lulz.” That is his grand excuse for being blatantly despicable; his excuse to attack an individual as personally and close to home as manageable.
Straight from the doctrine of the Iron Symphony: “The core belief of the Iron Symphony is that fundamentally, all military groups belong to a family of sorts.”
At no time has Dark Svenska cared to partake in the communal family. He has purposely aimed at harming it. He drew first blood and made his intentions clear:
“Dark Svenska: …Most of all: the conquest of other groups who don’t belong…Groups who basically just need to be disbanded. Like Ordo. “Groups who basically just need to be disbanded.”
For the sake of not only the Iron Symphony, but the community at large, Chaos Decretum–or whatever guise Dark Svenska cares to champion–cannot be tolerated.
What I did was not something I particularly enjoyed. The opportunity was provided to us by a series of individuals who had become jaded with Dark’s antics.
We, and I do mean we–this is not “the Ordo,” but a joint effort–took the opportunity to reach out to his group at large. Upon being invited, a notice was sent out to the Chaos Decretum:
“The foundation of our collective is that of cooperation, respect, and the sentiments of mutuality. Chaos is, alas, simply a personification of Dark’s malice and a tool for his personal entertainment. These antics of hate are reminiscent to an era we’ve been fighting to be long rid of. A flawed mindset of uncaring, “for the lulz” quasi-griefing that plagued our community years ago. I implore you all: find a new group.”
Yes. Hard line and purposely so. We don’t intend to bow or complacently pat Dark between the ears while he flails around making claims of “destroying” what we stand for.
Was it the best choice? Probably not. But our biggest error would have been doing nothing at all.
So frankly, if it means putting a stop or even a momentary pause in Dark’s intentions: we’ll happily take the flack, for the better of everyone.
Keep in mind, if at any point we intended to hide or make this an act of subterfuge: it’d of only taken fifteen seconds for one of us to have logged onto an obscure alternate. We did this standing up, with full intent of addressing it.
Aryte Vesperia: That’d be about it, unless you have any questions.
Caine Constantine: Thank you
Caine Constantine: So then the people who invited you were native Chaos?
Aryte Vesperia: They were.
Caine Constantine: You apparently also got into the main Chaos group, right?
Aryte Vesperia: The main and land group.
Caine Constantine: Were you able to send notices or eject from the main group?
Aryte Vesperia: No.
Caine Constantine: Does this incident essentially say that those groups who consider themselves separate from the combat community are open to treatment outside of the bounds of the Iron Symphony?
Aryte Vesperia: Not at all. Only those who consider themselves designed and existing only to “destroy.”
Caine Constantine: Thank you very much for the time and information Aryte, I appreciate it. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Aryte Vesperia: No, thank you very much.
Caine Constantine: Have a good night.
Aryte Vesperia: You too!
Aryte’s conscience was certainly clear. And if someone put my head on a pike, I’d probably mess them up too. Dark once called me a “greedy bitch” a few weeks ago while he was renting my sim, Volsk, because someone else had rented it from me and because Chaos, whose “contract” there had expired, would have to move. So in response, I opened up the previously closed sim, turned on damage, and let the I.S. have their violent revenge against him and Chaos.
And so, I certainly was not one to pass judgment on Aryte’s actions, although my actions hadn’t caused much damage and everyone seemed to enjoy the fight that day other than Dark.
What was interesting however is that the I.S. has a code of conduct that expressly looks down on such operations. As it says, “Soldiers and commanders alike should constantly ask themselves, “How would I feel if my enemy did this to me?”
So how would the Merczateers – who had actually had a similar thing done to them in the past anyway – feel? I decided to ask Merczateer Marshal Lurdan Huszar about this.
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Protecting Progress
Luckily though, before I could talk to Lurdan though, he contacted me, as word had gotten out that I was writing about the incident.
Lurdan Huszar: Caine, we need to talk about what happened with Chaos before any articles are posted about it.
Caine Constantine: Hey Lurdan, what happened with Chaos?
Lurdan Huszar: I’m sure they’ve started complaining about what Aryte did, right?
Lurdan Huszar: And furiously accusing us of hypocrisy?
Caine Constantine: Well if he joined their group to expel their members and you guys said that’s okay
Caine Constantine: it DID remind me of Christoph
Lurdan Huszar: It was mainly to deliver the notice.
Caine Constantine: But he also ejected a bunch of people.
Lurdan Huszar: Yeah, which I sort of regret, but I’ll still stand behind.
Lurdan Huszar: Allow me to explain.
Lurdan Huszar: This is a group that has stated clearly that it wishes to cause real harm to us, on many different levels.
Lurdan Huszar: A group that threatens to reverse the progress of the Iron Symphony.
Lurdan Huszar: I’ll show some examples..
Caine Constantine: I appreciate that
Caine Constantine: but basically the whole point is, it’s okay to treat them in ways against the I.S. Charter and even similar to Christoph, if it will further the interests of the group.
Caine Constantine: I can understand Chaos and Dark are trouble, but it’s seeming like a double standard.
Lurdan Huszar: Interests is a bit broad.
Lurdan Huszar: Dark Svenska: …Most of all: the conquest of other groups who dont belong..
Dark Svenska: Groups who basically just need to be disbanded. Like Ordo.
Caine Constantine: Yeah I agree that Dark is trouble. I think he probably would even agree.
Lurdan Huszar: Caine, Chaos has been actively attempting to damage our group, and has had success, although very limited.
Lurdan Huszar: He’s stolen five members with lies and deception.
Caine Constantine: I would have done the same thing you guys did. But I don’t have a charter that decries stuff like that.
Caine Constantine: I think it’s okay to play rough with bad people, but just a week ago, we got this charter about being fair to all and treating everyone the same and all, and meanwhile what it really seems like is that it’s pick and choose here and in fact what it seems like more specifically is that there’s an I.S. and that there’s separate rules for Ordo.
Caine Constantine: I am not planning to write any of this in an opinion piece or whatnot, I just wanted to point out what I think is interesting about it. All we were going to do is write what happened and then get the responses of the leaders of the groups involved.
Caine Constantine: I don’t want to sound like I am trying to lecture or anything, I am really not. I just hope that the good ideals you have all put forth are not being lost for the sake of a single member group.
Note: Up to this point – I had thought it was only Ordo involved in this incident, and so I had figured what was going on was simply the Merczateers overlooking or ignoring something their allies had done. But as Lurdan soon explained, it was a joint operation.
Lurdan Huszar: Ordo wasn’t entirely behind this incident, nor the events in the final days of Vanguard, so no, there aren’t seperate rules for Ordo.
Lurdan Huszar: I believe that if a group is attacking those good ideals and is threatening real harm to our groups, we can’t just watch.
Caine Constantine: I can understand that, but I don’t think that’s what’s been said though publicly
Caine Constantine: And I understand all this – if I was you, I’d have wiped out Chaos the same way, as you could see when I opened up the sim because Dark merely called me a name.
Caine Constantine: But on the other hand if you criticize someone like Christoph for saying he’s destroying groups, and then Aryte joins a group to eject a bunch of people, which is as close to actually destroying a group as you can get. I think that while you can’t compare the two overall it’s hard to make that okay.
Lurdan Huszar: True, and I really do wish we only sent the notice.
Lurdan Huszar: By the way, I believe I did make public what we did yesterday to some degree.
Lurdan Huszar: During a speech I made a few months ago I mentioned that if malicious groups like Vanguard returned to threaten us again, we’d defeat them again.
Lurdan Huszar: A good deal of IS personnel read that speech
It was here that Lurdan explained that Vanguard had not simply dismantled, but that it had in fact been essentially destroyed as a group by the Iron Symphony.
Caine Constantine: Well…defeated?
Lurdan Huszar: As in, dismantled.
Caine Constantine: I thought Christoph took his toys and went home cause he didn’t like the way it was going and his spouse asked him to stop
Lurdan Huszar: The latter was a total lie. The Ordo managed to get the majority of VGHC to defect. The video helped lift the enlisted base out as well I believe.
Lurdan Huszar: Christoph simply had nothing left to work with. So a day later, he threw in the towel.
Lurdan Huszar: Vanguard certainly didn’t just go away by itself.
Lurdan Huszar: And so, members of Vanguard found better groups to spend time in, just like we wanted.
Lurdan Huszar: It’s a similar situation with Chaos, Dark has just mislead a group of people with lies and deception.
Lurdan Huszar: That’s why in the notice Aryte sent we attempted to make a case against Chaos and asked them to find better groups.
Lurdan Huszar: That was the main focus, getting the notice out.
Lurdan Huszar: The ejections were unecessary and are really going to give us a headache.
Caine Constantine: Yeah that is understandable, I am just glad you weren’t agreeing with the ejections.
Caine Constantine: I mean I’d have done them myself if someone crucified me regularly, so I understand them doing it. I just wouldn’t have understood if you who had a similar experience would have supported it
Caine Constantine: But thank you very much for talking to me about it
Lurdan Huszar: No problem.
At this point, I had been thinking about everything I had heard so far. Dark and Chaos had been wronged, but hadn’t he and his group been out to do harm the whole time? After all, wasn’t it as Dark once said a virtual world with no rules?
Then again, is it worse to be an internetz anarchist, or to set forth rules and principles for everyone but yourself to live by? And considering it can be the difference between equal treatment and swift group destruction, who gets to determine who is inside of this “community” and who is outside of it anyway?
But these questions were soon overshadowed by what came out next.
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“It needed to happen…”
I was welcoming Tyenshinsi Takaaki to New Jessie for the day when what I thought had been a story that was finished and done for took a turn for the worse.
Caine Constantine: Hey Tyen, how’s it going?
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: Not that good, But could be worse.
Caine Constantine: Why bad?
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: Ordo ruined my sl military career.
Caine Constantine: I was about to ask you about that. I heard you invited Aryte into Chaos.
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: Yea, was framed. Sad that everyone ate it up like candy.
Caine Constantine: Who did it?
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: Don’t know.
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: After all I’ve done for Chaos its shocking.
Caine Constantine: So you mean to say Ordo then put the blame on you?
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: You got the notecard?
Caine Constantine: What notecard?
What followed was a faked conversation the Iron Symphony had put together trying to make Tyenshinsi – who had been the Chaos member most interested in reforming the group and befriending the Iron Symphony so as to engage in fair combat instead of lulz missions – look like he betrayed the group. Tyenshinsi received a tip from someone in the Iron Symphony who didn’t want to see him framed.
“What the Symphony did to you is unacceptable.
Tyenshinsi was in New Jessie with Kristian Kit at the time of this [the ejection and framing] occurring.
Kristian Kit is a Frumentarii operative of a very high level.
Although I may be a member of the groups responsible, I support a cause greater than any single allegiance.
What they did was not honorable.
I cannot reveal my identity. If I do I will not be able to get further information.”
The Iron Symphony spy who invited Imperator Vesperia to the group had his name changed in the chatlog to Tyenshinsi Takaaki and the conversation was put out to make it look as though Tyenshinsi had betrayed his own group. To prevent confusion, his name in the chatlogs has been replaced with “I.S. Spy.” The chatlog was provided by the same person in the I.S. who believed the alliance’s actions to be dishonorable.
I.S. Spy: Hey there Aryte.
Aryte Vesperia: Yo.
I.S. Spy: Something extremely retarded is about to happen to chaos
I.S. Spy: just keep your ears open for this one
I.S. Spy: :3
Aryte Vesperia: O.o
Aryte Vesperia: What!
I.S. Spy: JUST WAIT XD
Aryte Vesperia: TELL ME
Aryte Vesperia: omg
I.S. Spy: Lets say im leaving
I.S. Spy: and leaving them a going away present
Aryte Vesperia: Is that you?
I.S. Spy: Nope
I.S. Spy: He is my best friend though
Aryte Vesperia: Oooh.
I.S. Spy: xD
I.S. Spy: I think this has to go down
I.S. Spy: or atleast invite all of the people you want in
I.S. Spy: Fill the ranks with whom ever
Aryte Vesperia: Owner role?
I.S. Spy: Not owner, unfortunately.
I.S. Spy: But hey, I can keep inviting whom ever in
Aryte Vesperia: Invite me to a role with notice powers?
I.S. Spy: AND
I.S. Spy: you can kick people from the land group
I.S. Spy: How awesome would it be if ‘Aryte Vesperia” has booted you from chaos land management
I.S. Spy: You’re welcome
Aryte Vesperia: Thank you.
I.S. Spy: incase you want to say hello via group chat there.
Aryte Vesperia: Mmhmhm.
Aryte Vesperia: Can I eject?
I.S. Spy: from the land group yes
I.S. Spy: Not from main
I.S. Spy: i cant even eject
I.S. Spy: This was really the plan all along
I.S. Spy: We joined chaos to get it fucked over
I.S. Spy: I dont want to see piss poor groups like this come up in the scene
Aryte Vesperia: Thank you.
I.S. Spy: the suspense is killing me
I.S. Spy: Out with the notice! D=
Aryte Vesperia: Being IM spammed!
I.S. Spy: Baaaawwwwh xD
Aryte Vesperia: Mmm.
I.S. Spy: Admited, this is bad for my character, However, It needs to happen. >_>
Aryte Vesperia: And here I go.
I.S. Spy: DONT eject me
I.S. Spy: I lol’d xD
I.S. Spy: tell me when you get ejected.
Aryte Vesperia: Ejected.
I.S. Spy: eject away
Aryte Vesperia: I got everyone I could.
I.S. Spy: i fucking lol’d
Aryte Vesperia: Thank you.
I.S. Spy: “Curators, Begin investigations”
I.S. Spy: OH LOL XD
I.S. Spy: he doesnt even know
I.S. Spy: I’ll play it off all cool
I.S. Spy: Wait untillt he group fills up again
I.S. Spy: then bam, do it again?
Aryte Vesperia: Aye aye.
I.S. Spy: So, any alt you want in the group?
I.S. Spy: also, I hope you grabbed a member’s list while you were at it
Aryte Vesperia: This is good, thank you.
Aryte Vesperia: And I did.
Aryte Vesperia: Ejected again.
Aryte Vesperia: He is probably paying attention to online officers.
Aryte Vesperia: Best not invite me.
I.S. Spy: Yeah
With the logs disbursed, Dark soon came to think Tyenshinsi had invited Imperator Vesperia and caused the problem, and ejected him from Chaos. When word came out that he had been framed thanks to the tip from the informant, I asked Aryte why this had happened, believing that Aryte had done the modification and the framing because he, after all, had been the one behind the ejections, right?
Caine Constantine: Hey Aryte, I had a question if you have a minute.
Aryte Vesperia: Sure.
Caine Constantine: Why did you guys frame Tyenshinsi as the spy?
Aryte Vesperia: It wasn’t quite my idea, I just had the means to go along with it. I imagine it was something along the lines of viewing Tyenshinsi as someone that would be nice to see out of Chaos.
Caine Constantine: Ahh, whose idea was it?
Aryte Vesperia: Lurdan’s.
Caine Constantine: Ahh, I was just wondering because Tyenshinsi seemed to be the Chaos member most open to changing the way things run down there.
Aryte Vesperia: Contrary to popular belief, this wasn’t the evil, evil Ordo’s idea. We’ve just been blamed for it, heh.
Caine Constantine: It’s been confusing trying to figure out who had the idea and who did what is all versus who went along with it.
Caine Constantine: But I appreciate you explaining this, I am glad I asked.
Though I did not quite mean to assume it was all the “evil, evil Ordo,” I did think that Ordo had been the primary actor – but it appears I was wrong. So it was back to Marshal Huszar – who apparently had a bigger role in this than I had previously thought.
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Confrontation
Just when I thought I had a full grasp of the situation, a member of the Merczateers messaged me to tell me that they’d resigned from the Light Ops division of the group over the incident, and that their position within the group itself was in danger.
When they told me that this was directly related to the framing of Tyenshinsi, I couldn’t believe it.
Requesting anonymity so as to be seen as looking for the truth and as not simply out to slander the Merczateers’ leadership, the former captain of the Light Ops filled in the rest of the story.
Merczateer: What facts do you have so far?
Caine Constantine: With regard to what?
Merczateer: The Tyenshinsi incident.
Caine Constantine: Someone in Ordo framed Tyenshinsi, who had been the most diplomatic and pro I.S. person in Chaos and who was really trying to make the group legit.
Caine Constantine: They faked chatlogs and apparently the Merczateers were okay with this.
Caine Constantine: Or the leadership was, that is.
Caine Constantine: Am I missing anything?
Merczateer: Yes.
Merczateer: [The spy in Chaos] was under investigation by Dark right before shit went down.
Merczateer: Marshal Huszar and Imperator Vesperia worked hand in hand to sabotage them.
Merczateer: [The spy] invited Aryte into the group, who ejected the members, and then they fabricated logs to frame Tyen.
Caine Constantine: But why would they frame Tyen?
Caine Constantine: He was their best friend in the whole thing and did nothing to anyone.
Merczateer: Yeah I think I have a log:
Lurdan Huszar: Give me one example in which Chaos has shown a will to be apart of that communal family.
Merczateer: Tyenshinsi Takaaki?
Merczateer: He was targeted on the lone fact that he’s Chaos.
Merczateer: Labeled. It betrays everything we’re taught to believe in.
From what the former Light Ops captain was telling me, Marshal Huszar had planned this because he thought Chaos was a genuine threat to the Merczateers.
Lurdan Huszar: Do you think I’m proud of this either?
Lurdan Huszar: Dark stole five of our members.
Lurdan Huszar: It’s mainly just shit-talking me on a personal level and saying our tech is unfair and that enlisted aren’t being promoted fairly.
Lurdan Huszar: I thought Chaos was going to be a threat, I was probably wrong, but that’s what I thought at the time. I didn’t think it would “ruin” anybody’s SL career either, but if it does, I’m genuinely sorry.
The threat surprised me though. And apparently, Chaos hadn’t even been successful at prying Merczateers away anyway.
Caine Constantine: A threat…for 5 members out of 400 in a group whose turnover is that high?
Merczateer: 5 members, who have all returned to the Merczateers, prior to this event.
The two were in a heated argument about the subject as we spoke.
Lurdan Huszar: Do you intend to remain in this group?
Lurdan Huszar: By the sounds of it, you don’t.
Merczateer: Oh no, I learned my lesson before.
Merczateer: I care about this group, Lurdan, and I practice what I preach.
Merczateer: And I intend to move this community forward without sacrificing what I believe in.
Merczateer: I couldn’t leave these guys to follow you, you’d leave them to the sharks if Aryte cried enough.
Lurdan Huszar: Are you back to harassing me? You know I can’t have that.
Lurdan Huszar: You’re attacking me like I’m god-damn proud of what happened.
Merczateer: You earned it.
Merczateer: You earned it by trying to justify what you’ve done.
Merczateer: You’ve betrayed us.
Merczateer: You think ejecting me is going to fix things?
Lurdan Huszar: Not everything.
Lurdan Huszar: And there will be much to rebuild.
Lurdan Huszar: But I won’t take this harassment from you.
Merczateer: So what do you want me to do there?
Merczateer: Want me to sit and be quiet while you slander the innocent?
Lurdan Huszar: You say that like it’s a regular occurrence.
Lurdan Huszar: I recognize this as a mistake.
Lurdan Huszar: I want you to understand that.
Merczateer: Then you need to act like it.
The former Light Ops captain was not feeling optimistic about his standing in the group though.
Merczateer: Lurdan doesn’t like me criticizing what he’s done, and wants to keep me quiet.
Merczateer: So he’s threatening to eject me.
And he was justified in his fears. This was not stuff most leaders would take likely. More often than not, this kind of tone would land a lower rank the position of “traitor” and end with an order to shoot on sight. Did this Merczateer have much of a future with the group or would he be ejected?
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Remembering
Lurdan Huszar was probably one of the few “1IC” military leaders I knew of back in my noob days (a couple accounts ago) who did not just call me out as such and order his people to shoot me for fun. I used to visit Badnarik all the time when I was still screwing around in sandboxes trying to figure out how to make two prims stick together and marvel at all the cool stuff they’d put together over there. He gave me a tour of their base once and was even kind enough to escort me to safety when the tour was cut short by an invading army.
It was definitely a counter to other places I’d visit where I’d be asked for “papers” or simply shot.
So while I didn’t know much, being a sandbox rat who was still shooting people in no-damage zones and wondering why they did not die, I did know that he was a nice guy.
I could see this spirit in the apology he sent out to the Merczateers soon after the argument with one of his men over the issue of Tyenshinsi’s framing.
“If you haven’t heard already, Tyenshinshi Takaaki was framed to protect an informant the Iron Symphony had within Chaos in our efforts to subdue the malicious group. This was done partly by my hand. In my haste, I did something wrong in order to protect what I thought was right. It was a miscalulated move that I heavily regret. I defied what I believe in and what I want all of you to believe in. I genuinely feel like I have failed you all.
Please forgive me.
- Huszar”
He sent a personal letter of apology to Tyenshinsi too along similar lines.
Caine Constantine: Do you forgive him?
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: Yes.
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: I’m not the type to hold grudges.
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Afterword
According to that former Light Ops captain, Imperator Vesperia was brought into Ventrilo by Marshal Huszar, along with some Chaos, and apologized to them for what happened to Tyenshinsi. Apparently this apology has not been as well received by most Chaos, who didn’t find it particularly sincere.
He also claims that there are some issues of trust that are still bothering the Merczateers command in the wake of the incident, and says that many suspect that Lurdan was overstating his involvement to cover for Aryte, although there is not much to sustain this. The issue apparently went largely unnoticed by the “grunt pool.”
What of the spy who made all of this possible? He’s – so far as can be told – now a member of another Iron Symphony military.
Why had he given up Chaos though? Had he truly joined Chaos with the pure intention of betraying them all along? I knew this was a lie, because when I opened up the sim to invade it when Dark defamed me in his group notices, the spy – then a Chaos member – messaged me and seemed genuinely hurt at my “immaturity” in opening up the sim to attack.
So why did he really do it?
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: I recently had some “minor” Arguments with [the spy.] But they might have really got to him, I was enforcing rules. And one of his friends got ejected because they wouldn’t follow my orders. Continued to harass me. Dark ejected them.
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: I was going to eject them but at the time my SL wouldn’t let me eject.
Tyenshinsi Takaaki: I dislike people who betray their own groups. Its not honorable.
In a last bit of irony, apparently the spy who betrayed Chaos did so because he and his friends in the group were too disruptive – even for Chaos. Of course, they claimed to care about the combat community as a whole in their act of betrayal, but when it came to simply being in a group and following the light rules that entail membership in Chaos – they couldn’t handle that part. And so the Iron Symphony had framed someone who believed in its cause in order to protect a casual “lulzwarrior” who didn’t like a superior officer telling him what to do.
As for Dark, he claims to have been born-again into SL combat. Now he’s talking about holding a sort of “blockade” against the Merczateers and starting his own parallel mission to restore combat in Second Life to it’s “old glory days.”
Dark Svenska: Merczateers endorsed Aryte’s actions and went against their own doctrine.
Dark Svenska: They didnt do anything about it. So I don’t bother with them anymore.
Caine Constantine: But aren’t you the epitome of the idea of doing whatever you want? What about statements like: “Dark Svenska: And dont butter me with that crap. Chaos does not follow that crap about real people behind the screen. In a virtual world there are no laws of reality.”
Dark Svenska: Thats the old me. The one that did more drinking then talking.
Dark Svenska: I have a new set goal.
Caine Constantine: Which is what?
Dark Svenska: To return the SL community back into the happy place it was.
Dark Svenska: Whithout blanket bans, ban walls, copybot, or any other problem.
Dark Svenska: And to eradicate the hypocrits and liars of the Iron Symphony for the better of the community and its people.
Caine Constantine: What do you really mean by eradicate?
Caine Constantine: Do you mean infiltrate their groups, send messages, and eject them?
Dark Svenska: No.
Dark Svenska: I will do it by means of what Chaos is good at – full scale war.
Dark Svenska: Chaos will conduct combat in a way of hate whith a purpose. A goal.
Dark Svenska: We will also be following the ways of how combat was when things were more normal. Whith full fleet support and air supporting ground combat.
Dark Svenska: Realistic warfare.
Dark Svenska: Whith a RP community whith a theme of evil bad guys sorta look.
Dark Svenska: It’s funny Caine.. Once a long time ago i fought side by side with Merczateers against what i thought was wrong that was the AN. But now after a while of thinking about it…I wonder if what I was fighting for was really right. If it turned into this.
Caine Constantine: That’s an interesting way to look at it.
Dark Svenska: My goal now is to do to them what Operation Crucifix did.
Dark Svenska: And to make Chaos into a terrifying power that will obliterate anything whith Fleet, Aircraft, and Infantry.
Caine Constantine: Sounds like a tall order.
Dark Svenska: Well its like what I say: The raven god demands change in the community, we will bring change by infecting the masses whith the rot of the great unclean one. And torment their minds whith the whispers of the seduction god. And when they are weak, one by one they will be harvested by the blood god. In the end we win either way because you cannot just destroy Chaos.
Caine Constantine: …the great unclean one?
Dark Svenska: Nurgle. god of death,plauge,disease… Nasty shit basically.
Dark Svenska: Like imagine a corspe that has been dead for atleast 2 months or a few weeks.
Caine Constantine: Ahh…
Ultimately, the people involved here violated their principles. Screwing with Chaos would have caused little ill feeling on its own that was not already there – but framing Tyenshinsi to cover the tracks of a disenchanted Chaos warrior, who was only upset at being told what to do, was clearly crossing a line.
But the fact that various members of the Merczateers and eventually Marshal Huszar himself came around to speak out against the act, even at risk to their own reputations, is however a testament to the ability of the membership of the group and its leader as well to do whats right in the end. For the Marshal to have ended the sorry situation by simply owning up to it all and taking the blame was something seldom seen in the grid, and frankly, in life in general, and certainly deserves respect.
And of course, the story brought up some new questions. What is the combat community and who belongs to it – and who gets to speak for it, especially when it comes to attacking and destroying perceived enemies of the said community?
What do you think? Please share your comments on the story with us.
-Caine Constantine
UPDATE/CORRECTION: Aryte apologized to Tyenshinshi as did Lurdan, and afterward Lurdan asked Dark to come into his Vent and they discussed how they could bring their groups back to a state in which the conflict stays on the battlefield only. Lurdan then had Aryte come in, and he had Dark and him talk about the issues they had with each other.
According to Lurdan, Dark sent a notice about it, telling his men to cool down and that the drama should end.
So just to be clear, there was no intention to make anyone, especially Aryte and Ordo, seem as though they were twirling any handlebar mustaches, although I do admire anyone who has the patience it takes to keep one of those things well-groomed to where it can be twirled. Sorry for any confusion.
-Caine
