[GMVA] [TLF] Villore Accords Joins The Minmatar Militia

[Julianus_Soter]

Pre-recorded message transmitted to the Head of the Gallente Federation Senate, Militia Oversight Committee, and FEDCAF Chiefs of Staff:

Good day.

Today I speak with sadness, regret, and firm resolve, on the challenges facing our people, the Gallente Federation, and New Eden at large.

The darkest days of the Triglavian Invasion are behind us. The vast amounts of hostile alien forces that penetrated New Eden have largely withdrawn to their dark Abyssal domain. But the actions taken by the Federal Administration, and forces defending Humanity overall, deserve specific scrutiny.

While we have witnessed on many occasions the power of the Federation Fleet in the defense of her people, specifically, during the events in Solitude all those years ago, and again during the liberation of Caldari Prime during Operation Highlander, However, when the battle came once again to our home, to High Security Space in the Vale system, our forces stood only as a blockade force, enforcing an unconstitutional communications blackout, and otherwise neglecting the billions of Federation citizens trapped on the planets of that system.

We were told this was in accordance with EDENCOM directives, they themselves guided by the CONCORD Inner Circle. But what is the meaning of this? How is it possible, in the course of our history as a democratic society, that we have surrendered the right of when and how to defend our citizens?

It seems clear to me that we have allowed this cabal of bureaucrats at CONCORD to dictate our foreign policy and military operations. President Celes Aguard, who I might claim is more of an absentee president than anything else, has done nothing to speak on this issue, to reassure the public, to liberate those stolen from us. We sit here, and wait. For what? For the Triglavians to come back and do it again? We are no better off now than we were when EDENCOM was first initiated, in terms of fighting this hostile alien force. The pathetic EDENCOM ship and weapons technology that was introduced are so technically flawed my Villore Accords engineering teams still don’t understand why they were made in the first place.

The pervasively secretive nature of the way the Triglavian invasion was handled is no doubt an effort to prevent democratic discourse on the topic. While I do not believe the Triglavians to be benign, I do believe we are being deceived as to the nature of their existence and the nature of the EDENCOM organization overall. I feel we are seeing the dying last gasp of the Jove Empire in the events of these last few years. Their legacy, a deep infiltration of the CONCORD system, and their offshoots in the Drifter cadre and Triglavian Collective, now torment our space fairing societies with threats on all sides.

EDENCOM and CONCORD for all practical matters decided who would be taken and who would be saved. They chose the allocation of defense funds and fleets, they decided who to help and who to ignore. As a result, now billions of our citizens are trapped across the boundaries of subspace and we get nothing from our leaders as an explanation. All we have is a yawning, echoing expanse of silence as everyone pretends things are going back the way they once were.

I refuse to be silent. I refuse to forget those taken. I refuse to believe that secrecy and deceit is the best way to run a democratic nation.

As a result of this, and the ongoing astropolitical situation, the Villore Accords has withdrawn from the Federal Defense Union, and relocated the majority of our personnel and fleets from our primary bases of operation. The Caldari State is in shambles and their border territories are under Federation control for the time being. We are no longer needed there.

The Villore Accords will seek out stronger allies, rebuild our military strength, and prepare for the coming storm. I do not believe this story is over, and simply napping on our laurels in the backwater of Black Rise will not make us ready for the battles to come. We need better enemies to fight, and better friends to fight alongside with.

As a result, the Villore Accords has relocated to the Minmatar Republic and joined the Tribal Liberation Force. We have established forward operating bases in the area and now call upon all those loyal to the cause of Freedom to join us and participate in the Minmatar fight against the Amarr Empire. The Amarr Empire, which was so central to the EDENCOM planning efforts, and diverted so many resources to their slave holding territories, while neglecting the Federation worlds that were seized.

We will test our weapons and skills on Amarrian metal. And when the time comes, we will be reborn into a stronger force, capable of striking back against those that have taken our citizens.

Thank you.

Julianus Soter

[Ferra_Orta]

Ushra’khan welcomes GMVA to the good fight,
we look forward to purging the slavers side by side.

[Miran_Tereven]

A recording truly emblematic of the populist sickness permeating Gallentean society. Sowing doubt and dissent by questioning their own government through accusations based on rumours and speculation. Virtue signalling and beating their own chest without a shred of shame about downplaying the sacrifice of countless men and women from the armed forces of all the major powers in the cluster. Announcing his mercenary group’s breach of contract with such a sense of self importance that I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to run for president one day, though I fail to see how this sort of arrogance could be palatable to anyone with a modicum of civic virtue.

[Diana_Kim]

@Julianus_Soter

and simply napping on our laurels in the backwater of Black Rise

Napping on which exact laurels, Soter?
These ones? Happy Yoiul, Citizens! Today, the State strikes back!
But these are our laurels, not yours.

That’s probably a Gallente habit of running away from such humiliating defeat, screaming they are victorious? Is it like… advance backwards! Charge to retreat!

There is an ongoing joke about new Gallente flag: it’s a white eagle on a white background.

@Julianus_Soter

The Villore Accords will seek out stronger allies, rebuild our military strength,

Here actually we can see the real reasons behind all this gallentean-styled political nonsence.
Lets just remember what actual facts happened leading to the situation. Shortly after GMVA/WANG coalition defeat, that I have linked before, there was some sort of internal conflicts in the WANG alliance, it was split in half and began losing to SNUFF. They lost almost everything. One part of the former WANG alliance - Hull Pen has joined Dock Workers and have left to Minmatar space. Apparently, GMVA just followed them like puppies. So, we can see where this “rebuilding” and “seeking new allies” comes from.

WANG was that alliance that allowed GMVA to succeed in Black Rise. Without them - they are nothing. And with the alliance crumbling, GMVA now are defenseless. They need that rebuilding and at least someone to cover their ‘bare butts’ from spanking. And, I think, they hope U’K could do that for them.

As usual, now as we know what actually happened, I’d like to remind, that all enemies of the State shall die.
You can hide, you can run, you can try to find shelter in the Republic, Soter, but you will never escape the retribution and we will deliver justice to you on the tip of our spear.

Glory to the State!

[Arrendis]

@Miran_Tereven

breach of contract

Except… by withdrawing from the militia, he’s using the agreed-upon proper mechanism for exiting the contract… which means he’s not breaching the contract. He’s adhering to the terms of it.

Still…

@Miran_Tereven

I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to run for president one day,

… you do get points for irony.

[Chet-Shi]

As someone from the most ‘Populist’ sector of the Federation, I want to throw out right away that this doesn’t reflect our views.

I don’t think anyone with two eyeballs and a functioning brainstem thinks the Caldari Millita is winning anytime soon, with or without a sudden surge of aggression. I don’t say that to disparage the Caldari, to the contrary i’m a bit sour about how the whole thing played out. Rather then landing the final blow on them in honorable combat, the end came not from the Gallente but the Triglavians and the pirates.

That said, I have nothing but love for the people of EDENCOM who continue to defend Solitude from Triglavian incursions and protect the people from any further aggressions on their homeland across all the Empires. They ARE the Federation Navy after all, even if they are wearing different colors, and I trust them to do the best they can with the situation as it unfolds. Further, I will likely be doing my best to assist them in any future operations and will be in close contact with those in Solitude, precisely because they are our first line of defense against the Kybers.

[Miran_Tereven]

@Arrendis

Except… by withdrawing from the militia, he’s using the agreed-upon proper mechanism for exiting the contract… which means he’s not breaching the contract. He’s adhering to the terms of it.

If such a clause exists, that particular grievance ceases to be of importance.

@Arrendis

… you do get points for irony.

I wondered whether anyone was going to pick up on that one.

@Chet-Shi

As someone from the most ‘Populist’ sector of the Federation, I want to throw out right away that this doesn’t reflect our views.

That speech plays on the fears and uninformed nature of the public in order to cast doubt on the decisions made by not just the leadership of the Federation, but the joint course decided upon by all four of the major powers. Should the term populist have been appropriated for another purpose within your Federation’s political discourse, then the term public agitator comes to mind as an acceptable alternative.

We are currently living in the aftermath of a cluster-wide crisis. Many people across all four major powers could have done all sorts of things in order to criticize their leaders and obstruct their efforts. The majority do not. Presumably because the majority of baseliners understand that division is only going to cause further damage during a time-frame in which the cluster should be striving for damage control and post-war reconstruction. Jumped up mercenaries pouring fuel on the fire with this sort of tripe is only going to detract from that.

[Valerie_Valate]

@Julianus_Soter

The Amarr Empire, which was so central to the EDENCOM planning efforts, and diverted so many resources to their slave holding territories, while neglecting the Federation worlds that were seized.

As I recall, the Amarr systems were being defended by EDENCOM forces that consisted entirely of Imperial Navy units, and not a multinational force.

So I’m curious to know what resources were diverted, that could have been employed in Vale.

Were you expecting the Imperial Navy to appear in force above Federation worlds ?

[Arsia_Elkin]

@Valerie_Valate

So I’m curious to know what resources were diverted, that could have been employed in Vale.

The most notable example of hoarding of resources is from the period of time in which EDENCOM Gunstars were deployed only in Imperial systems. I believe that period of time happened after Vale fell, but it does clearly show that not everything with the organization was entirely on the level.

It’s hard to say exactly what problems were because EDENCOM was not particularly transparent in their operations. It’s hard to determine how much of the fault of each loss suffered belongs with the various national navies or EDENCOM itself because we don’t know the actual extent of EDENCOM’s role in the whole thing. The one thing we saw EDENCOM (as opposed to the national navies) itself clearly do is to deploy Gunstars, but as mentioned… they even ■■■■■■ up a job as simple as that.

[Chet-Shi]

Fair enough, admittedly I was being a bit of a stickler about the term because it generally describes one particular style of leadership that’s common with the Federations New Sociocrats. One that generally pushed for more trust in the Federal military and less trust in the more centralized governments bureaucracy.

But I get the general gist of what you’re saying about it as a debate style, and even agree to an extent. Playing on peoples fears and fomenting aggression against the organization rather then trying to seriously sit down and have a discussion about how EDENCOM could do better.

[Valerie_Valate]

I find the notion that the Amarr Empire hoarded the entire EDENCOM stock of Gunstars, which I would have expected to be manufactured across all of New Eden, to be at least a bit silly.

It’s not like Imperial Armaments was the sole manufacturer contracted by EDENCOM, is it. Surely the likes of Roden Shipyards, Caldari Steel, or Boundless Creation would also have been building them, surely.

[Arsia_Elkin]

Then why were they only deployed in Imperial space for quite an extensive period in the middle of the invasion?

If Roden Shipyards, Caldari Steel, and Boundless Creation had also been building them… why did they all stop doing so at the same time and then suddenly resume doing so at the same time after a while had passed?

What makes sense to me is that they were coming from CONCORD (EDENCOM) itself and only being shipped off to one area of space.

You can speculate as to where they were built and I can speculate why there were none in three of the four empires for an extended period, but it would be much more convenient if EDENCOM or the empires would come out and tell us why that happened. It certainly has the appearance of corruption even if there is none in actuality. That appearance detracts from EDENCOM’s ability to effectively do its stated job far more than just disclosing the reasons why that was the case in the past would.

[Valerie_Valate]

Honestly, Arsia, you’re beginning to sound a bit like those conspiracy people that write in to the letters page of Gutter Press.

Their usual nonsense is that it was an Amarr conspiracy, and that Marshal Valkanir was part of it, and she decided not to deploy Gunstars outside Amarr space.

I find it far more likely that the other three empires were reluctant to give political authorisation to deploy the Gunstars, due to uncertainty about their permanence, and that the decision makers were racist and/or misogynist towards Marshal Valkanir, because of her Ammatar background. And then their paranoia blew back in their face.

[Saronu_Yassavi]

@Valerie_Valate

a bit like those conspiracy people

Be fair; Amarr conspiracy is the only conceivable explanation for strategic shortages in wartime– at least if one’s reasoning is subservient to that conclusion.

[Arrendis]

@Miran_Tereven

If such a clause exists

The fact that CONCORD has a ‘leave the milita’ button coded into their system means it does, and he’s withdrawing from the militia in accordance with CONCORD’s mechanisms for doing so. Since you join the militia through those same systems… there’s your contract.

@Miran_Tereven

We are currently living in the aftermath of a cluster-wide crisis.

The “aftermath” only starts when the crisis ends. It hasn’t.

@Miran_Tereven

Many people across all four major powers could have done all sorts of things in order to criticize their leaders and obstruct their efforts.

These two things are not synonymous, and should not be linked as though they were, and treated that way. Criticism is not obstruction. For example, were I to say ‘I see what you’re doing with that engine, but here’s three ways to get more performance out of it’, that’s constructive criticism.

Similarly, if we tell our leaders ‘doing that is moronic, stop it and figure out something better’, that’s not obstructive. For example, ‘stop relying on the damned Ravens and Caracals and get a detachment of sixty Feroxes into that system, and you’ll stop getting your asses handed to you by the Trigs’? Not obstruction. If anything, it’s criticism intended to remove the obstruction of clear incompetence on the part of Navy and EDENCOM leadership.

@Miran_Tereven

post-war reconstruction

That’s a damned silly thing to be attempting when the war has just begun.

@Valerie_Valate

So I’m curious to know what resources were diverted, that could have been employed in Vale.

If nothing else, money. Getting those Gunstars deployed took resources. If, as you say, the other three empires were full of idiots who said ‘no, please, don’t put that amazing new tech someplace where we can steal it later put our engineers to work reverse-engineering it no, really, stealing it’s better’ benefit from it’, then that money could’ve been used to grease palms and overcome that reluctance.

[Miran_Tereven]

@Chet-Shi

Fair enough, admittedly I was being a bit of a stickler about the term because it generally describes one particular style of leadership that’s common with the Federations New Sociocrats. One that generally pushed for more trust in the Federal military and less trust in the more centralized governments bureaucracy.

J’ai appris votre langue uniquement pour le commerce. Je n’ai pas étudié votre politique.

@Chet-Shi

But I get the general gist of what you’re saying about it as a debate style, and even agree to an extent. Playing on peoples fears and fomenting aggression against the organization rather then trying to seriously sit down and have a discussion about how EDENCOM could do better.

I am annoyed that he’s undermining his own government, and downplaying the efforts and sacrifices of the armed forces. Considering the fact that EDENCOM only busied itself with the deployment of turrets, and the EDENCOM fleets were simply indigenous navy units flying under a different flag for incomprehensible reasons, I don’t mind it when people have a go at them. Especially considering how spotty turret deployment was throughout the war.

@Arrendis

The “aftermath” only starts when the crisis ends. It hasn’t.

Depends on your definition of crisis. The raiding fleets are problematic, but I think systems having their suns ruined and being woven into space hell rates a bit higher on the list of crisis material.

@Arrendis

These two things are not synonymous, and should not be linked as though they were, and treated that way. Criticism is not obstruction. For example, were I to say ‘I see what you’re doing with that engine, but here’s three ways to get more performance out of it’, that’s constructive criticism.

Similarly, if we tell our leaders ‘doing that is moronic, stop it and figure out something better’, that’s not obstructive. For example, ‘stop relying on the damned Ravens and Caracals and get a detachment of sixty Feroxes into that system, and you’ll stop getting your asses handed to you by the Trigs’? Not obstruction. If anything, it’s criticism intended to remove the obstruction of clear incompetence on the part of Navy and EDENCOM leadership.

Right, but all I’m seeing when he says “President Celes Aguard, who I might claim is more of an absentee president than anything else, has done nothing to speak on this issue, to reassure the public, to liberate those stolen from us. We sit here, and wait. For what?” does this strike you as constructive criticism? I would have loved to see Feroxes instead of Ravens, Drakes, Caracals and what-not, and I was one of the most vocal advocates of this idea during the invasions, but that was constructive criticism. I didn’t go a-protesting on New Caldari Prime whilst shouting “CEP, take the tea”. That would not have helped anyone.

@Arrendis

That’s a damned silly thing to be attempting when the war has just begun.

Well maybe we wouldn’t have to rebuild so much infrastructure if a certain fleet hadn’t shown up in Niarja when the Triglavians and the Kybernauts were losing. We also can’t leave the refugees from the war sitting around in whatever stations they were dumped at. They need housing and employment in order to be reintegrated into society. This might not be the most opportune moment to do it, but it still needs to be done.

[Arrendis]

@Miran_Tereven

Right, but all I’m seeing when he says “President Celes Aguard, who I might claim is more of an absentee president than anything else, has done nothing to speak on this issue, to reassure the public, to liberate those stolen from us. We sit here, and wait. For what?” does this strike you as constructive criticism?

“Get off your ass and get to work”? Yeah. Yeah, that’s pretty damned constructive, in its way.

@Miran_Tereven

Well maybe we wouldn’t have to rebuild so much infrastructure if a certain fleet hadn’t shown up in Niarja when the Triglavians and the Kybernauts were losing.

Yup. But that deflection right there doesn’t begin to address my actual point: That it is far too soon to talk about ‘post-war’ anything. Finish the war, then talk about ‘post-war’.

[Reiko_Shi]

“I’d like to know what the Casus Belli outline is formally. There’s really not much point in fight for lost ideals on a see saw of useless occupations of systems.”

[Aldrith_Shutaq]

Welcome to our warzone, Soter. Whatever your flimsy reasons for wishing death upon us, I have only one response:

You first.