It is a downright sad state of affairs, isn’t it? The various Galnet portals were rather abuzz about the whole war deployment, their grand poobah delivering a rather cringeworthy dramatic declaration of grand intentions and naming amongst others Mercenary Coalition as the intended targets, “dirty war” and more.
Then, a few weeks of cranking the handle on a meatgrinder later, MC hadn’t lost a single sov timer in Tribute and every assault on our Syndicate Keepstar (while we and NC were supposedly kept busy up north) had been repelled with relative ease. This of course in spite of public announcements they made about how we had apparently evacuated and taken down said Keepstar - sidenote: Imagine reading that statement while currently sitting inside it with three figure billions of assets - and so on. I was even told that someone had watched us evacuate it.
Then they retreated, declaring that their real objective had been won! Initiative had taken almost three dozen Syndicate Moons while their leash holders were throwing themselves into the meat grinder up north, to the tune of a couple of orders of magnitude greater costs than those moons could deliver in their entire remaining lifespans. Great victory, etc. Less than two weeks later pretty much all of said moons have again been turned into rubble, along with Init’s Astras and Fort, and oh… Keepstar still stands. The evacuated and ‘taken down’ one. The north not displaying even a remaining hint of the invasion force that tried to darken its skies.
And so we come to this. Co2, a far smaller entity than NCdot and MC, with fewer allies and a far more precarious situation to find themselves in, now finally going down. Perhaps it was because of how this latest war demonstrated that the Fucklechuck Coalition was a paper tiger with numbers and no good FCs, perhaps it was because of how Co2 had proven themselves time and time again, that made them realize they couldn’t be broken by force of arms. Either way, betrayal and cowardice became the tool of choice.
This post is long as it is, but I feel this is a subject worthy of it. This is an end of an era. It is a landmark in the history of capsuleers. It is noteworthy and thus I feel I should… make note. I have said variation of the following in several places already, but I will repeat it here because it bears repeating. It is the last thing I can offer something that was unique and now extinct:
Circle of Two wrote their names in fire across the skies of New Eden. No matter who they fought, they fought with tooth and nail. Fucklechuck Coalition, Moneybadgers, us and NCdot, anyone. They didn’t back down, they didn’t retreat, they fought until the bitter end even as their allies betrayed and abandoned them. Unbreakable madmen, standing their ground against impossible odds, determined to make their enemies pay in blood for every single inch taken from them.
They may very well have been the last of the real warbands out in the outer regions. I can think of no one else, so willing to throw everything at an enemy simply because it is the right thing to do. Because principle and honor demands it. Because a loss where you fight to the end is preferable to denying the enemy a victory by cowering away, yelping with your tail between your legs.
This state of affairs throughout New Eden where risk-averse coward mode has become the almost universal standard for almost everyone was one they discarded, nay… never picked up to begin with. And they thrived with it. They faced losses, hard ones, against some of the most powerful alliances and coalitions in New Eden and they never broke. They got knocked down, got right back up and fought twice as hard.
Until now. Until their enemy dared no longer face them and instead had someone deliver a poisoned dagger to their back. Cowardly and churlish, this entity composed of assholes and bastards, mad psychopaths and a crazed paranoid leader was finally brought low by another. They’re not getting back up again this time.
Yet there’s a victory in this too. They were the last ones standing tall and proud, unbreakable by anyone through force of arms. I never liked them. I couldn’t stand their leader. And I will never forget them, because they more than almost any other carved their path through New Eden on their terms, displaying a courage and fortitude orders of magnitude greater than their peers.
When the time comes to man the walls, I can only hope I have even half their bravery and will.
Circle of Two, you wrote your name across the skies of New Eden in fire, indeed. I shall mourn your passing and I shall carry your memory for as long as my own path will allow. I have never known a better enemy, and I truly fear I shall never know your like again, as neither friend nor foe.
