The Cold War

The Cold War
Event
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Name: The Cold War
In-game name:
Alts:
Status: Ended through Peace Treaty
Date:
First joined:
Last seen:
Formed: October 2017
Abandoned:
Disbanded: March 2018
Location:
Coords:
Members:
Clans: The League, The Conspiracy
Bases:
Schematic: {{{schematic}}}

The Cold War was a period of political unrest on SimPvP from October 2017 to March 2018. The Cold War began shortly after the end of the War of Monarchia and was primarily fought between two opposing clans, The League and The Conspiracy, both of whom shared different ideologies and different visions of the server's future. The Cold War was a period of immense tension, distrust, and duplicity, and it would eventually continue on until March 2018, when an official peace treaty was signed between the two teams, thus ending the Cold War.

Background

It is commonly acknowledged that the Cold War began directly after the War of Monarchia on October 6th, 2017. However, and most arguably, the roots of the server's first Cold War can be traced back even further to the First and Second Great Wars fought between late 2015 and early 2017. These wars were primarily fought between The Principate and the Blue Orchid Cult (formerly Nameless), and are regarded as the must destructive and disturbing wars ever fought on the server.

The Principate, made up of former members of The Order, was mainly run by pippenger's many secret alts, which he used to infiltrate and taunt other projects in the server in the hopes of achieving a network of total power and domination. SirTashingdon was also a former member of The Principate, and the two would do much to attempt to bring the server under their control, even if that meant antagonizing fellow team Nameless. Nameless was currently working on a large flying base known as Gregoria, and its many members were unaware of an attack taking place. Pippenger had secretly infiltrated the clan, discovering the coordinates to Gregoria, and a subsequent ambush and attack was made as The Principate annexed the city for themselves. This angered Nameless, and thus, soon after, the Blue Orchid Cult was born, intent on destroying The Principate and pippenger's many builds and alts.

The First and Second Great Wars featured many destructive battles and attacks on various cities, most notably including Nos Astra, Virunum, and Trump City. Eventually, in early 2016, the Blue Orchid Cult would release private and personal information about pippenger publicly, resulting in year-and-a-half-long absence as The Principate subsequently collapsed. Meanwhile, in early 2017, as Trump City fell to Fluz43, a deep-seated animosity brew inside clipchip and JavelinFury as their base was destroyed, and much of this, though specifically caused by Fluz43, was the result of pippenger's damaging actions, thus setting in motion the events of the Cold War in late 2017.

History

In January 2017, after returning from his own hiatus, ostrich1414 rejoined the server in the hopes of beginning a new era. Ostrich1414 was allies with almost all players at this point, having made no real enemies, and thus made him friends with many players who internally did not like each other. This would lead to the eventual start of the War of Monarchia, and, eventually, the Cold War.

The United Alliance and Pippenger's Return

Shortly after joining, ostrich1414 teamed up with longtime ally JavelinFury to create Quinsigamond, an island city memorializing SimPvP's rich culture and history. More specifically, as it was built in pippenger's Imperial Architecture, it memorialized pippenger and his work on the server. Soon after finishing construction, ostrich1414 and JavelinFury decided to form their own team. At first named The Remembrance, the clan was later renamed to the United Alliance, and soon became the largest and most powerful clan on the server, being led by ostrich1414, JavelinFury, and clipchip at its core.

In the summer of 2017, as the UA was building its capital city, Monarchia, pippenger rejoined the server as his alt Porkington. Ostrich1414 and pippenger had been longtime allies and friends, so ostrich1414 immediately invited pippenger into the UA, which he accepted. Though JavelinFury was thrilled by this, clipchip was secretly weary, acknowledging pippenger's history of infiltration and untrustworthiness.

In late August of 2017, after a dispute with ostrich1414 about the acceptance of worldruler086 into the team, clipchip angrily left the UA and destroyed his own buildings at Monarchia. Though clipchip still remained close with the UA, he remained absent from its further progression during the climax of its popularity. Eventually, as tensions began to rise, clipchip established "Clipiiii's Gang", a proxy clan created to specifically rival and destroy the UA. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, ostrich1414 was growing increasingly frustrated and bored with leading the UA, which he saw as declining and slowing in growth and construction. Ostrich1414 and pippenger began talks of secretly establishing their own clan, beginning with a large capital city to house it, and saw clipchip's anger towards the UA as a perfect opportunity to instigate this.

The War of Monarchia

On September 27th, 2017, ostrich1414 officially declared war on Clipiiii's Gang on behalf of the United Alliance, thus beginning the War of Monarchia. As its namesake suggests, the war was fought primarily in the city of Monarchia, though a few minor attacks did occur in both /world and Spawn. Nevertheless, the goal of the war was simple: both sides wanted control of the city, and, more importantly, both sides wanted control of each other. Clipchip fought relentlessly, using Blitzkrieg-like tactics to shoot down opponents and buildings from the air, as ostrich1414 and JavelinFury fought using guerrilla war techniques from the ground. Though not much destruction was caused, and the war was mostly ideological, a few buildings were bombed and destroyed in the process, and an entire new district was built within Monarchia specifically to accommodate for the war.

On October 6th, 2017, after nine days of fighting, things cooled down as ostrich1414 and clipchip began talks of peace. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, ostrich1414 and Porkington had planned out the entire ordeal. All along, ostrich1414 was to deliberately start and lose the war, allowing clipchip to take control of the city and the UA so ostrich1414 and Porkington would be freed and left on their own to pursue their projects. During the duration of the war, Porkington had secretly and strategically "joined" Clipiiii's Gang, hoping that a pseudo rift between him and ostrich1414 would make clipchip view the war as more believable and worth the fight. Nevertheless, on October 6th, just as he had planned, ostrich1414 negotiated an end to the war with clipchip as the two signed a peace treaty. This peace treaty gave clipchip complete control of the United Alliance, which he later renamed The Royal Allegiance and completely reorganized it. He also gained control of many of the UA's bases, including Monarchia and Quinsigamond, reassigning members to the bases and making ostrich1414 his personal "indentured servant" as further humiliation. However, as this all transpired, ostrich1414 and Porkington were finally free.

The League and The Conspiracy

Immediately after the war, ostrich1414 and Porkington founded a new clan, currently unnamed. They soon invited fellow ally Master_Xybot, SirTashingdon's alt, as he was a former member of The Principate with pippenger and also a former UA member. However, the three saw one main problem: they were still technically members of the Royal Allegiance, clipchip's new offshoot of the United Alliance. Luckily, the RA was relatively inactive and slow-moving, so their lack of presence was rarely questioned, and when it was, they maintained a surface-level image of their involvement with clipchip and his projects.

In their new secret clan, the three began building various bases that would not be revealed until the next year. From October through December of 2017, the trio created the massive underground base of Estevez, their unofficial capital, the supply city of Struthio, and the recruitment center of Grasstle, as well as other minor bases near spawn, including Oberstein. As previously stated, aside from Grasstle, all of these bases were kept top secret, and the clan's existence was unknown to the server. Instead, to still recruit potential members, the trio used Grasstle as a recruitment site, specifically inviting brand-new players to establish them as long-term players. However, their presence began to become more known, and their involvement in the server's community was ever-growing as people began to take notice.

Meanwhile, clipchip and JavelinFury were still active in their roles of the RA, taking this clan seriously, but refused to initiate new or necessary projects. JavelinFury began to repair and continue building Monarchia as clipchip continued restructuring his new team. However, the two were also engaged in secret acts behind the scenes. Clipchip and JavelinFury were involved with a clan called The Conspiracy, which also included their ally MisterStrawman. The Conspiracy had existed for some time prior to the RA, but was just now gaining more traction as the lack of the UA meant that they had more time to focus on their projects. These included the massive city of the Golden Sun and the expansive base The Vault, allowing them to accumulate more wealth and raw materials, quickly making them all the more powerful in secret.

As these two clans worked and built themselves up in total secrecy, using the RA as a surface-level proxy clan, the tensions between the two grew more apparent as divisions widened. Clipchip and JavelinFury began to frequently question ostrich1414 and Porkington's absences from Monarchia, while ostrich1414 and Porkington would frequently taunt the two with subtleties of "something big to come". The four players grew farther apart, but, ironically, remained close and linked on the surface.

Between January 4th and 5th of 2018, ostrich1414, Porkington and Master_Xybot finalized their clan's name, The League, and publically announced their existence to the server. Immediately after their announcement, the three withdrew from the Royal Allegiance, leaving their positions and dedicating their absolute focus to The League. This enraged clipchip and JavelinFury: the withdrawal from the RA appeared to be the final nail in the coffin, and thus, tensions increased and animosity soared as the Cold War soon reached its height.

The Climax of the Cold War

Aside from clipchip and JavelinFury, other former UA and current RA members were angered by the withdrawal of The League's three leaders. Z33VN, who helped ostrich1414 run and maintain Quinsigamond, was left bitter by this, and publically admitted his distaste towards the clan, threatening Quinsigamond on various occasions. However, the first open hostility was taken at Grasstle, where clipchip gained access and used his alt Cocoaboa to infiltrate it and halt new player recruitments. This slowed down The League's recruitments, proving to be a roadblock. Later, while Cinnabars, pippenger and worldruler086 were working on repairing the nether road system, The Conspiracy sabotaged them at 0,0, releasing withers and slowing them down further.

By this point, both opposing teams had clear goals and ideologies. The League was significantly less powerful than The Conspiracy, but equally as ambitious. The League sought to bring more players to the server, establishing SimPvP as a powerhouse in the vanilla anarchy server community by advertising on different websites and recruiting many new players. The Conspiracy, meanwhile, preferred exclusivity and limitations, only allowing those fully trusted into their inner circle; in fact, the team only had three members. While The League favored community work and rebuilding, as well as historical preservation and teaching, The Conspiracy sought to control the server under its own dominion, preserving only what they saw fit and destroying anything in their way of domination. Likewise, ostrich1414 and Porkington had hundreds of new ideas for various projects, whereas clipchip and JavelinFury stayed on one project at a time and would only move on upon completion.

Hostility soared, and soon the first incident of griefing occurred when Quinsigamond was found with minor damage on January 19th, 2018. Though no culprit was found, clipchip had hinted that he was behind the incident, while JavelinFury blamed Z33VN. Regardless, the griefing incident further soured relations between the two teams, having committed an atrocity in a neutral territory, and, though very minor and easily fixed, made ostrich1414 angrier.

Another League town, Majula, was founded by ostrich1414 in late January 2018. Meant to be a quarry town, Majula was vital for The League as it provided them with a plethora of raw materials for building, and a town was built around the edges of the quarry. To further reward recruits who stayed with the team, ostrich1414 and Porkington invited a few players to Majula, including CranberryWarrior, b9tumor and Sir_Phenhex. However, The Conspiracy had gained access to this base as well through a secretive infiltration tactic and thus intended to ambush and attack ostrich1414 next time he entered Majula, with clipchip remaining invisible in the town. However, ostrich1414 was warned of this in advance by an anonymous source, and never returned to Majula, abandoning it.

Soon after the humiliating infiltration of Majula, many other events occurred that only worsened relations and increased tensions between the two clans. Monarchia was anonymously griefed which led both sides to blame each other as the culprits, but no sufficient evidence was ever found to incriminate anyone for the devastating destruction. Many claims were also made to worsen the situation: The Conspiracy claimed to be working on a "nuclear" testing site akin to the Manhattan Project, developing weapons of mass destruction, while The League claimed to have a series of secret agents infiltrating the group, having gained access to key bases. However, arguably the worst and most humiliating attack was not so much violent and destructive as it was controversial. After months of spying and slow progression, The Conspiracy had gained access to Ascaris, pippenger's magnum opus and the single largest city on the server. Pippenger had speculated for months that there were intruders at Ascaris, but no major damage had ever been done to prove this. Alas, clipchip and JavelinFury announced their success at infiltrating the exclusive city, but this was met with more controversy than awe. Both sides saw that Ascaris was a special city, unworthy of being griefed due to its importance and nearly impossible to grief due to its immense size. Though The Conspiracy continue to occupy the city, it gradually culminated into the final turning point of the Cold War.

Peace is Achieved

As things began to cool down, with no real battles or wars having taken place and the invasion of Ascaris proving to be controversial, Porkington began to negotiate peace with clipchip and JavelinFury. At this time, in March of 2018, ostrich1414 had been playing less and less, and pippenger had been playing on other servers more frequently than SimPvP. These facts also helped soften the Cold War, and, eventually, clipchip and JavelinFury agreed to discuss the prospect of peace.

Eventually, that same month, The Conspiracy and The League came to an agreement and a peace treaty was signed, thus ending the five month long Cold War. It was decided that hostilities in and around Spawn would cease, and Ascaris was to become a neutral territory that both teams could use and live at in order to work alongside each other in peaceful cooperation.

Aftermath

The effects of the Cold War are seen in many ways, but are nonetheless present. Ostrich1414 began playing significantly less, and pippenger continued onward with his projects on other servers. Master_Xybot went on hiatus as well, playing even less than ostrich1414 did. Meanwhile, The Conspiracy began focusing on their own projects, keeping mostly to themselves. The Cold War had left many regulars on the server to play less and become quiet, while it had also let new players flourish. As the longtime players fought amongst themselves, newer players were given the chance to grow without the worry of attack, and the subsequent Pasta Empire began to form and increase in size due to this. Though the Cold War marks a period of clashing between the older regulars, it had allowed for newcomers to expand their influences, and thus proved to move forward a new era in SimPvP's long history.

On another note, the Cold War saw a rise in SimPvP-specific memes and "propaganda" pieces, just as the War of Monarchia did, and many of these can still be seen circulating throughout the server and the wiki.