The Stonetown Incident

The Stonetown Incident
Event
Name: The Stonetown Incident
In-game name:
Alts:
Status: Resolved
Date:
First joined:
Last seen:
Formed: April 15th, 2020
Abandoned:
Disbanded: April 16th, 2020
Location:
Coords:
Members:
Clans: Church of Francis, The Order of Wilbur
Bases: Stonetown
Schematic: {{{schematic}}}

The Stonetown Incident was a brief religious / political conflict that occurred at Stonetown between April 15th and April 16th, 2020. The Stonetown Incident consisted of the mutual back-and-forth annexations of Stonetown, a 2014 base that is regarded as the holiest site on the server by The Order of Wilbur. When the City of the Divine Lord, Wilbur attempted to annex it, its initial founder, Pippenger, instead gifted the deed to the town to Lord1 on behalf of the Church of Francis, who were the Wilburians' biggest religious rivals. This sparked a short period of high tension that almost led to another Holy War, but was luckily stopped short before things worsened.

The Stonetown Incident is notable for being yet another major crisis throughout the Wilbur-Francis rivalry, much like The Holy Wilbur-Francis War and The Sigil Conflict before it. This proved that postwar tensions were still high, and, unlike the Sigil Conflict, brought the two factions closer to war than they had been since October 2019.

Furthermore, this event is also noteworthy for the reveal of CranberryWarrior as a secret alt account used by ostrich1414, who had been insiding the Chruch of Francis for months.

Timeline

Below is a basic overview of the events that led to the Stonetown Incident, the incident itself, and the aftermath:

• April 15th, 2020:
  • Ostrich1414 suggests that the City of the Divine Lord, Wilbur (a.k.a. Wilburia) should annex the historic base of Stonetown due to its religious significance in The Order of Wilbur. Fellow base members Zepheron and cheesy_chips22 agree.
  • Porkington, also a Wilburian, is angered by the idea as he believes ostrich1414 is attempting to take over his base he founded.
  • Porkington secretly trades with Lord1 in the PvP world, giving him the deed to the town of Stonetown, essentially giving full territorial rule to the Church of Francis.
  • Ostrich1414 finds out that the Church of Francis was gifted Stonetown by Porkington through his insiding alt account, and engages in an angry argument with Porkington. He also informs Zepheron and cheesy_chips22, who are mutually angered by this.

• April 16th, 2020:
  • Early in the morning, Lord1 arrives at Stonetown and officially incorporates it into a Francillian territory. He places dozens of banners and map art propaganda pieces, while also erecting signs and historical markers. Lord1 also constructs a new building specifically for the Church of Francis.
  • Ostrich1414 and Zepheron arrive at Stonetown while invisible. They tear down any Francillian-related propaganda and banners and later blow up the new building with TNT, and covering up the hole. They then place Wilburian banners and threaten the Church of Francis.
  • Lord1 returns, and removes the Wilburian-placed banners and signs. He places yet another sign, this time threatening war and destruction should they continue.
  • Both the Order of Wilbur and the Church of Francis secretly begin planning for war, as the sudden high tensions threaten an imposing second Holy War.
  • Ostrich1414 instigates Lord1 and asks to hold peace talks at Verillium, a neutral zone, to which Lord1 agrees. They meet and begin discussing the prospects of cooling the tensions, and ostrich1414 offers to establish Stonetown as a neutral zone for both Francillians and Wilburians.
  • Lord1 suddenly asks ostrich1414 if he is the owner of the account CranberryWarrior, who has been a devout Francis member for many months. Ostrich1414 admits that he is, which prompts Lord1 to immediately leave the peace talks and log out.
  • After explaining the situation to him and somewhat reconciling, ostrich1414 offers Lord1 access to the CranberryWarrior account. He then fully reveals to the server that he was behind it.

History

Background on the Stonetown Incident

Stonetown was founded in 2014 by Pippenger, who invited players like ostrich1414, dariepearjuicy and unclechain to it. One of Pippenger's smaller, less interesting bases, Stonetown is truly notable for two main things: the massive dirt tree dome beside the town, and for being the site where The Order of Wilbur first began. Since Stonetown was the base that Wilbur both lived at and tragically perished at on July 29th, 2014, it has been regarded by Wilburians as the holiest site on the server and has extreme historic and religious significance.

By 2020, ostrich1414 had founded a new city dedicated entirely to Wilbur and the Order of Wilbur as a whole: the City of the Divine Lord, Wilbur, more commonly known as "Wilburia". Pippenger (on his account Porkington) was also a member of the base. Unfortunately, despite being old, longtime allies, ostrich1414 and Pippenger began having a bit of a rocky relationship that truly began to deteriorate shortly after Porkxit and his minor griefing of and departure from Struthio in 2019. Tensions between the two especially worsened around late 2019, when they were hardly on speaking terms. Fortunately enough, though, by 2020, the two had begun to repair their relationship, with ostrich1414 extending him an offer to Wilburia.

Furthermore, the Order of Wilbur had had a longstanding rivalry with the Church of Francis, the other major religion on SimPvP. The rivalry truly began at the beginning of The Holy Wilbur-Francis War in October 2019, and continued on, albeit it to a lesser extent, until The Sigil Conflict in January 2020. Since then, both Francillians and Wilburians had been continuously sparring with each other in chat and sometimes in PvP, with Wilburia and the base Two Words engaged in a bit of a rivalry as well.

Beginning of the Stonetown Incident

On April 15th, 2020, ostrich1414 announced in the Wilburia Discord that he had plans to annex Stonetown for the city. This was largely due to the fact that Stonetown was the holiest, most important site in the Order of Wilbur, and ostrich1414 felt more comfortable ensuring its safety and security by controlling it as a Wilburian territory. This was also, in part, due to his knowledge that Lord1 also had access to Stonetown. Zepheron and cheesy_chips22, two other Wilburian members, agreed to the idea.

Porkington, however, was less than thrilled. He viewed this idea as yet another example of ostrich1414 attempting to take over his bases (ostrich1414 had also annexed Ascaris back in December 2019) and felt that he was being personally disrespected by doing so. Ostrich1414 shot down his criticisms, still intending to go through with the plan, standing that he had no intentions of taking it over by force, and that it would be purely to keep the base safe.

Unbeknownst to the other Wilburians, Porkington logged on to SimPvP and crafted a deed to the town of Stonetown. He entered a trade with Lord1 in the PvP world and, essentially, gave permission to the Church of Francis to incorporate Stonetown as a rightful Francillian territory, making them its new ruler. Ostrich1414 found out about this trade deal on his secret alt account and was immediately angered.

Ostrich1414 and Porkington soon entered yet another major argument, with ostrich1414 accusing him of betrayal and Porkington accusing him of being power-hungry. Ostrich1414 informed Zepheron and cheesy_chips22 as well, with Zepheron also being exceptionally angry at Porkington as he and Lord1 had their own personal rivalry, which thus made him feel betrayed. Despite handing over the deed, with Porkington did purely to symbolize his discontent with ostrich1414's plans, ostrich1414 planned to annex it anyways.

The Annexations of Stonetown

In the morning of April 16th, Lord1 arrived at Stonetown, which had largely been untouched by anyone since 2014. He began placing dozens of Francillian banners around the town, as well as Francillian propaganda Map Art and signs. One of these signs falsely pointed to the resting place of Wilbur, while another claimed him as a "Lord" rather than a "God". Furthermore, Lord1 explicitly stated that Wilburism would be allowed to flourish in the town, but Wilburian Extremism would be met with force. A brand-new building was also constructed in the town by Lord1, known as the "Imperial Templar Outpost" for Francillians only. Stonetown was now officially a Francillian territory.

Later that day, ostrich1414 and Zepheron decided to travel to Stonetown together, while invisible, and retake the town. Ostrich1414 had been earlier and noticed the changes made by Lord1, which only furthered angered him more than he already was. Thus, out of fury, the two entered Stonetown and tore down all Francillian memorabilia, from banners to map arts to signs. Ostrich1414 also placed TNT all around the Imperial Templar Outpost, blowing it up and then filling the explosion crater back in with stone and dirt to make it appear as if nothing had ever been there. The two also placed Wilburian banners around the town, reclaiming it for Wilburia. Signs threatening the Church of Francis were also placed, with ostrich1414 informing them that he did not recognize their rule.

Lord1 once again arrived at Stonetown to scout it out and see if any changes had been made. After discovering the grief and the Wilburian annexation and rebellion, he removed all Wilburian banners and signs, before placing a new bulletin board in the town center. This time, he threatened worse casualties than before.

By this point, the two religions were entering crisis mode. Both ostrich1414 and Lord1 warned their respective followers that a second Holy War was close on the horizon, and all-out war could break out at any moment due to the high tensions. Both sides began secretly preparing for potential war, brewing potions and making god sets just in case. Despite the preparations, neither side truly wanted to fight, as there had already been three major wars in a row, and everyone was burnt out.

Peace Talks are Held

After realizing that war could and should be prevented, ostrich1414 reached out to Lord1 and asked him to meet him at Verillium, the only completely neutral zone for both Wilburians and Francillians on the server (they had signed a peace treaty stating this during the Holy War). Eventually, the two met and began to discuss ideas to ease tensions.

Ostrich1414 suggested that Stonetown could be much like Verillium: a neutral site for both Wilburians and Francillians to coexist in harmony, ruled by no single faction. While Lord1 was at first hesitant, neither side wanted war, and thus, Lord1 ultimately agreed to the idea. However, he had one thing he wanted to ask ostrich1414 before he fully went through with the peace treaty: he asked ostrich1414 if he was the owner of the CranberryWarrior account. After thinking it through for a minute, ostrich1414 decided to be honest with Lord1 and came clean, admitting that he was, in fact, the owner of CranberryWarrior, and it had been a secret alt account all along. In pure shock and betrayal, Lord1 simply walked away from ostrich1414 and abandoned the peace conference, before immediately logging out and blocking him on Discord.

The CranberryWarrior Escapade

Ever since December 2017, CranberryWarrior had been a secret alt account used by ostrich1414. Only a few other people knew about this, and the account was primarily used to infiltrate other groups and bases, whether malicious or not. Some of the groups and bases CranberryWarrior had infiltrated successfully were The Fellowship and their base Semper Idem, Asguard, the Church of Francis and their bases New Hammerhall, Francistan, The Holy Land, Two Words and Olgremont. Aside from using CranberryWarrior to deter the Holy Wilbur-Francis War slightly in his favor, ostrich1414 had truly meant no harm towards the Church of Francis with the account, as he genuinely liked and respected Lord1 despite their in-game rivalry.

Supposedly, Lord1 had become secretly suspicious of CranberryWarrior, despite having considered him a real, genuine friend for many, many months. Simultaneously, ostrich1414 was beginning to feel dirty using the account, feeling that leading them on was morally reprehensible and considered leaking the account many times before, but only really continued out of fear of being caught. However, when Lord1 had finally asked him whether or not the alt account was his, ostrich1414 decided that he owed it to Lord1 to admit the truth, thus ending the CranberryWarrior secrecy.

After the pair slowly began to reconcile once more on Discord, with ostrich1414 attempting to explain the situation, he decided to do what he felt was right. In a show of apology and sorrow, ostrich1414 gifted Lord1 the CranberryWarrior account as a brand new alt for him to use. Lord1 accepted, and logged on to SimPvP on the CranberryWarrior account one last time to make a final statement, before logging off of it for good and changing the username to Lard2.

Lord1 also later made a tribute video for CranberryWarrior, reflecting on all the good times they had together before laying his legacy to rest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gSfJFju-OM