u/FunnyDress8717

It’s a tale as old as time – those with egos tend to chase power. And for the seemingly humble, power tends to corrupt.

In the early days, the two most powerful alliances were ALC and what ultimately became PNX. But then ALC’s most powerful whale defected to PNX, leaving the two most powerful whales in the same alliance.  On the eve of the kingdom’s first KvK, these two whales each had about 110M and 130M of power, respectively. ALC’s most powerful players were in the 80-90M range. It appeared PNX was destined to rule 1767.

The failed coup

ALC, together with the then third-place alliance (SHP) decided that their best bet to claim control of the kingdom was to violate NAP10 and launch a night-time raid against PNX. If they could zero enough PNX members, maybe these whales wouldn’t have the supporting troop strength to dominate the castle. The plan backfired spectacularly, as SHP never committed to the fight and PNX’s whales immediately responded and started zeroing ALC members. Only a handful of ALC members were in on the plans and so most were given no warning to shield. The ALC HQ was destroyed. Many were zeroed. Most ALC members felt betrayed that they weren’t kept in the loop on such an important plan.

In the fallout, some of ALC’s most powerful members ultimately joined PNX to effectively kill ALC and to better align interests of the most powerful players in the server. Others retreated to SOD, an alliance that had previously merged with ALC. And a handful of players were given more strict punishments, including a player named Yomomsbf (Yomo) – at the time only a TC27 player - being given a multi-week ban.

ALC rebranded as ZOO with about 40 remaining members and wasn’t even a top 10 alliance following the first KvK.  

Reunification

In the following months, the kingdom seemed to be coming back together. Yomo returned to the game and started investing heavily, ultimately building battle stats that would make him the third or fourth most deadly rally leader in the kingdom. Two dominating KvK prep and battle victories were leading everyone to feel that 1767 was a kingdom on the rise. ZOO slowly rebuilt and ultimately merged with OFA, adding some nice top 50 players into the fold. With Yomo’s rise, and the strengthening from the OFA merger, ZOO was back to being a top 3 alliance.

Success bred unity. After ZOO took some heavy losses in its second KvK battle, the now second most powerful alliance (SOD) temporarily brought players over to ZOO to share their battle excess rescue orders to maximize healing. It seemed that 1767 was on its way to becoming something special. That is, until it was decided to purge ZOO from the kingdom.

The obstructive banner

As Yomo became more powerful, his brash ways began to feel more threatening to those in power. Yomo tended to speak pretty directly and act pretty impulsively. His username (Yomomsbf) does give you a sense for his style and approach. And there were still hard feelings about the attempted coup, despite any punishments served.

At this time, Yomo decided that ZOO should try to contest a sanctuary that PNX controlled. 1767’s NAP rules specifically noted that if any alliance wanted to approach an alliance site, it is not lawful to block that path. But PNX attempted to block ZOO’s path through multiple methods, including by occupying land with troops. ZOO still worked their way to the site but needed PNX to move a banner by 2 clicks for ZOO to be able to connect. ZOO asked PNX to move the banner in NAP chat but got no response. After waiting about 24 hours and getting no response, Yomo decided to destroy the banner himself as to gain access to the site. 

The moment the banner was destroyed, the kingdom's whales and powerful players from PNX and SHP (the party that previously backed out of the attempted coup) descended on ZOO from all angles.  Probably 50+ ZOO players were completely zeroed, including several of ZOO’s strongest players that weren’t online at the time. Those that paid the heaviest cost were the F2P players who had no idea what was going on. They logged on to find they had lost 100k, 200k, or 300k troops. Some lost as many as 600-700k troops. ZOO’s HQs were destroyed. It was a bloodbath.

The immediate aftermath

Yomo and a handful of ZOO’s strongest members managed to get in a couple of retaliatory strikes against PNX and SHP members, but nothing to the degree that ZOO experienced. Amazingly, ZOO did not break apart. Unlike in the previous coup attempt where ZOO members felt betrayed by their leadership, in this case the alliance members saw the situation for what it was. Certain players in the kingdom did not like Yomo because of his brash ways, and the obstructive banner was the Cassus Belli for these players to end ZOO once and for all. They wanted to end Yomo before he became too powerful to stop.

ZOO tried to work out a peace that would involve a formal apology from those involved in the burning. But certain PNX members refused to apologize unless Yomo also apologized for burning a banner. Yes, Yomo had run a red light. But the cops responded by burning his car and his house to the ground, and then murdering his friends, family, and work colleagues. The zero-ing response was so over-the-top and disproportionate, but the justification was “but he still ran a red light. So he should apologize too.”

Unable to reach a compromise, ZOO was removed from NAP chat. Other members of NAP refused to take any sort of action, as they wanted to avoid getting zeroed by a whale. Couldn’t ZOO just shut up and move on? They determined it was better to keep their heads down, find a reason to say that ZOO deserves some blame, and move on with their lives.

The revenge of ZOO

ZOO boycotted the next KvK prep and 1767 lost by an amount much less than what ZOO had historically contributed. Some of the most powerful players who participated in the destruction of ZOO voiced their regret and committed to transferring to another kingdom. Others remained defiant and committed to their actions. Several players heavily invested in battle stats, especially Yomo who reached 1,000+ attack bonuses with the kingdom still less than 150 days old. 

Almost exactly one month after the burned banner incident, ZOO responded by completely decimating SHP, destroying both of their HQs and removing access to all alliance sites. While there were several SHP players who had more “power” on paper, none could stand up to the raw battle power of ZOO’s most powerful players. Meanwhile, the most powerful whale in the kingdom had changed his profile picture to a black profile screen that simply said “Goodbye”. For one reason or another, he was leaving the server.  And maybe the game. He wasn’t there to defend SHP.

What’s next

The first transfer window still doesn’t open for at least another month. It’s unclear whether parties on either side will seek peace or commit to a long war. I’m sure many players will simply quit out of frustration.

The reason I have found this saga so interesting is that it seems like a pretty good case study for our current geopolitical climate. We live in a world with power asymmetry, where certain world players may feel that they have the power to do whatever they want, even if it violates the rights of others. The main protection against abuse by the powerful is a commitment by the community to band together and enforce agreed-upon norms. But is it the enforcement of these rules that creates protection – to the extent the rules are just ignored, we enter a world where might makes right. 

Living in a world without order is terrifying. But is it even possible to re-establish a rules-based order after so many failures by those who were supposed to enforce the rules? It makes me think of the situation in Ukraine, and how much they have struggled to gain support from an international community that should be standing by their side to maintain the rules-based order. But in many cases, these western “allies” instead choose to adopt the “might makes right” approach of the dictators that the west should oppose.

1767 is very likely dead. Be aware of the situation if you are presented with the opportunity to transfer here. Ultimately this is just a game. But in the real world, let’s all remember the very real long-term costs of not choosing to stand for what’s right, even when it’s inconvenient or costly. Peace only prevails when each member of the community is 100% committed to enforcing it. Even if it means standing toe to toe with a whale.