[Jester's Trek] Of sound mind?
Of sound mind?
For those not keeping track, there is a somewhat humorous war going on down in Providence that CSM8 member Ali Aras finds herself in the thick of. And it all starts with a single Omen Navy Issue.
Providence is well-known for being a "NRDS" region: "not red, don't shoot." This means that those that consent to live there under the direction of the Curatores Veritatis Alliance (CVA) only shoot at targets that CVA sets as hostile. If you want to hold space in Provi, you're expected to be beholden to CVA rules. Those that do are selected as "holders", or sov-holders, holding one or more systems or stations in Providence.
On this particular day, two holder fleets operating independently simultaneously landed on a hostile fleet known to use neutral Lokis. The ONI in question was part of one fleet, a Loki part of the other. To the ONI pilot, the Loki was neutral or hostile (reports differ) and as a result the ONI pilot saw the Loki as a valid target and opened fire. He was ordered to cease fire and eventually did so. However, regarding this as a "blue-on-blue" attack, the FC of the fleet that included the Loki ordered the ONI destroyed and rudely stated in Local that the ONI pilot could take it up with the appropriate diplomats. Only this time, the FC happened to be XavierVE, the leader of the Of Sound Mind alliance.
Under normal circumstances, once things cooled down a bit, the ONI would be reimbursed by the leader of the offending alliance and all would be well. XavierVE was duly contacted by the appropriate diplos, ordered to reimburse the loss, et cetera. XavierVE refused, stating that the blue-on-blue kill was justified by the attack on his fleet's Loki. The demands for reimbursement slowly escalated, as did XavierVE's refusals. Soon this matter of principle had escalated beyond the realm of sanity to the point where CVA declared Of Sound Mind pilots as hostile and declared they had lost "holder" status and would be forcibly evicted if they did not leave willingly. XavierVE refused that(!) as well and basically said "bring it on!"(1)
And now we've got a little Provibloc civil war happening down south that's been going on for five days now. You can get more detail (including logs of the EVE mails and such) here, here, and here.
It's entertaining, but that isn't the funny part. The funny part is that the supposedly rampantly undiplomatic XavierVE seems to have been offered the help of every ne'er-do-well alliance and group within 70 jumps that doesn't mind poking CVA in the eye. Suddenly, this undiplomatic person seems to be doing his best to coordinate the activities of an impromptu coalition whose major focus seems to be to blow up as many CVA ships as possible while Of Sound Mind itself (a tiny group not much bigger than Rote Kapelle) tries to organize and take advantage of the chaos... and oh yes, try to hold on to their two stations in Providence. Needless to say, both of these have been amusingly renamed after sci-fi/fantasy independents being overwhelmed by a repressive alliance.
What's even funnier? Of Sound Mind appears to be winning, at least for the moment.
Every couple of days, XavierVE posts the daily battle reports on Failheap Challenge which are the most entertaining possible reading and viewing (a couple of them come with videos). This is has the potential to turn into the most memorable war of 2013, far out-stripping that one-sided little fracas in Fountain. It's already the most humorous war of 2013, a chaotic little charlie-foxtrot involving at least seven different alliances all with different goals but all intent on making CVA's job of dealing with a "rebel" as difficult, embarrassing, and explosion-filled as possible.
I'm only getting caught up with this now, but I'm finding it hugely entertaining. Keep it up, Of Sound Mind! The bad news is that I do expect they'll lose in the end. The good news is that this undiplomatic person and his alliance will almost certainly be offered their choice of far superior sov space somewhere else in New Eden soon after their eviction from Provi is complete. The only real question will be whether the absolutely excellent CSM8 member Ali Aras remains the Provibloc CSM8 member.
(1) And yes, I absolutely understand there were other contributing factors to CVA's decision as well. No break-up happens for a single reason.
Source: Of sound mind?