Spectre of Steel
History of the Specter of Steel Empire By Greywulf.
Contents |
Introduction:
I was not involved in the initial creation of the Specter of Steel (SoS) Empire, but will attempt to provide some facts (from my point of view) on its History. I am sure Wolfhound can provide many details that I leave out.
It was on my third attempt at establishing my province that I truly began to become involved in Aegis. The first two were short attempts, and on the Adarkis server (at that time there was only one option). I remember vividly, hanging back and watching people interact in chat and reading the forums…something I would recommend all new players do. When the time came for me to seek admittance into a kingdom, chance would have it that Bobthelost was in open chat and extended the invitation. Thus, I joined Unyted Nations…an SoS kingdom. That decision would mark my career in Aegis forever. Many times I have wondered what direction my play style would have taken had I not decided to plant my “stake” within SoS.
My recollection of SoS beginnings, prior to joining, is based on conjecture…please excuse any errors. After I joined, I will mark the major events as I see them. This is not to belittle the day-to-day actions, but instead an attempt to point out an overview of those major events that mark Aegean History.
Spectre of Steel Beginnings:
Wolfhound was the initial High King of the Specter of Steel Empire and Sword`s Edge was the flagship kingdom. It is vague why the Empire was created, but it happened in the wake of the 1st Vendetta War (as I call it) where the might of the Adarkis kingdoms utterly destroyed the Elderis kingdoms with relative ease. Prompting an entire reset of the Elderis continent. Many recall that the SoS was created to be an Empire of like-minded warriors with the goal of developing a strong sense of camaraderie while also excelling at warfare. Players such as Hunter, Vampyre, Dakotaaces, Crazyeyes, Shiznit, and others. At some point (after the Blackegg and Darkmastersam incidents) the Unyted Nations joined the SoS Empire, with Bobthelost taking the crown after the former king was razed/reset. The Empire grew over the next few months, and some of it’s founders moved on…Hunter created the Excalibur Kingdoms and Vampyre created the “Family” and later went on to lead the Rakgor Empire.
Spectre of Steel History:
In the late fall of 2005, the core group of kingdoms that made up the SoS Empire decided to embark on it’s first major war effort. A hierarchy was formed, creating War Room leaders (Dakotaaces, Vazkallier, Shiznit, and later Kazmac)..as well as Diplomats (Raif-Severence, Greywulf, and Calibus) to represent the kingdoms in the Political arena. The first major war that I remember, I call the 2nd Vendetta War. It was the Elderian attempt to exact some form of revenge for the serious beating suffered at the hands of the combined Adarkian onslaught of the 1st Vendetta War. However, this expedition failed to achieve victory, but it did mark the beginning of the Elderian resistance to Adarkian domination and provided a valuable learning opportunity into the Art of Aegean Warfare. The SoS Empire surrendered to the Adarkian forces after only one week of conflict.
An amazing thing happened right after that…the major troop train time code changes and the alteration to the bank fraud bug. These changes opened up the warfare tactics and substantially balanced the game. The race was on…who would master these new tactics the fastest: 7clan/Praetorians (on Adarkis and Merlidia) or Specter of Steel (on Elderis). This competition spurred forth a contest of wills between these two mighty empires that would last through three major wars. These were the best wars I have ever witnessed on Aegis. They involved weeks of continuous warfare…the likes of which still have yet to be equaled.
The Clan Wars:
The 1st Clan War began after the SoS decided to destroy the 7clan kingdoms on Elderis. The SoS kingdoms launched a full-scale assault on the two Elderian 7clan kingdoms. While successful in eliminating the 7clan presence on Elderis, the 7clan on Adarkis counter-attacked and rather easily subdued the SoS Elderian kingdoms. At the same time, the Praetorians thoroughly decimated the SoS presence on Merlidia, giving them substantial control of the Merlidian server. The war ended after two weeks of non-stop fighting with an extended Cease Fire to allow both our Empires to rest.
- I will note here, that while these wars appeared brutal, there was genuine respect given by both sides. While we fought in the game, many of us became close and developed friendships that exist today. There was a mutual ability of separating the game from the person…allowing us all (for the most part) to enjoy ourselves.
The Praetorian War on Merlidia was also pre-empted by SoS. It was a futile attempt by SoS to regain control of the “still-relatively-new” Merlidian server. This war lasted only four days, and ended with the reset of many SoS provinces. It was these resets that started to drive a wedge of animosity between the 7clan/Praetorian provinces and the SoS Empire. Prior to this, resets and major razes had been absent from Aegean Warfare (for the most part). The brutality of the Praetorian War ushered in a new post-ICA era of “War until the other side is razed to nothing”.
The Rakgor War on Elderis was the SoS Empire’s attempt to redeem itself from it’s first Clan War loss and the resets suffered during the Praetorian War. It also served as a means of wrestling control of the Elderian server from the 7clan Allies, the Rakgor Empire. This war lasted three days, and resulted in Rakgor’s surrender. The Specter of Steel’s first major war victory, and also established the SoS (and it’s allies IBW and Excalibur) the top spot of warring empires on Elderis. One Rakgor province was so upset at the loss, that she “Suicided” with all her multi’s on Raif-Severence and reset him and the kingdom. Yet another black mark in Aegean history…the idea of suiciding and resetting kingdoms as a means to exact revenge. After this war, the SoS Empire set about maximizing it’s defenses and prepared for the inevitable attacks from the Adarkis 7clan and the Merlidian Praetorians. We knew they would be coming to retaliate the defeat of their Rakgor Empire allies.
The 2nd Clan War began as predicted. However, SoS Kingdoms were prepared and withstood the initial barrage of 7clan and Praetorian attacks. What happened next is, perhaps, the most enjoyable time many of us have ever had on Aegis. Three solid weeks of continuous around-the-clock fighting. By the end of the war, there were only a handful of provinces that were capable of fighting…a cease fire was declared, and no clear victor was decided. Not everyone felt that the war was enjoyable, however…and many people decided they would not continue. Both sides suffered losses of key players who did not want to rebuild.
It would take several months for SoS to recover from this war. Stepping back from the spotlight of Aegean affairs, the Empire went about quietly rebuilding and regaining it’s strength. While doing so, the SoS influence on Merlidia increased with the addition of the mighty Crimson Sun kingdom and the quickly rebuilt Merlidian SoS kingdoms. SoS could never seem to gain a foothold on Adarkis, however…so I will include a brief description of what happened on that continent that allowed SoS kingdoms to be developed there.
The OTK Wars:
While the Specter of Steel Empire was not directly involved in these wars…it is because of them that the Kingdoms of Crimson Steel and Vermillion Purulence were able to become members of SoS and hold their ground. The OTK (the Order of Templar Knights) was an alliance of many smaller Empires that started a crusade against the 7clan and later their allies FaL/Heaven/and Vendetta`s hold on Adarkis. Two large wars…one where OTK was did well and reset many 7clan provinces, the second where they were beaten bad by the 7clan allies, and soon after it was disbanded. Towards the end, the SoS Empire made a quick attempt to attack the Praetorians on Merlidia, but that did not succeed and the attempt fizzled out. While all this was happening, Crimson Steel and Vermillion Purulence positioned themselves to be established on Adarkis and admitted later into the SoS empire.
During the SoS rebuild after the 2nd Clan War…many changes occurred within SoS. Many “old” SoS leaders moved away, but were replaced with others, like Blackrainbow and Sorami. One of the most prominent changes was the fact that the High King, Wolfhound, wanted to take a break. He passed the mantle of leadership to Greywulf. On only Greywulf’s second day of being High King…the massive 3rd Clan War erupted.
The Beginning of the End:
The 3rd Clan War began with a surprise attack. 7clan forces from Adarkis, along with Tartarus Creed forces from Merlidia, launched a two prong attack against SoS and it’s allies. Nearly 30% of SoS was destroyed in the first day of the attack. However, the SoS Empire rallied and held strong for three full weeks of (once again) non-stop continuous fighting. This was an extremely brutal war. Entire kingdoms were razed, and continuous razing occurred long after provinces were broken. The Tartarus Creed Kingdoms stopped fighting after the first week…and both SoS and 7clan only had one kingdom each able to still fight by the end of the war. At the end of the war, one of the most atrocious acts of Aegean warfare occurred. A rogue province, Antony, thought it would be cute to maneuver into position as the crown holder for the last standing 7clan Kingdom. Antony then reset the kingdom, and left the remaining 7clan provinces hanging in no-man’s land. The war was immediately ended in disgust…plague provinces such as that should have no place in Aegis. Also noted, the Crimson Sun kingdom on Merlidia was reset by a sneak attack from the House of Sins Kingdom. A very low blow to attack a kingdom that was already razed and engaged in a three week long war.
The Tartarus Creed War broke out as soon as the Cease Fire between SoS and TC was over. A lot of bad blood caused a massive desire within SoS to attack and destroy TC for the part they played. Many in SoS thought that The Tartarus Creed hired 7clan to help them start the 3rd Clan War, (this later was proven to not be the case). The Tartarus Creed was razed badly. The war lasted only one day, but started in motion a sense of hatred between TC multi’s within 7clan and the SoS Empire, leading up to the darkest war in Aegean history (with the exception of the Great..or Unholy…War). After the Tartarus Creed War, Wolfhound returned to once again become the High King of SoS.
The Reset War began almost as an afterthought. There is no real beginning to it, other than the deep need for both the 7clan/FaL + and allies and SoS Empires to apparently redeem themselves for the losses suffered by both sides in the previous Clan and TC wars. Once fighting began, it was apparent that simple razing wasn’t good enough anymore. Both sides adopted a “Once a province is broken, reset it” strategy. The losses suffered by both sides were horrendous. The War ended as mysteriously as it began...it seemed both sides tired of it and just walked away. This marked the last war that 7clan and SoS would fight.
Immediately after the Reset War, many kingdoms broke off from SoS and began a new Empire..The Griffon Heart Empire (Who’s story I will tell at a different time). The Specter of Steel Empire stayed around for a few more months, but never really recovered from the mass resets…it eventually merged with the Griffon Heart Empire after Greywulf had his accounts banned by Mek…leaving the GHE under the leadership of Sorami and (now) Wolfhound. Calibus went off to found the Legionaires. But those are a stories for other Empires to tell history.