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The Grand Tour
Start out by navigating the scenic north-south pipe as you come down from Sakht, admiring the native botters and drag-bubble camps. Stop for dinner in NOL and take in a laser show. After a big meal and some ceremonial bloodletting, you’ll probably want to meander down to MO-, where Molle once dwelled at the height of his empire. From there, swing through Fake Querious (the most ridiculous constellation in EVE) on your way back up to good old KFIE, where the mighty Legion once lived. Stop along the way to pay your respects at the site of the Siege of PR-, where the spirit of Band of Brothers was broken. Break your fast with the Fightin’ Frenchmen of 404 as they glance around nervously while NPC Delve grows ever more crowded.
This region is thick with layers of history, the stacked geological strata of dried blood and dead alliances, marbled with rich fatty layers of treachery and deceit. It could be argued that this region is cursed; that any alliance that attempts to hold it all is doomed to meet a bad end. That no sane man should ever want to live in these demon-haunted systems, with the whisperings of humiliated clowns humming in their ears, urging them to just give up, let it go, fall apart and walk away…
Yet Delve is irresistible. With the sudden nerf to anomalies, the abundance of excellent trusec makes the space luxurious, tantalizing, allowing alliances to cram a large number of players into fewer systems than they otherwise could. On top of that, Delve is rich with R64 moons, and holding them is a wise man’s hedge on the inevitable technetium nerf.
Please, Sir, May I Have Some More Space
When Pandemic Legion abruptly abandoned Delve for the North, a surprisingly peaceful and mannered land-grab ensued. With a non-invasion pact brokered by two superpowers, CAAASEROL and the Clusterfuck, the smaller entities under the umbrella of each alliance snapped up systems and constellations with minimal resistance. During this time, the first goodfights of the Delve Thunderdome were had: my own alliance met Nulli Secunda on the field of honorable spacebattle each time a major IT timer came out of reinforced, and we learned to respect our new neighbors. Our respect grew when they met us on the field of honorable posting on these fine forums, and we knew we were in the right place.
The Golden Age of the Delve Thunderdome
Soon, my Gentlemen learned other names: Chaos Theory. Cascade Imminent. HUN Reloaded. These alliances, part of the CAAASEROL bloc, were all eager for good fights and good posts. It was a perfect environment for small, young alliances to flourish; each with our corners of space, each with the income we needed to replace our losses during the downtime, with plenty of opportunities to test our skills in combat against our neighbors.
With neutral targets only a handful of jumps away, there was always fun to be had, and with the protection of superpowers to ensure that no one got greedy. Even when an unknown like Not Found. rolled in, the interlopers were resoundingly put in their place, meeting disappointment in their territorial ambitions at every turn.
Meanwhile, in the North…
In the snug embrace of the Thunderdome, the vast war for control of the North was a mere distant rumble of thunder, losing relevance by the day as the southern Clusterfuck alliances decided to reset the NC. It was believed that the NC was inevitably doomed, the poor sods, but it would take months to grind through the citadels of Morsus Mihi and Razor.
It took all of us by surprise when they simply gave up.
Morsus Mihi Joins The Thunderdome, Supposedly
Suddenly, Delve was the hot new place to be. First Morsus Mihi declared their intention to move to NPC Delve for ‘good fights’, clearing their blue list of everyone but Razor. There was a tense few minutes between their announcement of the move and the confirmation that they did not intend to take sovereignty: Mittani was prepared to fight his soon-to-be-former allies if they decided to take space from GENTS or AIF. Imperian responded that Morsus did not want space, and hands moved away from the triggers of 1400s slowly, like gunfighters relaxing their guard.
The move by Morsus was intended to wake up the alliance, bringing fun back to EVE Online for a largely inactive player base. Imperian’s goal was to turn Morsus Mihi into a nomadic elite PVP alliance; Delve would be the first step along this path, a region with no single unified power in a dominant position, a variety of small and perhaps inexperienced targets to mess with. Morsus Mihi’s overwhelming supercapital superiority (providing they can be persuaded to log in) makes Morsus the five hundred pound gorilla in the room. Old dislikes fuel Morsus’ motivation to shoot former blues: the offensive speech against Morsus Mihi and the NC by TEST leadership has the MM grunts itching for TEST blood; they also bear ill will towards me personally for leaking an embarrassing conversation with Vuk Lau in Generalstab. For MM it is perfect: an exercise in confidence-building and payback at the same time. Morsus Mihi stages in 1DH-SX; their logistics run through Chamemi, and CVA of all people have had good luck hotdropping them there.
I personally am at least mildly suspicious of Morsus Mihi’s intentions in Delve. One does not make the transition from major sovholder to elitepvp nomad over night. When Morsus pilot confidence is regained, and when those supercapitals log in again, I suspect that we will all wake up to find that the Imperian-powered sov grinding machine has visited us in the night, leaving little presents of sov timers on every station and ihub in the region.
If that happens, you can expect the Thunderdome participants to help one another, regardless of standings.
Brick Squad, What The Hell Are They Doing Here?
The next alliance to roll in after the fall of the NC was Brick Squad. Apparently neutral to MM, Brick Squad is absorbing a number of corporations from the fallen, disbanding Majesta Empire and R.A.G.Enodot alliances. Corporations coming from ME include my own former corporation Reliables Inc, which will put me in the very unpleasant position of having to reclassify old friends as enemies. Brick Squad has claimed the previously unwanted system of 1-SMEB, the gateway to Aridia, and while they have not declared their intentions, sov warfare seems likely.
The Collective Rolls In Heavy
I was deeply concerned when my scouts reported no less than five AAA titans in Delve, with at least six supercarriers accompanying them. Could AAA be poised to break the NIP? Have they done some sort of deal with Morsus, since they were recently blue?
As it turned out, it was a single corporation in AAA that was leaving to go its own way, and had decided to move into, you guessed it, Delve. I don’t have a good idea of what The Collective’s intentions are, which makes me uncomfortable.
Invasion of the Badposters from Mars
Finally, the last group to show up on my doorstep is Black Legion, a 350-man USTZ elitepvp alliance known for its deadly Muninn gangs. Their stated intention is to take space in Delve, and not just any space. No, they want my space.
Their appearance on the scene put a sad end to the otherwise excellent record of chillness in the previous Delve thread, as BL seems to have a strong culture of trolling, and they negrep as a bloc. They remind me a lot of Did I Just Do that [OMFG], Too Ducky’s corp, in that respect.
Black Legion is the first organization to make their intention to wreck the thunderdome open. I await our first engagements with interest, and if they don’t go well, let’s just say that I hope Black Legion really likes AU TZ timers.
Waiting For The First Move
Right now, everyone from Delve to Deklein is waiting to see what happens next. The newcomers are still doing logistics, moving vast amounts of ships and people into place. With so many alliances moving into one place, and each of the current residents have the backing of a major power, it is difficult to predict what will happen next.
Everything will depend on which of the invading alliances is willing to sacrifice its principles for blue standings with one of the other players. I am confident that the Clusterfuck can hold its own against Morsus Mihi, Brick Squad, BL or The Collective with ease, but what if they band together? It’s unlikely in BL’s case, but the numbers and capital superiority that a MM/BR/TC coalition would have would make me very concerned.
Test Invasion, Please Discuss
So, ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the present moment. What do you think will happen next? Who will blue whom? Will the Thunderdome be broken? Will Black Legion crush GENTS and force us to withdraw into convicted space? Will TEST failcascade due to internal dissent over racial hate speech? I eagerly await your opinions.
Kesper North.
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