Late on April 16, Carneros (executor of The Bastion alliance, and a member of the Imperium) called a meeting of his corporation CEOs to announce that The Bastion would officially close its doors on May 6, 2022. While this was a shock to some, others knew that this was a possibility for some time.
The Bastion was formed 8 years ago when Li3 Federation and Gentlemen’s Agreement, both having difficulties with maintaining activity levels, merged to bolster their rosters and continue as a trusted member of the Imperium. Carneros, the Executive Officer of Li3 at the time of the merger, was selected to run the new, merged Alliance that was to become The Bastion. He has led the alliance ever since.
Carneros informed his CEOs (of which the author of this article is one) that he had recently taken a new job. His responsibilities in real life had proven to be more than he anticipated, and it was leaving him little time for running an alliance that recently swelled to over 3,500 members.
As you may recall, Ranger Regiment was broken up after some information came to light about their alliance leaderships’ relationship with certain higher-ups in the Army of Mangoes alliance, and the trusted corps were permitted to stay within the Imperium. Carneros (who speaks Mandarin) was instrumental in keeping many ex-Ranger Regiment pilots flying for the Imperium by bringing them into The Bastion.
Real Life First
INN reached out to Carneros for comment on this announcement. He said: “Never forget to take care of real life first. RL supports everything else in your life, including your ability to help your community in-game.”
Corporations within The Bastion will be making tough decisions over the next two weeks as they discuss possible moves (and mergers) to other corporations and alliances within the Imperium. While moving in EVE Online can be stressful, most of The Bastion players will probably rotate to other Imperium alliances, thus mitigating the headaches associated with the dissolution of an alliance.
Carneros, who used to be CCP Zinfandel, has been (and continues to be) a popular, positive member of the EVE Online community. Not only does he host the weekly ‘Carneros and Chill’ livestream on CCP Games’ official Twitch channel, but he is a fixture at player meetups around the globe. If you’ve ever met him at an event, you’d get a handshake and a genuine smile from a man whose heart is truly too big for this game.
No Drama, Just Real Life
While it is sad to see yet another fixture of EVE Online fall to history, especially with all of the current frustration amongst the player community over the ill-received ‘progress’ that CCP Games has pressed upon us over the past year, it is important to note that this alliance closure is not due to espionage, meta-gaming, or the other ‘juicy’ reasons we frequently see in EVE Online. I’m confident in saying that when The Mittani ‘sent his regards’ to Carneros upon learning of this tough decision, he did it as a close friend, and not as an enemy.
Where Will We Go?
Last November, I wrote my first article for INN, in which I discussed how my corporation was moving from Providence to Fountain after being offered a home with The Bastion. My corpmates and I have sincerely enjoyed our time in this alliance, and I hope that we have proven ourselves to be worthy tribe mates, and that we’ll continue to live with our Imperium family in Delve. While I am saddened to leave our home in The Bastion, we have made many great allies and friends over the past six months, and I have no regrets.
Following the announcement by Carneros, our corporation held a vote about next steps. The vote was unanimous. We will try and stay in the Imperium. I’m sure many of my fellow Bastion members are currently having the same talks with their teams.
Bastion family, I’ll miss you, but I know we’ll see each other in Imperium fleets moving forward. Best of luck to you all in your relocation efforts.
