In an apparent defection, Cpt Patrick Archer recently left Triumvirate <TRI> and Quam Singulari [QUAM], the corporation of which he was a founding member, for Northern Coalition<NC>.
In a Pastebin posted to Reddit, Archer explains the reasons for his departure and how it came about. Archer’s departure comes on the heels of allegations of corp theft, and he admits in his post that he did retain funds from corporate efforts which he will hold in trust for the betterment for other pilots who wish to defect to NC.
I wanted to give Archer a chance to further voice his reasons for the departure and to expand on the situation with TRI leadership; he was kind enough to grant me an interview.
Jurius Doctor: Hello. Thanks for granting me an interview. INN readers are curious about your reasons for leaving TRI. While I understand you’ve provided a writeup, could you perhaps expand on the reasons for your departure?
Cpt Patrick Archer: I left QUAM ’cause they kicked me, and I left TRI because the trust between me, Warran, and Garst is gone.
JD: Yes, but what caused that erosion of trust? That they accused you of stealing? What led to that? It seems kinda paranoid on their end to (summarily) accuse one of their leading members of theft.
CPA: For my corp dudes, or TRI leadership?
JD: Both.
CPA: I don’t know what got my corp dudes so far. They talked in a circle for 3 weeks without talking to me. I had to beat it out of one of them, what was happening; at that point they were one day off making me responsible for 9/11.
I kept corp ISK safe so it can’t get stolen in situations where people have roles with the wrong intentions or shouldn’t have had roles at all. They wanted me to return it, after stealing my own corp from me and to kick me out.
I said no, since one guy was new and the other (had been) AFK for three years – they did nothing to build the corp, they don’t deserve it.
They in turn spoke to Garst/Warran, who instead of choosing to talk to me and be like, “Hey Pat, I know it’s been three years, but we heard some very disturbing shit and we need to talk. We removed your roles as a precaution, don’t panic.”
Instead it was radio silence.
After I told ’em I was leaving they tried to (kiss and) make up, but at that point the damage was done. Not gonna play with them if I know in the back of my head that they will throw me out, the second a new guy and some AFK dude tell a story.
Versus (being) the guy that is 75% responsible for building TRI to what it is today.
JD: So you find yourself in a situation where they distrust you, they’re stonewalling you, they’re obviously about to accuse you of something, and you choose defection (while the opportunity was there). Rather than deal with someone whose reaction to the situation led you to believe the worst, because you were in the dark. Is that a fair synopsis?
CPA: I had the option to stay in TRI and continue FCing, being sidelined as co-exec – also making a new corp and removing QUAM entirely – but I’m not a lapdog that’s gonna stay around after the fact. So I decided to leave.
JD: That’s fair.
CPA: Once they realised what was gonna happen after I left, they tried really hard to keep me around, saying everything would go back to normal. But even in a shitty spaceship game like EVE, when the trust is gone it’s not coming back.
JD: I have heard/read that what (ISK) you took you’re offering to corpmates who follow who want to get into armor capitals, if they too realize what’s happening internally. [Note: TRI use shield capitals, NC typically use armor.]
That’s very cool of you.
CPA: All the guys I expected to come are coming, and my homie Frsd is also leaving since he blames Warran/Garst for handling this the wrong way; and he’s taking his best dudes with him as well (elsewhere, not to NC).
JD: Sounds like they should have at least been willing to hear you out.
CPA: They said they were willing, after I found out they removed me from everything: my toons even got removed entirely from in game channels, which takes like 30 mins to do with some desert country internet where Garst is at the moment.
(The problem was) if you trust me but want my story, you don’t fully purge my shit. Even all the spreadsheets got removed, like they literally removed it all without a word.
JD: Sounds like they precipitated the very thing they wanted to avoid. You leaving with good people and resources.
CPA: I told ’em, “you’re killing the very thing you are trying to protect.”
JD: Of course. I’ve never met or spoken to Garst, but from what I’ve heard he can be ‘passionate in his decision-making’.
CPA: I wouldn’t know, me and him haven’t spoken since.
When I was arguing with Kodiz about all this, I said, “You just got here, you blame me for tons of shit, etc. but Garst and Warran have my back. So I don’t know what you’re on about.”
Then I went to accept my new corp into TRI and my roles were gone.
JD: Okay, let’s talk about the aftermath. Why NC.? I know what’s in the document you posted, but did you have other specific reasons?
CPA: Me and Vince have been friends for a long time. I wouldn’t know where else to go, to be honest, that comes close to the thing we created with TRI.
JD: Which is?
CPA: Aggressive PvP, backed up by good FCs, and capital heavy. High requirements for members in general. Not going to let our future get dictated by other people. One of the strongest alliances in the game, for its size; probably the strongest.
We fought the unwinnable war, and look how well we’ve done.
JD: How did you first meet Vince?
CPA: Uhm, I don’t really remember. I think we just started sorta talking as I got into the TRI command team. As you can imagine leaders talk to each other from time to time, and with Vince it was always good.
I think part of the reason NC never really stopped us in this whole XIX thing is because of our talks.
I dunno. I’m not gonna overstate the relationship, but NC was the first place I thought about joining. I have little interest in full time small-gang stuff, since I’ve done that far too many times.
I play EVE in the pursuit of the perfect fight.
JD: So now that you’re at NC. What are your goals for the future?
CPA: First getting settled, myself. Getting people that want to come with me settled.
I’ll pick up FCing again if my real life permits it. So it will be mostly assisting-FC I think, due to time constraints, and I’m looking at doing some hunting like we did in TRI, when we were in Venal. (Back then we used Stratioses; killed soooo many rorqs and supers ’cause it’s nice and quick action with high reward.)
JD: Yeah, I love the Strat.
CPA: Now I’d probably use T3 Cruisers, since they are better in every way.
JD: Do you have any parting advice for TRI, after the fact?
CPA: I was going to give some, but then it was said that they wouldn’t have done it any different next time. So I just left.
JD: Well, at least you had good intentions on leaving, to be sure.
CPA: I hope TRI will live. It’s finally the alliance I wanted it to be, when I started working on it almost 3 years ago.
The corp can die, though.
JD: Well, thanks for taking the time to talk to me.
CPA: Thanks
Addendum: Since this initial interview, Cpt Patrick Archer reported that he and Garst have spoken, and are on excellent terms, but Archer has decided to keep with his original plan to move to Northern Coalition. Of Garst, he says, “There is no hard feelings between him and I.”
