War has returned to New Eden.
In a series of announcements, both Pandemic Horde (PH) and The Initiative. (INIT) have declared war on the FI.RE Coalition, intending to end FI.RE’s reign over the south. The aggressor’s goals: the clearance of the following regions: Insmother, Cache, Scalding Pass, Wicked Creek, Detorid, Immensea, Tenerifis, Omist and Feythabolis; furthermore (they hope), the destruction or dissolution of FI.RE as a coalition.
At this stage, both alliance leaders have only alluded to ‘SIG deployments’ with PH pushing their Drone Expeditionary Force (DEF) across their borders and INIT’s Astartes SIG preparing to move, in what we can expect to be a galactic pincer movement against FI.RE.
However, both Gobbins and Dark Shines have made one thing clear: this is not a joint venture. PAPI and The Imperium will not be shaking hands in no man’s land. These campaigns are individual alliance assaults against a mutually disliked foe.
As the declarations were pinged across the galaxy, all sides have started moving. Pandemic Horde managed to claim the first blood of the war, wiping out a FI.RE Eagle fleet with their SIG Hurricanes. The fight ended with 20 billion ISK killed against a 3 billion loss.
A Content War or A Noble Cause?
The galaxy has not seen high-intensity conflict since the end of World War Bee 2, in August of 2021. There have since been periods of fighting, SNUFF vs FRT, The Imperium vs PAPI, Trash vs FRT, but nothing of the scale that saw thousands of pilots regularly clashing in highly-motivated battles. Nullsec denizens from all sides of the map have been growing tired of CRAB beacons, ESS brawls and marauder response fleets. But why now, and why FI.RE?
INIT. leader Dark Shines’ announcement openly discussed cross-border negotiations with Gobbins. Their joint aim? To create regions within Nullsec that offer the opportunity for new groups to plant their flag and grow into flourishing alliances, away from the threat of a coalition evicting them.
However, as the galaxy emerged from the smoke of the previous war, one alliance leader did not agree with this suggestion: Constantin of FI.RE. Since then, The Imperium engaged in a few half-hearted attempts to evict FI.RE from Feythabolis, which were ultimately unsuccessful.
This new war aims to rectify those failures, and achieve the goals of evicting them from their space and ending FI.RE as a coalition. The coming weeks will be critical, deciding whether these deployments will end in disappointment, or a potential bloody end for FI.RE.
