In an unexpected announcement today originally posted on Triumvirate’s forums and then reposted to Reddit, Triumvirate leadership announced that it will withdraw from Insmother. This is the most recent development in the 7 month long conflict between Drone Region Federation and their Legacy Coalition allies and Triumvirate in the North. It follows shortly after the destruction of the Triumvirate Keepstar citadel in A24L-V on February 6. The declaration also marks a reversal of policy for Triumvirate who, following the loss of their Keepstar, indicated their intention to continue the fight for control over Insmother.
According to the post, Triumvirate leadership had always committed to defend Insmother only so far as no other power indicated an intention to take it by force and remain there. Thus, their defense of their territory was only ever intended to prevent an unmotivated or half-hearted assault. Sunday’s announcement of Pandemic Horde’s plans to move into Geminate, and DRF’s intentions to seize control of and relocate into Insmother, seems to have signalled a shift in the nature of the 7 month long conflict.
“It is now clear that we do not have the remaining military might to stop DRF”
Triumvirate’s Garst Tyrell stated in the announcement. Seeing as DRF has committed to seizing Insmother, and enjoys regular support from Test Alliance Please Ignore as well as other Northern powers, it is apparent that TRI leadership has seen the writing on the wall.
TRI also cites the “blue donut,” a circle of mutual defense and non-aggressive agreements that result in much of the North being friendly with one another, leaving little room for hostility or conflict. According to the post, when the forces of Pandemic Family, Drone Region Federation, Guardians of the Galaxy, and others do not turn against one another, but instead focus only on warring with smaller belligerents unwilling to enter into the diplomatic sphere of friendly coalition politics, the game suffers. Without conflict, Garst indicates, the game becomes stale. On the other hand, it is exactly the political arrangements to date that have led to this eviction from Insmother, and so perhaps there is something to be said for maintaining friendly relations with others. While current game mechanics have led to a kind of cold war stalemate between superpowers, it is difficult to cite those when the same game mechanics are permitting an existential war to come to a successful conclusion.
The concession is not a surrender
The message goes on to further announce plans for a sustained guerilla war against DRF, Legacy, and others who have fought against them recently. In the post, Garst relates plans to engage in a war of “revenge” after a period of consolidation and transition from a sovereignty holding power into a loose guerilla outfit. It’s unclear how effective TRI could be in such actions though, as without renter and ratting income it will be difficult for them to field the kinds of fleets necessary to challenge these larger power blocks. It also seems out of touch with a reality where TRI FCs are defecting to the Northern Coalition and corporations have begun to make their exit from the alliance.
This is even without mentioning that such revenge would be for losing in a conflict that was begun by Triumvirate in their war against FCON, which concluded by TRI taking advantage of the conflicts resulting from the failure of Circle-of-Two. Only a few weeks ago, TRI was projecting that it had the upper hand in the conflict, so bitterness over DRF’s rallying of allies fails to take into account that the game is played between players, and players have more options than to simply throw ships away into the meatgrinder. Unlike a PvE incursion, other players are free to negotiate solutions to their problems – solutions that TRI perhaps failed to consider when it started the conflicts?
The Triumvirate announcement declares that it will begin a “permanent campaign of revenge against all the groups that went out of their way to kick [them] while [they] were down.” Such a “permanent conflict” may prove short-lived, however, as corporations and fleet commanders used to and interested in holding space exit in favor of an alliance capable of doing so. If the events over the last few years in Eve have proven nothing else, it is that nothing should be considered permanent.
