DEKLEIN – VFK-IV VI – Moon 1: Hidden deep within the bowels of the June 5 station changeover was a secret plan. Initially proposed by Sort Dragon of GotG’s Darkness. (DARK) alliance, the plan was the result of months of discussion and careful diplomacy between high-level members of SLYCE, GotG, Goonswarm, and members of the CCP team. The original plan centered on the VFK-IV Conquerable Station Monument. Sort proposed that rather than honoring the last owners of the station, the monument should instead pay tribute to a player whose efforts shaped much of what nullsec would become: Vile Rat.
CCP’s support of the idea extended beyond the single station. In a post on the official forums, CCP Fozzie hinted at the plan and said that CCP “would now like to open the same offer to others”. A later post in the same topic revealed the parties involved, and indicated that TEST Alliance Please Ignore (TEST) would take advantage of the offer to honor long-time Providence holders Curatores Veritatis Alliance (CVA) with the transfer of the X-R3NM monument.
VFK-IV VI – Moon 1
VFK-IV VI – Moon 1 is one of the original 68 Conquerable Stations seeded throughout nullsec by CCP with the Castor expansion in December of 2003. Until the release of Exodus: Cold War eighteen months later unveiled player-dropped Outposts, these stations were the only dockable facilities in non-NPC null, and pre-date even the first models of sovereign null-sec.
Held by SLYCE for the last six months, and Northern Coalition. (NC) before that, the VFK station was once the long-time home and capital of Goonswarm Federation. Goonswarm held the station, and the system, from August 1, 2010, through the fabled ‘VFK Headshot’, until April 13, 2016. It was lost during the eviction offensive against the Imperium by the mega-coalition labelled ‘the Money-Badger Coalition’ (MBC).
During this time, the station took on a symbolic importance all its own, with enemies of Goons and their allies often adopting semi-ironic ‘VFK by <date>’ rallying cries for their offensives into Deklein and the surrounding regions. Prior to the Phoebe jump changes, VFK stood as the central staging and market hub for the then-ClusterFuck Coalition (CFC), with advance staging in campaign-specific forward systems such as QPO-WI, UMI-KK, or DO6H-Q.
When the system fell in 2016, long-time enemies NC made sure to capture the station themselves, rather than letting it fall to smaller groups such as the Interstellar Krabbing Enforcement Agency (IKEA), who took the DO6H station. Since then, the members of Goonswarm have maintained a simmering desire to retake the station, for sentimental reasons.
Sean “Vile Rat” Smith
Sean Smith was a husband, a father, and a dedicated public servant who lost his life in the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. He was also the driving force behind Goonswarm’s Corps Diplomatique, a member of CSM VI, and one of the major architects of much of the state of Nullsec, and the relationships therein, even today. His good nature and willingness to work with others to find positive solutions earned him friends across the political landscape of EVE. Like all of those the EVE player base has lost over the years, he is still sorely missed.
With everything finalized, INN contacted several of those involved for comment.
RiotRick, Solyaris Chtonium:
“I don’t know Vile Rat personally, but I know his story. Any time we can celebrate real life heroes that can transcend game politics, we ought to do it, it’s the right thing to do.”
The Mittani, Goonswarm Federation:
“VFK was the capital of Goonswarm during the most dangerous assault on Deklein before the Casino War, the site of a major series defensive battles against overwhelming odds, Stalingrad-style. In the aftermath of this, the station was named ‘Mittanigrad’. During the years that Vile Rat was active in Deklein before the tragedy in Benghazi, VFK was our capital system.
The deal came about when Sort Dragon was at Fanfest and reached out to me; the idea was his originally, as he considered Vile Rat to be a friend. Sort got in touch with CCP to explore the possibilities of the deal and worked out things with SLYCE; it’s a credit to all parties involved that we were able to make this happen, and I particularly appreciate CCP’s desire to open the idea of a monument transfer up to other alliances; my understanding is that CVA is also party to a similar memorialization agreement.”
Additionally, INN is awaiting comment from CCP Fozzie and Sort Dragon. CCP Fozzie is currently in transit to EVE Down Under. And the man behind this generous gesture, Sort has requested additional time to ensure his statement conveys the depth of his sentiment and sincerity. INN will update the article with their statements as soon as they are available.
