A Short Treatise on the Early History of Illyriad

Surely, with H? doing so much good, no alliance will want to remove them from their power of authority. 

I will very pointedly avoid any analogy involving a religous context as I've no right to think nearly that highly of myself nor my alliance.  But no man will be more hated, reviled, and slandered than he who is good/right in the eyes of them who are not.  Add a little jealousy and political power, and there's your tinderbox.

It was refreshing to see someone taking a moment to remember what Harmless is actually about even at a superficial level, though I do need to point out a couple very important corrections:

• Harmless always actively refused to fulfill a role as server police, even when others desired it of us.  Never at any point did we seek out and destroy "heretics" but only retaliated against "heretics acting against us or our allies."  Plenty of "evil" thrived so long as it left Harmless, Toothless, DLords, etc. alone.  I believe we extended our direct protection to any training alliance (within a strict definition), but don't recall ever entering a conflict on this factor alone.  In one case (the Consone war) we knew a large force was being gathered against us and already starting to push us around (Consone was particluarly fond of stalling diplomatic resolutions with empty promises or pleasantries while still actively misbehaving) and so we kept some of our alliegances secret as a form of entrapment using a small alliance they were treating even far worse.  The (successful) intention being that they'd come into conflict with us on our terms rather than theirs.  This is the furthest we ever strayed from our policy of non-interference and we were still basically just protecting ourselves from a direct threat.
  
• NC are not nor ever have been any kind of extention to Harmless politically, militarily, or even culturally.  Their policies regarding treatment of "heretics" is entirely their own and they grew into a prolific force entirely independently.  We are certainly strong allies now, but have grown into such through mutual respect and cooperation developed over time after coming from completely independent backgrounds.  If you doubt this, just review the alliance history of our two alliances' members.  I believe you'll see very little crossover and probably none up until quite recently.

There is certainly plenty of data in these forums and elsewhere that can establish what actual events took place and how many of the alliances involved actually behaved, including ourselves.  There would be far more if the publication of in-game mail and other communications were allowed here.  But you will have to sift through a lot of opinion profusely offered and later by the same sources presented as representing popular opinion by reason of volume.

Many new players will confuse the loudest voice with the widest-held opinion, but this is only a problem for a thriving game with a steady influx of new players.  If you are a new player, all you really need is to remember one simple principle: perspective is a product of motive.  As for the rest of us, nothing is so telling as the effort my enemies place on (re)shaping that public opinion.  Is actual public opinion changing?  Maybe a little, and certainly more as time passes and one voice dominates the conversation.  But I know what really shifted the balance of power, and that was plain old betrayal, not some great shift toward evil in an alliance was only ever becoming less involved in the game and its political landscape.

I would suggest this thread if you wish to learn more about The History of Illyriad.

HonoredMule wrote: Bla bla bla...

I'm well aware that in terms of active participants on this forum, I am essentially preaching to my enemy's choir.  It is for the sake of silent readers and outsiders to the conflict that I speak - for those who actually wish to learn something and have, as of late, found great difficulty doing so amid the noise.

Well now I've done the onerous task, and this is the part where I drop my mic.  Feel free to continue squabbling amongst yourself.