Metagame Heating Up Over Pico’s Abandoned Cities

Controversial Illyriad player Pico has continued to stoke controversy even after abandoning, with his multitude of cities prompting players in Elgea and the Broken Lands to make strategic moves to ensure their capture or destruction.

Tension over sieging of the cities began immediately after Pico abandoned, with now ex-SHARK player Agalloch and SHARK veteran Silverblade both threatening a player named Takuilrue over his attempt on taking one of Pico’s cities. The Times later obtained an IGM from SHARK leader Baynights directed at this player — rumored to be Gul’Dan in disguise — threatening to break his siege on the abandoned city:

From: BayNights [SHARK]
Subject: RE: siege – recall
Received: 14 Jan 2016 00:14
Original Message:
Hi Takuilrue,
I noticed you have launched sieges against two of lepue’s cities. These cities are property of Shark/Vic. Please check players alliance alignment before sending sieges, and you can see that lepue was in our alliance as of this morning.
Please recall immediately, our troops are on the way to remove any sieges and we do not want to harm your troops.
BayNights

SHARK Threatens Players Trying To Capture Pico’s Abandoned Cities; Sieges Continue Anyway

A SHARK member on Thursday lashed out in GC, stating that SHARK has claim on all of Pico’s abandoned cities, and that the top-ranked alliance would attack and break sieges from players outside of SHARK who try to capture them. The comments corroborate unverified tips obtained by the Times indicating that SHARK leader Baynights used threats against at least one non-SHARK player looking to capture a Pico city.

After the posting of fresh siege operations on Pico’s alt’s cities, the exchange in GC involving SHARK’s Agalloch revealed the alliance’s position on the matter, as did Silverblade:

[23:47]    System    ** News Flash: LePue (Abandoned)’s legendary city of The Black Death is now under siege by Takuilrue’s small city of – 1 – Shattered-Axe Clan
[00:05]    System    ** News Flash: LePue (Abandoned)’s legendary city of The Order of the Dragon is now under siege by Takuilrue’s small city of – 1 – Shattered-Axe Clan
[00:05]    Fiona:    hmmm is Tak Pico
[00:05]    Agalloch: nope
[00:05]    Agalloch: some newb being funny
[00:06]    Athena Darklight: lol
[00:06]    PTOLEMY:    appearnently pico’s cities aren’t up for grabs…
[00:06]    Agalloch: you think?
[00:07]    PTOLEMY:    they weren’t in a alliance…
[00:07]    Kodabear: well some say because it isnt in an alliance the cities are up for grabs…….
[00:07]    Fiona:    uh huh sure Aga
[00:07]    Agalloch: you can all say what you want
[00:07]    Silverblade: i agree
[00:07]    Agalloch: you touch em you die
[00:07]    Silverblade: i second that

OBIT: Pico Abandons

Pico’s propaganda badge for his anti-land claim campaign in the summer of 2015.

Prolific city builder and controversial Illyriad politician Pico has abandoned. He leaves behind 25 cities on his Pico account and 18 on his abandoned LePue alt for a total of 43 highly developed cities, which are already rumored to be causing tension between players and alliances seeking to claim them. The abandonment of the high-profile accounts have implications in the current SIN/SHARK-VIC war as well, and mark the end of an Illyriad career for a player who was one of the early pioneers in building past the 10-city mark, but in the end appeared to have isolated himself from many of his allies and galvanized resentment among his enemies in how he conducted himself in political situations.

Pico entered his first alliance in June of 2012, signing on with  Eagles First Flight [~FF~]. Over the years, his account drifted through a multitude of different alliances, joining a total of 15 different alliances. However, beginning in March of 2014 when he joined Dark Shade [SHARK], many of his departures from that alliance were likely in the form of pseudo-diplomatic missions to solidify relations, as he took on a prominent leadership role in SHARK.

While involved in previous conflicts, Pico’s stature began to rise in the game once the game developers revamped the population requirements for cities, allowing players to build past the 10-city mark. Pico was one of the first well-known players to begin to aggressively build large-pop cities, and by the spring of 2015, had established himself as one of the top city builders. His active city building helped him to become a top-ranked player in the game overall, and at the time of this article is currently ranked #6.

Lost A, SIN Make Peace

In other news, former SHARK member Lost A has made peace with SIN following his departure from the top-ranked alliance and forming his own small LOST alliance. Lost A departed SHARK on November 18th and promptly started LOST, ostensibly so that he could issue a war declaration on SIN.

It is unknown to what degree Lost A participated in the war after his departure from SHARK, however, last night, he and SIN appeared to have come to an agreement on ending his war declaration against them:

[22:08]<System> ** News flash: War ends and peace declared between The Hashashin [SIN] and Lost Again [LOST]

In investigating the story, the Times discovered that Lost A posted SIN’s terms on his alliance page:

Terms of peace with SIN;

• If you choose to return to the game and this war is still going on, we ask that you do not re-join the war against us, whether that’s with SHARK, VIC or whoever else.
• We ask that you don’t aid SHARK, VIC or anyone else in the war in any way.
• Don’t use the LOST alliance as a sanctuary alliance for other SHARK or VIC members trying to exit the war before we have had a chance to make individual terms with them.

Terms have been accepted.

SHARK Players Mark Sinister Star Wipe-out in GC; Pico “Targeting All Sin’s Alts;” Ron Fay Departs

Key metagame activity took place in the contentious war between SIN and SHARK-VIC yesterday, with tempers flaring in GC over the Sinister Star/Venita controversy. SIN has completed its operation against the Sinister Star account — the account’s cities have all been razed and the player relocated to the so-called “newbie ring,” according to the now-abandoned account’s profile. An anonymous tipster who caught some of the action in GC as SHARK went public in acknowledging the loss of fellow member Venita’s once-secret alt, and implicating SIN in what the top-ranked alliance claims was an injustice in decimating her account. It didn’t take long for SIN members to challenge that claim in GC, sparking a confrontation:

[21:25]<Pico> Sinister Star will be missed
[21:25]<Pico> great job razing all her towns
[21:25]<PublicRelations> R.I.P star
[21:26]<PublicRelations> may your light still shine bright in the nightsky
[21:26]<Sir Goldielocks> Thanks Pico
[21:26]<Silent Sword> Great job not razing any of ours.
[21:26]<Sir Goldielocks> I did a great job
[21:26]<heårtless> lmao SS.2
[21:26]<PublicRelations> you should be proud of yourselves… or something
[21:26]<Sir Goldielocks> she is still alive

SHARK, VIC Lose Both Kul-Tar Sieges After Big Hits From SIN; Lost A, Pico Leave SHARK; Duran Departs SIN

In a stinging defeat of its first major round of offensive pressure on SIN, both VIC and SHARK have suffered siege breaks on their sieges on He-Man’s cities in SIN’s small Kul-Tar enclave. In the early morning of November 18th, tips began to stream into the Times that eyewitnesses had seen the VIC siege led by Alta63 broken by local forces from He-Man’s city of “Need Help? Call 1800-ABSA” — renamed after the Times published a Chatzy revealing that VIC has asked ABSA for assistance in its war against SIN. A comment on the initial report for this siege from “French Toast” — also claimed that the “siege is broken,” which was later confirmed by SIN officials with the following report. Troop numbers and types have been redacted:

From: System
Subject: FW: Victorious battle against Alta63’s forces at [963|-405] in Kul Tar by He-Man’s forces from Need Help? Call 1800-ABSA
Received: 18 Nov 2015 01:59
Original Message:
Two opposing forces clash against each other.

Cavalry comes into its own when able to strike hostile forces at will, and from unexpected directions – and nowhere is this more feasible than on open plains. Lightly armoured spear units, however, prefer terrain where there’s some cover available.

Fighting defensively on open plains, cavalry draws strength from the ability to form and reform their lines of engagement depending on the direction of battle, and it is here where cavalry excels.

Attackers:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Commander: T1 Bow			Damaged for 60, 340 health remains.
Troops:

 

Defenders:	Unit:	Quantity:	Casualties:	Survivors:
Commander: Temple Offense			Damaged for 548, 0 health remains.
Troops:				0
Troops:	Mangonels			0
Commander: Temple Off 2			Damaged for 548, 0 health remains.
Troops:				0
Commander: Temple off 3			Damaged for 548, 0 health remains.
Troops:				0

[UPDATED] TVM-Intercepted Vans at Campagnolo Siege Reveal Pico’s Alt Supplied City From MOON

Evidence has been presented to the Times revealing that SHARK Shadow Council member Pico’s alt account LePue was caught by TVM forces at the siege of Campagnolo running supplies to the besieged city yesterday. TVM officials provided a full manifest of intercepted caravans during fierce fighting around the city yesterday, as SHARK worked in earnest to rebuild the city with expedited resources and prestige.

The list shows three LePue caravans intercepted:

Stomp, SIN Sieges Continue Despite Surrender Statement

Fighting in the Stomps/claimers war has continued in the wake of Pico’s surrender statement on the Illyriad Forums, suggesting that the war is not yet over. Pico made the statement at 15:54 ST yesterday, and was followed by a gracious statement by SIN’s Stukahh a few hours later, congratulating those in Stomp who fought against SIN in the Broken Lands:

Much respect to the members of Stomp who fought SIN in the Broken Lands.

The members of SIN and Stomp seemed to have alot of fun in the process.  I am proud to see that the 2 main wars in BL history have both resulted in very fair peace agreements.  The Hashashin strive to keep BL a hotspot for pvp.  Keeping war fun and the terms of surrender light are key.

Aside from Pico and Stukahh’s comments, however, there are no signs that peace has been established. At the time of this writing, peace has not been offered. Moreover, additional forces from Pico and his alt have arrived at his siege of DaenerysTargaryen’s town in Elgea:

DaenerysTargaryen [SIN] stomped is desperate [-152|289] in Norweld Pico [Stomp] Mon 27 Jul 08:43

DaenerysTargaryen [SIN] stomped is desperate [-154|290] in Norweld Pico [Stomp] Mon 27 Jul 10:25

The Times observed that these siege forces have not at the time of writing been recalled, despite Pico’s close proximity to the battlefied. In fact, he has continued bombardment and reduced the city’s population to zero after his surrender statement.

Down in the Broken Lands, SIN was continuing their assault on Ron Fay and his alt Odoacer, in spite of having returned to his permanent alliance Shark. Six sieges have set up on two of Ron’s recently exodused towns:

Ron Fay [SHARK] Barchetta Rosso [697|-1827] in Pawanallpa DasDwarf [SIN] Mon 27 Jul 10:32

Ron Fay [SHARK] Barchetta Rosso [696|-1827] in Pawanallpa DasDwarf [SIN] Mon 27 Jul 10:38

Odoacer [SHARK] Audawakrs [709|-1829] in Pawanallpa DasDwarf [SIN] Mon 27 Jul 06:50

Odoacer [SHARK] Audawakrs [711|-1827] in Pawanallpa OleBlacklord [SIN] Mon 27 Jul 10:54
Odoacer [SHARK] Audawakrs [711|-1828] in Pawanallpa OleBlacklord [SIN] Mon 27 Jul 11:40
Odoacer [SHARK] Audawakrs [710|-1827] in Pawanallpa OleBlacklord [SIN] Mon 27 Jul 11:44

The Times caught an exchange between TheBillPN and SIN warrior He-Man in GC that indicated that Stomps has possibly yet to fulfill all of SIN’s surrender terms, which appears to include disbanding the upstart land claim-fighting alliance:

[10:51]*TheBillPN notices stomp surrendered, but ronfay is still under seige..
[10:52]<He-Man> how long do sieges take to land after being launched?
[10:53]<He-Man> stomps surrender is not official until all players are removed from stomps.

If He-Man’s statement is true, then it would seem that the Stomps/Claimers war is still not concluded.

Stomps Sieges SIN’s DaenerysTargaryen in Elgea

Amid swirling rumors that the Stomp/claimers war might be dying down, Pico has initiated a bold, new siege on one of SIN’s rare players with a city in Elgea. Early this morning server time, the new siege posted in the Herald:

Player Under Siege: DaenerysTargaryen [SIN] City: stomped is desperate [-154|291] Sieger: in Norweld Pico [Stomp] Date/Time: Sat 25 Jul 21:38

Player Under Siege: DaenerysTargaryen [SIN] City: stomped is desperate [-152|290] in Norweld Sieger: LePue [Stomp] Date/Time: Sun 26 Jul 03:26

Using his LePue alt as well, Pico has staged a major siege operation, complete with two siege forces and two blockades.

The new siege for Stomps follows a long dry spell of overt offensive military operations against the land claimers. According to the Times‘ War Score Card, the last siege attempt was on July 7, 2015, when PhoenixFire’s [Stark] city of Harrenhal was captured by Bimoda.

Stomps appears to be using its close proximity to DaenerysTargaryen and her relative isolation to get another much-needed raze under their belts, similar to SIN’s opportunistic sieging of Agalloch and Elfs Bane in the early onset of the war.

SIN Turns Up Heat on Stomps With New Josh Siege in High Hills

A dwarven infantryman “yalps!” as wheel chocks are placed under the catapults at inconspicuously charming. Photo courtesy of Lillian Embonpoint.

A fresh SIN siege against the BL land claim-breaking alliance Stomp has landed in the Broken Lands, the second in as many days, signaling an increase in siege operations for the claimers after a relative lull. After Fiona’s siege set up camp at Ron Fay’s mobile city of La Villa Strangiato late last night, the new SIN siege — this time against Josh’s PublicRelations account — posted early this morning, server time, in the Herald:

Player Being Sieged: PublicRelations [Stomp] City: inconspicuously charming [524|-1862] in High Hills Sieger: Tink XX [SIN] Date/Time: Sun 19 Jul 05:00
Player Being Sieged: PublicRelations [Stomp] City: inconspicuously charming [524|-1862] in High Hills Sieger: Tink XX [SIN] Date/Time: Sun 19 Jul 05:00