Welcome to the first installment of what I intend to be an on-going feature here on Eveoganda - the Null Space Interviews. Which are really more like a Q&A session. In reality more of a answer to an email. Sure that doesn't sound all that interesting, but my staff and I are dedicated to finding those really, really interesting people out there and asking the tough questions. Ok, no staff, just me asking the tough questions. Well, at least they're questions. Questions we want answers to! Gosh darn it.
There was no question who I wanted to be the first participant out of the gates, since I spent a good portion of my life in Eve as part of the LFA Alliance, Lasterax was an obvious choice. Certainly few other regions of space have seen as much change in the last six months than Providence. CVA and the Holders are gone, forced into low-sec or worse, disbanded and forced to the four corners of the Universe. Replaced with U'K, who is looking like CVA more every day, and -A-, pets, mercs and assorted whatnots. Mostly they hide in station when bad guys show up.
So thanks to Lasterax for agreeing to answer my questions and for being our first guest. As always, the answers below are unedited and presented exactly as our guest presented them.
> How was it that you become leader of LFA?
It wasn't something I was ever after or looking for. My corp came from a disaster as a Foundati0n pet in Great Wildlands so LFA and Providence seemed like a bunch of pros to us. Shortly after FMUI joined LFA Sir Prime decided his time in LFA had come to an end and that left a huge void as diplomat. Since a lot of my RL experiences are diplomatic in nature I volunteered and Seerindarkness, my predecessor as executor, gave me the job. I put in the hours dealing with juvenile disputes with Paxton, FloridaJay, ratting disputes, FloridaJay, screwed up standings and ForidaJay.
Next thing I know there's a big dispute between Armadaus Baldwin of IPWN and Shadowandlight of Hammer of Light. Seer had a long running beef with Shadow and this was the straw that broke the camel's back and Seer removed Hammer of Light from LFA. This created a storm of major controversy among the LFA CEOs with me more or less chiding all parties concerned for being short sighted and rude to each other. Next thing I know I'm getting a call on my cell phone about being executor of LFA. More or less it had been brokered that Seer would step down but he would only do it for someone he approved and he approved of me so it got done. I went from being a director in a corp that limped out of GW to being executor of one of the biggest nul sec alliances in the game in a couple of months and not much more than a year total in game.
> What are some of the challenges you faced as LFA leader?
Being leader of a nul sec alliance is a constant balancing act. You're always balancing something be it industry and PVP within your alliance or your relations outside of the alliance. A big challenge for me was a lot of the bad blood generated with Paxton prior to me becoming executor and the perception of the rest of the Holders that we were clueless. I think at one point we had the right people in place and made great strides and it was just the general nature of trying to be NRDS and isolationist in a game like EVE. It was a beautiful dream but not one that could be fulfilled.
> How did the Invasion of Catch earlier this year come about?
Expansion was something discussed with Lonewolf, CVA's executor at the time, as a group with the Holders. This is why, after what happened, I'm rather dismayed that some Holders would say they were surprised we took the action we did in Catch. Expansion was discussed in every Holder Exec meeting I ever attended. I think what was surprising was we never took any action to deal with Sylph's decline (and later implosion) as opposed to taking -A- head on. However, as I understand it, there's some inside long held agreements with Sylph within CVA going back many years. What I never understood was Sylph leadership and membership had turned over many times by this point, I never saw the duty to the name of Sylph but some in CVA did so we ended up going after -A- head on instead of absorbing Sylph. It was pretty ironic that not long after the Catch Campaign started Sylph did collapse. Because we were so embroiled with the campaign an opportunity to realize the objectives of the Catch Campaign (more space for new Holders and growing Holders) was missed.
Whatever anyone says this wasn't LFA running off on its own, CVA has said that many times yet some still have some idea we went Leeroy Jenkins in Catch, that's not what happened.
> In your opinion, what could have been done differently after the fall of D-GTMI?
Well I made my public opinions on that known. There was no reason not to reach an agreement with -A-, we fought the good fight and we lost. We knew why we lost we could have moved forward from there and rebuilt the Holders. Also, CVA to this day has refused to relinquish their hold of dictator of Providence. They never legitimately recognized the Holders as partners so it should come as no surprise to them that the Holders left them or collapsed one by one. I wish them all the best but that fundamental flaw is something I think their leadership needs to seriously consider. Now you have a fistful of alliances and corps who have a bad taste in their mouth from Providence so I think it will be difficult for CVA to make new friends based on how it treated their old ones. I think they're good people, I just think hard core RP and running a nul sec coalition mix very well.
> What factors led to the dissolution of LFA?
Indecisiveness by CVA about the war after the Battle of D-G put us in stasis. This caused major issues within our two biggest corps. Once those corps decided to go that was the end of LFA right there. The rest was just trying to control the fall. In the end my job was making sure all our corps could get their assets out or move along with as little a loss as possible. I personally lost billions in it all but that's the way it goes. A mistake by our second in command led to U'K jumping on F-D and losing that system. I then had to negotiate a surrender to U'K of our pocket so everyone left could get their assets out. CVA, specifically Lord Aralis didn't see it this way but that's what happened. I didn't think it was fair some guys paid for a mistake made by a member of the command staff so I had to surrender.
> What lessons did you learn from your experience?
Be careful dealing with those who are fully committed to roleplay, your desire to apply logic to dealing with them will never work. I don't mean that in a bad way or a slight against roleplayers, everyone plays the game different. However, you should know that going into it and my corp and LFA probably didn't pay as much attention to what we were signing up for in Providence as we should have.
Me personally I learned you always have to remember that people are usually loyal to corp above all else. If corps aren't happy any decent CEO is going to pull his people out before it falls apart. You really have to keep your eye on that.
> What are your plans in Eve moving forward?
My corp and I have parted ways. I decided I needed a break from leadership be it alliance or corp, there was no way for me to do that and stay in my old corp so we have amicably parted ways. I've followed some very good friends up north to Macabre Votum which is a part of Morsus Mihi. I started with a break from game but have enjoyed my time there thus far it's given me a good look at the real pro players in EVE and what they do and given me a chance to sit back and have fun. More or less I spend more time blowing up or fixing stuff and less time in chat windows, that's always good for the soul!
