FREGE, G Thanks, Libertas Fidelitas (LFA), Dogs of War, Undivided, Primary, The Spire Alliance and Circle of Two... not exactly the best track record when it comes to picking Alliances. Add to that my own personal trail of carnage both on the Alliance side (I once left Dion to come back to Providence to help Paxton defend their space, and we all see how that worked out) and on the Corporation side, I once tried starting a low-sec Merc Corp around the time I had 7 or 8 million skill points! I know, oh to be young and foolish. My second attempt at starting a Corporation was doomed by corporate thievery and horribly bad timing, but that's another story. Talk about a permanent record huh?
If you think that sounds bad then you obviously don't know much about how zero space Alliances work. When you hitch your horse to a wagon, you don't always know where the wagon is headed or have any say about when it might get there. While you are on that wagon you do your best to help it along, if it gets stuck in the mud you are right there along with the others digging it out. But then, one day, you realize the wagon is headed to Salt Lake City. And dammit, you just don't want to go to Salt Lake City! And then the dude that sold you on the trip comes up missing right at the critical moment when you need him the most and that missing-toothed cackling old-guy is the one he left in charge! Or those religious zealots that promised the calvary would come to your rescue end up not having any horses. Or something like that, I sure can stretch a metaphor.
Thing is, along that journey you've watched how the wagon master works. How he keeps the horses feed, how he keeps the Injuns at bay, all the stuff that goes into making a wagon train roll. You've seen the mistakes, been burned by them many times, and you've also seen the good. That time the wagon boss handed that widow lady some silverbacks when her husband passed... he didn't have to do that. But all along the trip you started thinking, I know a better way. I see the bad, the ugly and the stupid... but I also see the way it aught to be. If done right. That idea forments in yer head till one day the moon and the stars align up just right in the night sky. Turns out, even though the town is on fire, you might just have a chance at yer own spread over the mountains. A place to call your own.
Not sure where the Old West crap came from, but I think you get the idear. (I did just re-watch that True Grit trailer this morning) Either way, the day has finally come to take the next big step on our Eve journey and head out to claim our own space. Black-Mark is the name of our new Alliance, for obvious reasons. We had hundreds of suggested names, one of which was Terrifying League of Sock Puppets, but it finally came down to two choices. Variations on Black Mark and Branded. (Which has a kick-ass theme song already built in!) But if you've tried to name something in Eve lately, you know how hard it is getting. It's almost as bad as buying a URL, it's getting harder every day. So Black-Mark won out. It feels right given our history and what we've been thru, both as a Corp and as individuals.
I can't tell you more right now, the details are moving along very nicely though. Negotiations and discussions are happening at a rapid pace, I suspect by Monday I'll have many more details to share with you.
In the meantime, Dissonance continues to recruit and Black-Mark is looking for a few great Corps to help us mark our mark. if you are interested let me know, or jump into DION-PUBLIC in-game to chat.