Last Word

The title being more hope than reality.


I write the truth every day in this blog.  The truth being defined as the truth I see at the moment I write it.  Which is the only truth I know within the game of Eve.


There are two people writing this blog and that cannot be avoided.  The real me typing on my keyboard right now and the virtual "me" named Rixx Javix in-game.  These are often the same person and often they are not.


Every day when I sit down to write I have to ask myself some questions, questions I take very seriously.  What can I say about what is going on in-game and what should I wait to say?  This is often as easy as being careful not to mention operations against enemies, fleet movements and other intelligence - but it can also pertain to internal political discussions and decisions.  This cannot be avoided and I strive to never reveal anything on these pages that would compromise my fellow pilots.


When I am involved with something within and outside the confines of the game I give that something 110% of my effort.  I always have and I always will.  That's just me and the way I am built.


I put a huge amount of effort into seeing Black-Mark succeed, both in and out of game.  I beat the drums on this blog, on the forums and in literally hundreds of emails.  I poured millions of iskies, hundreds of man hours and all my attention to ensuring the success of the Alliance.  No one can argue that point.  (Just flip over the current issue of EON for only one example.)


I started up Lucifer's Hammer again for one purpose, to bring new blood into the Alliance and build a strong PvP focused Corporation.


While the question of ultimate sov holding or not holding has been bantered about, that was always a long-term goal of the Alliance when we came to Syndicate.  A goal which I agreed with at the time.  More importantly however was the growing realization that our alignment and goal came at a price, increasing ties with the Northern Coalition.


I STILL agree that holding sov is the best long term goal of the Black-Mark Alliance.


I do not want to be a part of the Northern Coalition or aligned with them in any way.  To me they are the new CVA, a collection of carebear oriented Alliances that represent the worst of the "business" focused playing style in Eve.  I am not interested in playing a business in Eve, I am only interested in "playing" Eve.


I totally respect anyone else's opinion on that issue.  I have many, many friends in the NC and I appreciate their reasons for being there.  That doesn't change my feelings one way or the other.


Totally unexpected to me, Lucifer's Hammer started to grow and attract pilots.  Good pilots.  We quickly became a force to be reckoned with.  Sadly this effort only helped to further illustrate the differences between the Alliance goals and the Corporation's goals.


It became obvious that those two entities would not be sustainable for the long term.


I had a decision to make and I only had two choices.  Break up Lucifer's Hammer and return to my former role within the Alliance, or keep Lucifer's Hammer and leave the Alliance.  Either way would have worked, but only one way made any sense.


As if to prove my decision, which was made last Friday by the way, an incident happened to further illustrate those differences.  This was not my intention.  My hope was to speak openly and honestly with the Alliance leadership about our decision and move on as amicably as possible.  As if often the case however, outside forces made that extremely difficult.  The week before my pilots asked to participate in a GankNight fleet organized on the forums.  They did and had a great time.  This past Saturday the asked again and once again I thought it was a great idea.  While it was clear to all involved that we do not condone the shooting of "blues" several blue NC pilots managed to get exploded by the 120+ man, mixed neutral fleet of which TWO pilots happened to be LUCRH pilots.


I didn't play Eve on Saturday and when I logged on Sunday morning I was greeted by several emails and angry notices.  One email in particular, that had gone out to the ENTIRE Alliance, called my Corporation and my pilots out by name.  The blue Corporation involved had re-set us and there was fear that more might follow.  I made it clear that we do not condone blue on blue violence but that in the midst of a 120+ man fleet, accidents do happen.  I also made it clear that if the pilots who were exploded wanted compensation for their loss, that LUCRH would pay for restitution.  The blue Corporation re-set us back to blue.


It is different when you are responsible for your own Corporation.


Like a band-aid I made the decision to make it quick and we immediately started pulling our assets out.


Even yesterday when several more of our pilots needed moved out of system, I agreed to a temporary cease-fire so that everyone could get moved safely.


This post went on longer than I intended.  But I thought it important to get the train of thought down.  I will add that despite clear opportunities to do so, I did not use my roles within the Alliance to our advantage at anytime.  I have an alt in the Holding Corporation and full roles within the Alliance, but I did not use them.  Nor would I.