I felt like Moses

No Fixed Abode joined LEGIO ASTARTES ARCANUM in April 2011, after we’d been in nullsec for about six months. Early 2011, we got kicked out of Querious with the rest of the ‘coalition’ that centered around IT Alliance, and we were very happy to have found another home in LEGIO. A few months later, the DRF wave crashed over Catch, and for a moment we had the idea we were going to see the very same thing happening again: a failcascase of an entire coalition. But pretty soon it became clear that Against All Authorities was no IT alliance, and LEGIO wasn’t going down either. We lost some corps, for sure, but it was certainly no failcascade. We did the ‘retreat back to LGK-VP with -A_’ thing, and after a while reconquered Catch. Victory! And -A- remembered LEGIO stood with them when many left: we were given an extra system in Catch as a token of appreciation.

Loss of sov

On October 31 this year, one year and ten days after we reconquered our main staging system HY-RWO, we lost it again. This time to the HBC alliance The Initiative, who have some historical claims to Catch themselves. Given the number of pilots the HBC can summon for any fight, the loss didn’t come unexpectedly. Already we had been given the order to retreat to LGK once again, and all our assets had been evacuated before we lost access.

Loss of trust

But we lost something else. Over the months leading up to the loss of our sov, we also lost our trust in -A-, as well as our willingness to fly alongside them. It wasn’t one big thing, really, but a gradual loss of fun and sense of affiliation. Pilots would complain about the way they were treated by -A- FC’s, -A- pilots behaving like arrogant dicks in the area where we lived, lack of fleets to join in EU TZ, lack of mutual respect.. every few days something else would happen, causing someone to say ‘you know, screw -A-, I’m not doing this anymore’.

At the same time it became clear that LEGIO too wasn’t the alliance it was a year ago. It’s very hard to pinpoint, but somewhere in 2012 we lost something. Perhaps the sad fact that the human behind Commander Donta succumbed to cancer in the summer of 2012..?  Some leadership being less active than before..? There may have been other factors too, but whatever the cause: LEGIO wasn’t able to fight like it was in 2011. Several corps, disillusioned or unable to follow LEGIO leadership’s course anymore, began to drop out.

Moses

So NOFAD pilots too began to talk about leaving, greener pastures here or there, following this guy or that corp to a new place. After a period of growing unease, we finally decided to leave LEGIO ASTARTES ARCANUM, even before we had an idea on where we’d end up. We left LEGIO some time ago, and for a while I felt like Moses leading his people into the wilderness!

We’ve left some good friends and capable pilots behind, in an alliance that has a rich history, but is currently straining under the pressure of current events. We thank them and wish them well and we sure would like to fly alongside our friends once again in the future. But, I am afraid that for this to become true, -A- has to chance their tune, or fall. I don’t see -A- changing anytime soon, but a -A- failure might actually occur. Winter is coming..