A Short History of The War
A Short History of The War
In the beginning there was the board...
And the board was Novels and Storyline.
When the Wizards message boards began, a few of us gathered to discuss the magic plot, which in those immediately post-Planeshift days, meant whether or not Squee was a planeswalker and, more significantly, who would win the war. Every topic posted would eventually become an argument between the people who believed the Phyrexians would win out in Apocalypse and those of us who knew the truth. Shadow264 would threaten instant death to anyone who spoke against Yawgmoth and we consistently didn't die. Alexi and Crusader fought Shadow and Wisefool while the rest of us backed them up rather cautiously. After a week or two, Alexi was struck by a good idea and formed the Coalition, a group dedicated to arguing our point and having fun. He appointed Crusader as his deputy then opened membership up to everyone.
We saw the Coalition and knew that it was good...
All except Wisefool who left the board in a sulk.
The first person into each colour was given the rank of Captain and made leader of that faction (with exception of white, led by Crusader with the rank of Admiral). More people joined and the ranks filled up until every new member was made a Lieutenant.
Somewhere along the way, it all began to take on a new dimension, at first we had been messing around but with people posting about armies and attacks on Phyrexians, it slowly became something else.
And so the website began and things got really weird...
People wanted armies, they wanted battles and tactics and troop movements. We lost a lot of members. Loyal Coalitionists left, not wanting to be involved with what we were becoming and those who remained floundered about in the dark for some time, derided for having to make up our own Phyrexian opposition, something had to be done...
And then there were the Phyrexians...
And the Coalition finally realised what they had let themselves in for.
There were a number of attempts made to form a coherent Phyrexian opposition, most were hampered by the fact that the opposition consisted primarily, occasionally exclusively, of Shadow. But eventually, the Phyrexian supporters were brought together by Gittoplo.
The Phyrexians had a slightly shorter period of finding their feet, they organised quite quickly and pretty soon people were looking for a battle.
The three-and-a-half battle war...
First there was the battle for Urborg. Held by the Black Faction in order to retake the volcano, it occurred before the days of the Phyrexians.
We had two sides, we needed a judge and along came Bucko the Bad, offering to help. This seemed like a good thing but we were cautious.
Then there was the battle of Keld. To this day, no one really knows whether it took place or not. It was never agreed upon and took place between a few confused armies. It was later abolished as we'd hadn't yet agreed to accept Buck as Judge.
There was some argument over the judging system, finally we decided on Bucko's.
The first official battle of the War was for West Jamuraa, judged by Bucko, won by the Coalition.
Coalition armies then flocked to North Jamuraa, we all took up positions, submitted our armies and battle plans....
And Bucko disappeared....
The Aftermath
It took us some time to get over The Bucko Incident. There was a great deal of discussion and argument and voting over who might take over, there were many candidates but in the end, Shadow was appointed.
During this time, both sides underwent some changes, there were shifts in leadership. But then, the boards themselves became something all-together different. Since the start we had known we were off topic, members such as Tredain disliked the overwhelming presence of the war on a board supposedly dedicated to Novels and Storyline (at times we had been more active than the general boards). Members had e-mailed the WizOs requesting our own boards but mostly we lived in fear of being noticed and shut down. Far from it, those members got their wish and The War Board was created, put on hold until we decided on GMs
The GM discussion went on. And on. And on. For weeks we reached no agreement so WizO_Mel got tired of it and appointed Shadow and I.
Shiny new boards, shiny new future
Not having to explain ourselves constantly to anti-war members took some getting used to. The Novels & Storyline board evacuated to our board and our sister board, Terisia.
It has taken some time, the Coalition was never founded to be a game but slowly it has become one and we are beginning to come to terms with that. We can't cater to what everyone wants and, unfortunately, that has cost us members but hopefully we will create something that, although very different from what Alexi began, remains fun.
How to join...
The Coalition Generally speaking, everyone who shares our pro-good guys position is welcome to join, all factions under-go periodic quiet phases so don't be surprised if things seem a bit quiet. All of the factions have their own topics, post either under one of these or under the main Coalition topic (though requests posted here can occasionally be overlooked). Crusader, Nick and I have the power to accept members into the Coalition as a whole but the faction leaders can accept people into their own groups. Faction leaders: |
The Phyrexians The Phyrexians are a nasty bunch, leadership has, in the past been a bit confusing. Ranks run from a chief praetor, to a number of praetors followed by evincars and generals. The Phyrexians have only one topic, post here and you should be accepted pretty quickly. Please note, joining any faction or the Phyrexians is not the same as just saying you want to join. When applying, bear in mind that although there are a lot of people invovled, there are many times when no one is online, posting repeat applications within the space of a few hours will only make enemies. You may want to post an army to save time, take a look at the current army rules for guidance. |
Finally, a few things every War Participant should know, mostly these aren't rules, just suggestions on my part of ways to keep absolutely everyone on the boards from getting angry at you.