4/29/09 - Evening Edition

Tribune Readers, the last several days have seen momentous changes in Darkfall. The battles of 4/25 show a shift in how war is fought in our game--from the single armies clashing at single battle sites to large-scale, cross-map conflict involving most of the game world.

Since that day the great wars seem to have entered a holding position. It is doubtful that we'll see significant movements until the weekend. All the same, big doings are afoot in Agon.

Rubaiyat, the first sub-continent to reach substantive political unity, is in chaos. The DUSK alliance, which has ruled the region almost since release, is suffering the greatest challenge to its survival in Darkfall history. Clans throughout the DUSK heartland including Ilythiiri and Bad Boys For Life have severed ties with the greater DUSK community to form an alliance which, as of monday, has yet to have a name.

The Tribune spoke to a representative from Bad Boys For Life, who said the breakaway clans felt DUSK had grown too impersonal, with clans joined by "charter, not friendship." The rebels had also grown dissatisfied with DUSK's bureaucracy. These clans offered DUSK a period of peace--which was refused, sparking a conflict which saw the clan banks of Blackhand Order and Ilythiiri on the rebels' side, as well as those of House Shivering, Sturmgrenadier, Old Timers, Adeptus and Lost Minions on the the loyalists' side. House Shivering's city gates were also damaged. A state of war exists between the rebel clans and DUSK.

To make matters worse the war between the SB Alliance and DUSK continues--the Undead Lords have taken a city on Rubaiyat, the first loss of a settlement larger than a hamlet in their war.

Adeptus also appears to have broken away from DUSK, but their relationship to the rebels is unknown.

DUSK is not the only clan suffering internal struggles. In the Hyperion Kingdom, founding clan Society of the Anvil has dissolved. Surly, clan leader of SOTA, has stated that he had grown dissatisfied with Darkfall, citing the grind necessary to be competitive among other grievances. The leadership of SOTA has left the game and former members have joined other Hyperion clans with some forming a new group, Nacre Pleez. SOTA's former city off the coast of Yssam is now the site of skirmishing between groups from many factions, from Hyperion and allies to the Coalition of the Chillin' to Stasis.

This has been the Evening Edition for 4/29/09.

Good Luck,

Edmund Grain

Editor in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com

4/25/09 - Special Edition, "WAR!"

This afternoon, by EST, the Cold War which has dominated the Darkfall world ended. The real war has begun.

Throughout the day, as siege challenges announced and armies clashed, the Agon Tribune has struggled to collect the facts on this conflict, and we present them for you here. This information will be updated as the day and night progress.

--Edit--
A server crash has ended the day's sieges, and the information below is updated to show that.

In total three settlements changed hands: Mahtisoturit's hamlet on Yssam (CotC) fell to the Hyperion Kingdom while Kvitstein city (Hyperion) fell to the Death Alliance. Bladethorpe and Spear Waters hamlets (Hyperion) both fell to the Coalition of the Chillin'. The server crash cancelled the remaining sieges.

The Combatants

Today's clash marks the single largest act of war in the history of Darkfall. So far, the sides are as follows:

• The Coalition of the Chillin'. Lead by Awful Company, the CotC initiated today's fighting with a declaration of war against no less than four Hyperion Kingdom settlements simultaneously. Their offensive was launched through landless members of the alliance issuing cash challenges against Hyperion cities, leaving Coalition settlements invulnerable to siege at the cost of a significant cash outlay and the vulnerability of individual shard-bearers.
• The Hyperion Kingdom. Led by the Duchy of Wessex, the Kingdom is under siege. Five clanstones are under attack across their frontier, with the remainder locked down in sieges declared by friendly clans, to lock down those clanstones and keep the cities safe. Today's fighting is the ultimate test of Hyperion's ability to defend itself. Joining Hyperion is a mercenary alliance including TheMercs and Rainbow Ninjas, among others.
• The Death Alliance. Led by the Lords of Death the Death Alliance is taking advantage of the Coalition offensive to take some territory of their own--when asked, LoD clanleader Obs stated that Death did not plan today's events in advance, they are just siezing the opportunity. Aiding Death are the SB Alliance of the Tribelands, including such clans as the Shipwrecked Pirates and Dreadnaughts, and the Cairn Alliance including Sun, Blood and others.
• Primal Alliance. Primal clan KarnAanug took advantage of the chaos as well to besiege Mortis Consortium at Issar Ruins.
  

Battlefronts

Eight sieges were declared today. They are as follows

-Coalition of the Chillin Attacks
All of Coalition of the Chillin's challengers are against Hyperion Kingdom settlements.

• Long March. Belligerents: Mahtisoturit v. Duchy of Wessex. Status: Successful Hyperion Defense. This was the second siege declared today, as well as the second siege resolved. Mahtisoturit's Yssam homestead was taken immediately by Hyperion forces, ending the threat to the Duchy itself, but it is believed this attack was a feint to draw Hyperion troops away from the real centers of combat.
• Alberworth. Belligerents: United Front v. Bewahrer der Welten. Status: Inconclusive. Bewahrer's island city lies close to the Hyperion frontier. Forces from the successful defense of Kill Cult's island moved to support the Coalition offensive. The siege of Alberworth was cancelled by server crash.
  
• Bladethorpe. Belligerents: Divine Legion v. Hyperion Royal Court Lands. Status: Successful Coalition Siege. Bladethorpe is the only hamlet under attack, and is the third Hyperion holding to fall tonight.
• Spear Waters. Belligerents: RUS Corp v. Crusade. Status: Successful Coalition Siege. Spear Waters fell early in the day and was missed by the Tribune until after the servers crashed.
  

Death Alliance Attack
The Death Alliance made one assault, against the northern Hyperion city of Kvitstein.

• Kvitstein. Belligerents: Kill Cult v. Haven. Status: Successful Death Siege. Kvitstein was the only challenged city fall today, and did so under strange circumstances. It seems internecine warfare within the Hyperion Kingdom had the Society of the Anvil, which has apparently lost its core leadership, attacked the city and sacked its keep. When Death declared its challenge the Society of the Anvil then launched a counterattack, supported by mercenaries, against the Kill Cult city of Seelie off the western coast of Agon to end the siege. Kill Cult's defenders included troops from across the Death Alliance, as well as forces from SB. SOTA forces employed cannons and, briefly, a warhulk, but retreated without taking the city. Kvitstein soon fell to a mixed Death/Cairn force.

Primal Alliance Attack

• Issar Ruins. Belligerents: KarnAanug v. Mortis Consortium. Status: Inconclusive. Launched via a cash challenge, the KaarnAanug offensive stationed its shardbearer in the NPC city of Whiteclaw and barricaded it with naked characters against attack. The siege of Issar Ruins was cancelled by Server Crash.

Defensive Sieges
The Hyperion Kingdom launched two defensive sieges to lock down its cities from further attack. The Realm of Kirdain 'attacked' the Hundred while FreneZy 'attacked' the Silver Sun Republic. We assume these sieges will not result in territory actually changing hands, as they are meant to lock down the cities of all four participants.

This concludes the Special Edition for 4/25/09. The Agon Tribune encourages any readers with screenshots of or information on the day's events to send them to the Tribune's email address. This is a day of days, every piece of intelligence is welcome.

Good Luck,

Edmund Grain

Editory in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com

4/25/09 - Afternoon Edition

The last few days have seen increasingly bold moves by the alliances, and escalating violence in the Mirendil/Tribelands region.

The war between DUSK and the SB Alliance took a new turn as SB, spearheaded by Dreadnaughts, launched another siege of Hombres de Tierfon's hamlet, after the previous siege was cut short by a disconnected shardbearer. Significant skirmishing took place in western Mirendil in the vicinity of DUSK/Dawn clan Oromea's stronghold, to be ended by a sudden storming of the Hombres de Tierfon hamlet when its clanstone became open. The hamlet was added to SB territory.

Meanwhile, to the north of these battles a second confrontation occured. The home of long-time independent clan The Seventh Circle was besieged by Sovereignty of the Cairn Alliance. TSC staffed its defense with several mercenary clans, including The Mercs, and managed a tenacious defense. CA, reinforced by the surprise arrival of Hyperion Kingdom troops, triumphed in the siege challenge and took TSC's clanstone.

But these confrontations were but preludes to the action Agon is seeing even as I type. Tonight the Tribune will publish a special report on today's events, which will shape the future of Agon. Be prepared, and watch yourselves. The Cold War has finally gone Hot.

Good Luck,

Edmund Grain

Editory in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com

4/23/09 - Morning Edition

Fighting in Mirendil spilled into Nagast just after midnight today, as Winterblades of SB Alliance declared a challenge against the hamlet of Velmuna, owned by DUSK clan Les Hombres de Tierfon, which came to an abrupt end as the Winterblades shardbearer disconnected just a few minutes after declaring the challenge, netting 20,000 gold for the Hombres.

The Tribune interviewed Ssly, one of the three Supreme Generals of Winterblades, who confirmed that the challenge against Velmuna was part of the ongoing war between SB and DUSK. According to Ssly, the Velmuna offensive was launched in the hopes of provoking a response from DUSK. As he said,

"Our daily raids have shown a smaller and smaller DUSK force trying to defend against us. We're hoping this siege will bring us more of a fight than what we've gotten in the last few days."

The Velmuna challenge is one of the first actual territorial challenges issued in the DUSK/SB war, as both sides have focused destroying enemy facilities rather than taking and holding land. More on the war in Mirendil as it develops.

This concludes the Morning Edition of the Agon Tribune.

See you in Agon,

Edmund Grain

Editory in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com

4/21/09 - Evening Edition

Tribune readers, the last few days have seen some startling developments in Darkfall. Across the game world new wars have sprung up, old ones have intensified, and overall Darkfall has become a more chaotic place.

We begin with Yssam. Long the site of fighting between the Yssam Coalition and the Stasis alliance, with Hyperion Kingdom intervention on the side ofYC throughout, last week saw a significant shift in the jungle subcontinent's power dynamic as the last Stasis settlement was taken by YC forces and occupied by the Knights of the Blue Sky. Tribune sources within Stasis claim that their side of the siege was disrupted by in-game glitches, as theYC shard-bearer for the challenge did not appear as a ping on their maps as per game rules. Warfare on Yssam has been plagued by such technical difficulties since release.

Stasis remained on Yssam, initiating a guerrilla war against the Yssam Coalition--but on Friday of last week, 4/18/09, the Yssam situation intensified. The Coalition of Character Killers, formerly of the Cairn Alliance and declared enemies of the Hyperion Kingdom, joined Stasis and aided their new alliance in a fresh offensive. Challenges were launched againstMehatil, city of YC clan Virakar, and Aputan , city of the Villagers of Eternity--the first by Coalition of Character Killers using their hamlet-island in the southern seas ascollateral , the second by Covenant of the Phoenix using a pure cash challenge. Warfare on Yssam was plagued by technical difficulties again: five minutes after theMehatil clanstone should have gone vulnerable the game servers shut down--the countdown to vulnerability had been stuck at 0:00:00 for those five minutes regardless. Hostilities continue on Yssam.

Meanwhile, the coast of Dvergheim has seen increased violence of late. Ongoing raiding between the hamlet Skogul, owned by former Dvergheim Compact and current Hyperion Kingdom member Agony and the island hamlet of Surstone, taken by Death Alliance forces from DC member Lys Noir, met a conclusive end this weekend with the capture of Skogul by Death forces, along with the hamlet of Mahirim alliance Cerberus to the west of Skogul. Tribune sources inside the Death Alliance confirm that Death forces were raiding Skogul regularly throughout last week after a joint operation by Agony and the Mercenaries du Nord against Surstone. No response from the Hyperion Kingdom on the fall of their border hamlet has been forthcoming.

Finally, the situation in Mirendil has intensified considerably. Last week saw a declaration of war between the SB Alliance and DUSK/Dawn, with warfare centered on the territories of Dawn memberOromea and SB member Dreadnaughts. Unlike the conflicts described above fighting in Mirendil has taken the form of raids rather than outright sieges, for the most part. Though Tribune sources indicate that SB forces were initially repulsed by DUSK/Dawn troops efficiently, the weekend saw SB raids cause significant damage to Dawn settlements. The Mercs are also taking part in the ongoing Mirendil war, attacking and damaging DUSK/Dawn cities. Sources within SB Alliance confirm that while The Mercs are focusing their attacks on DUSK/Dawn, they are not affiliated with SB and are acting independtly at present.

The Tribune spoke with Captain Arnie, clan leader of the Shipwrecked Pirates and member of SB, who confirms that no diplomatic process currently exists between the two alliances. Arnie states that SB does not intend a peace short of the destruction of the other side and, as he puts it, the "lamentation o' their wenches."

The Tribune has made several attempts to contact Dorundain Dunedhel, clan leader of Oromea, but has yet to meet with success. We welcome Dorundain and Oromea in general to make contact outside of the game to provide coverage for both sides of the conflict.

The Agon Tribune would like to take this space to thank our contributors, who make these updates possible. They know who they are, but in particular the paper would like to thank Calen Amlir of Virakar, whose contributions were invaluable for the Yssam piece above, and especially all those valuable contributors who request their anonymity. There would not be an Agon Tribune without you.

This concludes tonight's Evening Edition.

See you in Agon,

Edmund Grain

Editor in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com

4/16/09 - Evening Edition, "Tensions Escalate"

Across Agon this week the world has grown considerably hotter as portions of the Cold War which has reigned over the Darkfall world in recent weeks thaw out.

In eastern Agon the first new declaration of war between alliances hit the world stage as DUSK alliance, with auxilliary arm Dawn, went to war with the SB Alliance of the Tribelands and Northwest. Hostilities seem focused between the cities of Dawn guild Oromea (sic) and SB stalwart Dreadnaughts--more on this story as it develops.

Meanwhile, confusion reigned in western Agon last night as a planned territory shift between Coalition of the Chillin members turned into a serious diplomatic crisis. Territorial shifts are usually faux-sieges where shard-bearers perform all the stages of a normal Darkfall siege, but territory changes hands peacefully. Last night, an attended swap among CotC members went awry as shard-bearers suffered disruption, leaving CotC territories open for attack from other alliances. Hyperion forces made themselves felt, and the Tribune can confirm that at least Death Alliance troops were mustering to aid in the defense when the relevant CotC parties settled peace agreements and ended the siege window.

Finally, Yssam saw the end of an era. Starting at approximately 6:30 PM EST, 4/15/09, the Yssam Coalition initiated a new offensive. After fierce fighting and several hours of maneuvering and battle YC forces succeeded in taking the last hamlet of the Stasis alliance in central Yssam. With the fall of the last Stasis settlement only one clanstone remains on Yssam not controlled by either the YC or the Hyperion Kingdom: the hamlet of Mahtisoturit, clan of the Coalition of the Chillin. Tribune sources indicate that the Stasis alliance, though disheartened by this latest setback, remains committed to life on Yssam and will engage in a guerrilla war to remain there. Expect a special on Yssam in the near future, readers.

This concludes tonight's Evening Edition.

See you in Agon,

Edmund Grain

Editor in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com

4/13/09 - Evening Edition, "Consolidations and Reprisals"

A new week dawns in Agon and the Cold War between the great powers continues--though the last 48 hours have seen an uptick in skirmishing in northern and northwest Agon.

In the early morning of 4/13/09, EST, the Death Alliance's easternmost hamlet, an island off the coast of Agon, was raided by forces from clan Agony of the Dvergheim Compact and the Mercenaries du Nord. The raiders were approximately a dozen strong, but their hardware was significant: the party came on two rafts, and once ashore deployed what Tribune sources confirm was a warhulk. The warhulk was armed with flame cannons, and kept the few Death personnel on the island effectively pinned while the raiders took what they could from the hamlet's grove and other resources. The raiding party withdrew, but a Death reprisal followed shortly: forces from Niflheim attacked the mainland and sacked Agony's hamlet, destroying every facility they found, though Death forces did not move to conquer or occupy the site. The status of the warhulk used in the initial raid remains unknown. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Agony is now fully allied with the Hyperion Kingdom.

Today saw a similar military excursion as, in response to a raid by forces of the Primal alliance on member clan Apollo's hamlet, Death forces invaded Primal territory in the Tribelands. The hamlet of Primal clan The Exodus Syndicate was sacked by Death forces with minimal losses.

To the south, the past week marked a series of victories for the DUSK Alliance. Dusk forces captured the former hamlet of the Generals of War off the east coast of Rubaiyat, establishing complete DUSK control over the territories of the southeastern continent. As mentioned in previous editions DUSK forces also took the hamlet of Death in Excess in Mirendil, in a joint operation with the Death Alliance. Vinco Vici Victum, the last territory-holding member of the Savage Alliance, has reportedly joined DUSK's subsidiary alliance, Dawn. Dawn is made up of those clans associated with DUSK that do not follow the DUSK rule of accepting only Alfar members. The Tribune would like to thank Vindicore of the Shulgan Knights Council and Yomm of the Sturmgrenadiers for clarifications on all things DUSK.

Finally, there was some confusion today as various member clans of the Hyperion Kingdom declared war upon each other, traded settlements, and promptly made peace. The Agon Tribune can confirm through Monte Anvil, one of the three seconds-in-command of the Society of the Anvil, that what occured was a shifting of territories between Hyperion member clans. The Society of the Anvil now holds Realm of Kirdain's former city on the southwestern coast of Yssam, Kirdain now holds Haven's hamlet on the northeastern coast of Agon, and Haven now holds Society of the Anvil's old city. Reports that the Hyperion Kingdom was temporarily in a state of civil war are a bit of light-hearted forum trolling on the part of Hyperion members and should not be believed.

That's tonight's Evening Edition.

See you in Agon,

Edmund Grain

Editory in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com