Wednesday 29 June 2016

Unfortunate news.

Illyriad is a place where many from all over come to play, grow, and live as a community. We rally together, fight against our enemies, and make friends. Sadly every once in a while we must say farewell to one of our greatest friends. And now the time has come for us to say farewell to Mul.
Mul was a great friend for many of us, including myself, but he died recently in real life. Mul was a great player, a truly mighty orc. He helped many of us (including me) grow. He helped me in battles. I will never forget his favourite phrase, “RAAWWRR!”. In honour of Mul I have made a medal. When I told the community many started sending me whatever they could to help me mint and award the medal out to many people. I was truly touched by their donations, I'm sure Mul would have been too. Mul had meant a lot to many of us. We will all miss him greatly. I am proud to have been one of his friends. Mul is up there now in heaven, where we all may join him when our time comes. We must remember that death is not the end, but a new beginning. May Mul rest in peace.

Author: IKnights

A forum post saying farewell to Mul:
http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/farewell-mul-the-handsome-orc_topic6915.html

 Mul's profiles:
https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/Player/Profile/289232
https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/Player/Profile/288348

Josh retreats from Newlands / SIN's players seem divided


Josh has come under fire from both SIN and YARR! in the Newlands, leading to him withdrawing from the region.
Reportedly, there were a number of sieges on his towns however, only two were successful. The siege which caused TUF's declaration of war with SIN on 3 - Legion! Legion who? was razed by Deo Volente on the 27th June at 12:44. The second successful siege was by Ranalos on  bb Assimilated Corpse on the 29th June at 08:04.
Sieges on cc Nightmare Lemonade, bb Assimilated Corpse and cc Default Dwarf were broken by TUF
Although YARR!'s and SIN's sieges have been very close to each other, it appears that they have not been coordinating with one another. With the raze report on bb Assimilated Corpse, Ranalos gave this comment: ' I had concerns, because a Sin siege landed after we launched, and I didn't want to hit that, but Josh cleared it before we got there.'.

It also looks like many SIN players are not involved with the SIN/TUF conflict. According to a source in SIN, the actions which lead to TUF declaring on SIN are not representative of SIN as a whole but instead of a group of rogue players. So far, the rogue players seem to be: Ron Fay/Odoacer, Deo Volente. Elanderrich and Bulani. When asked about the players, Jejune issued the following statement:
'I can confirm that the attacks on Josh were initiated by a few of our members. There is a high level of animosity toward him among many in the SIN ranks for a wide range of different reasons. I cannot confirm any specific motives for some of our players finally deciding to move on him at this juncture, though, because I really don't know exactly why. You'd need to speak directly to the players who were involved in the sieges.
As a policy, SIN believes in pvp and in the sovereignty of players to deal with conflicts in a matter that suits their own gaming objectives. SIN players are in command of their own destinies and are not subjects of our leadership. I don't make any apologies for the actions of my fellow players, and remain steadfast in my support of them. They have done so much in the past to make this alliance what it is today.'

At the same time as a group of SIN players have gone rogue, Goldy1 has left SIN and joined TUF. Before joining TUF, Goldy1 created an alliance called 'SIN HATERS'. Goldy1 was a highly active player for SIN in the Second Newlands War with a number of sieges and siege breaks. Losing him is a real blow to them. Since leaving SIN, he has launched a siege on Eldrathin's town of Alyria. Spektor, Unbow's former general, has also been added to TUF's roster
However, Goldy1 is not the only departure from SIN recently; Kaggen Deimo and Den both dropped out of SIN in the past week and Janadorf and Tink XX have both abandoned as well. As a result of these leavers, SIN has gone from being ranked 10th to 15th in terms of land.
Jejune has been promoted to leader of SIN, a position formerly held by Chandrian. When asked about it, Chandrian said that it was 'merely time for me to pass the torch on to a very capable successor. '. Jejune confirmed that the change of leadership was not to do with the recent events, saying that in SIN 'the top leadership position is a fluid one'.

The recent leavers and the rogue players do raise questions about the stability of SIN and it will be interesting to see if Jejune will be able to restore SIN back to it's former strength.

YARR! have also had a notable account leave them. Drax the Destroyer has been abandoned by Duran. Drax, who previously known as 'The Reaper' and 'Honey Badger', was involved in the current YARR!/TUF war as well as the Stomps/Claimers war and NW2.



Author: Eowan The Short



Tuesday 28 June 2016

Neutrality and Bias

In this post, I am going to respond to the accusations of bias and lack of neutrality.
  1. Of course I am biased, I am a human being with opinions and friends. I will always write with some kind of spin.
  2. If an alliance doesn't give me any comments, I cannot post anything on their side so articles will end up being biased. I will try and contact those directly involved or people I have had prior contact with but I will not follow up further. It is YOUR job to make sure what you want gets said.
  3. It would be boring if I wrote without bias- I would only be able to state facts. Opinions and ideas are what make articles interesting.
  4. If you IGM me with an update or correction to an article, I will do my best to correct it.
Author: Eowan The Short





Sunday 26 June 2016

TUF declares on SIN after Josh sieged


At 3:40 on the 26th June, Deo Volente's sieges on  3 - Legion! Legion who? belonging to Josh landed. 7 minutes later TUF declared war on SIN in retaliation.
This is the latest in a string of wars for TUF which started on the 20th January with the Death/TUF war and since the start of this year, TUF have spent just 68 days at peace. It appears that their war with YARR! will continue.
Last month, SIN concluded the Newlands War 2 in victory, making them one of the most powerful alliances in the Broken Lands. Josh was involved in both the Newlands War 2 and the earlier Stomps/Claimers war which could be part of the reason why he was targeted in particular.
By attacking TUF, SIN could be looking to prevent the alliance from reaching a size where they could pose a major threat to them. As it is, TUF has already been weakened by months of fighting meaning that a war with SIN is likely to be very costly and possibly disastrous unless TUF receives support from another alliance. Support from another alliance is possible, a recent poll on the Illyriad Times shows that SIN is 'the Most Loathed' top ten alliance in the game by a large margin. However, the recent displays of military strength by SIN will go a long way to make alliances think twice before joining TUF.
When he was asked about his declaration of war on SIN, Agalloch had the following to say:' this is not the first time they harrass a TUF player but this time we arent willing to roll over to their dirty tactics we are taking a stand against shitty playing  of that sort enough is enough'

The siege on Josh currently has 3 sieges, on the North Eastern, Eastern and Southern squares around it. There are blockades on the South Eastern, South Western and Western squares and there is an encampment on the North Western square. The Northern and Southern square have dropped equipment on them, indicating that fighting has already begun over the city. All the squares around the city have the plains terrain so it is likely that cavalry will be used to try and liberate the city.

I have reached out to Deo Volente for comment but, so far, there has been no response.

Author: Eowan The Short

TUF targets Urlond Bloodaxe


In the space of 36 hours, Urlond Bloodaxe's cities of Haledur and Khedesh were razed. Haledur was the first to fall at 17:06 24th June to Agalloch. It was previously located at 845|-1817 in Pawanallpa. Khedesh was razed at 00:06 26th June by Josh.
It is believed that these sieges were partially due to poor terrain around the cities, with a building, small hills and small forests in the adjacent to the cities.
When asked about the sieges Josh said the following:"We chose Khedesh and Haleldur towns because they were also further away from the other cities in Pawanallpa and would be a bit harder to defend effectively with towns next door and spammed elite divisions, as well as other shenanigan tactics. Also, the fact that Urlond has verbally been trashtalking both me and Aga made it just a little more exciting. Furthermore, the battles have been a bit scarce. Apparently though, it was a very close race on the town Haleldur, with cav attacks from robmc, Ranalos and Solanar hitting the siege square Agalloch was on just twenty-thirty minutes after the raze came in."

The success of these sieges could show that YARR! is beginning to run low on troops in the Pawanallpa area after a number of successful sieges earlier on in the war. Ranalos, robmc and Solanar's late attacks could have been sent from towns in parts of the Broken Lands where there has been little fighting such as the Pirate Isles and Almeny.

In the past 4 days, TUF have managed to raze or capture three of YARR!'s cities. This marks a significant increase in their success with their only other siege win being Kaven's siege on Popayan in May. TUF seem to have found their stride and it will be interesting to see how YARR! fights back.

Author: Eowan The Short

Wednesday 22 June 2016

Castle Pills under Siege


Dark Dan I's large town of Castle Pills is currently under siege by Ranalos of YARR!. At the time of writing, there are two blockades on the city, to the North West and the South East and a single siege to the West of the city. Both blockades are on plains squares whilst the siege is on a small hill. Reportedly, there were 2 more sieges earlier which were broken by TUF.
Dark Dan I was in YARR!/Dead until the 14th June when he switched sides to TUF. Whilst in YARR! he placed Castle Pills in the Pirate Isles which caused it to become a target upon his defection due to the high concentration of YARR! towns in the area. Ranalos seems confident of victory, saying:' DD went to Tuf and failed to exo out of the Isles, which is our alliance core, and so he will lose that town.'
However, TUF do not seem to want to give up the town without a fight. Josh released the following statement:'The battle in The Pirate Isles rages on but we have reduced the first 2 sieges to zero and they put reinforced with more troops on the small hill and put a new siege there, so a 3rd siege is busy getting pummeled. From what I know is going to happen with more incoming troops, it looks like Yarr! will not raze the town.'
If TUF manage to break the siege and blockades, it is likely that the town will be exodused  into a more defensible location.

UPDATE: Castle Pills was razed by Ranalos on 24 Jun 2016 at 06:47.

Author: Eowan The Short

Hedeby formerly belonging to Akiles has fallen to TUF's Mexican Dwarf



At 17:11 server time on 22nd June, Mexican Dwarf's forces stormed the keep at Hedeby and captured the town. This marks TUF's second successful siege in the YARR!/TUF war, the first being kaven's siege on Popayan. Mexican Dwarf was aided in the siege by Xander though there was little resistance from YARR! due to the distance from YARR!'s Broken Lands strongholds and Akiles' inactivity.
When asked about the siege, Ranalos released the following statement:'Akiles is 19 days inactive and in Elgea, where I have spent the last 7 months advising people they were indefensible. I'm not going to kick him to avoid Tuf getting the points because I don't care about the score card.'
Since the siege, the town has been renamed to 'YARR trophy town'

Author: Eowan The Short

Tuesday 21 June 2016

YARR! in turmoil after RUM/Hell incident

On the 9th of June, Josh's PublicRelations[YARR!] account sparked controversy when he attacked a Hellfire[Hell] player called Squirrel. Hell is a training alliance in the Broken Lands which has close ties to TUF though is not a training alliance specifically for TUF. Within seconds of HR's attack, TUF retaliated by declaring on RUM, a trading and crafting alliance which is closely linked to Yarr. RUM contained at least one war runner, in the form of SamODell.
When Josh was interviewed by Dakota, he gave this statement on the events:'What happened was that Agalloch had payed for a Terraform, the terraform account landed 5squares from him, which meant the terraform would have to join TUF, which it did. So the town had to be razed and Aga was at war.. so he contacted squirrel in Hell to do it for him, hoping we wouldnt kill it. But I saw what was going on and killed it. That caused a lot of drama and ultimately it caused Agalloch to attack RUM, then a lot of the RUM players got upset (lots of different people in there) which then made Curm angry, since he is the leader in RUM.. lots more but thats generally it'

After the declaration of war, RUM's ranks were purged, leaving just Mac Stoith (Curmudgeon's alt) and Muad'Dib, and its name was changed to Deadmen Walking[dead].

Tensions simmered for a few days, within YARR! until they came to a head on the 13th when Curmudgeon left due to a confrontation with Josh over how the  Hell/RUM incident was handled.

Soon after this, a peace was offered by TUF to YARR! though this was soon withdrawn by Agalloch. When asked why, he refused to give a comment claiming he didn't have the time to explain his reasoning fully. It is thought that any kind of peace with YARR! would involve the disolution of the Pawanallpa Land Claim.

After the peace negotiations were started, Josh moved his HR and PR accounts into TUF. Around this time, other YARR! players also started to move out or look for other options.

Around the same time, TUF declared on The Fremen[DUNE], citing the presence of Stilgar as the cause. Stilgar is believed to be at least partially controlled by Curmudgeon and reportedly had attacked TUF.

YARR! then started to bring itself back together under Ranalos though neither TUF or YARR! have mounted any significant operations since.

Currently, Curmudgeon is in Deadmen Walking, Mac Soith is in  a new alliance called Hog Hunters[BACON] and Stilgar has changed his name to Rigor.Mortis and joined Deadmen Walking. TUF have also offered DUNE peace, possibly as a result of Stilgar's move to Dead

Author: Eowan The Short

Thursday 9 June 2016

Starting up

This blog shall be entering competition against the 'war focused' Illyriad Times, due to instances of notable bias and lack of true market news. We sincerely hope to get the whole story in every instance, however if we do not, or cannot we shall make sure to note it, and hope the persons involved send the information we are missing to show a complete case. We also hope to show some form of market trends, what's high and low, and try to assist player in getting the best experience possible
There have also been problems with inactivity as the Illyriad Times has not posted since the 15th- it is now the 21st.