[Politics] Attack on Blaydwoman

[Natmus]

This Friday Kim (blaydwoman) told me she was under attack from a guy called joeee, an admin of SW|4. THe attack came as a surprise to her, as she usually is on good terms with Raul, and so should be somewhat safe from his minions.
joeee told her he had the full backing of SW in his attack, so Kim panicked and informed her protectors, TheEarl and Parwez. I offered her full Morkin support, but agreed that the Wraith boys could take the lead on pressuring joeee.

TheEarl did it like this:

Right. You've got 24 hours to : 1. Apologise to blaydwoman 2. Call off the attack (if possible) 3. Pay 120% of all blaydwoman's losses 4. Grovel Otherwise you've got 48hours to live. I don't care who's alliance you're in - NO-ONE attacks people I protect and gets away with it. We at [wraith] have long supported [firefox] and now SW, but I don't know you and I don't recognise feeders anyway. SORT IT. NOW.

Earl and Parwez had no problems getting Wraith mobilised, and joeee of course soiled himself and agreed to all Earl's demands.
The really interesting thing about this little affair is this: Kim claimed that Raul was behind it from the beginning, and when I asked her why she said this:

i can tell yoyu that joeee was crapping his pants and that he spilled his guts when he saw a lof wraith going to kill him. he showed me a list from raul that had a lot of names and colony numbers on it and said raul sent the list and told his minions to pick what isles they wanted. so raul knew i was on the list cause he put me there. it was not a mistake as he claimed.

I immediatly asked for a copy of that list, but Kim had deleted it, and joeee said it had been removed from the SW forum. Maybe that is so, or they have been given very strict orders not to let it spread further. A pity, because such a list would be political dynamite in the IK world. But even the knowledge of the existence of such a list is interesting.

Also, the affair gives material for a few thoughts on the SW/Wraith relationship. It would seem that SW shouldn't be too secure that Wraith will protect them forever.

And about Raul: Why did Kim get on the list? An honest mistake (He's making a list, not checking it twice), or is he really that much of a pr.i.ck when finding 'easy' isles for the small Sea Cubs to steal?

I think we can assume that we not are on Raul's list at the moment, but that could change. Do we have any way of using the knowledge of the list to our advantage, even if we don't know the content of it?

Finally, I think this affair shows how Raul run things. He can make a list, and the cubs just follow it without questions. I'm glad I'm not a member of such alliances.

[mmupatton]

natmus said:

Finally, I think this affair shows how Raul run things. He can make a list, and the cubs just follow it without questions. I'm glad I'm not a member of such alliances.

You can say that twice.

I hate it when such damning evidence 'goes missing'. It does spoil the level of trust, but then again. After all this with DL, I do trust blaydwoman. Completely.

The knowledge of the list is interesting, of course. The best use, as I see it, will be to publicly discuss it, hinting to the list. Without in fact disclosing the limited knowledge we have of the list. If we in fact believe the existence of such a list (and I repeat: I do trust blaydwoman) then we should act as if it's there.

An entry on Sea Dogs threads on the IK-forum, mentioning that the list is interesting and we are happy not to be under such a leadership?

[inyati]

who is Raul....I´m not joking!
How did he get to be such a leader to have so many minions behind his stead?

[mmupatton]

I think Natmus explained it in a way in another thread, the "what this game really is" thread. Basically, some people will look for a strong player to protect them and will then accept being under their rule, just so that they can be associated with that player. And get a little reward (like permission to steal an island) once in a while...

[Natmus]

Yes, there is that, but there is more than that to Raul.

The way I understand IK history, Raul is the one who started and organised the crusade against multis. Apparantly these guys used to be a big problem in the early days of IK, back when where even the biggest players counted their isles in single digits. Raul used Firefox as a single weapon against the multis, and a lot followed his lead in a fight against 'legitimate' targets.

But that was back then! Our own first encounter with Raul was when he attacked Inyati's isle without warning, as Inyati "looked like a multi"... Convincing Raul that Inyati was no multi, even getting any kind of response from Raul at all, was more than difficult; and perhaps only the help from DarkLady helped us then. (Yes, I know, I know, but Sheldon did help us in that situation).

I remember when we played at multihunting ourselves, we agreed to follow Raul's verdicts on who was multis and who was not, and if the victims were not multis, Raul were to blame. Even if we knew from his attack on Inyati that he could be dead wrong about who was multis or not. As I remember it we soon began to secondguess Raul as long as we multihunted.

Nowadays, when multis doesn't really pose a problem to most of us, it seems like Raul mainly has his authority based on a core of old multihunters that simply stick with him out of habit, a few very large players that are very aggressive, and then a lot of newer players that can be considered hangarounds. The newer players either come for the protection that FF/SW offers, or to be a little mouse in a flock of elephants, or to get cover for a very aggressive playing style.

I think that Raul has become somewhat arrogant due to the power he has. While many admirers applaud him for being a nice guy, just as many consider him arrogant. I think his behavoior is very much based on percieved social standing. People who are subservient, like new FF/SW players, he treat nice. Players not really accepting him as their superior is treated with coldness, bordering on hostility.

[SkulkrinBait]

I don't trust Raul, having had a few dealings with him, it's hard to judge people over the net but there's something fishy. I hunted multis with him for a short time, but after a couple of succesful hunts I stopped as I am certainly not happy that the information he uses to detect multis is reliable.

[Natmus]

From a contact in one of the last 3 alliances mentioned I got this:

well i message you to inform you that world war seems to be on the horizon. please do not talk to anyone about that (well maybe to some morkins you trust but this must not leave morkin).
sw have reserved R|M,WRAITH and ~N~ islands. we are currently working out how to handle this.

reason why i message you: would you be prepared to join in?

I answered back that if SW attack them, we might join in on the attack.... kidding.

My guess is now Raul's new plan is blown, it will be called off, but I answered that we would come to the help of our friends and honour our pacts (R|M), so consider this a preliminary warning that we may have another major conflict sometime in the future.

And not a word about this to anyone! My guess is that it will come to nothing, but let's still be alert.

[SkulkrinBait]

Timescales?

I've nothing worth talking about in terms of offensive firepower, need another month at least really.

[inyati]

How alert can I be with one island....

[Natmus]

Yeah, I know. but I think it more a symbolic offer of help rather than a offer we really can back up. It's a question of making SW back down, and I don't think many people outside Morkin realise how much The War of the Solstice cost us in offensive power.

[mmupatton]

Somehow related?

[Natmus]

Yes, I'll start a new thread about it.