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Two sides to each coin, depending on geography



In our eWorld, we have seen many alliances, Non-Aggression Pacts, Neutral Countries, and Wars. We have seen both night and day in terms of Affiliation and Alignment, and to get where we are now can be breathtaking. In this series, I'll go back to Beta, where it all started, trying to jot down the history of the conflicts, alliances, and bonds that have both weathered the test of time and been broken.

Volume 1 - Viable Countries Don't exist, minus 1

In December of 2007, when I joined, there were barely 3,000 registered users in the Erepublik World. Of those 3,000, about 700 were living in Pakistan, 500 in Spain, and about 500 in Sweden. This meant that the three World powers, at the time, contained only about 1,700 people (less than most "third world" eCountries in today's World), and the rest of the World had little over 1,300.

With the domination they enjoyed, Pakistan, and the Holy Empire of Dio (the first and only viable religion in the eWorld, I might add) also enjoyed supremacy in the Forums as well, which created quite a bit of controversy between Pakistan, Sweden, and Spain. The first true "fued" was between Pakistan and Spain, who both declared at the time they would "conquer" each other (which was funny considering how far apart they are), as well as Pakistan v Sweden (a battle which, to this day, I would pay to see even with Pakistan's condition). Both were inconceivable considering how many countries each would have to conquer in between to reach, let alone, conquer, the other.

In the United Kingdom, United States, Indonesia, Hungary, and most other countries, we jockeyed for position in terms of those fueds. In truth, the Pakistan/Sweden conflict that wasn't can still be seen today. You merely know it as PEACE v F/E. The roots of that conflict lie deep in both alliances, and almost every country in Erepublik, passed down from generation to generation in Erepublikan populations.

Pakistan had the only truly viable market for war, at that time, which we all knew (Portugal, a country not known for using domestic war outside of MPP activation, had the second best until Indonesia began it's massive Boom), and they were also the most advanced in terms of tactics. Sweden and Spain both employed a "free market" private business model, although all three used a "Nationalised Military" program. Pakistan was the only country to successfully employ a Communist model (which still exists, and will remain due to the improbability of success of Socialism and Capitalism in large scale countries).



The Northern Alliance

In the beginning, with Sweden's obsession with Pakistan, most countries in Europe were afraid of Sweden invading them. This fear was the reason for the formation of the Northern Alliance (the only Alliance to ever include the Irish, but ATLANTIS almost included it until Romania PTO'd them), which was the Alliance of Norway, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the Netherlands (missing one, perhaps. Can't find the original NA Contract to verify the memberships). The United Kingdom, historically had an obession with France, beginning with the 313 invasion of January/February. Their main political goals were to "make beer free, and invade France". It took a United Coalition to keep 313 out of power until most of their membership got bored and quit, but a few members such as Final Destiny came out and did very well once they got over the beer and France thing.

Norway left the Northern Alliance and aligned with Sweden, shortly before invading Russia (and conquering it). This left the other countries in a poor position, with the two largest countries in Northern Europe in their own Alliance of sorts, and the rest being less than able to defend against one foe, let alone two. This led to an expanded version of the NA, which included Norway, Sweden, the UK, and Ireland. Russia and the Netherlands were left off the Alliance (Russia because Norway wanted to invade them, and I can't quite recall as to why the Netherlands did not get invited).

The Counterweight of the NA

The Northern Alliance was largely responsible for the formation of FIST, which was it's counterweight. At this stage, North America was discussing the PANAM, but aligned with both European and Asian countries, and FIST was designed to counter the combination of Sweden and Norway. It included Pakistan, Indonesia, Japan, Iran, and Turkey (Greece was later accepted during the Goon invasion, which led to some nasty blood inside the Alliance between Turkey and the others).

Indonesia was the backbone of FIST, with it's population boom, and it's invasion of Australia (at the time, I don't think Australia had more than 100 people in it. Most of the refugees were split amongst the United Kingdom and United States for language purposes/reasons, and Canada). Japan was largely a peaceful country, and aligned with quite a few nations outside of the FIST alliance, and each alliance was farely small in terms of membership.

Pakistan enjoyed a comfortable role within this alliance, because it basically secured every border it had. Turkey, and Japan also enjoyed the security of 3 of the game's largest countries, which made it easier for them to prosper and trade. Overall, it was a solid formation.



The Alliance born to Fail

With the establishment of the NA, FIST, and PANAM (small North American Alliance that never really did anything on it's own, outside of be "friends" and cause an invasion of Canada), the Mediterranean Alliance was formed with the remaining countries in Europe. These included Italy, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, and Spain among others, as well as Canada (who joined the MA instead of PANAM due to the US invading it). The charter for the MA, it's point system for voting, and proposed weighted system for it's larger members were one of the main causes for the disillusionment of it's members, and for it's disbanding. Most of the members of the MA remained friends, although some went their own direction.



Wildcards - You win some, you lose some

There were lots of Wildcards in the World back then. The United States was probably the largest, with it's large base of Health Care (3 Q4 Hospitals, best Q available at the time), and large number of regions. It recruited members because of it's large number of MPP's (which was a philosophy originally adopted by Nave to increase War/Battle activity), and most just lived in the US for good. This increased it's economic ability, and made it a Hub for defence in most invasions. Even allied with Indonesia, the United States fought against them frequently through MPP's, most notably in South Africa.

Romania, the other wildcard, was up until this point without an alliance. They had only merged with Moldova, and were a peaceful country (until the invasion of Ukraine in August of 200😎, with high Q hospitals (much like the US).

Then, once the NA and PANAM countries moved into ATLANTIS, all hell broke loose. The World, truth be told, was fairly boring until about August of 08, when ATLANTIS and PEACE formed and started fighting against each other. Small invasions such as the Invasion of Germany, South Africa, and the Northern European/Asian countries were events to watch, but the true test of tactics didn't start until the number of countries currently involved started. We'll cover this in the next edition, when we cover in depth of the breakdown of the Med, and the evolution of the term "Pulling a Nave", which, if you haven't heard it, changed the World.

Until Part 2,
Dish