Bad Blood

§4§l BAD BLOOD, OLD§0 §4§l FOES: A§0 §4 §4§l HISTORY OF THE§0 §4§l SECOND YOAHTL-§0 §4§l LACONIA CONFLICT §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0§o By: Amerikkalainen

§0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0 §0§o2018§0 §0§o Yoahtl Sun§0 §0§o Publishing Co.§0 §0 Yoahtl ❖ Southshire

§l CONTENTS§0 §0§l================§0Background 4§0 §0 §0The War Drums Beat Again 12§0 §0 §0The First Strike 21§0 §0 §0Disaster Strikes 26§0 §0 §0Men Down, and a Treaty 35§0

§0 §0 §0 §0 §0§l================§0§l ===BACKGROUND===§0§l================

Yoahtl and Laconia share a fairly long history, much of which is marred by a poor relationship. The second Yoahtl-Laconia conflict has its roots in the first, so an understanding of the second requires some background knowledge.

Laconia was originally founded by Yoahtlan expats and quickly grew to become an independent state in prior iterations of the civ genre. In this particular iteration, Yoahtl founded the city of Axochitlan in the outer Plus-Plus,

far removed from the petty squabbles and raiders that characterized early Civclassics civilization. Laconia and Yoahtl shared shaky relations as neighbors in the early days of Civclassics. Accusations of

alt-raiding arose soon after Axochitlan was raided in early July 2017, and the tension developed into outright conflict.§0 §0 §0After a short war, Laconia forced Yoahtl's hand. Despite a signed treaty

guaranteeing Yoahtlan rights to Axochitlan and the surrounding Yoahtlan communities, the Yoahtlan government and the majority of the people made the decision to abandon their homeland in the Plus-Plus in

search of new land. They eventually settled in what is today known as New Yoahtl City. Laonia extensively developed the infrastructure of their own capital Mt. Doom, as well as other hardened military sites in the Plus-Plus and

the city of Danville, originlly Yoahtlan but ceded to Laconia in the treaty.

§0 §0 §0 §0 §0§l================= THE WAR DRUMS = ===BEAT AGAIN====§0 §0§l================

For a while, Laconia-Yoahtl relations were practically non-existent. Geographically, the thousands of blocks that now separated them enforced a peace stronger than any treaty.

In October, the outbreak of the Somber War forced communities worldwide to reconsider their position in global politics. Yoahtl and Laconia took two different paths in this regard -

Yoahtl strove to maintain neutrality (at least in theory), while Laconia chose to ally with Lexington, a decision which greatly influenced the outcome of the second conflict.§0 §0 §0In Yoahtl, the soreness of the previous

conflict never totally went away. Many Yoahtlan citizens, particularly former Alcuahtl Quahtli_Mia felt that Yoahtl's destiny was to reclaim what they saw as stolen land. The influx of members entirely new to the server and/or Yoahtl

diluted this sentiment somewhat, but it never fully dissipated. Added to this lost land narrative was the perception that Yoahtlan citizens remaining in the Plus-Plus were being harassed by Laconia. These factors kept the motivation

for an eventual reconquering of the Plus-Plus lands alive in Yoahtl.§0 §0 §0On the other hand, there was ample motivation to keep Yoahtl out of a conflict with Laconia as well - many feared that any

attempt at moving on Laconia would bring a response from Lexington and therefore draw Yoahtl into the Somber War. Yoahtl did not have the military capacity to mount even a defensive campaign against Lexington, so this motivation

overrode the desire to retake the Plus-Plus for a long time.§0 §0 §0The peace didn't last forever, though - soon enough, a catalyst came along.

§0 §0 §0 §0 §0§l====================THE FIRST====§0 §0§l=====STRIKE=====§0 §0§l================

Starting in October and November, a subset of newer Yoahtlans with militaristic aspirations decided to convert the reconquest of the Plus-Plus from a topic rambled about by desperate oldfriends into a serious matter. In early December, it began.

After a short time building basic military infrastructure, Amerikkalainen conducted a secret alt-raid on Mt. Doom without the knowledge of the Yoahtlan government. He managed to breach the majority of Laconian defenses because

no Laconian happened to be online at the time. After privately conferring with Alcuahtl bgbba, the decision was made to claim this raid as the first acts in a new war with Laconia, and reinforcements were promptly sent. Before anyone else could

arrive, however, Laconian TofeeDodger logged in. Amerikkalainen logged out quickly to avoid pearling, and the reinforcements were ordered to fall back to Yoahtl.

§0 §0 §0 §0 §0§l================ DISASTER STRIKES§0 §0§l================

Several more raids on Laconia took place after the success of the first attack - Amerikkalainen led two subsequent raids on Mt. Doom proper, while bgbba conducted a successful vault and skybunker break, releasing two pearled

players from the vault. A forward operating bunker was created at the northernmost limit of Axochitlan just before the bridge to Mt. Doom. Although raids were going on nearly unopposed by Laconia, there was a noted lack of valuables

in most of the areas being raided, which led many to believe that Tofee and the Laconians had either stashed or logged most of the valuables. A group of presumed alts with Avengers-themed usernames also began to hang

around Laconia at this time, leading to some speculation that Laconia had tricks up their sleeve.§0 §0 §0Despite these concerning developments, morale in Yoahtl was very high at this point -

the lack of an organized defense by Laconia emboldened the population, and a Yoahtlan declaration of victory was even posted on the subreddit. This was perhaps what led to Yoahtl's biggest strategic blunder:§0 §0 §0On December 4th,

Amerikkalainen, now operating as general of the Yoahtlan military, led another expedition to Mt. Doom with a team composed of Qua, coolslash, and ShinigamiFTW. Exploration of the bedrock around the city and bunker led to the

discovery of a massive and previously undiscovered vault. The expedition continued to explore down tunnels in the bedrock, and while this was occurring the Avengers-themed alts logged back on. Amerikkalainen made the decision

to attack these players directly, a decision that ended in disaster. A short battle played out, and the entirety of the party (with the exception of shinigamiFTW) was pearled and vaulted. Laconia had finally shown their power.

§0 §0 §0 §0 §0§l================§0§l====MEN DOWN====§0 §0§l==AND A TREATY==§0 §0§l================

Morale in Yoahtl was crushed. The fear of reprisal attacks combined with the humiliation on the battlefield so shortly after a declaration of victory and the capture of Yoahtl's main strategist led to a frenzy of

confusion in the days to come. Several attempts to put together a party to rescue the captured Yoahtlans were stymied by a lack of coordination and time. A further blow came in the form of Fran560's (an uninvolved

Yoahtlan citizen) capture by Laconia. §0 §0 §0After about a week of infighting and debate on how best to move forward, Yoahtl's hand was forced - it had come to light that Lexington had considered using this conflict as a

justification to invade and raze Yoahtl, risking Yoahtl's entry into the Somber War. The old fears that had kept Yoahtl from reigniting the conflict in the first place rose to the surface once again, and after deliberation the decision was made to

negotiate the end of the conflict.§0 §0 §0Massive reparations were paid to Laconia, and Yoahtl's claim to land in the Plus-Plus was entirely forefit. Despite this crushing defeat, relations with Laconia actually improved after

the conclusion of the war -Laconia agreed to allow explicit access to former Yoahtlan land in the Plus-Plus, and problem player TofeeDodger was kicked out of Laconia, pearled and handed off to Lexington.

Both of these actions were received favorably by Yoahtl. §0 §0 §0The war was a harsh reminder to Yoahtl - dwelling too much on the past rarely leads to good decisions. Today, Laconia and Yoahtl both stand and another chapter in their history closes.

Yoahtl emerged from the war with a renewed drive to maintain the neutrality they strive for.