Reclamation of Freedom (Armpit Platoon)

The Reclamation of Freedom is an internal alliance announcement and document created by the [Armpit Platoon]. The document was created in response to increasing control being exerted by recently self-appointed government officials in early 2015.

Background and Summary
The Reclamation of Freedom briefly outlines an argument that freedom is the most important thing on Planet Bob. Unlike the real world, it argues, there is not the same level of scarcity of space and resources, and, as such, it is unnecessary to create government structures and positions to control nations. The document also calls for war against those within the alliance who called for stronger order with the aim of directing members and the alliance to higher status on Planet Bob. It's primary purpose was to remove self-appointed nations to the alliance

Having experienced a large amount of growth in a short amount of time, some members of [Armpit Platoon] pushed for the creation of a more organized structure. Prior to this, the alliance had been founded upon giving its member nations a large amount of freedom, the only rule being that members cannot start conflicts that involve the entire alliance. Many members joined via a recruiting message that promoted this as a primary selling point, but others seemed to have joined for the purpose of creating a future superpower alliance. Prior to the publication of the Reclamation of Freedom, GovernorRohan, a member of AP who had worked his way up to manager, posted three announcements relating to the creation of an alliance government. Several members messaged him and he quickly gave them positions (mostly in the military). It is unclear how much initial support from the founders this government received, though the fact that they sided with those opposed to the self-appointed government seems to indicate that they were against it.

The Reclamation of Freedom was published in the [Armpit Platoon] alliance announcements on March 3, 2015 by Dukedom in response to these appointments of government officials and the exercise of their power. Dukedom had recently been given alliance manager status and used it to remove the government officials (with the exception of the founders) from manager status to pending status, labeling them as "Freedom Haters." Upon publishing the announcement, Dukedom deleted all other previous alliance announcements and declared war on several of the government officials, effectively starting a coup. Within an hour several other members also declared war on the former government officials, some of whom were thrown into anarchy. The former officials were subsequently banned from the alliance and the alliance founder and leader, officialofficial, sided with the coup, re-establishing the [Armpit Platoon] as an alliance without significant government structure.

Full Text
Reclamation of Freedom

Greetings,

I am of your species. I, like you, love this alliance because I love freedom. This alliance, unlike many others, does not have large government structures and bodies that make rules and tell people what to do. This alliance was built on this freedom. While some feel that the only way to achieve stature and score in this game is through an ordered alliance, we have all come together under the belief that the game can be kept free and fun while still making a name for ourselves.

While it is true that many of the largest and most powerful alliances use this approach when governing, that is not who we are. For the members of those alliances, the game often becomes either a second life in which they dedicate hours to developing their little fantasies or it becomes a boring html-based game they feel obligated to check every now and then. The Armpit Platoon offers an alternative: a free world in which the only rule is to not bring destruction upon your fellow alliance members. We are free to build, destroy, grow, and decay without impediments that control our actions. This is why I helped found this alliance, and this is why many of you joined.

Those who take the game really seriously call this world Planet Bob. They treat it like there is a limited amount of land and resources that must be regulated and controlled in order to play the game. That may be true in the real world, but Planet Bob is not the real world. We have an endless opportunity to grow, and we can do whatever we want. However, there are people who have played this game for years and have created a prison-like atmosphere for almost anyone who wants to be successful and still have fun in this game. There are years of history in this game, and there has been an ever-increasing threat to the freedoms of minor nations like many of us. Veterans of this game come along and force us to follow their rules and often try to buy out smaller alliances by either coercing them into the creation of a charter and rules or crushing them when they don't like what they see.

There are literally hundreds of minor alliances, and few, if any, have had our success. There is a reason that we, the Armpit Platoon, have been unique in this: We were and are built on freedom. We joined for freedom. We joined for the safety of that freedom. We joined to spread that freedom to other players who feel trapped by the regulations of large alliances. Some of us are newcomers to the game and some of us are long-time veterans coming back after a break from the game.

Regardless, what we have here is sacred; our freedom is sacred and we must never let go of it. There are two ways freedom can be taken away from us in CyberNations: internally and externally. We have already fought off one external threat to our freedom which came in the form of the Spartan League. External threats to our freedom come in the form of other alliances attempting to impose order or destruction on us. Internal threats to our freedom, however, are much more subtle. We currently have some members who are attempting to impose rules and regulations upon our members. They think that they only way to greatness is through a hierarchy of various members forcing lower nations to follow rules that they create. I say freedom at the Armpit Platoon is already great, and I say no to their rules!

Let us rebuild CyberNations, and let us start by rebuilding and reclaiming the Armpit Platoon! Let us build a world based on freedom; let us tear down the walls of structure and the prison bars of order and begin anew! No leader positions beyond the few founders who have proven their loyalty to freedom, do not give the right to kick members to those who want to force their rules upon us. I have de-promoted the managers and declare those who wish to impose order upon this alliance undeserving of power over us all! The dukedom account has been made an heir and liberator to lead us to our freedom once again and crush the defilers and heretics! I, ____________ of the Armpit Platoon, sign this Reclamation of Freedom and declare that we will take our freedom, and our alliance, back!

If you are with me, change your flag to our war flag! Attack the nations in the alliance that are "pending" and let your cause of war be "For Freedom!" We have put all former government officials as "pending as they have threatened the fabric of our beloved Armpit Platoon! Let the tears of freedom fall from the Kero God's face! Let the sweat of liberty drip from your platoons' armpits! Rise up and save the Armpit Platoon and all that it stands for! Let us fight those who have threatened our freedom, let us defend it to our last breath!

Structure = War

== Analysis == The Reclamation of Freedom addresses a long-debated question on Planet Bob relating to the amount of freedom alliances grant their members.It would appear that the author takes the position that nations inherently have freedom upon joining the game, rather than having freedom granted (or taken away) by forces such as alliance government officials. Official positions are often created in response to increasing numbers in alliances and are standard among most large alliances.

The author criticizes larger alliances that have created and enforced government positions, claiming that there are other ways to become a top alliance (particularly, his way of laissez-faire governance). This has yet to be seen, though most, if not all, top CyberNations alliances have detailed government structures which have arguably led them to their strength and positions.

The call to war at the end of the document is laced with rhetoric about the importance of freedom and also nationalistic rhetoric relating to the alliance name. It was left unsigned, which seems to indicate the author wanted others to sign their names to it. However, much of the document takes the tone of the specific user who published it, Dukedom, who then staged a founder-backed coup to remove the government structures that were forming and removed the nations that tried to establish a power structure with themselves in it.