Global Alliance and Treaty Organization

The Global Alliance and Treaty Organization (GATO) is a formerly sanctioned brown team alliance. It is also currently the oldest alliance in the Cyberverse, and the number one alliance on the brown team. It is based on the values of Honor, Justice, Democracy, and Truth.

Charter
The Charter is the highest law in GATO, and dictates the government and legal structure of the alliance. The Charter defines the leading roles in government, and also establishes a heirarchy of the legal systems within the alliance.

General Assembly
The General Assembly is the body composed of all members of GATO, and usually gives its opinions and rulings in the form of votes. General Assembly members (General Assemblymen/Assemblywomen) have several rights guaranteed by the Charter, including the right to propose alterations to the Charter, to vote in elections for Ministers, Congresspeople, Judges, and the Assembly Chairman, and to impeach all of above mentioned. The General Assembly also holds the final decision in all matters in the alliance.

Assembly Chairman
The Assembly Chairman (AC) of GATO is the leading figure in the alliance. He both acts as the head of government and represents GATO in foreign negotiations. In addition, the AC has the power to create departments and to coordinate the work of the various Ministries. Finally, the AC has veto power over acts passed by the Congress. The AC is elected directly by the General Assembly once every two months, and may not serve for more than three consecutive terms.

Ministries
There are four ministries in the GATO government; Domestic Affairs (MoDA), Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Defense (MoD), and Finance (MoF). Each ministry is led by a minister, who is elected by the General Assembly and who serves a two-month term. The Ministries hold distinct responsibilities. The MoDA coordinates the internal affairs of the alliance that do not deal with the exchange of money. The MoFA coordinates relations with other alliances and represents GATO in negotiations. The MoD coordinates the defense of GATO against both rogues and hostile alliances. Finally, the MoF coordinates the growth of GATO through money-based programs.

Congress
The Congress is composed of seven elected members, who serve for one-month terms, and the four ministers. The Congress elects a Speaker for procedural purposes at the start of each one-month session. The Congress votes on legislation and foreign treaties, as well as the cancellation thereof.

High Court
Three High Court Justices are elected to two-month terms on a cycle opposite to that of the Ministers and Assembly Chairman. The High Court reserves the right to rule on all grievances filed by GATO members against one another. In addition, the High Court can give opinions on issues regarding the Charter based on past precedent.

History
The history of GATO is closely intertwined with the history of Cybernations at large, as the oldest alliance in the game.

Cybernations Formation and Pre-History
Very shortly after Cybernations was founded, Depraved (the third registered CN player) founded the Cross-Atlantic Treaty Organization (CATO). Within a week, the alliance was renamed the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization (GATO), its present name. In the larger world, an alliance called Imperial Nations Coalition (INC), was the largest alliance in the world, rivaled only by GATO. After a breakdown in diplomatic negotiations, the two alliances went to war (World War I, WWI. Not to be confused with the Great Wars, to follow). The extremely underdeveloped war system prevented there from being a winner, and the war ended in a ceasefire. Soon afterwards, though, INC dissolved (largely into GATO), leaving GATO as the hegemon of Cybernations.

Near the end of the INC-GATO war, a massive new influx of players from another online game (Nationstates) changed the face of Cybernations. A new alliance, the New Pacific Order (NPO) from Nationstates grew exponentially, eventually overtaking GATO as the largest alliance in the game. However, the NPO and GATO were close; they signed a Non-Agression Pact (the Dove Doctrine) and a Mutual Defense Pact (the Unity Covenant).

After this time, GATO fought a number of smaller wars. The Chessania Campaign, FrUCK War, Warpstorm War, and the UN War were all fought during this time period, mostly against small and overmatched alliances. The Second Polar War (PWII) erupted when GATO, the NPO, and the Legion all declared war on the National Alliance for Arctic Countries (NAAC) after NAAC was found to have a spy in the NPO and GATO.

The (First) Great War
After the conclusion of PWII, the NPO announced that it would be establishing a new alliance, the New Polar Order (NpO), to bring stability to the Blue Sphere. GATO's AC gave a speech criticizing the move, and GATO-NPO relations immediately began to fray. As tensions rose, GATO's Minister of Domestic Affairs, Grenval, gave a speech mockingly announcing the creating of the Global Alliance and Red Organization (GARO) on the red team, the home of the NPO. The NPO, outraged, suspended the Unity Covenant.

GATO had in the meantime signed several more treaties, including a critical Mutual Defense Pact (MDP) with LUE. At the conclusion of the Warpstorm Alliance War, a soon-to-be infamous LUE member named Yaridovich commited a LUEicide. He was banned for posting obscene stories involving members of the NPO, which enraged the NPO. As the situation deteriorated, GATO entered the cancellation period of their MDP with LUE. However, before the treaty could be cancelled, NpO Emperor Tygaland nuked LUE member duffman04. NPO and the International Green Coalition (IGC) declared war on LUE to back up the NpO. GATO, forced to defend LUE by its still-active treaty, declared war on all attacking parties, and was followed by a flood of allies. A full list of the defending CoaLUEtion, as it became known, can be found on the Wiki page.

After a brutal opening fight, the eventual victors were unclear. However, hostilities soon paused, as it was revealed that high-ranking officials in all three major alliances (GATO, the NPO, and Legion), including GATO's AC Yoda, were members of a secret intelligence-gathering ring. After a 24-hour ceasefire, logs were revealed to the Legion government that the NPO was planning to attack them after the war. Legion declared war on NPO soon after, bringing the war towards its conclusion. Negotiations afterwards led to an NPO apology and the end of the war.

The Inter-War Period and the Second Great War
After the war, GATO began to solidify its relations with the alliances that fought with it during the war, signing MDPs with the NAAC, CDS, and Legion. At the same time, leadership in GATO began to seem less than stable, with a feud emerging between then-AC Chris_Kaos and and Minister of Defense Letum. Letum was elected AC soon thereafter.

At the same time, relations with the NPO, NpO and the Goons Order of Neutral Shoving (GOONS) began to deteriorate severely. When Minister of Foreign Affairs Grenval was insulted in the GATO embassy at NPO, he announced that GATO had a "secret policy" of not recognizing the NpO. Relations between the four alliances shattered. The NPO revoked their recognition of GATO (calling them a colony of LUE), and GATO cut off diplomatic relations with the NPO.

Soon afterwards, internal tensions reached a head, when founder Depraved returned to the alliance and became unhappy with what it had become. Depraved seized control with a small group of conspirators, using his powers as root admin of the forums to demask most of the government. However, the Letum government moved the alliance to a new set of forums quickly and without incident, and as the coup fell apart, Depraved deleted the old GATO forums, destroying massive amounts of GATO history in the process. He fled to GOONS soon after, as the GATO government re-organized on the new forums.

As GATO rebuilt, the international scene heated up once again. A new alliance, FARK, was formed from a massive influx of players from the Fark forums. GOONS, whose off-site base were long-time rivals with FARK, soon declared war. LUE announced that FARK had been made a protectorate which had not been announced, declaring war on nations that had declared war on FARK. GATO, which now held a Mutual Aggression and Defense Pact (MADP) with LUE, was brought into the war, declaring war on The Initiative, the treaty bloc which included GOONS, NPO, and NpO. The war developed into a massive war betwen the League (GATO, LUE, and their allies) against The Initiative (GOONS, NPO, and their allies). The League fell apart militarily after a short time, and after a short fight (compared to the first Great War), the League surrendered with light peace terms. Several key GATO officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs BenPG and Assembly Chairman Letum left for GOONS and the NPO respectively after the end of the war.

The Third Great War and its Aftermath
After GWII, Vincent Xander (VX) became the AC of GATO, heralding a new age in GATO-NPO relations. However, soon after GATO's rebuilding from the Second Great War concluded, logs were discovered documenting conversations between VX and Sir Galahad, Foreign Minister of the Legion. In the logs, VX attempted to bring the Legion (then neutral, and who had sat out GWII despite treaty obligations) and GATO closer together. The NPO, upon finding these logs, declared that GATO was trying to build a military coalition against them, and declared war. A large group of alliances joined GATO in defense against The Initiative, including the Legion and NAAC, forming the loose "Aegis" coalition. However, Aegis was unable to fight off the more power Initiative, and GATO among others soon accepted surrender terms. The terms included massive payments and complete decommisioning of the GATO military for two months.

In addition, a massive member exodus took place. GATO, which had well over 1,000 members before the war, held just over 400 afterwards. However, with just the most loyal members remaining, rebuilding went smoothly. A new government was elected, and GATO began to rebuild, moving to regain its lost sanction. The Unjust War (UJW), fought mainly between members of the dissolved Initiative, brought GATO into a small war to protect its PIAT (Protection, Intelligence, and Aid Treaty) partners in AiD and NTO against FOK!. However, after AiD surrendered, GATO and FOK! reached a ceasefire.

The massive damage caused to most sanctioned alliances by the UJW allowed GATO to regain a sanction, along with Sparta and CSN.

One Vision War and the Pacifican Viceroyship
After the war, the surrender terms dictated that long-time members Chris_Kaos and Walford could not hold positions within the GATO government. However, several months after the end of the UJW, evidence was leaked to the NPO that Chris_Kaos had deleted his old profile, created a new one with a new IP address under the name Alexander_Gladius, and held low-ranking positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Congress. With this casus belli, the NPO and their partners in One Vision (the Independent Republic of Orange Nations, the NpO, and the Grand Global Alliance) attacked GATO once again, claiming that though the IC character had changed, the OOC distinction violated IC surrender terms. Though some allies fought with GATO, most notably USN, CSN, and the Imperial Assault Alliance (IAA, later forced to disband), the just-rebuilt GATO and its small allies were no match for the massive strength aligned against them. The war lasted several months, as no surrender terms were offered despite a clear victor and crippling damage done to GATO.

At the conclusion of the war, GATO signed surrender terms once again, including accepting a Viceroy, and giving full control of their forums to the NPO (now illegal by the Terms of Service). From this point, GATO worked valiantly to rebuild, after another exodus of members left only the most-dedicated. The alliance rebuilt its basic structures and redesigned its forums, working with the Viceroy team, whose five-month minimum time commitment ended in mid-December 2008. At midnight on April 15, 2009, shortly before the NPO-OV War, GATO was officially released from Viceroyship.

Rebuilding and the TOP-C&G War
After the Viceroyship, GATO gained members and score rapidly. After a solid term by veteran AC Kevlar, long-time Minister of Foreign Affairs Laserwolf took the helm of leadership and was elected AC. GATO's domestic growth boomed during Laserwolf's six-month term, and GATO moved to intermittently hold the 15th-strongest alliance spot. Internationally, GATO signed an MDP with its long-time friend in the IAA, and also signed MDPs with newer friends in VE, ODN, and NSO. After Laserwolf left office due to term limit restrictions, Magicninja became the new AC, signing an MDP with Athens after the short-lived TPF War.

When the NpO-\m/ War broke out, GATO declared on Genesis to assist its partner, IAA. However, the war ended quickly, and GATO switched fronts to defend the ODN in the newer TOP-C&G War, declaring war against the Sweet Oblivion. On March 7th, 2010, GATO regained its sanctioned, overtaking IRON. GATO later won the war against TSO, deciding to not ask the alliance for reparations. During its rebuilding phase, GATO was overtaken by a resurgent TOP, losing its sanction. However, it later closed the gap on United Purple Nations, moving to the 13th-placed alliance in the Cyberverse.

Related Articles

 * Charter of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization
 * History of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization
 * Treaties of the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization
 * The GATO/INC War
 * Great War I
 * Great War II
 * Great War III
 * GATO-1V War