History of Cyber Nations

''As a Chronicler, when I pick up my pen, the ink that flows from it forms into vibrant worlds, with smoke-filled rooms, underhanded politicking, the actions of flamboyant rogues and the work of charismatic leaders. All of these are essential to this history of the Cyberverse thus far, and like all history, it is a living, breathing rapidly growing and changing creature, and so must any valid record of it.''

Part 1: The Beginning
Cybernations was started on January 6th, 2006. It premiered to pretty much no fanfare and only a handful of nations joining over the next few days. After a week there were about 100 nations, who were mostly a friendly and tight-nit community. From the beginning, Alliances have been the cornerstone of the game. Though there were a sizeable number in the early days, the ones of significance were two: The Cross Atlantic Treaty Organization founded by Depraved, and the Imperial Nations Coalition created by Ninja, henceforth known as CATO and INC, respectively. After massive growth, CATO changed its name to the Global Alliance & Treaty Organization, or GATO, the name it is known by today.

Both alliances grew in numbers, yet the tension between them also grew. On the forums, members of both sides were baiting each other, GATO members pointing out the significant lack of organization in the INC, which was really a loose group of nations who followed the orders of Ninja, the group’s president. On the private GATO forums, some nations began discussing war with the INC.

They did not realize Ninja had a spy in GATO, and heard it all. When he heard about the murmurs of war, he panicked and declared war upon GATO, coining the name for this conflict, “World War I.” While World War I was a relatively small conflict in scale compared to later wars, it was the first true alliance v. alliance war. Nobody really won the conflict.

Eventually, the Vice-President and Co-Founder of the INC, Chris Miller, decided the conflict was pointless and negotiated peace with GATO. Significantly, after the war, GATO continued to boom while the INC slipped into steady decline. After the INC folded, GATO was left the Cyberverse’s sole hyper power, a monopoly of strength yet unmatched by any alliance. But they would only occupy the throne for a brief time.

There was going to be a boom in the number of nations, and the only question was when. This “when” came when the game was discovered by the community of NationStates, a far larger (but inferior) nation simulation game. Members of NS were fascinated by the new potential of Cybernations, and came in masses, opening the doors on new alliances. The first of these was the Greenland Republic, which would become better known by its later name the National Association for Arctic Countries (NAAC). There was also the Federal Commonwealth Society, later renamed the Legion. But there is one of these alliances more powerful than the rest. It is arguably the most powerful, controversial alliance in CN history: The New Pacific Order, the NPO.

Part 2: Rise of the Order
The NPO was founded by Karpathos on the Red Team as a buffer zone for those coming from the similarly named NPO of NationStates, and as such, grew rapidly, soon outdoing GATO in size and power. The idea of basing an alliance on one team was started by the NPO, and soon the alliances chose their footholds, the NAAC Blue, the Legion went Purple, and GATO went Brown. The NPO's public face was the controversial Emperor Ivan Moldavi, who would soon become one of the most powerful figures in CN. It quickly achieved a rosy relationship with GATO, signing the first Non-Aggression Pact (NAP), known as the Dove Doctrine, and the first Mutual Defense Pact (MDP), the Unity Covenant. But such friendly relationships were not shared with other organizations. Namely, the NAAC.

After insults were traded between the NPO and NAAC for a week, the NPO decided on war as an action. In a late night blitz, the NPO launched a stunning assault on the NAAC with an unprecedented show of cohesion, cooperation, and power, crippling the NAAC war machine in a matter of minutes. After a brief war, the NAAC surrendered, effectively becoming governed by Ivan Moldavi and the NPO until it was released from their control by imperial decree.

The next alliance to get on the wrong side of the NPO was the Orange Defense Network (ODN). Their conflict with the Order dated back to Nationstates, where the ODN was known as the ADN. The conflict came with them, and for a while, there was a bit of tension between Red and Orange. When an ex-ODN member Automagfreek provoked and was pounced upon by the NPO, the ODN government discussed war and was plotting an attack. But, a nuke launch by the ODN member KD, and the discovery of ODN espionage within the NPO’s ranks brought war to CN once again.

With their now trademark midnight blitz the NPO attacked the ODN, and drove them into the corner, from which the ODN fought a long guerilla war before surrendering to the NPO. Though granted sovereignty unlike the NAAC, the ODN was forced to sign a humiliating oath to the NPO, and all future members were forced to take the oath for months to come, which became a source of anti-NPO sentiment within the ranks of the Orange Defense Network.

As Cybernations continued to grow, more alliances were sprouting up. The Green Protection Agency was founded on the Green Team, where it gained a reputation for complete neutrality, and the LUEnited Nations, founded by the (in) famous community Life, the Universe, and Everything, gaining a reputation as a flamboyant alliance with many low-tiered nations, while the Grand Global Alliance was founded on the Green Team, where it became the largest Green alliance.

But, back to the NPO dealing with alliances that get on their bad side. The next one was the International Coalition of Socialist Nations (ICSN), an alliance pulling itself apart with petty party politics when it was discovered there was a spy in the NPO planted by the ICSN leadership. After the NPO declared war, the ICSN folded like a house of cards.

Entering May, Cybernations was thriving like never before. But May would prove to be a month CN would leave very different than it came in.

Part 3: The First May
Entering May, a series of incidents would change the face of politics in CN. The LUEnited Nations and the Orange Defense Network were discovering how similar they were. This close relationship would culminate in United For Orange, an MDP between LUE and ODN later on in the month. It also resulted in the first Mutual Defense Alliance, the Independence Council. Largely founded to combat the growing power of the superpowers GATO, NPO, NAAC, and the Legion, it left these organizations scurrying to play catch-up with the ODN, LUE, GGA, and United Civilized States (UCS).

The Entente Cordiale was a proposed MDA between GATO, the Legion, and the NAAC, and had it gone through would have made a super alliance unchallengeable by any potential attackers. However, due to wording which meant that an alliance HAD to go to war if an ally in the EC was attacked, it was vetoed by GATO’s Assembly Chairman Jormungand and voted down by the Legion.

Uproar between GATO and the NPO broke out when Chris_Kaos, the GATO Minister of Defense, curtly informed the NPO in an IRC chat that it was not up for discussion and left the NPO fuming when he walked out of the conversation. The flames only gradually died down, and NPO would later join the Independence Council and destroy it from within.

Next was an embarrassing scandal for LUE. One of the leaders of LUE, bros, and a member of the same alliance, IForget2, decided to try and provoke a GATO-NPO War by exploiting bros’ admin powers to change IF’s username to Ivan Moldavi, where he posted as Ivan to make it look like the NPO was going to war with GATO. LUE Co-Leader Yaridovich expelled both members and made the scandal public. Since then, IF created his “Rogue Alliance,” and become the most notorious rogue in CN history, and intended to nuke high-level nations, though the successes of his master plans were a failure, as he was beaten to it in The Great War.

It is the third and most serious event of May that left CN very different. When a couple of NAAC members revealed to the NPO that one of the NAAC leaders, Arctic, had a spy in the NPO. When the response to this espionage from the NAAC was deemed unsatisfactory, the NPO declared war. The Second Polar War was on. With their trademark midnight blitz, the NPO devastated the NAAC. In their wake came GATO, who declared war after it was revealed that the NAAC had a spy in their ranks. The Legion came in at the request of the NPO as per the terms of the Imperial Accords, the Legion’s MDP with the NPO. After being triple-teamed, the NAAC had been whittled down to under 50 members, but refused to surrender. Eventually the trio that had teamed together to tackle the NAAC ended the conflict, but not before Ivan would make one of the most controversial decisions of his career as Emperor of the New Pacific Order.

Having decided to stabilize the Blue team after it had been derailed by the war, Ivan announced the formation of a new alliance, the New Polar Order, as a haven for nations fleeing the war-torn NAAC. It was hailed by supporters as a return to stability for the Blue team, and decried by its opponents as nothing more than an imperialist power-grab. Many more powerful nations of the NAAC left for the NpO, as it was called. Most notably, the new GATO assembly chairman Vercingetorix published a public statement condemning the new alliance and calling for its dissolution, causing a diplomatic rift between GATO and the NPO. The controversy began to die down, as tension replaced open argument. And so, Cybernations left WTF May with the NAAC crippled and the NpO the new masked alliance of the blue team, and past buddies NPO and GATO tensely opposed to each other.

Part 4: Turning up the heat
As May passed by, the chaos that pervaded in May was replaced by a deep tension in June. GATO began stepping up on the foreign scene, passing two new MDPs, the LUEnacy Covenant with LUE and the Free Love Accord with the ODN. LUE passed a (now infamous) MDP with the GGA called the Snakes on a Plane Treaty, which was well known for its briefness and simplicity, such as the famous clause “Don’t be an a**hat, I will cancel.”

The next scandal was an embarrassment for GATO when the Domestic Affairs Minister, Grenval, made a fatal mistake. Although he had been flamebaiting the NPO on CN forums for quite some time, he took it one step too far when he made a faux announcement of a “Global Alliance Red Organization” or GARO. Intending to parody the announcement of the New Polar Order, Grenval set off a firestorm of controversy, as the NPO took the announcement seriously. Grenval was forced to resign, and, as a result, Ivan Moldavi suspended the Unity Covenant. The NPO and GATO were both no longer allies.

There were many other scandals in June as well, including LUE suspending Snakes on a Plane over remarks the GGA’s emperor Prodigal Chieftain made to a new Green Alliance, the CGS (initially comprised primarily of former GGA members). Also was the discovery that Lord Sam, an alliance councilor for the NpO had been spying for the infamous IForget2’s rogue alliance.

But, for the most part, June was relatively quiet. As June came to a close, and July came, many were beginning to become bored of the humdrum daily routine, and many wondered if something would shatter this peace. They weren’t going to wonder for long. July would prove to be a month filled with war.

Part 5: Cataclysm
July started with a bang. Literally. The Legion found itself being attacked by a minor group called the Warpstorm Alliance. This war would be a footnote, were it not for the unprecedented amount of nukes launched in both directions. Although the Second Polar War saw the first widespread use of nuclear weapons, it was surpassed by the WSA War, and would remain on top until the Great War.

Also, LUE made an announcement with potentially devastating proportions on July 11th: According to a PM conversation between NPO Viceroy Vladimir and a spy in LUE, it appeared that the 2nd in command to Ivan Moldavi had accepted information about LUE. The announcement was accompanied with an announcement stating that LUE would cut ALL diplomatic ties with the NPO. Vladimir later explained that he was trying to see if the guy was serious or not, and had no intention of spying on LUE. Nonetheless, it took significant damage control to get the situation repaired and caused bad publicity for the organization.

Although Cybernations appeared to be peacefully growing and the alliances were getting along okay, in reality there was tension between the alliances, a sort of war of nerves that although did not exist on the battlefield, exist in the forums where both sides exchanged insults. Soon, this powder keg would explode, and it did so as a result of an ancient LUE tradition back on their home of GameFAQs, the LUEicide.

Back on GameFAQs, the Terms of Service were strictly upheld, and an offender could be quickly banned for violations. If a LUEser (LUE User) was tired of GameFAQs, he knew how to leave with a bang. In a LUEicide, a user tried to break as many stipulations in the Terms of Service as possible, so he would almost certainly be banned.

After LUE was cut off from new membership, LUEicides became less and less common. It seems that there was no longer an interest in this bizarre LUE tradition, and so it remained for quite some time. That is, until July 15, 2006. One of the Co-Leaders of LUE, Yaridovich, wanted to leave CN and do it with a bang. He decided to LUEicide.

What followed was a post of his containing a graphic set of stories, most notably of Pope Pius XIII raping Rysonia, the Empress of the International Green Coalition (IGC). Also, there was an inappropriate photo after the stories. The Moderators jumped on the topic, and quickly deleted it, but not before it was seen by much of the users online at the time.

The NPO went ballistic and demanded an apology from LUE, which it got, but was deemed unsatisfactory because a handful of LUEsers were laughing at the story in their IRC Channel. Later on, key members of GATO and the ODN met with an incensed NPO delegation. All three condemned the story, and GATO planned to suspend the LUEnacy Covenant, and ODN said its leadership would have to convene before it could make any promises. The ODN would later suspend their MDP with LUE.

Things might have gone down differently, were it not for a nuke. Tygaland, the emperor of the NpO, launched a nuke against LUE member Duffman04. Ivan Moldavi, deciding that this graphic story and the response he deemed lackluster was the straw breaking the camel’s back, declared war on LUE. The Leaders of LUE knew they were screwed without backup, and went to their allies GATO for help. As the LUEnacy Covenant had not yet been suspended, GATO was bound to it, and declared war upon the New Pacific Order. All bets were off. This was an all-out war.

Over the course of the next few days, an astonishing number of alliances came out of the woodwork to join the fight against the NPO. On one side was the self styled Coalition of Justice, the NPO and NpO, as well as the IGC, although the latter would leave the conflict after receiving an apology from LUE. Against them were the alliances LUE, GATO, CDS, SRI, Federation, ICSN, APA, DDA, AoAN, GGA, TAGA, OIN, NAAC, PrF, ODN, FIS, ONOS and LOSS, styling themselves the CoaLUEtion.

This of course, begs the question: Why did so many alliances join in? The first camp states that the NPO had so much power, and these alliances were jealous of its power, and wanted a piece of the pie. The other camp maintains that the NPO was an imperialist warmonger who inspired hate amongst the lower ranks treated with contempt by the NPO, and that these alliances rose up, releasing their hatred of the alliance in a frenzy. Others joined because they felt obligated as a result of MDPs.

Whatever the reason, the war was nothing short of devastating. Roughly three-hundred nukes were launched by both sides, and in the lower ranks nations were prone to gang up on other nations of the opposing force and ripping them apart. In the top ranks, it was an all-out war with nukes tossed between both sides in vicious cycles of destruction. The exact tally may never be known, but the damages incurred by the war must at least be in the billions.

On the 21st of July, Sei Pistole, one of the NPO’s Alliance Councilors, announced Alliance Councilor Nosedondekistan was being ousted as a traitor. What followed was the unraveling of a secret society called the Coven of the LOST, a group akin to the Illuminati, which had high-ranking members in key alliances. There was Nosedondekistan (aka Nosey) in the Alliance Council, EvilCartyen, the Director of Intelligence for the Legion, and, perhaps most shocking of all, the Assembly Chairwoman of GATO, Yoda, was in on the scheme. In the aftermath of this revelation, both sides declared a ceasefire to sort things out, but unable to come to terms, and continued to fight.

However, at this point, the war was at a stalemate, both sides having fought each other to a standstill. There appeared to be no clear victor, and neither side was willing to budge. Then, in a move that left everybody stunned, the Legion declared war on the NPO, as a result of an IRC conversation in which key government figures in the NPO discussed getting back at the Legion for not coming to their aid.

Though the Legion would fight but for two days, it left the NPO seriously damaged, and the Legion the world's most powerful alliance. With NPO declining down the ranks quickly, they went to the peace table, and after much politicking with the CoaLUEtion, achieved peace and so the Great War ended. The NPO was devastated, and the Legion was now the world superpower. Times had changed dramatically.

Part 6: Peace
With the war over, the next step was rebuilding, which each of the combatants did with a vigor. In a breathtakingly short amount of time, NPO has risen from the ashes of war, and with Pacifican funds flowing through alliance nations, the NPO quickly rebuilt and by the end of the month, the NPO had surpassed prewar strength.

Unlike before, however, they no longer had a giant gap in front of all competitors. GATO was hot on their heels, having also recovered spectatularly, and behind the top two was the Legion, once again in number three.

However, to claim that these alliances alone were of the only importance is fraud. Many other alliances were taking their places amongst the big wigs. The ODN was a slower growing but tight-knit organization of older members. The Independent Republic of Orange Nations (IRON) had joined the ranks of masked alliances, as had the NAAC and Coalition of Dark States, having changed their name and moved to the Black Team. The ICSN became part of the International Communist Party (ICP), creating the largest left-wing alliance since the ICSN hemorrhaged most of its membership after the NPO attacked.

There were also new alliances, such as the Green Viridian Entente (VE) and most notably the Goon Order of Neutral Shoving (GOONS). Hailing from the 80,000 member strong Something Awful community, they quickly commenced what has been described as an "OMGGOONRUSH" and quickly gained several hundred members, an astonishing feat.

New pacts were being made, with so many NAPs being signed they cannot all be listed here. Most notably, the Legion and ODN signed an MDP making them tight-knit allies. New lines were being drawn as old allies drifted apart and found new comrades.

With the end of August, outright war had become a thing of the past, replaced by peaceful competition between alliances. The NPO regained the top spot, but this time there was a close competitor. New alliances had joined the fray, and a new web of alliances was being spun. It was a time of prosperity after the war, rebuilding and growth.

So is the history of Cybernations so far. As I write these final words, the history is being written before your eyes. But, seeing as it must be lived by the charismatic leaders and dashing rogues, the fierce war hawks and quiet doves, it is so that this history is written, and I am merely here to conserve it for those to come

-John Michaels, Chronicler.