Great War III

Alternative Names
The war is also known as: The Epic War, The World War, March Madness, Global War III, Great War II Part 2

Events of the War
Much speculation went on as to what would happen. It was well-known that Global Alliance and Treaty Organization and The Legion had a Mutual Defense Pact signed, and it was noted that The Legion's members were at DEFCON 1, so the questions that would determine the path the war took became "When are The Legion going to war?" and "Who will The Legion go to war against?" A topic was made on the forums, and some people said The Legion were going to declare against the New Pacific Order. However, on March 20, shortly before update, Ivan Moldavi posted a controversial statement praising The Legion on behalf of the New Pacific Order. The statement could have meant many different things, but The Legion interpreted it as goading them, and would eventually activate their Mutual Defense Pact with Global Alliance and Treaty Organization.

At 8:54 PM on March 21st, 2007, the National Alliance for Arctic Countries became the first power to enter on the side of Global Alliance and Treaty Organization, by activating their Mutual Defense Pact. At 8:58 PM the Imperial Assault Alliance became second to declare war.

Legion's position was made certain at 9:07 PM. VL Empire, Prime Minister of the The Legion, declared war on The Initiative, activating The Legion's Mutual Defense Pact with Global Alliance and Treaty Organization. "Ave Legio," the traditional battle cry of legionnaires, now became the battle cry widely-used by Global Alliance and Treaty Organization supporters, and the Declaration of War thread is filled with it. A reference to the movie 300 was later made (where?), and after this reference, people in the LUEnited Nations IRC channel became calling Global Alliance and Treaty Organization and allies "Sparta." There was less than an hour until update, and declarations began to fly.

Less than an hour after update, /b/, an alliance that had long been neutral in similar conflicts, declared war on the Viridian Entente and other select alliances of The Initiative. This came after /b/ blitzed Viridian Entente at update without prior to their declaration. The Viridian Entente was outraged at /b/'s declaration and declared that they would never declare peace with /b/. This declaration caused Archon's DramaNations meter to go from Red (at which it had been for two days) to Black.

Declarations really began to fly the next day. Many small declarations went about, until the LUEnited Nations, at 8:58 PM, officially renounced the terms of surrender to The Initiative, activating their Mutual Defense Pact with Global Alliance and Treaty Organization and declaring war on Genmay. However, a bigger development was in store after the update.

At 10:31, Orange Defense Network and Coalition of Defensive States jointly declared war on the Goon Order Of Neutral Shoving. Orange Defense Network have been known for being peaceful, and had previously been nicknamed "the hippies" in the LUEnited Nations IRC channel. Goon Order Of Neutral Shoving returned the declaration a few minutes later, and about an hour later Farkistan entered on Global Alliance and Treaty Organization's side.

This war may become different from the previous Great Wars, in that at the moment, there is no obvious winner, and the war has yet to degenerate to random mass nuclear strikes.

The DramaNations Meter
With the declaration by /b/, for the second time since its inception Archon's Dramanations Meter went to Black, after having been at Red for three days prior. This was elicited mainly by the surprise of /b/'s entry, however, some had speculated before that if the New Pacific Order were victorious the meter would go Black anyway. The meter first reached Black during the Second Great War following the declaration from Global Alliance and Treaty Organization on The Initiative. Archon later considered adding a level to the Dramanations Meter (Plaid), to more accurately measure the sheerly massive scope of this conflict.