.Bloody Miracle! (story of Brotherhood)

Written on 02 Siječanj 2009.

Freedom is irrelevant.
Self-determination is irrelevant.
You must comply.

- The Collective

Da li ste ikada čuli za Travian? Radi se o web browser-based ratnoj strategiji. Igra za koju je potreban samo pristup internetu i web browser. Nema instalacije, serijskih brojeva, patcheva…
Svaki Travian server je ogroman svijet koji igra preko 20000 ljudi (na većim serverima). Ono što možete birati na početku je pleme: Gal, Rimljanin ili Teutonac. Svako od plemena ima svoje prednosti i mane i igra se na poseban način. Dok su Gali miroljubivo pleme i najbolje ih je igrati defanzivno, Teutonci su agresivan narod i rođeni su za ratovanje i napadače. Rimljani imaju malo od oba svijeta, ali i to nije bez nekih nedostataka. Za koje god se pleme odlučili, bitno ga je igrati na način da se najbolje iskoriste njegove prednosti, a minimiziraju njegove mane.

U Travianu za gradnju trebate neke resurse (kao i u svim drugim igrama). Ovdje su vam potrebni drvo, glina, željezo i žito. Postoji i peti resurs u Travianu koji je najbitniji – vrijeme. Vrijeme ne možete kupiti, vrijeme gotovo nikad ne možete ni ubrzati. Kažem „gotovo“ jer, iako je Travian besplatna igra, možete je financirati kupovinom zlata („gold“) i plaćanjem zlatom možete ubrzati gradnju većine građevina. Ovo je ujedno i jedna od kontroverzi Traviana – bez zlata nema pobjede. Na kraju vam treba basnoslovno puno resursa i vrijeme koje nemate. Ako ne koristite zlato ostajete samo pasivni promatrač (ako uopće i dočekate kraj).

Ali to je manje-više to. Kreirate si account, dobijete svoje selo negdje random na mapi tog ogromnog svijeta i počnete igrati. Na http://help.travian.com/ ćete pronaći dosta informacija važnih za početak, ali o samoj strategiji nećete naći gotovo ništa korisno.

Sama igra se po bannerima reklamira kao ratna strategija na vrlo čudan način: „budi poglavica, gradi svoje selo, upoznaj svoje susjede…“ Ovako izgleda Travian prvih tjedan dana. A kasnije…

Ja sam Travian počeo igrati na poslu iz znatiželje i nisam ni sanjao u koje sfere će me to dovesti.

Za razliku od mnogih masovnih online igara, Travian ima jednu nezgodnu karakteristiku – Travian nikad ne staje! Išli vi u kino, jeli ili spavali, Travian se ispod vrti. I u svakom trenutku vas mogu napasti, opelješiti, totalno sravniti sa zemljom… Travian je igra u realnom vremenu i trajanje jednog servera je oko godinu dana. Naravno da, kad sam otvorio Travian account, nisam razmišljao o tih godinu dana. I naravno da tada nisam vidio da se vrijeme koje Travian zahtijeva od igrača eksponencijalno povećava kako dani, tjedni i mjeseci života servera odmiču.

Travian nije igra za solo igrače. Ma kako jaki bili, sami ne možete preživjeti u Travianu. Potreban vam je alliance. Ja sam imao sreću da mi se selo oformilo pored igrača po imenu Runamuck – izuzetno pametan igrač koji je ujedno bio jedan od vođa svog alliance-a…. I tako je počelo. Postao sam član EIC-a.

Vrlo brzo mi je postalo jasno da ovo neće biti jednostavna Sim City igra gdje je sve divno i krasno, ptičice pjevaju, mi gradimo selo, žanjemo žito… Vrlo brzo smo došli na metu većih i iskusnijih igrača koji su pokušali od nas napraviti farme ili nas potpuno zbrisati i natjerati nas da obrišemo accounte.

I tako je počelo… Suočeni sa izborom: „ojačajte ili umrite“, počeli smo raditi zajedno 24h na dan kako bismo preživjeli. I počeli smo učiti: kako izbjeći da se nađemo na listi farmi nekog jačeg igrača, kako se obraniti, kako uništiti neprijateljsku vojsku… Smisao Traviana je timski rad stotina ljudi protiv nekih drugih stotina ljudi. I tu se ne preza ni od čega: špijuni unutar protivničkih redova (pravi špijuni, ljudi, a ne neke tzv. vojne jedinice), prljava diplomacija, politika, mazanje očiju, prevare i obmane… Travian svijet se vrlo brzo pokazao prljaviji od stvarnog svijeta, sa politikom prevođenja žednih preko vode gore nego u stvarnoj politici… I postalo nam je jasno koliko je teško tu opstati… Ali nismo odlučili otići. Vjerojatno iz nekog prkosa, radili smo zajedno i borili se za svoj komad tog virtualnog neba. I bilo nam je zanimljivo učiti da preživimo, naučeno primijeniti i gledati plodove svoga rada.

I samo zato što je bilo tako prokleto teško, ostali smo tu i radili smo zajedno kao jedan. I udružili se sa još par malih skupina i oformili jedan alliance zvan „Brotherhood“. Kod bilo kakvih spajanja jako je rijetko da se desi ono što se nama desilo – da stvarno nema granica između bivših odvojenih skupina. Kako sistem igre dopušta najviše 60 igrača u jednom alliance-u, za iole veća udruženja igrača potrebno je imati više alliance-a sa istim prefiksom koje rade kao jedan. Mi smo jedni od rijetkih koji su stvarno radili kao jedan.

Prošlo je već par mjeseci i Travian je postao moj ritual: nakon buđenja, odmah pregled stanja, slanje informacija ostalim članovima, slanje vojske i resursa drugima, koordinacija napada i obrane, računanje vremena kad se što treba poslati… U to vrijeme sam već počeo voditi obranu za cijeli Brotherhood i tu ulogu sam imao do kraja.

Zbog svoje nezgodne osobine da se vrti i kad ga ne gledate, Travian omogućuje definiranje tzv „sittera“. Sitter je igrač koji se može logirati u vaš account sa svojim passwordom i napraviti većinu toga što možete i vi. S obzirom da sam igrao na međunarodnom serveru gdje 20000 igrača iz cijelog svijeta igraju danonoćno, a nekad se mora i spavati, uputno je naći sittera iz potpuno suprotne vremenske zone. Ja sam našao jednog iz Japana i pazili smo jedan drugom na account da se ne probudimo i ne nađemo svoja sela spaljena.

Nije lako biti nečiji sitter, pogotovo kasnije u igri kad svi imaju 10 ili više sela i nije lako održati tempo i logiku originalnog vlasnika dok ste mu sitter. Ali ušemili smo se u to brzo, kao i u sve drugo.

I vrijeme je teklo. Ja sam počeo živjeti sa Travianom, dan po dan, dan i noć… Kad sam išao na utrke, account mi je pazio Knobbly (moj sitter), a nekad sam Sandru zamolio da mi „otklika“ neke stvari, kako gradnja ne bi stajala. Zanimljivo kako mi se Travian zavukao pod kožu. Gdje god bio, djelić moje svijesti je računao: kada graditi, koliko vremena do slanja vojske, da nisam napadnut u međuvremenu… Travian je polako postao moj paralelni život. I prijetio je, naravno, da postane moj jedini život (sjetite se one eksponencijalne krivulje sa početka).

Kad sam ovo ljeto išao u Tursku imao sam jednostavan izbor: obrisati account, dati ga nekome drugom da ga igra ili pokušati naći nekoga da mi pomogne držati ga živim dok se ne vratim. Upravo nekako u to vrijeme je Runamuck morao napustiti igru zbog teških životnih problema. Bio sam užasno tužan zbog toga. Kao da sam izgubio brata u stvarnom svijetu… Pomalo izgubljen, pomalo očajan, ali bez pomisli na odustajanje. Odustajanje u ovom trenutku u Travianu bi bilo ravno samoubojstvu u stvarnom svijetu. Na sreću, našla se Skaija, cura iz Latvije, koja mi je pazila account 3 tjedna dok sam bio u Turskoj. I ne samo to, nego mi je stavila nešto zlata na account kako bi ga lakše održavala. Kad sam se vratio iz Turske, account je bio u boljem stanju nego što sam ga ostavio i nastavio sam igrati kao „gold account“. Skaija me je navukla da potrošim nešto para na jednu online igru. :)
Dok sam ja bio u Turskoj, Brotherhood je uništio alliance 4 puta veći od nas samih. Smlavili smo agresivne jake igrače koji su imali snagu u vojsci, ali nisu imali „ono nešto“ da ih veže i drži. I raspali su se kao kula od karata. I ne samo to. Neki su čak prešli kod nas. Nevjerojatan obrat. Iako im nikad nisam vjerovao, do kraja su ostali vjerni i nisu nam zabili nož u leđa.

Za nas je ovo bila nevjerojatna vojna i moralna pobjeda i dala nam je vjetar u leđa. Glavna prijetnja našem opstanku koja nam je mjesecima vidjela nad glavom je nestala. I iz tog rata smo izašli još jači.

Netom nakon toga se i Runamuck vratio. Uspio je posložiti neke stvari u životu i vratio se. I to u pravi čas jer smo počinjali svoj drugi rat. Protivnik je opet bio veći i jači i nije priznavao naše pravo na opstanak. U ovom trenutku smo već bili uigrani tim. Obrane sam vodio ja, a napade Skaija. Išlo je kao po loju. Nakon par dana ratovanja, protivnici su uvidjeli snagu koju imamo, a koju ne mogu prikazati šturi brojevi. I ne samo da su ponudili primirje, nego i konfederaciju. Zvali su se LightWarriors (LW). Moram priznati da im nisam vjerovao do samog kraja, ali su nam pomogli i održali svoju riječ. Mogli su nam zabiti nož u leđa, ali nisu. Pokazali su se kao pravi prijatelji. Kasnije, kad su ih svi drugi napustili, mi smo ostali uz njih, i lijepo je vidjeti kako to nisu zaboravili.

Travian je podijeljen na 4 kvadranta: NE (sjevero-istok), NW (sjevero-zapad), SE (jugo-istok), SW (jugo-zapad). Kako se radi o ogromnom svijetu, međusobni ratovi se sve do zadnjeg stadija igre uglavnom vode za prevlast u pojedinim kvadrantima, gotovo nikad između njih. Napadi koji se šalju iz jednog u drugi kvadrant nekad traju i po 3 dana (da, 72 sata) dok ne stignu do odredišta, a za to vrijeme ste bez vojske koja je na putu (ne može se vratiti nazad ako se predomislite) i neprijatelji znaju gdje su vam trupe. Naravno da vojsci treba dodatna 3 dana da se vrati natrag. To je 6 dana za jedan napad. Nitko si to ne može priuštiti.

NE je kontrolirao Ronin, NW Eximus, SW SWAT, a u SE smo bili mi SWAT SE, CoN, LW, Legends i još neki manji. Upravo je SE bio problematičan jer nije bilo dominantnih alliance-a kao u ostala tri kvadranta. I politika i borbe u SE su bile najprljavije. I arogancija velikih naspram manjih dosezala je nevjerojatne razmjere.

Mi smo stvarno vidjeli svašta. Vidjeli smo i doživjeli da na vidjelo izađe ono najbolje u ljudima, ali i ono najgore. Na žalost, previše je bilo „onog najgoreg“. Ako ste htjeli igrati Travian da zaboravite na spletke i svu bijedu ljudskog roda, nemojte ni počinjati. U ovom svijetu ćete se toga nagledati da će vam biti zlo.

U tom posvemašnjem ćušpajzu gdje se nekad nije znalo ko kome zabija nož u leđa, ni zašto, Brotherhood je ostao vjeran sebi i to je ono jedino što me je držalo da ne obrišem account i ne odustanem. Imali smo stvarno odlične igrače i vodstvo koje je razmišljalo na pravi način. U nekom trenutku sam i ja postao dio tog vodstva.

Travian završava sa pojavom četvrtog plemena (kompjuterski vođeno pleme) – Natara. Natari su kao najveće zlice i mrzitelji svega ljudskog, ali nema tog kompjutera koji može biti upola podmukao kao što to mogu biti ljudi. Natari su bili jedni od malobrojnih dosljednih „igrača“.

Natari posjeduju znanje za izradu veličanstvenog zdanja „Wonder of the World“. Da biste tako nešto i pokušali graditi morate osvojiti jedno od 11 sela nasumično razbacanih po Travian svijetu. Sela se generiraju u trenutku kad se Natari pojave, tako da unaprijed nemate pojma gdje bi to moglo biti. Zatim morate osvojiti set planova koje Natari drže opet u nekim drugim selima. Ukupno postoji 10 setova planova, što znači da se očekuje apsolutni grabež jer ne mogu svi graditi World of Wonder (WW). Ali ni to nije sve. Da biste pobijedili morate izgraditi WW levl 100. A nakon levela 49 vam treba ne jedan, nego dva seta planova. Ovo znači da setove planova morate dijeliti sa nekim ili ih morate nekome ukrasti. Možete samo zamisliti rusvaj koji se dešava kad 20000 igrača oformljenih u hiljade alliance-a krenu u rampage i gaženje svega ispred sebe da bi se domoglo WW lokacije, i WW planova. I da u tom procesu što više ometu ostale.

Mi smo imali ludu sreću da nam se WW selo generiralo pod nosom – u jednom od naša tri clustera sela. Još davno, suočeni sa prijetnjama jačih od sebe, kreirali smo nakupine sela na 3 lokacije u SE kvadrantu. I u jednoj od njih se generiralo WW selo. Proces osvajanja sela, kao i planova nije trivijalan, ali ne bih sad išao u tehničke detalje. Dovoljno je reći da smo osvojili svoje WW selo na lokaciji (227|-220) i domogli se jednog seta planova.

Na dan kad su se Natari pojavili stigao mi je SMS od drugih igrača (imali smo sustav upozoravanja i SMS-om za vanredne situacije) i stvarni život je morao stati u kraj, kako bi Travian došao na svoje. Jer, trebalo je biti brži od drugih, inače uzalud sve.

Zadnja dva mjeseca igre su bila opsadno stanje. U WW selu se blagodati zlata ne mogu koristiti, tako da je sva gradnja išla svojim vremenskim tokom i trebalo je puno vremena da se naprave neke stvari. Paralelno s tim smo imali upumpavanje velikog broja defanzivnih trupa u WW selo, a samim tim i ogroooman deficit žita kojim ih održavamo na životu. Bez žita vojska umire. A mi smo imali i do 3.5 milijuna negativnog crop-a po satu. Ovo znači da vojska jede 3 ipol milijuna žita po satu. U praksi se ovo svodi na silos u koji stane 1 milijun žita koji nestaje za dvadesetak minuta. A što je dvadesetak minuta naspram dva mjeseca koliko WW utrka traje?! Žito su slali svi, 24h dnevno. Isto tako, vodstvo je imalo dežurstva nad WW accountom 24h dnevno. Svake sekunde je barem jedan bio online i pratio stanje, slao žito iz okolnih sela i trudio se da ne dođe do umiranja trupa zbog gladi. Dva mjeseca sam imao na laptopu 4 skype konferencije otvorene 24/7, svaku sa svojom razinom zaštite. I još k tome forum i sam Travian. Moralo se paziti kome se što priča. Kao što rekoh – opsadno stanje!

Sa nama su radili LW i Legends, te SWAT SE. I dva mjeseca opsadnog stanja su prošla prebrzo, a opet, bilo je dana, kad sam sanjao da je sve gotovo da mogu normalno živjeti.

Naša pozicija je bila nezgodna – nismo bili dovoljno veliki i morali smo paziti da ne stršimo previše van gomile da ne nas veliki igrači ne vide prerano kao prijetnju. Fokusirali smo se na izgradnju infrastrukture i namjerno zaostajali za vodećima. I dobro smo stajali. U jednom trenutku smo poslali vojsku na Ronin WW i uništili im nešto infrastrukture. Za našu veličinu, čisto pristojno. Paralelno s tim smo krenuli punom parom na WW lvl 100. Ronin je reagirao, što je bilo i za očekivati. Poslali su jake snage na nas, ali su naišli na preko 7 milijuna obrambenih snaga iza zidova našeg WW sela i šteta koju su napravili je bila smiješna u usporedbi sa vojskom koju su poslali, i izgubili, naravno. U ovom stadiju igre svaki napad na WW završava potpunim pokoljem vojske napadača. Nema drugog pokušaja. Vojska koja se gradi mjesecima nestaje nepovratno u sekundi i nema više vremena za obnovu prije nego server završi. U međuvremenu smo okupili skoro 8 milijuna vojnika u WW selu i imali smo najbolje branjeno WW selo na cijelom serveru.

Drugi val napada bio je još zešći nego prije. Ronin je poslao najjače što je imao. Uspio nas je usporiti za 200 sati, ali siguran sam da su bili vrlo nezadovoljni sa rezultatima svojih napada. U to vrijeme su i sva ostala WW sela bila oštećena i usporena i mi smo izbili prvi na listi sa izgrađenim WW lvl 98. Da smo imali još samo 7 sati vremena, uspjeli bismo pokrenuti gradnju WW lvl 100. Samo 7 sati… Paralelno sa Roninom, i Eximus je poslao napade na nas, iako smo potpisali konfederaciju samo dan ranije. Nakon što je prvi napad stigao, prekinuli smo konfederaciju i sve diplomatske odnose s njima. Počeli smo obnovu… Bili smo i dalje prvi... Ispred svih tih divova Travian svijeta.

A onda je uslijedio šok – Multihunteri su nas optužili da smo kršili pravila i kao kaznu sam skinuli 30% svega u WW selu. Ovo je bilo isto kao da su obrisali account WW holdera. Definitivno presedan u Travianu, toliko pokvaren i sumnjiv da se to nije moglo sakriti. Multihunteri su čuvari Traviana i oni bi se trebali brinuti da svi igraju po pravilima. Znalo se da Eximus i neki drugi imaju skripte koje automatski rade ono za što smo mi gubili dane i noći tokom dva mjeseca da postignemo. Ali mi smo optuženi, ignorirali su naša objašnjenja i kaznili nas bez ikakvih dokaza i ikakve logike.

Ono što nisu uspjeli ni najveći i najjači na ovom serveru, uništili su Multihunteri u jednom trenu. I to kad smo bili nadomak pobjede. Ovo nije moglo biti slučajno, ali ništa se nije moglo dokazati. Međutim, ja sam nakon ovoga definitivno odlučio da neću nikad više igrati Travian i podržavati igru u kojoj se ovako nešto dešava. 11 mjeseci rada je otišlo u vjetar. Pokvarili su cijeli server!

Vodstvu Brotherhooda sam stavio svoj account na raspolaganje i javio da kroz slijedećih 10 dana prestajem.

Međutim… Paralelno sa našim WW, LW je radio svoj. I oni su u svom ovom metežu izbjegli pohlepne oči velikih igrača, uspjeli napraviti infrastrukturu i grabili su prema levelu 100. Mi smo pozvali na povlačenje svih trupa iz našeg pokradenog WW i slanje u njihov. Skoro 8 milijuna vojnika je marširalo kućama da bi krenuli na drugu lokaciju. Mnogi nisu nikad stigli… Mnogi su umrli od gladi po putu, neki nisu stigli do druge WW lokacije na vrijeme…

Jer bez obzira na sve, server se bližio kraju svog života. LW je grabio prema levelu 100. I vodio je nas i Legends sa sobom. Nevjerojatan obrat! Uništeni, razočarani i pokradeni, ali sa novom nadom. A LW je snovao svoju osvetu. Odlučio je zabiti nož u leđa SWAT-u s kojima su ušli u nekakav savez jer nisu imali izbora. Tipičan brak iz interesa. Nama nije bilo drago zbog toga, ali na to nismo imali utjecaja. Ono što smo od njih tražili je da prihvate SWAT SE, s obzirom da su nam pomogli i mi nismo htjeli da ih se pogazi sada, na ovakav način. I tako je i bilo. WW holder je prešao u naš tabor, brak iz interesa je pukao i 1.1.2009 godine u 3:20 UTC WW level 100 je završen, a samim tim i ovaj Travian svijet.

Prljav i dugotrajan rat, igra koja oduzima pola života dok traje, previše muke za malo sreće i zadovoljstva, ali nevjerojatan sociološki eksperiment. Kako vidjeti ono najbolje i najgore u ljudima, da uživate i da vam se zgadi u isto vrijeme. I spoznati da spletkama nema kraja, da veze i vezice sežu i do Multihuntera koji su u stanju uništiti višemjesečni rad stotina ljudi u jednom trenu… Unatoč svemu...Underdogs od početka,timing, kontrola, strategija koja male dovodi na tron, dok veliki padaju kao muhe... Prvaci ovog Travian svijeta!

Ali drago mi je da sam bio tu, da sam dao tu godinu dana života na Travian, upoznao mnoge nevjerojatne ljude i svjedočio dokle seže ljudska snaga, ali i ljudska slabost kad su ljudi pritisnuti uz zid.

Na pitanje da li bih vam preporučio Travian, rekao bih: „Ni slučajno! Razočarat će te se“. Ali vi ionako znate bolje i nećete me poslušati, jel da? ;)

Za kraj prenosim tri detalja sa našeg Travian foruma: povijest Brootherhood-a, moj zadnji post kao dio vodstva Brotherhood-a i moj posljednji pozdrav svim članovima ove odlične i složne skupine igrača.

P.S Moram priznati da nisam znao kako uopće početi pisati ovo na hrvatskom jeziku, s obzirom da godinu dana 24h dnevno o tome drobimo na engleskom.

P.P.S. Poseban pozdrav ljudima s kojima sam dijelio smjene zadnja dva mjeseca: Tycho (Španjolska), Skaija (Latvija), Knobbly (Japan), Abbaddon (Australija), Mr.Eko (USA), Runamuck (USA), Eclain (USA), Soul (USA), JIJ (UK), Bazo (UK), Jakub (Poljska). Za vas bih stavio ruku u vatru u svakom trenutku!

napokon... pobjeda! :)

(zadnje minute com1 servera)

1. The Brotherhood ... a story ....

The Brotherhood was born from the merge of BOW, 13th, LP and EIC. At the moment of the merge, BOW was already a consolidated alliance with active defense/offense squads and some military victories in their history, such as the destruction of Vlad, WP leader, and the destruction of Toruf’s hammer along with EIC.

The Brotherhood planned for the end of server from the very beginning. BOW had their 125/-125 POD, EIC had already been settling around 225/-225 area, and 13th had already been established in the 300/-300 coordinates.

The merge was really messy and complicated, like any big merge is. We were under attack by all the big alliances in the SE quadrant. It was also complicated because at the moment of the merge, BOW leadership disappeared due to RL troubles and a new leadership had to step up and take the lead. We were about to disappear, situation was chaotic until the new leadership kicked off and started putting the alliance together again.

CANON had a NAP with BOW at the moment of the merge. Eroika, the diplomat back then, did not want to extend it to the other wings. It was an unfair situation because with a NAP with BOW they assured our big armies would not be a threat against CANON, while they could attack our smaller players. Brotherhood told CANON that it was a NAP with all or none. Alliances were dropped and attacks started rolling in.

WP was also attacking us, so were LW and Eximus. Our birth were forged in battles, and maybe because of it, we learned so much. The only alliance that never broke their NAP with us and never attacked us was SWAT U. We always appreciated that.

After a successful series of attacks on pickachuu as retaliation for attacks against one of our players, I got to talk to Lex Luther, and finally we got a NAP with CANON. CANON wanted us as allies against WP, and so we fought together against them. We never asked CANON for help in defense, we just coordinated our attacks.

From the beginning it was as if Zeratull and Toruf, WP’s most dangerous players, had been ours and so we went to war against them. What can I say about those days?. We had so much fun. We gave them hell during weeks, with hundreds and hundreds of attacks against their cities, their oases. Our forums were alive; every single player participated in those attacks, no matter how big or small we were. We lost hammers, we broke hammers … adrenalin was running through the alliance high. At the end Z&T just gave up and decided to join our alliance. Zeratull kept playing his account but Toruf gave up his to one of our players, who had been playing it since then. That, and the continuous attacks from CANON to the other WP players, plus the disastrous short-lived leadership of PC, was the end of WP.

After this CANON started attacking SWAT U, and they wanted our help with it. But we could not do that; betray the alliance that had been supporting us from the very beginning. We told CANON we would not help SWAT U, like SWAT U had not helped us either during the WP wars, but we would not attack them either.

We met Legends around that moment, we had a NAP, and we were friendly to each other. Two medium size alliances fighting for a place in the SE. They asked for our help in a defense against LW. LW was trying to kill danny13’s hammer on their way back home from an attack, and we helped setting up the anvil, and killed that hammer.

By then we were getting ready for the end of server, instructing our players what they needed to build, what kind of troops, what kind of buildings in each village. We collected information about what was needed for the WW building and we started to prepare our strategy. Only a few of us had previous experience in end of server race, and it had been as feeders not as actual builders.

We also helped CANON in their wars against Eximus. Helping them set anvils against Eximus attacks. We killed a few of their hammers, and now that I think about it, we were never thanked for the defense ribbons they got.

Shortly after this, we started having troubles with LW again. I tried to pact a NAP with them, they gave us a ceasefire until final NAP negotiations were finalized. But they kept breaking the ceasefire, and giving me excuses for it … so we went to war.

Again that was fun. With our ROF attacks, our Mosquito hunting and attacking their feeders we caught their attention. They lost villages and we lost them too, and we both understood that if we went down that road we would have ended our chances of arriving at the end of server strong enough. Abra was the real mediator during those days, and a confederation was pacted. Once we got to talk, we found out our alliances were very similar, and a real friendship was born.

Back then CANON was still confeded with them, and we started making plans about how we were going to build our WW together. But CANON decided to change plans, and overnight they dropped the confed with LW, and pacted a NAP with SWAT. We were astonished; we could not believe what had happened.

CANON by then wanted us to join them, to be one of their wings. For that we would have to drop our small players and adopt their CANON name. We were very clear to them and told them that would not happen. Our players, all of them, no matter how big or small, were our family; we could not kick them out. And we would be The Brotherhood to the very end. At the end we agreed to a confederation to one of our wings and NAP to the others.

I told Nibbon back then what our plans for WW were; to be WW holders. He would have preferred it if we had become a part of CANON and help with their wonders, but he understood and respected our decision. And I appreciated that.

We realized then that we needed numbers, we were not big enough to hold a WW on our own. We needed to pact with other alliances to join us. Legends came to our mind right away. Especially since they had just broken two of our hammers, which in a silly move had tried to chief one of their villages. We already liked them, but that day they earned our respect.

I contacted Elegant and we started setting the foundations for our Wonder. Total transparency, total sharing, and total collaboration. They have been a great asset to our Wonder, great partners and friends. Without them we would have not gotten so far. From here my most sincere gratitude to that wonderful alliance that Legends is.

We still had our plans for WW building with LW, we knew we could count on at least one of their wings for our wonder. We still had hopes that CANON would reconsider their decision of dropping their confederation with LW, in our opinion that had been a bad mistake.

But CANON did not change their mind, nor liked that we kept confed with LW, but as I explained to them, once we make a pact we don’t back out of it.

The Natars were released way sooner than expected, and decisions had to be made fast. We were lucky one of the wonders spawned right in our 225/-225 POD. We already had a nice setup there, and by the time we conquered it, all the surroundings of the WW were settled and growing as fast as we could.

Nibbon was not around, and Kardac sent me a msg saying that he wanted to talk to me. I still had hopes that we could work together, but soon I found out that was not going to be the case. Kardac was not the only one to come to the meeting, but wapak came as well. It had been the only occasion I talked to a RONIN leader. Something I do regret, because they earned my esteem in this end of server with their serious way of playing it. Maybe things would have been different if we had talked more.

Anyway, in this meeting, Kardac (with whom I had never talked before either) wanted to know what our intentions were. I told him we wanted to be WW holders, that we were going to grow our wonder with the help of Legends and LW, and that I understood they wanted us to drop LW but we could not do that. I told them The Brotherhood would not attack CANON unless CANON attacked us first, and we agreed to a ceasefire until level 90 (we did forget to specify which level 90 though) and then discuss a possible pact. Kardac asked me then what I would do if our WW got destroyed, I said we would help our friends then. When asked the same question, Kardac said without hesitation that they would help RONIN. I knew then and there that I had been delusional about the possibility of building a WW along with CANON; we would always be second to RONIN.

We needed more players to support our WW. I had always had a good relationship with Baby Elmo, and we had talked sometimes about playing together in the same team one day. So I proposed it to him; for SWAT SE wings to join our project. We would not be The Meta, but SWAT would be a part of our WW project. I talked to Mazz for the first time then and he understood and accepted the plan. We were ready to go then.

Until then I had never talked to Eximus’ leaders either. Eximus had an agreement with Legends’ players of ceasefire and a possible pact at the end of the race. I didn’t get to know Eximus’ leaders until later, and at the beginning they seemed sincere.

From the beginning our WW was special. We wanted to share every moment of it with our friends and allies. We didn’t want them to feel disconnected from the project but a part of it. So we kept taking pictures, sharing BR, sending thank you notes to individual players, every single day for almost two months. It worked; their response was amazing, even small players from small alliances felt .Bloody Miracle! as theirs. WW Team would work 24/7, not only watching over the WW, but also helping keeping contact with all the supporters. No IGM sent to Eko was unanswered.

We knew RONIN would be the enemy to defeat. They were the strongest alliance and the only one we had no pact with. Very soon their attacks started, and we started faking them too. It was fun, they were very good opponents from the beginning.

Plans were released and we were only able to grab one set. We lost a hammer trying to get a second set from RONIN and failed another attack. LW offered then to lend us their extra set. It was very nice of them, and a true friendship gesture we never forgot. I have also to say that CANON also asked us to join them, join their wing and share their BP. Also a nice gesture we appreciated very much.

Soon SpeedDash was going too fast up the race and he needed to be stopped. We decided to go offensive and send the first attacks. We coordinated it with Eximus and The Meta, so all WW were attacked at the same time. It was a nice plan that only we followed. The other alliances attacked at their own time and not when we had agreed upon. But we did well, not as well as we had hoped for, but we were able to stop SD, which had been the intention all along. We did better than the other alliances had been.

We made the n00b mistake of hurrying too much on our way up. We should have proceeded slower, because now we became the target to beat. We stopped being the underdog and soon became number 1 in the ranking. That was our mistake. Attacks started arriving soon, from all alliances, even the ones we were supposed to have pacts with.

We knew RONIN would send their hammers after us soon. We called for full defense and we filled up our walls with troops. Their first set of attacks was not too big, our wall stood still and they just made little damage. They brought a Werd rammer with them, we were told later it was a renegade player. They underestimated us, and that gave us a little extra time we hoped was enough for us to win.

These attacks were followed by penalista’s, an Eximus’ player that had gone to CANON to attack us. We flattened her hammer without much trouble. Our defense was impressive by then.

Eximus was putting pressure to sign pacts. I wanted to talk to Eximus’ leader once more before signing the NAP, but we could not make it since she was sick. I finally sent a confed pact, and by the time I got to talk to Cris, Eximus’ leader was quite upset with us. She didn’t understand why we had not wanted to sign the pact with Eximus sooner (it would have been like putting a target on our back for everybody to shoot us, we always wanted to be the neutral WW, and that pact meant taking sides). Anyway we signed the confed that night.

Our level of attacks incoming was rising exponentially by then. We were 9 hours away of queuing level 100 when Trio and company came with the big guns. Our wall still stood, but they were able to damage our infrastructure and set us back 9 days. They did quite well against almost 8 million troops defending the Wonder.

Then the nasty surprise; few hours after Trio’s attack Eximus’ hammers attacked us too. They had sent those hammers after the confederation pact had been signed. It was betrayal, it was treason. Eximus’ leaders tried to sell it as renegade attacks, players that had escaped from leaders control and had decided on their own to attacks our WW. What kind of leadership lose control over four WW busters?. And one of them suspiciously sharing the name of one of the WW holders?. We felt betrayed and we dropped the confed with them, and decided they were our only enemy left.

We were 12 days behind by then. It was then when MH banned us. I don’t want to get this thread banned so I will not go into details here. Check my profile in the game if you want to know my feelings about it.

Anyway, I take from this game the feeling that we took our WW to level 98. That we were able to assemble and keep the biggest anvil in server 1 fed. That we fought toe to toe with the strongest alliance in the server, and that our wall stood even after the biggest hammers tried to demolish it.

I take with me the support of all those small and medium players that sent their crop, their troops and their enthusiasm to our Wonder. I take with me the friendship of individuals and alliances; I have found true friends in this game, some born from the ashes of war. I take with me The Brotherhood spirit, all for one and one for all, to whatever end.

Special thanks goes to LW, they supported us through thick and thin, they helped us build our wonder beyond level 50, and when we could not win, they shared their victory with us. They kept their promise … thanks ?

We made it possible, we made it through. We built our WW, our Bloody Miracle, our dream. We could not take it to level 100, but not because we did not try.

This is the story of The Brotherhood …

Tycho
The Brotherhood's Diplomat

2. The end has come ...

Good morning my sisters and brothers!

After yesterday's events, I said to you and to myself, I will sleep on it before any conclusions&decisions.

So now is the time...

Conclusions:

This is my first Travian server played. And from day one I was lucky enough to have an greatest neighbor next to me. A player who became my friend and whom I always trusted 100%. Runamuck is one of the few excellent men I met in my life.
We were under a threat from early days by big bad WoflPack players. And from those early days I witnessed unselfish acts and bonding among formal EIC and BOW. We helped each other faced to the obliteration and we survived. And much more than that.
On early summer we managed to kick WPs ass so hard they fell apart. At the time WP ended I was in Turkey, and only thnx to Skajia (cyp) I continued playing when I got back. This leadership managed to tie Broterhood as one alliance, no wing differences, a common goal, a one mind that swept our enemies beyond their wildest dreams.
We earned respect through excellent diplomacy (Tycho, I don't know how you managed it to struggle with all those prick outside, but I would make you a statute on a main square for your contributions) and coordinated attacks that led even 4x larger alliances than us to ask a NAP or even confed. Skajia led most of the attacks, and she did this job marvelously!

And after WW race started... First of all, just to see endgame was a victory itself (remember all WP and LW threats during this year). But to hold our own WW.... To be able to raise it to lvl 98 in the end, to be able to assemble almost 8MIL crop troops anvil inside and to smash all those hammers and wall breakers with such minimal damage... My friends, we won this game the day we were 7h from last GWH rebuild.

We, a small Brotherhood, mocked too many times, underestimated, but still kicking their asses. And they couldn't get us off the No 1 list. No matter what they tried. We were just too strong for them. For all of them, Ronin, Canon, Eximus...

But, my friends, we are too good for this server. Our diplomacy is too human for this. Too decent.
So they had other ways...
I know many of you wont agree with me, but I'm positive Eximus had their fingers in this MH witchhunt on us. They couldn't do it any other way.
I'm sure you'll agree we broke some rules. Not more than everybody else, but we did break them. But to do this at this point shows only one thing -rotten human nature. They took our money for 2 months and they could do this after 1 week of WW race and snap everybody's fingers and ensure "fair fight" if they wanted to. And if Eximus was 1st, I'm sure this would never happened.

We were robbed. I honestly believed MH work is done on com1 at this point. This was to end in the matter of days. And now what? They expect me to continue paying real money to invest their way of dealing with things?

But we won my Brothers! If you ask me, we won the day our enemies had to hide behind MH. We won the day we stood 1st even after they sent their strongest hammers on us and just managed to scratch the surface.

The amount of unity I saw in Brotherhood I never seen before. The way we fought, we stood against our enemies with much stronger armies is amazing. They couldn't handle it. We were such a threat they pulled they last line of defense - a MH. And I'm sure if this wouldn't help, we would see a lot of DDoS attacks on travian server. I've seen this pattern more than once on some other internet communities. I always despised that kind of people.

.Bloody Mirracle really was a miracle. And 2 months of my life, of your lives were devoted to it. And the way we did it, makes me proud to be human being. Makes me proud to be part of it. With you.

com1 politics and latest MH actions (considering timings) makes me sad and ashamed to be human being.

Decisions:
This is my last Travian server played.
From my point of view, we won. Our lvl 98 is worth lvl 100000 in my eyes. Nothing else matters.
I have no intention to support Travian games in any way. Ever again.

But the quote from my profile stil stands:
"Freedom is irrelevant.
Self-determination is irrelevant.
You must comply.

- The Collective"

So as my last actions, I will send all my reinf to the other WW and I will offer my acc to this leadership to do with it what it pleases. Will gladly pass it to someone you recommend.

I can't continue my presence in this game world I began to despise. I never stopped believing in us. A never doubted in Brotherhood, and I certainly don't doubt it now. Brotherhood is the best Travian ever seen and much better than Travian deserves. We are too good for this.

My friends.... I wish I have you all here in real life. I would put my life in your hands and knew it is safe.

I am proud to be a Defence officer of the Brotherhood. Proud to be part of Shield of BOW. Proud to be part of .Bloody Mirracle!

I will remain on forum, I will have my skype open all the time. You have my e-mail. Some of us shared phone numbers... I consider you my friends and that will not change.

Travian world can end or not, but what we achieved can't be undone. We made a miracle happen!

Don't be sad, my friends! This is not the end. This is just a beginning.

I will finish with one of my favorite quotes:

"- Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
- What truth?
- There is no spoon." - Matrix

Yours always,
_________________
Strsljen.
Defense officer
The Brotherhood, B-EIC wing

3. Last words from your defense officer

Greetings my brothers (and sisters. let's not forget it)!

This was a wonderful year dedicated to Travian and Brotherhood.
I must say I am very proud with teamwork in Brotherhood.
You showed to me, to Brotherhood, and, most important, to all our enemies and friends we are not to be taken lightly.
You showed to all on com1 we will not to be bullied around, we are not to delete, and we are here to stay.
It was my special honor to have such great players on my side.

As your defense officer, I salute you!

For those who don't really know me... I started in EIC. I started this game for the first time, and I didn't know anybody on this server. My knowledge of Travian was next to nothing.
I was very lucky to be spawned next to Runamuck who became my best neighbor and very good friend. That's how I got in EIC, and as part of EIC - to Brotherhood.

We were very lucky to be put in the fire very soon after we started the game. We stood together faced to a simple choice: improve or die. Well... We refused to die.

And we fought together with our BOW friends. This was a beginig of Brotherhood.

My role of defense officer started pretty early when Brotherhood formed its shape as we know it today. It was fun to calculate timings and make strategies for getting our players off the farm list (famous "give them nothing" rule) or to deceit our enemies, break hammers and send message much stronger than words. And we managed to send that message many times.

The wise leaders of other alliances understood those messages and learned to respect us as a friends or enemies, while ignorant ones continued to ignore the fact we even exist (and regret it in the end). We cared not. We had the best diplomat on this server. Tycho, words are not too strong to express my gratitude for your work!
And strong diplomacy combined with our teamwork regarding defenses (combination of setting anvils and play empty villages with all resources spent) and coordinated attacks (thousands of fakes, followed by precise selected real attacks) led us where we are today - to share a victory on this server.

There were days we couldn't even dream to see final stage of server, and nobody ever dreamed we could even be part of alliance which holds a WW.

The outcome of our teamwork surprised everybody, including ourselves.
As a member of Brotherhood leadership I must say we are stunned when we saw what a lot of small players can do. Brotherhood strength was never a power of few players, but teamwork of many. And strong will to sacrifice ourselves for the collective. And we all did that so many times.

Your selfless acts of helping others while risking yourselves are remarkable! And for all that I sincerely thank you! You are the best! This alliance deserved its name!

I apologize for not revealing all details with you on many occasions. We always had one ore more spies in Brotherhood. For some, we know their names, for some we don't. It's all part of the game. Information control and leading spies to believe one thing, while we prepare for something completely different, resulted in breaking more than one hammer and many successful attacks on our enemies.

While we were (I'm sure of it) very annoying asking for crop for WW defenses every day, I wanted to show you videos and pics of our WW village with millions of troops inside and the way crop is been eaten. I wanted to show you full battle reports to see how well Shield of BOW is holding and crushing enemy hammers, but all I could do is show you edited battle reports without our defenses and try to send you some encouraging words.
We just couldn't afford to let the enemies see those numbers (remember spies on the Forum).

Still.. Although we were very afraid most of you will break much before server ends and stop participating in WW defenses by sending troops and tons of crop every day, I must say I'm impressed with your devotion to our final goal.

Now we stay together as part of a winning team, but more important of formal victory here is the way we fought all these long months. Each and every one of you. Every single player, big or small, devoted to common goal... This is your victory. Victory small over big and arrogant. Teamwork and self-sacrifice over selfishness and greed.

My Brothers... You won more than a server here. You won your own greed and egoism and showed only the best you have in you. You deserved to call yourself a members of Brotherhood!

To quote my profile Borg words:

Freedom is irrelevant.
Self-determination is irrelevant.
You must comply.

Sound like a brutal words, but not applied on Brotherhood. You always complied. Never needed to be reminded that benefit of Brotherhood is above benefit of single individual and under the Shield of BOW, we can all be strong and safe. You didn't let somebody else fight your battles. You fought them yourself. And prove to be bigger even from the biggest hammers this Travian world ever seen.

And you truly deserve to call yourself a Brotherhood!

I'm sure Brotherhood will be famous in the future Travian worlds too. I'm sure you will never fail if you continue to cherish the values learned in this world.

Unfortunately, this is first and last Travian world for me. Due to the real-life issues i won't be able to continue our journey.
This defense officer taught you everything he knows. And he is damn proud of your strength.

My Brothers... To whatever end! Because... Together... You can do anything you set your mind and will to.

It was a pleasure to serve as a defense officer in Brotherhood!

Good luck my friends!
(I won't say good-bye because never say never )
_________________
Strsljen.
Defense officer
The Brotherhood, B-EIC wing

... to whatever end ...