EDITORS’ NOTE: This article was written before several events in this conflict due to the editorial team taking too long to get to it. These events will be covered in the next Northern Conflict Observatory. We apologize for this inconvenience.

This is your weekly briefing on the northern conflict between Guardians of the Galaxy and the Imperium.

Major Kenshin Heist

On April 19th, a senior director in Kenshin – a corp in DARKNESS. – flipped to Goonswarm. On the way out, he stole an in-build Keepstar, billions of ISK in assets, and transferred two Fortizars to Goonswarm. You can listen to the Kenshin reaction here.

This gave Goonswarm staging citadels close to the primary GOTG ratting pocket. This is likely to threaten ISK-making opportunities going forward.

Ongoing Kenshin Doxxing Controversy

On the 20th, it became apparent that some individuals within Kenshin wanted to dox the thief. They took substantial action, including locating both the erstwhile director and his wife. This was rightly condemned by the EVE community, and by Sort Dragon, leader of Guardians of the Galaxy, who said that ‘doxxing is unacceptable on all levels.’ The offenders were kicked from the corp.

However, more information was uncovered on the evening of the 22nd. From a recording of Kenshin comms, it becomes apparent that a wider group of people were at least tacitly complicit in the attempt. Notably, this seems to include the corporation CEO – though there is ongoing controversy on this issue. Additional ringleaders identified in this conversation have been kicked.

SLYCE Fortizar Flip

On April 21st, a Fortizar owned by The Black Crow Bandits in VFK was flipped to Goonswarm by a disgruntled director. Said director, King Voodoo, also stole a sizeable sum of assets – he claims upwards of 120bil ISK. However, reliable internal estimates place the sum at less than 60bn ISK.

This loss is not devastating – The Black Crow Bandits are already recovering well, with support from their alliance and the rest of the coalition. However, it does provide Goonswarm with another staging post in Deklein, which may complicate matters going forward.

Dreadnoughts Clash in VFK

A few hours after the Fortizar flip, GOTG carriers, supported by a Ferox fleet, moved to reinforce it. This was spotted by the Imperium, and the carriers were swiftly dropped by a sizeable dreadnought fleet, supported by Ishtars.

GOTG responded with a wave of dreadnoughts, which took significant losses. After a few problems finding a cyno, they deployed the second wave of dreadnoughts. This ultimately drove Imperium assets from the field. Both sides claim victory – Imperium won the ISK war, but GOTG held the grid. At the time of writing, the Fortizar has yet to be reinforced.

Ongoing Action in Pure Blind and Deklein

Despite the dramatic betrayals and controversy, smaller conventional battles are still being fought. On the 17th, GOTG destroyed two Goonswarm staging Fortizars in Deklein. However, these were the result of a previous flip from the MOA corporations Angels and Devils. Therefore, some have claimed these victories to be damage control.

Meanwhile, on the 19th, a multi-way battle in Kehjari saw the destruction of a combined Imperium dreadnought/Ishtar fleet. GOTG lost 300m ISK to the Imperium’s 16.6bn ISK. This represents an unmitigated victory for GOTG.

Lastly, on the 22nd, there was a sharp skirmish on the grid of the DO6 Keepstar. An attempt by the Imperium to anchor two medium citadels was met with a GOTG fleet. In the fight that followed, the Imperium lost around 30bn ISK to GOTG’s 18bn ISK. This is another victory, though some may claim that the fact that GOTG staging is contested is not encouraging.

EN24 will keep you updated as events continue to unfold.

Featured image credit: Razorien