Last week we published an article by Seraph , Triumvirate Leaks Damaging Relations With Drone Region Federation, detailing increasing tensions between Vanguard Coalition and its allies The Drone Region Federation (DRF) and Phoenix Federation alliance FCON. This article was met with initial skepticism as the intel/leaks were only available to those who have access to the ‘foreplay’ intel section of Kugutsumen.org or who are at the highest level of the Meta. Because the intel was not readily available to the public, a portion of our readers dismissed the article as “fake news.” I will have to admit the story piqued my interest as I have always been interested in the ‘meta’ and ‘smoke filled’ backrooms inhabited by New Eden’s power brokers. I was interested not only in the disintegrating diplomatic situation in the South-Eastern regions of New Eden but also as to whether ‘non-public intel’ that one could gain access to was really all as advertised or just another smoke and mirror operation that benefited one particular group in eve over another and allowed its members to claim ‘anonymous sources’ when writing articles or conducting negotiations.

So I did what anyone who wants to get into the ‘cool kids club’ did and I obtained a membership. Once I had access, I was honestly surprised at what I found. I assumed that the information would be low level stuff that essentially could be found elsewhere on Reddit or Eve-Skunk. Instead, I entered an operation that counts members from pretty much every organization and walk of life in New-Eden and access to information that not only validated Seraph’s article but also allowed me to then learn a much deeper history of the involved, approach and interview multiple parties, and get a much wider understanding of the disintegrating diplomatic conditions between Triumvirate and its allies. I won’t really get to much further into my experience inside Kugutsumen.org as I am planning a follow up article, to discuss that further, but I could not have gotten as deep into the real reasons behind the current tensions without that access.

So before I dive too deep into the current political tensions, I will briefly cover the history that has led us to this point. Prior to World War Bee (WWB) Triumvirate moved to the South-East and, with the blessing of GemiCo/DRF leadership, were given space in Etherium Reach and formed their own small coalition (Vanguard) which from that point on started strengthening as an alliance and doing well in their space. At this point the primary conflicts and contents for Triumvirate and DRF was daily clashes with the StainWagon Coalition who held all the South-Western regions bordering on DRF and Tri’s regions.

Fast forward to the World War Bee and the next involved group, FCON, barely escaped the north after deciding to leave the Imperium after the ‘Llemba papers‘ came out and it became clear that The Mittani was going to use the setbacks from WWB to strengthen Goonswarm at the expense of most of their allies. FCON departed from the Imperium on May 15th on good terms and headed South. The previously strong alliance had suffered heavily from the combination of losing its space during the Money Badger Coalition onslaught and having close to 25% of its member base, most of its Leadership, and almost all its FCs actively poached by the Imperium Leadership itself. Their leadership understood the only way to survive was to quickly cut their ties to the Imperium and withdraw well away from the WWB warzone. Their diplomats reached out to DRF leadership and brokered a deal to ally with DRF for space in conjunction with mutual-defense pacts and NIPs (non-invasion pact) with Triumvirate’s Vanguard Coalition, thus, giving them space to recover and grow again. This also benefited the DRF as it brought a new PvP alliance into the area who could be another ally in the on-going conflict with the Stain-Wagon Russians. What seemed like a well-timed diplomatic victory for the bruised FCON with Tri and DRF however quickly became very tense.

In the early months following WWB, things went ok. A few low level incidents occurred leading to a week long conflict (known as the ‘Seven Day War’) and resulted in the new kids on the block (FCON) agreeing to share rental income with Tri as a gesture of goodwill towards Tri, XIX, and SOLAR and as part of a diplomatic agreement that was negotiated to settle the conflict. Things basically operated well between the groups for a short time and there was plenty of content for all the alliances until another conflict in the north resulted in a announcement by a major New Eden power-bloc that significantly change the geopolitical landscape in the south.

‘TESTCO’ (Test and Co2) found themselves realizing they would not be able to hold their space in the north due to Pandemic Legion and Northern Coalition‘s desire to take Vale and Tribute for renter space. In January of this year, TESTCO, now dubbed ‘The Legacy Coalition’ (including Drone Walkers), announced a move South with intentions of evicting Stain Wagon from its space. The “Winter War”, as it was dubbed, started with Stain-Wagon and its Imperium allies opposing the invasion but overwhelming force from the invading ‘Legacy Coalition’ forces and through a well-executed Coup inside of Stain Wagon found the defense quickly faltered and resuled in SW mostly collapsing. Due to this and Raven (Stain Wagon Coalition Leader) needing to deal with all their internal issues the Imperium withdrew from the theatre of war. From this point on Legacy quickly secured all the regions and entered into NIPS with Vanguard, FCON, DRF, and others.

One of the side effects of this was that, Triumvirate no longer had the Stain Wagon entities to fight that had previously provided ample daily content for Triumvirate members. The arrival of the much larger Legacy Coalition (TEST and its allies) had pacified the border regions and was not a good recipe for any serious content. Despite initial scuffles between FCON and Triumvirate in the initial months FCON had followed the diplomatic agreements and avoiding causing issues with its neighbors, even though, as illustrated in leaked Reddit threads, Tri repeatedly violated their agreements. Internally, Triumvirate leadership repeatedly called Capt. Patrick out on it but they were told to not worry about it.

This sort of brings us to more recent months and the incidents that have essentially elevated low level scuffles between ‘allies’ (that would normally be sorted out quickly by alliance diplomats) to a series of agreement violations and insults that have now brought the entire region to the point of destabilization. Furthermore heavy-handed treatment, repeated failure to honor any of their agreements with Solar, XIX, or FCON by leadership in Triumvirate coupled with damaging leaks has created strain both inside and outside of their own (Vanguard) Coalition.

“…our coalition was never one built on trust.” – Current Vanguard Member

Triumvirate Leader, Garst Tyrell, had stepped away from the game shortly after things had settled between them and FCON for real life reasons and leadership of both Triumvirate and the Vanguard Coalition both temporarily passed to his XO, Cpt Patrick Archer. With the absence of the more diplomatic Garst the situation became more tense as Cpt Patrick Archer began taking a more hardline and dismissive attitude towards not only FCON but also his own coalition members.

As this is occurring, Triumvirate, seeking content deployed to the north to attack Sort Dragon and his Guardians of the Galaxy. The deployments was billed as an easy deployment to farm the GOTG coalition for good content. What Triumvirate found was a tough GOTG who repeatedly responded to Triumvirate fleets with overwhelming force and throughout the month of March repeatedly countered and beat the Triumvirate fleets while also destroying Triumvirates staging citadels and further starving them of the content they so desperately wanted. While this was occurring the remaining members of Vanguard and FCON’s Phoenix Federation Coalition remained home and defended and protected Triumvirates home space.

Things took a diplomatic turn for the worse when Triumvirate returned from their unsuccessful attack on GOTG and appears to take out the frustration and desire for content on its coalition members and allies. Over the next few months Triumvirate ramped up their ongoing disregard for their diplomatic agreements with entities like FCON by cloaking camping, launching citadels in FCON space for staging, and attacking Phoenix Federation structures and strategic assets all in violation of the NIPS/NAPS that had been negotiated by DRF when Phoenix Federation moved into the area. A series of leaks and recordings from Cpt Patrick Archer indicated that Triumvirate was considering attacking either its DRF or Phoenix Federation Coalition Allies and had lost respect for its own coalition members.

I was provided the following emails that my source stated shows Triumvirate using ‘Nuetral’ campers and alts to get around the ‘No Cloaky camping rule” that exists between Triumvirate and FCON. https://zkillboard.com/kill/61779998/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/59651354/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/62690212/

One of those coalition members, Manifesto, had caught wind of intel and logs where Cpt. Patrick Archer and his feelings towards coalition members and allies. Prior to Manifesto’s joining Vanguard they (Manifesto) had a NIP in place. They were then told to either join Vanguard or lose their space. As a result Manifesto Co-Exec, Piotr Engels, then explored options to possibly defend itself in the event Triumvirate turned on them by contacting non-Vanguard entities. Piotr was very clear that no plans were made to attack any Vanguard member and that they simply were ensuring they had allies to call on in order to hold thier space if attacked by Triumvirate.

This brings us to the recent days and the return or Garst Tyrell. A recording surfaced on reddit (posted by Garst) of Triumvirate in a conversation between him and Piotr in a conversation that ends in manifesto being removed from Vanguard. it is also significant that this recording was recorded and posted to reddit without Piotr’s knowledge. The entire reddit thread appears to be a heavy handed attempt to control the narrative by Triumvirate. Garst posted the following statement with his post of the recording:

I posted this soundcloud on reddit so the line members of Manifesto could know why they were just kicked–so they could hear it from their leader Piotr Engels himself. I have a sneaking suspicion the leadership in Manifesto was doing a lot of this without their line member’s knowledge, so I’m sure this move seems unfair to them. Its not, but only if you know the whole story, which they won’t get from whatever damage control narrative they will inevitably try to spin to demonize TRI and make themselves the victim. Bottom line is this: your leadership got caught red handed scheming and trying to betray their blues, which Piotr didnt deny. If you want better leaders, hold them accountable – [––GarstTyrell Triumvirate

I have posted the recording below as well as some highlights:

Transcript – Some parts edited that are not relevant but entire recording below:

00:33 (Time Indicators in Min:Sec) Garst Tyrell (Exec of Vanguard): “Why are my spies…telling me you’re trying to attack Tri with Iron Armada and FEIGN? …..I have been pretty straightforward with you from the start. So are you going to be a man and tell me whats going on or die on your cross for nothing?”

Piotr (Manifesto Exec): “So I talked with IA…”

Garst Interrupts: “No you have done more than talk so let’s cut the bullshit!” 01:08 Garst: ” Let’s be honest and speak man to man, I don’t do drama, and I said that at the meeting and I meant it. Not here to try and f*** you over like you’re apparently want to f*** me, but I want to know what’s going on to try and figure this out.” –Period of indeterminate sounds as Piotr repositions his laptop in another room — 03:38 Piotr: ” First of all I guess there are hints of truth in what you are hearing but that’s not accurate….. It was made of a defensive thing…”

Garst: : “Defense against what?” 04:09 Piotr: “So Patrick (Cpt Patrick Archer – Acting Coalition Exec in Garst’s absence) went to Shred and said either join vanguard or he would give our space to WOMBO and burn Manifesto to the ground. 04:31 Garst: “I can’t speak for Patrick when I am gone dude…. I can’t answer for that.. so that happened and I guess it is what it is but I am back now and this is what it is now” 05:05 Piotr: “I already stated any considerations that are going on are is me purely making sure my ducks are in a row” 06:10 Garst: ” So regardless of how you feel that does not give you the right to plot against us so that trust is gone……….you’re not denying anything really so unless I am way off base and correct me if I am ..and now would be a great chance to do that……” 06:38 Piotr: “Again I don’t think making sure we have our ducks in a row for a potential defensive war from somebody in the coalition and (who) has already threatened us (Patrick) with invasion is unreasonable steps to take” Conversation carries on a little and then Garst ejects Manifesto from Vanguard and reset’s them.

While I highlighted key exchanges in the conversation I would recommend you listen to the whole thing. On the surface a coalition executive would have a fair point in taking action against Manifesto for what appears to be plotting with hostile alliances, however, as the conversation continues it becomes apparent that this was Manifesto’s reaction to the way they were forced into the coalition (despite NIPs) at gunpoint. Furthermore it appears Manifesto only reason for conversations was to potentially gain allies to defend against Triumvirate should Patrick turn Triumvirate on Manifesto. Once you add up months of triumvirate attacking it’s own coalition members and allies then you can also understand Piotr reasoning for wanting a plan and exit strategy.

He also released the follow message to his alliance:

Mass Reset From: Bobba C Poole Sent: 2017.07.15 00:30 To: Manifesto., (Editors Note-Also sent to All Vanguard Diplos) Effective Immediately, Manifesto. is resetting all Vanguard coalition standings except for The Bastard Cartel and Hell’s Pirates whom we have made arrangements with because of asset shuffling, etc… Anyone who may need docking rights to extract assets from our space can contact our diplo team and get temporary access/safe passage – a kindness which has not been afforded to us. Manifesto. entered Vanguard under the threat of “join or die” from Cpt Patrick Archer, our space being potentially being offered up to new coalition members. To the best of our knowledge this “offer” was only given to us thanks to the protest of TBC and HADES. Literally a day before this was tabled, we had lost a significant portion of our best PvP pilots when Sean Blair and his corporation Status Unknown, as well as a handful of other members, left to form their own alliance so they could do deployments and not be burdened by sovreignty. Under the duress of our administration being in some disarray and being unsure of what numbers we could muster we chose to accept the offer. Manifesto., with good reason, has been concerned that as an alliance which was made to be a casual PvP Alliance, because of Vanguard’s policies on activity, etc… would potentially face being kicked from Vanguard and subsequently be invaded. In recent time we have seen several NIPs from Vanguard be flagrantly violated against smaller entities for the purpose of gaining more renter space ( Iron Armada and Bloodline. for example). We have also seen HADES kicked from the coalition, whether for valid reasons or not, is not relevant to my point. Additionally, Vanguard has been posturing itself to fight potential wars against its neighbors. Recently for example, we saw a Raitaru anchored in PFC space which was fought over – to the best of my knowledge in violation of NIP. This was of course done purely for good fights and am not talking bad about it. These things are indicative however, of a belligerent diplomatic policy set. Compounding our concerns was the recent brutal attacks against .PEST, which declared its independence from the client-state relationship they had with Vanguard. I will note that .PEST did not exit gracefully, their exec talked some mad shit, but it is indicative of the kind of response we might face and is also indicative of how Vanguard is liable to treat independent/small alliances. With due respect for the Vanguard leadership team, many of whom we like, I’ll stop here in highlighting the sources of our concerns, which I could carry on at length about. With these concerns in mind, Manifesto. planned to leave Vanguard as soon as we felt that we would be in a position to effectively resist a fozziesov campaign against us. We reached out to several entities, most of which will go unnamed, but in particular Iron Armada, who apparently they, or another entity we were associating with, leaked a discord channel we had made. Garst and I had a confrontation about this and we were quite up front with eachother about it. Manifesto. has always prided itself on acting with honour in diplomacy as much as possible. In this instance, we are/were faced with a force with generally speaking more SP, more isk, more pilots, etc…. and chose to quietly plan an exit strategy which would best secure our return to independence. https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/6ncps7/manifesto_alliance_kicked_from_vanguard_for/ Garst recorded our conversation without my knowledge, although I had some suspicion. The reddit thread with the recording can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB9cYttD3sg&feature=youtu.be A propoganda audio clip we made for our last SotA, it should be interpreted as an indicator of the goals/mission of our alliance.

Managing an alliance is hard enough on the good days and I can imagine that running a coalition is by a significant order even more difficult. But the success of any group and the ability for it to weather the bad days relies on several key issues such as trust in leadership, content and activity for the member base, trust amongst blues and allies that diplomatic agreements will hold, and that people and groups feel safe with their partners. Sometimes one of these can falter and the larger group can survive. However when multiple parts of this key foundation falters or breaks then there is no way it holds together. Triumvirate is in an unenviable position as their leadership is dealing with serious issues to save their alliance. A member base starved for content will eventually go elsewhere and the ones who remain will not be able to defend what’s left. In that it is apparent that Garst and Patrick are trying to save their alliance and there is nothing wrong with that. However, the well documented and public heavy-handed treatment of allies, repeated violation of diplomatic agreements, and over reaching has brought them to the precipice of disaster. This has further brought instability to the region that could escalate into a much wider conflict.

As with any article such as this there are always varying sides to each story. In putting this together the overall theme of Triumvirate and its actions were verified through multiple sources. We made contact with every party. I reached out to Triumvirate Leadership for their statement shortly before publishing and they stated they would hold their response for now. However if one is provided we will update this article with their response or gladly publish any counter they may have as a separate article.

Johann Landier is the CEO of Diplomatic Incident., in Darkness, and Editor-In-Chief of Eve News 24. With a deep passion for Eve Online and covers news across all of New Eden. If you have a story that needs to be told or an event that needs to be covered then email him at [email protected] or contact In-Game at Johann Landier.