Realm of the Whispering Winds Escapes Raider Threat
A besieged Frontier is finally secured after monumental efforts by a defender coalition
Written by Grea Kriopia
Edited by Vor
Since losing their Founder Halcyon Nova in November 2021, the region Realm of the Whispering Winds (RotWW) has become all too familiar with raider activity. But as of this Monday, the region can finally let down its guard with a new Governor in place.
The ERN spearheaded a massive operation at the start of July alongside many defender allies to assist RotWW in appointing a new Governor to the region and to remove any threat of potential raids. Working in conjunction with Defender leaders, RotWW’s native leadership successfully completed two transitions – from Stronghold to Frontier and then back to Stronghold – over four weeks. Now, with the transitions over, the Delegate, Xvraks, retains the position of Governor and RotWW is officially out of raider’s sights three years after Halcyon Nova’s CTE.
A Familiar Target
RotWW faced its first major onslaught in August 2022 in an occupation run by Lone Wolves United (LWU), where the pile quickly sailed above 150 endorsements. The raid took place during a frenzied period in 2022 where military gameplay jumped into overdrive, as piles soared into the hundreds, regions like The Mystical Council burned, and unease spread from the rise of Raider Unity. Just barely short on numbers each time, defenders ultimately would fail to liberate RotWW in August, and instead block raider’s ability to password and damage RotWW further in liberation proposal SC#411.
SC#411 stayed in place as the Frontier/Stronghold update came and went, and for some time things in RotWW quieted down. Before long it was March 2024, and RotWW was working to rebuild. Natives from the region, and notably the new Delegate Xvraks, pursued a repeal of SC#411 – believing a password was the next logical step to secure the region. In a twist of irony, however, raiders again led by LWU swooped into RotWW just as the repeal of SC#411 passed. Another liberation proposal was immediately thrown up in its place, this being SC#499, and an injunction proposal followed with SC#500 a few days later to prevent the region’s forcible transition. RotWW survived a second time, with the region’s influence reserves shielding it from damage and raiders withdrawing after a few weeks, but coming out of the raid in April 2024 left pressing questions of what to do with the region.
A Risky Solution
After weeks of piling in April, both the RotWW natives and defenders wanted to see a solution for the region’s long-term security. Piling the region for forever or risking eventual destruction by raid were not sustainable strategies. Neither was passwording the region, after how quickly raiders swooped in last time. The remaining and most time-consuming option was to appoint a new Governor.
The logistics for such an operation with two transitions were daunting. There were countless variables to attempt to control – Influence, timing, population, etc. Would the natives respond? Would there be enough pilers? Was it worth repealing the liberation proposal, risking another catastrophic raid? What would happen if there was a raid, could we save the region then? The list went on.
In an effort to control all of these variables, hours went into pre-operational planning. The transitions from Stronghold to Frontier and then back to Stronghold would take four weeks in total, requiring a strategy drawn up ahead to guard the region the entire time. The region’s population would have to be heavily reduced as every extra nation pushed the influence cost higher. Yet this would also leave the region further vulnerable to raids with less pilers shoring up the native delegate, meaning the transitions had to be initiated as soon as possible. Every aspect of the operation had to walk the line between safety and efficiency, and, no matter what, the math and timing had to be precise.
Spreadsheets were drawn up and calculations were made. Defender ROs were put up with Xvraks’ help and lists of nations to eject were carefully allocated. Contingencies upon contingencies were planned for. Then a date was set and the four week timer started.
Over a span of five hours on July 14, RotWW’s population was reduced from over 130 nations to 41 pre-determined nations. Xvraks initiated the first transition at 6 PM EDT immediately after the ejections – Exactly as scheduled, safely away from update times. Then came the pilers surging from defender militaries to top 80 endorsements by midnight, including at least 17 of our own ERN sailors. In every update after, defender ROs were on border control watch for incoming raids as a final line of defense. All that was left to do was cross our fingers for four weeks straight.
The front-end planning and constant vigilance paid off as 56 updates flew by without issue. Days turned to weeks and the second transition loomed. Once again, a time was set and Xvraks pushed the transition button in a few hours turnaround. At no point did a raid attempt appear and anxiety melted into relief. RotWW had finally caught a break.
Smooth Sailing
In spite of all of the work going into this operation, Xvraks’ ascension as Governor on Monday was anti-climatic. RotWW updated for the last time and Xvraks took the position titled “Admiral of the Realm” to manage the region for the foreseeable future. Boring is good, we reminded ourselves while wrapping up final logistics, because boring means the region is safe.
A huge amount of gratitude goes to the militaries involved in this operation including the League Defense Forces, the Order of the Grey Wardens, the Rejected Realms Army, the South Pacific Special Forces, and the Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organization plus the 8 individual border control officers who were around for four weeks straight.
For the ERN’s part, the 17 sailors involved marked a new era in the ERN’s history post-Frontier/Stronghold update in the first execution of a transition to help restore natives’ control of a region. The ERN also got to play the leading part in organizing this operation with other defender militaries despite only gaining its first member of Libcord’s officer command last November. Needless to say, the ERN’s trajectory continues to rocket upward with success and accomplishment.
Frontier/Stronghold transitions continue to define the landscape of military gameplay and are unlikely to slow down any time soon. Spearheading this massive coordinated effort has not only allowed the ERN to set a higher standard of operations to come and flex its growing technical expertise but also better prepared us and our allies to tackle similar challenges in the future.
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