Unconventional Tactics At Play In Kamela

Hand-in-hand with the fighting, factional warfare efforts in Kamela have illuminated some fascinating politics at play, as do many war-stricken areas in Eve Online.

In my time covering the factional warfare skirmishes at Kamela V so far, I’ve seen just about all manner of scale of battle, from the solo engagements of frigates all the way up to larger groups of bigger ships all thrown into the frantic dance of war at an Open eve plex. Regardless of other factors, one thing has always been clear: the Minmatar and the Amarr are at war. That means the Minmatar shoot the Amarr, not each other.

So why did a group of Minmatar turn on their own on the front lines in Kamela yesterday?

I checked the document handed to me by CDLoon, an Amarrian fleet commander, in our interview yesterday. At first glance it appeared to be legitimate; Minmatar had fired upon Minmatar, and there were confirmed deaths. Looking it over carefully, I confirmed with some certainty that what I was seeing was real.

The victims of the attack were all members of a cluster of corporations, named Absolute Order XXII Absolute Order XXI, and Absolute Order XIV. Fascinating, I thought. Had the Minmatar freedom fighters turned on themselves, on the verge of triumph in Kamela, after their recent string of high-profile victories?

I had almost docked in the space station in low orbit around Kamela V to start work on the article when I happened to notice the leadership of the attackers was still present in the solar system. It seemed highly unlikely to have been some sort of lapse in strategy on the Minmatar side. Over the course of conversation, the unlikely case was presented to me that each of these Absolute Order corporations were suspected as being specifically set up by Amarrian actors for the purposes of defrauding the Minmatar Republic for LP and sowing dissent among the Minmatar ranks.

It sounds a little paranoid; so I asked around to see if there was anything about this awox that’d just occurred that might be more than meets the eye. Direct from Kamela, I caught up with a few officers from both sides. I interviewed an Ushra’Khan officer who participated in the attack, Pol Macsliebh, who confirmed that there had just been casualties as a result of intentional friendly fire. I was shocked.

Over the next moments, Macsliebh went on to elaborate that the weak vetting requirements contributed to this Amarrian infiltration tactic. The scheme involves using high faction standings for a factional warfare corporation as a counterweight to the standings hit that they take from the awoxing of their Minmatar brethren. Basically, by keeping the standings for their alt corporations high by running missions, for instance, the Amarr are able to impersonate Minmatar fighters, cozy up to them on the battlefield, and backstab them at opportune moments.

Pol Macsliebh of Ushra’Khan

 Macsliebh had strong feelings about the attack and the constant impersonations. “We don’t like to engage our Militia as it affects our standing but these wee shites deserve it. They are as bad as the Slavers,” he said. “Death to all who stand against our People!”

Despite the fervor with which the Minmatar embrace battle with enemies, seemingly on all terms, the initial, shocking fact was still clear; there were deaths of Minmatar, at the hands of other Minmatar. Regardless of the political alliances of the Minmatar that were apparently Amarrian agents, the point seemed to be that racially, Minmatar were killed by Minmatar.

This story seemed possible, but I was still a little skeptical. Eyeing a potential witness in system I approached another decorated Minmatar hero, Harkon Thorson, to confirm the details of the awox. After confirming that he was actually involved with the incident, I asked him what happened.

Harkon Thorson of Ushra’Khan

“The corp had been awoxing for quite some time now. They were here yesterday as well and killed our people, amongst others, so we decided to shoot first this time,” Thorson replied as he slid an envelope across his desk including yet another document, this one corroborating his story. I scrutinized the history and documentation that he provided, and found the truth, finally. He was right. This investigation hadn’t turned out the way I thought it would.

From my first interview with the Amarrian fleet commander, it seemed clear from the beginning that the Minmatar were in some new cloud of disarray. Now, I’m convinced that the Amarr are using any means possible to seek any advantage that they’re seemingly unable to muster on the battlefield. By attacking Minmatar while impersonating Minmatar, an elaborate, fragile ruse was spun. But the purposes of CDLoon’s actions at this point still remain unclear. Was he aware of the discrepancies prior to bringing the original document to my attention? Had he participated in the covert attack, directly, or indirectly?

CDLoon of Local Is Primary

Against the backdrop of the dynamically intensifying front in Kamela, it’s difficult to tell with any certainty what the real motives of everyone involved in this story might be at this point, but one thing will become painfully clear. Whether or not CDLoon’s actions were just some odd attempt to weaponize local reporting to skew the perception of events to the readers of Evil Online Co, the trends of action of each of these characters will illuminate the true intentions of all.

Written by Bill Reeves

Bill Reeves is a reporter for evilonline.co documenting stories in EVE Online. Bill actively reports on factional warfare and current events and graciously accepts in-game donations of EVE plex and ISK. Bill is always looking for tips and checks his emails often.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This