The Eternal Knights: Farewell Address

[Planispheria]

Smooth raid.

Just one miss.

And the last.

What?

It looks like the region is closing down, or will stop raiding.

[Nephmir]

Hello, everyone.

I'm back sooner then I had thought; turns out I only needed 2 full days off of a computer to figure out that it has been the source of recent memory loss/insomnia issues, given the fact that I also work online when I'm not on NS.

At any rate, I'd like to take the time to clear up what's been going on with TEK lately as well as clarify on what is to come.

First, what has been happening- over the last few months, I have been pushing TEK to the limit. I finally pushed it over that limit by the forcing an operation that we could clearly not win, the recent "liberate CoF" (which I acknowledged before pushing to attempt said liberation). Despite a record high in morale and propaganda, the "silent" majority began to leave, creating a snowball effect that lead to the explosion of the region. Of course, something doesn't just explode without a tension or force gradually building from within, and that force, I am sorry to say, was provided by myself, and the recent TEK-CoF merge accelerated the process.

The CoFers and TEKians never really settled; as NoblePhnx put it (something along these lines): "CoF and TEK never settled, it was like oil on water".

Wasn't about you mate. It was about 5 WA nations - nothing to do with you. We were all pretty sad to see you leave however. You really should have expressed to them why you were going because when we were all chatting over TG on a few things...Your name came up and no one (aside from me with that convo we had) knew why. I think if you had told them it'd change a couple thing

I had issues, but my trigger for leaving was because I discovered this was about to happen, and thus major military org action against TBR is now pointless.

I had seen this, but I wasn't worried about it. Why? Not because of arrogance (that is a guise I put on as it seems to work to my advantage oftentimes), but because we in the TEK government were recently celebrating breaking a new record in active Pilers, exceeding that of the United Imperial Armed Forces and growing. This was due to my new system of having nations choose between joining two divisions, specifically the one where they could only pile and register a WA puppet to do so, where registering on the offsite forum and. Perhaps I implemented this system too late, as it was working quite well.

That is, of course, until the explosion. I wanted to test this new found power against the Raiders, so I chose a target that was realistically within our reach (CoF).

I had indeed considered merging TEK into AoI briefly, but eventually decided that it wasn't a good idea, as I will explain later on the "what is to come" part. I knew this was coming; I saw that I was pushing TEK too much, and I saw the traitors and spies that were trying to take away TEK's power. I had reached an odd position, being able to see all spies and traitors simultaneously, but not having enough power to rid of them without damaging the region. I am not even sure how to describe this bizarre position I was put in or how I was put in it. The downfall was clear and I may be so bold as to say that I was one of the ones that saw it coming first, yet the damage was so long in the making that I could not repair it before the final push. TEK could not handle the sudden growth and suffered from it. The final blow was dealt when Riftend decided to become a founder again, and abandoned TEK and made friends with it's enemies, mixed with my RL issues.

It is with this all in mind that I must declare that TEK be shut down. This is not the end, though- when I have dealt with in game preparations and RL matters, and I once again have time and power and perhaps a little more experience to put towards this cause, I will reopen TEK under a new age; this isn't the last you'll hear of TEK, and you can expect to hear from us when we have finally finished constructing our super-weapon. Obviously, a lot slower than planned.

I would like to address some points I made in TEK's first thread:

I. The balance must be restored.
II. The balance must be removed.
III. War.

Numbers I and II have already been accomplished. All that remains is number III. I am sorry to say that #3 is already happening, and has not been fully acknowledged by all organizations at this time. Unfortunately I failed to make proper, practical preparations, and my region was one of the many that have fallen in this war thus far. Heed my warning; more will follow soon, and not by my own doing.

It all begins in mid-late February.

Perhaps this may seem cheesy, but notice I never specified a year.

My original intention was to start it in February 2015, after February 2014 passed with no incident- whether or not I can make that deadline is yet to be seen.

This is the plan that will be carried out to the end. The Eternal Knights are deathless, and will always return even when defeated, for nobody may hold back the power within those that seek justice, liberty, and the truth.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in TEK, and especially thank those few that remained loyal and faithful to it, especially those even fewer who remained loyal until the end without any knowledge of the actual plan of action.

Out of the original 13, only myself and 3 others remain. One of them has served as a Knight, then a Lord, and then a Bishop: Unified Protectors, the co-founder of TEK, who despite not having access to the founding nation, did an astounding job at (a) keeping me and the region sane and (b) organizing and running the region, oftentimes behind the scenes. He was the only one other than myself that stuck it through from Day 1, throughout the dark ages and golden ages alike.

Festavo also ran behind the scenes work and kept the region running strong on high morale. Originally rejected by Raiders and Defenders alike, he found a home in TEK where we spent some time training and practicing, forging the region and perfecting our skills as we raided many regions.

Had it not been for NoblePhnx, TEK would never have made it past February. His dedication and work in the region, primarily in tag raiding, has allowed TEK to reach heights previously thought unimaginable by enemy and ally alike.

It is yet to be seen if any former TEK members will return when the borders are open once again, but for those I will not see in TEK again, it was an honor. I sincerely hope that you continue resisting Raider Unity and do not give in to the winning side, even if you face fierce ridicule, on wherever you all may end up, and even if all hope appears to have been lost. When we return, this time with the Armageddon Bomb fully completed and on our side, the tides of battle will turn, and the losing side will be renewed under a new age: the age of The Eternal Knights.

-Nephmir

[Solorni]

Bye Nephmir, it was nice knowing you

[The Sapientia]

I'm honestly quite sad to see TEK go.
We've no longer got to worry about liberations and manning the hammer during updates and that's no fun.

Good luck with future endeavors Nephmir.

[PrussianEmpire]

I always found y'all's forum posts entertaining.

Peace be with you.

[Nephmir]

Thanks...

Oh, yeah- to clarify, TEK is leaving, I will still be on NS but mostly withdrawn and not on as frequently. I may be posting a new thread within the next couple of days looking for a region to pass the time in, but I'm not sure yet.

[Shizensky]

After you guys took that mandated forum break and came back with the better posts, I was willing to give you guys a chance as a serious organization. You seemed to have calmed the right people down enough to get a few things done. I don't think I ever agreed with your methods, but it seemed like that was a turning point for TEK. You forged a stronger sense of community with the non-GP ideas you started building, and while your efforts in tagging were far from elite, you guys showed a somewhat increased understanding of things.

If NationStates gave people "A"s for effort, you'd get one. You might not have always been successful, but I certainly can't think of anybody who tries harder. I said this a long time ago, but I think with some solid leadership and a good support staff, you could have been a part of pretty big things, Neph.

[Trick Shot]

I have poured my heart and soul into TEK and I don't regret any of it. When TEK returns, I will be right there waiting.

And for any of the people out there dying to know (sarcasm) I am on the hunt for a region to hang out in until TEK returns and maybe afterwards as well. Shoot me a TG.

[Tano]

IMO TEK is the biggest turnaround success story gameplay has had in a while. You started off with that insane "purge the world" bullshit, full of yourselves and rather pompous...but then you actually turned a different path and started to focus on making yourselves a viable group.

In the end, I feel most people will remember you for your failures, but I think that you managed to get things on the right track. Kudos to you, and good luck.

[The Assassin ShadowX]

Seeeeeeeeeeeems legit.

Chances are he will just come out again within few weeks or even days under some new identity, as he did before.

Creates nation > creates region > creates a community and an ideology within the region > community and ideology starts to break apart and fail > bail on his region > creates a new nation... and the cycle repeats.

Edit: Oh and for reference, the old dead region: The Ancient Empires of The World.

[Unified Protectors]

Well, I guess this is it. I don't post in the forums much as half the time I don't know what to say and the other half I just avoid senseless bickering. Anyways, considering what we were up against, I was surprised we made it past week one. The time invested by each and every member is what brought us success. My gratitude goes out to every nation who stood up for our cause, no matter how small the contribution. By the end, I felt we had strayed from our purpose and ended dealing more with internal conflict than external. As an organization, we created and idea, that powers can be stood up against.

With that, I'll try to answer some questions I have seen while reading the forums. As an involved, founding member of The Eternal Knights, I feel I can share some of the reasons I joined and stayed in this region. Anybody may wonder why I joined and stayed in a region that was quite unpopular with gameplay. When I joined TEK, it was the first time I had ever been involved in something gameplay. I was totally inexperienced (and perhaps easily manipulated you could say) and Nephmir taught me what he knew. I discovered tactics and gameplay methods and how I could use them. Although not generally accepted, these strategies were what made us as a region. TEK provided me with a region where I could enjoy NationStates. Like all other raiders, defender and imperialists, we raided the raiders for fun. Why conform to a main ideology when you can create your own and have a much better time? It's where we got our enjoyment from.

My belief was that raiding had been reduced to a "quantity over quality" philosophy. I wanted to see meaningful raids instead of tag raids. Sure, some tag raids are impressive, but I feel that raids should take longer than five minutes to prepare for and 15 seconds to execute. I wanted to see the advancement (by my definition) of gameplay where the labels of organizations were more blurred. Where a "raider" organization is willing to attack another. Something where the attacker has something to fight back against as well; where the attacker is not guaranteed to win if their timing is right. So, I believed that TEK was the place to achieve my goals. And that is why I stayed.

My thanks goes out to all the people that helped me in TEK, by providing me a home and people to be around. We had a good run!

I await the return.

[Valrifell]

I'm almost upset for not being recognized in any of those posts, but I can understand why I wasn't of course

Anywho, depressing to see the region go. like Tano had said, it appeared TEK was finally crawling out of a hole it dug itself. Apparently not.

[Vandoosa]

Aww.. why must everything come to an end.. Now where will all of your little nations go?!

[District XIV]

Now where will all of your little nations go?!

Absolutely nowhere, of course.

[Valrifell]

Aww.. why must everything come to an end.. Now where will all of your little nations go?!

Why Sicarius of course! I mean, Sap, EWS, Ave, UN, and Shadow were all from TEK and they moved here, why not keep up with the common trend?

[Vandoosa]

Vultures going after all the helpless lost nations.. Though admit I kinda want to grab some of them too..

[Rifty]

Aww.. why must everything come to an end.. Now where will all of your little nations go?!

Why Sicarius of course! I mean, Sap, EWS, Ave, UN, and Shadow were all from TEK and they moved here, why not keep up with the common trend?

I can't see that occuring

I of course will be tossing our wooden spoon into this big bowl of citizens~

[Valrifell]

Vultures going after all the helpless lost nations.. Though admit I kinda want to grab some of them too..

Don't expect me to get involved personally, I learned from last time... Though someone else from Sicarius may try it, it just won't be me.

Why Sicarius of course! I mean, Sap, EWS, Ave, UN, and Shadow were all from TEK and they moved here, why not keep up with the common trend?

I can't see that occuring

I of course will be tossing our wooden spoon into this big bowl of citizens~

People don't like that right after their region's been put in a position of a shutdown. 'member?

[Rifty]

Vultures going after all the helpless lost nations.. Though admit I kinda want to grab some of them too..

Don't expect me to get involved personally, I learned from last time... Though someone else from Sicarius may try it, it just won't be me.

I can't see that occuring

I of course will be tossing our wooden spoon into this big bowl of citizens~

People don't like that right after their region's been put in a position of a shutdown. 'member?

Yes people hate it - I am still getting out all the former CoF citizens however~

[Vandoosa]

I was wondering why COF split from TEK.. I knew something had to have happened.. did not expect this though..

[Critaly]

we are defenders like your old region ... if you want come join Sword And Shield

R.I.P TEK ... :""(
i hope your slumber is peacefull i await your return. to be allies to one of the greatest regions known here in NS and to me.
R.I.P Nemphir.... :""(
you helped me when i started NS when i had 5 million people i apreciated it i shall miss you.

From me

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Thanks...

Oh, yeah- to clarify, TEK is leaving, I will still be on NS but mostly withdrawn and not on as frequently. I may be posting a new thread within the next couple of days looking for a region to pass the time in, but I'm not sure yet.

Will you continue building your Armageddon Bomb? Or tell us what, if anything, it is?

[Red Skull Prime]

Dammit, Nephmir, you were supposed to be the chosen one!

[Coraxion]

Could you also remove those numerous place holder puppets from the Tagfields and let those founderless dumps CTE? (Armageddon Bomb?)

All serious R/D hobbyists of TEK, who has real interest for raiding can find their new spiritual home within ranks of The Black Riders and it's close allies. Basic requirement is that you have to make a choice, R or D and your answer must be R, not both.

That simple it is.

EDIT: I assume here it is not against rules try recruit people via thread of the Region/Organisation which declares its own end. I could be wrong with my assumption. Correct me, dear mods.

[Nephmir]

Nah, we'll be back. We just can't continue under these conditions. Rebuilding would take months, and I don't have the time to do that at the moment.