Written on 25 July 2022
IN FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR, I warned the citizenry of Osiris that pursuing the designation of Quebecshire as persona non grata was an unwise decision - one which would weaken our standing in Gameplay and lead us down the path to becoming a laughingstock among the GCRs. Though my words swayed some, Koth, who authored the motion, and Pharaoh Skies, determined to press on, and the motion was passed. In the months since, the world has witnessed the fulfilment of the predictions I made, the first step towards which led to my leaving the region to join The League.
Quebecshire was proscribed in Osiris on account of the many jokes he has made over recent months about the destruction of the Osiris Fraternal Order. While never displaying any serious intention to burn the region or anything of the sort, his comments were deemed outrageous enough to warrant an official condemnation. The perspective shared by Koth and those who supported the designation is that these jokes form a pattern, and regardless of any real threat posed to Osiris, Quebecshire clearly intended to humiliate and degrade a region which he thought a fun target for good-natured ribbing. As a stalwart standardbearer of the new Defender Moralism, it was easy to paint a picture of Quebecshire as a true enemy of Osiris, a threat to her interests, and an opponent of her very sovereignty.
None of this was true at the time; Quebecshire and others in the many Discord servers used by the Gameplay community have frequently engaged in jeers and jokes about a coup of every region you could possibly imagine. Second to Osiris as a target of these jokes was Balder - prescient, really. But the latter-day regime in this vaunted sinker decided that it would not take these jokes lying down. Indeed, the Osiris Fraternal Order would not sit idly in the face of this relentless mockery, and so decided to make a brave stand for all that is good and right in this life.
I made my thoughts known at the time: to respond with such a heavy hand to one determined jester would not project strength, but instead weakness. As a respected sinker with numerous allies, I thought it would not only be unbecoming but completely absurd to take these jokes so personally. The very act of proscription in itself degraded Osiris’s standing as a community, and shouted loudly to the world that the OFO has by far the thinnest skin of any major region. I warned that responding in this way would not silence any critic of the regime, whether sincere or completely facetious. No, in fact, it was clear to me that issuing a PNG against Quebecshire would only embolden him, and others who now saw an open invitation to rag on Osiris and provoke a reaction. In the end, my plea fell on deaf ears, and so I decided it was time for a change.
I had been considering an alignment switch to raiding, in order to better suit my status as an Osiran and a Sub-Vizier of Culture within the government. I had been in talks with Koth about even joining Malice, but it became crystal clear to me that my unserious temperament was probably better fit for a different region than the Osiris I was loyal to. And looking back, I am certain that I made the right decision.
Thus, shortly after the proscription was passed, I resigned my citizenship and moved to The League, after becoming fast friends with the man himself, and you know the rest. Quebecshire published a half-sincere, half-satirical manifesto proclaiming the need to destroy the OFO, and The League was driven to declare war after a string of incidents concerning raids on territories of our treaty allies. It was funny enough to see Osiris rewarded for its projection with further trolling, but little did we know how far they would go to vindicate Quebecshire’s criticisms, and how avoidable the regime’s numerous mistakes would be - and the venom with which they have defended every misstep. Quebecshire published a document which could be seen as pure bluster and braggadocio, but, as if by fate, Osiris turned his teasing criticisms into a self-fulfilling prophecy, thus vindicating him in the process.
In the months that followed my switch from Osiris to The League, the rift between the two halves of Gameplay grew, first in murmurs, then to tremors, and now to open hostility. Unlike the divides of days past, this was not strictly a Raider-Defender split. It was a clash of both ideologies and personalities. The enmity between different members of organizations crossed with remarkable ambition from the resurgent Brotherhood of Malice. Raider Unity, however you would like to define it, swept to the forefront of Gameplay, and the regions of the world have found themselves caught in a struggle to define their standing in this new era.
That is likely hyperbole. The reality of the situation is that not much has changed in terms of defining Gameplay alignment, except for the development that raiding’s most prominent faction is now attempting to redefine who fits into what category. I do not claim to be the most well-informed person when it comes to the interpersonal drama of GP - I try to stay out of it, for the most part. But a glance at the forum posts of Malice and their surrogates in Osiris and abroad paints an interesting picture. And in it, we arrive at the topic of the article itself.
The Brotherhood of Malice is concocting a smokescreen of disingenuous interpretations and twisted semantics in order to create a false narrative surrounding their malignant actions against GCRs. In doing so, they aim to downplay their misdeeds, or in some cases, cast them as morally neutral actions at worst. The propaganda spouted by prolific posters such as Wayneactia, Sygian (welcome back!), North Polish Union and others is an attempt to make you disregard the evidence of your eyes, and present themselves as the true victims of unjustified ostracism by much of the interregional landscape, when, in fact, they did it to themselves.
For the purpose of this article, I must make it expressly clear that Osiris and Malice, in the context of alignment and attitude, should be viewed as the same political unit, or at least two sides of the same coin. The raider attitude of disregard towards regional sovereignty is shared by Osiris; they share prominent figures in the raider faction, and they move in lockstep with each other as allies. Koth, or Valtarre, is both a leader of Malice and the root administrator of Osiris’s forum. It is furthermore my understanding that Venico holds citizenship in Osiris. The two should be considered separate entities only insofar as one is a region and the other is its military arm, or vice versa, where Osiris serves as the political arm of Malice’s ambitions. The Osiris Fraternal Order and the Brotherhood of Malice exist to support each other, and one would doubtlessly be all the poorer without the other. Perhaps some doubts could be raised towards this conclusion in months past; recent events, however, have made it clear that the Osiran regime will burn every bridge it can with its fellow GCRs before saying one admonishing word about Malice.
Why is this a problem? It is not any sort of problem if your sole interest as a NationStates player is to participate in raiding or defending, to contribute to activity levels, to build friendship and solidarity with your comrades, and to give no regard to the vagaries of regional politics. But if you are a person who values your region, your regional identity, and the sovereignty of your region that allows its native community to thrive, then the existence of a powerful GCR that is at best indifferent to your sovereignty, and at worst actively contemptuous of it, is surely a threat to your interests as a member of that region.
As is widely known at this juncture, a plan was concocted by the Brotherhood of Malice to infiltrate and overthrow the government of Balder: either to establish a colonial government, as in the case of the 2017 coup of Lazarus by affiliates of Lone Wolves United (this is disputed by them), or to burn it to the ground before leaving, as one could argue Milograd did in the hot days of his 2013 “revolution” in the South Pacific. There is nothing unexpected or essentially wrong with this plan from a raider perspective - a raider has no obligation to respect the sovereignty of any region, and a sinker would doubtlessly make for a prestigious trophy. It has certainly been a long while since the last successful takeover of a GCR by an external organization (I believe the last instance would be the establishment of the Osiris Fraternal Order by Malice itself). Disavowing regional sovereignty with a devil-may-care attitude towards who gets burnt as a result of your actions is, much as we may disdain it, the raider way. However, the problem presents itself when the ambitions and attitudes of a naturally malicious raider organization are adopted and pursued by a sinker such as Osiris.
The exposure of Operation Ragnarok led to catastrophic fallout for the OFO’s foreign relations. Inside just two weeks, Osiris has lost every alliance and treaty it has with the GCRs, save for a non-aggression pact with the Rejected Realms. Her sister sinker, Balder, was the target of an operation to destroy her community, and when Balder’s government sought solidarity, it was met with silence. There has been a stream of bitter statements from officials and citizens within Osiris towards every region which has cut ties, which in their own right prove exactly why Osiris cannot be trusted. To illuminate this point, I will display and comment on a selection of those statements here.
Exhibit A. “Hopefully something along the lines of: Nice.”
Altino, Hasal-Pharaoh, in response to Syberis saying “What is Osiris’ response to the actions of their ally?” Without any clarification that this is a joke, and evidenced by Altino’s further comments on the matter, this seems an apparent endorsement of Operation Ragnarok.
Exhibit B. “See ya! Wouldn’t wanna be ya!”
Sygian, Deputy Vizier of Foreign Affairs, on the Lazarus RMB after ties were cut. This comment received “likes” from Moshir (head of the Sekhmet Legion) Wascoitan, Deputy Moshir and Sub-Vizier of Gameside Affairs Big Boyz, and Priest (Judge) and Deputy Scribe (Speaker) Cretanja, as well as, naturally, Altino.
Exhibit C. “Can’t wait to see the coup of this region!”
Woolgalia, ostensibly a soldier in the Sekhmet Legion, on Balder’s RMB. Notably preceded by Altino saying, “Hey hope you get couped real good. ♡”.
Exhibit D (abridged). “Horrible of Osiris to even begin to think they could be a serious GP region while they were spending their time lollygagging around and not agreeing with TNP on things. If they aren't nodding yes at TNP and aren't doing what TWP tells them (or else!) what are they even doing with their time?
[. . .] Genuinely so excited, I was positive that Osiris would do absolutely nothing about this whole BoM issue. That's not an option anymore! It is so disappointing to watch people yawn their way through GP, I can't wait to see Hazel get down to business.”
Altino, in the North Pacific’s Gameplay thread, after ties were cut. This statement insults TNP’s sovereignty by implying their subordination to the West Pacific, and goes on to imply further action should be taken against regions which have opted to end their relationships with Osiris.
The attitude of government officials, particularly Sygian, who is supposed to represent the official stance of the Osiran Government in his capacity as Sub-Vizier of Foreign Affairs, leaves little doubt as to the stance of the community and the government of Osiris.
What is even more telling, however, is the silence from the very top. Neither Pharaoh Malphe nor Vizier of Foreign Affairs Ark have made much comment about their stance on Operation Ragnarok. While it has been made known that Malphe requested a halt to these insulting comments (an order which was not followed), they have made no disavowal of their sentiment whatsoever. This is the extent of Malphe’s public comments on Ragnarok, titled “On Recent Events”:
“We never had any knowledge of and Osiris has no interest in participating in any subversion of Balder, or any other peer region. Our responsibility is to our own community and to our own allies, and Osiris shares neither legal or historical ties to Balder such that we could not in good conscience justify under coercion betraying the goodwill of a contemporary and dedicated ally on its account.”
Malphe establishes that Osiris did not know of the operation and would not have participated in it had they known. It would be at least a start, if not for the sentences which followed – words which disingenuously place the blame on the directional Pacifics for “pressuring” Osiris to conform to their interests. Malphe furthermore refuses to condemn the operation on the basis that Osiris has no “legal or historical ties to Balder”. In other words, we don’t care. While Malphe’s claim of non-involvement is dubious for various reasons, it is the height of lunacy to insinuate that the reason for these terminations and embassy closures has to do only with the feeders’ desire to make Osiris kneel. Let us compare two competing theories as to why Osiris has become a pariah among the GCRs over the course of July.
Theory A is thus: In line with the justifications stated in their various statements, the Feeders, as well as Lazarus and Balder, are concerned that Osiris has done nothing to assure them that the OFO respects the sovereignty of her fellow GCRs. They are concerned chiefly by the complete lack of any negative word against the plainly-stated intentions of the Brotherhood of Malice to overthrow and destroy the government of Balder, whose sovereignty and legitimacy has been heretofore recognized by all regions of import. Despite efforts to seek clarity on this matter, Osiris has made no public statement disavowing Operation Ragnarok beyond a simple insistence that they were not involved. This is compounded by the fact that Malice is the OFO’s preeminent ally in Gameplay, and, seeing treaty after treaty terminated as a consequence of this silence, the only further comment from Osiran government officials has been to lash out at their erstwhile allies; insulting them, questioning their sovereignty, and actively speculating further efforts to undermine them.
In the eyes of any given GCR, every subsequent reaction from Osiris towards any questioning of the regime’s respect for regional sovereignty has given them all the more reason to cut ties. And, in a continuing cycle of vindication, Osiris continues to disrespect and demean every region that feels forced to make this decision. Under these premises, all of these closures could have been prevented by a simple statement by Pharaoh Malphe, or anyone within the OFO for that matter, expressing a basic respect for the principle of sovereignty on which these alliances were made. It would surely give pause to any of these regions who once held an alliance with Osiris; you would have to wonder if they ever truly saw you as equal partners worthy of defending. If Osiris had five allies and chose Malice over one, it might be understandable. But to enthusiastically disavow every ally they have, particularly TWP, the bedrock of 2016-2022 Osiran foreign affairs? This newly-reborn raider organization must be incredibly valuable as an ally to make it worth sacrificing every other relationship you have with your closest, most longstanding partners. If Osiris will gleefully burn every bridge they are capable of burning before making even the most feeble comment supporting your sovereignty, then insults you when you inquire on the matter, why should you believe that Osiris respects you at all?
Theory B posits that every other GCR with the exception of the Pacific (who have no official ties to begin with) and the Rejected Realms are in on a coordinated plot to subvert and undermine Osiris. This plot is borne from a base hatred of Osiris’s ties with Malice, its raider ideology, and its very existence as a community. The Feeders, as well as Lazarus, Balder, and prominent UCRs like Europeia and The League, are all part of a Defender-Independent-Imperialist bloc who have never respected Osiris, and deserve no respect in return. These regions have the knives out for Osiris because they dared to stand with a treaty ally (notwithstanding their other five treaties with their fellow GCRs) whose only crime was to try to destroy a fellow sinker with whom these regions also had treaties. Under these confusing and illogical premises, every region that has cut ties with Osiris has managed to bridge every ideological divide between them in order to gang up on the OFO. Also notwithstanding the fact that Osiris held treaties with all of these regions, and got along well with them before the Ragnarok fiasco, which is an interesting fact to consider if you assume that none of these regions had ever respected Osiris to begin with. Not to mention completely bypassing the legitimate concern any region would have over an attempt to undermine a GCR’s sovereignty, and instead complaining that their allies are unwilling to stand with them, without addressing the reason whatsoever for why these ties have been frayed.
The only real opinion that has been expressed by Osiris, besides the jubilant threats against their former allies, has been a meek insistence that Operation Ragnarok never really got off the ground, and so little threat existed to begin with. While that may be so, it is ultimately irrelevant, as the problem here is not with the outcome, but with the intent. By downplaying the gravity of a plot like Ragnarok, Osiris says the quiet part out loud: we have no problem with our ally plotting against you. It doesn’t matter that Malice tried to destroy you, because they didn’t succeed. And if you have a problem with that, then you deserve it. This theory places independent regions such as Europeia, Balder, and Lazarus into what Malice’s surrogates have labelled the “Defendersphere”, which is an odd accusation to make. There have been further accusations that Balder is an illegitimate puppet of the Land of Kings and Emperors, and practices imperialism - this charge, made by the Church of Satan, is firmly rooted in an outdated and misinformed view of Balder’s recent history as an Independent region. If it were true, however, Defenders and Imperialists would indeed make strange bedfellows - it is a view that can only be justified on a faulty logical framework wherein interregional relations are dictated solely by the pacts made between different R/D factions, instead of the much simpler and logical truth of Theory A: that, despite ideological diversity when it comes to alignment, the relations between large regions exist on the basis of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty.
This is the true nature of the situation we find ourselves in now, and creates a simple binary: there are those who respect the sovereignty of GCR governments, led by their native denizens, and those who do not. Osiris finds itself firmly on the other side of that binary, against all other regions that uphold this principle. They were not placed in this quandary by circumstance or ill intent on the part of the other regions - they have firmly planted themselves here through their own actions, which have made clear whose sovereignty Osiris does and does not respect. In an ironic twist of events, the fortress mentality that so baselessly leads them to believe in Theory B has resulted in a pattern of behaviour that, more than anything else, is likely to solidify the unity of the GCRs and big UCRs against Osiris. In senselessly branding every region that doesn’t support the OFO’s stance of tacitly endorsing the destruction of Balder as being fundamentally opposed to Osiris itself, they have made enemies of the regions they once called friends, and it is a situation entirely of their own making.
One of the charges laid by supporters of the Osiris Fraternal Order is that of hypocrisy. After all, is it not blatantly hypocritical to take light-hearted jabs at these regions as threats against them, while you yourself have made the same jokes of Osiris in the past? This was the complaint levied by Devi in the Osiris Gameplay thread. However, a cursory examination into these accusations exposes the weakness of its fundaments.
Quebecshire, who has been known to indulge in a little trolling, had a long history of making jokes questioning Osiris’s sovereignty. With little prior relationship between Osiris and The League, it is fair enough that the regime would happily accept him and his region as an enemy. The League, for its part, has made no demands of its treaty allies to join or endorse its war against Osiris, and has been happy to make nice with regions that maintain relationships with the OFO. The League’s official position as a region is that Osiris is a puppet of the Brotherhood of Malice, and thus has no legitimacy as a government, and serves only as a threat to the sovereignty of regions the world round. Osiris is not obligated to respect our position on this matter, but their error has been in taking our own logic as a militant Defender region to apply to every other region, Defender or not, which has forsaken Osiris. In the matter of Operation Ragnarok, Quebecshire was simply the messenger for the plot to be revealed to the public - the regions which have reacted unfavourably to these revelations do not share our ethos nor our stance on the legitimacy of the OFO, or lack thereof. But, ironically, Osiris has chosen to give these regions all the reason they would ever need to see them as a hostile power, and a potential threat not to be trusted.
It would have been fair enough for Osiris to use Quebecshire’s previous statements as a defense for its officials making similar comments towards, say, The League. However, Osiris has taken this ball and ran with it far beyond any reasonable metric. Altino and company have not limited their jibes to just The League - as demonstrated, among the regions which once held ties with Osiris, only the East Pacific has escaped any kind of public scorn following their statement. And it is entirely possible that there will be future harsh words for them as well.
The kind of rhetoric employed by officials within the Osiran government has been unreservedly harsh towards those regions which expressed concerns, and unreservedly defensive towards the Brotherhood of Malice. One of the many arguments put forth goes along the lines of “How would you expect us to condemn our ally?” – to which I say, simply. To be blunt here, no one was expecting Osiris to dump Malice as an ally. Some regions had previous misgivings about Malice, some did not. To whom Osiris allies herself was never the problem before now. The problem is, and has been since the beginning of this affair, the inability of Osiris to levy a word of criticism against said ally, and what message is conveyed to her allies by that which Osiris leaves unsaid. Condemning Malice’s plot to destroy Balder does not necessitate a wholesale termination of that relationship. What would have made this entire situation go away is if Osiris had stated their profound disagreement with the aims of Operation Ragnarok and their respect for the principle of sovereignty. Bonus points if they threw in a line about how they would take it up with their ally and forge a path ahead that reconciles the OFO’s standing within the Gameplay community with their loyalty and friendship to the Brotherhood of Malice. Then, behind the scenes, in the backchannels, a quick assurance to Malice’s leadership that nothing would really change, and it was necessary to say what they said for the purpose of maintaining their relationships with other valued allies. But alas, this could not happen, as the leadership of Osiris and the Brotherhood of Malice are one and the same.
It’s in the very name. The Osiris Fraternal Order. A government founded upon a coup of the democratic Kemetic Republic by outside forces: Malice itself. Since the decline and eventual death of Malice before its revival, the OFO’s previous ties to the organization made little difference to anyone. But now that Koth and Venico have seen fit to resurrect the Brotherhood from the ashes, and immediately set out to pull off a sinker coup, Osiris has hitched its wagon without hesitance to their subversive machinations and Raider Unity ideology. Osiris speaks of respecting its allies, but in reality has shown itself to have only one ally: Malice. Osiris let its feeder and sinker partners fall by the wayside, every single one, rather than speak out. It is apparent to any observer that the Osiris Fraternal Order has never respected the sovereignty of its allies, and their action (and inaction) since the beginning of July has only confirmed this.
It hardly bears mentioning what the value of regional sovereignty is – more than a simple buzzword, it is the basis for all interactions between important and active regions with thriving communities. Sovereignty is the foundation for a friendship between regions, in the trust that neither will betray the other, and should the time come, will defend the other from external attack. Osiris gleefully chose to discard any value it pretended to have for this principle, and on top of spurning every region that reached out in good faith, elected to deploy a confusing smokescreen of half-baked conspiracy theories, pitting themselves against the world. The narrative the OFO is attempting to prop up is not only riddled with contradictions, but comes from a place of utter spite towards the regions who once called Osiris a friend. The diplomatic warpath on which the regime has embarked was never intended to sincerely plead the case for interregional friendship in spite of obvious differences - it is a smokescreen, pure and simple, designed solely for the purpose of letting Osiris duck their responsibility as a GCR and avoid the consequences of their own actions.
If only they had the courage to admit it.
Well said Ike, well said....