The Three Moon War

The Three Moon War
Author: Raphael Saint

WINMATAR. <WMTR> has been one of the more active corporations in the Minmatar Milita for the past year, participating in both PVP roams and the sov warfare system in FW. As covered previously, <WMTR> played not-insignificant roles in both the fall of Sahtogas and others. <WMTR> regularly involved other militia corps in its sov fleets and ihub bashes, and offered a SRP for its own members that supported losses all the way up to carriers. This was funded through low-level moons and higher tax rates during periods of Tier 4 or Tier 5 warzone control. It was this need for income that would lead to the rest of the militia turning against them.

From an outside point of view, it started innocent enough. Three higher-quality moons were found in Lulm and Bosboger, the then-home of <WMTR>. These moons were held by what [WMTR] described as “inactive” – corps that had rarely joined their open-militia fleets within the past six months. Believing they could put them to better use, <WMTR> reinforced and then removed the POSs from the moons and set about putting up their own. <WMTR> claims that they paid the owners of the POSs, but both Meltdown. [-MTD-] and Mirkur Draug’Tyr [KHAT] deny any such payments, saying that diplomatic solutions were laughed at by <WMTR>.

This would have drastic consequences as <WMTR> was summoned to a diplomatic summit headed by Annah Kitheran, the CEO of Angry Mustelid, a primarily PVP-oriented corporation in the Minmatar Militia. <WMTR> was asked one question: Would they stop taking the moons and give them back? Already having colonized them and not seeing the point in returning the moons to non-participating corporations, <WMTR> declined. The meeting ended but the fallout wouldn’t be seen until the next day: A coalition of 18 corporations and alliances, who named themselves “Losematar” (not to be confused with the Losematar. <LMTR> alliance since created by <WMTR>) declared war on <WMTR>, marking the beginning of what I’ll call the Three Moon War.

<WMTR> sat back and played defensive in the beginnings of the war, surprised and disheartened to see corps and alliances that had participated in their fleets and received assistance from them now lining up against them. It was their hope that they could persuade them to join their own cause and thusly refrained from striking out at their assets in order to keep them on friendlier terms. Some of those corps agressed by <WMTR> report having had good relations prior to the moon theft, and that such a response by the rest of the militia should not have been a surprise; The blue-on-blue agression shown by <WMTR> would not be tolerated. Despite the work <WMTR> had done for warzone control, a lack of work within the social layer of the Minmatar militia saw them make few friends with other established corporations and ultimately ended with the large coalition gathered against them.

The first notable skirmish took place in Gulmorogod when <WMTR> and Shadow Cartel support dropped on a "Losematar" Batteship fleet. "Losematar" was able to kill a <WMTR> carrier, losing 5 battleships before disengaging and extracting. Numerous smaller skirmishes would take place before the largest and most decisive battle of the conflict would take place.

The "Losematar" coalition's first major op was not for the three moons that caused the war but for <WMTR>’s heavily defended Titan POS that was allegedly littered with corpse cans. <WMTR> got word of more fleets standing by on Titans in case <WMTR> came out big, leaving the defenders to muster a fleet of Talwars to fight against the 70+ strong Losematar fleet. Ultimately the POS was reinforced, setting the stage for the biggest and most decisive battle of the war.

The battle when the POS came out of reinforcement would prove to be far costlier for <WMTR>. With the chance at a Titan killmail, the night the RF timer expired saw Bosboger local climb to 350, with many of those in "Losematar" alarm-clocking for it, something rarely seen in A/M FW. "Losematar" was assisted by a few neutral entities hungry for battle, including former Amarr Militia corporation Death By Design who provided a 10-man strategic cruiser gang and Outlaw Horizon. <OHBBY>. Both Shadow Cartel and Pandemic Legion <-10.0> showed up to third-party the engagement, using Ishtars and Crows respectively to pick off targets of opportunity. <WMTR> put up a defense fleet but was soundly defeated, losing two carriers and the home port of their Titan. Despite heavy logistics support on both sides, twenty-two battleships were destroyed along with numerous support ships.

The loss of the POS was a hard blow to <WMTR>, but Amarrian corps that had caught word of the civil war were threatening to take their home. <WMTR> put up a plexing defense, but the civil war against the rest of the Minmatar Militia had seen its last major engagement. <WMTR> began to make up for the losses incurred in Bosboger by striking out at assets belonging to members of the “Losematar” coalition, but began to have second thoughts about sticking around. As <WMTR> put it, "our memberbase came with the question why would even care to protect the Minmatar militia if all they'd rather [do] is fight us."

Having been prodded by Amarrian plexing alliance Team Amarrica <FUQYA>, <WMTR> made plans to switch sides but needed time to grind the alliance’s standings up from the abysmal -10.0 the Amarr Empire bestowed upon them for their hostilities. <WMTR> joined the Gallente Militia and moved up to Yvangier in Cal/Gal space to keep the PVPers in the corp happy while others ground Crusade standings in an alt corp.

<WMTR> joined the Amarr militia after two weeks in Gal space and have been closely working with another sov-focused alliance, Team Amarrica <FUQYA>. The change in loyalties saw a split within the membership, with Biohazard. [-BIO-] (<WMTR> executor corp) losing quite a few members including its CEO. Members of “Losematar” were happy to see them go and welcomed them back as enemies, or as Kitheran put it, "to forcefeed us killmails."

The end of the Three Moon War saw the losing side, <WMTR>, leave the Minmatar Militia and come back to the warzone as members of the Amarr Militia and integrate with their former enemies quite smoothly.

Acknowledgements & Thanks:
Anna Kitheran, CEO of Angry Mustelid, Iron Oxide, Minmatar Militia
Aslon Seredith, CEO of Biohazard., WINMATAR., Minmatar Militia
Astroyka, CEO of Mirkur Draug’Tyr, Minmatar Militia
General Born, CEO of Born Imperialism, Defiant Legacy, Minmatar Militia
Sengir Gore, CEO of Meltdown., Minmatar Militia