A Brief Disclaimer:
Article Length: 1252 Words
If you are not already aware, then Tony Mai writes all of the histories for the Arcadia Federation. Often, it isn't a noteworthy detail and the histories are written to be as impartial as possible with information gathered from both sides of the conflict when one occurs: that is not possible for this one. This is primarily because of two major reasons: 1) As leader of ARC· at the time I am personally biased from the very start, and 2) Most VBRP Players would not hesitate to shoot me through the head in real life. Therefore, although I will remain as accurate & impartial as possible, it will be AF's side of the story.
Although VBRP is an active enemy to the Arcadia Federation, it originated from the specific actions of the alliance ARC, not the federation as a whole. The creation of VBRP primarily results in several players having a problem with Tony's leadership, and Tony's difficulty in handling them as a leader. One of the very first mistakes Tony made was handing unconditional control of ARC's training alliance (ARC·T) to Kamina in exchange for uncontested leadership of ARC.
The problem in doing this wasn't that Kamina was not a successful leader of ARC·T, in fact he was so successful that he pushed enough recruits into Main AF to create ARC·E, but in the loophole that it created. For example, say you become the CEO of a company, but all of your employees are picked by someone else, on their conditions, and you can't do anything about it. This was, what Tony had unintentionally done with Kamina, and it enabled Kamina to create whatever rules he wanted in order to achieve his mission. Where this became problematic was when ARC recruited a mega-coiner named Darko, someone who believed that the only orders he should follow were those he felt he needed to. What should have happened was for him to be kicked the instant he violated the rules, but as Kamina created his own protocols in ARC·T, he refused to do so when being told by Tony.
More than that, Darko believed that Tony, being 17 years old at the time, should not be leading purely on basis of age rather than ability. This inevitably led to conflict with leadership, and one day after being promoted to ARC·2, Darko attacked a fellow alliance member and killed all his fleets over a verbal argument the two had. Being in ARC·2, Tony kicked him over the action (especially as Darko felt no remorse for it at all), but Kamina took him back into ARC·T to serve as an officer. Once again, because he had unconditional control of ARC·T, Tony was unable to force him to remove Darko.
The problem in doing this wasn't that Kamina was not a successful leader of ARC·T, in fact he was so successful that he pushed enough recruits into Main AF to create ARC·E, but in the loophole that it created. For example, say you become the CEO of a company, but all of your employees are picked by someone else, on their conditions, and you can't do anything about it. This was, what Tony had unintentionally done with Kamina, and it enabled Kamina to create whatever rules he wanted in order to achieve his mission. Where this became problematic was when ARC recruited a mega-coiner named Darko, someone who believed that the only orders he should follow were those he felt he needed to. What should have happened was for him to be kicked the instant he violated the rules, but as Kamina created his own protocols in ARC·T, he refused to do so when being told by Tony.
More than that, Darko believed that Tony, being 17 years old at the time, should not be leading purely on basis of age rather than ability. This inevitably led to conflict with leadership, and one day after being promoted to ARC·2, Darko attacked a fellow alliance member and killed all his fleets over a verbal argument the two had. Being in ARC·2, Tony kicked him over the action (especially as Darko felt no remorse for it at all), but Kamina took him back into ARC·T to serve as an officer. Once again, because he had unconditional control of ARC·T, Tony was unable to force him to remove Darko.
What Kamina had created was a safe haven for Darko where Tony could not touch him, but where he could continuously attack Tony's leadership. The second mistake Tony made here was in not being more aggressive towards the threat that Darko had created. Instead of attempting to force his removal, he was mostly ignored, despite the fact that he was teaching new recruits to dislike leadership, and favor himself instead. When ARC·E was created, the number of recruits pushed through which favored Darko allowed him to be voted in as an ARC·E Officer against Tony's will.
By the time the 2nd war with WRATH started, Darko became opposed to any idea of peace, instead preferring to wipe out Wrath entirely. More than that, being an officer in ARC·E and having trained many of ARC's newer members, he was able to serve as a leadership authority to push that idea. As such, when Tony made peace with WRATH to bring the conflict to the end (as discussed in "Merge into AF Tags"), Darko not only opposed it, but chose to not abide by the ceasefire.
Despite this, Popeye who served as leader of ARC·E ignored any request to have him removed from the alliance. Knowing that by failing to act now Tony could set the precedent that his leadership could be completely bypassed, he took action himself. He removed Darko from all AF & ARC LINE Chats as a way to shut off his communication and access to Officer Intelligence. Darko, in response, claimed that Tony had "no authority to remove him from chats as Tony was not his leader," and quit the alliance. Following him were several ARC·E, ARC·2, and ARC·T he had trained. Popeye, upon Darko's leave, also transferred leadership of ARC·E to Tony and quit as well.
By the time the 2nd war with WRATH started, Darko became opposed to any idea of peace, instead preferring to wipe out Wrath entirely. More than that, being an officer in ARC·E and having trained many of ARC's newer members, he was able to serve as a leadership authority to push that idea. As such, when Tony made peace with WRATH to bring the conflict to the end (as discussed in "Merge into AF Tags"), Darko not only opposed it, but chose to not abide by the ceasefire.
Despite this, Popeye who served as leader of ARC·E ignored any request to have him removed from the alliance. Knowing that by failing to act now Tony could set the precedent that his leadership could be completely bypassed, he took action himself. He removed Darko from all AF & ARC LINE Chats as a way to shut off his communication and access to Officer Intelligence. Darko, in response, claimed that Tony had "no authority to remove him from chats as Tony was not his leader," and quit the alliance. Following him were several ARC·E, ARC·2, and ARC·T he had trained. Popeye, upon Darko's leave, also transferred leadership of ARC·E to Tony and quit as well.
When quitting, none of the now Ex-ARC formed their own alliance, instead they waited to see how many would follow and leave as well. When PHA2's leader, Borg Collective, relocated to AF on 1303 in order to destroy all AF bases, a significant portion of ARC had quit. However, when Tony was able to successfully counter his basing fleet putting his operation to base all remaining ARC to a halt, ARL (an alliance historically neutral to ARC), assisted in killing Tony's fleets. The ex-ARC players claimed that the incident was an example of Tony's poor leadership as he was now creating war with alliances historically neutral to ARC (despite the fact that Borg Collective was an alt to an ARL player, and doing nothing meant every ARC base would have been destroyed).
With the mass exodus of ARC players, and constant attacks on Tony, the claim (despite being ridiculous in hindsight), was effective and led to more players leaving. Luckily, it was around this time that BOUND's leader recommended the idea of creating a single AF Tag. Previously, ARC would have been hesitant to such an offer, and if they had accepted it then there most certainly would have been some level of autonomy, but with ARC's future existence being so uncertain, Tony accepted and advocated for the idea himself.
With the mass exodus of ARC players, and constant attacks on Tony, the claim (despite being ridiculous in hindsight), was effective and led to more players leaving. Luckily, it was around this time that BOUND's leader recommended the idea of creating a single AF Tag. Previously, ARC would have been hesitant to such an offer, and if they had accepted it then there most certainly would have been some level of autonomy, but with ARC's future existence being so uncertain, Tony accepted and advocated for the idea himself.
When ABYSS accepted to take the tag, both they and ARC relocated to Sector 5200 immediately to begin the process. All AF forces in 1300 were ordered to relocate ASAP, and those that did not were kicked for inactivity. Once ARC had left the sector, the remaining ex- players joined up with PHA2's old leader, Borg Collective, to form Viking Borg's Raiding Party (VBRP). Originally, despite the ex-ARC players saying they meant no harm to ARC, the instant the possibility of more players leaving stopped, they joined up with someone who was adamantly against AF. Also, quite humorously I might add, most left over Tony's leadership only to let Borg name the alliance after himself.
Since the creation of VBRP, they have successfully poached a handful of members from AF, and have attempted to poach dozens more. They have hunted & lied to AF repeatedly, and even defended WRATH, the very alliance they wished to "exterminate," when AF launched an operation against WRATH to do that very thing. For the most part, despite the fact that most of VBRP's founding members will deny ever coming from AF, they have stopped at nothing to try and destroy AF historically. Despite that, and the thousands of $USD they have spent fighting AF (proudly admitting to spend that much as well), AF still stands. Their attempted extermination of AF managed to create a federation which started off suspicious and worried of poaching, to instead grow into one which kept members not on fighting ability or prestige, but through trust & kindness. So, in that aspect, all of AF past, present, and future, owes them somewhat of a thanks for creating the peace & prosperity which we have today.
Since the creation of VBRP, they have successfully poached a handful of members from AF, and have attempted to poach dozens more. They have hunted & lied to AF repeatedly, and even defended WRATH, the very alliance they wished to "exterminate," when AF launched an operation against WRATH to do that very thing. For the most part, despite the fact that most of VBRP's founding members will deny ever coming from AF, they have stopped at nothing to try and destroy AF historically. Despite that, and the thousands of $USD they have spent fighting AF (proudly admitting to spend that much as well), AF still stands. Their attempted extermination of AF managed to create a federation which started off suspicious and worried of poaching, to instead grow into one which kept members not on fighting ability or prestige, but through trust & kindness. So, in that aspect, all of AF past, present, and future, owes them somewhat of a thanks for creating the peace & prosperity which we have today.