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[SIRIUS & ASTERIA]A Love Story





Greetings all you out there in the eWorld. I bring you my first assignment from the Media department at the Feds. I chose to write a piece giving a little explanation on the formation of the new alliances. I sent messages to each CP in both alliances, as well as the Supreme Generals. I was granted an audience with mittekemuis, the SG of SIRIUS. I was unable to get anyone from ASTERIA to go on record, except for a citizen of Serbia, Dimitrij Ivanov. He is not in government, so his perspective is on the outside. However, we rarely get to talk to anyone in Serbia, so I included his comments because it is always interesting to see things from the other side. Thanks, Dimitrij.

NOTE: Interviews were conducted a couple of weeks ago. Some information may have changed.

1. When was it clear there was an issue between Poland and Serbia? How long had it been coming? And why did they let their years-long friendship decline?

mittekemuis The split of Poland and Serbia should not come as much as a surprise with early last year the first cracks appeared with talks about Imperium after Serbian internal affairs troubled the alliance.
TWO could still dominate on damage output and our bonus stayed intact. Then came determination and we were forced to stay together to get a grasp on the new circumstances. Cookies Crisp SG term where he tried forcing Spain out the alliance was the last straw for Poland and Spain and the divide became wider. The result is that there are now two new alliances Asteria and Sirius.

About the friendship between Poland and Serbia, you are asking the wrong person really. I don’t think there is that much decline in their friendship but I can only say that as observer not as an expert it these matters.

Wild Owl I think as EDEN, and later CoT, faded into irrelevance, many of those countries tried to get into the good books of certain countries to get themselves into TWO. Romania, for instance, while strongly backed by Serbia, was distrusted in Poland, similar to Spain's distrust of Argentina. Eventually, once TWO fulfilled its mission, of conquering the world literally, there was no reason for the two powerhouses to stay together as both assumed themselves to be invincible, leading to an inevitable split.

Dimitrij There was never an issue between Poland and Serbia. I think the main problem was Spain and since Poland and Spain were friends all the way from their EDEN time, Poland felt it had to "protect" Spain. Spain was blocking decisions important for an alliance like admission of Argentina and return Aquitaine to Serbia. I think the latter was crucial. Couple of months ago Serbia lost Aquitaine in one of the massive RW operations against her. We soon regained lost territory but in the meantime Spain invaded France and took Aquitaine for herself. When asked to hand it over Spain started making excuses, bargaining and delaying the return. Serbian government decided enough is enough, started RW and sent in the troops. Not very ally like but still necessary. Spain was offended and I think that's the moment Spain and Poland started considering new alliance.



2. Was it difficult to negotiate the formation of the new alliance, while being stuck with old MPP stacks? How did your behind the scenes negotiations affect your policies that you presented to the world?

mittekemuis No, it wasn’t particular difficult to negotiate the formation of a new alliance. The MPPs is for the most part a technicality. It wasn’t a difficult formation at all,because we have had no problem at all to present our policies.

Wild Owl No. We've managed to keep most of our friends (Canada hasn't been a friend for years now), and while we lost Finland, it was they who turned away from us, not vie verca.

Dimitrij 2. and 3. I was involved in behind the scenes negotiations but I believe it wasn't very hard. Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia were friends from the very beginning of the game so that was pretty easy to negotiate. Since they left EDEN Romania had a very good relationship with TWO, especially Serbia so with that and their good RL relations the job was almost done. What was left to do is to take care of Romania - Hungary issues. Both of the countries were mature about it and came to an agreement. Greece, like Romania had a good relations with Serbia in last couple of months and their RL relations also helped. Argentina was trying to join TWO for a long time and since Spain who vetoed it on numerous occasions was out of the picture, they simply joined.



3. Were the core members easy to agree upon? We know that some members may not get along, did you have to stike deals to get agreements between old enemies?

mittekemuis I think we are all mature enough countries to realise that not all past actions are deciding for the present. In a game where countries have real life connections and also have been in many different alliances (sometimes the same side other times the other) you can’t expect to be all peachy pink. We didn’t make any deals to come together as a team and that is a nice change.

Wild Owl The core members are countries who're relevant in their spheres of influence, are well spread in the e-world and have reasonably good understanding. It was quite easy to work with them.

Dimitrij Above.



4. Did you ever consider Asgard or the former ABC-nations an asset or liability in the creation of the new alliance?

mittekemuis For asgard things were rather clear pretty soon as their MPP stack was turning more and more to the other side. As for ABC I can say, they haven’t been ABC for a long time and don’t like to be called that way. They are neighbours and good allies for each other and I am proud to call them proSirius.

Wild Owl No. We'd have liked to achieve peace between Asgard and ABC if needed, to keep both groups on our side, but obviously that didn't work out, when Finland rejected our MPP.

Dimitrij I think this should be a question for our government officials. In my opinion they both are assets since they surround Poland and in a well designed battle plan an invasion on Poland would be conducted from both of their territories. Smaller countries are always more loyal allies than big ones.



5. Considering the duality of erepublik, do you see these two new alliances growing in size quickly? Have you voted on any new members yet? Do you accept petitions from nations to join? How does that work?

mittekemuis At the moment I answer these questions things are more clear than when you send this to me. We don’t have 2 alliances but 3. Most countries have decided where they want to pledge allegiance although with shifting Government things may change is the future.
We have been talking with every potential friendly country and, for now, not started with voting in new members. Our charter states that every new member is equal to all other and in order to work efficient we thought it wise to start things with six and get things started before adding new members. Therefore, we have created a pro-Alliance group and from within this group I am certain that soon you will see members will be voted in.

Any country that wishes to join the proAlliance group can contact me or work through friendly nations who bring it to a meeting or before HQ who then bring it before a meeting.

Wild Owl This is still being worked on. I can't comment further about it at this stage.

Dimitrij Again a question for our government officials. In my opinion an overgrown alliance is not a good thing. You get different interests on one place and you can't always take care of all of them. Some are just going to feel left out and will either block alliance decisions or leave it.



6. What is the voting structure in the alliance?

mittekemuis All members are equal no matter the size of damage influence one has.

Wild Owl Its in the charter.

Dimitrij It remains to be seen. We're waiting for the statute of alliance.



7. Do you have any personal goals for the alliance that you would be willing to share with us?

mittekemuis My personal goals are to try and make things balanced out in terms of battles. Part of the reason TWO fell apart was that there was no balance. TWO dominated every aspect in battles and a lot of countries got demotivated by that. Now all alliances can give some of these countries some hope back. I don’t want to make big promises to our members and friends but that is what I am hoping to accomplish.

Wild Owl Wiping Serbia.

Dimitrij I'm a soldier and follow orders whatever they are. I believe our strategic plan is simple. Cut Poland from resources, deny Spain's existence, taking care that Croatia stays in Asia. USA and UK are safe from Asteria since Asteria doesn't have any interests in those countries. Turkey will be under great pressure and Romania and Greece will take over Turkey's colonies and even original regions. In my opinion, Asteria is not only stronger in numbers but have very organized armed forces capable of dominating Sirius.



8. TWO was the most successful alliance in erepublik history, in terms of pure dominance. How can you compare with their success? How do you measure your success? Will you fight to free countries that have been repressed for long periods, such as Australia or Brazil?

mittekemuis This last question is already answered by your previous one 🙂
There is no way you can compare with anything in the future to come as two of the most dominant countries, being Poland and Serbia are now fighting each other.
Like I said before, if I see a possibility to either free or negotiate better conditions for those smaller countries who have the bad luck to have the wrong resources, I will.

Wild Owl I don't think any of the new alliances can compare with TWO at the moment. The damage right now is almost evenly divided, unlike in TWO vs CoT's case, when TWO had a huge advantage.

Dimitrij TWO was successful in terms of dominance but it cost us very much. Many old and strong players were bored with such a static position and guarding 10/10. They were used to fighting for their very survival. After formation of ONE and later TWO they lost motivation and left the game. This new situation could bring them back and make those who were preparing to leave, stay and give it a go one more time.



Anything I could add would pale in comparison to the comments above. I can only say that it appears 'balance' has been restored to erepublik. Time will tell if that balance is true or fleeting.

Enjoy the Show.