Article by:

Gareth WarLand
Boss, The Black Hand

Ranking TBH Member reflects on the Great War
Deep thoughts on the origin and end of the conflict

 ( Pacific ) The War between TBH and PGC (KGB) began as a conflict of opinion. Mutual mistakes were made on both sides and a good amount of pride and anticipation for "action" resulted in a war. The war quickly grew, first, with both sides recruiting ex-guildmembers and friends, then the return of JetStar and PGC and finally mass recruiting on both sides.

It was clear that neither side to this conflict was winning or loosing. Yes, there were certain days when one side "controlled the field", but hardly any devastating battles that would result in an undeclaration. With roughly 45 active combatants on each side (rough estimate) and seemignly limitless resources from the many battle hardened PvPers, the question became "is it really possible to win?" The answer was probably no. Consider that both sides rarely fielded an army over 20 members, that these members probably made up for what they lost in equipment during the week and that both sides message-board morale deflating tactics were ineffective, this war could seemingly have stretched on indefinitely.

So came the questions -- (1) Why continue the war? and (2) why end the war?

In-game reasons for continuing the war are difficult to find. As hard as both sides attempted to make this a battle between good and evil or a battle to throw off tyranny, neither of those things truly existed. PGC is not an imbodiement of good and TBH is certainly not an imbodiement of evil. KGB's supposed tyranny only stretched as far as their hand, and that certainly is limited just as any other guilds. They fight for what they believe in, and have every right to do so. So what other reasons existed to continue? Many members on both sides were having fun, and fear what Pacific will become without this shard war to occupy them. I believe that is the main reason for the justification of continuing. Simply put, war makes UO exciting. Looking forward to the big battle gets people motivated to play. Fighting together brings unity.

But were these reasons enough to continue? That really depends on your philosophy of why war is fought in the first place. For persons like JetStar (and admittedly myself) this war had a justified purpose in the beginning. JetStar believed TBH had wronged an innocent guild. TBH attacked the very nature of KGB's authority. Both sides believed they were just, and both sides were prepared to fight for this. If you follow closely the return of JetStar and the PGC, you will note that this war began as a process of politics. Would Jet have returned from a year's absence for a small war between KGB and TBH? Probably not. What made this a "shard war" were the motivations and purposes behind it.

The reasons for continuing the war just seemed to fail in this respect. Fun, as JetStar has often said, is not a reason to fight a war. As much as most of us feel in our hearts that fun is a true justification for in-game war, it is really is contrary to a semi Rping guild's identity. If fun is removed from the equation as to why a war should be fought, the reasons behind it hold no watter.

Now many people will clammer that the war had another reason to be fought, -- to decide a true victor. As I stated before, this was an unlikely occurrence. We all saw how the OPP/KGB war continued to drag on. Either both sides would continue to fight indefinitely, or interest in UO in general would dwindle to the point where the war no longer existed. There were two main opportunities for this war to end -- The first weeks of the PGC, or a backlash to TBH recruiting. Both sides had strong leadership, however, and both systems seemed to be mainting their strength and discipline.

So why should the war end? Most of the reasons for not continuing the war fall into this category as well, but there were additional reasons. First, I think both guilds accomplished some goals. Firstly, TBH made peace with S&M. This was the whole reason the war started. KGB was to defend S&M. With that conflict gone it could have resolved things as it was. Second, as TBH tried to show who was the more "honorable" of the two sides, TBH became more honorable. This was a goal of KGB. We reformed ourselves. Thirdly, KGB learned about pride. They learned to respect TBH and our homelands. Finally, I think that I would like to end this war still holding a high amount of respect for KGB members. As the war continued, lame tactics would start to be employeed and trash talking would increase. I do not want to see potential friends turned into enemies simply because of the "fun" of it.

I know for many people the end of this war "sucks" or is anti climactic. I will admit that I don't like to see it end for many reasons myself. Some say it was only a matter of time for PGC to turn on itself, or it was only a matter of time before the TBH "stonehoppers" jumped off. I don't necessarily think that would have happened. This war, and its peaceful resolution, will issue in a new era for Pacific. The balance of guild strengths may have shifted slightly. I think KGB is stronger for it, and TBH as well. There are other good times ahead in Brittania. With the opening of new lands and PvP changes, many of us will have to once again adapt (or perhaps say goodbye to fair Brit). This will not be the last war, and many of us will again see each other on the battlefield. I wish to give my respect to my allies and enemies in this war. This was perhaps the largest and most well-fought war in a great while, if not since the early days of UO.

May you all fair well,

Gareth WarLand,

Mob Boss


*NOTE: I really addressed this to TBH and KGB as this was the source of the original conflict. Most other guilds that joined, joined simply for the fun of PvP. Since the politics do not apply here, I doubt you find many reasons to relate to the end of the war. I empathise with you since it will mean a loss of a great deal of fun. I know many wished for a clear victor. Just think, we accomplished a peaceful end to a conflict. Perhaps RL politicians should take note.