Solarix: Taking a break doing loony stuff

ORION - A lot of things can be said about Solarix, but everybody will probably agree that he is one of the most prominent pilots in Orion. He has been around for a while and the quantity of time also included quality: current Rune Master of the Theocracy of Kai-Rang, piracy, Union wars, innumerable constructive forum posts, and more. And now he is on an alliance tour. So, we asked him what's it like, how it's going and what made him go on a tour in the first place.

"I actually started the tour a long time ago, but you could say I had a break from taking a break. My long-term alliance - Commonwealth - became a bit of a drag to stay in. Commonwealth is a typical "merger alliance", made because several alliances merged together to exploit the diversity bonuses after the Alliance Territory update hit us. But just like most merger alliances, that means you have several leaders, which now all fall in the same alliance. This led to some internal struggles which started to tire me as nothing got done in the end. And the fights are always about nothing and everyone has their own ideas on what to do. That, and a democracy as an alliance rule just does not work, leads to compromises and weak choices IMO.

That was the primary reason. The other reason was because I was bored, and just wanted to roam around, meet new people, make contact, and learn something from the various alliances. Like I said, when I joined Commonwealth, I was already on alliance tour. It's just that I got stuck there for about a year. They're a good alliance. Just try to ignore the flaws. I no longer could, needed to take a break from that.

So, what made you go on that "tour before the tour"? Plain boredom or you really wanted to expand your horizons?

Before the Commonwealth, I was a figurehead of the Theocracy of Kai-Rang, an old roleplay alliance founded by Codex Delphi. While the alliance has disbanded, it still exists today as a roleplay group that mostly just keeps to themselves in various third party forums and chats. I decided to end the alliance because most members left for bigger alliances (thanks to the Alliance Territory update), or went inactive. However, as to not completely abandon this great legacy, the Theocracy of Kai-Rang still exists as an unofficial "syndicate", with ranks and rewards to obtain which normally required alliance membership. It works pretty well and there are some who actively pursue obtaining this. If you want to try it for yourself, take a look at this thread: Theocracy Ranks and Titles (requires Orion character)

Are you still connected to the Theocracy or is it just a thing in your past?

To this day, a lot of my time in Orion goes to rebuilding Theocracy lore (I lost a lot of stories after the old forum mysteriously got deleted). More recently, a darker offspring of the Theocracy has shown up in our greater roleplay story, so that's gonna lead to some interesting stories too.

How do or did you choose which alliance to visit? Were there any self-imposed restrictions? Did you make a decision like "I will not go that low" or something like that?

No. After I disbanded the Theocracy, I didn't care much who I would join. I even applied to Empaya (huge Imperial alliance), and Triad (Federal alliance). Unfortunately, Empaya didn't trust me because they were just starting their war with Quinto Imperio, a conflict that still lasts to this very day. And Triad did not respond at all, I think either their bureaucracy is crap, or the application manager was inactive. In the end, I applied to the Commonwealth, and got accepted because there were two former Theocracy members in there as well. That kept things fun enough for me to stay for over a year.

So no luck for red and blue...

Empaya is still on my to-visit list, actually. Triad got pissed off after I shot a few of their pilots in a roleplay event for my character, which is basically "shoot random stuff for the duration of 1 week". They didn't like it when I entered their space.

Now, I'm back on tour and again without restrictions. I joined the Loony Bin because, well, there's several old-timers there who I remember from the first days I started playing Pardus. Wanted to meet them again after several years. They're a joke alliance with most of the members just sitting in dock 24/7 and yelling foul stuff on the forums, just itching to provoke and disrupt conversations. I kinda like that. Loony Bin invited me because of a conversation in General Chat. I figured "oh why the heck not" and applied.

Their AC was extremely fun, way more active than General Chats of the three universes combined. Just don't go there if you're easily offended. That, and I think there's a bet within Loony Bin about who gets the most MAs for "abusive language". Cid (a.k.a. Onizuka) is winning. It's hilarious that the only known MA for "abusive language in an alliance message" was reported from Loony Bin. They really don't give a flying fuck about the game nor the MAs. They even report each other.

After about a month in their alliance, I decided to leave again...

...before you yourself get an MA...

Well, mostly because Loony Bin is in informal wars with many alliances, and because I wanted to move around the universe after the most recent update for long-range trade hit us, I needed to get that potential bullseye off my character.

What was the most fun or bizarre event from the tour? Something that you'd tell your grandchildren when you get old?

What, the Loony Bin part wasn't enough? (chuckle)

Well, I'm sorry, I have that on my list of questions so I have to ask it. It's your fault that you mentioned it too early.

Yes, ok... Anyway, it turns out that I was included on E.R.A.'s ambush quicklist. Me, being a legitimate Union pilot who fought in many wars on the Union side. Yeah, I scratched my head too.

I got killed by E.R.A. two times before it struck me as odd. Well, one time, I was still part of Loony Bin, so I didn't say anything about that, considering Loony Bin is an obnoxious alliance and they might be included and it won't surprise me one bit. But when I was unaffiliated and carrying 50t of jewels, I got shot by E.R.A. again. E.R.A. is a reputable alliance, so I instantly noticed something was off. Either I was included as an individual on their quicklists, or they were shooting unaffiliated union pilots. Both of which didn't make sense. I went to ask around.

So what's the story? Well, I used to be a pirate several years ago (credit hack update made me do it, I swear!) However, after I redeemed myself I joined the Theocracy of Kai-Rang. They never removed me as an individual from the quicklist, because they already excluded the Theocracy. I even read back a PM I sent back then, saying I agreed with that. They would remove me after a while though. But that apparently never happened.

When I joined Commonwealth, they were also excluded, and that meant me, too. So I never noticed this discrepancy before. But then I started to roam around more, and now I no longer was part of an excluded alliance. End result? I get shot at by people I thought were my allies.

Did it get sorted out in the end?

Yes, it did. Now I'm removed from their QL. But it just goes to show that your past can still haunt you several years after you thought it was resolved. I'm not mad though, got extensive apologies and they reimbursed the loss of the jewels. In turn, I wanted to join ERA. That was my first alliance when I started this character, before I started pirating. Figured I should go back to it. And that's where I am now.

So, what the future holds? IS there a future?

I don't know. After my tour, I will probably go back to Commonwealth, or if I find a better alliance on my tour, then go back to that one. If the Theocracy players all have preference for an own alliance, I might rebuild the alliance again. I tend to build my own story as it goes, with my mantra being: "Always pick the choice that makes for the best stories at the campfire." I apply that in game, as well as out of game.. Makes things far more interesting.