Merczateer operatives unmask and attack the EAF weapons
smugglers, but Vanguard comes in to back up their new allies – resulting in the
latest battle between two old foes.

By Caine Constantine, Herald War Correspondent

A sting operation conducted just a few days ago caught the
leader of the Elite Armed Forces – a marvelously named group allied with the Merczateers up to
this point – personally selling leaked and copybotted weapons designed and
belonging to the Merczateers to an undercover agent from that same military.

Shown here, Commander Br1an Razor, leader of the EAF, was
caught in the act of selling Merczateers equipment to a black market buyer by
Proteus Hand, the Merczateers Light Operative who first uncovered information
leading to the suspicion that the EAF was selling their ally’s equipment.

During the sting, Proteus, dressed in a suit and sporting
the title of someone working as an “1337 Weapz. Employer,” made contact with
Commander Razor while posing as someone not affiliated with the Merczateers, and
managed to purchase multiple weapons, like the Mac-10, the G36, and the Silhouette
.357 – all illustrated below – for L$500.

Proteus gave me a chatlog of the event. Commander Razor does not dispute its
accuracy, though he feels it was taken out of context. Here is the entirety of it, with minor
changes and omissions in order in the interests of clarity and conciseness.

Proteus Hand: but, they’d be nice to have concepts for.
Proteus Hand: like, if I were to get my own guns built
Proteus Hand: if I had something to work off of.

Br1an Razor: I see that simply that there built up already
and need scripts then thats half the battle and people in sl dont give 2 shits
about armies go out to some getto and they buy them just to look cool

Proteus Hand: yeah.
Br1an Razor: so are we on the same page
Proteus Hand: mmhm.

Br1an Razor: after all mercz and vanguard both fuck each
other over and neither one is really acknologed by the mafia groups or gangs in
sl
Br1an Razor: so i dont see why you would not want to sell
leaked stuff

Proteus Hand: good point.
Proteus Hand: so, how much you want for them?

Br1an Razor: after all i seen people sell freebee whare house
shit in shops
Br1an Razor: ill give you all of them for 500

Proteus Hand: okay

Br1an Razor: you will have to script them
Br1an Razor: unless you want the ones we did
Br1an Razor: let me get them

Proteus Hand: and these are leaked?
Br1an Razor: alot are
Br1an Razor: let me dig them up
Br1an Razor: i want to make sure there full perm
Br1an Razor: ill fix the settings

Proteus Hand: okay
Proteus Hand: that’s good for business, actually.
Proteus Hand: now that I think about it.

Br1an Razor: check them out
Br1an Razor: make sure there full perm

Proteus Hand: congratulations.
Br1an Razor: np
Proteus Hand: Sting operation, complete.
Proteus Hand: check my tag.

Br1an Razor: i had a feeling
Br1an Razor: i see it
Br1an Razor: and i realised
Br1an Razor: that you know
Br1an Razor: that most of sl has these
Br1an Razor: leaked guns are all over

Proteus Hand: unfortunately, you SOLD them to me.
Proteus Hand: which is a violation of ToS, and is a bannable
offense
Proteus Hand: not to mention, you just broke the Mercz EAF
alliance.
Proteus Hand: Kommissariat will be pleased.
Proteus Hand: one step closer to killing the leaking ring.

And with that, Proteus left. He told me that there was no violence and the Commander Razor was rather
ambivalent about the whole thing. Being
caught selling leaked weapons by his most powerful ally in a sting operation
sure to engender military retaliation didn’t phase the Commander – was there
something else to the story?

I went to Appledore, the new Merczateers sim where the group
was training and defending as their main sims,

Salamis

and Badnarik, underwent extensive remodeling, to talk to the Merczateers about
the EAF incident.

Merczateers MÃ rshal Anthony Lehane told me about how the
alliance between the Merczateers and the EAF began – and how it ended.

Caine Constantine: So what happened with the EAF incident, MÃ rshal
Lehane?

Anthony Lehane: Alright. So I believe around the time EAF
was formed their leadership requested an alliance with the Mercz, and a spot in
the Iron Symphony. So naturally, they
seemed a reasonable force at the time and we agreed.

Anthony Lehane: Now, along our alliance we helped the EAF -

ALOT

-.
They would call us for backup when like, one guy was attacking their sim. Everytime, we’d send a small squad or some AD
to clean it up.

Anthony Lehane: That’s how things have been going for the
entire alliance. But recently, one of my
men heard a rumour that their leader, Br1an Razor, was selling and distributing
leaked/copybotted Mercz gear.

Anthony Lehane: Now, we don’t usually just sit around and do
nothing when we hear about that, so I turned to the Merczateer Light Ops squad
(Which is our combat, intel and foreign policy special forces) and set up a
sting operation on Br1an.

MÃ rshal Lehane reviewed the chatlog with me and explained
again how the operation had worked, saying that Commander Razor had left the
alliance after he was exposed, and that attacking forces from the Merczateers
were immediately inbound for retaliation.

Anthony Lehane: With that, and the log, Br1an silently
resigned from the Iron Symphony, and our alliance.

Anthony Lehane: The very same day we issued a large scale
attack on EAF. It was to the point where Br1an was av-flying around trying to
take out our swarm, but AD easily picked him off.

Anthony Lehane: Later that day, they attacked the Militant
Collective, which we provided support, and immediately tore them to pieces.
When they left, we then joint-op’d them with MC and crushed them once again.

Anthony Lehane: At that attack, however, Christoph and VG
were backing them up.

And so as quickly as he left the side of the Merczateers,
Commander Br1an Razor immediately found new and willing allies in the Vanguard
Armed Forces – who showed up to defend him in force. The Merczateers eventually claimed victory
nonetheless.

Anthony Lehane: Nevertheless we still had a very successful
assault - the EAF alliance was one our officers urged us to end, anyways, as it
was causing problems.

In fact, for most of the duration of the ill-fated alliance,
both officers and rank-and-file soldiers in the Merczateers were tiring of what
they called their “noob ally.” The
Merczateers seemed happy to be rid of the Elite Armed Forces – but was EAF
feeling the same way? I decided to go to
Southwest Seaport, their home, to find out.

The base had a destroyed city fraught with a nexus of sewers
and ruined buildings, which seemed doubly fitting considering it had so
recently been subject to a massive attack from their vengeful former
allies. It was still under attack by
other forces when I arrived on the scene, but the battle had died down to the
point where I made it into the base and received an audience with Commander
Br1an Razor.

I wanted to start by getting some information on the EAF for
readers who may not know much about the group, as it is fairly new to the
Second Life military community.

Caine Constantine: What is the EAF all about?
Br1an Razor: well we are allied with Vanguard and TFM we
like to keep allies down to have plenty to fight we are a group of friends that
formed a army group so we are all good friends

Caine Constantine: So how old is your group?
Br1an Razor: we are about 3 months old

Caine Constantine: And how many members do you have?
Br1an Razor: last time I checked it was I believe 70

Caine Constantine: So what is the EAF working on currently -
any projects or plans for the future?
Br1an Razor: yes aircraft and weapons we are looking to work
on the divisions as well

Caine Constantine: How so?
Br1an Razor: I have unlike many other groups allowed my
group to be more active in the decisions I dont want to be a person who says do
this and that I would rather have the team bring Ideas to the table

Caine Constantine: You are trying to create a more
democratic group?
Br1an Razor: I want the people to feel its there army not
mine I would rather provide and let them run with it and look back at what they
built not just me

Caine Constantine: So how successful have you been in combat
so far?
Br1an Razor: well we have made a name for our selfs pretty
quick for the short time we have been a group, mainly because we all enjoy
hitting one location to the next but keeping a respectful out look tword our
foes

While I was tempted to ask him if a respectful outlook
included selling the other group’s leaked weaponry, I chose not to in favor of
keeping a peaceful air to the interview. He was quick to condemn the Merczateers as a social club, and denied
being at fault for any of the problems with the leaked weapons.

Caine Constantine: I heard you used to be allied with the
Merczateers.

Br1an Razor: We were with the Iron Symphony but felt that
doing that did not allow us to have many to attack so we broke alliances to
only have a few
Br1an Razor: there a good group but not that active there
more of a social group where we like to attack more

Caine Constantine: I see. I talked to MÃ rshal Lehane, who
told me you left the Iron Symphony because of your allegedly selling leaking
Merczateers equipment.

Br1an Razor: This is not true, yes like many other groups on
here I was given open source Mercz gear which there own people with in there
group had leaked and given to Christoph the leader of Vangaurd, bad blood
between those to groups caused the leak of all there weapons

It would do well to explain a clear a fact Br1an pointed
out, one that every party to this incident – EAF, Merczateers, and Vanguard –
freely acknowledges. These weapons have
a bitter history behind them.

Tangent Eponym, a former Merczateer General, resigned from
the group in frustration and gave a multitude of its latest weapons designs to
Vanguard Führer Christoph Naumova. Führer
Naumova then gave the weapons out freely to anyone he felt like giving them to,
dispensing them into groups and to individuals who would do well to have
them. He openly admits to it too as a
matter of normal conduct in response to Merczateer provocation – a topic that
will be discussed in more depth in the future.

Christoph Naumova: I seriously gave them to people I knew
would leak them all over.

Eventually, these weapons reached Commander Razor, who sold
them back to their creators and sparked a new war. But as he continued on with the interview, just
then, an invading visitor broke into the compound.

Aryte Vesperia: Hi Caine!

And just then, in a stream of lead and a puff of smoke,
Commander Razor was dead.  Seemingly on
his own, Ordo Imperator Aryte Vesperia had taken control of the base. He was quick to ask the EAF back into the
battle after gunning a few more down.

Aryte Vesperia shouts: That’s fifteen.
Aryte Vesperia shouts: Who’s next?

Eventually after another wave of EAF troops broke into the
underground area where I had been conducting an interview and was now watching
a lone gunman hold his own in hostile territory, Ordo Imperator Vesperia was
shot and out of the area. Or was he?

In fact, he had been ejected from the land and had never
actually been killed. This is a picture
of him stranded at the edge of the sim, at which time he sent me the copy of
the phrase he received ejecting him from the land. It was a rather unorthodox way for EAF to win
the battle against the lone invader – using land powers to do so and all – but
it was effective.

The interview now continued, with Br1an talking to me now
about his new alliance with Vanguard, and his complaints about his old one with
the Merczateers.

Caine Consantine: So you’re now allies with Vanguard - who
approached who for the alliance?
Br1an Razor: Christoph - he tped the Task Force Marines and
the Elite Armed Forces for a meeting

Caine Constantine: So he came to you with the alliance idea?
Br1an Razor: yes, a few weeks back, but we took him up on
his offer 3 days ago

Caine Constantine: So he originally wanted you to split with
the Merczateers and the Iron Symphony?
Br1an Razor: yes he explained how they break STABLE
Br1an Razor: Im here to fight not talk
Br1an Razor: The mercz said to me that they were not in SL
to fight, that they were a Social group. this made me leave them
Br1an Razor: we never got any back up from them while in the
IS

Caine Constantine: Really? Never?
Br1an Razor: they treated us and meny other allies in a
distant way
Br1an Razor: out of the whole time with us they helped us 2
times

Commander Razor was quick to account for how fast he could "call on" Vanguard troops to save him from any trouble he might encounter.

Br1an Razor: I can call on Vanguard and they will help at
the drop of a dime
Br1an Razor: thats what I call Alliances

Caine Constantine: So then you think they’re better allies?
Br1an Razor: I feel Mercz gives Vangaurd a bad name out of
jealousy

Caine Constantine: Really? How so?
Br1an Razor: well its all in numbers Caine
Br1an Razor: more of a fight for power
Br1an Razor: pluse Chris did leak there guns lol

These claims flew in the face of those made by Commander
Razor’s former ally Mà rshal Lehane, who – in addition to many other Merczateers
- was emphatic about the amount of assistance the group had given to the
fledgling EAF before the ending of the alliance.

The interview by this point had mostly been finished, but
someone else was going to end it for me. Commander Razor had me under heavy guard to prevent future attacks from
taking out either party of the interview.

But Imperator Vesperia returned in a jet, landed above
Commander Razor’s compound, and killed all of his guards. He stood facing the entrance to the
underground bunker, again killing anyone who tried retaking the position.

Meanwhile, EAF soldiers were busy guarding the interior of
the base – still held by the Imperator – from other invaders.

Eventually, Imperator Vesperia left, and with Commander
Razor finished, I went on to talk to the third party in this incident. In this later interview with Führer Naumova,
he denied that there was any sort of orchestrated plan to lure the EAF out of
the alliance with the Merczateers.

Caine Constantine: Br1an Razor told me that you had been
talking with him for a few weeks prior to the alliance, trying to get him to
switch sides. Was there any previous contact?

Christoph Naumova: Naw, more like three days
Christoph Naumova: Random IM like a week ago
Christoph Naumova: He just randomly IM’d me and asked about
an alliance

Caine Constantine: To your knowledge, was this before the
incident that ended the alliance?

Christoph Naumova: Pretty much, it came down to the
Merczateers never helping them
Christoph Naumova: Or doing anything like allies should
Christoph Naumova: It’s just sad Vanguard helped more in one
day then the Merczateers did in an entire month.

Caine Constantine: So what did you tell him at the time?

Christoph Naumova: Well, he and bennyboy (TFM leader) asked
about joining the Sovereign Regime
Christoph Naumova: And, honestly, there was no global
conspiracy or anything
Christoph Naumova: I was truly just like "Sure, what
the hell, I’ll give it a chance’

Caine Constantine: Yes, I wanted to ask because people
claimed that it was an attempt by you to pry them away from the Merczateers.

Christoph Naumova: I’d never even talked to the guy before
that.

So then the question was simple - who was telling the
truth? Commander Razor’s own statements
were directly against those of both of his benefactors, past and present. He presented a picture of Vanguard
encouraging him to break the alliance with the Merczateers.

But why would Vanguard – unquestionably, a very capable and
powerful military force, once very proud of the fact that it had no allies –
worry about a group like the EAF? Merczateers
MÃ rshal Lehane had some ideas as to why this could be the case.

Anthony Lehane: First, I’m sure Christoph would love an
outlet to have his men shoot at Mercz, because right now we’re in a combat
blockade with them. We don’t go to Supox, they don’t come to our…3 sims.

Anthony Lehane: For Br1an, he needs another big group to
mooch off of when things get tough for him. That’s why he gave Christoph land
rights to his sim.

Anthony Lehane: So he was doing all the banning while Br1an
av-flew around screaming.

Caine Constantine: Wait - how extensive are these land
rights?

Anthony Lehane: I’m not sure, but Christoph DID ban people,
so. I’m guessing Christoph requested full control.

Caine Constantine: So he’s looking for a fight, but you guys
are still blockading him.

Anthony Lehane: Yeah. We’re not gonna let VG presence during
our assaults stop us, however. We plowed through them.

Caine Constantine: Do you think there are any other motives?

Anthony Lehane: I think Christoph just needs to get his
troops killing stuff. A lot are leaving right now due to either boredom,
racism, or excess lulz and stupidity. Looking at his documents and charters I
can see he’s starting to really try to crack down on those problems.

Führer Naumova saw things quite differently in a follow-up
response to the Merczateer claims about the state of Vanguard.

Christoph Naumova: The whole reason I allied with EAF and
TFM is because they came and asked me. Although now that I think about it, it
does give me a chance to further limit the people they have to attack, causing
boredom and drama on their part.

Christoph Naumova: As far as people leaving VG and my
documents goes?  Nope, we’ve still got
all the people I care about and we’ve gained 20 more in this week - So really,
it’s unfounded.

Christoph Naumova: Not to mention after handing Mercz’ asses
to them after having them caught on tape sithacking in Cheerful Rising during
an assault, I’m sure he’s just annoyed over that.

Christoph Naumova: Haner needs to grow a pair and stop
living in ignorance, and see the full light of things.

The Elite Armed Forces are in fact a group that, in its
short history, has already found itself wedged between two of the titans of
Second Life’s military scene. It is a
military whose leader at this point has thrown his lot completely in with that
of Vanguard – and has no qualms about admitting that they are perhaps his
biggest asset. I asked him about what he
thought of the Merczateer invasions of the EAF sim, Southwest Seaport.

Caine Constantine: So you won each battle?
Br1an Razor: we did not I feel the credit should go to
Vanguard and TFM they were a big help

Caine Constantine: Oh okay, that’s very fair of you.
Br1an Razor: well its the truth

Caine Constantine: So do you see yourself and the EAF
sticking with Vanguard into the future?
Br1an Razor: yes we would have it no other way

Caine Constantine: And do you feel like they treat you as
equal partners?
Br1an Razor: I feel they do unlike the Mercz did, the mercz
seemed condescending

Caine Constantine: Do you plan on any more allies then? Or are you sticking with the TFM and Vanguard
forever?
Br1an Razor: I want to keep it with just them I feel we need
no others we like to fight

Caine Constantine: So you stand with the Sovereign Regime
until the bitter end?
Br1an Razor: yes

Caine Constantine: Thank you for your time, Br1an.
Br1an Razor: thank you

This incident with a comparatively new military digs up an
old and continuing story – that of the war between the Merczateers and Vanguard
– of bitter foes, with a history, membership and even leadership that are tied
inextricably to one another.

The story behind the war between these two groups – on and
off the battlefield – and the personal vendettas among many in the groups is
the next part in this series about two of Second Life’s most powerful military
forces, and those caught in the crossfire between them.