Speaking as a member of Guardian from 2010 to 2014, a former Guardian Minister of War, Triumvir, and briefly President... And an old rival from the moon.
This war makes me think a lot of things. For one, this is part of the reason I'm even here today. I knew when I created my nation that I wanted to see, or cause, Guardian to get rolled. The reason why is because I have known all along what many in P&W are just now starting to figure out. The Guardian we see before us today is not the Guardian that many have come to respect. It hasn't been for a long time. The best Guardian was the one we saw early on in Project Terra. That was when we each had a role to play and played it well, before everyone got the idea in their head that they are the special ones who deserve to rule simply on the basis of who they are. The elimination of the Meritocracy, and of the Triumvirate, was the dying breath of the concept of rule by ability, rather than popularity in Guardian.
The re-introduction of democratic elections for a single leadership position, whether they called it the Vanguard or the President, did not guarantee stronger leadership. On the contrary, it led to a series of poor leadership decisions, ultimately culminating in the epic failure we see before us today. Starting with the election of Prefontaine immediately following the return of Project Terra under a new admin, Guardian has been steadily declining. He alienated some of our closest allies, allowed the internal standards of the alliance to disintegrate into nothing, and then ultimately left the alliance in worse shape than before. Next they elected Sasha, who failed to defend the interests of Guardian by allowing a known act of war to go unpunished. He, too, left his position having accomplished absolutely nothing of note. That is when they elected Shellhound the first time, who declared a war that they could not win, and then promptly resigned. Some time later it was Brit, who was wise enough to negotiate with us the formation of a new Triumvirate in exchange for the dissolution of the High Council. This worked for a while, but for reasons I do not entirely remember, we switched back to a single elected leader once again. This is when they elected Keegoz, who passed up an experienced and proven MoW in exchange for an unproven, inexperienced member who simply said all the things he wanted to hear. The end result was a cheating scandal, and ultimately Keegoz' resignation. In the midst of the chaos, despite having secured election to the Presidency for myself, I chose instead to leave the game. It just was not fun anymore. The community was a shell of its former self because the key players had forgotten what had made us great in the first place. Frankly, I never wanted to be "The One Guy Commanding From Up High" anyways. I wanted a strong alliance with capable individuals around me, and that includes sharing power if that is what is best for the alliance.
"But what about Lunarwars? Wasn't Guardian great then?"
Guardian was high in the rankings in Lunarwars for sure. Were they great? I think the failed wars they were engaged in, the way I was able to bully them, speaks for itself. Guardian would not even defend its own members in those days when we cashed in on a bounty. The government of my alliance, myself and my ministers, actively attacked him. The response by Guardian was to kick the member out. We couldn't get them to declare on us if we tried. It wasn't until we attacked their allies directly in a war that they declared on us, and even then they were the ones who finished the war under heavy surrender terms. Guardian never knew greatness until I showed them the way, and although they may have tried to learn from me, they failed to do so competently. The result is what you see. They made an attempt to secure their dominance as I had done in the past, and as I would have done for them, but they lacked the ability to actually pull it off.
My last point to finish this off. I find it amusing how their closest ally, Seven Kingdoms, was the one ally I was least fond of from the beginning. I see current events as a vindication of my position from the start. I took a 20-man group from LE into PT and guided them through building something worthy of respect. The remains survived for some time, especially their reputation, but sure enough they inevitably gave up on actually building an alliance and replaced it with simply surviving off the strength of their nations - And they don't seem to have even realized it. Today those chickens have finally come home to roost.
~ Kadin.
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