Delve: The Rise of Protectorate Sovereignty and the Fall of Outposts
PR-8CA, Delve - The last two weeks have seen the region of Delve plunged into all-out warfare. Sovereignty-holders KenZoku are currently losing sovereignty in several systems, while those systems where their claim has held have now secured Protectorate sovereignty.
The War so Far
The war began when the CONCORD-registered Band of Brothers alliance was disbanded by a director, Arkannen, who defected to the alliance's enemy, GoonSwarm.
The member corporations of Band of Brothers reformed in KenZoku, previously an industrial alliance for Reikoku-affilliated corporations. Their previous Province and Capital sovereignties in the region were lost, but KenZoku was able to make a territorial sovereignty claim to systems formerly claimed under the Band of Brothers identity.
KenZoku's old enemies - GoonSwarm, Pandemic Legion and the Northern Coalition's RAZOR Alliance and Morsus Mihi - launched a full-scale invasion of the region, intending to conquer it before full sovereignty over the area could be restored.
The forces allied against KenZoku have attempted to confine most of the defender's forces into a Blood Raider Covenant station in PR-8CA and maintain a continual heavy guard in the system, while the rest of the attacking forces focus on removing the defending alliance's control towers.
Meanwhile, KenZoku's allies Against ALL Authorities are attacking the former home territories of GoonSwarm alongside C0ven and Stain Empire. GoonSwarm state that they have abandoned these systems for the time being and, it is claimed, will reconquer them once Delve has fallen.
To date, KenZoku has lost its sovereignty claims in 44 systems, though it then reclaimed two, while sufficient towers have survived to claim Protectorate sovereignty in some 70 systems in Catch, Delve, Querious, Detorid and Period Basis.
Dining in NOL
In particular, the outpost in NOL-M9 has assumed a symbolic importance in the conflict. It is widely rumoured that Goonswarm once vowed to dine in NOL-M9, the site of Band of Brother's outpost, The Alamo. (Ownership of the outpost passed to KenZoku and is currently with Pandemic Legion, who renamed it "The Lmao.")
XxAngelxX is CEO of The Illuminati, a Pandemic Legion corporation spoke about the conquest:
"We took it the first day that [sovereignty] dropped, then [KenZoku] retook it but we expect to have it back in about a week. We've had more important things to do than NOL-M9 recently.
"Pandemic Legion itself has / is in the process of taking FinFleet's sovereignty 4 constellation. We took the first station today in 5-6QW7. As for other sovereignty 4 constellations, I believe [GoonSwarm] and [the Northern Coalition] are well on their way with those too."
Since this interview, Pandemic Legion has completed both these objectives, holding both NOL-M9 and the 1-A81R constellation. XxAngelxX continued:
"There really has been little resistance. One of the major parts of this has been the 23/7 perma camp in PR-8CA which was well known to be [KenZoku's]... staging [area] and where they told GBC to regroup to, too.
"With their assets and ships locked in station, titans [caged] in their POS and massive issues with security, we haven't really seen much fight from them in the last couple of days. We've destroyed [approximately] 50 large POS in station systems in the last 2 days without resistance.
"At the moment, it's hardly a war. We'll see if [KenZoku] actually have a strategic plan after [Against ALL Authorities] finish with [the] old [GoonSwarm] space, but right now we are taking this space like no-one ever lived in it....the only battles we have had are ganking Shrike, ganking Waagaa's aeon and ganking an [Axiom Empire] aeon last night."
"At Our Own Will"
LadyScarlet is an officer in Destructive Influence, a KenZoku corporation. She gave her perspective on the efforts to blockade KenZoku forces inside PR-8CA:
"If you mean are we locked [in], no. We still move at our own will. Of course, it all depends on whom you ask - everyone has an opinion on the matter. I like to think we are playing [this] our way, not by GoonSwarm's dictations.
"Sure, there will be [sovereignty] flips, but as history has shown, the last time they came here, we took it all back. [It's just] a matter of time.
"They don't have enough people to accomplish their goal."
GalNet References
Interstellar Correspondents News:
Band of Brothers Alliance Disbanded
Delve War II Begins
KenZuko Secures Outposts
Heavy Fighting Over Capital Ship Assembly Arrays
Evelopedia Links:
Sovereignty (Mechanics)
Conquerable Stations
Outposts
DOTLAN Links:
Delve - System Sovereignty, Outposts and Conquerable Stations
KenZoku - Sovereignty, Outposts and Conquerable Stations
KenZoku - Sovereignty Changes
GoonSwarm - Sovereignty, Outposts and Conquerable Stations
GoonSwarm - Sovereignty Changes
Are you affected by the events in this article? Do you have information regarding another event in New Eden? If so, please contact us with any information that you may have.
