I had just gotten around to writing about the fact that there was a war going on between Pandemic Horde and FI.RE coalition down in the southeast of null sec when the past weekend and now the war seems to have been decided.
For all of its outward bravado, both from its leader and its line members in r/eve, they clearly knew they were in trouble. They had former allies, Pandemic Horde, attacking them headlong from the north and the a grudge holding Imperium on their western flank not only unlikely to help them out, but actively attacking them in some cases, which left them in an untenable situation.
They could have possibly turtled up and held a single constellation, or at least dragged their foes into an apocalyptic battle, the way the Imperium did in World War Bee, but it isn’t clear if they, as a coalition, have the sort of cohesion and bloody minded stubbornness to pull that off.
Between a rock and a hard place, they could have potentially reached out to Fraternity to join Winter Coalition, with whom they held space with in the southeast previously. The problem is that PanFam space lies between FI.RE and Fraternity space. That would have been a trail of tears, a trip of frightful losses to get past a hungry Pandemic Horde.
The other option was the B2 coalition in the northwest, made up of Brave, WE FORM BL0B, and a few other alliance, some of whom were neighbors until WWB shattered Legacy coalition. But the trail there would be past the Imperium, a hazard all its own.
As it turns out, FI.RE had chosen B2 as a destination, and B2 came to the Imperium looking for passage. In a world where almost all of null sec turned against us to wage WWB the Imperium has forged new relations. B2, on our northern boarder, has become a group we can work with. We are not allies, but we have cooperated with them against the Fraternity/PanFam Axis of the East at H-PA29 in Venal and just last week at Skarkon in Pochven, so we were apparently open to the idea.
On its side of the equation, FI.RE approached the Imperium and “made amends for past wrongs,” the details of which I am sure will come out at some point. But I am sure it wasn’t cheap. That allowed the Imperium to grant FI.RE egress from the southeast to join up with its new coalition mates. A migration is in progress.
Null Sec Coalitions Map and the FI.RE exit route
They got a free pass through our space, but we aren’t helping them out otherwise. Their structures and sovereignty are all going down.
That leaves the question as to what happens when they exit. That is a set of eight regions in the southeast of null sec where the owners have run off.
I am sure Pandemic Horde will take some of that space to add to their rental empire. But will they want to push their border right up against the Imperium? I am not sure anybody would want to rent that close to the end of the Eye of Terror Ansiblex highway to become content for Goons, and I don’t think Horde is going to move itself down there to protect them.
Perhaps some smaller groups will become a buffer between the two powers. Or maybe we’ll have Pandemic Horde on our doorstep. We will have to see how this plays out.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 