Pseira - The Origins

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
Hello Everybody!

Pseira has often been termed as the most amusing world in Grepolis so far, so much that even players outside the world keep tabs of the happenings here. It has earned itself a lot of adjectives - dramatic, exciting, happening, entertaining, 'righteous'.. just to name some. As the dawn of this world almost coincided with the world-wide pandemic, it has attracted more people than the rest. Some have returned after a break of several years (myself 10 years having played way back in Eta); while some have been regular players dropping right-in from the recent previous worlds. Many have had no clue what they would find once they started playing Pseira, and some landed on these shores with a pre-planned and well structured group with the aim of winning the world.

Irrespective of when, from where, under what circumstances & with what intentions people entered the world, everybody has has their own share of surprises and excitement playing here. It is going to make it much more colorful to hear the stories of the origins of various alliances engaged with each other in these blessed lands :). With that intention, this thread has been created as a platform for the founders / leaders to take us back the memory lane and weave the tale of their journey so far. Some have had to face harsh & unforgiving times, some encountered deceitful events, while few have sailed smoothly and wouldn't it be a great read to hear these narratives first hand from the players themselves!

It is always said good things are better enjoyed slowly and every day, there will be post with the story of one alliance. To make it a bit more interesting the narratives will be accompanied by maps of each alliance as of today and a few lines of commentary (keeping it as un-biased and as non-political as possible).

The first post will be published this evening and in the meanwhile, please enjoy the Pseira World Map. With so many overlaps and sharing-of-islands between friends and foes alike, the world is a cauldron of possibilities in deed. Dramatic changes have been seen to happen quite often in the past and it cannot be speculated how soon these boundaries change. And that's the beauty of this virtual world where all of us spend so much of our time - all with the aim of enjoying the game while we are here.
Pseira-WorldMap-26Aug_v2.jpg

PS: If anybody wants to tell their tale, please reach out to me in-game or on the externals
 

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
*Sinful*

With just 22 members, this group ranks 9th largest alliance in the world. They have a lot of room to expand and have weathered a lot of action away from their home ocean O53 and have established their foothold in O54 and very recently in O55. They have also aquired a sister alliance *Deadly Sins* over the past month.

A group of tightly-knit players led by a capable and responsible person toniayreis (a very likeable guy - thinks very rationally and takes action keeping the future in mind. Keeps things transparent and has zero ego!), and is backed by an equally competent council. Here's what Toni has to say about *Sinful*'s journey in this world:

Formation of *Sinful*
At the beginning of the server Sinful was a simple MRA rim alliance founded / lead by BLIND CROW. Alwalks convinced me play grepo again and we've been playing together since en6 (Zeta), yes rather long ago! We got recruited into Sinful and together we used our experience and trained up / guided many of the Sinful players that are still here today.

Naming the alliance
The original name was Sinful Passion. BLIND CROW chose this name as it's his favourite song. We've rebranded to just Sinful a few weeks ago, as it's a new Era for this team.

Growth of the alliance
We set goals and where always clear with our intentions. We've had a lot of recruits but with time the best reveal themselves. Now we only keep players that are worthy and contribute. Remember you MRA's it's the few who win you battles not all the simmers who forget to check the forums / read messages ;)

A Memorable Battle
To be honest we haven't been truly tested yet. Our diplomacy has allowed us to grow more than our fighting. Our most recent accomplishments belong to mark-e, we'd like to thank Stooges for the bp :) I'm sure there will be plenty more in the future!

Star Players (always difficult to choose, but some do stand-out!)
Our current Star player is mark-e! however I'd like thank my council for all their help as I certainly do not run this alliance on my own!

Turning-point for *Sinful*
I won't lie the formation of the coalition has benefited Sinful greatly. It's given us access to ocean 54 which we'd never of had and it's allowed many of my players to gain vital experience. We're trying to take all we can get and become a recognised force in this world :)

*Sinful*'s defining characteristic - what makes playing with the team an enjoyable experience
Our defining characteristic is that we are here to have fun and enjoy the game. Winning / loosing becomes irrelevant if you can't have fun in the process. Some of you need reminding that RL is more important! Get some sleep Merc ;)
My team are good people and are loyal to their team / friends. By kicking / internalising the selfish we've created a team that firstly wants to look out for each other and then focus on their own expansion.


An impressive journey from a simple rim alliance growing into a group making an influential impact in current day happenings of the world. Kudos to the team and keep rocking! Now, here's the bonus with the map of the alliance - clearly reflects their growth over time. Hope you enjoy it!
Sinful_final.jpg
 

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
Stooges

An alliance that is ranked No.1 always draws a lot of attention. Sometimes, that's scary - having so many eyes turned towards you may be intimidating. But not for this bunch of great players. They may associate themselves with a cute looking turtle; but underneath the cuteness, they have the toughness of the shell to guard themselves and the agility & strength to deal powerful blows at those challenging them. They also are the host alliance for Trist & Mel, who have entertained us all with their Newsletters & predictions on the externals - always with a lively content [not everbody may 'like' it, but they all read it ;) ]

Let's walk through this eventful journey of Stooges as described by Trist

Formation of Stooges

I think everyone that was on external during the foundation of Stooges knows that story haha. But I’ll retell it briefly. I joined this world on day 1 as co-founder of Spirtum Sancti with Big Papa, having taken only Puppy Cuddle with me from 116. The rest of the team was majority premade from people Papa had gotten. Fast forward a few weeks and we can’t deal with his incompetent leadership and cheating, so I leave the ally, Invite the top active players from SS (puppy, moon, deut, trax to name a few) to be the original Stooges crew. I think back then it was 15 or so of us, but some of the best fighters and most actives on the server (in fact of the original members I think everyone is still here apart from Zip)

Naming the alliance
Stooges dates back to 116, where Puppy and I, along with 2 CQ players (Takni and ElderMageAlpha) created a group there mid server under a random name: Stooges. The name stuck and as far as I’m aware I consider it owned by the 4 of us, and since the latter 2 weren’t playing, I thought it would be fitting.

Growth of the alliance
Well after the core 15 were taken in, we were just looking to be a group of active players and play as a smaller team, so growth wasn’t much of a concern. Funnily enough the council was made of Puppy and I since I trusted him, Zip who was extremely active, Deut because I needed someone to do invites on day 1 (yes no other particular reason haha, but he did deserve it) and Don who had helped me lead in SS. After that we just kept doing our thing, picking fights where we wanted, “burning bridges” haha, and recruiting players here and there from alliances we had fought, players who had been a pain in the *** and had shown themselves “worthy” of joining us. It may be an odd style of recruiting, but it meant we had only active players who knew how to defend themselves and fight, which is why I think this team turned out so well.

A memorable battle (out of the many wars fought; something which you enjoyed the most)
My first thought here was to talk about the first Holy War, but I feel like this has been discussed so much already and want to avoid it for sake of talking about other things. So instead I think a key moment was the small war with nem and kleos right after the fall of AF. By then our numbers had grown just above 20 ( I want to say 22/23 but not too sure) and we had just picked up AF’s 2 best fighters, Oubay and Lucky, who were both very very eager to get back at a few traitors. I remember the joy in the chat after bretester ghosted out of the game 1 day into our OP on him, and those 2 could get back some of the cities they had lost. All in all in that small 3-4 day war, we had taken out 2 players and probably 40-50 cities (which at the time was huge btw your average player was on 15 cities) from both the 2 guys who left and some scrap AF players and Nem players. I think This moment was the first time we felt like we could be on top, having taken on a major team for sake of revenge, and frankly wooped their bum .

Star Players
Oooh this is going to cause drama haha. First all my guys are stars, give them all a golden sticker :D. But my goldy most start would have to go to Moon, because he ticks off all the boxes. I mean in my opinion he’s the best sniper on the server, the man has optimized his sniping game to the point where he can consistently get 2-3 1 sec snipes on every CS he sees, and the only reason it’s not more is because he doesn’t need more nukes to sink a CS or a snipe lol. On top of that he’s active in the chat, takes cities solo regularly for growth while always helping the team on every OP or even single targets. Honestly you don’t know how great it is when you missed your nukes and out of nowhere this mad lad posts 3 nukes timed to your CS to make up for you mistake, and ofc he catches both snipes and saves your CS. Honestly might be the MVP of the server. (again you’re all great my stooges keep it up :D)

Turning-point for Stooges
Ahh now we talk about the coa. I mean it’s pretty obvious for most alliances this is going to be the big point. The reason tho is interesting. I think for Stooges it’s for 2 reasons, the first is that for the first time Stooges place and diplomatic alignment was defined. Until then we had been a solo group with 0 pacts and 1 NAP, so we could hit anything and everything which made us a bit of a wild card diplomatically. But as soon as the coa was a thing, suddenly we were tied to numerous alliances, and our position was defined which I think changed a lot of things both internally and externally. The second is that it propelled us on top, which was a first for the majority of us. I think at the end of the first Holy War, the power differential between Stooges and other teams was at it’s peak (as in that was the point where the difference between us and the next in line was the highest), which both put a target on our back and put us in a tough diplo situation. I won’t say much more haha but let’s see what unfolds

Stooges' defining characteristic - what makes playing with your team an enjoyable experience
I think the key here, is that when you join after such tough entry requirements, you know that everyone else here is just as good as you and puts in just as much work. Obviously the mood is great but I think the respect given from player to player is something I’ve never seen, and it really stems from that odd recruiting format. In Stooges, you joined because you had proven yourself, and so did everyone else, so the original bond is strong and I think that is what makes us unique compared to other teams.

A tale passionately expressed by their leader, only shows us how well-organized and talented the group is. Talking about their map, they have a dense presence in O55 and are spread almost over the half of O45. They also share few islands with Kleos in O44 & the other alliances in O54 - making them almost a global presence across the core oceans of the world. We wish them all the best!
Stooges_final.jpg
 

DeletedUser25566

Guest
Really love this. Can someone do one for Kleos, but maybe make sure to include all 20 alliances that are in the coalition and promised dom spots.
 

DeletedUser22951

Guest
Good work here! Loving that map mate :)

Nice to see lots of different stuff going on in the externals, particularly as this server is getting on a bit now.

It would be good to host a 'Aristophanes Award' for dramatics on the externals at the end of the server.

Categories could include:

Most drama from a player

Most drama from an alliance

The most posts

The longest post

Top contributor to the externals

I am sad to watch this one pan out in retirement, but very glad to be kept informed by the kind folks keeping 126 alive in the externals. :)
 

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
haha, thanks very much diomedes.
The only problem about drama is, even though everybody likes (to watch) drama, they all want to see 'others' drama rather than presenting their own.. even if it is meant to be light hearted :)
 

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
La Cucaracha

A set of fierce warriors - just 20 members in strength, but making a mark in the world events all the same. Their resilience and the will to fight and not just survive, but to grow has paid-off, with their significance in the world growing day-by-day. Let's hear what their leader Bernado has to say about their journey so far.

Formation of La Cucaracha
Well Raghuk, we started in this world as 'The Voodoo' Its a name and an Alliance that has existed in past worlds, I invited some previous members but most were new joiners.

Why the name La Cucaracha
Pretty much straight away we were under attack from CM, we had to be very defensive and it was tough going, not so much the defensive stuff, but it can be demoralising when an Alliance doesn't grow or expand as fast as we would like because of playing the defensive game. One weekend we came under a heavy op from CM, We lost a few cities but fought them off well and with the existing slots and extra BP ended the weekend with more cities than before the OP. I got to thinking, we are like Cockroaches, they cant wipe us out, stamp on one and lots of baby cockroaches pop out! So we changed the name to send that message.

Growth of alliance
We tend to have a laid back council, we are a group of strong willed individuals and tend to act that way, we chat, decide as a group and stick together,the council is just the bigger members. I can be impetuous and can go over the top ( hard to believe i know) , they keep me under control.

A memorable battle (out of the many wars fought; something which you enjoyed the most)
Phew, so many,I remember paladin777 coming under immense pressure one night, we all stuck with him and together we saved his cities and following that, I think the situation turned, we went on the attack and started to turn things around.

Star Players
I cant mention any individuals just in case i miss someone! I came to this world with 2 close pals, i think for the next one, I will have 10.

Turning-point for La Cucaracha
Definitely the creation of the Coalition, It also spurs us on to shine ( I think ) sort of creates a sense of internal competition.

La Cucaracha's defining characteristic
I think we are hard to beat, the name says it all, After a nuclear war, there will still be Cockroaches.

Nestled in the borders of O55 & PO65, La Cucaracha have swiftly spread and colonised major portions of both these oceans. If you are planning to extinguish them, then beware! You may harm them for a while, but they are here to stay.
LaC_final.jpg
 

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
Stitch That

Here is another group of players who have gone through a lot of churns from the beginning. You may want to dismiss them as a fringe/rim alliance; but irrespective of their size and location on the map, they have weathered over long battles and have stood their ground against much much bigger enemies. Led by two dedicated leaders Afghan & Drubzie, they are growing at a good pace - not to mention with their sense of humour, I'm sure they are ensuring that they enjoy playing the game to the fullest. Read through the detailed interview from Afghan. This is certainly going to make you have a good laugh :) Thanks Afghan, for bringing smile on your readers' grim faces XD

Formation of Stitch That
Stitch That was previously known as The Imperial Guard (part of the Imperial Group - a three branch group (Guard, Guardian and Pirates), spanning oceans, formed by an autocratic leader in the early days of the server.
After a ban for an undetermined offense (personally I think he'd been flying his kite next to the airport), the founder returned to the fold. In the interests of democracy, he was given a vote of no-confidence and subsequently left the alliance in a blaze of accusations of traitory and all sorts. Drubzie and I (both remaining leaders in the group) decided to step up and Drubzie put a lot of time in making a plan to move away from the MRA thing and create a positive and proactive environment for the alliance to grow in; at the same time trying to remedy the difficult diplomatic legacy of the founder.
Drubzie and I first played together in en87 (speed 4 conquest - never again!) where we played in a small group of players against generally much bigger foes. We didn't come to this world for leadership, we sort of fell into it. Though I personally was delighted when he popped up a couple of islands down. Apart from Drubzie it's been all new team mates for me - and it's been great fun playing the game with them so far. A special mention to the Awakening crew... it's been fun working closely with you and sharing o56.


Why the name Stitch That?
We wanted to move away from the serious sounding 'Imperial Guard' and all the connotations it had with our previous 'emperor'.
"STITCH THAT, YA ****!" might be shouted by an enraged, drunken Scotsman, before he 'sticks the heid oan ye'.
Also, our profile pic, one may notice, is the Black Knight from Monty Python, who refuses to go down even after losing both arms and a leg in a duel.
I can't say if either of these personalities speak to our alliance character - that's for someone else to decide.


Growth of the alliance
From the start of ST we wanted to slim down and chop the dead wood out (there were many non-participating simmers because the old group recruitment policy was not very selective). This took a while. We didn't want to just kick en-masse and potentially end up with many reds in the back garden. (well the sensible people didn't, and i'm probably not one of them!)
The council fell into place and the active, vocal experienced players showed themselves when we began ops and guided some less experienced players into making their own improvements. Regrettably, dealing with the initial internal issues perhaps removed some of our focus from nearby enemies - at the same time however, it has allowed us to develop a strong core.


A Memorable Battle
We've had some really fun scraps with Stooges. One particular battle springs to mind.... an epic naval fight in one of Bhost cities I think, when we were doing a counter-op on Stooges, after they'd hit us hard. It was nail biting stuff as the birs kept rolling in and we scraped the last few LS together to break through and finally take the city. I stayed up much too late to see the outcome. Without getting too emotional, these are the most fun moments in grepo and I suppose why many of us play the game.
Stooges are consistently a very tough nut to crack and I'd say overall they've probably taken more off us than we have off them (wait a minute i'll check the stats... *checks stats*......ah yes.... they have definitely taken more from us than we have from them ;-) hehe)
Of course though, this makes the victories we've had all the sweeter. And we certainly enjoyed these moments as a group. They've consistently shown some excellent attacking and defending; tight timings and huge numbers when required; clearly a well organised and well lead group. We've come to know that that to do well against them we have to do something special, or be lucky, or preferably - both.


Star Players
I won't single anyone out but special mention to the council members who have always been there and all members who consistently step up for the group. Almost everyone has played a part and most members of the group have their own moments for the highlights reel. We all know that grepolis is not an easy game -it's such a long undertaking and can be difficult to keep committed and interested sometimes but hopefully for most the good times outweigh the bad. Of course real life obligations sometimes do take precedence, and they should always.
I have to say again that everything we've done with ST has been alongside our o56 neighbours and allies Awakening - we've operated as one so our successes and failures are very much entwined.


Turning-point for Stitch That
I suppose the departure of the founder from the old alliance was a big turning point for our group. It's old history now but that was the point we found renewed purpose and vigour to move forward in a positive manner and the disillusionment of before was cleared. Some great moments came of it - we gained a new enemy, lost a sort-of friend and the blueprint was laid for the next part of our journey in this world, which has lead us to today. We're still scratching a living on the rim and I suppose we know we can't win any prizes but we if we can have a great scrap along the way then that is what it's all about! The challenge going forward is to step off the back foot and take the fight back to the enemy, something we haven't done too much for a couple of weeks.

Stitch That's defining characteristic
I would say the most intriguing thing about our alliance (apart from our excellent haircuts) is that in our internal forums, we all write in cypher. I can't say exactly what cypher (i certainly can't understand it - i think they change it daily), but let's just say the spies never hang about too long.
The most enjoyable thing about playing with this alliance is having a good old scrap with the team. Also we're so grateful to our contacts down in ocean 86. Thanks to their extensive oil fields and subsequent wealth, our members never have to leave the desktop; home delivered supplies of pizza, beer and top quality raki for all. And gas and electric bills taken care of too, naturally.


Stitch That, have a sister alliance called Stitch This. They are closely allied with Awakening, with whom they share their territory.
ST_AW.jpg
 

SirNeo

Hipparchus
lets capture the story of KLEOS and CLAPS.. would be fun hear from both side their journey entering dom
 

RaghuK

Hekatontarch
Merc has been lazy to even respond to my initial interview request. Will follow-up with him.
Who from claps should I contact though? :)
 
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