Solarius
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Solarius was an active region in 2002 and 2003, and one of the first that encouraged active RPing among a large base of players. It achieved near-legendary status for the commitment shown to it by its members; however, it is now more famous for birthing The DEN. It still exists today
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2002
Solarius was once among the most powerful regions in NationStates, first formed in 2002. It reached a peak of around 300 active nations, who role-played, built an advanced off-site structure and vigorously recruited in the Pacific, but declined as the game evolved and players moved on. Key people from this time include Ramon McGee and others.
2003
The player now most widely known as General Powell (retired in 2005) lead the successful attempt to rebuild Solarius. Through his principal nation of Florence Marie (which served as a senator and, for a time as Delegate) the community was rebuilt online, a constitution formed and recruitment actively pursed. Solarius quickly grew from a dying region of less than 20 nations to a powerhouse of 300. These nations were organized into the central region of Solarius (referred to by members and allies as "Solarius Prime") containing about 100 nations, and ten "Solarian Army Camps" containing approximately 20 troops each. Each of these Army Camps were commanded by a Solarian Colonel, and served under the command of a Solarian General and the Solarian Senate. This structure was used to diffuse power across several players in the region; all (as it later turned out) save its singularly-powerful senator. This army was defensive in nature, and helped defend many regions throughout NS from invasions - famously from Hades and Diablos.
With it's politically-active central region and expanding army, the size and influence of Solarius gained attention throughout NS and its regional reputation expanded dramatically. You can see that a treaty with the similarly named Commonwealth of Solaris, which at the time was about half the size of Solarius, was signed on the 26th of August 2003 (http://www.angelfire.com/nb2/nationstatesuwc/index.html), as of this time all member nations of the region of Solaris effectively became Solarians, and the former region became essentially a satellite region of Solarius. This peaceful expansion was not enough to deter attacks on Solarius Prime, however, and attempted raids on the then-founderless region escalated as more and more players throughout NS began to envy the cult-like status that grew around the region.
2003/2004
After Solarius Prime fell to Diablos, Florence Marie pushed to have the Army adopt a more offensive role in NS. As a Senator, and more importantly as the influential reexhilarator of the region, he served to organise, field, recruit and train the core of what would later become The Army of Solarius; giving him an unequal role over the direction of the region's power. This core group of nations recaptured Solarius Prime from raider region Diablos, and set about building a permanent defensive force for Solarius. Florence Marie thereafter began the expansion of the region's core defensive group into an army spanning ten "Solarian Army Camps" with a total field of 200 active UN (now WA) member nations. It was at the time the largest organized defensive force among active NS regions.
The Army's first operation was the capture and destruction of Diablos in retaliation for the taking of Solarius. This was accomplished through a combined operation involving both infiltration by Solarian intelligence nations (collectively referred to as the "Solarian Intelligence Service" (SIS)) and the capture of the founderless home region Diablos. The Army would continue large-scale defensive operations throughout NS; notably in the region of China and several others.
Realizing the potential of coordinated military operations by an expansive army, Florence Marie secretly had two of the Army Camps conduct offensive training operations in the region of Mount Arden. This action met with rather severe criticism in the Solarian Senate (as Florence Marie did not receive prior approval for a mission which violated the Solarian Constitution's ban on offensive use of the region's military force.) After being rebuked by the Senate, Florence Marie left Solarius on the 27th Feb 2004 and formed raider region DEN with his newly-created founder nation of General Powell. The rest, as they say, is history.
Under General Powell, DEN put amoral raiding at its core and attracted players from across the game to its banners. With the departure of Florence Marie, the region of Solarius slowly became less and less important - indeed, as most of its army left or joined DEN, its raison d'être as a primarily defensive empire disintegrated, and the flouting of the rules by its neo-creator led many to move to RP pastures elsewhere.
2004/2005
2004 saw an abortive attempt by the remaining Commonwealth of Solaris to restart both aspects of Solarius as a region and an alliance. The five Solaris regions joined up and recruitment started again. Even Solarian recruitment telegrams and forums were re-used by former members as a helping hand. The Commonwealth set to take over all regions on the first page of the world (000, 0000000, and so on) to show their force, and at one time were in control of the entire first 20 regions. Unfortunately, the dynamics of NS had shifted too much by this time - other defence networks such as Alliance or TITO were better countered at fighting DEN and "The DEN" (an expansion of DEN by former DEN trooper General Tommy Franks). DEN successfully invaded Solarius Prime to show how dead was the concept of a defense-oriented military force. Solarians retreated back to the Commonwealth and by April 2005 Solarius was quiet again. General Powell officially retired in 2005 from active play but as of 2011 his puppets still exist in various places.
2011
Will Solarius ever rise again? It seems highly unlikely, but not impossible. The changes in game mechanics and the birth of NS2 have made region griefing and invading a far stealthier, more leisurely affair, leading groups like DEN to be almost anachronistic. Time will tell whether enough active players still exist who are willing to re-invigorate the nearly decade-old region.
--143.53.154.131 17:27, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
