Crusaders of the void was, built out of the downfall of multiple crews and the congregation of these members.From the beginning, our crew has been a melding of pvpers, megalomaniacs, builders, flower pickers and every other type of player/person underneath the sun. These players shaped and molded our crew to the power that it was and I’m happy that we as a group of players can reflect on that time together. CoV was what it was meant to be, a jolly group of individuals answering to nobody and doing what they so pleased. For a long time that is how the crew functioned and as more members joined and other left the goals and ideals of the crew changed. That is not to say that the crew’s intentions changed into a negative entity but I think I can speak for the group when I say that our initial “goals” were different. As solid entities came to oppose us we became more warlike and extreme in our attacks. We believed this was a natural evolution as to stay on top involved the scorched earth and raiding policies we embodied. Through this, we were able to ride at the top of the server for an extended period of time, that I believe is unquestionable.

While this may be how our crew was seen externally, as an evil Cthulhu style behemoth, internally we had struggles just as any crew. The large diverse player base we had always struggled to find cohesion. Multiple times in our private forums and discussions this almost boiled over. That being said we always pulled through. Recently we have come to an impasse as a crew and have made the decision to leave CoV at the top. That is to say that, CoV will remain as a relic, to remind people of its lasting legacy but to also remind people that even the most powerful can crumble. In light of recent events I think that is the most important lesson to garner from this post. Yes as a crew we may have taken it “too far” at times but that is up to personal debate and I am not apologizing or justifying anybody’s actions in this post.

That being said with a sour taste in my mouth, I can acknowledge that CoV had formidable enemies. As this being a game and crews not being able to be obliterated, you as a server have survived. From Solis rising from the ashes of many crews to contest us, to the empires surviving the rising tide, I am proud of this player base. I hope that the server can look back at CoVs reign and reflect upon it as a whole.

By no means are the players of CoV disappearing, merely heading on separate paths. Some may build, joining larger crews, others will continue to hunt every should on the plains of pirate craft. There are infinite possibilities for its members as there is for Pirate craft as a whole. With this note, I conclude this post and this chapter in CoV members lives as well as this Era in pirate craft history.

Hello brothers and sisters, I hope you are enjoying the beginning of summertime. For some it means finals, others summer break and vacations, and for the rest of us who aren’t in school and have to work, we have the weekends at the (insert local relaxing place). For me here in the blazing Egyptian sun that means anywhere with air conditioning or the Mediterranean sea.

Well, the reason for writing this afternoon is partially all the fun drama surrounding the last few months but mostly because I’m a father and I see people hurting and that’s something I can help with, I hope.

Now I don’t believe that I’m some super smart perfect person or that I’m better than anyone. I know that I’m not, but I have lived for a while and picked up a few pieces of wisdom from others here and there and learned quite a few things the hard way. If you would let me bend your ear for a minute I would like to share one of those nuggets with you.

This past week we have seen a war waged between 13 colonies and USE and a call to arms against the CoV. There has been lots of colorful banter, taking of heads, anger, hurt feelings, and fun (according to whether you were the victim or victor). I have a feeling that’s how summers are on the server since more people are on and looking for a bit of adventure. The reality though is that these episodes of he/she did this and those guys are evil kill them all, have been going on for years. All you need to do is scroll through the forums.

It’s nothing new and most likely will never change. After all we are all just broken humans with messy emotions at all different ages and all different stages of maturity, in life. We’re all from different cultures and backgrounds with our own personal experiences and baggage. That’s what gives this place so much life, right. But on the downside when you get such a diverse group of people together in a community there will always be some sort of discontent. It’s been that way since the beginning of time.

Knowing and understanding where others are coming from, you know seeing things from their perspective is the starting point for real communication and communication is one of the keys for coexistence. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with everyone or even like them as a person but trying to see things from someone else’s perspective helps us take the initial “you did (blank) to me for no reason” hurt and defensive emotional response and gives us time to pause, reflect,  think and calm down. Then we are able to approach the situation with the understanding that there is a real flesh and blood person on the other end of the chat/keyboard and possibly even have empathy towards them knowing they are acting out of a place of brokenness and emotion just as we are.

We can’t stop our emotions from happening but we can over time learn to process them better and have healthier relationships as a result. We also can’t control others actions or reactions to something no matter how calm and reasonable we try to be. We can however choose to control our actions (what we do after the emotion) and respond instead of reacting to things with unfiltered emotional vomit or emotionally charged actions. It’s our choice to have good character or bad character. I just want to insert here that I still fail at this more often than I would like to admit and I’ve been a counselor for 15 years now.  It’s hard to get all the salt from the 25 years before that out of my system 🙂

OK, OK,  I can hear you thinking “Blu, what the hell does this have to do with Piratecraft. If I wanted to hear someone preach at me I would go to church. This is just a freaking game.”

• Of course this is just a game and we always have to remember that. This isn’t real life. Real life happens out there beyond the keyboard but that’s just it. What happens in real life comes with us into our virtual life. You got in a fight with your girlfriend/boyfriend so you log on and go on a ‘seek and destroy’ mission or someone raids you and takes all you good stuff so you explode on the chat with venom because you got bullied at school earlier that day. Or maybe you’ve had a good day and you are the recipient of someone’s bad day antics. Instead of reacting, take a breath and respond and remember it’s a game and they are real people with real problems just like you.
• Well, I am a pastor, so yeah, there’s that. Might explain why I always have such long posts. Hahaha,
• It all has to do with Piratecraft because we are Piratecraft. Everyone that logs onto the server becomes a small part of this severs history and in some way shapes it, changes it, some good some bad,  if only just a bit. As an old ex-outlaw turned pastor and trauma counselor, this is one of the ways I’m able to contribute and do my little bit of shaping the history of the server.

So, Can you have good character in a PVP pirate server setting? “Why certainly” (to be read in the voice of curly from the 3 stooges)

I don’t really know who belongs to what crew but I’m sure I’ve been killed by folks from quite a few different crews.  That being said there are a few people that have shown good character after siege or just sneak attack killing me and those that didn’t.

It really makes me angry being blindsided while working. I like the idea of both sides facing each other in a showdown but I understand why you would use the technique and might use it myself if I decide to go raiding. The point is I understand the non PVP builder’s point of view all too well but also like that we can fight if we want.

Here are some examples extracted from my life here on Piratecraft that I would consider good character from folks with a PVP perspective.

Dagersh has snuck up on me at my base and killed me while I was working on different builds and killed me but he is always polite and gives me back most of my items. Like tools, building materials, weapons, some bits of armor etc…  Daniel_McLachlen has also caught me working several times and killed me but also has returned some items, and once even dove down next to an active water temple to retrieve and return my enchanted tools I lost in the exchange.  Others like Icebear, Pheonix, Stienoid, have been gracious victors after battle and not greifed my place or taken everything they could or just repeatedly killed me even though I was defenseless.

I’m not saying to have character in battle means returning items. No, not at all Ibepo_ snuck up on me while I was working on our crews blaze farm he won the siege and got all my pimp armor and weapons and kept them. Hell I would have too. I was super pissed at first since I was so caught off guard by the time I figured out it was a person and not a rouge blaze I had taken to many hits to survive and he was too fast for me. I knew it would be a while to make a new god set but I was thankful when I came back to the farm saw that he didn’t destroy it. He could have torn it all to hell as it had a lot of soft blocks in the build. That showed a bit of good character.
I didn’t like any of these situations and someday I might release the beast and exact my revenge but I can respect a person with good character even when the situation might have made me angry.

Unfortunately I have seen many PVP/raiding situations bring out the worst in folks on both the victor and victim sides. Excessive greifing, tping back to repeatedly kill, consecutively raiding the same person just to be a d**k basically when the fight is done and you just keep on with malicious intent in game or in chat you are showing bad character and will not gain anyone’s respect. Usually you will receive just the opposite.

In a PVP/war atmosphere good character is defined not by whether you killed or raided someone it is being kind and gracious in victory even if the person is your mortal enemy. The same applies to the one who is defeated. You must find resolve to be gracious and kind in defeat even when the victor is not. Give the victor their spoils they won.  You would expect your spoils had you won. Then work to improve you defenses.

Raising 2 wonderful and rambunctious kids has taught me a lot about character, humility, the power of words, the power of forgiveness, the power of listening and trying to understand their point of view, and reminded me to live well, live fully in the moment and not let the negative crap stay long enough in my head and heart to hurt those I love.

Just something to think about as you decide what kind of man/women you want to be in this life.

Live well, love well, play well, and be sure to take a few heads while you’re at it.

MrBluBeardedYeti

Brewing Updated!

• barrels work again! You will have to remove the old sign and put it back on to re-make barrels
• fermenting, distilling, ageing is all working again!
• chat commands updated, no longer speaking undrunk in crew chat ye sneaky barnacle!
• Black Fire Potion nerfed to no longer act like a golden apple from 1.8!

If you have any ideas for new Brews please do post them to the initial Brewing thread: http://piratemc.com/topic/suggestion-brewery-plugin/

Helpful Brewing URLs:

• http://piratemc.com/guides/brewery/
• http://piratemc.com/2015/06/12/summer-grog/
• http://piratemc.com/topic/brewing-discoveries/

Special Thanks goes out to @CallieMav for helping with the configs to speed things up.

This has been long time underway and I can finally say I have had it with some individuals of the CoV. Through my time on the server I have seen good guys and bad guys, guys with friendly greetings and Pirates with nasty attitudes. Don’t get me wrong, pirates are a thing and I will in no way discourage this way of life, but what I see in this, once less corrupted crew has now turned into a burning flame that creeps ever so closer encroaching the freedom and rights to step outside in the wilderness and not get jumped every other second. Once a PvP dedicated crew, CoV has slowly, but surely brought in some of the nastiest of players, with behavior equal to spoiled brats bending rules, standing in grey zones annoying the hell out of common folks for no reason, being disrespectful to the limit that it is not enough for punishment. Believe me, these certain ones are true experts in their field, like true captains know how to sail a ship, these boys know exactly how get away with their wrong doings and even doing it over and over!

It has been discussed within my own government for a long time whether or not it would have any meaning to even fight the CoV. They are too stubborn and will just find new ways of annoying the hell out of everyone, but we ask ourselves, what is the alternative? what happens if we just let these filths run loose and keep stealing our valuables?

Recent victories fought by Solis and the Elves have sparked hope that we might be able to suppress these nasty pirates, who just want to make life hell for us. I therefore call upon the Coalition to stand up with Solis, with the Elves and set a stop to the ever so creeping advancement of the CoV! I call my own crew, The British, our Colonial State, Thirteen Colonies, NRR,  Ender and Elite, I call the FNA and the LoN for whatever it’s worth, to join and stand against the oppressors of the stability of the server! We shall join Solis and The Elven Empire in the fight! We need to hunt these pirates, we need to suppress them as good as we can! We might not be able to defeat the crew altogether, but we will sure as hell try!

The era of tyranny delivered by the new members of CoV is over! I hereby call a server wide hunt for all the CoV that has ever wronged us! We shall stand together and fight them the best we’re able! All crews are welcome to join the Coalition here to show your courage to stand against the biggest threat this server has ever witnessed! We shall never give in to the CoV!!