Perhaps it’s a little tacky to quote your own character at the beginning of an out of character piece. I can’t help it. Ever since concluding my story Endgame and my former faction’s in-game war for the Coma system no other phrase will do. Before I get to meat of the piece, let me provide a little bit of context by way of a proper introduction.
With the Beyond series of updates Elite: Dangerous is at a crossroads. Many people will likely decide if this game is worth their time and energy by early next year. With all the discussions on Discords, forums, and elsewhere I’m therefore feeling reflective. This spring will mark a very big change for me inside the game and will set my course for many months to come. Might be a good to think about how I got here in the first place. Put things on record, you know?
Despite what anyone may tell you I don’t claim to be special in Elite or life in general. You’re reading the words of a regular guy who gets up in the morning, goes to work, and comes home. He’s got loved ones, pets, friends, enemies, and a list of personal failures and triumphs stretching back decades.
So where did this Phisto Sobanii guy come from anyway?
Playing the Villain
I first heard of Elite: Dangerous the week it became available on XBOX. My friend told me it looked pretty cool, was about spaceships, and that you could fly around the galaxy and do whatever you wanted. Having just come off the Mass Effect trilogy and being a fan of games like Wing Commander it seemed like a good time. We bought the game, met up in Eravate, and started our adventure. I imagine it was a lot like anyone else’s experience. We crashed our Sidewinders, got blown up in conflict zones, ran trade routes, and rarely saw any other Commanders before one fateful day in Gende.
Another player this far out! Oh wow! This is crazy!
By this time we’d worked our way up to Master combat rank and each owned A-rated Fer De Lances. That seemed to impress our new friend so he told us about his player group. We asked him what they liked to do.
‘We like killing Commanders.’
Killing Commanders? How do you do that if you can’t even find them? Naturally, he told us. He and his group spent most of their time in Sol and the starter systems looking for any kind of peer to peer combat they could find. Sometimes it was just blowing up harmless trade ships, explorers, or newbies, but often it’d turn into a proper brawl with all kinds of excitement.
Now, let’s back up a second. Remember what I said about just having finished the Mass Effect trilogy? In that game you’re basically a super powered version of ‘Space Jesus’ - the hero to end all heroes. Not unlike most games, to be honest. Half-Life, Halo, Mass Effect - all of these and others put you in the role of the god-hero out to save the day. Fast forward back to Elite. Once we got to Sol and got the low down from the other players this seemed to me like a great chance to experiment and do something different.
I could finally play the bad guy for once.
So we did and by gods did we fight and kill a lot of Commanders! There was a lot of ganking, but more often than not ‘good guy’ factions on XBOX would rally up and come for us. Before long this gimbal laser scrub was whipping around fleet engagements in a silent running all plasma accelerator Fer De Lance!
It was amazing.
Much of it was also really, really stupid. Looking back, it’s hilarious how bad some of roleplay was. Had some real Saturday morning cartoon villain level stuff going on - ‘We don’t want your cargo! We just want your soul!’
And we were in Sol? Get it? Cringe, I know.
But hey, gotta walk before you can run, right?
Joining Inara Roleplay
Of course our new found friends introduced us to the wonders of Inara.cz. We had to join the wing, you see, and take advantage of all the amazing information available thanks to the amazing and illustrious Artie. All that said, it was the role play forums and logbooks that caught my eye.
Wait, people write about Elite? Oh my gods, some of this is really good.
Like many others on Inara I quickly discovered the talents of Marra Morgan. Her logbooks chronicled the rise of a drug addled smuggler to the highest echelons of power of Black Omega, one of the Pegasi Sector’s most powerful and feared firms. What got me even further wasn’t just the quality of her dramatic storytelling but also the fact it reflected what was really happening in the game. The adventures of her and the Black Omega crew informed her writing, inspired others, and created a world within Elite with real texture, intrigue, and excitement.
So, how to jump in on all this? Well, guess I decided exactly that: jump in.
Phisto Sobanii was born of a very simple idea: ‘What would a serious attempt at roleplaying a ganker look like?’ I imagined a suave and wise cracking ole completely sure of his abilities in the cockpit and the bedroom. Dressed in the finest suit money could buy with even more expensive tastes to match, he quickly became an egotistical, brash, but ultimately fun loving and heartfelt character. A ‘ganker with a heart of gold,’ I’ve heard it said.
Naturally, my earliest attempts had their own awkward moments and a few false starts but I was earnestly trying to learn. And thankfully, in spite of my greatest fears, the Inara community welcomed me with open arms. Yes, you’ll notice I said fear there. Folks can be really hard on you when they find out you like blowing up other people’s spaceships in a video game. I was worried I might not get the chance to join the fun. Once again to their endless credit, the fine folks of Inara proved me wrong. Probably saved a lot of Commanders rebuy that way!
Kidding aside, they ultimately inspired me to ‘git gud’ with my roleplaying and storytelling. My new group, Newton’s Fusiliers, wouldn’t just be about mindless ganking. We’d start to find meaning for the crazy we did and along the way figure out not just how to be the bad guy but look good doing it. As some fans (and detractors!) of the Fusiliers already know we’ve had quite the ride over the past year and a half. There was our secret role in the Premonition event, our terror attacks in Quince, the pillaging of Ghost Legion’s capital of Phiagre and subsequent liberation of Findja, and countless other stories lived across the Elite: Dangerous galaxy.
Needless to say, a little bit of creativity took us a long way from just shooting whomever came by Sol. Little did we know the best was yet to come.
The Coma War
In April of 2017 Newton’s Fusiliers were placed into the game as a player minor faction in the system of Coma. Unbeknownst to us at the time, it was a valuable control system for the Denton Patreus PowerPlay community. As an Anarchy government type, we were in direct conflict with one of the largest and most well organized groups in the game.
Without getting into too much detail, I’m going to stick to what’s relevant to this piece. Bottom line was a chance was given to a bunch of no good dirty griefers and gankers to fight for the most meaningful thing any of us can have in-game or out.
Home.
You see, over the weeks and months I’d spent playing I learned something very crucial about the role of morality in good story telling. Good and evil is for children and their Saturday morning cartoons. Adults want protagonists, antagonists, and the mature understanding that morality is just a matter of perspective.
And so, Newton’s Fusiliers provided exactly that during the Coma War. We were the good guys while the Empire were the bad guys. Of course, their side thought of it in exactly the opposite manner, but that’s the point. We believed in the righteousness of our cause and they believed in theirs. For about six months the conflict raged in earnest with both sides fighting on all fronts - PvP, BgS, PowerPlay, and even Forum PvP. You name it, we fought there! In the end, both sides negotiated a treaty that satisfied them both. We had Coma. The Empire had peace.
Now, who really were the bad guys? Who were the good guys? Hard to say really, but that’s the fun. Are Newton’s Fusiliers just ‘a bunch griefers?’ Ask any of our friends, and you’ll find that’s not true. The Coma War changed us for the better as a group, players, and even people. Several have said it was the most incredible thing they’d ever witnessed in Elite: Dangerous.
And you know what, all ego aside? It was pretty special. I’m humbled and honored to have played a role.
What about the Empire? I suppose they were just glad the whole affair was over. You’d have to ask them to be sure. What I can say for certain though is relations between Newton’s Fusiliers and Patreus’ planning group have never been better. Hell, we’ve even done small favors for each other these past couple of months. Imagine that.
I guess that brings me back to Phisto’s quote. What’s next? To be honest, hard to say. The restoration of Loren’s Legion has just begun. The future is out there.
Whatever it is though, if the journey is half as much fun as it’s been?
I can’t wait!
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