The Bastion

The Bastion
The Crest of The Bastion
Founder	Laken Henri
Founded	November 5th of 2020
Harbingers	Laken Henri I, Azerius Henri II, Soft Henri III, Fyre Xavi, Arnold Henri IV, Wilhelm Llama

Foundation

The Bastion began to formulate in late 2020. Initially, the idea was to create a large military or a coalition of militaries to wipe out guilds that were deemed less than ideal in the mind of Laken. However, as discussion occurred and Classic staff made it harder and harder for the Graal Military Community (GMC) to operate, the modern idea of the Bastion was born. On November 5th, a server would be made, and the name "Bastion" was used.

With the help of Nylius Avidius, Perseus Dax, and Soft Vaughn, initial ideas about the Bastion, such as its voting system, committees, and community approach would be established. More discussion would occur about forms of combat, rules, and loopholes abused by the military community. Voting occurred and proposals passed, although nothing else would really occur.

The big push for the Bastion came upon the establishment of a launch date on June 6th, 2021. Several military guilds had voiced support for the Bastion and pressure was put on Laken to actually finish this project. Work was poured into the minor details of rules and ironing out possible exploits in the rules. An official document pertaining to all rules was translated and produced on June 1st, 2021, five days before the official launch.

Laken’s Reign

The Bastion officially launched on the 6th of June, 2021. With Laken as Harbinger, he issued the First Regulatory, and started his test battles. Once he was done with his tests and was comfortable with updating the Regulatory, he issued the Second Regulatory, and began looking for someone to succeed him, as he was eager to retire.

Azerius’ Reign

Laken chose Azerius to succeed him and issued a vote among the lords to vote on the decision. The vote was in favor of Azerius succeeding, and so he took control over the Bastion as its second Harbinger. When Azerius was informed, a lot of things went wrong; Azerius began working on his rule tests, and the Unified State began its campaign to take over the entire map. Azerius had a lot of opportunities to test his rules. He began working on two-front warfare, revised Laken’s rules, and improved house battles. When an alliance formed against the Unified State, members of the Bastion server, specifically Statesmen, had complained that the organization's overseers were biased whilst campaigning to change a certain rule. Members of the Unified State had accused Azerius of being a biased Harbinger, and was siding with people because he did not agree with their complaints. After the situation was seemingly resolved, the two guilds which had been complaining, yhe Unified State and Exercito, withdrew from the Bastion. The whole ordeal had caused Azerius a lot of stress, and he had decided that he did not want to be Harbinger anymore. Thus, he reviewed the situation and ultimately decided to apply the rules to the whole community, dissolving the legislative hierarchy of the Bastion. Thinking this decision was premature and threatening to the well-being of the Graal Military Community, Soft Vaughn talked him out of it, convincing Azerius to make him Harbinger if he did not want the role anymore.

Soft’s Reign

When Soft inherited the Bastion, the situation was fragile. At the time, there was a major ideological split between the Bastion and the anti-Bastion coalition spearheaded by the Unified State. Though he did make attempts to make peace with the leavers, they had limited success, and thus decided to negotiate with the more open-minded leaders that remained within the Bastion. Despite the numerous requests from Lords and leaders alike to call a crusade, Soft persevered in his plan, and the Bastion saw a lengthy time of stability for a while after the Unified State's dissolution.

Fyre's Reign

Sometime between September 20th and October 4th, Fyre had been elected Harbinger following Soft's retirement. With Fyre becoming Harbinger, he completely revamped the Bastion, fitting it with a new, flashier, and more modern logo, as well as releasing one of the most important documents used in the Bastion; the Corpus Juris Bastion. The CJB (Corpus Juris Bastion) is a new and revised version of the old Bastion ruleset, except this time, it was much more organised. Following the release of the document, a Brazilian translation was then provided by some of the Brazilian lords. Fyre was not done yet with his innovations. He introduced the Bastion Knights, a special corps that specialised in moderation and incursions. However, this period of time has had it's fair share of controversy. From rumours of Aurean bias to Rildo's shenanigans, it was a very contentious period.

Laken's Second Reign

On the 28th of November, 2021, Fyre officially resigned as Harbinger, and passed the role back to Laken. During this period, it was more so just polishing the rough edges of the Bastion. A lot more democracy had been involved, with proposals being discussed constantly within the Doctrine Committee. There was the creation of a map format, thanks to Simbach, who also created a modern day water adjacency map.

Arnold's Reign

Around the 30th of April, 2022, Laken instated Arnold as Harbinger, and Laken instead opted to help out as an Aide.

Wilhelm's Reign

On the 9th of September, Arnold abdicated the Harbinger role to Wilhelm.

Decline and Fall

Numerous historians attribute The Bastion's decline to the trend initiated by The Unified State, prompting nations to withdraw from The Bastion's system. Despite the Bastion officials' confidence in the impartiality of their system, which they believed favored the GMC and its remaining guilds, numerous nations opposed this view. They alleged that the system targeted their respective sovereignties and served as a front for Aurea's interests, aimed at monopolizing the military sphere.

The final major conflicts within The Bastion's framework ensued as a rivalry between the emerging Amestrian empire and the long-standing seventh Aurean empire. Subsequently, Sarovia aligned itself with Aurea during this period, despite having not participated in The Bastion a year prior.

Following the downfall of Aurea and Amestria, alongside Sarovia's withdrawal from The Bastion system, a disorderly phase of political and administrative upheaval gripped The Bastion. By mid-2022, the English guilds were witnessing a steady decline, Sarovia reverted to its independent ruleset, and the Brazilian factions established their own community known as the "Graal Military Society." These developments collectively contributed to The Bastion's dormancy.

Although The Bastion has ceased to exist, its legacy endures through the reintroduction of the house-warfare system. Additionally, its influence persists, shaping the contemporary approach of nations towards engagement in combat.

Function

The Bastion began at its lowest levels with the committees. There were five committees: graphics, naming, mapping, press, and doctrine. The Doctrine Committee was the most important, as it was where rule proposals started. The Doctrine Committee was open to essentially anyone so that proposal flaws could be pointed out and hopefully fixed. After some time, with discussions and an ironed-out proposal finalized, it was taken to the Hall of Lords. The Hall of Lords was composed of Lords and First Lords. Lords had one vote, while First Lords had two. Lords then voted on the proposal. If it passed, it made it into the final copy of the Corpus Juris Bastion. Finally, there was the Harbinger and his Aides. The Harbinger acted as the mediator and leader for the Bastion, with the Prince of Arcus as their indicated successor and apprentice.