[Regional event] The Scouring of Bering

[jammi]

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The Scouring of Bering
Bering, Texas
Regional event

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OVERVIEW

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The Battleship Concord has been stationed in the Texas system for over a month, intensely drilling with its battlegroup in large scale combat operations. Liberty officials had insisted that the deployment was simply a training exercise - war games to ensure Sirius' largest military stays in peak fighting form. Despite this, fears were aroused in both New Berlin and Bering, with the Liberty Separatists and Rheinland Imperials both independently envisioning worst case scenarios.

While the Concord consolidated its assets, the LSF conducted ceaseless deception operations intended to obfuscate Liberty's true objectives. Falsified communications were fed to Separatist scouts, strongly implying a deployment to Hudson in order to issue an armed ultimatum over the status of Liberty corporations in Stuttgart. Fearing a ruse, Separatist and Hellfire Legion commanders convened a top level strategic summit on Marshall, intended to review the disposition of their local garrisons and lay contingency plans for a defence against invasion. With the prognosis looking grim, a call for urgent additional support was issued.

With forward agents reporting the deployment of additional Hellfire Legion assets into Bering, Liberty's admirals determined that the full scale invasion would need to be expedited. Somewhat earlier than intended and missing key reinforcements from supporting fleets, the Concord set a course for its objective: Marshall Station. This movement was initially detected by Separatist scouts who raised the alarm. It was quickly determined that the full extent of the forces arrayed before them would be sufficient to overwhelm the Bering garrison unless decisive and aggressive action was taken.

In response to this assessment, the Commonwealth issued stark orders to those Hellfire Legion vessels present: "withdraw at once, abandon Bering and retreat back to safer ground without confrontation. Hold for further orders". The unspoken implication being that the Separatists would be left to die, alone and outgunned. Furious at the abject cowardice displayed by their political leaders, the Hellfire military commanders present refused to acknowledge the orders and issued their own mutinous commands. Nearby Legion squadrons and fleets were rallied to the system for a pitched engagement against the might of the Liberty Navy.

As Marshall Station begins its emergency evacuation to Galveston Outpost, the combined fleets of the Liberty Separatists and Hellfire Legion launch a desperate, doomed charge on the Concord's staging ground in Texas. Meanwhile, Liberty forces have received deceptively straightforward instructions: "Pacify Bering, suppress piracy, eliminate the insurgency." Tactical objectives include the seizure or destruction of Freeport 2, and the elimination of Marshall Station.

DETAILS

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• PVE bounty rewards have been increased by 50% in Bering.
  PVE bounty rewards have been increased by 25% in Texas.
  
• $7.5m bounty rewards have been added to LN and LSF IDs for Liberty Separatist and Hellfire Legion players to claim in Bering and Texas.
  
• $7.5m bounty rewards have been added to Independent Pirate, Liberty Separatist and Hellfire Legion IDs for LN and LSF players to claim in Bering and Texas.
  
• $7.5m bounty rewards have been added to LN and LSF IDs for Independent Pirate players in Bering only.
  
• Separatist Materiel is sold ($500) on Marshall Station (Bering), and bought ($3,757) at Galveston Station (Texas).
  
• Demolition Charges are sold ($500) on Galveston Station (Texas), and bought ($3,757) at Marshall Station (Bering).

Date:

09:00 UTC, Tuesday 26th May - Tuesday 2nd June.

Rule changes:

• For the duration of the event, both Bering and Texas will be 'contested systems', reducing the cooldown timer for PvP death to 30 minutes instead of the usual 1 hour.
  
• For the duration of the event, pirate IDs may treat Liberty Navy and LSF ships as combat targets within Bering, overriding their normal ID restrictions.
  
• Separatist Materiel and Demolition Charges are considered contraband under Liberty law.

NOTES

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This event is intended to spur on activity in the region, and promote player RP.

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