Conquest of Pergo
| Conquest of Pergo | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 COMMIES accosting an unsuspecting pubbie | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
 COMMUNISM |
 Pergo Pubbies |
 Carbine StudiosBrony Mods | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
|
ShelarahnDianicPrude | None |
ChilliaMorwynne | ||||||
| Units involved | ||||||||
| 10~ COMMUNISTS | 1000s unwilling participants | 2~ VERY gay mods | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| None | None | That one that got fired | ||||||
The Conquest of Pergo was the first major operation of 2014 by COMMUNISM and the event that marked its return to prominence in the wake of the post-Lightninghoof slump.
Background
During the first few months of 2014, COMMUNISM was in a major slump. The momentum from the Lightninghoof Invasion had stalled and the group was limited to mostly a few members in Facebook Messenger chat. In the morning hours of April 12th, Pigeon suggested the group try out the upcoming MMO, Wildstar, getting the idea from a PAX panel he had watched. There was immediate interest in the game, as its structure and gameplay was reminiscent of World of Warcraft in its early form, specifically Burning Crusade. Very few of the old Lightninghoof COMMIES were interested, but the core group was.
Launch Week
The COMMIES having bought in early allowed them to begin playing the game a few days before the rest of the community, so by the time the mass population had arrived, most COMMIES were already way ahead. This gave them more time to focus on propaganda and recruitment. One of these avenues was the official realm forums, much like the original Gorgonnash realm forums, which were highly active and concentrated towards just the players of Pergo. The COMMUNISM recruitment thread immediately became one of the most active threads on not only the Pergo forums, but the entire Wildstar forums. The popularity only rose when Shelarahn began making custom invite videos for people who were expressing interest, most notably Succs legendary recruitment video.
The infamy also brought out many naysayers and haters, most famously in the form of an ironybro named treemonster whose chronic cringeposting made him a constant target for COMMUNISMs shitposts.
The COMMISSAR Speaks
To further the brand of COMMUNISM and their displeasure with the way the forums were being ran, Shelarahn took on the persona of THE COMMISSAR, a balaclava clad revolutionary who made ISIS style videos declaring war on the powers that be and "the capitalist dogs". The idea originally came from a promotional video done for The Lightninghoof Invasion, but this time around was done in a more personal fashion, calling out people by name and addressing specific issues in the community. Kayfabe was kept among the COMMIES that THE COMMISSAR was a completely different person from Shelarahn, adding to the spectacle of the propaganda. These "manifestos" were released for almost 2 months, each one used to recruit more people and to complain about the state of the forums and overzealous Brony mods.
The unique personality and flavor that COMMUNISM brought was infectious. Within the first week recruits were flocking the the guild and the circle (an in-game chat that allowed people to keep in touch without joining a guild). Solgnir, Dianic, Sicari, and Gauze were just a few names among the man who joined up during this period. They themselves then dedicated themselves to contributing to COMMUNISM shitposting, turning the entire affair into a snowball of terrible posting and forums bullying.
By late June, the forums had reached such an insufferable point that Shelarahn and the other COMMUNIST leaders began work on an alternative offsite, but never panned out due to declining interest in Wildstar.
Wildstars Downfall
By early August, the state of the game was apparent. End game was an insufferable slog, and the few players that managed to hit level cap were uninterested and largely burned out. COMMUNISM by this time had recruited a multitude of people and had forced the forums mods to institute many changes, most notably banning guild recruitment in server forums, then abolishing individual realm forums all together.
Aftermath
With the impending launch of Warlords of Draenor in World of Warcraft, Wildstar was completely shuttered, but the impact of the game on COMMUNISM was undeniable. New breath was breathed into the group, dozens of new personalities became mainstays, most notably Succ, Solgnir, and Dianic. The momentum from Wildstar gave COMMUNISM plenty of energy going into the Emerald Dream Invasion.
The recruitment methods developed in Wildstar also went forward with the group, specifically the idea of content creation, which would later culminate in The Rusty Goons series.