Willemstan Civil War

This article was last updated on: October 16th of 2021.

Charlie Nolan's response to the coup. The video features commentary over a period of an entire night, and shows Charlie trying to retake the sever and setting of the I-SHART system.

"Bruh. I'm gonna steal Willemstan back. I just got out of bed for this so I better succeed or I'm gonna be... tired and annoyed."

- Charlie Nolan during his response video, 06/17/20.

"fuck yes dawson bad dawson idea bad"

- Malcolm Hollingworth when asked about his thoughts on the Willemstan 1.2 Reforms, June 2020.

Lore

The Willemstan Civil War was a conflict between the Willemstan Reactionaries and the Willemstan Nationalists. It began when a coup against the Willemstan Government lead by Eli Payton and Malcolm Hollingworth succeded in overthrowing the existing administration. Sean Kavanagh was forcibly removed from power and lost server ownership. All of this power was given to Eli, who became the de facto Dictator of Willemstan as a result. Shortly after, Eli's administration had repealed almost all of the legislation passed under Sean's rule, including the Willemstan Amendments. After the takeover, Charlie Nolan and Sean plotted ways to take back the server, but ultimately came up empty. Hostilities between the groups were formalized when Charlie released a video on the Silly Goose Youtube channel titled "Willemstan: Civil War (kind of a joke but kind of serious)". That video acted as a recruting pitch in order to attempt to rally a force against the coup and take back Willemstan. During the video he also blasted the SHART-1 at 1:00am in order to sound an alert. At this point, you could argue that the coup had already won because the server was firmly in their hands. Neverless, neither side was willing to back down, and thus the Willemstan Civil War began.

Ian releasing an announcement regarding the coup in the form of a Willemstan Government Alert.

Developments

The following is a timeline of the Willemstan Civil War:

June 16th of 2020 - Eli and Malcolm launched the coup and won a decisive victory for the reactionaries, and gained full control of the server in a matter of minutes.

June 17th of 2020 - Charlie attempted to take control of the server by using an older version of SuS. That failed.

June 17th of 2020 - Charlie uploaded his "Willemstan: Civil War" video onto the Silly Goose channel, which created the nationalist faction.

June 21th of 2020 - The Propaganda Contest began.

July 8th of 2020 - Voting on the works created during the Propaganda Contest began.

July 14th of 2020 - The Propaganda Contest concluded.

July 25th of 2020 - The Willemstan Civil War ended.

Factions

There were three sides to this conflict. The Willemstan Reactionaries, who supported the coup and the removal of the Willemstan 1.1 reforms. The Willemstan Nationalists, who wished to see Sean Kavanagh returned to power and the transformation of Willemstan into a Democracy. Finally, you had the Neutrals, who were simply inactive members of Willemstan who couldn't be bothered to pick a side.

Willemstan Reactionary Faction

The reactionaries were the most popular faction. Lead by de facto Dictator Eli, they seeked the following goals:

Abolish the Willemstan 1.1 & Willemstan Amendements legislation.
Maintain a true Dictatorship in Willemstan.
Keep Eli as the Dictator of Willemstan until at least the Winter 2020 Election.
Maintain ownership of the server.

The faction had 8 members at its peak, who were:

Dictator Eli Payton
Admin V2 Ian Hampton
Admin V2 Joey Badra
Admin V2 Malcolm Hollingworth
Andrew Batten
Jacob Keith
Ethan R.
Brooklyn Davis

Willemstan Nationalist Faction

The nationalists were not as popular of a faction and supported the exiled administration. Lead by Sean K. and Charlie, they seeked the following goals:

Reinstate most of the Willemstan 1.1 & Willemstan Amendments legislation.
Continue shifting Willemstan towards a Democratic government.
Return Sean to his position of power, at least until the nationalist reforms are completed.
Regain server ownership & control of the server.

The faction had 3 members at its peak, who were:

Exiled President Sean Kavanagh
Exiled admin Charlie Nolan
Devin Abood

The Neutrals

The neutrals were the most numerous faction, simply because Willemstan was mostly made up of inactive members at the time.

Conclusion

On July 25th of 2020, at 5:52pm, the Willemstan Nationalists announced their surrender in #chat. This surrender took place over a month after the war began. However, this surrender also contained a list of threats towards the existing administration as well. Regardless, the surrender was accepted and the war was brought to an end. This mean that Eli's unorthodox control over the server was now legitimate.

True Reason and Planning Behind the Willemstan Civil War

The Willemstan Civil War was never taken seriously by the combatants. After failing to retake the server, Charlie was ready to surrender. He cared less about losing power and more about figuring out how he lost power. Sean didn't really mind losing power and actually voiced his support for the reforms as early as June 17th of 2020. Obviously, Eli and his admin team were content with the status quo. As a result, there was no real reason to continue the Willemstan Civil War. However, after Charlie's video was released, Ian had the idea to milk Civil War drama for server events. After pitching the idea to Charlie and Sean, in which they were on board, he approached Eli's administration. They also agreed, but did not know that Charlie and Sean were in on the scheme. As such, we essentially had fabricated tensions in the name of server events and activity.

Unfortunately, not all great ideas work out. Only one actual event occurred, and it had only four participants. The Willemstani public just never got interested in the Civil War gimmick. Despite this failure, the Civil War provided a lot of material and inspiration for Willemstan Propaganda.

Screenshot of dms between Ian and Sean in the System IV group chat.

Sean Kavanaugh Interview

This interview was conducted on August 26th of 2020 between Ian H. and Sean K.

Ian: Question #1: It has been just over a month since the Willemstan Civil War. What are your thoughts on it overall?

Sean: While I am biased, being the one deposed from power, I feel it was overall a good thing. Willemstan seems to be in a better place.

Ian: Interesting. Do you approve of the new Articles of Willemstan and the dismantling of Willemstan 1.1 then?

Sean: Yes. The problem with Willemstan 1.1 is that it would have taken a lot of work to make function, that no one wanted to do. In comparison, Old Willemstan was basically self managing save for elections.

Ian: Question #2: So then, do you hold any resentment towards the coup members? If you came into power again, would you punish them at all?

Sean: Nah. If called for, it would be a joke punishment, like the enemies of the state list was.

Ian: I see. So since you seem to happy that the 1.1 reforms are gone, which part of the reforms do you regret the most?

Sean: As in, the 1.1 reforms?

Ian: Correct.

Sean: The state system. Too much work for the same result as the one party system, with no tangible benefits.

Ian: Question #3: You already hinted at this, but what do you think of the current administration?

Sean: I agree with some things, and disagree with others. It's to much of a gray area to give you a definitive answer, given that they haven't destroyed all prior history like the previous dictator.

Ian: Question #4: After your surrender, you hinted that you might run for Dictator for the Winter 2020 Election. Will you be running?

Sean: Yes. I will continue to run until Willemstan disbands, or I am dead. Whichever happens first. Even if legislation is put in place to prevent me from entering office, I will still produce propaganda for my campaign.

Ian: So since you are no longer supporting your previous reforms, what will you be campaigning for?

Sean: I intend to reinstate the one party system. I will also come up with new policies to adapt to the political landscape, or just to spite my competition.

Ian: Do you plan on making many reforms like you did during the later part of your Dictatorship? Or will you be more relaxed overall like your earlier months?

Sean: While I intend to make reforms, I will be more relaxed in them. Think things like the water mandate.

Ian: So will mandatory water consumption be making a return if you are elected?

Sean: Yes. I will find more ways to enforce it as well.

Ian: Glad to hear it. Final question: Will the enemy of the state list make a return? And more importantly, will I be on it again?

Sean: The list will only return if there are actual enemies of the state. You will not be re-listed as an enemy, unless you slightly question the actions of the government again.

Propaganda

Here is a complete list of the propaganda produced during the Willemstan Civil War.

This propaganda is a simple top text bottom text meme.

This work features a red x over the SuS Discord Bot's profile picture.

A screenshot of the final scene of the "Final Project for Spanish III", but a Willemstan "W" is placed over Charlie's head, representing the coup. This propaganda won the propaganda contest.