NC vs BANE War (2013)

The war that set the stage for the Great War and the rise of SIN

Table of Contents

War Details
Introduction
Causes
Course of the War
Aftermath
Military Innovations
Legacy
Sources

War Details#

Dates	Mid-2013 – September 2013
Combatants	Night Crusaders [NC] and allies vs BANE and allies
Outcome	BANE defeated; NC consolidated influence in Elgea
Standout Players / Leaders	SirBradly (NC), The Electrocutioner (NC), Pepe (NC), Malek (BANE), Vicero (BANE), Deimos (NC), Beecks (NC), Goldy1 (NC), Eldrathin (BANE), Robert the Bruce (BANE), Lord Agope (BANE), Halcyon (Dark, mediator)

Introduction#

The NC vs BANE War (2013) was one of the defining prequels to the Great War. Though smaller in scope, it pitted two of Illyriad’s greatest military minds — SirBradly and Malek — against one another in a fierce, drawn-out contest that would ultimately shape the game’s political and military future. The war was marked by opportunism, rapid recruitment, and exhaustion on both sides, and it established the mutual respect that would later lead these two commanders to form SIN, the most formidable military alliance in Illyriad’s history.

Causes#

Tournament Timing: NC declared war on BANE on 29 May 2013, just after Tournament VII ended on May 1. Many players had temporarily shifted alliances for the tournament, leaving BANE vulnerable upon returning. The timing fueled accusations that NC deliberately struck while its opponent was unprepared.
Territorial Rivalries: Both alliances were expanding into contested Elgean regions, and neither was willing to yield ground.
Prestige and Power: For NC, led by SirBradly, victory promised to cement dominance after the Trove War era. For BANE, led by Malek, defending successfully would preserve its reputation as a rising military power.

Course of the War#

Initial Sieges: NC’s declaration rapidly escalated into sieges on BANE border towns. SirBradly’s coordination and The Electrocutioner’s siege tactics gave NC early momentum.
Reinforcements and Recruiting: Both sides swelled with recruits from outside alliances. Halcyon documented dozens of fighters joining, with NC gaining Beecks, Pepe, Deimos, and Goldy1, while BANE drew Eldrathin, Robert the Bruce, and Vicero. The balance of recruits favored BANE by over 150,000 population, underscoring how NC managed to prevail against a numerically superior foe.
Tactical Fear and Respect: Malek’s military power loomed large, even though by his own account, he still had much to learn in what was his first major war. As SirBradly later recalled, “This game has no appreciation of how powerful Malek was then. I had noobs in the Night Squires [NS] watch Malek’s cities 24/7 for outgoing armies because he was so dangerous. I was always worried where he would land, and when.” Despite the animosity, this war forged the deep respect that would later unite these rivals in the founding of SIN.
Attrition and Exhaustion: After months of grinding warfare, both sides were spent. “Even though NC won that war, it was down to throwing pots and pans at each other at the end. We all had nothing left.” — SirBradly

Aftermath#

NC Victory and Overreach: NC’s sustained pressure and influx of fighters broke BANE’s resistance. But SirBradly later admitted, “I went too far after NC’s victory against BANE. I sieged Ryelle [nCrow] after she abandoned, and Dittobite and the rest of nCrow became enraged.”
Chain Reaction: That act set off a cascade of conflicts: “From this, uCrow emerged with Tameon as leader. Then NAAm formed, fighting NC. Then H? was dragged in when their crow allies turned on them. Ditto betrayed KillerPoodle. This kicked off the Great War.”
Misunderstood Origins of the Great War: Many in Illyriad have long believed that the Great War was a revenge campaign by former Consone members after the Trove War. SirBradly refuted this: “It had nothing to do with Consone — it was half the server, which all had a grudge against me and NC, coming after us, and H? and the Coalition backed NC. They came out of the woodwork to kick me and NC in the head.”
Halcyon’s Prophecy: Even during the war, Halcyon foresaw its dangerous trajectory:

“This war is ongoing for 3 months and no end is in sight. … As things stand and if NC continue recruiting members from other alliances, this needless, endless war will expand until we may have a 2nd world war on our ends.”
— Halcyon, NC-Bane War thread (Sep 2013)

Within a year, his warning came true: the Great War erupted, engulfing nearly all of Elgea.

Military Innovations#

The NC/BANE war was also significant for the development of new military technologies and combat tactics that SirBradly and Malek would utilize to a greater degree in The Great War and further refine in SIN to disastrous effect for their opponents. Both alliances had by this time developed “siege sheets” — spreadsheets built on the Google Sheets platform that allowed siege planners to devise sophisticated battle plans and soldiers to launch their armies at precise times so that coordination was tight on siege operations. NC had developed an early siege sheet early on, which was used in the Trove War and on through the NC/BANE War and Great War.

Malek developed his own siege sheet during this war: “in the bane nc war saw the creation of the siege sheet, which SIN used.” This was a much more advanced siege planner that allowed extremely complex siege operations to be designed, launched, and executed easily.

Malek also developed the concept of the “war wagon” in this war: “As part of the BANE/NC conflict, probably the most important development was war wagons.” I war wagon is a city filled with gold and massive armies that is exodused behind enemy lines that can withstand immediate enemy attacks during its cooldown period, and then unleash havoc on nearby enemy cities at close range once the cooldown period is over.

The war wagon concept was further refined during the NC/BANE war by using a city’s unused Tenaril Spell of Teleportation to instantly drop the war wagon in the middle of an enemy hub and suffer no cooldown period:

“So this is the story of how the Tenaril war wagon was invented.
In 2012 or so, some f*** face called SirBradly declared on my alliance, BANE.
During the course of that war, Vicero dropped out of the alliance to exo a town close to the NC cluster so that we could scout it, etc.
After it landed, I had the bright idea that let’s pivot from a scout town and build catapults instead, as the town was undetected we let it keep going until we had enough cats to siege.
Then we planned a siege and ate a lot of troops — now I am cannot remember how many sieges were successful.
But then it gave me the idea to well if we can do this with an exo we sure as s*** can do this with a siege.
So, when the Great War started that’s what we did, using none other than Danger Russ to be the sieges.
Vice came out with some really cool s***.”

Legacy#

The NC vs BANE War is remembered less for its territorial outcomes than for its far-reaching consequences. It was a duel between the best of the best — SirBradly and Malek — a contest that revealed mutual respect and exhaustion in equal measure. The war normalized mass alliance recruitment and blurred the line between regional feuds and realm-wide conflicts. Its aftermath directly triggered the Great War, not as revenge for Consone’s defeat, but as the culmination of grudges, overreach, and a community-wide reckoning with NC’s dominance. In every sense, the NC/BANE conflict stands as the hinge between the post-Trove era and the global chaos of 2014–2015.