The Revolution

The Revolution
Leaders	Noricle Rick Hamm
Founders	Noricle Rick Hamm
Founded	~January 2005
Status	Closed (22 March 2005)
Members	N/A
Focuses	PvP Multi
Ideologies	ARPK
Colours	Blue
Heraldry	unknown
Motto	unknown

The Revolution (TR) was a clan founded by Noricle and Rick Hamm in 2005, and the second exodus of the Wilderness Guardians. A short rivalry occured between TR and WG, but was ended with TR's abrupt closure in March of the same year.

Formation

In late December 2004, His Lordship made a topic on the Rune Village fansite titled America: Bully of the World. The topic was harshly critical of the USA - in particular, its political and moral values and attitudes. Given that WG comprised largely of American members, an internal dispute arose and members began to leave the clan. In an attempt to rectify the situation, His Lordship temporarily stepped down from leadership, appointing Myst01 as the new leader but remaining a member himself. This only served to worsen the issue, and members continued to leave - in a 2014 account of WG's early history, His Lordship cites that around 100 members left over the course of a single weekend.

Two ex-WG, Noricle and Rick Hamm formed TR - the second ARPK exodus of WG (after The Synergy the previous year). The exact date of formation is unknown - Noricle is believed to have left WG shortly after His Lordship's original topic, rescinded his resignation on 30 December after a discussion with His Lordship, but is believed to have resigned again shortly afterwards. Rick Hamm posted his resignation from WG on 2 January 2005. Given the severity of the situation, His Lordship returned to leadership the same day.

The earliest surviving reference to TR occurs on 7 January 2005, when a WG council member asked what WG's stance on the exodus was. His Lordship responded by saying he would attempt to distance the clans, and though WG and TR were not enemies, they certainly were not allies. Within two weeks, over 40 members had left WG to join TR, and within one month TR had clearly surpassed WG in strength.

Rivalry

From the beginning there was considerable animosity between WG and TR given the nature of TR's formation. In mid-January His Lordship was found to have invited TR members to attend WG raids, which Rick Hamm believed to be in violation of the agreement to distance the clans. Rick Hamm relayed the first messages suggesting hostile intent to His Lordship and WG council member Oaktownrules around 15 January, and His Lordship began considering various options including aggression and diplomacy shortly afterwards.

On 20 January 2005, Rick Hamm offered an apology to WG via the clan's forums for the previous hostility towards WG.. His Lordship accepted the apology, and a report from the same day recorded that His Lordship, Rick Hamm and Noricle had reached an understanding and were all on good terms, and the relationship between WG and TR remained neutral. However, the instability continued with Rick Hamm's access to the WG forums being revoked around 25 January, though he was eventually given the rank of "clan representative"^{[citation needed]}

On or around 7 February, Rick Hamm made a post on The Sabres's forums which involved spies and the passing of sensitive information. The following day, Rick Hamm had his position as a clan representative revoked by His Lordship. This resulted in a heated debate on the WG forums which remained unresolved.

On 11 March, two TR members (Madman2322 and Scotty22) were attacked by WG members at the Lava Maze, while the pair were taking part in the Treasure Trails minigame (following clue scrolls) within the Wilderness. This was a clear violation of WG's ARPK policy, which prohibited clan members engaging in combat with non-PKers. Neither TR member was killed, as His Lordship instructed WG to cease attacking. However, TR believed that WG had chosen to violate the ARPK policy solely because they identified Madman2322 and Scotty22 as TR members. A topic was made on the TR forums the following day, and a heated discussion between Rick Hamm and His Lordship took place. Attempts at resolving the situation by way of a planned war were made, though His Lordship wanted a F2P fight while Rick Hamm wanted P2P, and the request fell through. In both the dicussion with His Lordship and the TR forums, Rick Hamm expressed significant anger and his intentions of a vendetta against WG with the endgame of forcing the clan to close.

On 15 March, Rick Hamm reconsidered his position and announced a status of indifference towards WG, believing that the hostilities were detrimental to TR by bringing down morale and causing members to question the clan's motives. The following day, TR Council member BluJeanGrlNC made an offer of peace to WG and requested that flaming and disrespectful posts on the forums be removed. The message was seemingly well-received by WG, and it seemed as if hostilities were coming to an end.

Closure

On 22 March 2005 and with very little warning, TR suddenly closed. According to reports, accounts of all the TR members were being sequentially hacked, and Rick Hamm made the swift decision to close the clan in order to protect the security of TR members. As a result, many of the former WG who had joined TR returned to the original clan - including Rick Hamm on 25 March - and WG experienced a surge in members and morale after several considerably unpleasant months.

Trivia

A second clan with the name "The Revolution" was founded later in 2005, as an exodus of the clan Pack of Pride. This TR lasted until around August 2007 and was considerably more successful. An exodus founded around or after its closure, Sunflower Mafia was mistakenly labelled as a second-generation relative of WG by Aidan Ryuko in 2008, who likely did not realise that two separate clans with the same name were formed in 2005. The mistake was not realised until July 2020 by Vio. Neither the second TR or SM have any relation to WG.