Merciless Exploit of War
Merciless Exploit of War was an alt flag used by Silver Dawn at Eta II. MEOW dropped a war chest at the Eta II blockade and took the island from Silver Dawn. Silver Dawn used the Jyn exploit with MEOW to make the blockade sinking without reciprocating the war declaration with Silver Dusk.
Historical Background
During the blockade, MEOW was permitted to win. To appreciate the significance of this, the background of the Midnight Ocean at that time must be considered. There was no fame, and no formal island transfer policy. The war mechanic was not well-used, in part because the one-way truce mechanism had not yet been discovered. This, in turn, lead to the theory of the "Forever War," where a smaller flag, possibly an alt flag with war as its only purpose, could trap a larger, general-purpose flag into a neverending war by simply never accepting the truce proposal. In this falsely-believed scenario, the hostile party could log on to the war flag after they had identified soft targets, which would mean that the general-purpose flag would always have to be on guard, and would never have the chance to reciprocally attack their opponent.
Moreover, Jorvik Island, neighbor and home of long-time ally Looterati had been repeatedly attacked, and the politics of the day suggested that more attacks on that island and the archipelago in general were to come. Silver Dawn had no desire for that to also be Eta's fate. In addition to protection, they desired deterrant.
Impact
Silver Dawn's maneuver effectively transferred the island to MEOW. The downside was that Silver Dawn did not get the pleasure of their name on the notice board, and more trust was required of MEOW's monarch. On the other hand, Silver Dawn did face war by a smaller flag who were known for their warring prowess, and feared the Forever War scenario. Allowing MEOW to take the island meant that the exploit (and the accompanying war chest cost) only had to be done once. In future blockades, Silver Dawn would already have a small, war-purposed flag with the same advantages as any other flag, alternate or not, that threatened the island.
MEOW held the island for six months, until it was lost to Scallywag Syndycate, the aggressors against whom the exploit was first used, at the battle of Eta III. This was the last Midnight blockade before the fame system was implemented. Two weeks after that, Silver Dawn retook Eta in their own name. With the new fame system in place, MEOW was abandoned.
