Vortex Coalition

The Vortex Coalition (sometimes simply referred to as VoCo) is a large group of players who build, battle, and meme on 2b2t and in its community. Usually during a yearly cycle from around May to January. The group's motto is "an elite group of players dedicated to making 2b2t a better place" (a phrase designed to incite anger in those who dislike the group).

The Vortex Coalition is one of, if not the oldest active group on 2b2t. They own one of the most populated 2b2t related Discord servers with over 600 members (purged of inactive members regularly).

Prologue
Coltsnid joined 2b2t on August 17th, 2014. During his first few months, he simply explored near spawn, walking around until his hunger bar depleted, dying, and exploring more. In December 2014, AmericanOreo, an IRL friend of Colt's for 7 years, first joined 2b2t. The two decided to walk through the nether to 100,000 blocks out from spawn (overworld) and founded a small base which they would work on every once in awhile. After founding VoCo, they transitioned their aforementioned base into the first VoCo HQ, and invited some friends to the base.

Phase I


The Vortex Coalition was founded by Coltsnid and AmericanOreo in late May 2015. While the exact date of its founding has been lost to time, the official date for commemoration purposes is June 15, 2015. (YellowstoneJoe has provided Colt and Oreo with chat logs showing VoCo activity on 2b2t as early as May 2015)

After deciding to begin the formation of The Vortex Coalition, Colt and Oreo began advertising the group using their chat bot, which is where the notorious "Did you know?" bot phrase on 2b2t originates from. This sparked a lot of hate from established players, due to chat spam from newfags without many accomplishments (at the time of the bot implementation). VoCo particularly annoyed Sato86, the VoCo/Sato86 rivalry is one of the oldest on the server and has become a meme to many.

In the group's early days, 2b2t only had an average of about 40 active players. As such, the group had relatively few members (the exception being common newfags joining the group due to advertisements). While VoCo had few members, it still represented a relatively large percentage of the 2b2t player base because of it's easy to join and lenient nature during the late half of 2015.

Phase II
The Vortex Coalition was not as active during the first half of 2016, and consequently suffered a loss of members and relevance. However, they began to increase in activity just before TheCampingRusher joined the server, who subsequently brought hundreds of players onto 2b2t. With the influx of new players ready to make their mark on 2b2t, and the group's policy of accepting anyone regardless of being a newfag/oldfag, The Vortex Coalition was able to recruit far more members than they ever had before.

The Vortex Coalition worked to expand its reach by advertising through memes on /r/2b2t as well as /r/TheVortexCoalition. They also began actively uploading videos to their YouTube channel. This allowed the VoCo community to expand very rapidly. The Vortex Coalition was so prevalent at the height of its popularity that the 2b2t subreddit implemented a new rule forbidding low-quality posts due to VoCo memes that completely covered the subreddit's front page for 4 days.

Roles in The Vortex Coalition had remained relatively static up until mid-2016. After the large increase of activity, The Vortex Coalition was able to obtain a large number of members, which required a shift in roles to distinguish trustworthy members and new members. In mid-August, the Vortex Coalition added its first new Executive member since Cyan; Ovnel (now known as Joe as of 2017).

Bases
The Vortex Coalition has built ~365 bases (although the logistics of this number are up for debate, Coltsnid claims this is an estimate), which are spread throughout the 2b2t map in all quadrants. VoCo defines a base as "a relatively safe and controlled area outfitted with amenities including beds, ender chests, defensible fortifications, and renewable food sources." Most of these bases are small outposts that serve as "checkpoints" for members to set their bed and possibly farm/autofish. Some, on the other hand, are large, active bases that can have up to 15 members. One of the largest of these bases (member-wise) being Gamma base  (pictured right).

Demeanor
The Vortex Coalition has remained relatively peaceful during its existence, not antagonizing other groups, and declaring themselves a noncombatant third party in the Rusher War. They are neutral with many groups and have allied with many over the years. They view PVP as "pointless" and the vast majority of their members do not partake in PVP at spawn, due to most VoCo members not being very good at it.

Phase II Lag Machine
In September of 2016, Sengorn_Leopard built one of the server's largest lag machines (pictured right). He was later granted an Executive role in VoCo to reward him for his efforts, as well as to solidify the group's control over the lag machine. The coordinates of this lag machine were later leaked by Coltsnid in retaliation of Sengorn_Leopard betraying the Coalition during the disciple/religion meme.

The Wrath of VoCo
During 2016, The Vortex Coalition created their own take on the Wrath Outpost at 420/911  (pictured right) , which they built overnight. It was unfortunately destroyed within days of its creation during the 5th Incursion. This was the first consecutive summer that The Vortex Coalition had renovated its spawn base. They have continued this trend into 2017 with another renovation at 420/911 (which has already been destroyed). Structures build near spawn are not expected to last long, and VoCo knows this.

End of Phase II
In January, the Vortex Coalition started getting banned unfairly by the mods in the /r/2b2t Subreddit, they were using rule 4 as an excuse to remove any Vortex Coalition related post. This caused some controversy, however many were glad to see the subreddit cleared of VoCo members.

Coltsnid decided that since VoCo had lost the 2b2t subreddit as a meme platform, he needed to push the memes to the next level. He began to call himself a god, and VoCo members that accepted him as their Lord and savior were accepted into his group of disciples. While many thought this was funny, some were not happy with this change of pace, and this caused controversy within the group. Some members who outright denounced Coltsnid were banned.

Around this time, one of the group's executives, HermeticLock, who was responsible for running the website, decided to change the home page to a meme displaying the Don Fuer logo, which further escalated the tensions within the group, despite it mostly being a joke. On January 13th, 2017, this controversy drove executive member Sengorn_Leopard to the point of banning all users from the discord. When Coltsnid became aware of this, he deleted the discord server and posted an "official" disbandment on /r/2b2t. This post gained a lot of attention and once again the focus of /r/2b2t was The Vortex Coalition.

Before going inactive for the next several months, Coltsnid had a few more memes up his sleeve, such as "VoCo II" and "selling" the server to  "RockyEric" and HermeticLock. VoCo Phase II was to go out with a meme-filled bang.

 With VoCo being one of the largest groups on 2b2t, going inactive caused a significant power vacuum on the server, allowing several other groups to rise and fill the void the meantime. Some of these groups were created by former VoCo members, notably Singularity and the Spawn Masons.



Phase III
On June 2nd, 2017, The Vortex Coalition ended it's second Off-Season and began recruiting new members. With 2b2t falling into decline, activity in The Vortex Coalition thought it would likely never reach the levels it had during the Rusher Era (however, the group has since grown past the size it was during the Rusher War). Despite the decline in 2b2t popularity, their discord server is one of the most populated 2b2t related servers with over 330 members (Phase III numbers, purged of inactive members regularly).

Salamander, Joe(ovnel), Cyan, and househousehouse1, remained as the executive members. During Phase III, The Vortex Coalition built 11 separate group bases, two of which are major bases sprawling across thousands of blocks. One being a large above-ground city, another being a large underground cave housing a dwarven fortress. They also renovated their 420/911 spawn base for 2017, although it has already been griefed heavily (pictured right).

On September 28th, 2017 The Vortex Coalition expanded onto the me_irlcraft server as a side project/recruitment scheme outside of 2b2t. This expansion proved wildly successful, with The Vortex Coalition receiving over 50 applications from the player base, as well as completely dominating all other forces on the server. Me_irlcraft closed down on November 22nd, 2017.

The Vortex Coalition continues to be the largest and oldest active group on 2b2t, with over 110 active members as of January 21st, 2018. Recently VoCo has been heavily investing in spawn operations, such as public infrastructure, spawn bases for new players, and public builds. They are also actively working on a streamlined currency system for VoCo members called VoCoin™. In mid-December, reports began to circulate that members of The Vortex Coalition had been griefing public infrastructure, such as the Southern Canal. To push back against this destructive behavior within the group, Coltsnid refined the VoCo Terms & Conditions to prohibit public builds being targeted by group members.

On December 28th, 2017, The Vortex Coalition announced that it would be taking over executive operations of the Spawn Infrastructure Group (SIG), and provide VoCo resources to further mobilize spawn efforts and efficiently produce reliable roads, bridges, and outposts for all spawn travelers.

End of Phase III
On January 30th 2018, Coltsnid announced that Phase III of VoCo was coming to a close. In this statement, it was also announced that all VoCo staff members, including Executives and Trinity members, would be fired, and a new staff will be chosen during the Off-Season and at the beginning of Phase IV. The position of discord Moderator is currently the only staff position, which anyone can apply for.

"'This was the most streamlined phase VoCo has ever had, and it yielded great success, not only for our Coalition, but for 2b2t as a whole."

"...It has been an honor working with you all throughout the past 7 months to take The Vortex Coalition to new heights, never seen before by any 2b2t group. Our reach is nearly endless when we work together. Our dominance on 2b2t is so unbreakable even I couldn't truly end VoCo, and that means something."

"I will see you all in Phase IV!'"

-Coltsnid, Phase III closure announcement.

2018 Off-Season
The 2018 VoCo Off-Season will go on record as The Vortex Coalition's most active Off-Season in history (so far). While overall activity within the group decreased as expected, a handful of members and staff remained dedicated to ensuring activity never came to a standstill.

During the 2018 Off-Season, VoCo was a major participant in the 6th Incursion, continued further development of VoCoin™, and kept up consistent recruitment levels. In many ways, the 2018 Off-Season is foundational preparation for the beginning of Phase IV, expected to begin in May or June.

On April 12th, 2018, Coltsnid announced the first Executive members since all staff were fired at the end of Phase III:

joe/ovnel - Executive

HermeticLock - Executive

househousehouse1 - Executive

iZac - Executive

Starting in Phase IV, all staff ranks in VoCo are required to be maintained with activity.

Phase IV
On June 15th, 2018, on the 3-year anniversary of VoCo, Coltsnid announced that The Vortex Coalition Phase IV was starting.

After a recent purge, the group is sitting at just over 150 active members. VoCo has not had this many members since the height of the Rusher War.

Prime Minister Elections
On Tuesday, June 19th, The Vortex Coalition held the first Prime Minister election of Phase IV, with 8 candidates running.

HouseCasterly won the popular vote with 44 members choosing him to become the first PM of Phase IV. He went up for re-election after his 2-week term concluded. He chose not to run for re-election.

Casterly had overseen a large-scale VoCo event on 2b2t with several dozen members in attendance. This event while successful was the only event which happened during Casterly's term.

On Tuesday, July 3rd, VoCo held the second PM election of Phase IV, with 6 candidates running.

Ross won the popular vote with 38 votes, with Zoe coming in closely behind at 33.

On Tuesday, July 17th, VoCo held the third PM election of Phase IV, with 3 candidates running.

Ross won the popular vote once again having 33 votes. Zoe came in second again with 20 votes. This election was surrounded by drama and led to fighting between members, though this was later resolved.

Notable Events
Recently, VoCo acquired the domain joinvo.co, which redirects to the Apply page on their website. According to statistics released by Coltsnid, this has dramatically increased the rate of new users joining the group.

On July 1st, 2018, The Vortex Coalition Discord server reached 600 members for the first time.

On July 3rd, 2018, The Vortex Coalition had 219 registered members. The former record number for any centralized group in 2b2t history.

As of July 17th, 2018, The Vortex Coalition has 242 registered members. This completely smashed it's own record of 219 members - previously the largest number for any centralized group in 2b2t history. The Vortex Coalition continues to gain new members everyday so the number is constantly changing.

Relations
The Vortex Coalition is the largest centralized 2b2t group ever assembled. However, despite this, they rarely ally or war with any 2b2t groups or factions. VoCo is generally pretty friendly towards most groups unless antagonized. VoCo allows members from other 2b2t groups to participate in their ranks without issue.

Currently, The Vortex Coalition is allied with Emperium in a conflict with the small group Infrared. Outside of the conflict the two groups have good relations and do activities together occasionally.

Many new groups and players rely heavily on The Vortex Coalition's infamous tactics to gaining members, attention, and relevance; such as creating in-game bots, posting countless memes onto the 2b2t subreddit, and setting up a structured group Discord server with an application process and attainable ranks. However, most of these attempts, with few exceptions, fall short of the precise methods used by VoCo for years, and ultimately fail after a short time.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The Vortex Coalition has wiped several small groups off of 2b2t permanently, notably Malaria. Other group names have been lost to time or were never relevant to begin with.

Ranks and their meanings
IMPORTANT NOTE: Ranks are not necessarily examples of active players. Some players in the past have worked their way up to VIP or Elite, only to withdraw in activity from the group or 2b2t as a whole. As with the ranking of players, they are mostly suggestions of how players fit into the hierarchy of the group.

Supreme Leader: Coltsnid - The owner and operator of The Vortex Coalition and it's affiliated projects.

Co-Founder: AmericanOreo - Involved in the foundation of VoCo.

Executive: A rank given to members that are trusted with Discord power and secrets of The Coalition.

First Class™: This rank is for those that have shown immense leadership capabilities within the group, and is a precursor to the Executive rank.

Developer: Works with VoCo on coding hacked clients, bots, or websites.

Moderator: A newly introduced Off-Season staff role tasked with keeping the Discord civil.

Prime Minister: An elected official from the lower ranked members of the group.

Recruiter: Responsible for recruiting new members to The Vortex Coalition by advertising on /r/2b2t, in chat and through personal contact with players of interest. It is the recruiter's job to go through VoCo applications and grant the Initiate role to new recruits.

Exalted: The most reputable non-staff rank in VoCo. Exalted members are granted extra permissions in the Discord and are usually involved in most if not all VoCo activities.

Elite: A prestigious rank for those that are fully trusted within VoCo.

Eminent: A respected player with significant sway within the group.

VIP: A trusted player with more privileges in the group. These players typically spent time working on bases with the group and growing the empire as large as it could possibly be.

Member+: A player who has earned the trust of the general population is granted this rank to as a testament to that trust. These players are typically well settled into the group and have begun to take part in activities with other players and bases.

Member: The basic confirmed rank. You have been admitted to The Vortex Coalition if you bear this rank.

Initiate: A one-week trial role given to fresh recruits. Extremely similar to member trust-wise, however, not officially a member of The Coalition.

Notable Members during Phase II (2016)
These were the most prominent members of The Vortex Coalition during Phase II. They are not necessarily accurate in their rankings and should, therefore, be taken as a suggestion of the role played in the group's history.

Names in italics represent members no longer in the present-day Vortex Coalition. Please note that there have been several hundred other members throughout the span of VoCo.
 * Coltsnid (Supreme Leader & Co-Founder)
 * AmericanOreo (Co-Founder)
 * Cyan (Senior Executive)
 * househousehouse1 (Recruiter, Executive)
 * HermeticLock (Dev, Executive)
 * Salamander (Executive)
 * Ovnel (Executive)
 * HolyBruhBrine (Recruiter, Elite, First Prime Minister)
 * iTavux (Third Prime Minister)
 * Sengorn Leopardae (Executive)
 * Rula (Recruiter, Elite)
 * Pikachu2204 (Elite)
 * D_loaded (VIP)
 * Dakras (VIP)
 * ImportedSocks (Elite, Second Prime Minister)
 * RedTechEngineer (Member+)

Notable Members during Phase III (2017)
These were the most prominent members of The Vortex Coalition during Phase III. They are not necessarily accurate in their rankings and should, therefore, be taken as a suggestion of the role played in the group's history.

Names in italics represent members no longer in the present-day Vortex Coalition. Please note that there have been several hundred other members throughout the span of VoCo.
 * Coltsnid (Supreme Leader & Co-Founder)
 * AmericanOreo (Co-Founder)
 * Cyan (Senior Executive)
 * Salamander (Senior Executive)
 * househousehouse1 (Executive)
 * Ovnel (Executive)
 * HermeticLock (First Class)
 * iZac (First Class)
 * 02v (Exalted)
 * HouseCasterly (Elite)
 * zzz1 (Elite)
 * Cortstar (Eminent)
 * enchBarry (Eminent)
 * Pickleman360 (Eminent)
 * RedTechEngineer (VIP)
 * dragonworm (VIP)
 * JobyJumble (VIP)
 * ShRules (VIP)
 * Killet (VIP)
 * ericsprenger/zoe (VIP)
 * Pikachu2204 (Member+)
 * xyzvp (Member+)
 * Crazy (Member+)
 * InfantryMan (Member+)
 * pepsi boy (Member)
 * ThatOneGuy (Member)
 * tbi (Member)
 * Error_Code503 (Member)
 * Queen_Avios (Initiate)
 * Morgana (Initiate)
 * Jc4real (Initiate)

Trivia

 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition is responsible for the "Did you know?" meme due to the group's bot. There are over 150 original VoCoBot DYK messages.
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition got paid $5 to ban SmackAttack86 from their discord server.Spawn Squad.png
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition has a spawn squad, featuring many member's alternate accounts, that is ready to log on in mass at any time. With this system in place, VoCo can have an army at spawn within minutes.
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition spawn base is at x420 y69 z911, and currently features the ruins of an obsidian megastructure built there, known as "The Wrath of VoCo."
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition is known for possessing several alt accounts, and because of this, can be just about anywhere on 2b2t at any time.
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition accepts both new and old players.
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition official motto is: "The Vortex Coalition is an elite group of players dedicated to making 2b2t a better place". However, this is a meme, and was specifically designed to trigger those who are not fond of VoCo. One cannot truly change the tides of anarchy.
 * Did you know? The Vortex Coalition has created many bases and destroyed others, organised up to 20 members to be online at the same place all at once, they have had up to 30 players logged into 2b2t at the same time, they have utterly destroyed 5 different smaller groups, and they are the reason The 4th Reich exists.
 * Did you know? Each VoCo base is named with a corresponding number since the first VoCo base. For example, VoCo base 297 (AKA Gamma Base) is the 297th base built by VoCo. Other examples include VoCo base 276 (base raided by Tumorous) and VoCo base 329 (AKA Delta Base).