Mass leave

A mass leave (also referred to as exodus) refers to an event when a large segment of the Emperor's Hammer leaves the organization, typically to go on and form their own splinter or breakaway group. Historically, this has typically occurred at the subgroup level, where leadership for a given subgroup or a component within that subgroup will attempt to "break away" to form its own organization, usually under the rationalization that such an action will allow for freedom from perceived interference and control.

Arguably, the most infamous mass leave event involved the formation of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, which occurred when a large segment of the Dark Brotherhood left to form their own organization. The DJB remains perhaps the only splinter group that has remained an active organization after a mass leave event.

No mass leave has occurred in the Emperor's Hammer since the banishment of disgraced former Fleet Commander Astatine.

Qualifications

Generally, a mass leave has each of the following qualifications:

• It involves a large segment of a given population. Specifically, a majority or near-majority of a subgroup, or the overwhelming majority of a large unit in a subgroup.
  • For example, a Clan of the Dark Brotherhood would qualify, but a Squadron of the TIE Corps would not
• The members participating in the mass leave attempt to form a new organization
• The members participating in the mass leave are not allowed to remain members of the Emperor's Hammer, either within the "splitting" subgroup or any other subgroup they may be a member of.

Under these qualifications, there have been a number of mass leave events of historical note, although it does not account for all events where a portion of the population has left, such as groups of people that quit but did not attempt to form new clubs, or small units that left and continued to operate together in a more ad-hoc manner.

Additionally, it is not intended to include circumstances where a portion of the population has formed another club without the express purpose of leaving the existing one (or encouraging others to do so); however, this is complicated by the fact that such activity has occasionally lead to banishment (see Non-Events).

Events

The following is a list of notable mass leave events, marked by the primary organizations in which they spawned.

Intruder Wing

Around August 1997, members of the Infiltrator Wing command staff, under the command of Admiral Dogger, were accused of plotting a mass leave event by one of their own members, Major General Oberst. Debate surrounded whether such an event was being actively planned or merely considered, but the accusation resulted in an immediate ban of each of the accused command staff members. In retaliation, all Infiltrator Wing members were advised by the banned leadership that the club was seceding from the Emperor's Hammer, effective immediately.

In the resulting chaos, Infiltrator Wing members were generally confused as to who was in charge, and as to what organization they belonged to. With the exception of Oberst and the recently appointed IW Internet Officer, Major General Reinthaler (who would be appointed to Admiral and given the position of IW Commander after the bans went into effect), all command staff members and most high-ranking members went with the splinter group, and advised their members to do the same. In an attempt to provide some stable leadership, Renegade, the founder of the Infiltrator Wing, returned to the position of IW Executive Officer.

Ultimately, the allegiance of individual flight members was only determined after the Intelligence Division was able to obtain a roster of this splinter group. At that point, the Emperor's Hammer proceed with mass bans for anyone aligned with the rogue Infiltrator Wing, and membership in both organizations was forbidden.

Initially going by the moniker of Interdictor Wing, this splinter group soon refashioned themselves as Intruder Wing.

The splinter group operated from August 1997 through March 2001. While initial momentum carried the organization through early years, the group was diminished after the departure of founding members Traktion and Percy. It was a founding member of the New Imperium, an organization that hoped to serve as a loose confederation of other organizations.

In time, any initial ban against Intruder Wing members that had been put in place was relaxed, allowing for many Intruder Wing members to return to the Emperor's Hammer if desired. Later years even featured some competitions between units of the two organizations.

The Undernet channel for the Infiltrator Wing, #iw, was owned by Admiral Dogger, and it remained in use by the splinter group after the mass leave. In the future, all ownership of Emperor Hammer's Undernet channels would be managed by the Emperor's Hammer Command Staff, and not by individual subgroup leaders.

This mass leave event is mentioned the Dark Sentinel Issue #43; however, its characterization of the event at a time when roster status was unknown is an example of the disinformation (in an attempt to "control the narrative") and chaos that can occur during a mass leave action.

Clan Ar'kell

As part of the fallout with the Infiltrator Wing mass leave, a new organization, the Society of Shadows, was formed to give the newly-formed Intruder Wing members a Dark Brotherhood alternative. This organization was greatly expanded when the leader of Clan Ar'kell, Sauron, decided to initiate a mass leave, directing his clan to leave the Emperor's Hammer and join the newly formed Society of Shadows.

Sauron was placed as the new leader of the Society of Shadows, and became the organizer and first leader of the New Imperium, a confederacy of organizations that sought to offer the same sort of diverse organizations as the Emperor's Hammer, but with each club retaining autonomy and freedom of command.

Ultimately, both the Society of Shadows and the New Imperium would fade in the years that followed, but the event became a significant footnote in the history of the Dark Brotherhood and the splinter group that would follow Ar'kell's example, the Dark Jedi Brotherhood.

Dark Jedi Brotherhood

For more information, see Dark Brotherhood History

In March 2003, tensions between the Dark Council and the Emperor's Hammer Command Staff had reached a boiling point. In particular, disagreements and conflicts with then-Executive Officer Astatine had become a source of significant consternation for high-ranking members of the Dark Brotherhood, and discussions were beginning to occur behind the scenes as to whether the situation had risen to the point of resorting to a mass leave. The situation had progressed enough that Grand Master Firefox reached out to his predecessor, former Grand Master Chi-Long, to discuss potential future avenues in the event of a mass leave (despite the fact that it was Firefox himself who assisted in Chi-Long's ouster).

Perceived by some as a declaration of independence and by others a last-chance attempt at resolving the situation, members of the Dark Council and other high-ranking Dark Brotherhood members issued a Petition for the Redress of Grievances, itemizing each of their grievances and asking that they be addressed, or risk an exodus of the Dark Brotherhood membership. Nearly all charges were specifically leveled at Astatine, who was seen as the source of many of the troubles the club was having as whole. While the petition called for the Dark Brotherhood's autonomy while remaining a "sister" organization of the Emperor's Hammer, it also called for the removal of Astatine from his position as Executive Officer, as well as any other future position.

The petition was denied with prejudice, and all its signees were immediately expelled. In turn, the expelled leaders initiated a mass leaving, forming a new organization: the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. As before, battle lines were drawn, forcing members to choose one organization over another; membership in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood came with banishment in the Emperor's Hammer.

This cold war continued until September 2008, when Astatine was expelled from the Emperor's Hammer. This led to an immediate thawing of relationships, and since then, membership in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood has no impact on membership in the Emperor's Hammer.

Unlike other mass leaves, this one is notable both for its well-documented reasoning behind its motivations, as well as it's continued existence as an organization that has remained active to this day.

Bounty Hunter's Guild

In 2005, the Bounty Hunter's Guild initiated a mass leave, declaring "independence" from the Emperor's Hammer.

The Bounty Hunter's Guild cited a desire for independence without Command Staff interference and, as with the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, specifically cited issues with then-Fleet Commander Astatine as the catalyst for their action.

Unlike past mass leaves, the Emperor's Hammer did not seriously attempt to maintain an "official" Bounty Hunter's Guild after this mass leave. Instead, the subgroup was considered closed, and has remained so to this day.

As a splinter group, the Bounty Hunter's Guild only continued on for a few more years before it ceased operations.

Non-Events

The following events do not technically constitute for a mass leave event, as they did not involve a group of people voluntarily leaving to form an outside organization. However, they are notable for events in which a certain segment of membership was banned, demoted, and/or otherwise punished for involvement in an outside organization, often over the perception that such involvement was in preparation for a potential mass leave event.

Imperial Dominion

The Imperial Dominion was an organization founded by other members of the TIE Corps in the winter of 2005. It did not invoke a mass leave action and was not known to be actively recruiting Emperor's Hammer members, although reports indicate it was primary made up of members of the TIE Corps. A number of members had been involved in a similar organization, known as Vader's Fist, which had been founded around 2003 and folded a year or so after.

For whatever reason, the Imperial Dominion was identified as a threat, and orders were issued by then-Fleet Commander Astatine to remove all its members from the fleet. While some members were able to remain a part of the Emperor's Hammer by leaving the Imperial Dominion and accepting some degree of disciplinary action, others were banned. Banned members included those with even superficial association with the group, such as chatting in their IRC channel.

The Imperial Dominion operated for another year before transitioning to a general gaming organization known as Dominion Gaming. Some members who had been removed were able to return to the Emperor's Hammer, initially with disciplinary consequence, and then later with no consequences being applied.