Earth Protectorate Alliance (alliance)

==History==
The Earth Protectorate Alliance (EPA) was created by Wolf359 in mid February 2005 and today remains one of the oldest and most respected alliances in the game.
During the early stages of its existance, the EPA was allied with the Tauri Alliance (TA), and together the EPA/TA enjoyed various sparring matches against The Order of Chaos (OoC). The most memorable battle being when the EPA, TA, ELUSIVE and Mass Destruction Alliance (MDA - a small alliance born from the EPA)planned and carried out an action against OoC, in which the armies of many OoC members - inlcuding its 3 prominent leaders (the3rdlibra, THE SAZ and _apophis) - were decimated. This became known as the TEEM Offensive (TA-EPA-ELUSIVE-MDA).
Soon after the OoC disbanded, before reforming at a later date, and soon after that opticalove (leader of the TA) left the game - this led to a breakdown in relations between the EPA and TA, which ultimately ended their relationship. Also around this time, Blake left the EPA to form Blake's Assault Unit (BAU) and underdog (now Omega) left to form Orbis Lacteus.
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During June 2005 the EPA engaged in what is the longest, and arguably the greatest, war in SGW history. The EPA had been approached by The Order, with the proposal of a treaty between the two alliances. While this treaty was under negotiation the EPA was also at war with _TheRob1_ a powerful player with powerful officers. During the negotiations _TheRob1_ joined The Order, at which point The Order sent threats to the EPA to stop attacking their members. It was pointed out by EPA representatives that _TheRob1_ was an enemy of the alliance and that harbouring an enemy while trying to negotiate a peace treaty is not exactly the way to do things.
Needless to say, the negotiations broke down, but were quickly followed by propaganda suggesting that the EPA was planning to attack The Order. The EPA had no such plans - but had managed to infitrate The Order's Forum and gathered evidence that a strike was planned against The EPA. So, the EPA launched a pre-emptive strike. After 4 weeks of sustained fighting (through which The Order insisted they were winning), the membership of The Order fell apart and they surrendered. Subsequently they disbanded but, like the OoC before them, they reformed at a later date. Shortly after the war _TheRob1_ also joined the EPA as a Tok'ra member. Some time later he left to join Omega, but has recently returned to the EPA ranks.
Despite the war ending in victory - the EPA was battle weary and in need of rebuilding. However, a couple of alliances tried to take advantage of the EPA's battle-worn state, most notably the Dark Dominium (led by Lord Dark, aka Lord Dougy). The EPA managed to resolve these situations diplomatically.
It was also around this time that BAMF was formed. JaseB and viperman (two of the warmongers from within the EPA) both left to set up this new alliance as a front line strike force. Although not officially part of the EPA (most of its members didn't even know) it's primary purpose was to defend the alliance.
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In July 2005 the EPA was approached by the Omega Allegiance, led by EnterTheLion (ETL), to form an alliance. It was envisaged that with Omega's covert superiority, and the EPA's attack power that they would be a formidable force. And it worked.
Treaties were brokered with The Olympians, The Tauri Asgard Alliance (TAA - led by Skyflame) and Crystal Force (CF - led by Robe), but nothing much happened until around September 2005 when the EPA and Omega joined with the Unseen Threat Alliance (UTA) to form The Grand Alliance (GA).
The formation of the GA caused a lot of concern and antagonism from other SGW alliances and players who saw this as an aggressive move, when in fact the GA was formed for the mutual protection of its members. The idea being that the member alliances maintained their independence, but would answer the call to battle to defend their allies when needed.
Also around this time the TAA was were infiltarted and betrayed by a number of their members. They temporarily disbanded and those known to be loyal were given shelter within the EPA. They soon regrouped and reformed the TAA, although one or two chose to remain as EPA members.
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In October 2005 the EPA numbered approximately 150 members - and was having problems. The membership was too large and was difficult to control. So steps were taken in that all inactive members were dismissed, recruitment into the EPA was halted and a temporary limit of 50 members placed on the alliance. However, this still left a sizeable number of active members left. It was decided to setup a new sister alliance to the EPA - and so The Stargate Academy (TSA) was born.
Led initially by 3 former EPA Command Staff (Balhaar, Targa and Salvo) the TSA was initially conceived as a training alliance for the EPA. However, that concept was soon changed and the TSA became an independent alliance in its own right, but with strong allegiances to the EPA. The formation of the TSA started the road to an even greater organisation of alliances.
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Over the 2005/2006 Christmas/New Year period The GA entered into a war with The Resistance and FRA. This was the first big test the GA faced, and they came through it victorious.
Towards the end of January 2006 the EPA started to recruit again - but this time recruitment was open to all races (up until this point the EPA was a Tauri/Asgardonly alliance - with a few Tok'ra types thrown in).
On 1st February 2006 the EPA were recognised in the SGW Annual Awards:
The EPA is voted runner up in the TGW Awards 'Alliance of the Year' category and is involved as winners/runners up in other awards: 
Alliance War of the Year: Joint winners & joint runners up. 
Best massing by an alliance against another: Joint winners. 
Wolf359 is admitted to the TGW Hall of Fame and is runner up in the 'Moderator of the Year' category. 
Later that month the EPA and TSA were involved in massing the Kaylonian Empire. This was due to a number of veiled threats that were exchanged between Wolf359 and atlantisboy10 (Kaylonian leader).
And, on 16th February 2006, the EPA celebrated it's 1st Anniversary.
During March 2006, following discussions between Wolf359 and Skyflame, the TAA was merged into the EPA and formed their own units within the EPA structure.
On 28th April 2006 a small group of EPA members (approx 6 or 7) launched an offensive against the SLA. This was in response to Lord Tnarg's [[[SLA]]] assault against Zhar [EPA] and NDCDN [EPA], despite warninigs, following previous hostilities, that had apparently been resolved after AncientAnubis intervened on Tnarg's behalf. The assault was successful, resulting in the majority of the SLA being crippled. 
This led to further hostilities against the SLA from sources external to the EPA.
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On 11th May 2006, Wolf359 formed a new alliance - 359 Company was created and The EPA Confederacy (made up of the EPA, TSA and 359 Company) was effectively born.
359 Company is now commanded by GeneralOneill. This was soon followed by the creation/addition of 2 further alliances:
Sine Pari Militia (]]SPM]] - led by JaseB/Salvo), and, the_Hive (led by Sleeper):
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13th May 2006 and the GA launch an assault against The Liberum Coalition (TLC) - a group of alliances including former GA members the UTA (UTA having left and been replaced by Ancient Brethren (AB)). The assault was launched on evidence provided by an EPA intelligence operative, who was placed within SDM (formerly known as the UTA), which showed that TLC were planning an assault against the GA. The operation was successful, TLC broke up and SDM disbanded.
The next 2 months were relatively quiet until, on the 14th July, the GA, now comprising of:
*EPA
*TSA
*359 Company
*Omega Allegiance
*Alpha Allegiance
*Ancient Brethren
*Disciples of the Brethren
*Dirty Dozen
*D12
DARK DOMINIUM EMPIRE were also added to the GA during the war, and the GA were also assisted by SPM and Warlords of Briton - who provided military support to the EPA in particular.
entered into a war with what became known as The Faction, consisting of:
*Crystal Force Elite
*Crystal Force Div 1
*Crystal Force Div 2
*Crystal Force Div 3
*Crystal Force OCS
*TCW
*Tauri Alliance
*A number of lone wolf players such as Huxley and Nuto Vixen.
It seems Omega were attacked by a number of CF members, with assistance from the Tauri Alliance and TCW. Contrary to rumour and speculation, an attack on a GA alliance did not mean that all of the GA member alliances had to become involved immediately. Involvement was only required once it was asked for. Since Omega did not immediately ask for help, the EPA and it's fellow Confederacy alliances did not immediately become involved as they had just reaffirmed a Non-Aggression Treaty with Crystal Force. 
However, only 48 hours after the treaty had been reaffirmed, [[CrystalForce|Crystal Force troops attacked EPA Confederacy forces (while already engaged with Omega). This was a direct violation of our treaty (the last in a long and uneasy relationship) which forced the EPA to dissolve the treaty and fight alongside Omega, who had also by this time had enacted the GA treaty. 
Shortly after the war had begun The Dark Dominium Empire, already on friendly terms with GA members, was accepted into the organisation in acknowledgement for their stalwart assistance. 
Waves of attacks followed periods of relative quiet as both sides sought the refuge of the Protected Planets Treaty to rebuild and reorganise their forces. 
It was a hard war, with high casualty rates on both sides. It was also expected to be a longer war than it was, but Crystal Force surrendered on 21st July, accepting the GA terms of surrender; to pay a token amount of naq and disband their alliances. 
TA terms of surrender were negotiated for some time, but eventually the TA surrendered on 30th July 2006. 
The TCW was disbanded with some of their members being admitted into the Dark Dominium.
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On 21st July 2006 the EPA Confederacy (EPAC) was officially announced, consisting of the following alliances:
They were joined on 19th August by The Warlords of Briton, the first alliance to be admitted to the Confederacy that was not directly born from the EPA.
This has led to the formation of an EPAC Senate and a Central Recruitment and Training organisation (soon to go live).
During August/September 2006 it became evident that the GA was having some problems, and nearly all agree that this was due to its size. Despite attempts to resolve the situation, the GA treaty was dissovled on 26th September 2006. Immediately a new group was formed by Omega/ Alpha DD/ D12 DDE/DDE2. Although the EPAC was not included initially, due to Wolf359 being absent, an offer to join was made, as long as the EPAC agreed to limit their member size to 120. With a current membership of approximately 300 (mostly active) members, the EPAC felt it could not agree to those terms. Discussions continue.
==See Also==
*The Grand Alliance
*The Faction War