The Battle of the Bridges

* Business Bridge, Business Bay
* Port-aux-Francais, Antarctic Empire
* South Africa, Antarctic Empire

 Business Bay
 Inquisition
 Florida
 Kpop
 marioloogi
 TommyInnit
 GrunksPromise
 VoiceOverPete
 Philza
 Fit
 SootCharlie
 Sneegsnag WilburSoot

**The Battle of the Bridges** (a.k.a. "The Antarctic-Business Bay War") was an inter-factional war first declared on Day 16 between the combined forces of Antarctic Empire, Newfoundland, and Kpop againstBusiness Bay. The final confrontation between Antarctic Empire and Business Bay transpired on Day 27. It is the first installment in the Great SMPEarth War.

## Cause

TommyInnit initiated the conflict, accepting a paid hit on the Antarctic Empire's co-leader, Ph1lza. Tommy attempted to carry his hit out while Phil, Technoblade, and VoiceOverPete were constructing a portion of the French Bridge (also known as Boomer Bridge 2.0). He attempted to avoid total war by paying Technoblade $20,000 before carrying out the hit.

## Prelude

### **French Bridge Skirmish**

TommyInnit *(Tommy),* representing Business Bay, landed on the French Bridge. Alerted by chat, Ph1lza *(Phil)*, Technoblade and VoiceOverPete *(Pete)* prepared to fend him off.

As the Antarctic forces advanced, Tommy began to second-guess his decision. However, he did not back down. Technoblade attempted to hit him with a minecart, but he overshot. On his way back he made another attempt and successfully hit Tommy, dealing 2.5 hearts of damage. Tommy responded by firing in Technoblade's direction, missing all of his shots.

To prevent the Antarctic Empire from launching a minecart centered assault, Tommy broke part of the bridge, creating The French Bridge Hole. This would, in theory, prevent attackers on minecart by sending them into the water below. Tommy congratulated himself on this ingenious idea, calling himself a "gamer," before continuing to push forward into the Antarctic territory.

Concurrently, the Antarctic forces began advancing: Technoblade and Pete planned and executed a staggering minecart strike, planning to hit (and consequently, kill) Tommy by hitting him with their minecarts. Phil supported his faction by sprinting across the ice next to the French Bridge.

Tommy, panicked, built a dirt wall between him and the oncoming minecarts. He attempted last-minute negotiation, stating that "he was [only there] for Phil" but was quickly dissuaded when Phil shot him with a gun. Technoblade then shot Tommy with his flame bow. The latter attempted to ender pearl away but burned to death before the pearl landed.

### **French Bridge Conference**

Upon respawning, Tommy returned to Boomer Bridge 2.0 (The French Bridge), requesting his items back. Technoblade and Phil had placed most of his items in a chest on the tracks where Tommy died. However, the Empire had confiscated a few of Tommy's better items, stating that they had no interest in declaring war, and Tommy's death was a direct consequence of his attempted murder.

Tommy opened the chest containing his items and discovered that some of his items had been taken, most notably his AK. This angered him, as he wanted all his items back, including the 20,000 in-game dollars he had given Technoblade just a few minutes ago in an unsuccessful attempt at bribery---in exchange for money, he hoped to assassinate Phil without intervention. Tommy claimed the situation was unfair while Technoblade and Pete repeatedly requested his departure (Phil had logged off of the game at this point).

The Empire then noticed the hole Tommy had made in the bridge and threatened severe repercussions if Tommy did not repair it. The latter made a half-hearted attempt to repair the damage, using full stone brick blocks instead of smooth stone slabs, and did not replace the rails. The Antarctic Empire was not amused.

Technoblade and Pete scared Tommy off the bridge using intimidation tactics, and Tommy decided to escape by plane. He was quickly followed, and an aerial chase occurred above Antarctica and New Hawaii.

### **The Battle of the Southern Ocean**

The pursuit continued into New Hawaii airspace, which concerned Jameskii (the leader of New Hawaii). He confronted Technoblade but realized it wasn't his fight, and confirmed that New Hawaii would not retaliate for Technoblade and Tommy's presence.

Throughout the battle, Technoblade and Tommy shot each other in an aerial fight. Tommy landed two shots on Technoblade, but the latter took no damage due to his armor. As the battle drew out, Technoblade lost viewers and decided that such a battle would never end. As a result, the Empire retired to Port-aux-Français. Tommy treated this as a victory for Business Bay and boasted about it in public chat.

## The War

Technoblade convinced Wilbur Soot to turn on Tommy and exile him (once again) from The Cumin Squad. Wilbur justified it as a preemptive strike before Tommy's inevitable betrayal and pulled SootCharlie (*Charlie*) into the conflict as well. Technoblade, Wilbur, Charlie, and Pete then went to dismantle Business Bridge as revenge for the damage done to the Antarctic Empire's French Bridge

### **The Battle of Business Bridge**

Upon realizing enemies were approaching Business Bay via the Business Bridge, Tommy scurried to gear up and fight. He hid his villagers just in time to see Wilbur and Technoblade running down the aforementioned bridge. Charlie landed beside the two in his plane (Pete was in a slower plane, and took much longer to arrive).

In the short stand-off, Tommy copied Technoblade's tactic from the French Bridge skirmish, riding his minecart in an attempt to hit any of the three challengers. He hit Wilbur and shot him back before knocking Technoblade into the water. Tommy then faced Wilbur, landing two blows with his sword and causing the latter to retreat. Instead of continuing pursuit, Tommy performed a major tactical error (often attributed to his defeat): instead of going after the weaker Wilbur, he jumped off the bridge to face the better geared Technoblade.

Tommy initially held the advantage against his nefarious opponent, as Technoblade could not attack Tommy in his own territory due to the factions plug-in. Tommy set Technoblade on fire, but the latter quickly declared Business Bay an enemy of the Antarctic Empire, allowing him to fight back. Technoblade hit Tommy into the water and shot him back even further with his bow. With no options left, Tommy scrambled to build a barrier between him and Technoblade.

Wilbur and Charlie jumped down from the bridge and attacked him from behind. Tommy nearly killed Wilbur, but Technoblade intervened and landed another hit, knocking Tommy back further into the Soots. Wilbur performed the finishing blow, much to Sophietexas' chagrin. Pete held a speech to commemorate the victory.

Technoblade was only brought down two hearts throughout the whole battle despite the many blows Tommy managed to land, as well as fire damage.

### **The Cumin Duel**

#### Round 1

After his devastating defeat, Tommy crafted a new set of iron armor and challenged Wilbur to a duel. He felt understandably betrayed, as they were both members of the Cumin Squad, a diplomatic alliance between Newfoundland, Kpop, and Business Bay. Wilbur defended himself, stating that Tommy betrayed the Cumin Squad first by seeking out trouble. He accepted the duel request.

    After a quick succession of powerful hits from Wilbur, Tommy retreated, building a quick dirt barrier between himself and his opponent. Wilbur jumped around the wall, and the duel continued. After a few shots were exchanged, Tommy retreated to eat a golden apple, and the duel resumed...again. Wilbur called Charlie, as a member of the Cumin Squad, to participate, to which Tommy protested vehemently. Despite this, Charlie joined the fight (on Wilbur's side), and Wilbur eventually killed Tommy again.

#### Round 2

Round 2 was significantly less organized. As Pete held a speech, Tommy gathered rudimentary items and continued to fight. However, without good equipment, he was under-advantaged and the Antarctic Empire and Cumin Squad easily sent him on the run. Eventually, a baby zombie (said to be the spirit of Philza) began to chase him. Despite all this, Tommy managed to stay ahead of his pursuers until a creeper finally killed him. Wilbur then said, partly quoting Albert Einstein, "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought by Tommy with a stick" mocking Tommy's weak attempts of fighting.

### **The Chase of Business Bridge**

Tommy then attempted to escape via Business Bridge. Technoblade suggested that Wilbur's Transatlantic Median may be at stake ("[Tommy] has a history of breaking bridges"), which is certainly one way to get the specific Soot in pursuit. Techno and Wilbur jumped into a plane and quickly stopped Tommy in his tracks. As they passed by, Technoblade shot Tommy and the two pursuers landed in front of the pursued, dismantling the tracks to halt any advancement by rail. Technoblade hit Tommy with a devastating blow, but Tommy managed to convince him not to finish him, asking the two to listen. Tommy complained that Wilbur and Technoblade were not listening to him, and attempted to continue traveling with his minecart. Wilbur stopped him, destroying the powered rails.

Wilbur continued to push the peace treaty, and with Technoblade, asked Tommy to take the rails back to his base so they could write a treaty up. Tommy agreed, but then got in his plane and kept heading towards Newfoundland. Once again, Techno and Wilbur chased him down in their much faster plane and convinced him to turn around and meet them back at Business Bay. Once back on the bridge, Charlie joined them once again to escort him back to his base, where they proceeded to argue over the terms of the peace treaty for nearly half an hour.

### **The Business Bay Conference**

*Main article: Treaty of Broken Bridges*

A peace treaty was almost formed at Business Bay. In a surprising move, Wilbur allowed Tommy to make the first draft. During the time Tommy was writing, the Antarctic Empire and the Cumin Squad raided Tommy's wheat farm. Tommy's first draft had many demands, most of them were of his interest such as demanding Technoblade to refer to him as an "Alpha Male" instead of "Zombie Kid", a sum of $100,000 to be paid by each members of the belligerents to him as reparations, accepting the fact that Tommy had indeed defeated Technoblade "as he ran away from me like a coward" and finally to respect him and admit that Tommy is a funny guy.

These terms were met with clear disapproval from Technoblade and negotiations continued for a little under half an hour. A revised draft was soon presented to everyone involved. The draft included terms that were considered fair and just by the allied forces, such as a declaration of peace period for 4 days between the two warring factions, a statement that Tommy must hold responsible for his action and not acting on behalf of the Cumin Squad and to accept defeat. In return, the Cumin Squad and the Antarctic Empire "shall acknowledge that Tommy is funny" and "shall no longer interfere with Tommy's endeavors". All of them were also ought to speak on neutral terms.
Technoblade added another clause as a joke, "buy Technoblade's YouTooz" which was quickly followed by Tommy adding an eighth term - "like me, and acknowledge that I am a part of the group".

An argument lit up, and all the people involved made several small changes to the written turns.

Peace talks broke down as Tommy stubbornly demanded that Wilbur and Charlie must like Tommy and feed him constant compliments (a proposed term in the treaty). Wilbur declared that he was making a "final change," before throwing the book into a fire and leaving the scene.

### **The Villager Pillage**

Technoblade heard from his chat that Tommy had mending villagers and once again made his way over to Business Bay. Tommy attempted to resume peace talks with Techno, separately from the Cumin Squad and demanded that Techno give him back the $20K he received as a bribe. Techno expressed dissatisfaction with Tommy's undiplomatic behavior with a simple "Ehhh."

A while later, Technoblade bought nine (9) mending books from Tommy's villager, despite Tommy's attempts to prevent the purchases. However, when placing them in his shulker box, Tommy was able to steal 3 back. Technoblade paid Tommy $400 in return. Tommy was displeased with this measly sum of money and was surprised to hear that they were still at war. Technoblade commented that he would not burn down Tommy's house as it is "BM" (bad manners).

### **The Ancient Stronghold Robbery**

On Day 22, TommyInnit stole 6 diamond blocks from the Ancient Stronghold in retaliation after the villager pillage, angering VoiceOverPete. After talking, Tommy realized that he stole from Pete and not his original target, Technoblade. FitMC got involved to protect his allies and became enemies with Business Bay, but he reassured Tommy it was a "safety net" and they were "not enemies yet." After brief negotiations, Tommy declared that his conflict was with Technoblade and intended to duel him. The 6 diamond blocks were returned to Pete, and the two later agreed to stay on neutral terms.

## The Final Confrontations

### **The Wednesday War**

On Day 25, multiple streamers, including Tommy and Pete, confirmed rumors of an upcoming confrontation on Wednesday (Day 27), dubbed the Wednesday War. Tommy later confirmed that the battle was the same as the one scheduled on either Day 23 and 24, but was postponed as Technoblade was not feeling well. He advised viewers to tune in at 6 pm GMT.

Later, Pete and AllanahVA hinted that Packle would also be involved in this confrontation as Michaelmcchill reached a donation goal during his charity livestream. Though they announced a state of war against the Antarctic Empire, it is unknown what role they will play in relation to the Cumin Squad and Tommy. FitMC also confirmed that he intended for Florida (including SalC1's Cuban colony) to support the Antarctic Empire on Wednesday.

Preparations continued into Day 26 when Tommy broke into Technoblade's Palace while the Antarctic Empire was offline. He attempted to use their villagers to get full, enchanted diamond armor, intending to use it in battle, but was only able to afford a pair of enchanted diamond boots.

### **The Battle at Port-aux-Francais (8-Second War)**

On Day 27, Technoblade and Tommy met at Technoblade's Palace at the Port-aux-Francais to finally initiate the fight that had been pending since Day 25. Tommy thought he would have many allies during the battle, but he arrived alone as no one else showed up. After some debate as to whether the fight would be done diplomatically (Technoblade paying Tommy back what he owed) or physically, the two began fighting. Technoblade's superior armor and gear meant the fight was over in about 30 seconds. Tommy, understandably, lost. It was unofficially dubbed the "8 Second War" because of the short length.

After the battle, Tommy, Ph1LzA, and Technoblade returned to Port-aux-Français and Tommy retrieved his items, which were lost from the previous fight. Another short fight broke out, Technoblade against Tommy while Philza mainly acted as a spectator (he shot four arrows total, three of which hit Tommy. But Tommy gappled after two and only ONE arrow did damage to affect the battle). This fight too ended predictably: Tommy died. At this point, Technoblade wanted people to join Tommy's side just so the fight could be fair, even offering to borrow Philza to him for the time being, an offer that was quickly dismissed.

### **The South African Battles**

Tommy, following his defeats, persuaded a bemused Technoblade to follow him to a large, flat region of sand in southern Africa. A single, rather conspicuous, block of sand sat one block higher than the rest of the sand plains. Technoblade accused Tommy of hiding a sand trap in the area. Tommy insisted they were there for peace talks, and that he had built a tribute to peace. Technoblade was not convinced.
Tommy then attempted to spleef the sand out beneath Technoblade's feet but failed. This revealed a shallow pit filled with minecarts and boats.

Techno would attack Tommy, attempting to shove him into the trap. Due to an ender pearl fail though, he would temporarily stop attempting to kill Tommy. Tommy lead him back to the pit, requesting that he get in. Techno would then try to punch Tommy into the pit, prompting the latter to panickily say, "Don't throw me into the tra- convenient pit." Soon afterwards however, Techno would snipe him to death.

Tommy continued to assert that he did not mean Technoblade harm, despite the rather suspicious pit (which he continued to claim wasn't a trap). Technoblade's chat would spam "Entity Cram", which was a type of trap which used multiple entities to squish a player or mob to death. However, it was not the type of trap used. It would later be discovered that the pit was a trap utilizing the last discovery in the Rails Experiment: Minecarts merged with boats maintained a massive amount of momentum that could kill players nearly instantly.

Tommy flew back which Techno paced around the pit. They faced each other on opposite sides, each attempting to convince the other to jump into the pit. Tommy would question if Techno had a deep fear of boats, prompting the latter to declare that when he was a child, a boat killed his parents. Eventually, Tommy would teleport behind Techno via ender pearl and land a blow that knocked him into the pit. Unfortunately for Tommy, only some of the merged Minecarts with Boats had momentum, and Techno did not land on those specific ones. Techno ender pearled out, noting that the trap was worthless and that he was spooked for no reason.

Grunk arrived soon after and debated whether to join Tommy's side or do nothing. Tommy would actually attempt to throw him into the pit before realizing that he (Business Bay,) was allied with the Inquisition. Due to hunger, Techno would briefly pause to give back the bread that he had forgotten to give to Tommy. Following the exchange, Tommy would punch Techno again, and they engaged once more in combat (the two were still attempting to hit each other into the pit), and Grunk simply watched the battle, disappointed in the latter. As Tommy continued to try to convince his opponent to jump into the pit, Techno pointed out that he already went into the pit, shortly before killing him.

Thunder1408 and Timotainment arrived shortly thereafter, and Technoblade insistently requested they join Tommy's side. Instead, they set up seats to watch.
Tommy switched tactics, attempting to use reverse psychology to get Technoblade into the merged Minecart Boat trap (as opposed to hitting him repeatedly with his sword). This was entirely unsuccessful. Technoblade offhandedly commented that he "thought there would be war."

A fifth brawl broke out---again, a 1v1 between Technoblade and Tommy---which ended in around 10 seconds. Sneegsnag (*Sneeg*) and Sylvee arrived afterward, mostly to spectate. The trap ended up actually being effective against players, and after an independent experiment that killed Grunk, Sylvee, and Timotainment, Grunk rid the pit of all the boats and minecarts by shooting at them with a bow and arrow, disabling it. After, Tommy seriously suggested ending the war, but some of the other players wanted to join Tommy's side and continue fighting. Technoblade, perhaps sensing content, suggested they have "war forever."

### **The Battle of the Pit**

The six players present eventually decided to fight a large-scale battle in the area. There were two sides: the Antarctic Empire (Technoblade, Sneegsnag, and Phil) and Business Bay (Grunk, Sylvee, and Tommy). Techno commented that they were backing away despite the fact that Sneeg was in full gold armor. Once the battle began, Technoblade drank several potions including a potion of the Turtle Master, before he teleported in and attacked all three of his opponents at once. Barely taking any damage due to Resistance VI, he pursued and attacked Grunk once the opposition scattered. Sylvee would attempt to slow him down, though her hits would only knock him towards Grunk, hastening his death.

Tommy chased Sneeg down, and was surprised to discover that he was losing despite Sneeg‘s inferior golden armor. Technoblade, having finished Grunk, looked around and found that Tommy was going for "the guy in gold armor." He quickly headed for the duel, leaving Philza to take care of Sylvee. Techno knocked Tommy off of Sneeg and into the waters of Africa before dispatching him with his mighty blade.

Meanwhile, Sylvee dueled Philza on land, with the former appearing to be winning. Sneeg would join Philza after Techno took over against Tommy though, and the one on one became a two on one. She was still able to hold her own against the two fighters however, as her Enchanted Golden Apples made her nearly invincible. Technoblade rejoined the battle, with the three teaming up to fight Sylvee. Sylvee would last over 1 minute and 10 seconds against the tag team, escaping after she realized that she had run out of enchanted golden apples and had no food to continue fighting.

This marked the end of the battle and handed the victory to the Antarctic Empire. Sylvee would return following the conclusion, though Philza would shoot her twice before Sneeg requested that he stop. She was then blown up by a creeper shortly afterwards, and her items added to a set of chests bearing the items of the losing side of the battle. Half of her items were temporarily taken by Tommy due to a mistake, though it would be returned during The Pit Conferences. FitMC arrived right after the fight ended, disappointed he had missed the battle as he brought end crystals, which would have made the brawl much more brutal.

Sneeg would also fire off a few last shots following the battle, killing Tommy with his sniper rifle.

### **The Pit Conferences**

*Main article: Treaty of Pit*

After the battle of Pit, Tommy declared a conference. Sylvee questioned Tommy about her items at the beginning of the conference and Tommy gave her items back, claiming that it was an honest mistake. He got everyone to sit down in front of him as he attempted to hold a speech and tried to declare a temporary armistice. However, nobody listened, instead, they messed around and threw various items at Tommy. Tommy acted irrationally and confirmed the war was not over yet, stating that "I'll continue fighting". In response, he was mobbed by everyone present and shot and killed.

Infuriated, Tommy decided to declare everyone who partook in his murder an enemy, declaring one of his allies, Sylvee, from an ally to an enemy. Sylvee argued that she had helped Tommy during the fight and that Tommy had wrongfully mistaken her actions. Tommy decides to ally back Sylvee after changing his mind but she refuses, stating that Tommy cannot ally her back for declaring her an enemy, to which Sylvee declares Tommy as an enemy.

The group decided to head to Business Bay by plane and at last debated peace terms. The Treaty of Pit was written after some difficulty deciding the contents. Tommy signed the book reluctantly and the war came to a temporary armistice.

## Aftermath

The armistice declared during the Treaty of Pit concluded on Day 31 (December 22, 2019), and the conflict between the Antarctic Empire and Business Bay continued. The battles between the belligerents continued on later days; the Battle of the Bridges alongside the subsequent events became known as part of the Great SMPEarth War.

## Audience Reaction

Following the first day of the conflict, many people in Technoblade's chat felt bad for TommyInnit. Some argued that it was straight-up bullying, and others in Tommy's chat were outraged at Technoblade, saying to unsubscribe. Some people from both sides were sending hate, despite Tommy and Technoblade saying that this was all games and no one should get angry over a "block game."

Following the events of the Ancient Stronghold Robbery, many members of the audience were split on whether or not TommyInnit was justified in stealing the diamond blocks. Since there is no Geneva convention on SMPEarth, some argued that there was nothing wrong with taking them, since the two factions were at war. However, this was not the majority of TommyInnit's chat at the time, who urged him to return the diamond blocks to Pete.

Tommy was faced with a similar response after breaking into Technoblade's Palace on Day 26 and using the Antarctic Empire's villagers. He defended himself by reminding the chat that Techno had done the same thing to him, and that the two factions were at war. Many in chat, however, felt it was different because no members of the Antarctic Empire were online.

## Trivia

* This conflict was fought in 5 out of 7 continents (Antarctica, Australia, Asia, North America, and Africa), making this one of the biggest war ever fought on the server.
* On Day 23, Wispexe joined Business Bay. This ended up inconsequential, as, during the Battle of the Pit, Tommy's allies were nowhere to be found and had to be chosen by the Antarctic Empire. This then backfired further on Day 39, where Wisp left Business Bay and joined the Antarctic Empire.
	+ Interestingly enough, Wisp was the one who warned Tommy to retreat during the skirmish on the French Bridge at the early stages of this war.
* Tommy holds a grudge against Techno for stealing his items during the Battle of Business Bridge. It is seen however in Techno's stream at 1h47m15s that Techno in fact gave all of Tommy's items he picked up to Wilbur, who would later give Tommy back the armor himself.