Sidie9

Hello readers, it is time to get my hands dirty one final time as I set the record straight.

I didn’t publicly explain why I left in September. Apart from inconsistent contact with Alucard over Instagram, I disappeared from the community completely and ceased contact with everyone. Why? Today I’ll inform you.

As the Empress of the Templars, our army was finally reaching a brand new golden age. We had achieved incredible success in wars against WV, SWAT and Legends Cup XIV champions of HF. Additionally, two major contenders for Legends Cup (EGCP, ACP) were eliminated by our sword. Consistently maxing 30-40+ throughout summer and placing first on the Top Ten in numerous occasions, it was safe to say that Templars were to be a frontrunner in the army community once more. Though we were not reaching the heights of Xing, our run could even put the accomplishments of some major army legends to shame.

When Secret Service declared war on us at the end of August, I welcomed the challenge. Losing a war was not a concern to me as even the best of leaders have lost before. We had just exited a taxing conflict against Help Force, so I knew that this SS war was happening at a poor time for us. Regardless, we held our morale high amidst the inevitable adversity of the coming conflict.

Was it the harassment that forced my hand? I’ve been on the receiving end of doxxing, ridicule and antagonism from various parts of the community for being transgender. While I was expected to treat my opposition with compassion and kindness, they felt comfortable using slurs to describe me in private and degrading me in public. A couple of scandal posts might retroactively prove me correct by exposing the obvious transphobe and racist to be an actual transphobe and racist *cough* Edu *cough*, but it won’t erase what I was subjected to or how the army community ignored me when I told them over and over again. When Secret Service was revived, the harassment returned, and though this played a role in my sudden departure, it was not the straw that broke the camel’s back.

For years my name and reputation was inseparably tied to the Army of Club Penguin. I had been at ACP’s side consistently for a decade. Leading the Army of Club Penguin in 2015, I also acted as the first Second-in-Command of its CPPS era and served as a higher command member on countless occasions. It is needless to say that I loved ACP more than any army, as a place I’d called home since I was thirteen years old. So when ACP showed its true colours to me for a final time, it was too late for my realisation that the community I dedicated years of my life to was a sham. Disillusioned by a last betrayal by individuals and an army I held in the highest of regard, I decided that this niche game was not worth it to me any longer.

In order to fully illustrate the importance of this moment to me, I need to provide context to demonstrate the Army of Club Penguin’s consistent disregard for me throughout the years. Over and over, I was used as a tool to benefit them when necessary until it became inconvenient to stand by me, after which I was dropped on a whim. The earliest occurrence of such an event was 2013, when ACP Commander Flipmoo asked me to join an organisation named ITSA to spy on the Nachos and control their AUSIA division. As a thirteen year old I struggled with the idea of infiltrating another community and being deceptive, so I spoke with a Nacho leader and informed them of what I’d been told. For this I was banished from ACP, which makes sense in hindsight as this was seen as a breach of trust. Funnily enough, I was only unbanned from the chatroom so that I could attend Flipmoo’s retirement event. I don’t hold any dislike for Flip and our last communications were definitely on good terms, so I’m not trying to unearth this forgotten penguin drama for no reason. However, this marked the beginning a pattern of treatment that would continue to unfold for ten years.

I managed to set aside my past difficulty with ACP and re-joined. Through time and dedication to the Clovers I became their Commander-in-Chief in the middle of 2015. Upon consulting my owners (modern day HICOM equivalent), we unanimously agreed to overthrow my co-leader Trader for repeated instances of multilogging. I released a post on ACP’s website condemning Trader’s actions and apologised to the community for the path he had taken. The senior advisory board of ACP at the time, known as the Panel of Guardians, deleted my post entirely and allowed Trader to resign with dignity. In other words, the Panel had revoked the ethically righteous decision of the Commander, a decision that was agreed upon by the entire ACP ownership, so that an individual who tarnished ACP’s reputation could “retire” and deflect all blame. The consequence of this was the complete rewriting of army history. Due to the deletion of my post and the nullification of the coup d’état, CP Army Central’s reports failed to record what really happened and my attempts to take accountability. The incorrect narrative of events has even been repeated as recently as this November in CP Armies post. At the time I had no choice but to stand by the decision of the Panel, as they had demonstrated that my position as Commander was at their mercy. After the hard work I had put into becoming ACP leader and keeping the army alive in an era of widespread declining sizes and rampant cheating, I made the unfortunate choice to put these events behind me.

When I eventually resigned as leader of ACP in early 2016 due to a major depression I was experiencing, I chose to bring Bam back for a new reign. I love Bam to this day, so if you’re reading this Bam, please know that I don’t hold any ill will for the events that transpired. He’s been a good friend to me since, and if anyone else has been consistently stabbed in the back by ACP it’s him. Around a month after retiring I was regretting my decision, so we joked about my possible return to the leadership. As Bam was a close friend to Trader, his name was added to the equation for a comeback. I have always been one to believe in second chances, a characteristic that seems now to have been one of my biggest flaws in this community, so I accepted the opportunity for a trio leadership. It quickly occurred to me that I made the wrong decision, as suspicious accounts began to appear at our events once more. As I managed to obtain some evidence of foul play, owners began to tell me that Bam and Trader were openly joking about my removal from the leadership in ACP’s chatroom. Once more I co-ordinated a vote to remove the “Tram” leader duo, achieving more than two thirds of the ownership’s approval. Unlike last time, Tram caught wind of what was about to occur, and pressured the Panel of Guardians to have me step down. Though the Panel agreed with me behind the scenes and encouraged my actions, I was told to quietly step down to prevent public outcry. At this point I witnessed the internal ACP bureaucracy doing what it does best, ignoring the will of its most loyal individuals and tossing them aside as soon as they are deemed an inconvenience.

Feeling justifiably wronged by the events of the past, I distanced myself almost completely from ACP as I finished my high school years. My involvement with the Clovers resumed in 2019, however, with a call-to-arms from Mchappy. Chainpro was reviving ACP in the CPPS era, and he was going to need help getting the army started. Enough time had passed that I felt it was worth giving the Army of Club Penguin another try, so I became the first second-in-command and AUSIA leader of the newly-restored army. Feeling a rush of excitement in this new era of opportunity, I opted to create the People’s Imperial Confederation as a side project while I worked on ACP. This was encouraged by my ACP comrades, and soldiers from each army were allowed to dual enlist. This changed as I became close with Prior Bumble, who happened to be ACP’s biggest enemy at the time. Given the circumstances it made sense Mchappy and Chainpro began pushing me to merge PIC into ACP, as PIC began to become a growing issue from their perspective. However, this only pushed me away further. After collaborating with other armies to declare a war of revenge on ACP, I was rightfully banned. I am only recounting this period for full transparency to demonstrate that I can indeed acknowledge my own lapses in judgement and failures, and I’m not going to exclude these facts to portray myself as completely innocent when I had indeed acted wrong by ACP’s standards. My relations with the army did recover, and I even returned for a few months in 2021 to assist FatChicken in keeping ACP afloat following CSY’s infamous mass exodus.

Three things are inevitable in life; death, taxes, and being asked to return to ACP to clean up other people’s messes. So, when I was asked again in 2022 to come back to the Clovers to support the dying leadership of Zeus, I inevitably did. It seems that I had become ACP’s “fixer”, as Shallissa and I became the army’s shadow leaders while Zeus became completely absent. Together we brought the army back to major status, and we secured a small/medium trophy win at Beach Brawl 2. These achievements were later attributed to Calgocubs and Zeus respectively instead of us. Despite going through a major surgery at the time, having been hospitalised for one week and recovering in a hotel for even longer, I kept ACP as a priority and remained responsible for day-to-day activities. Mchappy, Sha and I agreed that Zeus should step down as we had not heard from him in over a month, and the two of us would become the new leaders. Before this could be put into action, Zeus abruptly returned and chose Calgo to be his successor. Though we were blindsided and felt wronged by the decision, we eventually stood by the advisory’s choice to deem Calgo’s claim to the leadership as legitimate.

The moment I landed in my home city, tired and in pain from my surgery, I was thrown into a group chat with the advisory. A claim had been made, without evidence, that I had shared an explicit video of another individual to a minor. Despite there being absolutely zero evidence to reinforce this allegation, and in spite of the rapport and trust I thought I had earned with ACP, I was told to step down or I would be fired. Though I was offered an opportunity to defend myself, their minds were made. By this time I had dedicated myself to the Army of Club Penguin since I was thirteen years of age, demonstrating my loyalty and a consistent track record of appropriate behaviour, so it horrified me that these “friends” of mine would take an accusation without evidence at face value and push for my removal. Sha was offered the opportunity to co-lead with Calgo as a compromise, but there was nothing that could rectify the betrayal felt by us, and so we left. With the accuser eventually retracting their claim, individuals involved in the situation such as Calgo and CSY felt enough remorse to apologise for what transpired. Considering they owned up to how poorly they handled the situation, I gave ACP the benefit of the doubt one final time. Additionally, with Calgo even acknowledged to me that the advisory was pushing him to remove me as the first act of his leadership, I felt immense sympathy for him given my history. I wish this is the final time that ACP would fail to stand up for me and cast me aside, but unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen.

The following conversation with Calgo illustrates the points I’ve made in this post brilliantly.

Coming back to the community with the revival of the People’s Imperial Confederation in 2023, we chose to extend an olive branch to ACP. The Clovers were rightfully sceptical regarding a restored PIC-ACP alliance given the events that transpired in the wake of Calgo’s leadership, but eventually we became partners once more. Though PIC didn’t have the size to support ACP at events, we stood at their side throughout all adversity. When the Blue Sunset Alliance declared a gang-up war on ACP, it was PIC that organised a reformation of the Sapphire Concordat to come to ACP’s aid in World War IX. In the absence effort from other ACP leaders, it was me that led the vast majority of the battles for the SCA. Though other SCA armies failed to put in the effort required for a proper war victory, and though individuals such as Calgocubs did step up, we sure as hell could have won many battles if ACP wasn’t relying primarily on a small/medium army to co-ordinate their war efforts. I cannot fathom how they then had the audacity to begin peace talks with the BSA without our knowledge.

Additionally, PIC, ACP and the Templars fought side-by-side against the Elite Guardians during the Christmas Crusade, strengthening our perceived companionship. PIC even agreed to enter a fake war with Army of Club Penguin, a war requested by ACP so that they could avoid a pre-emptive strike at the hands of the Elite Guardians in 2024. Together the PIC-ACP-TCP triad worked together consistently throughout the year, as demonstrated with the Invasion of Migrator in the July Jeopardy War against the Secret Service. It is needless to say that the partnership of the three armies was invaluable, and our diplomatic co-operation was essential in navigating a new era of growing opposition forces. Due to the growing ties between our armies, PIC felt it was time to formally ask ACP for a brother alliance. ACP initially acknowledged this request, but failed to provide any updates for the matter. I can’t speak for the PIC leadership of the time, but considering the enormous role PIC had taken its support of ACP, I can’t help but feel wronged on their behalf. Regardless, the partnership of our three armies continued.

We now return to the time of my reign as Empress of the Templars. With the Sapphire Concordat newly revived to tackle the threats posed by the Secret Service and the Elite Guardians, I genuinely thought that the Army of Club Penguin saw the value of me and the partnership we had. Considering they were willing to give advice to PIC and Templars for how to handle Help Force in war-time, I thought that they would actually stand by our side when it mattered most. ACP’s advice heavily influenced my decision to declare war on Help Force, and I’m glad I did. I should have understood that if they were willing to talk behind the backs of their supposed Help Force “brother allies”, it was only a matter of time until we would eventually be dropped at a whim. So, when the Secret Service began to make allegations about Xing’s apparent past behaviour, having been on the receiving end of false allegations myself, I stood by to defend him. ACP agreed with this course of action, encouraging Xing privately to defend himself in the midst of the Secret Service outcry. These were serious accusations, and it did not sit right with me that unsubstantiated allegations were being weaponised in a horrifying manner to boost Secret Service’s chances of winning a penguin war. Yes, the allegations were weaponised by Secret Service, and this is on full display when you realise that the new Doritos of Club Penguin, the same army that SS shapeshifted into, is now ALLIED with the Templars. Considering Xing is no more involved in Templars now than he was back in August or September, you can see clearly that this was never about Xing or bringing him to justice. He still visits the army community and gives insight to the Templars just as he did before, yet the individuals who sought justice have remained silent, even becoming ADVISORS of the Templars. What did the Army of Club Penguin do amidst the continued allegations in September? They cut all ties without a single word, and I only learnt this from an announcement in their server. I begged Ugly and Roxy for an explanation, to which I was completely ignored. I thought to myself, amidst all the harassment I was already receiving, that if even the community I have dedicated years upon years of my life to was willing to throw me under the bus the moment siding with us became difficult for them, that Club Penguin armies was not the place for me anymore.

On the following day, I sent Dawnables a message and I left Club Penguin armies for good. A part of me wishes I could have continued the reign and kept the Templars’ new golden era alive, but I was not about to subject myself to this any longer. I regret that I did not say a proper goodbye to those who stood by me throughout my many years in PIC such as Sweater, Saber, Jojo or Proditor. I wish I had thanked the loyalists who served beside me in TCP’s brightest and darkest hours, such as Elsa, Billybob, Zez, xDemon or Xing. Even some from ACP, such as Mchappy, provided support and advocated for me when no one else did. Also, bless you DMT for being by my side during my time as CPAHQ administrator. I can’t name all of you from PIC and TCP because I’d be making this post a million times longer, but you all made the end of my career worth it. I don’t think I’ll be legend or a 2024 POTY candidate, even if I think I deserve it, but I’m fine with that now. Almost every single person in this community would jump at the chance of skinning their friend alive if it became beneficial for them. At the end of the day I know that I stood by the original Army of Club Penguin motto, to “Defend Freedom and Preserve Justice”, and I took that to every army I stepped foot in. It is no surprise that they eventually retired that motto in favour of “Green Together, Family Forever” even though that is just as much of a lie. Finally, I address this to ACP themselves, I don’t care if you ban me a final time for old time’s sake, I won’t be using Discord anyway. It’ll only go to show that the ACP I loved no longer exists, or perhaps it never existed at all. Remember moving forward that ACP is loyal to only themselves, and even their most loyal members and allies are fair game.

Waddle on,

Sidie9