With the War of the Spectral Siege over, the Phantom Republic has announced its closure. We will explore how the war went down, and what led to the Phantom Republic’s abrupt end just two weeks after opening.

Designed by Dino

A Violent Beginning

The Phantom Republic emerged on October 25, after its successful opening event. The army was previously known as the Nether Knights before their closure earlier that month. It is one of many Templars of Club Penguin colonies to pop up recently. September brought in the Brownie4s and the aforementioned NKCP. After that were the Crystals of Club Penguin, and PRCP in October. These armies formed under friendly circumstances, but another recent addition to the army scene had a more troubled relationship, the Rebel Alliance Commando.

Despite RAC relaunching as a rebellion against TCP, they repositioned themselves as not being “Anti-Templars”, and the two maintained a tense peace. On October 26, the day after their opening event, PRCP declared the War of the Spectral Siege against RAC, citing their enemy’s “cowardice and immaturity” as the reason. In an interview, PRCP leader Zez accused RAC of having intentions to declare war on them first, which RAC leader Mark0600 confirmed. It seemed that the two armies’ opposing origins were not the main cause of PRCP’s declaration. With the terms defining the win condition as reaching 10 battle victories, both armies quickly scheduled their invasions, meeting first on October 27. The judges ruled the first battle in RAC’s favor.

Phantom Republic set their terms for the War of the Spectral Siege

RAC and PRCP during their first battle

A back-and-forth War

Following the first battle, RAC took the lead, but both armies remained eager as it was still anyone’s game. The second battle took place around eight hours after the first, and PRCP used this to even the playing field. They repeated their success after that, taking the lead but still being eight wins away from the goal they set. Battle four, which saw the Phantoms fail to defend, was the turning point in the war, and after this, the Commandos did not see another loss. By battle ten, the score stood at 8-0-2 in favor of RAC, and at this point, PRCP surrendered on November 2.

Phantom Republic surrenders the Spectral Siege

A commonality of the battles of this war, and many of the recent wars has been a trend of armies not showing up to fight. This was seen not only in the Spectral Siege War but in the Autumn Tundra War, and the Centenary Solstice War. In the Spectral Siege, we saw both armies either fail to show up or fail to max adequate numbers. This follows a ruling by Club Penguin Army Judges, enforcing a max requirement of 5 for off-map wars.

CPAJ Head Judge, Jojoteri announces the rule change

The Commando fight unopposed in the war’s final battle

Post-War Conclusions

Within an hour of PRCP surrendering, RAC posted a treaty between the two armies, officially ending the conflict. The treaty prevents any invasions between the two armies or any armies the two might merge into until December 25. Though it seemed like the end of the chapter, many more events were to follow. On November 3, RAC announced that they would be merging into their allies, Special Weapons and Tactics, thanking them for their support in the war. They wanted to maintain their army’s clean war record and did not have the time to devote to the upkeep of a long-lasting army. It seemed at this point that despite losing the war on Club Penguin, the Phantoms would win the battle of longevity.

Both armies sign The Treaty of The Lord and Saviour

Before this, on November 2, PRCP leaders Zez and xDemon announced their retirements from leadership, leaving the army in the hands of founder Billy Bawb, and leader Maguro. Following the war, the Phantom’s activity slowed, and on November 6, the army closed. The announcement was brief, but a later message by xDemon hinted at a return in the future. This closure coincides with fellow colony, Crystals, who shut down to focus their efforts on rebuilding TCP. Both of these closures follow a Top Ten which saw TCP barely miss out on a 10th place spot.

Phantom Republic Announces Closure

Club Penguin Armies sat down with Zez to discuss the army’s closure and future.

What factors led to Phantom Republic’s closure?

The leaders did not have time to focus on PRCP as they were busy with their own things

Phantom Republic spent most of its time engaged in war. How did this impact the army’s performance?

PRCP was at war within its first week of opening, and shut down closely after. Although this war helped us get events in and eventually helped us make an appearance in the weekly top 10, it was tiring for both troops and leaders especially towards the end. nevertheless, we’d still like to thank RACP for the competitive war

It has been hinted that the army may return in the future. What can you say about this?

The army closed due since TCP needs to rebuild and issues with dual-enlistment, so it may be back in the future similar to the Crystals of CP

Has the army’s leadership learned anything from their experience that can be applied in the future?

Yes

It appears that the Phantom Republic succumbed to attrition, but we may see them again after a period of rebuilding. Is this the last we will see of PRCP? Will the Templars support more colonies opening in the future? Has this conflict truly ended, or will we see other armies carry it forward?

Snork
Associate Editor

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Snork

Hello, it's Snork!! I am but a wee little lad reporting on the silly penguin game :3