Welcome to Penguin Puzzlers, where we test the memory of the sharpest minds from the Club Penguin Armies community. In this edition, we look at one of the most important wars of Club Penguin Armies’ history – Operation Domination, later known as World War IX. Unexpected invasions, treaty infringements, scandals, and a host of other happenings contributed to the impact of the war, the effects of which we still feel today.

prelude

What began as an ambitious offensive campaign by the Rebel Penguin Federation quickly became one of the broadest and most chaotic wars in Club Penguin Army history. What the community initially named Operation Domination would ultimately go down in history as World War IX. The total war split the community into two parts, it even involved almost every notable army at the time.

On one side was the Blue Sunset Alliance of Water Vikings, Elite Guardians, and the aforementioned Rebels. A triple army alliance that had always seemed to have good teamwork and had been around before. On the other side was the Sapphire Concordat, a strong coalition made of the Army of Club Penguin, Templars, People’s Imperial Confederation, Special Weapons and Tactics, Napalm Corps, and Help Force, who supported the war indirectly.

On June 1, 2023, RPF, WV, and EGCP declared war on ACP simultaneously. The seeds of conflict were sown during the Unfinished Business War when SWAT had to surrender to the ACP. Following this event, continued setbacks only grew after the BSA accused Calgo of having an aggressive expansionist character. One early controversy in the war was a term that barred the ACP from accepting allied support. The term of war had received widespread disapproval for this reason. Ultimately, the administrators interceded and struck down the term, allowing ACP to use allies.

Pivotal Engagements

The next day, the Templars officially joined the war by declaring war on the Blue Sunset Alliance, and two Invasions were quickly organized. Although ACP’s defense of Subzero ended up being a no-show, the second battle, the invasion of Alabama, quickly became the most notorious of the war. Before the battle began, there were 121 penguins online. The Blue Sunset Alliance topped out at 61 troops, and the Sapphire Concordat had 43 before the first room. The BSA won, with a score of 2-1-0. It is fair to say that the invasion of Alabama is one of, if not the biggest, battles of 2023.

On June 4, during the invasion of McDonald’s, Discord experienced elevated API errors and high latency. The service interruption made it difficult for leaders to command their respective armies. Despite all the issues, the judges decided to continue the battle as usual. The Sapphire Concordat contested the battle results, stating that it is impossible to give a fair verdict considering the circumstances of the invasion. Head Judge Mare then released a statement regarding the complications encountered during the battle, apologizing for the inconvenience.

closing fronts

The BSA invaded Pandaemonium, the Napalm Corps capital, on Friday, June 9. Two days later, they invade Beanie, the PIC capital. Both armies were therefore subjected to force treaties by the Blue Sunset Alliance and had to withdraw from the conflict. After losing two allies, the Sapphire Concordat defended Moscow, but ultimately lost to the Blue Sunset Alliance.

After 11 long days and 32 gruelling battles, World War IX ended with a treaty. A peculiarity of the peace treaty was the insistence on claiming no victors, as well as the prohibition of posting war scores on their respective army websites. Not even 24 hours after the signing of the peace treaty, the Rebel Penguin Federation broke the third term of the peace treaty. The Rebels apologized for their mistake, explaining that they had written their post before the treaty had been established. The Rebel Penguin Federation transferred all 18 of their servers to their opponents afterwards.

Club Penguin Armies gathered a select group of individuals from the community to take part in a trivia quiz meant to test their knowledge of past events and key moments from World War IX.

1. What was the original name of World War IX?

Edu, CPA Administrator: Operation: Domination
Mare, CPA Advisor: the war of touching grass IDK ALSDKFJASDF
Ugly, Associate Editor: I believe Operation Domination or something like that
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: I’m pretty sure it’s Operation something, I might be off tho – I wasn’t around then so I just know it by it’s popular name
GeoIonut, Help Force: War of Unfinished Business
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: World War IX did not have an uniform name amongst the three of the declaring BSA armies, but the name used by RPF and later adopted by CPA org was Operation: Domination
Zooy, Community Committee Head: was it not just named WWIX or was it like the rising sun or something; had something to do with BSA’s name
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: I dont think it had a specific name, WV RPF EGCP war against ACP
Calgo, CPA Legend: Operation: Domination which I believe RPF coined based on our initial post outlining our new project which was Project: Domination

CORRECT ANSWER: The war was previously known as Operation Domination.

2. Which three armies formed the Blue Sunset Alliance?

Edu, CPA Administrator: RPF, EGCP, WV
Mare, CPA Advisor: rpf egcp wv
Ugly, Associate Editor: RPF WV and forgot about the third one i’ll take a wild guess and say EGCP
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: EGCP, WV and RPF
GeoIonut, Help Force: RPF WV EGCP
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: The three armies that formed the Blue Sunset Alliance were the Water Vikings, Elite Guardians, and Rebel Penguin Federation.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: RPF, EGCP, WV
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: WV RPF EGCP
Calgo, CPA Legend: RPF, WV, and EGCP

CORRECT ANSWER: The three armies that formed the Blue Sunset Alliance are RPF, EGCP, and WV.

3. When did the Blue Sunset Alliance declare war on ACP?

Edu, CPA Administrator: June 2 2023
Mare, CPA Advisor: after acp ended their war with someone i dont remember, I think it was all declared on acp at once
Ugly, Associate Editor: Dont even know this one, I’ll say April 25th or a date around that
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: Imma shoot in the dark, I’d say August 2023?
GeoIonut, Help Force: June 2023
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: The three of us declared war on ACP on June 1st, 2023.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: March 20…23? Feels like yesterday and probably was yesterday.
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: June 1st, 2023
Calgo, CPA Legend: Was right after we dropped our post at the end of May so I think June 1st if I remember correctly

CORRECT ANSWER: The Blue Sunset Alliance declared war on ACP on June 1, 2023

4. Which previous war between ACP and SWAT is believed to be the catalyst behind starting World War IX?

Edu, CPA Administrator: I remember they warred SWAT and EGCP got involved by invading some of its land. BUT I don’t know the name of the war
Mare, CPA Advisor: I don’t remember… I think SWAT and DV had some sort of war before ACP declared.. I know that ACP had some sort of plan to make da army community more alive or something. I could be completely wrong </33
Ugly, Associate Editor: No clue
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: Troubled Allies War I assume
GeoIonut, Help Force: ACP – TCP
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: The war before this was the War of Unfinished Business, although that was not the catalyst necessarily but rather a catalyst that contributed to the BSA’s belief that ACP was serious in their intentions to dominate the entire map—especially due to the tension between the ACP and EGCP over dually invading SWAT. Not saying our suspicion was fully justified (the majority of CPA viewed our BSA as the new BIA and thus a greater threat to the community), but it’d be unfair to say the War of Unfinished Business was the only catalyst.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: Flash Nemesis? or I vaguely remember #unfinishedbusiness
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: idk (ACP and SWAT were allies in ww9 tho)
Calgo, CPA Legend: War of Unfinished Business, we dropped that declaration at the bottom of our post which announced Project: Domination as well as naming Coolguy and Austin as the next Commander in Chiefs for ACP.

CORRECT ANSWER: The Unfinished Business War between ACP and SWAT is considered to be the catalyst of WWIX.

5. Which battle had 121 penguins online before it began?

Edu, CPA Administrator: Defense of Alabama
Mare, CPA Advisor: the one with the penguins
Ugly, Associate Editor: No idea
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: catch me shooting in the dark again, Invasion of Alabama? Has to have been one of the first ones though
GeoIonut, Help Force: Invasion of Beanie
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: This would be the battle of Alabama.
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: The battle of Alabama
Zooy, Community Committee Head: no clue, gonna just guess fiesta because that’s the only battle I remember
Calgo, CPA Legend: Invasion of Alabama which was WV’s only land and the second official battle of the world war but our first since we had to no show EGCP’s invasion due to the timing of pulling the Sapphire Concordat together. The idea was that if we captured won that battle that we could instantly force treaty WV outta the war and turn the tide in our favor which obviously didn’t work out. From what I remember I think we had a much stronger max the day after at our AUSIA.

CORRECT ANSWER: The Battle of Alabama had 121 penguins online.

6. What two armies were forced to withdraw from the war after losing their capitals?

Edu, CPA Administrator: PIC and NC
Mare, CPA Advisor: PIC and SWAT
Ugly, Associate Editor: I think it was PIC and the army Cabin led I forgot its name
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: PIC and Napalm Corps
GeoIonut, Help Force: HF and TCP
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: The two armies that were forced to withdraw were the Napalm Corps and People’s Imperial Confederation.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: was like TCP and RPF?!? idk :p
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: NC and PIC
Calgo, CPA Legend: Napalm Corps and Peoples Imperial Confederation

CORRECT ANSWER: The People’s Imperial Confederation and the Napalm Corps withdrew after losing their capitals.

7. What specific issue disrupted the invasion of McDonald’s on June 4?

Edu, CPA Administrator: that’s very specific, I think SWAT issued a review, idk
Mare, CPA Advisor: Grimace lost his shake … bad day
Ugly, Associate Editor: No clue, I’ll take a guess and say a raid
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: I have no clue, probably CPAB being down
GeoIonut, Help Force: ig something about judges refused to pause the battle?
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: There was severe lag that negatively affected the battle of McDonald’s on June 4th.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: RPF broke the terms, or someone multi’d; has to be either one
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: Discord outage. It took each message about 5 mins to get sent and only VCs worked correctly
Calgo, CPA Legend: Discord outage

CORRECT ANSWER: A Discord service interruption made it difficult for leaders to command their army.

8. Which army had to transfer all of its servers to its opponents after breaking the peace treaty?

Edu, CPA Administrator: RPF
Mare, CPA Advisor: RPF
Ugly, Associate Editor: RPF
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: RPF
GeoIonut, Help Force: RPF
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: This would be the Rebel Penguin Federation after they accidentally worded their post to say BSA won (despite the terms stating no army could claim victory). It was ultimately a mistake but nonetheless a violation.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: RPF broke the terms
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: RPF after announcing that they had won ww9 (which violated the terms)
Calgo, CPA Legend: RPF broke the peace treaty due to referring to the war score in their war conclusion post. Tuxedo blunt rotation! Jk love you RPF yall are the best allies <3

CORRECT ANSWER: The Rebel Penguin Federation transferred all of its territory after a breach of terms.

9. What date marked the end of the war?

Edu, CPA Administrator: June 9 2023
Mare, CPA Advisor: I have no clue about the date but I think the month was June 2023?
Ugly, Associate Editor: I’d guess June 9th
Daniel, Army of Club Penguin Leader: Since you kinda revealed to me when the war happened with the other question I’ll say July/August 2023
GeoIonut, Help Force: 14 June 2023
Dino, Top Ten Committee Head: The war ultimately concluded on June 13th.
Zooy, Community Committee Head: May 2023? But that wouldn’t make sense because I don’t remember it being 3 months long? no clue
JoJo Teri, CPAJ Head Judge: Idk specifically but it was around June 12th
Calgo, CPA Legend: June 15th

CORRECT ANSWER: The war ended on June 13, 2023.

Conclusion

Statistical results from the World War IX Trivia Quiz provide evidence that quiz-takers had significant knowledge regarding the major events and armies involved in the conflicts.

• All 9 out of 9 contestants correctly identified the three armies that formed the Blue Sunset Alliance, as well as which army broke the peace treaty.
• 5/9 participants correctly determined the original name of the war as Operation: Domination.
• 3/9 accurately remembered June 1 as the date that marked the start of the war
• Only one participant accurately guessed the end date of the war, June 13, 2023. Granted, two participants were close to the answer.
• 7/9 people correctly stated that PIC and NC had to withdraw from the war.
• 5/9 people correctly stated that the Invasion of Alabama had 121 penguins online
• 3/9 remembered the Unfinished Business war
• The seventh question stumped many of our participants, as only 2/9 correctly pinpointed the Discord Outage as being the main issue that disrupted the invasion of McDonald’s.

Overall, the participants had a 54.3% accuracy rate.

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World War IX was more than a war, it was a change. A conflict that started with inefficiently rapid declarations and blindingly overwhelming force, WWIX erupted into a swift war, the most historic chapter in Club Penguin Army history. Within 11 days, there were 32 battles, involving almost every major army in existence and redefining everyone’s idea of alliances, what it means to form alliances, and what it means to break alliances, or even exist alongside each other. Even after the war and fighting came and went, it changed how armies create their strategies, alliances, and fight. The stories armies tell now wouldn’t be possible without the stories that unfolded later. Even now, we may not know the answers to the questions posed in this war, just like we didn’t after the treaty that was supposedly to end the fighting. Was World War IX truly a war with no victors? How should we handle controversial treaties in future conflicts?

Zenishira
Reporter

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