History of EVE University

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E-UNI Emblem.png This page's intent is to provide information on the the history of EVE University. The information on this page is no longer current.

Introduction

EVE University is one of the oldest corporations in EVE. Unfortunately, the nature of the Uni -- 90% of the Uni's members have been in for under 2 months -- means that the history of the corp is quickly dispersed to a hundred other corporations. My hope is that we can collect some of the stories so people know what the Uni has done and been, and how it's changed over the years.

Morning Maniac gave a two-hour history lecture in March 2007: EVE University History, Past Present and Future. It covered the history of the Uni from its founding as a chat channel. Time passes, though -- half the Uni's history happened after this talk.

2004

EVE University founded - March 2004

EVE University was founded on 15th March 2004. The founder, Morning Maniac, had been answering questions in the Help channel, and wanted to provide something that was more helpful than what 'Help' had become. The heart of the operation was the EVE University public chat channel. Early on, the principle was established that the Uni would remain neutral, so that students can have the widest possible choice of future corporations.

2005

Early wardec announcement on CAOD - October 4th 2005

This is interesting for several reasons. The first is the shift from helpful to slanging through the 13 pages of the thread. The second is that all of the same issues are being discussed five years later. This appears to be prior to the founding of The Big Blue.

The Big Blue Era

EVE University was, with NAGA, the Four Horsemen, and others, one of the founding corporations of The Big Blue alliance. The Big Blue (always with the definite article) was founded in October of 2005, and lasted until August of 2006. During this busy year, the alliance built two outposts in Geminate: the Blue Pill in BWF-ZZ, and Masada Station in 8MG-J6. In June of 2006, the Mercenary Coalition declared war on BLUE. A month later, The Four Horsemen withdrew from the alliance, removing much of The Big Blue's PvP power. Subsequently, attacks by Euphoria Unleashed and others rendered the situation untenable, and NAGA and EVE University dissolved the alliance and withdrew from the region. An interesting historical consequence is that the Uni's teamspeak server was hosted with NAGA until late 2009.

BLUE was interesting in that it maintained NRDS and a non-aggression policy -- a rarity in 0.0 space.

Subsequent to BLUE's withdrawal, BWF-ZZ has developed a reputation as a cursed system, which no group can hold onto for very long. Currently, Legion of xXDEATHXx <X.I.X> holds BWF-ZZ.

It's also worth noting that BWF-ZZ is quite near the Uni's subsequent home in Korsiki, though a visit would be both dangerous and a violation of the Uni's rules.

see also EVE History's page on The Big Blue

And this "looking back' thread from 2007.

2006

Formation of TGRADS

At the time the Uni retreated from Geminate, a group of Uni members wanted to remain in 0.0, allying with ISS, an organization which itself maintained neutrality. The Uni as a whole felt that this would nevertheless undermine its neutrality. Twenty-six Uni members left to form The Graduates (TGRADS), and take over the Cassini outpost of ISS in EC-P8R.

Unfortunately, this outpost was isolated from the rest of ISS. TGRADS was forced out of the region, and joined with the Uni in forming the Ivy League Alliance. Subsequently, they maintained POSes in NPC 0.0, under the IVY flag. The difficulty and expense of maintaining these POSes, and the disparity between the Uni's primary mission and the 0.0-ward desires of TGRADS, put strain on the relationship between the two. Subsequently TGRADS left IVY to join BRUCE, then an up-and-coming 0.0 alliance. After BRUCE dissolved, TGRADS joined Morsus Mihi. They are currently the largest corp in The Initiative., and still recruit preferentially from the Uni.

  • 18 Sept 06 -- Romble no longer in Uni (TGRADS).
  • Privateers (corp) war 24 Oct 2006. (Privateers founded 6 weeks previous). TGRADS in <ISS> at this time. <IVY> at ~700 members, though this includes some inactives. See [1]

2007

The Drone Regions

The drone regions of space were added to the EVE universe in November of 2006. At some point subsequent to leaving Geminate, until about April 2007, the Uni held space in the drone regions (S-R9J2), while remaining headquartered in Korsiki(?). In April of 2007, Invictus attacked, and eventually forced IVY out of 0.0 again. Invictus got sov 1 on 28 Jun 2007, per evemaps.dotlan.net.

Meanwhile, back in Korsiki, the first of the wars with the Privateers started. Here's a rough timeline:


  • ~18 Jan 07, TGRADS rejoined IVY.
  • Privateers (alliance) wardec 14 Jan 2007. (50 parallel wars for PRIVs at this time. [1]
  • This Privateers attack was hired, according to the Privateers themselves. Speculation at the time was that the hiring body was Multiversal Enterprises, Inc.


  • Privateers (alliance) attacking Korsiki ("invasion fleet"), (15 Mar '07, 3 April '07.) [2]
  • 11 Apr 07 -- resupply fleet op to 0.0 [3]
  • 22 Apr -- the heroic call to arms! [4]

Battle Summary -- defense of S-R9J2

  • 23 April 07 -- battle with Invictus.
  • 24 April 2007 -- Trouble with Invictus "not over yet". [5]

During this time, TGRADS was organizing at least some 0.0 ops for Uni members. [6]

(I'm working on it, Kassie Kelmar. Give me time.)

Return to High-Sec

After leaving 0.0, the Uni settled at Korsiki. By the end of 2006, there was a precursor to the present ship replacement plan, though it only covered frigates -- and destroyers. At the beginning of 2007, as noted above, TGRADS joined the IVY alliance. And the first of the Privateers wars began.

Formation of the Low-sec Apprenticeship Group

In mid-2007, the Low-sec Apprenticeship group was formed -- possibly in a fit of absent-mindedness. Master Akira, who was involved in the group from early on, has written a short personal history of the group's first incarnation.

After Master Akira's departure from the Uni in mid-2008, the group was reorganized under Dlardrageth. Division 6 grew out of a subsequent reorg.

Unfortunately, most of the records of the low-sec group were archived for various reasons and are unavailable to anybody except directors. (J'accuse, Dinsdale Pirrhana!) If a director has the inclination and the time, could you please put together a short history of the group? Alternately, can anybody with personal knowledge help?

1st LSA Pirate Hunt (14 Aug 07)

on (not) shooting macro haulers

Formation of the ILN - July 2007

At the end of July 2007, Silentbrick took a poll to gauge interest in forming a professional Navy, which became the ILN as we know it today.

[2]

The Long Series of Wars

  • Murder-Death-Kill - 27 Aug 2007 - MD-K declared war on IVY, having first taken the trouble to set up a POS in Korsiki under an alt corporation (Vajayjay), in which they could shelter completely safe from attack -- in high-sec, shooting at the 'neutral' POS would be a CONCORD-able act. They also used the tactic of putting neutral alts in among their drones, to prevent smartbombs attacking their drones. Both of these were seen within the Uni as dirty tricks. MD-K was a ~60-person corp at the time, composed of veteran PvP'ers. They had recently left the Triumvirate alliance, and had at one time advertised as mercenaries. It is not known whether their war with the Uni was hired by a third party. Interestingly, MD-K had apparently absorbed a corp of former Uni members, Direct Intent, a few months previously. This caused some internal conflict for MD-K, as a number of their members refused to fight the Uni. forum reference
  • Uni wardecs Vajayjay - 29 Aug 2007 - The Uni made a rare wardec, in order to attack the POS in which MD-K was sheltering.
  • Wardec against Ivy League Research Foundation - 2 Sep 2007 - MD-K next wardec'd 2KNOW, suggesting strongly that their primary target in this war was the Korsiki POS. forum thread MD-K's attack was particularly significant, since the Uni had a capital ship array anchored at the POS in Korsiki. Game changes had made it impossible to re-anchor such an array in high-sec space, so an irreplaceable asset was under attack -- a rarity in EVE.
  • CCP, with no warning, unanchors all high-sec capital construction arrays - 3 Sept 2007 - At this time, CCP unanchored all high-sec capital construction arrays, preventing any more capital ships being constructed in hisec. Their stated reason for doing so was that the advantage given to the owners was unfair. Using a capital ship in hisec for war purposes was eventually made a petitionable action.
  • 2KNOW Rejoins IVY - 5 Sept 07 - After the removal of the highsec capital arrays, the MD-K war quickly wound down, and 2-KNOW rejoined <IVY>.

2008

Departure of Ivy League Research Foundation [2KNOW] from IVY - 30/31 Aug 08

Soon after the wardec, MD-K attacked the POS in Korsiki. The attack was beaten off, but barely, since the POS was not configured for defense. 2KNOW decided as a defensive measure to remove the corp from IVY immediately; that is, to remove the POS from the wardec. Unfortunately, this caused some trouble. At this time, it was apparently common practice for players to log off at the POS, to avoid being camped in at stations. The departure of the POS owners from IVY meant that some Uni members were ejected from the POS on login, with no warning, into the waiting guns of MD-K. Others bounced off the POS shields to similar effect.

Racketeers Wars ~1 Jan 2008

Mercenaries discussed, but not contracted?[3]

LOLS and TRAPS - 2-15 April 2008'

TRAPS (The Really Awesome Players), then a corp in the Privateer alliance, war-dec'd the Legion of Lost Souls. LOLS had history with the Uni and IVY going back to The Big Blue. LOLS refused to pay ransom to TRAPS, and joined the IVY alliance for mutual support. TRAPS later claimed that the cause of the LOLS wardec was LOLS' smack-talking. After a week of war, TRAPS failed to renew the wardec. However, they joined the Privateers Alliance a few days later, and the shooting started again.

TRAPS CEO posts on CAOD

Chip Mintago talks with the Privateers

Wardec thread

Wardec thread

Ibn Sahl, Open-I - 26 April 2008

At this time, the Uni was dec'd by a one-man corp. The Uni's membership was about 1200. The diplomatic team contacted Ibn Sahl to see why he wanted to take us all on. The answer: Honor.

(After honor was satisfied, Ibn Sahl declared war on the Privateers.)

The Conversation

The Uni Thread

Privateer Wars - Spring? 2008-2 Jun 2008

In March of 2008, the Privateers announced on the EVE forums that they would be accepting contracts against the Uni. It was widely believed that senior leaders in the Privateers had developed personal grudges against the Uni. For the following two months, the Privateers maintained continuous war against the Uni.

The Privateer Alliance was founded in order to facilitate hisec PvP for its members. Wardec fees at the time scaled only with the number of simultaneous wars the defender had; this made it possible for Privateers to maintain a large number of simultaneous wardecs. Prior to April 2007, they typically had 75 to 80 simultaneous wardecs -- which provided them with wide scope for shooting people. The wardec fees were sustainable because of the large size of the alliance, which spread the cost around. Privateers' corporations were able to sustain themselves from the loot of their kills, but the system depended on having a lot of valid targets in hisec.

The Revelations 1.4.2 patch in April of 2007 changed the calculation of wardec fees to factor in the number of wars the aggressor was maintaining, so that huge numbers of simultaneous wars were no longer practical. This changed the nature of the Privateers' operations.

Lack of DPS in Uni fleets has been a recurring problem throughout the Uni's history. After over a month of war with no break, a battleship loan program was started to get more battleship-capable pilots flying the big boats in war fleets.

The Decshield - 25 May 2008

  • Decshield removed (23 Jun 2008)
  • Privateers declare war again (23 Jun 2008) [7]
  • Privateer Alliance internal disputes and interest in faction warfare end in wardec retraction (1 Jul 08). [8]
  • Collapse of Privateer Alliance(?). [9]
  • Subsequent reformation under B.C. Hastings.

Effects of the Wars on Wartime SOP

One of the effects of the extended war was greatly tightened wartime SOPs. The general war rules had for a great while allowed mining and missioning as long as it was done several systems away from the Korsiki-Jita pipe, and in quiet systems (i.e., not major mission hubs). It was thought that people would see war targets enter local and have time to dock up before the enemy could find them.

For the Privateer wars, that was no longer considered sufficient. Since an essential part of the war strategy was to deny the enemy kills and loot, first mining and then missioning were banned altogether during Privateer wars. Travel was still allowed, except during local lockdowns.

5 Apr 08 TRAPS/ Privateer War Rules

24 Jun 08 Privateer War SOP

One Man and His Drake - 18 August 2008

Well, there was this one guy, see, with a Drake. One Man and His Drake was also his corp name. He thought he'd developed the ultimate tank for the Drake. He still got blown up, and he wasn't a good sport about it.

(forum thread)

Departure and Return of Sabre A

The Tribute to Sabre A[4]

Castle Greyskull and the Disappearing POS - Nov 2008

2009

Formation of D6 ~Mar 2009?

Division 6 There is no six.

Seppuku Warriors / Vertigo Coalition War - April/May 2009 It's been pointed out to me that this section needs significant factual correction. I hope to revise it in the next day or so; meanwhile, don't rely on this for your homework. --JH

newsdesk reports

Cazzah -- "A look back"

Sabre A, April 08

Discussion on this article is currently happening in this forum thread.

Destruction of the Uni POS - 4 May 2009

Seppuku Warriors had declared war on the Uni simultaneously with Dynaverse, a larger corporation with no previous interaction with the Uni. The war opened with SW suicide-ganking a hauler before the formal onset of hostilities, which should have been a hint. SW assured Uni management that they wanted a clean war, and that they weren't interested in the Uni POS. So it was a bit of a surprise when 50+ battleships arrived to assault the POS.Uni war thread

The war had been timed to fall during the final exam period of many real-life universities, which limited the Uni force available. The Uni leadership present at the time decided that they couldn't contest the Dynaverse-SW fleet, and ordered a total lockdown to prevent losses. The POS was put into reinforced mode, and the battleship fleet left. SW insisted that of course they wouldn't blow up the pos -- they just wanted to teach the Uni a lesson. They also expressed regret that the Uni hadn't come out (in a largely frigate-and-cruiser fleet) to fight. (Remember that at this time, the Uni had very few battleship-capable pilots).

The Uni leadership kept its plans quiet, but the student body was spoiling for a fight. Independently, many students started planning either to repair the POS shields & modules, or to fight a fleet if there was a subsequent attack.

When the POS came out of reinforced mode on 9 May, 2009, a large Dynaverse fleet again showed up to attack it. Uni fleets responded, and a battle royal ensued. Dynaverse/SW, in addition to their superior firepower, had parked neutral alts in shuttles in the middle of their drone swarms. This led to perhaps the lightest moment of the day -- Dierdra Vaal, who had used smart-bombs to clear the enemy drone swarm, running away from Concord at high speed, toward low-sec, in a series of vehicles. Dierdra's security status had dropped instantly from +5 to -6 as the "neutral" shuttles and pods got destroyed. DV then discovered in order that (a) You can't successfully tank Concord and station/gate guns in a battleship, and (b) you can't cloak your covops in high-sec if Concord is after you.

Unfortunately, the POS was destroyed in the end. A replacement POS was donated to the Uni by the members of D6, so the material loss was mitigated -- but the emotional impact on the Uni membership was enormous.

Shortly after the destruction of the University POS, Cazzah wrote an article attempting to summarize the situation and provide some background. [5]

Sharks with Frickin' Laser Beams

Another mercenary group that wardec'd the Uni hot on the heels of the POS takedown, FRICK was very, very good at small-group combat. Fighting them was educational -- they camped several stations at Korsiki with elegant teamwork and well-chosen bookmarks.

It had become apparent to many by this point that someone with a lot of spare cash was upset at the Uni. We were getting wardecs every week, and from mercenaries every time.

Move to Aldrat

Subsequent to the SW/Dynaverse war, the number of 'real' wars decreased. However, a huge number of 'faildec' wars were declared in this time period -- 7-10 member corps who'd show up for a day of fighting, lose a ship or two, and then hide for the rest of the week, causing the Uni membership to spin in station.

Uni leaders suspected that a large part of this problem was being a very large corporation located in the highest-population region of space. A number of solutions were considered, and it was decided to move the Uni to a quieter region of space. They looked around and decided on Aldrat -- a quiet region near Hek, but not so near as to cause trouble. Aldrat is also near the infamous pirate system Rancer, which has greatly increased PvP learning opportunities for students. It's also at the head of a cul-de-sac in space, which has certain practical advantages.

The move to Aldrat has decreased the number of wardecs the Uni has had, though cleaning the low-grade pirates and can-flippers out of the region occupied people for quite a while at the start of the move.

The Dynaverse Wormhole POS Siege - November 2009

John Haldane writes:

One day in November of '09, Reese Walker scanned down a POS in a wormhole. Her voice came over the Teamspeak channel: "Hey, guys -- guess what I found!" That turned into a week or so of frantic activity, since what she had found was a wormhole system where some members of Dynaverse were maintaining POSes. We quickly arranged to get some scanning alts into their wormhole, and got hold of Silentbrick. Soon, Silent had called for a fleet to... take care of the problem, and D6 was trying to provide logistic support, scanning services, and wormhole management and training for a Uni siege fleet, on short notice and with little practice (or sleep). The siege was successful -- the POS owners sued for terms, and the ILN carried home the Dynaverse POS tower as part of the surrender terms. A lot of Unistas got a real education in WH operations over the weekend. But to this day, we all flinch when Reese says "Hey, guys!". [10] [11]

The (Re)Opening of NPC 0.0

Because Aldrat is also near NPC 0.0 space, Uni leadership took the experimental step of opening NPC 0.0 to students. This seems to have worked out pretty well so far -- students can dip a toe into 0.0 without the political repercussions of entering sovereign 0.0.

2010

Departure of Morning Maniac

At the start of 2010, Morning Maniac announced that he was stepping down as CEO of the Uni, after almost 6 years at the helm. Kelduum Revaan, the former Director of Operations, has replaced MM as CEO. Morning Maniac remains a Uni member and Director Emeritus.

2012

Ivy League Hall of Residence established - April 2012

On 3rd April 2012 Ivy League established a new corporation called Ivy League Hall of Residence for alts of EVE University members. The catalyst behind the change was changes to the mechanics behind war declarations, which linked the cost of declaring war to the number of members in the alliance being war decced (so adding alts to Ivy League made it more expensive for people to declare war on it). Although the war dec mechanics were later changed again some members found it useful to have an alt within Ivy League, which enabled them to fly in EVE University fleets under the rules of the time, so the Hall of Residence remained open.

2013

Dust University established - January 2013

In 2013 CCP announced plans for a first person shooter which took part in the same universe as EVE Online. This was launch in May 2013 as Dust 514. In preparation Ivy League launched a sister corporation to EVE University in January 2013, called Dust University. Dust University had the aim of teaching new players how to play Dust 514 in the same way EVE University teaches new members about EVE Online.

2014

Operation Griefseed - October 2014

In 2014 the Wormhole campus stumbled upon a wormhole with structures belonging to Hounds of Haides, an alt corp of Public Enemy who were a frequent war-deccer of EVE University. Our members quietly seeded the hole (leaving alts logged off in it) and prepare for an invasion. In an operation led by Titus Tallang spanning two days, EVE University successfully destroyed Hounds of Haides’ large POS and several player owned customs offices (POCOs) with a fleet of 130 people.

Operation Bulbasaur - October 2014

By October 2014 EVE University had been wardecced by Pursuit of Happiness for several months, leading to a great deal of frustration to members. So when Sabre A (as Cpt Jack 5parr0w) called for action, he got an eager response. A group of EVE University members, particularly those who did not usually engage in PVP, temporarily deployed to Pursuit of Happiness’ home system of Anttiri to play them at their own game - station games. After a few days of content-deprivation Pursuit of Happiness dropped their war dec against EVE University, and victory was declared.

2015

High Sec Group becomes High Sec Campus - April 2015

On 26th April 2015 the High Sec Group (which was itself formed from the remnants of ‘Chilltown’) was adopted as an official EVE University campus, under the leadership of the first High Sec Campus manager - unstable unit.

Operation Homulilly - May 2015

Tempest Legion, war targets of EVE University, were found to be living in wormhole system J235117. When the wormhole campus discovered the wormhole in question, preparations began for an eviction, led by Alex Robles and Arimos. On 10th May 2015, after a three day operation, EVE University successfully evicted Tempest Legion from their wormhole, including destroying their structures and causing over 20 billion ISK worth of damage.

EVE University HQ moves to Slays - August 2015

After 6 years in Aldrat, EVE University moved its headquarters to the Slays system on 1st August 2015. This meant the headquarters was only a few jumps from the majority of EVE University campuses, making the lives of students and our logistics team easier. The move required huge amount of effort, with backstock and blueprints spanning several years being moved.

New Ivy League Logo - August 2015

In 2015 CCP announced that they would be allowing alliances to submit new designs for alliance logos and as part of this all existing alliance logos would be removed from the game. Ivy League took this as an opportunity for a completely new alliance logo. A competition was run, and the winning design was the new shield origami logo, which was designed by Janton Raudhir and Jurius Doctor. The logo was officially changed in August 2015.

Operation Fragile Unicorn - November 2015

In november HORSE-KILLERS, a local group in Solitude, declared war on Eve University. They were quickly found to hold assets in syndicate. In operation Fragile Unicorn Eve University destroyed one POS and four POCOs were destroyed.

Kelon and his team wins Amarr Championship - November 2015

In 2015 CCP held a one-of-a-kind tournament, the Amarr Championship, to appoint a successor to the Amarrian throne. Capsuleers were able to enter teams into the tournament to represent potential successors to the throne. EVE University’s own Kelon Darklight was nominated with his team to represent the house of Tash-Murkon. In a dramatic final at Fanfest 2015 Kelon’s team were successful and brought home the throne to Tash-Murkon.

2016

Operation Daft Archer - March 2015

PIRAT had once again declared war at Eve University. Herc Stormsailor then found POCOs belonging to Tactical Pixies Incoming, a member PIRAT. These POCOS were then destroyed in Uni operation. Then it was found that Lizaveta Corporation was an alt corp of PIRAT and that it had 50+ POCOS near Amarr. On March 18th theses findings were revealed when Eve University declared war on Lizaveta Corporation. For week after war declaration Eve University was deployed in Amarr space and destroyed over hundred POCOs.

Operation Furtuona - March 2016

Another large wormhole operation against PIRAT, this time led by Kyle Hargrove. The operation involved cross campus cooperation and successfully destroyed 10 POCOs belonging to PIRAT.

Amar Mining Campus and Project Solitude

On April 19th Amarr Mining Campus and Project Solitude became official Eve University campuses. Jefferson Spence was made the AMC manager and Sally Digital was made the Project Solitude manager.

Dust University closes down - May 2016

On 30th May 2016 Dust 514 was officially closed down by CCP, and so Dust University was also closed down and ultimately removed from the Ivy League alliance.

2017

EVE University changes CEO - March 2017 On 15th March 2017 Azmodeus Valar stepped down as CEO of EVE University after 4 years. He appointed Laura Karpinski, then Director of Operations as the new CEO of EVE University.


Stuff that needs to be fitted in somewhere

  • Ivy League R&D Foundation (Eskona?)
  • Sabre A
  • D6
  • Zulu
  • Battlegroups
  • SPS-es (Summer 2007)
  • Uni fight club (definitely active Nov '07)
  • EVE High
  • Chilltown
  • Introduction to Agony
  • Operation Conga Hammer (July 2013)
  • Operation Lootgrab (October 2013)
  • The Rampart project was a program bringing more experienced students out to the 0.0 outpost in the drone regions to bolster the defence. [12]
  • Cruiser replacement started Nov 2007
  • RvB Wars and loss of POSes

Corporations Related to the Uni

Uni-related FW corps

  • Thukk U (Minmatar)
  • 7th Golden Lancers (Amarr)
  • 13th State Grenadiers Militia (Caldari)

(Incomplete) List of former-Unista Corps

If I've left your corp out, feel free to add it in, EVEMail John Haldane, or comment in the history thread. If you have additional info, that's even better.

One might also distinguish between corps formed directly out of the Uni, corps which took in large single groups of Unistas, and corps started by groups of ex-Unistas later in their careers. One would quickly get bogged down trying to distinguish.

  • The Graduates (TGRADS)
  • Direct Intent
  • Internal Anarchy (much of then-BG 1 moved here, circa Fall 2009)
  • Central Research Nexus (CRN) (Faction Warfare)
  • Child Head Injury and Laceration Doctors (CH1LD)
  • Art of War (?)
  • Adhocracy (ADHC)
  • Seppuku Warriors (TANTO)
  • Everset Dropbears (EDROP)(formed when D6 was shut down, Feb 2010)
  • Future Corps (FCFTW) (Formed from the old leaders of the Wormhole Club Dec 2010)

RUSE /TDROP

There have always been players in the Uni who don't like PvP, or can't join fleet ops for practical reasons. Over the years, Kelduum Revaan started a couple of corporations to accommodate them. TDROP was the earlier of the two.

April '08 wardec on RUSE

RUSE was in use until mid-2009, approximately, when another series of wardecs caused the Uni to stop using drop corps for the moment.

TDROP was active in the MD-K period -- Aug '07. At some points, there was a waiting period to get in, as the CEO was still training corp skills.

Kelduum writes: [13]

The Dropouts [TDROP] was formed by myself as a 'safe haven' for members during war - basically maintained by an alt, the idea was to keep a few of the members together and let them know how the war was going. Eventually, it got wardecced pretty quick, so was dissolved. If you check Keldalt Revaan's corp history, you should be able to find the time it was founded and closed.

R.U.S.E. [RUSE] was the second incarnation of TDROP, and the name was chosen by a poll on the forums here. Officially "Rafe Udall Spacelane Enterprises", after the CEO (again, an alt of mine, and you should be able to find the info in my corp history), unofficially the name stood for "Respite Until Shooting has Ended". Eventually this also attracted wars, which lead to its dissolution and closure, and the reform in channels, starting with "EVE High" which became Chat.E-UNI and similar.

References