Earlier today, the People’s Imperial Confederation released an announcement stating their shutdown due to recent internal events. We will be exploring the reasons behind this closure, along with a statement on all subjects of the matters.
Background
The People’s Imperial Confederation has been quite the hitmakers this year, partaking in several wars and tournaments and ranking high on the Top Tens, solidifying their important significance in the army scene. Founded in 2019 by Sidie, their legacy remains a foundation and an inspiration for many emerging Small/Medium armies. Their current, fifth generation, has been quite eventful, however, it has unfortunately come to a close. On Sunday, December 7th, at 2:30 pm EST, Shallissa addressed the People’s Imperial Confederation.
Official Closure
This announcement was not a surprise for many, as there were many leaks roaming around that an inevitable fall of PIC alongside the mass retirement of leaders would occur. This made the community more confused, as early signs of internal drama were apparent among various individuals. An interview by Scars released on December 6, after the war declaration by Void Troops had shown clear signs of a potential fall of the army, the overall unconcerned reaction by PIC, and hints at a retirement soon.
The ominous vibe coming from PIC would ultimately be revealed in an investigation released by Shallissa. This investigation revealed the misconduct instigated by a couple of individuals within the line of command of PIC. The clear distasteful references shown in the messages had clear effects on some individuals outside PIC, with the already existing presence of minors during these conversations.
These offences ultimately led to a confrontation between Sidie and Shallissa with the rest of the leadership and high commands. Despite the clear cooperation to investigate the situation, ultimately, it was deemed that the current structure for the army would be too unstable to continue operating.
Later in the post, Shallissa states that there was a breakdown in trust between the founding members and the current leadership. The actions made by many displayed names in the post, such as Villa, Scars, and Alu, made it clear that “this leadership could not continue”. Shallissa reaffirms that this investigation was ongoing before the Void Troops declaration, as it was not considered while proposing a shutdown.
With the participation of the Christmas Chaos tournament, the People’s Imperial Confederation was planning to hold their qualifier battle against the Romans as a ceremonial event to conclude operations, however, later on, plans had “changed”. The ongoing Void Troops war would also be concluded, as the army announced a shutdown, which would be a form of surrender according to the war terms.
The PIC leadership seems to have already parted ways with the army, as individuals like Scars have already joined the newly revived Teutons alongside Alu. Villa seems to have cut connections with a lot of people, as he has left almost every server he has been in. Many prominent PIC figures could be seeking a new army, and with the current wave we could be seeing a mass migration towards Teutons.
Club Penguin Army League reached out to Scars, Alu, Villa, Sidie, and Shallissa for their statement and to give their thoughts on the matter.
Scars: Alu, Villa, and I were all set to retire after CC for the past few weeks. Contrary to what many are saying, THIS is what caused PIC to shutdown. Had we not decided to retire and keep leading, PIC would still be a functioning army.
Alu: The real reason PIC shut down was because me, Villa and Scars decided to retire a few weeks ago. Despite what the general consensus is, the post released by Shallissa and Jemma isn’t why the army closed. I don’t hold any resentment towards them [Shallissa & Sidie] for what happened, I just wish we got to announce the closure ourselves.
Villa: I assume my co-leaders have already said this but yes, we were all planning on retire after Christmas Chaos and no one but ourselves influenced this decision
You’re welcome for keeping your army relevant for 1+ year after it should’ve originally shut down. (Towards Sidie and Shallissa)
CPAL has also reached out to Templars leader Zez in regards to their brother ally shutting down.
Zez: This is a sad day for the army as we will miss our brother allies as they were great allies to us. o7
Response Posts
Leaders POV
On December 8th, around 3:30 am EST, the ex-leadership decided to make a response post regarding the initial publication released by Shallissa, focusing on key points regarding the reason for the closure of PIC. Scars stressed in the post that the team was essentially broken, and lack of trust was evident after the involvement of Shallissa and Sidie, as well as Miffy and Ellie, putting salt on the wounds.
The leaders also questioned the unequal treatment from the First Secretary Shallissa, who played the role of a supervisor in the army, in response to Miffy’s involvement. They found the over-questioning and involvement to be unjustified, and that they were treated like foreigners and not trusted and respected as leaders.
They affirm that the use of slurs was not normalised in any group chat. [Writer’s note: Later on proven to be false]. Additionally, some of the screenshots date back all the way to 2021. The leaders also defend themselves regarding the anti-semitism by stating they were not by any of the leaders, but by Miffy, as they were clearly against it.
The post later on explains that these actions led to the leaders deciding to lose morale and retire, deciding not to participate in CC, as well as announce a shutdown of the army, which would ultimately lead to Shallissa releasing the initial post that she would decide to shut it down herself. All this led to huge back-and-forths as the leaders were not able to even announce their retirements as well as the overall backlash of the shutdown by Shallissa.
In conclusion, Scars, Villa and Alu claim they were painted as the villains, that the reason the army shutdown is due to the mass departure caused by Miffy, Shallissa, and Sidie, and that this situation could have been handled significantly better on all sides.
The post did not dive much into the set of events that occurred, but more so defending their image after Shallissa’s post was published, where they felt obligated to keep their names out of the mud.
Shallissa’s and Sidie’s POV
On December 9th, at 9:03 am EST, Shallissa released a follow-up post going in detail about the series of events that occurred. She reaffirmed that autonomy in PIC’s leadership was respected and that things only took a turn once some controversial messages in army group chats were received, which ultimately led to an investigation by the First Secretary. These findings led to a series of conversations between them and the leaders about the misconduct.
Things remained civil and calm, up until the start of December where new leaks were received, this time in a non-PIC group chat. Shallissa then further tried contacting the leaders about the situation, and to address these incidents that could harm the legacy of the army. Further back and forths led to an overall breakdown between the two parties, as leaders were annoyed by the over-involvement by Shallissa and Sidie, and Villa abruptly stated he would be stepping down after Christmas Chaos.
Things would take a further turn as a couple of days later, all three leaders would express clear dissatisfaction and a drop in morale regarding the entire situation, making them no longer interested in participating in CC. Shallissa stressed that her involvement was only to keep the army at a clean image, as she saw the leaders not holding proper standards. She also revealed the screenshots of the entire conversation, showing that Villa had no remorse over his comments on individuals such as Znation. The leaders also called out the hypocrisy as Sidie’s past has a resemblance to the situation, and that Miffy and Ellie were blamed for blowing the situation up, which Shallissa states is not true.
After the leaders expressed their lack of interest towards the tournament, Shallissa decided to go ahead and release the shutdown announcement. The leaders then ended up changing their minds right after, in which as covered above in the post that it was a protest against the shutdown announcement. Shallissa states she and Sidie coordinated with the Club Penguin Armies and Club Penguin Army Judges to let the battle commence as a practice battle, in which PIC outnumbered Romans.
The latter segments of Shallissa’s post were a direct response to the post by Scars and the rest of the leaders. To not just repeat what Shallissa wrote, essentially, she expressed on one of the key points in Scars’ post about Miffy and Armenzia’s altercation that as leaders they should have the authority to fire Miffy if her behaviour was inappropriate. The blame shift towards Shallissa as expressed by her was deemed unjustified, and further points to the autonomy of the leadership.
Another point that Shallissa replies to is the leaders being pressured to add her to the group chats. She denies these claims, stating that no one objected to it when Sidie suggested it. (Writer’s note: It could still mean someone feels pressured regardless if they do not object. However, there is also no evidence of clear pressuring.)
Shallissa then states in a closure of her response that leaders still had server perms to talk in announcements, as well as remain as authors in the website if they want to write and announce their retirements. However, they did reaffirm their decision to remove most perms as they were no longer leaders since they retired. (Writer’s note: There was no clear instance where the leaders officially announced their retirement before the fact).
Conclusion
It is clear that the two sides of the story can be taken with a grain of salt, though a lot of things line up with each other. The shutdown of the People’s Imperial Confederation was due to the discourse and hostility between the parties of the incident, that ultimately led to the leaders’ retirement. The leadership found themselves mistreated, while the secretaries were only attempting to keep the army’s image intact.
What we know for sure is that communication and the ability to resolve the situation could have been better by both sides. There is no doubt that numerous things could have been handled better. This case, along with many throughout history, is a lesson that armies must learn from to avoid the same fate. An internal blowout that could lead to the shutdown of the army is always imminent in our community, and that armies should always try to avoid.
Quite the unfortunate and dramatic ending to a great generation by the People’s Imperial Confederation. Plans for a PIC revival on the horizon are not off the table, with a potential new leadership and a new advisory that could take lead. A permanent closure is not in the current negotiations, as Shallissa stated, “Sidie and I are always open to seeing it return under different circumstances.”
With all being said, we get to wave goodbye to the People’s Imperial Confederation once again. The Confederates are no strangers to drama in the army, though their successes and accomplishments definitely stand taller than any controversy. We hope to see PIC return to the community once again soon. What do you think about the entire situation? When do you think PIC will return?
