It’s a good year to be a Spartan. After all, with movies such as ‘300’ being produced, isn’t being a Spartan hot? But Bruno Ziskey makes it even hotter. With such ships as the SNS Hydra, a corvette class cruiser, and the SNS Orion, a frigate, what isn’t there to consider cool?
Bruno Ziskey, leader of the Second Life Militia ‘Sparta’, invited me to one of his training and construction facilities. There, I met with one of his fleet personel, Apone Moller. I also met Jenny Witherspoon, a Plebe still training to graduate from the Spartan Agoge. Plebe is the Spartan’s rank of recruit or cadet, and it was their delight to run me through one of their training drills on entering hostile buildings. For a trainee and someone trained for fleet combat, the duo cleared out the building with decent speed and minimal communication problems. They still need work on checking around the sides of walls, but it was fairly impressive alone to see that members were trained in how to enter a building. Add in the trained coordination, and you can see that Sparta could very well be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
After their display, I got to speak with the two on how they felt about Sparta. Their replies were of joyous excitement, and it quickly became apparent why. While Sparta only has roughly twenty members, their group is well knit and features a lot of pride. And while words could be said on how much they enjoyed their group, their actions speak much more clear and loud. Only a few hours after the interview would Jenny Witherspoon donate her parcel of rented land to Sparta for a larger military base, now called Lakonia, in Chrysanthemum Island. Apone also showed off his Corvette, the Hydra. The flight was very smooth for a non-physical vessel.
After our discussion, Bruno showed me exactly what the Spartans have to be proud of – a year’s worth of research and construction of small fleet vessels. I define a small fleet vessel to be one that may be large enough to be linked in one piece, but must use non-physical method for movement. Sparta has quite a few of these vessels, and they are only making more. In addition, Sparta has several mechanized units, APCs and Tanks, and has plans to make mechanical walkers as well. Add in a destructive arsenal of weaponry, and you have a sure bid for power.
