(the first part of this clan history has been written down by _FSF_Godfather. After his departure the elders of the clan are cooperating to continue his work and preserve the historic document that tells the story of a great clan).

Introduction

As we all know, FSF has existed for about a year now. Same goes for me, _FSF_Godfather* exists for a year as well. I find it unfortunate to say, that not many FSF's can say the same as me. Many didn't make it, many lost interest in the clan or RoN, and many fled to find safer harbours in other clans. That is one of the reasons I write the document, titled: "FSF History". So that future Generations of FSF can see where they come from, and what made this clan like it is now. Second reason I am writing this is my one-year anniversary in this clan.

The consequences for keeping poor records of a clans's history are obvious: some parts become speculative, some events are just simply forgotten, others are being overrated. All I can say is that I have written this document as objective as I possibly could. If someone else from the First Generation believes he has found an error in this document, then he may feel free to correct this.

The Old Era (End of summer 2003 - Januari 2004)

In the beginning (End of Summer 2003) After having a chat with several new FSF members, I came to the conclusion that this chapter would be the most important part of this entire document. I heard various wild stories of how this clan got founded, and how it was run. My advice would be, for all members who joined in 2004, to read this chapter carefully. And don't make me hear it again that FSF is a rebel clan descending from TuF or AU!

At the end of Summer 2003, there was a Rise of Nations player, named AlphaNation. He was interested in joining the Roman Units clan. In that time, you had to play a 1 vs. 1 against one of the RU's, to gain a chance to become a RU member yourself. Unfortunately, AlphaNation was not skilled enough to win from the RU member he had to play. Already feeling disappointed about his own poor performance in game, AlphaNation headed back to the Lobby. And that is where FSF History really starts. After the game, AlphaNation was publicly harassed and insulted by various RU members. Not only was he called a noob, also his personal life, and other childish factors were published by those RU members in the public Lobby.

Several people who were present in Lobby at that time saw what happened. Some backed up RU, others backed up AlphaNation. One of the people who backed up AlphaNation was a person known as Panzer. After some private- and lobby chat between these two, Panzer found out that AlphaNation was fond of fish sticks. Panzer made a remark, supposed to be a joke, to found a clan called the Fish Stick Foundation. However, AlphaNation took that remark seriously. He believed that he could form a clan to prove the arrogant and rude RU's that a clan can be successful without being a bully. That day a clan was formed by AlphaNation, Blitzkev, Hacienda and Fedomar.


The Dawn of the First Generation (August 28 th 2003 - Mid November 2003)

After Panzer gave AlphaNation the idea of the name for this clan, he was seen in rise of nation's gamelobby for another two weeks. After that, he disappeared, and was not heard of again.
Meanwhile, AlphaNation and Fedomar recruited several people who suited the FSF profile. The Recruits from the First Generation joined FSF, on which I (Godfather) was one of them. They were mainly selected because of their personality. Secondly, because of their gaming skill. The first FSF's got to know each other better. Some did not really like one another, but it was peaceful. During the first Meetings, the FSF's realized that in order to achieve the clan goal, a lot of training was needed. Also, many others needed to be recruited into the clan, to secure the continuation of the clan itself. In this period, several types of Recruitment were applied.
This was also the time of the first FSF website builded by Hacienda and Fedomar. It was better then nothing, but far from ideal.

During all the recruitment and training, the first persons who joined created the First Shark Board of FSF, and its ranking system. They invented the Whale (inactive members), the Shark (leader), the Regular (normal member) and the Tuna (recruit). Soon after the First Shark Board was officially established, and the clan goals were agreed on by the First Board, AlphaNation vanished without leaving any notice. Dark days were ahead for FSF?


December 2003 (Mid November 2003 - January 2004)

With the founders of the clan's name gone, the First Shark Board was not certain any longer of how to run the clan.
The First Shark Board proved to lack any knowledge of how to run a clan properly. Also, because there were no rules or guidelines, unification was rare. In December 2003, like this period became known, about 20 people got recruited, and another 10 left. Also, many became inactive. The reason for this mass exodus was because these members no longer believed they could have a chance to beat RU. Also, the constant quarrelling in the First Shark Board, which lasted for about three months in a row, was not really considered a motivation. At the end of December 2003, several people of the First Shark Board were about the leave FSF as well. Perhaps some of them were even thinking of disbanding the clan entirely.

With a power vacuum in the clan, and a quarrelling Shark Board, FSF was about to die. Only a few people believed they could save this clan, and regenerate it, so it could become more powerful than ever. Political tricks were applied to remove several undesirable factors in FSF at that time. The December Recruits, realized that if they wanted to join this clan, that they had to train a whole lot more, and that they had to keep an eye on the Shark Board, attempting to unify FSF once more again. In this period Fedomar and Godfather also succeeded in getting Zornmeister into the clan. A player with a huge 1v1 experience.

But once again not much later, on a small matter the Shark Board split into two halves again leading to have many clanmembers eventually leave the clan once and for all: demotivated and tired of Forum flame wars.



The Middle Era (February 2004 - September 2004)

Regeneration. (Februari 2004 - September 2004) After the Forum flame wars, mass exodus of members, and several Sharks cleaning up their act as well as their political enemies within the clan, it became quiet in FSF. Slowly, members tried to establish contact with each other again. The political groups who were created during December, were slowly falling apart. People seemed to realize that the only way to make this clan work was by cooperating together. Instead of installing a full dictatorship of the party who was strongest in that time, the clan choose for a democracy. The largest party believed that by installing a democracy within FSF, they could stop future flame wars and other unwelcome trouble. However, to assure themselves of a secure seat, an Investigation Department was installed with the Democracy to keep an eye on the members and their activities. A New Constitution was launched a little while back, to guarantee all members that the democracy was not an illusion for as long as it suited the powerful members. As a product of all this, the Second Shark Board was elected.

The old website and forum of Hacienda and Fedomar was replaced by a new, more luxurious forum and website made by Zornmeister. Trying to let the members forget the flame wars. Slowly but steadily, members started writing and testing new strategies again, they participated in tournaments, made new friends, and recruited those friends. FSF started to become known for its friendly and social attitude within the Rise of Nations Community. Meanwhile, its goal to defeat RU one day slowly vanished.

Unfortunately, the Clan Democracy started to deliver a very undesirable by-product. It made members lazy, and sometimes even inactive. Many questions were asked, and the Investigation Department did its best to sustain the democratic system. But with poll results in which only 5 out of the total 30 FSF's voted, the amount of inactive members became alarming.

Many people lost interest in RoN or refused to buy Thrones and Patriots. Also, the democracy had several documents to assure that all members knew how the Clan Systems worked. Many became too lazy or too uninterested to even read it, not to mention reply to it. With the Second Shark Board wandering further in the darkness of ignorance, FSF slowly fell asleep. Active members who were not in the Board, began to show more and more disrespect towards the Shark Board. They believed a clan could easily be run with 70% inactivity, and that the FSF Library filled with documents and Clan Systems were simply ment to fill up the Forum with something. Instead of coming with a solution, new parties were slowly formed again in the FSF clan. People from the First and Second Generation began to get deja-vu's to December 2003. Slowly, mild forum fights and discussions were starting. Unfortunately, none of them lead to a solution, thus leaving the clan in its misery.



Act of Despotism (Beginning of September 2004 - End of September 2004)

After several months of useless quarrelling and insulting on the Forum, three Sharks from the Second Shark Board believed that several Clan Systems, and several clan members, had their time.

They committed the largest crime possible against democracy: letting the democracy fall. An Act of Despotism, which is basically another word for a dictatorship, was announced on Forum on September 1 st 2004. The three Despots declared all Clan Systems inactive, all running policies were taken down, and the Second Shark Board of FSF was declared as fallen. The three Despots gave their reasons why they did this. They believed that this clan could only cure from the cancer given by democracy if it would temporarily convert to a dictatorship. Several members attempted to riot or leave the clan. However, after they talked with the Despots, they realized FSF was not about to die yet, and so they did what was asked from them: to remain calm and not to cause any riots.

As fast as they could, the Despots designed new Clan Systems and policies. These were created to substitute for the old ones, which had caused inactivity. The Despot-created Clan Systems were way shorter and easier to understand than the older Systems. Without any form of democracy, they were published to the FSF members. As crown jewel of all Systems, the New Constitution was rewritten. After a heavy month, the Third Shark Board of FSF was finally installed by a new democratic guideline.


Rebirth (October 2004 - Summer 2005)

With a fully active Third Shark Board, FSF was having a bright future ahead. The new Clan Systems seemed to accepted, the new Board was enthusiastic, and the members were having high hopes again.

After a full year of recruiting, arguing, fighting, losing, winning, crying, cheering, the basic principals of the clan remained intact: a friendly, but well skilled clan was around. Till present day, the Board and its members are working side by side to make FSF a better skilled, better recruited, better policy-producing, better known clan in the Thrones and Patriots Community. With the First Generation going extinct, the clan "grandpa's can look back with a smile: the Second, Third and even the Fourth Generation of FSF are slowly learning how to run a clan without making the mistakes their ancestors made...


The Dark Ages (Summer 2005 – Summer 2006)

This entry is a continuation of the FSF clan history leaving off where the previous document concluded. We last left off (as noted by former FSF Godfather) with the clan appearing to have a bright and promising future ahead of itself with members learning how to run a stable clan and making FSF a more formidable force in the Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots lobby. Recruitments were up, bringing new skill and enjoyable personalities to the FSF team.

FSF Zornmeister with the help of FSF Fedomar and FSF Grenadier launched the Masters of RoN Community League in November 2004 creating an arena for all the clans of RoN: T&P to compete for glory and recognition. Notable clans that signed up for the first season included Anarchy Unleashed, Kings Royal Guard, Roman Units, and Ceaser. The first season passed by with much hype bringing RoN players closer together and causing many to aspire to one day play in the league.

Season two would eventually start bringing new heights of competition into the league never before seen in the community. So many new clans signed up to compete the league had to be split up into four individual divisions these being: Premier league, 1st divison, 2nd division, and 3rd division. FSF began the season in the 2nd division hoping it would be able to work its way up to first division by finishing in the top spot. Disappointedly, FSF was unable to finish in a favorable spot to move on to First division leaving it in 2nd division again for the upcoming 3rd season.

At this point in time FSF began losing many players and was at a dire need for fresh recruits. FSF would approach Kiss of Death, an up and coming half infinite and half standard clan, offering to assimilate all its remaining standard players. Through this agreement, FSF gained 4 new members being: Oracle, Narzhul(Calypso), Auton(Flash), and Diveloperz. With 3rd season approaching and the new recruits in much need of direction in RoN standard play, FSF Godfather launced the “FSF University “where all admitted members “mainly trial or new members” were given weekly assignments that required them to work on RoN skills.

Recruitment was at an all time high during this pre-season 3 period with FSF acquiring new members being : Rushae, Insider (Gogo), I like eggs, Evil Warrior, DaCrush, Blueflame, and Tiba. With much training and practice FSF was ready to secure a position in 1st division by claiming the top spot in division 2 during season 3. FSF competed skillfully and accomplished its goal by clinching a spot in first division for season 4. Spirits were at an all time high in FSF and the clan was more active then ever with an astounding 15 active members. Little did anyone suspect the turmoil that laid ahead for the accomplished RoN clan……

The time between season 3 and 4 was a very chaotic and muddled time for the FSF clan. Big Huge Games (creators of the RoN series) announced that its next game would be Rise of Legends (an RTS with a fantasy theme) coming out in Spring 2006. Many members grew tired of RoN and the release of RoL was still a long way off. Activity lessened in the FSF forums and many members left or just strangely disappeared, never posting at the site again. Frustration began to occur in the FSF leadership with some (Godfather) wanting to allow the clan to hibernate and let inactivity prevail until the release of RoL and others (Zornmeister) wanted to continue recruiting in RoN. The members still desiring to recruit would bring three new members to the clan over a period of a month being: Dante, Choson (Faith) and Wise (Solmyr). This would infuriate those wishing to hibernate, namely Godfather.

Eventually, Godfather and Zornmeister, would break out into a week long feud over how the clan should be run and over personal past arguments. Zornmeister would then announce his resignation from FSF and would bring down the site destroying the FSF forums and all means of communication for the clan outside of RoN. Some followed Zornmeister and removed their tags and others decided to move on and leave RoN and FSF for good. FSF had hit rock bottom and was on the brink of total demise, most of the RoN community regarded FSF as dead. Many former FSF members considered moving to other clans. Narzhul would set up his own forums to keep former FSF members in contact with one another. At this time Godfather would announce that he would be creating his own Rise of Legends clan called Legio Romanus and thus creating his own site. Fedomar who had been on the background during this argue untill now, sweared never to remove his tag and reminded all who wanted to listen were FSF stood for. Friendship, Socializing and Fun. Although it first seemed that all was lost, Zornmeister agreed to put back on the FSF tag and bring back the FSF site. These events can be regarded as the FSF “Dark Ages” because of the inactivity and little communication between members.

FSF for the time being, was barely running with the only remaining members being Zornmeister, Fedomar, Philanthrop, Narzhul, Yps, Dante, Faith, and Solmyr but inactivity was highly prevalent on the temporary forums. Season 4 would arrive and FSF was barely able to field a team for its games in the 1st division. In some instances, the FSF team was forced to forfeit its games. FSF would finish the season in second to last place in its division. Morale was low and the future seemed bleak for FSF.

Rise of Legends would come out in May 2006 and the FSF members would gradually acquire it and begin training in the new game. MoR RoN league season 5 would begin and FSF would compete once again, starting off on a better foot then the previous season. Old members who left after the break-up would return, and slowly FSF would begin to pick up the pieces and work to become the great clan it once was.

Revival - The Rise of Legends period (Fall 2006 -Winter early 2007 )

Come August 2006, FSF began its main focus on Rise of Legends under the direction of FSF Yps. Zornmeister, under much pressure from his personal life, would announce the end of the exalted Mastersleague, thus bringing RoN season 5 to an abrupt halt and diminishing any chances of a possible RoL clan league. FSF would nonetheless carry on, bringing new skillful recruits in from Rise of Legends being: AstheRuinsFall, SiNN, Idolo, TheeKiller, The Magician, Narri, and former member Matiz. FSF would rise to new heights by reaching fifth place in the world for top 1v1 clans in RoL and establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with in the RoL scene. We now arrive to present day (October 2006) and multiple FSF members have qualified to compete in the exclusive 100K tournament for RoL. We wish them the best of luck in their efforts!

No one knows what the future holds in store for FSF, the clan has survived through the good times and the bad times, with clan members coming together as friends for three wonderful years. What game will come after RoL? Supreme Commander or Command and Conquer 3? What new faces will we meet? Where will we be in three more years? Time can only tell.

Around December of 2006 the last prilimenary for the Rise of Legends 100k tourney was being played those who succeded would have a possible chance to go to Big Huge games headquarters and compete for the grand prize. Some FSF memebers would get knocked off in the early stages of the rounds others like Faith would play and win but wouldnt show up to any of the rest of the rounds and eventually get disqualified. One of clans (top) players would make it to the top 8 and that would be Astheruinsfalls.

During this time Most of the Clan members who played rol began to lose interest in the game becuase of the fact that 1.the tourney had its final participants chosen already 2. Game had less and less activity every day. 3. Most of the top clans/players had left the game already. Some stoped playing Rol a little earlier becuase of awfull connection problems that never got fixed. While the clan was still somewhat active its activity was diminishing pretty fast and this lead Astheruinsfalls to leave the clan and join Nuclear.

After the Rise of legends Tournament was over activity from FSF in that game pretty much stoped people just lost interest and since it had even less players playing Rol ( sometimes even empty) after the tourney than Rise of nations it hardly seemed worth playing it. Since the clan was Inactive since this point Narri didnt see a reason to stay in it so decided to leave as well. A little while after this Big huge games would have trouble with its servers and people not being able to connect online thus killing the game completely.

 Seeking a new adventure - World In Conflict ( August 2007- August 2008)

All activity seemed to stop In FSF for a while, FSF was trying to decide what its next game would be but it seemed no one could find a game with that same special spark that ron had. Around June of 07 Zornmeister posted an article on a very interesting and fascinating game called World In Conflict the game was not exactly similiar to Ron's gameplay and focused largely in team work to achieve victory. At this time no one really payed attention to the game even though most wanted to try it out the, the fact was most people tought the game required a great rig to be able to play it but that was proven otherwise when Dante decided to try out the Demo, which he would later let his fellow clanmates know.

A few tried the demo willing to try out a new game in hopes of this being the next game for the clan to play. Yps, Zornmeister, and Dante would be the ones who would first try out the demo. The game had some superb graphics and maybe thats one of the reasons that it appealed to some  of the members, that and this game really focusing in team work where being in a clan mattered most.

The first impressions on this game were pretty good but not something enthusiatic where the majority of the clan could say ''this is the game we've been waiting for'', regardless of that Dante still thought this gamje had potential and decided to start base over there. Those who tried and demo and liked it didnt buy the full game at least not yet , so at the time being Dante was the only one playing the game. As Dante played the game and then talk about it in the forums it would interest other people like Flash and Warmonger_Au they would buy the game around october and start playign with Dante. Meanwhile Dante would recruit a player named ''Darknon'' a friendly guy who he'd beeing playing in public servers since almost the release of the game. While Flash and Warmonger_Au were still getting adjusted to the game darknon and Dante would seek to play the games best thing it had to offer Clan Wars. This was proven to be quite difficult seeing as it required a whole new play style then the regular strategies people use in public games.  For the time being they abandoned playing Clan wars until they got remotely better at the game.

Around December of 07 the clan would donate money for Zornmeister to buy the game which he shortly did after receiving it. He would try the game out but would loose interest in it shortly after. Flash, Warmonger, Dante, and Darknon were still enjoying the game , but it seemed Dante had different views on what direction he wanted the clan in World In conflict to go. The other clan memebers were playing for fun but dante wanted the clan to be competitive at the same time. With 4 people in the clan they would occasionally play clan wars but would be demolished soon and frequently as well. Along the way some new players would be recuited by warmonger but they were fresh players who had just purchased the game. Some tension grew mostly between warmonger and dante, and eventually Dante left the clan in Frustation seeing as it wasnt going as he wanted it to. Some members were somewhat shocked at this whole ordeal and others bitter. It wasnt too long before Dante realized was a foolish mistake he made and what the clan was really about ( Having fun, and friendship), He would be accepted back and some things In World In Conflict would pick up once again.

In March of 08 massgate.net would announce in their front page how people could test out the full game by registering in fileplanet and obtaining a limited free trial cd-key. Yps and Jaguar decided to give it a try and eventually bought the game themselves. While the clan Still wasnt ''good'' or even recognized by the majority of the clans in that game, everyone in the clan was enjoying the game now even if they lost the majority of their matches. Seeing as there was a decent acitivty at this point dante thought it would be great to rent FSF its official ranked server and he did for the following 3 months. The majority of the time Flash, warmonger, and darknon would be playing together , while the rest of the clan would play at different times becuase of time zone difference.

Warmonger and Flash would befriend a majority of Australian players 2 of those would be Aussiecool and Ladjs who would later join the clan. Dante had become inactive in this game at this point as well as Yps, Jaguar seemed to loose interest in it was well soon after he purchased it. The active players for the time being were mostly the Australian guys ( Flash, ladjs, warmonger, and aussiecool) since they had similiar time zones they could play frequently together and keep the clan alive in Wic.

Some people got invited to the clan along the way a majority of which never really took interest in actually being in the clan so eventually left. Dante would rarely pop up but when did he would play clan wars with his fellow clan members. Darknon eventually went inactive and wouldnt be heard of anymore. The clan didnt pick up its Clan war activity until late 08 and when it eventually decided to play them more frequently. Most clan wars were played with Ringers or people who Warmonger befriended. The clan was becoming known by most clans now and having superb teamwork,eventually it rose to the top 30th in the World in Conflict clan leaderboards.

Fishsticks in a freezer (September 2008 - nowadays)
-the credit crisis and the gameinsdustry-

Now In Setember of 09 the clan is still active and some have even started playing Ron again. Over time members picked up other games and aren' heard of for a while. The clan is yet at its same point where it was 2 years ago- deciding what game the clan will decide to play. People remained hopefull (for a long time) for rise of nations 2 but it became clear that wasnt going to happen when BighugeGames announced it was going to be closed, which it didnt but eventually settled in making  Myspace like minigames. Currently the clan has its eyes open for Starcraft II, but the release date keeps getting pushed back, will this be the next game for FSF?