Strykergang
Top: Red frog avatar of Stryker
Bottom: Celebrations after the siege of Danzig in 25.0

First iteration	11.0
Years active	2015–2021; 20231)
Notable players	Stryker123abc Falklands PandaTanner wolfdevon Gh0stViper8112 Ostlicher Semiautistic Voth
Associated groups	SpookyGang TrenchGang TaP NcordoGang Mordereth

Stryker's metagroup, also known as Strykergang, was a former major metagroup founded by stryker123abc. (Sponsored by Goldfish)

The group was particularly known for the leadership of Stryker, their namesake, and their masterful skill in diplomacy and alliance building, which allowed them to dominate some of the most competitive iterations to date and routinely overcome impossible odds. It is one of the very few native /int/craft metagroups, originally being made up entirely of unrelated players. Strykergang has historically maintained its fame as one of the server's largest and most influential metagroups.

Strykergang is seen by many players as undeniably one of the greatest metagroups in all of /int/craft's history, achieving unparalleled longevity and success in all fields against some of the strongest competition on the server.

Note: unmentioned iterations saw little to no involvement from Strykergang.

Nation - ISIS

Stryker joined the existing ghouliphate of ISIS, then under Roguelich. He quickly took charge of the burgeoning faction, made an alliance with the Russian bloc, and spent most of the server memeraiding absolutely everyone until Ar-raqqah was destroyed by the hands of NATO.

Many of the ancientfag members of the faction such as wolfdevon, Russianbear1944, bruce_smith, cvkpaper, and swiggity_swoogity played this iteration.

Aerial shot of Ar-Raqqah.

Nation - Prussia

Stryker created Prussia, and retained many of his previous members from ISIS and was one of the server's strongest factions, holding their own against the Norse on multiple occasions.

Not much is known about Strykergang's activity in this server besides the town of 'Cuxhaven', made by Stryker in northern Germany.

Nation - Belgium

Stryker originally planned to play as the Ottoman Empire. He had second thoughts upon witnessing the local terrain of Istanbul, which was uncharacteristically mountainous on that iteration's eurocrop map. This disdain for settling near mountains would persist until the group's retirement.

Wolfdevon, still desiring to play, had met up with newfag PandaPieForAll, leader of fledgling Belgium, who was being bullied by the more powerful French under TerriBirdBBQ. Devon convinced Stryker and the rest of the group to join the newfag town and aid them. Together, they were able to completely psyop the French state into collapse, turning them into a puppet state.

The German Empire, led by Vespi3, invaded the newly established state and as a result the Belgians joined the Austro-Hungarian (Brony) coalition against them and helped topple the Germans for good. A truce was established between the Belgians and the Austrians during father's day of that year. The Austrians broke the truce, and Antwerp was unsanctimoniously conquered.

The capitol of Belgium and its airship.

Government building of Antwerp.

Nation - German Empire

Stryker played as the German Empire for a second time and saw overall success.

Berlin hosted some of the servers best builds and a global empire with a large population. Strykergang was able to basically dominate the server diplomatically. Stryker allied the neighboring power of France, led by Vespi, and helped them defeat the British Norse. Stryker would also successfully invade Japan, citing the annoying antics of its' Emperor Ncordo and to support Germany's ally Qing. Furthermore, following the migration of Japanese refugees there, an invasion of America was planned but the server died before it could take place.

The group unfortunately saw several traitorous factions attempt to split away from their control. Karling20 was sent to Namibia to establish a German colony there. He unsuccessfully attempted to declare independence, and was raped by his overlords. Another forgotten newfag made a fort in Baden-Würtemburg and refused to join the nation.

Strykergang expanded its 'core' manpower in this iteration as well, with Gh0stViper8112 and SemiAutistic joining, and later many more of their friends. w_i_n_d_o_w_s_xp and SchwimmelBlitz, two friends who built a small fort near Alsace-lorraine, would also be brought into the fold. Lastly, Falklands, King of nearby Austria-Hungary, would first make contact with Strykergang during this iteration by informing Stryker that firespread was on and that their wooden walls could be burnt down. They were soon remade using quartz.

Nation - Ba'athist Iraq

Strykergang played as Ba'athist Iraq, and was one of the server's major powers yet again and a leading member of the Grand Coalition of France, Japan, and several minor states united against Brony European Union (formerly Italy).

Strykergang at first saw military success, conquering the nearby state of Kuwait, which was populated by many oldfags now apart of the Anmon discord. They were major players in the war against the EU, fighting in all/ major battles of the war including Paris, Stuttgart, and Tokyo. even attempting several unsuccessful sieges of Rome. The members of the Coalition began to be picked off one by one however, and Strykergang became more demoralized and burnt out with each passing defeat and setback. Eventually Baghdad was the last town standing against the Bronies. The town went out with a whimper as many players had stayed up very late fighting the night before. Ghoul defiantly fought off the invaders for hours after the city had fallen.

This defeat to the bronies caused radical changes in thought and strategy about the server for Strykergang as a whole. The lessons learned here were crucial in the development of Strykergang becoming the diplomatic hegemon it would soon become. Strykergang has not been defeated since.

Following the end of the server, Falklands, a French refugee who fought with the coalition, would officially join the group as an Officer out of his burning desire to get revenge on the Bronies. He would go on to become a very prominent member of the group and designer of most of its future towns. Vespi3, interim Leader of France, would also play with the group going forward when he had the time. Some other notable new members would include Stongduke, NebeldesQT, and iDerin.

The City of Baghdad in 24.0.

Shot of Baghdad, facing southwest.

Iconic mugshot of wolfdevon.

Not long after iteration 24.0, Devon Arthurs, known as wolfdevon, murdered two of his roommates for ideological reasons and held up a local smoke shop before being arrested. Despite the tragedy of the incident, many /int/craft related memes were spawned based off of ingame screenshots of devon and his iconic mugshot. After 6 years of complications regarding his competency and several failed mental exams, Devon pleaded guilty to the murders, and is currently serving 45 years in prison and an additional 15 years of parole once released.

Nation - Austria-Hungary

Strykergang played as Austra-Hungary, and sought vengeance for their previous defeat to the Bronies, now playing as the German Empire.

Much of the server was spent in preparation for this inevitable war. A diplomatic coalition was preemptively formed with the Russian Empire and NcordoGang, playing as an islamic state on a caspian Oil rig, to preemptively contain the Bronies. The months of planning and preparation payed off, and Strykergang and their allies were victorious against the Bronies, conquering Berlin in mere hours. It was a moment of great Triumph for many.

Many core players of the group consider this iteration to have been one of the most enjoyable iterations of them all, talking, laughing, building, memeraiding with each other during a well-timed thanksgiving break. While perhaps unsightly by modern standards, Budapest was long cherished as the group's favorite city for all of the soul and memories made within it.

Nurse Reno implemented an RP rule which allowed conquered peoples to 'rebel' against their new overlords and regain control of their town. This resulted in Danzig being returned to Brony control after some seemingly insignificant murders of the new Strykergang-alligned mayor, GeorgeJBorjas. Stryker, calling bullshit, promptly quit the server in response.

The Austro-Hungarian army posing over the smoldering remains of Berlin.

Main street of Budapest, facing south.

Nation - Sweden-Norway

Strykergang played as Sweden-Norway for this iteration, but Stryker was unable to lead due to irl responsibilities, leaving it up to PandaPieForAll. The group as a whole was noticeably less organized and effective as usual due to Panda's inexperience. The nearby Eurasian Empire, led by former admin Nurse_Reno and manned by the Bronies, sought revenge for 25.0, making matters worse. Stockholm was beginning to take shape just as the server died. Strykergang took a collective sigh, having likely dodged a fatal bullet.

Nation - Neo-Confederacy

Strykergang Played as the Neo-Confederacy, based in Tallahassee, FL. The only things worthy of note are the sorry state of Tallahassee and the siege of Voii –the Brony town based in Alberta, Canada.

The original plan for the capitol city was made by Falklands, who wanted to try out a mountain base design. Stryker rejected the plan due to potential security concerns. Instead the capitol was built in Tallahassee, a few blocks south of the original location, seated right below the same mountains Stryker wanted to avoid. The vast majority of the groups pre-war effort went to building fortifications, a new coalition of Mordereth and Ncordo's groups, and the futile leveling of the Appalachians, which went unfinished. This left the actual town of Tallahassee to be left mostly barren grassland with a lone courthouse building in its center.

The men of Strykergang were unsuccessful in conquering the Bronies for a second time. The city of Voii held firm, with most of the battle taking place on its outskirts. Stryker and the rest of his group had no desire to spend another week of grinding and 16 hours of fighting, and quit the server once the weekend had ended. Strykergang considers this war to have been a stalemate as neither side made any significant progress and serb died after the first weekend.

This iteration saw the longest single weekend of war (16 hours), and the end of the long-standing Rivalry between Strykergang and the Bronies. In most iterations since they have been peaceful with each other, sometimes even being close allies.

Nation - Deseret

Strykergang played as the state of Deseret, in Salt Lake City. This iteration is considered to be on the level of 25.0 in terms enjoyment and soul for the group.

SLC was at that time easily their best city yet, with many highly detailed and beautiful builds filled to the brim with sovl. Veterans Gh0stViper and SemiAutistic discovered a duping glitch utilizing a leftover admin villager shop in Uruguay, and as a result Strykergang was by far the server's best armed town. The group enjoyed the new lack of meta-feuds and experienced splendid isolation from most of the server's diplomatic troubles.

A friend of Strykers, known today as sprnkledinkle, was originally the claimant of Cuba until he was pressured to leave by the returning NcordoGang, now led by Crippo from their town on the east of the Island. Stryker vowed to return sprnkle to his rightful status as KANG of KOOBA. Once war came, the armies of Strykergang –aided by the Bronies and Nurse_Reno– made steady progress into Cuba despite the 10+ minute (!!!) reinforcement time from SLC. Admin Fili demanded Ncordo sign a peace treaty with Stryker. Ncordo refused, and Cuba was given in full to Deseret. Unfortunately the server died soon after.

This iteration as stated prior is remembered fondly by all. It saw the addition of Voth, a prominent player in his own right and future successor to the group. RIP Hopscotch…

Salt Lake City main street, facing north.

Aerial shot of the city.

Stryker's Sneed and Feed. Secret location of the Deseret arms stockpile.

Nation - Spanish Empire

Strykergang mostly ignored the iteration. Falklands, inspired by Cuba from filicraft, was eager to attempt an island town on Sardinia, but the rest of the group saw the writing on the wall and quickly lost interest. They all proceeded to just grief the island. Stryker jokingly declared nominal support of Turkey because he found the leaders name, 'TheFartingGamer' to be funny.

Nation - Yugoslavia

Played Serbia, were the largest nation. Participated in the coalitions against Monkeydonia and Italy, but failed to defeat the rival Croatia in the Battle of Zagreb.

Nation - Syria → Joe Empire

Played as Syria. Fought against ISIS, Kuwait, and USA.

Aerial shot of Palmyra, the nation's capitol.

Nation - Northmathr

Played as Norway. Fought some meme wars.

Nation - France

Played as France, one of the six great powers of Europe. France was one of the most highly contested cities in the entire iteration, taking center stage in the infamous Battle of Paris.

Nation - Khmer Rouge

Stryker originally wanted to play as Pol Pot and lead the Khmer rouge. He was unable to play at all due to an irl camping trip. Falklands instead stepped up as interim leader, and led the faction for the first time.

A very early screenshot of Kampuchea, likely from around days 2-3 of the iteration.

Stryker's absence resulted in low turnout for the group. This was expected by Falklands, and the group worked closely with their nearby allies of Spooky's Bulls and TrenchGang to make up for the lower manpower. Together they opposed the resurgent Ncordo, Emperor of Japan. Kampuchea, the capitol for the iteration, blossomed into a very comfy and detailed jungle village that closely adhered to Anprim principles.

The group rallied 8-10~ men for the ill-fated war day, and quit the server due to the IP leak scandal. Falklands thanked everyone for playing in spite of the overall low quality of the iteration. This was the last iteration Strykergang would play together united as a single group.

Nation - none

This was the first significant iteration that Strykergang would skip since its founding back in 11.0.

Stryker had advanced in his personal life, and was equal parts unable and unwilling to put in the effort needed to play as leader, and to a degree was simply burnt out from playing after so long. 36.0 in particular “sounded gay”, and he made no plans to play. Falklands knew that without Stryker's presence he would be unable to draw enough manpower to do much of significance by himself, and therefore had little intention of playing as well.

Sostrooper, a 'council member' of the domsquad, would invite Falklands to join their clan of Otomo for the iteration. Falklands, and Strykergang in general had become friendly with the domsquad since their debut in 32.0, but especially after their allied support as mercenaries in the battle of Paris. Falklands happily agreed, and invited a few Strykergang veterans along with him to join Otomo.

Stryker would surprisingly return himself on the server's 1st war weekend to aid the Norse Ashikaga-Takeda Shogunate in their desperate defense against the daunting hordes of Miyoshi. He led the famous Stryker counterattack, expelling the Miyoshi clan from the Norse frontline for a short time.

Interim Leaders

Strykergang has on occasion been led by 'second in command' officers PandaPieForAll in 16.0 and 26.0, and by Falklands in 35.0, and briefly in 29.0 and 31.0. Following the official retirement of the group in late 2022, former officer Voth was declared the official successor by Stryker after his many victories in 38.0. Voth's victory in 39.0 was similarly applauded and given the blessing of Stryker, although by this point Voth's group is largely indistinguishable from the old group. Etymology of “Strykergang”

The name 'Strykergang' only came into use around 30.0-31.0. It spawned from the -gang meme, as seen in gang weed and anprim gang. In Onion's gigantic discord server, he gave members of each prominent metagroup a role. 'Strykergang' was a popular vernacular term at the time because of the aforementioned memes, and was used as the role name, marking the (probably) earliest official usage of it. Before this, the group was commonly just refered to derivatives of Stryker, like “Strykerfags” or “Stryker's group”.

Group Symbolism

Goldfish – The Goldfish mascot is a symbol used by the core members of the group dating back to around 25.0. It represents the group's history of countering the famed Brony pringles