Way back in early Feb of '97, TF clans really started emerging. You had Wolves Moon, Clan Erinyes, Braveheart, Dark Vengeance, Gothic Terror, OSKI, and Ira Venatoris to name some of the "top" clans of the time. Because things like Cable Modems, ISDN, and DSL were still a pipe dream, most clans were heavily regional. OSKI was a mostly UCBerkeley group, and IV was a mostly west-coast semi-HPB group.

IV grew quickly, and eventually "split" into three factions: IV/BC (Burning Chrome), IV/SC (Snow Crash), and IV/CD (Cult of Deceit). These weren't splits like we know them today; rather three sub-clans that formed a super-clan. Mostly, it factioned out because it was thought to be too big to manage... IV all together had over 20 people in it, which at the time was far too many. Remember, QW at the time could only handle 8v8 max, 6v6 was more the norm!

Eventually, some folks in IV tried to bring the 3 factions back together, which didn't work. IV/CD became IV, IV/SC became SC, and IV/BC dissolved, with some members going to SC, OSKI, or elsewhere.

In April, four members of IV, Ruiner, SPEEDenator, Deadeye [or PsychoBob, eventually known as Kid] from BC and Panamon from CD formed Fifth Element. They chose ">V<" to symbolize both 5 as well as a pun on IV --- V was "one better." At the time, the reigning clan was OSKI, a very formidable group due in large part to being on a LAN in Berkeley as well as being one of the first groups around. >V< decided that one of its goals would be to one day meet and take down the mighty bear that was OSKI, thus our tongue-in-cheek motto "...and remember kids, bear tastes like chicken!"

Fifth Element continued to grow rapidly, but not without some growing pains. Panamon lost his connection at summer and never returned. Kid, who was rather notorious for exploiting bugs in TF (such as putting a detpack under an elevator, killing everyone), decided he didn't like the environment and left to join SC. So the two remaining founders, Ruiner and SPEEDenator, pushed ahead, recruiting people they saw that seemed to be good and were reasonable social in IRC. Surprisingly, most of the early recruits are still active --- Lst, DarkTroll, Fallon, Jooky (then Kayaker), Joust, and Unibonger to name some (and even Cyber-Thrasher still lurks about occasionally! :).  One of the biggest coups was the recruiting of a number of folks at OIT, the Oregon Institute of Technology. These guys --- Kalima, Keytrap, Fallon, HugeGuy, Loh-Ki, and eventually Phatty --- formed the infamous >V< Spank Squad, our iron-clad defense. Every match, they'd all pile into Kal or Fal's room and be our defense --- and an extremely formidable one at that.

We didn't want to jump into matches, as we knew we weren't all that co-ordinated then, so we practiced 3 times a week. Eventually, we had some scrims which we won and were proud of, although they were just silly scrims. At the time (yes, back in April of '97), almost everything was 2fort4, and we were getting sick of it as far back as then. So, after practicing for a while, we scheduled our first match: Braveheart, a 12v12, 2x30, 2fort4 / well6 match-up on July 15th.

Round 1 on 2fort4 BH just schooled us on frags. However, a last minute flag run by Zer0G (aka Ol' Dirty) put us ahead. We then went to BraveHeart's BU server, but the Internet was crapping out on us west coasters. So after a lot of brew-haha, we played Round 2 a few days later on well6. This time, we both pulled out a cap, although BH won by a few frags. However, we won overall, and the tone for Fifth Element was set.

We then played a few more matches, crushing a few newer clans and causing them to break up. Eventually, trying to get more non-2fort4 games, we challenged Recycled [REC], a "ringer" clan with a number of talented gamers, including Someone and Sacrifice to two rounds of 2tech3 by [REC] Someone. REC had previously been moving quite nicely up the undefeated ladder and taking down some top clans in the process. The game was set for 2x30, both rounds on their USC server for some reason. Round 1 came, and we managed to sneak our spies in to cap their flag not once but twice! Round 2 was a standard 2tech3 frags stalemate as REC adjusted to what we were doing, but the damage was done. Our first big league victory!

Not too long after we defeated REC, they disbanded. [REC] Someone convinced us to pick him and his brother Sacrifice up. We then entered the Fortress Domination Tournament, or FDT. FDT was the main alternative to DragonWars, the big 2fort4 tourney. FDT was a unique tournament in that each clan picked a map to play on. We went through it well enough until we met up with GT. Here, we finally met our match. They schooled us completely in 2fort4 as well as 2tech3, our choice. Our first loss... horrors! However, we recovered and learned from our losses.

We met back up with GT in the semi-finals of the FDT playoffs. This time, the maps were pre-set, with well6 being first and 2fort5 being second. We worked hard, and when the time came, spanked GT hard on well6, by a margin of 4 caps! We were quite happy. Unfortunately, round 2 came and what a mess did it bring. It was 2fort5, which GT was tops at, and it showed. We ended up being mostly defensive, but that didn't stop GT from fragging the hell out of us and getting a cap. Still, 4 caps is hard to overcome... but they were working at it! With about 10 minutes left, Ibtar[GT] had the flag almost out onto the deck, with nail grenades and rockets and napalms flying around furiously...

Say, didn't early versions of 2fort5 have that annoying habit of ent crashing?

With the flag near our sniper deck and 10 minutes to go, the game crashed. Had GT capped, they were still about 100 frags down, which was only a cap. Could we hold out? Could GT pull it out? Well... we don't know. This started a lot of posturing and various >V<s and GTs getting into how to settle this fairly, as well as dragging Venom, the organizer, into it. Eventually, the ruling was that we replay the 2fort5 game again. OK, fine... this time we were more prepared, we capped within 10 minutes, had another flag out, and it crashed AGAIN.

So, back to the drawing board... eventually, the ruling, which neither side really liked, was to play on sk_fort2 and >V< had its frag lead reduced by half (so GT needed two caps to pull it out). As anyone who's ever played sk_fort2 will tell you, all you need to do to hold off an opponent is stick a couple sentries near the flag and have some guys on defense, and you're set. This was true on both sides, and we played to a close frags game late last December. It was actually an enjoyable game, although at the time, we were all cranky as can be with the posturing and whatnot.

This brought the FDT Finals on in January, vs our nemesis... OSKI. The maps: 32smooth and 2tech4, by Dr. Smooth[OSKI] (at the time :) and >V< Someone. We worked, we practiced. The time game for our first meeting, the hunters versus the bear. Prematch ended... and quickly, OSKI drew first blood with a quick cap run. Then our defense settled in, and our O poured it on. The result? 12-3, >V<. With a frags intensive 2tech4 coming up next, OSKI lost and knew it. So we played a pretty random game of 2tech4, and >V< took the FDT championship! Incidentally, while not the end of OSKI, if this was not the beginning it was a big sign early on. Apparently, OSKI hadn't really been practicing for it, and interest had been waning. It wouldn't be too long before many left to other clans, many to GT, but that's another history... :)

After FDT, we joined the Iron Glove League, or IGL. It was well run and provided some good competition. Unfortunately, it was mostly 10v10 2fort4, but soon moved to have more interesting maps every month. We then started climbing the IGL ladder... first, we took down 2AA for the West Championship, but then they held us off for the League Championship. This was a rather bitter match as it was a one round affair on their server, and they went completely defensive. After this match, AA broke up and relinquished their title, which Iron Curtain, a new powerhouse clan in the East, promptly picked up. Grrr... :)

As a clan, we had pretty much found a groove at that point. We were dominant in our division although we'd have a tough time getting to the League Championship, which we eventually did (on the infamous sk_fort2 vs IC, no less! :). We have always picked up talent along the way, although starting in summer we started to acquire many members that had originally started [M]egadeath --- Frodo came first, then The
Pont+ff, [M]'s founder, Skraut (renamed as Geier), Falconeer... we became an elite super LPB clan with an amazing ability to snipe and frag the hell out of anyone. We were well trained in the ways of the IGL, and for the most part dominated everyone save the other powerhouse clans, such as IC and its reincarnation AM, [M], and GT.

By October, we were playing 3.5 matches a week with two practices. We were pretty consistently defeating clans, with the occasional defeat sneaking in. By the time Thanksgiving of '98 was nearing, we were ranked #1 on the TFClans Top 10 for the second straight week after handing AM its first loss, were the Western Champs in the IGL Frags & Flags division, were the IGL Teamscore and BattleGrounds champs, and had become the ASTFL West Champ. From all outward appearances, we were doing great.
 

Unfortunately, internally, things had been slowly simmering for quite some time. We had a roster of over 40, although we were often panicked about getting 10 people to mid-week games. Practices were lightly attended, and it seemed that adding people didn't increase our roster, it just increased our inactive list. There was an increasing friction between some members in terms of "sportsmanlike" conduct, overall strategy, match lineups, and so on. Our pregame and practice handling had been deteriorating and we were not always being fair in giving people who came to practice an opportunity to practice something useful, and subsequently not giving them any playtime.

Invariably, several members of >V<, led by co-founder Ruiner, ended up splitting off into Evolution, eV. The remaining active members of >V<, most of whom had been in the clan for over a year, were faced with the decision to fold up camp, join eV, or form a new clan. They decided to stick with >V<, the clan that had been home for quite some time.

Managed by >V< SPEEDenator, Fifth Element entered the new year greatly changed from how it began it. We entered the year with a single goal: defeat OSKI, our nemesis. We ended the year having completed that task surprising easily, with no clear goal in mind but continued high quality game play. Now, as the year comes to a close, we are faced with yet a new task: to continue to mold >V< into not just a Team Fortress clan, but a high caliber gaming group with both the wisdom and experience of its remaining members, and the energy and talent of its new recruits.

>V< SPEEDenator

Editor's Note: This was to be appended to the above history..

The Fifth Element of it's time has won over 100 TF matches, and lost fewer than 20. The Fifth Element of it's time has NEVER lost an IGL West Division championship, was the first IGL Teamscore champ, and held the IGL F&F title numerous times.

Friction was internal, and boiled more around a philosophical difference.  In reading the 'active' membership list, 18 of the 22 people listed decided to 'evolve', leaving 3 active members and the retired folk.  The Fifth Element clambered it's way to the top from the bottom, and I am full certain that they'll do the same in due time.

]RUiNER[