Interview with Aexil

1. Trendo: Please introduce yourself to the readers.
   Aexil: Hey there, My name is Stefan I am Swedish(mom's side), and Aegean Macedonian (dad's side) and I'd like to think of myself as a modern-day Varangian. I love history, politics, and economy and that's I guess why I easily fall in love with games like these. Apart from that I'm a Bachelor's Graduate, speak several languages (Macedonian, Swedish, Greek, and hopefully Spanish soon as well). My IRL roots are in the Kilkis area on one side and Norrköping on the other.
 
2. Trendo: Who is Aexil outside the game?
    Aexil: Outside of the game, Aexil is a software engineer mainly doing the backend/automated testing for a big corporation (I've got a lot of free time). When I'm not rotting on the phone or PC I'm usually playing basketball, lifting in the gym, or an occasional BBJ sparring match with my colleagues.
 
3. Trendo: Macedonia is getting ambitious, leading war on 2 fronts. When did the saying "Makedonija do Indija"(eng. Macedonia to India) change to united Balkan under red-yellow flag?
    Aexil: Macedonia to India is still the end goal ;) But for now, we will satisfy ourselves with Jane Sandanski's idea of a United Balkan Federation under the red-yellow sun :)
 
4. Trendo: As an independent citizen I see your declaration as a banner to restore the fighting spirit of BOT after Turkiye left. Did the alliance face some momentary difficulties? What led to the escalation of a war with BiH and subsequent writing of the aforementioned declaration?
     Aexil: The Subotica battle was a statement of how strong we are. Winning Subotica erupted our whole Alliance and restored the fighting spirit to the sky. I felt like that deserved an article, and since me and petros "lead" the charge on Subotica it was only fair if Alexander was featured holding a foot over the city. Just imagine how winning on 30% debuff, and losing on 30% buff feels like.
 As for the BiH escalation, we were super mad that unprovoked, Bosnia dropped huge damage for Serbia which attacked our ally first and has like just a couple of active players left in their country. We just felt that no one can/should do that against us without getting something in return from us. Subotica happened because I didn't know that DoW'ing doesn't give you the initiative, and Bosnia attacked us first. Subotica is plains and they had 20% attack, and we did what we did and felt proud of that.
 
5. Trendo: Do you think something should be changed in the game?
     Aexil: The game's terrain feels very odd and off. Like for real, desert terrain in Skopje? Bitola? I feel that replicating IRL terrain in the game will make it look more real and exciting. Also as a dev I easily spot bugs and they annoy me. And the only way to not be annoyed is probably for admin to hire me in their dev team. Oh and yeah, this North in Macedonia really gives the ick. F*cking budget North Korea.
     Trendo: Yes the name has always been a problem in these games and a deterrence for players. For some reason Macedonia always plays under its official name whereas other countries like China and Portugal have leniency whose official names are People`s Republic China and The Portuguese Republic.
    Aexil: On our mass spree of inviting people back in the homeland (ingame), a few of them Baso included said that they woulnd't play under this North Macedonia bs, and I kind of respect and understand that. I guess as the goes one we will be able to convince admin to take the north off and let us be free.
    Trendo: I think that would be a great publicity stunt that the media would pick up. The TV story still stands on youtube of the biggest Macedonian TV station reporting that "Greece invades Macedonia" and calls upon people to register and defend the homeland. I imagine changing the name can be used by Bulgarian and Greek media houses to indirectly promote the game ?
    Aexil: Actually our idea of making an ad campaign consisted of us conquering Salonica and spending some ad $ on Instagram & YT. I was even willing to record myself and use my own youtube channel to publish shorts explaining the game and giving some catchy topics to lure people to register under my referal and for Macedonia.
   Trendo: Good idea xd
 
6. Trendo: Macedonia was an underdog. It had a slow economic start, some people registered very late to the game. How did Macedonia rise to be the power house that it is today so quickly?
     Aexil: Me, Brane, Aiden & Vanku invited everyone that we know (we are still not done), and have managed to make a group of just a couple of active people into what Macedonia is right now. I think in Subotica we had like 30 people hitting and watching which is super impressive considering the game is still in its early stage. We have a really cool system that could be interpreted as a "Federation" of different entities with a common goal.
     Trendo: I understand that the Macedonian population is split between playing several games at the moment but i indeed hope we can see few more players to Eclesiar. Some like ciglana, mekilla, strailko, ect, that make the time playing worthwhile and maybe some names like nenods, severrus, atehtatopot, jaime, ect, that inspire everyone to give it their all.
     Aexil: The dream would be to have Eclesiar top the other games and have everyone united into one community. Just the thought of it gives me chills.
 
 
7. Trendo: How much time do you spend on the game?
    Aexil: A lot, probably more than anyone you've interviewed so far. 10+ hours while doing work, gym, gf. I feel like a zombie. I'm fairly certain my ministers, vCP and commanders are on the same drugs as I am and are replicating my pattern as well.
   Trendo: Caffeine and paracetamols are staples when playing this kind of games ?
   Aexil: As a caffeine addict, I agree, why paracetamol?
   Trendo: So that your head doesnt hurt from not sleeping?
   Aexil: I`ve never thought about that, coffee usually does the trick when headaches strike.
 
8. Trendo: Your name strikes fear in the hearts of veteran players, its probably the best business deal you have ever made :D
    Aexil: Me and Realist did everything possible to do and in some terms did all of the "achievements" in Suna before quitting. If we were to replicate that in this game as well, may their souls rest in peace. Sadly we are on opposite sides of the game right now, and the others can breathe, for now :))
 
9. Trendo: If you have watched Game of Thrones, you remind me of John Snow, do you agree?
     Aexil: The bastard from the North(Sweden), came to Macedonia and became King/
 
10. Trendo: What is the most fun thing you did in the game? And/or most fond memory.
      Aexil: I've not played Beta/Alpha or any other version of this game, and the Subotica battle was surely the most tense one for me that will keep a fond memory inside of me.
 
11. Trendo: What is your zodiac sign?
    Aexil: Taurus, but since I'm a devoted Orthodox Christian I don't really believe in zodiac signs.
 
12. Trendo: Do you have something to say to our readers?
     Aexil: The dev's have a made a very good job creating this game and fixing the problems that the other games had and their owners didn't want to fix. Let's support them and build this fantastic story together :) Make an interview with Reallist next.