Aotus

Aotus is a group of friends in the Purity Vanilla community. Their main focus lays on building and enjoying the server in a calm manner. The faction sprung to life shortly after the fall of Vanguard, however they are not straight descendants from here. Their mascot, the monkey, is of high importance to them.

Origins
While only officially starting on the 15th of November, most of the playergroup was already known to one another from their adventures in GLM. When their main base was found and griefed by NSO however, most of them started a new faction called Vanguard (VGD), together with other victims of recent faction collapses like Skywards and CoA. Players bhon and sslr, two new members of GLM and CoA respectively, saw their opportunity and invited Oranges09 and OpuIar, who still held sway over these factions. Melofors, Twistedmedia and myhomie were added shortly after aswell. Soon, two players would apply to be in VGD too, but MrEmcee and Ancyy were denied for the time being, as the group looked to withstand the ongoing raids happening on the server. Not long after however, Melofors would invite Alaff and Happydestroyer from PCF, his past faction. The other members were hesitant about them joining so quick, but coords had already been sent in the misunderstanding. They were right to be hesitant though, as Alaff and Melofors would soon quarrel again, eventually leading to the base's untimely demise by an unknown griefer. Emcee and Ancy were luckily accepted in the group before this happened, but by now it was too late. While a lack of leadership experience caused its downfall, this would only serve as a lesson for their next big step: Aotus

Official beginnings
Having now lost their home and faction twice, the members were looking for more stability in their next group. Deciding to leave the past PCF members behind for now, Oranges, Solar, Atom, bhon, Emcee, Homie, Twisted, Headass, rowan, OpuIar and Von started a new group, helped by ex-GLM members GlaceonGuy and _tidepod. Glaceon, now one of the chads, gave tips on how not to get their base found and by that preserve it longer, but wouldn't indulge himself in the faction. The faction itself was rather abstract for now though. Like most faction, Aotus started nameless, only choosing its name by vote on the 19th of November. Not long after they started on their first base: Aotus 1.

During the next two weeks more members were added, as _DarkVictor_, __Roch__, Tiger_Try and Jmen_07 joined up to the new group. They would however lose Solar around this time as he took a break from the game. Despite that however, the base grew significantly, with Emcee taking much of the tasks on himself by starting the trading hall and most of the farms. the goldfarm being an exception, which was made by Solar and Bhon. Being December already, the group decorated the base in Christmas cheer, even though Aotus 1 would never reach Christmas day.

Turmoil
As the base progressed nicely, the community became closer, with the exception of one member. Tiger_Try had been in factions before, but most didn't last long, ever since his Aura days. He was often not trusted to join factions due to his friendship with EJ, but this changed when he got accepted into Ordo and later GLM. Both of these would be short-lived though, as both factions would cease existing within weeks after him joining. Aotus would be his first full faction experience in a while. It however didn't go as planned. As he quickly showed traits that gave reasoning to his short stays.

His first incident would happen when he met Atom at an old GLM base, Greg. Here he tried to scare the other Aotus member by placing almost complete withers around him, threatening both the player and what was left of the base. What might have been a playful joke, was quickly taken the wrong way however, as Tiger would use this against the group and make himself more hated. He would quickly be left out of the group, but he didn't take this mildly at all. Knowing the faction's relationship with Alaff, he threatened to leak the coords to him if he was not invited back in. Naturally, this put a massive strain on the groups trust in him, but Tiger argued he wanted to apologize. When Alaff managed to get the coordinates a couple days later however, Tiger lost his leverage and was ousted for good. While claiming it wasn't him who sent them, the group still had enough of his temperament and so-called apology. The player and group would split ways.

It was by this time that it became obvious their home was no longer safe. While some new players were just arriving to the base, most were already packing their belongings. On the 18th of January 2021 Aotus would self-grief their once home. While some argued to keep it as it was, the choice to grief it was made, due to their knowledge of Alaff's tendency. In the next month Alaff, who was banned at this point, leaked the coords, but by this time there was little left of their first home. The base that housed them for close to two months, would now be no more than a distant memory.

A new beginning
The same day the group would move into their new home, that had already been found by Atom and Victor. As the first inhabitants, they christened the place: New Persia. While most were looking forward to this new adventure, the group now lost prominent players OpuIar, TwistedMedia and MrEmcee aswell, next to Solar who had already announced his leave before. Despite the rough start, they were quick to settle in, shaping their new capital and home.

Not being let down by the early departures, the group would soon be accompanied by Happydestroyer and ancyenT, who would go on to contribute massively to the group. The calm vibe in the faction and the safety of their new home would continue over into spring, were several surprises awaited them as Twisted, Solar and Emcee would all return to their original group in late march. The group had suffered in the past, but now flourished under it's well grown friendship among each other, as New Persia kept expanding. The group would even go on to propose an alliance with the established DB, gaining it later that month. Eventually players myhomie and Oranges would also join DC, creating an alliance between Aotus and DC aswell. A final bit of hardship would occur when HappyDestroyer received his perma ban. Having had a rocky past, he was much loved by all members of Aotus and still mourned for. A massive statue was built in his honour at New Persia.

While being more settled now, it took the faction half a year to create a banner, which was chosen on by a vote on April 24th. Eventually they also added current players like Vasci, CookieCarl, Cwedin78 and Freemartian to the group, that now stood at an impressive 18 (somewhat) active members. While several of their older players decided to stop playing the game as concurrent, the new influx vastly expanded New Persia's boundaries, by adding several monuments to the grounds. The group still resides here and seems to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.