Northway Faction (WF)

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Northway Faction
Part of Prime Earth's history
General Information
Abbreviations	Northway NTF NDF (erroneously by Mikhail Kovac)
Other names	NorthWay Faction
Type	Criminal organization (before late 2018) Private militarized organization
Motto	«Brother for Brother!»
Status	Defunct
Headquarters	Moscow, Russian Federation
Established at	December 26, 2017
Founder	Nikolai Volkov Egor Krupin Mikhail Kovac
Disestablished at	February 19, 2019
Successor	NVRS-STF (short-lived, before the UNR) FinsetModen (de-facto successor of the WNTFG) United Northway Refugees
Key locations	Russia Europe United States
Subsidiaries	Northway Faction Anomaly Research Center Western Northway Group
Notable members	Bruce Norton Dmitry Viktorov
Leadership
Leader	Nikolai Volkov
Second-in-Command	Mikhail Kovac
Third-in-Command	Egor Krupin (deposed)
Additional information
Number of members	4,200 (2019)

Northway Faction, sometimes simply called Northway (NTF), was a criminal organization, later a private militarized and research organization based in Russia. It was established on December 26, 2017, and disbanded on February 19, 2019, after losing the First Intergroup War. It was the first organization of the independent militarized factions period of Earth, the second being Boreas Research Facility.

Northway founders were Nikolai Volkov, Egor Krupin, and Mikhail Kovac. The organization was created with the goal of unifying street gangs of Moscow. In the early stages of the period, especially during 2019, the NTF was considered an incredibly militaristic organization. This may have been a result of Mikhail Kovac's influence on Nikolai Volkov (Kovac proposed the idea of attacking the BRF). During its lifetime, the organization frequently engaged in small conflicts with local gangs in Moscow, including the R Syndicate. Despite the latter conflict, Nikolai Volkov temporarily joined the Syndicate after the dissolution of Northway and established a special task force within it. This task force was short-lived and disbanded with the formation of the United Northway Refugees.

Etymology

The origin of the organization's name is unknown. Even the other leaders of the organization were reportedly unaware of its origins. Some suggest that Volkov was inspired by a random brand name.

History

Background

Before December 26, 2017, Nikolai Volkov was a member of a local street gang in Moscow. After serving a small 8-month sentence in prison for a drug-related charge, he decided to leave his former gang and look for other partners. On November 4, 2017, he met Egor Krupin in a local pub. They quickly became friends after Krupin expressed sympathy for the reasons behind his imprisonment.

Somewhere shortly after the dissolution of HJT International Security Services, Mikhail Kovac arrived in Russia and settled in Moscow. Kovac sought employment with law enforcement and private security companies, but was almost always turned down because he did not have Russian citizenship. After being rejected by another private security firm, he joined the R Syndicate through a contact within the MVD. There he met Volkov and Krupin, who also joined the organization.

The trio bonded after a drug deal within the Syndicate went sideways. After the incident, Volkov proposed the idea of creating their own criminal empire based on brotherhood and unity among its members. Krupin and Kovac agreed on the idea. Volkov began procuring resources (mostly by stealing from Syndicate warehouses) and recruiting members. Krupin was in charge of training and Kovac was in charge of organizational matters.

Establishment

On December 26, 2017, Volkov officially declared the establishment of Northway Faction. At that time there were around 450 members, some being from R Syndicate. Artem Lebedev, the leader of the Syndicate, was furious that Volkov and Krupin had stolen weapons and equipment from his warehouses. But surprisingly, the Syndicate decided not to declare war on Northway, which allowed Northway to freely expand.

During the early stages of the organization, Northway was mostly in the process of procuring more weapons and vehicles for its members. Kovac was responsible for recruiting new members, while Krupin was still training the recruits. Volkov started to slowly expand the organization's territories in Moscow, which resulted in a rather short-lived gang war taking place. By late summer 2018, Northway Faction was in control of the southern parts of Moscow. The organization also recruited around 3,000 new members.

With the expansion of Northway, Kovac started proposing increasingly militaristic ideas to Volkov. Krupin was mostly against these ideas, which resulted in Kovac gradually turning Volkov against Krupin. The resulting tensions peaked on September 14, 2018, with a «civil war» breaking out within the organization.

Dispute within the leadership

Main article: Northway's armed internal dispute (WF)

On September 14, 2018, Krupin, with 1,400 NTF members, staged a revolt against Kovac and Volkov's plans for Northway Faction. He founded the Anti-Northway Faction Coalition and immediately started attacking loyalist territories. Volkov was furious at the betrayal and declared a «no prisoners» policy for captured ANFCO members.

The dispute lasted until the end of October. Krupin, not wanting to fight his friends any longer, surrendered and left Moscow. Remaining ANFCO members were captured by Northway and executed. Due to Kovac's influence and propaganda, Volkov was still extremely angry at Krupin for betraying him and Northway. Volkov tried apprehending fleeing Krupin but failed to do so due to possible law enforcement interference. As a result of this internal dispute, around 1,800 NTF and ANFCO members were killed.

Expansion

Shortly after the dispute, Volkov continued to grow Northway Faction. In order to steal more weapons and vehicles, the organization decided to attack R Syndicate warehouses, which led to a war between the two organizations. This war lasted until November 26, with Volkov and Lebedev signing a ceasefire and peaceful coexistence treaty.

Somewhere during December 2018, Kovac and Volkov had a minor altercation, which resulted in Kovac temporarily leaving the organization and reconnecting with Seth Royce and Hudson Crawford. It was at this moment the original idea behind Group C17 was established. Kovac later rejoined Northway but was already planning on betraying Volkov.

During the time Kovac was reconnecting with Royce and Crawford, Urakolouy called him and revealed that he had bought out Boreas Research Facility, a Soviet-era abandoned research organization in Siberia. Kovac in turn revealed that he was leading Northway Faction and proposed the idea of a cooperation treaty. Urakolouy agreed to the idea, and after Kovac returned to Northway, this treaty was signed. In reality, Kovac was planning on turning Volkov against the BRF for unknown reasons.

First Intergroup War

Main articles: Northway's intrusion into Site B33 (WF), Northway's war with Boreas Research Facility (WF), and First Intergroup War (WF)

On December 26, 2018, Northway Faction violated the cooperation treaty with Boreas Research Facility and invaded Site B33 — a newly constructed research facility situated in Arkhangelsk, Russia. The operation was very poorly thought out and resulted in the death of the operative. The main idea behind the operation was proposed by Kovac, who told Volkov that the BRF was planning on attacking Northway Faction and was «conducting illegal experiments on humans».

As a result of this operation and the death of the operative, Northway declared war on Boreas Research Facility. This war was rather short-lived, as Kovac secretly conspired with Urakolouy about a possible betrayal and his defection to Boreas.

On January 2, 2019, Kovac faked his death and defected to Boreas. This was a fatal blow to Volkov's morale, which led to him quickly disbanding Northway to avoid further deaths and conflicts. After it was revealed that Kovac was alive, Volkov was enraged and rejoined R Syndicate, establishing a special task force within it. This task force mostly consisted of former Northway members. As part of this task force, Volkov personally declared war on Boreas and Kovac, officially starting the First Intergroup War.

Shortly after defecting, Kovac was offered a job as a janitor at Boreas. Kovac was dissatisfied with the offer and left the organization. He later reconnected with Seth Royce and Hudson Crawford and established the 17th Coalition.

During the First Intergroup War, Northway Faction was reestablished two times. Bruce Norton, the former leader of the Western Northway Group, became tired of Volkov's policies on many topics within Northway and left the organization. He recruited some former members of his group and founded FinsetModen. Volkov saw this as another betrayal and declared war on the newly established organization.

Dissolution

Main article: United Northway Refugees (WF)

On February 19, 2019, Volkov fled Russia and moved to Greece. Northway was disbanded for the last time, and most former members of the organization, including Volkov, established the United Northway Refugees. The First Intergroup War ended with FinsetModen signing the surrender on the behalf of Northway.

Structure

The organization promoted brotherhood among its members. All members of the organization were supposed to treat every other member as a blood brother and help each other in difficult situations. The motto of Northway was «Brother for Brother!». It was often used as a morale-boosting rallying cry during armed confrontations, especially by Volkov.

In Northway there were the leaders, the lieutenants, and the members. Northway often promoted equality among its members.

Anomalous research

Main article: Northway Faction Anomaly Research Center (WF)

Somewhere in late 2018, inspired by Boreas Research Facility, Kovac proposed the idea of establishing a research organization to Volkov. Volkov approved the idea and established the Northway Faction Anomaly Research Center. Kovac was appointed lead researcher and Volkov executive director. The organization encountered its first anomaly in Przykona, Poland. This anomaly was later destroyed during an experiment.

The NTFARC was disbanded on January 2, 2019. Most assets of the organization were transferred to the United Nations Anomaly Control Organization.