Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/The Moonlight Liberation Army

"By the light of the moon!"

- The voice when the MLA is selected in the Conquest mode.

The Moonlight Liberation Army (or simply the MLA) are one of the twenty-one core factions in Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict. This faction relies on stealth, speed, as well as surprise attacks, suicide Draph bombers, biological and chemical weaponry.

History
A war is usually a conflict between two or more sovereign nations fighting over territory, resources, politics, religious or greed. During the post Voshkod-Aquilan war however, conflicts involving non-state actors (i.e. armies with no permanent territory) became more and more common. The Lizardmen (post Aquilan-Lizardmen War), various Gaiaterran tribes of various levels, the Necromunda houses prior to the unification, the Ogre Warlords, terror organizations like the sons of Arkona; war was now fought between nations and organizations. One of those organizations would evolve into the world's most dangerous terrorist army and exceed every prediction about terror armies ever made.

There are many organizations in the world not happy with the way many nations have divided up the world into supporters and enemies. These organizations reject both the dogma of communism and the secularism of the Allies for their own path, and one of the largest of these organizations is the so-called "Moonlight Liberation Army".

The earliest origins of the MLA started with various nationalist movements in Kalimdor, such as Al-Fatat or various rebel forces that fought against the Fereldan and Orlais rulers in regions such as Darnassus and Mount Hyjal. Many of these fighters held to the idea of Pan-Eluneism, a single unified Kalimdor state that would throw away the artificial "nations" created by Western colonial powers and create a new Kalimdor nation from the ashes. Though often unsuccessful, these movements cost the colonial powers in men and money, earning the Kalimdor movements greater rights and freedoms in their own individual nations. It also earned fierce crackdowns, and many times Kalimdor who were content with their lives soon found new work to be done in fighting alongside their countrymen.

Then in 1994 V.C., they were several individuals who shared a vision of Gaiaterra without Aquila, Voshkod, Alliance, Andora or even the ADI: Malfurion Stormrage, a night elf who lead a band of Darnassian militants; Tyrande Whisperwind, leader of the Night Elf Sentinels and Malfurion’s wife, Vaseraga, a notorious Draph arms dealer, and Illidan Stormrage, a Night elf with a venomous hatred for the Andorans. In 1999 V.C., the countries Maidorei and Suramar were forced to unite and formed The Moonlight, against heavy opposition from the people and Gaiaterra at large. Malfurion saw this as the final nail in the coffin. He rallied thousands, maybe millions of people from Darnassus and the Draphs and united them under the banner of the so-called Moonlight Liberation Army. Tyrande made contact and provided her support in the Kalimdor, and weapons were delivered by Vaseraga and Thalyssra, a Nightborne biochemist.

By 2002 V.C. once the manpower of their army has reached millions, the MLA settled in the southern continent, where it all began.

Dubbed 'The Zone' and declared Terra nullius by the Guardians, Malfurion dreamed of making a warrior haven with no laws or boundaries. Tyrande had thoughts of creating a religious empire on the ruins of the Western world, while Vaseraga dreamed of toppling every regime from the Aquila to Voshkod. Nonetheless, the MLA was now permanently settled in the center of it, surrounded by foes.

To the north lies the Tyrian Confederation supported by Conglomerate expeditionary forces, east the Ogre Warlords and their Voshkod suppliers, to the west the Alliance of Hawke, though they also allegedly encountered knights with steam equipment from the capital of Gilneas and its surrounding cities and to the south the Lumeris Syndicate mining companies with security escorts, not to mention strange attacks initiated by people bearing the symbol of an eight-pointed star. A bloody, free for all, war as each side wants to conquer the continent for its vast resources.

As the majority of the world's lower class was in a state of despair following their set up in the southern continent, many swore their allegiance to the MLA. While not taking any oath, the MLA emblem soon became widespread across (insert location) and even the (insert location). Attempts to create a global revolution has been attempted many times, but this time, it actually seemed to work. With support from an Elsword defector named (insert name), the MLA infiltrated the Empire and smuggled a 5-kiloton nuclear warhead into Elmore in 2006 V.C. Their grand entry consisted of blowing up central (insert city) with an atomic blast, obliterating their leadership and millions of civilians. The first war of the MLA had begun.

Tactics
* TBA*

Veterancy Levels
The ranks of the MLA are the bases of these veterancy ranks.

Lore Articles

 * The Night Elves
 * The Draphs
 * The Nightborne
 * The Origin of Moonlight
 * Maldorei-Suramar War
 * The Cells of the MLA
 * Formation of the Moonlight
 * Kaldorei language
 * The Tunnel Networks
 * Anthrax weaponry
 * The Belly Dancers of the Night Elves
 * The War For The South
 * MLA Characters

Legendary General

 * Tyrande Whisperwind: General of the Whisperwind Cell
 * Malfurion Stormrage: General of the Stormrage Cell
 * Vaseraga: General of the Draph Terror Cell
 * Thalyssra: General of the Nightborne Chemical Cell

Notable Locations

 * Darnassus
 * Maldorei
 * Suramar

Notable Characters

 * Ellaestra Starsinger: MLA EVA
 * Queen Azshara
 * Shandris Feathermoon
 * Fandral Staghelm
 * Elise Starseeker
 * Aranna Starseeker
 * Kurtrus Ashfallen
 * Illidan Stormrage
 * Sturm
 * Ladiva
 * Prince Kassad: Tyrande's Askairan 2nd in Command
 * Dr. Thrax
 * Rodall Juhziz
 * Mahmud Al Huchum
 * Anwar Sulaymaan
 * Abdul bin Yusuuf
 * Tahar Ibrahiim
 * Mohmar "Deathstrike"
 * Jarmen Kells
 * Lamia

Commandos

 * Maiev Shadowsong: Whisperwind Cell Commando
 * Almeida: Stormrage Cell Commando
 * Elisande: Nightborne Chemical Cell Commando
 * Narmaya: Draph Terror Cell Commando

Sub-factions

 * Whisperwind Cell
 * Stormrage Cell
 * Nightborne Chemical Cell
 * Draph Terror Cell

Arsenal
Main Article: Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/MLA Arsenal

MLA Holes
The MLA is also unique in that its structures retain two stages of integrity. Stage one is the functional stage where the building acts normally compared to its counterparts. The building reaches stage two when it would have conventionally been destroyed. In the remains of the building there is a "hole". Overtime, the hole will regenerate health and at 100%, the destroyed building will respawn, as in return to stage one. This special ability makes it difficult to permanently damage the MLA with many single-shot weapons or units.

No Power Needed
Like some factions. The MLA doesn't need power for their structures and defenses, allowing them to expand much faster in comparison. But, in turn, their workers build rather slowly, though capturing a generator will give them an immense build boost.

Salvaged Technology
Salvaged technology is one of the definitive features of the MLA.

All Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV vehicles will leave specially marked salvage crates listed below upon their destruction, which must be manually collected by the Recycler's Recover Salvage ability.

Upon acquisition of the crate mentioned above, a free exclusive add-on to the following units will be unlocked, which is acquired on an individual basis

In addition, the Recycler can be upgraded into one of 40 combat/support units which pay homage to the enemy faction's iconic weaponry.

With a total of eighteen core factions in the base game (33 more through DLCs), there are a total of 70 different unlockable add-ons. For a detailed list, see here

Hidden In Plain Sight
All MLA infantry and most of their vehicles are disguised as civilians or civilian vehicles when not attacking and suffers reduced penalties for harming civilians. And are thus a nightmare to fight in urban terrain.

Structures
Basic Structures Defense and Support structures

Trivia

 * While MLA structures do not need power to function, their units build much faster after capturing power plants.
 * A close-up portrait of Tyrande Whisperwind on the left side with a group of Rebels, Tunnel Defenders, Scorpion Tanks, Technicals and a squadron of Su-17s on the right side. This MLA box art variant used for Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict is based off Warcraft III
 * Their sub-factions are based on the Generals of the MLA in Generals and their mods
 * Whisperwind Cell: Kassad
 * Stormrage Cell: Fusion of Deathstrike from Shockwave, Sulaymaan from Rise of the Reds and Huchum from Contra
 * Draph Terror Cell: Juhziz and Yusuuf from Rise of the Reds
 * Nightborne Chemical Cell: Thrax and Ibrahiim from Rise of the Reds