–Part 1–
In 1998, in the game of Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight (JK) on the MSN Gaming Zone, a gamer by the name of Korzac cofounded the online gaming clan eXistence (eX). The initial clan lasted only a few months before Korzac and others joined the clan known as the Galactic Empire (GE).
The Galactic Empire, also called the Imperial Armed Forces, would become one of the biggest clans playing JK, thanks to the leadership of the gamer Lord Darchind. Many later eX members were recruited for GE, as part of the Galactic Imperial Army (GIA) section of GE, which played JK. Korzac (also known as Smokey) was head of the GIA chapter and a group called the Illuminati within GE.
Following a dispute over the use of a swastika on GE’s forums, Korzac and others from GIA (including Amoke, Nightstryke, Xul, Tetsuma, Locke, and Fubar) left the clan to create the eXistence Imperial Army (eXia). The clan was modeled after GE’s military structure, with military ranks but less-enforced rules and an emphasis on camaraderie. eXia lasted perhaps a year and was abandoned in the Spring of 2002. Korzac reformed the clan later that year with 3 stages of command: the Illuminati, the Officers, and the Enlisted. The clan was renamed eXistence once more.
–Part 2–
The original eX Illuminati consisted of President Korzac, Vice President Amoke, and Directors Xul , Tetsuma, and Locke. The Officers were chosen by the Illuminati and granted promotion privileges. Head officers known as the Chapter Commanders (CCs) were in charge of each individual game that eX played. JK became the first chapter for eX, with former member Noon as its CC.
During the first few months, members Krony and bwp_2001 were recruited and former GE members Shock/Link/Anubis, Maniac, Manix, Ryan, and Neomatt defected to eX, leading to a full clan roster. Troubles began when an uprising was quelled led by eX members Bibles, Noon, Manix, and SubZero. Shortly after, bwp_2001 was promoted to CC of JK after Bibles and Noon quit, and Manix was given the rank of General. New recruits Cloud and Soul/RAW joined the roster following this.
eX attempted to expand into Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (JO) led by new recruit Rivix, but was rebuffed by GE, which held a strong presence in that game. In JK, Directors Xul and Tetsuma founded the Academy to train members in various game-related skills. New recruits from this effort included Jai, Zyrene/Realm, and Himura. Former GE and eXia member Shaatar rejoined, and was promoted to the Illuminati.
–Part 3–
In the Summer of 2003, tensions once more flared between GE and eX when Manix and Amoke defected to GE, and under the leadership of Lord Darchind and GIA’s head officer Seknem, they began attempting to dissuade new recruits from joining eX. bwp_2001 was promoted to the Illuminati and Shock/Link became the new CC for JK.
Shortly after this, Korzac went on a leave of absence and Ganondorf, an affiliate of GE, hacked the message board and shut it down. Korzac renewed the boards, and the Illuminati was renamed the High Council (HC). In an effort to better organize the clan during Korzac’s absence, an election was held for Vice President. The results were rigged by Shock/Link, who was responsible for counting the votes, and Nightstryke was declared winner. The truth came out, and bwp_2001 was given Vice President while Nightstryke was booted from the clan, despite the fact that eX continued to use Nightstryke’s server for months after. Shock/Link rejoined eX a month later after being pardoned.
Korzac returned, and eX began a major push into new games. DarkNight, a new recruit, became CC of StarCraft, Ryan and Neomatt together led Galactic Battlegrounds (GB), and bwp_2001 restored the inactive Age of Empires 2 (AoE2) chapter. Himura and Realm were chosen by Korzac as the two new HC members. Members like SubZero and Maniac rejoined eX after leaving earlier, and new recruits included eX_Zibbit_A/Vasectomy, Excalibur/Never, JCool/Raven/Kanariya, Narsil, and Fookage.
Test Chapters were also created as a means of expanding into new games, beginning with X-Box Live (XBL), WarCraft 3 (WC3), and Free Online Gaming (FOG), and the largest number of recruits in eXistence’s history were accumulated during the winter of 2003-2004.
–Part 4–
In February of 2004 a hasty switch to a new server was made due to unease about former member Nightstryke still having admin privileges. The new server lasted one month before it was shut down due to a lack of funding, and for weeks eX had no message board. A temporary forum was created to stem the loss of members, and Link soon personally funded a PHP forum.
Link and DarkNight were promoted to the HC, while Jai became CC of JK, SubZero became CC of XBL, new recruit Soal became CC of Runescape (formerly the FOG chapter), and new recruit Protoman became CC of the new chapter Jedi Academy (JA). Link and Cloud created a new website, and Link and bwp_2001 reformed the ranking structure to include new privileges and responsibilities associated with a more condensed list of military ranks.
Korzac officially resigned first as President and later from eX. The HC voted to make all HC members equal, throwing out the ranks of President and Vice President.
Jedi Academy soon became the primary focus for eX, with Jai taking over as CC for JA. New recruits included Hides, MaxRabbit, Pyro, Black Ace, TheGreatMango, FeanoR, Gauntlet/G-Funk, and W00tky. Vasectomy, Link, FallenAngelEnsis, and Soul/RAW were given the titles of Master for JA to help train other members. XBL was given to the leadership of Never and Krony, and JK began to decline in activity.
–Part 5–
GE began another assault on eX late in 2004, which resulted in Soul/RAW being ejected from the clan for assisting Darchind and other GE members in their attacks on eX’s forums. To help make the HC more accountable, Vasectomy created the Clan Representative, an HC member elected by the members to serve for 3 months. Jai was elected as the first HC member chosen by the members.
eX allied itself with the Sith Mercenaries (SM) and The Force Confederation (TFC), both former JK clans. Also during this time, Link made an agreement with Darchind and defected to GE, closing his server and, in so doing, shutting down message board and website. After several temporary message boards, Korzac returned and established his own. This also was shut down for unknown reasons, but quickly replaced with a PHP forum created by Cloud.