View source for Praetor-Watchmen Conflicts

{{Incomplete|[[The Lainchu Manifesto]]}}
{{quote|war is always the last option.
everyone is just on edge cause when you zap this rock it could be disappointing.

and since we don't know praetor we'd hope that it wouldn't be made into a public spectacle.

obviously there is a very low chance of the zapper working.|Watchman KND on the motivations for the Watchmen's feud with Praetor.<ref>[[The Place chats - Watchmen-Praetor confrontations#8 February 2021, part 2]]</ref>}}

From 22 [[September 2020]] to 26 [[June 2021]], Chris counted as among his associates both the [[Watchmen]] white knight group and the [[Praetor]] business group. Several members of the Watchmen, out of a combination of their own misunderstandings and paranoia, targeted and instigated conflict with the [[Praetor]] group. Watchmen members [[MKRNightVee]] and [[Naught]] escalated by spreading lies about Praetor to the public. Chris, noticing the hostility from the Watchmen, attempted to talk them down, but the Watchmen remained belligerent. The Watchmen also began to self-destruct as a result of infighting problems, partially stemming from disagreements within their own members on how best to deal with Praetor. 

The Watchmen's schemes to separate Chris from Praetor ultimately had no effect on their business partnership. Praetor continued to operate the [[OfficialCWCmart]] shop throughout, and Chris continued to communicate with them. The Watchmen group has since disbanded over infighting (briefly fracturing into the [[Knights of CWC]] group from June 2021 until the [[Jail Saga]]).

==The Watchmen meet Praetor==
[[File:OGGoldenMedallion.jpg|thumb|150px|One of the golden medallions Praetor gave to Chris when they first interacted]]
According to Chris, a "trio of fans", had come to Chris's house with a present, a golden Sonichu medallion. On 22 [[September 2020]], Chris made a post on [[The Place]] [[Discord]] server, where he told them about the delivery, and also mentioned that he was meeting with some "new associates."<ref name=placeassociates>[[User:Anaxis/The_Place_Chats#The "New Associates" (and Helena Hate)|The "New Associates" (and Helena Hate)]]</ref> He mentions that they were going to talk about "the molding to mass produce the medallions, and possibly the figures, with optional Amiibo functions, in a little while." After being asked who these associates were, Chris refused to give their identities but gave details about their first interaction.

On the 25th, when the Watchmen discuss with Chris about a disgruntled Patreon customer, they become curious as to what reason Chris's phone number would be on there at all. When Naught asks about the "figurine people", Chris affirms them as "good and genuine", and tells them that they've been helping him create a batch of medallions. He also reveals the name of the group behind the medallions as Praetor LLC.<ref>[[User:Anaxis/The_Place_Chats#Patreon_Troubles,_Chris's_Online_Social_Life,_%22The_Boys,%22_Praetor_LLC_Revealed|Patreon Troubles, Chris's Online Social Life, The Boys, Praetor LLC Revealed]]</ref> 

On 3 October, Chris mentioned to them that Praetor was helping him create a "lore bible."<ref>[[User:Anaxis/The_Place_Chats#Lore_Bible_Discussion|Lore Bible Discussion]]</ref> There, he mentioned three parties, the Watchmen, Praetor, and [[Bible Enabler DMs|another enabler]], suggested the idea to him. He started the discussion off by calling Praetor "our new business group", implying that Chris believed that the Watchmen were completely on board with them working with Praetor. Kyle, however, was suspicious that only Praetor was ordering him to do this, and instead suggested Chris to make a Twitter poll to gauge support for this idea, which Chris agreed to.<ref>[[October 2020 social media posts#Chris Chan Sonichu bible]]</ref> The poll received overwhelming support for the Bible's creation, with 82.1% of 6,257 voters saying yes. 

The Lore Bible wound up to be one of the primary factors that led up to the feud between the Watchmen and Praetor, especially when Chris began to discuss more about what he intended to put in it, and connected it to Praetor.

==Watchmen's Paranoia==
A core clique of Watchmen members, paranoid over the prospect of others interacting with Chris, gossiped over the newly-appeared Praetor. In their gossip, the Watchmen repeatedly jumped to conclusions over Praetor's involvement with Chris.

===Disc Dream===
[[File:12Oct2020 GoldenDiscArt.jpg|thumb|150px|The disc in question]]
On 8 October 2020, Chris went on a long [[Pennsylvania Trip|trip to Pennsylvania]], both to take care of deliveries to a [[carpetbagger]] named Luke, and to meet up with [[Emgo316]] through a dox of him that he found.<ref group = note>Unfortunately, Chris's dreams in meeting his hero didn't come true, as he already moved by then.</ref> The next day, Chris talked about a dream he had after crashing into slumber that day, involving a golden disc with Zodiac and Budshido designs and symbols on it. He interpreted the dream as a solution to breaking the [[iron curtain]] that separated [[dimensions]].

Chris discussed this further with the Watchmen, but mostly Kyle. From this, while bringing up lore from various media and even those introduced to him by the [[Idea Guys]], he also determines 22 or 23 October 2020 being the date to which this happens.<ref name=disc>[[The Place chats - Lore Mashup]]</ref> At some point before, Chris had told Naught about two of the Praetors (Annie and Owen) connecting the dreams to the end of the world, predicted by the Mayan Calendars.<ref name =q&a>[[User:Anaxis/The_Place_Chats#Praetor_Arrives,_Chris_Writes_his_Sermon,_More_Bible Discussion|Praetor Arrives, Chris Writes his Sermon, More Bible Discussion]]</ref> When Chris talked to Kyle about this connection, he also states how it sounds "vaguely similar" to Mesoamerican Revivalist art, showing he somewhat doubted this connection, but played along with Chris's and the Praetor's interpretation anyway.<ref name=disc></ref> At the end of the conversation, Chris mentions the Chaos Control date and time already being figured out, which he'd later tell Naught was figured out by the members of Praetor.

Chris talked about the golden disc again on 14 October 2020 with Naught.<ref>[[Naught DMs#Praetor]]</ref> There, he talks about four members from Praetor; Annie, Owen, Cabell, and Caden; and tells Naught what Caden and Owen thought that the dream meant, and also discusses his plans to go to the Goochland Library. They had also theorized a link between Chris's dream and the Mayan calendars, theorizing that the end of the Mayan Calendar had to do with "boosted Spiritual Powers", or the aforementioned "Chaos Control date and time, the date being December 21, 2020. In the same post, Chris mentions the Lore Bible he was working on, likely intending to put the discussion of the dream in it, and the planned trip, which Praetor suggested could also be a part of said Bible. This made Naught suspicious about the trip, asking Chris if he was comfortable with doing the video and if it was Caden's idea, to which Chris said he was comfortable. Chris also told the Watchmen that the Praetors would come into the server to answer any of their questions about the Lore Bible, the upcoming speech, and their interpretation of the dream.

===Goochland Library Sermon===
The next day, the Praetor [[Discord]] account, ran by Caden Peck, finally joined the [[The Place]] Discord server, and answered the Watchmen's questions, and also gave additional information about their role with Chris.<ref name =q&a></ref> Right before that, Chris mentions a hand-written script that he was working on for the trip, which would involve him making a speech with regards to the Dimensional Merge being broken as a result of the golden disc he dreamed about. 

Naught then invites the Praetor account onto the Discord server. Naught and Kyle then immediately ask the Praetor account questions while Chris stepped away, encouraging those present to talk amongst themselves about theories surrounding the Dimensional Merge and the golden discs. They mostly asked questions about the production of the medallions, the Lore Bible, as well as Chris's relations with the group. During the conversation, Anaxis asked the group if they have a website, though they claimed not to have a website anymore, but told the group about their Twitter and Instagram and gave them their business email, which ironically made it easy for the Watchmen to dox the Praetors later on. Throughout much of the conversation, Chris occasionally gave his progress on the hand-written script.

Chris had finished the script on 16 October 2020, and posted the photos of it in the Place, tagging all of the members to read it.<ref>[[The Place chats (October 2020)#Sermon Script]]</ref> Chris was recorded making a sermon at the Goochland Library the next day, and the video was then uploaded onto YouTube on 8 November 2020. Combined with Chris's discussion with Naught about the golden disc, the video caused concern amongst the Watchmen. The video also served as the first public introduction to Praetor, which left many observers and Christorians confused on who they were and what their intentions were. The Christuber [[GiBi]] reached out to Naught on 12 November 2020 in an attempt to get answers, and Naught gave their accounts of their interactions. Naught posted about it in the second layer of The Place, to which MKR expressed hope that it could attract weens onto the scene.<ref>[[The Place chats (November 2020)#GiBi asks Naught about Praetor]]</ref>

===Etsy Store===
[[File:praetor cart.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The image featured in the instagram post]]
On 15 [[November 2020]], Praetor, seemingly aware of all of the attention they're receiving from the video, posted a screenshot of an online shopping service's shopping cart to provoke a reaction from observers - in the cart was a Pikachu mask and a VIPERTEK VTS-989 560 BV stun gun. Praetor stated:

{{quote|As Praetor, we always work hard to produce the best videos we can. Good works are in progress!|Praetor on an Instagram post featuring a Pikachu mask and stun gun.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/p/CHms9kGlhc3/ (archive: https://archive.ph/K6ojQ)</ref>}}

Praetor later claimed this was for promotion of sales of autographed "tasers".<ref name=tasercall>[[Taser Discussion]]</ref> Nevertheless, the sale of these tasers was noted by the Watchmen, and would later be connected to a far more substantial future incident involving them.

==="The Avatar State"===
{{Quote|Praetor is talking about the lore and trying to influence it, this is pretty disturbing.|Kyle, believing that Praetor, and by extension Bella, was trying to tamper with Chris's Lore Bible}}
On 28 December 2020, Chris talked to some of the Watchmen about a deeper state of meditation, which he dubbed the "Avatar State". When asked how he came up with it, he told them that he got the idea from "Bella".<ref>[[The Place chats (December 2020)#The Avatar State]]</ref>

"Bella", whose [[Isabella Loretta Janke|identity]] was later revealed after an [[Incest Call|infamous call]], was commissioned by Praetor to create an [[Chris Chan Sonichu Intro animation|intro animation]] for them, but otherwise wasn't a member of the group. Regardless, Chris mistakenly referred to her as such, calling her "one of our Praetor friends", and showed them the animation she made. This led to more suspicion about Praetor's intentions. 

The Watchmen MKRNightVee and Kyle expressed concerns that Praetor could be tampering with the Lore Bible, and making Chris say the things he said at Goochland. Kyle also suggested that "Bella" could have been partially responsible for the script of the Goochland Sermon.<ref>[[The Place chats (December 2020)#Chris's "Avatar State" and Bella, New Age Discussion, Nova and MKR Distrust Praetor]]</ref> Bella was also mistakenly believed to be Cabell O'Malley, who Chris described as being "the artist".

[[Anaxis]] would then later ask Chris about "Bella", to which he told to him that "Bella" was indeed a Praetor, despite her not being one. Anaxis would add this onto his second Chronicling, ''[[The Vaughn Interlude]]'' as it included information about [[Larry Vaughn]], who Bella "trolled for the intel" to, as well. This inadvertently wound up becoming Bella's first public mention.

Regardless, Bella seemed to take advantage of her being misattributed as a member of Praetor, telling Larry Vaughn fabricated information about the group, adding more to the suspicion about them, especially during Crystalgate.<ref>[[Kiwi Farms posts (Larry Vaughn)#Info Dump]]</ref>

===Medallion Sales===
On 7 [[December 2020]], Praetor's [[OfficialCWCmart]] shop began selling medallions. Not made by Chris himself, the medallions were instead produced by Praetor, with Chris endorsing the items. In exchange, Chris was given a cut of profits.<ref>[[December 2020 social media posts#Praetor sells medallions]]</ref><ref>[[Praetor#Royalty payment]]</ref>

Several Watchmen were angry and confused over the sales, even after Chris expressed satisfaction with his share (nearly $400, in January 2021).<ref>[[The Place chats (January 2021)#Cash from Praetor]]</ref> In the Watchmen's private chat, [[Kyle]] expressed paranoia that the medallions never existed in the first place,<ref>[[The Place chats (January 2021)#The Watchmen's Skepticism Over Praetor Medallion Sales]]</ref> and [[Naught]], [[MKRNightVee]] and [[The WCT]] failed at understanding the nature of Chris's share of the profit.<ref>[[The Place chats (January 2021)#The Watchmen Think Chris Should Get All of Praetor's Sales Money]]</ref> The latter three Watchmen looked at the OfficialCWCmart stats and saw that sales revenue for the medallions sold totaled $5,900. They erroneously believed that Chris should be entitled to anywhere between half and almost all of the revenue,<ref>[[The Place chats (January 2021)#The Watchmen Complain About Chris's Payout]]</ref> despite the fact he did not produce the medallions.

The following month, MKRNightVee and Naught lashed out at Praetor's [[Caden]] over the amount during [[Taser Discussion|a three-way call between Chris, the Watchmen and Caden]]. Chris reiterated that he was fine with his share.

===MKR Confrontation===
[[File:MKR-Praetor DM - 26Jan2021.jpg|240px|thumb]]
On 26 January 2021, MKR posted a DM she had with the Praetor account, where she questioned what their intentions with Chris were, on The Place. When MKR calls the Praetor account a "predator", the Praetor account tries to assure MKR that Chris's relationship with the group are just fine, detailing more about what they've been doing with Chris. Praetor states that along with paying Chris for his services, they also take him out to dinner and talk with him every now and then. They also consider the partnership "excellent". At the end of the conversation, they also joke about MKR's statements, calling them "baseless accusations".

{{quoteboxmagenta|speaker=MKR|No I was just stating a fact?}}
{{quoteboxorange|speaker=Praetor (Caden)|Do you feel we're extorting Chris?}}
{{quoteboxmagenta|speaker=MKR|Are you?
I'm the official artist
I do a lot of work for cwc.
As a professional artist I know a lot on the subject.}}
{{quoteboxorange|speaker=Praetor (Caden)|And we're pleased for it! We also do a lot of work for cwc.
We just make cash.}}
{{quoteboxmagenta|speaker=MKR|And that's what makes me a kinder person. I give without expecting anything in return, I'm Christine's friend. Are you a predator?}}
{{quoteboxorange|speaker=Praetor (Caden)|Now slown down there Mr. Hansen, there's no reason to get accusatory. We take her to dinner, we talk, and above all we pay her. She does not pay us. 
It is an excellent partnership, and we're thrilled to have her.
Let us know if you have any more questions/baseless accusations! We always love talking with our fans!}}

The Watchmen that were present at the time commented on the Praetor's remarks being "cringe" or showcasing their egotism.<ref>[[The Place chats (January 2021)#MKR-Praetor DM]]</ref>

==Crystalgate==
{{See also|Taser|Taser Discussion}}
[[File:PraetorSignedTaser.png|300px|thumb|The Taser]]

On 5 [[February 2021]], Chris stated that he wanted to borrow one of Praetor's tasers to stun his [[Gate Crystal]] and [[Celestial Key]] [[quartz crystals]] in an attempt to activate the [[Dimensional Merge]].<ref name=thinking>[[Thinking with Portals#Praetor and the Taser‎]]</ref>

The Watchmen confronted Caden about this, saying that it was dangerous for Praetor to be allowing Chris to use it and that Chris could hurt himself. In response, Caden insisted that Chris would be safe and that the group would act with safety in mind, that he would not permanently possess one of their stun guns, and that the version Chris would use is a lower-powered one than the items Praetor would be selling.<ref name=thinking></ref> Eventually, both parties began insulting each other on Discord. They eventually agreed to have [[Taser Discussion|a call]] about the issue, in which the Watchmen berate Caden about the issue.

Near the end of the call, [[Watchmen]] member [[Val]] jokingly asked if Praetor could get Chris to tase himself on video, to which Chris responded saying that he'd be willing too. Everyone was shocked by this, and Caden attempts to dissuade Chris from tazing himself. 

After this call, the [[Watchmen]] gained an intense hatred and rivarly for Praetor and especially Caden, seeing him as on the same level as [[Joshua Wise]] or [[Jacob Sockness]]. [[Watchmen]] member [[Naught]] then released that portion of the audio clip, but twisted the context to make it seem like Praetor wanted Chris to tase himself. This rumor was perpetuated by other Watchmen members, and eventually reached [[GiBi]], who made a video claiming it was fact.

==Chris's reaction==
{{quote|They did not convince anyone of anything; I actually had a vision of this, and actually talked with the Cosmos in that meditation, which in your tangible sense, I thought of using the taser on the Gate Crystal first and foremost. And the same goes for a taser being tested on this body, too. Do not blame our friends as Praetor; this was, in the sense, my idea first.”|A YouTube comment from Chris on GiBi's video}}

Chris, becoming aware of all of the drama that had been ensuing by his would-be collaborators, was distraught with all of the fighting that was happening between his allies. When GiBi made a video about the drama, Chris tried to set the record straight.

==Aftermath==
{{Quote|Hey, @everyone. For starters, in light of the recent events @Neko has been through, and the light shedding on the toxic trio, an announcement with care for now|Chris, joining the Knights server after Naught had doxed The WCT.}}

As a result of the confrontation, the Watchmen took note of Chris being upset at them. Naught had even given up his role as the owner of The Place, lending it over to Kyle instead and temporarily leaving the server.<ref group=note>Naught returned to The Place server later, but Kyle still remained as the server's owner.</ref> Others, however viewed this as a sign that Chris was influenced far more by Praetor than the Watchmen, especially when Chris began to get less involved in The Place server. This only gave them more incentive to believe that Praetor had to be defeated, and that Chris had to be pulled away from their grasp. Though this imaginary battle petered out for the following months, the same can't be said about the sentiments that the Watchmen had for Praetor. It is here in these following months where the Watchmen's possessiveness towards Chris, but especially that from the "toxic trio", became much more apparent. The Watchmen had made several attempts to win Chris back.

Right after the confrontation, the Watchman KND had tried to come up with elaborate plans to dismantle the entire group to get them away from Chris.<ref>[[The Place chats (February 2021)#The Watchmen Plot to Dismantle Praetor]]</ref> Some of the things that he suggested included sending Chris a gal-pal to lure him away from the group with and making him afraid of [[COVID-19|COVID]]. After KND, The WCT, and Kyle discuss whether or not they thought that Annie was attractive, KND came up with the idea to try and use the female Praetor members for "info", and Kyle suggests to the WCT to try and create fake Instagram accounts to DM them about Chris. KND had also speculated that Chris could have been invited by the Praetors into a Discord server. After Peachy tries telling the other Watchmen that she didn't have much luck reaching out to the Praetors besides Owen, she suggests DMing him instead. KND also suggests that if Caden doesn't have a separate Discord server, they could ban him from the Place, forcing him to create a new one to get a hold of all of his associates. None of these overly elaborate plans, if the Watchmen had attempted them at all, seemed to have pulled through, however.

Even after the fiasco that went down between the Praetors and the Watchmen, Chris had still expressed seeing [[MKRNightVee]] of the Watchmen, [[Annie Ikenberry]] of Praetor, and [[Bella]], who he still perceived as a Praetor, as potential sweethearts. He talked about it in a [[The Place chats - Lonely Feelings|Discord chat]] with the Watchmen, where he tagged both MKRNightVee and the Praetor account. In that Discord chat, Chris also mentions not wishing to "offend anyone", or do anything they don't want to for "sympathy", indicating that he was worried that expressing his attraction to these people might cause more tension between the Praetors and Watchmen. He wasn't entirely wrong to think this however, as Chris had later created a [[Lovers Attributes List|list]], which the Watchmen misattributed to Anaxis. Chris asked MKR to review the list to see if she matches any of the list's attributes. Chris expressing his love towards MKR was one of the factors that led to them believing that Anaxis, who at the time was still believed to be a Praetor, was manipulating him.

[[File:Mkrragequit.png|thumb|MKR ragequits.]]
MKR further expressed contempt at the Praetor's "winning over" Chris in a 5 March 2021 Twitter post in a fit of jealousy.

{{quote|You know what, I'm done. Fuck you, I'm not going to pretend anymore and I'm not going to sit by while you play with stun guns and these dumb teens. Have fun babysitting yourself. I doubt you'll even care.|MKR's then-final tweet to Chris.<ref>[[:File:Mkrragequit.png]]</ref>}}

MKR had also temporarily deactivated her account on the same day. Though this did make many parties think she intended to leave the Watchmen, the reality was that she didn't really intend on leaving the Internet, nor did she really want to abandon Chris. She was doing this as yet another attempt to get at Praetor, pretending to leave so that the Praetors would be lulled into a false sense of security, and to potentially get Chris back on their side.<ref>[[The Place chats (March 2021)#MKR not really quitting]]</ref> MKR also kept on insisting that the group could get Chris back, citing the time that they were able to stop [[Jacob Sockness]], using this as justification for enabling Chris themselves.<ref>[[The Place chats (March 2021)#Ethics of enabling]]</ref> MKR also mentions Chris "ignoring" the Watchmen in favor of Praetor, citing an unrelated incident where he supposedly ignored a birthday message she sent to him in favor of replying to weens.<ref>[[The Place chats (March 2021)#MKR's Twitter]]</ref>

{{Notes}}
{{References}}
{{CrystalgateSaga}}