All Roads Lead to Khanid, Part II: Poacher Turned Gamekeeper

The Trailing L5 Point Behind Ibani V, in the Ibani System in 'Cabeki Pocket' aka The Budar Constellation, Khanid - 12/5/119, 1105 hrs

I left the wormhole, because my work there was done.

Shortly afterwards, I left Signal Cartel, because my work there was done too.

It was a sudden thing. In the wormhole, over the course of a single day, I came to a series of realisations about my own ethical stance towards exploring Sleeper and Talocan archaeological relics.

In the wormhole, I'd seen enough, done enough, to know that I could no longer tolerate those archaeological relics and paleo-technological artifacts that I saw there, being plundered, ransacked, stripped, and stolen by capsuleers, all looking to make a quick and dirty profit by taking this stuff to a trade hub and selling it to some collector or industrialist, in return for a bunch of non-existent digital fiat currency that has no intrinsic value in the real world. Plundering those sites, when they actually need to be studied and learned from.

Studied, not sold.

A new, overall awareness arrived in my conscience like a beam laser through my forehead: if I can stop just one of those looters, then one fewer looters out there could make all the difference to understanding what the Sleepers and Talocan were, and to understanding the Drifter threat. It could be me that finds that piece of data that explains where they went and what they were (and are), instead of that data being found by some 'explorer' who doesn't stop to understand the significance of it, and goes on to flog it to some collector who doesn't give a shit, puts it on a shelf and leaves it there, forever undiscovered; or some industrialist who recycles it and turns it into something else, something designed to limit human knowledge rather than expand it.

I have the means to stop looters in their tracks. It is time to use Empress of Amarr as it was designed to be used: not as a ship of peace, but as a protector of a technological faith. It is made of Sleeper tech. It is part of what they were.

So I made the move. I locked the doors to my quarters in the citadel, resigned from Signal Cartel and re-emerged from the wormhole, back into New Eden.

There was just one corporation I wanted to move to.

To return to.

Outdated Host Productions - [PHP1] - the corporation I first joined when I left Hedion University, dozens of lifetimes ago.

I opened [PHP1]'s public channel and reached out. I got a swift and welcoming response, as I knew I would. I'd left on excellent terms 500 days earlier, and it was like I'd never been away. I had missed the Big K and its mostly-uninhabited lowsec 'pipe' that I had re-visited precisely once during my time in Signal Cartel. I missed the calming presence of The Cauldron in my cam drones' synthetic imaging algorithms. I missed Borgin's one-liners and Crystalline's urbane wit and elocution and passion for post-op cuisine. I even missed Jzma and Mechoj's turbulent leadership style (although I found since I rejoined that both are no-longer prominent in the Darwinism alliance now).

I missed the dulcet tones of Sul Glass, Bishop of the Seevadin Constellation - his ongoing doctrinal schism with Amarrian Orthodoxy alive and well (Sec Status -7.6) - now leader of Darwinism, which means Darwinism itself is guided from above. It was all the same old crew: Garen, Gettosmurf, Madrocks and Endiir, all still there like a universal constant (Endiir, what happened to those dreads man??).

Some other names I remembered had moved on since I was last in [PHP1], but that core foundation was still present.

All was well with the universe.

I considered the sudden and radical nature of my personal course-change once again while lobbing massive destruction at somebody's industrial facility today in Ibani - somebody I've never met, never even heard of.

It's about interests and objectives and how they align organically with those of others.

It's how and why, in the cam drone stills you can see here, I'm jacked into a stealth bomber as part of a fleet asserting Darwinism's presence in Khanid.

It's part of my job now, and I like it.

You might wonder how it is possible to live with what outwardly appears to be a complete 180-degree reversal of principle that comes with moving from a pacifism-oriented service corporation, to returning to a corporation that practices piracy and does crimes. The answer is in the principle itself and how it led to the realisation I arrived at that day in the wormhole: I never totally believed in the feasibility of Signal Cartel's pacifist policy in the first place; I just went along with it because it served my purpose to do so for as long as I wanted to stay there. My time in Signal Cartel was overwhelmingly positive, but now its core policy would become an impediment to the preservationist stance that I was about to take up, and as Signal Cartel itself states, if you can't abide by the credo, you can't stay.

I could no-longer abide...

I've left friends behind in Signal Cartel (on good terms, I hope), but progress and change and evolution are the dominant forces in the universe and resistance is futile (where have I heard that before..?).

There is nothing new about any of it. I'm just doing what humanity has always done: looked after number one. But I'm also looking to preserve knowledge.

Explorers: I'm coming for you now...

All Roads Lead to Khanid, Part I: Manifest

The Yulai System, Sanctum Constellation, Genesis. Directive Enforcement Department Logistic Support Station - Yulai VIII (Deck 4, Section 8 - Licensing Dept.)

Weary-looking middle-management-filing-clerk-type enters what back in the day might have been called a 'Records Room', where, back in the day, millions of hard copy files might have been kept in reverent seclusion in a warehouse-sized space, with an army of people tending them in silence like a form of clergy. These days, it's just like a bunch of terminals in a small, under-lit office where no more than five people sit, day after day, performing the never-ending task of updating the DED Starship Registry Database. It's nowhere near as visually impressive. There aren't even any windows in here.

Weary-looking middle-management-filing-clerk-type sits down at his assigned terminal for the day (for hot-desking is a thing at the DED), and logs-in. The second thing that happens during the login process is that The System asks the person logging-in a question. This time it's 'Does your work at the DED fill you with a sense of purpose?'

Middle-management-filing-clerk-type reads this and gets a gigantic flashback to the fork-in-the-road-of-life that was the time when he got chopped after Year One of capsuleer school; an event that caused the kernel of a lifetime of bitterness to form within his then-young soul, a soul too young to recognise that kernel for what it was: the poison of thwarted ambition.

His response to getting chopped was a few wasted years of oblivion spent in bars and pleasure hubs. When the hangover wore off, the opportunity to move sideways into being a regular starship meatbody had kind of passed him by or not even occurred to him (because the glamour of pseudo-immortality is everything!); so the only remaining choice was to return planetside from whence he came, or embark on an oxymoronic 'career in admin' with the DED.

Thus it was, or is, that middle-management-filing-clerk-type reads the question that The System is asking him, here in the present moment, and he sees the abyss of failure encoded within it. He clicks on 'Skip To Main Menu'...

Then the swoosh of the door opening behind him announces the arrival of a boss/leader type, whose name he doesn't even know, because it doesn't really matter. This boss person approaches his burning hot-desk and its expectant terminal and hands him a sheaf of printouts and says: 'Here's today's updates for The System. There's a new one for the Watch List.'

That last sentence generates a brief flicker of interest in the filing clerk. He says: 'Oh yeah?'

'Yeah,' the boss says. 'Legion-class, recently returned from a long deployment to the Anoikis Cluster. Spent the best part of a year there. '

'What's unusual about that? Happens all the time doesn't it?'

'Yes, but this one, its captain has changed employer at the same time. Left a research-focused pacifist group with no record of criminality and joined - or rejoined a group that's based in low-security space. Thing is, she's worked for them before. It's all there in her history. We've seen this pattern many times. It's a slippery slope, and who knows what the hell she's brought back with her from that place.'

Middle-management filing clerk takes the sheaf of papers and turns to his screen. The boss-type turns and swooshes out of the room.

Filing clerk starts typing...

>DED: A DIVISION OF CONCORD

>STARSHIP REGISTRY ENQUIRY: READY

>WATCH LIST: NEW ENTRY

>Legion-class Strategic Cruiser
>Ownership: Private
>Registration: ARX/O/12883745/III
>Name: Empress of Amarr
>
>Crew Manifest (see appendix for further crew details):
>
>Ship's Master: Cassandra Orizi-Habalu-Dannidaana.
>Security Status: 5.0 (provisional - subject to change - see below)
>Personal Details:

Birthdate: 10/28/90.
Ethnicity: Ni-Kunni.
Homeworld: Kor-Azor Prime IV.
Assessment:
Subject is heiress to the Proxima Direct Shipping Company fortune (status restored after recent Imperial decree clarifying capsuleer legitimacy within the Amarr Empire citizenry). Subject also known to possess interests in the Aridia region where she is a prominent political activist in her role as co-founder of the Ni-Kunni Capsuleer Development Foundation. Also known to possess interests in the Genesis, Tash-Murkon and Khanid regions. Operational track record demonstrates non-aggressive tendencies in general, except towards Covenant interests wherever found. However, recent activity involving a prolonged deployment to the Anoikis Cluster with her previous employer indicates the subject retains a strong interest in Jovian/Sleeper/Drifter culture, with a presumed interest in the acquisition of Sleeper-derived technology beyond that which is already developed as part of the baseline architecture of the Legion-class Strategic Cruiser she commands. 

Subject's addition to the Capsuleer Watch List is therefore based on the subject's recent change in employer within the context of the default operational strategy of her new employer, combined with the presence of a former Amarrian Templar in her bridge crew in the role of Chief Weapons Officer [see appendix for full crew manifest], a combination which requires the DED to assume that unverified Sleeper-derived technology will be used in flight operations in low-security space with her new employer outside the authority, control and jurisdiction of DED/CONCORD.
>
>Status: Expected to change. Watch-listed as of 10:49 NEST - 14/11/119.

>FILE Y/N?

The Price Of Safety In Aridia Is One Trillion ISK

Sisters of EVE Academy Station, Erindur VII, Metropolis Region, 8/16/118 - 23:44 hrs

A few days ago I received the feed below from the boss of my previous corporation, Outdated Host Productions [PHP1], over in Khanid. At the time, I was idling in the Sisters of EVE Academy station which orbits the second moon of Erindur VII, which is on the outer eastern edge of the Minmatar Republic: a region I have not spent a great deal of time in. There are semi-obvious reasons for that, namely that I originate from the Amarr Empire and this is the territory of its most deadly enemy, but more about that later.

I was in one of the station's lounge/bars which at this hour was populated mostly by identically-dressed SoE apprentices who all maintained a kind of passive exclusion zone around me as if I, a capsuleer, was too exotic to approach. In another time I might have engaged with them, but not today. I was thinking about my new ship. I was sat at an elaborately-carved wooden table adjacent to a large armoured glass picture window that facilitated a commanding view of the station's docking bay, where I could see the ship I'd brought here: a Caldari Buzzard. I hadn't used a Buzzard before because I'd only just qualified in it. This was a bit of a test op so I needed to prepare for it.

That test op was to be another relic-gathering excursion into null-security space, this time in the Buzzard. Erindur was my staging system into the 'far east'. From a cosmic perspective, the system is actually in an interesting area of space, being on the edge of the blood-red Metropolis/Heimatar nebulosity that is all around you everywhere you go in the Republic, and must be the fuel for Mataris' constant state of rage. The Konora system is also nearby, from where the miniature Ginnungagap Black Hole is supposed to be visible, (noteworthy: there is some dispute in the scientific community over whether the black hole has in fact evaporated and ceased to exist, or whether it is in a dormant and invisible state).

Something else that was new to me other than the Buzzard was the fabulous fish dish I was shovelling into this newly-jump-cloned body that I'd returned to after pre-positioning the ship here a few days earlier. Eating something for the first time in a new body is an odd sensation, because infomorph transfer reliability tolerance means your sense of taste always changes at a barely-noticeable level. Sometimes it is enhanced, sometimes it is diminished. They never tell you about that in capsuleer school. Matari cuisine, by the way, is universally dreck, which is one of the other reasons why I was not docked in a Matari-operated station...

There are actually two SoE stations in Erindur. The station I was docked in was an old Amarr Trade Post, no-doubt dating from the era of occupation, before the Minmatar Rebellion and the formation of the Republic. I expect it still survives today as the obvious edifice of a hated regime because it is in a relatively remote part of space, and also when the Sisters of EVE moved in at some point and established an Academy, it became effectively neutral territory.

Sisters of EVE Academy, Erindur VII - Metropolis

The consequence of the SoE's presence in here then, is an outwardly-Amarr station but with an overwhelmingly non-Amarrian population that has changed large parts of the station's interior design, like all the former churches and chapels being repurposed into lecture theatres. There is not so much strident architectural piety any more; corridors lined with empty plinths where statues used to stand; comfy chairs instead of pulpits; holovids instead of hymns; actual intoxicating beverages; former slave pens used as storage rooms or apprentice dormitories after considerable decorative improvement.

This bar I was sat in overlooking the docking bay was a former chapel library, and all the religious and scriptural iconography on the walls had been removed and replaced with various holofeeds, animated images of the cosmos, or portraits of noteworthy Sisters of EVE (thereby replacing one form of religious iconography with another). One of those portraits was of ex-Sister Silphy en Diabel herself and it didn't even have 'Wanted' beneath it. What was that about? Have the SoE forgiven her?

In accordance with its previous role, all the furniture in this ex-chapel-library-turned-bar was even made of actual wood cut from real trees in the forests of Erindur IV, instead of that ultra high-tech nano-assembler stuff you find in other stations that emerges from the floor on command ('chair please...'). It all had real grain in it and it had no embedded holo or tech or anything. The stone floor was something else entirely; a spectacular indulgence in a space station and a typically ostentatious statement by its previous owners.

However, a particular ambient vibe that this station's cultural fusion could not hide behind the usual station-noise you get anywhere, was the ongoing subtext of undisclosed secrets permeating its atmosphere that all SoE stations have, especially those in Thera (are they ever going to tell us how they got there first?). 

My other reason for being here in this Sisters of EVE station was because my former mentor, Aire Arryns (lecturer in Exploration at the Hedion University station in Conoban), once told my class in that fire-and-brimstone way of his: "At some point in your capsuleer careers, you're going to go to the Republic. I'd rather you didn't, personally, but if you do go there, do not ever, ever entrust your infomorph to a Matari, otherwise your consciousness could be transferred into a fedo. It's happened. I've seen it. They make it look like an accident, but it never is. It's always about reprisal.  Do not ever entrust your ship to Matari station techs, otherwise expect sabotage. Do not fly Matari ships either, because they are all garbage. Until we can Reclaim them again, Vitoc is the only way. It is the Amarr way!"

He went on to label all Matari stations in the Republic as enemy territory to an Amarrian capsuleer, which is technically absolutely true as we're still officially at war, although I've said it before: as capsuleers we're supposed to take a cosmic perspective and rise above all this nationalism. Not all of us do (not all of us want to), but at least we do in my line of work. In fact none other than Signal Cartel top boss and 'Space Mom' Mynxee is a Brutor, but she doesn't act like one (in fact Mynxee has this ultra-calm demeanour that belies a murderous Brutor past, and it comes across as if she's been to the future and has returned to tell us all not to worry and that everything will be OK. It's very reassuring...).

Arryns was merely trying to scare us into vigilance towards baseliners' default nationalist programming, so this is the real reason why I only dock in neutral stations on the very rare occasions I actually operate in this region, because when it comes to baseliners, you just can't be sure.

* * *

So I was chilling in this ex-chapel lounge/bar with its stone floor and wooden furniture, eating a specially-imported Luminairian javelinfish, which was Sister Alitura of Arnon's idea ("Tell them I sent you," she'd said, "be sure to ask for the fin spike, and let it sit for 13 minutes before you eat it otherwise it might kill you").

I was also reading Emekur's classic Origin of Life, Minimal Convergent Traits and Biosignatures on my datapad. No, that's not true. I can't lie: I was actually reading a trashy Impetus celeb feed called In Your Face, which headlined the acrimonious twelfth divorce of Synchellian film star Myriestene Mahatta. I can't get enough of it. I went for the top-level cluster-wide subscription so I'm gonna use it. It's expensive, but I can afford it so what's the problem? I can't always be into science!

So I was sitting here among the background station noise and subdued foreground chatter of all the SoE apprentices around me when the message below chimed in on my datapad. It was [PHP1] boss Crystalline Entity with an update on the constant changes in the Khanid-Querious-Delve-Aridia situation and [PHP1]/Darwinism's part in it. I'm still on excellent terms with my previous crew and I always look forward to updates from their part of the cluster.

Considerable attention has now been focused on this volatile sector of the cluster in recent weeks after the winding-down of 'World War Bee' and the defeat of Goonswarm. When information leaked out that Goonswarm were co-ordinating a massive move operation to the Delve region, feeds all over the entire cluster lit up with speculation about whether the region I used to operate in would become the next big conflict zone. When Goonswarm's planned route to Delve through Aridia was also leaked, my own personal take on it was a) wondering whether all the locals including [PHP1]/Darwinism would get in on this, and b) how in Divinity's Edge would Goonswarm get past the elite denizens of Aridia - LowSechnaya Sholupen - intact?

Based on Crystalline's bit of inside information below (it's the raw feed), it appears that every alliance really does have its price:

---

[AmarrCertifiedNewsTextFeed/Gehi IX/Royal Khanid Navy/In-Station Associate Corporation Channel:[PHP1] mode:public-feed/yes/no/.../NODE: ALL] [autoforward: NODE: Metropolis/soe/recipients:0022866cassandrahabalu/]

[msg: 8/16/118 - 1324]

[Subj: Goons! Querious!]

Over the mid-year period, Khanid was unsurprisingly pretty quiet. The usual unfortunate stream of hapless industrialists and mission runners attempting the Ashmarir run dried-up and the Darwinism pirates grew frustrated at the lack of action on all fronts. Even the Mid-Khanid Coalition of JIHADASQUAD (led by the renegade Musashibou Benkei) seemed unusually quiet.

Then the announcement spluttered over the fluid routers: ‘Goonswarm are leaving Saranen and heading to Delve!’ The wave of excitement was palpable, a slew of bookings at the Vezila III ice resort of Vritilia were cancelled as the capsuleers of Darwinism and Brute Force Solutions cancelled their planetside excursions and booked shuttles back to the orbiting spaceport.

Goon interceptors, transport ships and other vessels of war started heading south from Saranen to Sakht in southern Aridia. To the surprise of all capsuleers the infamous capital and supercapital hunting alliance LowSechnaya Sholupen (LSH) granted 'blue' status to Goonswarm. Persistent rumours and reports from reliable sources all say that Goonswarm paid LSH over a trillion ISK for this privilege.

Darwinism's capsuleers manned the ‘barricades’ of Ashmarir and Perbhe [entry systems into Khanid], and deployed cloaky hunting ships throughout the region. Goons started to die… oh-so-many dead. Wrecks and corpses littered those entrance systems into Khanid. Where Goons go, others follow: the latest arrivals are DARKNESS, Short Bus Syndicate and TEST alliance all on deployment. Circle of Two is reportedly on the way as well.

Two interesting developments in the nearby null-security space was that the Infamous alliance was haemorrhaging pilots, and the Play Hard and Pray Harder alliance was successfully dismantling the Querious Fight Club coalition [QFC]. Information on the collapse of QFC was hard to come by, as there was a propaganda war raging across the regional news outlets but it was safe to assume that QFC would not fold unless there was good reason to do so.

For Darwinism this led to an opportunity to take the H-6HGD constellation in Querious once again. The station in A2-V27 has been unable to be captured due to dreadful timers and other groups third-partying the station. However, 03L-95 and A3-LOG have been upgraded a little and pilots have used the opportunities to make ISK during quieter periods. Darwinism fully expects to lose this space in due course to Play Hard and Pray Harder or another one of the alliances that is headed towards the area.

The positive side of Infamous collapsing was that Brute Force Solutions spotted a Hel supercarrier moving up towards Khanid. Darwinism pilots responded and after a fruitless grid search in 0-W the Hel then jumped to Upt where it was probed and tackled by Darwinism probers and Heavy Interdiction pilots. Heavier assets were brought in and it died shortly thereafter.

Later LSH called upon Darwinism again to tackle and then kill Simon Riley of ex-Darwinism traitors Nekogami Band in his Aeon in Neda. [PHP1]'s Quantum Finish caught the ship with his Heavy Interdictor.

Khanid will never be at the forefront of cluster politics, because its inhabitants are dreadful pirates with a myriad of personality disorders, but it is their wasteful destructive personality that make transiting the region a dangerous experience for the careless traveller.

[ENDS]

[this media release is brought to you by Amarr Certified News Capsuleer Liaison. Amarr Victor!]

---

One trillion ISK? One trillion ISK!!

The situation changes so fast over there that the feed above is already technically out of date, as other more recent reports indicate that the Querious Fight Club coalition has collapsed, making the region basically a free-for-all. 

Unbelievably, even Signal Cartel has interests in what's happening in Querious because until this week we had docking rights in the YB7B-8 constellation thanks to the Affirmative alliance (another Querious Fight Club member) holding sovereignty over it.

Just a couple of days after I received the above from Crystalline, and after I'd left Erindur and was deep into my excursion into the eastern nullsec regions, I got notification through the corporation's private channel that the instability in Querious had caused Affirmative to withdraw, and in the process of doing so they had transferred the sovereignty of the entire constellation to Signal Cartel!

Signal Cartel has sov! Without firing a single shot! Citadels! TCUs!

Signal Cartel Territorial Claim Unit! Actual sov!

(cam drone still: Ristora Arbosa)

Affirmative's transferral of sov to us was a political statement aimed at the other residents of Querious. Our sov will not last; in accordance with our pacifist credo we will not defend it, and Signal Cartel was never interested in holding sov anyway because everybody knows it's not our thing, so probably by the time you read this, somebody else's logo will be on that TCU.

But it cannot be denied: WE HAD SOV!

If Signal Cartel can have sov in Querious, then anything can happen. Expect to hear any time soon that Jamyl is alive and well, and living in Querious.

In 'Squirrel Central'.

For Everything There Is A Season

I can tell you exactly when it happened; when the decision was finally made.

When I finally called time.

I was doing my regular freight run from [PHP1]'s heartland in Rilera, my Impel station-keeping next to a silo waiting for its contents of exotic metals to be loaded into the hold. I was passing the time: a cutting-edge playlist on the audio, multiple comms channels open, a seriously ancient Aridian literary classic on quickscan. None of this existing in physical form since I'm jacked-in.

The NEOCOM chimed (in my head again, because I'm jacked-in) with the arrival of a message from the boss. It was a sitrep, a rallying morale-booster for the troops. For me it was the fork in the road.

A signal.

[PHP1] has multiple POS silos in Rilera so I visited them all in turn, emptying them, ensuring a full hold because unused hold is wasted ISK. Quantum Leap's stately progress between POSes gave plenty of time to think about how it's been for the past year-and-a-bit. 

When I first joined [PHP1], I was horrendously inexperienced, even naive. I was recruited in unorthodox fashion, by being ganked in Tegheon by Gettosmurf, who operated on the premise of 'if they can't beat you, invite them to join you'. Later on he gave me a Daredevil frigate and asked for nothing in return.

I still have that Daredevil.

Between then and now, with Outdated Host Productions, I learned how to actually function as a capsuleer instead of how the books tell you to. I now know that I was incredibly lucky in the sense that the first independent capsuleer corporation that I joined after graduating from Hedion University was a fundamentally good one. I hear so many horror-stories of inexperienced capsuleers being robbed, shafted, exploited, ruined by badly-run outfits with criminal agendas.

I have had no bad experiences in [PHP1].

None.

Being a pacifist in a combat-focused corporation and alliance was always going to be problematic in the end though, and I can't justify it anymore. Khanid space has evolved, [PHP1] has evolved, and so have I. Our paths have diverged in what is just the normal cycle of capsuleer evolution and the way of the universe.

Somewhere between Rilera II and III, I made the call.

Time to move on.

I already know where I'm going. I've heard the signal...

So from now on the journal will be less about regional capsuleer politics and more of a return to exploration, discovery, and documenting the weird and wonderful sights of the cluster with Signal Cartel.

Here's the thing: change is constant and nothing ever stays the same. To any newly-qualified capsuleers reading this: a year from now you won't be doing the same thing that you're doing now, and it probably won't be with the same group. You won't be living in the same place because the life of a capsuleer is semi-nomadic. You won't even realise the change is happening.

I didn't know this time last year I'd ever contemplate living in the northern part of Genesis where Signal Cartel has a base. In fact I didn't even know last month.

This is how it is.

Now I've got a big move op to coordinate...

This Is Your Nightmare Scenario

Long story/short version: our Citadel in Ashmarir was attacked again, this time by a combination of CVA and Volition Cult and some other stragglers/bit-part players whose names are basically irrelevant, because they're all singing from the same hymnsheet that never ends.

CVA/Volition's fleet was much larger than last time, and their tactics included positioning some of it on the Ashmarir - Claini stargate in an attempt to intercept us lot as we were inbound from Gehi. It was a disturbing sight:

This abomination is a fleet of Nightmares. Hideous ex-Sansha's Nation battleships, designed to instil horror in the onlooker and normally crewed - although unlikely in this case - by Kuvakei's minions whose lifestyle makes Amarrian slaves appear spontaneous and unpredictable. This fleet will have been crewed by capsuleers and God-knows what else. It's an indication of how far removed from baseline some capsuleers must be.

Twice I saw neutral vessels arrive in-system through the stargate and be confronted with this situation. I empathised with those ships' crews, because there are gate camps and there is blatant overkill. This is why I have no future in piracy.

The worst bit was witnessing this obscenity depart the stargate en-masse, the entire fleet aligning simultaneously with millisecond precision, as if the ships were not even manned; as if they were relentless automata controlled by a hive mind with the patience of geology:

This sort of thing is liable to turn one religious again. I must be cleansed of this sight. Does anyone know what the plural noun for Nightmares is?

Party in Ashmarir: Darwinism vs CVA

Curatores Veritatis Alliance, well-known Amarr loyalists and self-styled Gatekeepers of Providence, came out of nowhere this week and attacked our new Citadel in the Ashmarir system.

This wasn't all we've had to put up with this week, what with the ongoing personal vendetta of Musashibou Benkei - the Renegade of Khanid - and his ex-Bergmann/ex-Darwinism followers that all have the attention spans of children.

Politics...

Back on topic: Ashmarir is one of the gateway systems to the soon-to-be-established Independent Empyrean Republic of Khanidistan. It is at the 'east' end of Khanid Lowsec and is otherwise an unremarkable system with no mainstream stations, three uninhabited terrestrials (uninhabited as far as can be determined, although you can never rule out uncharted pockets of madness, survivalism, religious extremism and hermitry), and token capsuleer industry based around a handful of resource-poor moons.

Ashmarir is not that big a deal, or at least it wasn't until we put our Citadel there.

Earlier this week, a CVA fleet manifested in Ashmarir and attacked our Citadel. We left them to it because of the Citadel's ability to withstand an initial assault. CVA made their statement and left.

We had 24 hours to prepare for their return.

When they returned, we were ready in ways we've never been before. In other words, we put some thought into it instead of winging it. The ultra-reliable Lowsechnaya Sholupen also showed up to assist us on the premise of any excuse for a party.

We were outnumbered at least 2-1 by CVA , but we still repelled them because we had Dreads and they didn't. Check out the cam drone stills and telemetry below.

FACE-OFF!

 

IT BEGINS!

APOSTLES!

[DRWIN] & [LSH] KICKS [CVA] ASS!!

CVA WITHDRAWS!

SALVAGE OPERATION AFTERWARDS

I hate to gloat, but we did in fact cane CVA and force them to withdraw.

We won.

Noteworthy: Lowsechnaya deployed some examples of the new Apostle-class Force Auxiliary ship - the new paradigm in capital starship combat. I never saw one in the flesh before so I never appreciated how damned big they are. I mention the Apostle because the Imperial Fleet's naval architects went to the trouble of designing the Apostle with armour that depicts a stylized mural of the 'Martyrdom Of Empress Jamyl At Safizon by the Drifters'.

A design statement like that is only ever about propaganda rather than operational requirement, so there is intense irony here in that we used Apostles against an Amarr loyalist alliance. Few other capsuleers involved in this skirmish would have given this issue a moment's consideration, but I look for stuff like this, which is why the idea of CVA's motivation for this attack was, to use a Ni-Kunni idiom, filling my head with sand.

As Darwinism's media & PR rep, I thought about asking them. I fired off some comms; as and when I get a response from them, I'll update this post. I'm not holding my breath though...

Until then, it's Darwinism 1 - CVA 0.

* * * 

[PHP1] is recruiting! Seriously, we're in a bit of a golden age at the moment and are experiencing a recruitment surge. Not just that, I woke up today and found out that [FCON] are our allies. When did that happen??

Blessed Darwinism's Reclaiming of Querious Begins

Just a short one today.

Below is a segment of flight data recorder holo featuring His Eminence Sul Glass, Bishop of the Seevadin Constellation and our own Amarrian minister capsuleer (whom nevertheless has a Sec Status of -8.4...), delivering a prayer to inspire and motivate Darwinism's intrepid capsuleers during their recent skirmish in Querious against the defunct Phoebe Freeport Republic and other godless heathens. Even the most pious of the Amarr orthodoxy in the Theology Council will be impressed by this:


Sidebar: I'm concerned about His Eminence, because his security status indicates a personal interpretation of Amarrian Scripture that is tantamount to extremism or even doctrinal schism. I say the Theology Council will be impressed, but I actually wonder if the Council really is fully aware of what he's doing?

Size Matters And Don't Ever Forget It

"That's no moon, that's a space station"

Unknown - Jovian Historical Codex

I'm content to play a peripheral role in Darwinism's ambitions for political autonomy in Khanid. However the ongoing incongruity of being a pacifist in an alliance whose principal objective is piracy is a bit problematic. I'm an artist, not a warrior. It will have been noted that I don't do criminality (although there is a slippery slope - more on that anon), but it's not like I do nothing; for example this journal is Darwinism's principal media outlet, plus there are the freight runs I participate in that generate most of [PHP1]'s income - although at the time of this writing that's on hold as we're being 'wardecced' again because PIRAT's clock-face mentality means the hands of their 'clock' are once again pointing at us (a stopped clock is right twice per day). Yesterday, previous seasonal antagonists Marmite Collective even offered to fight the 'deccers on our behalf. What the hell is that all about??

I'm also developing [PHP1]'s trading policy in the Tash-Murkon region, and it seems to be working better than I expected. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's remarkable how much more vibrant and active the region is in contrast to Khanid, which, at least from the capsuleer's perspective, is economically moribund and stagnant. Worryingly so in fact.

It's such a radical difference that I'm in the process of shifting most of my personal interests from the chilled out backwater of Danera to Tash-Murkon Prime. I just can't ignore the possibilities therein any longer. This is the fork in the road I was on about last time. The fact that the incoming Empress is also from T-M  is just a coincidence (no it isn't, not really, I just want some of Catiz's profit motive to rub off on me).

I digress again...

In other news (Ape Daily News: it's a thing now), we've built at least two of Upwell Corporation's new Citadels right here in Khanid. One of them is orbiting a terrestrial world deep within the Khanid interior where the renegade Musashibou Benkei will never find it. What a sight this thing must be from the planet's surface:

Our other Citadel is in a much more prominent location and was ceremonially visited last week by another Avatar that I didn't even know we had. Note to self: keep in touch with leadership more often - get them to send me stuff etc.. The Avatar belongs to [DRWIN] newcomers Local Spike:

So there are at least two Khanid Titans and two Citadels here. This means we've got at least as many Citadels as Lowsechnaya - I've seen two of theirs in Aridia - and because these things are appearing all over the place then it means one's corporation is nothing unless one has one (CE are you reading this?). The fact that the thing is brand new and is so big that vast tracts of its interior will as yet go unused and consequently you could walk for kilometres without seeing anyone else, is irrelevant. It's worth having one just to see the magic tethering beam work. It reaches out and grabs you as if to rescue you from the bleak indifference of the void.

But only if you're on our side...

[PHP1] is recruiting!

The Nourbal Resurgence

Just don't be a complete idiot out there and you'll be fine.

Lavar Kominius - The User's Guide To Low Security Space


I'm still in Tash-Murkon Prime learning the black art of market trading and trying to measure and subsequently exploit the intrinsic laziness of capsuleers and their consequent willingness to pay over the odds for stuff that is just two jumps away in Amarr at only a third the price.

I'm also lingering here in the hope that some of Empress-elect Catiz Tash-Murkon's affinity for capitalism will rub off on me.

This experiment has made me realise just how dead and borderline-economically-stagnant the Khanid Kingdom currently is. Tash-Murkon as a region is far busier and far more vibrant. All of this has presented me with a bit of a fork in the road. More on that another time...

The real reason for this entry in the journal: I was messaged again by the boss a couple of nights ago while I was in the quarters I'd arranged in the trade hub in orbit around T-M Prime II. It was another 'Urgent Press Release'. I don't think there was any kanar involved again (re: possible obliquely-sarcastic references to Darwinism's 'Glorious Leader'), but this was news of the alliance bagging an Ark jump freighter in Nourbal of all places, which is an uninhabited system without any orbitals or stations to use as safe havens in accordance with accepted jump freighter practice.

Not just that, but this Ark was virtually empty unlike the mythical legend it is named after.

In fact this incident was bizarre in so many ways that I'd rather let the boss explain:


[Gehi IX/Royal Khanid Navy/In-Station Associate Corporation Channel:[PHP1] mode:secure/yes/yes/none/recipients:0022866cassandrahabalu/EXTERNALNODE:TASHMURKONPRIMEII/visuals:attached]

[msg:02/5/118 - 1958]

[Subj: Happy Endings!]

To the Chief Press Officer Cassandra Habalu [FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST]:
 
Sometimes the universe is a strange place and can unexpectedly drop the most unusual events straight in front of you.
 
Glorious Darwinism leader Jzma was in Nourbal in the Southern Khanid region - well within our sphere of control - doing some exploration when he noticed an Ibis jump into the system and sit stationary near the stargate. Curious, he did some checking on the pilot's employment history and realised it was a brand new, recently-qualified capsuleer. This is a good sign because new capsuleers are often assigned to open cynosural fields for capital ships.

Nourbal is not a normal system to move capitals through as it has no station to instantly dock at when you jump in, so jzma called in [PHP1]'s Tryce Jaor in a hunting ship (Rapier) to sit in-system and watch out for cynosural beacons.

When Tryce arrived in Nourbal, the Ibis warped off. Soon after its Overview designator changed to “Piss Off”. Tryce cloaked and followed the Ibis to a planet and waited. After 20 minutes the Ibis gave up and warped back to highsec. Tryce initiated [Secret Mission #3489: Nourbal Resurgence] and pottered around the system, killing time.

After approximately 40 minutes the Ibis returned and Tryce dutifully tracked it and continued watching it. It was obviously keen to do something in the system.
 

BAM! After three minutes a cynosural field opened and Tryce warped (still cloaked at this stage) to 10km off the beacon; seconds later an Ark jumped into system!

Tryce decloaked, turned Sensor Booster and Microwarpdrive on and rammed the Ark. When his decloak timer had expired he warp scrambled and webbed the Ark and broadcast for help. Alliance capsuleers responded that they were ready, so Tryce opened a covert cynosural field generator allowing Darwinism Black Ops battleships to pour into the system and mob the hapless and doomed Ark.
 
It was ironic that an act of pure Darwinism was promptly punished by the capsuleers of the Darwinism alliance.

[ENDS]

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In space, no-one cares whether you scream or not. The above represents the pathos of ineptitude and the brutal shocking indifference of the universe to anything at all. If you've got enough ISK to buy a jump freighter, make sure you've got enough left to buy the instruction manual.


[PHP1] is recruiting!