Dukes of Youledian

I have been debating what lead to follow. Talocan research, relic dark web, or the riddle leading to the Ink of Truth? I know myself, and will be chaotically following all three unless I decide to focus.

I will leave the Talocan artifacts to the Lamp's science team and a friend and scholar from Hedion who agreed to help. And for the relic dark web, that does not require much action, simply lurking around and seeing what is being asked or offered.

So, the riddle it is. The most likely starting point seems to be the "Dark King's bishop". The dark Amarr is a nickname for the Khanid, so I think this refers to King Khanid. Of course, there are many bishops in the Kingdom, none in particular associated with the royal court. Rather than bishops, it has been nobles from the court have been appointed to the theology council in the past. Some may remember that the accursed Sa-Baron Chakaid once got that post, but that resulted from a machination by that evil man.

Historically, it has been the Dukes of Youledian that took on the role of theological councilor to King Khanid. This is true today as it was yesterday: the current appointee of the Kingdom to the Theology Council, Duke Fayed, is again from house Youledian. 

The ducal palace, the seat of power of house Youledian, is on Arzanni VII. It has gardens and a ducal museum that can be visited. Time for a trip... with the interbus, given the nuisance of piracy lately.

Dark web relic trading

Besides the Talocan artifacts, the trade fair also gave me an entry point into the collectors' network. Only a small fraction were present - fairs like these need time to develop an international reputation - but it gives me a foot in the door.

I also have become aware of the existence of a "dark-web" trading server where insanely rich collectors bid on all sorts of art and artifacts. With the help of Gottin's lamp IT specialists, I set up an account under the name of Reliquarius, to snoop around a bit. 

I converted what I thought was a large amount of isk into the cryptocurrency that is used on the server. Apparently, the prizes being bid and asked are a few orders of magnitude larger... The items that I saw discussed thusfar are rare ship modules, enhanced by some strange mutations with Triglavian nanotechnology. I am yet to see any relics of interest.

And I am yet to see any trace of the Antiquarian.

Talocan life support cores

I have come to consider the enigmatic Talocan more and more as the teachers of the Jove, as a race that was more ancient and advanced even to them. Or, at the very least, to the Second Jove Empire - little is known about the first.

It is through my studies of the Takmahl, who have undeniable links to stolen holy relics of the Empire, that I started being interested in the Talocan as well. As a vanished civilization, the Takmahl are much younger than the Jove: they are a sickened offshoot of our own civilization. But what allowed them to thrive for a short while, was a cache of Talocan technology that they stumbled upon during their flight from Amarr.

At the rare item trade fair, a capsuleer by the callsign of Ninavask had put a large crate of Talocan items on their list of offerings. The crate contained what was labeled as life-support cores. Ninavask told me that they did not interface with modern technology, she had tried to see if they could be integrated but failed to find a useful purpose for them. How capsuleer-like to look at a rare artefact and wonder if it can be used to boost the performance of some ship module! She offered a ridiculously low price for the items - I doubled it as a token of my genuine interest and bought the lot.

To the academic mind, the objects present a unique opportunity to learn more about the ancient Talocan civilization, and in this case about the Talocan anatomy. For example, strange as it may seem, it is not even known today what kind of atmosphere the Talocan breathe - presumably oxygen-nitrogen, but what proportion? This may lead us to know more about their home world too. 

I have never read about anything remotely resembling these cores in the astro-archeological literature, so it is truly a special find, one probably that only capsuleer pilots in their reckless bouts of exploration can obtain. I am itching to study these more closely, and have contacted Hedion university to obtain some expert help.

Rare and collectible items

I am tired, but happy. It has been a bit of a scramble to try and arrange things for this trade fair in short time. But it all went smoothly.

There was a good mix of people from nearby and from far away, familiar faces and ones I had never seen before. It did attract the attention of collectors from the outer rim. The Antiquarian was not there, but perhaps the news of our successful trade fair will draw him next time we organize one.

One of my new contacts is part of an alliance that recently moved all its belongings over to another region. This great transmigration was in the news, as they tore down their old home after the move. Of course, everyone who has ever moved from one home to another knows that this is the time when you find back all sorts of stuff that you had forgotten about. And when you want to do a garage sale. 

Still, there were only few true relics on offer. Well, there was a large transaction of mortal remains, but these were not saintly body parts, uncorrupted by the passage of time. They were capsuleer corpses. No wonder that capsuleer corporations are advised to hire a human remains manager.

I have bought - and sold - some things as well. But that will be for tomorrow's log - for now sleep beckons. 

Trade fair preparations

The rare and collectible items item trade fair that I have been planning is finally taking shape, and will take place this Saturday, July 5th. A company specialized in organizing such fairs is handling practical matters such as registrations, badges, goodiebags, sponsoring and industry exhibition booths. Room for the trade exposition was rented at Tebu Amkhiman. 

Tebu Amkhiman, or "The Thousand Lights" is LUMEN's headquarters in the Mandate, located in Tanoo. From that center of operations, LUMEN built up industrial facilities and helped develop the economy of the Derelik region via the "Ammatar Mandate Revitalization Project" under the high patronage of Lord Ardishapur. 

This has worked very well, especially along the axis Gamis-Tanoo, which now has become one of the main tributary rivers to the great stream that is the Amarr-Jita silk road going through Sasta next to Tanoo.

So, while it has ready access to the great trade hubs, it is still somewhat off the beaten track, in a region where rare items are more easily found that heavily explored Domain, it seems a good location. Moreover, the station is a freeport, so that capsuleers from all over the cluster can easily come by.

Now, let us see how many relic collectors will show up. Perhaps it will even draw the fabled "Antiquarian", who is rumored to have the cluster's largest cabinet of wonders and rarities.

Riddle

Not only the names of the hidden relics, but also their hiding places are in code. Whereas for the names I could recognize one reference, for their locations I do not find any clue. Moreover, these are not given by a cipher, which might have been amenable to computational code-breaking, but described in a riddle:

In the guarded gardens of
the fallen temple of pride,
at the Dark King's bishop,
find the stench of sin.

That is the best I can make of translating the old language. The references must have meant something to the Tetrimon Order of the time. The only thing I can make of it is perhaps this "Dark King". I think it may refer to King Khanid, since the Khanid are sometimes colloquially referred to as the "dark Amarr". 

I will look into the clergy attending the Khanid court at the time of the Moral Reforms; perhaps a bishop fallen out of grace, or denouncing the Order of Saint Tetrimon?

Ink of Truth

Eureka! Finally I have arrived in the Vita at an account of the evacuation of the Council of Apostles' central archives. Much of the admnistrative documents and council proceedings were burned before the advancing Sarum troops could reach them, and many other manuscripts and relics were transported to safety in heroic missions skipping through enemy lines. 

The absconded relics are listed in code, using the ancient acronyms whose meaning got lost. But there is one old acronym I did recognise: AVSAP. The only reason I recognise it is because we came accross the same acronym in the asteroid monastery that I lived in for a long time before taking to space. My order was founded on the principles of Saint Aloysius of the Quill, and AVSAP refers to the holy Ink of Truth used by Saint Aloysius. It stands for "Atramentum Vertitatis Sancti Aloisii Pennae".

Let me try to explain the importance of this relic!

The Saint's writings are considered his miracle. In order to be canonized a Saint, you need either to be martyred or have performed a miracle. Aloysius died peacefully. Scholars generally agree that he passed away from a bleeding in the brain after hitting his head on a tree branch during a walk, being distracted as he was. The other option is miracles, and back in Aloysius' days these were supposed to be miraculous healings of incurable diseases. Or reviving dead trees or shrubs, that counts too. But Aloysius did neither of those things. 

So, it was very hard for Aloysius to be canonized according to the church law of that time. But even so, it was generally recognized that Aloysius should be regarded a saint, because his writings reflect God's truth so well and so clearly. Therefore, the theologians of that era took a revolutionary step: they concluded that Aloysius' writings should be considered the miracle for his canonization. It was the first time that this type of miracle, consisting only of a written work, was invoked for canonization.

But I digress.

The ink that Aloysius used was imbued with the miracle of his truthful writing. Something of his communion with God rubbed off on it, so to say. As a result, anyone using the ink will only be able to write truth with it. You can dip a quill in the ink, and try to write down a lie, but no ink will flow from the quill to the parchment. Only if you write truth, does the ink wet the parchment.

You can see how valuable this ink would be to any intelligence agency! To distinguish truth from falsehood about anything by using the Ink of Truth grants immense power to any faction in its possession. 

No wonder that the ink was confiscated and locked away very soon after Saint Aloysius' death. Over the centuries, the secret of its precise location was lost. Now, there might be a chance to find it!

Back to the books

The pirate season is up again. Capsuleer pirates seem to be very active and have the audacity to declare "wars" on us, loyal representatives of the Empire. It is scandalous that Concord allows these shenanigans. 

I will write them a strongly worded letter of complaint.

Anyway, the time does not seem auspicious for hauling precious relics around, so I am back to study and to translations of the Vita of Tetrimon IV. 

We have arrived at the point in the story where the most powerful Houses chose to side with the Emperor against the Apostles, and where the might of the Sarum fleet is turning the tide. The Council of Apostles is trying to hold the line, and is helped by the Order of Saint Tetrimon paladins. The story recounts heroic tales of the Order, probably a bit embellished. 

More disturbingly, it describes the Emperor and the Heir Houses as organizing a brutal power grab, and the Council of Apostles as defenders of the old ways, and of an Amarr that had become much less reliant on slavery. This heretic text is turning good and bad upside down.

Prayers of thanks

Today we celebrated Amarr's victory in the Drifter crisis, with prayers of thanks in Gottin's Lamp's chapel and a pilgrimage to the holy sites and monuments near Amarr.

Of special importance during this pilgrimage was our stop in Safizon, at the wreck of Empress Jamyl's titan. 

Jamyl I, who ruled before our current Empress Catiz, was assassinated by a Drifter fleet. Her body was never found, and the wreck of her flagship titan still lies smoldering in Safizon. So, it was especially fitting to visit it now, when for the first time we have dealt a really severe blow to the Drifters, as we reclaimed their home world. The first reclaimed world since the battle of Vak'Atioth!

Her death is not fully avenged, but at least now we can visit the site of her martyrdom with head held up high. With new confidence in our ability to defeat the Drifters, we prayed for her intercession with God to ask for guidance and continuing victories against the demonic Drifters.

We left a bouquet of flowers, with a ribbon reading "From LUMEN, in gratitude for the victory over the Drifters, YC127". 

Celebration

I am preparing a celebration of the Empire's conquest of Sanctified Vidette - we will have a prayer of thanks in the Chapel tomorrow, followed by a pilgrimage along some holy sites. 

I hope the celebration will not be marred by rumors of a secret den of sin in operation here in the 24th Imperial Crusade station in Mehatoor, apparently in an abandoned basilica in a lesser used part of the station. This was the subject of a fiery sermon by arch-deacon Tovaan, I was told. If it really exists, then I expect that the reverend mother Kahoudi and her team will be rooting out this evil.

Personally I have not heard any rumors about such place - but I will ask our pilots. I have noticed that whenever there is some sort of debauchery going on they somehow are always know what and where.