The Amarr Sector

-continued from yesterday's log-

The first Amarr station that one encounters is in the Steadfast system, a Tash-Murkon trade post. God always choses the Emperor or Empress for a reason, and it looks as if now we are due for some additional trade and prosperity, with our current Empress coming from a more mercantile House. The Tash-Murkon colors give the station a palette that lacks a bit in gold but will be quite reassuring to those who want to make good deals.

The first system in the Amarr sector is Adaz, home of an Emperor Family Bureau station. That is where I decided to make the delivery. It is a fine selection of books to hand out to new pilots joining our efforts, in order to enamor them of Amarr ships and technology. 

I traveled around the Amarr sector, and was happy to find a Hedion University station. Various other institutes in our sector have stations and outposts here. I was surprised to find a Navy Anchorage that again reminded me of what has recently been built in Mehatoor. A very similar station is found in Taikud:

There is something odd about space here. It lacks the usual anomalies - they are either very easy-to-scan training ones, or level V signatures that turn out to be the usual level I anomalies. And, quite to my surprise, there are no wormholes here. This region of space must have remained disconnected from the Talocan wormhole network. 

It is neatly divided up into the central area managed by Concord, and the four sectors, each controlled by one of the four core powers. On my way back, as I left the Amarr sector, I saw a hastily put-up sign warning people:

I'm sure this is something temporary, part of the overall constuction getting this region ready to host freshly licensed pilots soon.

Manifest

 -continued from yesterday's log-

The mystery of the new construction sites may have been solved in Yulai. There, the new jump gate into Exordium is located at a construction site similar to (but not the same as) the ones in Kemerk and Mehatoor. It is dissimilar in that it is not the Empire building something, but Concord, and it is also in the process of being cleared up again. Nevertheless it bore a close enough resemblance that I am now convinced that the things being constructed are new jump gates.

I wonder where the one in Mehatoor will lead to. And Kemerk? It was probably chosen so the Empire will have a better connection to Yulai and Exordium. We shall see.

The Yulai gate leads to he very heart of the Exordium constellation, a star system called Manifest. Also there, the construction is not yet complete: a vast AIR station is in the making, still wrapped in scaffolding, with building materials in containers next to it, and little welding bobs and carry-all drones darting around.

It is already possible to dock in the station, but the inside of the station is not finished either - it is also still covered in scaffolding. Construction materials clutter the station, and there is a relentless activity of drones and workers welding, painting, putting in wiring or tubing, installing or removing machinery, the sound of which barely drowns out the shouts of contractors panicking about deadlines.

Making the wormhole map has gotten me interested in the nebulae that one sees in the different regions. So I warped to some spot away from moons or planets that might obstruct the view. All four of the core nebula are visible in the sky, with Verge Vendor appearing largest. All in all, the sky here looks like in Sinq Laison. That's not too surprising, since the stars of Exordium are located quite close to that region.

There is not much to do yet in Manifest, and I got the impression that though welcome in the AIR station I was mostly standing in the way of the construction workers. So, Urad and I headed out towards the Amarr part of Exordium.

-to be continued-

Book delivery fleet

I am curious about Exordium, the new region that has been opened up for exploration. The Empire has already claimed its share of systems there. AIR plans to use the whole region for its training programs for new capsuleers - and the Concord powers did not object to this, given the relatively low strategic and mining value of the region.

There are various stations there already, among them an Emperor Family Bureau station in Adaz and also Hedion University opened a branch, in Mazor. Since a few days they are open for business, and I think it is a good place for various corporations of our alliance to open offices. 

Any LUMEN main office should also have a library annex, with books of interest to new capsuleers. Textbooks on Amarr cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships. Handbooks on energy turrets of all sizes. Reference works on boosting armor resistances. Everything for new capsuleers to learn about the most capable ships in the cluster, and avoid weapon systems not based on light (Khanid missile systems are fine too). 

And because it should not all be about spaceship skills, also a bunch of Pax Amarrias.

So, I decided to indulge my curiosity and do something useful at the same time: deliver books to Exordium's Amarr space. I went up to Yulai first, since the only gate to the entire Exordium region is located there. I was joined by Urad Gula, in a confessor-class destroyer - he had already been to Exordium, and very kindly provided an armed escort to keep the book shipment safe.

On the way from Girani-Fa to Yulai, I noticed something interesting in Kemerk: another new construction site. One completely similar to the one in Mehatoor that I wrote about in yesterday's log! I can understand reinforcements in Mehatoor, given the escalating war, but Kemerk?

-to be continued-

Not just us

It is not only LUMEN that is expanding its presence in Mehatoor with new stations. Our alliance built new structures over the past year.

Also the Imperial Navy has been adding strongholds, such as this one close to the inner lava planet.

Those navy installations have been built fairly recently, and are now more busy than ever. And now there appeared a new construction site too that I had not seen before!

It is not clear what is being constructed, and when I was inquiring I was told to move along. 

I suspect that this is related to the worsening of the relations between the empires and the low-key warfare that is going on all over the cluster. It is not too surprising that Mehatoor as the Navy headquarters is getting reinforcements. 

Mehatoor will soon become a fortress system the likes of which have not been seen since the Traumark Installation. That too was a realization of House Tash-Murkon, the royal line which has given us Empress Catiz. This time, for fortress Mehatoor, the Navy fleets will be bolstered by the presence of the brave LUMEN capsuleer pilots!

Wormhole Atlas

With all the data collected from Sanctified Vidette, I have completed the wormhole map. It can be downloaded from this galnet link (large size to zoom and scroll) or viewed right here:

When you encounter a wormhole, you can view it more closely using the "look at" command on the neocom, and rotate the view about. For wormholes leading back to the known systems and regions of our cluster, you will see a distorted and upside-down picture of the sky in the destination system. Even though it is distorted, it is usually possible to discern images of some of the twelve main nebulae in our cluster.

Once you learn to distinguish the nebulae, you can figure out to which region the wormhole leads without having to jump through. For example, take a look at this wormhole:

It sports the Vapor Sea nebula and the Cauldron. In the chart above, you can identify four regions that show just those two nebulae if you zoom in on the chart: 

The relative size of the visible nebulae matters: in Kor-Azor, the Cauldron dominates, while from Querious the Cauldron is tiny. The only region where they are both medium-sized is Khanid. That is the region to which this wormhole will lead. The thickness of the lines in the chart and the example pictures shown of the wormholes will help you identifying the destination.

Some regions are particularly hard to distinguish, like Tenal and Venal, or Paragon Soul and Period Basis. But those are usually regions with relatively few star systems, close to each other at the edge of the map. 

I will probably use this as a reference from time to time, so here I include links to some other resources that can be useful to the explorer: explainer on scan probe strength and pinpointing, wormhole spawn mechanics, some scanning tips, and of course a brief (lore) history of Anoikis.

Theological Seminary

I noticed a message from Cardinal Kahar Dex on the galnet forums. The cardinal's see is in Providence, where the Curatores Veritates Alliance is projecting the Empire's power. I think his cathedra used to be in X6AB-Y, the Providence Monastery Cathedral. That information may be outdated, given the tumultuous history of the Curatores during the last couple of years.

In this letter, Cardinal Dex remarks that many who serve the Curatores in Providence wish to deepen their faith. It is a phenomenon not unknown to LUMEN! In the Societas, one of the major corporations in the alliance, we welcome capsuleers from all parts of the cluster as long as they abide by the laws of the Empire and are willing to assist us in our service the the Empress. There is no requirement that they have had a religious upbringing. 

Of course, during the course of their work with us, many get to know our faith and start they journey to join the faithful. We call those peregrinans, wanderers. I help them on their journey and for some, it results in conversion. 

I work case by case, but it seems that in the past Cardinal Dex has worked out a curriculum, and taught it at a theological seminary. Now that CVA has re-taken the marches of Providence from the barbarians, he plans to re-establish the Providence Theological Seminary. That seems to me a great opportunity, also for our peregrinans, to follow specific courses and work towards specific goals. I would be happy to learn more about it, and I wonder if my amateur-expertise in capsuleer conversions can be useful to the Seminary.

I have sent a letter to his eminence Cardinal Dex, inviting him to our humble chapel and library to discuss these matters.

Jubilee gifts

Now that I am back in the quiet sanctuary for the mind that is our library, I have completed the wormholes-and-clouds atlas. 

My commission allows me to re-use the data and images that I gathered for my own projects. I have decided to turn this into a commemorative piece for the Empress' jubilee. Rather than a panegyric reviewing all the great deeds of our blessed Empress during the ten years of her reign, I can focus on the particular achievement of the conquest of Vidette.

Like many other Amarrians, I will send in a gift to the Emperor Family Academy. They collect all these gifts, going from school children's drawings over simple produce by humble farmers to poems by writers and to lavishly gilded treasures gifted by noble Holders. Every year people honor the Empress in a way that suits their station, but this year is special as it is a jubilee.

The grand celebration is set for the anniversary of Her ascension to the Throne, September 27th. So, I will be well in time - a nice change for someone with an innate tendency to treat a deadline as a motivation to get started.

Outsourcing

To my surprise the State will relinquish control of the day-to-day running and safeguarding of the trade hub of Jita to third parties, Concord and Evermore. 

That just shows how much outsourcing has become dogma in some corporate circles. 

It is rarely a good way to save ISK - perhaps it looks like that at first, but in the end I think it often turns out either more expensive, or less qualitative. And with Evermore involved, it looks as if some jobs of system management will go to artificial intelligence. 

Trade consulates will be opened. The post of consul will be important, and no doubt many vie for the honor. It might have gone to House Kor-Azor, given their tradition of diplomacy. But in the end it went to House Tash-Murkon, which is a wise decision given their long mercantile tradition. The republic too is sending some clan elders from the Sebiestor tribe. 

But here comes the second surprise. The Federation is not sending any career diplomat or government legate. They will be represented by... the Quafe company! I think will never understand democracy. 

Well, it is not unprecedented. Some thirty-odd years ago, Quafe representatives negotiated a deal between the Empire and the Federation, to resolve a clash that we had over the Girani-Fa system. Back then, we trusted the Quafe company because Amarr is the largest consumer market among the four core empires, so Quafe has a real interest in fostering good relations between the Empire and the Federation. 

Fun with statistics

Previously, dr. Fritte Cornelius and I made observations that confirmed that the wormholes of Sanctified Vidette spawn according to a uniform distribution drawn from all Jove observatory systems. The research was written up in a research report.

But that observation is perhaps no longer true after the changes, since capsuleers have to trigger the wormhole appearance. Hence the uniform distribution can be distorted by capsuleers' behavior, which may differ from region to region. I set out to do the analysis again - with a more limited amount of data.

Nevertheless, over my recent observations in Sanctified Vidette, I have catalogued 275 wormholes (mostly before 22:00 New Eden standard time, and during the second half April). The observed numbers of highsec, lowsec and nullsec holes, and the expected values based on the uniform distribution are listed below:

Nullsec:    observed = 189, expected = 175
Lowsec:    observed = 46, expected = 45
Highsec:    observed = 40, expected = 55

The number of nullsec holes is somewhat high, but still quite within what you would expect to see by chance. The number of lowsec holes is perfectly ordinary and in line with expectations. But the number of highsec holes is indeed significantly lower! The overall observed distribution does seem to deviate from what existed before [1].

From this, I would tentatively conclude that capsuleers in nullsec regions are a little bit more likely than average to breach wormholes to Sanctified Vidette, perhaps to look for bridges to the Empire worlds. The denizens of highsec, however, are quite more risk-averse than average and tend to jump less into unidentified wormholes [2]. 

Perhaps this is not all to surprising, but it is still nice to see it reflected in the data. And with more data, this can be refined to statistics for smaller regions, and allow to detect movement of troops or material by groups using the Drifter wormholes. The Imperial Navy will be pleased to hear this.

Today's footnotes are for the statistics afficionados:

[1] Statistical note: using a multinomial model (with probabilities 0.63618, 0.16261 and 0.20058 for null, low, and highsec) the p-value for an outcome this far or farther from the model is still p=0.10 (chi-square of 4.6, with 2 degrees of freedom). While this indicates that the outcome is unusual, the deviation may not yet be confidently called significant.

[2] Also this can be quantified, using Bayesian inference. Let's say I am looking for the conditional probability P(breach|HS) that a Drifter wormhole is breached by capsuleers, given that it is in highsec. The number I observe in Vidette gives me the probability P(HS|breach) that a Drifter wormhole originated in highsec, given that it was already breached (otherwise it would not have appeared in Vidette). Bayesian inference then tells me:

P(breach|HS) = P(HS|breach) . P(breach)/P(HS)

Here, P(HS)=0.20, the probability of that a Jove observatory system is in highsec, and P(breach) is the probability that any Drifter hole is breached, estimated as the average number of wormholes in Vidette divided by the maximum - here I take it 40/60 based on observation (obviously the result just scales with this value). Following the Bayesian inference formula above, the outcome for highsec, lowsec and nullsec are:

P(breach|HS) = 0.48
P(breach|LS) = 0.69
P(breach|NS) = 0.72

These are the estimated probabilities that a capsuleer has breached a Drifter wormhole (by 22:00 NEST), per region. 

Blessing of a private chapel

Yesterday, I was called upon to bless a shrine. In order to be recognized as a holy place where also visitors can come to pray, private shrines need to be blessed by a member of the clergy. It is a part of the ministry that I do not get to do very often, and that makes it extra nice. 

Noble Houses or guilds or even rich commoners try to have their own side-altar in a cathedral, or their own shrine or chapel in their home. Sadly, cathedral side-altars become status symbol sometimes, a way to show off wealth or power. Major cathedrals become very crowded with these family or guild altars, and often there are multiple services going on at the same time. Before the invention of portable sound dampening fields, our cathedrals were as noisy as a Jita pachinko game hall.

Private shrines at home are more quiet (although they too can be used to brag by displaying precious relics or artwork). The shrine I had the pleasure to bless was clearly not to brag, but built for devotion. It is dedicated to Saint (and emperor) Amash-Akura, and I brought an old copy of Epitoth as a gift. The shrine sports the color of a noble House, but apart from that its main decoration is a tasteful bust of Amash-Akura. 

I have promised to keep the name of the builder and owner of the shrine private, but it is a pity really, as this would be a nice place for pilgrims to visit.

((ooc attribution: church interior, painting by Marten van Valckenborch, active period 1599-1612. Major cathedrals in north-west Europe could house well over 50 private altars, all holding at least one mass per week, so it could get crowded and loud!))