Call to action

We are all called to action by the Empress - to contibute in any way we can, within the boundaries of ones abilities, to the great goal of the Empire.

I had hoped for research assignments, but in stead I found heavily guarded and criminalized intel sites, combat missions for agents of the Empire, and mining. None of which I am any good at.

At least for the combat missions, I figured out a plan. I had only done level IV hauling missions before, so I turned to my good friend Gaun Arel, who has helped me often in the past when force was needed. He kindly agreed, always a paladin looking for a righteous quest. 

We met up in Dresi, and I did have some trouble finding an agent that was working today. They are all overworked from having too many faithful capsuleers take up missions all at once. But in the end, with a bit of insistance, a tired mrs. Dahyaron Lahara, agent for the Emperor Family, agreed to give me a level IV security assignment. 

The Indagatrix is not suitable for this, but during last year's "secret santa" someone gave me a tanky Stratios-class cruiser with armor repair systems, both in-ship and remote. 

The Stratios managed to tank the incoming fire using its armor repairer, and by moving relatively fast and staying far enough from the pirates. Gaun was clearly well trained for this sort of missions. The light of justice shone bright from large battleship lasers and his Paladin-class marauder melted the pirates without even a scratch on his armor. It was a sight to behold! 

Mrs. Lahara was pleased with the outcome, and I was pleased to have contributed to our common goal today.

Raspite mining

Mehatoor has not been that busy since the pirate incursions - there were at some point nearly 200 pilots here. At first I thought it was because Amarr is now only 8 jumps away.

But then it became clear they were all mining a new kind of ore, grade X Raspite. 

I had missed the morning news, and when I caught up with that, I found out that the Empress has called upon us all to work towards a glorious goal: the creation of a new trade hub, in Amarr. I have never very much liked Jita and its noise and its scammers and other shady figures... I am sure we can organize this in a more orderly manner here in the Empire.

And now Empress Catiz has ordained that it shall be so. Through the Deaconry of Economic Oversight, we shall set up a Blessed Exchange. 

Every Emperor or Empress puts their own mark on our history, and Empress Catiz I is definitely focusing on the economy - recently the opening of a trade consulate in Jita, constructing new gates to shorten trade routes, and now announcing a trade hub that might one day even eclipse the fabled Jita! Her Imperial Majesty's interests still bear the hallmark of House Tash-Murkon, and we stand all to profit from this. 

I am happy that also so many independent capsuleers heeded the Empress' call. The Raspite field was cleared in the blink of an eye...

Construction sites

The mystery of the construction site that I saw in Mehatoor, and a similar one I found in Kemerk, has been solved. I had already noticed that the finished gate from Yulai to Manifest had what looked like the remnants of such a construction site layout around it. My guess was that there would be also new gates in Mehatoor (and Kemerk).

This turns out to be right. The Empire will get new jump connections.

Sources tell me that the Mehatoor gate will connect to the Akes system, bringing down the Mehatoor-Amarr trip to 8 jumps through highsec (from the current 13 via highsec, or 10 via lowsec). 

If this turns out to be true, this is a substantial shortening of the supply lines from Domain to the warzone headquarters! And it will modify the "silk road" connecting Amarr to Jita, also shortening it by five jumps. I can imagine the pilots involved in hauling will throw a party.

The danger of transhumanism

Our library has drawn another researcher to our ranks - Stephanos Varkonis. He is investigating religious and sociological consequences of transhumanism, and working on his manuscipt "Theological Considerations of the Soul in the Age of Transhumanism", of which he showed me a first draft. At this stage it is mostly an ambitious outline, but it is already very exciting! 

And it is an extremely important thing to investigate. I need more than a couple of words to explain why I think that, so bear with me as I try to explain it below.

Technological progress throughout history has allowed us to overcome ever more limitations. Cave dwelling ancestors made clothing to overcome the limitations of our bodies to withstand cold. Monastic scholars developed glasses to correct eyesight failing with old age. Paladin-surgeons developed bionic legs to replace lost limbs during the global reclamation wars on Athra. 

Not only do we keep inventing new things to overcome our limitations, but we make the existing technology better: our "clothes" can now keep us safe in the cold of space, perception implants allow us to see things our eyes never could have seen, and cloning replaces not just our limbs but our entire bodies. 

We have changed so much that our cave dwelling ancestors may not even see us as humans, should we be transported back to their age and appear in front of them. Transhumanists embrace the vision that the human body and condition is something to be surpassed, and even transcended into a new evolutionary stage altogether, unrecognizable to the humans of the past.

But there is a grave danger in this. If we devalue the human body as a mere instrument that needs tinkering and improvement, then we implicitly rank human beings along certain dimensions: those that are stronger, faster, smarter, more beautiful versus those that are less so. This can lead to a disdain for those which have not reached the "transcended" or improved state, and therefore a condemnation of some lives as less useful and less desirable. Those are the lives most in danger from technological progress, as they will bear the burdens of the sacrifices to be made in the name of progress. When the most vulnerable among us become the victims of progress, the transhuman program has turned against humanity. 

Indeed, the very hallmark of humane thought is that it considers the vulnerable to be valuable! Consider for a moment that which is truly precious to you in your life. Is it not true that those things of true value are vulnerable? They are not to be repaired or augmented, they are cherished exactly because they are defenseless. 

Transhuman or posthuman thought must never lose sight of the value of vulnerability. The way to achieve that is by pairing the technological advances at all times with equal advances in the sphere of religion and morality. And that is why Varkonis' book is timely, necessary and important.

Interview

I do not like to be in the limelight, so when Haapsalu from the LUMEN News gazette asked to get an interview for a piece on capsuleer ship crews, my instinct was to decline.

While casually chatting with mr. Firth, I mentioned Haapsalu's message. I could see some cogwheels turn in mr. Firth's mind, and indeed he quickly saw in it an opportunity to promote the practice of having political officers among the crew. 

It is common practice on non-capsuleer ships and mandatory on non-capsuleer military vessels of the Empire. Political officers complement the military expertise of the captain with their doctrinal expertise, and make sure that actions are not going against Ministry of Internal Order directives. They also keep an eye on the crew's activities and morale.

But it is very uncommon on capsuleer ships. Somehow this tradition never took a hold among us pilots. Perhaps because some even fly without a crew altogether, at least for the smaller ships. 

The Ministry would like that to change, and realizes this sort of change cannot be imposed on the independent-minded folk that capsuleers are. So, the next best thing is to promote it through various channels like news outlets.

And so, I was slightly pushed into doing the interview anyway...

War clones

The riddle of the new alphabet seems to have been solved. The symbols that dr. Cornelius brought to me, and that decrypted to a passage from Epitoth, is not an ancient script. He, and a pilot named Elinore en Divalone found the full code, and the symbols can now be considered as confirmed.

It appears to be linked to the so-called "war clones". Rumor has it that this alphabet is in use both by Upwell and by the war clones. It is easily stamped or templated, and it has a standardized square shape. So it would indeed match military-industrial needs.

Upwell is using cloning technology to give workers a new body and boost industry, and it is no surprise that this technology also found military applications. The same is being done with soldiers: uploading them to upgraded clone bodies, and then treating these bodies as disposable tools to be used up on missions - the war clones. It is not a good evolution. We have seen that in capsuleers this sort of immortality leads to worsening moral standards. 

Cloning has always had a bit of a strained relation to Amarr culture. The Theology Council says it is not a sin, and the soul is transferred too, during a clone jump. But there is a tension with the Doctrine of the Sacred Flesh, which states that the members of a Royal family should not be clones. 

Now, in principle God could elevate any of the faithful to become a member of a Royal house, or even to the station of Emperor. Even though it is always extremely unlikely, provided you remain in your original flesh it is not impossible. There is a feeling that by cloning one closes off any possibility of such a miracle. We as capsuleers are often not aware enough of this sentiment that lives among non-capsuleers, and that makes them think twice before installing even a medical clone. 

((ooc attribution of the alphabet picture: this ooc forum thread))

Epikouria Chronicles XII

I received another letter - just a short one - from brother Hugo in Epikouria.

I think he is disappointed at my refusal to help his friends of the White Paladins. His letter re-iterates the heresies of the planetside dwellers, the Originals, and he exhorts me to support those who want to restore Amarrian rule on at least one planet.

He writes that he has contacted someone else, another capsuleer pilot who is more devoted to the task of helping the White Paladins. That pilot has apparently already reached out to Publius, and is planning a meeting to discuss rights to visit Epikouria. Brother Hugo contrasts this pilot's eagerness to my refusal and makes a lot of reproaches.

He also writes of another eviction attempt that was thwarted, by the same group that tried it before. Again, friends showed up to help, the Knights of Soliara as well as allies from the Dronelands regions. They are getting more products from that region into Epikouria, especially from Malpais nowadays it seems. Power has been shifting in the Dronelands regions, but wormhole corporations still retain a footing in that part of space.

It is clear from his letter that brother Hugo expected another response from me. Still, I remain convinced that we should not yet interfere in what has now become, for better or for worse, an autonomous system in wormhole space.

Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:

I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

VII. A suspicion of heresy

VIII. Pop-up church

IX. Intercultural fair

X. White Paladins

XI. Reactionary uprising

Script

I had the pleasure of having dr. Fritte Cornelius over for a visit. He did not simply make a social call - he brought a riddle. He had come across some ancient alphabet or code.

The symbols are not pictograms or icons or hieroglyphs. For that, there are not enough different ones. They are not phonemes or syllable tokens either: there are the same number as in a regular alphabet. By frequency analysis and decryption algorithms, the different symbols were found to correspond to letters in our own alphabet:

The greyed out letters are uncertain, and inferred from similarities found in a different sets of letter symbols. It could be a block script, usually encountered in either primitive civilizations who use square wooden or lead blocks (or potatoes, even) that are carved, then inked and then pressed on paper or stamped. Straight lines are easier to carve than curved ones, hence the absence of curvy lines or wiggles.

The other possibility is a spray-template font. For those the idea is that the places where the ink should come are cut out of a template; the template is placed over the surface to be written on, and the paint is applied over the template. This is used in military or mercantile applications: crates or equipment can be easily marked via spraying paint on such a template.

The idea then is that the letters are such that the template should not fall apart. The only non-grey letters that give a problem in that respect are the H and G form: they have a little white triangle inside the green that is not connected to the rest of the white, at least not clearly visible. None of the other letters have disconnected white pieces.

So, either block stamp letters or spray paint template letters, and an alphabet with possibly only 21 symbols if the grey ones are not present. The only other clue is the text that dr. Cornelius came across: a quote from Epitoth: "Their power being mighty and their presence potent the people were wise not to look too closely upon them." 

That seems to suggest it might be some alphabet from somewhere in the Empire. There have been many over its various millennia and its vast space. A quick first search reveals no match, though...

Treason!

I have been doing some hacking during my usual search for relics, and bringing in warpath information to the Ministry of Internal Order and the Ministry of War. Whenever I find one of these Minmatar listening posts, the Indagatrix's political officer urges me to do my duty. He assures me that my contributions will be noted.

Today, I received a mail from Sword Marshal Sirdan Xer Qosh. It read:

Hostilities between the Amarr Empire and the Minmatar Republic have escalated with more conflict zones emerging across high security space. As a result, your continued involvement in the defense of the Republic during this Warpath Crisis will be rewarded with fast-tracked access to blueprint copies of the new Navy Issue destroyers.

The boldface is mine. 

First, I was terrified. Am I being accused of treason? How shall I clear my name?

Next, I was even more terrified. Is the Sword Marshal himself a traitor, delivering the Empire to its worst enemies? Encouraging me to help the terrorist rebels? Ironically trying to bribe me - who has sworn an oath of non-violence - with a destroyer warship? 

In panic, I went to mr. Ivan Firth. After he helped me calm down with some breathing exercises, I could explain my predicament. He was stunned at first, but after a bit of communication with the Ministry, he told me this was an unfortunate error. These kind of mails are not sent by his excellence Lord xer Qosh himself, it would not be befitting for someone of his station to communicate with commoners directly. The mails are sent by his office, prepared and then sent by some clerk to large groups of capsuleers.

Tonight I thank God that I am not this clerk.

Spring cleaning

Cardinal Dex has answered my mail and has accepted to visit the Lamp's Chapel! The date is not fixed yet, but it is not every day that we have a cardinal over for a visit, and everything has to be perfect. 

I have requested urgent quotes from several parquet servicers and woodworkers, to make sure the woodwork of the chapel will be polished and scratches are repaired. Mittens has been using one of the pews as a scratching post, despite the fact that I have a cat scratching post from a famous brand at home.

The gold filigree on the altar cloth is a bit dull, and also the blood stain from that time Ishta pinned a sedevacantist to the altar with a knife never really got washed out completely, so I ordered a new altar cloth with same-day delivery. Janitorial crew is scratching the wax drippings from the candle racks and the floor, and is polishing the chalices. 

In his answer, Cardinal Dex also explained his plans for the Providence Theological Seminary. I am impressed at the scale that he has in mind! Our local congregation is not small, but the Providence seminary will -when finished- be a place of learning for up to two million students from all over that region. It would be nice to have our library accessible to the seminary students remotely, so I will also give the cardinal a tour there.

My own interest is more about a seminary specifically for capsuleers - for the peregrinan members of LUMEN that want to learn more about the faith. For now I have been working with each pilot who expressed interest individually, working out a personalized trajectory. But perhaps we can come up with a common learning plan and common resources rather than my ad-hoc improvisations...