New bloodshed in Vak'Atioth

There is a rumble, like faraway thunder, coming from the outer worlds: the barbarian kingdoms are at war again. 

There are always skirmishes: without the light of faith, the poor souls out there are condemned to live in a violent darkness where they hold violent, dark convictions. 

This time around the bloodshed was worse than ever before. The various warlords have aggregated into two large coalitions that battled it out in Vak'Atioth at the edge of the Jovian regions. Countless lives and trillions of isk were lost. Titan-class ships were ripped to shreds in a cruel death dance involving -it is claimed- ten thousand capsuleer pilots.

The news of fresh bloodshed in Vak'Atioth gives me cold chills, as probably it does to many Amarr. 

In this system, our Empire suffered a historic defeat at the hands of the Jove. That defeat paused our expansion into the universe. It also led to the opportunistic rebellion of the Minmatar, a rebellion that is causing pain and death enduring to this day. 

It is as if all the evil from the battle of Vak'Atioth first spread through the cluster as a disease, gaining strength, only to refocus now back to Vak'Atioth through some strange alignment of fate.

Help with the atlas project

My mapping project has gotten kind support from mr. Ché Biko, a diplomat who sometimes visits Gottin's Lamp. He has connections to the Arataka Research Consortium, and gave me access to the Consortium's archive of holographic pictures of the sky as seen from various regions in the cluster. 

Together with the data from the Imperial Astronomical Society at Hedion University, I now have plenty of images to go by. 

Theoretically I could compute how the sky and the nebulae of various regions would appear through a Sanctified Vidette wormhole, but I think especially here it is still worthwhile to image the real thing, with all its sources of noise and instabilities. Also for some remote nebulae, I may still want to search for higher resolution imagery; perhaps in those cases indeed there is still value in collecting one's own images. 

But certainly this kind gift has cut back the amount of work, and I will not need to expose myself to as much danger in the outer worlds of the cluster.

Cloud Atlas

Apparently I have a reputation of being an expert in Sactified Vidette wormholes.

I have been commissioned to create an atlas of the wormholes there, for all different regions in the cluster.

Each region's typical night sky appears in a distorted way through the wormhole, on the other side, allowing pilots to see where it is leading to before actually traversing it. While the image is heavily distorted, our cluster's nebulae can still be made out distinctively. Even the direction from which a nebula is viewed alters its aspect. Take for example the Kor-Azor nebula as seen from Khanid:

It has a "coeur d'azure" or azure heart, surrounded by a brownish shell. The blue-sky colored center of the nebula is clearly visible from the Kor-Azor region where it dominates the celestial dome, and some say House Kor-Azor got its name from it. But when you look at the same nebula from Genesis, it looks more like a cup or cauldron:

You no longer see the blueish center part of the cup because you look at it edge-on rather than from the top. So, to embark on my commission I will have to start with making a "cloud atlas" of the twelve different nebulae of our cluster, and after that match each with the views from the Vidette wormholes.

Presidential candidates pay homage to the Empire

Capsuleer fickleness. Well, I guess it is for the better that the wedding annulment has been annulled. I am happy that lady Ashland and lady-consort Blackwind seem to have patched up their relation. Personally, I blame the slaver tooth necklace, it being a bad luck charm.

While around Amarr, I have noted another increase in pilgrims. To Emperor Doriam II's memorial, and to empress Jamyl I's statue and the Mekhios graveyard. 

This time around, I am wary - I do not let my heart jump of joy at the sight of hit-and-run-pilgrims any more. Indeed, after asking around a bit I received confirmation that this is again part of the Gallente election tour. 

The candidates - all three of them! - not only urge their capsuleer supporters to visit the Eve Gate, which can be considered a space phenomenon beyond borders, but they also bring them closer to Amarr, to our memorials. This is very good news, and can only signal the willingness of each of the three candidates to collaborate more closely with the Empire. At the least, it is a show of respect. No wonder that the Empress has reciprocated, and that she is not preferring one candidate over the other.

It is also a very big snub from the Federation to the Republic. 

The tour does not pass by any Minmatar system. And the choice of visiting the Mekhios graveyard is a clear condemnation of the Elder Fleet and of the Minmatar agression. Official election tour visits to the memorial are an expression of support for the Amarr side of our enduring conflict. It also signals a strengthening of the new Entente between our empires, and the deepening rift between the Federation and the Republic. 

Perhaps the day that the Federation presents excuses for their support of the Elders and even aids us in bringing the Defiants to justice is not too far away!

Trouble in paradise

Bad news never comes alone. After finding that confession did not help mr. Quirinus, I am now confronted with a marriage annulment by lady Ashland. And this only a few weeks after it has been officiated! 

I am not even sure all the paperwork is properly processed by the Amarr Civil Service, and this spells trouble. What if the marriage paperwork ends up on the desk of a slow -or let us say very busy- clerk, whereas the annulment paperwork finds its way to a relatively empty desk of a fast clerk? The latter may annul the annulment on the basis that there was no wedding registered yet, after which the former will end up registering the marriage at a later point. 

Even if it is all processed in the correct order, there will still be an official pauze in the annulment, since there needs to be a minimum time (I think it is nine months) between both. It can be sooner, but that requires the couple follows marriage counseling first. 

I will try to offer that service as LUMEN's chaplain.

I worry about the reasons for this break-up. If it is merely capsuleer fickleness or the revelation of a past lover, that can probably be mended. But perhaps something more perfidious has happened? Hopefully it is not something that could cast doubt on the sincerity of lady-consort Jade Blackwind's conversion? I also hope that he horrible Gallente tabloid person is not still around for this.

Capsuleer insanity

I thought mr. Quirinus was better after confession. He really resolved to stand fast against the temptation to publicly proclaim himself Emperor, and he saw the error of his ways.

That did not last long.

Upon my return from my explorations, unfortunately I found that mr. Quirinus has lapsed back into his prideful and sinful thoughts. 

Perhaps it is a form of madness. One that is not curable by confession and meditation. It is said that when capsuleers clone too often, and perhaps use those cheaper clone bays, errors creep into their infomorph, accumulate over time, and turn them insane. Often this expresses itself in delusions of grandeur. And, contrary to non-capsuleer humans, there is little help to be expected - they cannot be confined for a period of time to a mental sanatorium to heal.

I am afraid I can not help mr. Quirinus any further. Perhaps the best we can do is help channel his madness towards a good purpose? If he would indeed focus his efforts in building a chapel or a church in some faraway place, it might still benefit him as well as the Empire.

Tests concluded

I performed an array of tests and measurements, at specified times, not knowing what exactly is going on. I had to rely on my speed of probing and scanning, and warping around to different signatures.

Although I am not informed as to the true purpose, I can always wager a bet and put this in relation to what I heard and learned during my visit to the Amarr Navy research complex here in Sanctified Vidette. I think that our scientists are building devices to control the number and type of "static" wormholes in wormhole systems. 

This would revolutionize life in Anoikis, and impact colonies such as our own Seclusion, and Publius' colony Epikouria. The different classes of wormhole systems have very different properties, and generally higher class wormholes are deemed to lead to more dangerous but more profitable space, as these higher classes appear to have better preserved Sleeper ruins. 

For example, at this point the odds of finding connections from a class-four wormhole system straight to high security Empire space are fairly low, and no statics allow this. That is why residents of these higher class systems have to find an ever-shifting route trough lower-class type systems often. Controlling this directly would give the Empire a great edge in the reclamation of Anoikis.

With the tests (and my services as hauler and scanner) concluded in Sanctified Vidette, I will return to the Empire. Perhaps I will check in with Quirinus in Amarr to see how he is doing.

Conservation laws

In physics there is a deep connection between conserved quantities and symmetries. A symmetry is a kind of transformation that leaves the system that you are considering unchanged. Perhaps the system you are considering can be viewed from any angle, so-called rotational symmetry. Well, this turns out to lead to conservation of angular momentum.

Some conserved quantities are local, meaning that they can be computed at any given spot (such as the amount of energy) and the only way that it changes is when there's a current of that quantity flowing away or into that local spot.

There's some conserved quantities that can only be computed globally, taking into account all of space in a given system. They're called topological invariants, as you can deform space and bend it around, the quantity will remain constant. Think of the number of holes in a surface - as long as you continuously deform the surface and not tear it, the number of holes remains constant. I am sure you have seen somewhere the animation of a donut deforming into a coffee cup.

It turns out that also for wormholes in space there is a conserved quantity. It is not obvious in our own cluster, since wormholes appear and disappear at random. But in Anoikis systems, there are special types of wormholes whose number remain constant. They are called statics. In Seclusion, there is always one wormhole to highsec space in our cluster, and one wormhole to a class-1 other Anoikis system. When they expire, another one has to respawn. They are topological invariants of the system in question.

You can only change these numbers by breaking the symmetry associated with the conserved quantity. 

That is exactly what the Talocan figured out and exploited to make their wormhole network. It is  mimicked in the Nexus device to fill up Drifter homeworlds with static wormholes. And now, it appears to be our turn to figure out exactly what this symmetry is and how it can be manipulated. 

Delivery

I have delivered the crates to the Imperial Navy research complex in Sanctified Vidette. With its many stations and shipyards it looks as impressive as always, and the security is intense. The Indagatrix was continuously scanned and was searched both before and after the cargo was taken out of the hold.

This time (as a 'thank you' in stead of loyalty points) I got a short tour inside the Nexus Research Facility, where Drifter technology is taken apart and studied. While everything here is under strict security measures, as typical for scientists and academics among each other there is some pride in showing at least part of your research, I guess.

I have been asked to monitor the wormholes and keep key statistics during a specific time window (to be announced just minutes in advance). My guess is that they will perform an experiment then. 

From what I could make out from enthusiast scientists is that there are some ideas about how the Drifters can manipulate or emulate Talocan technology that has an impact on the presence of wormholes. There is an underlying mechanic giving rise to such a large number of wormholes in one system, no doubt related to the presence of Talocan artefacts in Thera, and to the Nexus device in Drifter systems.

Mission

Mr. Firth has already another mission for me. The Ministry appears to be aware of my expertise in wormhole scanning in Sanctified Vidette, and is in need of my services.

I wanted to object and point out that the goal of a political officer on a ship is not to set the course or determine the mission, but rather it is to guide the pilot in always acting in the best interests of the Empire. The choice of mission remains the pilot's prerogative. A political officer works in the background, much like a conscience that assists the mind's decisions.

But then, at the same time, I am due obedience to the Ministry of Internal Order. 

Also, I am actually curious as to what that mission could be. 

For now I must however work on a "need to know" basis. The first task was to pick up cargo at Hedion University, which has been brought to the Court Chamberlain bureau in Hedion. The cargo, in sealed containers, is using nearly all the space in the Indagatrix's cargo hold. Whatever is in there is affecting the ship's systems, it seems to have more trouble getting into warp.

Now, I am looking for a convenient entrance wormhole.