Astrometrics

My little retreat in New Eden comes to an end, I must return to Mehatoor. I came out of concern about the Equilibrium of Mankind's obvious interest in the gate, but found no trace of them.

I did find a single trace of Takmahl, but a single artifact is not enough proof that there was ever an expedition.

I did do some triangulations of the Gate again. A previous attempt from within New Eden only revealed that the Gate is more than 6000 AU away from the star.

But now that the Gate has become visible from Promised Land, the neighboring system, a better determination is possible. Our ship's sensors now seem able to pick up its image there, but not in Central Point or Canard, the next nearest systems. Only thing visible in Canard is White Sky pirates picking on lost Gate tourists.

This is how it looks like from Promised Land (near the New Eden Gate, also visible in the screenshot):

The New Eden star is also indicated in the picture. Using the tactical display, it's possible to determine the angle between New Eden and the Gate as seen from Promised Land (about 15 degrees). Similarly, the angle between Promised Land and the Gate can be measured from New Eden. Given the distance of slightly over one light year between New Eden and Promised Land, it is then straightforward to get the distance between New Eden and the Gate.

Result: about a quarter of a light year. Much less than the servant sisters lead us to believe. 

A caveat. I've noticed that our display distorts space, especially in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the tactical display. This could affect the measurement, but I don't think it would be to a point that we'd get to the three light years suggested by the Sisters. I'll be sharing my findings with the Kor-Azor science outpost recently installed in New Eden.

Off course

Today, after my measurements of Eve Gate activity, I decided to drop by Goner Sarachem. He was again in his corvette flying to the gate at subwarp speeds, and sometimes I like to journey with him for a little while.

I found him more unresponsive than usually, and what worried me most, he was not flying towards Eve Gate! How has he gotton off course? I checked my astrometry, and it was no optical illusion, he was flying in a wrong direction. 

I tried to grasp his attention by orbiting his ship and by sending out communications. Even bumping his ship didn't wake him. He must have been in very deep meditation.

That, or he was drunk driving today.

Encounters

There's something special about the capsuleers that one meets in New Eden. They're not doing their usual activities - be it battle or industry. Rather, they're searching something. Sometimes they're trying to find out something about themselves. 

Like professor Moriarty. I met him here a while ago and now that he's no longer in New Eden I kind of miss him.

But still I'm having nice and interesting conversations. A man who plans to see all the sights in the cluster, and has made that the goal of his existence. A woman who entered New Eden via a wormhole but feels very uncomfortable when not in a wormhole system, because her name appears in local. A new recruit for SFRIM, with whom I've had a long discussion on the essence of faith, sitting in the Farthest Shore's chapel in the light of the Gate. She asked interesting questions that challenged me intellectually, such as whether slavery is necessary for reclamation or how slavery helps the reclaimed to find God.

Pot shards

I am enjoying my time doing field work in the New Eden system. The sight of the gate calms the mind. I have to confess that it feels a bit like a vacation...

I stumbled on something very curious in a relic site: a Takmahl artefact. A gyro ballast. It's nothing quite impotant, it would be like finding pot shards on Aphi. What's weird is to find such a pot shard in an excavation on New Eden I. It doesn't belong here - the common belief is that the Takmahl influence didn't extend very far outside of the Araz constellation.

Could it be brought here by visitors later on? Maybe, but the Sabik ruins where I found it did not seem looted before, and date from the late Takmahl period. It is not unthinkable that the Takmahl organised explorations, expeditions to far away regions. It would take them many years in their cryoships, but that did not stop them before.

Anyway, one "pot shard' can be a coincidence, I must go and search for more evidence if I want to make this claim.

Twice good news

Good news arrived to today! I received the finalized paperwork from the Amarr Civil Service allowing me to bring the Takmahl corpse from my archeological expedition into the station, and to do research on it. My next step, as soon as I return from my visit to New Eden, will be to procure a clone into which I can transplant the cybernetics and hopefully be able to read them out.

Other good news that came to my attention is that a joint fleet of capsuleers from several empires achieved a major victory over Kybernauts in Pochven. LUMEN was present, including lord Sakakibara, and joined a vast international coalition with amongst others... Electus Matari. Even though I am happy that we band together against our common enemy and even though I hope this will lead to constructive peace talks, it still feels very awkward. I fear it will widen the rift between the traditionalists and the reformers in the Empire.

Ni-Kunni dinner

If you had told me a year ago that I would have a Ni-Kunni dinner in the illustrious company of several prominent Holders of the Empire and the Kingdom, I would have laughed at you. Add to that a number of prominent personalities - one of them (ms. Therese Isimazu) dealing the death blow to Chakaid's Titan, and I would have been very worried about your sanity.

Yet it happened yesterday. 

Lunarisse invited these esteemed guests to her uncle's restaurant in the Souk in Tanoo, this is a Ni-Kunni nomadic trading enclave. I was allowed attend as well, and it was magnificent. The food was delicious: the eels brought back childhood memories. There was a Ni Kunni food store close to where my parents lived and my mother would get live river eels and prepare them on special occasions. 

The company at the dinner was far beyond what any commoner would deserve or hope for. The discussions were stimulating and intellectual - I talked with a Minmatar elite soldier, Eran Mintor, and with Aria and we debated how the existential dread differs between baseliners and capsuleers given their lessened mortality.

I wish I could have shared the story of this evening with my parents, commoners like me who never in their life met a Holder.

Our discussions also turned to the treacherous attack of the Triglavians and their collaborators on the rescue convoys to which I participated. It is a topic that I also hear discussed of late by the baseliners in Mehatoor. The rumor among them is that this latest horrendous acts have driven lord Reginald 'Triangloktonos' Sakakibara to take up the sword again. He's a tactician and fleet commander of the Edencom Defense Initiative and Lumen, and he gained renown during the Triglavian war due to his relentlessness and endurance. It earned him nicknames such as 'the Bane of Triglav' and 'the Lion of Kothe'. Verily, the Kybernauts will rue the day they set alight unarmed transports.

Hope extirpated

Yesterday, May 14th YC123, I heeded the call to help in a rescue effort. The Arataka Research Consortium (ARC) planned to evacuate refugees from the Triglavian occupied systems. ARC knows the region well, they do research on the changes occurring in the occupied systems, and they have my esteem and trust. Moreover, this was a fleet that I could participate in without breaking my vow of non-aggression. It felt as a good way to contribute.

The fleet was mustered in Isanamo by a commander with callsign "DutchGunner". She is a kind and (at that moment still) cheerful person. Volunteer pilots had come from all over the cluster. There was a spirit of camaraderie stronger than the rivalry between our nations, offering a glimpse of a united humanity. And yet, one of us had hidden plans to bring marines and establish a military presence. I am sure that had this been known, this pilot would have been kicked out from the fleet.

This collaboration was reflected in the industrial vessels of the fleet: from each empire there was at least one industrial. I flew a bestower. It was shield tanked, which is not my strong suit - I am more of an armor person. Its expanded cargo holds contained planetary vehicles and a shuttle, and no weaponry whatsoever. The ship itself was unarmed.

Of course there was tension, but it was not between races, rather it was tension about the mission. We had just received news that the diplomatic negociations for safe passage through kybernaut patrolled areas had failed. We had a minimal amount of escort vessels and logi support, it was clear that the mission's success would depend on luck as well as on the mercy of the occupation forces.

Our first destination was Otela, a system held by Perun clade. When we arrived, the fleet was split up. I didn't feel too comfortable about spreading our forces thin, weak as we already were, but it is not my role to question a fleet commander. I was assigned Otela V.

There was a substantial Triglavian (non-capsuleer) fleet in orbit about Otela V, but they did not engage me, or the ship that was escorting me. I started the rescue operation, and the first groups of refugees had just arrived, when without any warning, the Triglavian fleet opened hostilities. I think they primaried my transport first, I was targeted by their entire fleet. The logis were unable to help with the massive amount of firepower, and the industrial was lost with all hands. There was no time for escape pods. I managed to warp off my pod, reshipped in a corvette and awaited orders.

The rest of the fleet also came under attack. We received the order to retreat and make our way back to Caldari highsec space. I managed to jump to Obanen but on the Caldari side of the gate, a Triglavian gate camping fleet was waiting. I got podded.

It seems that the hostile reaction came when the pilot who had brought contraband was exposed. Or, who knows, this pilot was an agent whose task it was to give a cause for the attack. Today, as I write this report, another rescue operation is underway. This time, I think the escort will be stronger, and I will pray for success of this renewed attempt.

Switching ships

I returned to the New Eden system, determined to go on patrol to find out if there are any Equilibrium of Mankind bases. 

It was the first time I put the Ratakh Hubrau to use. I found this Astero class vessel abandoned in New Eden several months ago. Being unable to fit a covert ops cloak at the time, I left the ship in my hangar at the Farthest Shore. 

Meanwhile, I have become very accustomed to the Indagatrix, my trusted Anathema class exploration vessel. Switching to a new vessel is like getting a new pair of shoes. You miss the comfort of the well-worn craft you know. I don't know how else to put it than that the ship has adapted to your brain much like a shoe adapts to the shape of your feet if you use it a lot. A new vessel needs breaking in, it is more rigid and less comfortable at first. You notice things that bother you, like a sore spot in the new shoe. I find myself hurting at the lack of CPU in the Ratakh Hubrau when compared to the Indagatrix. 

So I took it out for some sight-seeing first, visiting the new Kor-Azor research station and the SOE station in orbit around New Eden I. I didn't do any long-baseline triangulation of the gate from the nearby system of Promised Land: there was a fleet of twenty-five capsuleers cavorting around with unclear purposes. But I completed reconnaissance of the New Eden system. No trace of the Equilibrium of Mankind, but there were quite some Blood Raider and Drone sites. And then I returned to New Eden: that was enough for a first hike with the new shoes.

Back to New Eden

I could not shake the feeling that there is some sort of danger for the New Eden system, coming from the Equilibrium of Mankind. Lunarisse is also concerned. So I will follow my hunch and go over there again. 

Even if my worries turn out to be without foundation, it will give me the opportunity to complete my triangulations of the gate using nearby systems as well as the New Eden system. From within the New Eden system I could only find a lower bound of 500-1000 AU to the distance between the star and the Gate. Now, with interstellar baselines, I can probe much deeper into space.

I will drop by Amarr for some shopping first, to get new exploration gear to fit the Ratakh Hubrau which I left in Farthest Shore. No-one came to claim this abandoned vessel that I retrieved, so I cannot safely claim rights to this salvage.

My HR interview

I met the HR manager. Honestly, I have no clue what to make of this. So I'm just going to log the literal record of the conversation, without comment.

 

----

HR manager recites in a monotonous voice: "The overall purpose of Human Remains management is to ensure that an organization is able to achieve success through its corpses. The purpose of today's meeting with you is to have an open, two-way conversation to agree on a strategic approach to the effective management of your corpse and to set some goals for you to help your corporation gain a competitive advantage through your corpse."

 

HR manager says in a more enthusiast voice "Our slogan is: we put the corpse in corporation! "

Theodosius Savnar: "There is only corp in corporation, not 'corpse'. The 'se' is missing."

HR manager starts taking notes. "I sense a negative attitude, mr. Savnar. You would be surprised how many corpses there are in an average capsuleer corporation."

HR manager: "Now, tell me a bit about your corpse."

Theodosius Savnar: "Err, well... I found it during an archeological expedition of a Takmahl system in the Araz constellation, it has been well preserved and I would like to reactivate it and read out its cybernetic implants."

HR manager: "How does your corpse fit in your company?"

Theodosius Savnar is tempted to answer "sideways, in a coffin" but then senses that humor may not be appropriate here. He remains silent, thinking, as he has no idea what this question could even mean.

HR manager:  "Let me rephrase this: How would your corpse be an asset to your company?"

 

Theodosius Savnar: "... from... the knowledge we gain from it?"

HR manager:  "Can we agree that this focuses strongly on the short-term advantages of onboarding your corpse? Let's explore the overall picture a bit: How would you know your corpse is successful at helping the long-term goals of your corporation?"

Theodosius Savnar blinks. "Ah, well I have to admit this is a bit of a project of myself rather than of the Societas as a whole. I am given the liberty to pursue my quest, which was given to me in a visio-"

HR manager interrupts, "Sorry to interrupt - and I am so glad we have this conversation, mr. Savnar, it is quite needed I see. I would like to suggest that we work together to come to an answer to my question. Let's start here: what would you say are your corpse's greatest strengths and weaknesses?"

Theodosius Savnar: "Strength: intact Takmahl implants, weakness: decay. The leg fell off."

HR manager:  "Decay is bad. How well does your corpse handle pressure?"

Theodosius Savnar: "Quite well, I think."

HR manager:  "In that case it would be good to find the ideal pressure level for conservation in an inert atmosphere. Can we agree on that action point?"

Theodosius Savnar: "Sure."

HR manager:  "You say that your corpse will be involved in a project for which you have sole responsibility within your department. Now, let's try to think about how that links with the other departments. What role will your corpse play in the team?"

Theodosius Savnar: "I ..."

HR manager:  "There is no 'I' in TEAM, mr. Savnar."

Theodosius Savnar: "There is no 'corpse' either."

HR manager:  "Your response suggests negative emotions, please try to keep this two-way conversation open and constructive."

Theodosius Savnar: "It will be a nice asset for the medical team... department?"

HR manager:  "Good, I note that besides contributions to R&D there is also separate value to the medical department. Well our time is almost up, mr. Savnar, but I think there are still a lot of things to discuss, so another action point that we can agree on is a follow-up cadaver empowerment talk and a corpse performance review for next quarter."

Theodosius Savnar nods, pretending to understand.

HR manager says with forced enthusiasm "Let's proactively empower your corpse's valorisation trajectory together!" and hands over the document with action points.

HR manager also hands over a flyer "Show this to your director or directrix and talk about hiring an HR professional, it will greatly benefit your organisation".

 

HR manager: "You will hear from us. Goodbye mr. Savnar."

SFRIM needs an HR manager

Finally, the DoD office reopened. I went to present all the documents I have gathered. It was the same nasty clerk as before. I showed that I had obtained permission from the closest living relative of Layla Accadis. He typed for five minutes on his computer, asked for my marital status, and asked if I was member of a capsuleer corporation. 

 

I admitted that I am celibate and member of SFRIM.

 

The obnoxious man then told me that the Amarr Civil Service has observed that some capsuleers seem to have an unhealthy fascination with corpses. Corpses are collected for unknown sinful purposes, and not put to good use. He mentioned in particular some members from our alliance who may have a severe corpse problem but are still in denial.

 

Because of this particular penchant of some capsuleers, there is now a policy to encourage every corporation to have an HR department, that is, a "Human Remains" department. Capsuleers collecting corpses should then schedule a yearly interview with a Human Remains manager. Before my authorization can be granted, I too should first do an interview with the HR manager of our corporation before everything can be finalized.

 

I told the man that as far as I know, SFRIM does not have a Human Remains manager. 

 

It appears that in such case, an HR manager will be provided for you by the DoD. I will have to make yet another visit to yet another service to obtain yet another paper to append to my growing dossier. Will this administrative torture never end? The clerk could not schedule the appointment for me, I can only do this via GalNet using some code that he generated for me.

I hope that after this last hurdle, I will finally get the permission to unload Layla from the Indigatrix...

 

 

((ooc credit: linking HR to human remains comes from a book by Andrew Wyndham. I couldn't resist: I think this perfectly fits in a capsuleer context.))

A day of hope and horror

Where to begin?

Maybe with a glimmer of hope. The war between the central powers seems to be averted. The identity of the terrorists who bomb our planets has been revealed: a cult known as the Equilibrium of Mankind, whose aim with these attacks is to start this cluster-wide war.

Their origins date back to the time of Emperor Armani I, two thousand years ago. Around that same time the Sani Sanik would flee Amarr in cryoships. Also Equilibrium of Mankind, led by Ocilan Ardishapur, was found to be heretical and persecuted. They went into hiding, and no-one believed till today that they could still pose a danger.

Everyone was wrong. Yesterday, they had a Titan fleet bringing horror to Kahah… one of the leaders of the orbital bombing attack was none other than cultist Alar Chakaid, who escaped from the Theology Council’s prisons. He was killed in the counter-attack.

Why do they come out of hiding now, one wonders? I think it is no coincidence that the presumed death of the cult’s leader Ocilan occurred exactly 2000 years ago (according to some sources, since the precise date is debated). It is not uncommon for doomsday cults to believe in “second comings” of their leaders to bring about armageddon. There was already a broadcast of a message claimed to be from Ocilan…

I think they pose a particularly grave danger for our Farthest Shore base.

Eve Gate has a special meaning for the cult. According to their beliefs, we should never have gone through the gate, and its collapse is God’s punishment. When most life will be exterminated in the cluster, the gate will open again and allow the chosen ones (guess who that would be) to return to paradise. My feeling is that they’ll want to set up a base camp and not tolerate others to be near the mouth of God.

New DoD appointment

About a month ago, on April 10th, I expressed my worries about outsourcing war to private military contractors.

 

Now, after another planetary bombardment, a patterns develops involving private military contractors. It seems increasingly unlikely that the terror attacks were organised by any of the four central powers, given the similarity of the attacks perpetrated by contractors for the different powers who have different doctrines.

 

If you outsource war, you lose peace.

 

I have no doubt that these patterns are noticed also in the highest circles. I hope it gives arguments to those diplomats who want to de-escalate conflict.

 

Now that the first shocks of the terror attacks have been absorbed, the Amarr Civil Service is slowly re-opening also its non-essential services such as the Department of the Deceased. I have been granted a DoD appointment tomorrow. I have collected all the documents necessary, including the Book of Records lineage certificate and the transfer authorisation from the nearest-of-kin, so I hope it will now go smoothly.

A surprise invitation

My insignificant documentary on the Khanid may not have gone completely unnoticed, as I was invited to the court of lady Ithiria Deritan, Holder of one of the most important houses in the Kingdom, and Duchess of Fekhoya. 

 

When I got this invitation, I found it hard to believe that such honor had been bestowed on me... Before I became a capsuleer, I had not met any Holder in person. For a baseliner who does not work at court, there is no reason to expect such a blessing. Even now, when I am face to face with nobility, it makes me nervous, although less so than my very first time, a memorable meeting Lord-consort Shutaq-Newelle.

The estates to which I was invited are beautifully and tastefully arranged, with a nice courtyard to wait. Security was much less paranoid and much more polite and discrete than on the Lok'ri estate. I was brought to a lounge, where tea was served and where I had a conversation with the Duchess.

 

She is kind and gracious, and shows concern for commoners. We talked about many topics, including books. She is the author of the best-selling "Holder's Handbook", describing the proper treatment and management of slaves. Many young Holder heirs would do well to read it. Oh, I must also remember to send a copy to mr. Nauplius. 

 

And, to my great joy, the Holder's Handbook might get a new and expanded edition! With all that happened in the cluster, an update is in order.

 

The Duchess was also saddened by some harmful rumors that her competitors spread. Noble houses fight each other often by undermining each other's reputation. However, the slander spread at the expense of house Deritan is of exceptional intensity. Now that I have had the pleasure to meet the Duchess, I can vouch that in our interactions she was righteous in the faith, devout, and compassionate. Also her actions speak for her: she sent help to Tanoo in the immediate aftermath of the recent terror attack, even though the Duchy of Fekhoya itself needs its resources to mobilize.

 

I look forward to meeting the Duchess again, and to assist in what humble way I can in realizing and promulgating a new edition of the Holder's Handbook.