Leaving Mezagorm

Getting back to our "base camp" at square E1 of the biosphere took somewhat longer than the outward journey. We were carrying boxes with the twenty-two legionnaires. We chose the ones with least additional bones, just the skull. Still, attention was needed and the terrain is far from easy. 

We did not encounter further trouble from the gun-furriers, and only heard occasional shots fired at a greater distance. Unfortunately, the traps with the lure have not worked - only one of the many escaped gun-furriers was caught. The rest of them is still out their, shooting and multiplying.

This worries me deeply, especially since I know that from time to time a luxury cruiser from Galactic Tours dock in Mezagorm. Lady Agatha and her pet furrier mr. Maulus may be on that cruise again. I shudder at the thought of mr. Maulus meeting one of the gun-furriers. What if they mate? I am not even sure if mr. Maulus is biologically a mister or a miss. What if mr. Maulus gets pregnant, and the baby furriers carry the gun gene? Lady Agatha's tea parties may never be the same again.

So I insisted we board up the entrance to the biosphere, and put up a large bio-hazard sign, along with a printed request in all main Empire languages explaining the nature of the hazard and asking to keep the biosphere sealed. I am convinced the Theology Council will be coming for the rest of the relics, and hope they will re-seal the place after they finish their business here. I pray that the seals will also hold against any gun-furrier onslaught from within...

Everything is packed. We have samples that hopefully contain the electronics-disabling amoeba, and we have the holy relics of the legion of Ves-Udor. God seems to be smiling on our expedition now, since there is at this moment also a (no doubt temporary) lull in the war declarations by brigands against LUMEN, so common in this season. 

That means we can travel (relatively) safely through Empire space. First, to Mehatoor. Probably we will need some checkup and decontamination procedure from the Medlab. We can deliver the amoeba samples directly to the Ministry of Internal Order there, on in their station in Mehatoor. Then I will travel onward to the Theology Council Tribunal station orbiting Zorast in Amarr, to deliver our precious relic finds and have them authenticated.

The legion of Ves-Udor

Long ago, before space flight, the Udorians lived on Athra along with the Amarr. They were a proud and mostly nonreligious people inhabiting two continents south of Amarr island. They were traders and masters of the sea. They were eventually reclaimed, although that took time.

During that time, the faithful were persecuted all over the Udorian realms. Still, despite the danger, faith took root and some of their people converted in secret. One of them was Saint Maras. He was the commander of one of the legions of Ves-Udor. After receiving a vision of a Sefrim guiding him to victory during a battle against other heathens, he pledged his heart and soul to the one true God. He rallied his troops and won the battle. As he was a very popular and revered leader, known for his wisdom and justice, soon all six thousand soldiers under his command also converted to our faith. 

Things went well for them until one day when they were ordered to attack a village of fellow faithful. The legion refused. They knew very well what this meant: they had openly exposed themselves as practicing the Amarr religion! Because of that, they were ordered to death. They had no hope of escape: the route to the coast, to get to Amarr island, was cut off. They fought bravely, and all died a martyr's death. 

The stuff of epic movies, and there have been many about them!

They were buried where they made their last stand. Much later, after all of Athra was reclaimed, their remains were dug up, and became popular and revered relics. At first they were kept in a large monastery on the fields where they were slain, but soon the relics were being lent out, and then bought, or even stolen. 

Important Houses started to collect skulls of soldiers from the saintly legion of Ves-Udor, like children collect playing cards. They made special display cabinets, tried to group them by squad. Feuds were fought to obtain prized centurions or officers. The revered skulls were adorned with specially designed relic cloths, each one unique and linked to an individual legionnaire. Their shape imitates the typical crested helmets of the Udorians at the time: 

Today, only two hundred eighty-three out of more than six thousand skulls are accounted for in churches and cathedrals, although many more are believed to be in private chapels all over the Empire.

In the safes at the Tetrimon vault, we found no less than one hundred fifty-three additional legionnaires! A collection worthy of a Royal House. We cannot take all of them with us, they are too bulky and must be handled with the necessary caution and reverence. Abandoning all unnecessary equipment, we managed to safely pack twenty-two legionnaires (five officers among them), and will begin our walk back through the biosphere. 

May the holy legion protect us!

[[ooc comment: this is based on a true story - during the Roman persecution of the christians, the 'Theban legion' led by saint Maurice refused to attack fellow christians and for that disobedience the whole legion was executed. Their skulls with typical adornment became collector's items in the Middle Ages. The picture shows one of these skulls, and was taken at a temporary exhibition of relics in the archaeology museum of the Basque country, Spain]]

Tetrimon records

The book on the table starts by describing (and tabulating) how the garrison received many relics to keep in hiding. This happened soon after the decades-long civil war ended between on the one hand the Council of Apostles and on the other hand forces loyal to Emperor Heideran V and the lords of the Privy Council. The Tetrimon had chosen the losing side, the side of the Apostles, but not openly. Their grand-master, Tetrimon IV, secured the relics that were held by the Council of Apostles, and hid them in places such as the vault here in Mezagorm. This book is important proof of that crime.

Enter the Theology Council. The Theology Council was installed by Emperor Heideran V to replace the Council of Apostles. Its first task was to remove from scripture all the heresies of the Apostles. But its inquisitors were also hunting for lost relics. 

The book writes that in the summer of 21948, a Theology Council fleet was on its way to Shastal, bound for Mezagorm. 

Now we know that the Theology Council inquistors had no idea about a Tetrimon cache here. They came to Mezagorm to look for old scripture. After the death of Zaragram, the Council of Apostles became very powerful and changed scripture to cement their power. To undo this and show that the Apostles usurped scripture would further justify and glorify the efforts of Emperor Heideran V.

However, the garrison did not know that, and they thought that the inquisitors had found out about the hiding place. They panicked that it was no longer safe. In a hurry, they moved most items, including unfortunately the Ink of Truth (denoted by its code AVSAP in the tables of outgoing relics). It has new codes for other hiding spaces, but that will require more intensive study, and a comparison to the book I found in Baron Redwolfe's library.

However, they did not take everything in their hurried flight - they had to leave behind a particular relic, the legion of Ves-Udor. That is no doubt what lies in the closed lockers.

In the vault

Superstitious people will claim that ending my last log by saying that "nothing can go wrong" is a certain prelude for disaster. Yet this time, things went well!

The gun-furriers out in the wild have not shot at us, and indeed they seem to be very quiet. Perhaps they need a rest after the excitement from bingeing power pellet food. We followed the route that we used before, but avoided the swampy area close to the inner lake. Even with a lot of equipment to carry around in sealed containers, we made good time and arrived at the sewers.

We were able to cut through the plates that sealed the vault, and entered it.  

What this room used to be before is not clear, the Tetrimon clearly repurposed it. It is a large oval room, with lockers and safes all around, and a wide steel table in the middle. The safes seem organized by size and purpose, some are clearly designated for small items or scrolls, while others may even have had climate control to preserve sensitive items. Most of these safes are open, and empty, or just containing an empty tray, but there is a whole side full of equally sized lockers that are still closed.

There is a book on the table. I have had to temper the eagerness of my team - they wanted to immediately pry open the closed lockers. I insisted that we need to consult that book first, perhaps it contains warnings or instructions to open the lockers without damaging any of the relics. 

Emergency meeting

We held an emergency meeting in the Indagatrix to discuss what to do next.

We brainstormed on how to contain the uncontrolled spread of the gun-furriers. A promising idea is to lure them back to their cages with food they find tasty, but if even a few remain in the wild that will not work. We will try anyway.

We also decided to make a last dash attempt to get back to the Tetrimon relic vault. It is quite certain that when we return to Mehatoor the exploration permit for Mezagorm obtained by Mr. Firth will be revoked, given the permanent damage to the historical biosphere that our mistake resulted in. So this may be my last chance in a while to explore this particular site.

Mr. Firth is of the opinion that we better not get back empty-handed. We might already have one prize: the discovery of an electronics-disabling amoeba (if that really is the cause of the electronics failures). But with a second positive outcome the case could be made that the end was worth the means. After all, as far as we know, the Empire does not have any plans with Mezagorm except letting it decay in space anyway.

We now know the way, and know what equipment we need to open the vault. The bone-shard bullets shot by the gun-furriers can be stopped by armor - they are meant to be used as stealth weapons rather than full-on assault weapons - so we can defend ourselves. 

Finally, we know what we get in to and have a plan where nothing can go wrong any more.

Furrier in the rye

As we tried to approach our base camp in E1, we came under attack a couple of other times. It always felt as an ambush, and we proceeded with the same stratagem as before, one group shooting back to keep the attacker or attackers occupied while others tried to make an encircling motion to approach the enemy from behind. 

Soon, it became clear that our attackers had two prevalent traits: firstly, they are invisible, only revealing themselves by the rustling of the rye or cracking of branches, and the occasional gunshot. Second, they have an incredibly bad aim. None of us ever got shot, even though we were almost always caught at unawares by a shot ringing out.

Crouching and crawling and disguised as bushels of rye, we did make it back to our starting place at the edge of the biosphere. 

There, the nature of our attackers was finally revealed.

We have made a most horrible mistake: the pens holding the gun-furriers had electric programmable locks. They failed, as all electric equipment does sooner rather than later in this biosphere. The gun-furriers escaped their cages, and quickly found their food supply.

To save on space, their supply consists of bags of power-food pellets, containing high doses of nutrients and energy. Only a small amount is needed per furrier per day. However, they managed to peck open the bags and gorged themselves on the power-food. We found some that died of it, a heart attack from the overdose, but most of them just got hyper-excited, pumped up, and started running and hopping off crazed in any direction. Some spontaneously started shooting from the sugar rush, others fired off occasional shots while mating. 

There never were Blood Raiders with invisibility cloaks, there were gun-furriers going berserk in the rye.

This is an ecological disaster. 

Gun-furriers, to aid Amarr's industrial-military complex in quickly building up weapon supplies, breed like rabbits. Here, in the biosphere, they do not seem to have any natural predator, so they are bound to spread out and multiply quickly. There is enough food in the form of grains and berries and insects to sustain them after they calm back down after their powerpellet rush. It is going to be impossible in this vast expanse of nature to hunt them down, let alone to find them and get them back into cages.

For a thousand years, this biosphere endured in a delicate equilibrium between the various organisms, persisting unchanged in a deserted station, only relying on passive systems to close the ecological and water cycles, a testimony to the brilliance of Amarr bio-engineering. Now all that is about to change.

Under attack

As we headed back through the biosphere to our own entrance square E1, we came under hostile fire in E3. Have we been followed by Blood Raiders, or Sansha? Or perhaps others, whose ships are not so clearly visible on the Mezagorm space grid?

Mr. Firth has some military training, and he took command of the team. He split us in two groups, and put the main group under delegated command of mr. Fulk, my cargo bay loader, as he has shown the greatest skill at handling gun furriers. We were ordered to keep engaging the enemy, firing in their general direction from behind some fallen trees. 

I, being unarmed, was asked to hurl rocks in that direction, and tried to comply, but might have thrown some pine-cones in stead in the general confusion.

Meanwhile, mr. Firth and ms. Ellur would make a circling movement, crouching along a ditch, to attack the enemy from the side or perhaps the rear, quietly, using knives to slit their throat, perhaps picking them off one by one.

I panicked a little as I realized that is was not clear how exactly we would know when to stop shooting or throwing the locally grown ordnance at the enemy. Would we not end up shooting our friends? Mr. Fulk reassured me he would know and he would give the order to stop firing and I was to stop overthinking everything.

While occasional shots rang out from the enemy position, we fired back (or threw things like a branch since I ran out of stones). After a while the shooting stopped altogether. Soon after, Mr. Firth appeared. The enemy has vanished into thin air. Fearing that they too are making some sort of circling motion, we moved out in an unexpected direction, going towards D3 rather than continuing onwards to E2.

Treasure chamber

The "sewers" consist of a mess of water-filled tunnels connecting various cisterns. At first, I feared that we might need a boat or a flotation device to explore these canals. However, there are plenty of walkways over the water, most of which lead us to what I suspect was a control room in the center of the facility.

The room is sealed off, steel panels have been welded in front of the door, some warning scribbled on it. That is a good sign, and it even got better when we found a computer terminal that confirmed our hope: this place has also been used by the Order of Saint Tetrimon. The equipment clearly postdates the era of Mezagorm's building, and shows the hallmark logo of the Tetrimon. 

This must be the place where they hid the relics, perhaps even the Holy Ink of Saint Aloysius! But, try as we might, though, we could not open the door with the tools that we brought along. The crowbar broke. Also, the console did not work any more. Whether this is of old age or due to the biosphere's ability to render electronics useless is not clear. 

We will have to come back with some welding equipment of our own and drills, safely packaged in order to traverse the biosphere undamaged. But now that we have figured out a path through it and found our destination, we should be able to come back faster next time. So, we decided to head back to the Indigatrix, the necessary tools are certainly on board.

Artificial rain

It was raining when the team woke up, an unexpected feature on a space station. I think the engineers working on Mezagorm were given a blank check when designing this biosphere, if the water cycle is still working. 

Warm air, carrying more moisture than cold air, will rise to the top of the dome, and natural ventilation brings it along cold fingers where the water can condense. There must be a mechanism whereby, when enough water has been collected this way, it drips out back to the floor, like water pours of out a tipped water clock. Back down, it can be reabsorbed and evaporated again by the vegetation and the lake.

After the rain, the team noticed that there was a bad smell. Following the source of the stench led us to some sort of collection basin and a structure next to it, perhaps a water purification or reprocessing station? It is not clear what this structure is for or how exactly it is part of the water cycle or mineral cycle in the biosphere. 

However, I am quite certain that this is the last piece of the riddle that points us to "the stench of sin". We have been able to force the entrance door to what, for lack of a better understanding of its purpose, we are calling "the sewers". 

Crossing the biosphere

The trek was not as easy as we thought. The conifer forest gets more dark and dense with branches as we get near the center of the biosphere. We did not spot any animals, although there are insects: forest ants and aphids. But we did not see any rodents or larger animals. Perhaps there are some in the patches of rye, but to keep ms. Ellur satisfied, we avoided those. 

We encountered a few small creeks. But near the center, near grid E4, these creeks merge into a small lake, too deep to wade through. Mr. Firth and some others tried, but their guns started panicking and squeaking as the cold water level rose. Afraid that they may shoot their bullets from stress, the team returned to the shore. 

Rounding the lake took a long time, and we passed through a beech forest on swamp land. The mud slowed us down considerably, and we had the unpleasant impression that the trees were closing in on us. But things went better as we reached good solid ground again, and came upon a field of blueberries. Most people ate a good few handfuls of them, and I was very sorry that my vulnerability would not allow me to  take of my suit and partake. 

We reached F8 much later than foreseen, and the team decided to make camp for the night; the roof of the dome dims the light simulating night, while it continues to harvest solar energy for other purposes. 

It will be a very uncomfortable night for me, as I have to remain in my suit. Also, I avoid eating, but I cannot avoid hydrating. The suit's capacity to store liquids is limited to what is deemed useful for one night of partying. Perhaps I will have to expose myself for a short while to the pathogen at some point, but for the moment I am still keeping the seals intact.

Gun practice

We had a slight delay entering back into Mezagorm, given that there was again a small contingent of Blood Raiders lurking around.

After they  left, we were able to deploy back to our base of operations, the biochemical lab turned Tetrimon garrison at the edge of the biosphere. 

It feels strange that our armory looks like a pet zoo, with furriers in cages and bags of furrier food (with extra calcium so they can produce bone-shard bullets). 

The crew is training with the gun furriers, and has been doing some practice shooting at bulls-eyes painted on tree trunks. Ms. Ellur refuses to stick her finger in a gun-furrier, and will rely on her knife in stead. Also I did not join this training: I will be wearing a hazmat suit (so that I am not suffering from breakdowns in my implants) and handling the furrier might compromise the suit's integrity. 

My suit will do more than keep amoeba out: it is even nanite-proof. It was originally designed during a pandemic on Archavoinet, to allow people to continue partying safely during the lockdown. It has a text "Party is not a crime" on it. I suppose that if you can dance in it, you can hike in it.

With everything ready for the trek through the biosphere, we will leave tomorrow after early breakfast.

Epikouria Chronicles III

While heading back to Mezagorm, I took a bit of time to go through my mails, and read the latest letter from Brother Hugo, keeping me informed about the Epikouria colony.

Although brother Hugo and his companions are restricted to the Ardishapur sector of the station orbiting Epikouria IX, they seem well aware of what is going on elsewhere. Their congregation consists almost entirely of lower-deck baseliners, doing basic maintenance or janitorial jobs - the underappreciated quiet workers who go unnoticed every day but whose hard work keeps the station running smoothly. They do not seek the spotlight, and yet they go everywhere and see and hear all that is going on. And this they share with their pastors.

In this week's letter, brother Hugo writes about an influx of refugees to the station, mostly baseliners but also some capsuleers. 

They call themselves "Ghosts of Aridia" and have been evicted from their wormhole system of New Huola, after a brutal war. The war started out with a surprise invasion of New Huola, that they struggled to repel. Out of the blue, a new ally in shining armor appeared. With the help of both these newcomers and a LUMEN relief force the siege was broken, and the war turned in the Ghosts' favor. An invader fleet of Loki-class cruisers worth tens of billions of ISK and several operating bases of the invaders were destroyed. 

But then, with the invaders retreating and victory seemingly within the Ghosts' grasp, the new "ally" betrayed them and turned against them. Having gained the trust of the Ghosts and having infiltrated their military channels and their stations, the ally-turned-enemy staged a coup and ousted the Ghosts from power. The Ghosts left New Huola, with many returning to the Empire, but some of them seeking refuge in Epikouria. They bring along many baseliner refugees from the various New Huola stations. Although in the lower decks the commoners grumble that the new immigrants will be taking their jobs, brother Hugo is happy with the influx of more orthodox Amarrians, mainly Aridians of Ni-Kunni descent. 

The refugee crisis delayed the ongoing diplomatic talks between the Starborn and the Originals. Nevertheless some progress was already made regarding the division of powers in the system. Current proposals have the Originals retain full authority on the planets (except for mining concessions) while the Starborn have authority in space. Brother Hugo writes "The more I learn about the Originals, the more I am dismayed about their perversions of the flesh!" He does not go into details, but promises to write more about them in a next letter.

PS. I am renaming the recurring logs on the colony from "Missionary Missive" to "Epikouria Chronicles"

PPS. Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 

Gun-furriers

Coronation day passed without incidents or further provocations from the sedevancantists. Now that this delicate time is over, and given that the fallout over Libby's reappearance in Mehatoor seems mostly contained, Mr. Firth is again free to join us in his capacity of political officer on the Indagatrix. We reported what happened over the last couple of weeks to him, to bring him up to speed.

Mr. Firth is in that stage of youth where one thinks that one already knows all there is to know about a subject after one or two experiences. With a look that impersonates a seasoned veteran, he scolded our amateurism in exploring the Mezagorm biosphere, and proudly revealed an MIO weapon suitable for the task.

Modern guns, even projectile weapons, always have some electronics in them. The hobbyist expects their gun to send them an e-mail when it is time for maintenance or ammunition is low. It might even automatically buy new ammunition, and give feedback on pulse and blood pressure when handled. For those that keep a gun under their pillow - not uncommon in more rural areas of the outer worlds - it even tracks the quality of sleep and has a programmable alarm clock imitating a gunshot. Guarantees you to be awake. Of course, because of its electronic components it is unusable in Mezagorm's biosphere.

The handguns that mr. Firth checked out from the Ministry depot do not have electronics. Also, no metal. The MIO checkout catalog did not have guns merely without electronics available, so he had to go full option. The guns he chose are fully biological, and alive. These things are meant as stealth weapons, to be smuggled into venues without raising alarm. 

Bio-mechanics is not to be underestimated. For example, adetomyrma venatrix, also known as the Dracula ant because it sucks blood from its larvae (a behavior known as 'nondestructive cannibalism') is able to snap its jaw accelerating it from 0 too 300km/h in merely 10 microseconds. So, it should be no surprise that fully bio-based guns have been developed, shooting tiny ultrahard bone fragments like a regular projectile gun.

This works best if the bio-mechanical device is still alive. In order to conceal its deadly nature, the MIO developed bio-mechanical guns that look exactly like furriers. Personally, I find their use to be somewhat disturbing. You prime them by petting, and then one has to stick a finger in an orifice in the back to find and pull the trigger bone. The startled animal shoots in the direction that its beak is pointing. 

Nobody expects an old ladies' furrier to be a lethal weapon (unless they have met mr. Maulus, lady Agatha's pet furrier).

With this special gear, Mr. Firth is confident that we will be able to explore the biosphere, safe from both raiders and dangerous fauna. After we arrive in Mezagorm, the entire crew will receive elementary training in gun-furrier use and petting safety.

Stuck in a tree

For our hike through the biosphere, we had hermetically sealed all electronics in a box. 

But we forgot that capsuleers are also full of circuitry.

I do not remember much of this, and I am relaying what the crew told me. I do remember the headache, which became quite unbearable after about an hour walk. Apparently, I started saying things that did not make sense. At first, they thought I was simply making little mistakes from time to time, or showing signs of old age. But then I also started to act strange. Little bouts of running. Anxiously looking into the forest.

When this became more severe - I started relentlessly attacking ferns with a stick I had found, the crew finally realized this was not the eccentricity of an aging capsuleer, but that whatever was afflicting electronics, was doing its work on me too. They tried to convince me to abort the walk, and to go back to the Indagatrix's medbay. It almost worked.

Then Ms. Ellur tried sprinking holy water from Mishi on me (she always carries a small vial of it with her). It actually made things worse, as it startled me and I ran away, yelling "overheat afterburner!". The crew chased me. I climbed in one of the tall conifers. The strongest of the crew, my cargo bay loader, was sent up after me to try and get me to come down. 

Every time he got closer, I climbed higher. In the end, both me and my cargo bay loader were near the top of the tree, swaying dangerously from the weight now destabilizing its upper branches. He managed to attach a rope to me, and secured the rope on the tree, using the trunk and the sturdiest branch as a makeshift pully. Very makeshift - I fell in spurts of three to four meters before the rope caught me back each time. It took a lot of time and a lot of struggling, but in the end, I was brought back to ground, and was too exhausted and bruised to put up any resistance any more. 

They brought me back, and convinced me to put the Indagatrix on autopilot back to Mehatoor - I was unable to fly the ship myself. Back in Mehatoor, decontamination again did not reveal anything, no nanites, no radiation damage, no parasites. The pit corrosion was also present in my malfunctioning clone's circuitry. The lab's working hypothesis is that the damage is caused by some biological entity that does not survive outside the biosphere. From the size of the pit corrosion they think it is most likely a type of amoeba. 

Basically I was told that now I am old and mouldy.

They advised us to bring back a sample of the biosphere in a sealed sample collection box, making sure to include soil and plants and some electronic device in the box, and seal it enclosing some of the biosphere's own air. 

Coronation day

So, a lot has happened - and I have had to reclone. But I will write up the log report for that later. 

For today, remembrance and celebration! 

The Indagatrix, an Anathema-class vessel, was not visible among the formation of battleships that stood proudly in formation at the wreck of Empress Jamyl's titan. Archbishop Merdaneth gave a gripping speech, after which we held a minute of silence. It was impressive to see these mighty ships sit at attention silently.

After that stop in Safizon, the fleet headed out to Amarr, to the Imperial Guard above Amarr, where we launched fireworks in celebration of Empress Catiz. Some traders from abroad dropped by to watch the spectacle. One trader from the Federation, by the name of Hibernate, fulfilled the Gallentean stereotype by exclaiming "empress so cute :3" in local. But apart from that and a few shady offers for gambling on galnet, all was serene and joyful.

The night ended with a reception and formal ball at the Excubitoris Chapterhouse. I had hoped to meet lord-consort Shutaq-Newelle there - I have not seen him for a long time and he was part of the fleet. But he and lady Newelle had other coronation day events to attend. No worry, I did have the pleasure to speak with other friends and meet up with the high society of our alliance.

And now back to Mehatoor, to figure out what is wrong with that clone that was brought back from Mezagorm.

Hiking

Crossing the biosphere from the side of the Tetrimon garrison to the opposite side would have been easy and fast in one of the planetary vehicles. However, with electronics breaking down, and with any roads being long since overgrown, it is impossible. We have decided to do this the "old fashioned" way, simply walking over, using the structure of the dome above us to guide us and keep us on track. In general, we do not want to rely on devices that could break down.

That being said, we are taking some things in a sealed container with us. Comms, navigation tools, hacking/e-lockpicking tools, first-aid devices, and upon the insistence of ms. Ellur also projectile guns. Some blades, to cut our way through thicker parts of the woods, do not rely on electronics at all so should be safe. She also brought along a blade that she marked with three full circles with a notch in the bottom - the Amarrian symbol for God united with humanity. Ms. Ellur claims that this is the only thing that can kill rye wolves. She moreover suggests we stick to the forested areas and avoid the patches of rye altogether.

The walk will take several hours, since we need to cross about twenty kilometers of forest. So, we also took enough food and water with us. We should be able to go and come back in a single day, but have enough provision to stay overnight at the square of the black king's bishop.

I look forward to the hike!

Next piece of the puzzle

Something bugged me, but I did not know what. I had this restless feeling that a thought was knocking at the door of my consciousness. I kept mulling it over fruitlessly, feeling that I missed something important.

I have had this feeling since bringing mr. Damus back to Mehatoor for leg repair. As he could not walk, he was confined to the Indagatrix's small medbay. We have been talking and playing chess while speculating on the cause of the malfunctions.

This morning, as I was taking a shower, I suddenly caught the thought that I was chasing and that had been lurking in the corner of my mind. It had nothing to do with the malfunctions -we are not closer to solving that mystery- but it was about the riddle. And about chess, the ancient board game we were playing. The "dark king's bishop" in the garden is a reference to the fact that the biosphere is laid out exactly as a chess board. In that game, there are black and white pieces, and there are kings and their bishops. 

For black, the king's bishop is placed on square F8. 

That is where we should go and search.

((ooc image source: an attempt at AI generation of Amarrian chess pieces...))

Ministry monitoring

Before heading back to Mezagorm to resume my exploration, I briefly met with the Indagatrix's political officer, mr. Firth. 

He tells me that although the turmoil surrounding Ms. Yubari has somewhat shifted to the background for now, it is by no means gone. Especially coronation day is a thorn in the side of the sedevacantists, for obvious reasons, and the Ministry of Internal Order expects trouble. 

Monitoring sedevacantist chatter on social media has revealed to the Ministry that there is internal dissent among them. Some of them, especially those that came over from the Purity of the Throne cult, reject the arch-heretic's claim that Ms. Yubari will give birth to the new emperor. They insist that any true emperor must be of pure Amarr blood. Diametrically opposed to them are the Promissae Matris, a new and very Yubari-centered devotional cult. The Ministry considers it quite possible that the arch-heretic's latest sermon will lead to a schism in the sedevacantist movement.

Mr. Firth will assist the Ministry in following these developments closely, at least until coronation day is over, after which he will be rejoining the crew of the Indagatrix. 

I will inform the rest of the crew, who no doubt will as be sad as I am that we will have to miss our political officer for another week.

Coronation day preparations

My visit to Mehatoor over the last couple of days was somewhat reassuring. The focus in the station is now fully on the preparations for a grand celebration: next week is coronation day! 

Banners and decorations are put in place, shops have longer opening hours, extra services are held at the churches and chapels, and the restaurants are taking reservations. The entire station is getting ready for the anniversary of the ascension of blessed Catiz Tash-Murkon to the Holy Throne. She was anointed Empress Catiz I on September 27th, YC128. 

Her coronation took place roughly one year after the cowardly assassination of her predecessor, Empress Jamyl I, by the Drifters. So, it is only fitting that before celebrating Empress Catiz's wise and merciful rule with a formal ball, LUMEN will hold a remembrance ceremony for her predecessor in Safizon. 

The ceremony will be organised by the most venerable paladins of the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris and the Societas. I look forward to see the ranks of the LUMEN pilots, all dressed in their military gala uniforms hardly visible behind many rows of medals attesting their service to the Empire. 

I look forward to interrupt my expedition next weekend again, so I can attend as well. I am preparing a sermon for the occasion.

Missionary Missive II

Heading back to Mehatoor, I again reconnected to LUMEN's servers and found that I received a second letter from brother Hugo. 

It is mostly a letter of complaint.

He and his companions are confined to the Ardishapur quarter of the colonists' space station. This is a sector on the lower decks, reserved for orthodox Amarrians. It is a measure to avoid disputes with the other colonists, who call themselves the "Starborn". Brother Hugo finds it unfair that the Starborn are free to go anywhere they please, while the missionaries in the Ardishapur quarter have to stay in their sector.

Brother Hugo also complains that the Starborn do not adhere to the Theology Council canon. They have a bad habit of questioning any House of Authority. They have the pretension to "think for themselves"! This he considers a malicious outgrowth of vanity and pride. He argues that ultimately such an attitude leads to a failed system of governance: a democracy where everyone's vote is equal. In such a system the opinion of any lowly mindless thug, shouted loudly in drunken moods on late nights in the pub, is deemed to be of equal weight as the voice of an Emperor anointed by God. Even a child can see the madness in this.

The final complaint in brother Hugo's letter is that for the moment they are forbidden to go proselytizing on IX. Apparently, there are negotiations taking place between Publius and the inhabitants of the planets, the "Originals" as they are called by most baseliners in the station. For the duration of the negotiations between the Starborn and the Originals, trips to their settlements are not allowed.

Despite this lockdown, more information is trickling in and reaching even the Ardishapur quarter. It is now confirmed that the Originals are not native but come from an earlier wave of colonists under the protection of a capsuleer corporation, the Alexylva Paradox, who are also involved in these negotiations. 

The Originals settled almost all of the planets in the system, including the inhospitable lava worlds. Most settlements are relatively small, like the one on IX. The sixth planet of the system is their capital planet, hosting a much larger settlement. Planet VI is a world with a mild and pleasant climate, where forests with giant trees alternate with grassland. 

Brother Hugo and his companions are eager to visit VI and see the Originals' capital in person. He hopes the negotiations are concluded swiftly, but fears it will take a lot of time because the Originals have democratic decision-making, which he claims will slows down things with endless meetings of countless sub-committees. Personally, I see it differently: the cultural similarities between the Starborn and the Originals should be helpful in reaching an agreement faster. 

Corrosion

Investigation of the retrieved mapper drone has shown severe micropitting corrosion, with submillimeter size pits localized in some regions. Inside the drone's mechanical parts, the corrosion is almost exclusively on the electronics. Normally, such a targeted attack would be from nanites, as chemicals give a more diffusive pattern. However, no nanites were detected. Also when we went back through the decontamination, it did not show any harmful nanites.

So, we are still a bit at a loss to explain what causes the damage, but it is clear that it is targeting semiconductor regions. I am also not sure how we can protect ourselves from something that we do not know. 

Mr. Damus's legs suffer from the same strange corrosion, and we are unable to repair in on the Indagatrix.

So, I am planning another short trip to Mehatoor. First, our labs can do a much better job at investigating what is going on, and second, mr. Damus's legs come with a life-long warranty so we will have him fixed in the medbay with the newest model legs from Wiyrkomi Industrial Biomechanics.

Rescue

We have found mr. Damus, and he is mostly unharmed, even though he was dehydrated. 

He had decided for his walk to follow the likely path that a mapping drone would follow, in the hopes of retrieving the missing drone. A clever move, and a good way to give a goal for a walk. He did manage to find the drone, and was bringing it back, when his legs stopped working. Mr. Damus has prosthetic legs, higher-end ones from Wiyrkomi Industrial Biomechanics. They can not fail without warning days in advance, at least according to Wiyrkomi's advertising.

On top of that, also his comms failed. Without functioning legs and with no way to warn ms. Ellur, he could only crawl but did not make much progress. We found him in square G1 near the edge of the biosphere. In a patch of rye - which ms. Ellur took as proof that all these malfunctions are the work of a Feldgeist. 

Even disregarding the superstition of Feldgeister, it is starting to become conspicuous that so many things fail while we are in the biosphere. We're going to inspect the retrieved mapping drone to figure out what is wrong, as it is the object that has been exposed the longest to whatever influence is present there. In addition, I am implementing a full bio/chemical/physical decontamination procedure for when we exit the biosphere. 

I do hope that it is not a pathogen or disease, as I am experiencing a strong headache after our search and rescue mission. The crew does not seem to be affected, so maybe I just picked up a cold while in Mehatoor.

Rye wolf

The Indagatrix has returned to Mezagorn, it was not camped by pirates today. Some of the crew had stayed behind in Mezagorn: my technicians, Ralen Ellur, a probe scan specialist from the Mandate, and Levular Damus, my cloak technician. The techies were to try and get the broken scanner back on-line while I was shopping in Mehatoor for new equipment. They were also to see if they can salvage anything useful from the Tetrimon barracks.

Ms. Ellur told me that mr. Damus did not return after his morning walk in the biosphere today.

Even though the Ammatar are now a full member of the family of the faithful, there still lingers a remnant of the old Minmatar animism in many of them. This is the belief that the world is full of spirits attached to places or objects. The spirits can be good or bad, and they display human traits and emotions. Such animism grows out of a desire to describe God, or the supernatural, exclusively in human terms, disregarding the transcendent nature of God.

She believes in so-called "Feldgeister", evil spirits that live in argicultural fields. She thinks mr. Damus may be abducted by a rye wolf, a type of Feldgeist that takes a shape in between a man and a wolf. She thinks she spotted one last night in the rye field nearby, and now she is mighty happy that I am back with the rest of the crew.

I talked her out of that nonsense, and we are setting up a search party with the rest of the crew.

More glow-in-the-dark figurines

On my return to Mehatoor, I could easily arrange for some new vehicles and even new scanner equipment. 

I noticed right away that the station was somewhat in turmoil. Not that this is very unusual, but still the presence of Ministry of Internal Order inquisitors and upholders was more expressed than usual. Some paladins were also guarding what seemed to be a lone armor plate standing against the wall in the hallway leading up to Gottin's Lamp. 

Closer to the entrance, there were little groups of baseliners praying, on their knees. Some were being escorted away by members of the Ministry. The merchant who sold me the glow-in-the-dark figurine of Empress Jamyl again had a market stall up. I was very surprised to find out that this time he is selling glow-in-the-dark figurines of... ms. Yubari, in saintly robes, holding a child!

Most of our pilots were out on yet another glorious mission, but I did meet with Libby. She has taken up the care of ms. Yubari. She explained me what is going on - the arch-heretic Nauplius has been focusing his romantico-theological obsessions on ms. Yubari. Her place of convalescence is becoming a pilgrimage site for his followers, and they have made paintings on the walls.

Religious graffiti is a marked change from the lowing of yak: usually the arch-heretic's infatuations result in the transfer of large amounts of livestock to LUMEN. Gifts of yak are not uncommon as a courtship ritual among upper class Khanid families, but the arch-heretic takes it to another level altogether. I remember a time when his fancy was focusing on ms. Griffiths. Back then new recruits to the 24th Imperial Crusade arriving in Mehatoor mistook LUMEN for a dairy cooperative.

I prayed with Libby in the Chapel for ms. Yubari's recovery, and for the evil of sedevancantism to be purged from Mehatoor's 24th Imperial Crusade station. 

I did not see mr. Firth around, but I made sure to return swiftly back to Mezagorm, since he had suggested I stay until his return.

Missionary Missive

As I reconnected to LUMEN's mail servers on my way back to Mehatoor, a bunch of messages flooded my mailbox. Mail always piles up so fast! 

I skimmed through and disregarded most messages, but I was happily surprised to see a letter from brother Hugo. We met during the transition of St. Vasrayi's relic to the chapel in Seclusion, and struck up a friendship. Seeing an opportunity to bring the Faith to new worlds, brother Hugo and fifteen missionary companions boarded one of the Deep Space Transports in Publius' wormhole colonization fleet.

He writes me that the fleet finally has arrived in a hospitable system, with no less than four temperate worlds orbiting a yellow-orange main sequence star. They decided that it was a good place to settle. Publius and his fellow adventurers have baptized this system "Epikouria". 

They have begun deploying in orbit of Epikouria IX, the outermost planet. Despite its distance to the star, it is one of the four temperate worlds. Nevertheless, it remains a cold world: a substantial portion of its land mass is covered in snow or ice during the current part of its orbit. Brother Hugo included a picture of the world in his letter, taken from the station's observation deck:

Brother Hugo writes that there is a civilization down below on IX. Publius' associates found that most worlds in Epikouria already have some inhabitants, capable of sending out probes to see who has appeared in their system. The inhabitants have been very reluctant to make contact - they seem not to trust outsiders easily, especially outsiders that fly Imperial battleships. 

Orbital observation has detected two separate settlements on IX. One is in a rather arid part near the equator, and the other, larger, is on an island. The population is estimated (again, from satellite observation) to run in the tens of thousands.

Brother Hugo and his companions took a shuttle down planetside, to the island city, bringing scripture and some material to build a mission church. They were pelted with overripe fruit and chased away. Not that they met savages: these people were modern, and clearly belonged to the various cultures of our own cluster. They must have come here on a previous wave of colonization of Anoikis. Either by their own volition, or by lack of interstellar ships, or perhaps after a raid, they remain severed from their Empires.

For the moment, Publius and his new colonists do not seem to be preoccupied by these inhabitants, and mostly ignore them, preferring to live in orbit. Isidorus and others have been putting down mineral extraction facilities in remote parts of most planets, and are starting to harvest planetary resources. I do hope there will be no clashes, and I will pray that brother Hugo receives a better reception on his next visit.

Vehicle rental reviews

The logical next step for my investigation is to reposition the station scanners to find signatures in the biosphere. Signatures that point to objects that are not as young as the vegetation, yet either younger (Tetrimon) or much older (relics) than the rest of the station. There is no absolute certainty that this will work, given the small size the relics may be, but it is not unrealistic and worth a try. 

Unfortunately, the scanner that we had set up inside the biosphere is still not functioning. My tech guru was not able to get it to work, but he's more familiar with range-finding and pinpointing scanners that work on a solar system scale. In addition, the vehicle that we used to transport it - we had parked it next to the deployed scanner - also does not work any more.

In retrospect, I should not have used 1-ISK-RENTALS to rent planetary vehicles. They did have a 4-star review on galnet, but now that I looked again to find out how to contact them, I see that there was only one review. Probably from the owners. And even they did not want to give 5 stars. 

I called them from the Indagatrix, and a woman introducing herself as Kelly told me that there is no breakdown insurance, and also no roadside assistance. Especially when vehicles break down in abandoned forbidden cities floating in Blood Raider infested space, you're on your own. Actually they do not have it even if you drive around in Dam-Torsad! I will have to pay for a new vehicle if I do not bring it back.

This is not a problem for a capsuleer wallet. But I felt I should add something to the reviews for future clients. I do not want to be mean, so I went for 3 stars, and wrote "Had some problem with one of their vehicles breaking down, while parked. Note that you should have your own roadside assistance." 

I considered whether this was maybe a bit too harsh, and also I did not want to bring the lady on call in trouble, so I added (stretching the truth a little bit) "Kelly on the info line was very helpful."

I am heading back for a brief visit to Mehatoor to get a new scanner and some vehicles to move them.

Rewilding

The Tetrimon Order mostly used this place as barracks it seems. I do not think they hid any important relic here. It was merely a conveniently located site in the station. 

Before the Tetrimon turned this facility into their barracks, I think this was a biology or biochemistry lab related to the management of the agricultural biosphere. There is no functioning lab equipment remaining, but we did manage to salvage some old data generated by monitoring devices in the biosphere. It tells the story of how it evolved after the station was abandoned.

The biosphere is a large patch of land, divided in squares of roughly 4 square kilometers. These are laid out in an 8 by 8 chessboard pattern, indicated by coordinates A-H and 1-8. The square patches were alternating agricultural land and wildland. Our entrance is at E1, in the middle of one edge.

When power was diverted to other systems, the solar energy input turned out to be not enough and the biosphere cooled. Perhaps Mezagorm was designed to be closer to the star, or perhaps the design did not live up to specs. Also, biospheres are known to be fickle and liable to instabilities.

It cooled, not to the point of freezing, but reaching a thermal equilibrium cooler than before. Beans and tomatoes stopped setting fruit, and pollinators declined and essentially disappeared. Then the warm-soil bacteria slowed down, reducing nitrogen mineralization. Rye took over from wheat, and conifers started to thrive. At some point when that seemed to settle into a new equilibrium, it appears that the monitoring devices malfunctioned all one by one in a relatively short time span.

Another piece of the puzzle

Over the last couple of days, we have explored the remains of the Tetrimon garrison stationed in the ruins of Mezagorm. It was as I feared: there is nothing of any value left. Broken utensils and machinery, bunk beds, emblems, and other objects indeed show that the Tetrimon Order was here for an extended period of time. 

More recent objects point to at least one team of looters that came after the Tetrimon left: Blood Raiders. We have identified remnants of their food supplies, in particular left-over vials of their blood drinks. This seems to confirm my hunch that they are still from time to time sending raiding parties, hoping to find interesting loot.

We have managed to retrieve some data from the old mainframes in the facility. The data represents logs by the garrison. They are either unreadable or trivial day-to-day activity logs. For example there is a complete record of how many eggs the chickens have been laying every day. They must have been keeping a chicken coop for some reason, in a nearby part of the biosphere. 

Still, the egg records were useful: what struck me is that they used the exact same idiom to denote the biosphere as what is used to denote the "guarded gardens" in the riddle that I found in the restored library of Baron Redwolfe's order. As you will recall, it read:

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

So, the first two lines seem to be deciphered now: they do refer to this biosphere where we lost the mapping drone. That drone is still not found. Now also the long-range scanner that we have deployed there has stopped working. Not that we need it, it has served its purpose, but I might have to pay the warranty upon returning it, unless we can fix it.

While one of the technicians from my crew works on that, I am investigating even older logs that we retrieved, apparently from the biochemists working here when this was still a facility, probably overseeing the biosphere.

Located

We have found the location of the garrison! Not long after the radio-isotope long range scanner was installed, it read a huge signal, and pointed us to a biochemistry research facility at the edge of the ecosphere hangar, off the main passage connecting it to the Grand Hall. 

In retrospect, it is an logical spot to stay in this abandoned city. It is easily accessible from the Grand Hall where you can land your ship, and it is next to a source of food and water, making it rather autonomous for a long time. Moreover, the forested area provides a good space to have a relaxing walk, or exercise a bit. And, being a research facility, it is easy to seal it off or guard its entrances.

The entrance has been forced open, so we have not been the first visitors after the Tetrimon left from their garrison. Perhaps Sansha or Blood Raiders? They are seen often enough outside Mezagorm, even last week. 

A cautious first look reveals that the place has indeed been thoroughly ransacked. We'll continue to explore it more systematically tomorrow, but it is very disappointing, as probably we will not find much of value. 

Biosphere

The missing mapping drone caused a lot of speculation among the crew. Possibilities were debated, such as a faulty battery or a defect in the communication array. Of course, the location where it went missing was the cause of speculation too. The most popular hypothesis was that it had found a large fleet hangar, perhaps with some passive jamming equipment still active.

Our assumption turned out to be spectacularly wrong.

When we went up to that location, we found a forest. Pine, birch, spruce and fir trees, under a dome of filtered sunlight. We could even hear some animals making sort of squeaking sounds. We have not found the mapping drone, but it is not designed to map out a forest, so I am not surprised it malfunctioned.

This turns out to be an artificial closed ecosystem, that has been abandoned for centuries. Energy input does not come from power generated inside Mezagorm - that has long ceased to function - but from the sunlight collected and spectrally filtered by the dome above, acting as a one-way mirror letting the sunlight in but trapping the infrared radiation. Part of the solar energy is used to run very basic systems, but mostly the whole ecosystem is self-contained, passive, and recycles its own materials.

At one point this must have been a farming ecosystem; there is still a lot of rye growing in open patches and clearances. This would have provided Mezagorm with food even when systems would fail or power  would needed to be diverted for defensive systems. Perhaps the mad Emperor was already taking into account a possible attack or siege.

We repositioned the long-range scanner, so that we can continue the search for the location of the Tetrimon garrison. Once it is set up and triangulating, we will start looking for the mapping drone and exploring the forest a bit.

Mapping Mezagorm

The remote scanners are pointing us towards one of the side-structures of Mezagorm. The whole station is designed as a fractal of ever smaller outer circles surrounding inner circles. In order to close in on the exact location of the old Order of Tetrimon camp, we need to move one of the scanners more towards the outside.

This is difficult since there are no maps of Mezagorm - at least not publicly available, even for scholarly research. So, we do not know how to navigate this cursed city.

I did bring 3D tunnel-mapping drones to help us with that. These are really neat, tiny flying devices with advanced gyroscopes that continuously map their surroundings and keep track of their position and orientation. You let them loose and they will map out large areas of tunnels. 

They are often used in speleology but work fine on abandoned stations too. They can create detailed maps of even the most intricate three-dimensional labyrinths. It just takes them a lot of time, since they have to visit every tunnel.

One of these mapper drones entered a surprisingly large space - the outer walls were too far off for its rangefinder. It did start going around the edge of that space, when suddenly its signal got cut off. 

As this is also roughly in the direction where we would like to reposition the scanner, I am taking a team out to go see this space and get our drone back.

Setting up the expedition

Today the Sansha squad was not present in Shastal, at least not in the neighborhood of Mezagorm. 

The Indagatrix descended into the immense and abandoned Grand Hall of the megalopolis-station. It is always a sight to behold, especially without the light-enhancement of a neocom. First one's eyes have to get used to the darkness, as Shastal star's light only illuminates the top part near the entrance to the vast enclosure. As the shades start to take form in the gloomy darkness, the sense of cursedness of this place grows.

There was no luxury yacht at the landing pad of Galactic Tours. I do not know their schedule this summer  and perhaps there is still one cruise on the way. So I chose a different site to land, one closer to the part where my previous investigations seemed to point to. 

With the crew I spent most of the day setting up a base camp, using some of the power generators that we brought along. We rebooted life support in one of the smaller buildings at the edge of the Grand Hall, a place that seems to be on an intersection of roads inside the station. Tomorrow, we will start up the remote radio-isotope fingerprinting scanners and start triangulation.

During our work, Mr. Firth was suddenly called back to Mehatoor by his superiors for some sort of Sedevacantist emergency. I had to interrupt work to drop him off at the 24th Imperial Crusade station in neighboring Dihra. It is quite uncharacteristic of my political officer to leave me and the crew to do exploration alone. He seemed more than a little cross when he left and did not speak to me during our trip. It is understandable, as he will miss all the archaeological surveying fun!

Sanshas at Mezagorm

We went to Shastal in a bit of a hurry, only to find Mezagorm camped by some Sansha frigates, just hanging there and not moving. 

At first, I though these ships were abandoned. Perhaps they could be boarded and then captured? But the option to board them was not there, so they must have been powered up and with crew. Mr. Firth, my political officer, did not offer any suggestions, I think he is still worrying about the tabloid thing. In stead, he called in the Sansha asking for Navy support.

The Indagatrix is not fitted for offense, so we are waiting in a privately owned station in the system. 

It seems as if the Mad Emperor's cursed station is always attracting pirates and other evil creatures. Perhaps they too look for ancient technology still hidden in its darkened halls?

Unwanted attention

There was one good piece of news today. My Permit for Archeological Investigation (PAI) for the exploration of Mezagorm came in while I was in Seclusion. So, I have contacted the hangar with the request of loading the station scanning equipment back into the Indagatrix.

There is unfortunately also a bit of bad news. Libby came to see me all upset. She found me just when mr. Firth was bringing me the PAI. 

Apparently, some blurry picture of her appeared in a gutter-press tabloid. 

The cause of this is my excuse for her presence on the Indagatrix, spoken in misplaced jest, saying that she was an apparition. This seems to have been taken up by some clickbait hungry paparazzo. There exists a type of information vulture that likes to loiter in docking bays where capsuleers berth their ships, looking for any morsel or scandal that they can exploit. 

It is best to simply come clean, and confess to the port authorities my mistake of bringing Libby out to Seclusion without having submitted the proper paperwork. 

However, mr. Firth spoke out against that obvious solution, as he fears it will reflect poorly on him. He had a very strong opinion on the matter, and did not shy away from using profanities. He suggests that we depart as soon as possible for the exploration of Mezagorm, and said - I quote - "Get out of here, shut up, and stay there like a hermit for a couple of weeks, and pray that this sh*tstorm blows over."

Youth nowadays has no respect for clergy any more.

Miraculous apparition

Initially, there was a bit of consternation from the clearance officer at Mehatoor docking. According to their records Libby never left the 24th Imperial Crusade station, so how can she disembark from my ship? 

I had forgotten about that.

I tried to handwave it, by saying that miraculous apparitions have been reported pretty much throughout scripture, and are nothing to worry about. The clearance officer was not convinced.

Mr. Firth, who has a natural inclination to reduce the amount of problems, especially if they are potential problems for himself, helped. He correctly pointed out that there are two irregularities that actually cancel out.

Libby is currently in the 24th Imperial Crusade station. If it is not necessary to explain how she could appear on a docking vessel, then it is also not necessary to find out whether errors were made in letting a slave leave the station without her Holder's permission. 

Mr. Firth's argument sounded much more convincing to the clearance officer, and I am sure saved us a lot of unnecessary paperwork and other unpleasantries.

Time and tide and wormholes wait for no man

In the age of sail and oar, ships on a long voyage often had to wait at port for favorable winds and an ebbing tide. The retreating tide offers the benefit of riding the retreating waters. The rising tide, on the other hand, pushes the ships back to port. Similarly, the direction of the winds could make a voyage impossible or perilous. So there was often only a short window of time when ships could set sail - and once it had sailed, there was another wait before other vessels could leave.

For those navigating the depths of Anoikis, there are similar laws. One has to wait for a suitable wormhole connection to appear, one that leads not to far away from the intended destination. The connections seem to be random, which has fed the heresy of worshipping an idol of randomness, called "Bob". 

Some mariners of Anoikis have taken to the practice of "rolling" the wormhole, collapsing a hole by driving a critical amount of mass through it. This is done in the hope that a new wormhole will respawn with a better connection. However, this generally takes a dedicated fleet with battleships and cruiser using Higgs anchors, complemented with scanners and guards. 

The lone traveler has to use what is at hand, or wait. An when a propitious connection appears, there is only short window of time to use it. That is why, in the absence of a rolling fleet for Seclusion, I had to ask Libby to keep her luggage ready so we could leave at a moment's notice. 

We did get a good wormhole connection, and little time to use it before it would collapse. With no idea how long before it would roll to Amarr again, I made haste, and with success: We were able to make use of it, and made our way back to Mehatoor without difficulties.

The temptation of freedom

The fleet's departure was a sight to be behold, viewing it from Pilgrim's Rest. It took three hours before all the ships had left for their voyage. Many people watched it, until the moment the ships were out of viewing range. 

I did not get to see Publius, and to be honest I think it was better that I did not take up any of his precious time with my trifles. 

After the colony fleet left, the activity of the station slowed down again, as if it had to rest after great physical effort. Cleaning up and bringing everything in order seems to have been left for tomorrow, mostly. People went home, or went to a bar to relax. I went to see ms. Yubari's slave, who now calls herself Libby. 

To my surprise, I found her in the midst of unpacking, even though she had not been traveling.

She was reluctant to explain, but I pressed her, and she confessed that she had been tempted to join the colonists and go with them to the fabled Epikouria system, with planets where gold can be dug up with bare hands from the ground. She did not want to join for the promise of wealth. She wanted to go because of the lure of false freedom and a so-called "new life". She had been on the verge of leaving, bags packed and ready, when she decided against it.

She told me that the Voidlanders, the main group of colonists, embrace a pluralist culture without slavery. Even though they tolerate the Amarr customs and abide by our laws, they do not condone slavery, and look down on Holders and the institution. In the part of the station that they used to inhabit, emancipation was the rule, and the law was stretched to a point that any slave coming there would be kept safe and not sent back. Slave-owning Holders were given the cold shoulder.

For someone in Libby's position, facing the dangers of Nauplius, the temptation to run away is understandable, especially with such an easy route. However, it speaks of her strength of character that she did not give in, and after careful deliberation decided to stay. God guided her decision, and gave her strength to withstand the Molok's whispers. 

I told her about ms. Yubari, and her need to have someone to look after her at this stage of her recovery. I also explained that she would not leave Gottin's Lamp, and be safe from Nauplius. To be honest, I am not completely sure about that, since the arch-heretic has been allowed to visit ms. Yubari on occasion, but there is no need to sow doubt now. 

Libby seems to care about ms. Yubari, even if she does not know her all that well. She told me that she owes ms. Yubari a debt of gratitude, and she agrees to return to the Lamp. She worried a bit about her work at St. Vasrayi's chapel, but I could reassure her: now that the colony fleet has left, it will no doubt be less busy and require less personnel.

Departure

Apparently I arrived in Seclusion on one of the busiest days: the main colony fleet is about to leave! 

The hangars today are hubs of frenzied activity. Cargo droids and passenger shuttles move past under a rain of sparks from welders up in scaffolds making last minute hull adjustments and installing cargohold optimization rigs. Berthing hauler ships collide with those tiny BOB drones that buzz around docked ships nowadays in stations. On the ground, hurried people push each other and bump into each other. There are so many people running along in the hangar, that it is almost impossible to get through. 

Out in space, the activity is no less, as various industrial structures are being unanchored, dismantled and  packaged for the journey to the new colony. I had to wait ten minutes before the Indagatrix was allowed to dock! 

Under these conditions there is little chance I will be able to meet Publius. I have delivered his books to his personal hangars in Seclusion, and hope he will find them when he has the time to think about other things than ship manifests and coordinating his wormhole colony's corporation, the Comitia Centuriata.

It is only going to get even more hectic out there in a few hours. LUMEN has called for an armed escort fleet to guard the deep space transports until they make it out to well beyond our port's scan range. Out in Anoikis, there are always security concerns since danger can uncloak at any time. It makes the denizens of the wormhole inclined towards paranoia [1]. 

Meanwhile I went to St. Vasrayi's chapel and to Pilgrim's Rest, a large park in Seclusion's fortizar. It has a dome made out of transparent alloy, allowing for a spectacular view of the fleet that is assembling. I am not the only one here: a small crowd of people, mostly family members either of colonists or hangar workers, is in the park gazing at the spectacle unfolding.

[1] I have been asked by one of the station's officers here to delay any communication of the move until its main part is finished, for operational security, so I will upload this log only late today after the fleet left.

Request from the Medbay

To reach Seclusion, or indeed any destination in Anoikis, one has to consult incomplete and ever-changing starmaps, charting the ephemeral passages between wormhole systems.

Going there is always a somewhat dangerous adventure, so I had the station scanning equipment that was loaded into the Indagatrix's cargo bay for my expedition to Mezagorm unloaded again. 

While I was consulting maps to find today's route to Seclusion, I was contacted by our Medbay. One of the head nurses spoke to me, saying that Ms. Yubari's memory is starting to come back to her and that she would like to see her slave again. She had entrusted the care of that slave to me, and I have brought her to Seclusion for safety after Nauplius made attempts to find the slave. 

It is indeed a safe hiding place (be it that travel to and forth are not that safe). Without secure contacts in LUMEN that grant access to the starmaps showing the way to Seclusion, it is impossible for Nauplius to find her. Now, Ms. Yubari's request to see her slave Libby again comes exactly at the right time, as I am planning to head over there anyway. I do not know how Libby will react to this, but we will see. 

Colonization fleet

I have received interesting news from St. Vasrayi's chapel in Seclusion, LUMEN's foothold in Anoikis. 

The system has seen a strong surge in activity over the last year, under the industrious guidance of Publius Cornelius Felix. This must have been an action that, without knowing, picked up the spirit of the times! Indeed, over the past year also our beloved Empress has expanded the Empire into Anoikis, after the recent merciless Drifter attacks.

Seeing his own efforts mirrored by the Empire has fired up Publius even more, and he forged ahead with his own plans to explore and expand into new wormhole systems. I am afraid his enthusiasm is too big to be contained in Seclusion. 

The acolytes at the chapel tell me that he will set sail to new wormhole horizons with a bunch of colonists. The ship loaders and hangar crews speak of a massive colony fleet of deep space transports and Armageddon battleships preparing for departure. Local youth are whispering of a promised system full of planets resplendent with gold and other precious metals. 

I shall miss Publius, the young explorer with his boundless enthusiasm and his inclination to challenge and change the old ways. I will try to meet him before he leaves: I feel I must warn him against the dangers of Bobism, out there in the Anoikis wildlands. Also, he needs to take some decent books, guides and scripture excerpts with him to stay on the right path. 

Good tidings

Good tidings from the warzone! Bishop Merdaneth announced the reconquest of Auga by the Empire, after a long siege and strategic operations spanning three years. 

The system holds symbolic importance, both for Amarr and for the rebel Minmatar, as it plays an important part in the history of the terrorist group 'the defiants'. They have aided the Elder invasion, an act of aggression that broke all international laws, and have performed numerous terror raids. 

The official government of the Republic claimed they had nothing to do with these terrorists, and they disavowed the leader of the defiants, Karishal Muritor. Most probably lies, in order to save face on the international arena. But, back then, the Republic had more reasonable leadership in the person of Karin Midular. She tried to rein in the hatred-filled terrorists and had Muritor stopped by force in Auga. Ever since, for the followers of the evil defiants, Auga has been a place of pilgrimage to commemorate their martyred leader. 

It did not take long for the brief light of reason to be extinguished from the Republic: after an internal power struggle, those that adhere to the defiants' creed of hate deposed Midular and took power. The current leader, Maleatu Shakor, scandalously rehabilitated the terrorists - he probably was one of them. I am shocked that there was not more outcry everywhere in the cluster over this.

Now that our valliant pilots with the 24th imperial crusade managed to recapture Auga, the worship of the terrorist leader Muritor in that system can finally be put to an end.   

Foundation Day celebrations

Past week we celebrated Foundation Day! 

Also this year, LUMEN organized their own celebrations, with a parade and fireworks display in Amarr, at the Empress' Honor Guard above our home world. The fireworks were so plentiful, and of such a brightness that they must have been visible from the nighttime planetside. Unlike some previous years, the parade was not disrupted by Ushra Khan terrorists. Personally I credit this to our warzone pilots keeping the pressure on them in the warzone.

This was followed by speeches from Dame Daphiti and from our Directrix, emphasizing how faith brings us together under the guidance of the Empress. After that, a formal celebratory ball took place. 

I'm afraid I missed most of the capsuleer celebrations - I was too caught up preparing the celebrations for our baseliner staff at the Chapel, and doing the heap of paperwork for the MIO permission. That latter task has now finally been completed, and with the paperwork submitted I hope to get a positive answer soon.

Red Tape

Mr. Firth has made good progress in getting us an MIO permit to explore in Mezagorm, bypassing the Directorate General of Cultural-Historic Patrimonium.

However, we have hit a bump in the road, as I need to fill in a background-check form. One question in particular appears difficult to answer:

Have you traveled outside the Empire in the past ten years? If so, give a precise list with for each occasion: when, where and why?

This covers all of my capsuleer life! I must have been outside of the Empire hundreds of times, and do not quite recall every separate occasion, let alone when and why... Now, if I make a mistake and that is detected by the MIO, we can forget about the permit.

Now, for the last 18 months, Mr. Firth has been the political officer on the Indagatrix, and for that period he had no problems producing this list for me. I think he simply had it in a drawer in his cabin.

For the period before that, I will have to rely on my logs to set up the paperwork...

Mr. Firth's kind help

Good news! Mr. Ivan Firth, the political officer on the Indagatrix, has taken an interest in my quest for the Ink of Truth. 

Indeed, he had been complaining a bit about how we did not contribute as much as we used to do, bringing back interesting items or information for the Ministry. It has gone a bit quiet since the Empire's most glorious victory over the Drifters.

With his current status -he seems to have much more clout now that he has been promoted to Itenerant Frumentaris Second Class- he might just be able to get me a temporary permit for an exploration expedition in Mezagorm. If he succeeds, we will even have the backing of an Imperial Navy punisher-class frigate to clear the site of hostile blood raiders.

Expecting a positive outcome to Mr. Firth's petition, I am preparing the expedition, and putting the station scanning equipment in the cargo hold. Given the recent splash in ISK, I have been able to purchase fancier versions of the radio-isotope fingerprint detectors. They will allow me to pinpoint regions in the stations that have been inhabited for a while after the Mad Emperor's "temple of pride" was formally abandoned.

The Temple of Pride

It seems that the word that I translated into modern Amarrian as 'gardens' had a special connotation in the language of the time. It was not merely any garden, but a communal vegetable garden in the city, a place where people would grow food for their own consumption, and meet their neighbors. 

Another clarification that Dr. Kadeyooh made, was that the 'temple of pride' in the riddle should not be interpreted as a place where the sin of pride is celebrated, or where a god of pride is worshipped. Rather, it is a place that has been built not with humility, but out of pride, out of a love for oneself rather than a love for God.

Within the Tetrimonic tradition, I believe - and dr. Kadeyooh tends to agree - that this might refer to the pride of the Mad Emperor, and the city that he built to satisfy his own megalomania. 

It seems I should head back to Mezagorm, and continue the search that I interrupted there. Last time, I had trouble getting in, since the Directorate General of Cultural-Historic Patrimonium no longer gives permits for archeological exploration there. I do not feel like going on a cruise again to visit it, so I'll have to find a new solution to get in.

Chronicle of Arzad

Luna got in touch with me, about the rare items fair that I organised. I think she also enjoyed it, but what is even better news is that she found precious items for our library!

It does not surprise me that some collectors would prefer to approach her -famous and very well connected and respected directrix- rather than some unknown friar. But she also has a keen eye for items of historical importance. 

She has found an ancient manuscript, in relatively decent condition, describing the life of Arzad Hamri, of House Hamri. Arzad was condemned by the Theology Council and sentenced to death, though for the Starkmanir tribe he is still considered a saint. Or an elder, although that might be more of a prophet? Anyhow, not that much is known about him, given his heresy conviction, and these documents will shed new light on the history of the system that was named after him, Arzad, in the Devoid region.

These manuscripts will of course draw attention also of the Republic, perhaps unwanted attention. So, I am ordering special protective glass anti-theft display cases to store these in. What a magnificent addition to Gottin's lamp library!

House historian

Reading in the palace library, I met the house historian of the Duke of Youledian. 

It is a hallmark of a truly ancient noble line that it keeps a personal historian, to track the footsteps that they leave throughout history. 

Dr. Ephas Kadeyooh told me that the Youledians trace their lineage back to a certain Khanid nomadic group that was known to be particularly ferocious and barbarian. They were said to eat their yak meat using their bare hands, which must have been most horrifying to the sophisticate Amarrian table manners of the early Empire. 

This led the faithful who finally subdued them to ponder whether this tribe, safely converted, might not teach us some lessons in combat. It was concluded that their savagery would "lend itself well to the strict enforcement of the law of God", in the words of general Darahzad, and so they were incorporated as shock troops, as many other Khanid nomadic tribes were.

Dr. Kadeyooh was adamant that the Tetrimon would not refer to the Khanid as "dark Amarr", since that was considered to be a derogatory term. The Tetrimon Order would have wanted to keep friendly relatios with House Khanid, as the Tetrimon Order was already hedging its bet on a possible banishment to their demesne (which was not yet an independent Kingdom during the Moral Reform civil war). 

To find out what is meant by the Dark Bishop, the kind dr. Kadeyooh who has a good knowledge of Moral Reform Tetrimon symbology has agreed to help me. 

Audience with the Duke

It was such an honor to be granted an audience with Duke Fayed, Holder of Youledian and Khanid royal appointee to the Theology Council! 

He was able to grant me a full two minutes and forty seconds of his most precious time, as he had other people to meet during the audience hour. Along with other lucky visitors, I was queuing in the palace's Hall of Audiences where ushers moved us along as we were led one by one in front of his majesty the Duke.

In his words to me, he expressed his satisfaction at LUMEN's contributions to conquer Sanctified Vidette, and asked me to convey his heartfelt encouragements to lady Von Deilyx and to our pilots to keep up the good work. He also pressed upon me to redouble efforts to have all our faithful pilots adhere strictly to the orthodoxy as expressed by the Theology Council and the Empress, in particular in what regards attendance at least twice a day to mass. 

Protocol forbade me to ask a question unless invited to do so by the Duke, so unfortunately I was unable to find out more about the riddle or connections between House Youledian and the Tetrimon Order. By the time he finished congratulating LUMEN and giving his advise on guiding a capsuleer flock, ushers bade me to move on. The Duke cast his benevolent gaze upon the next petitioner, and that was the end of my audience.

While I am still very much impressed to have been in the presence of his majesty, the event leaves me somewhat confused now about how to proceed. Luckily, the palace also boasts a library. 

When in doubt, always go to the library.

Palace Gardens

The palace gardens remind me of the Khanid gardens I saw on the estate of House Deritan - a former duchess of Fekhoya, fallen from grace, and presently of unknown whereabouts. And, of course, it also reminds me of the beautiful example on display at Luna's "Gardens of the Empire" exhibit. I would advise our new members to visit if they get the chance to do so.

In the Khanid custom, gardens are seen as places to come to rest and meditate, to get away from the business of the day, and to spend some time focusing on what matters most. Their style is less formal and rigid, less rectilinear than classicist Dam-Torsad gardens, and the element of random encounter is allowed to come into play. Walking along the twisting stone paths, one finds strangely shaped rocks, carefully shaped ponds with water lillies, patches of the whitest sand, manicured shrubs, Khanid maple trees, and tiny trees that have clearly been tortured to remain small while still looking natural. 

The eye is both guided inward and outward. Inward, towards the center of the Duke of Youledian's garden, a lone giant Emperor's tree presides over its surroundings. It is visible from nearly every corner of the garden, and symbolizes the dominance of a Holder over their holdings.

To the south, the garden borders the edge of the mesa on which the palace is built, so looking outward one sees the vast landscape from high above. An ornately sculpted stone balustrade at the edge of the steep escarpment is low enough to allow for some degree of vertigo in those standing next to it. As the mesa rises high above the city, and due to the restrictions in height of the buildings below, the view is not obstructed. 

According to the riddle, one has to find the "stench of sin" in these gardens. Is there anything that looks as if it would disturb the meditation? If there is, I cannot see it. 

I have a requested an audience with the Duke, as I have heard that he is around in his palace for a few weeks, and gives audiences every Sunday. 

Arzanni VII

The ducal palace on the temperate world Arzanni VII could have been built in any lush and fertile green region that the planet has. Instead, it is perched on a jagged basalt mesa at the edge of Arzanni's largest continental steppe, a region that would more closely resemble the ancestral Khanid homelands on Amarr. 

Black and silver is a Khanid theme, also for this ducal palace. Its walls are built from polished volcanic stone, giving the palace a gleaming black sheen, and its towers are topped by silver domes, looking a bit like the round nomadic tents of the early Khanid. 

The first Duke of Youledian who built this palace must have been a bit homesick... 

At the foot of the mesa, a sprawling city stretches into the steppe, the capital of the duchy. It does not have skyscrapers so common of modern Amarrian cities - it seems there is a law restricting the height of the buildings to be less than that of the ancient cathedral tower. I have booked a simple hotel close to mesa's cliff, on the slopes rising up towards the cliffs. This appears to be the "tourist hotspot" - where the quotes indicate that tourism is definitely a euphemism.

I have booked a guided tour to the palace and the palace gardens.

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.