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.