Inverted statics

Systems in Anoikis, including the former Drifter wormhole systems, contain so-called "static" wormholes. For our own colony Seclusion, there are two such statics, a B274 and a Z647 type wormhole. Whenever one of the two expires - either because it reaches the end of its lifetime or because more than the critical mass has passed through - a similar type wormhole automatically and immediately appears somewhere else in the system. That is why they are called statics. 

Whenever you visit Seclusion, there will always be a B274 and a Z647 present.

Also Sanctified Vidette and the other Drifter wormholes contain statics. Six regular ones, and sixty "inverted" ones. The inverted ones are very special, and to the best of my knowledge have only been seen in one other place where spacetime has been heavily re-engineered: Pochven.

As I pointed out in yesterday's log entry there is a difference between a wormhole entrance and exit. Wormholes start as an embryonic entrance, and only after a while or when breached, the exit will appear and the tunnel will be present. Now, usual statics are always entrances. They appear immediately in the probe scan window. So, when a static wormhole expires, the new one becomes visible for you to scan down immediately afterwards.

Inverted statics such as Sanctified Vidette's V928 spawn outside Sanctified Vidette. It is their exit, or K162 hole, that will be inside Sanctified Vidette. That is the inverse from usual statics.

Up till very recently the V928 holes were immediately breached by Drifters or by the thermoelectric convertor's particle beams, so the exit K162 hole immediately appeared in Sanctified Vidette. The system always contained the 60 exits except for very short times between a vanishing and respawning.

That changed around the time spacetime rifts and phased asteroid fields started to appear in New Eden, and I witnessed moments when there were much less than 60 wormhole signatures.

The hypothesis that dr. Cornelius suggested is as brilliant as it is straightforward: for an unknown reason, since a month or two the V928 now have to be scanned down and breached before the K162 appears in Sanctified Vidette. There are still always 60 statics, but since they are inverted and it now takes time (and capsuleers) to breach them, there are often less than 60 K162 signatures.

This hypothesis needed experimental proof.

Wormhole birth

To the casual traveller, a wormhole is just a tunnel between two patches of space. Both sides of the tunnel look the same.

However, like a ski resort full of girls hunting for husbands, and husbands hunting for girls, the situation is not as symmetrical as it seems.

During their formation, wormholes are directional. One side is the "entrance" and the other is termed the "exit". When they are fully formed these two ends behave the same for all practical purposes, but we keep the distinction in their labeling. The exit is always labeled "K162". The entrance can have many names, for example "B274", for our highsec static in Seclusion. You find this in the info panel for the wormhole:

The entrance label allows you to identify the type of wormhole, and get a lot of information on it. 

So, how do wormholes form? Well, first the entrance appears as a cosmic signature on your probe scan window. At that point, the K162 exit has not yet formed - there is no exit hole yet. There is only the embryonic entrance hole.

Our warp engines perturb the embryonic wormhole. If you warp to the cosmic signature then even if you do not enter, a spacetime link is created to the destination system. However, the wormhole exit is not visible yet in that system. As the link ages, there is a certain probability per unit time for it to become visible, even if you leave it alone.

Now, if you enter the nascent wormhole, and you are the first one to go through the wormhole, then at that particular moment, the exit hole will spawn visibly in the destination system. Folks there see a new signature pop up on their probe scan window at that point. That is why wormholers get really nervous when a new signature appears. It could be something that appears spontaneously - or it could be someone from another system who just breached a new wormhole and landed in your system.

I have found a diagram to explain wormhole spawn mechanics, on the galnet forums, and I am including it here for completeness' sake:

It looks complicated, but the main message is: the exit may not be visible unless someone came through, or the wormhole is already aged.

((ooc: the witty quote about the ski resort is not mine, but I did not find it back and do not know who to attribute it to...))

Good news

The alarming news from Syndicate aside, I have two pieces of great news.

The first one is that the experiment succeeded! 

As I prepared the return from Curse, following TES Valenia's reassignment due to the war, I convinced my escort to allow me to scan one more time for a suitable set of thermoelectric convertor field projectors out in space. Our way back took us anyway along several Jove observatory systems.

I did not have much confidence that we would find anything, since I have not had any success the entire week. But today turned out different! In G-G78S, among the many signatures, there was a pristine set of convertors. 

There were some pilots in system that would make the operation dangerous, were it not that they were blue, to my surprise. Three I-BLU pilots, out here in Curse. I wonder what they are doing here, but I was too excited by my find and to eager to do the planned experiment so I did not disturb them for a chat. 

I got to work, and managed to get the Sleeper projectors to work and to stabilize a wormhole connection. TES Valenia had me targeted the entire time, and was getting nervous, already regretting having consented to this ultimate attempt. I could perform the experiment and confirm the hypothesis! I am too excited right now to sort out my notes and tabulate measurements and write it all up, but will do so shortly.

The second piece of good news is that we will soon have another conversion ceremony. 

Ms. Yubari has made great progress and I think she is ready! We have many pilots among the various corporations in LUMEN that are not of the faith, but from time to time, as they get more acquainted with the faith, they decide to convert. It is always a source of great joy and celebration when they do!

Their heads on a plate

What a dark and grim place this universe is, there where the light of faith does not shine as it does within the borders of the Amarr Empire. 

The Executive General of the State's forces in Syndicate, Heika Torigo, has called for the killing on sight of those fleeing from Syndicate to the Federation. Their ships are not to be stopped, boarded, and searched for suspects to arrest. It is not "wanted, dead or alive", just a "wanted dead". Capsuleer pilots can earn billions by bringing in corpses as proof. Corpses for coin! The state, our former ally, has strayed far from the light. 

But there is also a little bit of good news. It comes from our closest ally amongst the locals, House Arnoux, one of the many governing houses and leaders in the complex patchwork of Syndicate politics. They are not fleeing. It appears the State is not targeting them or their stations at the moment. I thank God that House Arnoux are not amongst those that chose to seek refuge in the Federation. 

In stead of fleeing or blindly collaborating with the Executive General's command, Governor Evelyn Arnoux issued a very eloquent statement condemning Torigo's call to massacre the fugitives. 

I worry that this will put some strain also in our alliance, as many Caldari still strengthen our ranks, veterans from when the State and the Empire fought side by side against the terrorist rebels. At the same time, the presence of these legionnaires is also a strength: our voice may still be heard in the executive boardrooms that matter. May we plead for compassion and true justice to return.

Blitzkrieg

Browsing over the star map on my neocom today, I noticed that the Syndicate region was attributed to the State rather than the Intaki Syndicate: 

I was halfway through writing a letter of complaint about this flagrant mistake, when I was informed by mr. Firth that this was no mistake at all. What a shock! 

What will happen now to our friends among the Intaki Syndicate, especially governor Arnoux? Is she one of the many high-ranking members of the Syndicate fleeing State persecution? I do not think so, I cannot imagine that she was involved in any actions that led to the damaging of the Jita gates or embezzlement of State funds (although I am not one hundred percent sure about the latter). In addition, I cannot imagine her giving up sovereignty of Hetil Bairviit stations easily...

In the region we are also working closely with associates of Ishukone for industry and mining. I am not so sure that they will be happy with this annexation either. The other megacorporations are bound to move in aggressively and compete for the available resources. 

I hope the Empress will give us guidance soon.

Cluster politics and war

Still no luck on finding suitable gates out in Curse.

TES Valenia messaged me that we are to move our operations to a region of space that is "more relevant given the current war escalations by the Republic". A region of space where they can combine their current task with surveillance that is more important than following around a friar on his science project. 

I connected to Galnet to find out more about what was going on. The services that we held last week on Faith and Fortitude now appear on topic. The Concord agreements have broken down, perhaps in an act of sabotage - the last time this happened was when the treacherous Minmatar launched the Elder Fleet invasion. Indeed, there are again incursions of the rebels into Empire territory, but I am convinced the Navy is better prepared now.

I was also surprised to read that Silphy En Diabel has been arrested by the State. This will for sure shake up things in Syndicate, and the free Intaki there may seem more isolated than ever, enemy of both the Federation and the State. The new Federation president sees an opportunity I think, to draw them nearer by offering them some sort of amnesty, but my feeling is that the Syndicate Intaki will take that as an insult to the injustice they suffered.

For the Empire, this represents an opportunity. I hope the Empire can step in and show themselves as friends. LUMEN could play a role in that, given our strong presence there. And who knows, with the reshuffling of power structures in the Syndicate, the star of our own friendly governor Evelyn Arnoux may be on the rise if we play our cards well.

Illegal slave trade

The system of LJ-YSW in Curse is two jumps out from the Jove Observatory system Y-K50G and two jumps away from Zarzakh, the domain of the Deathless. 

Like in any system, the stations broadcast their market prices. Unwanted advertisements are a scourge also in Curse. And what does it promote in LJ-YSW? Slaves! Not the occasional misguided pilot trading a few slaves they found in space during a mission, nor a trap set by Minmatar rebels hunting slave traders. No, here is a vast and well organized slave market run by the Angel Cartel from its sarcastically named Dominions Logistics Support station. It advertises well over one third of a million slaves available for immediate sale, all year long. Prices and volumes compete with the largest slave markets of the Khanid kingdom. 

I have never seen such a thing outside the Empire, where the intent of holding slaves is benevolent. The slave status is a chrysalis in the transformation from the heathen to the faithful. The Holder guides, nurtures and protects his slaves until they are ready to be manumitted. Slavery as a means of reclamation has waxed and waned over history, and already since Heideran VII it is ebbing, as peaceful reclamation is gaining pace. 

Yet one must not forget that reclamation through slavery has shown its historical value and successes: remember that the Udorians were once reclaimed through slavery, and now we have a universally beloved and most wise Empress from Udorian descent! So, by no means Amarrian slavery can be said to hold down a people forever as the Gallente mistakenly think.

But out here in Curse, the Angel Cartel is making a perversion of it all! 

They do not care about reclaiming souls. They only have abuse in mind. They are twisting a sacred principle into a sick self-serving evil. Frankly, this makes me understand better why the Gallente hate slavery that much...

Dominions stations

The Angel Cartel has stations out here in Curse, and not only in the Heaven constellation. 

Who knows I might even be granted docking rights there? I do not plan to find out. 

I would never set foot on an Angel Cartel station.

They look somewhat like the Gallente stations, but they do not have their hedonistic vibe. The Dominions stations are dark and brooding, they feel like a trap ready to snap shut once you dock. 

I have been monitoring the Jove observatory in J7A-UR, when a mining fleet appeared. It turns out that the system has ice belts. In fact, three of the six Jove observatory systems in Curse are systems with ice belts... 

That makes exploration more challenging - with a hostile fleet around I cannot freely wander about. My cloaked escort - even if it were a match for angry Dominion miners - told me they will not lift a finger to help me. I was told that if I would get caught or killed, the Ministry would disavow any knowledge of my actions. 

So, I have to wait it out. The miners too, unhappy with the presence of an unknown foreigner in their system, wait it out. 

Angel territory

I left for Curse. It is not a very big region:

The systems with Jove observatories, suitable for the experiment, are shown in red boxes. They are somewhat apart from each other, but there are some hopefully quiet dead-end systems among them. 

However, the shortest tour of the systems - the well-known "travelling missionary problem" from mathematics and computer science - still takes a rather impractical but most of all very dangerous 26 jumps.

The blue rectangle highlights the Heaven constellation, the home systems of the first and second Jove Empires. Near the ruins left by these ancients the Angel Cartel built its own home, from which they control the rest of Curse. Coming down from the Ammatar Mandate, you enter Curse via Doril in the west. 

Unfortunately, the Jovian ancestral worlds are not on the tour of the Jove observatory systems... I am tempted to explore there, but on the other hand I do not want to stay any longer than strictly necessary in cursed Curse. If I get lucky and find a non-activated pair of thermoelectric convertor field projectors very quickly, I might still make time for a bit of archaeology on my way back to the Mandate.

Faith and Fortitude

Writing sermons is a creative process, and like all creative processes it has its highs and its lows. For priests with writer's block, the Theology Council offers help in various forms. There are hefty tomes of recorded sermons of the past, and special holochannels where preachers are vying for top spots in the popularity charts. There are also handy online and officially sanctioned sermon generators.

From time to time, the Theology Council will send out a suggested topic as well. Not on special days for which the theme is already fixed, but for regular days throughout the year. This week's suggestion is "on Faith and Fortitute".

This combination of great gifts of God help us deal with hardship. Faith gives us assurance in a positive outcome. It is more certain than hope, and does not necessarily speculate about how things will work out. Rather, Faith is the inner conviction that, despite all the hardships, things are ultimately going to be okay.

However, faith alone will not necessarily give us the strength to do what is required of us to face these hardships. For this, we need courage, endurance, strength of will, and all these constitute Fortitude.

This is a nice suggestion of a theme for a service. It does make me worry a bit (those who know me will not be surprised and say that I worry about everything). 

But this theme makes me think that the Theology Council is foreseeing hardships for our people in the near future...

Epikouria Chronicles XI

While the Indagatrix is made ready for the expedition to Curse, I took care of paperwork that had been waiting for me in Mehatoor. There was also another letter of brother Hugo.

He appears to be taking a dangerous interventionist course. 

He starts his letter with the opening passage of the Book of Gheinok the First: "And the flames of the Lord died within them. Yet one flame remained."

Dano Gheinok, first of the great prophets, found that the world in which he lived had forgotten about God and lived in sin. He was the sole flame that remained, and he decided to go away from the damned society and start a new one. Gradually he gathered fellows to join him in his quest - these became known as the conformists, and after many years in the (spiritual and actual) desert they found Amarr island and settled there.

Brother Hugo sees a parallel with Origin. To him, their society is an abomination, and the White Paladins are the one flame that remains and that gives hope. He has clearly been under increasing influence of this group...

The flame also stands for the conditions on Epikouria V, a mineral-rich lava world known to the originals as Crucifix. Life is harsh there, and the prohibition against slavery (enshrined in the Exodus Charter) has made it even harder on the formerly well-off Amarr, who no longer live in comfort but now have to toil the lava fields and metalworks themselves. The "lava belt" from Iluna to Pyrewind has become the political powerbase for the White Paladins and their supporters. 

Their political program is as hard as the iron they produce: they want to secede from the Origin Colonial Authority, rescind the Exodus Charter, re-instate a traditionalist version of Amarr law and slavery, and expel those that do not agree with them. They have very little chance to succeed at this, at least by the political and diplomatic processes of Origin. They have been whispering insurrection for a while, but would stand no chance against Origin's military force, once operated by the warclone corporation Oneieda Paradox. They remain a fringe group.

Now, to my surprise, Brother Hugo is asking me to help bring Amarrian forces and weapons to Epikouria to aid the White Paladins... I would never consider it appropriate to mingle in such foreign affairs, unless ordered to do so by proper authorities. The Empire, interested as it may be in Anoikis since the conquest of Sanctified Vidette, has no plans to start a reclamation in Epikouria, so neither have I. I have written brother Hugo a clear refusal. 

I think it will not stop him to reach out to other contacts that he may have...

Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:

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

VII. A suspicion of heresy

VIII. Pop-up church

IX. Intercultural fair

X. White Paladins

Curse

I am still missing two regions from my atlas. The first one is Fade, and the reason is that there is no nebula visible from it, I think. That makes it hard to distinguish from Branch and Deklein, two very dark regions too. So, I need to jump through a wormhole to Fade to make sure that it does indeed lead to that region. There are not many Jovian observatories there, so the chances are not very high.

The other region that for some reason has not appeared to link to Sanctified Vidette under my recent watches is Curse. This region is the domain of the Angel Cartel, and the former homelands of the Jove, before they moved out of there to the sealed regions up north. 

Surprisingly, there are only six Jove observatories in Curse. Out of a total reported in the cluster of over 1267, this is only 0.5%, and a correspondingly low chance of the connecting to Sanctified Vidette. I probably need to be more patient. Or perhaps I do not have a correct idea of how it should look like - I think it should show the Vapor Sea nebula, and the Scalding Pass nebula, but I might be wrong. 

Curse is a region that I am allowed to target for performing my experiment. It is well outside Empire space, and the Angel Cartel is an excellent scapegoat. I do not look forward to a stay there, given the presence of the Angel Cartel. Ishta has told me horrible stories about her time in the Cartel, and I shudder merely thinking back about that. But on the other hand, the region itself is historically interesting and I might combine my visit with a tour of the former Jove homelands. And also combine the experiment with completing the atlas. 

So, I am planning an expedition to Curse, staging from Gamis in the Mandate. LUMEN's mining hinterlands are there, as the alliance has since a long time been supporting the peaceful development of the Ammatar Mandate. It might take a bit more time to set up, but that will give mr. Firth time to check this through with his people and TES Valenia, which will also need to do some preparations I think.

Boundary conditions

I have received a briefing from mr. Ivan Firth, the Indagatrix's political officer, about the experiment with the Sleeper thermoelectric convertors. The ministry allows me to perform it, but under some conditions. 

First, I have to do it in a "region of plausable deniability", meaning outside of Empire controlled space. That also mitigates the potential hyperspace fallout to the Empire itself. I have been given a list of suitable locations.

Second, I will be followed at a distance by a covert operations ship from Ministry, TES Valenia. In case something appears to go wrong during the experiment, it will obliterate the Indagatrix, and then vaporize the wreck. I have been granted the courtesy of being allowed to wake up in my medical clone should such a thing occur. 

Mr. Firth will be monitoring me not from the Indagatrix this time, but from TES Valenia. The rest of the crew is less than enthusiast to participate to this mission, so it looks like I will be piloting the frigate by myself. 

It was not me

There was distressing news from Jita, well known as the main trade hub in the Caldari State. Its jump gates experienced disastrous accidents: hyperspatial rifts opened up and damaged the gates, killing many gate personnel. 

The link with the hyperspace fluctuations that scientists recently reported near Jita was quickly made, and the initial investigation by the State points to experimentation with the (Drifter appropriated) Talocan hyperspace network done presumably by the Federation or the Intaki, either for fraud and extortion, or for sabotage. 

This caused some confusion also close to home.

The Ministry of Internal Order, through the reports of mr. Ivan Firth, the political officer on board of the Indagatrix, is aware of my intentions to experiment with the Drifter wormhole technology myself. I planned this in order to test a hypothesis on the diminished number of wormholes in Sanctified Vidette. A scientific goal: of course I do not plan terrorist attacks on Jita gates.

Nevertheless they were worried that I had made some mistake, and that the Empire might be blamed for the Jita gate incident because of my tampering with Drifter wormhole devices. A very understandable worry, so they prevented me from undocking and invited me for a conversation. 

I was a surprised that also a member of the Caldari State Police was present. Usually conversations with the Ministry are very private. 

The misunderstanding was soon cleared up, as flight records of the Indagatrix, reports of my political officer, and the surveillance records of the Ministry itself showed that I had not done any such experiment yet. I have indeed been holding off on these experiments. I have been waiting to hear back from dr. Fritte Cornelius, to see if we could coordinate our research efforts. I am very glad now that I have not done anything yet.

The Ministry was also quite interested in dr. Cornelius and where they could find him. They asked me whether he is a trade hub ganker, and the man from the Caldari State Police asked whether he is a Black Eagle. I answered to the best of my ability, vouching for his pacifist nature and track record as a scientist. 

Unfortunately I had no idea of his whereabouts. 

That is regrettable: my ignorance forced them to use more advanced conversation methods to try and help me remember anything I might have forgotten. The next few hours were not pleasant. I vaguely remember that at some point in the conversation the man from the Caldari State Police no longer wanted to be in the room, which made the interlocutors from the Ministry laugh.

But all is good that ends good, and in the end I was allowed to resume my usual business. First, I will take a day off and pay a visit to medbay as my current clone misses some teeth and some nails and has a limp. 

Thermoelectric convertor field projectors

I have been discussing the decrease in static wormhole numbers with dr. Fritte Cornelius from Signal Cartel. 

The number is not always exactly thirty, but fluctuates. There appears to be a cycle, around noon it starts out low, rising to forty and close to fifty at midnight, then it decreases back down towards the next noon. This seems to imply human interference, rather than a natural phenomenon.

Dr. Cornelius has offered an interesting hypothesis that sounds correct to me. It is best to test it before it is made public, I think. That requires some experimentation that is not very easy to perform: an attempt to generate a wormhole in Sanctified Vidette ourselves, using the Sleeper Thermoelectic Convertors in known space. 

These structures need to be scanned down. I stumbled on some abandoned ones in Sanctified Vidette; they look like this:

The bright spot is no wormhole but the magnetar in the system. You would expect a Drifter wormhole in between those two structures when they are active. Now, if we manage to power these up...

President Moreau

After a month of voting, the Gallente presidential election has concluded! 

Dr. Alix Moreau won narrowly, on a programme of unrestricted research and a promise of the bright future that this research would bring. 

President Moreau also promised more independence for the constituent worlds of the Federation that seek a greater extent of self-determination. This was a crucial strategic move, gaining the support of the Intaki autonomists. Polls before the election showed a sea of support Roden, with one isolated exception: Intaki, which pundits quickly labeled "the highsec island of dr. Moreau".

That island grew, until the map finally colored more evenly between the candidates. I think the Intaki will not be forgotten, and will fare better than under the militaristic repression of Aguard.

But the true agenda of dr. Moreau is to liberate scientific research from any moral or legal restraints. That is dangerous - as the code of Demeanor warns, "Be Watchful. Free Thought is the Begetter of Disorder". What strange inventions and hybrid creatures will dr. Moreau create? CONCORD is concerned, and chairman Sakari of the State calls it proof of "Federation insanity". 

Scientific progress always holds both promises and dangers. New findings can be used to improve the lives of countless billions or to destroy these lives. To turn planets into gardens of Eden or into burning radioactive hells. 

In the Empire, we have God and the Empress guiding us. 

But in the Federation, the situation is very frightening! Whether science is used for good or for destruction depends on which leaders the capricious and mostly ignorant citizens call upon to decide for them...

Worrisome wormhole development

While working on the wormhole atlas and collecting some more data, I noticed a worrisome development in Sanctified Vidette. I do not know if the same thing is present in the other Drifter wormholes, I have less experience with these and do not know their normal number of wormholes.

In Sanctified Vidette there are always six static wormholes to the six other classes of Anoikis system, one for each class. And there are always sixty wormholes to systems in our own cluster. As joint research with mr. Cornelius has shown before, these sixty "statics" lead ro systems picked randomly out of a uniform distribution over the 1267 systems with Jove observatories, spread out all over known space.

Today, I found that the number of wormhole connections in Sanctified Vidette has halved. The six Anoikis connections are still present, but only thirty statics to our cluster! That is way too large a discrepancy to be a statistical coincidence. 

I had the impression before that there were less, but did not pay attention to it, as I was too focused on other tasks, so I am not sure how new this anomaly is. But it must be fairly recent, no more than about a month. My new friends at the Imperial Navy anchorage in the system declined to comment. When I asked whether they think it is linked to their experiments, they told me it was inappropriate for me to consider such a thing. 

Static wormholes are supposed to be ... static. Their number is a topologically protected constant for any given system - a change in their number is unheard of. It cannot occur without there being a major disruption in hyperspace. This comes at the time when the science community is reporting hyperspace fluctuations also in our cluster, notably in the Forge region... 

Exordium

I have received more help for the wormhole atlas project, from mr. Fritte Cornelius of the Signal Cartel. These intrepid explorers have probably ventured deeper into the wormhole network than anyone else and have imaged the nebulae even more extensively! 

It is really heartwarming to see how the New Eden research community forms a network of friends that steps up to help each other. Science is a search for truths that are independent of ideology and as such this endeavor transcends borders, giving it the capacity to bring us all closer to each other.

It is in the same spirit that Exordium was established. Rumors of its existence have been going around now for a while, and the existence of this new region was finally revealed today. Around fifty new star systems have been linked up to the cluster-wide jump gate network. These are to be peaceful systems, of little strategic or industrial value, where law is enforced by concord and dominion is shared among the empires. 

May it bring hopes of peace to all of our star cluster!

New bloodshed in Vak'Atioth

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

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

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

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

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

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

Help with the atlas project

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

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

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

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

Cloud Atlas

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

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

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

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

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

Presidential candidates pay homage to the Empire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trouble in paradise

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

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

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

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

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

Capsuleer insanity

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

That did not last long.

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

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

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

Tests concluded

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

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

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

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

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

Conservation laws

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

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

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

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

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

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

Delivery

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

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

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

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

Mission

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

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

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

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

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

Now, I am looking for a convenient entrance wormhole.

Quirinus at the Gate

At last we met, mr. Quirinus and I ! 

Yesterday evening I found him in the New Eden system. Unfortunately his shuttle had been destroyed earlier. He returned and reshipped to an Anathema-class hull, a wise choice.

The system was still very busy with pilots touring for Gallente election canvassing.

I formed a fleet with mr. Quirinus and we flew towards the Gate, meditating and praying in its mesmerizing light. We were not disturbed - the many pilots jumping in and out of the system were focusing on moving as fast as possible.

We talked about his sin, and with a bit of my help mr. Quirinus came to understand the fundamental nature of his errors, and he showed contrition. The details of our conversation of course fall under the Seal of Confession, but I am confident that the conditions were met to absolve him. He also accepted to do penance.

I am glad he has returned to the fold, and hope that he will remain watchful now. I will keep tabs on him, he usually resides in Amarr. Hopefully we can meet again soon to discuss his spiritual progress and well-being. 

Epikouria Chronicles X

Finally, a sign of life from Mr. Quirinus. He has embarked on his pilgrimage to Eve Gate and is already underway. So, I will go back out in hopes to finally meet him.

There was also a sign of life from brother Hugo: another letter from the wormhole colony of Epikouria. 

Following the intercultural fair where he learned about the history of "Origin", he has been in contact with like-minded individuals amongst the Originals. 

The Originals are definitely not a uniform bloc. 

There are some among them who long back to the time that Amarrian law and order was present in the colony. These folks are a very tiny minority and consist of some early settlers, who used to be land owners, aspiring Holders, and overseers from back in the days that the planets in Epikouria were slave colonies. They call themselves the White Paladins, and have been recruiting support among disgruntled (human) youth among the new settlers in "Origin". 

The founders of the White Paladins were disenfranchised after the slaves were set free more than a decade ago by the new powers that chased out the Amarr militiamen, who up to then had been in control of the system. They viewed the takeover by the Alexylva Paradox as a hostile invasion, and rejected the new government's liberal stance on transhumanism, in agreement with brother Hugo's conviction that the non-human sentients are abominations. 

The Origin Colonial Authority - that is the current ruling class of the Originals - treats them as extremists that have to be curbed and educated, but they do not really persecute the White Paladins. They are given -like many other groups- their freedom of expression and thought as long as they do not harm others. 

The Starborn (Publius' space-station dwelling colonists) do not care or meddle with groups like the White Paladins or any other political faction of the Originals. Their only concern is good neighborship and access to planetary mining resources. But the White Paladins are elated to have found brother Hugo and his companions, and they treat him as a lifeline back to the old ways and the Empire. 

I think it flatters brother Hugo's ego, but I am afraid they will use him for their own designs.

Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

VII. A suspicion of heresy

VIII. Pop-up church

IX. Intercultural fair

Marriage at the Chapel

Baptisms and marriages are always a pleasure to officiate. A chapel full of happy people, looking forward with hope and joy and full of good resolve!

It was no different this time, for the marriage of lady Echo Ashland to Jade Blackwind. They kept the ceremony modest, limited to close friends. Capsuleer marriages always draw crowds of curious onlookers though, and the non-capsuleer congregation of Gottin's Lamp Chapel had come out. Some outsiders were also in attendance, including a journalist. Not from Amarr Certified News but from some Gallente magazine I heard.

Ms. Blackwind, now lady Jade, kept us waiting...  I could feel that there was some tension rising, and people were thinking that this could be a runaway bride situation. I have never had that happen, and luckily this time it was also not the case. 

There was one unusual custom at this ceremony - in stead of exchanging rings, or reading personal vows, or releasing Achuran songbirds, lady Ashland adorned a necklace. A slaver tooth necklace! That is not usually a symbol associated with the bond of holy matrimony, but apparently it symbolized the hunter pledging to take care of the family. 

I understand that there are many different traditions in our vast Empire, but this, honestly, had me quite surprised and I did not know very well how to react. To me - and to many - these necklaces represent something more insidious: slave abduction raids by rebels. I just continued with the ceremony after that strange moment, and there were no other, let us say, irregularities.

I hope lady Ashland will not be the subject of slander or gossip for this... 

Hope for humanity's epiphany

Today as I started on my way back, for a few moments I thought I witnessed a divine miracle.

New Eden constellation has been very quiet while I was here, but not today! A steady trickle of pilgrims began to show, in shuttles mostly, and in yachts for the richer ones. The trickle grew to a stream, with at any time at least five or six pilots entering or leaving through the underused jump gates. There were jump delays, the gate operator crew here is not used to heavy traffic.

So many pilgrimages, so many people coming to witness the splendor of the Mouth of God and meditate on life, I was elated, and offered prayers of thanks that the world finally has come to its senses and everyone is doing some very necessary introspection. 

It struck me that these pilots did not belong to White Sky, nor to Sedition. No, they were from all around the cluster! And not just Amarrians, also barbarians from the Initiative, Fraternity and even the fallen Horde, rebels from the Republic, lost souls from the Federation, all sorts of corporations and alliances I had never heard about. Is cluster-wide peace finally at hand through God's miraculous intervention as He has opened the eyes of humankind? 

My joy did not last very long. My psalms of joy were overheard by pilots, and a certain Zenoxii Boirelle struck up conversation and explained to me that these were not pilgrims at all. In stead, this is part of the Gallente election!

I will never understand these things.

Apparently, in order to rally support, candidates go on a tour of the lands to present their program and garner "votes", meaning that their presence makes people choose them above the candidates that are at a larger distance. It must be a Federation thing. Now, they are hiring capsuleers to do the campaign tour for them, since that also results in "votes". 

The election campaign trail is going through the New Eden constellation, that is all.

I got confirmation that universal peace was not at hand when I spotted a White Sky Ares-class interceptor trying in vain to grab the passing shuttles. 

Sad and cloaked, I watched it for a while, feeling at least some relief seeing pilots scoot by unhindered by its clumsy failed attempts to catch and kill. 

I made my way back to Mehatoor to be in time for the wedding.

Return from New Eden

I am finishing my stay out in the New Eden constellation, as I have not heard back from mr. Aeonyx Quirinus. He was intending to come here for a pilgrimage and work on his redemption, and I was planning to help him with it. He seems to have disappeared, the last message I received from him is about setting up a new corporation to deal with his aspirations. 

That was back in Amarr, and when I did not find him in the Emperor Family Academy, I ventured out to New Eden on my own, hoping to see him there - perhaps he was already on his way towards Eve gate. 

I have to return today though, with Quirinus' disappearance still a mystery - tomorrow I have a pleasant task to perform at the Chapel, a noble wedding!

I have gathered data on the pirate structures and hauling routes and schedules. Mr. Firth seems happy enough with what we have, and considers the mission complete. Nevertheless, I am thinking of returning after the wedding ceremony for perhaps a last attempt to search for Quirinus.

Central Point

Explorers charting new territory get the privilege to name the places they map out. Some tend to be poetic. Some are vain, giving their own name, or nostalgic, naming a landmark to a place back home.

The explorer of this constellation was none of the above, as is evident from the name "Central Point".

It is quite literally the central point of the cruciform Eve constellation. The system next to it is Dead End, which is also to be taken literally. 

I wonder if there was never a brief moment of mischievous thought, an instant of capricious rebellion against the dignity of the office of geographer, when our first explorer considered to name the central point Dead End and the dead end Central Point. Such a prank would certainly have gone well with the name of the other dead end system next to Central Point: Canard. 

Anyway, Central Point. Being central, I was not surprised to see that both White Sky and Shadow Cartel have an Astrahus in the system. The White Sky one has defensive modules fitted, almost in an identical way as the station in New Eden. The Shadow Cartel station next to it does not. Both have a cloning center, so I take it that the pirates stage from Central Point - for obvious reasons. 

Another flurry of Metenox drills disfigure the moons, while planetary customs offices are owned by a corporation called the Milkmen. No doubt this is a dairy corporation - piracy must be taxing on the bones, requiring supplemental calcium intake. However, why these milkmen choose to let their cattle graze on gas giants remains a mystery. I cannot imagine it being efficient when one needs to levitate cows to prevent them from falling straight down to the high-pressure zone of the gas giants.

No longer a promised land

Today I scouted Promised Land, the neighboring system to the New Eden (dead-end) system where Eve gate is.

During my last survey I saw the first few of these Metenox moon drills appearing here. Brand new types of structures back then. To me these are a source of concern, as they hinder proper colonization and may be abused to exploit the weak and the poor. 

Sadly, Upwell's revolution has now taken over all the space industry here. 

Where I only saw a dozen of these Metenox abominations in the entire constellation, now there are more than a dozen in this system alone. The industrialization has become fully automated, there is not a single athanor space station left. 

Not that anyone of pious and right mind will miss "McRumble's Mud-Wrestling Mansion" athanor station that used to be here, but you understand what I mean.

In stead there are two small control towers - one with laser batteries and other defenses, used as a mining safe, the other seemingly undefended. Shadow Cartel, White Sky and Sedition seem to share this space, with the cartel doing most of the automated moon mining and planetary industry, and Sedition's friends "Kacote Dungeon" (part of "Churn and Burn") doing I guess ore belts.

For capsuleers, Promised Land has become nothing more than an ore extraction hinterland, rarely visited except for hauling industrial resources, and mostly benefiting criminal capsuleer organisations...

New Eden scouting

I completed the survey of the New Eden system. It looks easy, since there is just one planet. But people here tend to make deep safes and put structures there. The Black Chapel was an example. So, I dutifully scanned a larger area.

There was nothing out of the ordinary.

The Eve Gate is as beautiful as ever, as seen here from the research stations in orbit above New Eden's line planet. A Sisters of Eve structure side by side with the Kor-Azor research station. Eve Gate from time to time seems to pulse a bit more strongly, but then there's a running joke that each time you see the gate you see it pulse strangely.

The pirate presence was light. There's a single astrahus, at the Promised Land jump gate, belonging to a member corporation of the "Churn and Burn" alliance. I scanned down its defenses for the Ministry. 

My combat probes and station hacking and scanning cause a bit of a scare, I think. There was a single pirate in system, but after my scanning the pilots in the station were rudely awaken from their sleep, I could see the number of pilots increase. Just two came out, one cadet posted at the jump gate, and one buzzard scanning around for the enemy. They scanned in vain.

The route to New Eden

With no news from mr. Quirinus, I decided to set out for New Eden myself. 

I was considering to bring the Ratakh Hubrau, an Astero-class ship. I learned that these types of ship are less scary to the outer-worlders than Amarr exploration vessels. Especially mining fleets fear the Anathema-class ships way more than the inferior Astero. The Anathema can fit much more advanced modules, as it has much more CPU. It can also fit covert cynosural field generators, and that strongly contributes to the fear that our Amarr ship instills in the barbarians.

I do not want to appear as a threat, but unfortunately the Astero has some difficulty fitting expanded probe launchers without compromising other systems' efficiency. For a good survey mission one needs to be able to scan down structures as well as ships, using combat probes. So, I will be using the Indagatrix anyway.

The way over to New Eden is rather scenic. There are interesting sights at the various jump gates on the way, such as a massive hollow asteroid at the Antem gate in Djimane. On the other side, the Djimane gate in Antem, a strange abandoned station can be seen looming mysteriously over the gate.

The way was also very quiet tonight. No gatecamp in Fensi, for a change. And reassuringly, there was a massive Imperial Navy fleet in Promised land at the New Eden gate. 

Their presence is warranted: the constellation is still plagued by the presence of a mix of various low-class nozems. Thugs from White Sky share space with Shadow Cartel miscreants. But, to my delight, the "Black Chapel" pirate haven in New Eden appears to have been dismantled. 

I guess my letters to the Imperial Navy have been taken seriously after all.

Waiting

Still no sign of mr. Quirinus. So, I took a day off and visited Dam-Torsad today. It was splendid weather for a walk in the streets. I toured the grand cathedrals  in the old center, doing my prayers in each of them. I went for a long walk to visit one of my favorite libraries, the library of the Imperial History Museum.

When I came back, I again consulted the capsuleer guest list, but I not find trace of mr. Quirinus - perhaps he already left for New Eden? 

To help me find out, I decided to contact Nurveh, a friend who used to work in space-lane traffic control in Kor-Azor prime. It appears that Nurveh has made promotion and is now doing important work for shipping logistics for House Kor-Azor. It did not take him long to confirm that mr. Quirinus has not left the Amarr system. 

Most likely he is off-grid in the Emperor Family Academy station in orbit of Oris. I really do not like that busy station with its hustlers and scam artists, its loud and raucous atmosphere. I do not want to go look around in the drinking dens and other places of degeneracy. In stead, I will simply stay for a bit longer in the hopes of finding him, and then I will head out to New Eden on my own. 

I mean, it is likely that the Ministry of Internal Order beat me to be the first to offer mr. Quirinus the opportunity to do penance, in which case I should not expect him to re-appear soon anyway.

Scouting mission

I have had some delays to join mr. Quirinus on a pilgrimage. I had to get permission from my political officer and his initial reaction was that mr. Quirinus would be better helped by a visit to the cleansing pits than a visit to Eve gate. 

I have been arguing for the contrary, pointing to the fact that mr. Quirinus is showing contrition in the Good Word.

Mr. Firth warmed to the idea after a while, in particular since a fresh review of the capsuleer structures in New Eden and in the Eve constellation in general would be useful for the Ministry of Internal Order. Perhaps part of mr. Quirinus' penance could consist in helping to scout every uninhabited planet, moon and asteroid belt in this far frontier.

It has been a well over a year since my last visit, when I also provided this service. I wonder if the 'Black Chapel', the athanor of evil, is still present in New Eden. It is a pirate haven used by the hoodlums of White Sky and I have been (uncessfully) petitioning the Amarr Navy for its permanent removal.

But first, I will head to Amarr, to see if Aeonyx Quirinus is still there or whether he already left for his pilgrimage. 

On madness

In some more remote corners of our glorious Empire, a belief persists among doctors and medical professionals that false religious ideas can cause such strong emotional responses that they damage the body, and that the physical injuries inflicted on the body and the brain in turn result in madness. These false ideas make it very difficult to treat the disease, once the afflicted is convinced that to doubt them is blasphemy.

I have never been an adherent to this particular theory of madness, and in better medical circles it has been discarded and treated as outdated and wrong. 

But sometimes, a particular case might seem to fit the bill. The false idea of Sedevacantism is so harmful that it seems to have affected a regular on "The Good Word" channel to a degree that seems to border on insanity. Indeed, it looks as if poor Quirinus has started to think that he might be the promised emperor that the arch-heretic is clamoring for.

There are delicate threads of reason still keeping his soul from damnation. He speaks of building a church, and of pilgrimage. I do not think he has yet reached out to a priest for spiritual counseling, or to a medical center of the Ministry for physical treatment (even though these are free of cost!) 

I am feeling a pang of compassion. A pilgrimage could indeed help to cleanse the mind of heresy, but if he walks that path alone his troubled thoughts will bounce back and forth in self-reflection on the mind's mirrors, amplifying only themselves in the absence of outside input. This may end up reinforcing his madness. But if I were to join him, even for a bit of the way, I may have a chance at bringing back this lost wanderer on the right path through prayer and by administering the rite of confession...

Misgivings

Something foul is afoot again in Mehatoor, I can sense it. And I can hear it: the arch-heretic's minions are about again in the 24th Imperial Crusade station, being noisy and annoying.  

I do not think it is the Promissae Matris cult again, I did not see any Yun-Hee Yubari altars and piles of ridiculous gifts, although this may simply be due to a more strict and rapid enforcing of peace by the Ministry. It is also not a band of slaves puppetted around with transcranial microcontrollers forcing them to put up ridiculous Sedevacantist posters - by now the station security knows how to deal with that sort of nonsense. 

No, these folks coming from the arch-heretic's hangar are just hanging around being nasty, and they seem a very diverse group.

I thank God it's not the yak herd that broke out. 

But something is definitely going on.

Living Saints

Saints are persons that are an example and inspiration to the faithful. They are not perfect, which distinguishes them from the Sefrim. They are human, like you and me, and have most of the time also lived sinfully for part of their lives. But at some point, they have turned to God and done things that can inspire us all, be it acts of mercy, intercessions or even miracles. To make them more relatable to us, we can contemplate their relics - seeing their remains is a powerful reminder of their human nature, and a call to us that living a saintly life is within reach of all.

I have been asked a very strange question today, namely whether a living person can be a Saint. That is not normally the case: people can be living a saintly life, but they are canonized after death and after performing miracles from the hereafter. That being said, there are rare exceptions that have been historically known, as some Emperors were declared Saint by popular acclamation even before their death. And sometimes, well, if venerable persons return from death such as Saint Jamyl, they are recognized as instruments of God during their (second) life.

The procedure is that one or more bishops petition the Theology Council to have someone that is deemed worthy of veneration as Saint recognized officially. Before the official recognition, it is allowed that the faithful of that bishopric already venerate the candidate-saint. Very often this is a local folk-saint that is already a local "hero" to the faithful, and their bishop wants to make the cult of that folk-saint officially recognized (with the added economic benefit of pilgrims being drawn to the shrine of the saint).

It is not written explicitly that the candidate-saint should be deceased when the petition is submitted to the Theology Council, though I imagine that a petition for a living person would probably be rejected at the end of the long process. And it is only when the process of verification and canonization is complete, that the saint will be recognized throughout the Empire. Up until that time, the faithful outside of the petitioning bishopric have to follow their own conscience whether or not to consider the candidate-saint a true saint.

New best seller book

The Amarrians date back to the far past, our true origins lost in the mist of times. The first historical records - over fifteen thousand years old!- tell the tale of our first prophet, Dano Gheinok, and how he rallied fellow believers around him to follow the path of God, in a society that had turned its back on religion and on hope. The disbelievers and atheists drove the prophet and his followers out, and after a long migration they settled in Amarr island.

Scriptures contain two very different accounts of that struggle to reach Amarr island. One account is symbolic, reflective, theological, and puts emphasis on spiritual meaning rather than chronological detail. And a second account is more a chronicle, with more factual detail, and strikes a more instructional tone. In some way there is also a shadow of this dichotomy in the Book of Gheinok the First, relating the wisdom and prophecies of Gheinok. 

As far as we can go back, there has always been a lot of debate as to why there are these two accounts.

Many modern scholars see the differences between the two accounts not as contradictions, but as reflections of different communities, theological aims, and literary traditions within early Amarr. Additionally, theologians of all ages have argued that these two accounts are actually meant to interact, and to reinforce each other rather than contradict each other. From that point of view, all contraditions are merely apparent paradoxes, actually meant as exercises for the faithful. Indeed, their resolution has generated new insights and deepened our theological understanding.

Anyway, this is the stuff that has my academic heart pounding! 

So, I was very happy to read in the news the other day that Arim Ardishapur has published a book of interpretations on the scriptures of Gheinok the First! A fresh burst of ideas and insight on our foundational prophet has been long overdue, certainly from such an eminent source. I am very excited and cannot wait to get my hand on a copy.

I will make sure we get enough copies for the library. And on August 5, where we celebrate Gheinok and foundation day, we must have readings of this new book. Maybe I could invite some member or representative of the Ardishapur court to come to the library - how thrilling it would be if the invitation was accepted!

Epikouria Chronicles IX

It has been a while since I received a letter from Brother Hugo, but he made up for the delay by sending me a long letter. 

Along with his companions, he has been busy running the pop-up church that serves as a pavilion showcasing the Amarr faith during the intercultural fair. This fair celebrates the cooperation between the Originals, living on the planets of Epikouria, and the Starborn, the space-dwelling colonists led by Publius. Brother Hugo writes that the pop-up church was shunned by most Originals.

Talking to those that did visit, he found out why. The Originals have not always been autonomous. The settlement actually started as slave colonies under the control of Amarr militia and a corporation called Far Eastern WormHoles. Back then, it was following Amarr law and peace ruled. When outsiders ousted the Amarr loyal forces, rebellion broke out, slaves no longer obeyed their masters. The population turned away from the true faith, and started to follow the path of darkness. 

In this rebellious era, space lanes came under the control of new rulers, the Alexylva Paradox, who allowed all sorts of heresy. This drew a lot of new colonists to Epikouria's settlements, and the planet's cities experienced a period of strong growth. The permissive atmosphere attracted, according to Brother Hugo's hyperbole "all the worst of the heretic scum of the galaxy, including Sani Sabik, abolitionists, and forbidden sentient AI". If true, this is indeed very worrisome news, and a danger for brave Publius' soul. 

After spending a few more pages fulminating against the heresies that he witnessed among the Originals, Brother Hugo goes on to describe the intercultural fair itself. It appears that there was a great mutual interest in each other's technology. 

The Originals possess advanced cloning and biotechnology (Brother Hugo writes "and you know that these sciences were also favored by the Takmahl!"). The Originals use a device called a "Riordan-Nilanth Gravitational Resonance Imager" to make clone backups available to even the most humble member of their population. 

In turn, the Originals were very interested in the technology that was developed during the period after the Alexylva Paradox left Epikouria. In particular the Upwell technology that allows transfers of consciousness to Upwell workforce clone bodies, and the technology behind breacher pods. They were also interested in the Triglavian mutaplasmids. And a particular subculture of the Originals, called the conjoiners, are interested in the Sansha technology that Publius' colonists have been using somewhat too enthusiastically. Brother Hugo says that they are small-size hive minds, one of many types of deviants. 

So, from the point of view of the Originals and of the Starborn, this exchange seems to have been mutually quite benificial. But, for Brother Hugo, it has only confirmed his worst fears.

Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

VII. A suspicion of heresy

VIII. Pop-up church

Fear of the Molok

I am happy that Yun-Hee is showing an interest in our Amarr customs and religion. But I am just a little bit concerned with her interest in the story of Molok the Deceiver. She wants to know all about this personification of evil - how to recognise his deception, how to ward him off. That impulse of course is all right, and perhaps I am too inclined to always worry.

Some facts are known about Molok the historical figure. We do know that he was the enemy of emperor Amash-Akura, and coveted the Ametat and Avetat for himself. He tempted the faithful with money and power and could sway some to his side. He became evil incarnate and used sorcery. He was ultimately defeated by Amash-Akura at the Battle of Edras, and put to death. But even though his body was vanquished, his evil spirit remained in this world since it was refused entry in the hereafter. Many believe that this evil spirit still can manifest itself in order to tempt people into sin and make bad things happen.

Yun-Hee seemed somewhat scared about this possibility, and to reassure her I gave her a medallion of Saint Amash-Akura, which traditionally is believe to ward off the Molok. 

Of course, for the Sani Sabik think Molok is just fine, or worse, worthy of veneration. They have ceremonies to call forth his powerful spirit of evil, and even attempt to get Molok's spirit to incarnate into a living body again. 

I worry about where Yun-Hee might have heard about the Molok, I should ask next time. Are there Sani Sabik among us that try to influence her? I would not be surprised if this is the work of the arch-heretic and his minions, it is not the first time that one of them infiltrated Gottin's Lamp...

Rite of conversion

Yesterday I interrupted my study of the recovered Takmahl artefacts and the telemetry of the temple rock for a festive ceremony.

We celebrated the conversion of Jade Blackwind to the Faith. Her liege is lady Echo Ashland, and her godmother during yesterday's ceremony is lady Arline Kley. 

The spreading of faith from one person to the next was symbolized by passing the flame of a candle from the godmother to the candle that Jade held. A new light shines! It is a powerful symbol of the light of faith that conquers darkness - a symbolism also present in the acronym of our alliance, LUMEN.

The ceremony took place in the chapel, and there were plenty of curious non-capsuleer members of our congregation that showed up. It is not that often that a capsuleer formally converts to the faith! 

I was also happy to see Yun-Hee present, she has shown an increasing interest in religious matters and I hope that one day she too will stand here before the congregation to become part of the great community of faithful. For, in the words of the prophet Kuria, "Only in God can we thrive and grow."

Spacewalk

(continued from yesterday)

Fearless (and also in disregard of safety regulations), Alda Malukker decided to make a spacewalk, during our exploration of the Takmahl temple rock. Blood Raider reinforcements could arrive at any moment, there was all sorts of space debris flying around at the speed of bullets, and the site is basked in unknown forms of radiation.

Capsuleers do not fear death - and are willing to risk it in order to advance science. Alda disembarked from her Retribution class frigate, as you can see in the image above (courtesy of Lunarisse, I was too stunned to take a picture of that spacewalk). 

This allowed us to ascertain that our inability to enter the tunnels with our ships is not due to malfunctioning proximity safeguards. Also an astronaut trying to enter the tunnel "on foot" is pushed back by some sort of force field. Not a usual shield, that could be depleted and penetrated with enough firepower - it seems the rock itself expels foreign bodies by its own design. Not in all tunnels or cavities - there is one where I could enter, and I think also the Takmahl could enter and staged their blood sacrifices ceremonies in. 

There was some speculation that the rock could be a spaceship (an old one that somehow accrued a lot of dust that coalesced). That does not seem to be the case. Even though there is a lot of subsurface structure there, there is no sign of engines, a bridge, docking bays. The tunnels appear bare, and appear as if they we not artificial, but the result of the violent formation of the rock. There are signs that when this asteroid formed there were repeated cycles of melting and resolidification: the stalagtites have rings of subsequent deposition, as if they are the product of some faulty melt extrusion, or perhaps some phasing in and out of an alternate dimension. It would be good to compare this with those new phase asteroids that have appeared. 

The expedition has taught us a lot about this temple rock, and in addition we have retrieved a large amount of artefacts and even fragments of texts and inscriptions. But it seems that -as it often goes in science- every answer has created new questions...

Takmahl tunnels

With the support of friends in fleet, I was able to take my time mapping out the Takmahl temple rock. I used the Stratios that I had received as a gift during the past Secret Santa party. It felt somewhat strange to pilot, as I am used to the Indagatrix, an Anathema class hull, good reliable Amarrian design. But the Stratios felt much sturdier, able to take a beating, and have a large collection of drones of all sorts to use. 

The stalagmite asteroid is very large, and it turns out to have not just one but many tunnels leading inside. Above you can see one of the major entry tunnels, and the (much smaller) size of the Stratios in front of it for comparison. In the backgroud is Aphi's star - the site is located very near the Red Giant basking in its radiation. 

The debris you see is part of a vast cloud of debris, remnants of a vast Takmahl space settlement that surrounded the temple, including structure to hold blood sacrifices, places to house the revelers, and a thriving tourist industry, no doubt. While steered the Stratios into the tunnel, fleet members retrieved what artefacts they could find from this debris, in between fending off waves of Blood Raiders coming to "defend" this place.

Inside are cavernous spaces, with some Takmahl inscriptions on the walls, but no real docking bays. There are traces of landings, mooring of ships, but no structures. There are gullys carved out on the cavern's floor, hinting that at one time there might have been some construction that allowed for an atmosphere and flowing liquids. The gully's lead to a pit, and still contain traces of organics, so I think they were part of some horrible blood ceremony taking place inside the temple rock.

I was not able to move much deeper, and emerged from another tunnel, near some of the spires

There are many tunnels, leading to internal cavities, but they do not seem to contain any habitations or ruined docking hangars. But some of them seem to have force fields. A central sunward tunnel turned out to be blocked, although as you can see, it also ought to have been large enough for the Stratios to enter.

The collision sensors appear to have been fooled by the minerals in the rock, since I could not detect any shield. The same was true for an entrance at the top, which appeared to have some radiation coming out of it, hinting at some type of power source within

There's many kilometers of rock below that - the glow appears to come from the rock rather than from the Red Giant's light penetrating. I was wondering how we'd bypass the ships collision sensors - or somehow reduce its signature radius, perhaps by switching off power to the shields, when Alda Malukker spontaneously tried a special experiment...

(to be continued)