The rise and fall of the Goners

Finally, my expedition to New Eden can draw to a close. Through the sparse interactions with the Goners and their former associates, and through a study of their manuscripts, I can now form myself a more or less accurate and complete picture of their history.

Brother Sarachem indeed wrote the main scripture that started the Goner movement. He received his revelations in a vision and wrote it down while he was working at Hedion University. It is a rather apocalyptic vision, those that use violence in New Eden will be struck down, and those that reject it will be saved and allowed to return to Mother Earth, guided by Goner Father who is an earthling that gave Amarr its technology.

 

His manuscripts were found to be heretical, and soon enough Sarachem found himself dismissed from his position at Hedion. Since he did not publicly recant, he was banned and exiled from Amarr. An inquisitor initially came after him, but Sarachem was deemed rather harmless, and other pressing matters at the time took precedence for the Theology Council Tribunal. So, after that initial interest, the council seems to have altogether forgotten about him, or chose simply to ignore him.

He fled to New Eden, the only logical place for him to go, as his revelation is about Mother Earth. This is a planet as well as a mythical protector goddess. The way to reach her and find redemption is to go through Eve gate – and use the “anticipator” key to open it. This key is stored at a hidden location somewhere in a Jove system with dense asteroid belts. The mythical Goner Father, an immortal person born on Mother Earth, is supposed to have access to it, and to use it occasionally.

Others joined Sarachem in exile, like Father Sartorius, the self-styled "Mentor of Eve constellation". Through preaching, their movement grew and soon they had a sizeable congregation. In addition to the pilgrimage to the gate, the Goners introduced a pilgrimage in nullsec in which the pilgrim must circle all the way around Empire space. During the pilgrimage around the rim of the cluster the Goners will take confessions of any nullsec passerby who talks to them. From this they received more donations and outside help, and with that influx of ISK a golden age began.

With the donations they constructed a home, a space station that was to be their Temple. To manage it, they started associate corporations for lay sympathizers. That way, they could continue to concentrate on prayer and preaching, while their lay corporations would handle worldly affairs for them. But, not all those that enlisted were as pure of spirit as the Goner monks. They started to accumulate wealth, used the station to trade in all sort of contraband. They grew greedy. They made enemies.

At some point, the Goner monks were betrayed and attacked. They cast out the traitors, but due to their vow, the monks could not fight. Luckily many loyal sympathizers still helped them, and in a fierce and valiant battle they were able to drive back the unholy horde that had laid siege to their home. However, their resources were rapidly depleted in comparison to the war coffers of the enemies aligned against them. They had won a battle, but not the war.

Their enemies regrouped and struck again. This time, their Temple was destroyed. Dejected, many left their congregation and joined other alliances, such as Red Alliance. Other monks remained in the station as fire blasted through it, and they disappeared into oblivion along with their burning Temple. Those that remained alive continue the pilgrimages to do penance for mankind. My impression is that they mainly do penance now for the acts of their apostate associates.

As for my own quest: they do believe that the ancient relics are not lost, and that the crown could have given Toth the insight to go to Mother earth. However, they could not offer evidence of that.

 

I'll wrap up my expedition and in a couple of days move back to the 24th Imperial Crusade station in Mehatoor and its very comfortable library.

Flying with Goner Arielle

Today, I scanned down and followed Goner Arielle as he travelled to the gate.

 

I have been in contact again with Goner Sarachem, and he pointed out to me the communications channels they use when present. He is relieved often by other Goners. Sarachem speaks Amarrian, albeit with a noticeable accent of his own ancient tongue. I also learned that they see their travel as a sort of penance they perform for all of us sinners in the cluster, including for their own sins. That is why they do not accept help, nor will they rush their flight to the Gate. 

The combat probes worked admirably, and I was able to journey for several hours with Goner Arielle. From this I learned that they do not journey on a line from the sun to the gate, but rather from the Promised Land gate to Eve gate. As such, they may miss Toth's expedition wrecks which I was told warped to the star and then proceeded to Eve gate. 

 

Goner Arielle appeared in deep meditation, and remained taciturn. After a few hours, he rejected my invitation to chat. I enjoyed our joint path, and meditated myself as well.

Sarachem's assignment

My prayers were answered: I established a line of communication with brother Sarachem. 

 

He must have looked at the logs of our conversations in local yesterday, I think he is now convinced of my honest interest in the Goner faith and history. Also, I think that to be allowed docking rights in Farthest Shore is something of a badge of honor, or at least a well-trusted credential among capsuleers here.

 

Sarachem is a charismatic man. He speaks with the compassionate wisdom of someone who does not define his own meaning by relying on the judgment of others. We exchanged mails, and he explained that this day, the start of the new year, held a special meaning for the people of his Mother Earth.

 

We prayed together for peace in the cluster, both facing Eve gate. He prays from his deep-space location, and I prayed from the chapel in Farthest Shore. He prays to Mother Earth, I prayed to God, but there is unity and harmony in our supplications.

 

In order to divulge more on the Goner faith and their history and knowledge of ancient artifacts, he gave me an assignment. Seeing that I am inexperienced as a capsuleer, he tasked me to equip a craft that could locate him, and to join him for a while in his journey.

 

I briefly considered asking Lunarisse Aspenstar or Professor Moriarty for help, but I decided against it. Goner Sarachem does not look like a man of shortcuts, and I think he would not approve of such a shortcut.

 

I have installed a jump clone in Farthest Shore, and will now travel back to more populated areas to buy a craft and equipment to fulfill Sarachem’s assignment. The Minmatar trader who gave me the advice about traveling to lawless space also told me the best spot in the universe to buy stuff is a station called Jita 4-4, in Caldari space.

The search for Sarachem

I have tracked down one of the remaining Goners. His name is Goner Sarachem, and he was held in the greatest esteem by the Goners. 

 

He is a prophet to them, as he has authored their scriptures. These writings are certainly not part of our official and canonized scripture, and they are hard to read. They are written in an ancient language, and I have had a hard time translating it. Between all the bombastic declarations it reads like a sort of apocalypse where the Goners are the saved and exalted ones, and the other peoples of New Eden are cast into darkness because of their grievous bloodlust.

He was seen two weeks ago, in the New Eden system. I got this from the insurance records, publicly available at the Amarr Civil Service: he lost a ship in the New Eden system on December 16th. Now, browsing again over the insurance records, I see that he is there again today. 

 

Given his status in the Goner organization, and given the fact that he may go back into hiding at any time, I must make great haste. I cannot wait until I have mastered the art of cloaking, or until I can afford such fancy devices. I will not risk the Indagatrix and in stead fly over in a fast shuttle. 

I will take with me some Amarr wheat as a gift, as Aspenstar told me the Goners hand out water as a gift and I want something to reciprocate. I will propose to fly a while alongside with him towards the gate, perhaps that will entice him to a conversation. Oh, I must remember to take a translator device with me, although I think he must also understand common Amarrian, I'm not sure he has recently used it.

 

Lord, grant me success in my search.

More on the Goners

I have had the pleasure of conversing with many capsuleers in the past few days, from all over the cluster, including our Gallente and Minmatar adversaries. These discussions have been most helpful to get a better understanding of the LUMEN and PIE alliances and how they are perceived outside of Amarr. I will report on these discussions later, first I must summarize my research on the Goners.

I tried to locate these Goners, but thus far I have not found any of them. But, I did find quite some information on them and their beliefs. The Goners, also known as "The Foundation of Truth", are a pacifist congregation that believe in the existence of "Earth Mother", a heavenly planet on the other side of the Eve Gate. Their goal is to reach it.

They also believe that, when Amarr was not yet capable of space flight, a creature called "Goner Father" arrived in our cluster after having activated the Eve Gate from the other side. The key to activate Eve Gate is called the "Anticipator", an octagonal device the size of a room.  

After having arrived in New Eden, the Goner Father got into a fight with an unknown enemy. As a result, his fleet had to make a crash landing on Athra. They claim the Goner Father shared technology with us and taught us spaceflight. He then left Amarr, and they have reconstructed the route he has taken, leading through Citadel and Metropolis towards to Jovians. They are convinced he, and the Anticipator, are hidden in an asteroid belt in one of the Jovian systems. 

The curious beliefs of heretics never cease to surprise. And yet, they claim they have many unique records from around the early space age. If so, they may have useful information on Sabik cryoship expeditions.

In their bid to reach Earth Mother, they may have found what they think is the Anticipator, because they have set off towards Eve gate. In YC 115, a Republic fleet tried to catch up to them, but failed. I could not find any information on what happened to them after that.

The Goners

More encounters at the library! 

First, Lunarisse Aspenstar came by with two young children - Maria is a lot older, is she from another marriage? That would be unusual for an Amarrian woman. Anyway, I did grill her a little bit on Gamdis, as I get the feeling she is not completely truthful about this, but this was to no avail. I also informed on the possibility of making myself useful as either librarian or chaplain and she was open to that. She did require a kind of job interview. I think I will apply when I return to Mehatoor from some of my own investigations. I do feel at  home in both the chapel and the library, a job in either place would be nice.

Then I met two other corporation members that dropped by the library. There was Rebechia Goldwin - she was inquisitive, I think she does security. She had me valuate a vase and it felt like a test. She pretended it came from Molden Heath, but it was not a tribal artifact at all. Also Loai Qerl showed up, a miner, and a name I had encountered in the IGS forums. 

Loai gave me a piece of information of great value. Besides the Takmahl lead, I am still investigating the Ilash Toth lead. Kernher kindly gave me access to her records, and I can now see the close similary between Toth's writings and Kernher's manifesto. Both advocate the same things, holder accountability and renewing the push to place the spiritual above the material. I understand why Toth antagonized the powers that be. Besides these teachings, there are indications that Toth's expedition got lost somewhere between the New Eden star and the Eve gate. And Loai told me that there is a group of capsuleers called the Goners that travel subwarp between New Eden and the gate! I must contact the Goners and see what they know. Apparently, they have an office in the Theology Council Tribunal at Zorast.

But first things first. Dr. Valate has answered my mail and agreed to meet me in Araz. I will leave as soon as I can and try to set up a meeting in the Ducia Foundry Mining Outpost orbitiing Munory VII 9.