Family connections

I met with Keeper Thadron Dakha today. The holorooms are even more impressive than I imagined! He had prepared an overview of the Accadis family name. A large hall was filled with a galaxy of stars, each point of light representing an individual with that family name, over the ages. Countless points of light! And, if you try to pinch a star, it pops up with the information on the individual, and the links to other stars, the closest relatives, light up.

The points at the nearest end of the hall were colored, indicating the genetic match between people (named Accadis) alive today and the DNA sequence of Layla that I handed over to Keeper Thadron. He cross-referenced it with the genetic birth records of the the MIO. Colors more towards the violet end of the spectrum indicated a closer match. 

 

Then a pulse of light flowed through this galaxy, a wave going from the front of the hall to the back. It lit up a gossamer web of connections, broad in the front and funneling towards the back. Threads from different people from the present coalesced into common ancestors, until at the very back only a few illuminated threads remained as most of the namesakes of long ago did not have a line of children stretching all the way to the present. 

 

Going back to the time of the Sabik purges of Queron I, only three threads remain, two more strongly colored than the third. We are going to seek out these ones on the old records, to find out which lineage contained heretics.

 

When the scribes are instructed to strike out a name they do so using the blackest of inks. Digitally, the record disappears, but in the Book of Records, the page or card is not physically destroyed except when it concerns high ranking individuals. The name is just crossed out. This is how a poor soul disappears out of memory for all of Amarr. But in the Book, for commoners the crossed out line remains, a hidden, fading trace of existence, a last ember of hope for restitution.

 

Keeper Thadron suggests to find out about a Sabik branch of the family via these crossed out records. For that, we will have to delve deeply into the Book, with a Guide. The committee that would give the final approval for this is meeting tomorrow morning.

After his impressive display of genealogic craftsmanship, Keeper Thadron invited me for dinner and drinks with a few other Keepers and Guides tonight. I am looking forward to meet these men and women in charge of our collective memory!

The Book of Records

Maybe in your mind's eye the Book of Records is a massive tome, binding together pages of the thinnest paper, scribbled full of names in the tiniest handwriting.

Or maybe you do a bit of math in your mind, and then conceive of the Book of Records as a stack of books as tall as a mountain. A myriad of volumes, for no single book could ever hold the records of the uncountable billions of Amarr alive today and of the uncountable billions more that lived before.

You would still be wrong.

The Book of Records is a building.

It is an ancient building, stone and gold, in the old district of Dam-Torsad. At first glance, it is not very remarkable. Tourists walk past its facade without realizing it was built thousands of years ago. It looks like a very modest building, somewhat out of place. It is dwarfed by the modern shining skyscrapers around it. It did not grow along with the other buildings, since by law, no part of the Book of Records can be torn down or remodeled.

In the last couple of millennia it grew roots and expanded underground. The venerable building that you see from the nearby Square of the Records is just the tip of an iceberg stretching over half a kilometer down and branching outwards several kilometers in a network of catacombs of books, deep below the city. It keeps on expanding: even when the Book of Records became digitized, the tradition of keeping the paper and ink records was not abandoned. Still today, an army of Record Keepers use their calligraphy to add names and information on pages and cross-reference cards. On our home-world alone, half a million babies are born every single day.

The parts above ground contain the oldest records, only accessible to high nobility and clergy. And these nobles cannot enter it without a Record Guide. The facade of the building is just the outer shell - it was constructed around a building older still, that also by law cannot be altered. That older building is built around one yet older than it, and so it goes on, so that the whole edifice is like an onion layered in time.

Since no walls or floors can ever be rebuilt or changed, you go from one layer to the next by crawling through windows in the walls separating the millennia. The stacks of records are dense in the old regions. No space is left unused as subsequent expansions by enclosure were always postponed until absolutely unavoidable. 

The walkways between the stacks and shelves are tight and labyrinthine. It is easy to get lost in the old parts. Sometimes just to reach the shelves on the other side of where you are, you have to climb a ladder and walk around through several rooms and climb back down somewhere else. You can't walk upright everywhere, in some places you have to squeeze in, in order to spare yourself a long detour in this three-dimensional maze. Retrieving a record from an ancient and not digitized age is like a caving expedition, one only restricted to Heirs and the Record Guides that specialize in specific parts of the building.

The innermost building in this layered structure can only be visited by the Emperor or Empress, and hasn't been so for as long as anyone can remember. The oldest part of the Book of Records, so claim the Record Guides, is a small church. That church contains no cards or books or scrolls. It is covered on the outside by stacked records from the second oldest layer, and you can only go in on hands and knees through a small entrance. As you enter, space opens up to an almost empty church interior, a relief after the claustrophobic inner layers. In the middle of this empty church stands a beech tree that died a very long time ago. 

In its bark three words are carved. They form the first line of the Book, and the oldest Amarr biographical record: "Dano loves Marie".

Outsourcing war

Khimi Harar has discovered a nest of Kybernauts in the kingdom. These Triglavian collaborators are enemies of the empire, and should be eliminated before they can grow. The corporate leadership declared war to destroy their base of operations.

I am always a bit wary of such wars of choice. They feels distinctly like vigilante action that circumvents the official channels: investigation and trial by the Theology Council, and then retribution by the Imperial Navy.

 

But I am old-fashioned. Nowadays peacekeeping as well as war are outsourced to capsuleer corporations. The modern private military industry tolerates little oversight, and is routinely asked to perform operations for the ministry of internal order. I am sure that also in the present case, the MIO attaché has sanctioned, if not commissioned this engagement.

 

Yesterday, I offered prayer service in the Chapel, to bless our warriors and ask for a crusader indulgence for our pilots. At this point in my training, I can contribute little more to the fight.

 

I have arrived in Dam-Torsad. Even though I have repeatedly visited it over the last few months, I don't think I will ever get used to the hustle and bustle of our capital. Tomorrow, I will make my way to the Book and meet with the Keeper.

Gurista cruelty

Some time ago I was told by a capsuleer that of all the pirate factions, the Guristas are the most humane.

With what I've seen this week, that does not bode well for the others.

There must have been a big leak of information at DED, and the Guristas must have obtained a list of names of DED agents undercover. What the pirates did to these undercover agents baffles the imagination.

In an unseen act of cruelty, they lock up the captured agent in a capsule, keeping them alive yet in agony. The capsule is programmed to warp around randomly for an indefinite amount of time, prolonging the suffering of their human cargo, buried alive yet incapable of dying.

I've stumbled upon some of these brightly colored capsules (yes, they took the time to paint them in cheerful colors). They can't be disabled or boarded without killing the occupant. The only merciful thing to do is to destroy it to release its occupant from misery.

But let me end this entry with some positive news. My application for a visit to the older parts of the Book is still being processed as it has to pass several internal committees. Nevertheless Keeper Thadron suggested I could already come over to do some "ground work" as he calls it. I am not sure what it means, but I am preparing to go over to Dam-Torsad, to the Book.

Veil of Ignorance

Yesterday, mr. Woyunohs joined our corporation, and had his interview with the Directrix. I remember vividly doing this interview myself - pertinent questions are asked by Lunarisse, and often the candidates are rather nervous. Maybe you too, dear reader, if you belong to our corporation, remember your own very first face-a-face with the Directrix? I too was ill at ease, but the main reason of my discomfort was that the interview was held in the corporation's canteen. Or bar, probably that is a better name for it, since far more calories are consumed there via beverages than via solid food.

One of the recurring questions at these interviews relate to the function of slavery in today's empire. Oh, I could talk a long time about the history of slavery, its waxing and waning over the course of the millennia in our empire. I do believe the most recent high tide is behind us, and slavery has been ebbing ever since the Pax Amarria. This of course brings all sorts of turbulence with it. There is always resistance to social change.

 

Anyway, I overheard mr. Woyunohs interesting answer : "If you had to live in a society with slaves, not knowing if you would be the slave or not, would you still choose that society?". He had picked this up at Hedion, he said.

 

I surmise he followed a class on moral or political philosophy. The principle mr. Woyunohs so pointedly refered to is the "veil of ignorance". Imagine a committee that has to choose how to organise society. They have absolute power. If the committee members are to design a fair and just society, so the principle claims, they have to be ignorant of their future position in that society. After the people drafting a constitution finish their job, they should trade places with a random person in that society through some lottery. They just jump clone into that randomly chosen person, not knowing in advance who that will be, and live the life of that person. You may jump clone into a slave or into an Heir, you may jump clone into Ishta or into Nauplius. How would you organise society?

 

This principle has been used by Federation philosophers to "demonstrate" that slavery is not just, because they claim no-one would want to risk being a slave. But their reasoning is flawed, and not only because they have no idea how it is to be a slave in the Empire. Every person is shaped by their upbringing and their culture, and what a person considers a worthwhile life depends on this upbringing and culture. Our concept of fairness and justice is shaped by the culture we grow up in. And so, a panel with representatives from all of the Empires would never agree on what is fair, even if they would work under the "veil of ignorance".

 

Of course a Federation philosopher would choose the Federation democracy and freedom! Well, probably just tweaked a bit to have a little less corruption. But equally an Amarrian would choose a slightly tweaked version of the Empire. And a Caldari would choose some form of the State. I believe most slaves in our Empire would probably not choose the system of the Minmatar republic with all its uncertainty and cutthroat violence, he or she would go for the lottery ticket to improve his or her lot in Amarr. And I? I would not want to live in a society that does not put scripture first, no matter what station I would have!

The Record Keeper

I had my "intake interview" with a Record Keeper. The Keepers are both the guards and maintainers of the Book of Records. Somehow there was an immediate connection between me and Keeper Thadron Dakha. It was as if we both recognized a kindred spirit in each other.

I explained him honestly my situation which he found most amusing. 

Admittedly, I had no idea how to ever start searching based on a family name alone. I thought it would be a wild goose chase, but planned to do it anyway, just for the fun.

But Keeper Thadron had plenty of suggestions on how to query the records to reconstruct the genealogy of the Accadis lineages. He says that it doesn't matter if there are many of them, the Keepers have advanced techniques to map this out and reconstruct all the links. They have large holo-projection rooms, where the individuals appear as stars in a three-dimensional star map, and their relationships show as jump links of different color between them. You can literaly walk through a family galaxy. 

Keepers have an instinct for navigating these maps and extracting information from them. I was told even the topology of the map reveals a lot. He suggests to go back to the reign of Emperor Armani I and find if there are since then branches of the family that were suddenly cut off as a result of members being struck, and then -assuming the ancestors of Layla were among the Sabik that fled- work our way back to the current day heir of the nearest branch. 

Keeper Thadron is very excited at the prospect of going back that far, as it will take us to quite old parts of the Book, from before the Moral Reforms. Special permissions are necessary, but Thadron thinks he will get them.

Message from the Book of Records

I received unexpected good news. 

 

Somewhat over a month ago, I filed a request to visit the Book of Records - not the online version but the physical one in Dam-Torsad. It contains more information than the digitized version, and moreover you get a Record Keeper to help you with your search. 

 

Today I got a message that my request was tentatively approved, and I should now schedule an interview with a Record Keeper, to further evaluate my request.

 

I had almost forgotten about this, as I had filed this request impulsively and somewhat in anger at the bureaucratic absurdity in the Department of the Deceased. 

 

You may remember that I found a Takmahl corpse during one my archeological missions. I keep it in stasis and I want to bring it into the station to analyze its cybernetic implants and try to get them online again. A clerk at the DoD refused to give me permission to move the corpse unless I get a signed statement from the closest living relative. I still think that the clerk doesn't know his job. Or he wanted to spite me. 

 

But I do have a family name, Accadis, a name rare enough to attempt some genealogical research and trace the lineage. Of course, the dead Takmahl won't be in the book, but maybe the family line itself could be - it may have branches that stayed in the faith and in the book. 

 

It's a long shot, and in all honesty I must also confess a more selfish motivation: visiting the Book of Records is something I always wanted to do. And now an excuse to do so presents itself.

Conversions

The Gallente lady that commissioned the work on the history of the Khanid was very pleased with my treatise. She told me she wants to convert, and I hope our discussions contributed to her decision! This is the second person I can bring closer to the faith - little Charlene who stays in touch from Dodixie, apparently used the scripture datapad I gave her: also she considers converting.

Bringing two people closer to God - this is not something I could ever hope to achieve while secluded within the cloistered confines of the monastery. But becoming a friar opens up these possibilities. Ah even if I can bring the gift of faith to a single person, my life will have been worthwhile!

Copying Right

I received the imprematur for my little work on the Khanid. Yes, I finished it finally! Here in the Empire, when you want to publish a work, it is clear what to do: submit it for screening at the Theology Council and get approval. If it is not heretical or dangerous, you get the go-ahead. Easy and fast.

 

Yet in the rest of the cluster it is more difficult. The Caldari have the concept of copyright. For anything you use in your own work that may have been used or produced before, you must get approval from every possible person or corporation that is linked to it. There is no central censorship to send it to, you need to sniff out whom to contact, and your need to beg for permission with each single whimsical individual. It is hugely inefficient and stifles creativity. I made a historical work - of course I wasn't around in the twenty-first millennium! So no, the historical footage of the Reclamation isn't mine.

 

The Federation took over this idea of ownership of texts and ideas by individuals - I don't see how this can be reconciled with their "freedom". Surpisingly, CONCORD supports the idea.

 

Of course, the Minmatar don't care. In the Republic, you just go ahead and if someone doesn't like what you publish, you'll get knifed.

 

Still, I can divulge my work now privately, and -most importantly- to the individual who requested me to make it.

Library churches

Yesterday I visited Amarr with Lunarisse, to see the reverend mother Kahoudi to discuss things that needed discussing. 

 

The Chapel of the Most Blessed Sword is magnificent. It borders the square of the same name in one of the old quarters of Dam Torsad, across the abbey of the Little Sisters of the Most Blessed Sword. The soothing sounds of prayer and processions can be heard all around, only occasionally pierced by chirping birds or screams of penitents that are gently helped by officers as they visit the MIO offices that also border the square. It is a place where the mind can find rest, and such places are rare in Dam Torsad. 

 

We attended service in the Chapel, and there was a marvelous sight: one of the walls is a library! Books, datacubes, scrolls of scripture can be brought by drone to the lectern. To be a preacher in such a place! They must have a separate library inside the abbey - I wonder how they do the logistics of it, treat it as two separate libraries or as one extended place...

I took the opportunity of my visit to Amarr to get approval for publication of my educational work on the Khanid. It is now almost finished, the draft good enough to apply for imprematur.

The fallacy of insult

I'm afraid our dear Directrix made a terrible mistake.

I realized this when I was studying background literature for my treatise on the history and customs of the Khanid. I came across a bulky tome, Tullius Ranin's famous "Heathens in heat: courtship rituals of the pre-reclaiming Khanid tribes". I read that it was common to impress potential partners by gifting cattle, to show off one's wealth and power. 

It seems this tradition still holds today, Nauplius apparently gifts livestock to those he deems worthy of his romantic affections. I also learned that Lunarisse was the recipient of thousands of head of cattle. She had the dung collected and delivered right into Nauplius' quarters in Mehatoor. However, dung was not without value in the ancestral homelands of the Khanid. It was dried and kept as fuel for stoves in the cold winter months. When a potential partner would send dried dung back, it meant not only that he/she had accepted the gift of cattle, but also conveyed the lewd message "I will keep you warm at night".

To me it comes as no suprise any more that Nauplius applied for membership of SFRIM.

Renewed exploration

The long campaign against the gate pirates has finally ended, and traveling has become more secure again. I have resumed exploration in the Takmahl pentagram constellation. Most sites are plundered long ago, or have been used by blood raiders. 

I have completed my project proposal for transplanting the cybernetic implants of a Takmahl mummy to a fresh clone, and submitted it to the Amarr Science Foundation. I hope it will be funded and approved. The funding is not necessary, but since I chose the baseliner's way of doing this, I need approval of the ethics committee.

For the investigation pertaining to House Deritan, I heard today that lady Ithi Deritan adoped a former minmatar terrorist called Litheria. That sounds very weird to me, especially since I do not see any connection between Litheria and the future consort of lady Deritan. Apparently, this has drawn some attention from others on the so-called "Intergalactic Summit", and also on the "Imperial Congregation" Channel. I am glad this is exposed to the light of peer scrutiny.

Confessions

Confession is recognizing one's sin with contrition and with the intent of returning to God. 

I took two confessions yesterday. 

The first was from Ishta, she confessed to horrible sins committed when she was held by the Angel Cartel. The cartel performed a raid on the monastery of His Holy Peace on Chaneya VII. She got into a murderous rage. She showed me footage, a nightmare. The anger that is always lurking in her took over and possessed her like a demon. She thinks she needs this anger for her job. I think she needs another job. She seemed to need to confront herself, to get catharsis by going back o the place, and I agreed to accompany her there. However horrible her past, I am glad she starts to talk about it and to confront it, and I hope this will help her give it a place where it cannot harm her again.

The second one took me by surprise, and I'm not sure there was contrition. Two weeks ago, Nauplius came to SFRIM to apply for membership. During the interview, he mentioned that there are witches in our ranks, I remember being particularly disturbed by that accusation. Now, Aria came to visit me in the library. She told me that she had been impersonating a witch in order to trick Nauplius and make him stop his mass human sacrifices. The intent was good, and however weirdly convoluted, the plan seemed to work for a while. But the means... impersonating witches is a clear danger to the soul. Play-acting that you are the devil is an incantation that opens the door for the real devil's evil influence and for his whispers to enter the mind. And it left a stain on the reputation of Aria and of the corporation. Lunarisse was around to confirm the strange story, she seemed to be pragmatic about it and to approve. Aria is not of our faith, and did not seek to do penance, but I will pray that he is kept safe.

Post Scriptum - It seems I had some sort of promotion yesterday within the ranks of the corporation. Or maybe my trial period ended and I got approved. Lunarisse gave me a blessing - that felt good. I haven't received one since I parted with my dear Abbot.

House Deritan

I have been working on an essay on the history and customs of the Khanid. This will be a pedagogical work. I agreed to make it for a Gallente woman with Khanid roots that I met at the Auction for Literature, miss Aselin-Duvaul. She is marrying into a Khanid noble house and wants to prepare herself for her future station. 

 

She told me that she will become a member of House Deritan. The Deritans are important Holders in the Kingdom as they are ninth in succession to the Khanid throne. 

 

House Deritan has not been spared of controversy. There are awful rumors of drug dealing, Sani Sabik sympathies, orgies, and forced ceremonial suicides of family members. But then again, slanderers often say the above list of vices are the very definition of Khanid nobility.

 

There is a bit of mystery I would like to figure out. My Gallente acquaintance mentioned that her  engagement was with lady Ithiria Deritan. I did not make much of it at the time, but now I wonder if there are several ladies with that name? The lady Ithiria Deritan I know of was the former Holder and Matriarch of the Deritan clan, but according to the news she has passed away.  

 

Interestingly, I found in the civil service records that a new corporation "Disciples of Night" was founded just over a month ago by an "Ithi Deritan". It operates in highsec Khanid space and part of the Duchy of Sib. 

 

This gets the wheels in my mind turning. Could this Ithiria Deritan be the duchess mentioned by lord Lok'ri? And, the corporation's name suggests devotion to the darkness, that doesn't sound very good, quite the opposite of Khimi Harar. Moreover, miss Aselin-Duvaul mentioned that the Deritans are part of a "cult" that she is trying to figure out more about. She seemed worried about that, and did not want to ask a priest aligned with house Deritan.

Luckily, as I went over the personnel roster of the Disciples of Night, I stumbled upon the name of a friend.

A goodbye

My courier contract was accepted by Taienther, a Gallente pilot, who was on his way home and did not mind taking passengers along.

So, I bid goodbye to my guests, the dancers Anna, Betty and Charlene. They were glad to return home, but nevertheless it was an emotional moment, with some hugs and tears. They were grateful that station security had not been involved, and that I had offered them some modest support. They still have unreasonable fears of being imprisoned or enslaved when they set foot in the Empire, but I hope I have positively influenced their view on Amarr.

I am confident Anna's leg will heal completely so she can continue her dancing career. And I hope Charlene finds a better tailor. Betty took some canned beans as a souvenir.

Shopping

In preparation of my trip to Gamdis, I went shopping. And I found this most lovely retail chain, called "Missionary Adventures", which specializes in outdoor gear and clothing for clergy. 

 

They have all sorts of nifty gadgets. They have prayer drones that also have a mapping unit, a flashlight and cameras to record one's pilgrimage! And many-pocketed monk's habits with a nanofiber weave that provides thermal regulation and insect repellent at the same time. Kevlar cilices! Ropes with nanotube reinforcements, so thin yet so strong! Tactical survival bracelets that can be used both as a tourniquet or as a self-flagellation cord. Probably there is no need for the latter: the grueling trip itself will chastise my body and bring it into subjection.

 

I was given very expert advice and bought gear. Before I became a capsuleer I would consider the amount paid scandalous. As it is necessary for my quest, I will indulge in this luxury. 

 

But, I must not give in to the temptations offered by my wealth... After following some wormhole training, I ventured into them for relic sites. I found absolutely nothing of value for my quest, but reaped about 70 million in assorted junk from a single wormhole system. I must guard myself from temptation to accumulate ISK. I contacted a hauler to bring my loot back to Mehatoor, since I think it may have some use for our industrialists, but the hauler refused to do in one haul...

Oh, the girls in the item hangar finally decided on a destination: Dodixie. The trade hub there seemed to offer the most opportunies for them. I issued a contract to bring them there safely, and also set up a startup fund for them, donating money for a fresh start. Now I hope there will be a capsuleer who agrees to bring them. They were very happy and grateful.

Unexpected visitor

Lunarisse, in her role as Directrix of SFRIM, often receives visitors and gives them a tour of the facilities. These tours will take them also to the library, and I am always happy to tell the visitors a bit about our collections and about the interlibrary loan network that we are part of. Sometimes I can interest them in special old editions that we have in storage.

 

This week-end, I and my assistants were sorting through a gift from an unnamed maecenas, cataloguing the books and data-units that will be added to our collections, when there was another visit.

 

To my delight, the visitor was none other than lady Ekaterina deSilvestris, renowned for her field work on archeology. I had met her briefly, through miss Maleto's intercession, at the Auction for Literature, but she had left the auction in a hurry and I did not get the chance to really talk to her besides a greeting.

I had not yet gathered the courage to write her to request for an audience to talk about history and archeology. So, I was very excited to see her visit our library! She is such a kind lady, she even remembered an unremarkable commoner as myself. I was too excited to give a proper explanation of the library - in stead the talk turned to ancient cultures. She is very knowledgable! And, she kindly granted the audience, oh how I feel blessed!