Reflection on the Achuran faith

I have been reflecting on my stay in the Achuran monastery. I've been thinking about their religion, and why it doesn't fit me.

I noticed that they are very open to exploration and understanding the universe, and I admire that. They try to see through the bias and refute the illusions that our mind adds to reality. Also that appeals to me.

All our sensory inputs are preprocessed by the mind before they enter our consciousness - otherwise we wouldn't be able to make sense of the cacophony of inputs that overwhelm our senses every second of every hour of every day. But this preprocessing also distorts and colors reality around us. We have evolved to see only cause and effect, and to divide the world into boundaried objects and categories. We create mental narratives to order incoherent impressions into a coherent framework. Through these narratives we are impelled to attach importance to certain silly things, such as pieces of paper with numbers printed on them, in order to infuse our life with an illusion of meaning and importance.

The Achuran monks want to pierce these illusions. In particular the monastery of the Seeing Blind that I stayed at tries to do this by exposing us to absurd stories, of which I have received my share. They are meant to shock us into dropping our filters and seeing raw reality.

What is the goal of that? I think it is do free us from the desires that stem from our constructs, the desire to be rich or powerful or popular. The desire to possess things and people. These desires are illusory, so they must stem from the filters and narratives that we put up in our mind, according to their reasoning. And these desires are what leads to our unhappiness and to evil. That last part, I can agree on.

Even though I can agree with these tenets, there was something that bothered me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Until now. I realized that what I miss in Achur faith is the social dimension. As I understood it (imperfectly, given my extremely short exposure), it is most focused on freeing oneself, on personal improvement and growth and reaching enlightenment by and for oneself.

Our faith is not so much about raising ourselves up, our faith is much more about our relation to the others around us than it is about our own enlightenment. Of course both faiths talk about self-improvement as well as relations to others, but I'm discerning a nuance in focus. Our faith is more about lifting your neighbor out of the darkness. It's about sharing the fragile flame of faith with others, rather than freeing yourself from pain. 

That's what I missed, I think, in the Achur faith, or in what I could glimpse of it during my short stay with them.

The Gardens of the Empire

The week-long celebrations of Foundation day came to a close. For me, they ended yesterday in a grand finale - a tour of the "Gardens of the Empire", hosted by Lunarisse.

The gardens are inside a luxurious yacht, docked in Amarr. I had no idea our Directrix had a taste for such luxury vessels. Or maybe she hasn't, and the yacht is just an excellent place to house a mobile botanical exhibit.

To be honest, it is much more than a botanical garden or an arboretum. Each hall is an exquisitely composed biosphere, reproducing also the atmosphere of a place, and telling a story. There were foreigners and new capsuleers on our tour, and I think through these immersive life-size dioramas they learnt about our customs and our history.

The gardens bear a very personal touch. I was moved by the colonist's storm planet garden depicting life on Anath V, the planet where Lunarisse lived as a child with her parents until the fateful Blooder attack. And the oasis garden, it was modeled on the oases of Mishi IV, where Luna's family is from. 

So, while for the outsider the tour is glance into the Empire, for those that know Lunarisse they also offer a view into the places of her past. It is nice to know that there are some new gardens in the making, I think they will offer a view of her hopes for the future.

God's name

Elsebeth Rhiannon told a tale at the Inter-Galactic Summit that is very much intra-galactic. 

Ms. Rhiannon is not merely a terrorist but she is also a wonderful storyteller, and offers an insight into the mind of the apostate Minmatar. They believe in spirits that have names and live with us in this world, and God for them is merely one of these spirits, albeit a very powerful one. Of course, they see it as a malevolent spirit. To them, it is an angry spirit, cut off from the original world of spirits, and the only  nameless spirit. Their animistic religion mirrors the cruelty and violence of their society.

Nevertheless, the story of God's namelessness reminded me of a beautiful prayer of St. Gregory of Nahyeen:

God beyond all things earthly,
By no other name could I call You!
You are beyond words,
when all words stem from You.

You who name all names,
You are the only unnameable one.
How could I call you other than
God beyond all things earthly.

You see, our theologians agree that God does not have a name like John or Lisa. But rather than seeing this as a weakness or a punishment, it is a characteristic of strength, or rather of God's transcendent nature. He from who all names stem is beyond naming, as the Saint points out. 

 

((ooc attribution: this paraphrased short piece is part of a longer prayer on the trancendent nature of God by St. Gregory of Nazianzen, a fourth century archbishop of Constantinople who was clearly an Amarrian))

Tour guide

For Foundation day, tours of monuments and historic places in the Empire had been organised. I had the pleasure of being a tour guide for capsuleers, for a tour in space around Amarr. 

There are many additional things to see in lowsec space nearby, but we stuck to highsec, so we could get newly graduated capsuleers to join us. The tour brought us from Doriam's reign to Jamyl's reign to the current day. 

There were many places of wonder, such as the monument for one of the first miner tycoons and the fortified monastery of the Order of Tetrimon. There were also places that bring strong emotions - the Elder war memorial, the wreck of Jamyl's titan, and the space cemetery in Molea. I am amazed that there are so many wonders to see within a few jumps from Amarr, and I even left out some, like the conserved experimental construction site of the first Upwell astrahus.

I haven't been in space during many momentous events, such as the Elder war or the attack on saint Jamyl. Luna, and lord-consort Newelle were there, and while we visited these place I could sense how strongly it still affects them. The monument that evokes the strongest emotion in me is the Molea cemetary. It has this immense number of graves, the vastness of which you can only appreciate if you fully zoom out on the grid, each of which bears a message for a lost loved one. It reminds me how interconnected we are as capsuleers, how much we form our own community in between the stars.

Moon drill archeology

I read about a remarkable archeology incident that happened just a few days ago.

The idea appears lunatic to start with. Using a moon drill for archeology. Yes, a moon drill, that excavates a chunk of moon about a hundred kilometers across and drags it into orbit where it can be exploded into a moon ore belt.

As tools for planetside (or moonside) archeology, I am more used to the artifact chip brush for carefully removing dust from precious findings. If really necessary, a small hand shovel or an excavation knife can be used. If you are a real brute, you can add a rock hammer and a chisel to your toolkit. But a moon drill?

Reading more into the details, the idea becomes a bit less crazy (just a tiny bit). As the head of the project, ms. Lauralite Anne Brezia explains, the moon drill actually does not hit the center of the region that it excavates, it digs around it. It is a bit like moving a precious plant to a new spot in the garden, you use the shovel and keep a clod of earth around its roots intact. Yet as every gardener knows, the plant does suffer. At the center of the region that is extracted by the moon drill, there will be extremely strong seismic activity. So, you will need a lot of inertial stabilizers to keep any structure from collapsing. 

Also, buildings are constructed with gravity in mind, and often it is the weight of stone on stone which provides the structural stability of the construction. Bringing it off the moon into weightlessness requires special consolidation techniques. All this effort makes me think it is easier to disassemble the ruins stone by stone and reassemble them elsewhere.

Now for this ruin, disassembly may not have been possible. It is an underground structure, several kilometers wide and half a kilometer below the surface of Umai, the first moon of Eugales V. Indeed this is not something you can transport without a huge clod of earth around it. I do not know why it cannot be investigated in situ, though. 

There is also some mystery surrounding the particular relics that were in the ruins - they may be advanced AI's. This brings its own problems: it is a bit like thawing a virus from a chunck of ancient ice and hoping it isn't a lethal pathogen. It also of course brings its own opportunities - the AI could hold immensely valuable historical data.

Unfortunately, we will probably not know. The moon drill technique went wrong: the tractor beam failed and dropped the chunk back onto the moon. The crash was more than any intertial stabilizer can handle...

Foundation Day celebrations

Foundation day celebrations are in full swing. SFRIM and PIE organised a memorable parade fleet and fireworks display, and on Sunday I'm helping out with historical tours along the sights of highsec Amarr.

The Empress addressed her subjects, and reminded us of our destiny in a rousing speech. As a result I've seen there are many new capsuleers lining up to join SFRIM and I guess also PIE, to show their loyalty and the desire to serve, which burns strongly in their hart now. Ah on days like these I am full of confidence in the glorious future of our Empire!

Happy Foundation Day celebrations, all!

Riddles

A new mystery is always enjoyable. Yesterday, mr. Jason Statesman came to the library. He'd been there before, for books on Amarr customs. He is born in the Federation, but it is unmistakable: his noble face betrays Amarrian descent. His mother confessed on her deathbed that his father is indeed from our Empire, but he does not know the identity of his father.

Yesterday, he brought his heritage: a puzzle-box which appears (to me) to be made by Jin-Mei artisans. It contains three items: a book that has become wet so the pages fused, a small fist made of noble metals, and a badge with blast damage. I kept the book and the ornate fist for further investigations. 

I'm comparing the fist to existing depictions, used in family crests and corporation logos. Meanwhile, I have the book examined, planetside, with an X-ray fluorescence scanner (we don't have this type of equipment at the library). 

The mould has fused the pages together but this imaging technique allows to scan layer by layer without the need of opening the book. It shows where the chemical elements used for  pigments are located. Doing so, it reveals the text or print below another one, even if the text would have been overwritten. The microscopic three-dimensional reconstruction allows to reconstitute the text. A full restoration this way takes years and a dedicated research student so that will not be possible here. Nevertheless, in the span of a few days we should be able to identify the book by getting a glimpse of its first page.

I hope this reveals clues as to the identity of Jason's father - it would be so nice if they can be re-united.

A new challenge

I'm back in Mehatoor, at my familiar library. A bunch of mail was waiting for me, and a couple of surprises. 

The first one is that Lunarisse is expecting a baby. God has not waited long to bless her marriage, this is a good sign! Come to think of it, I did note a distinct uptick in motherhood books and baby-care books, in her library loans, but I didn't quite connect the dots till I saw her again.

The second surprise is a job offer. A new challenge! Gottin's Lamp chapel in Mehatoor is short-handed. Lord Baracca, the official chaplain, has been gone for Empire duties now for quite a while. From time to time, I provided a bit of spiritual help to people who would ask for it in the library, on those moments that it was too busy in the chapel.

Now, Lunarisse offered me the job of co-chaplain. I gladly accepted. It lies closer to my calling, and to my training. Although I am ordained, I might be a bit rusty since I haven't had to perform rites at the monastery. But in the past months I've been doing some: taking confessions, funeral rites, and of course a high-profile capsuleer wedding.

Of course that doesn't mean my quest ends, nor does my academic work at the library end. But I will be glad to let mr. Jensen handle administrative duties for the library. Oh, and I must get back in touch with Arne Maleto, Ishta's brother. He was looking for a job as a helper in the library, and extra hands there will be needed now.

Economic measures

As I return back from the remote corner of Achura where the monastery was, the contrast with the regular Caldari society strikes me again. I seem to reconnect with modernity and the busy daily worries of the capsuleer. Also my communications devices reconnected to galnet in full force, flooding my mind with news of the past weeks while the bullet train brings me back to the Saisio's central hub for interstellar travel. 

The most striking news is that the SCC central banking commissions are enacting a massive monetary operation, pumping trillions of ISK in the cluster's economy, mostly via direct grants to capsuleers. Some of this has already been plundered by the Gurista's! At the same time, the tax rates for market transactions have been strongly reduced. 

These are measures directed at reviving a stagnating economy, where income from mining has dropped, production is down, and prices are still going up. I hope the measures work - and I expect at least on the short term to see a boost in trading on the markets. With incentives to sell industrial stockpiles and flush money for capsuleers to buy ships, this is bound to happen. But if the measures overshoot the mark, on the long run this could lead to a serious inflation problem.

Goodbyes

I said goodbye to the friendly monks of the monastery of the Seeing Blind. It has been a nice and productive stay, I feel I learned a lot. I got the see a shard of the Rod of the Creator and get data on its composition and dating, so I can call my visit a success. Yet I feel that the monks always kept a certain polite distance in their interactions, and that is a bit a pity. I guess two weeks is not long enough to get to know people, but still. If anything, it makes me want to return and continue our discussions at some point.

White Song

My last couple of days in Saisio III. I feel that I've finally adapted to the temple routines. How typical for travel - just as you start getting the hang of a place you have to leave again. 

Don't get me wrong: I'm looking forward to returning to the library, I've missed it. But I have to admit that in Mehatoor it seems there is always some sort of emergency at hand. Here I enjoy the fact that there is nothing special to do - prayer and contemplation. I enjoy the rest and the quietness of this monastery, its mild-mannered monks, the interesting polite discussions on theology and the patient explanations of rites and customs. It is nice to pray and meditate while resting my eyes on the views of the lake from the mountain.

As a parting gift, and because master Drellken noticed that I like to go for a walk in the forests surrounding the monastery, he has fixed me a guide who could bring me to see Achuran White Song birds. They are beautiful creatures, completely white as their name suggests. Around dawn and around dusk they sing their songs, in always new enchanting variations. 

They are rare, and indeed I had not spotted a single one during any of my walks. They are also quite famous in the history of Achura. Long ago, when Achura was an independent empire, the White Song was a symbol of imperial power and purity. Commoners could not keep them in captivity, only in places like their Royal Tower they were kept. A war was fought over this, when one contender to the throne started keeping White Songs in his own palace. Nowadays, these birds still command the respect of the Achur people, who protect the populations and try to increase their numbers in the wild.

We left before dawn and it was good to have an experienced guide with me, to navigate the mountain paths in the dark. Saisio III does not have moons, and its asteroid belt is but the faintest trace of light on the sky. The guide took me to a grove where trees grow that bear a fruit the White Song love.

We could hear the birds already singing as we arrived at the grove. We found a good spot, and sat down. It is hard to see the birds in the trees, but I caught a few glimpses of them. Their song is definitely more impressive than the little birds themselves! Sometimes they appear to have a conversation, singing tunes one bird after another. Sometimes they make a choir, they synchronizing their songs when they sing at the same time. It was a beautiful dawn, I felt as if God had been granted me a few hours in paradise.

Data on the shard

Any ore that is mined contains a unique mix of rare element impurities, including radioisotopes. The particular relative abundances of these elements is like a fingerprint that can reveal from which system the ore comes, and sometimes even from which mine it comes.

On top of that, the radioisotopes will decay over time, resulting in a chain of decay products many of which are long-lived rare isotopes too. The ratios of the decay products in turn allows you to date the time when the ore was mined. The more unknowns there are, the more ratios need to be measured to provide a closed set of equations. It is an art on its own, at the crossroads between astrogeology, nuclear physics and history, to identify isotopes with useful decay chains for dating.

I was hoping to use the data from my ocular filter to do such dating and tracing on the shard, but the error bars I got on my estimates were still massive. 

Yet, it turns out that no subterfuge was needed to get such data. Master Drellken was happy to talk about the dating efforts on the relic. The Achur investigate their relics with great scientific rigor, and what he shared agrees with my own scarce and imperfect amateur measurement. 

They date their shard at 15000 years old, give or take a milennium. The rare element composition cannot be matched to any known system (excluding wormhole space and Jovian systems). The relic is nano-engineered with a precision not matched even by the Jove. 

Master Drellken explained that this is not unexceptional for relics found on Achura, especially the relics attributed in folklore to the "old Gods". The Elder Visionaries speculate on their origins, with a popular theory being that these relics are remnants of an advanced civilization that spanned the entire cluster before the dark age, before even the Talocan or the Jove. This would be the "Cradle of Mankind" civilization - the common ancestor of Amarr, Caldari, Gallente and Minmatar. Some, like the Goners, claim these ancestors come from beyond the gate.

While the relics may corroborate such theories, they are of course no proof!

According to the Achur themselves, Achura would have been an important planet for that ancient civilization, maybe even their homeworld. Some Achur patriots see themselves as the heirs to that mythical civilization...

I confess that I am curious whether our own Amarrian older relics have a similar composition - with my scan of the shard and the additional data I was given, I could figure out in principle. But I have to contain this unhealthy curiosity - it might invite the demon of pure thought to attack my soul. After all, the Code of Demeanor teaches us that the sin of pure thought is science that forgets the spiritual context of our relics.

A shard of the Rod

It was in the middle of the night when my exchange mentor, master Drellken, appeared at the cabin where I stayed, in the company of four armed guards.

A rude awakening.

I feared I had unknowingly made some unforgivable cultural misstep, maybe said some blasphemous thing by accident? Or maybe I failed to properly sign all the correct forms back at the immigration office? Was I going to be executed on the spot, imprisoned, or merely banished?

Luckily, it was nothing of the sort. The Elder Visionary leading the temple of the Seeing Blind has decided I am allowed to see their shard of the Rod of the Creator. As a precautionary measure they did not tell me in advance, so it would be more difficult if I were a thief preparing a heist.

I could not bring any scanning device to investigate the relic. In fact I could not bring anything else but the sandals on my feet and the pajama I was wearing - my favorite one with the sleeping kittens print. However, capsuleers never come fully unprepared, and this particular clone's implant slot 1 was equipped with ocular filter augmentations specialized in materials analysis. It would have to suffice.

The ocular filter wasn't much help at the start though, since I was blindfolded and led on a walk. I think I am pretty sure where we went, I came to know the grounds a bit, but I will not write it down here should rogue eyes read these logs.

The relic was displayed for me on a table, we were in a vault when my eyes were uncovered at last. The guards were tense. Master Drellken was here, as well as some other older monks I have not seen before. They were looking at me like an exam jury scrutinizing a student.

I offered a prayer of gratitude and meditated a bit in the presence of this relic, so holy to the Achur. I meditated a bit more as the ocular filter took its readings. To the unaugmented eye the shard looks deceptively unimpressive. A small black shard with a metallic shine, similar to black hematite or obsidian. On one side a few lines that were part of a carving of sorts, but nothing can be made from these line segments - they do not reveal the grander design that was covering the entire Rod when it was still in one piece. 

After a short while, the guards blindfolded me again. I thanked my hosts, and the guards took me back to my cabin. 

Of course I couldn't sleep any more.

The unlucky peasant

In today's discussion with my mentor we talked about how I hiked up to the monastery. I was telling him about the peasant that was looking at me from his field, and he seemed to know him. Master Drellken then told me another of his stories, which I try to recount here.

One day, the horse of the peasant ran away. It was his only horse. So the villagers pitied him, telling him  "That is so bad", and "You have really bad luck". He just answered "We'll see."

A couple days later, the horse returned, and there were two wild horses following it. The peasant now had three horses in stead of one, and the villagers went "Lucky you! That turned out all right". Again, the peasant said "We'll see.".

The peasant's only son tried to tame the wild horses, but he was thrown off and broke his leg and couldn't help any more in the field. You can imagine the villagers' reaction: "That's awful!", "I'm so sorry". But the peasant replied: "We'll see."

Soon after, the Caldari Navy recruiters came for the young men of the village, I think it was at the onset of the Triglavian war, but they passed over the peasant's son on account of his broken leg. Some villagers whose sons had signed up and who worried, told him "You got lucky!".  The peasant thought a while, and said: "We'll see."

That's the end of the story. As usual I don't quite know what to make of it. Is this referring to the fact that the State would go on to lose so many systems to the Triglavians? Or is it a tale about the wisdom of the peasant who sees beyond good and bad things? I asked what the peasant meant by his "we'll see"s, and my mentor answered,

"Ah, nothing probably. When the peasant was young he had a stroke, and was left with brain damage, a kind of aphasia. He can only speak this one sentence, 'we'll see', even though in his mind he thinks he's said something quite different. Doctors can't cure it. His wife learned to interpret the intonation of his 'we'll see's to figure out what he wants."

Stunned I said, "So... he's not wise, really?"

To my further surprise my mentor answered: "Oh no, even before his stroke I thought he is one of the wisest persons I have met."

I raised  my eyebrow at that. "Ah, such bad luck then that he had this stoke."

My mentor grinned and said "We'll see."

Stormy weather

Today there was a storm. This required the full attention of all the monks, as they prepared the monastery to withstand the torrential rains and the gale force winds. Stroms come in from the other side of the mountain range, where the sea lies, so usually they have lost their power when they arrive lakeside. Still, they can do a lot of damage, winds uprooting trees and lightning strikes causing destruction.

We were gathered in the central temple for the duration of the storm, to avoid people getting caught in accidents. It was fierce. And yet, some monks were allowed to stay outside, continuing their meditation, apparently unperturbed. 

I kept myself occupied with revising a text I am working on during my spare time here, a chronicle of our war in Pochven. But the storm made it hard for me to concentrate on this work.

The cleanup started as soon as the storm subsided. I'll be looking for the blue knitted caps of the statues in the woods for a while...

The challenger

I was still thinking about the grand master who thinks he is the best archer in the universe but doesn't know it is because his apprentices carefully paint bull's eyes around his arrows wherever they land. 

When master Drellken came to see how I was doing, I asked him if no-one ever told grand master Nori about the deception.

He thought for a bit, and then said, "Actually, one day, a young champion archer came to challenge the venerable Nori. He came to the training field, and showed off his skill. He shot an arrow right in the bull's eye from certainly one hundred meters. Then the took a second arrow, and shot it with an aim so good that the second arrow splintered the first arrow. He yelled out at master Nori to come and do better."

"So, grand master Nori took him to the forest, to a place where an old tree bridges a deep ravine. The tree is not stable and mushrooms feast on its rot. Master Nori carefully stepped on the tree and walked to the middle of the ravine. The tree creaked and cracked and shook and pieces fell into the deep, but master Nori didn't fall. He shot an arrow which landed in a tree trunk farther away. He then carefully stepped back and with a little leap made it back to the safe rock at the side."

"The challenger may have been an excellent archer, but he did not dare to stand on the rickety tree. As the champion bowed his head in defeat, master Nori explained to him 'you have trained your eyes and the muscles in your arms, but you forgot to train your mind'."

I guess that was my lecture for the day, as my mentor left and I still don't understand how master Nori can be thought of as the best archer in the universe.

The master archer

On several occasions during my walks through the forest I noticed, usually in places difficult to access, an archery target with a single arrow right in the middle of the bull's eye.

Curious about this, I asked my mentor Drellken about it.

He said those are from grand master Nori's archery sessions: "Grand master Nori is the best archer in the universe. Sometimes he wants to make sure he is still so good. Then, he instructs his apprentices to blindfold him, and to lead him to a random place in the woods where the target practice will take place. He doesn't know in advance where this will be."

"There they spin poor master Nori around and toss him around, and it is not rare that he falls and hurts himself, as he is already very old and gets easily disoriented. But then he stands up, and still as blindfolded as he was all the time, he takes his bow, places an arrow, aims without looking, and shoots."

"Only after the arrow has flown its course through the air and landed with a satisfying thud, master Nori allows himself to take off his blindfold. And every single time all can see that his shot has indeed again hit the bull's eye. What you encounter on your walks, are the results of such field archery exercises."

I was in awe, and without due deference I asked "But... if he can't see and doesn't know where the target is, how does take aim? Is God guiding the arrow for this holy man?"

"Probably not." my mentor answered, "As soon as the arrow leaves the bow, the apprentices run after it, and when it lands, they quickly paint a target around the arrow. They are good at this and train for it all year round, so they can do it without grand master Nori knowing."

As our directrix would say: Okies.

I asked "And... he never figured it out, grand master Nori?"

At this my mentor laughed heartily and replied "How do you expect an weary old man to notice if you yourself don't notice such things? You haven't even noticed the apprentices running around you!". Still laughing and shaking his head, he left me in my confusion.  

((ooc disclaimer: The stories Theodosius hears from the other monks during his stay in the Achura monestary do not come from my own imagination: I picked them from the folk tales and stories I collected while traveling around, told to me by the random people I meet during these travels.))

The role of idols in Achur faith

Life at the Achur monastery is peaceful and contemplative. It is strangely dissonant with anything I associate with Caldari corporatism. I've always mentally pictured the Caldari as a kind of "ant colony people", where the individual worker ants exhaust themselves for the good of the industrious colony. This monastery is about as far removed from that mental picture as possible. It is as if all the modernity and space technology cannot reach this ancient place. It doesn't want to build something new, or produce something tangible, it is meant to help individuals to discover some truth about themselves.

I've asked if I could be given a simple task to help my brothers. And so I've been tasked with maintenance work on the myriad of statues and idols that are on the monastery grounds. Some need cleaning of cobwebs, moss or leaves. Some wear blue knitted caps, and the caps must be replaced when they become too weathered or winds blew them off the statues.

I inquired with master Drellken about the statues. I thought that the Achur faith did not worship gods or saints, as I was told it ponders the universal truth and the redemption of the self.

He explained that while this is indeed so, common villagers don't care all that much about the deep practices of Achur faith and they think worshiping the spirits or old gods in the statues is a good deed. But in fact, the statues are just symbols, for example to pay tribute to wise men of the past who taught about the truth. They can be like images of a loved one you keep near and can look at to bring back memories. The monks don't worship them and know they cannot reach the truth by worshiping them. They use them in their rites to remember teachings and to help focus.

Something similar goes for relics, but they have in addition the property that maybe still something new can be learned from them, so they are treated with even more respect. Our discussion thus turned in a natural way to the topic of the rod of the creator shard they have in the monastery. My mentor will inquire if I may visit it - they are afraid of theft as many pieces held by various monasteries have been stolen and are still missing.

Matins

I am settling in. I have been housed in a very comfortable wooden cabin, with all amenities I could wish for. It has a deck with a magnificent view over the mountains, towards the lake that sometimes can be seen in the distance. The view lends itself to sitting down and meditating. I realize this cabin is a privileged lodge for pilgrims, and even though I marvel at the view a regular cell would have suited me just as well.

The day starts with matins. The monks gather at the temple and chant in front of their idols and relics. One of the monks, a man with the build of a tall wardrobe, beats a drum. The rhythm is rather fast, two beats per second. The others chant one syllable per drumbeat. From time to time - I haven't been able to discern a pattern- another monk strikes a cymbal. I been given a hand missal, but it is a translation so I cannot chant along, just listen. In addition, I am not sure it would be proper for me to do so. There are villagers and visitors attending the morning chanting - I have not seen many during the other hours.

After this morning liturgy, we have breakfast porridge. It is the only meal of the day that is not taken in the refectory, but in the public hall of the temple. Each monk sits at a table with one villager family or visitor group and they eat the breakfast porridge together. This is the occasion for the visitors to talk to the monks, to tell them their stories and plights and to ask for prayers.

Achur that have problems with their eyes visit this particular monastery, many come from far away to place offerings and pray in front of the statuettes of the eye idol. The monks give them a flask with which they can scoop up water from the temple source, as this water is said to have healing powers for eyesight troubles.  

I take breakfast with my mentor, master Drellken. We talk about our faiths and rites. I haven't yet brought up my main question - my request to see the piece of the rod of the creator that they keep in the inner temple.

The stairway of a thousand steps

I slept like a log last night, tired, but in a good way. So, I shall finish yesterday's story. 

I arrived at the stone lantern in the late afternoon. A monk was there, I do not know if he was waiting for me or if they saw me coming and had sent him down. Their clothing is simpler than our robes, and I did not see any signs of body augmentations. Next to the lantern was the start of a stone stairway that led up into the forest on the mountain slope.

My monastic colleague told me that this is the staircase of the thousand steps, and it is the entrance to the Monastery of the Seeing Blind at the top of the mountain. My courage sank at the prospect of having to climb it. I was starting to feel the exhaustion of the walk in the heat. But he insisted this was the proper way to go the monastery. 

He had some duties still at the lantern, but would come up later and rejoin me. I started the climb. To my surprise, the stairs were not well maintained, there are stretches were the stones are broken up and scattered, and this makes the ascension difficult. I wondered if the monastery would ever get visitors. There were also snakes in the cracks between the stones, so I had to tread carefully, which hampered the climb. I had to stop several times, to catch my breath and drink the last sips of my water. 

There's this compulsive thing I do - counting the steps of stairs. In this case, thousand. It's hard to stay focused, but usually I am within a few steps of the actual correct number. Here, I counted two thousand two hundred and fifty five. "Thousand steps", a figure of speech, indeed. Dusk was falling but the heat was sweltering by now. There was no breeze and the air was humid, despite being in the mountains.

After great effort, I arrived at the top of the staircase, at the entrance to the monastery. There was a water well nearby, and several peasants and monks. Also the monk I had met at the bottom was there. I hadn't seen anyone else on the staircase, and he never passed me, so I asked him how he got there. 

He said he just took his ground transportation vehicle along the road a little bit farther from where the stairs started, it leads to the parking lot of the monastery. I was dumbfounded - "But, wasn't this the proper way to enter the monastery? You told me so yourself!". He answered, as if he was talking to a kid, as if it had been plain and obvious: "Yes, proper way for you. Not for me, I live here."

I was parched so I wanted to drink from the well, which was equipped with a row of cups on a long stick. But I was not allowed to drink yet: the well is meant for ablution, you scoop up water and rinse your hands and arms. Actually, the cold water flowing over my arms gave relief from the heat.

After that, I was given water to drink and brought to my lodgings, where, as you already know, I fell asleep shortly after.

Reaching the monastery

It has been a long day, but I have reached the monastery. I've been welcomed by my mentor and shown my lodgings. I am tired, and feel I will fall asleep soon, but I want to record my day.

Early in the morning, I left Nizunpaska. There is and old railroad for plasma maglev trains that circles the lake. It is a bit of a tourist attraction, and there is a museum of plasma maglev technology at the starting station, where one can marvel at the old engines. 

image credit: Christian Chihaia

The track goes along the shore of the lake, offering nice views. I took the northern route to one of the many valleys where a mountain river meets the lake. The station where I stepped off the train was not much more than a platform - and it was deserted. As I stepped off, I felt the day was already starting to get hot. 

I started my walk following the river up the valley. There is some farming, mostly hydro-culture grain fields. I only saw one farmer, knee-deep in the water between his crop. He looked up and stared at me, I think he had never seen an Amarrian before.

The valley is rather wide at the start, and flat at the bottom where the river meanders. After two hours of walking, I came across a hill, in the middle of the flat valley. It was maybe thirty meters high, and looked very much out of place. There was a shrine at the top, and despite the heat I climbed up to the shrine. It was deserted, but there were nice statues of old gods and there were relics scribbled all over with undecipherable writing. It looked well maintained, even if there was no-one there at the time. I rested a while, praying and taking in the quietness of the place.

I continued my walk up the valley. It narrowed down and became more woody. My mentor for the exchange had told me to walk all the way up, past the foothills, until I arrived at a large stone lantern at the base of a mountain. 

Ah, I am falling asleep as I write, I will continue tomorrow once I'm rested.

The lake city

Today I took the "fast" land transit to Nizunpaska, the city by the lake. I put fast in quotation marks since it took most of the day to get there, crossing a large and desolate mountain range. Nizunpaska (its Napanii name as indicated in the stations is not the local name) is not a large city by any planetary standards. 

While its core districts are still markedly Caldari in the way we know it from Jita, the old lakeside part has a different feel to it. It is more relaxed and less efficiency-focused. The remoteness of the city with respect to major metropolitan areas also shows itself in the demographics: there are markedly less Deteis and Civire here than in the main hub I was yesterday.

The city is located at the eastern tip of the lake, so the sun sets over the lake. Right in front of the city, there is a small islet in the lake, deemed a holy place by the inhabitants. In the evening, they gather at the lakefront to watch the sunset. Even though it was a bit cloudy, I took a picture to remember this place.

After sunset I went for dinner, and had a simple meal, the local soup. It is a fish stock with fermented soybean, to which they add small clams from the lake and local vegetables. I was explained that there is quite an art to serving the soup, as the serving (in a bowl) must balance greens and non-greens in the soup, as well as balance floating elements (a kind of fungus) and parts that sink to the bottom of the bowl. Also the clams must have opened in exactly the right way. I hope I did justice to the dish...

Arrival on Achura

I traveled to Achura today, third planet in the Saisio system. Eager to start this adventure, and wondering about my counterpart heading to Mehatoor. For sure, he will have a more easy travel - he can just dock up and walk to the library, where mr. Jensen awaits him. 

Me, I have to travel to a mountain monastery, in a more remote part of the planet. Today, I stay in the large metropolis where my shuttle made planetfall, and where border officials checked my paperwork. I got a free Sukuuvestaa Mass Transit pass, allowing me to travel around for the duration of my stay.

The city is immense, but it and reminds me more of Jita than of Dam Torsad. Things are geared towards efficiency and industry, and there is less emphasis on historical relevance and of religion. The Sukuuvestaa corporation and its subsidiaries appears to be present everywhere. There are billboards and advertisements everywhere, and they try to personalize them to those who walk by. Mass transit is very well organised. I had difficulties orienting myself, but a mass transit employee went above and beyond in his efforts to show me exactly where to go.

I will rest up at a hostel for pilgrims. Tomorrow I will take the fast rail system to the city closest to the monastery. The town's name can be loosely translated as "water city". It is located at the top of a large inland lake, right at the mouth of the main river that feeds the lake. This will require me to take a long trip over land, over a mountainous range.

New recruits

Only a few days left before I leave for Saisio III. I am curious what I will find there. I am also thinking of my counterpart, who must be preparing now for the trip just as I do.

In the last couple of days I met several new recruits, the alliance appears to be growing at an accelerating pace. It seems to me that almost every time I enter Gottin's lamp bar for a coffee, there is an interview going on. One of the new recruits, Zohra Ismayil, spent time in a monastery before joining, and I felt a kinship even though she is very young. She is interested in exploration and books, so there's common ground. 

Another new recruit appears to be a former member of the order of St. Tetrimon. They have grown in importance. The recent troubles with Equilibrium of Mankind infiltrators -as highly placed as Alar Chakaid in the Theology council- have started inquisitions and purges to remove heretics from positions of power in the Empire. The Tetrimon, who from the very start suspected and apprehended Alar Chakaid, have proven themselves useful in the purification of our ranks, and I expect their power to increase further.

The Tetrimon also hold old manuscripts and old parts of Scripture, which are no longer the official canon but which may hold clues to the fate of the Avetat and Ametat. When I get back, I must find our Tetrimon corp member and talk to him.

Ishta's manumission part 2

It was a beautiful ceremony, in the SFRIM chapel. So many people were gathered, all supporting Ishta and being happy about her bright future. 

Lord Pitoojee delivered a magnificent speech, a mix of rejoicing and warning. Indeed, life as a free person comes with responsabilities and duties that you have to set yourself. No longer are you told what to do, you have to figure out all that yourself...

Ishta's family was also there. I met young Arne, Ishta's half brother if I'm correct. He is interested in the ministry, and feels the calling. He is still young, so his calling will meet tests of faith, but I plan to support him. I'll give him a little job in the library. He can prepare himself for the seminary and study scripture in the quiet hours.

There was a nice surprise at the end of the ceremony, one that further propels Ishta towards her future. So many developments are happening all at once...

Ishta's manumission

Later today, Ishta's manumission ceremony will take place. I am quite curious to see how it will go. I confess that I don't quite remember from my theology studies how these ceremonies work... back in the days it was just some sort of footnote.

You see, when I was young, it was a time when not many slaves were set free. Manumissions were rare, and I can't remember ever attending any. This was in Heideran's days, but it was well before the Pax Amarria. That was published while I was secluded in the monastery. The same goes for empress Jamyl's decrees, these occurred while I was not in touch with worldly affairs.

I came back to a changed Empire. Yet I think it is a change for the better. Manumissions show to those that are still enslaved that there is hope and a real goal to work towards. Praise be to exemplary holders such as lord Pitoojee who guided Ishta from a very dark place towards the light.

Rens incident

A few days ago, I was transiting in Rens, in Heimatar. The warp core of the Indigatrix was giving me warning messages, so I docked up for quick repairs. You don't want a warp core malfunction in between gates. I was waiting in a small bakery shop, with a coffee and a book, while the repairs took place.

In the Republic, it is not uncommon for us, Amarrians, to get yelled at and insulted. Never accept coffee that you did not see being brewed in front of your own eyes, unless you like the taste of spit. Now especially the tempers run high, as Minmatar pilots are all riled up by these foolish reenactments of battles against Amarr for Republic "liberation day" celebration. Like every year it ends up being a celebration of violence.

As I was waiting, a man came up to me menacingly. Judging by his clothes and demeanor, he was military. Pale skin, dark hair, rather tall. He had a Sebiestor face, with scars on his face but no visible tattoos. Maybe he didn't take the Voluval, maybe he was born in Empire space. He somehow knew I was in LUMEN, because he addressed me as "Lumen". He yelled it as he came towards me and looked quite disturbed. 

At that point I was trying to remember when I had last made a clone backup.

He did not draw a knife or gun, though. He just shouted at me, confusing language. About how I should tell Tamiroth that Howdahri was attacked and killed. Now, I know Tamiroth as the fourth planet of the Amarr home system. And I have no idea how I have to pass on a message to a planet. I concluded he had mental problems, and frankly, at the moment, I was too stunned to respond.

He added an accusation about the murderess of this Howdahri. I will not repeat it here as I do not want slander another member of LUMEN. The man turned and left before I could respond.

As I said, I thought these were the ramblings of a madman. So while I was a bit shocked I gave it no further thought.

That is, until I found out that Tamiroth is not only a planet, but also the name of one of our SFRIM members, apparently on leave now.

Preparations

I have started with the preparations of my visit to Achura. The advice, kindness and help of many Achur in our alliance has been invaluable - I am especially thankful to Franco, Aria, and Therese.

I plan to leave as soon as I can, but certainly not before Ishta's manumission ceremony on the 11th. Lord Pitoojee has deemed she is ready to be freed. Although she is still a bit a diamond in the rough I would humbly say I agree with his lordship's evaluation. 

Great changes are coming for her, and they come all at the same time. She also got her capsuleer licence, and will be acceding to the illustrious house deSilvestris. I hope she can cope with all these momentous changes in her life. My impression is that she starts with a lot of energy and idealism in her new life, with plans to make the Empire (or at least Nakri, the deSilvestris homeworld) a better place. I hope the cynicism of veteran nobles will not dissuade her.

The go-ahead

I met with Lunarisse and Franco today. Not in the context of their freshly minted marriage, but to ask their support and help for my plan to visit Achura (Franco's home world). 

I received permission from Lunarisse, as Directrix, for this exchange.

Franco gave me advice, supplementing the advice I also got from Aria and Therese. He would also look into the monastery that I chose, and see if he can find more information on it - maybe it is linked to the monastery close to where he lived! If that is the case, he was willing to recommend me, and that would certainly help me get a glimpse of the relic of the 'Rod of the Creator'.

So, I will go forward! And in a few days, enroll in the exchange. I am a bit anxious but mostly curious to what I will find there.

Beach barbeque

I was able to talk to Aria about the exchange with Achura. Lunarisse was also around, but the setting was not ideal. She had just returned with Franco from honeymoon. SFRIM had organised a beach BBQ in an picturesque atol with solitonic resonances leading to large waves. She was attempting to surf them. This is apparently a tradition after concluding wars.

It is unclear why this relaxation must envolve exposure to ionising solar radiation and corrosive fluids, but all seemed to enjoy the sun and sea. Aria shares with me a certain discomfort with such relaxation, or at least that is how it appeared to me. 

She reassured me that there will be no security concern to let an Achura monk take my place for a short while. But Aria also explained to me that Caldari society will not tolerate proselytizing. The silver tongued poison of Federation propaganda has made them wary of any foreign influence. So, while I am visiting, I should definitely lay low and keep my own rituals and practices very private. I will heed these wise warnings.

Monastery of the Seeing Blind

I looked more closely at the ACRE program, and found that I can apply to one of the monasteries that has a piece of the Rod of the Creator relic. 

The possibility that caught my eye is the "Monastery of the Seeing Blind". I would be able to visit them for about two weeks, staying in the monastery and learning about their rites and the relic. In exchange, a monk from their ranks would take my place in the library. It would be a capsuleer monk, trading places with me, a capsuleer friar. 

I haven't seen Aria around when I was in the library, but I hope to see her or Lunarisse tomorrow, for her approval of the exchange, or maybe a suggestion for a better exchange partner.

Collapse of the Takmahl empire

Yesterday I have been mulling over the question posed by dr. Valate: could the Takmahl have found Abyssal space? I concluded that they would not have done so while settling in Araz, nor do I think it is plausible that they did in the golden age of their civilization.

That of course leaves out the period of the late Takmahl empire. The downfall of their civilization was as meteoric as its rise to prominence was. The reasons for their quick demise are unknown. From an advanced civilization, in the timespan of merely a century, they collapsed to a pre-industrial state of barbarism.

Indeed, when scouts and explorers first reached the region, they found a backward stone age cannibalistic people that did not remember any of their former technology. The population had dwindled to a few semi-nomadic settlements in a decaying urban wilderness they no longer understood. The tools and edifices of their ancestors, the Takmahl, were venerated as relics left by ancient gods. Only the rites of the blood remained in practice, true to their long-lost Sabik origins.

What apocalypse befell the Takmahl? 

The standard theory followed in Hedion and other universities in the Empire is that at some point, the falsehood of their Sabik religion caught up with them. The depravities got worse and worse and collapsed their society, perhaps aided by the abuse of cyborgs in their cults. 

Another popular theory is ecosystem collapse. Most worlds in Araz are barren, and they relied on hydroculture in the ocean worlds in the constellation. Concurrent asteroid storms, inferred from cratering studies, appeared to have struck these worlds around the same time as the decline of their Empire.

Here now we may have a third theory. It is a variant of the theory formulated before by Valate once before in the context of Drifters, at the fourth SeyCon conference. That theory states that the Takmahl encountered a civilization much more advanced than they are, and perhaps unwittingly started a war with them. The new version of this theory would then involve Abyssal space. Maybe at some point they were able to reverse engineer the spatial rifts at the Labyrinth site enough to tinker with them and reached Abyssal space (or wormhole space). If they started looting it, who knows what they might have triggered. A reprisal by the Drifters? Or maybe the Triglavian's ancestors?

Takmahl in Abyssal space

Today I came across an interesting article by prof. Valate, a prominent Takmahl scholar whose works I track. Quite provocatively, she asks:

"was [it] possible that the Takmahl were able to create portals to abyssal realms, and made contact with someone or something there, not necessarily the Triglavians, during the time the Takmahl were active, some 1500-2000 years ago [?]"

Previous works (among which also those of Valate herself) assume a link between the Takmahl and the Talocan. The Sabik who fled Amarr at the height of Queron I's persecutions had technology no more advanced than cryoships. In a short timespan after they settled in the Araz constellation, they developed advanced cybernetics and ship fittings that still today we marvel about. Takmahl artefacts and materials are used to this day to produce advanced ship modules. 

So how could they so quickly go from refuguees to an interstellar empire? The consensus is that they stumbled upon Talocan technology left in Araz. The influences of Talocan technology on their society is visible through the artefacts and relics that are found in the ruins of their cities and space installations. It has always been implicitly assumed that they found this Talocan technology in deepspace pockets in Aphi and the other systems of the pentagram constellation.

I wonder about the track that is being explored - so far as I know without proof. Is dr. Valate suggesting that the Takmahl actually met the Talocan or their descendants in Abyssal space? It seems doubtful that in the initial stages, when they settled down, they would know about Abyssal space, let alone have the technology to go there. Filaments as we know them require more advanced ships than what they had.

Maybe the question is whether during the golden age of their Empire they would have found a way to go to Abyssal space. As ms. Jenneth suggests, traces of Isogen-10 would reveal this - but as far as I know there have been no such traces. Also, if they would have an influx of new knowledge and the ability to exploit Abyssal space, I would think this would give them a second boost, a second rapid expansion if not in territory then in technology. Again to the best of my knowledge there is no trace of that second spurt.

The Rod of the Creator

The Achura are a deeply spiritual people, which I find a bit at odds with the rest of the Caldari State. The Achura homeworld, Saisio III, is also the home of many relics. 

Those who believe that some long-lost civilization colonized our cluster through the Eve Gate often point to Saisio III as an important planet for that lost civilization. In their minds, the relics of the Ancient Gods are nothing but leftover technology from a thriving world before the Dark Ages.

There is one particular relic that interests me a lot - the Rod of the Creator. It is not one piece, rather it consists of different relics scattered over several monasteries. Some of these pieces have been stolen, some even hunted down and returned by loyal Caldari capsuleers. I've been fascinated by this relic, and in my mind I have come to link it to the Ametat, the Sceptre.

Now that my road forward with the Takmahl corpse is blocked, as I can't legally obtain a clone from someone else's DNA, this is the next route of investigation that I will pursue. Layla Accadis' corpse has been waiting for a thousand years, she can wait a bit more.

Could it be that the Sceptre, through some winding and mysterious path, at some point made it to Achura? They barely left the iron age a few centuries ago, so they would not have known its significance but surely they would have felt its power. How did it become fractured? Do the Achura have myths or tales of how it got there? I want to find out.

The monasteries on Achura are not readily accessible to visitors, at least not the interesting ones. But I have a plan.

To strengthen the ties between the Empire and the State, especially since the fall of Niarja, there are several cooperation and exchange programs. ACRE is one of these programmes, the "Amarr - Caldari Religious Exchange". The idea is that monks (friars are also eligible) from the Empire and the State trade places for a while. I would spend time in an Achura monastery, and an Achur monk would come to Mehatoor. 

I'll have to discuss this with Directrix Phonaga (yes, she took Franco's name). She'd be reluctant to let strangers into the SFRIM offices in Mehatoor, I think. So, maybe I'll first get Aria on my side. She is also from Achura, and linked to the monastic tradition. I have time, I suppose Lunarisse is now enjoying her honeymoon.

A wedding and a victory

They say misfortunes never come alone, but apparently that is also true of good things.

The wedding yesterday was magnificent. The Farthest Star chapel, usually a quiet place, was filled to the brim. Many Gallenteans came, to my surprise. The Gate seemed particularly active, throwing its whisps of light as if it was celebrating with us. 

The ceremony too was beautiful, the sedevacantist protesters from my nightmares were absent. There was only an interruption by Amadin, who mock objected like a jealous fool. The bride and the groom looked fantastic! There was a reception afterwards, but I may have dozed off a little. Maybe it was the release of the tension that I had felt officiating this wedding that made me sleepy afterwards.

Today, more good news arrived, probably the best wedding gift of all that were given. 

Our war with the Kybernauts comes to an end! God has given us victory! The fall of the Wirashoda Azbel was indeed the turning point, our victories multiplied afterwards. Their resistance crumbled before the onslaught of the unlikely alliance between LUMEN, Electus Matari and PNS. In their hasty retreat, the Kybernauts abandoned or burned down their own last fortresses. None remain, after yesterday's final mopping up operation.

Alas this was but a stage in a much longer war. For the Kybernauts are but the henchmen of their Triglavian overlords. The Triglavians are still strong, even if their servants have been defeated. With all their talk of proving, it stands to reason the Triglavians will not like failure. So, while some Kybernauts now try to seek refuge in the arms of their masters, hoping punishment will not be too harsh, others have chosen to run away and turn to piracy. 

Let us be gracious in our victory, and try to guide these wayward capsuleers back into the fold.

Preparations

I must admit I am somewhat nervous. I officiated weddings before, but never anything so high-profile.

Luna and Franco are getting married, and I have been given the honor of officiating their wedding. This is not merely a wedding, and not merely a capsuleer wedding! No, it is the wedding of our directrix! The wedding of someone I hold in high esteem and like to call my friend.

Everything is prepared, I went over the liturgy and ceremony with the couple. Scriptures are chosen, music is set, traditions picked among the many in the cluster.

And yet I had a nightmare that, as I was asking if anyone objects, a sedevacantist would stand up and start slandering the marriage as the groom is not of the faith - Franco hasn't converted yet. Franco has selected a paranymph - a member of the faith who will vouch for his character and ensure the children are raised in the faith. So there is no religious obstacle whatsoever to this wedding. But still, undercover agents under the influence of Nauplius would no doubt use the occasion to make a ruckus. And I know Aria would quickly take care of any heretic objecting, immediately helped by Ishta. But still.

Welcome mr. Jensen

Mr. Jensen arrived and took up his job as assistant librarian. He immediately made sure we acquire copies of the works of the laureates of the New Eden Literature contest. He is also applying the formalism that he invented, the Jensen index, to our book catalogue. Who would have known that octonion number geometry would be so convenient in library science?

I am glad to hear that mr. Jensen is adapting well as assistant librarian. Some of our customers have a hard time dealing with the disability that makes his slow in comparison to our neurological clocks, so I might consider hiring an additional "Overseer of the Shelves" - the rank just below assistant librarian to help mr. Jensen interacting with our customers.

There was today also an interesting question on the forums by prof. Valate. She wonders if the Takmahl may have knowledge of the Triglavian conduit portals. Probably the Triglavians were around in abyssal space then, but did they ever get contact with the Takmahl? This suggestions appears to me as thunder in a clear sky. I have not seen anything indicating it, but I am intrigued...

Naming ceremony

Yesterday there was a callsign naming ceremony in SFRIM. I think the idea is that a slight humiliation keeps capsuleers grounded, or humble. We had to tell embarrassing stories or failures, and then others would pound on it suggesting silly names. 

With drinks flowing profusely, I knew I had to be fast before the whole thing would degenerate. So, I volunteered first, and told the story of how my Abott called me Dozey, a play on the middle syllable  of my name, Theo-doze-eus. 

It appears that during sermons I meditate so deeply that other misconstrue this and think I doze off. The light humming I sometimes make, prayer during meditation, is also often misunderstood as snoring. Dozey will thus both remain and become my callsign during fleet operations.

I was right to go early in the evening. Some people who fell asleep got pounced on by their fellows and now will be known as Zonk. There's an Onion. There almost was a Fluffy. 

I think now of the joint fleet operations with Electus Matari and Phoenix Naval Systems, against the Triglavians. The proud Amarr fleet that joins our erstwhile enemies in a fight against a common threat. And insists to be called flitter, zonk, onion, ipsy and snoopy.

Stuck

I seem to be somewhat stuck. I finally obtained permission to examine the corpse of Layla Accadis and experiment on it, but I cannot get a clone. At wit's end I talked to a man of the Serpentis pirate faction. I was brought into contact with him by a low-level cryogenics engineer from Lai Dai who works at a clone facility.

I was hesitant. The man, Elaziel Sols, only wanted to meet me at some shady bar. I stood out like a sore thumb in that place. Mr. Sols had no difficulty identifying me. I explained my case, and he told me he can provide exactly what I want: a genetically identical body, without consciousness. I don't trust him. I think I want to talk to lord Garion about this first, he has been my moral lodestone.

In other news, I have decided what to do with my prize money. To keep it related to books, I have set up a skillbook fund. Up till the exhaustion of the fund, I will grant anyone from LUMEN who asks money for a skillbook the ISK to do so (up to a maximum amount of 65 million per applicant). That way, I can adhere to my vow of poverty and help our friends at the same time.

Conflicting emotions

Yesterday evening was the gala for the literature prizes. Even though such social events with famous people and parties and receptions are definitely not my biotope, I had planned to attend this event since it focuses on books. It warms my librarian heart to see writing celebrated, and I was amazed at the quality of the submitted works, and at creativity and wit of their writers.

But given the events of the past days I could not bring myself to partake in the festivities. Moreover, I had promised some families of our fallen soldiers to visit them. I cannot cut such visits short to go indulge myself. No matter how strongly I support this initiative, I couldn't make myself go.

I was happy to learn that my modest scribblings have earned me a prize! I am grateful to my promotor, lord Garion Avarr. Now I feel that I did the jury a grave disservice by not attending. Conflicting emotions, joy and vanity and a bit of guilt. 

I think there will be a monetary reward, and I have to think what to do with it. I fully intend to keep my vow of poverty, and at this moment I do not need more money to pursue my quest. I will reflect on how to put this to good use.

Bringing our fallen soldiers home

Even with all the learning, all the clerical training, even with my ordination to perform rites, I was not prepared for this. Not prepared for its weight, nor for its impact on me.

One of the Kybernauts reached out to us, with an offer to retrieve our dead. Our Directrix contacted me to help. I agreed to meet this compassionate Kyber in Hek, in Republic space close to the faction warfare zone. We easily demonize our enemies during war, but I was reminded by this action that Kybernauts can be honorable persons, who just like us worry about their families and honor the dead.

I was given access to a hangar where the Kyber had stored the remains of our fallen. The hangar had been purged of its toxic atmosphere and disinfected from mutaplasmids. My contact appeared only via holodrone. 

All the caskets and urns were there. I was shocked at the sheer amount of them. Thousands. I was overcome for a little while, and the Kybernaut let me pray in peace as I reached out to God for strength.

I barely could fit all of them in my cargo hold, I had to strip some stuff and leave probes and other material behind in Hek. Faced with this problem, to my own surprise I had switched from a state of disarray to a mechanical state of duty to be performed. I had turned into a kind of numb robot. I remember thinking about the optimal stacking problem in my cargo hold as if it was some abstract mathematical question.

I managed to fit all of them in my hold, and brought the most precious cargo I have ever transported back to Mehatoor, and from there it went forward to Nahyeen, to the memorial garden.

My "numb robot" state passed when the memorial ceremony began. It was as if, when I saw that I had completed my task, I could finally once again go back to experiencing feelings. They came over me as a shock wave. A wave of row upon row of flag draped caskets and urns. I said a few words during the ceremony, I cannot even remember what I said clearly now, I let my training and clerical instinct take over.

As I cannot fall asleep, I pray. I pray for strength. I pray for the fallen that journeyed home with me. And I pray that I may never get used to such missions.

The eerie quiet

Yesterday I flew to Bashyam in the Duchy of Fekhoya, hoping to meet the new candidates for conversion and to bring them into the fold. 

The trip was horrendous.

I got stopped three times by Royal Khanid Navy, and my shuttle got searched by the Chesm Khan. The first time, I was told that due to the recent operations, I could not land on Bashyam and certainly not at the Deritan estate. The only reason that in the end I could proceed on my way, was that I am a capsuleer and this grants special privileges. 

The second time, I started by using this prerogative, and could continue. The third time, they insisted on searching my ship first for contraband and weaponry to deliver to what they call "One Crown Unificationists". Of course they did not find anything, but they confiscated a vial of holy ointment I was planning to use, they took it for drug testing!

I finally was allowed to land at the estate, and what a difference it was with a week ago! No more trace of festivities. The estate looked rather abandoned as I was waiting in the courtyard. No friendly slave coming to bid me welcome and let me wait inside. Some furtive glances from inside the estate, but no-one came out. It was strangely quiet. I did not see the Duchess or any of her retinue coming or going, and waited for two hours. 

This worries me, has she been arrested? At least, there were no traces of violence or battle at the estate, not insofar my untrained eyes can see. I did notice that the Khanid stone garden seemed a bit neglected or ruffled, but that could be from last week's party - I cannot tell. 

I should have checked my appointment in advance, and waited for confirmation. It has been a week since the Duchess had asked me to come by, and many things happened since then. I could not contact anyone on the spot. I hope she was simply held up somewhere else...

Towards troubled Bashyam

The events in the Duchy of Fekhoya kept me awake yesterday night, worrying. 

I have come to know and appreciate Duchess Deritan and several of her close collaborators. Her rise was meteoric, and that resulted in the jealousy of many other noble houses. She is as this hero from legends, who flew towards the sun using wings made of bird feathers and wax. She flew too quickly too high, towards the sun, and her wings melted, and now she falls.

The scheming of her competitors bore its bitter fruit, as they convinced King Khanid to reassert his claim on the Duchy of Fekhoya. Using force, indeed using his elite cyber knights units. This takes place right now, now that the Duchy has been made prosperous again though the labor of both LUMEN and lady Deritan's own corporation. 

I cannot question the wisdom of a Royal heir, but at the same time I cannot forget how adequately and compassionately the Duchess leads her people and thus served her King. 

Tonight I am headed for Bashyam IV, for the Deritan estate. I am converting some servants of the household to our faith. I do not know what I will find there, I hope that the planet is not under a blockade...  but I must go, as I promised.

Battle of Wirashoda

This morning, I found the station in Mehatoor in a celebratory mood. It soon became clear that we have booked a great victory in our war in Pochven. For a while now, together with our allies in Edencom, we have been trying to vanquish the Red Azbel, a kybernaut stronghold from which they produce arms and ammunition.

The Battle of Wirashoda which took place yesterday must have been the largest capsuleer engagement in Pochven yet. The odds were against our fleet. The enemy had amassed a far greater host, and brought in wildlings from Delve, in far greater number than our own barbarian auxiliaries.

Moreover, their stronghold allowed them to reship. As we broke wave after wave of defenders, they kept coming in their Leshak battleships. Our auxiliaries crumbled and fled, but the core of the Edencom alliance - us and our allies from Electus Matari en Phoenix Naval Systems - held fast.

To force the outcome of the battle, and to bring down the Red Azbel for once and for all, the valiant navy plunged forward, guns ablaze, knowing they would not survive. But also knowing that our suicide mission fleet had enough firepower to take down the structure - God granted us victory through our sacrifice. When all seemed lost, faith carried our crewmen and they fulfilled their duty without fear of death, certain of their place at the right hand side of God. Though we suffered great losses, the enemy's loss is greater still. Their factory of evil cannot be rebuilt.

I am convinced that this will be a turning point in the Pochven war. I have offered a prayer of thanks, as it is fitting to thank God for this triumph. My thoughts go out to the families of the martyrs and all others they leave behind. May they find solace and may they be cared for till the end of their days.

Origin heresies

Time to report on some heresies.

Heresies about the Ametat and Avetat, believed by foreign historians and archeologists. There are those in the Federation who claim that these holy artefacts were actually tools or devices from ancient races, appropriated by the Emperor. In their views, maybe even the Sefrim might be members of these ancient races.

The idea of ancient races stems from the commonly believed notion that all races have a common ancestor. It is unlikely that genetically compatible species would evolve on so many different worlds. Even with convergent evolution for the major physiological characteristics, the odds that we would be able to procreate with a different species is vanishingly small. 

The common origin theory is further corroborated by the fact that for example many ruins and relic sites, even Jove or Sleeper ones, operate by the same common safety measures, and can be hacked using the same common information theoretical routines.

This theory is carried further by those who believe humanity came through Eve Gate at some point, such as the Goners and Equilibrium of Mankind. This humanity would have spread accross the cluster. The ancient races would then be those that kept their advanced technology intact and their knowledge intact during the dark ages that befell all others.

These kind of theories fuel the conjecture that at some point, members of those ancient races - Jove? Talocan? Even more ancient? - would end up by accident or by mishap on Amarr, and share their advanced technology with one warlord. Rather than a gift from God, these heresies claim that our most holy relics are remnants of the technology of our farthest ancestors, the first humans to cross the gate.

That heresy aligns with the doctrine of the Goners that link the artefacts to their Anticipator key and to a way to reactivate the gate. Such legends are also present among the other races - the Achur believe in their version of the Sceptre as an ancient and powerful tool.

I feel I should keep an open mind on these theories, even if they feel heretical or at the least heterodox to me, and make me feel uncomfortable.

A new assistant

As I have been away from the library more often recently, I have been scouting for a capable assistant librarian. I have found one: mr. Jensen, who is famous in librarian circles for his book classification scheme, the Jensen Index. 

The good man suffered an accident during travel, a warp core breach in wormhole transit. The gravitational distortion of spacetime during this accident has affected him down to the molecular level. As a result, time appears to flow more rapidly for mr. Jensen since the accident. Conversely, for us mr. Jensen appears to have slowed down. For this reason he has lost his job of master librarian at Hedion's Graduate School for Design. 

We met at the Amarr Civil Service station a while ago, when I was taking care of the formalities for Layla's corpse. He's a big shot, and I was amazed to hear that he was fired. I asked him if he would be interested to work at Mehatoor's library. It took him a while to respond, not surprising given his condition, but he accepted. I look forward to having him in the library.

Concert in Fekhoya

Today I attended the concert by Duchess Deritan in honor of the birth of Marcus, the newborn child of lord Utari Onzo and lady Lasai Raske.

The Duchess performed herself. I had no idea she was such an accomplished flutist!

The pieces she chose to perform with her Khanid bamboo flute for the first part of the concert were all quite energetic and upbeat, and also that was a surprise as I thought recent events must have sapped her energy. At least outwardly, this was not the case. Through her music, she appeared defiant against her competitors at the Khanid court.

The second part of the concert also contained songs that were softer and more evocative of beautiful, peaceful landscapes. It was as if, once the forceful statement was made to outsiders, now she turned to comfort her own people. It ended with a beautiful duet with lady Aselin-Duvaul, a classic piece, the "flower duet".

The concert was magnificent, but I have to admit I still do not feel comfortable with crowds. Certainly with all the decorum and with the nobility present I did not feel at ease at all. Also I was wearing my new ceremonial habit and it itches. My usual one has a hole at the elbow, so I couldn't use it. But mostly, it's the intricacies of nobility decorum that I'm afraid since I am unfamiliar with them and lack any intuition on what the proper hierarchy between the nobles would be.

I overheard Lord-Consort Newelle say that children should be kept out of places where the Chesm-Khan might drop in or drop a bomb, and it seemed to me (a common friar) rather insulting to the hostess and to the guests of honor. Was it proper or not? Probably that depends on the hierarchy and is not clear to me, but it made me ill at ease.

Anyway, I was glad to see Ishta appear. She was late, as always. But all is forgiven, she has passed for her final capsuleer tests! I heard through the grapevine that she was also accepted as a member of SFRIM. I'm not sure if Lord Pitorjee has freed her from bondage, but I am confident that if it hasn't happened already, it will soon.

Ah, I kept the best news for last. Lady Zeresh, reknowned for her expertise in cybernetics and daugther of a famous cyberphysician, agreed to help me with the transplants when I have the clone. These social events have their advantages, even if I feel uncomfortable, they do advance my cause.

Cloning

I have been taking a closer look at cloning.

I found information on illegal cloning facilities that pop up in some systems and then break up camp again a week or so later, before the authorities can catch them. Outside of the empire, deep in the barbarian outback of nullsec, this is how many capsuleers obtain their clones. Yet these illegal facilities cannot guarantee safety or quality of the clone. They cannot be trusted to deliver a defect-free clone that can support an infomorph. Often, it is not even clear what biomass they actually use for their clones.

That may be OK for what I want to do. The clone that I am considering will never house an infomorph. It is mechanical, a tool to activate the cybernetic implants. I only need a shell with functioning organs and a neural system, and the DNA to match Layla's.

Even that is not so easy. The usual clones one gets from a respectable company, even a recent and adventurous startup such as Cromeaux, don't come with a brain. They start from a three dimensional gel structure that matches the shape of their client's brain structure. When the client dies, a scan of his precise state of brain is made, and the clone brain is then fine-tuned to replicate this state faithfully.

What to do in Layla's case? Her brain is decayed, so they can't replicate even the basic structure of the neuronal geometry as they would normally do. Also, there is no intention to bring her mind back, I only need a mindless body with an "empty" brain. It's only role is to allow to the implants to be grafted successfully and to activate these implants so they can be read out. A true clone, grown with its own brain matter in stead of neural gel.

Another hurdle

For us, capsuleers, it is so easy to obtain a clone that it has become almost a reflex to discard and install clones in stations.

So I thought I would be easy to get a clone for the Takmahl corpse to transplant the cybernetic implants to. These ancient implants are tailored to interface with her specific genotype, but can't function on the degraded corpse. So, just get a new body, right?

Well it is not that easy. You can't get a clone of someone else. You can only have yourself cloned.

In the early days of cloning technology, there were some horrible scandals. It is said that most innovations are immediately abused to satisfy some depravities of the human mind in a new way. This has also proven true for cloning. For a hefty price, one could buy a clone of a famous holoreel star. Stalkers with money had their victim cloned. Such cases of abuse of the technology resulted in strict laws.

I inquired both with Poteque Pharmaceuticals and with Zainou (the biggest market players in cloning), but neither companies were willing to help me obtain a clone based on the Accadis DNA.

Astrometrics

My little retreat in New Eden comes to an end, I must return to Mehatoor. I came out of concern about the Equilibrium of Mankind's obvious interest in the gate, but found no trace of them.

I did find a single trace of Takmahl, but a single artifact is not enough proof that there was ever an expedition.

I did do some triangulations of the Gate again. A previous attempt from within New Eden only revealed that the Gate is more than 6000 AU away from the star.

But now that the Gate has become visible from Promised Land, the neighboring system, a better determination is possible. Our ship's sensors now seem able to pick up its image there, but not in Central Point or Canard, the next nearest systems. Only thing visible in Canard is White Sky pirates picking on lost Gate tourists.

This is how it looks like from Promised Land (near the New Eden Gate, also visible in the screenshot):

The New Eden star is also indicated in the picture. Using the tactical display, it's possible to determine the angle between New Eden and the Gate as seen from Promised Land (about 15 degrees). Similarly, the angle between Promised Land and the Gate can be measured from New Eden. Given the distance of slightly over one light year between New Eden and Promised Land, it is then straightforward to get the distance between New Eden and the Gate.

Result: about a quarter of a light year. Much less than the servant sisters lead us to believe. 

A caveat. I've noticed that our display distorts space, especially in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the tactical display. This could affect the measurement, but I don't think it would be to a point that we'd get to the three light years suggested by the Sisters. I'll be sharing my findings with the Kor-Azor science outpost recently installed in New Eden.

Off course

Today, after my measurements of Eve Gate activity, I decided to drop by Goner Sarachem. He was again in his corvette flying to the gate at subwarp speeds, and sometimes I like to journey with him for a little while.

I found him more unresponsive than usually, and what worried me most, he was not flying towards Eve Gate! How has he gotton off course? I checked my astrometry, and it was no optical illusion, he was flying in a wrong direction. 

I tried to grasp his attention by orbiting his ship and by sending out communications. Even bumping his ship didn't wake him. He must have been in very deep meditation.

That, or he was drunk driving today.

Encounters

There's something special about the capsuleers that one meets in New Eden. They're not doing their usual activities - be it battle or industry. Rather, they're searching something. Sometimes they're trying to find out something about themselves. 

Like professor Moriarty. I met him here a while ago and now that he's no longer in New Eden I kind of miss him.

But still I'm having nice and interesting conversations. A man who plans to see all the sights in the cluster, and has made that the goal of his existence. A woman who entered New Eden via a wormhole but feels very uncomfortable when not in a wormhole system, because her name appears in local. A new recruit for SFRIM, with whom I've had a long discussion on the essence of faith, sitting in the Farthest Shore's chapel in the light of the Gate. She asked interesting questions that challenged me intellectually, such as whether slavery is necessary for reclamation or how slavery helps the reclaimed to find God.

Pot shards

I am enjoying my time doing field work in the New Eden system. The sight of the gate calms the mind. I have to confess that it feels a bit like a vacation...

I stumbled on something very curious in a relic site: a Takmahl artefact. A gyro ballast. It's nothing quite impotant, it would be like finding pot shards on Aphi. What's weird is to find such a pot shard in an excavation on New Eden I. It doesn't belong here - the common belief is that the Takmahl influence didn't extend very far outside of the Araz constellation.

Could it be brought here by visitors later on? Maybe, but the Sabik ruins where I found it did not seem looted before, and date from the late Takmahl period. It is not unthinkable that the Takmahl organised explorations, expeditions to far away regions. It would take them many years in their cryoships, but that did not stop them before.

Anyway, one "pot shard' can be a coincidence, I must go and search for more evidence if I want to make this claim.

Twice good news

Good news arrived to today! I received the finalized paperwork from the Amarr Civil Service allowing me to bring the Takmahl corpse from my archeological expedition into the station, and to do research on it. My next step, as soon as I return from my visit to New Eden, will be to procure a clone into which I can transplant the cybernetics and hopefully be able to read them out.

Other good news that came to my attention is that a joint fleet of capsuleers from several empires achieved a major victory over Kybernauts in Pochven. LUMEN was present, including lord Sakakibara, and joined a vast international coalition with amongst others... Electus Matari. Even though I am happy that we band together against our common enemy and even though I hope this will lead to constructive peace talks, it still feels very awkward. I fear it will widen the rift between the traditionalists and the reformers in the Empire.

Ni-Kunni dinner

If you had told me a year ago that I would have a Ni-Kunni dinner in the illustrious company of several prominent Holders of the Empire and the Kingdom, I would have laughed at you. Add to that a number of prominent personalities - one of them (ms. Therese Isimazu) dealing the death blow to Chakaid's Titan, and I would have been very worried about your sanity.

Yet it happened yesterday. 

Lunarisse invited these esteemed guests to her uncle's restaurant in the Souk in Tanoo, this is a Ni-Kunni nomadic trading enclave. I was allowed attend as well, and it was magnificent. The food was delicious: the eels brought back childhood memories. There was a Ni Kunni food store close to where my parents lived and my mother would get live river eels and prepare them on special occasions. 

The company at the dinner was far beyond what any commoner would deserve or hope for. The discussions were stimulating and intellectual - I talked with a Minmatar elite soldier, Eran Mintor, and with Aria and we debated how the existential dread differs between baseliners and capsuleers given their lessened mortality.

I wish I could have shared the story of this evening with my parents, commoners like me who never in their life met a Holder.

Our discussions also turned to the treacherous attack of the Triglavians and their collaborators on the rescue convoys to which I participated. It is a topic that I also hear discussed of late by the baseliners in Mehatoor. The rumor among them is that this latest horrendous acts have driven lord Reginald 'Triangloktonos' Sakakibara to take up the sword again. He's a tactician and fleet commander of the Edencom Defense Initiative and Lumen, and he gained renown during the Triglavian war due to his relentlessness and endurance. It earned him nicknames such as 'the Bane of Triglav' and 'the Lion of Kothe'. Verily, the Kybernauts will rue the day they set alight unarmed transports.

Hope extirpated

Yesterday, May 14th YC123, I heeded the call to help in a rescue effort. The Arataka Research Consortium (ARC) planned to evacuate refugees from the Triglavian occupied systems. ARC knows the region well, they do research on the changes occurring in the occupied systems, and they have my esteem and trust. Moreover, this was a fleet that I could participate in without breaking my vow of non-aggression. It felt as a good way to contribute.

The fleet was mustered in Isanamo by a commander with callsign "DutchGunner". She is a kind and (at that moment still) cheerful person. Volunteer pilots had come from all over the cluster. There was a spirit of camaraderie stronger than the rivalry between our nations, offering a glimpse of a united humanity. And yet, one of us had hidden plans to bring marines and establish a military presence. I am sure that had this been known, this pilot would have been kicked out from the fleet.

This collaboration was reflected in the industrial vessels of the fleet: from each empire there was at least one industrial. I flew a bestower. It was shield tanked, which is not my strong suit - I am more of an armor person. Its expanded cargo holds contained planetary vehicles and a shuttle, and no weaponry whatsoever. The ship itself was unarmed.

Of course there was tension, but it was not between races, rather it was tension about the mission. We had just received news that the diplomatic negociations for safe passage through kybernaut patrolled areas had failed. We had a minimal amount of escort vessels and logi support, it was clear that the mission's success would depend on luck as well as on the mercy of the occupation forces.

Our first destination was Otela, a system held by Perun clade. When we arrived, the fleet was split up. I didn't feel too comfortable about spreading our forces thin, weak as we already were, but it is not my role to question a fleet commander. I was assigned Otela V.

There was a substantial Triglavian (non-capsuleer) fleet in orbit about Otela V, but they did not engage me, or the ship that was escorting me. I started the rescue operation, and the first groups of refugees had just arrived, when without any warning, the Triglavian fleet opened hostilities. I think they primaried my transport first, I was targeted by their entire fleet. The logis were unable to help with the massive amount of firepower, and the industrial was lost with all hands. There was no time for escape pods. I managed to warp off my pod, reshipped in a corvette and awaited orders.

The rest of the fleet also came under attack. We received the order to retreat and make our way back to Caldari highsec space. I managed to jump to Obanen but on the Caldari side of the gate, a Triglavian gate camping fleet was waiting. I got podded.

It seems that the hostile reaction came when the pilot who had brought contraband was exposed. Or, who knows, this pilot was an agent whose task it was to give a cause for the attack. Today, as I write this report, another rescue operation is underway. This time, I think the escort will be stronger, and I will pray for success of this renewed attempt.

Switching ships

I returned to the New Eden system, determined to go on patrol to find out if there are any Equilibrium of Mankind bases. 

It was the first time I put the Ratakh Hubrau to use. I found this Astero class vessel abandoned in New Eden several months ago. Being unable to fit a covert ops cloak at the time, I left the ship in my hangar at the Farthest Shore. 

Meanwhile, I have become very accustomed to the Indagatrix, my trusted Anathema class exploration vessel. Switching to a new vessel is like getting a new pair of shoes. You miss the comfort of the well-worn craft you know. I don't know how else to put it than that the ship has adapted to your brain much like a shoe adapts to the shape of your feet if you use it a lot. A new vessel needs breaking in, it is more rigid and less comfortable at first. You notice things that bother you, like a sore spot in the new shoe. I find myself hurting at the lack of CPU in the Ratakh Hubrau when compared to the Indagatrix. 

So I took it out for some sight-seeing first, visiting the new Kor-Azor research station and the SOE station in orbit around New Eden I. I didn't do any long-baseline triangulation of the gate from the nearby system of Promised Land: there was a fleet of twenty-five capsuleers cavorting around with unclear purposes. But I completed reconnaissance of the New Eden system. No trace of the Equilibrium of Mankind, but there were quite some Blood Raider and Drone sites. And then I returned to New Eden: that was enough for a first hike with the new shoes.

Back to New Eden

I could not shake the feeling that there is some sort of danger for the New Eden system, coming from the Equilibrium of Mankind. Lunarisse is also concerned. So I will follow my hunch and go over there again. 

Even if my worries turn out to be without foundation, it will give me the opportunity to complete my triangulations of the gate using nearby systems as well as the New Eden system. From within the New Eden system I could only find a lower bound of 500-1000 AU to the distance between the star and the Gate. Now, with interstellar baselines, I can probe much deeper into space.

I will drop by Amarr for some shopping first, to get new exploration gear to fit the Ratakh Hubrau which I left in Farthest Shore. No-one came to claim this abandoned vessel that I retrieved, so I cannot safely claim rights to this salvage.