Raid

An unpleasant surprise awaited at my return to Jakri. There's been a raid on our expedition! The cogwheel artifacts are stolen.

How did the thieves get past security? The upper sections of the temple are publicly accessible and tourists are checked for guns and explosives at the entrance. We reached the lower section - inaccessible to the general public and sealed years ago - via the upper, newer part. However, the thieves penetrated the temple via a new tunnel they dug to the lower sections from the metro line.

The raid was well planned, and executed with brute force. The slaves, still trying out all combinations, were threatened at gunpoint to relinquish the artifacts.

Very few people knew the details of our exploration - Munan, a handful of members of the Jakri Archeological Society, the Holder who committed slaves, and the overseer of the slave contingent. All appear above suspicion. The overseer reminded us that any one of the slaves themselves might be implicated. And indeed, among those who survived thorough interrogation by the overseer, two confessed to relaying information to Boulette's gang.

It matters little, I have documented the artifacts, there is little more to learn from them. Also, the scanning can continue and it is still not revealing any hidden rooms adjacent to the chapel room. Moreover, Novan's documentation is convincing me that this is not about a hidden treasure room at all.

A breakthrough

A breakthrough! The images of the Talocan Ten - sculptures and stone carvings in Jakri - have found a match in our library's database. They appeared in the work of Reinhart Novan, explorer and member of the Societas.

Novan investigated the Takmahl and their connection with the Ametat and Avetat, before disappearing about seven years ago for deepspace explorations from which he has not returned (yet). Not only has he left a log of his explorations, but also extensive records and documentation material. I remember having studied those before, and this is probably why I subconsciously recognized the imagery. 

In Novan's documentation the Talocan Ten are shown in a different place: apparently the Jakri chapel was not the only place devoted to them. I am eager to read up, and I am forwarding the information I already found to Munan, but for now I must go and enact Saint Nick the Destroyer for the kids...

Negative result

We are bumbling like a bunch of amateurs.

One of the Talocan statues' fingers broke off. It is supposed to be one of the axles on which the cogwheels should be fitted. Probably it broke from putting these things on and off to test the various combinations. Although Munan is in all states and would like to have the slave responsible for this drama flogged, personally I think that this just proves the appendages weren't axles at all. 

Moreover, the initial scans (not conclusive yet) do not reveal any hidden passages or doors from the chamber.

I'm starting to think there is no secret mechanism leading to a hidden chamber. Munan disagrees, though, and wants to continue the search.

Meanwhile, I'll have to interrupt this search to go to Tanoo, and play Saint Nick for the children there. First, I'll drop by Nasreri to consult the library and do some research there, try to cross reference the Talocan imagery with our databases.

Exploring the chamber

The slaves, graciously put at our disposal by a local Holder, are starting to complain. They cannot keep up the high pace of testing one combination per second, it takes them about ten seconds and they make a mess at keeping up the systematics - they confuse which combinations they tested and which not. 

Moreover, the chamber becomes unbearably hot. It is deep below ground, not ventilated, and has a lot of slaves crammed in there to swap the cogwheels. This approach is not going to work.

The scanning equipment has arrived and we are transferring it to the chamber. X-ray will be used to see if there are hidden doors in the chamber. To find hidden rooms that lie deeper in the structure, we have a muon tomography device. Its only drawback is that we can not probe for cavities below the chamber, as it uses cosmic ray muons.

During the scanning phase, the slaves can not continue checking various combinations, as the bulky equipment makes moving around in the room more difficult.

Appendages

Munan pointed out that there are ten portraits of Talocan in the room, and ten cogwheel artifacts. Upon closer inspection, each of the carvings or bas-reliefs appears to have a protrusion that can be an axle of some sort, on which the cogwheel fits. These are fingers that stick out, tongues, toes, and another more inappropriate appendages of the human body.

Ten axles, ten cogwheels: the question is which one goes where. Munan believes the correct combination may unlock another chamber. There are 3628800 possible combinations. If we get the slaves to try out one per second, working day and night with crews relieving each other, we should be done in about two months.

Having set the slaves to work, in the meanwhile we are bringing in scanning equipment, echo, ultrasonic, and x-ray, in order to detect hidden chambers nearby.

The Talocan-Takmahl link

We were able to access the chamber where the artifacts were found. It is a Takmahl chapel - although that word may be misleading. A space like this had many functions, only part of which are related to religion. It is a place to reflect in silence, a place where some rituals take place. In their case, blood sacrifices. It also is a place where a certain knowledge or information is stored. Ledgers, administration, scientific information. Rather than keeping it in a central location, the Takmahl often tended to keep it decentralized and sorted by subject, and put in a chapel dedicated to that subject.

The room has statues and depictions of men and gods, but the peculiar thing is that most of the stone carved figures depict the Talocan. Or at least, how the Takmahl thought the Talocan looked like: people wearing a space suit and helmet in the shape of a snake or monster.

The Talocan are a civilization that existed long before the Takmahl. When the early Takmahl (descendants of Sani Sabik fleeing from Amarr) settled in the Araz constellation, they found abandoned Talocan technology and this gave them the tools for survival, and a boost to change their colony into an empire of its own. So, later, the Takmahl included the Talocan in their mythologies. They considered the advanced technology to be a gift  from their blood god, left behind by the snake-helmeted servants of the blood god.

The chamber was clearly dedicated to the Talocan, and to preserve some knowledge about them. How do the cogwheels fit in? I have to cross reference the depictions, carvings and statuettes in this chamber with the information on the Talocan we have at the Society's library.

The lower chambers

With the tunnel cleared of debris and reinforced, we can finally access the parts of the site where Lord Or'nold found the artifacts. The tunnel leads down and narrows, but its ceiling becomes higher. Near the ceiling, the walls move apart a bit. The changing aspect ratio gives a strange impression, as if you are entering a place made for thin giants. At the same time, you feel small and your eyes are drawn downwards as you descend the stairs at the end of the tunnel. These narrow trapezoidal passages are typical for Takmahl temple architecture on Jakri, according to my guide.

At the bottom of the stairs you arrive at an intersection, in the middle of which stands a thin column, engraved with horizontal lines at the bottom and swirls at the top, evoking some sort of creature that splits the space in two. There are traces of earlier reinforcement work above the walls. The place corresponds to the descriptions of the Or'nold expedition. However, the footage was low quality, so it is certainly worthwhile to see this in person. The chamber where the artifacts were found according to the reports, is sealed - presumably by the Or'nold expedition itself, to enclose its atmosphere and protect it from oxidation and decay. We are taking no risks, though, and are first carefully examining the composition of the air in the sealed room before opening it up again.

The tunnel

Part of the passageway connecting the upper parts of the temple to the lower level has collapsed since it was last explored. It is filled with rubble and one would need to crawl through like a spelunker.

Munan blames the collapse on the expanding city above. Construction and heavy machinery cause underground vibrations that harm the complex. Somewhere above this deep tunnel, there's a new metro line.

We started with mapping drones. These can fly through the tunnel taking footage and measurements. This confirms that the chambers beyond are still intact. With some funds that I was happy to donate to the local Holder, we now can use a team of slaves to clear out the tunnel and reinforce it. They're reinforcing it with synthetic fibre concrete, and Munan complains they're just building a modern tunnel with no respect for the old stone walls.

Sunken Plaza

The old site consists of a large building, the "New Temple", which is now a tourist attraction. It used to be isolated in the plains of the barren world of Jakri IV. However, the expanding city of New Tuz engulfed it, and it is now hard to find in between the houses of a newly developed residential area. Some residents turned their house into souvenir shops and mock Takmahl restaurants, serving blood sausage and other "paleo-diet meals".

However, below the streets and houses of New Tuz, the complex extends deeper and further than the New Temple. The Jakri Archeological Society identified several structures beneath the level of the New Temple. With my guide Munan, we'll be heading to the Sunken Plaza, accessible from the Circular Plaza between the New Temple and a collapsed gallery of the Old Temple. There we'll access tunnels under the lateral platform, where Lord Or'nold found the cogwheel artifacts.

Guide on site

My mail to the Jakri Archeological Society bounced around between ten different persons, leaving a growing trail of messages each appended to the next, a chronicle of the search for the right person to help me. 

It landed on Munan Aabacyon, a very friendly man who would be first in any alphabetical name-calling. Munan is passionate about Jakri's history and the Takmahl, so once we got in touch we got along very well. He can guide me around the site where lord Or'nold found the artifacts long ago. It's now a tourist attraction in the city of New Tuz on Jakri IV, a temple complex. The Or'nold expedition's excavation is not part of the tourist parcours, as it is not easily accessible. But now I've found me a guide.

Post-apocalypse Jakri

When the Amarr exploratory fleets finally arrived in the Araz constellation, the Takmahl empire had long collapsed. The collapse of their civilization was so complete that the survivors reverted to an uncivilized state, keeping the form of some traditions without knowing what they meant or what their origins were. Cannibalism was rampant, and they scavenged for food and tools. Medicine and science had been forgotten.

At first, they must still have remnants of the technology from the pre-collapse Takmahl. But they did not know how to repair this technology, nor how to produce new items. As nature started to take over the buildings and temples in the cities, the survivors were not much more than tribes of wildlings wandering around amongst the ruins. Violence for the scarce resources further reduced the already decimated post-apocalyptic survivors. For nearly a thousand years, the post-collapse tribes wandered or settled in the decaying ruins of the once-advanced Takmahl civilization, from time to time finding artefacts of great power. What a strange magical world this must have been to live in!

Impression of ruins on Jakri IV, with encampment, at the time of
its discovery by Amarr explorers. By Brandon Gobey.

In some way, this is a small mirror version of what must have happened to the cluster during the dark ages, when we lost the capability to go to space and while the abandoned jump gates stood idle. Humanity's speculated parent civilization never came back for us, and we were left with its decaying ruins and artefacts to build new worlds of our own. But for the inhabitants of the planets in the Araz constellation, who had long forgotten their origins, Amarr came back.

Back to the Araz constellation

I've more or less recovered from my recent assassination. Not much hope to get justice, and I'm not very driven to pursue the matter accross the border from the Federation. Let's call it capsuleer indifference to our own death. Boulette keeps claiming I never made it to the appointment.

I haven't heard back from the expert in the matter, dr. Valate. Perhaps this is for the best, she's Sani Sabik after all.

In stead, I've been preparing to head out to Jakri IV, in the Araz constellation, where the artefacts were found centuries ago.

Yes, again.

I knew it, from the moment I woke up without the constant nagging pain in my right knee. 

This is a fresh clone. 

Which can only mean one thing: I am the victim now of a double homicide. Murdered twice by the orders of the same criminal. I refuse to identify my body back in Oursulaert, in Federal space. Who knows what I suffered before. Perhaps I've been tortured. I don't want to know. I don't want to be exposed to my own remains any more.

Boulette actually tries to get away with it: he contacted me to tell me I never appeared for our appointment. I told him I woke up in a clone backup I made because I didn't trust him. He said that dying is an acceptable excuse to be late for a meeting. I answered we would not be meeting again, and he acted all offended that I would think he got anything to do with my demise. 

I'll continue to research the artefacts without asking the help from criminal kingpins.

Preparations

I made an appointment to meet mr. Boulette and bring him the cogwheels tomorrow. The place where we'll meet is again his horrible restaurant on Oursulaert. I've made myself a clone backup just in case.

In parallel, I've made appointments with the cluster's outstanding experts on Takmahl history. Hedion ones. There's also a famous Sani Sabik researcher, dr. Valerie Valate, that I would like to consult on this finding. 

Sometimes science has to transcend the geopolitics of the moment - I understand this can not be the case when one investigates things that can have military applications. Or, perhaps, even any applications at all. But Takmahl history is fundamental science and may relate in the end to problems -like he Triglavians- that we face as a cluster, as a common group of nations. Is it not good then that academics of the entire cluster get together? Isolationism is counterproductive in the search of our common origins, in the fundamental truths of the universe.

Biting the bullet

I'll have to meet that unpleasant mr. Boulette again. He has been sending me messages, alternating between kind and angry. Sometimes he talks about offers of money and prospects of gold mountains. The next mail he'll be uttering death threats. Ultimately, he wants to complete his collection of the cogwheel artefacts and he knows I have made progress there.

I have not made progress is in understanding the meaning of these artefacts. My first intuition is that it is a kind of starmap, but I haven't found anything in the archives of old charts. Perhaps it plots a course through Anoikis? Did the Takmahl understand enough of Talocan technology to build a wormhole?

Here's where Boulette comes in. He claims the pieces are part of a larger machinery - one that unlocks a vault to the gold bullion of the Takmahl empire at its end. I need to find out how he came to this conclusion.

Starmap search

A busy week - there is a strike of the hangar workers and crews in Tanoo, and I was asked to relay their worries to the directorate at LUMEN.

Apart from that, I've been puzzling - trying to decipher the meaning of the numbers on the ten cogwheels. The different numbers link the different cogs, even though they do not seem to fit. They do create a network: assuming the numbers on the edge of the cogs refer to center numbers, I've come up with the following graph:

The wheel labeled nine has a link to a final marking. I have tried to map the nodes on to stellar systems and the links to jump gate connections between them. I have not yet found a correspondance, but this will require more poring over ancient starmaps.

The tenth cogwheel

Only historical documents, which have been released to the public domain, are freely accessible. Even then, the help of an expert in navigating the obscure databases is more than useful. I would not even have been able to navigate the most basic query forms, but Fifth and Sixth knew the acronyms and the jargon and were able to find the record of lord Or'nold from ages ago.

The tenth and final piece of the puzzle was bequeathed to a local museum documenting the history of human settlement on the Jakri system. We also found out that, unfortunately, the museum burned down, and probably the final cogwheel is lost. However, the will was very nicely documented with pictures of all of the items, including the one I was after. The picture is good enough to make out the numbers on the wheel, and although it is not clear what its dimensions are, it is probably the same size as the other nine.

The collection is complete (well, virtually at least).

The Lumen Effect

"Yeah, it's all about one year old, plate armor and battle drones got installed when you lot moved in", the Fifth Assistant to the Scrivener General said, casually, after I remarked the place looked new.

He continued, "Nasreri office was a quiet place before. Stable power structure in the station. No major Holders about to die and have their will be read out. Lady Tigith was the next one we all supposed would pop, but she's probably still decades away."

I asked, "But that didn't change when we moved here, right?"

Sixth answered, "Actually it did. The Imperial Bureau of Statistics has found a significant correlation between the presence of LUMEN headquarters and vicious Holders dropping dead prematurely in the neighborhood."

"Yes, especially Holders that have a... bad reputation about their methods of reclaiming", Fifth explained, "so, when you got here the office was expanded and we installed a special reinforced room where Lord Dalgray's last will and testament could kept safely."

Sixth muttered "You capsuleers really have no idea about the amount of administrative nuisance you bring along, do you?"

Indeed, the Scriveners do make you feel guilty about asking for a favor.

Meeting with the notaries

Among the noble houses, disputes about inheritance can become really vicious. The Amarr civil law notaries (or scriveners as they are known in the Empire) are often the ultimate victims of such fights. I had no idea notaries specializing in inheritance were under such pressure and threat in the Empire. They do set up the final will and oversee its signing, and when family members disagree or want to pick a fight, the notaries are usually blamed for fraud and they or their families are attacked personally.

Probably that is why I was thoroughly searched for weapons, and then led to a place that looked like a blast-proof interrogation room with stun gun turrets. And why I was met by two masked notaries wearing full defensive body armor, and carrying guns. 

They introduced themselves as the Fifth and Sixth Assistants to the Scrivener General, Folders of the Gilded Frock, and Certified Fellows of the Worshipful Guild of Scriveners of Upper Genesis. It's an ancient profession, with ancient titles.

The Sixth Assistant immediately started shouting at me, telling me that I should tell him what the heck my problem is, and I'd better do that right now or he'd beat me to pulp. He was held back by the Fifth assistant who then pulled him back into the hallway out of the interrogation room so Sixth could cool off. The Fifth assistant then told me that his colleague has been under some strain, he lost a family member after a scrivener's error was found, and also he is known to be very aggressive. The Fifth assistant continued by telling me he liked my face ("very Amarrian", he said) and he would help me, but I'd better comply because he didn't know how much longer he could keep Sixth in check.

Clearly, they were playing good notary bad notary with me.

The tension immediately eased when I told them I didn't want to contest any inheritance or will, and agreed to sign a written statement asserting just that. Although they did not completely trust me, they agreed to help.

Appointments via galnet

Scandalous. The bureau for heritage matters can only be reached via a website, and appointments for a face-to-face talk need to be booked via the website too. The earliest appointment is on December 12th! That's partly because you have to make the appointment in the region where your current home station is now and perhaps the Nasreri office is understaffed, seeing that the Holders on station are not about to die and have no heritage feuds amongst their heirs expected in the near future.

On-line complaints desk connected me to some snooty fifty-year old kid in a comms center, who works every day for another corp. Probably he did Quafe complaints desk yesterday and the bureau of heritage matters today. Needless to say he couldn't help me. 

Thank God the Amarr Civil Service is in the same station as SFRIM's current headquarters, so I could march down there. It is a bit shameful that I used my capsuleer credentials to demand to see a bureau manager: I don't see how a commoner would manage and that is plainly wrong. Anyway, I got an appointment with an inheritance notary warden in a couple of days. I was asked to come unarmed, I wonder why.

Movie night

The movie night went well, I think the movie about faith and friendship was generally well received. And it offered our capsuleers some well earned relaxation.

Perhaps I had hoped that the movie would help Haruka Lightrain to realize that her attempts to force a friendship with Praefecta Isimazu are not working out, but she's a hard nut to crack (I mean Haruka). 

The purposefully confusing title 'Sense of Faith' will work in our favor when trying to supplant the heretic movie of similar name in the most used search engines. A large sum of money was paid to these search engines to make it so...  

It also helps that Nugoeihuvi corporation agreed (again, ISK flowed) to help on the distribution of the movie. They were also kind enough to provide comfortable armchairs to turn our multipurpose room in a movie theatre for the evening.

Invasion

The war zone agreements, known under the ugly acronym CEMWPA, were concluded in order to contain war and prevent an all-out offensive between the four core powers. Unfortunately, they are now breached by all empires except Amarr. Yesterday, most blatantly of all, the Federation launched a well-prepared full-scale invasion of the Placid region, occupying war zone systems with a view of taking them out of the war zone for good. Our friends in the State are understandably furious about this.

The Equilibrium of Mankind heretics would be very happy with this evolution towards all-out war... I do hope our blessed Empress Catiz can follow Heideran the Good's example in keeping peace between the core powers, and find a way to renew the war zone agreements. 

Search for the final piece

The trip to Oris was fruitful, I was able to study the five cogwheels present at the Arjam library and museum and create replicas. 

There is only one of these objects missing to complete the picture. To locate it, I studied the (known) history of the artefacts, from the records of the Arjam library. It was part of a cache retrieved by an archeological expedition on Jakri IV, stayed for a long time in the collections of House Or'nold, and was bequeathed to PIE after the last lord from that house died without heirs. 

Next step in this research is perhaps not a visit to the Jakri system, but a visit to the Amarr Civil Service administration bureaus for heritage matters. I'll try to find out if the other pieces of this locking mechanism were in lord Or'nold's will, given to other parties.

Trip to Oris

I'm following up on the lead I got from Boulette about a possible Takmahl vault. The Arjam library on Oris has in its collections five of the cogwheels of the vault's unlocking mechanism. 

Rather than stealing them, as the rascal wants, I can just go over and study these artefacts. Lord Lok'ri was kind enough some time ago to give me access to the Arjam museum and its research facilities, so I can have the items scanned to make copies. Also, I can use the library's data repository to find out more about the origin of these artefacts.

Boulette will not know that I give him copies. He thinks he can use me for his purposes but it is I who will use him, and extract as much knowledge as I can from this common thief.

Blood raider praise

Turnur is still burning. 

Meanwhile, the behavior of the Amarr militia capsuleers are increasingly under scrunity. Their attacks on the neutral observers of the cataclysm, and the ensuing all-out brawl has been applauded by the blood raider's leader Omir Sarikusa, calling our militia Amarr capsuleers 'faithful to the great truth'. Whatever that means, it's bad.

The Empire has been purging heresy in its ranks after the Equilibrium of Mankind cult caused a disaster on Kahah last year. I think it is now about to do the same with its capsuleers - the order of St. Tetrimon and the Ministry of Internal Order are already dividing up the tasks and responsibilities.

I think that thusfar, the blood raider elements in the militia have been tolerated due to the military success of the capsuleer militia. But with the fall of Egmar and Vard, the patience of whomever is protecting them may be running thin.

The aftermath

It is over. Turnur's star is still there - no doubt thanks to the courageous men and women who stayed on the transmuter till the last minute. It did however release a massive burst of hard X-ray radiation, followed by a explosive coronal mass ejection. Everything up to seventy million kilometers out was vaporized, including the transmuter and Upwell stations. After the burst, the star appears to have stabilized again.

Turnur I is left a burning ember. The superluminal energy burst ignited its atmosphere, and turned the surface into molten magma. Only in the deepest caves, on the planet's night-side, could anything have survived. Matter ejected from the planet is forming a red glowing ring around it. The Republic station in orbit is badly damaged, its external structures detonated and it is venting gases. The highly protected core of the station is still functional. God also spared the other planets from this type of destruction.

With the twisted psychology that promised immortality entails, capsuleers flocked to the system to observe the event, indifferent about losing their ship and their clone. Everyone and their sister came to watch. And inevitably this same psychology of indifference to death led to an orgy of killing, a capsuleer against capsuleer massacre the likes of which no factional warfare could ever bring to Turnur. There could not have been a starker contrast between the Empyrean irreverence of death and the suffering of millions in the system. God will strike the capsuleer class down for this blind mockery... Open your eyes, faithful, at the revelation of God's absolute might that was witnessed tonight!

Before the cataclysm

The discontent and rebellious atmosphere that I noted yesterday amongst our own capsuleers appears more widespread than I thought. There have been protests at Hedion university. And the Royal Houses take different - but not incompatible - stances. 

Houses Kor-Azor and Ardishapur advocate free evacuation, which some interpret as a thinly veiled criticism with the Throne, given that it must have been the Empress who gave the go-ahead to test the Stellar Transmuter technology.

The good news that our scientists have been able to collect all the stellar observation data that they needed is offset by the fact that they are unable to reverse the instability of Turnur's star. There's other good news: the evacuations have been mostly completed - save perhaps for these strange tribes that want to stay on Turnur I.

Capsuleer discontent

The vigil went well, and I am glad we got to send out our prayer to the wider capsuleer community.

Baseliners dare not speak out as strongly as the capsuleers, but they are downright scared. There's end-of-the-world talk and all sorts of ridiculous rumors, from the second coming of Jamyl to giant space squids engulfing Turnur I.

As for capsuleers, I am worried about the reaction to what is happening in Turnur. In LUMEN's ranks, there is a lot of discontent, and even outright anger at how the Empire handles the situation. Some even want to attack the stellar transmuter, regardless of our scientists there who try day and night to get it under control. I have never experienced such a rebellious atmosphere before. I tried to instill some calm and serenity, and bolster confidence in the Empress and the Privy Council among our capsuleer members.

Aria tried to channel that discontent and propose people help ARC in their evacuation effort - but the demands for that fleet, covert cyno or blockade runner, are for the more experienced ones only. Also, I hope ARC doesn't get into a fight with the navy or with Amarr militia...

Prayer vigils for Turnur

The news coming from Turnur is very unsettling... Amarr Certified News seems to confirm that the star has become unstable and is heading for an unknown catastrophy three days from now.

There's a lot of anxiety and unrest right now, not only with capsuleers but also with the baseliners. Some fear for a clusterwide catastropy, God wiping the slate clean after an excess of sins also by his chosen people. Other point the finger of blame to marshall Sirdan Xer Qosh, or even the royal Sarum heir. Still others are confident that all is still running according to how the Empress has planned it and that there will be no catastrophy, but instead new jump gate routes will open, perhaps between Arshat and Turnur, or towards the Triglavian-held systems. There are even rumors that some spread about this event as hailing the coming of the 'true emperor' of sedevacantism...

To allay the fears, and put to rest all kinds of unsubstantiated rumors, I am holding prayer vigils for Turnur and its inhabitants in the Chapel. We will pray to God to forgive us for our sins and to have mercy on us and especially on the people of Turnur, while acknowledging that it is not our will that prevails but God's will.

Today the vigils will be for baseliners mostly. Tomorrow, after the Syndicate week is over, I think I will also set aside some time for a prayer vigil for capsuleers. They are just as troubled about what is happening, even though they pretend they have everything under control.

The cogwheels at Arjam

Crazy man, this mr. Boulette, but he has intriguing information about a Takmahl secret vault. These vaults do exist, I have seen some of them, and in the latter part of their empire they were indeed used to hide away valuable items. So, I am intrigued and would like to follow this lead, as his description fits historical examples and the examples I have seen with my own eyes.

Now, he wants me to break into the Arjam library on Oris - in the PIE compound - and steel five of these cogwheels. As I said: crazy.

Especially since lord Lok'ri a while ago gave me scholarly access to the library and its collections, so I can just go there and have a look at these items. Boulette thinks there is something supernatural about them, more than the mere brass they are made of, and we need the originals to open the vault. But personally, I think this is just silly. 

I did agree to go and have a look, but urgent news from Turnur is delaying my trip...

Treasure hunt

I met mr. Boulette in his kitschy restaurant. We were seated in a private room. The see-through floor to Oursulaert III was off-putting. We were served oysters fried in the fat of some nearly extinct cetacean, topped with kaviar from some fish that actually is extinct in the wild. The drink was some extremely expensive wine, I already forgot the story behind it, I didn't drink it.

After some preliminary chit-chat, he came to the point. According to Boulette, the brass cogwheel is part of a mechanism that can unlock some sort of vault. There are ten such gears, and he has already collected four. Well, three, now that I have one.

He got all excited trying to rope me in for his treasure hunt. He explained that this secret vault holds the gold of the Takmahl empire. It was built just before it's fall. The gold was stowed away by their Emperor at the last moment before the Imperial family was caught and murdered by a revolutionary mob. The gears combine into some sort of combination lock which has to be dialed in, in just the right way, to open the doors to halls of gold.

I've never heard of this nonsense, nor have I ever encountered anything like it in the academic literature.

But Boulette was adamant. He wants my help to get the other cogwheels, and "then we'll split the gold". 

He's figured out where they are.

Five of the remaining six cogwheels are in the Arjam library at the PIE chapter house on the Lok'ri estates in Oris.

Le Phat's at Oursulaert III

I looked up Le Phat's on Galnet. Last time I planned a meeting with mr. Boulette I ended up dead, which is a most unpleasant experience. Especially when you have to identify your own corpse in a mortuary of the local law enforcement. So, I wanted to see what to expect, this time.

Le Phat's looked like a place designed by someone obsessed with appearing rich but lacking any sense of esthetics or good taste. 

Marble, gold, expensive decorations. No unifying theme: it was a mixed bag of kitsch objects that poor serfs in feverish dreams may associate with richness. Statues in gilded plastic, bad reproductions of famous paintings, gemstone studded leather seating, inlaid stone tabletops,... a cacaphony of styles and fakeness. A see-through floor from which Oursulaert III was visible, on which antique tables in Heideran III style are placed. A champagne pool and fountain with a lightshow. A grand piano combined with exotic dancers. 

The good news is that it is located in a busy and well policed part of the station, with no criminality to note. It is safe to go for the body, although it will be an assault on the senses.

Dinner Invitation

In the list of objects given to us by Boulette's lawyer, the large brass cogwheel is not listed separately, it appears to fall under what he listed as "farming equipment parts, miscellaneous". That in itself makes it instantaneously suspect to me: it's not from farming equipment. That would not require such a nice brass alloy with sculpted numbers on it. And it doesn't explain why it is packed separately.

As soon as I inquired about that specific piece through my lawyer mr. Van Geneughten, I got a message from Boulette, not his lawyer but the man himself. He's inviting me to Oursulaert, in the Federation, for dinner and a chat, in restaurant "Le Phat" in the station orbiting Oursulaert III. 

I'm not very familiar with Gallente food, and although it's supposed to be good I prefer good old traditional meals over fancy exotic stuff. I hope they don't serve food too spicy, I'll take some stomach pills with me just in case.

Rummaging through the rubble

I've been going through the crates that Boulette so desperately wants back. There's nothing in there that could possibly have sentimental value for him. At least, that I can imagine - it's mostly broken parts, space rubble with little value. There's a strongly damaged pearl necklace that could still have some value, perhaps, to a museum. 

The most valuable item of the lot is implant circuitry. I analyzed it but it does not contain any data that could be retrieved. It looks like a standard part of a not very unusual implant.

One thing in the rubble caught my attention because it was carefully packaged inside its own box. But it turned out to be more rubble: a rather large polished brass cogwheel with some numbers on it, perhaps once part of an ancient decorative clock. I checked that it does not have circuitry in it. It looks remarkably well preserved with little trace of dezincification or oxidation so it looks much younger than isotope analysis has revealed it to be.

There must be something about either the implant circuitry or the brass cogwheel that I still haven't figured out.

Items of sentimental value

I sat together with my lawyer to discuss mr. Boulette's proposal, to end the impasse over the relics and artefacts that I retrieved from his criminal hands. He's willing to let go of most of his ownership claim, save a few boxes of sentimental value, for which he's even willing to pay me. Hah! That level of groveling probably means I am set to win this claim in court anyway. 

Mr. Van Geneughten said agreeing would save time and money, but he's also suspicious. Or he wants more billable hours from his capsuleer client. Anyway, he's right that I should check the contents of the crate and that we should request a detailed list of these "personal items".

Triglavian apples

The situation in the warzones deteriorate further, probably much to the liking of the Triglavians. Egmar, the second rebel system where transmuter technology is tested is now also back under Republic control. Clashes also continue in Athounon, between our Caldari allies and the Federation, again over some Triglavian technology.

There's an ancient tale of five queens banning together in a corner of old Assimia, whose combined might withstood the assaults of our crusades to reclaim their people. The Emperor sent a beautifully crafted golden apple to them, with the finest diamonds laid out as dewdrops on the apple, and an inscription that said "to the most beautiful". At first, they joked about the gift, but the dual venom of jealousy and vanity started to work its way through their veins and in the end it broke their alliance.

The tables are turned now. The Triglavians gave token technology as apples of discord, to fan the flames of conflict between their enemies, and do it in the form of "proving" they so much like.

Anyway, apart from these cluster-sized worries, I have more manageable worries to tackle. Repacking and securing precious items from the library for the move. And finally meeting up with my lawyer and mr. Boulette's lawyer to hear what that scoundrel wants to propose.

(ooc: of course the tale is based on the Greek myth of Eris' apple of discord)

The price of rare items

The fundraiser held last Saturday had a rare item for auction, a signed first edition of the Peace of the Two Swords, in which our beloved Empress lays out her doctrine. It would have been a nice item for our library, but I grossly underestimated the value of such items.

One and a half billion isk.

I considered if I could ever loan that amount (and pay it back if I got a loan that big). Probably not. I am keeping my funds to a minimum in accordance with my vow of poverty - to keep only what I need for my quest. So, prize money and other additional income goes into the skillbook fund, which is fairly well used, even new members are aware of it. 

But perhaps I should rethink my strategy. If I am to obtain relics by buying them from wealthy collectors, I should start a special fund for that too: the relic buyback fund. Just like the skillbook fund, I should open this us to all our corp members, in case they encounter a relic and want to bring it back to the empire. I'll have to emphasize they cannot keep the item, but should return it to the theology council in Amarr...

Not Again

It appears the library and the chapel have to undergo yet another move. Dangerous for the ancient manuscripts and scrolls, and as with any move something inevitably will get damaged. 

For the chapel, a careful dismantling and rebuilding needs to be assured. In the wooden construction, the many planks and wood strips have adapted to each other and form a huge puzzle.

I am stressed about the possibility that the transports will be attacked by pirates... That would be truly disastrous. Why do we have to move again, anyway? The library found its home in Nasreri, it's fine there...

Also Mittens won't be happy about this, I'm sure.

Brotherly strife

It appears the rift between the largest Amarr militia group and LUMEN is now complete. The militia group 'local is primary' to which also lord-consort Newelle's Sarum Vanguard force belongs, have set our pilots kill on sight. 

This could not come at a worse time, as the tensions between the Empire and the Republic mount in the warzone. All Amarr forces should unite under the banner of God to smite the enemy. Yet God has willed it differently.

Vard has fallen

Vard has fallen to the rebel forces, helped by barbarian sellswords. Worryingly, this is one of the systems where the Empire is testing new stellar harvester technology. 

We have been defending the Empire's right to deploy and test this technology, and not too long ago we felt insulted by other powers' distrust. Now that our enemy is invading one of the systems earmarked for the test, this distrust and fear becomes much more relatable.

The Societas, usually engaged primarily in peaceful means of reclaiming and using force only against pirates and heretics within the Empire, is slowly getting more and more drawn into the active part of the conflict with the Republic. Donations of ships and means to prince Seraghis' warzone battle group, Task Force 641, have been increased. And our own operations in the warzone are increasing. Even last night our own Nix Pardus, cyber knight and fleet commander, led an expeditionary fleet to the frontline. Celebrations of cooperation in the framework of Edencom are pushed into the background, making place to a fundraiser for a war chest...

Haruka

Haruka Lightrain, family of Hikari Lightrain and not to be confused with the latter, appears to be a young mind trapped in a capsuleer body. She is struggling with ... well, with many things. One of them is an exaggerated admiration for praefecta Isimazu, and an urge to befriend her. 

It's a busy time for activities in the Societas, with a war chest fundraiser ball next week, but once this dies down then I'll try to organize a screening of the documentary on faith and friendship. Since I think this will be particularly useful for Haruka, I've roped her in in organizing movie night. She'll be responsible for snacks and drinks. That way, she'll also see the documentary and hopefully it will help her put things in perspective...

Thesis defense

I have to admit, I was nervous for Jason's thesis defense. It was a public defense, with jury - to insure a full peer review and remove any doubt of favoritism. Jason took a rather controversial stand, arguing in part for a reform of Holdership. Even though that was only a tiny part of the thesis, it stood out against the more straightforward chapters.

Luckily, the jury appreciated his answers, as well as his answers to questions from the audience. Paladin Arline Kley - emergency holder of Niarja - and Lord Esna Pitoojee were prominent members asking intriguing questions.

I am proud of Jason, and happy it ended well - he got his certificate, and it is yet another barrier passed on his way to becoming Holder and step in his father's footsteps.

Jason's thesis

Jason Statesman - now Heir-Lord Moradian - has completed his thesis. We fixed the date of the defense for this Friday. I've got two reknowned scholars to review his thesis. Professor Baaria, from Hedion, is an expert in the historical evolution of Holdership, and academician Bogoliubov from the Nakrian Academy of Arts and Sciences has clusterwide respected expertise on sociological Holdership studies. 

I hope Jason is up for the debate, he should rest well and trust in his studies. I'll try to help him where I can... The defense is public, so after the experts we'll also have time for questions from the audience. Sometimes these non-expert questions can be the hardest... Although I am not officially a promotor here, I do feel some stress for "my" student. Probably I shouldn't - I've read the thesis and it seems very nice, he put some work into it, and by interviewing lady Liliana Llyr, countess Faith Griffiths, and lady Erica Munory, he has woven an intriguing tapestry of contrasting examples.

Bad client

Note to self: only accept courier missions from reputable corporations. Preferably Amarr.

I spent the night at the medbay, after having become myself the vessel to transport some proprietary high security DNA, or at least that's what the docs think it was. It was carried in a virus, injected in me without my consent by the person writing out the contract. The idea was that I would fly to Saccade in Syndicate to deliver it, sneaking it in my bloodstream past customs. 

That backfired, as I developed a fever and hallucinations from it. 

At some point I saw a green three armed beast and thought that the animal was the cargo... Luckily I had Ishta look over me, she brought me back to the Lamp, be it in restraints. This morning I still have a fierce headache, but no longer see beasties. However, my message to Luna to remove quarantine and let me go has not been answered - so that probably means "no, stay in bed". 

Even if I am released from the medbay, I'm not sure it would be a good thing to complete this courier mission: the client is obviously not trustworthy. But perhaps by completing it I could find out more about this malevolent client? I need to decide before the virus has been removed completely from my bloodstream by my own immune system. But first, I need an analgesic drug.

A proposal

I got news from my lawyer, mr. Van Geneughten. I had almost forgotten about him, were it not for the regular bills that he sends me. I needed his services in my dispute with mr. Boulette, an dealer in illegal Takmahl relics. I confiscated his cargo, and he wanted compensation, claiming that it was space salvage. Since he'd left it in an abandoned station, my counterclaim is that it was once again space salvage. This has been going on in the overburdened courts for nearly half a year.

It seems that I am winning the case, and now mr. Boulette wants to approach me with a proposal, via his lawyer.

Coronation day fleet

Khimi Harar's special fleet for the Empress is a success. It contributed tremendously to the standings I need to access high level agents assigned to restricted archeological sites.

I was somewhat surprised though, to find that there was an assassin hunting for me! I was informed about the hitman by one of the agents that I do distribution missions for. Thank God there were noble paladins coming to my aid: Cassadra Habalu and Hikari Lightrain made short work of the assassin and his henchmen.

I cannot imagine anyone would want to murder me. I would just reclone? And since you don't loose memories upon pod death, this is not a kill to erase some unwanted memory. Perhaps the materials salvaged from the assassin's battleship, handed over to the authorities, will reveal more...

Coronation day

Coronation day is next week. Empress Catiz I was crowned on September 27th, YC 118, and will enter the seventh year of her rule. In one more year, she will have ruled longer than the late Empress Jamyl. 

Despite a rocky start with protests against her Udorian roots, her rule has been righteous and steady. She brought stability and prosperity during the first years of her reign. She continued the Heideranian reforms regarding diplomacy with the outside world, while introducing her own doctrine to reoganise the empire from within.

She faced the storm of the Triglavian invasions, and stemmed the tide of these starthieves like no other ruler of the central powers could. She then had to root out internal enemies, the rot of the Equilibrium of Mankind infiltrators, and oversaw a purge and purification of the empire that hasn't seen its equal since long.

LUMEN will hold special fleet operations to celebrate our beloved Empress and assist the Imperial Family in its various missions of trade, hauling, policing and peacekeeping. I'll try to do my part and will hold special services to pray for her majesty's health and a long reign.

Coffee origins

I'm finishing up the documentary I was tasked to make - I've been working hard on it all week. I am getting sidetracked too often. When I stumble on an interesting book unrelated to my present search, I often cannot stop myself from reading a bit in it. I've found this old book in the library on the uses of coffee and the ways of brewing it throughout the ages.

It appears coffee was discovered by a goat herder who found that his goats became overly energetic when eating the berries of the coffee plant. He reported this to the Abbott of the local monastery, who asked the infirmarer monk to investigate the plant's medicinal properties. They made a drink with the berries, and found that it kept the monks alert through the long hours of evening prayers.

The discovery was shared, first within the other monasteries of the same order, and later outside the walls of the monastery, as knowledge of the energizing effects of the berries spread.

Relics

To do some research on the tale of Zakara and Garum, I went to the blessed cathedral and monastery on Kador Prime III, devoted to Zakara.

On the wall between two beautiful painted glass windows, there stands a peculiar piece of furniture. It is adorned with shells and bronze curls, and sculpted angels are drawing ones attention to the center of the piece, where golden rays emerge from a small glass window containing a vial. This is an ancient reliquary shrine, containing a small remnant of the saint Zakara. A piece of bone. These are the traces of the passage on earth of a person that we consider a saint.

Those faithful to the rite rather than superstition do not believe that such relics of a saint hold supernatural powers. Rather, these mortal remnants of the saints are here to remind us that the saints are not perfect creatures or magical beings who were floating a foot above the ground. They started as ordinary people of flesh and bone, who were born, and lived, and had to make difficult and very brave decisions at one point in their life. They now stand as examples to guide us and also to help us through our own difficult times.

Brotherly love

I've been working on my documentary project about friendship and brotherhood/sisterhood, but the more I'm looking into it, the more I am overcome with a feeling of sadness.

With tensions building up once again in the cluster, we seem to forget that all are part of one large human family. The hope to work together towards justice and peace, kindled by Heideran VII, fades once again. It is, certainly amongst capsuleers, replaced by a complacent cynicism and indifference for others' well-being. The chasm deepens between the obsession for our personal satisfactions and the potential of happiness shared by the entire human family.

The discussions on the InterGalactic Summit are a sobering testimony this entrenchment of national and personal identities...

I should emphasize connectedness and meeting other cultures more in my ministry. Beginning with Heir-Lord Moradian, whom I'll encourage to keep in touch with his Gallente past rather than quench it in favor of a overly traditional Amarrian stance, taken on to compensate what is wrongly percieved as weakness.

Penance assignment

Sadly, there is still no news from the Antiquarian, nor from Library Assistant. Perhaps I should go solo on this first edition of the rare item fair? No, I think I am too eager and should be more patient.

Meanwhile, I've been gathering information about scripture's take on friendship and brotherhood. To do penance for my sin of pure thought, I am to make a documentary on the topic of friendship and corpsmanship. It will be entitled "The Sense of Faith" so that it can eclipse "the scent" more easily. Zakaria and Garum will be my examples, and I will ask the question of what makes a good friend. Perhaps I will get some of Ishta's new protegés to help out with the movie, or her brother Arne...

Nihil Obstat

No answers to my mails by the Antiquarian. So, no progress on the rare items fair.

Similarly, it's been a while since there was any progress on the Syndicate Prayer Book. This is an initiative from ms. Evelyn Arnoux, and although we collected some nice prayers, I think she wants to extend it further. I, on the other hand, am in favor of publishing the first edition as is, and adding any new entries for a next edition. To stimulate further entries for the second edition, we could hold a book launch event in Syndicate. I'm starting to add graphics to the collected prayers and making into something we can submit to the Theology Council for a very quick Imprimi Potest, and a Nihil Obstat. We can get the final Imprematur in time to incorporate additional prayers for an Imprematur Iterum...

Looking for a keynote speaker

I gathered my courage and contacted the most famous collector of ancient relics and artifacts in the cluster. Well, famous in collector circles, anyway. The Antiquarian. He is still around, or maybe back in the pod after a while: he was spotted in Tanoo.

I have hesitated to write him for a while, because compared to him I am but a newbie dilletante. But it would be amazing to get him on board as a special guest or even a keynote speaker in the rare items fair that I am planning.

In order to give the fair a truly international character, I've also contacted a Gallente collector, Librarian Errant, and he has now answered that indeed he is interested to be a co-organiser. This project is slowly taking solid shape.

Back to exploration

I've been doing some more cargo hauling missions for the Empire to slowly increase my standings, using my trucker's license to get good jobs from high-ranking agents. 

But the urge for exploration is starting to itch. I may do another stint in Seclusion, bringing the Indigatrix back there. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, you can't quite after the few handfuls of hay.

In parallel, I've tried to contact the capsuleer called Librarian Errant. It seems worthwhile to explore not only space, but also the market for relics.

Never a dull moment

Never a dull moment at the Lamp. First, plumbers that try to make an extra buck by selling Faith's bathwater. These were also the culprits that hid extra copy of The Scent in the library. Thank God the Reverend Mother and the Little Sisters came in to sort that out.

And then yesterday, there was an attempt on Heir-Lord Jason Moradian's life. His own mistake - taking unchecked neural implants that he bought from the dark web past security and into his quarters. It was rigged! He got badly hurt, but luckily no-one else got injured and security quickly got all over it. He must be much more careful!

Synod

A synod. The order I belong to from time to time calls on all its members to come to some central location and debate on some urgent matters of faith. Maybe the best analogy is a Caldari shareholder meeting being called to vote on a small change in a subrule of an article of the corporate charter. It is mandatory to go. To get to quorum, Caldari would say, but here in Amarr it is simply a moral obligation.

Even though it takes me away from my worldly obligations, this is a good occasion to meet brothers that I have not seen in a long time, and to tell each other about all that happened since we last met. It felt good, even though not all the news from friends and acquaintances has been good.

Tomorrow, it is the last day of the synod and then I will travel back to Nasreri.

Somewhere between business motivation and self-improvement

I thought it was strange: a lot of baseliners hovering around the bookshelf of Business Motivation and Self-Improvement. 

Those have never been popular here. Certainly not with Amarr baseliners. It is different for our Legionaire Caldari friends, they are more interested in that sort of works. But it weren't statesfolk hanging around the Business Motivation shelf...

So, I went to check it out. The customers that were there dispersed really quickly as I approached.

And, what did I find, lodged between "Twelve Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Mastering your Emotions to Grow Rich"?  To my utter dismay there were two copies of "The Scent of Faith." Unlabeled! These were not any of the fifteen copies we acquired and removed.

This is another copy that someone brought in, and hid there to share with their friends! It is not part of our collection, but it is smuggled in and put in between a lesser used part our collection. Only those who know exactly where to look can take these copies and view them.

The nightmare continues. 

I instructed the library assistants and the book shelvers to scour the stacks for more hidden copies, but this will take days given the extent of our collection. And I'll have to talk to Luna about this unpleasant development...

Bibliothecarial Innovation

I had to admit that Mr. Jensen is right: the new and stricter procedures for book acquisition will not work. They are stifling the influx of appropriate books and may not stop works hurtful to our members.

After talking to other librarians on the interlibrary loan network, I think I have found a solution for our book acquisition problem. It's something that is occasionally done in the Federation, but that I have not seen yet in the Empire. Usually, I stongly condemn bringing in any idea that come from the Federation, but this one is worth trying out.

Here in the Empire, it will be a revolutionary innovation.

It is called a "Complaint Box".

It is an elongated pillar-like structure of approximately 1.3 metres high, in mahogany wood or oak, with a slit on top, and a small door in the back that is usually kept locked. People who have a complaint, literally anyone, can formulate this complaint, even about their superiors! They drop it anonymously in the slit. The content of the box is regularly retrieved and reviewed. Here, we can repurpose this technology to have the library customers help screen out inappropriate works.

I had the wood workshop contruct a complaint box and put it up near the book return desk. I had them also make a plaque to put on the box. It is engraved with the following text: "The Library staff promises to engage themselves to screen out works that are personally hurtful and/or spiritually inappropriate. If despite our best efforts you find such a work in our public collection, please report it by dropping a note in this box or talking to a staff member. Reported works will be carefully reviewed and removed if found problematic".

Now that the box has been installed, I can rescind the procedure changes, to great satisfaction of mr. Jensen. The combination of the Index, our own judgment and now also the vigilant eyes of our customers will make the library a safe place to nurture the mind and the soul.

Complaints

Mr. Jensen, the head assistant librarian, has complained to me that the new procedures for book acquisitions are too strict. 

We should not let works in that are slanderous or hurtful to our members. Recently we, no, I let in a work that was particularly hurtful in an obvious way, but as I explained to mr. Jensen, there are more insidious ways that a book can be damaging so we need rely on the Theology Council.

Mr. Jensen told me there have been numerous complaints about delayed orders and reservations. As an example, he mentioned a book that he himself was particularly looking forward too. The book is a culinary work by the famous Gallente chef Fleur Duchous, and it is entitled "The hundred best cauliflower recipes of the cluster". It has been delivered but is waiting in stock, and unlikely to getting the TC's attention soon. He claimed it was completely harmless. 

I proposed that we could both have a look at it together. 

I was soon able to make my point. Recipe #57 is for "Roasted Cauliflower with Walnuts and Parsley". And, a little bit further, #64, innocuously entitled "Cauliflower Glow Bowl", calls for, well cauliflower, of course, but also turmeric, sweet potatoes, red onion, tomatoes, chickpeas and... walnuts!

The pictures in this book are magnificent and will kindle gluttonous desire in its readers. But, for those not aware of walnuts or their inherent danger to the soul, it may lead to disaster. Of course we can put warning stickers on those pages, but it's impossible to check all the cookbooks, let alone all the works that arrive daily at the library.

Grumpy, but sharp as ever, mr. Jensen pointed out that my new procedure has a fatal flaw. What if a work is approved by the Theology Council but nevertheless is hurtful to one of our members?  "No TC committee is screening for that!", he said, as he checked out the cauliflower book for himself anyway.

He's right.

Organizing committee

I noticed a fellow enthusiast of books and ancient artifacts on the "Summit" channel. He - or she - they are masked - goes by the name Librarian Errant, and unfortunately is a member of the Gallente militia. Nevertheless, Errant might be someone I can bring on board to organize a rare item convention in a neutral venue such as Yulai. That's been one of the plans I have been working on but delaying. 

With the return of the Antiquarian and now this new capsuleer, maybe there's a possibility to set up an international organizing committee. Or have them as invited speakers. Or both! Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, first I'll have to see what kind of person Librarian Errant is.

Changed procedures

I've altered the book acquisition procedures for our library. Up till now, it was merely necessary to check that candidate works are not in the Index, even for automated acquisitions. We've changed this rather lax, negative check into a positive check: works must get a positive recommendation first from the Theology Council or the Hedion Book Listings before they are available for loan. This will lead to a little purge for the library as it stands now.

Also, even though The Scent has been removed already, I've closed off the entire bookshelf of the New Eden Writer's Contest Award Winners until further notice, pending thorough review.

Finally, when new works turn out to be very popular and all copies repeatedly get lent out, there will no longer be an automated procedure to buy additional copies, rather the work will be flagged as suspect and up for review.

I hope these measures will keep our library safe in the future.

The ECB

Today again I found no confessor. Archbishop Baracca is away on some secret mission - the Societas' peaceful reclaiming runs in mysterious ways. Father Macauley has to rest after being overworked from taking over 200 confessions already. I don't trust any other baseliner priests to listen objectively to a capsuleer as myself.

So, my need for confession being high, I tried an ECB. The Emergency Confession Booths are cabins with a fully automated, computer-run confessor program, offered for nearly free by the Ministry of Internal Order (only 1 credit token per minute, the confessor beeps when you have to add tokens). They usually line an outside wall of your local MIO station, which has led foul mouths to claim that the Seal of Confession is not guaranteed by these booths.

I sat down, inserted a token, and wanted to start. I was interrupted by a voice that listed a menu, as a keyboard was displayed on the wall next to me. "Press L for sins of lust, B for blasphemy, A for anger, J for jealousy, ...". 

It went on and on and on. I think that it is telling that the list starts with lust, probably they use statistics to see what is most common. After fifty seconds, it had barely started the list, and it beeped already for another token. I inserted five tokens and waited. I was confused as to what category I would have to choose for allowing heretical works sexualizing fellow capsuleers into our library. That's not one of the canonical sins.

After a few minutes, finally the sin of Pure Thought was mentioned, I had to press PT. However, as soon as I pressed the first letter, P, the voice said, "You have selected the sin of [PRIDE]. Please state your confession."  So, I started saying "No, go back. Revert. Escape. Cancel."

The booth answered, "Since when have you started to experience [No, go back. Revert. Escape. Cancel.] ?"

"It's the wrong sin. Menu, please."

The booth answered "Wrong format. Please state a date.", and beeped to signal that I should insert another token.

I inserted another token, and, desperate, mentioned the date on which the automatic purchase of the New Eden Writer's contest books and holoreels was placed. Then I tried, "Restart."

The booth didn't react to my request, but said, "Do you feel contrition for [No, go back. Revert. Escape. Cancel.]? Please indicate your level of contrition between 0 and 9 with 0 being no contrition and 9 being absolute contrition."

This was wholly unsatisfactory. I tried to exit the booth, but found that it was locked. I was locked inside a small confession booth! "Booth in use, do not exit before absolution.", the booth said. I tried "Open door. Emergency."

The booth answered "Wrong format. Please state or type a number between 0 and 9." Defeated, I pressed 9. I do feel very contrite for having hurt ms. Griffiths and exposed our baseliners to heretical pornography.

The booth continued "How strong is your resolve not to perform [No, go back. Revert. Escape. Cancel.] again? Press a number between 0 and 9 with 0 being unresolved and 9 being most strongly resolved." And it beeped for a token again.

I inserted a token and pressed 9. I am very strongly resolved never to make this mistake again. 

The booth beeped again. "For absolution of the sin of [PRIDE], insert [19 TOKENS]." That seems wrong to me, I didn't feel listened to at all, and it just wants money? But, the door was locked, and I wanted out. I'd brought enough tokens with me, thinking that I would have to explain myself in detail. I paid and used up the last few tokens I had on me. From a slot that I hadn't noticed before, a printed ticket appeared. "Absolution granted for the sin of [PRIDE], more specifically [No, go back. Revert. Escape. Cancel.]."

I was glad it was over. Then, the booth asked, "Do you want to confess another sin?"

I answered "No."

The booth said "You selected 'Yes'. Press L for sins of lust, B for blasphemy, A for anger, J for jealousy, ..."

I panicked and started rattling the door. The booth bleeped again. I shouted for help, but no passer-by would stop and talk to me. 

Ten seconds later the booth said, "Insufficient funds." and the door lock clicked open. 

This is the last time I try an ECB.

Soul searching

I did not sleep well. The affair with the "Scent of Faith" holoreel kept bugging me. I tell myself that I should have reviewed its content. I then started to worry about the other contest winners, whether there might be more heresies in them. Aren't there some Electus Matari authors amongst the winners or the honorable mentions? But then, I can't read every book before it goes to the shelves, can I? There's just too many, that is why we have the Index, right?

And yet, as continued to I interrogate myself in the dark of night, I realized that all this discourse about reviewing and about the Index are just excuses I conjure up. 

Had I not heard beforehand that it was hurtful to ms. Griffiths? Yes, I had. Did I not know who Nauplius is? Yes, I knew. Have I not decided to include it anyway just for the sake of completeness of a library collection? Yes, I have.

Pure Thought is the Instigator of Sin.

I have committed the sin of Pure Thought, giving the intellectual primacy over the moral. I need to find a confessor. Why am I the only capsuleer confessor around? I'll try to contact my co-chaplain, Archbishop Constantin Baracca. I haven't seen him around as he is away on Missions but perhaps we can connect virtually.

Awarded and censored

I disapprove of personal censorship. Censorship should be left to the Theology Council, to groups of experts who decide what can be harmful. But individual persons, no, they should not impose their views.

That being said, I might have made a mistake by allowing the award-winning movie produced by the heretic Nauplius into the bookshelf of New Eden Writing Contest award winners. 

I mean, the main sponsor is the Societas - and the thing did get an award. So we have a tradition of automatically ordering the winning works and putting them in the prize winner shelf there. And we do get weird stuff there all the time. What to think about "Geology, Particle Physics, and Cheese in the Neoclassical High Ancient Precursor to Rouvenor Hegemony on Luminaire" ?

However, I neglected to realize that this particular work "The Scent of Faith" was hurtful to one of our own ranks, ms. Griffiths. Apparently, it sexualizes her in an inappropriate way. That is perhaps also why it was such a hit with many baseliners, as they tend to idolize capsuleers and fantasize about them. I am sure an academic discussion and critique of the work would have put it into context and help deconstruct it to reveal it for what it is. But, in this case, the Directix put a stop to it and exerted her powers to excise this work from our library and cancel the debate. 

She was probably right, the thing will be on the next edition of the Index anyway. Also, I need to look at the library from the point of view of the chaplain as well as the librarian...

Hauling

Drill bits. OP insecticide. Small sealed cargo containers. Fertilizer. Construction Blocks. Tobacco. Frozen plant seeds. Mono-cell batteries. Kameiras. Viral Agents. Holoreels. Crates of small arms. Coolant. Mechanical parts. Oxygen.

I've been working hard for the Empire, to bring all sorts of stuff from one place to another. And yet, it does not seem to make much of a dent to my Empire standings, they are crawling up at a pace so slow tectonic plates overtake them.

Career orientation test was right, this is not really a job for me.

History tour

Yesterday, I enjoyed the history tours, bringing capsuleers to the commemorative sites and statues that tell a story about our past. 

My fresh crew for the Vectrix, somewhat intimidated by the Amarr home world, stayed on board and read manuals and watched on-line courses about... being a crew. It amazes me how little they ever learned aside from the craft that they had as a slave. Those skills are useless now that they are manumitted. The simple fact that they are no longer slaves excludes these jobs, that they knew well, from them. They have to find commoner jobs now, like spaceship crew, and they haven't been trained in them. I start to understand why manumitted slaves have such a hard time fitting in to society.

Mission completed

I got in touch with Mr. Jepen. He is very embarassed and could not have imagined that I would go through with the career orientation programme. He tried to bend himself in all sorts of directions to apologize and explain himself.

I reassured him it was an interesting experience that I would tell about to others in a positive light.

He appeared very concerned and did not want me to relay this experience to anyone else. 

I think me made some sort of professional mistake. I'm not sure where they would demote him further down to if they knew. Anyway, on the upside he marked all my missions as completed and awarded me the standings and the hauler certificate.

Missed calls

It appears mr. Jepen has been trying to reach me desperately for the last few days. 

He must have sobered up.

I left him hanging as I was going trough the career orientation test, but I think I will release him from his worries and meet up with him tonight. He put me through this ordeal, now he owes me.

Hauler crew

In the end, the whole experience was quite interesting. After we got our results, there was a group discussion with a career coach. The others in my group were staring at me, and having a hard time to keep their mouth from falling open. I do not think they had ever seen a capsuleer, let alone have a career orientation breakout group discussion with one.

The coach was also stunned. I told him I was a librarian as well as a chaplain, for a rather large but not to be named corporation. He'd never had a chaplain looking for career orientation. He asked what I was doing here. I told him I'd like to start a career in distribution - hauling mostly - and he almost fell of his chair. He told me that my personality traits do not match that career turn at all. I told him I knew, but in order to retrieve relics, as instructed to me by God, I needed to this career orientation thing.

It's strange how he reacted when I told him God gave me a mission, I could swear he thinks I have mental issues. This career orientation thing must be run by Caldari, if they do not understand how God guides our way. The others in the group seemed to be completely okay with this, and even relaxed when I explained myself in this way. 

The coach didn't know how to react, so he just turned to the others. They didn't respond to him, but turned to me in stead. I had mentioned that I needed a crew for my hauler, somewhere in my explanations to the coach. The others in my group were all manumitted slaves, as I had guessed. They have mostly experience in manual jobs, grain havesting (John-Josiah), basket weaving (Kimberlay), and maintenance of farming equipment (Ghust). They complain that after they have been freed, there are no jobs for them. The kind of things they know how to do are slave jobs, and hence not for commoners. The kind of jobs that are for commoners require skills that they don't have. 

The coach tried to mention some jobs that came up for them, including the chicken sexer, but they were fully focused on me, asking for jobs as crew members.

I found myself incapable to refuse.

They will learn while doing, they are very motivated.

Top jobs

The day began with a holopresentation explaining the virtues of the career orientation model, which is based on personality traits and how well they match jobs. I dozed off quickly, it was utterly boring.

Then, we got our results. With a 92% match, my career recommendation is consultant social worker, I think that is a Caldari term for a chaplain, or something close. So that was satisfying. 

More suprising was the number two job, a 89% match: audiologist. I did say that I'm a good listener, but perhaps I misunderstood one of the questions.

Tied for spot number 3 on the list were psychologist and immunologist, with both 87%. Again, a good chaplain should probably know a little bit of psychology. But immunology? Well if it's machine learning that says it, it must be true, right? Unless they captured and use a rogue drone for this.

And where's librarian? Perhaps that is not mentioned since I listed it as my current job - before realizing I could only input one current job. 

Stranger still was the insistence of the rogue drone, or the AI, to ask me questions about farming. Despite the questions pushing the farm life on me, one has to go to number 12 on the suitable jobs list to find an agricultural career: livestock advisor (76% match). It's hard enough to advise humans, I'm not going to switch to yaks. Although that would surely grant me job security for life at LUMEN.

Next will be a discussion session to "critically reflect" on these jobs and what we've learned...

Career orientation test

After we were instructed to fill in the test, all the baseliners started immediately on their task, hunched over their datapads in a way that reinforced my impression that they were manumitted slaves. The hall had banners to encourage us, with slogans such as "Reach your career development goals by learning your natural talents and strengths", "Recognize your optimal career direction" and "Unlock your personal potential". All that definitely gave the impression of a detention center.

I filled in the questions from the career orientation test. It took a very long time, there were many questions. 

The first large batch of questions asked me to rate on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) some statements. Some have a clear link with a job, like "Would you like to repair damaged farm equipment?". I don't.

Other questions are better answered by friends than by myself, like "Do you radiate joy?". Or, "I am patient with people who annoy me." If that includes the ones that make me take this test, I have the patience of a Sefrim.

The next batch had a bunch of job descriptions, again to be rated as to how much I think I'd like to do this kind of job. Honestly, that feels like cheating, that way I can also give career advice. But I also learned new things. I learned that there is a job called "Chicken Sexer", which is a person who distinguishes the sex of chicks and other hatchlings.

While machine intelligence will now process my answers, I should ready myself for the second day. I've received a workbook to help me reflect on my strengths and priorities. Tomorrow, there'll be a two hour virtual retreat with prerecorded holopresentations, breakout sessions, and coach-facilitated reflection, whatever all that means. 

What have I even done to mr. Jepen to deserve this?

 

((OOC: for this mini-arc about Dozey in career orientation, I enrolled in a free online career orientation program, and will go through it fully IC for Dozey. Questions and recommendations are all taken from this IRL test. So, yes, I was actually asked to rate the job of Chicken Sexer, which I felt was not a job Dozey would be particularly thrilled to do.))