Takmahl tunnels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(to be continued)

Visiting the Takmahl Temple Rock

I must begin this log entry with scripture: "Surround yourself with the faithful, Stand together, for there is no strength like it under the heavens."  It is an evergreen favorite from the Book of Missions, and it remains very relevant.

I would not have been able to do this without the help of my fellow LUMEN pilots. The Takmahl labyrinth is invested by Blood Raider scum that think they own the place, because the Blood Raiders and the Takmahl share some common Sani Sabik ancestry.

A fleet gathered in Dresi - the Praetorians often work from that system. Under the command of good Gaun Arel, many pilots rallied to my call for help on this exploration mission! Lord Kane Arcahviri did some scouting in advance. Luna was there, as well as Alda Malukker, Echo Ashland, Tiberius Arthuron, and Otto, Vintrilus, Naktaria Tevangelys, Paul Pantor Pahineh, ... I hope I have not forgotten anyone in this list - I was overwhelmed by this nice support.

With that many talented pilots in fleet, the Blood Raiders were quickly dispatched, with no casualties on our side. 

I had plenty of time to explore the rock and could take all the telemetry I needed, confirming my suspicions. But more on that in tomorrow's log - today is a day to celebrate and be grateful.

Seeking an archeology support fleet

I used an auspicious connection from Seclusion to Gheth, one system away from our Mehatoor headquarters, to return home. These fleeting connections come and go, and one has to wait sometimes to get a connection that goes back to Empire space. So, even though the study of the Talocan wreck is not quite finished, I headed back during the time frame that this particular wormhole was stable.

Now I am getting ready for an expedition to the Araz constellation, and should see if I find Gaun or Baron. They lead anti-piracy operations, and since the Takmahl sites are infested with Blood Raiders, their expertise will come in handy. I will also need to prepare the Stratios class hull, since my Indagatrix is not suitable to hack relic sites under heavy enemy fire. Hopefully all can be brought in order for coming Sunday, depending also on the anti-piracy fleet's schedules.

The goal is not just to retrieve artefacts from the debris belt circling the Takmahl's holy rock, but also to investigate the rock itself more closely, and scan to see if there are structures or cavities inside this rock. It is a dangerous operation, and I am inclined to make a general call for help among LUMEN's capsuleers.

The writing on the wreck

To a looter, like to a grave robber of an ancient tomb, a thorougly salvaged wreck holds no interest any more. I think that is why the Sleepers let this Talocan frigate just float about. They have extracted everything of any use from it.

However, to the scientist curious about ancient cultures, even a looted wreck is a source of interesting information: We know very little about Talocan culture and writing, and even though the tomb is emptied of valuables, so to speak, there are still frescoes on the wall. 

Over the many years that the wreck has been exposed to solar winds and dust clouds, all markings seem to have faded away. However, even a small amount of pigment particles can still be made visible through (even weak) fluorescence rather than reflection or absorption of light. By sending in the right frequency, and monitoring the right frequency, even trace amounts can be made visible. 

That is how we see the frescoes on this tomb's walls. I have logged and added the symbols that we found. We do not understand them yet, they look blocky somewhat like Jovian glyphs (and some have posited a relation, although that is controversial). The Talocan language remains a long-standing mystery, and many academic works have been written trying to interpret the icons.

As you can see from the sample in the handbook above, these square pictographs look somewhat similar. There also seem to be too many different ones for them to be letters in an alphabet. We do not know if they break down into such smaller units, or perhaps they are ideograms representing words or concepts, like a pictogram for "emergency exit hatch". 

However, the more different ones we can add (including the context where they were found), the larger the body of knowledge about them grows and perhaps one day we have enough information to crack the code of the Talocan language! 

((ooc picture credit: Archaeological Museum of Zagreb; page of the Oedipus Aegyptiacus of Athanasius Kircher))

Cargo cults

The Talocan wreck was found in the vicinity of a sleeper listening post, and it appears at first sight to be stripped of any salvage, probably by the Sleepers. Our crews are still making certain that no nanite or other ancient traps are present.  

Meanwhile the exterior is also worth examining. The hull is an elongated ellipsoid, with a thicker band running around its circumference in the middle, and a band running along the long side's top edge. The front part has six forward facing spikey protrusions, probably scanning devices or some sort of weapon. The aft has exhausts from a propulsion module.

This type of shape is quite typical of Talocan structures, be it ships or even small outposts (these tend to be somewhat less prolate). It could be just the product of my imagination, but I do see a certain resemblance with the stalagmite asteroids, albeit turned on their side. 

This points to a very interesting hypothesis: the Takmahl (do not mix them with the Talocan) worship of the stalagmite asteroid is a cargo cult religion! 

The Takmahl might have been visited by the Talocan, and were so impressed by their gifts and help coming from that alien ship, that they made or modeled an asteroid to look like it, and to implore from that rock the gifts that they received from an actual alien visitor.

This is a known phenomenon: indigenous inhabitants of small islands, during the wars of reclamation, met with the technologically superior Amarr who used islands as temporary bases and brought in goods with airplanes. After the reclamation, the bases were removed and the army left, but the inhabitants made mock landing strips from sticks and stones in the hope that this would attract the divine visitors with their goods.

But the Takmahl empire is fairly young on the scale of things! If true, this hypothesis implies that (perhaps the last) Talocan would have wandered around the cluster much much after we now estimate that their civilization got extinct!

Virtues Party

Tonight I will sleep under the unfamiliar constellations of Anoikis. I have arrived in our wormhole system of Seclusion, but today I did not have much time for the Talocan frigate, just a quick visit. First, my presence was needed at a ceremony to celebrate that the planets have been given names, registered in the Amarr Planetary Society's atlas. The planets are named after important virtues: Obedience, Devotion, Charity, Temperance, Sacrifice, Honesty, Propriety and Justice. 

For this milestone we had a party at the "Two Shots Minimum" bar on station, where Baron Redwolfe first reviewed the history of LUMEN's wormhole, from the time when intrepid explorer Umar Ahmad announced that LUMEN had claimed their spot in Anoikis, to the present era. That was followed by a contest, for the best personification of a virtue through dress, word or performance. 

Charity (Lady Echo Ashland), Propriety (ms. Jenneth) and Justice (Lady Arline Kley) impressed the jury, and each of those winners will be immortalized by having one of the control towers at the corresponding planets named after them.

The winners are also given a planetary-industry fitted Epithal-class hauler (which paladin Kley could not accept due to her vows with the Praetorians). That in itself is not worth a great deal in terms of isk, but it is easy for new industrialists in that they do not have to bring it and the bulky planetary command centers to Seclusion themselves. 

It is part of a wider effort to attract new investment and industry to the resource-rich planets of Seclusion. They have hired a public relations firm from the State, who have printed and distributed brochures "Seclusion is Open for Business!" that tout the very low tax rates and absence of tariffs for exports from the newly named planets.

Converting for love

It is an interesting conundrum. What if someone wants to convert to our religion not because the fire of faith has taken hold of them, but out of love - love for a person that does find faith important? Is that a reason good enough? Should they be allowed the conversion rite if they are not convinced to their core of our creed?

I have given it some thought, and I think it should be allowed. God has many ways to call people to Him, and certainly the path that starts with love for another person is not a bad one to begin the journey of faith.

There is historical precedent, too. Back when Assimia was still a patchwork of pagan kingdoms, a mighty king fell in love with a common girl called Riasan. He was impressed by her beauty and wisdom and kindness. She was of the faith, and through her prayers and devout life, she succeeded in converting her husband the king. This did not happen overnight, and I can imagine that the king's heart was not quite convinced of Riasan's religion at first, and he may have converted (and converted his subjects as well) out of love for his wife. This shows that love is a fertile soil in which the seed of faith, once planted, can grow and flourish!

Miniature of queen Riasan in prayer

It is to be noted that Saint Riasan is nowadays invoked against sudden death and iniquitous husbands. I am not sure where the sudden death part comes from, but she has indeed proven that she is able to change a husband for the better.

(( ooc picture attribution: St. Clothilde from Gallica Digital Library, available under the digital ID btv1b84472995/f53 ))

Aguard

I was surprised by the news from the Federation today. The Federation, once an enemy, have steadily moved more towards a friendly relation. The Pashanai accords, brokered by house Kor-Azor, enacted a new era of (perhaps tense) peace between the Federation and our Empire. 

LUMEN has played a role in these thawing relations. We have opened an embassy, well before even the Pashanai accords, on Luminaire, in order to bring the Empire and the Federation closer, be it merely at the level of our capsuleer engagements. On the overall scale of things this is perhaps a small role, but still I believe it to be an important component of our improved relations. It was one of many moves that prepared the way towards Pashanai.

So to hear today that the leader of the Federation, President Celes Aguard, has been deposed from office, is shocking. 

I realise Presidents are nothing like an Empress, they are not chosen by God but by the people, people with all their sins and imperfections and callous judgments and selfish desires. They do not reflect the divine, they merely reflect the basest common denominator of wants. But still - presidents are imbued with authority. I do not know what will happen now, there are no heirs in their system, there is no Shathol'Syn, no divine guidance. Most likely they will again poll their people, who have no training nor guidance in selecting good leaders...

May the next President prove to be a reliable partner for the Empire and may he or she continue to follow the path of peace and collaboration.

Preparing for Seclusion

I am heading out to LUMEN's wormhole system of Seclusion this weekend. There is a naming celebration for the planets, as we are encouraging new industry and investment on those resource-rich worlds. 

Astronomers had named them Seclusion I, Seclusion II, and so on - scientific names. They will now be named after virtues, somewhat corresponding to the type of planets. So there will be a contest where people can represent virtues through poetry, clothing, dance, song, or any sort of performance. I will be on the jury for this. 

Mr. Firth very much approves of such celebrations, proclaiming them to be virtuous in their own right. But that is not his only motivation to join me to Seclusion, despite his strong dislike of wormholes (or, indeed, of any type of space that is not high-sec by concord standards).

We will also inspect a Talocan frigate that was retrieved by Baron Redwolfe's exploration fleets. It has been towed to station, and remains there, sealed and ready to be investigated. I will be bringing a team of engineers from our Gottin's Lamp headquarters to help us breach the hull or access parts of the ship that might still be closed off. Perhaps I should also bring one of these neural lace implants in case we need to hack a systems. Special drilling equipment, small scanning probes, a force field enclosure... the Indagatrix's cargo bay is filling up quickly. 

Preparations are indeed needed - this is much like opening an ancient tomb. Also this is not without danger! The Talocan possessed knowledge and skill far beyond what we have. However, the high risk comes with a high potential for reward as well. And even though prudence is a virtue, so is fortitude!

Mining permits and jobs

The mining permit is false. We found it in the Interbus shuttle that crashed on the asteroid where my old monastery is. 

It took a while, and a long tour along all sorts of instances, from the Amarr Civil Services and the Ducia Foundry to the Amarr Trade Registry. No-one recognizes this type permit, and there are no records that any mining permit has been granted. That is to be expected, as the land of a monastery is sacrosanct. 

I was told that most likely this is some sort of "permit" handed out by racketeers, who let miners in regular asteroid belts pay in order not to be attacked. After they pay and get the permit, they get attacked anyway. Probably the shuttle was some sort of automated escape pod which left the ship without any occupant.

In other mining related news, I have heard that the arch-heretic has announced his own freelance mining jobs, asking capsuleers to mine asteroids in Gamis and Zorozih, hoping to find the Ametat and Avetat on some rock. Firing mining lasers at relics expresses a total lack of respect for these delicate and holy items. In the case of the Ametat and Avetat - relics of such inconceivable power - it will probably result in the destruction of the mining craft. 

However, I do not worry too much, I cannot imagine that the Gamis asteroid belts are where these holiest of artefacts are. The belts in those system are too heavily mined and exploited for such a find to have gone unnoticed. The outer layers of moons and asteroids - where the deposits of the last few ten thousand years would be - must have been scraped off them already a while ago. 

Epikouria Chronicles VIII

Another handwritten missive was waiting for me, from Brother Hugo, reporting on the wormhole colony started by Publius.

Brother Hugo's plans to visit the Original's capital have taken an interesting turn. As it happens, an intercultural fair is going to take place at the Free Trade Friendship Zone - the designated area on Renaissance (planet VI) where Starborn and Originals can freely mix. 

Both groups are very cautious with strangers. It is said of wormhole dwellers in general that they are somewhat paranoid, and it seems that at least the Starborn are no exception to this. The first step to trust each other is to get to know each other better, and that is the goal of this two-week long event, organized jointly by the Starborn and the Origin Colonial Authority (I think it is the Original's equivalent of the Empress' Privy Council).

There will be different pavilions devoted to the various cultures, beliefs, and habits present among the Starborn and the Originals. Brother Hugo and his companions made it their task to construct a pavilion showcasing the Amarrian faith. 

Their plan is to build a pop-up church. 

They do not have the means to build a pavilion like that, but they have held a charity drive and went around the Ardishapur quarter in Ouranos station with a collection box. Their congregation gave generously, and contributed not only in terms of money, but also objects to display. Brother Hugo is very proud of a large oil-on-canvas painting depicting Empress Catiz. 

Also people not of the faith contributed items, as the brothers are well liked on most of the station. They got an old statue of Heideran VII, which had been used somewhat blasphemously as a mannequin in a high-end boutique for official ceremonial attire. Brother Hugo plans to repaint it with gold paint and put in on display along with copies of the Pax Amarria.

It may have been one of the first letters that gave me a sense that Brother Hugo is in a good mood and positively energized!

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

VII. A suspicion of heresy

Second wreck

A message reached me from Baron Redwolfe, who is currently in Seclusion. Besides the shuttle from Interbus that we salvaged here at the Monastery, it appears that there's now a second salvaged spacecraft that is brought to my attention! Baron's Odysseus explorer found a Talocan wreck. 

image courtesy of Baron Redwolfe

He writes:

I have come across a perculiar item that you may wish to investigate more. I am unsure if you have obtained one or not. I have encountered in a sleeper data chace, a one Talocan Derelict Frigate. I had the teams in Seclusion II tow it back to be investigated. We have not opened it in case there is anything of danger inside. We await information from you if we should proceed with opening it or not.

I told him to be careful about nanites, and I am eager to go see this for myself. From the image it does look Talocan in nature, but closer inspection is needed to see if it is not some sort of replica.

Troubling salvage

We have searched through the remnants of the crashed Interbus shuttle, and found only a few items of interest. One is an Interbus public communications display of some safety instructions featuring a demon of sorts, and the other is a mining permit:

This document caused quite a stir among my brothers, and even the Abbot who struck me as an even-tempered man is in panic. They fear that someone wants to start mining on the very asteroid where the monastery is located. Needless to say this would be a huge disruption of the peace and quiet that is needed for transcribing scripture, prayers and meditation.

The paper is a weird thing. It seems that someone just states that from now on they own the land and can mine it, and the locals have nothing to say about it. I am not even sure to which land it refers to. Who could have issued such a permit? 

They do not think that the Ducia Foundry would do such a thing - Ducia is the main mining corporation in the constellation. But even if this is not issued by Ducia, then still it might be from some other organisation, perhaps a start-up, that seeks to drill into the asteroid. This is not even an asteroid that is valuable for its minerals - it is all basic regolith and silicate!

I promised the Abbot I would go and find out more about this, my first stop will be the Ducia corporation.

Salvage operation

It has been a while since I made a spacewalk outside of the pod.  

With the ice storms subsiding now that the season is over, we ventured out on the asteroid's surface. The Monastery itself has artificial gravity inside, but once you leave though the airlock, this quickly dissipates. Moving away from the installation, the gravity reduces until you barely feel it is there. 

The jagged horizon encloses you, and its curvature is clearly visible since the rock is not that big - the perspectives seem all wrong. The surface is frozen, but it is not like usual ice or snow, it is much more dilute, powdery and fluffy, and walking is awkward. We took out a large salvage vehicle, which looks more like a big cage on spikey wheels - traction control is difficult even on the usual regolith of the asteroid. There is no real sense of speed, as you have with planetary vehicles, or perhaps there is some feeling but it betrays you. 

Everything is very very quiet - the rock does not have any atmosphere.

We moved to the sunny side and crossing the from the darker to the lighter region is a brutal attack on the senses. Even the combination of the helmet's adaptive visor and vision implants has a difficult task to find a setting that does not blind you with light, nor with darkness. The white cover is thicker here - the ice particles are carried by the solar wind so the side that is more exposed to the star is more thickly covered.

We made it to the crashes shuttle without any problems, and started with checking that there are indeed no life signs. There would not be ones, since an entire side of the shuttle is missing. We did not find a corpse, whatever happened to the pilot of the shuttle - or perhaps it was on autopilot - is a mystery until we read out the navigation computer, or what is left of it.

We removed whatever pieces and parts we could - lifting even big masses does not require much effort in this weak gravity. But the work is slow, and clumsy, as you are most of the time moving yourself in stead of the mass when you try to push or pull, there is little grip. In the end most pieces were removed, and the crash site is left relatively clean. 

Now the task of sifting through the salvage to find out more about it begins.

Snow storm disruptions

I have had pleasant discussions with the new abbot, who presented me with a gift, a hand-written copy of the Book of Reclaiming. We talked about how being a capsuleer brings additional duties and obligations. 

The discussion turned to the current metaliminal ice storms, and how the monastery had been hit hard by the winds carrying ice particulates that sweep the system. Nearby shipping lanes are also disrupted, and many Interbus travelers have been stranded over the end-of-year holidays. 

It is not just here, but going over the maps, I saw that the Araz constellation seems to be a focal point for the storms this year:

In particular, the Araz "pentagram" systems are hit by strong storms. Could some link between the Drifter system asteroid and the Aphi labyrinth asteroid be attracting these phenomena?

Anyway, that was not the point that the abbot really wanted to make. He got to the question that he wanted to ask only after a while - apparently an interbus shuttle has crashed on the far side of the asteroid. There seem to be no life signs on board, just material damage. Since the monks do not have much experience with spacewalks, or walks on the exterior of an asteroid, the abbot asked me to lead a small expedition to walk over to that side and check out the wreckage, and clear up the site.

Storms are predicted to quiet down tomorrow, so that is when we will go.

Copy demons

It is strange to see my old monastery covered in what appears to be snow. Given that it is an asteroid monastery, and not on a comet.

However, the system has had a metaliminal storm bringing ice particles, that collected on the odd potato-shaped rock on which the monastery is located; most of the monastery is underground but there are some structures outside, including a shuttle port, facing the cold vacuum of space. These structure now sport a nice wintery scene, looking as if the monks can come bursting out on its surface to roll a snow puppet or start a snowball fight any time.

We devote ourselves to copying scriptures by hand here, following in the steps of Saint Aloysius, our patron saint. This is goes on day and night without interruption. The scriptorium lies deeply in the asteroid, and is protected by relics and ringed by side-altars where always one of the monks is praying. This protection is needed to avert the copy demons, believed to besiege the monastery. 

Nowadays, it is easy to copy a text flawlessly electronically. But back in ancient times, it was believed that demons try to secretly corrupt faith by altering words, whispering errors of translation, or distracting monks who would skip a word. A single error, faithfully recopied over centuries, can bend doctrine and hollow out faith from within. Hence the protective prayers, and the presence of a hierarchy of scriptors, lectors and correctors.

I shared a simple meal with my brothers after my arrival, and they asked me hundreds of questions about my travels and about capsuleers and their organizations. I felt exhausted. They have kindly offered me to sleep in my old cell! 

A visit home

I have been asked by the new Abbot of my former monastic order if I could pay them a visit. 

It has been a little over four years now that my guide and friend, the former Abbot Bavo passed away. That was the last time I went to the asteroid monastery where I spent a good sixty years of my life. So, a visit is long overdue, and it will feel good to see my old brothers again! 

Also, I am curious about the new Abbot. Even though he is not my direct superior as I am no longer part of a monastic order and have become a friar rather than a monk, the order and the asteroid monastery is still very dear to my heart.

Tradition of gift-giving

Coordinated by Maerrin and "Happy", our fervent organisers of social events, we have held our secret gifts celebration. 

I have already attended those before, and it is a nice yearly tradition taking shape in LUMEN. Each participant gets a designated receiver of gifts, and we have to come up with a suitable gift for that person. To guide us, the person can only submit a riddle beforehand. Similarly, also you can compose a riddle about what you like or like to do in the cluster, in order to guide your secret giver.

We then get together in celebration, amid seasonal drinks and a nicely decorate pine tree, and one by one give and receive. Some gifts turn out to be poems composed specially for the occasion, or even performance art on the evening itself (we had an act both scary and heart-warming), and very often special items or ships fitted in unique way. 

It takes a bit of time and effort to organize, so I am very grateful to organizers. It boosts an already high morale, and creates new bonds between people!

Summary YC127 part 3

Hypothesis 3 - Alien abduction. With the Jove as the prime suspects. They are known to roam the stars searching for powerful artefacts, that they might consider remnants of races even more ancient than they, and that they certainly consider dangerous in the hands of fledgling young civilizations. They would confiscate such artefacts. So, the hypothesis is that the Ametat and Avetat, certainly powerful enough to be on their radar, would have been confiscated.

This hypothesis - in a slightly altered version - is favored by the Goner sect, as explained to me by the reclusive brother Sarachem who is flying sub-warp to eve gate in a corvette. The goners told me that the Ametat and Avetat are hidden along with the relic that they seek, the Anticipator device that opens Eve gate, and kept in an unspecified asteroid belt in Jovian space. 

There is enough additional evidence that at least under the Jovian Directorate of the third empire, there were specific Jovian agencies in charge of searching for and retrieving powerful artefacts. Over the years, I have tried to gain access to Jovian space, and even talked to some capsuleers who managed to get there. However, they seem to have returned with a certain madness - perhaps an exponent of the Jovian disease. 

Linked to this are the various Jovian offshoot that have not disappeared from the cluster. It is widely assumed that the Sleepers in wormhole space also represent part of Jovian culture. So, with no access to Jovian regions, perhaps a way can be found via Anoikis to reach it, or at least to gain more information about the Jovians. 

Again, as with the Takmahl, there is a tantalising link to the ancient Talocan as well - it is this ancient race which engineered the wormhole network of Anoikis (somewhat broken after the Seyllin incident). These Talocan (and their stalactites) seem to be a common denominator, so it is with a resolve to learn more about them that I plan to continue my search in the coming year, and that I conclude the current status update on my quest.

Summary YC127 part 2

Hypothesis 2: According to this theory, the Ametat and Avetat were absconded by the Sani Sabik at the start of our era of space exploration. The Sani Sabik cultists had infiltrated our institutions but were forced to flee during the purges of emperor Queron I, the Iron-Fisted. They took to space in cryoships and started the Takmahl Empire in the Araz constellation. Ilash Toth tried to get the relics back, but failed. The Takmahl Empire grew powerful, but collapsed suddenly after a few centuries, taking the relics with it to its grave.

I have reported before on the mounting evidence pointing to this hypothesis, which was also investigated by prof. Bathana, Luna's archaeologist father. More evidence was found during my explorations of Gamis, but I cannot report on those due to an agreement with the Ministry of Internal Order. 

The main question to answer is what happened to the relics after the collapse of the Takmahl empire. I have found strong indications -contrary to common belief- that the Takmahl could reach further out that their own constellation of Araz. Two years ago, I started looking into the "Blood highway" connecting the Takmahl heartlands to Delve, through Aridia. Some current-day Blood Raiders consider themselves heir to the Takmahl, and it is clear that Takmahl artefacts are highly prized among them. Indeed, I found a functioning biodrone in an abandoned Blood Raider station in Aridia two years ago. 

Again, it appears that prof. Bathana near the end of his life was also tracking the Blood highway, as he went to Anath, a system at the edge of the Empire. That is where I will need to pick up the trail next year. 

This year I have also been investigating the link between the Takmahl and the Talocan - this far more powerful and far more ancient race that also influenced the Jove. Most recently, I have been intrigued by the realization that the holy rock at the center of the Takmahl labyrinth may be linked to the Talocan rock formations in other parts of the cluster and in wormhole space. I am thinking that these rocks held some religious significance for them, that was passed on to the Takmahl and perhaps even the Drifters. There is more to these stalactite rocks than meets the eye - could they house internal structures or hiding places? That is the second lead I need to follow up.

Summary YC127 part 1

Hypothesis 1 : the Ametat and Avetat stayed with us much longer than we nowadays assume. They were held for safekeeping by the Council of Apostles and the Speakers of Truth. These institutions, at first meant to advise the Emperor, transformed into forces that would keep the Emperors and the Holders in check. Finally, the Council would try to usurp the God-given power of the Emperor. When Heideran V attempted to restore Imperial power, civil war known as the Moral Reforms ensued. As the Council of Apostles faced defeat, the Order of Saint Tetrimon was charged with keeping the relics - symbolizing the Imperial power - out of the hands of the Emperor, and hid them.

This hypothesis is corroborated by historical records showing beyond doubt that Grand Master Tetrimon IV smuggled out all sorts of relics for safekeeping at the end of the civil war. Little is known about these relics from the time before the Moral Reforms, as scripture has been reworked heavily by Heideran V and the Theology Council that he created after the civil war. However, the Tetrimon are supposed to still have copies of the original versions of scripture, those versions that were tainted by the heresy of the Council of Apostles but that also contained historical clues. 

Over the years, I tried in vain to access these records at their ancient headquarters, the fortress of Teakh Tak-Teakh on Ibani VI, planet of the singing ice, and also at their new space monastery in Thebeka. However, they keep their records very private - afraid of being found heretical, I think. Many of their writings seem to advocate shifting power to commoners and leaving the Emperor with less than absolute power, in contradiction of scripture, Book I 1:14 or Book of Reclaiming 3:21. So, it is not surprising they restrict access. I was stuck.

This year however, I made headway! God's providence brought Baron Redwolfe's legacy to the Societas. Trough his ancestry, he is linked to the Tetrimon - today he leads a related order called the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl. He has uncovered on his holdings an ancient monastery of Khanid paladin knights, where there is a library that holds copies of texts and scrolls by the Order of Saint Tetrimon. I found the Vita Magistrorum Magnorum of Tetrimon IV, which led me to find one of the hiding places of ancient relics, deep inside the forbidden city of Mezagorm. Unfortunately, these were not the relics of Ametat and Avetat, but still we recovered important lost relics of the legion of Ves-Udor. 

While these were not what I was looking for, it does give me confidence that I am on the right track. There is still a lot more to uncover in the Vita, and I will pursue this further in the next year.

Reflecting on the past year

The days of the Yoiul celebrations and the turning of the year inspire people to look back and reflect upon the year that passed.

As the veterans of the Societas know well, I have received long ago a quest to fulfil. It was given to me by Saint Tal-Romon, who visited me in a vision when I was still a monk cloistered in an asteroid monastery. The mission I have been given is seemingly impossible, and has been attempted by countless people before me: to find and return the most holy relics of the Empire, the lost Ametat and Avetat, the sceptre and crown given by the Sefrim to the first emperor, Amash-Akura. 

It is no coincidence that God led me to join the Imperial Society of the Sceptre and Crown, our Societas whose full name is indeed "Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque".

Over the years I have been able to formulate several hypotheses of what happened to these relics, and I am following up leads on each of those, along a winding path. Over the coming days, I will review each of those leads in turn and log my progress report for them.

-to be continued-

Epikouria Chronicles VII

Brother Hugo's latest letter reveals that business is going about as usual in the Epikouria colony. Industry seems to have expanded, as do anti-piracy efforts against the ever-present roaming bands of wormhole miscreants. Mostly, folks have settled in and gotten into a comfortable routine in Publius' colony. 

Mining and resource extraction are booming after trade and sovereignty agreements were finalized with the Originals. In exchange for unfettered access to the bountiful deposits on the planets of Epikouria, system-wide space security as well as regular connections and transport to trade hubs are provided by the Starborn. Diplomatic missions and embassies have been established on most planets, and the Originals have a diplomatic mission on Ouranos, the main station and space-home of the Starborn. 

Stories about the Originals trickle down to the Ardishapur quarter in the lower decks. Although the Originals keep their own personnel inside their diplomatic zone, folks working in the station do see these foreigners going about, and stare. Although many of the Originals appear human, some are heavily augmented, and there are even cyborgs and biodroids. There is talk about sentient AI's walking among them. All in all, they seem to be a extremely heterogeneous group, exploring the limits of what they can do with their bodies and infomorphs.

Brother Hugo is collecting evidence of all sorts of heresies among the Originals. There are signs that some of them are Sani Sabik cultists. Of course, sentient AIs are also forbidden - by all four empires. And he has also found some proof, he writes, that the Originals flaunt the cloning laws, and allow the use of multiple clones simultaneously by a single person. He writes, "The more we get to know them, the more horrors and heresies we uncover". 

To find out more, Brother Hugo plans to go with some of his companions to planet VI. That is the home world of the Originals, which they call "Renaissance". It hosts their capital, "Foundation City" and has the largest population of all the planets in the system. Publius' colonists, such as the good brother, cannot just go about anywhere freely on the Original's home world, but there is a 220 square kilometer area designated for meeting, trading and cultural exchange. It is called the "Free Trade Friendship Zone", and has a spaceport where shuttles from the colonists can land. Brother Hugo has filed for a permit to visit.

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

Writing awards night

This weekend the awards ceremony took place, in which books and works of capsuleers are honored. It is always interesting to see what we should get for the library - although one has to be extra careful to screen for heretical writings.

To my delight some fellow researchers were present. Dr. Fritte Cornelius, with whom I recently collaborated on a project in Sanctified Vidette, and Ninavask of the Syenose Accord, who sold me a Talocan life support unit during the rare items fair. 

We got into an interesting discussion on extracting energy from celestials for spacetime engineering, and I do hope we get to collaborate on that topic as well. Science knows no borders, but sometimes I fear we work in a bubble in each of our four core empires. Events such as the award ceremony bring us together,  and are wonderful occasions to forge new plans for joint projects.

Also, Fritte got an award for some of his earlier scientific work, well deserved! 

The first prize in the academic category went to a book about ground crews, by Kirin Freir. It is a very useful manuscript that mixes business advice and human resource wisdom, putting it all together in a pedagogical primer. I have been reading through it and it has got me thinking. I have a crew on board of  the Indigatrix, of course, but not really a ground crew in our Mehatoor home. I just use the services that the station provides. However, mr. Freir's book convinced me of the usefulness to hire dedicated personnel for that purpose. I will put up an advert on Mehatoor's hangar message boards.

The first prize in proze and poetry was actually poetry, by someone with the pen name Dark Magni. Although very evocative and dynamic, the poem is indeed somewhat dark. It leaves space open for one's own interpretation. Could the character who flew "on his path grim" be an emissary from above, pushing us to fight on and do our duty? Or is it a commander running away from the fray, or perhaps someone scolding us for having failed? I will have to re-read it to savour the different layers of the poem.

The Conflux Stalactite

It is not that obvious to find the Drifter homes that are not monitored by the Empire. Conflux Eyrie is controlled by the State, and since our alliance cooled down they are not that forthcoming with information. 

I did not receive a direct answer to my request about the location of an entrance wormhole. Mr. Firth took some notes and looked annoyed, even though he says this is to be expected. Nevertheless, on our own we did find an entrance, and proceeded to scan down the system and investigate.

What I found there is deeply disturbing.

Contrary to what I saw in Sanctified Vidette, there are plenty of bands of roaming Drifters in Conflux Eyrie. We located the stalactite asteroid, and when I went over to scan it down for detailed telemetry, I found a host of Drifter ships at the small station at its foot.

They appeared to be interacting with the disabled sentry guns around the abandoned station (or colony, or prison, who knows what it used to be). Luckily, the Indagatrix was cloaked and I could observe undetected. Several battleships and many cruisers were present:

And then it happened. The entire stalactite asteroid seemed to phase, or rather, to be enveloped by some sort of Drifter overshield shimmer,

They must be drawing energy from this rock, interacting with it, using it in some way that the sensors on the Indagatrix could not make out. I have not seen this before in the other stalactite asteroids. Does it contain some hitherto unknown ore, providing a kind of radiation they can use? Are these rocks more than just ancient relics of a bygone Talocan religion? Is this really a rock, or could it be some camouflaged mothership or station?

After the "powering-up", some sort of entrance tunnel lit up, in the middle of the rock:

At this point, I am not allowed to share anything else since mr. Firth wants our full report with telemetry to stay under wraps as it gets sent to the Ministry. But let there be no doubt - the Drifters are far from vanquished in the systems that we have conquered. The Empire may have a firmer grip on Sanctified Vidette than the State on their hole, but the Drifters are up to something.

This has strengthened my conviction that I need to revisit the Takmahl Stalactite asteroid. I also want to keep a closer look on the Conflux Eyrie artefact, and perhaps try to enter the asteroid via that tunnel. I could not approach it too closely with the Drifter fleet patrolling it - any accidental uncloaking of the Indagatrix would mean its immediate demise at the hands of the nearby Apollo Tyrannos. Finally, I also need to figure out what sites the other Drifter homeworlds still hold, perhaps there are more of those asteroids or related objects.

Stalactite asteroids

Something at the edge of my memory kept nagging me, and kept me from sleep. Something I had seen in a Drifter home system. Unable to catch sleep, I started looking through the image database of the Indagatrix. Drowsy browsing goes slowly but in the end I found the corresponding log, and the monstruous rock formation I saw during the Drifter war.

Compare the Drifter rock (left) to the Takmahl holy rock (right): 

There is to me a striking resemblance. The asteroid singled out by the Drifters for special treatment (with a station in the small round rock just before), and the rock at the center of the Takmahl are both "stalactite asteroids". They have spikey protrusions pointing to melting and resolidification in a strong uniaxial field. This strengthens my conviction that these particular types of stalactite asteroids held a particular significance for the Talocan, as this ancient race is the only common link between Drifters and Takmahl!

I have to find this rock back - it was not in Vidette, but in Conflux Eyrie according to the logs. And I also have to head back to the Takmahl, for better scans and probing of their asteroid. 

But first I have to catch up on sleep.

Talocan rocks and labyrinths

The Jove are thought to have found the ancient Talocan wormhole control network and gained access to the wormhole cluster Anoikis via it. The Jovian wormhole settlers are believed to be the forefathers of the Sleeper civilization. And many experts (including authorities in the field such as Uriel Anteovnuecci) theorize that the Drifters are, in turn, offshoots from the Sleepers. This is a reasonable assumption, given that they live in Anoikis. In addition, technology such as the thermo-electric convertors that the Drifters use to power their structures clearly bear the hallmark of the Sleepers.

The start of the chain of knowledge transfer for advanced spacetime engineering seems to be the Talocan, and this begs the question of whether the Drifter's Nexus superstructure is also based on Talocan spacetime engineering. And since the Nexus appears to influence spacetime also in our own cluster (via the appearance of phased fields), I would conjecture that it could influence other structures in our cluster as well, namely structures built with the very same Talocan spacetime technology.

The main "suspect" for me is the Takmahl labyrinth. There is a link from the Talocan not only to the Drifters but in parallel also to the Takmahl. The Drifters chose wormholes which have certain rock formations that are of particular ritual importance to the Talocan. Those are very much different from the asteroids found in belts in common Anoikis systems. Also the Takmahl incorporated most unusual rock formations in their cult.

The Talocan must have liked labyrinths too, and both Drifter and Takmahl cultures indebted to them have inherited this peculiar penchant for mazes. Although they are very different in nature, spacetime engineered labyrinths have been found in both Drifter and Takmahl home systems.

This makes me wonder whether the current changes in our spacetime allegedly due to Nexus tinkering may have induced changes in the Takmahl labyrinth too. I am planning to revisit it, but will need to enlist the help of SFRIM pilots to keep the Blood Raiders that infest that labyrinth at bay...

Pinning the blame

As I predicted, foreign news commentaries are trying to pin the blame on the Empire again - however this time we are not the only scapegoats. The phase anomalies appearing in spacetime have a similar energy signature as the Drifter Nexus superstructures, and so their appearance seems connected with the experiments that the five powers occupying Drifter wormholes are performing on those structures.

From my own observations, the Empire is dealing with the Nexus with great precaution and care. We have no doubt learned from the Turnur sabotage disaster. 

Dr. Cornelius thought that EDENCOM was not so careful, and went out to set up watch there expecting something bad to happen, but I have not heard from him since. It does seem suspicious that ORE - who is in an industrial partnership with EDENCOM - all of a sudden possesses the technology to anchor down these phase anomalies and exploit them for mining.

Personally, I think the Triglavians are behind this. They do not seem to mind much about our spacetime - that is the least you can say after the creation of Pochven. They must have the same disregard for the integrity of our spacetime when it comes to prying around into the Nexus superstructure. 

Library services

It is nice to see that the library's databases are well used. We have a state-of-the-art search engine for the Book of Records, with three-dimensional visualization of the genealogical links between the faithful subjects of the Empire going back millennia. We are also linked to the databases of the Amarr Trade Registry and the Amarr Civil Service bureau of information, and can do cross-linked searches.

A question that seems to come up regularly among capsuleers is to find some long-lost relative. Recently, I was asked to find the whereabouts of the parents of a former slave, an acquaintance of one of our pilots. All that the pilot had to go by is a name, and an approximate date of the raid when the former slave was separated from her parents. She was not an elite slave, and so we did not find any mention of her among incident reports of that time in the Amarr Civil Service database.

But we found a way! Noting that her family name was rare, we looked for transactions of slaves by that name (not all slaves have family names even!). We could identify one trade that fits the timeline (and name) for a parent of the slave. The transaction allowed us to find the Holder who now owns that parent, and that gave us finally something to go on in the Book of Records! Indeed, any Holder not stricken from the Book is listed with links and holdings, and we could find where the holding is and presumably where the parents are!

That is yet another example of a -quite satisfying- positive result and of what we can achieve by doing research using the library rather than flying about in space firing beam lasers and battling pirates.

Marriage at the Lamp's Chapel

It is nice to be on the other side for once! We had a marriage in the Chapel, and this time I could relax as part of the congregation. I did not have to worry about everything going perfectly, since I was not the one officiating. 

That duty was for the Directix Emerita, founder of the Societas, Nicoletta Mithra. I was in awe to finally meet her. She had always remained but a familiar name I encounter, an author of theological treatises. My favorite one is an essay on sin and redemption that she wrote, expanding and commenting Lord Gaven Lok'ri's earlier work on the "Rejection of the Recent Concept of Forgivable Generational Inherited Sin".

But I digress into academic considerations, so let me get back to the marriage of Neferure Giergali and Thulla Icin. It was a magnificent ceremony, imbued with symbolism. First, Neferure and Thulla approached the altar and each other carrying a torch. The fire of their hearts and hearths was conjoined in a central brazier, and it shone more brightly than the separate fires. From there candles were lit throughout the congregation bearing witness. 

There was also a touch of Mishi - as the Ni-Kunni focus on life-giving water in most of their ceremonies. Neferure and Thulla washed each others hands, symbolizing the purification of the soul and washing away any obstacles left from the past.

Finally, after signing and sealing the marital contract, they pronounced their vows, hands bound together with a ribbon, representing the unbreakable bond that now ties them together, just as their unbreakable faith binds them to God.

In our vast Empire, we have many different variations of the marriage rite. Speaking somewhat disrespectfully one could say that there is a big portfolio of Theology Council approved customs from which a priest can choose. In today's ceremony there was such a nice balance between the three parts! One that puts the light and the warmth of the hearth central, one that revolves around the water cleansing the past and preparing them for the future, and one that "ties the knot" and expresses their bond. It is a wedding I will remember very fondly. 

And I do hope it has given incentive to the Directrix Emerita to grace us with her presence more often.

Epikouria Chronicles VI

A month ago, in Gottin's Lamp we have had a state visit from queen Synthia of Kaztropolis, but now it appears that also the wormhole colony of Epikouria got a state visit, from Prince Seraghis.

Brother Hugo writes about this visit in his latest letter - as before, this letter took time to reach me so it is relaying events that are several weeks old... Anyway, brother Hugo did not get to see the famous Lord himself, but he knows about this from the janitors and lower deck workers who had to work triple shifts to make sure the station was in perfect order for this high-profile visitor.

Prince Sergahis has had an illustrious career as military commander. He was a high-ranking officer (tribunus colonel if I remember it right) in the Amarr-Minmatar warzone. He unified Amarr capsuleer ranks and led Task Force 641, an elite group of pilots. After a long and arduous siege, known as "Operation Winter Sapphire", he managed to wrest Huola from Minmatar control, and purge their seditious influence from this rebel stronghold. This cemented his fame as the Hero of Huola.

I personally met Prince later, after he retired from the warzone and handed over command there to Cyrelle Aurilen from the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris. He went back to his native Aridia, and formed the Zaraehvar corporation to bring order back the Mahoynen constellation and boost trade and industry in the region of Mishi. During that time, I was exploring in Aridia, following the historical Sani Sabik routes that connect the old Takmahl constellation of Araz to the Delve region. My goal was to learn more about the reach of this ancient civilization, and to prove they were able to venture outside Araz. Prince offered me hospitality and protection, and even joined me and several LUMEN members in the exploration of an abandoned Blood Raider station. I was happy to help out in turn, doing logistics during his policing operations against the pirates of Aridia.

After that, I sort of lost track of Prince Seraghis - I do remember that his plans to pacify the entire Aridia region got frustrated by the so-called LowSechnaya pirates. He went back home, to his ancestral Holdings in Soliara, and there founded the "Knights of Soliara". I think he has been mostly tending to his Holdings and businesses, and his relations to the Holders of other systems in the Helan constellation.

After Prince left, the Zaraehvar group command passed to Cardinal Umbian, who chose to start a colony in the wormholes. They call themselves "Ghosts of Aridia" and named their wormhole system "New Huola" in honor of Prince's most well known military victory. They are the very same Ghosts that got evicted from New Huola and were taken on as refugees by Publius and his colonists.

So, given their joint past, it is not surprising that Prince Seraghis would visit his old brothers in arms here in Epikouria. Brother Hugo does not discuss the purpose of the meeting, probably this is not known publicly. In between the lines I can read that the Knights of Soliara came out to help the Ghosts during the battle that took place in Epikouria as described in Brother Hugo's previous letter. I surmise that probably trade discussions were also on the table, as wormholers are always looking for a market to sell their rich harvests.

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

Scan probe mathematics

It appears I am in a mood for mathematics and spacetime geometry lately. This time, I try to answer my own curiosity as regards scanning down anomalies. Doing that in Sanctified Vidette has taught me a lot about the connection between scan probe strength, scan deviation and how fast one can scan down an anomaly. It is a long log entry, but it will serve me well to write down in detail what I learned.

1/ Astrometric pinpointing 

I believe an example works best to explain this. Let us stay that you start out as usual with your scan probes at 8AU, centered on the current guess for the anomaly's position. The scan will refine the position of the anomaly. The base number goes one notch down: so the maximum deviation between the indicated position after the scan and the real position goes down to at least 4AU.

The Anathema is one of the ships boosted for scan deviation, giving you a reduction factor of 0.75 , which brings the maximum deviation after scanning down to 4 ✕ 0.75 = 3AU. 

If you've installed a pinpointing array I, you get another factor 0.9 (it is 0.8 for the T2 version, but let us stick to T1). Combined with the Anathema, you now have 3AU ✕ 0.9 = 2.7AU maximum deviation.

You have trained astrometrics perhaps to level IV, it gives you another factor (1-0.05✕level) = 0.8, so now we're at 2.7AU ✕ 0.8 = 2.16AU 

Finally, say you have trained astrometric pinpointing to level III. This corresponds to yet another factor (1-0.05✕level) = 0.85, bringing the maximum deviation down to 2.16 ✕ 0.85 = 1.84AU. 

Hurray! You can skip right down to 2AU for your next scan, since the number dropped below 2. 

In all of the above, I assumed that the signal strength (the percentage shown each time you scan the signature) is still at 0%. If you get it to say, 55%, this gives you an additional factor (1-0.55)=0.45, and you get down to 1.84 ✕ 0.55 = 0.83 , which is great news because now you can skip three notches and go straight to 1AU for your next scan.

2/ Scan probe sensor strength

You need to bring the signal strength up to 100% before the anomaly becomes warpable. This is where your probe strength comes in - that is the number you see when you hover over the scan probe loaded in the probe launcher. It can be boosted by the astrometric rangefinding skill, a scan rangefinding array, a gravity capacitor rig, ship bonuses, some boosters and implants, and better core scanner probes. Note that for combat probes, the number is halved but for the table below, you should double it, as if it is a core scanner probe.

The table below gives you, for anomalies of class I to V, as a function of the probe strength, the deviation you need to get down to in order to get to 100% signal strength on your next scan and thus lock down the anomaly.

probe strength	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV	Level V
40	0.46976	0.23488	0.11744	0.05872	0.02936
50	0.5872	0.2936	0.1468	0.0734	0.0367
60	0.70464	0.35232	0.17616	0.08808	0.04404
70	0.82208	0.41104	0.20552	0.10276	0.05138
80	0.93952	0.46976	0.23488	0.11744	0.05872
90	1.05696	0.52848	0.26424	0.13212	0.06606
100	1.1744	0.5872	0.2936	0.1468	0.0734
110	1.29184	0.64592	0.32296	0.16148	0.08074
120	1.40928	0.70464	0.35232	0.17616	0.08808
130	1.52672	0.76336	0.38168	0.19084	0.09542
140	1.64416	0.82208	0.41104	0.20552	0.10276
150	1.7616	0.8808	0.4404	0.2202	0.1101
160	1.87904	0.93952	0.46976	0.23488	0.11744
170	1.99648	0.99824	0.49912	0.24956	0.12478
180	2.11392	1.05696	0.52848	0.26424	0.13212
190	2.23136	1.11568	0.55784	0.27892	0.13946
200	2.3488	1.1744	0.5872	0.2936	0.1468

So, what this means is that if you have a level I anomaly, and your scanner probes' strength is at 70, you need to bring down the probes to the 0.5AU notch to get to 100% signal strength with certainty - the 1AU notch will not be good enough. However, if you have 90 strength, you only need to be at 1AU resolution to get the anomaly with certainty. If you are all the way up to 180, you do not even need to get closer than 2AU before locking it down. Combining good pinpointing (as explained above) with probe strength of at least 170-180 is the "secret" to scanning down level I anomalies in just two rounds of scanning, first 8AU and then 2AU.

Now note that some numbers here are even smaller than your smallest 0.25AU resolution. You can get those by either getting lucky on your positioning, or by tightening the probe formation closer (control-scroll down in the solar system map).

Phased fields

I am happy to see that dr. Cornelius published the results of our joint research on a publicly accessible forum. All too often scientific findings remain hidden behind paywalls, as unscrupulous publishers profit from the work of scientists forced to seek a high-impact journal to please their funding agencies.

It turns out that the Signal Cartel's information about some new spacetime anomalies appearing was right. They were wrong in assuming that the epicenter of this would be the Sentinel Military Zone. Rather, these new anomalies pop up a bit everywhere, and it is not clear what causes them. What we do know about them, is that they can lead to phase defects in our universe - and that may warrant a bit of an explanation. 

Apart from the three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension that we can experience, the universe still has a lot of hidden dimensions, usually inaccessible. You can think of phase as one of these hidden dimensions. It differs in two important aspects from our usual spatial dimension (say, left or right on the x-axis). Firstly, it is a so-called "compact" dimension. It is not extended like our usual spatial dimensions, but it is curled up into a circle. So, if we would try to draw a map of one spatial dimension and the phase dimension, it would look like a cylinder, as in the figure below. Moving our usual left-right is moving parallel to the axis of the cylinder, whereas the angle around the cylinder represents the phase. 

The second difference with usual spatial dimensions is that we can move freely in the spatial direction, but not in the phase direction. You can choose where you stand along the line, but in each spot, you cannot choose your phase, it is fixed for you. You have to stay on the red line! The property of having a well defined phase value is also known as phase coherence, and it is very strong due to the large vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field and dark matter. 

There is another important property called "phase rigidity", meaning that the phase remains the same as you move along the line. You can imagine this as tension along the line on the cylinder. Think of it as a rubber band: it will tend to straighten out, and any fluctuations such as in (a) will quickly be brought back to situation (b). That is, we have over our usual space not only a well defined phase in each point, but also the same value of the phase as in all neighboring points.

Some very energetic natural processes (or human messing around with the phase rigidity by weakening the Higgs vacuum expectation value) allow to pull the string around the cylinder, as in figure (c) below.  Imagine pressing your finger down on the rubber band and moving it around the cylinder. It is very had if the rubber band has high tension! You need to keep your finger pressed down on the rubber band if you do not want it to snap back - and that is what the new technology of a phase anchor more or less does. 

By twisting the phase in this way, it is possible to intersect our universe line with a line of another universe, and access matter present in another universe, separated from us in phase space, and thus normally inaccessible to us. 

But playing around with that is dangerous! If you pull too strongly and bring it all around, such as in figure (d), you create two full phase windings around the cylinder: one clockwise and one anticlockwise around the cylinder. These could get separated, and then you would be left with a single winding, as in figure (e). Now there is no way that the tension in the rubber band will flatten this out any more! Pulling on the band no longer results in a straight line. We have created a "topologically protected" phase twist in our own universe. The only way to remove a clockwise winding, is by annihilating it with an an anticlockwise winding, which releases an enormous amount of energy stored in the phase field.

Hence the stark warnings of space-environmental organisations. It may start all good and well for mining, but before you know it we will have topologically protected phase windings roaming all over the universe causing havoc. And... it may also start a new arms race trying to create military applications such as phase recombination bombs. All this may end up seriously damaging spacetime, or rather, further damaging it, after the Seyllin incident already punched wormholes into it.