The chivalry of SFRIM members

I have not yet heard back from mr. Ulrik Thorne, but the faithful members of SFRIM helped me. I had only speak half a word to Gaun Arel before he contacted his own agent specialized in finding a capsuleer's last known location. He quickly found out that Lord Cardinal Graelyn was last seen in commanding a vessel in E-YCML, in Providence. It's a bit creepy, this lack of privacy that we have.

This agrees with the information that his Eminence has retired in Providence, as indicated by mr. Thorne as well, although he pointed to Misaba. 

Enter a second champion, Jason Statesman. He rushed to his exploration vessel, and made haste to Providence to both systems mentioned. He talked to the locals but apparently no-one has seen the Cardinal for a while. He also reported that civility is in decline in Providence, and locals treated him quite boorishly.

Finally, ms. Renalard and especially our Directrix were very helpful in recalling events from the past, from a time before my kind paladins Gaun and Jason had joined SFRIM. The Cardinal appears to have a long and interesting history. 

Lunarisse also recalled Revan Neferis - though with great distaste. She fired a barrage of names at me, of capsuleers from decades past, and now I need to get cards, pins and tread in order to visualize all the connections.

I am grateful for all the gracious help from the members of SFRIM, and touched by their chivalry and unquestioning help.

Ulrik Thorne's offer of help

I have been contacted by a capsuleer named Ulrik Thorne, who offered his assistance in finding Lord Cardinal Graelyn. 

He asks for a reasonable recompense, and I informed him that I cannot spend more than 75 million. My vow of poverty does not allow me to have more isk than strictly necessary to replace the Indagatrix and her modules. I have to admit I blinged her out a little bit, and 75 mil is what she is worth now. If he will require more, I will have to figure out a down-payment plan.

Mr. Thorne seems to have a connection to the Cardinal. He was aware of his last known whereabouts, in Providence, and mentioned that he was owed money by the Cardinal. He wanted to try and broadcast my message to him, to draw him out.

I agreed, but I've become a bit worried since. I didn't sleep well. What if he uses me and my quest in order to draw out the Cardinal and harm him?

A spy cell

There was a theft of technology and pods in Jita, the main trade hub in the State. It looks like the Gurista pirates are involved. The theft also include a lot of information, intelligence gathering. 

Capsuleers all over New Eden are hunting down these capsules, and selling whatever information or runaways they find inside. That information then tends to spread around - no-one remembers the slogan "loose lips sink ships". So it was that via friends in the interlibrary loan network we were casually discussing the news and I learned about a piece of disturbing information.

Now, in one of the retrieved capsule's holostorage subsystems the following shard of text was found: "eard from one of the cell members based in the Amarr Trade Registry offices. Passed on some information about EDENCOM spending priorities during the invasion he'd dug u"

The Amarr trade registry station closest to the Concord systems is here in Nasreri! I can only conclude that the spy cell (hopefully not a terrorist cell) operates from here. I've alerted the board - it is no coincidence that this spy cell is here in the same station where SFRIM put its new headquarters. 

We're being spied upon! Aria may be confident in the airtight security cordon around the Lamp, but human error lurks around every corner. Now, how to unmask these spectres? I have to read up on counterintelligence operations, there must be some sort of handbook in our library.

Legal representation

Mr. Jensen helped me to find a lawyer. He said he was very happy with his lawyer, who had helped him win a case about discrimination of temporally impaired people in the workplace. After mr. Jensen's mishap in the wormhole he did various jobs, and one of his previous employers, Friendly Fried Fastfood, fired him because he was too slow. 

But in mr. Jensen's case it was a general relativistic medical condition which he had disclosed when he applied for the job, so Friendly Fried Fastfoods was wrong to fire him and had to pay a fine.

So, I contacted the lawyer, mr. Ezoterio Van Geneughten. I sent him a written message, as I was unable to figure out how to pronounce his name and also mr. Jensen admitted he could not remember. At first, mr. Van Geneughten declined, because he specializes in gravitational law and spacetime accidents. But he was willing to make an exception for a capsuleer friend of mr. Jensen, if he'd be allowed to bill the hours that he would need to study the parts of property law specific to my case.

He could already tell me that mr. Boulette claimed he had found the artefacts as space salvage, and that Boulette was not aware that his storage facility was used for illegal purposes by third parties. I probably had no right to open the containers and take the artefacts, but maybe I could claim that since the facility had been abandoned by Boulette I was also exercising the right to salvage. Anyhow, it looks like it will be a very long and costly affair in the courts...

Legal matters

The nerve of this gangster! I received a letter from an attorney in Bersirym, representing mr. Boulette. 

First, I am surprised that the scoundrel is still free. A gangster, whose henchmen have murdered me some time ago. They lack solid proof! Since when has a shimmer of doubt ever stopped the Ministry of Internal Order to apprehend criminals? Have they lost their mind and become bleeding heart "innocent until proven" Federals? Ah, it must be the relative proximity to the Federation that has poisoned law enforcement in that forsaken province. 

Mr. Boulette himself has Gallentean blood flowing through his veins. And he probably has some Gallentean blood on his hands too. And that of men and women of all four Empires, I am certain!

Anyway, his fancy lawyer claims I have illegally retrieved a bunch of artefacts from a storage facility of mr. Boulette in an abandoned mining colony, and I have to pay for these goods or return them to mr. Boulette. I mean, there was a firefight and another attempt at taking my life in that facility! I reported everything back to the local authorities who had given me the green light to investigate this storage facility in the first place. I don't know what happened afterwards with the whole thing, content as I was to have retrieved these artefacts from what was clearly a Blood Raider operation.

Most of the artefacts I have donated to Hedion University, but I did keep some choice ones here, for my Takmahl history museum that I plan to set up. I will not give them up! But I need to find some legal counsel. Either that or finally install pulse lasers on the Indagatrix.

Offer of help

It is always nice to receive offers of help without asking. Ms. Prime showed interest in my search for relics, and offered her help (and that of her Holder father).

I am happy to accept, even if right now the help I need may not be of the adventurous kind ms. Prime imagines. Rather, I would have her help me patiently scout out Access and the neighboring systems, and maybe also New Eden. Also, a review of the archives of the historical settlement of those systems may need and additional pair of eyes. 

But maybe I should be wary not to burn out my young friend with boring assignments? Another trip to Bersyrim may be useful, and then I can bring someone who is not afraid to engage other capsuleers or Blood Raiders.

A night at the Lamp

There was a very lively and pleasant night at the bar in Gottin's Lamp. I was there, having a coffee with Gaun, discussing the status of my research on the Tetrimon relics. It turns out that Gaun has shortly been in the same corporation as Lord-Consort Newelle; but he did not know about the retired (and heavily decorated) admiral, lord Graelyn.

That night, by a happy coincidence, many capsuleers chose to drop by, and the bar really filled up. There was also an interview with a candidate-member, Tiberius. Ishta was bartending.

It's nice to see our corp is in good spirits, and also still recruiting. When it appeared that some drinking games would begin - a thing not unusual among soldiery and miners alike - I retired. One spiked coffee is enough...

Lord-Consort Shutaq-Newelle's help

I learned a valuable lesson: if the coffee tastes off, don't drink it. Even if it is offered to you by a lord.

I met up with Lord-Consort Aldrith Shutaq-Newelle, to ask him questions about the history of the Militia, in particular Aegis Militia and their involvement in retrieving relics from the temple of God's alluring whisper. This happened in a time before his lordship joined the Amarr Militia, so he did not have too much information about them. 

However, he is acquainted with a retired admiral, Lord Graelyn, who probably was part of that operation. He will contact him and try to put us in contact. 

After this good news, Lord-Consort Aldrith Shutaq-Newelle invited me to the Holy Grape bar on Amarr. I think he misses a good intellectual or theological conversation. That is hard to come by in the current Militia, he says. He bought me coffee, but it was coffee with whiskey, and I did not realize until it was too late. That is, I do not hold my liquor, not even in small amounts, and especially not since I try to fast regularly. I got drunk. 

The next day I had to deal with a headache of such a magnitude that I decided to never drink a drop of alcohol again, and also no coffees that taste strange, even if it may offend a noble.

Training

I was acutely reminded of how much I dislike physical exercises as I continue a training programme that Ishta suggested for me, to get me "in shape". 

The training centers on running. I have to admit that Ishta chose to train a skill that excellently matches my primary instincts when facing an enemy. 

However, rather than running in a straight line, which would make sense to evade an enemy, I am to run back and forth between two lines, going absolutely nowhere. It seems like a silly sport. It's even a sphereless sport - note that many sports involve throwing, bouncing, kicking, hitting or punching spheres - with some exceptions using ellipsoids. I have to reach the goalpost before hearing a beep, and then turn around to run back to the first one. The time between the beeps gradually decreases until, inevitably, the task becomes impossible. After a while, it has me spinning around like a rabid hamster that lost its running wheel.

I could clone into a younger version of myself, and cybernetically enhance my legs, but the trainer considers this cheating. Also donning an exoskeleton would be cheating. It would however be the rational thing to do for one that cannot run well, and yet has to go on a mission. Why all this pain and suffering when there is an easy technofix for this? 

In the end, I resigned myself to this training, though. I have come to see these exercises as a form of self-flagellation, or maybe spiritual exercises. I try to discern in it a theological allegory, one of perseverance in the face of inevitable failure.

Progress is slow

Still no success in getting more information from our "veterans". They seem to have different hours than I have (or, in the case of ms. Renalard, refuse to talk to me). 

Meanwhile, I also have difficulties to find anything about the Aegis Militia. The Order of the Black Cross seems to have made much more of a fuss about them, and their demise is more documented.

I will try to find our directrix, our hours of activity have been particularly out of sync. And perhaps also lord Lok'ri, as he has been around since I think the start of capsuleerdom.

Var's distress

 I saw ms. Varcutii Renalard at the bar, and that looked like a happy coincidence as she is a veteran capsuleer and might know something about the Aegis Militia and the Dark Sephrim. 

However, she seemed quite distressed and disheveled. Perhaps even suffering from substance abuse... She refused to answer my inqueries about her distress and pushed me away.

Why is it that veteran capsuleers are so distressed? Those that witnessed the birth of capsuleering and the early years, the last ones of Heideran VII? Are they distraught at what we have become? Far from immortality, many end their own lives, as I've found looking into these "old" corporations. 

We do have the prospect of immortality, but few seem to be able to bear that burder longer than a decade...

Obituary

I received some really sad news. 

About a year ago, I found three stowaway exotic dancers in my hangar, and I brought them back to the federation. They were nice girls and I was glad to help them.

Today, I stumbled across an obituary for Anna Angel, one of them. She died back in January, apparently. And she died suddenly, unexpectedly, of an overdose of frentix. That's all I could learn about this, I didn't find any news of the other two girls. I have no idea how I'd contact them now.

I'm quite shaken by this news. She was so young, perhaps early twenties? Maybe I could have done more for her, tried to keep up with what was happening to her? I didn't stay in touch after I had them dropped off in Luminaire. I made a courier contract for that. It seems so impersonal now, I was concerned about my reputation. I didn't think about them afterwards, I just supposed all would be okay. I forgot about it afterwards.

I should have known better, they crept on board the Indigatrix during a Serpentis and Angel cartel party week, when I raided one of their data centers. Serpentis and Cartel, that should have told me they being taken advantage of. I failed to see that.

I'll light a candle for her at the chapel and pray for her soul.

Too little, too late.

Heresy

The downfall of the Order of the Black Cross started when they declared war on Aegis Militia, the other group that was supporting the Tetrimon. It appears they allied themselves with Blood Raiders and other dubious characters.

One of their 'friends' was a certain Arderich, a sedevacantist before they become known by that name. He declared the following tenets of his belief:

"1) Pax Amarria must burn and
2) the Udorian House Tash-Murkon must retreat.
3) I realize this statements are clearly against the decisions of Heideran. Neiher Heideran nor Doriam were Gods chosen ones is a logical conclusion of this two first statements. On a side note: again I am pleased to have heard a similar statement form Grand Master Horm.

I think this pretty much sums up the whole chaos and I am not at all interested to get between the lines of this nonsense that is happeneing between multiracial corporations/alliances with wicked and strange relationships all over."

This was a decade ago, but reeks of Sedevacantism. It seems this heresy was simmering underneath long before Nauplius became its self-proclaimed leader. This leads me to believe it will not go away once Nauplius goes away...

Members of the Order of the Black Cross

From what I can find in the trade registry, the Order of the Black Cross, and its executor corporation Dark Seraph indeed seem defunct. 

An alarming number of capsuleers that were registered with them have been biomassed and/or have been stricken from the Record. It looks like there was a final purge somewhere around or just before YC112, not just a disbanding. These folks didn't retire, they were eliminated. 

There's no more trace of lord Jeserat Verisum, or Revan Neferis (who perhaps became his wife and a lady of the fallen House).

A few members of the Order got out, and remained active. There's only one of the maybe more prominent members that managed to escape: ms. Verjigorm. She's a convicted heretic and now a pirate and has shown signs of activity all the way up to YC 119. 

To my surprise, I found that a former member of the Order of the Black Cross has joined SFRIM, staying there up to June last year. Mr. Kazuma Ry. I pulled up his interview. Too bad that back then no-one asked about prior associations with known heretics... Nothing special was noted in the interview, it would take a skilled exegete the transcript may reveal an undertone of the Order's heretical beliefs painted over with the veneer of tolerance.

The Order of the Black Cross

I'm glad I am away from Teakh Tak-Teakh, and the dark world of Ibani VI. I didn't get to hear the ice sing, but I don't want to stay for that natural phenomenon. I did buy a recording of the singing ice from a souvenir shop in the Khanid Transport Storage station at Ibani VI, and a fridge magnet showing the glow beneath the glacial surface.

It's not that the Tetrimon refused to help, it's just that everyone remained quite distant. As if I am suspect, or impure. They won't offer any advice. They only tell me what I ask about. They don't sabotage me, not at all, but they simply have no interest in seeing me succeed.

To investigate House Verisum I don't need their archives any more. I will do just fine back in Nasreri consulting the Amarr Trade Registry in our station. I've already remotely logged in to the library's databases and found a next clue: House Verisum was apparently deeply involved in a secretive organisation, the Order of the Black Cross. 

Allegedly, this Order no longer exists, but of course, if it is a secret organisation, then it would make sense for them to let the rest of the world believe they no longer exist. 

The thing is, even secret organisations need to buy stuff and leave a paper trail in the vast bureaucracy of the Amarr Trade Registry. It just needs to be dug  up.

Fallen allies

My best chance to get more information on this "Temple of God's Assuring Whisper" is to find the people that were involved in retrieving artefacts from it before. 

Grand Master Horm led the last mission to retrieve the relics, but he is no longer with us. He was assisted by by members of the Aegis Militia and House Verisum, so these are the people I need to talk to. 

The Aegis Militia was an Amarrian loyalist faction, but I have no idea what became of them. Have they been absorbed by PIE? That would be an ideal outcome, maybe some of their old members are still in PIE and now that they are in our own alliance it will be easy to talk to them.

House Verisum was more deeply involved, and I think they would know more. They were staunch supporters and allies of the Order. However, they fell from grace. Grand Master Horm denounced the Verisum Family, accusing them of severe crimes against the Empire and the Order. According to the recorded indictment the accusations included threatening pilots of the Order, flying alongside known enemies of the Empire, feuding with Imperial loyalist forces, and releasing private communications into the public domain. Even though the Grand Master offered redemption, House Verisum refused, with one exception: Revan Neferis decided to seek a pardon from the Order. 

She did not get her pardon.

But to me, this implies Revan Neferis stills cares about her soul, and holds on to the faith. She might be the key to this mystery - and to the location of the temple where Tetrimon IV hid the relics. Who is she? The Order might never tell me what I want to know, but these fallen allies just might.

I look forward to leaving this depressing world and getting back to Nasreri.

The temple of God's Assuring Whisper

Slowly, in this dark and forlorn archive, I am making a bit of headway in the search for mentions of the relics hidden by Grand Master Tetrimon IV.

I'm finding scattered references revealing that the stolen relics of the Apostles were brought to safety in a region all to familiar to me: the constellations close to Eve Gate in Genesis. There are many mentions of a "Temple of  God’s Assuring Whisper". These whispers can only be heard close to the Mouth of God, which is what we call Eve Gate in the Amarrian language. I've even found some references that locate the temple in the Access system. 

This would indeed be a convenient hiding place, far away from the Throne worlds, at the edge of what was then the explored part of the cluster.

The archivists and other monks here tell me this temple was indeed an important place long ago, but it was destroyed during the civil wars following the Moral Reforms, and information on its location is lost.

However, back in YC108 the Order did retrieve some relics that were stolen from the temple by Blood Raiders. The thieves and the relics were still in the Genesis region, and this is not the Blooders' favorite place. If they were stolen long ago, they would have been moved. So I think the Blooders got their hands on the relics around YC108 and not before. This leads me to believe that maybe the temple or its ruins remain to this very day a hiding place for many relics stowed away by Tetrimon IV. 

And I need to find it.

Contradictions

These archives are vast. And contradictory. 

On the one hand, a lot of the material of the Tetrimon Scrolls advocates for the concept of "equality". This is the (disturbingly Gallentean) idea that all people are the same and should be treated the same. Nowhere is this more clear than in the teachings of Tetrimon IV, who was grand master of the order during the Moral Reforms. He emphasizes the apocryphal exhortation "For you are all my creation, and are all equal in my kingdom". 

Tetrimon IV opposed emperor Heideran V and his Moral Reforms, that would see power centralized in the hands of the Emperor and the Heir houses. The drive for equality is indeed antagonistic to the idea of increased power for the Heirs and the Emperor. It would even now be considered a heresy now, I am convinced of it. Holders and slaves are not equal. This inequality does not mean that holders are inherently superior, just that the duties and expectations are different. And this is as it should be, as it always was.

Tetrimon IV hid the records of the Apostles, and many can be found now in these archives. They show a council that slowly loses its grip on power and no longer is able to keep the Heirs and the Emperor in check. The grand master also hid the relics of the apostles, but they do not appear to be here.

On the other hand, today's Order is now all about orthodoxy and enforcing the rule of the Holders over their slaves. I find that contradictory to their historically held beliefs. It is clear from these records they even acted against Doriam and his release of slaves, and they were eagerly participating in Sarum's and Ardishapur's wars against rebellious slaves. This enforcer role must be what earned them the support of these Houses.

I wonder where the current grand master stands, Khemon Dulsur an-Tetrimon is a direct descendant of Tetrimon IV, and hence of Saint Tetrimon. Perhaps he returns to this belief in equality? Indeed, he has supported Jamyl in her reforms, something that was unthinkable before.

The pit

Following a tradition that dates back into the dark ages, an abbey's muniment room - where the documents are kept - is located close to the calefactory, where the power generators are. This probably goes back to a pre-industrial era when the calefactory was the only heated place in monasteries, and documents needed to be kept close to that room so they would not get damp and moldy.

                                                               (OOC image credit: Wojtec Fus)

The historical archives of the Order are also located near a site where the power generators are. Mostly fission reactors, creating enough excess heat to melt some of the ice on top of the site. The site itself is mostly undergound, to protect it from orbital attacks. It looks like a chasm, an immense hole in the ground, and that is why people refer to it as "the pit." A dark place in a dark world.

It appears to me that it also houses a kind of command center and fleet hangars. The security is tight, and I am constantly tracked. I'm only allowed in some restricted area. But I could finally start working - I've installed myself in the reading room and I have found a helpful assistant archivist. Helpful, but like everyone else here, not very chatty.

Teakh Tak-Teakh

The Tetrimon knight met up with me in the hangar of the Khanid Storage station orbiting Ibani VI's fifteenth moon, while I was reviewing the Indigatrix's systems and preparing for another round of probing in the Ibani system. A stern fellow, taciturn. He introduced himself as Paladin-Knight Kaertush Eradahr. He took me to a shuttle, capable of atmospheric flight.

We went down to the planet, to fortress Teakh Tak-Teakh. You could feel it, as the craft descended. Ibani VI is a large world, with a high gravity, pulling you down and making every movement tiresome. 

Everything gets more weight, down here.

The fortress is a squat, hunkered down, sprawling installation with large guns to take down orbital bombers and shields to protect it from bombardment. It's built into one of the few rocky outcroppings in the ice. There are many hangars, it's clear that there is a fleet here and a full commandery of several cohorts of Tetrimon forces.

After some formalities I have been housed in a cell, with a small window to the outside. I took the above picture of the view from my cell of the panorama outside, on  what is known here as a bright sunny day. 

I am to wait here, and will be brought to the archives and library tomorrow. They're in a different facility, known as the Pit, which serves mainly as power station for the fortress, housing the old-fashioned fission reactors that power up the entire place. I ventured out of my cell a bit, going to the nearest refectory in the hope of chatting with other monks. But I did not get any normal conversation - everyone here seems quiet, tensely focused on work, thinking only of duty, and wary of strangers.

(OOC: image taken from scrolller.com / antarctica - image author unknown)