Monk holes

I have returned to Neyi, to the ancient library of the monastery of the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl. Baron Redwolfe speculates that bookshelf LXXIII may have been removed in old times by looters, but I wonder why they would have taken one specific entire bookshelf, rather than just ransack the place. 

Now, while they are not of much economic worth, the books that I am looking for are of historical importance. They describe a delicate part in the history of the Order of Saint Tetrimon. During the Moral Reforms, the order fought on the side of the rebellious Council of Apostles, against the Emperor. It is in this period that Grand Master Tetrimon IV is rumored to have hidden precious relics to keep them from falling in the hands of the Emperor. Two potential hiding places have previously come to my attention: the temple of God's Assuring Whisper, current location unknown, and the space city of Mezagorm, currently forbidden terrain.

However, if this library holds any lost records of that period, they could provide more clues as to the hiding place for these relics!

I find it suspicious that would be exactly these books that have gone missing. Perhaps they were moved to protect them or their contents? But then hopefully they were not moved very far, that would have been unwise in dangerous times. 

Some places, often monasteries, had "monk holes". These were ingeniously concealed hidden places built into the walls, where monks could flee to protect themselves during persecution or ransacking by, say, Blood Raiders. They were sometimes very cleverly disguised, for example a fake sewer. Such hiding places would be useful to hide books that the Tetrimon would not want to fall into the hands of Imperial troops.

The Understanding under pressure

The last exploration vessel that I lost was during my time traveling through the barbarian lands, en route to to the Zerg in Feythabolis, a people that appear open to the message of God. That happened now well over a year ago, before mr. Firth was assigned to the Indagatrix. However, since then I did lose a number ships during alliance operations and operations mandated by the Empress.

My political officer mr. Ivan Firth is well aware of this, and we have an "understanding". He is not particularly keen to end up in an emergency escape pod in space, and I am already more than grateful enough if he advises me only in the Indagatrix, my trusted exploration vessel. 

So, he stayed in the docked Anathema while I was off to do my part in the fight against the Drifters yesterday. After the fleet operations, I have made a trip to Seclusion, to see how the renovation and enlargement of the the Chapel of St. Vasrayi is going. I may have brought people along that were not quite cleared for travel, but I did so in good conscience.

Of course, mr. Firth found out about this and was not pleased at all. I understand he is displeased, but honestly, there was no need for shouting or frothing-at-the-mouth kind of anger. I think he overreacts, probably because he is worried about upholding the severitas that comes with his new rank after his recent promotion. 

Anyway, until further notice he will be joining me also in my (non-exploration) operations in fleet.

Anti-Drifter Operations

Today I heeded the call to action from our beloved Empress and joined a search and rescue fleet led by Baron Redwolfe. Due to my vow of non-violence I avoid laser weapons or other damage dealing ship modules. So, I do not often join small combat fleets - I tried a bit, without success, in an Inquisitor, during the pirate uprising in Mehatoor. Remote repairs, that is a role I have from time to time filled in fleets for Khimi Harar. 

This time, it was different: salvaging wrecks on a battleground where our fleet beat the drifters, to find escape pods, and bring those stranded inside back home to Amarr. That certainly is a task I can and I am proud to do. 

The Drifter incursion in the Empire hopped one system from Yooh to Jeshideh; it had previously hopped over to Yooh from Hostakoh next-door. Seeing this pattern, our Caldari baseliners working at Gottin's Lamp are getting nervous: in the State, the Drifters are in Ikuchi, just one system away from Jita. What will happen when the Drifters decided to take a stab at Jita, and paralyze the main trade hub of the cluster? 

Some capsuleers have expressed excitement about that, or glee, but to many the prospect of disrupted trade routes are reminiscent of all bad things that happened with the fall of Niarja during the Triglavian war. A looming cluster-wide economic recession would be bad for everyone - except the Drifters. And, if they can poke at Jita in the State, then even our home world, our chosen Amarr, might be on their list... I do not want to think about it too much...

Travel permit

Bringing Libby to Seclusion station may be more difficult than I anticipating. She is willing to go, perhaps even eager to get out of Mehatoor. But transporting her in the Indagatrix gets a hard no from my political officer, the recently promoted mr. Firth. 

Not unless I can present proper papers from her Holder that she is to be transferred to Seclusion. In itself this is a very reasonable measure to prevent slaves from running away. But I do feel that mr. Firth should trust me a bit more. 

I am not sure if ms. Yubari's signature on a form would be legal - due to her condition, and probably also to her not being legally allowed to even own slaves. And of course, I cannot ask the heretic to sign a form, even considering that is ridiculous.

I seem to be stuck on this.

Rescued slaves

A crisis like the Drifter incursions can bring out the very best in people - but unfortunately also the worst.

This became clear over the weekend, as I saw a sudden influx of traumatized slaves into the Lamp's medbay. The heretic leader of the Sedevacantists had attempted to sacrifice these slaves to the Drifters, by dumping them in mobile depots in space. The idea was to have the Drifters experiment on them rather than on monks. While the saving of innocent monks is a good intention, the means are horrific.

A LUMEN fleet, commanded by Maria Daphiti, went to save these poor souls from a certain death, be it from a Drifter attack or by neglect and hunger alone in the depths of space. Sadly, not all could be saved, it was too late for some. Those that survived were brought back to Mehatoor. Mr. Ché Biko - a diplomat connected to a pacifist faction within the Federation, if I recall correctly - offered assistance by dispatching trauma experts.

That is very kind, but it is also very Gallente to forget about the healing of the soul. Abuse not only causes psychological trauma, it can also lead to a crisis of faith. I made sure to visit and comfort the escapees spiritually.

The commotion in the Medbay had a very detrimental impact on Libby, herself a former slave and victim of the heretic. Her fears that the heretic would come and take her back are again paralysing her. I will discuss with her my plans to have her transferred to St. Vasrayi's chapel Seclusion. Despite several attempts, I think it is clear that she cannot function in Mehatoor due to the presence of the heretic in the same system.

Simulacra

Again, there are worrisome developments on the Drifter crisis. Pilots (among them Michael Minate who reported it publicly) have found simulated baseliners. Vast amounts of data to create a copy of one particular person! Additionally, fragments of what appear to be images of an invasion plan have been found. 

Others have been asking why the Drifters experiment on us, exposing helpless monks to radiation and testing their limits. They are rightly expecting the Drifters to already have more than enough accurate information on our physiology. What they might not know accurately are our cultural habits, our psychology - different from empire to empire, for which they would have to redo their experiments in each of the four powers. 

Putting it all together, I think they plan to build a simulacrum - a copy of an existing person, to inhabit and behave in a manner that does not raise suspicion. They need the information on our behavior to make these simulacra blend in. 

This could be to create a spokesperson, or a negotiator to talk to us - if so it would be a first real attempt at conversation. The more probable explanation is that they want to infiltrate our ranks, replace people in crucial positions with their puppets, to help their invasion. 

I have discussed it with mr. Firth, who assures me that the MIO is having the situation under control and that I should not worry. I do worry nevertheless, and insisted that we devise a secret passphrase and commit it to memory, to be able to make sure that we haven't been replaced by Drifter simulacra.

PS. I need to warn Baron Redwolfe to be watchful for simulated pilots infiltrating his fleets. Oh, I also should not forget to ask him about the missing bookshelf LXXIII in his Order's library.

More celebrations

Today there was another party - a more private one this time, not Empire wide, just on board of the Indagatrix! 

Mr. Ivan Firth passed the promotion exam and thus met the final requirement for his promotion along the ranks of the MIO. I think he skipped a few rungs, thanks to our explorations and bringing back interesting artefacts. I do not know what these ranks or nomenclatures imply, but he is now Itinerant Frumentarius First class. He's got a new uniform too. 

It would be logical for him to now have more choice in his assignments and be able to do other things than look after a curious friar exploring about. So I think it is by his own volition that he stays on as political officer of the Indagatrix. 

He's arranged for an escape pod of his own, a new MIO type pod. It is, he says, safer and better equipped than the life support backup unit I had installed a while ago in the cargo bay. It will take up much less space, and has proven its worth in the recent Drifter crisis, where more than ever before search and rescue missions were successful. 

Victory in Tash-Murkon

A victory in Tash-Murkon! 

The Empress' home system had been the target of a Drifter incursion. The Navy and independent capsuleers such as our own pilots have worked hard to repell these "profane monstrosities" as the Empress calls them. They managed to destroy a Vigilant Dreamer, the hub of the invasion. Our scientists understand this structure to be some sort of spying and information gathering nexus, passing on the data to God knows where. With its destruction, the incursion came to an end.  

While the "Drifter Crisis" - as this was is called - is not over yet, it was a moment to celebrate. The Empress gave a speech, and commended all, saying that "the faithful have risen to that challenge like a righteous flame!"

She mentioned the valiant pilots that were there to deal the final blow to the Dreamer - among them Arataka Research Consortium fleet commander DutchGunner, whom I had the pleasure to fly with in the past. Although some view the ARC with suspicion due to their neutrality, I think their actions now prove their good intent. They have been fighting these Drifters for a long time in wormhole space, and share their experience in the extermination of that threat.

Although not mentioned by name in the Empress' speech, let us not forget the great efforts of our own Baron Redwolfe and his fleets, that have worked closely with the Amarr navy. Last I heard they have been doing search and rescue missions which by now saved hundreds of Amarr navymen, During these missions, they have encountered and destroyed many more enemy vessels in the process. Let our pilots and the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl take pride in having earned the gratitude of our beloved Empress and of all Amarr!

Meditations on immortality

Capsuleers. Contrary to baseliner belief, we are not eternal. But we are not quite mortal either. Our immortality is a potential to endure in time, but it is to be sharply distinguished from eternity as is found in mathematical truths or in God[1]. To put it plainly: we can be killed and erased from existence, just not by the mere passage of time.

What does our immunity to aging mean for our life? What becomes of this transhuman condition?

We are probably still too “young” to know. It is not clear yet what will happen to the inner, contemplative aspect of our existence, to that intimate realm of thoughts and love and meditations considered by many theologians to be superior to the worldly realm of actions.

But in the realm of actions and interactions, for capsuleers already a first hint of a change has manifested itself in that small span of time since we came into being: A disproportionate number of capsuleers retire from public life.

Humans in all ages - before this one - enter the public life, not merely because bringing things into the public confers reality to them[2], but more so because it is the only way mortals can attempt to give permanence to things beyond their own finite lifespan. Our deeds, our words, the artifacts we make, they perish with us if we do not share them with others. But when potential lifespan knows no limit, there is no longer a need for a public to guarantee the permanence of such things.

In no other race is this retraction from the public to the private more evident than in the Jove, the oldest race to have conquered mortality. The need to engage with each other and with a common shared world seems to have dissipated in them altogether. The Sleepers have locked themselves out of the public sphere for good. And the Jovian disease I consider to be an extension of this condition from their active life to their inner or contemplative life - a hint of what lack of mortality does to the mind, in the end. 

[1] The Great Fall and subsequent coming of the Dark Ages has deeply rooted in our common subconsciousness the conviction that nothing humans can make lasts forever and that only God offers the eternal.

[2] Consider the question “Did you hear that too?” A perceived sound is only real when it is confirmed through shared experience. Note that reality and truth are not the same – while it may be very true that the person asking the question hears a sound, they consider that sound real only if others hear it as well.

Chained books

I researched the monastery's library for writings about the Order of Saint Tetrimon, in particular their early history in the Khanid Kingdom, after their banishment from the Empire. That is when they would have tried to smuggle ancient relics out of the empire.

Books like to hide from us. You think you put your book near the sofa, but it turns out to be at the bedside. The more books you have around you, the harder it gets to keep track of their location, especially in an ancient and undigitized collection. The easiest way was to actually chain books to the bookshelf or lectern. That way, they cannot get very far from where they are supposed to be. 

Now, for a small collection, you can just keep a list of all the books you have. But for a big collection, you will need help finding the book. That is where shelfmark tags come in. 

Books get a tag, usually on the spine, and that mark is basically a set of coordinates, like latitude and longitude for a planet's global positioning system. For example, if you see written in red lettering III A 3 you know the book's location is bookshelf III, right side (left one would be written in black), top shelf, third book - each successive coordinate in the label lets the librarian zero in more closely on the book's location.

On the side of the bookshelf or lectern, you can find a shelf list. That is also arranged "geographically". The top of the left column corresponds to the top of the left part of the shelf. The collection of various shelf lists is itself turned into a book, the very earliest versions of library catalogs, and its place is on the first lectern. 

The oldest volumes of the library of the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl Monastery, the ones that date back to the days of the Khanid order of Paladins and their interaction with the Tetrimon knights, are not digitized or catalogued, but they do use the shelfmark tag system. 

After an entire day of getting my bearings using this ancient GPS, I found that what I am looking for should be on bookshelf LXXIII. 

However, between shelves LXXII and LXXIV is just a blank wall without bookshelf or lectern.

OOC picture credit: https://www.herefordcathedral.org/chained-library

Monastic libraries

There has been disconcerting news that the Drifters, during their incursions, have been torturing monks that they captured at a deep space monastery, just to find out the limits of their endurance. May God give them strength and reward their for their martyrdom. 

I am not sure what I can contribute against that threat, but I am grateful that Baron Redwolfe leads the counter-incursion fleets. So, both to take my mind off the atrocities reported in the news, and to help the baron where I can best, I went back to Neyi IV, to the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl Monastery. 

We recently provided climate control units for the Monastery's library so now I went back to inspect them. I found the place much improved; the units work well, and also repairs and proper insulation at the windows have been completed. 

Along with those repairs, the layout of the library itself, like many monastic libraries, helps keep the books in good condition. As is typical, it has long and fairly narrow rooms with vents to protect against damp atmosphere, with thick walls to keep temperature from following daily fluctuations. The lecterns project at right angles from the windows, providing adequate lighting, and they have slightly angular surfaces to lay out the books without straining the backs of the bindings. There are shelf lists affixed to the lecterns, to catalog the books on the nearby shelves - the precursor of the modern library catalog. Rules as these were laid out long ago in the Instructiones Custodem Librorum by Saint Aloysius of the Quill, a blessed doctor of the faith that I often pray to and hold very dear in my personal venerations.

Anti-drifter fleets

The Drifter crisis deepens; and now the Empress has called upon all to take our vengeance on the drifter abomination. For LUMEN, Baron Redwolfe has taken the initiative to lead our pilots. 

This does not surprise me, as chapter master of the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl, the presence of Drifters should be especially enraging, and the Empress' call would resonate well with their reverance to the late Empress Jamyl.

From the early footage, I am seeing some resemblence between the new structures that appear during the incursions and ancient Talocan ones... I hope Baron Redwolfe and his fleet take time to get some footage and measurements on that.

Drifter incursions

Nothing good comes from the meddling of the Deathless with Jove technology, and his abductions of Upwell infomorphs for God knows what evil plan.

The Drifters are not taking this lightly. This time they are not using battering rams to try and enter Zarzakh... It is us who have become their target! The ACN has reported of skirmishes with Drifters in various parts of the Empire. 

There is no full scale invasion, but our navy is on high alert and working hard to keep us safe. Nevertheless, some systems have been undergoing incursions. The Drifters again use some sort of spacetime engineering, because in the systems where they do their incursions, ship velocities and warp speeds are increased. And they have found ways to diminish shield resists and drone effectiveness - that should not bother our fine navy ships that rely on armor and lasers! 

Our technology has much progressed since the time of their cowardly attack on Empress Jamyl, they will face the wrath of the faithful. I will urge capsuleers and baseliners alike in my next sermons to help cleanse Empire space from these devils and avenge the blasphemous attack on the Empress!

PS. Not all news is bad today - I was able to give lady Ashand, callsign 'Deceiver's Echo', the information file on her relative.

Goodbyes and a gift

I visited lady Agatha Adelath today, she is recovering from her surgery. All seems to be well, and she looks a hundred years younger, like a sprightly 300-year old and not a day more. 

So it was time for me to say goodbye to Mr. Maulus.

Lady Agatha was of course very happy to be reunited with Mr. Maulus, even if she cannot move about yet very much. Also Mr. Maulus seemed exceedingly happy to be back with lady Agatha! He lept up into her arms.

Her ladyship insisted on giving me a gift for keeping Mr. Maulus while she was undergoing the medical procedure. She wants me to have sailing ships of her late husband. I refused, citing my vow or poverty that only allows me to have ships that are strictly necessary for my quest - apart from the Indagatrix that I use frequently, I only have some shuttles, the Ratakh Hubrau, a hauler and a Stratios for the Takmahl labyrinth, and a logistics vessel gifted to me by lord Utari. And all those put together I already consider to be a lot.

But lady Agatha is not easily deterred, and she said that I should consider the sailing boats on permanent loan rather than property. And that I really should sail the rings of Hama VI with one of these slow ships. According to her it is very meditative to be coasting along on the waves of small ice crystals that undulate along the gas giant's rings, while basking in the golden glow of Hama's orange-red sun setting on the planet. That sounds so idyllic that I think I will just do it.

Dranera and the fish

It was a nice evening out with mr. Ivan Firth, he was more friendly now that his promotion exam was over. In his role as political officer on board of the Indagatrix, he is very uptight and severe, but a few shots of Narkian brandy made him much more relaxed. 

We talked about a lot of things, about the Ministry and the Theology council, and I told him about my aspirations, as a child, to become an inquistor. To my surpise, he did not know about that, or perhaps he forgot about it, because I would be surprised if this is not in my MIO background file.

I knew even less than I know now, and I wanted to be a heroic inquisitor chasing heretics across the galaxy. It sounded adventurous to me. And the holomovies about inquisitors beating evil masterminds were fantastic. 

But I didn’t pass those exams, I never got the degree. Mind you, I was good at the theoretical courses. But the practical part… I failed grievously on Applied Torture 101.

In that introductory course, students are not working with humans. You learn the basics by training on bunnies and furriers and geese ducklings. Cute animals, to better learn to detach yourself from your subject. I just could not stand the squeaks and shrieks, and the combination of gore and cuddly fluffiness. I fainted every time.

So, professor Dranera, an exquisitely pedagogical bully, figured I should start with something easier. He came up with this idea that I start with torturing a fish. It was a carp, I remember that fish.

This was a public humiliation. He told me in front of the whole class, as he plunked the fishbowl on my torture workbench. He said, ‘Here, that one won’t squeal!’. I was put on the spot, he bellowed out: ‘Savnar, what method will you use on your fish?’ I was nervous and made the wrong snap association in my mind.

I answered ‘waterboarding’.

Everybody laughed, but Dranera was furious. He thought I was mocking him, but it was just nerves acting up and me saying the first association that came to me. I was dismissed from class, and soon after that, I quit the program, and switched to a Theology degree in stead.

I failed to become an Inquisitor because I suggested waterboarding to torture a fish.

Exams

Mr. Firth was a bit grumpy when I asked him about Echo's relative. But he agreed to do it. It took him a lot of time.

He got results back to me today. And explained his earlier grumpiness: apparently, he was taking the exam for promotion. I thought he had already done that, but apparently he failed the first time around, and could retake it now. 

The result is not yet known, but he has the look of a student whose tension is lifted after the exam, and who suddenly feels the tiredness of the weeks of studying wash over him, making him for the moment too exhausted to worry too strongly about how it went.

I suggested we go for a drink, and for the first time since I've known him, he agreed.

Curious Request

There are always rumors circulating, in any congregation. 

After mass, as people greet each other on their way out of the chapel, one can almost see these rumors fluttering about like butterflies. They feed on the nectar of scandal, and move erratically from one group of faithful to another, pollinating brains with hearsay. The higher on the societal ladder that the scandal is about, the sweeter the nectar.

This is not something that can be stamped out, even by the harshest sermon and the sternest priest.

They reach my ears, but usually I ignore them. This time, a particularly nasty rumor is going around about lewd behavior by our Directrix. Such rumors tickle the imagination of our baseliners to no end, and they happily blow it out of proportion, to the point that any sane mind safely dismisses it at once.

But then I got this unusual request by the Directix: to help out certain persons that have uncommon professions. Well, perhaps not all that uncommon, but rather jobs that are frowned upon of by the more puritanical circles of clergy. Of course I am willing to help fellow man and woman, and if these rumors were not going around, I would have made nothing of it. But now I admit it has me a little worried.

Offline organs

Lady Adelath's Genolution organs were ready - and as per her request they do not connect to galnet, they remain fully offline. The workaround is that the she will have ports in her neck, to plug in datacrystals that update the organ's software when necessary. It will look as if she's a capsuleer with those, and she was quite proud to tell me she'd be "just like you".

The surgery took place today, and it appears all went well! Good news. 

This also means that - after still some period of time for post-surgery recovery - Mr. Maulus can return home. That will be good. We get along well, but Mr. Maulus demands a lot of time and attention, and I have to say I am looking forward to being alone with Mittens again. 

Searching the records

From time to time we have visitors to the library who want to use our access to the Book of Records, to find ancestry or relatives, for example to complete a family tree. Yesterday we had a high-profile visit, a capsuleer with callsign Deceiver's Echo. She is related to lord Ashland, a holder of a minor house. 

The young lady Ashland wanted to find her mother - and we did find the marriage link, and a record for her mother. At least, they are still in good standing with the Empire. But I had sad news for her: according to our records, her mother has passed away. Now, she was not originally Amarr and spent a lot of time in Yulai and in the Republic, so there is a very small possibility that record may still be wrong.

We did unearth another mystery. She appears to have a brother that she did not know about. And there is some seal on the record, I am not allowed to view it. I will ask mr. Ivan Firth, the political officer on the Indagatrix, how to best proceed. At this point, there is no need yet to bother the reverend mother Kahoudi. Mr. Firth is a bit lower on the Ministry's hierarchy, but I think he has enough clout to find out what is going on.

The Monastery of the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the monastery that now houses the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl. 

It is an ancient structure, actually predating Empress Jamyl's time. I am correct it was built by the Khanid Order of Paladins. It had fallen into disrepair, around the time that also the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl had become inactive. That is, untill Baron Redwolfe put his shoulders under the project of reviving this order to which his ancestors belonged and restoring both the order and the monastery to their former glory. 

Of particular interest is a large library that belonged to the Khanid Order of Paladins. It contains a vast number of ancient scrolls and I do not think that they have been translated or studied ever before. These paladins practiced the Exercises of Saint Aloysius of the Quill and had their knights copy scripture and write up things by hand. So many secrets lie there, and records of forgotten histories! I felt like a child in a candy shop! 

But looking at the bad climate control, this was closer to a candy shop of horrors. 

Time and nature took its toll on the library. The current shielding of the windows helps to keep rain and wind out - but nothing more. It is woefully unsatisfactory - I do not blame Baron on the Order, this is something that requires the tender love and care of proper librarians and conservation experts. 

I have arranged for a quick transport of climate control equipment - temperature and humidity should not be allowed to just go along with the weather outside, but should be very carefully controlled and kept at an optimum for preservation. Lighting should be adapted too - there are gorgeous frescoes of star maps that we must protect from fading. A team from the Lamp's library is going over to install the equipment as I write down this log entry. I'll go and inspect things as soon as they're ready.