I am leaving EvE Online, and I won’t be coming back.

Most of you may be thinking that is has to do with the recent troubles, of which I will not go into because everything that needs to be said is being said by many others. I will say I was fine with it all (even the standings buying since it fit the RP) until they started talking about non-vanity items. I want to make it clear that while this was an element to my decision, it was only the final nail in the coffin.

My main reasoning lay within what my life has become as of late. I have two jobs, a podcast project that is demanding more and more of my attention, an important spiritual pilgrimage coming up that will change my life considerably, no time to date, a new (old and used) car, no time to date (as if anyone would have me) as well as other issues all across the board.

I have been wholly unable to find time to play EvE the way it is meant to be played since before Fanfest, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Fanfest was a tipping point for me. I had an amazing time but it helped me start to see how I am more in love with EvE as a concept than as a game. Fitting, as that love-from-afar dynamic is how it all started and how it will rightfully end. I love EvE, but I don’t love EvE Online enough to drastically change my life so I can play it.

To my brothers and sisters in the Ushra’Khan, I love you dearly. There was not a single moment during all my capsuleer years that I did not want to fly with you. It was a privilege that I fear I never lived up to the way many of you thought I should have. I wish you all the best of luck and thank you so much for the opportunities you all offered me.

To the #Tweetfleet, you have no idea how much I will miss being one of you. You truly are the voice of a nation. You can all expect for me to be following you on my geek-centric Twitter account, @GeekEdge. Even though I may not be playing EvE anymore, I hope I can still be part of the discussion.

There are specific people who have touched me in a singular way, but I will be reaching out to them individually. I don’t wish to embarrass them.

To those who have come to enjoy my blog, I will be leaving it up, but I sadly can’t promise I’ll be writing any more IC posts. If the drive to do so ever strikes, I will. The blog will remain up. I have put too much work into these words to just delete them. If anyone would like to use my characters in any way, please let me know. Thank you all for reading. You made delving into the life and times of my characters worthwhile.

So what happens now? One of my major issues with leaving was what to do with my account. Gigaer was a highly-trained character and deserved to not be mothballed or biomassed. I have spent too many nights grinding, too many days pondering skillplans and too much money on subs to just do away with him. While I am trying to embrace a buddhist sense of impermanence, there is a point of waste I wish to avoid. Therefore, I will be transfering my character to the wonderful people at Project Halibut, so that all my work can go towards helping others. If you don’t know about PH yet, check it out. I feel this option is the best way to make an exit.

This is not the end of my connection to EvE. I will be continuing via a new partnership between the Complete Geek Network and the EvE Commune podcast. As my podcasting persona from the Complete Geek Network (Edge) I will be continuing my EvE science analysis in an audio format within it’s own monthly segment, as well as popping in from time to time for the show itself. I want to thank the good and honest crew at EvE Commune for arranging this all with me, even though they have been perhaps the most vocal about having me reconsider.

This choice was not easy. It took me months to get to this point. This is not an emoragequit. It is, however, the right thing to do for me.

To all of my immortal brothers and sisters, fly well.

Even though these three devices differ substantially in application, they are nearly identical in how they do what they do.

The simpliest are tractor beams. All ships have teather-based manipulators that use myomer teathers with simple manipulators on their ends to interact with objects at extremely close range, but objects that are further out can be “tractored” closer using this device. It operates by focusing a graviton column at the target, which pulls it in. More sophisticated systems can pull in objects faster and from further away because they can create a stronger and better attenuated column. This technology is at work in mining lasers and salvagers as well.

Mining lasers create a similar graviton column to a tractor beam, but it is modulated in a way that breaks up targets in a controled manner via micro-occilation of the gravitons. This literally shakes the matter being manipulated apart, Usually in the form of asteroids. Specific crystals can be used to ossilate the beam in a way that will more efficiently vibrate specific materials to the shattering point.

Salvagers are the most sophisticated of the three. Instead of using physical manipulators to remotely deconstruct an object near your ship, it uses a very complex suite of attracting and repelling graviton columns to manipulate objects to push, pull and hold components. The emmiters are similar to those of a tractor beam, but are much smaller and precise. This is more efficient but is currently not as delicate as myomer teathers, and therefore novice pilots find it difficult at first to free their target from wreckage without destroying it.

Tracking the path of advancement in these technologies over the past few decades is a good way of mapping how quickly pure science becomes various applications in New Eden. Capsuleers truly do drive industry.

There are three major ways to achieve faster-than-light (FTL) travel in EvE. Warp, stargates and cynosural-based jumps. Even though each of mode of FTL accomplishes more or less the same thing, they do it in ways that differ right down to the base physics involved. Indeed, one of them can barely be considered travel at all. So, let’s detail how each of these work, shall we?

Warp is the most common, as well as the slowest of the options. Every modern spaceship is equipped with a warp drive, and uses it for intra-system travel (point-to-point within a star system). Warp speeds are commonly measured in astronomical units, or AUs. An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about 149,597,870.7 kilometers (92,955,807.27 miles) or approximately the mean Earth–Sol distance.

The average spaceship travels at 3 AUs/sec at full field integrity.

Have you ever noticed how when traveling at warp, light ahead of the ship takes on a blue shift and light behind the ship takes on a red one? That is called a Doppler shift. The Doppler effect, named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed it in 1842 in Prague, is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from an observer. The received frequency is higher (compared to the emitted frequency) during the approach, it is identical at the instant of passing by, and it is lower during the recession.

The relative increase in frequency can be explained as follows. When the source of the waves is moving toward the observer, each successive wave crest is emitted from a position closer to the observer than the previous wave. Therefore each wave takes slightly less time to reach the observer than the previous wave. Therefore the time between the arrival of successive wave crests at the observer is reduced, causing an increase in the frequency. While they are travelling, the distance between successive wavefronts is reduced; so the waves “bunch together”. Conversely, if the source of waves is moving away from the observer, each wave is emitted from a position farther from the observer than the previous wave, so the arrival time between successive waves is increased, reducing the frequency. The distance between successive wavefronts is increased, so the waves “spread out”.

For waves which do not require a medium, such as light or gravity in general relativity, only the relative difference in velocity between the observer and the source needs to be considered.

A warp drive actively compresses space ahead of the ship, and expands it behind it, thereby reducing the relative space the ship needs to travel within the common dimensions of the universe, as well as the energy needed to transverse that space and bypassing the universal speed limit. This is done through artificial gravitational lensing, using graviton fields to create and control the famous virtual particles that mediate gravity between all things in the universe. The same technology that simulates gravity in a naturally zero-g environment is what allows ships to bypass the universal speed limit. Creating a Doppler shift (known as redshift and blueshift) in the surrounding light is a side-effect of this process. The subject ship controls speed by controlling field strength. It is common practice for ships to remain at full burn during transit. Also, variance in ship direction is kept to a minimum in order to eliminate stresses on the hull.

Warp is the only used FTL mode that allows subjects to travel within the main four dimensions of this universe.

Let’s say you want to use warp technology to reach other star systems. As odd as it may seem today, that was how it was done prior to the establishment of the stargate network. Even today, deep-space probes spend months or years traveling at warp velocities.

If you are traveling to an inhabited system today, you will most probably be using a stargate. However, stargates don’t work the way most people think. The common misconception is that stargates create huge wormholes for ships to pass through. A wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a “shortcut” through spacetime.

Take a piece of paper and draw two points on it with a pen. The paper represents spacetime along the four major dimensions of our physical universe (height, length, width and time). Shortest distance between two points is obviously a straight line, but if you can bend the universe, as all gravity does, then you can connect the two points along a new plane. Poke a hole through the paper connecting the two points. That is your wormhole or cyno. then when the paper is unfolded, you’ve not traveled at all, but arrived at your destination. The effort isn’t in moving through the universe, but folding the universe around you.

Creating and sustaining a wormhole large enough for a ship to casually fly through would create such a disturbance that the orbit of nearby planets and other celestial bodies would be catastrophically affected. For this reason, stargates must be anchored in a very specific manner and utilize a complex form of anti-graviton jamming (basically the opposite of artificial gravity) around the quantum singularity at its core.

Even though stargates are unidirectional, ships only need to approach it in order to make use of it. The same system which allows for the singularity to be contained is used to control the entrance aperture’s vector. The aperture is funneled out to focus at the position of the target ship, which is enveloped. The ship is routed through the temporary extension into the main bridge, and the anti-graviton buffering field is restored. This is all computed and done in less than a second and can be done in rapid succession. The opposite is done at the exit aperture, and the ship is released at a position that minimizes gate traffic.

The difference between a stargate and a jump bridge is two-fold. Firstly, as jump bridge devices are smaller, they do not indefinitely sustain the bridge between apertures (which also means there are less stringent placement protocols). Also, as jump bridges project much of their functions into open space, they often do not resemble a gate-like construct.

In recent years, emerging technologies in quantum entanglement, as well as a rise in nullsec hostilities, has given rise to a third method of FTL travel. Cynosural fields.

A cynosural field is a kind of quantum broadcasting system, creating a quantum space-time event that does not strictly exist. The nature of this field allows a ship equipped with a “jump drive” to lock on to that unique signature instantly from anywhere in the universe, as quantum information does not obey the universal speed limit. That drive then creates a singularity very similar to the kind used in stargates and jump bridges, but allows the entrance aperture to expand explosively and collapse within a second. Anything caught in this effect is “teleported” directly to cynosural field.

Due to technological limitations, the range of this mode of travel, however is is important to note that the physics involved to not take space-time into account, and therefore do not have a range limitation of any kind. Theoretically, this technology could move an object from one end of the universe to the other, instantly. It is also important to note that the ships involved do not move, and therefore is not strictly considered a mode of locomotion. This is the least conventional mode of FTL to date.

I hope this explanation serves you well on your journey.

Now, quantum teleportation is becoming a reality because science geeks demanded specifics, and later desired to make such things reality.

Good science makes for good science fiction through forward thought and inspiration.

Recently at Fanfest, CCP Tony G said at a panel that it peeved him that a ship can utilize seemingly unidirectional device like a stargate in an omnidirectional fashion, without there being an explination of how or why.

This was given as an example, and I am sure that he and those like him feel strongly that such things should be properly addressed in canon. It shows a lack of inspiration on behalf of CCP, who continually say they want to create the ultimate science-fiction simulator.

We barely have the fiction for that, much less the science.

I have been pondering joining the Mercury team since talking to Tony that day, and that conversation is ongoing. What I would like now is for my readers to point out the science holes in EvE that most annoy them, and challenge me to patch them up. Each hole presented will be given its own post as to allow for a proper explination and debate.

Those post will be given the header (SCI).

As for the issue that Tony himself brought up, that will be my first challenge.

Ghaya prided herself on mining where most feared to tread. Where pirates or worse called home, there were untapped resources so vast that they became stuff of legend. It was a common understanding that to get at these riches, small fleets were necessary, complete with dedicated combat wings ready to intercept and eliminate opposition long enough for the miners to do their work.

Ghaya did not work well with others. The few times she ventured out with a fleet, she invariably did what she wanted, when she wanted. Her FCs either denounced her publicly, or labeled her a target in the field. Neither was very fun. This caused her to form unsafe habits like mining solo in nullsec, going dark among the rocks and rubble when trouble came sniffing around. Drifting there without nav shielding or any way to know if the pirates were right on top of her would be enough to crack the will of even the toughest industrialist, but Ghaya just bitched for hours about how she needed a new ship.

Fast-forward to present day, and after pulling more strings and selling more roids than should be necessary in a lifetime, she was finally getting her wish.

She had begun designing this ship a while back (if “designing” meant doodling randomly for hours in her pod using a paint application).

A girl loves to shop, and in day one of this project she bought:

- Two Orcas.

- A Raven battleship.

- A Sin Black Ops battleship.

- A Skiff.

- A Mackinaw.

- A Hulk.

- More modules and rigging equipment than you can shake a Stabber at.

She began by gutting the first Orca, and dismantling all the other ships. The idea was to utilize all these ships as a gestalt in order to create to perfect solo mining ship. The hull sections of the second Orca were installed on the first, The main body pylons being linked to the bottom and angled diagonally. The upper secondary hulls were linked together and now ran the length of the ship. The forward bridge was removed for added electronics. The engines were centered on a new brace and were held in an elongated X formation.

The Sin provided the new capacitor, powergrid and electronics systems, as well as a cynosural field-capable jump drive and cloak. The drone control systems were also utilized, and a sizable dronebay was created using portions of the lower forward body pylons. The bays were large enough to hold a healthy compliment of combat drones of varied types. These would (hopefully) provide all the offensive capability Ghaya would need.

One turret hardpoint was placed at the centre of each body pylon, and installed on it would be the best strip mining lasers ISK could buy. The reason she bought the Skiff, Mackinaw and Hulk were mainly to get at the computer systems and their hard-coded laser attenuation algorithms. Each ship specialized in a specific kind of ore because of these advances, and the only way to get a copy of them was to buy the whole damned ship around it. Mind you, the three exhumers made for some useful parts, but their real beauty lay in their computer cores. It was a simple enough task to cross-link all three cores together.

The armour was replaced with 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates with an interwoven N-Type Adaptive Nano Membrane and N-Type Regenerative Membrane. Finally, the Raven provided new shields, to which was added a battleship-class F-S9 Regolith Shield Inductor and a Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field emitter. Varied damage control systems were also installed.

All of it was more or less rigged together with pieces from the deconstructed vessels, providing an ample supply of conduits and bulkheads and whatever else was needed to make it all work to its full potential. All this was made all the more difficult by Ghaya’s insistence for a minimal crew.

It took a few false starts before she flew to spec. Maneuvering thrusters needed to be added and several more thrusters were added to the main assembly (from the Sin) to bring the top speed up to a healthy 89 m/sec. The ship would never be entirely legal, but after greasing the palms of an ORE VP, some fake paperwork was cooked up to make it seem like Ghaya’s new toy was a failed Orca II prototype. As far as anyone was concerned, it was safe to fly but too costly to produce, and Ghaya owned the only one.

As she looked at her creation from her quarters through cameras on its docking cradle, she wondered what she would christen it, and what people would think when they saw it undocking and setting course for nullsec.

((OK, I’m looking for a name and a GOOD ARTIST RENDERING of Ghaya’s new ship. I’ll offer up 100m isk to anyone who really blows me away.))

Skill plan for Gigaer

1. Accounting IV (43 minutes, 58 seconds; Start: 30/04/2011 2:14:18 AM; Finish: 30/04/2011 2:58:16 AM)

2. Broker Relations IV (1 day, 14 hours, 12 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 30/04/2011 2:58:16 AM; Finish: 01/05/2011 5:10:53 PM)

3. Procurement I (23 minutes, 26 seconds; Start: 01/05/2011 5:10:53 PM; Finish: 01/05/2011 5:34:20 PM)

4. Procurement II (1 hour, 49 minutes, 9 seconds; Start: 01/05/2011 5:34:20 PM; Finish: 01/05/2011 7:23:29 PM)

5. Procurement III (10 hours, 17 minutes, 24 seconds; Start: 01/05/2011 7:23:29 PM; Finish: 02/05/2011 5:40:53 AM)

6. Procurement IV (2 days, 10 hours, 12 minutes, 39 seconds; Start: 02/05/2011 5:40:53 AM; Finish: 04/05/2011 3:53:33 PM)

7. Visibility I (23 minutes, 26 seconds; Start: 04/05/2011 3:53:33 PM; Finish: 04/05/2011 4:16:59 PM)

8. Margin Trading I (23 minutes, 26 seconds; Start: 04/05/2011 4:16:59 PM; Finish: 04/05/2011 4:40:25 PM)

9. Visibility II (1 hour, 49 minutes, 9 seconds; Start: 04/05/2011 4:40:25 PM; Finish: 04/05/2011 6:29:35 PM)

10. Margin Trading II (1 hour, 49 minutes, 9 seconds; Start: 04/05/2011 6:29:35 PM; Finish: 04/05/2011 8:18:44 PM)

11. Visibility III (10 hours, 17 minutes, 24 seconds; Start: 04/05/2011 8:18:44 PM; Finish: 05/05/2011 6:36:08 AM)

12. Margin Trading III (10 hours, 17 minutes, 24 seconds; Start: 05/05/2011 6:36:08 AM; Finish: 05/05/2011 4:53:33 PM)

13. Visibility IV (2 days, 10 hours, 12 minutes, 39 seconds; Start: 05/05/2011 4:53:33 PM; Finish: 08/05/2011 3:06:12 AM)

14. Corporation Contracting I (23 minutes, 26 seconds; Start: 08/05/2011 3:06:12 AM; Finish: 08/05/2011 3:29:38 AM)

15. Remote Sensing IV (16 hours, 20 minutes, 23 seconds; Start: 08/05/2011 3:29:38 AM; Finish: 08/05/2011 7:50:02 PM)

16. Sentry Drone Interfacing III (15 hours, 27 minutes, 32 seconds; Start: 08/05/2011 7:50:02 PM; Finish: 09/05/2011 11:17:35 AM)

17. Sentry Drone Interfacing IV (3 days, 15 hours, 27 minutes, 10 seconds; Start: 09/05/2011 11:17:35 AM; Finish: 13/05/2011 2:44:46 AM)

18. Heavy Assault Ships V (24 days, 17 hours, 38 minutes, 52 seconds; Start: 13/05/2011 2:44:46 AM; Finish: 06/06/2011 8:23:38 PM)

19. Interceptors V (16 days, 11 hours, 45 minutes, 54 seconds; Start: 06/06/2011 8:23:38 PM; Finish: 23/06/2011 8:09:33 AM)

20. Recon Ships V (24 days, 17 hours, 38 minutes, 52 seconds; Start: 23/06/2011 8:09:33 AM; Finish: 18/07/2011 1:48:26 AM)

21. Drone Navigation V (4 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes, 28 seconds; Start: 18/07/2011 1:48:26 AM; Finish: 22/07/2011 4:44:54 AM)

22. Drone Sharpshooting V (4 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes, 28 seconds; Start: 22/07/2011 4:44:54 AM; Finish: 26/07/2011 7:41:23 AM)

23. Combat Drone Operation V (8 days, 5 hours, 52 minutes, 57 seconds; Start: 26/07/2011 7:41:23 AM; Finish: 03/08/2011 1:34:21 PM)

24. Rapid Launch V (7 days, 16 hours, 51 minutes, 50 seconds; Start: 03/08/2011 1:34:21 PM; Finish: 11/08/2011 6:26:11 AM)

25. Target Navigation Prediction V (7 days, 16 hours, 51 minutes, 50 seconds; Start: 11/08/2011 6:26:11 AM; Finish: 18/08/2011 11:18:02 PM)

26. Missile Projection V (15 days, 9 hours, 43 minutes, 41 seconds; Start: 18/08/2011 11:18:02 PM; Finish: 03/09/2011 9:01:43 AM)

27. Warhead Upgrades V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 03/09/2011 9:01:43 AM; Finish: 22/09/2011 3:11:19 PM)

28. Rocket Specialization V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 22/09/2011 3:11:19 PM; Finish: 04/10/2011 4:29:05 AM)

29. Standard Missile Specialization V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 04/10/2011 4:29:05 AM; Finish: 15/10/2011 5:46:51 PM)

30. Heavy Assault Missile Specialization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 15/10/2011 5:46:51 PM; Finish: 03/11/2011 11:56:27 PM)

31. Heavy Missile Specialization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 03/11/2011 11:56:27 PM; Finish: 23/11/2011 6:06:03 AM)

32. Small Artillery Specialization V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 23/11/2011 6:06:03 AM; Finish: 04/12/2011 7:23:49 PM)

33. Small Blaster Specialization V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 04/12/2011 7:23:49 PM; Finish: 16/12/2011 8:41:35 AM)

34. Small Railgun Specialization V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 16/12/2011 8:41:35 AM; Finish: 27/12/2011 9:59:21 PM)

35. Medium Artillery Specialization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 27/12/2011 9:59:21 PM; Finish: 16/01/2012 4:08:57 AM)

36. Medium Autocannon Specialization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 16/01/2012 4:08:57 AM; Finish: 04/02/2012 10:18:33 AM)

37. Medium Blaster Specialization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 04/02/2012 10:18:33 AM; Finish: 23/02/2012 4:28:10 PM)

38. Medium Railgun Specialization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 23/02/2012 4:28:10 PM; Finish: 13/03/2012 10:37:46 PM)

39. Drone Durability V (20 days, 14 hours, 42 minutes, 23 seconds; Start: 13/03/2012 10:37:46 PM; Finish: 03/04/2012 1:20:10 PM)

40. Sentry Drone Interfacing V (20 days, 14 hours, 42 minutes, 23 seconds; Start: 03/04/2012 1:20:10 PM; Finish: 24/04/2012 4:02:33 AM)

41. Leadership V (4 days, 13 hours, 45 minutes, 46 seconds; Start: 24/04/2012 4:02:33 AM; Finish: 28/04/2012 5:48:20 PM)

42. Astrometrics V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 28/04/2012 5:48:20 PM; Finish: 10/05/2012 7:06:06 AM)

43. Warfare Link Specialist I (46 minutes, 52 seconds; Start: 10/05/2012 7:06:06 AM; Finish: 10/05/2012 7:52:58 AM)

44. Warfare Link Specialist II (3 hours, 38 minutes, 18 seconds; Start: 10/05/2012 7:52:58 AM; Finish: 10/05/2012 11:31:17 AM)

45. Warfare Link Specialist III (20 hours, 34 minutes, 48 seconds; Start: 10/05/2012 11:31:17 AM; Finish: 11/05/2012 8:06:06 AM)

46. Warfare Link Specialist IV (4 days, 20 hours, 25 minutes, 18 seconds; Start: 11/05/2012 8:06:06 AM; Finish: 16/05/2012 4:31:25 AM)

47. Thermodynamics V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 16/05/2012 4:31:25 AM; Finish: 27/05/2012 5:49:10 PM)

48. Command Ships I (56 minutes, 20 seconds; Start: 27/05/2012 5:49:10 PM; Finish: 27/05/2012 6:45:31 PM)

49. Command Ships II (4 hours, 22 minutes, 21 seconds; Start: 27/05/2012 6:45:31 PM; Finish: 27/05/2012 11:07:53 PM)

50. Command Ships III (1 day, 44 minutes, 6 seconds; Start: 27/05/2012 11:07:53 PM; Finish: 28/05/2012 11:51:59 PM)

51. Command Ships IV (5 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes, 27 seconds; Start: 28/05/2012 11:51:59 PM; Finish: 03/06/2012 7:47:27 PM)

52. Command Ships V (32 days, 23 hours, 31 minutes, 51 seconds; Start: 03/06/2012 7:47:27 PM; Finish: 06/07/2012 7:19:19 PM)

53. Minmatar Strategic Cruiser III (14 hours, 26 minutes, 31 seconds; Start: 06/07/2012 7:19:19 PM; Finish: 07/07/2012 9:45:50 AM)

54. Gallente Strategic Cruiser III (14 hours, 26 minutes, 31 seconds; Start: 07/07/2012 9:45:50 AM; Finish: 08/07/2012 12:12:22 AM)

55. Caldari Strategic Cruiser III (14 hours, 26 minutes, 31 seconds; Start: 08/07/2012 12:12:22 AM; Finish: 08/07/2012 2:38:54 PM)

56. Shield Emission Systems IV (1 day, 8 hours, 40 minutes, 47 seconds; Start: 08/07/2012 2:38:54 PM; Finish: 09/07/2012 11:19:41 PM)

57. Remote Armor Repair Systems III (5 hours, 46 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 09/07/2012 11:19:41 PM; Finish: 10/07/2012 5:06:17 AM)

58. Remote Armor Repair Systems IV (1 day, 8 hours, 40 minutes, 47 seconds; Start: 10/07/2012 5:06:17 AM; Finish: 11/07/2012 1:47:05 PM)

59. Interplanetary Consolidation IV (2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 25 seconds; Start: 11/07/2012 1:47:05 PM; Finish: 14/07/2012 1:46:30 PM)

60. Astrometric Rangefinding II (4 hours, 5 minutes, 6 seconds; Start: 14/07/2012 1:46:30 PM; Finish: 14/07/2012 5:51:36 PM)

61. Astrometric Rangefinding III (23 hours, 6 minutes, 28 seconds; Start: 14/07/2012 5:51:36 PM; Finish: 15/07/2012 4:58:05 PM)

62. Astrometric Rangefinding IV (5 days, 10 hours, 43 minutes, 7 seconds; Start: 15/07/2012 4:58:05 PM; Finish: 21/07/2012 3:41:13 AM)

63. Long Distance Jamming V (15 days, 9 hours, 43 minutes, 41 seconds; Start: 21/07/2012 3:41:13 AM; Finish: 05/08/2012 1:24:54 PM)

64. Frequency Modulation V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 05/08/2012 1:24:54 PM; Finish: 17/08/2012 2:42:39 AM)

65. Cloaking V (23 days, 2 hours, 35 minutes, 31 seconds; Start: 17/08/2012 2:42:39 AM; Finish: 09/09/2012 5:18:11 AM)

66. Signature Focusing V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 09/09/2012 5:18:11 AM; Finish: 28/09/2012 11:27:47 AM)

67. Target Painting V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 28/09/2012 11:27:47 AM; Finish: 10/10/2012 12:45:33 AM)

68. Signal Dispersion V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 10/10/2012 12:45:33 AM; Finish: 29/10/2012 6:55:09 AM)

69. Signal Suppression V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 29/10/2012 6:55:09 AM; Finish: 17/11/2012 1:04:46 PM)

70. Sensor Linking V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 17/11/2012 1:04:46 PM; Finish: 29/11/2012 2:22:31 AM)

71. Turret Destabilization V (19 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 36 seconds; Start: 29/11/2012 2:22:31 AM; Finish: 18/12/2012 8:32:08 AM)

72. Weapon Disruption V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 18/12/2012 8:32:08 AM; Finish: 29/12/2012 9:49:54 PM)

73. Propulsion Jamming V (11 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds; Start: 29/12/2012 9:49:54 PM; Finish: 10/01/2013 11:07:39 AM)

73 skills; Total time: 621 days, 8 hours, 53 minutes, 21 seconds; Completion: 10/01/2013 11:07:39 AM

Pretty straight forward, really. V’ing out a lot of specialization skills to trim up combat and get that much-needed edge, but I’m taking care of some really simple trade stuff first just to keep my more loot earnings in my pocket. Things sort of crescendo at Command Ships (you all know my love for them). After that it’s T3, ECM and scanning skills.

As usual, I would always appreciate some feedback. A good portion of the recent changes were caused by things I learned at Fanfest from other pilots. Should I move something up? Move something down? Am I missing something? Is there a skill planned that isn’t worth the training time? Let me know!

Having switched from an Android device to an iPhone, I have gotten a good idea of how the two major EvE apps stand up to each other.

I will start by saying that both apps are quite good, and unless you are in the unlikely position of having both options, your choice between them is more or less made for you.

Aura for Android as well as iClone for iOS give you more or less everything you really need. Full character stats, holdings, data on items, etc.

Aura stands out by and large by giving you the ability to create a widget that sits on your device’s homepage and allows you to instantly know where you are in your skill training. You can create a widget for each character you have. This is possible because Android makes use of widgets, while iOS does not. There is a skillplanner, but as my rather large plan is on EvEMon and the two won’t play nice, I never used it. Aura falls behind on its visuals, clunky setup and general lack of tools and deeper data access.

iClone is by far the better looking of the two, with better texts and layouts. Every pilot I have shown it to loves the full galaxy map, which is easy to manipulate and sort. The jump planner also is easy to use. Setup was a breeze. There is also access to much deeper datasets (such as corp stats) which are updated as often as you like. iClone does not have a widget feature due to no iOS widget support, which is something I did not suspect I would miss as much as I do.

I think both apps have a long way to go in terms of complexity and tools offered. Neither app offers any sort of fitting tool. Neither is in any way connectable to Battleclinic, forums, killboards, comms or other apps that you may use on your desktop The ability to sync skillplans and fitting would go a long way in my eyes. With both apps, you will inevitably have to fumble around to find the data you want. For instance, if I am looking at my assets and want the data on an item, I need to exit my assets and go into the items database. The data is already in my hand, it just isn’t as interlaced as it should be.

I wish capsuleer was around so I could try it out as well. Sadly I was late to that particular party. Maybe if I can ever sit down again with PajamaSam, we can talk about the nuts and bolts of these kinds of things.

Hopefully in the near future CCP will bring a lot more to the API, and hopefully these two apps will continue to evolve along with the needs and wants of their users.

Be a fan – Listen to at least the last three shows they put out. Even if you have already listened to them, do so again with added attention. You need to be as familiar with their show’s flow as possible. Are there set segments? Do they have any running promos or events?

Get to know the hosts – Try to have as much conversation with the hosts leading up to the recording as possible. Establish a rapport.

Know your stuff – Be as familiar as possible with the specific topics being covered during your recording as possible. Have any and all relavent info at the ready.

Forums and such – Take a good look at their forums, tweets and blog posts to better understand the audience.

Talking to the mirror – Practice any of your own talking points to minimize rambling and pauses. If you get a window to talk about yourself, make it count. Any and all points you wish to bring up should be cleared with the hosts before recording.

It’s their show – Don’t talk over, interupt or speak too long. Also, remember to thank them. You are the guest, be a gracious one.

Fly hard and talk safe.

You can, in fact, store things quite easily in storage arrays. Many people use them like I do, as buffers between extractors and other units. This reduces the chance of waste and creates a usable backlog of materials for other units to use.

My issues are two-fold. Firstly, storage arrays are quite costly (powergrid-wise) for what they offer, and secondly they don’t offer all that much storage space.
I attended the PI roundtable at fanfest and brought this up, and everyone agreed it was an issue. The vast majority of players have been using launchpads as storage arrays, given they offer twice as much space for almost no additional cost. I find this a regretable practice as a roleplayer as it makes no sense.

Currently, I am having to constantly ship huge amounts of backlogged inventory to stations, where they continue to build up. As I am doing this in hi-sec, it is a minor inconvenience, but those in nullsec need to worry about larger backlogs and POS threats. Not good.

Some suggested a mechanic to slave arrays together, but that would ramp up the grid cost. My solution is simply make them bigger. If CCP does not want to decrease the grid cost, I would think a four-fold increase would be fair. Many at the roundtable agreed.

What do you think?

Such structures were not physically possible, but this was not reality. This space was made of pure data, an elegent virtual interface space that represented the Amarr extranet. Spires and constructs ultimately represented information of one form or another. Almost everyone here was a capsuleer, but not everyone was allowed into the central cathedral, a collosal construct that loomed over all else and represented the secure core of the Amarr information network. Only those with extremely high clearance were allowed in, and only the empress herself had clearance higher than FAITH.

If your average citizen of the empires ever heard of FAITH, they would likely dismiss it as lunacy. After all, how could the Amarr have a small cadre of secret immortal assassins that for thousands of years have eliminated threats big and small to the church and to the empire itself? In fact FAITH did not just exist, but it was directly sanctioned in a long-hidden passage in the Pax Amarria.

Before the Pax Amarria was an easily consumable work, it existed as a vast collection of scrolls, and it was when it was condensed into the book we all know today that certain passages were deemed “sensitive” and kept out of the public eye. FAITH is in fact an acroynym of the original name of the organization, spoken in the oldest of forgotten Amarrian tongues.

As written, every major house took their best citizens from conception to train and gave them over to the church as soon as they were ready to kill. Numerous techniques (some illegal or ever forbidden) were brought to bare in order to assure the child was beyond perfection. The child was taken from the parents once birthed and would not see freedom again. The parents were often given a flash-clone of the baby and never knew anything was wrong until medical issues began to inevitably appear. Many resources went into forging the perfectly trained and indoctrinated killer in the name of God. Humanity was shed early to reveal a calculating machine of death. Once ready, they were offered to the current ruler.

As there was once many powerful houses, there were once many of FAITH. Now five houses remain, yet six of FAITH still stand. Kariam Zol was the last FAITH operative offered by Khanid. When the moral cleansing occured and unsanctioned FAITH operatives were hunted down and killed, only Kariam stood in the end, all the others having been eliminated and their cloning abilities destroyed through subterfuge of his design. The one who got closest to him took his eye, and he kept the disfigurement as a reminder. For centuries the secret hunt between secret hunters continued, until Jamyl Sarum’s return. She ended the slaughter of shadows (as the few who know of it call it) by proclaiming Kariam blessed by God himself and therefore untouchable.

Kariam never cared how many of the FAITHful he needed to kill. To him they were all unworthy. Now, thanks to his empress, he could return to his holy task.

Today, Kariam floated down halls deep within the centre of the cathedral and empty except for automated sentries. While the empress was said to sit high above the gleaming city that didn’t exist, Kariam knew he would find her far below its surface. Here the golden imagry gave way to raw data, the support structure to all above. Only lights and void remained.

Yet even here, and without even a virtual body, Kariam felt he could kneel before the empress and receive her blessings.

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New capsuleers stream out of the academies and find the cold spaceways offer no ready answers. The quickest way to make some ISK and forge some connections is to work for the empires directly, but for many that becomes very old, very fast. Empire bureaucracy and red tape apparently take too long to work through, even if you are immortal. So they set out on their own and often find only cold space and colder people.

Then there are the capsuleer corporations and alliances, which are far better but demand a lot out of even the rawest of recruits. I have seen plenty of people try to join the Ushra’Khan, only to be shown the door.

I was in Jita the other day and caught the tail-end of an employment meeting… at least that’s what I think those two capsuleers yelling at each other in front of a corp HQ. The employer who, before slamming the door, made a few colourful comments about how the pilot one didn’t know a warp core from a hole in the ground. The furious pilot began to storm off before he was stopped by another capsuleer in a very nice suit. A business card was exchanged, a short conversation was had, the pilot calmed down quickly and strode off looking oddly confident.

I went up to the man in the suit and asked him what just happened. He said he represented an not-for-profit organization that helped new pilots find their footing. Asking what it was called, I was regaled with stories of an ancient and powerful beast that roamed the seas of old Earth called Halibut. A noble creature that imparted wisdom and good fortune on those brave enough to capture the deadly monster. He gave me a card after I told him I would be sending plenty of pilots his way. He was very happy to accept my ISK donation.

Maybe the universe isn’t as cold as everyone thinks…

(OOC: Support PROJECT HALIBUT!!!)

As a blogger, I’m overly-opinionated, loud and will jump on any opportunity to pimp my blog.

Both of these things led me to a respect for the EvE Commune podcast, as well as an interest in joining them as a guest host. They’ve got a good formula, great personalities and are overall a joy to listen to. They were gracious enough to let me be a guest on episode 22, which you can listen to HERE if you have not already grabbed it from iTunes or something.

Let me know what you think!

Yes, he understands as well as any learned Gallente how important tattooing is to a Minmatar. He would be proud to see me earning my ink.

It’s everything else. The piercings. He always hated the metal. He once noted in a secret communique during my academy days that he was pleased my dreadlocks would cover up all the interfaces that a capsuleer needed to have in the back of his head and neck. I went with a fairly robust interface suite and nobody could tell. I have not contacted him since graduation.

This, though. I look in the mirror and laugh. He would freak. Chin, lip, tongue, nose, ears, eyebrows and forehead. The full don’t-fuck-with-me-I’m-Minmatar package. A few Valkear on shoreleave I had been speaking to in a bar had talked me into it. I may have been inebriated at the time.

I don’t regret it. Most of it is removable and interchangable anyways, except for the tongue. A small tetrapalladium stud that some of the new mystics say allows you to speak to spirits. I correct those that seem willing to listen, and in weaving my tales I attracted the attention of those three Valkears. Still, I thought it was an amusing idea. Did I mention how much Valkears drink?

The day before I had been considering reconnecting with my adopted Gallente father. The danger to him that I and my genesis represented long passed. Now I can only wonder what he would say.

I request for Aura to open a commline. Time to roll the dice.

As a Minmatar RPer, the lack of tattoos at the initial release of the Carbon character creator made me quite displeased, as tattooing was so integral to the look of a Minmatar. Also, body modification for capsuleers as a whole should be fairly commonplace.

So what do we have now? A selection of facial tattoos, piercings and scarring. There is some contention regarding scarring within the RP, but as I have not yet decided which side is right, I will just note that it is available.

In fact, just saying that it is available is about all I can say for any of it for now, as the selection doesn’t exactly blow me away.

Tattoos are few and non-customizable, though we know more are coming and you will be able to mess with them. Scarring was equally blah. I am aching for something that will blow me away, and I really don’t mind having to pay for it via MT. Many RPers are of the same mind.

Piercings seem to have gotten the majority of the attention as there are the most options in that catagory, though there does seem to be almost no variation between for four races. That said, I like the choices so far.

One problem throughout is that you can only choose one option, so even mixing and matching isn’t possible. This is the most annoying for piercings right now, though we know the system will change eventually to accomodate multiple selections.

All in all, a good start.

A final note: CCP needs to not be afraid of sliders. Something as simple as height should not be locked down. Also, I am not happy that I can’t lengthen my dreads. For those of you who have read my RP, you know Gigaer’s dreadlocks is waist-length and banded together with crimson rope. It remains to be seen how close I can get to that ideal look when all is said and done.

A Power Diagnostic System?

A shield extender? A hardener?

An armour repper?

A Damage Control system?

A drone control unit?

A warp core? A MWD?

A webifier? A scram?

A transfer array?

A d-scanner? A hacker? A surveyor?

T1? T2? Fleet? Officer?

A cloak? Covert Ops?

A triage system? A siege system?

A cyno generator?

A doomsday???

If we are gods among men, our chariots are surely beyond the scope of mortals.

Waking up on day 3, the events of the prior night really set in at bit. Iceland really is in dire straights financially. Random people on the street and in establishments care about us playing EvE because it is supporting their broken economy. It’s something interesting to keep in mind when you get cheered and applauded by patrons while exiting a coffee house.

After breakfast I made my way to an near-deserted Fanfest. To someone who doesn’t drink, seeing people hungover makes me happy I live the way I do. I missed the morning movie matinee so my first stop was the EvE/Dust Link roundtable, which was far too packed to get into. Interesting that so many people were interested in it, even though some pundits are so very angry that EvE isn’t just about internet spaceships anymore. More on my thoughts on that at a later date.

I got into the EvE Gate roundtable, and was again happy to see so many players giving such constructive feedback, even though it was very obvious many don’t care to use EvE Gate all that often. My major issue I had was that CCP seems to only want to connect players with their accounts and ignore the obvious other options social networking can offer. For my part, I suggested an EvE meet location-based double-blind invite system. How would it work? Let’s say I live in Toronto (which I do) and I want to set up a meet. EvE Gate would know my location and I would input a physical radius from which my message would be sent out to any other capsuleers within that designated area. Double-blind basically means I would not know who was receiving the invites until they responded to it. A single privacy setting could control if you wanted to receive such invites or not. As I have attempted to organize EvE meets in the past and have always had issues getting the word out (the forums are a lousy place to do it) and as I think meets are important to the camaraderie that capsuleers enjoy, such a system would be very successful. The devs obviously had never thought of it, and one was furiously jotting stuff down on her macbook as I spoke. A good sign, I’d say.

At noon was Planetary Interactions. The major consensus was that CCP had done good things so far but there were little issue to be fixed. For instance, storage facilities were useless and needed to be fixed, and everything used boatloads of power grid but almost no CPU. Initially we voiced the assumption that operations related to DUST would even that out, but judging from the body language and responses of the devs, it was just an oversight and will be fixed. Another issue was colour and definition on certain planet types and while laying blue-white extractor heads on white backgrounds. Simple fixes there.

at 1300 I got some wicked seats from the PvP finals. The matches were entertaining enough that I completely forgot about the sniper bids I was planning to lay down at the silent auction. Rainbow Vexors and teams firing at installations/each other really got the room laughing. Good times.

Before CCP Presents I managed to get a few more Live Agent missions done, including walking while balancing a hardcover of Empyrean Age on my head and answering petitions. All my points went to the Republic, and was pleased to find out later that night that because of our hard work the next Fanfest would be Minmatar-themed. Big shout-out to all my Matari brothers and sisters who went to bat for our people.

CCP Presents was… wow. Great presentation. I won’t go into too many specifics about it because you really should watch it yourself. It should be up on Youtube soon. Combining it with the impressions I got from the Keynote, I am very pleased with how much EvE has grown and on the whole happy with what CCP has planned. After Incarna is released this summer (for the record, I am one of those that think that the Captain’s quarters and getting more than just spaceships is a good thing), the focus on fixing old issues and building with what we have will be the name of the game around CCP offices (turrets, nebluae, FW… the list goes on), and that is a good thing. I really don’t want to say anything about DUST until much closer to release, but the major trailer they presented about how it could all tie together really had a lot of people jazzed for the future and will certainly have the internets buzzing for a while.

I stayed for the CCP Panel and found it informative but far too short.

After hanging out a bit with some friends, I headed back to the hotel to get myself ready for the party, only to fall asleep and miss the whole thing. Not happy about it, but I heard it got very crowded very quickly and was not all that fun, despite the awesome music. I did get myself some internet money though.

Next morning, after having a bite and packing, I headed off to the Blue Lagoon. The weather was still cloudy and grey, but the hotsprings were a fantastic experience. The water was extremely pleasant and scorching hot in places (just the way I like it). The algae makes the pools almost a florescent, otherworldly blue. I richly partook of the silica mud, which did my oily skin some favours. Standing under the waterfall was like getting assaulted but a thousand baby boxers. Chilling out with my fellow capsuleers and not having to worry about running to a roundtable or a presentation was very enjoyable.

Finally it was time to say goodbye to Iceland and fly home, which was thankfully uneventful. I am beginning to understand why people dislike flying.

All in all I came in about a hundred and change under my budget. I bought myself one of those limited edition leather jackets with the Minmatar logo on it, and it should be arriving within 4-6 weeks. Other than that I bought one or two things for one or two people, but nothing crazy. I did neglect to get something from the Blue Lagoon for my mother though. Sorry, mommy. I considered getting the board game but decided it would be difficult to find anyone to play with.

I have plenty to write about in the near future, detailing everything from thoughts I have about the future of EvE to the new CSM and other things. Next weekend I will be recording a special Fanfest Edition of Complete Geek Radio, and plan to have a few special guests on with me.

I am eagerly awaiting contact from CCP TonyG, but if anything has his email, please pass it along.

Everyone is asking if I want to go back. The answer is a big yes, but I don’t know if I can. Next year I need to go to PAX East to pimp my podcast, and while that hopefully won’t pulverize my wallet like Fanfest did, I am not sure I can justify both trips. We’ll see what the future holds.

Now begins the task of recovering from the costs of this trip, and hopefully getting Air Canada to reimburse me for my lost day in Boston.

I managed to find a good enough connection in the dining room to allow access to EvE itself, and got around to resetting my PI extractors. Luckily I had sufficient surpluses available that only one of the four came to a complete halt.

I made my way to Fanfest and quickly ran into some familiar faces. Things had yet to really get started. I also promptly ran into Roc… or should I say he “ran into” me? Man has granite shoulders…

First up after taking some video of a few sights and sounds was Unconventional Gameplay. Encountered some other members of the Ushra’Khan, which was nice. We don’t have a huge showing at Fanfest like, say, VETO, but we’re here. The talk was interesting and I got a few good bits in.

Then there was the Women in EvE roundtable. So far the best roundtable I had the pleasure of attending. While it made me sad to hear of stories of male players being incredible douchebags, I (along with Roc and CrazyKinux, who were also in attendance) made the note that women need to step up and not hide from these people. If you stand proud enough and loud enough and prove yourself just like any other capsuleer has to, you will be respected. I got applause for that. Also got to meet some very sexy and very dangerous Hellcats. I <3 them so much!

Next up was the Content presentation in the Tranquility hall. This was quite different from the roundtable on day 1 as it was more of a Q&A session and there were more people there. Still got a lot of the same stonewalling from the crew though, sadly. However, I was very happy to be there because after seeing the apparent frustration regarding the lack of science complexity that EvE exhibits in the content from CCP TonyG, I ran to catch him as he was dashing to another roundtable. I informed him of the team I had assembled for the Canon Rewrite Initiative and that we were ready to serve. His eyes went wide. Apparently the entire Mercury team had been repurposed and the science aspect was up shit’s creek without a paddle. I gave him my card. He will be in touch.

They had to clear us out for the Keynote team to practice their presentation, so I grabbed some food, water, merch and Live Agent missions before lining up again.

The Keynote was amazing and a wonderful tease to the major announcements coming up at CCP Presents. There was a full overview of how CCP, EvE and Fanfest have grown and changed other the last 18 months. There was talk about major additions to the character creator, as apparently CCP has hired a major fashion designer to get a few virtual clothing lines out there. Tattoos and other body mods will be coming soon and in a big was as well. The war on lag rages on, but everyone was very impressed by the numbers and pretty graphs presented. The homour throughout was also top-notch. CCP Soundwave gave us a rundown of all the big and small changes made since last Fanfest to make the game sleeker, and told us about a few optimizations that were just coming out of the pipe now such as major changes to how agents work.

After that I palled around with the guys from the Tweetfleet, as CK wanted to interview us for PC Gamer and take some group photos. We make a very bright group and obviously each of us has a keen ear to the ground when it comes to this wonderful community. A fantastic bunch of guys brought together by stirring debate. I need to ask CK if the article will appear in print or just online.

I chilled out (OK I passed out for a bit) before Chessboxing. I honestly didn’t know if I would enjoy it, but I really did. Maybe CCP can include a Chessboxing simulator in Incarna.

Fleets quickly formed up for the crawls. I signed up for the coffee crawl as I don’t drink, and had a fantastic time meeting even more amazing people and having some fantastic food. I am worried I may leave Iceland without sampling the lamb though. I must make sure that does not happen, or make up for it when I return home.

I am handing out a prodigious amount of cards for CompletGeekRadio.com and look to give out even more today.

I passed out pretty quickly when I got back to my room, and even though I got less than 8 hours, I am really jazzed about hitting the biggest day of Fanfest with everything I got. Tonight is certainly going to take everything I got. I also need to confirm when other people are going to be at the Blue Lagoon tomorrow.

Today I will be sporting jeans, the red MMA Elite hoodie and a black shirt that reads “Live in your world, die in mine”. Stop me and say hi!

The flight was uncomfortable and I did not sleep. Honestly I don’t know how people sleep on a plane at all. One lesson I learned is that the isle seat is always preferable, as you have the option of going to the bathroom even if the two businessmen beside you have fallen asleep. Le sigh. I watched the Wall Street remake, which was not bad.

Landing in Iceland, I found it was the morning and Fanfest was mere hours away. By the time I got to the Loftleidir hotel and squared myself away, there was no chance to sleep. At least the breakfast was good. I think I am starting to like pickled herring. As the ATM at the airport gave me some trouble, I was worried that I had once again been the victim of identity theft, but luckily that was not the case. Now if I can only stop giggling when the cabbie asks me for isk…

Oh, if you ever do come to Iceland, be aware that there is a very interesting smell coming from the ocean. Sulphuric in a way but not unpleasant after an hour or two.

Arriving at Fanfest, I immediately began to make new friends and contacts, some of which were very interested that I had a blog, podcast and youtube show. Networking is fun! The teams from EON and Battleclinic semed interested in working with me. A small group of us more of less stuck together the entire day, hitting roundtables and talks together. After going a bit nuts at the store (more on my purchases in a later post) a few of us signed up for Live Agent events and went to town on those (13 stars for the Republic so far!), which I plan to continue to do throughout the event. The Opening Ceremonies were OK but uninteresting, as it was just on overview of what was going on. I managed to hit Design Democracy, which was fun times. It has probably been uploaded already but we created a Caldari BC called the Osiris. Very spider-looking.

I wandered more than I thought I would and didn’t hit as many talks as I thought I would. I caught bits of the CSM and alliance leader panels, which had their ups and downs. A fair disappointment was the PvE roundtable, which was more or less players bringing great suggestions on how to improve them, and the devs saying they would never get the resources to pull it off. Am I supposed to be excited that they are brining the Aura VO back to the NPE? How does that effect me?

Managed to run into Roc and a few others I knew personally. Sadly, CrazyKinux still eludes me. In fact since I didn’t have my electronics with me, I was unable to tweet as @GigaerPrano or even take pics/vids. That will not be the case today.

Took a crack at the open PvP just before it shut down for the day. Tried a Rupture fit but didn’t do so well. Was going after a Vexor and a Caracal came at me and controlled range for long enough to break my active armour tank. Looking back on it, I know the mistakes I made and I’ll chalk them up to exhaustion and PvP noobness. Hoping to learn a lot more before Fanfest is over.

Around 1830 I found I could no longer sustain myself. I had a quick burger with a dev from Alberta and caught a cab back to my hotel to sleep.

As I write this it is about 0815 on Friday and it looks as wet as ever outside. I need to get myself fed and cleaned up. Hopefully I will have the strength to post tonight.

IF YOU ARE AT FANFEST AND WANT TO MEET ME, I SIGNED UP FOR THE COFFEE CRAWL! Or today if you see someone wearing jeans, a Quafe tee and a red MMA Elite hoodie, that’s me.

See you on the show floor!

My route was to take an American Airlines flight out of Toronto to Boston, and then off to Iceland. I was actually supposed to meet up with CrazyKinux in Boston since we were both on the same flight.

Well, AA cancelled the flight at the last minute and handed me off to Air Canada in order to connect to Boston. I was assured that I would make my connection. After going through customs once more I waited for my Air Canada flight, which was delayed twice. Upon arriving in Boston and sprinting to the Icelandair check-in, I was told flatly that the plane had departed a good hour AHEAD of schedule. I am told this is normal.

So… stranded in Boston for 24 hours. Finding a room was no small miracle since there is this huge seafood convention in town and the whole city is almost booked solid. Food isn’t happening unless I can find something open near midnight so I need to see what I can find.

Tomorrow I am more of less stuck in the airport for about 11 hours.

Upset really doesn’t even scratch the surface.

THURSDAY:
1000h – Royal Rumble open PvP. Observation and study mostly, but I may take a shot at it.
1430h – Opening Ceremonies.
1500h – Fansites. Have been considering it for my blog for some time. Need info. Should be interesting.
1600h – Web Development.
1700h – Nice People, Bad Players. Psychological and sociological debate? I can’t resist.
1900h+ – Battle of The Bands. Dinner. Friends. Fun.

FRIDAY:
1100h – Unconventional Gameplay. Another look at how the minds of the playerbase can work.
1200h – Check out the PvP tournament for excitement and study.
1300h – Content. Yes.
1500h – Keynote. Where we have been and where we are going.
2000h – Chessboxing. Maybe not the most important, but chances are the most hilarious.

SATURDAY:
1000h – API. As with the web dev talk, vastly important to EvE’s future innovation.
1100h – EvE/DUST link. As a console gamer, very interested.
1200h – Planetary Interaction. I’ve been enjoying it so far and would love to see how it could be pushed further.
1300h – PvP Finals. Good times.
1500h – CCP Presents. Also known as World Domination. Not to be missed. This is where all the big stuff happens.
1700h – CCP Panel. I may have a question or two.
ROXOR @ 2100h and Permaband @ 2145. Hoping to pick up albums. May stick around for other music.

Interspersed in all that will be good food and good friends. An alliance meet is also in the works. At night I will be blogging and organizing any media I managed to obtain (sourced a friend’s Macbook to take with me in order to get stuff done). Even after such a vigorous schedule, it will be impossible to go to every panel I want to. My kingdom for a jump clone! The panels I do go to, expect me to be prepared with a notepad, recording equipment and solid questions.

Shopping will also come into play. Any EvE wearables I can find, the board game, etc… maybe just as important, I need to find somewhere selling vials of real volcanic ash. I have managed to save up quite a bit for this trip and I don’t intend to leave without loot!

Hoping to be able to hit the Blue Lagoon on the 27th before my flight.

Next few posts will be from fanfest!

Can’t wait!

*squee*

Sadly, my schedule did not open up as welcomingly as I had initially hoped. The chances of me finding time to fly between now and Fanfest are nil.

Therefore, I am revamping this endeavor. Short-term goals will be to learn as much about PvP (along with everything else I can pack into my brain) at Fanfest as possible. I will be taking notes at seminars. I will be conversing in meatspace with corpies and alliancemates in order to source a tutor and pick up tips.

Long-term is to not just get that first kill, but blog about my journey to PvP proficiency. A lofty summit to be sure.

My Fanfest learnings will be the subject of my new Pew-Pew post, so look forward to it!

1. Player to player/corp – Certs could be used to show off aquired skills to other players. This was also meant to be used as a benchmarking tool for recruiting corps.

2. CCP to noob – Certs acted as guides to players who didn’t understand how skills acted long-term.

While the second point probably met with a decent amount of success, I doubt the first has at all. Previous to certs, players used their limited-use APIs to convey vital data effectively. Sites like Eveboard made that relatively safe for all involved. Today, little has changed. Not once has a recruiting corp I have run into not asked for my API, and I can’t honestly recall a time when I’ve actually looked at another player’s certs on a whim.

In my opinion, certain changes need to be made to make the option viable and attractive, first at the corp head level, and second at the base assumptions behind the certs themselves.

Single players won’t bother looking at the certs of other players. We don’t really care, it seems. Corp heads could however use certs if given certain tools such as being able to view, compare, benchmark and organize all the certs held by everyone in their corp. Corp heads could track how their employees are using their training time, and make suggestions in order to meet operational standards. This makes certs a dynamic and useful tool beyond recruitment, where it has obviously failed.

Secondly, the certificates themselves, or rather the skill benchmarks required to attain them, need to be brought up for community scrutiny, debate and revision. I have come across plenty of certificates where there seems to be little reasoning behind what skills are needed to attain a certain level of certificate. Allowing the community to retool them (for instance going to a 5-level system, adding a few certs for role specialization, and rebalancing skill levels per certificate) will not only make them a better tool for players of all SP ranges, but will bring them added credibility. The CSM could tap experts from all fields and professions within New Eden to consult on such matters. A reward for service would attract genuinely wise players (rewards for services rendered was something I also highly suggested in a previous post to attract people to singularity tests).

With these changes made, the certification system CCP wanted from the beginning would have a real chance to flourish among the playerbase.

That all said, my insistance on getting at least one kill under my belt before fanfest remains. If need-be I will just solo it and see what I can do. I know my fits are solid, it’s me I am not so sure about.

We shall see.

“Market newscasts.” She said. A verbal command that told her rather large wall-mounted monitor to display current market news from pre-selected sources that she prefered. Holographics expanded off the screen, giving her supplamental data in full 3D.

Ghaya was what you may call a rising star in the mining business. She was smart, sly and couragous. An member of the growing Frontenac Industrial Enterprises mining fleet, she built in a few short years of plying the space lanes a reputation for taking mining assignments that seemed too risky, even to the immortal capsuleers. Marcus Frontenac himself had personally taken her under his wing and some say she was being groomed to one day command FIE’s vast mining fleet.

She rose again and walked over to her kitchen, part of the same large room, in order to work up a snack. She let the towels covering her body and hair fall away as she walked. After spending weeks in a pod mining ore in the deepest corners of nullsec, it felt good to be naked and let the air caress her skin. If someone had been able to peer inside through the spaceside window which took up the entire far wall, they would have seen a Minmatar goddess in all her glory and youth.

Tall but not lanky at just under 5 foot 10. Thin but quite fit, she was a regular at the gym. Plentiful in bosom and buttocks in that primal way that spoke to good Minmatar breeding. Her red hair was full, flowing just past her shoulders, and when wet the colour of deep blood save for luminecent blue tips. Deep off-green eyes were expressive and perceptive. Her face was youthful and eternally nymphish, thanks in part to her freckles.

As she let her tea steep, she checked her messages via her Aura-interfacing implants. Her latest nox hauls were selling fairly well, though she was considering shipping some of it out of the region to take advantage of shortages elsewhere. The usual pleasentries from Mr. Frontenac, who had become a bit of a welcome father-figure to the rebelious woman. Her contact at ORE contunuing their discussion on a massive Orca custom retrofit befitting her unique piloting style.A fair number of dating service messages await her as well.

Sifting through the dating messages, she thought that perhaps a carnal night out with a young stud eager to please would be just the thing she needed to blow off some steam. A sly grin many learned to fear formed on her face.

Life was good.

This month’s topic comes to us from @Tetraetc – “Tetra’s EVE Blog” – who asks: “Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? Imagine a Null Sec where anyone could build outposts wherever. Would the reduction of the alliance game mechanic, and the removal of the sovereignty game mechanics (or the modifcation of it from Alliance level to Corp level for that matter) force more PVP into Null sec, or would giant power blocs like the NC still form themselves?”

One may wonder why CCP often seems guarded about player suggestions. This topic is a pretty good example of why. This “suggestion” could also be read as, “Imagine CCP totally ruining any sort of believability in the simulation they are trying to build, while breaking a slew of mechanics at the same time”.

Let’s take a look at the imagry used in the topic above. Could you imagine every corp having to maintain their own POS? And what about defense of that POS? The cost and pain-in-the-ass nature of such an endeavour for all but the VERY largest corps would be so skewed, most players would either sit in hisec and occasionally take trips to lowsec for PvP, or quite the game entirely. So suddenly nullsec AND lowsec are dealing with a lack of paradigm and CCP would probably be looking at a mass exodus of subscribers.

From a gameplay perspective, removing alliances would only cause such mechanics to be handled off the grid and would thereby annoy so many players that CCP would probably have a subscriber sustainability issue on their hands. If I remember my EvE history, the inclusion of allaince mechanics was one of those “fraking finally” moments, right alongside the skill queue. CCP would be insane to remove it now. What about dropping sov to corp level? Ask any major alliance heads and they will tell you that such a switch would cause their workload in diplomacy and warfare to drop geometrically. Trust me when I tell you, they have enough on their plate as it is. Plenty of people already blur the line between work and play so most players don’t have to. Let’s not push them, OK?

There’s another consequence to take note of. The reason industrial pursuits of any kind are of interest to players is not just because it is a player-run economy, but because it is an ACTIVE economy. Lots of buying and selling and trading happening all the time. It makes people log in. If the amount of nullsec PvP were to drop as I would imagine these changes would cause, the economy would become stagnant. If things are not getting used up, the flow of buying new things would slow to a crawl, and all those indy players would have no reason to log in because suddenly those Invulnurability Field IIs that would have sold like hotcakes in 24 hours are now taking a week or more to clear out. Indy players quit, CCP loses even more players.

From an RP perspective, alliances are necessary because people in such environments will band together to pool resources and share burdens. This has been true since the dawn of man on Earth. Does any of this limit RP potential? HELLS NO! How about people stop shitting on RP corps and alliances and whine about a lack of RP opportunities in the same breath. How about that? How could removing a function of COMMUNICATION and GROUP PLAY in any way reduce your ability to RP? Don’t want to worry about sov? Join an alliance that have no interest in holding space. We may play in the virtual void of space but that doesn’t mean you have to be cut off from other players to RP. Quite the opposite in fact!

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux’s Musing: EVE Blog Banter #25: And by Alliance you mean…..?
2. BB25 What sov changes will come? | A Mule In EvE
3. Confessions of a Closet Carebear: Alliances and Sovereignty
4. Blog Banter 25: Nerfing Nulsec « OMG! You’re a Chick?!
5. Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? | Nitpickin’s
6. Blog Banter #25: Alliance and Sovereignty Limiting PvP in 0.0? | Sarnel Binora’s Blog
7. Blog Banter #25 – Mad Haberdashers
8. Alliances and sovereignty | Eve Online Focus
9. …Shall we not Revenge?: BB 25: What if the Alliance vanished?
10. Blog Banter: Alliances and Sov
11. EVEOGANDA: BB25: Sov ‘n Go!
12. » TBG:EBB#25 – Alliances and Sovereignty To Boldly Go
13. Freebooted: BB25: Leviathans of the Deep
14. Wrong Game Tetra ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
15. EVE Blog Banter #25 – Human nature what art thou? | Way of the Gun
16. Who cares about Sov? – Hands Off, My Loots! ~ well sorta like an entry! :p
17. The 25th EVE Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty – The Phoenix Diaries
18. Achernar: The space commute
19. Wandering the Void…my EvE musings. – Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty
20. (OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #25: How To Break EvE. « Prano’s Journey
21. Captain Serenity: Blog Banter #25 – Crappy mechanics
22. Helicity Boson » Blog Banter #25 Nullsec and sov.
23. BB #25 – “With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?”
24. Boom! Hull-Shot?: It’s the End of the Eve as We Know It
25. sered’s lives: EVE Blog Banter #25 – Size does matter
26. 25th EVE BB – Medieval Solutions to Spaceship Problems | Inventions of a New Eden Industrialist
27. Eve Blog Banter #25: “Have Alliances and Sov Limited PvP and RP in 0.0?” « Align Outbound
28. Banter 25: Sovereignty, Alliances and Power Blocs | TheElitist
29. Blog Banter 25 – But I just left all that! « A Scientist’s Life in Eve
30. Nobody likes losing « One capsuleer against all
31. &gt;&gt;&gt;Vigil Ant: Alliances and SOV by Munny’s eyes.
32. Latro’s Bunker: Blog Banter 25 -Nullsec and Sov
33. A “CareBears” Journey » Blog Banner #25: Alliances and Sovereignty, and their affect on PVP and RP
34. Blog Banter #25 – Unstoppable « Roc’s Ramblings
35. Nobody likes losing « One capsuleer against all
36. EVE Blog Banter on PVP in Null Sec « Evehermit’s Blog
37. Sleepless in Space: Blog Banter #25: Moar Low Sec!
38. More to come…

As I’ve said here before I have a podcast called Complete Geek Radio (which can be found on iTunes, Blackberry Podcasts and other sources), but recently we at CGR have expanded our efforts with On The Comic Edge, a comic book review project which can be found on YouTube. That’s right, it’s in video, staring me!

It’s pretty rough around the edges but as with everything we do I am sure it will grow in leaps and bounds.

I hope you’ll be kind enough to follow the link HERE. Enjoy!

I’d been keeping my eye on Roc Wieler for some time now, which hasn’t been all that difficult. The Ushra’Khan have eyes and ears in many places. I felt responsible for him, in a way. I’d set him along a path of hardship. I knew he was more than capable of seeing his own destiny through, but no man should bare that kind of burden alone.

Pride. It was a failing in him. A man of his accomplishments and talent could hardly be faulted for being prideful, but pride turns to hubris so quickly that one often doesn’t notice until it’s too late. One needs people close to keep them grounded. So I made myself visible. He knew I was always available to him, but perhaps an offering of company would help. Turns out, it did.

We met in a shambling station in some backwater system that I can’t recall the name of. I don’t think either of us had ever been there before and I was dubious as to why he chose some out of the way location. Was he working nearby? In any case a quick check of a station map and a magtrain ride got us to The Gate. I’ve been in some sketchy joints before, but this one gave me real pause. Still, Roc seemed intrigued. Perhaps he was testing how “down to earth” I was.

We entered and took a booth. The waitress wasn’t the most attractive, but being around the poor and broken as often as I was, she was still a sight for sore eyes. I was surprised how kind Roc was to her. Usually people with his lifestyle (capsuleers, mostly) don’t take courtesy into account. The more I learned about Roc, the more I understood why he was on this path.

The last time Roc and I met, it was… well tense doesn’t do it justice really. My life could have ended a few times over. This was different. I didn’t have to directly check the other patrons and wonder who was with him because I doubt he would have acted like this in front of them. It was oddly genuine. Does that mean I put him at ease, or perhaps the opposite? In any case I knew that there was a lot on his mind and I’d give him time to open up on his own terms.

“It is good to see you again, Roc Wieler.” I said. It was truly good to see him. I have to say that I admired him in many ways. His accomplishments and his prestige. I doubted I’d ever warrant such attention in my own life, but that’s didn’t bother me.

“Good to see you too.” he responded. The tone told me a lot. There was a duality in it, an unease. I guess I did put him a little off his game. He probably considered me a unique factor. Something he could barely conventionally define, much less control. That in its own way was healthy. It forced growth.

“What troubles you, my friend?” I asked. I use the word friend with total conviction. The line between associate and friend is very clear to me. Friendship is a bond. I could tell Roc was trying to lower his inner walls when the waitress came by with beer and asked us if we were ready to order. With Roc’s shenanigans, I’d barely looked at the menu. Roc asked for some more time while I poured our beers. I enjoy pouring beer for some reason. Visually it’s almost hypnotic.

Roc wasn’t ready. Those walls were being stubborn, so I changed the subject and told him about what I’ve been up to. I shared tips for kandjal training, life in the Ushra’Khan, seeking out and helping those who had fallen so far that society chooses to forget them. He seemed enthralled.

The waitress came by again asking about our orders. Again I’d neglected to look at the menu, but instead of sending her away again, I ordered the first thing my eyes found. The Gate Delight. After looking again, I was unable to find a description, and the waitress was already gone. I got the sensation I’d just made a huge mistake, but continued to weave tales for Roc’s enjoyment. I could tell he was much more relaxed by the time our orders arrived.

The food was… well… the food was bad. Not as bad as the music though. Oddly enough, Roc seemed to be enjoying both. The beer was good though, and sometimes you need to appreciate the little things. Roc seemed to be really enjoying the tunes and even went so far as to hoot and holler and clap. I was so surprised that I just had to sit back and observe. Would anyone believe me if I told them this story? Probably not.

Eventually he spoke his true mind. “Why me?” he asked. That question pleased me. I’d asked myself that question many times in my life. It invites healthy introspection. I quickly answered by simply turning it around on him in the form of a reversed question. It’s a dirty trick but it works. It was obvious he wanted me to give him an out, or at least a reason why he must feel this burden. People tend to focus on burdens they don’t want or didn’t choose to take on, thereby making the burden seem bigger and giving them an excuse for not thinking about the actual tasks at hand. This, I expected.

He asked if there were others who could do this instead of him. Ah, pride. Of course there were others. Shakor could install some puppet Sanmatar to take over for him, or I could do it all from behind the scenes. Neither would be perfect but both would be doable. The truth was that Roc was indeed perfect for the role, but should he fail we’d have to enact some sort of back-up.

I had hurt him. Anyone in his position would be hurt. He suggested he could just do nothing. He said he could just walk away and leave me to my own devices.

There it was again. That same sense of primal threat that I picked-up on during our first encounter. He was a master of body language. I was taller and bigger, but I was still younger and he’d seen a lot more combat than I have. I had to appear to ignore it. If I backed down I’d lose any chance of earning his trust. He’s have to trust me if he was going to be the one we all needed him to be. I took another bite of my delight and chose my words carefully.

“It has never been about my needs, my friend. The question before you is simple. Can you ‘just do nothing’ and be satisfied with that?” I said. I had to suppress an inward laugh. There was a time where I despised people who talked in such a fashion. People who compelled us to look within ourselves to find answers. To be true to ourselves and bare unflinching and unending witness to the universe as it really was. Still, I may have let a small grin escape.

Suddenly, Roc excused himself from the table. Had I annoyed him so much that he felt the need to leave? I watched him as he left the table. In fact he moved away from the door and towards the waitress by the bar. I don’t think he found her attractive or anything, but he needed an intermission in our heavy discussion in order to decompress. From what I could read from lips and body, he asked her to dance. They actually did before she disengaged and returned to her work. Roc returned to the table with an odd look of defeat on his face. Had he been turned down?

“No, I couldn’t live with myself.” he said in an exhale.

“I don’t know how anyone could.” I answered, ignoring the most recent events for his sake. “How can you know there is a need among the people you are dedicated to, and that you could potentially fill that need perfectly, and still remain inactive? How can someone just sit back and do nothing but gripe about the state of affairs, but not act on solutions to the very things they detest? Bitching and moaning about it does nothing but drag other down to suffer in your self-inflicted wallowing of despair. Do something. Stand up. Be heard. Make a difference.”

Damn, I thought to myself. I can be almost inspiring when I talk like Vakor did to me.

It did the trick. The walls were down and he was being honest with himself. I started to see how lost he felt. This path was not just foreign to him, part of him was actively resisting it. I’d seen this so many times in my travels. So many Minmatar painted spirituality with the same brush as the Amarr. Hate one, hate the other.

“I don’t know how to get to where I want to be.” He said with a slight amount of defeat in his voice. This was good. Now the earth was fertile and could be seeded. I didn’t need to say anything really. I gave him a look that told him the answers were within himself if he just looked mindfully. He was looking, and I think he was beginning to find them.

After letting his inner eye search a bit I set my utensils down and gave the impression I was about to speak. “So help me, if you say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, I’ll punch you.” he said first in warning. He really needed to lighten the mood and I had to call upon all my faculties in order to not laugh. I needed to keep control of the conversation in order to earn his respect.

In honesty, I didn’t know what he should do next. I barely knew what I should do. His path was just as treacherous and mysterious as my own. He felt alone, but often I felt just as lost as he did. However unsure I was though, I couldn’t let him see it. If I was going to help him, I needed to exude an aura of trust and confidence. He needed to believe that I knew what I was doing and could guide him.

“Roc Wieler, your path is your own. Your actions are not mine to dictate. You must make your own decisions, and live with the consequences of those choices. I do not know what is in store for you, and when my second sight gives me directions, it’s always vague, often confusing, and open to interpretation. I will simply try to offer what advice I may, but I will not live anyone’s life for them. That is not my role. Excuse me, miss; I would like to pay for our fine meals please.”

We parted ways soon after that on good terms. I think I managed to help, at least I hope I did. That night I meditated on his life and his future. It’s a long road ahead.

Pator. Homeworld of the Minmatar Republic.

Gigaer stood on a mountain plateau overlooking a vast savanna.

In ancient times many Minmatar warriors crossed this vast plain on foot as part of a spiritual pilgrimage. The mountain at the centre of the plain was a dormant volcano, and within the caldera was a small hidden temple where warrior monks resided. These monks never ventured into the outside world, and seemed to be constantly in some form of meditation or training. It was here that a warrior proved himself or herself worthy and meet their kandjal.

The volcano and the surrounding savanna was sacred ground to all Minmatar, and it had been untouched by technology and development as a result.

After the week-long trek across the savanna, a climb up the steep sides of the volcano and proving his or her worth to the temple leaders, a month-long regimen of physical and spiritual purification took place, where several rituals meant to cleanse the warrior of evil spirits and poisons occurred. Many of these rituals were by no means safe, and were in actuality meant to test the warriors fortitude as much as cleanse the body and soul.

A warrior did not simply receive a kandjal. The warrior had to learn how they were made and maintained, doing much of the crafting themselves under strict guidance, though certain secrets of their construction remain known only to the monks. The warrior gathered the materials needed to make the blade, extending handle (with all the internal mechanisms) and scabbard. In this way, it was said that a warrior “meets” his kandjal, as he would discover an ally on the battlefield. A kindred spirit whose relationship with was to be forged in earnest and tended to mindfully.

The most important of materials was the metal called tetrapalladium. The only place in known space it can be found was from within this volcano. When refined, folded and tempered, it had a mirror finish, was light and very strong. Most unique, when motion was applied, tetrapalladium vibrated, creating whistling and humming sounds vaguely similar to a wind instrument. Every kandjal had a unique sound, as every imperfection and fold within the metal blade changed how sympathetic vibrations traveled. Those ever-changing sounds became a warrior’s signature. The metal had no commercial value, but was essential to the creation of the kandjal.

Gigaer saw himself standing on the border between old and new. It was his duty to revive the old ways for all Minmatar, but to accomplish that, some rules had to be bent. Matari society is now part of a larger galactic community, and as much as he would have liked to just turn back the clock, things were never going to be the same. Minmatar had changed, and Gigaer had to change the old ways to make them at least applicable in this new age.

Gigaer stowed the new kandjal in his pack. It was not his. The markings upon the weapon were not of the Prano clan. Gigaer made the trek and endured the rituals on behalf of someone else, which was forbidden in ancient times. Breaking such an important tradition was a thought Gigaer did not enjoy in the slightest. The monks were extremely displeased at Gigaer’s plan, but as the sole carrier of the Prano name, he had right to force compliance in these matters. Gigaer had also convinced them to record a video showing the basic use and maintenance of the kandjal, while in the past such information was traditionally passed though personal instruction only.

“Things change, even things that were never meant to. Things that don’t change, die. I will never let this die.” Gigaer said aloud as he set back down the mountain on his long journey back to civilization.

A week later, the kandjal and recording would but sent to its destined owner, Roc Wieler.

I live three lives.

The first is that of a Minmatar Spaceship Construction Services capsuleer. MSCS is a small industrial and odd-jobs outfit that pays me reasonably well for my services. I’m not getting financially rich by any means, but I’m not a greedy man.

The second is a freedom fighter of the Ushra’Khan, of which MSCS is a member. This brings me into direct conflict with slavers among the less secure systems of New Eden. We find and kill them with extreme prejudice. We force them to stop inflicting suffering upon others, either through lethal or financial tactics. We free the slaves they seek to buy and sell.

The third life often starts where the second one ends. You see, when the slaves are freed, they often are left with nowhere to go and ruined personas. The U’K often takes them in as part of our forces, but I try to help them rebuild themselves as true Minmatar. I help them find peace and purpose at a spiritual level through meditation and learning. I help them find enlightenment when things seem all but lost.

In ancient times, the Prano clan was the centre of the Minmatar’s spiritual world. We led our people to a place of inner peace and deeper understanding, beyond the confines of their physical selves. The Amarr took all that away from us. I am the last.

Lately I’ve been trying to expand my efforts in my third life by traveling throughout the galaxy and seeking out disenfranchised souls. The poor, the ill, the broken. I help them as best I can, and some have begun to seek me out. I make no attempt to hide myself.

I had heard of a legendary warrior that was constantly at the forefront of battles and controversy. It seemed that some force always led him to the right place at the right time to be significant. Such foresight would be impossible for even the most well-informed person or organization. Could it be something more? Could this man be special? If the universe continually made him an icon for our people, why fight it? This man would need guidance… and protection.

Last night, during a meditative session with a destitute Vherokior family I received a communique. Colonel Roc Wieler would hear me out.

the conversation was short and terse, as he made no attempt to hide the fact that he held me in a small amount of suspicion. After we set a time and location, I asked him why he was giving me this chance. he ended the conversation quickly without giving me an answer.

I have a week to prepare myself.

———

My meeting with Colonel Roc Wieler presented several challenges.

First, I had to get into Evati alive. It being a den of pirates was a problem, as I wished to enter and leave the system without incident. I accomplish my ingress via a Republic civilian transport. Pirates didn’t normally harass civies as there was little profit to be made, and the wrath of CONCORD would not be far behind.

Keeping my status as a capsuleer hidden was a skill I had become proficient in. There was plenty of distrust between normal humans and the transhuman pod-pilot community, and avoiding that during initial contact with the down-trodden people I sought to help was important. After docking at the station and going through the same public decontamination procedures that all normal people had to endure, I stepped on to a magtrain and headed to the meeting place the Colonel had chosen.

One could easily tell it was an officer’s club that had as some point been commandeered by the local pirates. A spray-painted symbol featuring a cat with over-sized fangs gave me some idea of who called this place home.

I make a living hunting pirates, so walking into a literal den of thieves was not my idea of a wise tactical decision, especially when I was unarmed. I had to assume however, I was the only one without a ranged weapon. My kandjal was ever at my side and would allow me to fell a few attackers swiftly, but not this many. This evening could turn from cordial to deadly in the time it took to pull a trigger.

It was not difficult to pick Roc out of the crowd. He sat at a table in the centre of the room, facing the only door. He had a half-consumed beer and a pocket terminal with him, but his attention never wavered from the door. The moment I entered, he deactivated the terminal. I could sense the tension in the room rise slightly, telling me he had friends here ready to shoot me the moment he gave the signal. I tried not to look around too much as to not let on I knew I was being watched. I approached the table and bowed.

“Roc Wieler. It’s an honour to meet a warrior of such skill and renown. I’m grateful for this opportunity to speak.” I said, still bowing, but keeping my eyes locked with his. Coming off as too submissive would surely backfire between Brutor. I omitted his rank from my greeting, as I was unsure how some ease-dropping pirate at the next table may respond. The Colonel stared for ten seconds, sizing me up, then nodded at the chair opposite from him. I sat. A waitress came by and I ordered, same as Roc.

Roc took a chug of his beer before starting. “Just so you know, I’ve done a little checking up on you. I’m curious what someone who grew up adopted by a Gallente mogul can teach me about being Minmatar.”

I told the Colonel my story, as I’ve told many before him. I told him about the Prano clan before the Amarr came. I told him about my mother and the hundreds of other slaves who died liberating me from that Amarr Battleship, leaving me with only a message on a datacore as evidence of my family heritage. I told him about my adopted father, who set me on the path to becoming a capsuleer so that I may find my own path in life. I told him about the Elders, who lured me out into the Great Wildlands and trained me in the ancient ways of our people. Finally, I told him about he people I’ve been helping and my efforts with the Ushra’Khan.

“We are a civilization with a lost history. We’re bound together by a vague understanding and the simple notion of that history. We’re tied together by our anger for the Amarr, but there will come a point when even that won’t be enough. Shakor knows this and so do the Elders, but change on a scale such at this is a difficult thing, especially when many among us are still disenfranchised. Unfortunately, by the time this all becomes apparent, you’ll be in the centre of the storm of hearts and minds and souls. I’m here to prepare you for that.”

The Colonel shook his head as an almost inaudible chuckle escaped him. “I’m not the man you think I am. I’m a soldier and a commander, but I’m no leader. Let Shakor do that. Once the fighting is done I just want to be left alone.”

I took another sip of my drink. I was starting to understand the man behind the stories. “You may not have a choice in it. You’re a victim of your own success, and even though it was not your intention, others have started to rally to the tales of your exploits. By the end of this war you’ll be a hero in the eyes of our people. Your frame will be covered in medals and you’ll be forced to go to parties and events that you don’t want to go to. People will look to become important through proximity and association, but then our collective adrenaline will fade and we will begin to crave meaning in the peace and prosperity we’ll have created for ourselves though bloodshed. You’re already the warrior, but I can show you how to be the leader we will all need you to be.”

Roc’s mood was beginning to sour, and I couldn’t tell if it was due to impatience with me or an understanding that he was indeed trapped. I extended my senses past our table, trying to discern who in the room posed a threat to me should the Colonel decide I was not to leave breathing. There, behind me, the tall Minmatar red-head. A gun was laying on her lap. I wouldn’t be able to avoid her shot at this range. Careful not to turn to view her.

“So, what exactly are you offering?” asked Roc. I still couldn’t tell what had him on his last nerve, but I’d have to choose my next words carefully.

“A past. Our past, so that you can help create a future for our people, a future you fight for now. I studied the ancient literature the Elders took with them to escape the Amarr, but without that wisdom, we can’t grow as a people. We can not see the path before us without understanding where our feet have already fallen. The Prano legacy is that of peacemakers between tribes and advisers to the Elders. I offer myself as a spiritual guide, to be called upon whenever you need answers. I ask that if you find those who seek a deeper understanding of what it means to be Minmatar, send them to me. When the time comes, it will be my duty to arm you with the wisdom all of Matar will seek from you.”

I downed the last of my drink and rose slowly to my feet. “The choice is yours. You have my personal comm information. You’ll be able to reach me anywhere and at any time.” I bowed again and turned to leave. Harping on the point would do me no good. Better to let the conversation stir in his mind and let him come to me when he’s ready, rather then push him now.

“I may just do that.” Roc said before I reached the door. I turned, surprised at his comment. Roc had already risen from his seat and was now at the bar, being joined by the red-head.

I rented a room for the night, as the next civilian transport didn’t leave until the next day. I meditated on my encounter with Colonel Roc Wieler. I could only hope that he would call upon me before it was too late for us all.

All according to plan.

A planet on the outer edges of known space. Gigaer was probably the only sapient creature on this rock. The perfect place to isolate himself from everything he could in order to perform this specific and risky ritual.

He danced a deadly dance upon the blazing sand. Deadly because it involved the expert use of his kandjal. Deadly because this ritual lasted for days and required the participant to push himself beyond the breaking point, inducing a near-death experience.

For days now Gigaer felt something on the outer edges of his eatheral perceptions. Beyond the mist that blocked his view of eternity and protected his sanity, there was something looking back at him. This something was malicious to be sure, but he could not discern anything else. Such a sensation would not have normally prompted such a dangerous measure as the one he undertook now, but things were not so simple.

A message. One sent on an open channel and unencrypted. This was not truly out of the ordinary, until you take into account the sender. Eyes. Eyes was a man who didn’t just live in the shadows of secrecy and subterfuge, no, Eyes WAS a shadow. As close to a non-entity as any human could be in this age. The circumstances of the message put Gigaer on alert to be sure, but the content sent him into as close to a panic as he had been in years. It was only one word:

RUN.

Eyes was surely dead, and that death was surely Gigaer’s fault. Someone, or something, was hunting Gigaer, and somehow managed to get to Eyes.

Gigaer had not traveled to the middle of nowhere to run. Running had never been an option. Eyes must have known that. The message was meant to warn Gigaer that he was being hunted and that evasion was key. Gigaer chose instead to hunt the hunter, and to that end needed information on his prey. Anyone who could outmaneuver Eyes would not exist to the rest of society, so searching any normal channels of data would be fruitless. Gigaer had to use extraordinary means.

Gigaer had grown much since the day he learned of his true heritage. At a height of 6 feet and 3 inches and a weight of 230 pounds, he was on par with the largest of Brutor. His constant training endowed him with dense muscles and low body fat that pulled his jet black skin taught, showing off every ripple and bulge. Due to his clan’s history of inter-tribe relationships, his facial features took on the more expressive features of the Starkmanir. His eyes were a solid green that seemed to exude willpower, and his hair was jet black which he wore in a large mane of dreads that extended down to the small of his back and were held together with thick crimson rope. Gigaer had undergone the Voluval when he was with the Elders, yet his tattoos covered his entire body, unlike most Minmatar his age. A Prano’s tattoos served a unique purpose, as they would enhance the connection to the vital universal energies that the clan tapped in to.

Gigaer’s body ceased to sweat some time ago and Gigaer had to fight to remain awake and upright and focused. According to the aincient scriptures, this ritual required the ingestion of a specific plant which held minor hallucinogenic effects, but Gigaer had never relied on such things and was not about to start now. No, he would get there on his own.

Gigaer has lost count of how many times he had gone through the specific series of kandjal forms, which was half dance and half fighting style. The repetition of these specific forms was meant to focus the mind on the task of seeking answers in the void.

Slowly Gigaer’s perception pulled inward until the universe was only the whistle of his kandjal blade and the war drum-like thumping of his heart.

Slash.

Thump.

Swing.

Thump.

Stab.

Thump.

Spin.

Thump.

The sounds danced with each other inside his head until they coalesced into a single point of life. Gigaer existed as a spark of will and dashed along the boarder between nowhere and everywhere. There, for the first time, as he stared into eternity’s swirling vortex of past and future, something was looking back at him… something human.

Gigaer opened his eyes. It was night and the stars above him were out. He guessed he had been unconscious for a few hours. Local scavengers had begun to approach, but scurried off and flew away once Gigaer managed to move again. his naked body lay sprawled out facing up. His kandjal was stuck in the sand a few feet away, where it must have flown the moment he lost consciousness and his grip on the weapon.

A few metres away lay a vast ocean. Before Gigaer would trek back to his Jaguar-class assault frigate, he would take a dip in the cool waters and plan his next step.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

As a particle physicist, I don’t spend much time worrying about gravity. It’s been awhile since my classes on stellar mechanics, but I’ll take a shot. Let’s set the other issues (relativity, wormholes, warp drives) aside and discuss only one issue. If the Sansha had some mechanism to remove mass (“plasma extraction”) from the Yulai star, would that cause it to “blow up”?

I flew to Yulai and clicked “Show Info” on its star. It’s an F7, with a temp of 6.4k Kelvin and a radius of 0.73 solar radii. In other words, its a bit small for the main sequence but still solidly within the expected range, and in particular it is not a white dwarf. Its presence on the main sequence means the Yulai star’s mass is roughly 0.8 solar masses.

Remember, when a star becomes a white dwarf, it sheds much of its mass, leaving a metal-rich core. If the remaining core accretes enough mass to become heavier than the Chandrasakahar limit of ~1.4 solar masses, the quantum-mechanical electron degeneracy pressure can’t hold up the star and it collapses with a supernova. But Yulai isn’t a white dwarf, it’s a main sequence star. If the original star is lighter than the Chankdrasekhar mass, the even-lighter remaining dwarf will be insufficiently massive as well. Taking yet more mass away with “plasma extraction” won’t help. Quickly removing a huge mass from its core will cause the star to collapse, but it is never going to beat electron degeneracy. Yulai is too light for it to ever supernova.

What the Sansha would need to do is somehow shut off fusion in the star, convert all of it to electron-degenerate matter, and then _add_ mass—and a lot of it. More than 0.6 solar masses of it, another K or G star’s worth. Maybe if “plasma extraction” meant they were pulling it off another star through a wormhole, collapsing a white dwarf with the Yulai mass would be possible. But that is a tall order for known wormhole/stargate technology. For example, a titan has a mass between 2-3 billion kilograms. That is about 1 to 1.5 times 10^{-21} solar masses—–a billion trillion times lighter than the mass required to for Yulai to reach the Chandrasekhar limit! Either the Sansha have some insanely good wormhole technology, or they would have to wait longer than the lifetime of the universe to transfer the mass required. And that doesn’t solve the problem of quickly converting the entire Yulai star into electron-degenerate matter. Maybe one could do that with some heretofore-undiscovered laws of physics, but as far as we know it is impossible.

My conclusion is that the Sansha weren’t making a serious attempt to collapse a star. So what _were_ they doing?

Indeed. As usual science leaves us with more juicy and tantalizing mysteries than answers. I’m still convinced quantum entanglement  is at play here. Perhaps they needed a piece of the star to do something remotely to it (not unlike the common misconceptions of a voodoo doll).

SCIENCE!

Listen to me (Edge) talk with the rest of the cast about how the Carbon character creator stacks up HERE!*

Oh, and if you’ve listened before, you’ll know the others like to take jabs at EvE. Listen to the tide turn this time.

*Also available on iTunes, Blackberry Podcasts and any other system you can think of.

Not surprising really. I just spent the last 5 hours crawling around the old construction and maintenance tunnels of this station. Why would I do that? No, I’m not trying to pick up some extra cash as an engineer. I was looking for someone. A family of someones in fact.

You see, I ended up stuck here in Frarn for a few days while my Maelstrom receives an overhaul of its dorsal shield emitters. The problem with flying a new ship design is that they’re often pretty rough around the edges. The downside of that is you spend a lot of time in dock receiving multiple overhauls or “patches” as the crews call them. The upside is that the cost for any repairs that need to be done at the same time are covered by the companies involved with the patching. If you run the ship especially hard and gather a lot of useful flight data, they may actually pay you for it. I think they call that “beta testing”. I wonder where they come up with these terms…

Anyways, I was in my quarters, meditating as I often do. I turned off all the lights and lit a raw wax candle I’d made. Yeah, I make candles sometimes. It’s a hobby. So I’m meditating, and suddenly I feel this slight pull on my shoulders. My vision blurs for a second and I find that I’m not in my quarters anymore. I’m in a dark, tight space. It’s very cold and I’m very hungry and tired. It’s hard for me to perceive what’s around me, but by the light of the candle I can see a Minmatar woman sleeping in the corner, and a young girl no more than 6 or 7 years old huddled close to her for warmth. As I sharpened my focus, I could tell I was looking through the eyes of a man close to death. So hungry…

Somewhere on this station there was a family of Minmatar who were at the end of their rope. I had to find them fast.

I threw on a thick work jumper and gathered some light gear I thought would be useful for a search and rescue. Rope, flashlight, first-aid kit, water, nutrition bars and an Omnitool that I could use for medical scanning and light mechanical work. I also brought my candle, in case I needed to attempt a reconnect and get my bearings. I could still sense what general direction they were in, but it was very vague and a space station has a lot of nooks and crannies to hide in.

I crawled around between structural layers for hours, whacking my head and limbs more times than I can remember. Stepping in and rubbing against sludge and residues that I’d rather not describe. This space was never meant to be livable or navigable, and it was quite a task actually finding my way in at all. The cold of the void and the thin air made exerting myself difficult to say the least.

Not surprisingly, I eventually found myself lost. I was stuck between two metal walls only a foot apart no light except for my flashlight. My connection to the man had almost disappeared, so I took out my candle, lit it and stood there holding it and focusing on the flame. It was far more difficult to find them a second time than I thought, and I figured that was due to the man being close to death. All I could detect was a faint echo, pleading for rescue. They would not last much longer, and I had to hurry.

Another hour in the dark before I laid my hand on a bulkhead. Every other surface was ice cold, but this one was slightly warmer. Either there was an active shield energy conduit behind here and I’d die in seconds from radiation, or there was a family about to die from starvation. My Omnitool was useless at this point on account of the refractory metals used in armour plating. It took every bit of strength and dexterity I had left, but I managed to remove the metal plate.

The candle in the middle of the 5x5x5 space was down to a nub. My violent arrival had awoken the woman and child, scaring them into hysterics. I managed to calm them down by offering food and water in Matarese. Oddly, the man had not moved since my arrival. He was sitting up against the wall but slightly slumped over. I shook him slightly, saying that it was time to go. He didn’t respond. That’s when I noticed how cold he was to the touch, just like the bulkheads in the tunnels. I checked for a pulse, but couldn’t find one.

His last effort in life was call for help the only way he could. He prayed by the candlelight. It was a miracle that I was here to answer his plea. I just wish I had gotten to them sooner.

So, woman and child are getting expert medical attention for now. They can stay in my quarters and regain their strength until I can find a home and source of income for them. I had the body of the man retrieved and brought to my ship. I’ll give him a proper burial in space when I can.

It’s been a long day. Time for that shower.

Clone Damage is a short fiction project that gives insight to the activities of the PBAU during the time of the Dominion expansion.  The story takes place against the backdrop of CVA’s fall in Providence.  While relative peace of  Providence free-space slowly falls to invaders, the PBAU themselves between friends and enemies. Politics makes strange bedfellows, but the  pressure of covert ops behind enemy lines takes it’s toll and reduces the corporate numbers to a handful of hunted agents who are exposed during the turbulence of the war.  It is a dark time for the Alchemists who become hunted by their former allies, and tribal friends alike.

Kariam Zol watched unmoved as a man was tortured a few feet away.

The dungeon under the castle in which they were located was ancient tens of thousands of years ago, and it was a testament to Amarr skill that it still stood.

Kariam was a paladin on special detachment from House Sarum. An order from the empress herself created a small “wetworks” organization called Faith. Made up of a small handful of the best Paladins from all noble houses, they operated under a mandate of seeking out and destroying those individuals who posed unique threats to Amarr. The answered only to the empress herself, and officially did not exist.

Kariam stood oddly tall and oddly wide-chested for an Amarr, bred and trained to be an avatar of cold and calculating divine wrath. Deeply scarred skin told of his hunts, and his steel-grey eyes hid a dominating intellect honed for a single task.

Kariam had been hunting this man, who by many accounts did not exist himself, for months. Now this shadow of the same man was strapped to a chair, naked and bleeding from a slowly growing number of wounds. Here was a man well-versed in the arts of subterfuge and intrigue, yet in the end Kariam’s devotion and faith had seem him the victor.

Torture as a means of interrogation was something Kariam found fascinating on a purely intellectual level. The balances of pain, hope and coercion was a delicate ballet between the torturer and subject. Too little and you don’t get anything fro the subject, while too much and the information you get will be tainted by the subject’s need for the pain to end. Often the fear of harm is more powerful than harm itself. Kariam watched as the man was constantly pressured and questioned for several days. Kariam did not sleep during this, and he took intricate mental notes for future reference.

The man was nearly dead, and even though he was trained to resist torture by the Elders, Kariam’s dungeon master was just too skilled. Much that the man revealed was already known to Kariam. The Minmatar went by the name “Eyes”, and it was doubtful that he had any real identity. He was a capsuleer, but his implants had been disabled before the torture began so that death would be permanent. Eyes worked for the Minmatar Elders (seven horrible apparitions akin to demons in the eyes of the Amarr), but knew little about their actual operations. Kariam wasn’t after anything specific, but this man had to know something of use. Unfortunately he would be dead in a few minutes.

Kariam ordered his agent to leave. Coercion would have little effect now. First removing his white gloves and tucking them neatly into his belt, Kariam unshackled his prey and stood him up on a pool of dried blood. Eyes could barely stay level, and death’s grasp was slowly closing around his heart. Kariam placed his hands on Eyes’ head and squeezed. Eyes began to scream and howl with pain that didn’t seem entirely physical. Every synapse, neuron and nerve was raped. Kariam’s gaze drilled into Eyes, seeking his prey’s last, dark secret.

After what seemed like eternity of unfathomable pain, Kariam suddenly let go, and Eyes fell to the ground, instantly devoid of life. The stoic paladin retrieved his gloves from his belt and left the dungeon, ascending the stone stairwell and exiting the hollow remains of the castle. This isle on Mehkios was virtually untouched by development and belonged to the empress herself as a natural retreat locale. The only artificial structure other than the castle was a landing pad. Kariam’s shuttle was being checked by a servant, and Kariam would head to one of the system’s station to procure a ship, crew supplies and information to start his next hunt.

Only one word escaped Eyes’ mind at the moment of death. This word held connections to concepts such as hope and truth within his mind. It was this word that drove paladin Kariam Zol to the stars, and it escaped his lips as his shuttle took off.

“Prano”.

Pulling plasma off of a star. Interesting. One could, in theory, destabilize a star by reducing it’s mass quickly enough, but the volume of plasma you would need to remove would be (pun intended) astronomical.

Sit a normal black hole next to a mid-sized star and it will still live for millions of years, as THIS VID demonstrates.

How could he produce this effect? Cyno fields have at their core artificial quantum micro-singularities. White or “naked” holes as some call them in the biz of crazy astrophysical craziness call them. This field bends spacetime just as all gravity does, but much more radically.

OK. Take a piece of paper and draw two points on it with a pen. The paper represents spacetime along the four major dimensions of our physical universe (height, length, width and time). Shortest distance between two points is obviously a straight line, but if you can bend the universe, again as all gravity does, then you can connect the two points along a new plane. Poke a hole through the paper connecting the two points. That is your wormhole or cyno. then when the paper is unfolded, you’ve not traveled at all, but arrived at your destination. The effort isn’t in moving through the universe, but folding the universe around you. Capsuleers do this all the time with warp drives and stargates, but those compress space in front and expand it in back (ever notice the extreme red and blue shifts while warping? Doppler effect). It’s conventional travel but with a loophole around the light speed limits. Cynosural field jumping and wormhole creation have the most in common with what I am trying to illustrate here. Connecting two points in the universe through quantum entanglement (beacon) and gravitational manipulation (jump field).

If he could sustain a field long enough, anchor it to the star’s core (taking it off the corona won’t do), and if it were large enough, he could rip a star in half and cause it to nova (or supernova if the mass of the remaining star was sufficient) prematurely, the delicate balance a star must maintain of outward fusion explosion and inward-pressing gravity sent into chaos. But the field would have to be able to take in a huge fraction of the star’s mass away almost instantly. How much? We’re talking several hundred 1G planets-worth. Such a cyno field would need a power source many times larger than the star he intends to destroy. Perhaps a supermassive black hole (like the kind that bind galaxies) would do it. How supermassive? Several hundred-million solar masses would be my guess. Not exactly something you come across mining veldspar.

Motive is also in question if that is his goal. He wants to “save” and induct (if put kindly) people in his civilization, but obliterating a whole system with a nova or worse would not only kill everyone in it, but would galvanize the rest of the galaxy’s population against him, as was done when he was first exiled.

What could Kuvakei be thinking?

I have to say this time around we have a lot more professional-looking efforts being put forth. Great designs all for the most part. I just wanted to weigh in on a few entries that stand out to me as exceptionally good. One from every race sound good?

Serval – I would fly this, no question. It has the Minmatar look down perfectly without looking too shambly and is all kinds of menacing. I could see a small gang of these things plus a Scimitar inspire some serious fear in nullsec purely based on the visuals. I could see some interesting loadouts be created for the 4/4/3 layout being presented. Not sure how well the “Hunter-Killer” concept but I could see it working fairly easily as a way to expand the BC class. RP-wise, I love the little write-up about it using battleship-class engines, and I can fully picture this ship flying along on an oddly large engine flare. It also details how this ship inspired T3 ships and the use of Sleeper tech among Minmatar designers.

Prometis – Gallente ships tend to look bulbous and artsy, but rarely (if ever) do they come off as aggressive as this ship… and I love it. RP-wise, it’s made to utilize hit-and-run tactics (a Minmatar tactic), which is interesting since by now you’d think designers and design philosophies are cross-pollinating between the two empires. What I find odd is that the writeup says it has missile hardpoints (a first for a Gallente ship if I am right), and a 5/5/2 layout would be horrible for armour tankers (again, all Gallente ships are armour tanks). The literature might not be holding water, but the ship looks badass and I could easily see it as a crazy-fast blasterboat with a side of drones.

Peregrine – Finally a strategic ship offering that involves more than on setup. Not sure how well CCP would take to strategic battlecruisers but I gotta say I like this design. It’s noticably dirtier than your average Caldari ship but I think that might be a good thing. A 7/6/4 layout on a Caldari ship really does scream tough bastard but as a T3 it would obviously change depending on subsystems used. On the other hand I don’t really see T3 BCs coming out anytime soon, or really being all that useful. Frigates and battleships need T3 first. That said, the full sys.2 loadout on the right just above the subsystems looks sightly better to me than the sys.1 version.

Oblivion – This is a wonderful Amarr design, and for me to say something positive about an Amarr design and mean it is pretty big. This screams an imposing aura of imperial and holy confidence, and even I would drool at the sight of a fleet of these flying in a grid parade formation. I am also a big fan of that red trim that really isn’t seen often enough, and that victorian grill up front is sexy. Nothing about slots or stats, but being an Amarr battleship, I can imagine this being similar in attack profile to the Abbadon, but instead of a focus on broadsides, a focus on defense.

Yes, I’m sending you to my podcast websitem Complete Geek Radio. It’s call the fine art of cross-promotion. Give it a listen.

Now, I have to look to the future. What other adventures await Gigaer Prano? I’ve already got some ideas but I would love to hear from my readers. Tell me what you liked, what you didn’t like, and you want to see more or less of… anything! Does he need a love interest or a team or even a specific enemy? What obstacles would you like to see him come up against? Your feedback could very well determine what happens to our hero.

Recently, I’ve given though to what AFK really means. I am not really AFK, but more AFG (Away From Game). I am often still at or near my computer, but my focus is elsewhere. The EvE client may be minimized, or the monitor may be off completely.

This weekend I gave actual AFK mining a try. I was out of the house periodically and even gave my friend a lift home, all while my Mammoth did it’s thing, wholly ignoring the rats native to a 0.7 system.

So I want to know from my readers: how long have you ever left a ship AFK mining? How far did you travel from your computer? How low was the security of the system you were in? Did you do anything crazy while AFK? Give us your best AFK story and be crowned the king or queen of EXTREME AFK MINING!!!

This month’s Banter topic comes to us from the ever helpful Eelis Kiy, capsuleer behind the “Where the frack is my ship” blog. She asks: How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE? Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Or vice-versa? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfill in your corporation or alliance? Or do you behave completely differently? Does the anonymity of the Internet allow you to thrive on the tears of others in New Eden whilst you work as a good Samaritan away from your keyboard? Or are you as mean outside of your pod as you are inside it? Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behavior, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

I play a lot of RPGs, and as such I have been able to fully analyse who I am as a person by fragmenting my personality into different game characters and living through those situations. That said, EvE being such an immense sandbox, I was allowed to “gameify” a part of me that rarely sees the glow of my graphics card: My spirituality.

IRL, I am a very spiritual person. My faith is commonly known as Wicca, and stems from pre-christian fertility religions among other things. Some of us follow the old gods, some of us just look to the more common archetypes of nature. My coven, The Order of Scathach, is a Pagan Warrior order. Above all we strive for personal excellence, social rightness and spiritual clarity. One can certainly see these concepts and the search for them in my genesis story, Last Son of Prano. Gigaer’s story, the Minmatar ethos and the RPing ways of the Ushra’Khan allow me to explore my own spirituality against the backdrop of EvE’s dark future.

How does Gigaer compare to me? As with most of my characters, he represents an ideal of that part of me. A spiritual warrior on a quest. One who has spent a lifetime honing his skills for the sake of others. I guess he also touches on the part of me that drives my interest in law enforcement. I’ve never been able to RP a morally suspect character, and the closest I can get is playing a slightly renegade Shepperd in Mass Effect 2.

Understanding myself allows me to create Gigaer, and creating Gigaer allows me to gain futher insight into myself.

How do my RL skills, those intangible qualities, help me in EvE? I am a good team player and always interested in learning. I have a strong loyalty to my team as long as I feel we are doing the right thing morally. My actual PvP combat skills are still fledgling but once I get the basics down I am good at thinking outside the box and enjoying it greatly. I add great energy to comms and when I RP it is with much zeal and verve. As my experience and knowledge increase, so will my abilities geometrically as I add my own abilities to the data. Even nearly 3 years in and 50m+ SP, I am still green. I strive to always be the student. There is always something new to learn and apply myself to.

In EvE and out, I am a pretty nice person. Sometimes too nice and too quick to forgive. EvE is a good place for me to learn to shoot first and not bother with questions.

List of participants:

1. EVE Blog Banter #24: Be, all that you can be, and so much more!
2. BB24:RL + EVE = | A Mule In EvE
3. Freebooted: BB 24: You Talking to Me?
4. where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 24: Behind the keyboard
5. (OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #24: I Am Prano. « Prano’s Journey
6. mikeazariah » Blog Archive » BB24 Who are you, who hoo woo hoo
7. Drifting: The 24th EVE Blog Banter (January 2011 Edition) – Topic: EVE and Real Life
8. Victoria Aut Mors » Blog Archive » Eve Blog Banter #24 – Where Eve Meets Real Life
9. Who is more real?? « The Durzo Chronicles
10. Captain Serenity: blog banter #24 – Personalities
11. Confessions of a Closet Carebear: EVE and Real Life (EVE Blog Banter #24)
12. The 24th EVE Blog Banter – EVE and Real Life – The Phoenix Diaries
13. » EvE Blog Banter #24: EVE and Real Life EvE Blasphemy
14. Blog Banter 24: In Real Life « Yarrbear Tales
15. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Alt « the hydrostatic capsule
16. Blog Banter #24 – Me « Roc’s Ramblings
17. More to come….

Today I heard that the podcast EvE Commune is in the final processes of creating their own wearable little something-something. A #Tweetfleet wristband. While you will be able to win one via the #evemoneyshot contest (basically the best portrait created using the new Carbon framework and submitted via Twitter) and future contests, I find that buying one will be a better option since all profits will go towards Project Halibut (which is “an initiative to help new players get over the learning curve that is Eve. We provide, ships, fittings and skills to any new player willing to share their limited API and answer some questions.”).

I will certainly be buying one for myself. I hope you do as well!

D-Day minus 1.

Venal

UTZ-7B

Y-4CFK – Planet 1 – Belt 1

“Prano. Is that name supposed to mean something? It’s just another slave’s name as far as I’m concerned. As for the datacore…” Karo said with a dominative chuckle as he turned his Pilgrim and locked on to Gigaer’s Hurricane, “… you’ll have to come and get it!”

Gigaer responded in kind by locking on to the Pilgrim and priming his combat systems. The Pilgrim could not match the Hurricane’s offensive and defensive potentials, but the Pilgrim was made to cripple its target before pounding it into slag. Gigaer closed the distance between the two craft as quickly as possible so he could bring his 425mm autocannons to bare. Karo grinned. His repair systems had brought his electronic warfare systems back online and to full capacity. He felt like a spider allowing a fly to drift into its web.

The Pilgrim was rocked violently by Gigaer’s opening salvos, and just as the Hurricane entered optimum range, a flood of exotic energies rushed out of the Pilgrim’s emmiters and swallowed the Hurricane in deadly light. System after system malfunctioned and went offline, bringing the Hurricane’s violent advance to a complete halt. Targeting systems overloaded and relays blew, leaving him with manual control. Navigation and propulsion struggled futily to keep the ship at speed, but Gigaer was effectively stationary. Trying to reroute systems through backups only delayed the inevitable as his capacitor was being both crippled and sucked dry.

Gigaer’s Hurricane was reduced to a floating can as the Pilgrim began its modest assault on the crippled vessel’s shields. Normally such an attack would not succeed, but with Gigaer’s power systems being put under so much strain, the shields were not recharging, and armour energizing systems were in a similar situation. If Gigaer could route power to his comms, he would have heard Karo cackling madly and proclaiming his Amarrian superiority over his Matari prey. Gigaer’s shields began to buckle.

All Gigaer had was life-support, manual control over his turrets, optical sensors and shield emmiters. Gigaer linked his turrets to his sensors and pointed them at the Pilgrim. Setting aside any direct attack for the moment, he routed his shield emmiters directly to his brain through his implants.Dropping into a trance, Gigaer felt the universe through his shields.

He could feel them shudder under the impacts of the Pilgrim’s lasers and ripple as wave after wave of exotic energies and frequencies from the Pilgrim’s electronic warfare systems crashed against them. To Gigaer, it all sounded like two symphonies trying to impose their own sound over each other. Gigaer would have to orchestrate a new song to overcome Karo’s overwhelming tune.

In his trance, Gigaer’s mind danced among waves of light and energy. His mind raced as he manipulated his shields. It was all such a complex puzzle, and the Pilgrim’s sound was becoming more and more deafening. What was left of his shields flickered and flashed as they complied with Gigaer’s commands as best they could.

“I am Prano. I am the last guiding light of my wayward people. I am the bridge to this world and what lies beyond. I’ve come a long way, and I’ve trained hard. Many have sacrificed much so that I may bring my people back from the dark, and I will not let those efforts be in vain. I will not fail my mother, my father, my people and my destiny. Finally, and most certainly, I will not be defeated by the likes of you!”

Waves merged, frequencies coalesced and the sound of resilience boomed from Gigaer’s shields, blasting away the dark tones of the Pilgrim and sent them crashing back at Karo. The Pilgrim’s electronic warfare systems turned on themselves and began to rip the ship apart. Karo’s laughter became seething rage and confusion as his systems began to self-destruct.

“What’s happening? What have you done to my ship, you mongrel?” Karo screamed over the comms.

“The spirits are punishing you for trying to kill their emissary. You’ve sinned against forces that make your god’s wrath look like the cries of a tantrum-ridden child.” Gigaer responded as he manually aimed and fired his autocannons, still under the mind-expanding effects of the trance. The alpha strike from six massive turrets all hit home, ripping through nearly non-existent shields and golden armour plating, severing the capacitor from its conduits and housing. The Pilgrim lurched and went dark and still.

Gigaer took a few minutes to bring a few key systems online before he moved into range of Karo’s ship. Using salvaging manipulators, Gigaer tore into the Pilgrim’s hold and extracted the datacore. Gigaer set course towards the gate and warped away, listening to Karo’s emergency assistance transmission, which was comprised mainly of raging Amarr curses and incomprehensible screams.

—

D-Day.

Heimatar

Ortner

Rens VII – Moon 17 – Brutor Tribe Bureau

The Hurricane had barely made it into Rens in one piece, having to be towed into dock and told his ship would cost more to repair than it was worth. He left it to the deck crews to strip the ship down for materials and usable components. He’d need a new ship later.

Caldari datacore in hand, Gigaer made his way across the promenade towards a local bar. The Serpent Lounge. His contact was the proprietor there. He’d hand off the datacore and hopefully the contact would have new information for him about what he should do next. Gigaer smiled as he went over his journey thus far. “A tale of four datacores, one from each major empire in the galaxy.” A small laugh escaped him at the thought of being sent after a Jove datacore next.

Gigaer entered the establishment and made his way to the bar. The place was crowded but oddly quiet. Most Minmatar bars were much more lively. He weaved himself passed patrons, who were mostly starring at overhanging vidscreens and talking in hushed tones as newscaster voices spoke loudly and gravely. Gigaer would have liked to know what all the fuss was about but he was far too occupied with finding his contact.

Seliah stood behind the bar, looking up at the screen and preparing a drink. Gigaer stood in front of her and rapped a knuckle on the bar. “It’s a fine day for destiny.” he said. That was the first part of a code Gigaer was to use to identify himself to his contact.

Seliah was to respond with,“If you have the stomach for it.” She half-nodded to Gigaer. Seliah was a beautiful Matari woman whose eyes said she’s seen far too much and preferred to not speak unless necessary. She was all business. Gigaer produced the datacore, but Seliah only looked at it and smiled grimly. “Good work, Gigaer. But the contents of that datacore no longer matter.”

Gigaer was confused. “Why is that?” he asked as he took back the datacore and placed it in his pack.

Seliah pointed towards the vidscreens, and Gigaer finally looked up to see what all the interest was. The sight of two massive fleets, one Minmatar bearing the insignias of Thukker and Elders, and the other Amarr, flying the flag of Jamyl Sarum, battling furiously over Mekhios, rocked him. Reporters franticly conveyed reports of chaos in all four corners of the galaxy, as well as an attack on CONCORD.

Gigaer would later check the contents of the datacore, and find the Elders plans for the very incursions that were now being executed. “You completed your mission and the plan went forward as expected. You are to be commended.” said Seliah as she handed Gigaer a data disk. Within Gigaer would find a dossier detailing his new life. He’d be a pilot in the employ of Minmatar Ship Contstruction Systems, under his assumed clan name. MSCS was actually a front for an organization known as the Ushra’Khan, an entity that acted outside the law to take down slavers and acted as a sort of dark conscious for the Republic populace, much like the Defiants acted for the Republic establishment.

“Welcome, brother. A new age is beginning.” said Seliah as she moved off to tend to her patrons. Gigaer could only look around to the other Minmatar in the bar. There were many faces that displayed unease and fear. The future was always an uncertain thing to them, but now that uncertainty was taking on the colour of blood.

“These are my charges, handed to me by destiny. I must lead them through the dark times ahead and along the path to spiritual enlightenment and harmony. That is my duty and I accept it with all that I am.” Gigaer whispered to himself as a silent oath and walked out of the bar, leaving the newsfeeds and worried souls behind. Every step filled him with more conviction as he made his way to market. He needed a ship, and there was lifetimes of work to be done.

As always, the first thing I do is double-check my skill queue. Long over are the days of waking at all manner of hour to set new skills to train, or worse, leave EvE widows sleep-deprived and fury-filled in my wake.

A glance. Barely a thought of a clone perhaps in need of an upgrade. Its genetically brain filled to the brim with tactics and data. One thinks limiting clone brainpans could be the biggest cashgrab this side of New Eden, but little can be done now.

50,128,517.

In reality, an insignificant milestone. Humans love round numbers. Symetrical in a universe where the poetry lies in the order within the chaos. Arbitrary.

I allow myself a selfish moment to enjoy it. It seeps in, slowly at first. The days. The nights. The weeks. The weekends. The months. The years. The study. The skillplans.

And lo, did the internets quake in ph34rz! Ships did explode of their own accord! Exotics dancers and womens pilots cried out in inexplicable bliss! CCP did sendeth me a basket busting with fine wines and decadant chocolates!

And I, I did but cry out in terrible joy and machivellian glee. The younger brother, he himself a capsuleer and spiller of slaver blood, did join me in celebration, story, song and sweet teas that had thus been iced. Oh, the snackage that we wrought upon my modest dwellings as we told story and sang songs of fallen friend and foe and node!

My brothers and sisters in glorious battle did join me in my exhaltation as the news rang out over chat, board and twitter. Many were joyous at a brother-in-arms now truly a force to be reckoned with, while a scant few did proclaim their thoughts of fleeing should I ever find them in a dark corner of nullsec.

And as my dear brother did depart my nook, I once again took stock of my capsuleer existance. My skillpoints. My skills. My skillplans. My standings. My ships. My mods. My fittings. My isk. My planets. My corperation. My alliance. My friends. My enemies. My past, full of toil. My present, full of hope. My future, full of fun, tournaments and fanfests.

I have gazed into the abyss and had it gaze back at me. I believe we have an understanding.

D-Day minus 2.

Venal

UTZ-7B

Y-4CFK – 0.5 AUs above star’s “north” magnetic pole.

The details were quite simple. A Gurista data-thief by the name of Jaynis managed to decrypt some transmissions belonging to the Elders that he came across while hacking data relays. He sent a message to an assistant to Shobhena Yoonareyd (Chief of Surveillance at the Ministry of War) named Karo. Jaynis and Karo have had dealings in the past, and Gigaer suspected both were double-agents at some level. Jaynis had somehow managed to convince Karo to meet him at the Gurista Testing Facilities here to make an exchange. One would get information that would make his career, while the other would come into the kind of money few Guristas dare dream about.

Gigaer had spent 29 days painstakingly tracking Jaynis’ movements, looking for an opportunity to releave him of his burden. However, Jaynis consumed a large quantity and variety of narcotics on a daily basis and his extreme degrees and variations of psychosis (such as paranoia) served him well, as his security measures were always solid. After all this time stalking, Gigaer was forced to his last option: the day of the deal. He would have to wait until Karo exited the station and moved into another region, then pounce on him and take the information. This added the task of returning soon after and killing Jaynis, due the the possibility he would have made a copy of the data for himself.

Gigaer waited near the magnetic pole of the system’s parent star, which obstructed the Guristas’ system-wide sensor sweeps from seeing him, but a tight-beam scan directed at the station’s port offered him a satisfactory view. The ship he was looking for, a Pilgrim, should pop itself out and head for the gates, beginning its long trek back to Amarr space with all due haste.

Sure enough, after nearly 20 hours of waiting, out came the Pilgrim. Gigaer was about to activate his warp navigation systems to follow when he noticed the Pilgrim was not alone, and was not heading for the gate, but for the one asteroid belt near Y-4CFK I. The companion ship was a Gila, and Gigaer knew it had to be Jaynis. His paranoia must have gotten the better of him again and he decided the station was too crowded a place for such an important deal to be brokered. Better to make the trade where nobody else would be watching. Once they arrived at the belt and settled near a large roid, Gigaer realigned his sensors towards the two craft. At this range, picking up a wide-cast transmission was easy, and Jaynis was probably too tweaked to take that small detail into account.

“Are you finally satisfied? The deal was that I come alone, and I did. You got me out in the fucking void to be sure. All I have to do is wire the funds to any account you want and let you walk away, right? All I want is this information you say will make my career. Can we finally make this transfer so I can get out of this God-forsaken place?” spoke the pilot of the Pilgrim. Karo sounded like he was suppressing some frustration, and Gigaer guessed that Jaynis had begun to get on his nerves.

“Only when I’m satisfied you really intend on letting me live. You could have dozens of cloaked ships watching us right now, waiting to kill me once you have what you want.” said the pilot of the Gila, who Gigaer recognized instantly. The nasal, jittery voice of a man constantly about to fly off the handle and into a drug-induced craze. Jaynis didn’t cope with stressful situations well, especially when he couldn’t just kill the source of his fear.

Gigaer spun up his warpdrive for a quick burst then shut everything down that could be easily detected at close range. Only his life-support and passive sensors remained active. His Hurricane drifted towards them as Gigaer prepped his systems for a quick restart. Without a cloak, he would drift dark and frictionless towards them, then once he was close enough, reactivate his systems and have them at an instant tactical disadvantage.

“You probably think I’m easy to manipulate, don’t you? You think you can just lure me out here so you can kill me and take what’s mine?” Jaynis yelled over the comms. His breathing was getting shallower and Gigaer could tell he was about to go into one of his panic-induced frenzies. Gigaer had witnessed these before during his stalking of the man. Jaynis would pull a weapon and kill everyone around him if his stress-level rose too high, wielding near-superhuman abilities on account of the near-lethal booster cocktail running through his veins. He’d actually be quite well-off financially, if he didn’t have to constantly pay people off when they come looking for compensation for a wrecked establishment or vengeance of some sort. Jaynis’ Gila lurched in the direction of the station, attempting to align for warp. At the same time he fired a few random rounds at Karo. Jaynis had not bothered to actually target the Pilgrim, but at this super-close range and zero motion the shots still did moderate damage to Karo’s shields. Karo acted quickly and locked down the Gila with a web and scram. The Gila slowed as energy shimmered around its hull as a warp field futilely attempted to form. Jaynis continued to fire but the Pilgrim’s shields were too strong for him to punch through.

“You’re not going anywhere, Gurista sinner. I won’t suffer because you can’t control your impure emotions or your disgusting habits. Hand over the data at once or I’ll destroy you.” yelled Karo. Jaynis’ panic attack was reaching its heights and the only thing coming in over the comms was a lot of unintelligible screaming, moaning and crying. The shimmering around the Gila became more violent as the screaming increased. Gigaer and Karo realized Jaynis was trying to overload his warp drive in a suicidal effort to break free. Gigaer quickly restarted the Hurricane’s systems, as Karo would be far too concerned with what was going on in front of him to notice another ship coming in from his flank.

The Gila bucked as its engines were pushed far beyond their limits. Karo dumped extra energy into his restriction systems as his emitters overheated. He continued to yell Amarrian curses as his systems glitched due to feedback, releasing and sending the Gila sprawling into empty space. Seconds later internal explosions tore through Jaynis and his ship, transforming the Gila into a smoldering wreck. Obscenities continued to pour out of the Pilgrim as Karo tried to mitigate the damage done to his own vessel, unaware that the he was still transmitting.

Gigaer was about to remove himself from the scene, satisfied that the data had been destroyed with Jaynis when he noticed a small tractor beam stab into the Gila wreck from the Pilgrim. After a few minutes it pulled out an object the size of a human skull, and Gigaer considered this Amarrian may have odd habits of his own, before he looked closer. A Caldari datacore. No doubt it held the information that brought these three capsuleers together, and now Karo had it. Gigaer could not avoid a confrontation any longer.

Karo was about to head for the station when a voice he didn’t recognize came in over his comms, transmitting from a Hurricane bearing down on him at full speed and targeting him with plenty of firepower. “My name is Gigaer, of the clan Prano. You have something that belongs to my people.”

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 67 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 76 posts. There was 1 picture uploaded, taking a total of 88kb.

The busiest day of the year was July 9th with 158 views. The most popular post that day was (OOC) Review: One Night of Roc.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, facebook.com, evebloggers.com, crazykinux.com, and rocwieler.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for prano, alliance tournament cva, gigaer.wordpress.com, pandemic legion, and alliance tournament 8 youtube.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

(OOC) Review: One Night of Roc July 2010
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(IC) The Wieler Vaccine. June 2010
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(OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #16: Just Like The Very First Time. March 2010
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(OOC) Why Pandemic Legion Disbanding Is A Good Thing November 2010
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I want to thank each and every one of my readers for gracing my humble blog with their epic clicks of epic epicness. I hope you’ll all keep reading. FLY WELL!!!

D-Day minus 31.

He could spend the rest of his life reading, and some part of him admitted he would be content with that.

The room was a decagon and very large. It was almost impossible to think that it was in the original plans for this station, as the shape was very irregular compared to the rest of the instillation’s design. The floor was white with a vast array of tribal designs, which he learned were there to optimize the occupant’s energy flow. The walls were covered in scrolls, each one in its own wooden slot in a vast grid of knowledge that surrounded the space. At the centre of the room was a low round table made of simple wood. There was no chair and the table was so low you had to sit crosslegged on the floor to use it. Incense filled the air.

Gigaer spent much of his time in this room, absorbing scroll after ancient scroll. Many of his directed lessons were combined with either personal or ship combat. His skill with the kandjal was nearly unmatchable by anyone, and his abilities as a capsuleer were growing as rapidly as his powers were. Admittedly, deducing the finer points of philosophy while trying to keep your shields intact or your head attached was almost impossible at first, but the point was to help Gigaer think along multiple, simultaneous tangents. Multidimensional. Wheels within wheels. Plans within plans. It was working, but he still enjoyed his time in the library.

There was very rarely anyone else who used the room, and distractions where nowhere to be found. Gigaer had spent entire days at a time in deep study, and sometimes only stopped when someone came to see if he’d eaten or slept recently. Gigaer now wore robes similar to the ones the Elders adorned themselves with, though his were far less dramatic. A white loose-fitting robe and pants held together by a simple cloth belt. He thought it made him look like a cross between a monk and a martial artist. His kandjal displayed traditionally at his side, in a leather sheath hanging from his belt, decorated with the insignias of his clan, masters and status. Similarly, Gigaer’s tattooing was proper and complete in accordance to the old ways, a boast few Minmatar could hold.

Gigaer’s Planeswalker training was nearing completion, to the amazement of his tutors, who insisted that he’d accomplished in less then a year what should have taken five. After learning about the thousands of different spirits and deities, it was merely a matter of focused meditation. Knowledge and focus unlocked all doors for Gigaer, his will harmonizing with the universe, and there was much to learn in this place. Unfortunately Gigaer’s newfound senses told him the serenity of this place would be gone soon. The storm that Vakor had mentioned in that meeting nearly a year ago, Gigaer could sense it on the horizon. A wall of churning black clouds that obscured his vision. The storm was unavoidable and it was almost upon them. A part of Gigaer feared it, though he could not really understand why. He cleared his mind and returned to the scroll before him, sipping at some strong herbal tea.

The door, which lay directly ahead of Gigaer, opened silently and in shuffled one of Gigaer’s attendants. Gigaer had several to see to his needs so he may stay focused on his studies. This one was a young girl who was very slight and usually silent. Gigaer could not remember a time where she looked him in the eye, though he had done everything he could to make her feel at ease. She closed the door behind her and lowered to her knees, awaiting Gigaer’s signal that she may enter and interrupt him. She floated silently over to his right side and whispered into Gigaer’s ear a message, then retreated two feet from him, awaiting instructions. Vakor wished to seem him immediately, it seemed. Gigaer had not seen Vakor in months, probably due to escalating preparations for whatever the Elders were planning. Gigaer motioned for the attendant girl to put away the small mountain of scrolls he always seemed to create during these sessions. She nodded and began diligently as she always did.

Gigaer had asked questions and investigated what exactly was about to happen, but few knew anything of any gravity except for the Elders, and they were as skilled at elusiveness as anyone.

Gigaer arose and shuffled out the door, where Rogi and Vani waited to escort him. They guarded him nearly every minute of every day, and Gigaer had to wonder when they ate or slept. Of course they refused to speak to him or look him in the eye, though unlike the others Gigaer thought these two genuinely feared him, as though he would cast a curse on them if slighted. Gigaer had become used to this prevailing attitude, though it was not easy. Unlike everywhere else in the galaxy, these people knew what the name Prano meant, and they feared and revered it. Gigaer did not acknowledge them or break stride, heading straight for the location Gigaer knew Vakor want to meet at.

Gigaer entered the same room he had begun his time here in, expecting the same wooden table that had been there for months. Many of Gigaer’s academic lessons took place in this room, and Gigaer had become comfortable here. It had become the centre of this station in his mind. This time, however, the table was gone and the shutters on the windows were closed. Gigaer entered and looked around. The lights were dimmed and the walls were covered in shadow. He focused on them and sensed out a familiar aura.

“Come out, Eyes. I know you’re there.”

Eyes stepped out of the shadows, smiling in satisfaction. “I heard you could do things like that, but I had to see it for myself.”

Gigaer clasped Eyes’ outstretched hand in greeting. Eyes had been teaching him the arts of stealth and subterfuge. Gigaer would never be as good as Eyes, but it was almost impossible to lie to Gigaer anymore. “What’s going on here? I expected Vakor.” questioned Gigaer.

Eyes held the smile and led Gigaer to the windows. They opened to reveal a sight that caused a gasp to escape Gigaer’s mouth. The ships were gone. The yards were nearly deserted. Gigaer looked at Eyes for answers.

“Plans that were generations in the making have been set into motion. Those ships were built for a purpose, and they have set out to perform their duty. Vakor and the rest of the Elders have gone with them to see it done.”

“See what done?”

“I can’t tell you that. I’m here only to administer your final test. A mission of the utmost importance. Vakor needs you to retrieve an item and deliver it to his contact.”

Gigaer walked slowly away from the window, trying to calm his raging emotions and focus himself on the reality of his situation. He would probably never see this place or the Elders ever again, and while his training was more or less complete, he was unsure about his path from this point. Still, his master had given him a mission and his honour would not allow him to fail or decline. He looked back at Eyes, waiting for details.

“There’s a Caldari spy that has learned of the Elders and their plans. He’s a capsuleer with the Guristas and is looking to cash in on his information at a swap with a Amarr Navy Admiral. There’s a Hurricane-class Battlecruiser still docked. All the details are in its databanks. If the Amarr get a hold of the Elder’s plans, years of effort will be for nothing. It must be stopped.”

Gigaer could always read volumes from Eyes’ silence. No words would need be exchanged. They hoped they would encounter each other again, but the future was becoming increasingly turbulent, and neither could say what tomorrow held. They respected each other, and with a quick shared nod, Gigaer ran out of the room towards the docks.

The halls were empty. Every person and almost every piece of equipment had disappeared. The station was lifeless now when it was usually packed with activity and it sent a small chill down Gigaer’s spine. This had been his home, after all. Passing the library he was in just recently, he saw the door open and the room’s walls bare. The Elders wouldn’t have been so rash as to leave such precious items behind and Gigaer was glad the scrolls would be cared for. He wanted to be reading them again in peaceful seclusion, but the time for such things was over for now.

Reaching the docks, Gigaer was shocked that the only two ships left were Gigaer’s Hurricane and a Gallente Taranis that must belong to Eyes. He ran into the pod bay and stepped into the capsuleer loading chamber. The automated systems here would get him into a pod and the pod into the ship.

Ten minutes later and Gigaer was through pre-flight and away. Gigaer didn’t jump to warp right away, as he wanted to say goodbye to his home. He was almost half an AU away when he saw the Taranis take off and jump to warp. Seconds later a series of massive explosions began to tear through the complex, finally coalescing into a mini-nova, vaporizing it. A huge shockwave raced out in all directions, and Gigaer barely had enough time to jump to warp before he was caught in it. His shields were drained to nil just by being too close to the wave.

Gigaer set course for the nearest stargate and began to review the details of his mission. Leaving another home behind him, he wondered if he’d ever find another.

Fix Marauders – Every ship class outside of base models needs a role. What I have never understood was what they were trying to do with the Marauders. I get that they are supposed to be tougher, but with that huge hole in their sensor strength they are only good for missioning, and when the A.I. improvements hit all missions, they won’t even be good at that. As PvE becomes more and more like PvP, what will happen to all those ships that are only used for mission-running? Marauders top that list and that needs to change. IMHO these ships are getting the extremely short end of what should be a badass stick.

Sub-Capitals - Sub-whatnow? OK a subcap is what you have in the Orca. In fact the Orca is the only one. It’s bigger than a battleship but not so big that is counts as a cap and can’t get through gates or get into empire space. What would a subcap class do? I envision them being heavy firepower against cap fleets and POS warfare, as well as centerpieces to roaming fleets and small to medium gangs. Not a win button, but something that could conceivably make fleet warfare a little more varied.

Fix Destroyers - Some like destroyers, but most don’t. Not fast enough to fight frigs classes, not strong enough to fight cruisers. Most fly Catalysts for salvaging, but now that we have the Noctis that isn’t really needed. It’s a stepping stone to Interdictors and as far as I can see, that’s it. So, while there is nothing as glaringly off as with the Marauders, I think a serious analysis of their stats and bonuses is needed.

Command Frigates - A good friend of mine had this idea when CCP asked for the first round of new ship designs. Command frigates would be small and fast gang/warfare link platforms. Not as versatile or as powerful as a Command Ship (though they will need to be renamed Command Cruisers) or a battlecruiser, but give it some decent stats and it would bring a terror to small roaming gangs the likes of which you only see these days in Curses.

I have other ideas, but most are very minor.  These are the big ones and probably the most controversial. I would love to know your thoughts!