The Suresha's Revelation (Update 5)

#Recording initiated#

“Hey Pali, I had an interesting week, that’s for sure.”

#The User has no eyebrows…#

“Pali?! You said you wouldn’t say anything!”

#The User is trying to swat Pali out of the air but he still has no eyebrows#

“Come back here you little-”

#Error-Recording interrupted#

#Recording resumed- Pali’s optics have been deactivated but the User likely still has no eyebrows#

“#Grumbling# Little booger said he wouldn’t say anything…”

“So yeah, as Pali so poignantly commented, I don’t have any eyebrows at the moment as I’m sitting in a fresh clone. This is a result of an attack on my mining operations by pirate group the Shadow Cartel. I was able to take down my initial attacker, but not before they were able to light a cynosural field that brought several Sin and Panther Class battleships to my location. My big surprise was what happened next, as the blops deployed smartbombs which popped my pod via pulsed waves of extreme electromagnetic force. #User shudders and shakes his head# I hate that feeling, thankfully it doesn’t too much, but it still sucks…”

“In any case, we still got a lot of production done this week, finishing up the work on the Power Generators. We were also able to produce all of the Propulsion Systems this week thanks to several rare deposits that Numen was able to find out in hisec. And we have begun work on the Sensor Clusters that will pepper the Revelation’s hull. I’m going to have to be honest though, with the amount of pirate activity in the area lately I may not be able to mine the quantities of the Zydrine we still need for this project. I had to supplement my Zydrine stocks with minerals off the Placid markets this week, and I may just buy the remainder of what is needed so I can help Numen bring in the rather more considerable quantities of the lower end minerals we require. Thankfully the mining I’ve done in lowsec so far has given us the remainder of the Nocxium we need so that is one thing I won’t need to worry about on this project. The few Sensor Clusters we have left and the Shield Emitters that Revelations barely use should be finished in the next week or so, and then we start on the heavy duty work for the Siege Arrays and the Turret Hardpoints.”

“In semi-related news, I’m getting close to having enough standings with Combined Harvest to waive their tax on refining. While I may not be using those services for a little while, having good relations with a corp focusing heavily in Placid can be nothing but helpful.”

#The User is scratching the fuzz growing on his head#

“Can’t really think of much else at the moment.”

#Pali reminds the User of the missive he received from Phalad Sahantun#

#The User snaps his fingers# “Oh yeah! My old friend Phalad says that the election of the next Council of Planetary Management is going really well and that any other Clone Soldiers who haven’t voted should do so if they are able. I think that’s all now though, and next time I should even have eyebrows!" #User is glaring at Pali#

#Recording ended -Resetting optics- Preparing for archival#

#Exporting User's Current Visage to offsite storage#

The Suresha's Revelation (Progress Update #4)

#Recording initiated#

"Hey Pali, a lot happened this week so let's jump right into it!"

#Pali informs the user that it is incapable of jumping, but could perhaps emulate the action using it's onboard repulsor unit#

"Sure Pali, go for it. Now let's see, what should we talk about first...? How about the Suresha's more than half done Revelation? With the Power Generators and Jump Drives we built this week, there's only about 45% of the work left to do!"

#The user starts doing a little dance as Pali looks away#

"What? You don't like my dancing?"

#Pali as a matter of fact finds the user's 'dancing' amusing, but does not wish to subject his readership to it#

#The user is sticking his tongue out at Pali once again, but has ceased his 'dancing'#

"Meany. We did run into some supply problems this week as some local pirates and pirates dipping into Placid from null disrupted mining operations. Alice P Liddell and her crew from SKT are becoming bolder, there's almost always one of them sitting cloaked in Intaki now. As a result my zydrine and nocxium supplies aren't being replenished as quickly as I'm having to mine more cautiously. There have been some good deposits in the area the last few days so those have helped a bit. It was actually while working on one of those deposits that Rich, his more industry minded friend Dutch Okagima, and myself ran into our next mining disruption."

#Pali watches an odd smirk form on the user's face#

"I'm pretty sure this was Rich's fault in some odd karmic fashion, but we came out ahead in any case. Dutch and I were mining a Gneiss Deposit in Frarie, with several pirates entering system but just as quickly leaving. It was about two hours in when a pilot with a high Concord standing entered system in a Legion. Rich jokingly commented that with our luck today this guy would be the only one to attack us. Well wouldn't you know it but the Legion landed on grid and immediately aggressed me. Rich and I mentally laughed at each other while Dutch and I set into the guy with our drones. A few seconds after we engaged the Legion immediately lit a Cynosural Field and we stopped laughing to focus as several Blackops, Covops, and Recon ships jumped in around it. Knowing that our Procurers were already forfeit, Dutch and I decided to focus our efforts on taking down as many of the of the enemy we could. Being the least defended, two of their Covops Purifiers were caught by our drones before first Dutch and then myself lost our ships. We ended up coming out ahead on Isk since the Purifiers were worth more than our barges, and we were even able to loot the field when the group was apparently scared off by a fleet of BRAVE Newbies passing through."

#The user has a slight frown on his face#

"Unfortunately that was my last Procurer, and making another batch is going to take quite a bit of resources and time, so I'll be working on another project of mine."

#The user has begun to pace back and forth in front of his hangar bay#

"I've noticed that farther out from Intaki I'm no longer able to refine my ores without having to pay taxes to the station owners. To that end I've begun to cultivate relations among some of the corps in the area that the ILF would like to have better standings with. I've been working primarily with Combined Harvest, a food production corporation with a local focus, where local is only within the borders of Federation space. CH has stations all throughout Placid, and their refining facilities would allow me to expand the area where I can conduct my lowsec mining operations.”

#The user looks up at Pali#

“Hmm.. Anything I’m forgetting Pali?”

#Pali informs the user that it does not currently have the functionality to read his mind#

“Smartypants, I may need to move your core into a bigger shell. Well, I’m going to call it now since I can’t think of anything else, thanks Pali!”

#Recording stopped, preparing for archival#

The Suresha's Revelation (Progress Update #3)

#Recording initiated#

“Time for another update Pali, though nothing really eventful happened. Richard and I were able to finish the Crokite deposit we found last week, which went a long way towards building up my supplies of Zydrine and Nocxium. We had a few pirates try to interrupt our mining, with one unfortunate Taranis meeting an ignominious end. Most of the others were able to escape with their ships intact. To be honest we got a lot less action than we were expecting, probably because the deposit we found wasn’t visible on directional scans from either the Agoze or Ouelletta gates.”

“With the minerals I got from that site, as well as the #greatly appreciated# minerals supplied by Numen, I was able to get all of the Revelation’s Computer Systems produced, and most of the Power Generators on the assembly lines. With this latest batch of components I’ve got the Suresha’s Dreadnaught to about 50% completion. Pyerite and Mexallon continue to be the minerals I go through the fastest, though the #paid# mineral contributions of Richard and fellow Intaki Malik Moriga-Tay have helped to alleviate my Nocxium needs. I anticipate this project to last for another 2-3 months, with final production taking place in October at the latest.”

“That’s all for this week though, maybe I’ll have some more combat reports next week. I’ve not been able to find any good deposits the last few days, so I’ll probably be mining the belts of Intaki, which tends to make me more of a target.”

#Pali inquires if this is a wise course of action#

“Probably not Pali, but it gets me the minerals I need, and sometimes one of the few pirates in Placid unaware of my tactics comes along to give me a kill.”

#Pali watches a predatory grin form on the user’s face, but says nothing#

“Should be it for this week though, thanks Pali!”

#Recording ended, preparing for archival#

The Suresha's Revelation (Progress Update #2)

#Recording started#

"Hey again Pali, can you believe that it's been another week already?"

#Pali informs the user that it can in fact believe the user, it's internal chronometer will not lose a second for another 300 million years#

#The user is sticking his tongue out at Pali#

" Haha, it usually takes a bit longer for the snark to develop. Anyway, production was a bit reduced this week as Rich and I were eager to try out the recently released Gallente Tech 3 Destroyer, the Hecate. We ended up designing separate railgun and blaster fits for them before heading out to test them. We got some good use out of them before I was set upon by a group of new pirates in the area, Terra Australis.

#The user is lifting his shoulders and has a smile on his face#

"Got some good combat data out of the fight, like learning that like it's T3 cruiser cousins the Hecate seems vulnerable to capacitor warfare. Though pretty much anything is vulnerable when it's beset by three Curse class recon cruisers. Blech... Though Rich and I did get one up on our space neighbors in Brarel when they attacked one of my mining operations. We were able to take out their scouting Astero and a Breacher before we had to get off field. It always eels good to take out the SKT folks, not sure why..."

#The user grins before shaking his head#

"I still got a good 20 more capital components produced this week, all Construction this time. We'll be starting work on the computer systems next week, provided I can keep up my current supply of zydrine. I found a good deposit of Crokite and Dark Ochre in nearby Loes that's been allowing me to build a bit more efficiently. My bottleneck this week was actually my pyerite stockpile, I'll need to ask Numen to work some more on Scordite and Plagioclase asteroids for a little while to compensate. It shouldn't bother him too much though, he seemed pretty happy last time I brought him a load of new focusing crystals."

#Pali asks the user if the blank stare and raised eyebrow he received from Pilot Numen Demessis is normally indicative of happiness#

"Yes Pali, he wasn't even grumbling under his breath at me. Though he did mention hoping to have access to the corp hangar soon. And to be fair I never got his messages saying he needed new ones."

#Pali brings up the last 14 messages from Pilot Numen Demessis#

"Yeah those! Where were they? ... Wait they weren't in SPAM again were they?"

#Pali replies in the affirmative#

"Gotta stop doing that... Alright Pali, that's all I've got for this week, thanks."

#Recording ended, preparing for archiving#

The Suresha's Revelation (Progress Update #1)

#Recording started#

“Thanks Pali, I’m ready to report on the progress of the Suresha’s Revelation for the week. Numen and I gathered the materials to put the rest of the Capital Capacitor Batteries into production. Most of the minerals I need are easy enough to refine from the ores here in Placid, even the Nocxium and Zydrine are easy enough, they just take a bit more time…”

#User is staring at nothing again, a look of consternation on his face#

“I have had to repel or outright destroy several attempts to interrupt my mining operations in lowsec by the piratical element in the area. It’s costing me a bit of resources, but I was able to destroy a few Tech 3 Destroyers with the aid of corpmate Richard Masseri.”

#User is scratching the back of his head, and is now positioning his hands over his head#

“Unfortunately, getting the supply of Megacyte I need for the Suresha’s Dread is proving to be a painstakingly slow effort. This last batch of Capital Components actually went through the last of my supply… I only ever get my hands on Megacyte here in Placid if I can find a Bistot or Arkonor Deposit, and they’ve been really scarce of late… I hate having to buy my materials, but it looks like I may have to if I plan on getting this project done anytime this year…”

#User is waving his arms in the air, and is now slumped over#

#User is standing up again and looking at Pali#

“Well Pali, that’s pretty much it for the week, have I forgotten anything?”

#Pali informs the User that he’s received several interrogative notifications from the managers of his Planetary holdings#

#The User is pointing at Pali with a look of shock on his face, has Pali said something in error?#

“...!!!”

#User has opened his Neocom and is wincing at some of the messages sitting in his inbox#

“Thanks Pali, I uh, should probably take care of these, for now you can stop recording and archive this update, I try to do this again next week…”

#User is mumbling again, boosting audio gain#

“...Given of course my managers don’t eviscerate me, I can’t believe I forgot about them when I started the Suresha’s Revelation…Still why are they so mad, it’s not like they aren’t getting paid, even on standby they… ”

#User has trailed off into silence, ending recording, preparing footage for archival#

A New Project

#Recording Started#

“You recording little dude?”

#”You” - this unit , “recording” - this unit’s primary function , “little” - truth, this unit is an approximately 5cm3 sphere , “dude” - onboard definition does not fit this unit’s physical characteristics, possibly an alternative means to address this unit?#

#User is asking if this unit is performing its primary function, replying in the affirmative#

“Awesome, normally I don’t record when I’m talking to myself, but since this is such a massive project I figured it would be cool to have a memento of the build process.”

#No interrogative detected within user’s sentence structure, no response necessary#

“Alright, well the first construction parts came out of the station factories today, so I’ll be able to start building a framework for the Suresha’s Revelation Class Dreadnaught. The first thing I did today was put the Revelation’s Armor Plates into production, all 27 of them. The Capital Armor Plates are some of the most Tritanium intensive parts of the vessel, and I happen to have a pretty good surplus of that right now, so in they went. The remaining parts I put in today were about 15 of the Capital Class Capacitor Batteries. Another one the most intensive parts of the Revelation, the Batteries provide power for the absolutely massive lasers this thing fires. Seriously, I checked the power ratings on those things, they pump out more than 300 Giga-joules of energy with every shot. That’s like firing one of my frigates at something in the form of energy. Smeesh…”

#User is scratching his head while he shakes it at the same time, no interrogative detected, continuing primary function#

“Anyway, I’ve uh, actually burned through my entire supply of Zydrine getting these parts on the production lines here in Agoze, so I’ll be mining what I can out here in lowsec while Numen continues to gather the bulk materials I need. I’ll be making one of these entries every few days or so, depending on how often I can get more Capital components into production.”

#User’s volume has dropped considerably, boosting audio gain#

“... and however many more Procurors I go through, though that fight with Oma taught me a lot about how to manage my drones. I think if I’d managed my aggro better at the beginning of that fight I might have been able to take down her Astero, maybe if I’d…”

#User is still talking, but onboard language database is unable to parse more than 1 in 3 words, user appears to be blending words in an unpredictable fashion#

#User has stopped talking and is now vacantly staring at what appears to be.. nothing? User has turned to look at this unit, his eyes are focused again#

“You’re going to need a name if we’re going to keep doing this little buddy, gimme a sec.”

#The User has a vacant look in his eyes again, he is likely accessing his Neocom#

#User has focused on this unit once again#

“Looks like your name’ll be Palikajyl, or ‘Observer’ in Modern Classic Intaki, but I think I’ll just call you Pali”

#The User has designated this unit as ‘Pali’#

“Alright Pali let’s stop recording for today, I need to get some rest before I head back out into the belts tomorrow.”

#The User is smiling at Pali#

#End Recording#

Jovian Research Project

Namas tayam!

I recently began a personal research project focused on the newly revealed Jove Observatories, with my primary interest being what exactly they were observing. The closest Observatory to Intaki was in the nearby system of Moclinamaud, so that was where I concentrated my research efforts. My initial survey efforts went unhindered, allowing me to observe several large rents in the enormous structure's hull.

As can be seen from the above images, vasts amounts of electricity continue to arc across gaps inside the structure. This indicates that even in their apparent state of disuse, there is still a great deal of energy contained in the Observatories. Several fonts of gas can also be seen leaving the structure, forming the large cloud that now surrounds it.

Now, capsuleers have been thus far unable to interact with the Observatories in any way, as the advanced shielding and alloys used by the Jove have prevented any damage to them, as well as blocking any form of scanning or hacking attempts. But a new module introduced by the Carthum Conglomerate, the Entosis Link, has proven able to interface at some level with the Observatories. Developed using technologies gleaned from the enigmatic Circadian Seekers that have been seen to be dismantling the Observatories, the Entosis Link allows a capsuleer to project their consciousness into complex electronics. This allows a more efficient mind-machine interface, and for me, a way into the Moclinamaud Observatory's systems.

The next part of my project required I acquire some of this technology in order to build the Entosis Link itself, in particular I needed an Antikythera Element. This piece of actual Jovian machinery is being torn from the Observatories by the Circadian Seekers. The Circadian Seekers are themselves automata of seemingly Sleeper origin that have been seen throughout the New Eden Cluster. They were initially harmless, scanning ships and structures without showing any gestures of an overtly hostile nature. As time has gone on however the Seekers behavior has become increasing more aggresive. At first they wouldn't return fire even when fired upon, but that changed as it happened more and more. Seekers were soon found to be looting the corpses of capsuleers after battles and  thereafter would even engage pilots found to have such corpses within their cargo holds. The Seekers seem to be increasing the armaments as well, where once a frigate would have been able to destroy one given sufficient time, now even cruiser class vessels are finding the firepower the Seekers can bring to bear unsustainable. The apparent uncloaking of the Jove Observatories seems to have spurred the Seekers into action as they can now frequently be found around the structures, and will fire on anything that comes near them.

The more recent arrival of the unknown battleships now known as the Drifters has made observations of the Jove structures that much more dangerous. These Drifter Battleships have proven more than capable of decimating entire fleets of capsuleer ships, with the equivalent of a Titan-Class Doomsday device able to destroy some of the most well defended ships in the cluster. The Seekers, as well as the Drifter Battleships that seem to now be controlling them, are the only ones currently capable of liberating this vital Element from the structure itself. I would need some help obtaining the Element from the Seekers, so I enlisted the help of fellow ILF pilot Richard Masseri to aid in their destruction.

We were able to fight our way through two waves of the Seekers without the intervention of a Drifter, and procured a few samples of the Antikythera Element for my production needs. We returned the next day, my ship now fitted with a newly made Entosis Link, ready to see what secrets the Observatory held within. Richard and I had to fight another few waves of Circadian Seekers before we were able to close the distance needed for me to activate my Link.

Once activated the Link threw my mind out of my ship, which remained behind protected by the watchful Richard. The sensation is not one I can readily describe, as I really don't have any way reference the experience. Murmurs of sound, flashes of light, unfamiliar smells, it was just a visceral assault on my senses as my mind tried to acclimatize itself to a surrounding as alien to it's functioning as my pod once was. I was able to glean only a little information from the influx of data bombarding my sensorium, sending it to my ship through the Link as it consumed the rare Strontium Calthrates stored in my hold. After a few cycles of Entosis I pulled my mind back into my Ishtar, allowing the ship to return to normal function. That is the main drawback to the Entosis Link, without my presence to monitor it, my ship is essentially helpless, unable to move or activate any of the onboard modules. I was however able to deploy my drones into an aggressive holding pattern before the Link went online, so at least they will be able to defend me in some capacity.

Richard and I made our way home after I was back in control of my ship, and I pulled up the recordings I had made while my consciousness dwelled within the Observatory. Oddly enough each string I was able to put together was a dated entry from some of the tower's observations of local communications and phenomena. It seems the towers had a sort of guiding function, whether it was some form of advanced artificial intelligence or consciousness I can't be sure. Whatever it was, it seems the Observatories have been watching humanity in New Eden for decades according to the time stamps on some of the entries, perhaps even longer. The transcripts of my Gleaned Information is as follows:

23121-09-11 - Updated Gallente status provides a model for social cohesion. Suggest further observations are shared with Modifier enclaves.
23146-05-20 - Azbel-Wuthrich experiment has been a success. Planetary communications reveal the message as “:-)”
23154-12-12 - Randomized sweeps of recently seceded Caldari communications indicate that alternative source for model of social cohesion will be increasingly defined by opposition to Gallente model. Schism becoming pronounced. Threshold for constructive comparison of existing conditions approaching.
23194-02-01 - Gallente have created an agency known as The Scope for the dissemination of information across Empires. Suggest that this network be monitored. Potential to extrapolate prototype for impartial communication between disparate enclaves.
23216-06-06 - In position at Diemnon Planetesimal. Collating system scans. Source of burst unidentified. Team dispatched. Alert still in effect. YC105-12-22 - Give them tools and they may evolve.
YC106-03-11 - Give them symbols and they may stagnate.
YC107-07-05 - ...recommend discarding current primary node for that model.
YC108-05-16 - They only notice small tragedies.
YC109-01-12 - They let names define their perceptions.
YC110-12-25 - Give them what they want and it may destroy them.
YC111-03-10 - Self-interest continues to outweigh self-sacrifice.
YC11-03-11 - Life sign detected aboard the ship. Contrary to intelligence gather by Villore observatory, vessel not destroyed. Remaining in Ouperia to monitor.
YC112-03-04 - Does this duplicate portions of the Skarkon model?

I'm beginning work on an analysis of the possible events that can be interpreted from the dates and what little narrative is available, but that will be for another post. I do know that Richard has gone back to make his own observations of the Jove structure with an Entosis Link, and we will likely be collaborating as we gather more data. For now though, I'll leave with a few questions. Why were the Jove observing us for so long? Where they perhaps using us (as in capsuleers) as an experiment in the hopes that somehow our own development would help them find a cure for the Jovian Sickness that for all intents and purposes has destroyed their once great society? This does seem to be the most prevalent opinion among those of us studying these ancient and mysterious structures. Or, perhaps there is some as of yet unknown purpose to this incredibly resource intensive observation of numerous societies that were, technologically, several thousand years their inferiors. It will take time and a lot more research before we can begin to answer these questions, and I recommend that all who are interested keep a close eye on developing information as it is relayed on the Intergalactic Summit.

Suprab nahi tayam!