Rhavas, capsuleer license image
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of the capsuleers active in the Multidisciplinary division of Arek’Jaalan (hereafter referred to as A’J), Rhavas. In this article we take a look at him, the division he is active in, and two of the projects under his lead. He also lets us in a little on what goes on in Arek’Jaalan as a whole, and how those interested can become involved.
Please start off with a short introduction of yourself and your capsuleer background, Corporations, alliances and other organizations that had a significant impact or where you held a position can be incorporated too.
I graduated from the Republic Military School and didn’t join up with a corporation right away. Instead I spent a great deal of time exploring New Eden, particularly visiting the shattered planets that were the legacy of what would later be known as the Seyllin Incident. I was briefly with a small military corporation called Lupus Vires in Derelik, which folded a few months later. Free again, I worked with Boundless Creation scientists for a while again on exploration but eventually the project took on a life of its own, and eventually led to the Shattered Planets Datacore. After most of my exploration was done, I spent nearly a year at Eve University, where I flew as a Lieutenant (jg) in the Ivy League Navy as a scout and combat pilot. I left there and now am a member of the Corporation of Noble Sentiments, headquartered in Essence. I am an active research with Arek’Jaalan, primarily on the Multidisciplinary division but collaborating with the Talocan Technology and Sleeper Technology groups as well.
What is Project Tesseract and Project Catapult? (Hereafter “the project” refers to either)
Both are specific projects under the Arek’Jaalan Multidisciplinary division that deal with wormhole chemistry, physics and navigation.
Why was the project set up, what is the background story or motivation?
I set up these two in particular because I have two major interests in this arena, and those two interests tie directly to these two projects.
The first is simply a hunger to understand – what happened, what drove it, what it means, and how to control such unbelievable forces. In my travels and studies I have determined that Isogen-5 is potentially a force for unholy destruction but also awe-inspiring creation. It is a source of energy unlike anything we can truly comprehend in current New Eden technology, and the potential impacts to us if we could harness it are almost impossible to contemplate.
The second is, simply put, space is big. Another thing my travels have taught me is that, even with the wonders of warp and gate technology, it simply takes an inordinate amount of time to get anywhere beyond your immediate environs. I have a passion to bring rapid travel over huge distances to the masses of the capsuleer population.
What are the aims of the project?
Project Tesseract is, at some level, simply the porting over and updating of all the knowledge I incorporated into the Shattered Planets Datacore. It is about the Seyllin Incident’s causes and effects, the A0 Blue stars, the shattered planets, and the mysterious isotope known as Isogen-5 that appears to have been intimately tied to that event. It is a direct outgrowth of my desire to understand the uses of and implications of the energy that created the wormholes.
Project Catapult is an in-depth investigation of the Sansha capability to create point-to-point wormholes with a goal of understanding and if possible duplicating the capability. It is a direct outgrowth of my desire to understand how all capsuleers might take advantage of such capability.
Who works on the projects? Where other divisions than the Multidisciplinary involved?
Multidisciplinary is sort of a strange division. We are at some level the “et cetera” of Arek’Jaalan. While most of our projects focus on astronavigation, there are other wildly different efforts as well, including reviews of Trinary data structures (used by the Jove and Sleepers) and cloning and mind transfer investigations. In the astronavigational projects, we work heavily with other teams, particularly Sleeper Tech and Talocan Tech.
How does the project work, what activities do those involved take part in, what methods and tools were used?
Right now, Tesseract is largely a placeholder for me to move information to when I can find the time, and will hopefully spur new capsuleer-led ideas and explorations to fill in the blanks that I have.
Catapult requires a significant amount of capsuleer assistance in using photography drones to capture sky pictures for comparison of nebulae with the Sansha wormholes, as well as attempting to reverse engineer or acquire the Sansha technology that currently exists.
One of the biggest challenges that Arek’Jaalan faces is that we are heavily dependent on the scientists from Eifyr assisting Dr. Tukoss to give us solid analyses of the numerous captures that we bring back for processing, and unfortunately they are far behind schedule given that our efforts are at some level “not their day job”. They have their business to see to first and can only provide us with so much processing time.
What location(s) did the project take place in?
Both involve almost the entirety of New Eden in their scope. To narrow it a little, Tesseract is focused on the nine shattered planet systems, the three echo systems, the Eve gate and the wormholes themselves, where Catapult is almost literally a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack. We think the source of the Sansha wormholes is somewhere in Stain but the preponderance of the evidence thus far suggests otherwise.
Is the project still running or finished?
Tesseract has a great deal of time already invested but has a lot of “restarting” work to do.
Catapult is underway right now.
Are more people needed, and if so how can they get involved?
Tesseract mostly needs skilled archivist assistance, and time and patience from the same. It involves a lot of culling through months worth of travel data from myself and others and distillation of that data down to current facts that others can then use to expand what we know about this critical potentiality.
Catapult needs capsuleer assistance immediately, and we’ll take as much as we can get, particularly pilots living in or willing to go to Stain. Our immediate goal is to localize the Sansha launching system and attempt to track down the source ship or station. This means nebular captures from almost every known constellation in New Eden, which is a great deal of work.
What does this project mean to A’J as a whole? What was its impact or significance in the greater whole?
I suppose you’d have to ask Dr. Tukoss for the official answer to that question, but I’m one of the more “applied science” people on the project, and to me while there is much to discover in the broad scope of the initiative, the most interesting pieces are the ones in which we can determine how to use the technology that was apparently commonplace to these ancient societies. I find their archaeology fascinating, and the Rogue Drones amazing to watch evolve, but I think that the understanding and application of the ancient technology is what could really move the capsuleer world forward. It’s the glue that holds everything else together.
Where there any problems or incidents in the project, or in A’J as a whole that affected the project?
I think what the Arek’Jaalan initiative has suffered from most is some of the well-publicized political conflicts between Sansha and Empire loyalists. This seems to have calmed somewhat in recent weeks, so I am hopeful that we will pull together on these efforts. I will admit that I was very surprised to get almost no feedback either within the project or from the Intergalactic Summit members when I proposed and looked for assistance on Project Catapult. I expected a firestorm. For our part, we want to work with anyone who will help. We’re about results, not politics.
Any other notable facts or additions regarding the project?
Other parts of the Multidisciplinary effort are coming along very well. Mark726 has turned in a report on Project Compass, which is trying to determine the localization relationship of New Eden to the Wormhole clusters. Julianus Soter’s efforts around Project Trinity are bringing in impressive results. Project Atlas, the mapping of wormhole space, has a lot of energy behind it from various groups but concrete results have not yet come to light – we are hoping to see some soon.
How can readers interested best get involved in future work done by the Multidisciplinary division, or A’J as a whole?
The best thing to do is to read the division information pages, join the Arek’Jaalan mailing list and the Arek’Jaalan fluid router discussion channel and start asking questions!
