Diary of a Pod Pilot

For those of you who cannot make it here in person, or who’d like a look before making the trip, I’ve documented my visit to Arek’Jaalan Site One: Antiquus in Eram with a series of camera drone captures.

Welcome message upon warping to the site.

The main station and residences, with the archives and research offices in the background.

A closer look at the research offices.

The residential area.

Doing things I'm not allowed to do, as usual.

The collection of documents obtained at Site One.

My name on the contributors listing, now forever a part of New Eden's history.

Time for another blog banter. This time, Seismic Stan has something a little less political for us to discuss. This is a topic that is straight up my alley, since being a roleplayer means you really get into the game and your character, through acting out what your experience rather than through controlling a character from a third-person perspective.

EVE Online is renowned for it’s depth. Its backstory, gameplay and social aspects are all qualities that draw players in. What does immersion in EVE Online mean to you?

I think the biggest immersion factor for EVE Online is that every action has a reaction, or the freedom to get one. We see this in security status, standings that drop when others go up, and the fact that scamming, theft and suicide ganking are not banned as they are in more “friendly” MMO’s. Likewise, players have the tools and freedom to strike back against this. And there is the playerrun market, which just like the real market reacts to what large groups of players do. A recent example of that is the new Goonfleet campaign in highsec. Isotope prices — which are the main target — are going up, and PLEX seems to be following in this due to market panic. That’s stuff that makes EVE feel real, because it is real. Yes, there is some form of control, exploits and bots are not allowed (and for good reasons), but you can really ruin or make a players day, and someone else can affect you just the same.

A close second immersion factor for EVE is roleplay as a whole. We might at times feel the backstory progresses slowly or not at all, but it has some dynamic to it and has been build upon since the game release. Yes, in the early days players had a much larger impact, but this is far easier to manage with a smaller playerbase. Still, live events have started again and players shape these events. As admitted by CCP Dropbear at Fanfest 2011, the events don’t always pan out as foreseen either. It might seem like all part of the plan on the outside, but that is only because you don’t see behind the scenes. Also, I was initially critical about the recent Arek’Jaalan event arc, but after deciding to give it a try to test the validity of my beliefs I can now say that credit is given where it is due and that nobody likes drama, and that when it threatens the event it is dealt with, where if players can or want to do it they are always given the preference, which stick true to the principle of the sandbox.

There are some other minor and sometimes subtle ways where immersion happens, sometimes without us even realizing it. Have you ever tried looking up characters from the backstory ingame? Prominent figures, such as Heth, lead the corporations they belong to. And they were even given unique sculpted models rather than the random generator that created the mission agents. It wasn’t there right of the get-go, and that sparked such an outrage, and it is lovely to see that this was taken seriously enough to step in and give the important figures the care they deserve.

Now, Incarna was a bit of a lackluster expansion, and the drama surrounding CCP in the last few months really didn’t do it much good, but I think the Captain’s Quarters balcony is a stroke of sheer genius. We already had a sense of scale in the way that flying a frigate next to a battleship, not to mention something as huge as a titan, makes you feel really small. Old artwork showed us that frigates were already bigger than large commercial airplanes, but now we can stand next to our frigates and see them tower above us. Yes, the sense of scale is a bit skewed because larger ships go further back into the hangar, but you have to realize that hangar is way larger than your little hangout spot.

A last thing that a friend mentioned when I asked around for inspiration is the warning noises on the interface. What, a user-friendly — the ear-friendliness of it being debatable, but it sure makes you pay attention! — UI feature that adds to immersion? Why yes, indeed. We all know warning noises from the real world, if an alarm starts there usually is a reason for it. And yes, there is no sound in space, and EVE has some game mechanics that don’t simulate space as it would work when it is real, but when you regard the game and the interface as a simulation that your character sees to make sense of what is going around him or her, much alike to augmented reality, the pieces quickly fall in place. And that is how you can best explain the Neocom (name of the UI framework) in an in character way. Arguably, science fiction MMO’s have an easier time with this than fantasy MMO’s due to technology being a way to explain a lot, but nothing wrong with getting the most out of what you have. After all, fantasy MMO’s tend to be high magic universes, where magic can explain a lot too! I’m not of the opinion that every last bit of game mechanic should be able to be explained in character, that’s a foolish pursuit as it never totally works, but the less substitution or not mentioning has to happen, the more immersive everything will feel as it all comes naturally.

Julianus Soter, capsuleer license image

Following the interview with Rhavas, I took the opportunity to interview another member of the Multidisciplinary division of Arek’Jaalan, Julianus Soter. Similar as to the previous publication, we take a look at the man and the division he works in. We also cover Project Trinity, which falls under his lead, and how this contributes to its division and A’J as a whole.

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 was born and raised on the surface of Gallente Prime, educated in the public school system, and selected for capsuleer training. Initially I was recruited from the Center for Advanced Studies capsuleer pool into Strix Armaments and Defence, which provided the basis for my capsuleer training and involvement in the Federation’s border territories.

After leaving this corporation, joined Stellar Legion alliance, Flying Tigers corporation as a diplomatic officer. My experience in 0.0 would then translate to the paramilitary organization FOOM (The Dead Parrot Shoppe Inc.) within the BRUCE (Brutally Clever Empire) alliance.

Following the Seyllin Incident, I decided to redirect my efforts towards research of w-space, and founded the Synenose Accord, which is still in operation today, to host and provide data for the Seyllin Conferences, publicly held scientific meetings that capsuleers were invited to attend to present research on the Sleepers, Talocan, and w-space as a whole.

I would then return to Federation space in interest of preserving the Federal Frontier for astropolitical stability, founding the Moira corporation to do so. During the operation of this paramilitary organization, intelligence was transmitted to the Synenose Accord, and thus to me, of the imminent Sansha threat. I dedicated Moira to the destruction of this threat.

What is Project Trinity?
Project Trinity is a multidisciplinary effort to test the hypothesis that the Jovian Trinary Data fragment Moira Corporation possesses from the Admiral Ouria incident in Stain is in any way related to the Trinary Hub facilities in class 4 w-space, and additionally, the Trinary Data located within Professor Burreau‘s abandoned Helios-class frigate that was destroyed this year.

Why was the project set up, what is the background story or motivation?
The implications of any possible relationship between the Jovians and the Sleepers and/or Talocan are tremendous. It would point towards a more significant anthropological link between the various branches of Humanity, but may also very well uncover the curious mystery of why the Seyllin event occured in the first place.

What are the aims of the project?
Our goals with Project Trinity are the complete resolution, either confirmation, or otherwise, of the Trinity Hypothesis, regarding the  Sleeper/Talocan/Jove link.

Who works on the projects? Where other divisions than the Multidisciplinary involved?
At the moment, only the Multidisciplinary division is involved in the project, and of that division, only Moira corporation has assets deployed in space. Numerous pilots have aided in discussions and review of the theory behind the project, however.

How does the project work, what activities do those involved take part in, what methods and tools were used? / What location(s) did the project take place in?
Moira corporation constructed a starbase within class four space, with sophisticated defence systems and infrastructure required to maintain a long-term Blind, for observation and field operations purposes, within w-space. Class four space was chosen as it is the natural home of the Trinary Hub facilities, and thus, is our focus for the context of this project.

Combat reconnaissance teams were dispatched to scour the areas of space around Trinity Base, to locate Trinary hubs and collect sufficient data for the project through data extraction,s signals analaysis, and other advanced investigative methods. Combat forces were required to prevent attacks from Sleepers and other capsuleers.

Is the project still running or finished?
Trinity Base is still operational, however, the project is on standby pending review by Dr. Tukoss.

Are more people needed, and if so how can they get involved?
If Dr. Tukoss indicates additional study is required, then more personnel may be deployed.

What does this project mean to A’J as a whole? What was its impact or significance in the greater whole?
Resolving the issue of the relationship between the Jovians and their possible involvement of w-space would solve one link of the larger w-space mystery. It might stimulate additional hypotheses regarding the true nature of the Sleepers and Talocan, their current ‘absensce’ and whether or not the Jovians played a larger role in the Seyllin Incident.

Where there any problems or incidents in the project, or in A’J as a whole that affected the project?
The project is facing turnaround delays due to Eifyr and Co. work backlog.

Any other notable facts or additions regarding the project?
The project successfully assembled data from a Trinary Hub facility, and we feel that there is a good possibility the Trinary Hubs and Jovian Trinary Data are indeed related.

As you also work on the Security division, what does your job cosist of there?
The Security division is as of this time defunct, as the channel operators of the Division were disbarred from the larger Arek’Jaalan project, and no new channel operators were appointed.

How can readers interested best get involved in future work done by the Multidisciplinary or Security division, or A’J as a whole?
Multidisciplinary is always looking for open-minded pilots with the initiative to seek out solutions to challenging problems.

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!

As has appeared on the Arek’Jaalan mailing list today:

“Today, Arek’jaalan representatives from the Media Relations and Information Dissemination group have secured a deal with Myrhial Arkenath, Co-Executor of Naraka., to utilize her well-known public logs as a publisher of scientific and theoretical information on behalf of Arek’jaalan. We hope to use this to our advantage in order to spread knowledge of the project to wider parts of the cluster.”

I’ve been watching the project from afar, having always had an interest in science, but my CEO duties coming first place has meant my ability to explore it, or the AJ project, are limited. After some helpful feedback from Hilen Tukoss and a few other sources, I figured I can help science in many more ways than field work, and combine it with things I already love to do, like writing. And thanks to Myxx and Anslo, this is now possible. I hope that you, dear readers, will find this just as interesting as I do. And if you really do, and aren’t involved yet, I urge you to look at the various divisions and seek to get involved where your passion lies.