We’ve all heard the news, and a fair few of us were involved in the hunt itself. While we could get into the finer details of the data acquisition, whether Deathless data or Jovian warp vector systems and the narrative symbology they use, I think what’s more interesting is the implication of the gates themselves.
Assessment on gate directionality remains subject to debate. Some capsuleers have stated a belief that it leads to unknown space near the regions of the defunct Directorate Jove. Others believe it centers on a certain significant landmark – the Point of No Return, a black hole. The origin behind the term Zarzakh is considered relevant in this case.
I think the evidence from the alignment of the gates strongly suggests the gates are going to the “Point of No Return”.
What has me worried though is not what’s there but what might come out. I think a lot of us are excited about the prospect of new space to explore but I think it should be stressed that last time we went down a road like this it led to an invasion of our space. We should be preparing to encounter whomever is on the other side of the gates.
Does that mean the “deathless” or perhaps some new remnant of the second Jove empire? Another round with the drifters?
Our lack of knowledge about the Deathless is of course worrisome, doubly so due to how heavily augmented the representative is in the leaked security footage. It honestly resembles Drifter levels of augmentation, the point at which biological-derived infomorphs might transition into non-biological.
Either way, the circumstances are questionable.
Pilot Idari, I’m not sure how much we may necessarily need to fear invasion from the gate-- though, honestly, it’s a bit of a pit of unknown risk. With the locations known, I can only hope efforts are underway to secure the sites by appropriate parties.
I think that until you rule out the far more pedestrian possibility, there’s a good chance these gates don’t necessarily all go to the same place… or even near one. They could just go to, y’know… other gates scattered around in a similar distribution, and from those locations, possibly connecting to one another.
It’s great for Raisch to say it’s all likely controlled from a single, central location, but once again, he’s not offered anything to justify why he’s making that speculation, rather than just ‘there’s more gates out there’. Speculation on more extraordinary possibilities would require extraordinary evidence. If Raisch knows something, and wants New Eden’s capsuleers to pay attention to what’s going on, the man should make what he’s got available, instead of just being cryptic and alarmist.
It was mentioned to me that whenever in J-Space the on-board navigational mapping system always begins centered at “The Point Of No Return”. I personally attribute this to pure coincidence as the (0, 0) origin point of the cluster, a computational coincidence.
I don’t have a degree in stargate engineering, so I wouldn’t know how bad of an idea this would be for a regular gate, but I strongly believe the Deathless and friends quickly punched in coordinates 0,0,0 to hide where they were originally pointing when capsuleers caught wind of their existence. I would be surprised if Jove technology wouldn’t allow a gate to do a couple 360’s and snap back to perfect alignment.
Of course, that leads to what I believe is the far more interesting question: what on earth were they going to do with full control over four ancient Jove stargates encased in never before seen cloaking technology?
Regardless of the gates’ intended purpose or destination, there is a crucial matter that needs to be addressed.
The gate situated within the Alsavoinon system should be taken out of Federal custody and placed under the State’s guardianship. The Federation was, after all, unmistakably caught collaborating with the traitor Esri Hakuzosu and the extensive Deathless network just one year ago. Even their operative, Leopold en Villari, a central figure in this conspiracy, retains his position within the Federation Senate to this day, and no measures have been implemented to apprehend or extradite him.
I therefore think it is foolish to entrust the Federation with this asset. Their direct and documented ties with the Deathless network cannot be ignored if we are to contain and neutralize this threat.
The war has been going on for 15 years now, where have you been?
Also, I would hope that no military action will be necessary for this. Unlike with the Guristas and the Cartel and their own gates, I am optimistic that the international community would see the threat posed by the current situation and pressure the Federation into ceding control peacefully.
To me it seems most likely that the gates do access Jove space; it’d explain the reported spike in pirate technological advancement. Ever since the Jove Directorate fell, it’s been pretty much a matter of time before someone started looting whatever’s left.
It seems like that’s now begun. My guess is that the Deathless is either someone who found a way in and then leveraged that information for outsized wealth and power or a surviving Jove now acting as a warlord orchestrating the looting of their own civilization to guarantee themselves a strong position in whatever follows.
Frankly, I think the two gates in the warzones should be taken out of the hands of the empires entirely. Raisch wants all this going through CONCORD, so make them CONCORD’s responsibility. Maybe they can actually earn their budget for a change.
Because last time an advanced megastructure was placed under CONCORD’s responsibility it went fantastically for Turnur, yes?
If a mostly nonpartisan organization is to assume control of the gates, let it be the Society itself. CONCORD and its agencies have very recently demonstrated themselves to be unreliable.
The SoCT has stated that they believe the Deathless is in control of the gates, and that the gates are locked. I have seen no data to support that belief, but assuming it true gives a starting point for some speculative analysis. Inference 1:
The Deathless is either currently unable or unwilling to open the gates. We should keep close attention to ongoing Deathless/Guristas/Angels activity. We may be able to identify further key resources and/or information hunted by said pirate alliance (following shortened as DGA). We also should not rule out a strong military push by DGA forces to secure one or more gate locations, with the ones in Curse and Venal the most obvious targets. I speculate that whatever the DGA is trying to access, they do want to avoid any empire or capsuleer forces to get there first, and that could be the prime motivation to keep the gates closed, if they are indeed able to control them. Inference 2:
If the gates are locked, and have not been previously activated, DGA has not yet accessed the other side. Therefore any central controling mechanism has to be located inside DGA accessible New Eden space. This opens up the possibility of tracking it down.
In my view, one important question to ask is: Why does an individual like the Deathless, who has access to such ancient information and technology, need the help of Pirate groups? Merely to plunder Jove Observatories and provide research personell? I speculate that DGA forces are needed for a military expedition through the gates that expects severe difficulties and resistance on the other side.
Prediction:
A strong DGA assault on one or more gates appears very likely. Either to secure access for DGA, to deny empire and capsuleer access, or to push a sizeable DGA expeditionary force through in a large scale blockade run.
Additional speculation:
I believe it is possible that the gate vectors meet in the Skarkon system. It is relatively close to the presumed intersection point, and given the significant error in available pointing analysis, it should at least not be ruled out until some deeper look on the data eliminates that possibility.
Recommendation:
Given previous events in Turnur and SoCT warning of possible destabilizing effects from gate activation, studying the stability of the Turnur Star and the possible interactions between Jovian Stargates and Triglavian Stellar Transmuters operating in such proximity should become a top research priority. And while Triglavians have been notoriously unhelpful in answering fundamental questions regarding, well, pretty much anything, we still should approach Triglavian associated capsuleer groups with a request to contribute to the analysis of potential dangers, up to stellar destruction events, stemming from uncontroled Jove/Triglavian super large scale tech construct interference.
Better than it did when it was in Imperial hands. I’d agree with it being in the hands of the Society, but their ability to actually secure anything is… I mean, calling it ‘questionable’ would be ludicrously generous.
