The molecular stripping of biomatter by the Triglavians is as vexing as it is troubling:
Prior to this, Triglavian sampling has near-universally focused on intelligence gathering, rather than resource pillaging; that’s been far more the signature activity of the Drifters, whom we all but know to have completely harvested all biomass present aboard countless baseline resource processing facilities - alongside stripping every ounce of useful material present.
The system this new development took place in is an outlying, with a single CONCORD station present; this seems to me to be either another sampling of some sort, perhaps for the purpose of analyzing the “Narodnya” of New Eden’s races - or perhaps there’s something more to it?
Regardless of anything, it’s odd. The Drifters, having only emerged in recent years and obviously being strained for resources - bodies in particular, given the profound state of decay in which the derelict civilization they emerged from now lays - and have taken blatant steps to replenish and grow their resources through pillaging.
The Trigs, on the other hand, are far more established - presumably tracing their civilization back at least to the era of the Tyrants of the Second Jove Empire - and seem far less stressed for resources, as they have proven capable of constructing countless structures, producing a large number of novel vessels moving forward from their first appearance (compared to the TWO individual base hulls seen with the Drifters), including a capital ship, and - most of all - developing and proving their gargantuan XORDAZH World Arks: a forward strategic version of what seem to have been previously preservation-focused Arks in the KITEZH classification.
If not for resources, then for what purpose was this stripping?
It’s probably for analysis: a sample of a more or less typical, human-supporting biome. There’s all sorts of data that could be mined from such a sample, not only from the people themselves but also stuff like human companion species, from pets and pests down to soil and carpet microbes. It’s a snapshot of a community’s life right down to the microbiological level: a very dense collection of data.
A collection like that could be used in any number of ways, as information generally can. I wish I thought the Collective was likely to approach us with some new fertilizing technique or something, but it seems more likely to be some variation on, “how can we use this?” Novel forms of biowarfare are an obvious outcome (maybe they’ve been reading about certain persons’ attempts to Trig-proof biospheres and thought it was funny enough to decide to show us how it’s done), but it might be something less obvious.
Like: “How do we need to modify this to make it viable here?”
I presume the triangles are conducting some kind of terrible experiment and I don’t like it.
Under the claims of “proving” they enter our space uninvited. Nobody mounts invasions under such a pretense, and to prove the obvious, they proceeded to mess with our stars. Now they mess with the lives of citizens on a close and personal level.
I ask you all, what is it that we should “prove” to them? I say: nothing! This is an act of war, the third as far as I’m concerned, and should not be allowed to stand.
Moreso than even an act of war, it is a hint at what terrible plans they may have in wait for us. With this act, they have and will continue to add injury to insult, preparing even to do so on a scale as of yet unimaginable.
Rather than wait to find out what this plan of theirs is, the triangles must be exterminated with extreme prejudice before they can fully set this plan in motion, for the sake of all the untold billions of souls currently inhabiting the civilized regions of the New Eden cluster.
There has to be a way to create our own conduits of arbitrary size, allowing us to mount a counter-invasion against the triangles’ home worlds. Perhaps destroying and analyzing the wreckage of these S.A.S. structures can give us a clue on how to do this, however small the odds. Anything is better than sitting idle while the triangles continue unopposed.
It’s hard to think of another reason to vacuum up a whole town’s biomass, really. It seems cruel to say, but, if they picked up just biology (like both living and dead cells) while leaving the non-biological matter (like tooth fillings, cybernetic implants, and air) I kind of hope the residents are neurologically dead.
The alternative seems … likely to be painful.
Anyway, to be clear, pilot, a “proving” isn’t necessarily inconsistent with anything we’ve seen. Ask anyone who’s done much Abyss diving: a “proving” is a battle, a struggle. At the most basic level, what you’re “proving” is that you’re fit to survive. You consent to the test by entering their domain.
It’s likely that they interpret our present situation as a similar kind of “proving.” Just, not at the level of ships and crews, anymore.
Hoovering up innocent civilians and performing God only know what kind of terrible experiments on them is not a proving. It’s a war crime. This type of triangle-apologism is the reason the Empires themselves don’t get into action and it needs to stop.
They are the ones entering OUR domain. We did not consent to anything. The only things we need to borrow from them are their concept of extirpation and whatever technology we need to make that happen.
CONCORD has dedicated an entire Division, as reported here. The Empires are doing what they can to defend the people living within their borders and overall they succeed, as reported here.
All these efforts to protect the people have proven to be very costly in lives, materials and isk. Despite all of this, the Empires and CONCORD still go on the offensive.
Stating that the Empires themselves don’t go into action is therefore a great deal of misinformation and a big insult to the memory of all the people who have lost their lives so far.
The fact remains that we do not understand the Triglavians or their motives. All we can do is to put our best effort into protecting the people living within the borders of the Empire space and to come and understand the Triglavians in order to find a way to end the current conflict.
Bah, humbug. It is a token response at best. I see Navy vessels every day “guarding” the gates of their respective systems. Have you once seen them fire upon the triangle menace? Me neither.
The Empires’ response is a joke, an insult even, and more to you than most others to boot. Of the vast armies they possess? What do they send? A single dreadnought. When? When the main threat has already been eliminated. To do what? Claim credit for the destruction of a defenseless structure while capsuleer counter-invasion fleets fight off the remaining triangles.
They don’t assist in the repulsion of invasions or even the roaming razna-whatever scouts. Their navies, each still larger than anything the collective of capsuleers can bring to bear on the miraculous day they stop their wars-out-of-boredom, can’t be bothered to spare more assistance than a single cowardly Dreadnought.
And what has AEGIS been doing with our money? Building Stellar Observatories? When will we see the returns? If there even are any. Now almost a week ago they claimed to deploy more troops to Invasion Zones, so we’ll see if they finally show their value here.
Very interesting developments indeed. I regret I have not been able to personally assist ARC in the past weeks, but I’ll be back sooner or later. Till then, I’ll read here with interest!
Personally, I believe it’s likely they’re trying to turn New Eden’s systems into abyssal deadspace for more proving grounds space.
True enough, but… they DID (the Amarr Navy, at least) fire (quite often!) upon the Drifter ships during the Drifter incursion a few years ago… we’ll see.
In a way of saying “If we can’t have stable space to live in, neither can you”? I don’t for a second attribute good intentions to their actions, but this seems a bit childish of an attitude to take. What do you really believe to be the reason for wanting to do such a thing?
Sure it will give them a strategical advantage of “knowing the lay of the land” as our planet-bound forefathers would say, but would it not defeat the purpose of attempting to claim this space as their own?
So they still view the drifters as the greater threat despite the evidence? Granted the drifters are individually far superior to any triangle, but when did you last see them mount repeated attempts to invade our space?
I don’t know that attributing characteristics like childish/childlike to the Trig behavior is very useful, they’re so seemingly-alien to us, it’s like anthropomorphizing pets–fun, but not really accurate.
I have no idea what they’re doing, that was just my best guess.
And yep, it does seem from their behavior that the empires (or at least Amarr) takes the drifter threat more seriously than the triglavian threat. But we’ll see if that changes. Fingers crossed for more of a response on the gates, stations, highways and byways.
You may be right, their motives we can only guess at in the first place.
Now, on the subject of Empire retaliation, I’ve noticed some of the Amarr Navy ships aiding capsuleers in closing at least a few Major Conduits. Negligible aid, but aid nonetheless. I’m not holding my breath for them to get their act together, but… It’s a start.
In other news I hear that an ARC fleet has wiped the straggler SASs off the galactic map. I had intended to partake myself, but, well, my effort was saved here, I guess. I do wonder if any new information has come to light as a result.
So … to be clear, pilot, raznaborg damaviks are a deadly threat to anything their own size or smaller and they’re not unrepresentative of Triglavian forces generally. Conventional ships trying to hunt them would be in trouble. Conventional navies have apparently deployed in places, usually away from where we can see, but, basically, we independent capsuleers as a class are equipped to take on Triglavian forces successfully. The national militaries … they might do some good, but it’d be a really costly fight. And maybe it is.
As a rule, where practical they’re probably best off holding back and letting us do the dirty work. It’s what we’re for, after all.
I’ve actually commanded fleets with the same Fleet Issue Typhoons the Minmatar use themselves, and successfully used them to close Minor Conduits. Not one of them was lost. If I and a small hand full my Agents can do it, so can the vast Minmatar Fleet. And if they can, so can the other empires.
Their Navies may just need to consider employing tactics that, to them, appear less conventional, but then that is also the nature of the current threat. It has always been the case in war that those who adapt the fastest to the changing circumstances stand a significantly larger chance of coming out victorious.
You’re an egger, pilot. It’s not the same. Even the best-run bridge crews, even if they love to think of themselves as functioning as well-oiled machines, pale next to the efficiency of a neural link.
The navies do have eggers of their own, but seem reluctant to deploy them very much. They’re likely mostly fielded against their counterparts in other empires, either actively or in stand-off, and can’t be readily redeployed for that exact reason.
A navy that’s hesitant to deploy weapons isn’t a navy. Either send out their own eggers, or just, well, more ships. They have plenty of them. They’ve traditionally been plenty willing to lose a few of them whacking each other over the head, surely they can lose a few more fighting for an actual cause.
