AND NOW FOR ∰SPECULATION∰
This entire section will go into unconfirmed and non-canon details - speculation on the true nature of the Drifters and what their future actions may bring, drawing concentrated tinfoil-fuel from all known events and information thus far.
It is strongly recommended that you read the full history of the Drifters first, displayed above, before delving into this deeper speculation. Additionally, learning of the Triglavians and the Enheduanni, and their possible link to the current goings-on of New Eden, will also doubtlessly aid in the building a mental pinboard.
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The Drifters are the Others.
Background:
In Templar One, we learn of the existence of the Others - apparently spontaneous AI which popped into existence over centuries of the Sleeper VR’s perpetual runtime. Of all the inhabitants of the world of the Sleepers, only the Others were naturally aware of its false nature, wanting to tell the Sleepers residing in it of the truth and to escape from the construct. Existing without a body on the other side, the Others’ existence violated the most important rule of the Sleeper VR set by the Enheduanni - one body must exist on the outside for every infomorph within the VR.
Following the opening of Anoikis, the Empires, starting with Jamyl Sarum and the Amarr, plundered the Sleeper enclaves and harvested their bodies. This wreaked havoc in the VR world and left many Sleeper infomorphs trapped in the implants ripped from them, which were put into the first generation of Clone soldiers. The Other in Jamyl Sarum’s head (read above, under “Regicide”) succeeded in both punishing Sleepers who were opposed to his plan, as well as installing those who would be aligned with it into immortal soldiers under its control. It is unknown whether these allies would be Sleeper infomorphs alone, or if certain Others had also entered existing Sleeper implants in order to be brought to New Eden.
The Drifters themselves have constructed their own bodies, amalgams of flesh and machine, using the corpses of once-living Sleepers as a base. It is not known whether or not the Drifters were responsible for their deaths or if they expired naturally, but what it certain is that they lacked or no longer possessed bodies, leading them to assemble their own.
Inference:
The above all occurred after the accidental opening of Anoikis via the Seyllin Incident. When this catastrophe was triggered during the End of the World chronicle series, it was obvious that the superweapon-clad Abaddon under the Other’s control was tethered to and being refueled by the Rogue Drone Isogen-5 cache in a friendly manner - indicating that the Other planned to open Anoikis at a proper time, further down the line, when something more was ready. Plans had to be adjusted, and the Other chose to build an ancillary army. This was second to its main plan, the preparations for which had been violently shaken by the entry of outsiders into Anoikis.
As for the assembly of Drifter bodies, why bodies? The Sleepers were intended to sleep forever, but their infrastructure showed no signs of the presence of the once-administrators, once the Empires and Capsuleers had reached them. The Others wanted to leave the fake world, and to be real - while AI could easily and simply inhabit drones or other automata, the notion of being real would imply being alive in as effective a way as possible - something the Drifters have accomplished with their very real bodies, in control of powerful vessels.
The Drifters’ assassination of Jamyl Sarum and the Other held deeper intent.
The Other was recovered through the same methods used to capture Tukoss.
Background:
The Drifters killed Jamyl Sarum, within whom the Other lived and was trapped.
However, Dr. Hilen Tukoss was also killed by the Drifters. His body itself was discovered in the Redoubt Hive, and the sample of brain tissue recovered confirmed that his capsule had initiated a burn scan - but his infomorph never arrived in Eram. The Drifters intercepted him through some method, capturing and trapping Tukoss before using his ident to request Jove biomass samples from capsuleers. Tukoss was still “alive” and did escape, before again never arriving at his destination, but for a different reason (read above, under “Tukoss”).
The Other originally entered Jamyl Sarum during her secret infomorph transfer following her death in the YC105 succession trials, indicating the ability to intercept an infomorph in another example, separate from the interception of Tukoss’s infomorph.
Inference:
While Jamyl was in fact killed, the Other was also completely trapped in her head, residing completely within implants that had been aggressively modified in order to house it, following its entry into Jamyl’s infomorph. The Other schemed for something to be done with the Isogen-5 caches, which acted as the keys to Anoikis, at the right time - if that right time was to be once the Drifters had successfully emerged, the need for the Other to remain in Jamyl would have dissipated - and as it was trapped, it needed to be taken back.
The Drifters captured Tukoss’s infomorph by intercepting him following his death - the same action may have been performed in Safizon in order to recover the Other, especially considering the utter focus the Drifters acted with that day in only attacking one ship and its pod before leaving, much unlike their other attacks.
The Other is the true commander of the Drifters.
Background:
The Vigilant Tyrannos command structure is apparently headed by an individual holding the rank of Strategos. Aside from decrypting and identifying the personal command signature of this entity, nothing is known as to the origins of this Drifter or even if the Tyrannos Strategos is truly the ultimate authority of this mysterious force.
Inference:
Combining this teasing string - a hidden description for Tyrannos Strategos that can be found in EVE’s files - with the efforts made by the Other to advance its goals, the genesis of clone soldiers, its apparent leadership acumen, and the emergence of the Drifters, the idea of the Other being the true authority of the Vigilant Tyrannos gains significant traction. The inclusion of such a string in the first place is far too suggestive of a deeper authority behind Strategos to dismiss entirely.
The Drifters facilitated the reopening of the Drone regions in YC108.
The Isogen-V Caches were filled in preparation for the Drifters’ emergence.
Background:
In YC88, the Gallente Federation undertook operation Spectrum Breach, setting up new stargates and initiating exploration into multiple new regions through the use of vast drone fleets. Four months later, however, drones at the operation’s headquarters went berserk and killed hundreds, while reports of drones going rogue arrived from all 8 regions being explored simultaneously. Suspicions of a virus of some sort causing the rebellion circled, but nothing was ever confirmed. Regardless, the operation was shuttered and gates leading to the infested regions were disconnected. The entire operation was conducted behind CONCORD’s back, and following the infestation the Inner Circle convened the Code Aria Inquiry as an investigation commission looking into the details of Spectrum Breach.
Twenty years later, in November YC108, the closed stargates leading to the infested regions came online simultaneously, without any explanation, and Code Aria conducted near unanimously doomed expeditions into the regions in order to look into the causes and consequences of the reopening. The details of the inquiry were leaked over a year later, following the stepping-down of a CONCORD captain associated with the expeditions.
Through stargate logs included in the leaked inquiry, it was discovered that an unknown vessel had been in close proximity to one of the gates, gained access to it, and began the activation cycle of all gates in the quarantined regions. It then slaved the system, direct the stargate to transmit itself through to the other side, though its NULL identification should have made such a feat impossible - and by the time CONCORD learned of the activations and arrived onsite, the ship was long gone.
The user here forces their way into the system using !PUSH command with an undocumented GEK-prefix string. The system is slaved to the transmitting ship which performs transit calculations locally (minimising ship data logged by the gate) and then initiates the transit while still connected. The transmission ends abruptly when the ship transits, and the system reasserts itself after the HOLD expires.
Inference:
In “The Empyrean Age” in T-IPZB, and in the “End of the World” chronicle series, ancient “terran” caches had begun to be filled with Isogen-5 by rogue drones suborned to an unknown will. Detailed in Templar One, these caches were intentional stockpiles of the unstable material - intended to generate a critical mass, possibly in order to create an advanced interstellar transit system - and that the activation/detonation of the caches was not performed correctly (see “End of the World”).
“Inheritance” revealed the mastery of the Talocan, and their identity as the creators of the Anoikis network - along with the fact that they had long since left New Eden. The caches, then, were theirs - stockpiles used to violently fuel the activation of their wormhole-based transit network - and another party had intended to use them once again to open the doors to Anoikis.
The Abaddon fitted with Jamyl Sarum’s superweapon was tethered to the cache in the End of the World series, and was being fueled by the drones filling the then-swarming installation with isogen-5. With the addition of Rogue Drones as a pseudo-faction with corporation identifiers assigned to them, two infestations - Karybdis and Scylla, named the same as Drifters found in the Abyss - have yet to be encountered.
Combining the above with Code Aria and the unknown vessel that left the Drone regions, one possible conclusion is that the rogue drones directed to fill the caches were under the control of the Other - and that this control had been attained following whatever was done when the infested regions were opened. The caches were in this case intended to be activated at the proper time, when the Drifters had completed their emergence - but things didn’t go as planned.
The Drifters occupied the “Hive sites” and installed their Hives.
Capsuleers are being allowed in, furthering the Drifters’ goals.
Background:
When capsuleers first made their way through the Hive sites, they discovered the structures the complexes were named for at the end, surrounded by destroyed Sleeper enclaves in turn surrounded by once-living Sleepers, floating silently near the canopics that once connected them to the virtual world. The sites were difficult to access, and required significant teamwork to navigate - along with that, the later-discovered areas bearing the name “Nexus” was unconnected to the rest of the site - no acceleration gates led to their locations, far from the other rooms of the complexes.
The sites then changed; acceleration gates which were once locked were made openly accessible, and new acceleration gates leading to the Nexus of each site were installed in both the first and last rooms of the sites. In addition, repositories for the newly discovered “alignment unit” sequences were installed in the Nexus of each complex, granting booster-like materials produced by the Drifters to those depositing the requested sequences.
A SCOPE report also questioned whether the Hives were of the same age as surrounding infrastructure, or if they were newer constructions, much more recently placed in the complexes. And from EVE’s files, the Nexus debris has been revealed to be parts of titanic gates, folding together and aligning in stages yet unseen.
Inference:
The Drifters have never increased the level of response capsuleers have met within the Hive sites, despite them being of obvious importance to them. Quite the opposite, the sites have been made easier to access over time, with the addition of new acceleration gates leading to the Nexus, and a repository in each for the named sequences collected from named alignment units - suspected to be related to the very obviously unaligned pylons in the Nexus rooms, which form massive gates in their final form.
The granting of Drifter booster-materials in exchange for the sequences, themselves described as keys for a certain “acceleration gate”, suggest that the Drifters may be employing capsuleers once again in order to further their own goals - just as they did in Eram, with the collection of Jove Biomass at Site One at the falsified invitation of Hilen Tukoss.
The Hives themselves use a completely different material scheme from Sleeper structures. Originally using the Drifter scheme, they were at one point changed to use the “Jove” scheme in its place - the same one used by the capsule and by the last remaining Jovian Construct type stations visible in two Directorate systems. In addition, the entirely different architecture composing them only matches that of the Drifters’ own ships - and their usage of additional Hives in the Alpha campaign (read above, under “Alpha”) displays further that they are critical Drifter constructs, not simply remnant structures that were rediscovered in the known Hive systems.
The Drifters utilized the Nexus gates to enter the Abyss after Caroline’s Star
The Nexus gates are Talocan in origin, and may need a human touch
Background:
When Hilen Tukoss broadcast his final transmission before his death at the hands of the Drifters and the capture of his infomorph, a titanic Drifter fleet had amassed at the Redoubt hive - however, there was no sign of this massive force when capsuleers finally entered the site.
The Tukoss broadcast was specifically mentioned to have been at the very least 6 months old, due to the fluid router it relayed to being offline, and was potentially a year older or more. This placed it squarely before the Caroline’s Star event and the new shattering of systems connected to the Talocan Lattice in W477-P.
The Nexus gates had been used by the time capsuleers discovered the anomalies, with energetic vortexes still present above and below the structures.
In Inheritance, the Talocan lattice swarm gates are described as being very intentionally walled off from any AI, intended to only be operated by living, breathing human beings.
Inference:
It is likely that the enormous Drifter fleet in Redoubt had amassed with the aim of entering the Abyss. As for how that would have been accomplished, Caroline’s Star kickstarted violent reactions from every star in proximity to the static gates connected to its lattice - though epicenter static gate sites are present in every shattered wormhole system, there are none to be found in any of the similarly shattered Hive site systems. The most likely route for W477-P’s supernova into the systems, then, would have been the Nexus gates - titanic constructions dissimilar from any Sleeper, Jove, or Triglavian infrastructure that has ever been observed.
There are two vortexes for each Nexus, one at either pole - in the case of the Alpha campaign, however, each Hive moved to known space instead had only one vortex, the obvious sign of their emergence point. This discrepancy points to the Nexus gates having an entry of energy and a second, exiting activation that caused the opposing vortex.
If anywhere, where would the Nexus gates lead? The Triglavian Collective, inhabiting the Abyss, had to enter it from some point - and if they are in fact the Enheduanni, who were once the administrative elites of the Sleeper civilization, the possibility of them using further Talocan infrastructure to delve deeper beyond Anoikis (as they had when they and the Sleepers left New Eden) comes into reach. The Abyss itself, in that case, would be a product of the Talocan design - intentional or unintentional.
When Caroline’s Star occurred, it is possible that the Drifters would have been able to use the resulting outpour of energy to have the Nexus gates punch into the Abyss, entering the deadspace depths en masse.
Though the outpour of energy during Caroline’s Star may have allowed the Drifters to enter the Abyss, it may have also been a one-time occurrence; if Talocan gate systems were firewalled against use by AI, intended to only be used by humans (mentioned in Inheritance), the Drifters may have encountered difficulties operating the gates beyond the first, forceful activation - leading them to increase access to the Hive complexes and bring the Nexus into easy reach, alongside adding new repositories for Sequences retrieved from Alignment Units they themselves cannot access.
Alternatively, if the Drifters themselves can in fact operate the Nexus gates, perhaps their choice of flesh-and-machine human bodies was influenced in part by the Talocan AI restriction.
The Warzone Extraction event’s Sleepers were on the side of the Triglavians
Background:
The Warzone Extraction event saw Capsuleers pilfering Trinary Relics from vaults in proximity to previously cloaked Sleeper Enclaves across all space, similar to the caches that had been pilfered by the Drifters. In this case, however, the Drifters were destroyed by their foes. By capsuleer encounters with powerful Sleeper Drones, their descriptions, and their vehement guarding of anything to be found within or near the Drifter wreckage littering their enclave (including Trinary Relics), these Eosian drones were not on the side of the Drifters.
Inference:
Eosian Sleeper drones, destroying Drifter ships and safeguarding Trinary Relics in their sites, may have served the directive of the Triglavian Collective - or whoever had become that faction. Seeing as the Triglavian Collective was revealed the next year, and any Trinary Datastreams of Triglavian origin share the same icon, it is simple to try and connect these Drifter-opposed Sleepers to the enemy of the Drifters - especially if the Triglavians themselves are truly the Enheduanni.
The Triglavians are the Enheduanni, and the Drifters are following them
Background:
There is much evidence that suggests the Triglavian race could in fact be a renewed, revamped version of the Enheduanni - read this post again for a full overview of the evidence and theories involved. At the very least, their relation to the Jove race and the Sleepers is illuminated by the requirement of Sleeper Encryption Methods to construct their tech II damage module, and much more progresses from there.
Inference:
If the Drifters are the Others, and the Triglavians the Enheduanni, their conflict needs little further explanation; those who were once in charge of the Sleeper VR and whom rejected the Others’ existence would be a natural target of the Drifters, likely out of outright conquering aggression moreso than self-defense.
CRACKPOT THEORIES
These theories are more out-thee than the above inferences, drawing more from pure theory than from explicit connections and details revealed in EVE’s gameworld and fiction. That said, they may fit the bill - only time will tell.
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The Others developed from imprints of dead infomorphs in the Sleeper VR.
The rule of one mind per one body in the Sleeper VR was enforced by its administrators on those living within; if a body were to die, what would become of its infomorph still connected to the virtual world?
If the Enheduanni wiped the infomorph existence of those in this state from the VR world, imprints of whom they once were would remain - with discarded memory being overwritten over time. Over millenia of runtime, the Others appeared. Little comes from nowhere, and accumulated fragments of imprints of those long-dead in the VR could be feasibly written as contributing to the Others’ purportedly spontaneous coming-into-being.
The Tyrannos mirror the Tyrants, taking up their legacy.
The Drifters consider themselves the renewers of the Jove race.
If the Others developed from scattered imprints of those who once were, would aspect of those who were once alive bleed into the consciousnesses birthed from the VR?
The Vigilant Tyrannos solidly echo the ruling faction of the Second Jove Empire, the Tyrants. This ruthless faction united the Jove as one again, following the collapse of the first empire, and had arrested the total collapse of the Jove civilization - at the time including all outside Jove, as well as the Sleepers and the Enheduanni.
As runtime eventualities drawing from long-wiped infomorphs, coming into being with the knowledge that the entire world they resided in was a false creation, the Others desired to leave it - emerging from the ruins of the Sleeper civilization, but fully considering themselves to be members of the Jove race, they took up the mantle of the Tyrants (as spoken in their in-game corp description) and emerged into reality in order to re-establish their fading and hidden-away race as a true superpower.
Indeed, the headquarters of the Drifters and Vigilant Tyrannos is the same system as the defunct third Jove empire’s was, 3-CE1R, despite any evidence of Drifter entry or occupation of Directorate space - something that certainly would have been mentioned by Veniel in Inheritance, should it have occurred.
In this case, 3-CE1R would instead serve as a symbolic headquarters, the springboard and metaphor for the Tyrannos/Tyrants reestablishing the Jove as they see themselves to be.
The head Other in part reflects Miko Bour, the first Tyrant.
If the Others echo the Tyrants, who decided that they should do so?
The Other that resided in Jamyl Sarum was ruthless and driven, going to any lengths to achieve its aims - the visionary First Tyrant and founder of the Second Jove Empire, Miko Bour, was much the same. At the very least, the Other may reflect Miko Bour and the other visionary members of the Tyrant faction as a matter of course, crafting a goal and ambitiously driving itself towards it - and at the very most, perhaps imprints and fragments of those who were once Tyrants themselves formed a part of the Other’s virtual birth, influencing its desire to re-emerge and fueling an ambition that led to its transmission of itself into Jamyl Sarum’s head in order to achieve its goals.
The fact that the Drifters would have emerged en masse in order to retrieve the Other from Jamyl, along with the strong indications of a truer authority within their faction and all of the Other’s grand doings, lend credence to this entity being the actual head of the new Tyrants - named as such with strong intent.
Jamyl Sarum will continue to exist as a voice in the Other’s head
If the Drifters are indeed the Others, and they retrieved the Other in Jamyl through the same methods used to capture the infomorph of Hilen Tukoss, what of Jamyl Sarum?
In the case that the Drifters retrieved the Other, it stands likely that roles could reverse; a burn scan of Jamyl Sarum’s entire brain would have included both her own and the Other’s infomorph signatures, as observed by Matshi Raish, and might possibly draw Jamyl into the efforts of the Other going forward.
A role-reversal of the Other and Jamyl, with Sarum now residing in a place of influence within the true authority of the Tyrannos, would lend itself well to an interesting story going forward. Depth is important for any main figures in fiction, and the appreciable satisfaction of Jamyl being able to affect the life of one who influenced her own for so long is a very appropriate counter within the literal head of a thus-far silent and ruthless faction’s own head.
The Drifters have evolved into one of the most intriguing parts of the fabric of the story of EVE’s world over their stay in New Eden, and doubtless more details will be revealed going forward. With the first step in the Invasion world tour set for March 2019, stay tuned for developments and upheavals as YC121 marches on - my personal hope is that the fulfillment of one of the more ambitious dreams involving the Drifters is on the horizon 
Happy tinfoiling~
-Uriel
o7
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