Oh, this is fun. I get to be the agreed-upon villain! ⌠oh wait thatâs not new. Oh well.
So, quasi-professional filament diver here (itâs where I make nearly all my ISK), recently resumed after shutting down during the invasions.
I mostly agree, or at least donât strongly disagree, with Arrendisâs account, but have at least one thing to add: the Triglavian Collective actively encouraged filament use, and went so far as to hack CONCORDâs systems punishing tier 4 and 5 filament users by setting them suspect (and therefore fair game for other eggers) upon their return. They also are basically the only people likely to have sponsored the Agency event that arrived at the same time.
Arrendis is correct: they wanted us there. And, they seem to still want us there.
To me, though, thatâs not quite reason enough not to go. Sure if I go Iâm being studied, but actually I donât think thereâs a lot new theyâre likely to be learning (Iâve kinda been there before, you know?). Iâm retrieving exotic materials including survey data that CONCORDâs really eager to get, and I have the opportunity to engage the Triglavians and also to interfere with other Abyssal incursions (which ⌠gets messy when itâs CONCORD? Those black ops units donât seem to have any qualms about attacking me and it doesnât hurt me with CONCORD though, so ⌠eh?).
For me what flips it, though, is this: there isnât a lot weâve managed to do that the Triglavians arenât apparently fine with. I mean, they try to kill us in various contexts but they donât seem to hold it against us much. The EDENCOM defense campaign was something they seemed to take slightly more personally, but even then it seems more like they were sorting allies from enemies among capsuleerdom than that they really objected much to those of us who picked âenemy.â They still happily run me through their provings, after.
The question, then, is whether we can come out ahead in the exchange. Iâve run basically the same fit for years now, and ⌠it works? Yay? Probably less efficient than a Sacrilege but I like the extra reach and besides I still have a little sentimental attachment to Caldari ship design? What they have to learn from me theyâve probably mostly learned, but they still consider me an acceptable contestant and they still reward me accordingly.
What I take from them is useful in real and measurable ways (including and even especially against the Triglavians themselves), and some of the resources brought back are the source of most of what we know about the Collective. Itâs how we found the world ark and dreadnought construction sites and learned of the Triglaviansâ encounters with other entities, along with a lot of what weâve pieced together about their culture and attitudes (and gods know how much survey data). I believe if we disengage weâll deny ourselves a key source of intel, intel we badly need to keep flowing if weâre ever going to unweave Pochven.
Admittedly, itâs hard for me to disentangle personal desires from whatâs correct, here. The tests the Triglavians set before me are more meaningful than the massacres an experienced combat pilot usually gets tasked with, which bloody, blunt, and rust me at the same time. Iâll admit I relish the challenge. I didnât get into this work to be an executioner.
But, also âŚ
All during our contacts with them, a consistent theme of Triglavian culture and conduct throughout has been a certain peculiar sense of fair play. It doesnât work the way weâd normally expect or want it to, but itâs there even so. I doubt they consider it a weakness, but I donât at all mind using it as one. Few of the other contestants are of a kind we want to see rewarded (probably just one, unless youâre not a fan of CONCORD).
So Iâll play their games, if it means a chance to learn, to grow, perhaps to catch up. To all appearances, they wonât disapprove even if we use that growth to challenge them. But considering how skewed their approval is from our perspective, their approvalâs not quite a reason not to do it.