Lore Resources List
First of all, where can you learn to know more about the universe of EVE? There are several places, and I will list all I know of here with my opinions on them to start things off;
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Fiction Portal and Backstory section. Fiction Portal is a modernized and expanded version of the Backstory section, which originally housed all the game’s lore. Fiction Portal is an encyclopedia, much like the evelopedia portal that preceded it, giving overviews of one subject at a time. It is good for archive binging and fact checking, as it is the currently most up-to-date source of story information. In both sections you can find Chronicles and other stories that offer insights in to the day to day lives of the people of New Eden, and often you can find interesting trivia about people, places or groups.
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Backstage Lore Wiki, a backup copy of the previous incarnation of the Fiction Portal, which contains hundreds if not thousands of lore related articles and volumes and then volumes of text, mostly written by CCP or their ISD Volunteers. There is information here you are unlikely to find anywhere else, ranging from common technology to local fauna. Like the Fiction Portal, it is encyclopedic in nature - being originally a Wiki - and as such usable for fact checking and wiki binging. It is good to keep in mind tough that some of the information in this Wiki can be severely outdated, and few parts of it are player created (but marked as such when it is), so it doesn’t hurt to consult other players if something you found here is still valid. Likely it is valid, but anything pertaining to the game itself isn’t immune to change, and there is the ever present possibility of some retcons happening, or in a more positive note, more in-depth takes on the subjects in newer fiction source releases.
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Mark726’s EVE Lore Survival Guide, as the name implies is written like a book, and is in a way more entertaining read than those above, covering all the basics and then some. It uses mainly the former Evelopedia - now preserved in part as the above Backstage copy - as its sources as well as books from the EVE Universe. In my understanding it is a primer for new roleplayers, but it is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the universe of EVE.
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EVE: Source, The Frigates of EVE, and prose. (Links lead to Amazon, since CCP itself uses Amazon in their dev blogs when advertising their books). These are the offline sources, and I don’t yet own any of them, so I can’t say much about them besides that large portions of the prose books might be outdated, but Source and Frigates are the most recent and up-to-date lore sources for EVE by CCP themselves.
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An interactive timeline of the events in the history of the star cluster of New Eden - A very comprehensive list of what happened and when in the background story of EVE. Regularly updated by @darkezero.
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In-game news. Last but not least, the World News contain huge swathes of lore easily missed by many, not least notable of which is establishing set dates for certain events like Caldari State Workers Union Day or Liberation Day. They can often also contain information not found elsewhere, offering even more insight to the day-to-day affairs of the people living in New Eden.
Player compiled lore repositories, mostly on specific topics
Feel free to add your own favourite sources and specific lore compendiums below, I’ll add them to this post when/if possible.
Player compiled information dumps:
Lore Primers
- EVE Lore Primer from CrossingZebras - What it says on the tin.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to New Eden - Backstory of the main empires in IC perspective
Amarr lore compilations
- Praetorian Temple Library - Compendium of Amarr Lore
Caldari Lore compilations
Gallente / Intaki / Syndicate lore compilations
- Intaki Lore Archive - Same as above for Intaki.
Minmatar lore compilations
- So you want to roleplay… a Minmatar?
- Minmatar Lore Project - A huge collection of various news, in-game items and other resourses about Minmatar.
- Vherokior Tribe - collection of various and scattered lore about the Vherokior Tribe
Pirate lore compilations
Ancient / Unplayable races lore compilations
Miscellanous compilations
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ: Frequently Asked Question about EVE Lore.
Do note that I am not an infallible source of information, I’ve tried to fact check everything here, but if I’m wrong, people are free to and should correct me. I’m trying to answer more general questions, not ones tied to specific factions or such.
Q#1: Wow, that’s a lot of stuff, where do I even start?
A: Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to know about some faction, perhaps? How Stargates work? My advice is to think of something that has bugged you about EVE’s backstory, looking it up from the sources mentioned above, and then continue on from there. Easiest done in the Fiction Portal or Evelopedia - just keep clicking those links…
Q#2: How are Capsuleers “made?” How does one become a capsuleer?
A: Copied frome EVE: Source, this is a primer about capsuleer training for those who want to roleplay in EVE - this is how your character came to be whoever she or he is today. It’s quite a demanding process that can take up to a decade to achieve!
Thanks to Samira Kernher for suggesting this.
Q#3: How much is ISK worth for a normal person or on a planet?
A: That is a surprisingly difficult question. Despite it being quite central to us as players, most of the lore regarding it is very fragmented and not always internally consistent. Depending on who you ask and the context, ISK can be worth a lot, or next to nothing. According to the Stairway To Heaven -chronicle, planetary and space economies are largely separated, so on many planets, ISK would hold little to no value. In space however, ISK reigns as king. In the chronicle Khadrea it is compared to “Amamake credits” (apparently a systemwide currency), where millions of credits are worth a paltry few thousand ISK and chump change.
Generally, ISK (InterStellar Kredit) is regarded as an interstellar trade currency, and specifically one used almost entirely in space by capsuleers and large, interstellar scale corporations to represent sums that would be inconveniently big if expressed in other currencies. This is expressed in an old newspost:
“To put this in perspective, an average family living on a planet might, in the course of a lifetime, accrue savings of about 10,000 isk.”
Q#4: Do our ships have crews?
A: Yes. There are ship crew guidelines established by CCP. Note: Capsuleer piloted frigates have since been established to be flown by capsuleers only. The guideline also ignores various industrial ships, feel free to speculate on them below.
Q#5: I heard somewhere the Empires have these huge Titans, what are they? Why can’t we fly them?
A: These are called Iapetan Titans, note that it is written with a capital I, not L. They are named after Iapetus, a Titan in Greek Mythology, and they are fairly few in number because building one generally means cannibalizing an entire suitable moon for raw materials. They are huge enough to generate their own gravity and are not allowed near inhabited planets because their gravity can cause, among other things, tidal disruption. So, yeah. We can’t fly them because capsuleers are jerks who would disrupt tides just for laughs.
Exact numbers are military secrets, of course, but we do know that the Amarr have at least two and the Gallente, Caldari have at least one. Minmatar are also presumed to possess one, but it is not confirmed.
Q#6: Why aren’t there any aliens EVE?
A: Several species on planets are alien species, including but not limited to to the Slaver Hound, The Hanging Long-Limb, Fedo, Shiksi and Corovid to name a few. There just are no sentient aliens - that we know of - in EVE universe.
Q#7: Hey, I got this really cool idea about all this lore stuff, how can I tell CCP about it?
A: CCP has a volunteer system in place, one department - New Eden Correspondents - focuses mainly on lore. You can try applying there. Alternatively, you can just post your ideas on this forum section, and of course, the “Player Features & Ideas” subforum.
Q#8: This is all beyond cool, but I want to know who writes all this stuff for us?
A: Generally, various CCP Devs and members of the ISD. Pilot @Kolmogorow has compiled a handy list to answer this.
Feel free to add your own topics, favourite links and ask whatever you want, make corrections and so on, I’ll be here, updating stuff when I can.
