[Event] "Dancing with LUMEN" - Heideran VII Memorial Ball & Fund Raiser Date Auction

[Lunarisse_Aspenstar]

From this point forward no anonymous bids. Bids already made anonymously will be respected.

Also the List has been updated!

[Lithara]

This is a good thing.

[Aurora_Amadi]

@Samira_Kernher

@Lunarisse_Aspenstar

I’ll refer to the OP. However, At this point, given that isk has far exceeded projections, 20% any proceeds are being set aside and held until the next Plex for Good.

Plex for Good would be the only part of it that is an actual charity, and appreciated. The rest is fundraising for-profit as it is going towards the development of a capsuleer market selling excludable goods, and so shouldn’t be called a charity.

@Samira_Kernher

So what’s the actual charity here? Seems more like a fundraising auction than a charity.

I’m in agreement with this sentiment. Admittedly, I initially placed a bid (of which became public information despite my request for it to remain anonymous) for largely separate reasons, but among them was the initial claim of charity. Yet, now that verbiage has shifted, and the event title edited to accommodate this new model. With the amount of ISK being generated from this event, I cannot help but wonder what guarantees are in place to support capsuleers as a whole, per the claim. The volume of inventory this amount of ISK would purchase to stock the freeport - which no doubt will be sold at a profit - leads to a positive feedback loop with LUMEN as the benefactor. It would be a noble goal if there were some way to guarantee the region’s defense purely on increased market availability alone.

@Lyra_North-Onren

@Melisma_Ramijozana

Somewhere around the second or third billion-ISK-level bid, this stopped being a festive fundraising event and became an unabashed cash grab from LUMEN’s usual phat stacks. Just take a look at the bid list. No surprises there. No diversity of viewpoints, either.

I think the main reason for that is that other Amarr are usually going to generally be the most interested in both ‘dating’ one of us for the night and helping us monetarily. People with other loyalties on average are going to be less willing to essentially donate money.

@Melisma_Ramijozana

Except for the anonymous donors, of course, merely on the basis that none of us casual viewers have any way of knowing who they are. Are these donors–or, perhaps, just one donor–gaming the system? Are they trying to bump up bids so that the end total is much higher than it might be otherwise? Are they trying to drown out bids from less affluent individuals, who would also be much more likely to hold views opposite to LUMEN’s?

Honestly I think this is a valid criticism of allowing anonymous donors. The problem is that now that we already have we can’t turn around and tell the people who have bid with the condition of anonymity that they can’t actually have it. I would however, agree that if there was ever a similar event held again, that we probably shouldn’t allow anonymous donations.

@Melisma_Ramijozana

And it lends greater weight to Samira’s and Arrendis’s concerns.

Their valid concerns were responded to and the word ‘charity’ was replaced with ‘fundraiser.’ Another change that I agree with.

@Melisma_Ramijozana

To that end, since you are claiming that this monstrous amount of ISK is supposed to go toward revitalizing the Mandate, I request that LUMEN release a full, transparent financial statement indicating the ultimate dispersal of the funds raised from this “fundraiser.”

Fuel for the Fortizar. All of it (not including what goes to Plex for Good of course). Its running cost is just over 900m a month and it’s somewhat painful for us to keep fueled if I’m being honest.

Less willing to donate money is… quite a truth, given that the perception of the ball has drastically changed since its inception. The ‘Revitalization Project’ has now become an effort to fund your own ambitions at the expense of your donors, even more so with the consideration that the utility and operational cost of said Fortizor is, as you say, ‘painful’. Is there an expectation that the Fortizar will become self-sufficient after the donations are made or need we be worried that it will collapse without? Forgive my considerations, Miss Lyra, but as a representative for ICRS, we would be much more willing to part with our ISK - even without the expectation of a romantic ballroom dance - if there were some assurances in place; at the very least an apology for misplaced expectations of charity.

Fervlasud.

[Melisma_Ramijozana]

@Aria_Jenneth

Bye?

My plan for this ball was that Shorai and I would have bid on you and one other person on the bid list, and then had the two of you spend the ball together.

But yeah, bye.

Not a difficult goodbye from you at all, really, considering how much ■■■■ I’ve had to take thanks to my “friendship” with you and the rest of your alliance.

[Arrendis]

@Aurora_Amadi

Is there an expectation that the Fortizar will become self-sufficient after the donations are made or need we be worried that it will collapse without?

There should not be.

A trade hub—which is what the goal is for the Tanoo Fortizar—doesn’t just happen. GSF importers and logisticians invested a few trillion ISK in properly seeding the 1DQ1-2 market when we moved our staging from D-W. Prior to that, a similar effort had to be undertaken when the D-W Fortizar was anchored, serving as our original trade hub.

Last month, June YC 121, the total ISK generation in Derelik was 1.157T ISK. 1,157T isn’t a lot of activity to support a market hub with. Metropolis, where Hek is, did 2.97T. Heimatar, where Rens is located, 3.173T. Domain did 6.5T.

You’re not going to build a new hub privately and see a return on that investment in a short period of time. It’s just not going to happen, unless you’ve got… ridiculous numbers of trade moving through it.

[Lunarisse_Aspenstar]

Correct. We understand we have to take the long view and the outcome is not a certain thing.

[Aria_Jenneth]

@Melisma_Ramijozana

My plan for this ball was that Shorai and I would have bid on you and one other person on the bid list, and then had the two of you spend the ball together.

But yeah, bye.

What a sweet idea. I can see why it makes you sad.

[Diana_Kim]

May I please inquire:
Who * IS * Contessa della Solfete?

[Anna_Stjornauga]

An Amarr Holder who, by reputation, probably thinks you’d make a very lovely plaything once collared.

[Diana_Kim]

I guess it’s good I am not for sale and betting, right?

[Anna_Stjornauga]

Why would that stop her? She’s Amarr.

[Elsebeth_Rhiannon]

Just for the record:

I hold LUMEN in reasonably high regard. They are, most of them and especially their leadership, on an individual level, honest, well-meaning, and reasonable people. As an outfit, they are well-organized, intelligent, and capable, easily able to punch above their weight in numbers in both combat and industry.

One also has to respect them for their loyalty to their nation and their unyielding support for Amarrian values and ideals. Lunarisse Aspenstar is one of those who realize what actual nightmare it is to navigate the jungle of tradition meeting capsuleer society, and she certainly does it better than, say, myself.

When some clan people and those born-in-darkness object to Melisma Ramijozana’s close relations with LUMEN, as far as I understand, it is not because they think LUMEN are not nice, that they suck, or that they lack honor. Many object because the exact opposite: the Amarr involved are perfectly pleasant, competent, and honorable. And Amarrian.

The tragedy of this war is not in a hatred between individuals. It is in total incompatibility of cultures.

And as such, this fund-raiser party should not change the situation all that much. The association is there no matter how “nice” the Amarrians appear about it.

EDITed to add: but trust me, I get it about appearances. There was a time I would not have said this, because I am going to be quoted out of context.

[Contessa_della_Solfete]

@Anna_Stjornauga

An Amarr Holder who, by reputation, probably thinks you’d make a very lovely plaything once collared.

Diana Kim a plaything? Maybe.
You, darling? Definitely. We’ll have to do something about that haircut, though.

Of course, the only downside to Reclaiming the State is that my Caldari will no longer be collectors’ pieces.

[Samira_Kernher]

@Arrendis

Honestly? She’s been supportive. She’s put her reputation on the line for them. I’d say they owe her at least the basic amount of consideration for ‘hey, if we do X this way, is it gonna totally screw over our friends?’ that comes with, you know, being her friend.

If that’s what they feel they are.

If this is about how it makes her look, then she really should have picked a more reputable group to begin with.

[Sky_Seolec]

This is a weird request, but…

Would Ms @Maria_Daphiti be willing to exchange my judge’s price in the Writing Contest of YC121 to using her connections to secure me a personal (or personal +1) invitation of this event? I am about to take up an employment contract that will make arranging for the original prize extremely difficult and inconvenient for us both, but would like to take the chance to witness the culture first hand.

Sky Seolec (Sb.), PhD
Floseswin Circle of Clone Psychology
Republic University, Floseswin, Metropolis

[Lunarisse_Aspenstar]

Increasing Plex for Good percentage to 25%

Also here is updated Bid List.

[Lithara]

Man, if people were complaining about the money being thrown around before. . . .

For that much ISK, you better lay that dude, Lunarisse.

[Valerie_Valate]

I have literally never heard of this Contessa della Solfete, but they sound like the kind of low Holder or untitled nobility that seems to gravitate to capsuleering to improve their social standing.
You can tell, by the evident absence of tact that would indicate having attended one of the good finishing schools in the Empire. Jokes such as saying that their Caldari slaves wouldn’t be collectors pieces should the State be Reclaimed are the kind of thing that betrays this lack of proper schooling.
As such, those low Holders inevitably end up losing their title due to an inability to understand the subtleties of keeping their mouth shut.

Really makes you wonder how such finishing schools remain in operation.

[Elsebeth_Rhiannon]

Franco, what the actual ■■■■?

[Lasairiona_Raske]

If it’s any interest, the school is still running and the families of the pupils live with them on the campus. It’s been a remarkable project.