My thanks to Ms. Lafleur for notifying me of this.
As someone that has been a resident of Solitude, on and off for many years, I’d have to say that a gate between the Federation proper and Solitude is something that is long overdue. I’ve come to learn, however, that the idea isn’t really popular at all with the local capsuleers that have taken the region’s name to heart.
Solitude is about as close to being a frontier region you can be in civilized space. It’s the kind of region that breeds people who are willing to brave the difficulties that present themselves there in exchange for the often greater rewards in doing so. The culture of the baseliners here is much the same, with the way in which they operate very Gallente, yet altogether different from anything I’ve seen elsewhere in the Federation.
Since President Aguard’s mandate to build this gate seems to have lots of support on the other side of the Federation, and since I, myself, would not at all be bothered by an extra connection there, I would have to side with Mr. Menkalinan’s choice of the Kenninck system as an ideal link to Solitude, which, in many ways, may stand to benefit that particular area of Placid even more.
I do not currently spend time in Placid, and when I did, it was certainly not in the Alselbosier and Ganoure districts. I’d reckon that, apart from perhaps the Mallugier district, that the southwest of Placid is probably the least travelled area by capsuleer traffic. Given the low security of the area, combined with the low capsuleer traffic, I can only imagine that many aspects of society there have given themselves to thievery and piracy, with many such brigands patrolling the district and sullying what ought to be an exemplary example of what the Federation can be when it’s at its best.
Through my own travels through low-traffic and low-security systems in Aridia, I can attest to capsuleer traffic making a difference. Concentrations of Blood Raider cells were, in my experience, much more concentrated in remote areas like Maal and Selonat, in contrast to places like Anama which, with the exception of a semi-recent flare up between Blooders and Serpentis, was far safer for travel.
The Alselbosier-Ganoure circuit of systems currently just serves as a back-way in to the Syndicate for people who do not wish to traverse systems like MHC-R3 to enter the region. Given that MHC is not nearly as deadly a system as it could be, at least in my experience, it leads the neglected southwest of Placid to be rather devoid of travel, as there is no real reason to go there.
Distance would be another factor to consider, which is another reason as to why I think Kenninck would be an ideal system for this gate. It is the closest Federation system to Solitude, and would likely present the least amount of difficulties in establishing a link there.
Finally, Ganoure is garrisoned by the Federation Navy, which on its own is not a unique factor, but combined with all of the other factors that make the constellation a desirable location for the gate, makes Kenninck stand out as the best option.
Deciding just where in Solitude a gate would work the best at is something that I’ll leave to folks who are more well-equipped to study that than I am, but just based off of potentially securing any needed funding for this gate, I would submit the system of Babirmoult as one that would prove ideal. It is an important system in the region for Material Acquisition, which is by far the largest corporate juggernaut in the region, between many of its high ranking staff being stationed in the system, and the abundance of mineral wealth across its twenty-five asteroid belts meaning that there is likely enough infrastructure in the system to support such a link, despite its low security status.
Furthermore, it is a comparable distance between the large patch of high-security space in Solitude and its closest neighbor in contiguous high-sec in the Bherdasopt system. The trek from Genesis to high-sec Solitude is fifteen jumps. Comparably, the journey from Stacmon to Solitude, providing that the Federation would use a Kenninck-Babirmoult gate, would be fourteen jumps, which I think would help calm the fears of capsuleers living in the region in their bid to preserve the unique atmosphere present there.
While I respect claims that a direct high-sec connection would be the safe option, I would also like to carry the considerations of all people in Solitude, baseliners included, in the conversation. Solitude is a region settled by a very hardy group of people. The earliest settlers there had to fend off pirate attacks for such a long time until the Federation Navy saw fit to quell the rampant piracy and welcome the people of Solitude in to the Federation with open arms. While not everyone in Solitude dedicates themselves for some kind of service in the Navy, the people here are always ready to defend what is theirs, and nowhere did I see this displayed more than in the noble efforts of Solitude’s citizenry to defend the systems of Harner, Pochelympe, Pertnineere and Elore from Triglavian assault the previous year, I have seen firsthand the selflessness and steadfastness that the people of Solitude carry when it comes to defending themselves, and I don’t think that they would be at all bothered by their connection to the Federation being through low-sec Placid.
Baseliners who have need to access the region could always do so prior with a ship that can cyno here. And as for capsuleers seeking easy access to the region, a topic I’ve seen baseliners here discuss, well, taking their words for it, it’s something that those wanting to come here should “nut up” for, traversing the entirety of the low-sec route is something that I feel people here believe is the bare minimum sign that those come here can stand a chance against the unique experience that comes with living in Solitude.
Anyways, those are my thoughts. I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Menkalinan’s suggestion of the Kenninck system being used as a link to Solitude, and believe that Babirmoult would prove an optimal destination, should Quafe see fit to help pay for the establishment of a link to the region.
P.S. I would also welcome, should he choose to share them given that I believe he has more experience with the area than I do, Mr. Menkalinan’s thoughts on how such a gate would stand to benefit the Ganoure district in more detail. I believe, given the little I know about it, that it certainly could, and that it has been, for quite some time, an under-utilized My experience in combatting the Serpentis in the area is minimal compared to the work I’ve done in Solitude, though.