First reports are coming in from Turnur aftermath, and we are seeing
a scorched star and a scorched planet
vastly increased numbers of wormholes, most connections to w-space
weird space-time effects affecting scans and sensors
These changes have already lead to people in system dubbing Turnur “LS Thera” or “Thera Lite”.
This suggests a way forward: let Sisters of EVE take control over the affected systems. With even CONCORD and Edencom’s neutrality compromised or at least in question, the Sisters still maintain good relations with every Empire. They have both the humanitarian and the scientific experience in working and leading operaeions in similar conditions. They have demonstrated that they will not interfere with independent capsuleer operations or take sides in them.
I will never understand how people trust the SSoE. Throughout the years, they’ve had their fingers into damn near everything, is run by the shadiest sods the cluster can provide, somehow manages to establish some of the more impossible infrastructure and connections anyone else would be hard pressed to even conceive of and it’s all done with an iceberg’s worth of hush, cloak and mystery underneath that little peak of humanitarianism floating above water.
I can’t argue against the logic in this proposal at all, but damn if it doesn’t send chills down my ports to just keep handing this organization such power, authority and presence when in reality we barely know them more than we do the SoCT or Jove, once you start scraping at the humanitarian surface.
It’s almost tempting to say that it’s better to have it in the hands of an enemy I know than in the claws of a beast I can barely see the outline of in the shadows.
New Eden needs to embrace healthy paranoia a tad more. Historically, it has tended to turn out that these organizations really are out to get you.
Void, no. No no no. We have absolutely no indication that the SSoE has any experience with this particular threat, and getting them spun up and installed in place takes time we do not have.
Freeze the damned borders. Suspend the idiotic CEWMPA crap until these Imperial WMDs are dealt with. CONCORD needs to make sure every single of iota of research the Empire has acquired through their illegal deployment of these weapons1 is immediately distributed to all of the other signatories.
But the Sisters? That is a bad choice. The Sisters do not share their technology, including their research tools. Which means they’ll need to get their own bloody facilities in place in the system before they can begin to contribute whatsoever. Spinning up a whole new scientific infrastructure in these systems will only slow down the work that is already being desperately attempted. Worse, before you can even begin to get that scientific infrastructure deployed, you need to spin up the legal framework to allow it, and that is just asking for weeks of bickering over the small details.
1. And they are weapons. Make no mistake. Even if the technology wasn’t intended to be weapons, they have now been weaponized. Statements by Omir’s favorite Vektor of infection make that clear: AmarrMil considers these things weapons, and weapons to be used.
Oh really? When defending Smokey in Pochven, it seemed that the prevailing consensus among your lot was that Edencom, or anyone contending to represent its interests, was bathed in righteous immunity from reproach. What, pray tell, has turnured the tables?
Ah yes, I’m sure you would very much appreciate if the custodians of Turnur were not hostile to you an your ilk. Fortunately, while the stellar event in Turnur does appear to have altered the fabric of spacetime in the system, not even this event was sufficient to wrest Turnur from our grip. Eugidi, and Turnur by extension is ours. Until I am directly ordered by Sirdan xer Qosh to relinquish it, it’s status will remain unchanged. While some will debate whether this is even possible, I think you will find him even less interested in your feeble proposal than I am.
Oh, I would be entirely fine with the free Tribes taking control of the entire current warzone, with the agreement that that’s how it’s going to be from now on forever.
I just have limited faith in the realistic chances of that proposal to go through.
Perhaps that will be the next matari strategy, proposals and petitions that the warzone be transferred to them. It is certainly more plausible than you doing so through force.
I have deep personal reservations with regard to ceding anything to The Sisters.
It is a worthy effort but there is no accord to be found in this matter.
Those that can, do, those that can’t, propagandise.
Ah yes, apologies for not submitting this propaganda for your approval sooner. We all know from the logs of your “negotiations” with capsulers loyal to the triflavians that you are the supreme master of what narratives may or may not exist. Again, my sincerest apologies for encroaching upon your god-given supreme authority in this matter.
I have to wonder who could or should be trusted with these technologies. With one transmuter off the board that leaves two in Republic hands if I’m not mistaken. So what happens if the tribes keep one for themselves and pass the third on? Are the Sisters any less trustworthy than Upwell, EDENCOM, or even CONCORD? As you say, even the Society of Conscious Thought keeps its secrets close to its chest.
Any or all of these organizations would be more than happy to promise neutrality and get access to what could be one of the greatest technological breakthroughs in history: Stellaforming. Its first application was catastrophically destructive and it’s clearly possible to weaponize these installations, but imagine if we could slow degradation of stars or even alter them to a more life-friendly state.
But here’s the trillion ISK question: Could we use the knowledge generated by these devices to prevent another Seyllin? Who could discover such a thing if not organizations like the Sisters and the SoCT? Who could be trusted to share that knowledge? I may be biased, but I’d choose a humanitarian organization that’s proven itself over a profit-driven corporation. As Capsuleers we all know that nobody gets anything done without getting some dirt and blood on their hands. Some people just wash up a little more than others.
I don’t trust the Sisters as far as I can throw them. The Federation has already proven genocidal, no matter how much they say they regret it. The Republic is bent on the bloodiest revenge, and the Empire is single minded in it’s want to conquer almost everyone and kill the rest. The State, as loyal as I still am to it, would end up using these things to ensure the Federation could never threaten it again… with likewise bloody results.
Who does that leave? The Guristas? Unrepentant gangsters and slavers, they’d just use it to become an even bigger threat than they are now. The Angels? I don’t want to dishonor my sometimes associates, but probably not the best people to give this sort of thing to. Blooders? Sandha? EoM? Or how about the most insideous gang of them all, CONCORD?
No, I think this stuff should go to an organization that doesn’t have any designs on absolute control or getting revenge or ending all mankind. An organization that already is at the forefront of technological research in a variety of fields.
I … feel like we’re getting more than a little ahead of ourselves, pilots. Or maybe behind.
The technology’s out. Even an absolute ban will eventually just make it a tool of the outer powers once someone steals the necessary technical data, and with at least two rival powers in possession that’s not really a matter of “if.” The question isn’t whether it’ll be used, it’s how, by whom, and under what conditions.
And what happens once it appears in the hands of someone who really mustn’t have it. Because it will.
Once it’s in the hands of someone who really mustn’t have it, we’ll see it deployed in systems populated by people those someones hate, probably under some nonsense claim of research. Then there will be a massive stellar event that cooks a planet, and ‘someone’ will have a skeleton crew of surplus technicians die in the blaze… maybe issue vague and unconvincing statements of concern and sorrow at the fact that tragedy has occurred. But of course, there’ll be no restitution offered, no humble apologies for causing the loss of life. Heck, they won’t even slap down underlings who crow about the catastrophe and try to act like they had a personal hand in ensuring it happened.
Good grief, why? 'Oh, it shouldn’t go to the Sisters of EVE… but if anyone should have it, it’s this group that’s still eager to cement its place in the corporate pecking order and is run by a Sister of EVE.
Any company that gets called a ‘disruptor’ and doesn’t take issue with that is as much about ego as anything else, and you do not want to give this crap to people hung up on their egos.