Interview: Gaven Lok’ri
Thebeka - Arx Adolis
January 11th YC 121
Having spoken with a prominent figure swinging for the rebels and a hearing a voice not affiliated with either side, it’s now time ZANIE got in touch with a Capsuleer representing the Amarrian Empire.
Lord Admiral of the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris (PIE), Gaven Lok’ri was the person of interest ZANIE had in mind to get some insight of the Amarrian side of the affairs. The Lord Admiral is a fiercely devoted loyalist to the Amarrian Throne who’s been an essential component of the war effort for Amarrian Capsuleers in the system. Lord Lok’ri is also a seasoned veteran in the league of Capsuleers, who’s career stretches back to YC 106 and has served the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris for his entire career up to the present day.
Kalto Moxin was given access to the recently anchored Astrahus-class citadel, Arx Adolis, were he was granted an audience with the Lord Admiral.
We go now to a transcript of their conversation
[Kalto]
"Today I am aboard the Arx Adolis, a Astrahus-class citadel owned by the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris…Or PIE for short…Sitting across from me is the Lord Admiral of PIE, Gaven Lok’ri. Gaven, erm…Lord admiral eh… Apologies my lord, forgive my ignorance, but what would you prefer I address you as?"[Gaven]
“Lord Lok’ri is entirely acceptable. We have only just met, after all, so certainly do not know each-other well enough for informality.”[Kalto]
"Right, apologies then Lord Lok’ri…I like to start off by asking about who you are - a Capsuleer devoted to the Amarr Empire, obviously. But what can you tell me about yourself aside from that?"[Gaven]
“First, and foremost, I view myself as a lifelong servant of Amarr dedicated to the defense of the Amarr people. At this point, I have two major roles. The first of these is my role as Admiral of PIE and Co-Chapter Master of the Excubitoris Chapter of the Sacred Throne Order. I am quite proud of the work we have done to defend Amarr over the last 15 years. Second, I am a Holder with an estate and family on Oris. In this capacity, I am a vassal of the Emperor Family, with all the rights and obligations that come with the role.”[Kalto]
"Well…I have to admit that you’re the most prestigious figure I’ve ever spoke with in my career, can’t say I’ve met someone with a resume like that before…But, flattery aside I do want to talk about your service with your alliance and how I find it impressive that you’re one of the early generation of independent Capsuleers and you’ve remained a part of PIE’s roster for your entire career up to this point…Having remained at the side of the Empire for so many years I’m willing to bet you’ve seen it all by now. Every blight that has had a negative effect on the Empire today is just a new version of a previous issue."[Gaven]
“Certainly. And there is a value to having "seen it all," as you say. With enough history and experience very little that happens is surprising. One example of this is that I believe I was the first to point out the similarity of the initial two terrorist attacks against Rens and against my wife’s estate on Oris with the Blood Raider attack on Mabnen in YC107, a parallel that is much more obvious now that these more recent attacks have spread to such an incredible scale. But being unsurprised by new threats is unfortunately not enough to contain them. The last decade has seen relentless attacks on the Faith and on the Amarr People, and I will openly admit that these are troubling times. Amarr is strong and will survive them, but all of the Faithful have a great deal of work to do if we are going to ever succeed in defeating the enemies outside of Amarr and controlling the enemies within it. The Excubitoris Chapter of the Sacred Throne Order is but a small force when measured against the enormity of the threats that Amarr faces, though fortunately we are not alone in that task, by any means.”[Kalto]
"Mabnen though…I think I learned about that before I got into journalism. Blood raiders released Insorum into the atmosphere of Mabnen I, curing one of the largest slave populations in the Empire of their Vitoc dependency and giving them a chance to revolt…Reports were a little nightmarish I might add, but that became the start of a - no pun intended - bloodier conflict with the Blood Raiders as the Empire declared war on the cult and focused all their military efforts on eradicating their presence in The Bleak Lands. Even making the historic decision to officially collaborate with Independent Capsuleers to get the job done. The Amarr succeeded and refugees of the cult traded a large amount of assets to Band Of Brothers for a constellation in Delve…We’re talking about the same series of events, right?"[Gaven]
“Yes. What your narrative here misses is that the Blooders didn’t just release Insorum in YC107. They released something that caused a population to go crazy over night. Insorum was part of the cocktail, but a Vitoxin cure alone would not have caused planetary revolt. The more recent deathglow+Insorum cocktail that has been used in the attacks of the last six months is clearly developed from the same premise. The main difference is the larger number of attacks this time around and the rather peculiar targeting priorities.”[Kalto]
"Could you elaborate further on these peculiar targeting priorities you speak of?"[Gaven]
“The first two minor attacks were against Rens and Oris. Those were clearly personally targeted attacks aimed at my family and Samira Kernher’s family. Those attacks both immediately followed an exchange in which Sa-Baron Chakaid threatened both Samira and myself with execution. The first planetary scale attack seems to have been aimed at Queen Zidarez of Khanid, who is known as a force for rooting out corruption among the Khanid. The most recent attack hit several planets, but notably one of them was the former home of Samira Kernher, echoing the first attack.”[Kalto]
"You mentioned someone I wanted to ask you about, the Sa-Baron of Zirsem V and a rather controversial figure that first appeared on the Intergalactic Summit around the time of these strikes against your family, was highly relevant at the Kahah III rebellion, and seemingly has been a minor voice in the most recent outbreak of revolts. This man appears, and all these events follow. You’re a man who takes things seriously, I can see that, you don’t have the patience to talk conspiracy theories with a media rep of all people. But at very least, I want you to humor me for a moment Lord Lok’ri. Is this man’s sudden appearance in the Capsuleer community just a coincidence? Or do you have any suspicions about the Sa-Baron’s motives? Or to just ask you a less shady question, what does the name Alar Chakaid mean to you?"[Gaven]
“Chakaid’s appearance is not sudden. He has been the active voice for Khanid since the Succession Trials several years back. In threads concerning those trials, he publicly and aggressively defended the selection of the open Blood Raider supporter Edeity as one of the Khanid potential champions. In the threads discussing that travesty of an heir selection, more than two years ago, Chakaid’s primary antagonists were Samira Kernher and myself. At the time I accused Chakaid of either being woefully incompetent or being a Blood Raider sympathizer himself, as one of the two was required for Edeity to have been selected. There is not sufficient evidence to link him personally to the terrorist attacks, but it is quite clear that they have focused on people Chakaid has long standing disagreements with in a way that cannot be random. It is certainly possible that someone wants it to seem like he is responsible. He is, at best, malicious, mendacious, and incompetent. His active attempts to make these terrorism induced uprisings into a political attack on House Ardishapur and on Amarr of Matari descent are a clear attack on the stability of Amarr.”[Kalto]
"A previous interview I had the pleasure of having with the Capsuleer Elsebeth Rhiannon suggested that Alar is trying to weed out Amarrian influences in Khanid courts. Not to mention how Federal news outlets are suggesting the Amarr need to "reel in their vassal state"…What do you say to that? Again, you’re not someone to dabble in conspiracy theories, I get that - but is this all some publicity stunt work. Or would you say that he is indeed trying to stick it to the Empire in favor of the interests of the Kingdom?"[Gaven]
“I would consider him more likely to be working against both Kingdom and Empire and in his own interests than to be directly working for either.”[Kalto]
"Against the Kingdom? You’re implying he’s going rogue or is he simply manipulating current events for some gain?"[Gaven]
“Well, let us look at his actions. 1. He actively recruited a known Blood Raider into the Holy Succession Trials. 2. Attacks linked to Blood Raiders happened to target his personal enemies. 3. He landed on Kahah and immediately starts bragging about the amount of carnage his paramilitary organization was causing, leading to the current state of tension between the Empire and Republic. 4. He releases a series of statements that blame the Ammatar and Ardishapur for attacks that there is no evidence whatsoever linking them to. So he has effectively created a internal political crisis in the Empire between Khanid and Ardishapur and an external crisis between Amarr and the Minmatar and Gallente. At the same time he has made the Khanid military look incompetent and brutal by his bragging about casualties at Kahah. None of this seems to be designed to serve Khanid well.”[Kalto]
“I feel like this is a good segways into another topic I wanted to bring up. Armast Drakar, now I’m not behind the on the news behind this figure in particular - the man is an official heretic in the eyes of the Empire - but what I’m talking about is what got him this label in the first place. Hailing from the Mandate this Capsuleer came out condemning the Kahah III incident up to the point where he is piloting a freighter loaded with invasion assets with a fleet of Ushra’khan ships at his side…After the smoke clears of a botched operation he becomes a voice for independence, calling for other Ammatar to defect. Now I’m not here to ask if you support the man’s notion - I imagine you think it’s incredibly foolhardy already. What I want to know is if you think the negative sentiment this has left on people of the Mandate will become anything larger. Armast being declared a heretic undoubtedly dealt a blow to his rhetoric, but before that official decree you could see some - albeit small time- community figures in Mandate find merit in Armast call to action…What do you think?"[Gaven]
“Armast could not have played more effectively into Chakaid’s hands if he was doing it on purpose. That said, between the formal decision to declare him a heretic and his defeat by PIE and LUMEN in Thebeka, I do not think he will have a lasting effect.”[Kalto]
“Speaking of LUMEN, are you able to comment on them? I believe they first came to Thebeka to provide support planetside in a humanitarian capacity but eventually began aiding PIE in military options in space. Could you put to words their effect on the Thebeka situation?"[Gaven]
“LUMEN have done a really impressive job rising to the occasion to defend the Empire from the groups that threaten our stability. I am proud to have fought beside them and am quite impressed by their efforts.”[Kalto]
"Excellent, now you’re busy man and we’ve exchanged plenty of words already. So I’m gonna ask one final question before we wrap this up. In my conversation with Elsebeth we had a moment were we discussed the potential for these revolts to escalate into something more meaningful and have a larger impact on New Eden…However when I look at the Amarrian side of this conflict I can’t help but feel the Empire just wants this clamped down on and controlled for business to carry on as usual. Would you say that’s the best outcome from everything? Not just Thebeka and the other rebellions, but Kahah III also for that matter. Should something change in from these series of events?"
[Gaven]
“The Blood Raiders behind the attacks need to be found and eliminated and the foreign and domestic elements who have encouraged warfare on Amarr worlds need to be exposed and removed as threats. And since you mentioned her, people like Elsebeth need to start respecting the treaties signed between our nations rather than openly flaunting international law through acts of war committed on Amarr soil. Electus Matari may have the legal right to be in Amarr space, just as PIE has the legal right to declare war and remove them from that space, but they certainly do not have the legal right to land soldiers and weapons on an Amarr world and to abduct Imperial subjects. It is far past time for order to be restored and for people to get back to their lives of service to God and Amarr.”
[Kalto]
“I’ll leave it at that, as I said that was the final question…Though I suppose this counts as a question - Do you have any final remarks Lord Lok’ri? At the end of these interviews we wanna give guests a chance to just get one last remark in before we concludes these talks. You can talkabout something you we wish we brought up or you can put out a message to anyone reading this once our conversation goes live…The floor is yours my lord."[Gaven]
“I believe we have covered most of the issues. On behalf of the Excubitoris Chapter, I would like to thank the many loyal Amarr who have stepped up to help in these troubling times. May God be with us all.”[Kalto]
“Alright - Lord Lok’ri it was an honor to speak with you as well as meet you in person, and I wish you luck out there."