2021.11.23
LAMADENT III, SINQ LIASON
Brandishing a menacing-looking rifle in the air, standing on the steps of his now-closed and barricaded church, Reverend Balash Kavad of the Amarrian Orthodox Church, Sedevacantist proclaimed, “All the lawyers and judges who think they can banish sedevacantism from this land need to learn a new phrase: Prototype Nuclear Small Arms.” Adjusting his clothing to reveal a wire connected from his rifle to his chest, Fr. Kavad continued, “And those filthy Minmatar subhumans who think they have won any kind of victory over us need to learn another phrase: Fail Deadly.” Following this performance, Fr. Kavad retired inside his church while his social media accounts posted what appeared to be a capsuleer user interface element indicating possession of 141 units of Prototype Nuclear Small Arms in the Federation Customs station near Lamadent I:
Social media sleuths quickly determined that the 15 jumps indicated in the image marks the distance between the Gallente system of Lamadent and the home of de facto sedevacantist leader and capsuleer Nauplius in the Amarr system of Mehatoor, suggesting that the image originated in Nauplius’s own computers. Pilot Nauplius has frequently boasted of his possession of Prototype Nuclear Small Arms and has threatened to deploy the devices, which originate in rare Angel Cartel manufacturing facilities in deep space and can command multi-million ISK prices on the capsuleer market.
For its part, the Amarrian Orthodox Church, Sedevacantist through its spokesperson Calyce Io claimed to have dissolved its Aeman Constellation branch in response to what it called “unjust lawsuits” and signed over ownership of its lavish church in the impoverished township of Roussillon to Fr. Kavad in his capacity as a private citizen. Although in the process of evacuating Aeman’s sedevacantists to the Jin-Mei constellation of Ysiette, the Sedevacantist Church said that Fr. Kavad had voluntarily stayed behind to continue performing the Imperial Rite in Roussillon in perpetuity, that being his right and duty as an ordained priest. Questioned regarding Prototype Nuclear Small Arms in particular, Ms. Io claimed that Fr. Kavad possessed rights of self-defense and his church having been officially dissolved, was no longer breaking Federation law. Her voice taking on a taunting tone, Ms. Io concluded by saying, “Show me where it is written that Prototype Nuclear Small Arms explicitly are illegal in Lamadent.”
Authorities have given a muddled reaction to Fr. Kavad’s threats. Having established a perimeter around the Roussillon Church, they seemed reluctant to take additional steps, perhaps unconvinced as to whether the Reverend had really smuggled in Prototype Nuclear Small Arms (or just a prop) and what sort of evacuations would be necessary had he gotten hold of the obscure weapons. A Geiger counter quickly rushed in from the capital yielded slightly elevated readings surrounding the church, however, given Roussillon’s extensive history of industrial pollution such readings must be inconclusive. Given the Sedevacantist Church’s apocalyptic theology, it is believed that the church building may house substantial survival preparations, enough for Fr. Kavad and perhaps a small number of additional stay-behind sedevacantists to hold out for years. At this writing, authorities were beginning to evacuate tenements across from the church (much to the groaning of their desperately impoverished residents) while attempts to calculate the yield and capabilities of Prototype Nuclear Small Arms continued.