Sojourn: The Abyss

[Aria_Jenneth]

“Proving”

It’s funny: I didn’t think this was likely to really properly turn into a “Sojourn” thread, the way I’ve done them to date. “Sojourn” just means “a temporary stay.” And, one way or another, that’s exactly what an Abyss dive is. The way I’ve traditionally done these, though, is more like travel-writing. Now it looks like actually that’s just what I was doing here, too.

The Triglavians, it seems, probably really are testing us: putting us through a “proving” of our worthiness to receive their knowledge and favors (usually materials). Success means treasures and secrets. Failure means … death, apparently. That’s not 100% verified for the crews, maybe, but it’s pretty easy to assume. It’s definitely the case for the capsuleer.

Apparently they do this to each other, too, so-- yay! We’ve been taking part in an important part of Triglavian culture! … I guess that means they don’t see us as not-people or anything troublesome like that. They seem to have mixed feelings about the rogue drones (and those seem to almost definitely be cooperating with them voluntarily), unmixed and highly hostile feelings about the Drifters and “hivelinked” people (Sansha’s Nation? Maybe others, too?), and … well, I guess we really are being studied.

What happens if they decide we’re pretty nifty? Do we get invited to be allies? Treated as rivals? Does a Triglavian version of the old Cultural Deliverance Society come bursting out of the Abyss to teach us the truths and wisdom of higher dimensions and liberate us from our distressingly static forms and single timestream?

(“Tch. Gravimetric fusion is SO twenty thousand years ago! What? No, that’s not just THREE singularities we’re drawing power from; it’s twenty-seven-- three to the third! They’re networked across different spacetime clusters-- I believe you primitives know them as ‘universes,’ yes? No-- not nine different universes, you dolt, that would be impossible. Three different clusters of three adjacent-- look, it’s very simple. . . .”)

Well … however I look at it, it’s a full life I’m living, I guess?

[DrysonBennington]

Dark matter

“Dark Matter Fields”

Can someone with a stronger physics background please explain to me why dark matter in Abyssal Deadspace is not only visible to my camera drones but also messes with turret range and greatly increases everything’s velocity?

Anything with the word “matter” in that relates to physics has mass, otherwise it doesn’t exist, that is except for a dream that does have mass and emits light but does not create the weight of the world seen in the dream on our brains that would crush the brain.

Higgs boson

Everything that is matter will encounter a Higgs-Boson that adds mass to the particle.

Abyssal Space would have to be an interaction between the Higgs and fermions, for example, that the Triglavian have been able to control and master and the coupling sequence to create Abyssal Space based on the Triglavian’s bio-logical needs of survival.

The question is would the Triglavian’s be able to survive in W-Space or K-Space outside of their ships? Its obvious that the ships of both species, Triglavian’s and Capsuleer, are able to withstand the matter interactions that bind particles together regardless of being in A (Abyssal) or K (Known) Space. The Pod of the Capsuleer however is instantly crushed in A-Space. What happens to the Triglavian pod in A and K-Space?

Probably the opposite of what happens to a Capsuleer’s Pod.

[Arrendis]

@DrysonBennington

The question is would the Triglavian’s be able to survive in W-Space or K-Space outside of their ships? Its obvious that the ships of both species, Triglavian’s and Capsuleer, are able to withstand the matter interactions that bind particles together regardless of being in A (Abyssal) or K (Known) Space. The Pod of the Capsuleer however is instantly crushed in A-Space. What happens to the Triglavian pod in A and K-Space?

Probably the opposite of what happens to a Capsuleer’s Pod.

Based on what evidence?

[DrysonBennington]

Clarify.

[Arrendis]

Yes, exactly. Clarify, please:

What evidence do you have that:

1. Triglavians use capsules. Before you cite the blueprints we recover from data caches, keep in mind that:
   a. CONCORD recovered a Trig ship in K-space before we ever went Abyss-diving, and there was no mention of a capsule involved in any of the news reporting on it, and
   b. The blueprints we recover, like everything else in those caches cannot be intended for their internal use: they don’t show any interest in their caches, and they already have these blueprints. As Aria notes, it’s becoming increasingly obvious they’re leaving things in the caches for us, as a reward for completing the skinner box of their testing grounds.

2. Triglavian capsules, should they exist, or any other Triglavian technology would behave differently in J/K-space[1] than our own technology, considering:
   a. Rogue Drones and Drifters don’t seem to exhibit markedly different physical responses to conditions,
   b. Our own ships work just fine and interact with Abyssal space in the normal, predictable manner[2], and
   c. Triglavian reconstructions (ie: the crap we build from the blueprints they reward us with) seems to work just fine in J/K-space.

3. Why there’s any question that Triglavians would be able to survive in J/K-space? It’s space. Just because our ships blow up if we spend more than 20 minutes in their testing scenarios doesn’t speak to any fundamentally different nature to that space. It only indicates that something is ticking down from the moment we go in. Our pods, for example, survive just fine… until the 20-minute mark is reached, or something shoots them. As an example: my own pod loss in the Abyss. I got shot. It wasn’t the nature of A-space that got me, it was the fact that a pod is not exactly durable.

---

1. OMG, so using ‘J/K-space’ for the combined Anoikis/New Eden construct. It makes the horrible joke of existence so mind-bendingly obvious.
2. Our ships behave in the normal, predictable manner. We don’t go claiming J-space is fundamentally different despite the effects of a Wolf-Rayet. Similarly, for all we know, the differing effects of the different types of proving grounds are a result of Triglavian technology… including the 20-minutes-then-crunch part.

[DrysonBennington]

Jibberish.

[Maria_Daphiti]

Arrendis took the time to prepared a totally reasoned response with carefully thought out questions. I think yours is the “jibberish”. Why bother even posting questions (in really, it should have been its own thread!) if you’ll treat responders that way?

[Aria_Jenneth]

@Arrendis

1. OMG, so using ‘J/K-space’ for the combined Anoikis/New Eden construct. It makes the horrible joke of existence so mind-bendingly obvious.

Okay …

1. haha, but

If you get tired of feeling like this world is a horrible joke, maybe that’s something we can talk about some time? Just, you know, if you want.

[Arrendis]

Mostly for comedic effect there, Aria, don’t worry.

Still, you have to admit, as jokes go, this’d be a really bad one.

[Aria_Jenneth]

“Wildlife Photography: Raging Dark”

A few shots from earlier (time’s getting better!!):

A Triglavian tactical troika designation 81 “Vedmak” kindly participates in my proving. Is it weird if I think missile fire is fantastic for dramatic lighting?

An agent, probably, of “Ancient Enemy Azdaja,” known to us, probably, as the Drifters. This Ephilates unmanned (?) cruiser works freely with both Drifter and Sleeper forces in the Abyss. It’s interesting that you don’t seem to see Sleeper ships working directly with the Vigilant Tyrannos.

This one is illuminating my weak points, although thankfully not for a Karybdis.

The cloud in the background looks like it might help with picking out weak points, but actually what it does is potentially cause serious trouble. As far as I can tell it’s made up of microscopic filaments that interfere with shield reinforcement, making both ancillary and standard shield boosters extra resource-hungry. Unlike the blue luminous clouds, this one seems to be a pure hazard; I can’t think of a reason you’d want to fly into one. At best, if you’re armor or passive-tanked, it might be safe to ignore.

Maybe it’d make it easier to fight those fieldweaver drones? But those explode if you look at them funny anyway.

A bit of the (fairly forbidding) local geology. Again, I doubt I could fly out anywhere near this looming asteroid without the Void Dancer getting crushed down to the volume of a frigate. If I ever meet a Triglavian geologist I’m going to have a lot of questions.

You can probably guess who that is hogging all the attention.

A “grip” drone. Their behavior is a little strange; they act more like bombers or something than like most combat craft. If they get close, they hit AWFULLY hard in short bursts, but seem to have to wait a surprisingly long time before doing it again. If you pull range, they’ll kind of trail along behind you, but occasionally get aggressive and make attack runs. When one does that, you can expect to take a hard hit if it gets close, but it’s not too bad unless several do it at once.

They also have a remarkable knack for killing my drones. Like, just, outright-- if one switches fire to my TP drones, the whole flight will be destroyed instantly (which is a pity, because the darned grips have a tiny target profile for what are supposedly battlecruisers). Are these things smartbombers? It seems likely that it’s the same weapon they’re running up and giving me a hug with. They don’t seem to hit each other with it, though.

Sleeper cruisers, also helping in my proving. I have to assume the Triglavians are pressing the Sleepers and Drifters into service in the “provings” somehow rather than this being in any way a cooperative thing.

This luminous cloud is extraordinarily useful in situations where damage application’s become an issue, enough so that I immediately look for one any time there’s something little and fast I’m dealing with. They beautifully highlight Ephilates cruisers and Sleeper frigates so that missile volleys hit with extraordinary precision. They also do the same to me, but I usually don’t mind as much!

Triglavian tactical troika designation 3, “Damavik.” These can kind of start hurting, in numbers, but really the threat is that half the time a Damavik’s some kind of E-war platform-- and every single Damavik variant spider tanks. (Actually, so does every Triglavian ship generally.) I hatehatehatehate Ghosting Damaviks: they seem to disrupt my missile precision so that I have trouble hurting them (or any other Damavik), which makes the cross-repping completely maddening.

Proving cleared, homeward bound. Doesn’t that nebula in the background look familiar? I started from Amarr space near Tash-Murkon, but … is that Federal space?

I keep asking this and still don’t feel like I have an answer at all: what is the Abyss?

[Chan_aar]

@Aria_Jenneth

I hatehatehatehate Ghosting Damaviks:

Oh jeez yes, these little buggers were the source of my only loss in the Abyss they are infuriating and terrifing at the same time.

[Aria_Jenneth]

I’ve never actually lost to them, but I’ve had close calls. Ghosting Damviks and Lucid Escorts are pretty much THE reasons I carry an emergency dose of Crash.

Worst moment: when your overview is covered with little red triangles with little red boxes around them, the timer is ticking down steadily towards abrupt crunchy death, and you’re actually losing headway on the one little blasted frigate you’ve been hammering away at for the last thirty seconds.

[Aria_Jenneth]

“AAAAAAAAH! 2"

New personal worst:

Raging Dark, first chamber,

4 Starving Leshaks (battleship-scale energy neuts)
2 Tangling Leshaks (battleship-scale webifiers)
6 Fogcasters (rogue drone, frigate-scale weapon suppression)

Leshak encounters are puzzles-- they normally start with no armor on the Leshaks at all; you can down them in seconds if you can land the hits, but they all start cross-repping immediately. If you handle them well, they’re some of the fastest and easiest “proving” battles in the Abyss. If you handle them badly and they get their defenses up, you find yourself looking at multiple cross-repping battleships with good tracking, various E-war and utility capabilities, and ever-escalating damage output.

I mishandled this one badly. Someone on my crew must be a very good person, because I definitely didn’t deserve to make it out.

Try to close with Leshaks. Get hung up on Tangling trying to chase Starving. Take out Tangling. By this time Starving is out to 33 km and increasing rapidly-- each in a different direction, each with a healthy chunk of cross-repped armor. Attempt to pursue. Find missiles falling short due to Fogcasters. AB keeps switching off because of neuts. Starving Leshaks head straight for the far edges of the chamber-- opposite far edges.

I kind of panicked.

Lost lots of time on trying to chase after. Spent way too much time chasing them down and should have spent “down time” when I couldn’t hit them killing Fogcasters.

Note to self: “priority target” means the most important thing you can hit. Even if it’s a major problem, if you can’t hit it, you can’t hit it.

Total first-room costs: half my time, all my cap booster charges, and all my rewards for the proving as I ran for every gate. I made it out with 30 seconds to spare, and there’s no way I deserved to. I just got so lucky on the last two chambers, and finished each in less than half the time it took to do the first.

[Aria_Jenneth]

“Singularities”

Okay, so, while my nerves are steadying, here’s something else …

So, it’s a little obvious by now that the Triglavians are using caged naked singularities as power sources.

This is easy enough to ignore when it’s just a Damavik you’re looking at: I mean, a frigate’s still a machine the size of a small office building, but it’s fundamentally a fighter: little, zippy … kind of cute for something that weighs around a million kilograms even when it doesn’t have a hypercompressed ball of something too dense to maybe be properly called “matter” in its belly?

It’s a little harder with the Vedmak. And, a lot harder when you actually use the thing (I mean, have you seen what that sinister “flame”-wreathed black ball DOES when the disintegrator goes active??), but, it’s still kind of easy to forget, you know? When it’s sitting all sleek and pretty at dock and you can focus on how slightly-over-the-top but still super-pretty it looks with this nifty nanocoat program some … shadowy … unknown … party … is offering to us for doing Abyssal filaments while CONCORD’s enforcement mechanisms are offline … yeah! Pretty!

Only, I’ve now finished constructing my first Leshak. And pilots? … This is insane! There is a ball of compressed matter in my hangar that’s an appreciable percentage of the volume of my Cerberus and I don’t care how big an explosion a Leshak makes when it goes up, it’s not big enough! This thing decompressing into normal matter should be sterilizing solar systems!

… only, it doesn’t, and I might have an idea why. It’s also maybe why I have this thing in my hangar even though I don’t remember packing a gas giant into the Carthum factory’s material inputs last night.

What if building the singularity-based power system doesn’t involve something as tricky as, well, building a singularity? What if it’s more about acquiring it from somewhere else-- channeling it through and trapping it? Say, drawing material through a wormhole from the center of a black hole, and closing the channel behind-- but not completely? Sort of squeezing it closed, but letting it open again as soon as the power fails so that the singularity just falls back into wherever it came from instead of exploding all over our nice habitable star systems?

It’s already pretty clear if you’ve flown one of these much that a HUGE amount of the work a Triglavian ship does is focused on making something hypermassive do tricks, like the pretty amazing trick of letting something a miniscule fraction of its mass tell it where to go instead of it just going wherever it blasted wants to. It’s already obviously that operating the entropic disintegrator weapon system means manipulating the singularity-- letting it partially out of its cage, letting it swell (becoming a little less dense-- or, maybe, a lot more massive?)-- and, amazingly, putting it back when it’s done.

We’re talking about an astonishing manipulation of spacetime to begin with.

What if the first trick it does, is to call that mass to it from somewhere? And the last, the failsafe when the power goes down-- is to let it go back? I say “let it,” rather than “send it,” because sending something is an act, and this can’t be-- it has to be a release. You can’t “send” something anywhere when you’re dead, so the singularity has to be able to disappear on its own when, and because, the ship dies.

It’s a system you’d have to feel pretty confident about to be willing to try to use it, and the Triglavians definitely don’t shy away from fights. Leaving the channel open, but actively squeezing it shut, so that your system “fails” safely right back out of this universe the way it came in, is the most likely way I can think of to do this.

So maybe the big fireworks we’re seeing when a Leshak goes up aren’t from the reactor core going up. … maybe they’re from the reactor core going home.

[Mizhir]

@Aria_Jenneth

Lost lots of time on trying to chase after. Spent way too much time chasing them down and should have spent “down time” when I couldn’t hit them killing Fogcasters.

Note to self: “priority target” means the most important thing you can hit. Even if it’s a major problem, if you can’t hit it, you can’t hit it.

For this reason I prefer ships with a fairly strong secondary weapon system. Like the Gila that has missiles to support the drones or like a Sacriledge where a strong dronebay supports the primary missile system.

[Aria_Jenneth]

“More Singularities”

Can we just pause a moment to dwell on what kind of situation makes caging singularities a practical approach to power generation?

If you live on a planet with a lot of kresh trees (and not much else), you probably learn to like tea. If you live on a planet that breaks your stuff and puts you at the mercy of the gods and your own know-how on a regular basis, you probably learn to pray, to, uh, learn, just in general , and to not worry too much about material supplies.

So what kind of place compels people to burn naked singularities as power sources? I mean, for the amount of work that seems to have gone into it, it seems like the benefits are a little …

“So, by designing the entire ship around its control and manipulation, we can use a naked singularity as a power source.”

“Amazing!”

(I have to agree: it is, legit, amazing.)

“So what can it do? Surely with power like that, you must have the strongest military in the cluster?”

“Well … it can power a weapon system for which a single turret can match or exceed the damage output of a full eight-unit battery of antimatter blasters. Once it warms up, that is.”

“Awesome! How many can you put on a battleship?”

“Uh. One.”

“… One.”

“And the technical demands prohibit fitting additional turret or missile batteries.”

“I see. … Okay, what else?”

“Well, it’s got some spare utility slots.”

“Okay, that’s useful! And with such a strong power core you can power all those and a strong defensive setup fully, of course?”

“Uh. No.”

“No?”

“Well, you see, the vast majority of the power just goes into keeping the singularity contained and moving along with the ship, and the weapon system demands most of the rest. You can modify it to make all that utility capacity fully usable, of course, but it takes some work.”

“And the defenses?”

“They’re okay? All in all it’s possibly got a slight advantage over most modern nations’ fleets in skirmish-level engagements and, um, none at all in fleet actions.”

“So really, with all the advanced materials and the advanced field theory and the astonishing mastery of physics in play, the revolutionary thing about it is …”

“… Just that it can run on a caged singularity, yes.”

WHY???

What sort of environment makes you go, “Well, we’re running out of firewood. Oh, we’ll just burn black holes, we’ve got plenty of those around!”?!

[Nevyn_Auscent]

Caldari prime? You might want to look at what the Caldari use for reactors.

[Aria_Jenneth]

Gravimetric fusion. (The Void Dancer II runs on a particularly good one.)

In terms of the forces in play, it’s like comparing a puddle to a bottomless pit.

[Arrendis]

@Aria_Jenneth

Gravimetric fusion.

Which is exactly what a black hole runs on. My question is: Why are we getting so little power out of a singularity?

[Aria_Jenneth]

That’s … a different order of “fuse,” I think, but I think you know that better than I do.

I think the issue is probably partly one of containment and partly one of what it takes to maintain the containment. The ship probably uses most of what it’s getting to keep what it’s got from getting out of control. If, that makes sense? I mean, the whole ship is built around it, to an even greater degree than normal, so, probably, a whole lot of what the ship does is just the very tricky business of keeping things arranged so that it can do anything else at all.

(Like: “Here, hold that planet. Keep it stable. Make sure you don’t drop it! We don’t want another mess to clean up. … Now, then-- you can juggle, right?”)