Vecamia, Genesis - The latest casualty of ships moving from the Gallente Federation to the Amaar Empire, occurred at 0610 NEST (New Eden Standard Time), on March 20, YC 125. The bowhead-class nightclub and Capsuleer venue, The Scorpion’s Den, was attacked by members of White Sky, led by Sheryl Niome, while on its way to the Amarr System as part of the venue’s scheduled stop. The attack occurred at the stargate entering Vecamia. Both Gallente and Amaar diplomats are decrying this attack as “just another attempt to drive a wedge between (Gallente and Amarr) in order to sour relations between the two naations and keep technological expansion to a select few rather than making it open to all who would benefit from it,” according to Gallente Senator K’haine. Over 2,000 souls were lost when the ship’s engine core was breached. Automatic and manual escape systems, plus the reinforcement of the Club within, managed to save several hundred crew members and visitors to the venue, which opened its doors and went into service in December, YC 124, including Capsuleer and venue owner, Scorpion Six. The loss of the venue comes amidst diplomatic cease-fires and cooperation treaties between the Gallente Federation and the Amarr Empire, both of whom are racing to develop Shipcaster technology. The DED reports that the group White Sky is a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of ships passing through areas of space dubbed “low-sec”, meaning they have a lower security rating assigned by CONCORD, due to the system being a more lawless area.
Any credit to the notion that they were Purity of the Throne sympathisers with a bizarre self-hatred for clone-flesh?
Truly neutral venues are a treasure the world does not deserve but desperately needs.
Very much a possibility as they run the “corridor” between the two empires attacking ships from both sides.
I truly appreciate the sentiment. Not only do I weep for the souls who were lost when the engine core was breached and couldn’t reach the escape systems on board in time, but I too weep for the loss of a place where everyone could visit and relax. A place where we could all just be ourselves without feeling the pressures of Corporations or governments.
My wish is to see justice brought to these criminals.
Why the hell were you flying a bowhead through lowsec? That’s just asking to lose it.
You are lucky you’re a capsuleer, otherwise you would surely be facing charges of criminal negligence for travelling through Vecamia of all places in a extra-large-class industrial ship. The place has been on navigational watchlists for nearly 20 years for being a known pirate haven and trap for over-ambitious travellers between Amarr and Jita.
The thing was I scouted ahead, checked out the system, looked on local, didn’t find anything (plus I flew through there several times without incident within the previous hour). Later on, I checked and completely missed the 2 criminal-status stations near the gate. Just got tunnel vision looking for ships, I didn’t see what was plainly under my nose. I figured it was one low-sec island and would shave off 20 jumps moving through there. I also made the fatal mistake of thinking someone would rescue me if I got into trouble.
The thing is, you scouted… and then later on you tried going through.
You took a Bowhead through lowsec, and it did what Bowheads in lowsec do: it died. If Amarr and Gallente diplomats are decrying this as anything more than ‘holy hell, why’d this guy do a dumb?’, those diplomats need to be shot.
Low-Security space is Low-Security space because CONCORD don’t go there. Period. They don’t have a lower rating because the system’s more lawless, the system’s more lawless because it has a lower rating. CONCORD and the empires decide what to rate each system. They decide where CONCORD will show up to give you a chance to live. That’s why the Fed recently told CONCORD to make Intaki into highsec, you know?
Everybody does dumb things. Don’t go making mountains out of molehills when y’do.
Lowsec isn’t null. It’s a failure of CONCORD that it’s considered a death sentence to fly about and mind your own business in 0.4 - 0.1 systems.
It is not.
CONCORD patrols High Security space.
National navies patrol low-security space.
This is by design, and according to the security ratings the empires tell CONCORD to assign to systems. In other words: the empires tell CONCORD which systems to patrol.
So CONCORD not patrolling a given system is the empires’ decision. Claiming it’s a failure of CONCORD is like claiming that items not being on sale in Dodixie is a failure of the Jita market.
I’m going to ignore your pedantic tendencies, and instead offer you a question. CONCORD or not, isn’t it absolutely ridiculous that half of so called “Empire” systems are virtually lawless? Especially so when you consider that the vast amount of null systems that lie beyond the heartlands of the cluster. Perhaps CONCORD should focus more on these matters, and less on reducing my security status for shooting at pirates who happen to not have a suspect or criminal crimewatch timer.
That’s just it: they’re not. You are mistaking what /we/ experience for the regular experience of baseliners… you know, the people who outnumber us a few hundred billion to one? They’ve got the full range of laws and law enforcement going on. I mean, hell, you can’t tell me Khanid lowsec is some lawless wilderland when Khanid highsec sees upset slaves put down with suborbital artillery bombardments.
You think the Khanid are somehow /less/ brutal and repressive in the poorest parts of the Kingdom?
It’s only ‘Low’ security in the sense that the Empires tell CONCORD not to patrol it, and CONCORD is the body that regulates us. And even for us… lowsec isn’t no-sec. Shoot someone on a gate, or a station. See what happens.
CONCORD, in terms of capsuleer law enforcement, is doing exactly what their responsibilities under the Yulai treaties say they have to do, and not doing the things those same treaties say they can’t do.
Perhaps you shouldn’t be shooting at someone who isn’t currently a criminal or even suspected of any current crimes. Just because someone’s committed an offense in the past doesn’t give you license to commit murder.
CONCORD protects it’s own in low security space.
The Den did not have that standing, obviously.
Although perhaps premature and I suggest somewhat misguided, the egalitarianism on offer was genuine.
Please try to push your pragmatism to allow the inclusion of what might yet be.
Two thousand people died in a pirate attack. I don’t know what to else to say, if that’s not self explanatory. I realize that your years as a capsuleer may have… detached… you from certain realities, but 2000 people ( or baseliners as you call them ) dying in a pirate attack doesn’t seem very lawful to me. This is why CONCORD needs to empower loyal capsuleers to fire upon any ship suspected of carrying lethal weaponry in these systems.
Says the pilot who likes to sit in Ahbazon in an Apoc smart bombing unarmed explo frigates and rookie ships.
If these “Amarr and Gallente diplomats” were as vocal about the paperwork I’ve submitted for their consideration as they seemingly are about a relatively routine “capsuleer explodes other capsuleers ship” incident, then I’d have a whole lot of unique dresses.
Ain’t that right, Arrendis ?
So, pilot, it’s not that it wasn’t lawful. It’s unlawful, and awful, and a craw-full of misery for the pilot, the families and friends of the lost crew, and also the survivors who made it to the escape pods while their friends didn’t.
It’s also Tuesday.
Imperial navies mostly just don’t protect us independent capsuleers from each other. Their focus is largely on other navies (possibly including the pirate factions but really they mostly seem to leave those to us). In practical terms, low-security space is possibly more dangerous than null: for our purposes, it’s not only unsecure, it’s unsecurable. While there every unknown contact in local is to be considered a threat-- a predator-- until shown to be otherwise.
Traveling through such systems in something easy and desirable to catch while (presumably) ignorant of their dangers is, well, a quick way to get forcibly educated.
It’s maybe not “right,” but, it’s how it is, how it’s always been for our young class.
I was a little interested in The Scorpion’s Den, though I never actually attended. I hope the proprietor will consider setting up a successor. And maybe sticking to highsec routes in future. (Maybe also avoid carrying overly high-value cargo or making yourself a tempting target there, too? High-security doesn’t quite mean “safe” after all.)
Look, I absolutely support egalitarianism and the establishment of neutral venues. But those neutral venues have to exist in New Eden, and that means they have to contend with the realities of existing within New Eden.
And ‘if you take a Bowhead into lowsec, it’s probably gonna explode’ is one of those.
Two thousand people on a capsuleer vessel, governed by the laws that govern capsuleer vessels died because the pilot screwed up.
You can say ‘it doesn’t seem lawful’ all you like, but the laws that govern capsuleer vessels say otherwise. If you want to be exempt from the national laws that restrict things like, y’know, baseliners owning military-grade space-based weaponry, then you have to accept that not being bound by certain laws means you don’t get the protection of those laws, either.
Was it tragic? For those 2000 and their families, yes, it was, and nobody should forget that. Was it avoidable? Absolutely. Just don’t take one of the slowest-off-the-block, completely defenseless ships in New Eden into parts of space where you know someone can point and kill you, with no CONCORD intervention and only the dubious and 100% discretionary protection of a bunch of national navies that actively dislike capsuleers.
Pssst. It’s Thursday by NEST. 
OP was Tuesday.
(Okay, reported incident was on a Monday but that’s a day laden with significance, so … I guess really the whole point is it happens every day of the week.)
As a matter of fact, the Scorpion’s Den has been christened, and is now undergoing shakedown and functional tests of all her systems, and the Den has been bolted back into its socket where connections and tests are being completed to ensure the giant module mates properly with the new ship and the proprietary drone-assisted cargo system (ORE’s system used on their jump ships and other haulers). We held a memorial and dedication ceremony on Sunday celebrating the lives of those lost and commemorating their memory to space, as well as the christening of ORE T-04 Bowhead-class cargo hauler and fleet tender, s/n 853888, aka “Scorpion’s Den”. The fireworks were nice. The Den will resume her scheduled stops through High-sec systems starting next week. She’s currently in Couster, berthed at Couster II, to finish off final module installations and application of a SKIN.