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Log of a Minmatar Capsuleer
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Manwe Todako
Disciples of Ston
#41 - 2011-10-14 17:28:52 UTC
As a Minmatar capsuleer, I also understand some of what the role of passion is in the motivation of life. From that understanding I raise an issue or two, not to create argument but to encourage balance among my people.

Passion, governed by reason, intelligence and determination, is part of the reason the Minmatar have been successful warriors throughout the generations. However, the most noble warriors have possessed a vision beyond war. The most noble warriors have the presence of mind and heart to redirect their passions toward peace and the building of a just society when the demands of war have ceased. A true warrior is just as passionate about peace as he or she is about war.

What happens to the man or woman or society that cannot or will not redirect passion from the killing and destruction of war to the healing and building of peace? Such a man becomes a pirate and a criminal when the war is over. Such a woman become a sadist and killer when the war is over. Such a society will merely continue to look for reasons to continue war when non exist. Such a society will destroy itself.

Minmatar warriors, do you have a life of passion, reason, intelligence, and motivation outside of war? If you do not, it is time to begin to cultivate it well in advance of the end of hostilities. Be as passionate and skilled with the instruments of peace as you are with the instruments of war.

SANKOFA
Tarryn Nightstorm
Hellstar Towing and Recovery
#42 - 2011-10-15 02:29:44 UTC
Alica Wildfire wrote:
Dear Log,

I want to tell ya a short story about the Minmatar way of war.

In the first hours, days and months of the Rebellion we Minmatar had nothing than Slasher frigates against the most powerful Empire of New Eden. And little Sebiestor girls we were bringing down full scale Amarrian battleships like the Reclamation at Traun single handed with nothing but her smarts and a screwdriver.

The Minmatar way of war is to bring down a Punisher with a Slasher, a Mauler with a Vigil, a Coercer with a Rifter, a Navy Slicer with a Breacher, a Drake with a Rupture. It is the way of war of the walking impossible. If you achieve the unthinkable flying your Minmatar ship, you follow the footsteps of our great ancestors and make them proud.

But if your manage to fit a Hurricane to kill a Drake that's nothing more than what our tribes would expect from you. It's like: "Look, I've been driving with my truck over that tomato and see - my tires were not harmed! Do I get a medal now?" The ancestors will not look upon you for that.

But if you say: "Hey, I've killed a Drake with my Hurricane but I had nothing in my hangars but lasers, tractor beams, small shield extenders and magnetic field stabilizers from looted wrecks to fit it! And besides I had accidental a bit of Navy aggro doing that…" That would be something. But to kill a Drake in a Hurricane is exact the thing that everybody from your tribe would expect from you, warrior.

So strive for more. Strive for the impossible, for the unthinkable. Walk the path that our ancestors did when they declared war to slavery, war to oppression. The true Mimatar warrior will challenge an Amarrian armada in nothing more than a Breacher frigate launching waves of sheer suicide runs against them - and win like we did at the battle of Pator, where we had nothing but Slashers and halve fitted Breachers against them. This is the stuff we are made off, this is the stuff the Amarr fear.

It is our ingenuity, our anger, our brave hearts that they fear. Because they only fly without their hearts involved. They fly with cold hearts. We fly with a burning fire in our chests. And it is not true that feeling make you a bad warrior. If you have gone through our path of rites, you will have learned to look into your heart and you'll understand your feelings and they don't interfere with your performance in battle, no, they support you, they give you in every situation the edge over your enemy.

Because inspiration is not a product that is coming from your mind, warrior. It's the blood from your heart.

So fly hot in your breast but learn to focus your emotions, to let them guide you instead to fight them down like the Amarr do when they rub their knees praying for forgiveness for the sin being human. Torturing their bodies for their feelings. Looking into a sky, praising a lord that does not exist and expect answers from the silence of his absence. Instead of living in the world that is, listening to the body, the mind and the heart and becoming a complete human being.

This is our way of wisdom, warrior. To be true. To be full. To include our hearts in every aspect of what we do. And look at the design of our space ships - they outperform everything when you fly them with heart and mind and not just with mind.

Let those that fly cold numbers be the Amarr. We fly better than that.

Fly insane. Means fly not like your mind alone dictates your doings. Fly more. So that the pure mind can't understand. That's the true meaning of flying insane. Not flying without sanity. But flying with something added to it, that the mind can't understand, can't analyse. And that's your heart. That's your feelings. That's inspiration. That's Minmatar.


If the rebels had had Hurricanes in their day, then do you seriously believe that they would not have chosen them over Slashers? Do you think that if that Siebestor girl had had an EM-pulse bomb or three to plant in the Amarr battleship's engine-room, that she would have chosen the screwdriver over it?

I tend to doubt it, and I think, that if the ancestors had seen this, then they would have whole-heartedly approved of the warriors using the best tools available, to do the job as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Please, lovely, stop romanticising the past just because those who lived it made do--quite well, I might add Twisted--with almost nothing. If I were backed into a corner, fighting for my very existence, and all I had to fight with was some rusty pile of scaffolding with a fusion thruster-bank and missile launchers gaffer-taped to it, then that is what I would use--because I have no other choice.

But we have choices now, we have better tools to do the job, why in all the Hells would we not use them? What you see now as some kinda romanticised "Ideal Minmatar ur-warrior, fighting the good fight" was probably not a pleasant situation to be in, and I'm sure those soldiers, every damned one of them, would have gone for the better option, had such existed at the time....A lot of those Breacher crews didn't make it home alive again, and if they truly "see" us as we are now, then I'm sure they're saying: "Don't use that rusty bag of pipes, when you've a proper ship to use--I did, and it didn't end well..." (Tarryn smiles cynically--well, they should know, eh?)

Inspiration, is indeed, an emotive factor--but as I said above, it must be directed with intellect, not poure emotion.

Balance, balance, in all things, balance...We can afford to do this now, why the f won't we? A society of people consumed by anger and hatred in the moment cannot evolve, and ultimately, devours itself. It's why I never supported that hothead Shakor--his emotive decisions leave him stuck in the moment, with little/no consideration for our society's future-- but that's by the bye...

Star Wars: the Old Republic may not be EVE. But I'll take the sound of dual blaster-pistols over "NURVV CLAOKING NAOW!!!11oneone!!" any day of the week.
Tarryn Nightstorm
Hellstar Towing and Recovery
#43 - 2011-10-15 02:42:46 UTC
Manwe Todako wrote:


Passion, governed by reason, intelligence and determination, is part of the reason the Minmatar have been successful warriors throughout the generations. However, the most noble warriors have possessed a vision beyond war. The most noble warriors have the presence of mind and heart to redirect their passions toward peace and the building of a just society when the demands of war have ceased. A true warrior is just as passionate about peace as he or she is about war.

What happens to the man or woman or society that cannot or will not redirect passion from the killing and destruction of war to the healing and building of peace? Such a man becomes a pirate and a criminal when the war is over. Such a woman become a sadist and killer when the war is over. Such a society will merely continue to look for reasons to continue war when non exist. Such a society will destroy itself.



And, this. It's what I've been trying to say, and does so quite nicely.

All wars end, sooner or later--this stupid, utterly useless, CONCORD-leveraged capsuleer proxy-war will in its' turn, too, and I strongly suspect we'll find no real gains made by anyone, after the bodies have all been buried--and what then?

We've got bigger problems on our plate to deal with, and we need to think how we're going to deal with them, not live in some idealised past that never really was, and bury ourselves in old hatreds.

I'm no lover of the Amarr, (although, I must say, Ni-Kunni women are just adorableBlink) their hilariously ossified society, or their utterly poisonous religion, but we've got to evolve as a society, and fighting a 100+ year old war--that we won, didn't we?--rationalised by clinging to even older hatreds is not going to get us there.

Time to move on, already, and that can only be decided by finding the motivation for the future in one's heart/soul/spirit/whatever, and then thinking, calculating, and rationally planning what to do...

We Siebestors are known for our intellectual bent...Maybe it's time to fully embrace it?

Star Wars: the Old Republic may not be EVE. But I'll take the sound of dual blaster-pistols over "NURVV CLAOKING NAOW!!!11oneone!!" any day of the week.
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#44 - 2011-10-16 21:04:13 UTC  |  Edited by: Alica Wildfire
Dear Log,

I've been asking myself : "What would have been in those times of the early rebellion, if we had Hurricanes?"

There have been many encounters where I had been involved. If you try to attack a Rifter with a Rupture, you will just see a Rifter warping off. If you try to engage a Rupture with a Tempest, you will just see a Rupture warping off. If you try to encounter a fleet of ten with a fleet of thirty, you just see them warping off.

What's the lesson we can learn from this? It's not the size, it's not the number that wins a fight. Size and numbers are easy to measure, easy to count, easy to evaluate. And easy to react on. Fights about numbers can not be won. The only fights that can be won is, if you manage to lead your enemy into false assumptions about your real strength or display weaknesses that are not there.

You win every fight by your heart, by inspiration. Never by numbers or by size.

So if you ask me what a true Minmatar would do if he attacks an enemy, he will always chose the least possible size and numbers he can, put something to it that can't be seen, can't be counted and can't be measured and he'll attack - and win.

So what would have our ancestors done if they had Hurricanes in their hangars? They would have entered their Breachers and would have attacked like they did. Because those attacks were surprising enough and more than a Hurricane they displayed contempt for death, the displayed conviction for our cause were the weapons that were beating the Amarrians.

Not our ships.

And this, warrior, is a thing many people forget. Especially people that begin to think like the Amarr do, that think in numbers and sizes. And that do not use their imagination anymore, their spirits and their hearts.

It is the true Minmatar spirit you need to fly into battle in a ship that seems to be inferior. But with confidence and if you are a true, complete warrior, you will always beat the enemy. And he won't see it coming. And you won't take a Hurricane for the job when you get the same result with a Breacher.

This is why I say the Drake is for the stupid. They stop thinking. They just take a weapon that is easy to measure, that is very specific in it's setup, that is strong in it's basic design and unable to take you on the wings of imagination. Because it's a bulky, onesided and uninspired weapons platform of the Caldari. The lack of Matari ingenuity is the flaw of that vessel.

And it leads to flying by numbers. No heroism, no inspiration, no Matari spirit in this brick.

It's a vessel for the stupid. Not a weapon for a true warrior. Mind the sword that you bear, warrior. The choice of the weapon will show us the kind of warrior that you are at heart, like the mark of your Voluval. It does not tell us about your fate, but it tells us about the way you walk to get there.

You honor the Minmatar warriors way or you deny it and walk the way of numbers. Maybe you have the same destiny, warrior, but the way makes the man, not his destiny. Chose your sword wisely.

Keep that to your heart, warrior, when you fly into battle.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Tarryn Nightstorm
Hellstar Towing and Recovery
#45 - 2011-10-17 14:47:21 UTC
Alica Wildfire wrote:


I've been asking myself : "What would have been in those times of the early rebellion, if we had Hurricanes?"

If you try to attack a Rifter with a Rupture, you will just see a Rifter warping off. If you try to engage a Rupture with a Tempest, you will just see a Rupture warping off. If you try to encounter a fleet of ten with a fleet of thirty, you just see them warping off.


So the 'Pest and the Ruppi didn't fit warp-jammers and/or webbers? Or medium or heavy neuts? Nor yet a flight of Warrior II-class drones? That's pure incompetence, not "pure heart," "conviction," or Hells know what else you want to call it. Unless the Rifter had a MicroWarpdrive, which isn't all that common in 0.1+ rated space anymore, that I've seen, or if the 'Pest was armour-brawler spec--Fast shield/nano spec' is what I see more of these days, on those...And they have a good chance of cathing the typical armour-Ruppi, "pointing" him, and making his day a challenge with dual Heavy capacitor-neutralisers.

As well:

Why do you imply that those whom you can beat are always going to use "numbers," especially it seems you're tying that to them using ships you don't happen to approve of? The two are not in any way inherently related, and one does not in any way imply the other.

Alica Wildfire wrote:
You win every fight by your heart, by inspiration. Never by numbers or by size.


No. You commit to the fight through heart and inspiration showing you that there's a need/reason to do so. You win the fight by outsmarting your enemy, and this goes double when he outnumbers you. If I knew my enemy was bringing a few Breachers, then I'd simply change my nano/HM Drake's spec' to inclue a Target-painter, lead them into "chasing me down," load Precision-class missiles, one-salvo the lot, and my Warrior II's would chew whatever was left into junk.

Alica Wildfire wrote:
So if you ask me what a true Minmatar would do [...] he will always chose the least possible size and numbers he can, put something to it that can't be seen, can't be counted and can't be measured and he'll attack...


This is what any smart tactician would do; The smart tactician would also evaluate all the tools at his disposal, and choose the one he thinks best for the job. This comes from the objective ice in the brain, not the emotive fire in the heart.

Alica Wildfire wrote:
So what would have our ancestors done if they had Hurricanes in their hangars? They would have entered their Breachers and would have attacked like they did. Because those attacks were surprising enough and more than a Hurricane they displayed contempt for death, the displayed conviction for our cause were the weapons that were beating the Amarrians.


Slaver-****: If they had known the choice was there, then they would have taken the 'Canes, knowing that there was a better chance of more of them coming home alive, thus better able to fight the enemy in the next battle, with more resources to choose from--read: More tactical options, to do with whatever you like--to defeat him more quickly/more completely.

Alica Wildfire wrote:
[...] But with confidence and if you are a true, complete warrior, you will always beat the enemy. And he won't see it coming. And you won't take a Hurricane for the job when you get the same result with a Breacher.


You will next time, after that Drake smashes your Breachers out of the sky like mosquitoes without a backwards glance...Unless writing letters of condolence is something you enjoy, and want practice at.

Alica Wildfire wrote:
This is why I say the Drake is for the stupid. They stop thinking. [...] The lack of Matari ingenuity is the flaw of that vessel.


They might, but I don't. My Matarri ingenuity will come in thinking how best to use your prejudices against you to lead you into my trap, and fly my ship to keep myself from being trapped by you--Elders, you've flown Vagabonds...How can you not acknowledge the sheer versatility that range-control and a few NanoFibre II's give you? Especially if/when you fight out-numbered, as we often do?

Alica Wildfire wrote:
And it leads to flying by numbers. No heroism, no inspiration, no Matari spirit in this brick.


See above; And the Matarri spirit--and the Matarri brain--is in the pilot and crew, not some inanimate collection of metal and circuits. Breacher, Drake, 'Cane, Ruppi, 'Binger...That's all they are, until a proper pilot jacks-in, with a proper crew.

That's where your inspiration also comes in, to the crews' hearts, to get them to follow you into Sheol itself...It's nice to be able to bring them all back again, that way they might be "inspired" to do so again.

[/cynicism]

Alica Wildfire wrote:
[...] The choice of the weapon will show us the kind of warrior that you are at heart, like the mark of your Voluval. It does not tell us about your fate, but it tells us about the way you walk to get there. [...] Chose your sword wisely.


The more swords I have to choose from for a given fight, the more ways I can fight, and the more chance to win I have.

We are at war, child, the object is to WIN, not spout flowery speeches about "lol-nour..."

(Tarryn sighs exasperatedly/bitterly)...I find this increasing validation of living in the past through anti-intellectualism...distasteful. I've been feeling less and less comfortable in Republic Space of late, and now I think I know why.

These bloody Shakorites think they can dictate what I do with my mind, and I'm the pariah for not lining up to die...

Get out of my mind, damned reactionary bellicose hot-heads.



Star Wars: the Old Republic may not be EVE. But I'll take the sound of dual blaster-pistols over "NURVV CLAOKING NAOW!!!11oneone!!" any day of the week.
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#46 - 2011-10-18 21:52:41 UTC  |  Edited by: Alica Wildfire
Dear Log,

the most powerful weapon in a war is besides the aspect of surprise that you achieve through inspiration the timing which you achieve through keeping the initiative.

Khan Chess is one of the most popular board games that are played by Minmatar and their Sebiestor masters are infamous for their cunning and their skill. There are certain figures on that game and you all know them of cause because it's one of the very popular games that has spread way beyond our cultural boundaries.

There are the small warriors, which many see as some of the weakest figures on the board, because they only move forward. But they form the backbone of the game. And there is one figure, which might by the most powerful figure on the board, the figure of the mother, or also known as the figure of the great huntress. This is the strongest figure on the board, with almost unlimited movement and power.

But if you use it in your opening, if you place it in the middle of your board at the beginning of your game it is a certain way to lose the game from the start on. Because the warriors will hunt her down, while the seemingly least important figures hunt the most powerful on the other side, they conquer the space of the board. They establish a strong field in the middle while the one with the opening huntress is only trying to get her out of the way and either moves her back in the end or places her somewhere on the side of the board, where she is of no use anymore.

While this movement is going on you, who wants to open with the huntress is going to lose time. Is going to lose initiative, while the warrior moving smart player is going to establish a powerful position in the center of the game.

What is the lesson we can learn of this?

Don't push your main figures too early into the battle. Keep them behind, build up a strong position on the field, then -protected by the weaker pieces of your game- move in your stronger figures. This is the only way to win a battle. No, I'm not the hothead here, that is bringing in slow locking large ships to catch inexpensive, small and agile moving boats on the battlefield. I'm the one that gives the advice to first bring out the tacklers, the small inexpensive ships and get a point, build up a strong defense and then move in with your main damage dealers.

So do not hunt with big ships the small ones. You won't catch them. The only thing is that you disperse your fleet, that you lose ground and initiative and that you finally lose the fleet and with that the battle, hothead.

Whatever you do, do it with the least effort. If a Rupture can do it, use a Rupture and not a Hurricane, not a Stabber Fleet Issue. Keep your costs low, keep your initiative and be careful which pieces of figures you put early in the open. Or you end up hunted like a dog, trying to safe your fleet. Shattered and leaving behind solo ships that got tackled by frigates and all you get by this is chaos and defeat.

The wisdom of our ancestors is great to use Breachers for the attack on the Amarr. Do you dare to say they were not? Because they did understand the spirit of battle, better than most do nowadays and of cause they did better than I do. But I try to understand. I try to learn and this is the great mission on which you are, warrior. To learn, to understand, to adapt and prevail.

I was talking with some Militia pilots today and we were talking about the Drake eating Rupture. And they said: "hey, that's almost exactly the setup for the Stabber Fleet Issue but that one has more slots. Why not use that?"
And I answered: "Because a Drake pilot does have respect of a Fleet Stabber. He does not of a Rupture. So he is not warping off. He will be careless and will engage. And he will die, where the Fleet Stabber might only see the traces of the warping off Drake." They understood. But not everybody understands this, why it's important to keep the initiative, to keep the power low and cheap. Why you open the fight with fast moving, inexpensive ships. Like you do on a game of chess.

And why you lose initiative if you run around like a rabid bull on steroids and try to get kills with flying bricks. And the lock time of Drakes is the worst of all battlecruisers, this is the cherry on the top of that idea. And -yes- I like the Bellicose because nobody expects to face any danger from that. But it is. And the surprise effect if you fly it well and destroy your enemy is worth the smiles which he has for you when he spots you at start of battle.

The answer to the question: "Why not opening the battle with the most powerful ship I can field?", I think, dear Log, you have. If you don't want to see it, that's an other problem. Blindness and ignorance to the basic level of truth is something that the Amarrians have developed to an expert level. So you might want to talk with a priest about that, not with me.

You don't need me to get the answer. It's on the field, warrior. Learn to open your eyes to find your truth. Don't listen to nobody. Get advice and inspiration from people you trust, but finally judge by yourself. And live that. That's the scientific method. Find your answers yourself, don't trust answers from authorities. Truth reveals itself.

Open your next game of chess with an attack of your huntress. And fail, hothead. Learn, understand, prevail.
Learn to fly Minmatar. Keep it small, fast, cunning. Keep the initiative.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Tarryn Nightstorm
Hellstar Towing and Recovery
#47 - 2011-10-24 06:32:36 UTC
My late father was an absolute master of Khan Chess...I never once beat him, but was able to learn from every move in every game we played. (And to this day, it's rare that I lose a game against anyone else--shall we play a game or two sometime, lovely? You'd seem like a worthy adversaryBlink)

No, you don't attack with your Huntress first...

You keep her in reserve, goes without saying. (Black Ops bridge, go! It's amazing what possibilities open up when your "small warriors" have Covert Ops-spec cloaking devices, don't you think?))

But chess is much about studying your opponent as s/he is sitting across from you, as it is about studying his/her moves...

Of course, that Tempest is not going to be locking anything smaller than a Battlecruiser anytime soon, that's why you have an Interceptor or three with it--I never meant to imply that I would be stupid enough to try that in a BS...That generally doesn't end well. The Battlecruiser is a bit more veratile, thankfully...It's why all four nations' Tier 2 BC chassis' are among the most flown ships in New Eden.

But the roaming gang of warriors needs some muscle behind it, else it will be nothing more than a nuisance to it's enemies. No, no...Use your little hunters to get initial tackle, but keep your Huntress in ready reserve at all times...Study your enemy extensively (I love my Cheetah...just sayin'!), remain objective, remain cold to the blood-rage--which makes you predictable--and when the opportunity presents itself: In for the kill, like lightning, then out again.

So...

Just apropos, if you've never flown a Drake, then why do you hate it so much? Do you still seriously think "fleet-Brick" is the only way to kit one out, or the only way to use it? Not even close, love...And that assumption when you see one can cost some of your small warriors their ships and crews. These lost, you've now lost a critical part of your striking power...

Star Wars: the Old Republic may not be EVE. But I'll take the sound of dual blaster-pistols over "NURVV CLAOKING NAOW!!!11oneone!!" any day of the week.
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#48 - 2011-10-24 09:13:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Alica Wildfire
Dear Log,

the Art of War is not about brutalizing a bound seventeen year old girl with six grown men. The Art of War is how to be that girl and defend yourself against that six men. And while there is no need to train the brutalizing, it is needed for the girl to train her art every hour, every day to succeed with it. It has to become her nature to fight. And she will not learn how to defend herself in those critical situations if she just starts to brutalize small children with five other girls a day.

She has to face the battle outnumbered, outgunned. And still be good enough to end it victorious.

You may ask: but if her offenders are also skilled warriors she doesn't stand a chance, isn't it? But I will answer: if her offenders are brutalizing her that way none of them can be a warrior. Because it's not the way we tick. And that's why she always has a chance to win that fight, because if her offenders were a match they would not gank her.

I am still sick from that bite of a tick, getting better every day but my doc denied real combat actions. So I'm still not combat ready, my right hand doesn't work, I still can't close it, my knees hurt when I walk or try to stand up or even worse try to walk stairs. So all I can do at the moment is send emissaries into battle or watch them if they do.

So I sent an emissary into a corp war recently (the reasons are of no importance here), he was the first days alone against forty, then got some help and on the best days he was five to thirty. The war ended just after five days of heavy combat action with his group having about seventy kills, where they just lost about twenty ships, with a efficiency of about 80% to 20%. My emissary is a very young pilot as his friends were. They all were flying mainly cruisers against battlecruisers, assault ships, heavy assault ships, cruisers and frigates with the opponents more than equal in experience as capsuleers.

Of cause the difference was that the opponents were no warriors. They were not trained to fight in inferior numbers, inferior ships and inferior skills. Besides that they were fighting well and with the right spirit it was the je ne sais quios, the spirit of the girl defending six men which they didn't have. This aggressive self-confidence that allows a cruiser pilot to engage into a fight against nearly a dozen frigates or the spirit to attack the fleet commander in his Rifter in the middle of his fleet with nothing more than a Rifter and take him down anyway, even if the whole fleet is on you doing this.

A thing that was so surprising that they didn't react for a moment - stunned by that attack.

But this is what you have to train every day. And with every day I mean you must not take a small vacation to brutalize a little girl if you can. It's destroying the art of war that you are preparing like a hammer would destroy the fingers of a hand of a harp player, dear Log.

And this is why I don't like to fly Drakes. I don't say I don't fly them at all. But the occasions that Drakes are my weapon of choice -my sword- are very very rare. Because in every situation a Drake could be useful other ships -smaller ones- are more entertaining, are more fun, give more opportunity in tactics and simply aren't brick-like Caldari crap.

It's about the art of war, dear Log. Maybe it's about a bit of Matari pride too, I admit, but I guess this is secondary. I'm a girl and my weapon of choice will be a fast moving dagger that I pull out from under my cloak and slit the throat of my enemy in the moment of surprise. I'm not the broadsword wearing bikini-chainmail kind of girl that you find in so many cheap comics.

What these comics totally ignore is that girls like me don't wear a broadsword, because it's the wrong kind of weapon for us. Our advantage is to be underestimated and we might be not as strong as a male muscular warrior but we are faster. And a broadsword definitely destroys this advantage.

I'm a Matari and I don't field Drakes. It definitely destroys my advantage. I killed an anti-capsuleer battle fitted Typhoon in a Hurricane. Yes, that was a good situation for a battlecruiser and a tough battle. But I doubt I could have achieved that with a Drake.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#49 - 2011-10-26 18:30:24 UTC  |  Edited by: Alica Wildfire
Dear Log,

just tree days and after one and a halve year of playing again the fiddle I'm first standing on stage. It's a very small one and I won't tell anyone where it will be but I worked hard on this and it's time. I'm still far, very far away from playing like the professionals and I most likely never will.

But it's what someone can do if she puts her heart into this. It's far away from those perfect recordings we can download from galnet or buy in "music stores". Which are actually not selling any music at all but instead media. Media is always dead. Dead like a photo from a person is dead and not the person it represents.

And even the most perfect photo cleaned by all irregularities of skin and differences to the public opinion what "beauty" should be, music is no media. Music is alive and it only exists for a very short time, when the musician and the audience share it in a place. A small place, personal, maybe with sharing a glass of wine or mug of beer. And this I'll play, I'll play it from my heart. Not perfect, not like I would be something different like a capsuleer. Not as someone would play that never did anything else her whole life. I will play as the person that I am.

The music that is representing me. And this is something I do with pride and from the depth of my heart. What ever you do, do it from your heart. Be what you are and be straight with this. Straight to yourself and to your audience and then it will be true. Still after training the Vherokior fiddle now for one and a halve year, with at least a few hours of study a day and with the parts of my play that were left from the studies in my childhood that should be enough. Must be enough to stand on a small stage and face court.

I see forward to this in joy. But to be honest I'd find it easier to engage a fleet of Vexors and Arbitrators in nothing but a Rifter if I see forward to those minutes on stage. Better be shredded to pieces by shrapnel, bullets and pieces of your ship than by the hundreds of eyes that the audience will place on me.

To say I see forward in joy to this event is like someone that is led to the place of his execution and who is singing and dancing seeing forward for this. But this is a trial a warrior has to face with the same smile on his face like he is enjoying battle and his own certain death.

And the moment of my execution will be the moment when I'll play my music. May I battle a good fight.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#50 - 2011-11-01 11:03:09 UTC
Dear Log,

well, yes. I was on stage. Good thing is that weapons were not used to get me off it.

And I can't say it was all my fault. Maybe if I had executed the keyboard player in front of the audience in time, I could have prevented the disaster that was coming over me, but let me start at the beginning, dear Log.

Ya know, I'm learning, better freshing up my playing on the Vherokior fiddle that I learned to play as a child. I started this about one and a halve year ago, which is one of the things that kept me away from social life and parties over that time. With a few hours of study a day, I can't say that I was badly prepared. Ya, of cause everybody knows that to really master the fiddle you need at least a couple of years hard training, but after a bit over a year you play fine, but of cause not "good" compared to a professional. And additional I had these five years or so as a kid and I played some other instruments too over my lifetime. So it should have worked.

So what went wrong?

Ya, it all started with me being quite nervous and I had no time to watch everything. So I didn't check that the amplifier for the keyboard was placed directly in my back, that the voltage on that station was about double the amount for what the amplifier was constructed and the keyboard player didn't work on the quirk about his keyboard and the touch sensivity of it's keys. Which means the problem with that keyboard was that you touched it and either it was too quiet or much much much too loud.

So when the gig started, the audience was quiet and listening, we were a bit late and didn't check the wiring and the amplifier, well alas I had other things in mind than to go through wires and electrics at that evening. I started to play a lilting reel from my home planet, or better the planet I was spending a lot of time on as a kid, when the first accord of the keyboard hit me in my back.

To say: "hit me in my back" is not an understatement. I was really kicked in my back by the sound and of cause it was around a hundred times louder than my unamplified fiddle, which was vibrating and nearly breaking through the massive pressure wave of sound that was going through me. I had problems to keep sitting on my chair with that first accord.

My struggle was indeed watched from some of the audience and later I was asked if it was really that hard to keep sitting. I was of cause deaf from the moment on and had to play my fiddle without hearing it anymore.

You may laugh and say: "Yeah, she's making this up it couldn't be that bad." Indeed and sadly it was. Things like that happen if you combine amplified and unamplified instruments. In the following ten minutes of my gig, I was playing two sets of Matari tunes, a set of reels and a set of jigs, I could feel the vibrations on my fiddle from my playing, the kicking of the soundwaves in my back, my struggle to keep the beat against the absolute chaos from behind, which had nothing to do with the stuff I was trying to play. It was the battle of the keyboarder against his equipment. And with this I was going down too.

And -yes- I could have solved the situation with a quick draw of my vibro knife and a swift cut of the throat of the keyboard player and a ritual disembowelment of his corpse afterwards. But I don't believe in actions like this. If you enter a stage together you enter as a team. You play as a team and you leave it as a team. Music and I really believe this, is a community event. Not only between the musicians and the audience but also a community of the musicians. If always the one musician that put more work in a piece wants to go ego and show off his own thing, we'd never see anything different but solo parts.

But that's not what's music about. Music is about teamwork about community. And when things go bad you don't put it on someones shoulders, you first check what you have done wrong yourself. And I put the blame on me. Preparation for an event like this should always include more than your own part. And I was fully occupied with just my own part and had no space left for the rest.

In a fleet this is all the same. You have to watch the back of your wingman, it isn't enough if you are a good pilot yourself. You enter a battlefield as a fleet, as a team, you leave it as a fleet. And not as solo pilots. This is what music is about. And it's not a battle of a few aces but the fighting of a team. If not you will get kicked in the back by reality like the amplifier kicked mine.

You may wave all this off like a story that I made up to entertain you, dear Log. But I have a recording. Of cause I won't let anybody listen to the mess. I did together with my keyboarder and we both just laughed our asses off when we listened. It was the only thing left to do after this. Man, you have to imagine one and a halve year of preparation and then this. Epic fail.

We did a second recording that day. One that worked. I'm still no pro and way off being "good" on a fiddle like a pro would. But I can listen to the recording, nod and say: "Okay. This is where I am. This is what I can do. I played with my heart and I done well - for me." But now I'm back to study. Even harder than before. Because there is so much I have to work on.

One ship wrecked. In two years there will be another event on that stage. I just started my first study.

How do you fly your Rifter, dear Log?

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#51 - 2011-11-04 09:55:22 UTC  |  Edited by: Alica Wildfire
Dear Log,

the violin is the new guitar.

It's like the Rupture is the new Rifter. Every young pilot should fly one and we'll kick the Amarr out of our space once and forever. Just recently I was setting up a buyorder to get my first Cynabal cruiser. I was not willing to pay more for that thing than for a well designed perfect Minmatar Vagabond cruiser, so I had to wait for a month or so until my buyorder finally was fulfilled. Let's face it - the Cynabal is the product of pirate scum. And even if it's a fine vessel, I get an ichy feeling sitting in one of them. But I think it's a good thing to try and fly the vessel of the enemy, to learn how they think and what are the weaknesses of it.

I admit I don't like the pirate vessels too much. Of cause, of cause, you'll tell me that they have perfect statistics and all that. Yeah, yeah, they have. But they are the kind of Uber-Boats that I abhor. Because you'll need three normal ships of that kind to get down one of them. And the ships are used by solo hunters all around. The problem with this vessel is, that with a pirate vessel all other ships of that class are obsolete. It's narrowing down the spectrum of ships that we are facing on the battlefield.

The pirate ships are making battle boring. You face them all around. In zerosec there is nothing else but Dramiels flying around, you don't see any interceptors anymore. It's simply "better". I feel to puke. And I just hope that this situation will be solved soon. Gone and burned they should, burn, burn, burn. I will of cause not fly my Cynabal into capsuleer battle for the reasons I just pointed out. Even if this would give me an advantage, I prefer flying the Rupture - boldly and proud.

And if the pirate vessels get outdated by technological advancement in Empire space I will happily park my own Cynabal forever and open a bottle of Gallente champagne for the event. For all my crews! May the prices for them drop until they hit bottom for getting useless. May they all get senseless ganked by blobs of hundred. Finally something a pirate gatecamp is good for. I hate these ships.

But back to more happy issues: music.

The violin is the new guitar. When I was unpacking my instrument lately a man stopped and asked me: "Wow - this is a small guitar. How do you call this kind?" I of cause said: "Violin or fiddle." People nowadays only recognize two kinds of instruments: guitars and keyboards. Maybe a set of drums they recognize too, but only maybe. Normally they ignore the drummer. A famous Matari band was called to stage last months by this call: "The musicians and the drummer to stage, please!"

And I was asked how you call the people that hang around with musicians. I answered: "Drummers."

Well their instruments are better recognized than mine. Most people just think that I'm playing a weird guitar. And this is not so different of what we see on the battlefield. The guitar is the Cynabal of the stage. It's easy to play, it's large and has attributes of a male regenerative organ, it's insanely loud if electrified and can deafen you with just one well overdone chord for the rest of the evening. And everybody can pose with it.

Nothing against a well educated guitar player. But instead of real instruments most people just take an electric one and buy an insanely massive and powerful amplifier and roast the rest of the band with that. But I as a declared lover of Rifters and Ruptures say:

The violin is the new guitar.

There are many aspects that support this. Before the electric guitar was conquering the stages as the lead instrument and solo instrument the choice was the violin. Because it's way more expressive, it's way harder to play, it's versatile, it's surprising and gives you just about everything you want from a solo instrument. Without frets it's giving you smooth slides and glides, you're having all kind of unbelievingly fast licks, the emotions are from depressive lamenting over joyful laughter, soulful groaning up to incredible noises to just every aspect that a human voice would be possible to express up to expressions that the human voice can't.

Why did have the guitar the chance to run the job for solo instrument?
1) the electric version was louder
2) everybody can play it in a year

But since then music has been simplified, faded out and was getting boring. You just see guitars everywhere and all sound the same. The electrified variants of keyboard instruments have been made more versatile, they produce sounds that never have been before. They enriched the world of music in their way. But electric guitars were just thinning them out. With loudness. Without much skill needed for the average gig. Like the Cynabal.

So I got an electric violin, which is of cause no match as an instrument for my real one. But I can blast those damn electric guitars to kingdom come now. And it's way better in every aspect as an instrument, even electrified. Should I one time in my life be recording one of our ancient Matari tunes I'll post it up here. I am still no good player, but I find it as stupid to stay docked until all your skills are on final level instead of going out and shoot you some Amarrians in the meantime. So I'll just go and record a bit.

Like I did in my first week of battle, when my Rifter caught and helped to down an Amarrian Absolution. Why not? Just do it.

The violin is the new guitar. Try to walk new paths. Be innovative. Destroy the Cynabals of this world. Use some real effects instead of buying devices that do this for you. Fly real ships, play real instruments.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#52 - 2012-01-04 12:42:32 UTC  |  Edited by: Alica Wildfire
Dear Log,

everytime we click in a new datachip into our pads to listen to new media (I don't call that music) we forget what it means not to playback music but to make it. I stopped flying ships most of the time of day now since over a year, because I had the plan to record some traditional Matari tunes on my violin or other instruments.

This simple plan has gone way over my head. While I learned to fly ships almost perfectly in halve a year my attempts on playing the Vherokior fiddle cost me now over one and a halve year and I still don't feel that I should make any recordings of the stuff I'm playing.

I'm not saying I'm playing violin for one and a halve year. I'm playing it since I was a kid. Just this fiddle style I'm working on I do since one and a halve year. And between that I've learned to play a couple of other instruments, more or less.

What I'm saying is that we as warriors often forget what there is about life when we blow up an enemy ship. That among the vast crew of people that you're going to kill there may be some musicians. And every one of them had studied most of his life to just being okay on his instrument. All those recordings of media let us soon forget about the awe that we should feel when we listen to music that somebody is doing.

We forget about the big eyes, the open mouths and the childish gape that we should feel. Because most of us already mix up media and music. Most of us mix up the recording and the real thing. Most of us just see little red crosses to wipe out and don't see the men behind that. We don't see the value of life anymore.

When we do this, we'll forget about what we are fighting for.

I was reading lately about the first days of the rebellion. A well known Amarr slaveholder said this:

A Matari slave should know nothing but to obey his master - to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best slave in the world. Now, if you teach a slave how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. I thank the lord there are no schools or printing on my planet; and I hope we shall not have them these next hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. The lord keep us from both!

But his slaves already had learned to read and write. And when the rebellion reached his lands one of his rising slave leaders had said this:

I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the Amarr is a mere covering fro the most horrid crimes - a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, and the dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me… I… hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical believers of this land.

This were the first days of the rebellion. And you know why so many of us did rise? We had the simple choice to fight and die or run and live - for some time. And at the end of that time we would have regretted this moment and if we could we would have traded all those lost days between the battle and our death as a slave for the one moment of freedom in battle. Even if the price for this freedom is death..

And so we all stood up.

And this is going through my mind when I'm trying to play the fiddle. This is what I try to understand. How much value there is in even the smallest effort to live free. To not playback a prerecorded life but to dare one of your own.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
Alica Wildfire
Industry Network
#53 - 2012-01-06 13:55:16 UTC
Dear Log,

when is a man ready for life?

You can play the fiddle all day long and every other day you see that you have become better. When are you good enough for real life? When is the correct point of time to go public with whatever you do? When is the correct point of time to rise against oppression as a warrior?

I believe every day is the perfect day to do it. And every day you wait is a lost day in your life.

You have to become free now, not tomorrow. You have to play your music now and not tomorrow because tomorrow you will play better than today. Life is not a recording. Life is a floating river. Learn to swim, warrior. Don't wait with whatever you want to do. Do it now. Today.

FREEDOM, PUNK & AUTOCANNONS
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