Crime & Punishment

Greetings Citizens of EvE, loyal and rebellious children of James 315.

We are Whetstone. We will be honest, that until a few months ago we were unaware of the Code or of James 315. For the most part this is because many of us had left the galaxy of EvE behind us, but we are returned. We have heard the Father's words and felt it ring true in our heart and it brought us back to EvE. The Code is good and perfect and we honor the Code.

But there is weakness inherent in us all, we as men and women grow slack and slothful. The perfection of the Code has made High Sec space better and more interesting. But we look at those that enforce the Code and see weakness. They sharpen their blades on miners that fit neither tank or offensive power, ships that are little stronger than the rocks they mine. This has dulled the edge of many agents who feel "safe" in High Sec space, for no miner would raise arms against them. In fixing the hearts of miners everywhere, we have sacrificed the warrior's edge of the agents. We at Whetstone do not believe this is fair or right. This example was confirmed even more so recently when an Agent's Widow was destroyed not because he sacrificed it to Concord for righting the wrongs against the Code, but because it was fitted poorly. It was fitted poorly because he felt it would never be shot at. The very words of this Agent, he felt so safe in High Sec, that he could not imagine someone engaging him in legitimate battle.

There is sloth among some agents that enforce the Code. It is not their faults, they have dulled their senses as the edge of a sword does against granite. They require something more, something to sharpen their skills. They need a Whetstone to make them whole. These are not broken blades to be tossed aside. James has taught us that sometimes it requires tough love to make us better. We are here to love these agents back to health. So that no Agent ever again has to say "I lost my ship because I never thought it would be shot at," again.

We are Whetstone, in truth we are small in number. Roaming here and there looking for sloth. We have faith that James himself, who knows all in High Sec and knows our very thoughts, has not asked us not to sharpen his Agents. We proceed with faith in his Blessing that we are about the Father's work. We will not announce ourselves in local, it is our code that we slip quietly through one system to the next. We hold our silence to create uncertainty, for you must always suspect that an Operative of Whetstone is in local with you, for if we were known then Agents would simply be on guard when we were present. Our calling is above that, we are everywhere and nowhere. Any who claim to be Whetstone, they are not. This is the one voice we will use.

We present the Sharpening, to fix the damaged blades of the Agents. To make whole that which has dulled. When we present a Sharpening, we will not present Killmails, not will we name nor shame the Agent that received our lesson. We all can learn, we all can be made better. No one should feel High Sec is safe, it is not a playground to frolic in, but a warzone where titans and beasts roam as they will. We mortals trend beneath them, carving our life out with missiles and anti-matter.

To this: We present the First Sharpening. The Unaffiliated Scorpion

One Operative took the great and personal danger of fitting a barge to mine. An agent would appreciate the rigors of discipline it takes to mine for the greater good of another. In the same belt, 180 km away sat a second operative in an Scorpion. The two sat for hours waiting in silence until an Agent finally approached. It was standard Agent fair, the Catalyst, this was expected. The Agent gave fair warning that the barge was mining without a permit. But our Operative remained silent, as is our directives. The Agent proceeded to bump the barge, and silently the Operative went about continuing to try to mine. No outward words were given, but the Operatives held out hope that the Agent was taking in all around him. That hope dimmed as he yellow boxed the barge with a last warning before destruction.

The Scorpion continued to sit silently, still holding at 180km, no outward actions had been taken, though if the Agent had looked, perhaps he would have noticed the battleship aligned towards the barge. It might have tipped him to the true danger he was in. The Agent opened fire, the DPS race is on between the Catalyst and Concord. But the Scorpion, fitted with a MJD suddenly was within 80 km, more than close enough for optimal range on its jammers. The Catalyst stopped it's attack and the DPS race is lost. The barge warps out as does the Unaffiliated Scorpion and Concords finishes its work upon the Agent's ship.

Nothing is said in local, silence is our commandment. At first we thought the lesson to be learned here was proper fittings, but as we discussed it, in EWAR, the Catalyst will never beat the Scorpion. We believe the lesson here is Better Situational Awareness. Never in Low Sec or Null Sec would you engage an enemy ship where a Scorpion was even close even if that Scorpion was not in the same Corp or Alliance. It is the same in High Sec. We allow ourselves one grace in our tale. We take the pilot at his word that he is an Agent of the Order and a follower of the Code. If you profess your belief, it must be shown in action as well as word. We believe those that follow the Code are held to a higher standard than those that either do not know or do not believe for they are the unconverted.

We are not here to save miners nor are we part of the resistance. We have and will use miners as bait, if the Agent is unable to enforce the Code upon them, we did not save the miner, we only sharpened the Agent to be a better warrior in the future.

We Are Whetstone, we are zealous of the Code. We Welcome all Agents to the Sharpening.

Awh man, skimmed throught at first and thought you got down a scorpion BELONGING to an agent. Wouldn't a griffin done the same job cheaper? And don't most agents either have low enough sec status to be fired upon at will or free kill rights available?

Kudos to James315 and his followers for creating content. Even if it spawns long texts like this.

Did the Catalyst pilot give you a "gf" in local? They expect miners to do so after they gank them. If these agents really are held to a higher standard, then the least they can do is extend the same courtesy when they are outplayed.

+1 op. would read again.

*Snip* Removed reply to an edited out part of the quoted post. ISD Ezwal.

I wonder if this is the rise of the day of reckoning that has been claimed for a while.

Though, since the big ganks involve multiple gankers, I hope Whetstone brings enough ewar to shut them all down.

such a wall of text I couldn't get myself to read past the part where it first mentions 'the code'

tortured myself to read the whole thing.... and well, blah...

If the good people of highsec are going to band together to **** up some code wankers, we don't need walls of text to justify it. A simple "We're taking our space back from the cultist cabal" would suffice.

and besides, even if you want to RP it; 'The Code' of the Warrior is defense of the helpless, and its just that simple.

No fancy language, no elaborate schemes, just the path of Honor.

Wall of Text yeah seriously if I wanted to read a novel Im sure there are better ones then this post.

tl;dr

The true way of the warrior is death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning, no other code.

(with apologies to Yamamoto Tsunetomo)


Fixed quoting. ISD Ezwal.

Warriors without a larger sense of purpose and without Honor are merely murderers.