EVE Fiction

They called it the Boxer virus.

No one knew where it came from, some suspected it was a plot by Sansha Kuvakei to take control of the growing legion of capsuleers, others suggested some remnant of long lost sleeper technology.

One thing for sure, it is insipid, permeating the very fabric of New Eden.

It started small, a few capsuleers in one system. But in time it spread, with entire fleets succumbing.

The virus was strange, it didn't damage the host's health, if anything it improved it, but it exerted mind linking properties unlike anything seen before, like a hive-mind creating a fleet of drones, but rather than mechanical drones with simplistic AI, it was a capsuleer piloted drone, capable of flying any ship across the cluster.

As you can imagine, this concerned quite a few the leaders of New Eden, the empires, CONCORD, even some of the Pirate Commanders were worried. Imagine large fleets of ships controlled with a hive mind, a single action performed simultaneously across a fleet.

It was the stuff of nightmares, especially if Kuvakei were behind it and was the puppet master pulling the strings.

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CONCORD Research Center Alpha 357
Yulai
Planet VIII – Moon 10 – Concord Logistic Support
Professor Grian Julkit Falcon
Initial Research Report – Boxer Virus

The virus is strange, near undetectable in it’s dormant state, it increases synaptic speed of capsuleer minds. In and of itself, this is no real concern, with the capsule linking systems achieving much the same during flight.

When the virus is active however, the change is extraordinary. Synaptic speed continues to increase, but beyond that, it seems new links form that allow the mind to transmit and receive information, however only to and from one source.

The fleet that was captured has proven interesting to study, there was one member who appeared less infected than the others, and seemed to exhibit the characteristics of controlling the other “drones” for want of a better term. Interrogation techniques have so far proven futile, with the “controller” yielding no new information.

I have engineered what I hope will prove to be a vaccine against the virus, and with the current production cycle planned, it should commence distribution from 1 January YC117. Given the concern around this virus and the power it could grant to one person if harnessed, vaccination will be compulsory, and conducted in top secret. It should not be too hard to have our agents install Aerosol units on every ship in the cluster when they dock.

I will continue trying to understand this Virus, who made it is truly important. As if it is Kuvakei, the stability of the Empires will be in jeopardy.

But I also highlight, as with any vaccination program, we will not prevent it all, so ongoing monitoring of the Capsuleer population will be necessary to ensure the eradication of this virus is complete.

No lore needed for this... forcing all game changes into lore would be stupid

I'd call it interpreting, not forcing. I'm personally big on it as it would be shallow RP to presume such things go completely unnoticed by our characters.

Not to mention it's just plain fun.


I think you did a good job.

I'd personally be more inclined to interpret it as some kind of underground tech that's now been prohibited, but the virus angle still sounds pretty cool. Anyway, as a piece of writing I thought it was good.

I'd approach it similar to how Dark Horse comics approached alts - Alternate Clones. In this case a now illegal decision multi-plexing variant, with partially cognizant clones in all but one ship and a central controller using surface scans of the active brain to disseminate approximate stimulus to control his alternates with a high degree of precision, at the cost of individual action.

This would really push the laws of concurrent clones; maybe skirting a grey area by the 'controlled' alts not having sapience or the ability to endure without their controller. That grey area has now been marked clearly in red, and CONCORD will be revoking the clone contracts of anyone caught dabbling in such dangerous self-duplication procedures. Add ethical, legal or religious wrangling to taste.