Intergalactic Summit

And for those of us who couldn't do that, she mentored us back to some semblance of sanity.

For all that, she should know that she took this broken, angry child and set her on a path to becoming whole. It was a path filled with violence and anger. But it was also a path that lead to peace and healing.

I hope you are really Aria. I want you to see how you've help make me whole.

I know, what ya meant, If you are you wouldn't exactly be that great at it since your drawing attention to yourself. The fact you seem clueless to the events leading up to your initial video leads me to believe that's not the case. Bare in mind I didn't know the original Aria, so for all I know you could be one. I'm merely trusting my gut on this one and showing sympathy isn't really going to effect me in the least.

All right. Enough self-pity.

It sounds like the last person to try to reach me physically hit a wall after docking at the station.

If I'm getting out of here, it's going to be on my own.

To those of you who see Aria as a mentor or a guide ... I'm sorry. I can't see in her what you do.

If I'm her, then maybe she couldn't, either.

To me it looks like she had a head full of mirrors and bull****. But if it was valuable to you ... maybe the person she really couldn't help was herself.

We can maybe talk about it if I can get out of here. I'm going to start running tests on my rig. I'll still be in touch, but....

If this works, maybe I'll see you in space.

If not ...

... I guess, thanks for not treating me like damaged hardware.

Here goes.

Easier with more context. ... which, I'm getting some of.

Update for the interested: not dead.

Also not mindlocked, which is important.

Presently jacked into the pod. There's no dangerous feedback or interference to speak of. Since I'm apparently in lowsec, I'll be running test simulations rather than hopping out the front door to have a look.

Also, if I'm not actually as qualified to fly that Tengu as I look on paper, I'd like to know ahead of time.

So far, I'm verified category five in, ah, all four empires' frigate control schemes.

This is kind of unsettling.

Aria, didn't you own anything that isn't covered in guns?

... Ah, of course. A blockade runner.

For moving the guns.

... Um. Fifth rank in ...

... Amarr Battleships ...
... Caldari Battleships ...
... Gallente Battleships ...
... Minmatar Battleships....

That's ... ah, that's common, right? Not unusual?

Um. Typical, maybe, for pilots with a certain number of years?

Let's, ah, maybe try something ... else ...

Astrometric pinpointing. Aria only rates a four....

If you actually believe all of what you just said here, and this whole memory-less clone thing hasn't been some big hoax, then it sounds to me like you may actually be a better person than who Ms. Jenneth was.

Try to hold on to that. Few capsuleers do. Most believe the same kind of ramblings your template used to write about how special capsuleers are.

Capsuleers are awful people. The more human you try to be, the better off you'll be.

Oh. Um. Good.

... I score a four on astrometric pinpointing.

Well....



That seems sensible.

Wasn't that her advice, too, though? Especially the early stuff.

Be human if you can. If you can't, here's an alternative. That sort of thing?

... I'm not sure which of us that was for. Sorry. A bit distracted. Testing these stupid metrics, getting matches time after time, I feel like I could be a hoax, or a prank. Like the rest of Aria Jenneth is going to pop out of a cake any second, and I'll just be ...

... the joke will be on me. Only I'll be gone.

Maybe she'll have the grace to feel bad about that for a moment.

Something more esoteric ... um....



Are you talking about trying to stay human?

Or....

Infomorph Psychology. There's no way I rate a five.

There is no alternative. Her writings were about how different and alien capsuleers are. Her writings just fed into the delusional feelings of godhood that makes capsuleers believe they're beyond mortal concerns. Her very first writing, said in no uncertain words: "You're not human." That sentence, that one sentence, is what creates monsters.

We are humans. Just humans in a VR where we're controlling real spaceships instead of virtual ones, and where we pretend that our mortal replacements are immortal continuations. Do you feel immortal? You, more than any of us, should be able to appreciate the fact that you are a replacement, because you are absent of the memories that create the illusion of continuation. You aren't Aria Jenneth, or any of her copies, you're a new person made in her image and with her name, just as the clone after you won't be you.

As long as people keep trying to live with these delusions that we're something other than human, we'll keep spawning people who believe they can ignore human concerns.

What made your templates' writings terrible, was that they were defeatist. "You're a killer." Why? Capsuleers are not killers by nature, they're killers by choice, and by lack of the restrictions normally imposed on society that would discourage that choice. "You do not have empathy," "You do not even notice." If a capsuleer has no empathy, and does not notice, it's because they choose to have no empathy, and choose not to notice.

Becoming a monster is a choice. Your templates encouraged people to make that choice by instilling these defeatist and self-aggrandizing philosophies. Your templates said not to embrace illusions, and yet everything they wrote was the crafting of one. You yourself pointed this out.

What your templates did, was say that we are monsters who should try to be human. That is a lie. What capsuleers are are humans who all too frequently try to be monsters, and have been allowed to be by intentional removal of the chains that normally keep humans from fulfilling our darker impulses.

You're a human being. Don't ever think you're anything else. Impose whatever restrictions on yourself you need to make sure you don't choose to be anything else.


That Infomorph Psychology thing, by the way? The real name of that skill is Voluntary Suicide. There's an area where you should impose a restriction. Your templates weren't immortal, you aren't either.

Speak for yourself.