Intergalactic Summit

Miss Jenneth,

I would have hoped we would have spoken again. But then, the original (original?) you was always subversively mercurial. I understand that now.

You are what you are today because previous Aria was unstable.

I don't mean that as an insult.

There is nothing wrong with instability, per se. Aria's instability was an...intellectual restlessness. She would formulate theories and teach them, only to change her mind upon new information. I was, perhaps, a slight victim of this, but, overall, not an undeserving one.

I don't know if you received my mail, and, it really doesn't matter. All I really sought was to warn you away from Sansha - a mistake I made, once - and it seems you have heeded that, even if you never heard it.

Good.

---

I am a Caldari Patriot, and thus, biased. Accept nothing I say.

As of above, I am the most honest here, and will say nothing more of my own wishes for your determinations. And my honesty should not sway you either - many liars are more true in their beliefs. And many believe more heartily in their "truths" than I do in mine own, though I believe strongly.

---

All I will say as certain is this: the Angels will hunt you, the Sansha hate you, and you must live as a person with prior experiences that you do not remember. Aria the Original (ha!) may have wished a new start, but actions echo in the memories of others. And as such, understand that the previous Aria had a cachet with us, we capsuleers, whether we agreed with her or not. As such, we all desired to capture her approval for our own purposes.

So, be independent.

---

That's not entirely fair to myself. If you have a spare Tengu, it's the one I gave your previous self. Not because I wanted anything of that iteration, specifically, but because I had hoped to affect that iteration of you. Not in any particular way, but in SOME way. The hope of significance to another. Foolish, I realize now, but at the time...the you that you were then seemed a teacher, important to please. Don't denigrate the previous you. She was not entirely of darkness.

---

Teacher, I will not tell you what be. You brought me out of Sansha, and back into light. Colorful, unholy, very human and inhuman light, but, for all that, light.

For the person that I knew, but do not now know, and for the person that I was, but am not now, I will say this:

Don't make any irreversible decision. Don't commit. Learn. Write. Think. And write again. Now, later, or earlier, if capsuleers are the 98th percentile, Aria was the 99th. Use that. Absorb everything. Use it all. Do as you will.

If you choose the Federation, I will try to kill you, but at least it will be happily. Please. Choose without prior consideration. What is best for Aria, this time, instead of her ideas. Her ideas...well, they now live far beyond her memory, or yours. They don't need your care. Be you.


And as for the me that is now: touch my kin, attack my country, hurt my State, and I will hurt you. You are a stranger to me. Perhaps a potential friend, but I doubt it.

I ... think it's safe to say this:

The Cartel probably created me. If ... the situation's what I think it is, they have no reason to hunt me. By existing, I lock down my predecessor's assets. If she's still out there, she'd have to resurface and prove I'm an unauthorized clone if she wants her stuff back.

That said, I don't think I owe them anything. If I'm their tool, I serve their purpose just by existing.


I seem to be, for now.

It's kind of lonely, though.


You gave me, uh, her, the Goblin Spider?

Um. I think you succeeded. She clearly treasured that ship.

It's also the one she used to disappear, at the expense of her crew.

If I've got one possession that deserves to be haunted.... Brr.


I guess I took a Sansha and made a poet.

I'm ... only joking a tiny bit, there.

You're an intriguing and kind of frightening person, Vikarion. I'll remember your words.

Thank you.

It is a sign of a developing insanity when a human begins to claim they are becoming a divinity.
Such claims are not to be rationalized or rebutted, tried on ourselves, Ms. Jenneth. I believe it is better to just discard and forget this, instead think about something that is more important. For example, about what we can do and what we should do.

In defense of the conference generally, that was ... sort of an outlying case?

Most of the conference consisted of capsuleers who were experts in areas of astrophysics, archeology, or fields whose names haven't been invented yet (Drifterology?) just ... explaining and answering questions about those fields.

It wasn't until the very end that things got ... fraught. Maybe a third of the audience seemed to want to explode out of their seats with joy, another third with rage, and the middling third ... just sort of sat there looking awkward.

Well, good that it was mostly positive then.

Admittedly, I'm taking your quote out of context Samira but it's an interesting comment that implies you have some perspective of what divinity is.

I'm interested in coming to some understanding of both your definition and the process that brought you to it - if you're interested in (and comfortable with) explaining it to me can I suggest either opening another thread or moving such a discussion to a private channel so as not to derail this one?

No.. We do not, well.. At least i do not, though i do wish for the cluster to join His divine light, it is.. Wrong.. To keep score and view the cluster as such.. I am sorry you are getting a somewhat.. Negative view of us.. As i have offered before i am more then happy to meet with you, and give you the view of a student and ex-soldier of His armies, and i only wish for peace in the cluster at large, I can only speak with my heart and from what i know.

Humble regards, Eli Sariah

I.. I think i understand what you mean.. Forgive me, words are not my forte.. But you are learning our faith and culture, you are trying to understand us, for that i thank you, you are doing more then most, i know you are not doing it to join our faith, but you are learning it's values i hope.. I hope you see the purity and light in His faith.

I hope it will be soon, i will be attending the Praetorian Ceremony, i heard you received an invite, i hope to see you there

Humble regards, Eli Sariah

Entry Five

Another personal note:

"Soulless."

What a concept.

I understand the basic theory: we died, in practical terms, the very first time we were ever cloned. Mostly at the start of our careers. Our souls passed on. What's left is ... just an echo, I guess.

In some sense, that's a comforting idea. Aria Jenneth wasn't ... an awful person when she died the first time, probably. Certainly, she'd never killed anyone, much less a family member. Maybe her (my) soul is long gone, moved on to some heaven or Naraka ... or passed on to another life.

It's not the most bizarre idea. I'd give that prize to the idea that the soul moves on with each and every clone's death. The idea that there's a sort of tenement house in Naraka for all the former Aria Jenneths seems frankly absurd.

But if cloned capsuleers are essentially hollow ghosts, what of me? Am I, therefore, a husk, some sad ... puppet? ... marionette? ... mannequin? ... who can no longer even remember a time when I had a soul?

It's ... ridiculous. Awful. Another idea out of a storybook.

There's no way I could ever believe such a thing.

- Why would the soul leave when the mind does not ?

- If someone dies without cloning, the soul goes to Heaven (or elsewhere). What if a brain scan has been kept somewhere and that person is revived at some point later ?

- If so, is continuous cloning keeping the soul, while discontinuous cloning is not ?

- Interesting corollary : could the soul be copied and duplicated in the cloning process ?


I do not find this way of reasoning very satisfying. All of those are half answers at best, and full of flaws and inconsistencies. It does, however, simply hint at an evidence : current scriptural interpretation of the soul has become obsolete and should be updated (something the TC and scholars might be doing right now).

I suppose that some parts of the Scriptures are yet to come to terms with quantum physics... Taken like it, the issue disappears by itself.